Humans of Lee

View fullsize

Photo by Jaclyn De Vries

Junior Spencer Smith is both a musician and adventurer.

When asked where to meet for an interview, Smith suggested an abandoned barn in the country. Unfortunately, we arrived at the barn only to be stared down by who we assumed was the owner. We swiftly drove back down the lengthy driveway and away. Mini adventures like this are the norm for Smith.

Last semester Smith, singer/songwriter/violin/trumpet/guitar/harmonica player, joined the stage with Jon Foreman and his friend's band, "Edward & Jane," at U-Church.

'How did you first get into music?'

'My dad was a worship pastor for 30 odd years. I've been around music a lot.'

'How do you see your faith connecting with your music?'

'I can't do it without God. I already know that. It's definitely his gift that he has given to me and I'm trying to use it the best way I can. I don't really play in christian bands or things like that all the time, so it's just about showing his light through myself.'

'What's the most challenging thing about that?'

'The challenge is keeping [God] as the focus and not letting it be about [myself].'

'Can you tell me a little bit about your travels?'

'I [went] to Belize four times in high school for a week at a time ' Africa twice; I worked in Philadelphia this summer; New Orleans, Memphis, other places [and] Denver, a lot of places.'

'Can you tell me about one of your trips?'

'Me and my friend were planning on going on spring break together, but we didn't really have a plan of what we were going to do, so three days before spring break we decided to go to New Orleans. We got this nice hotel because his dad travels a lot. So we stayed in New Orleans for three days in luxury right downtown, walking distance of everything, and we just hung out and followed gypsies around late at night and watched them get into trouble. We could smell them. Also, we went to a national forest, and we got stuck two miles away from our car in a torrential downpour ' so that was really cool and fun.'

'Do you ever get afraid or worried when those things are happening? What's going through your mind?'

'Eh.'

'You really don't think anything about it?'

'Not really. I don't think anything about danger or anything like that. Rain's nothing, we're just going to get wet, we'll get back in the car and dry off. But when it comes to hanging out with sketchy people or anything like that, they're just people ' People are people. You have to have some sort of small trust to be okay with it.'

'What is it about traveling that you enjoy?'

'Traveling is something different and it's never the same. It's always moving, it's always different, theres always something else to do, and it's not the same. School is the same. I do the same thing every day, every week. But when I travel or go places, it's never the same.'

'Can that be a weakness?'

'It's definitely a weakness because I get really unhappy with being content in the same place in the same time. So it's good in the fact that I'm always moving and striving for new things, but in places like school where I have to do the same thing over and over again, I get really complacent or just bored.'

'So you've never had a dream about your future?'

'I used to have a big dream about my future, about being a music educator and eventually starting my own non-profit music organization around the world, but last year God was kind of like, 'Let's try something different.' So I went with what God's plan was ' not having a plan. I changed my major and I don't know what I'm going to do with my life.'

'And you're okay with that?'

'Totally okay with it.'

'Why?'

'It just happens. I never really thought about why I'm okay with not having a plan for my life. It's just, God's going to provide and it's going to be okay.'