A Song About Songwriting...

Folks, it's a difficult thing. You write a song and you think it's good and you hope like anything that someone else other than you thinks it's good. It's very uncomfortable and makes you feel vulnerable and exposed. Then someone tells you they like it and in the elation of that moment, you can only think of one thing: "I wonder if anyone else besides me and that one person will like it." But alas, writing songs is a bit like giving birth and we all know that no one thinks your kids are as cute as you think they are, so in the end, only the parent (or author) can see how beautiful and gifted and amazing their own little baby (or song) really is.

enjoy.

New Song!!

Here is a tune I wrote this week about how this world is not our home, but sometimes we want to try to make it just that... we want to be comfortable, and we want to have a lot, but that's not really what we were made for. The Apostle said that if we have food and shelter, this will be enough... that's because we're just pilgrims and we're just passing through.

By the way, it was long believed that the last hymn sung on the Titanic before it went down was "Nearer My God to Thee." Well, as it turns out, the last hymn was actually an episcopalian hymn that some folks called, "Autumn." I used the last lines of that hymn for my chorus here.

If you follow this link, you can listen or download this live performance of the song for absolutely free... enjoy.

The World to Be

Fill my hands or break my heart
It’s the way I’ve lived and how we’ve been taught
Give me more than I’ll ever need
It’s how you say that you love me
But these hands weren’t made to hold onto this world
They were made to hold up and out

To give and give and give again what God has given me;
To spend myself and not count the cost
To serve right gloriously
The God who gives the world to be

I’m just a stranger passing through
And when this life ends I’ll fly to you
My pilgrim days are almost done
Til I reach my home in the Son
So what have I to do with all I can see,
Since I cannot take it home with me?
(CHORUS)

New Song...

Here's a new song I just finished... it's about how Jesus wants our whole life and how we can't serve Him and other stuff... and by the way, just what would happen if we decided to give Him everything?

You can click here to listen to or even download the song for free.


Here I Am

Here I am, where should I go?
These open hands are yours to command, should You say so
What would You do with a life fully given to You
Does anyone really know?

I’ve spent so much time holding on to this life
Just grasping for my piece of everything
But You gave it all
And You’re calling me to follow You in the same way
(CHORUS)

He took the wisdom we thought was sound
And turned it right upside down
He said the last will be first, love of money’s the worst
And the greatest is the slave of all
What if you gain the world but lose yourself instead
Wouldn’t you have rather said:
(CHORUS)

O Happy Mourning

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
-Matthew 5:4

I have always wondered what that means. Does that mean that people who lose loved ones are guaranteed comfort after (or in) their grief? I don’t really think so, because some people never get over certain losses. Jesus said this right after saying “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” which meant that happy people are the ones who realize that when it comes to things that matter to God, they are broke… poverty stricken… bankrupt.

When I first realized that about myself, I found out that the awesome person I always thought I was isn’t real… in fact, that person never existed. It’s sort of like I had to have a funeral for him. The great thing is that after mourning over the death of whoever I thought I was, I’ve found out that Jesus never loved that person anyway. He loves the real me… the bankrupt guy… and that makes me happy.

So, I wrote this song and it’s a song about a funeral… my funeral, really. The funeral of whoever I thought I was… and it’s a really upbeat pop song about said funeral.

…

Everybody’s dressed in black exchanging empathetic eyes
They whisper greetings with their heads hanging low
A recorded organ plays hymns to cover up the lies
Like, “He was always so sweet and kind you know…”

“He looks so good.” I hear them say
And that’s all I wanted everyday
But the death of all I was trying to be
Leaves an empty room with only me

And I am not the man I thought I was
He is dead and gone away
I’ve grieved and now I’m happy because
He was never real anyway

I leave flowers at the grave and drive off smiling in my car
‘Cause I don’t have to keep that up another day
See, I fooled them all, including me that I was someone that I am not
But under that whitewash was death and decay

So I’ll leave behind the hidden ness
And embrace this brokenness
Instead of what I was trying to be
I hear that You love fools like me

And I am not the man I thought I was
He is dead and gone away
I’ve grieved and now I’m happy because
You love me more than him anyday