PRELUDE / INTERLUDE
I decided to stick with the same format I used on “Awake and Sing…“: a keyboardy thing used twice; different the second time through. But this time with singing… And rather than the piano, a very slow-tempo drum-sound running through the amplifier to give it an ominous feel. After all, this is serious business…
Recorded 2/24/2018 – late afternoon session
GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL
A decade ago we were part of a Fellowship that started off each week’s worship service with someone performing a Prelude. It was always something different and left up to the person performing it. We also read and focused (as a congregation) on a Psalm each week, going through them successively. I was asked to perform the Prelude for 4/20/2008. That week’s Psalm was 145, and I decided that rather than finding a song to sing, I would write the Prelude myself quoting from Psalm 145.
The version I sang that day was quite a bit slower, but was in essence the same as this. Over the years I’ve tinkered with this one again and again and again, never being fully satisfied with it. As I was preparing for this recording project I dusted it back off again and finally found a way of arranging and playing it that rightfully expresses what (I think) the words of the Psalm are saying.
Recorded 2/19/2018 – morning session
YESTERDAY, TOMORROW AND TODAY
I got to perform several Preludes at the Fellowship mentioned above. And this is the other one that I specifically wrote for it. By 1/10/2010 we had made it back around to Psalm 85, and I knew that the sermon was going to be based on part of Matthew 14. So as I was working through those passages that week, trying to put them together into a song, something cool happened:
As I arrived home from work, our younger daughter, Jennifer, was quite pleased to tell me that she had memorized the names of all of the Kings of England (or maybe it was Spain…) in successive order, and she proceeded to rattle them off to me to prove it. (This is what all Home Schoolers do when Dad gets home, right…?) (Update: I just checked with Jenni… It turns out it was France…!)
Well, as I looked over the list with her, it occurred to me that I had never heard of most of these men. But these were kings! Important men in their day. Very important men. And these were just the kings over one country and during one specific time period. In awe I started to think about all the countries in the world, over all the time periods known to man, and there have been so many kings and rulers throughout the ages; each an incredibly important person to those around them, and yet I (we) have learned (or heard) of almost none of them!
And then there’s Jesus… Who has been King above all of these rulers, and over all of these time periods. King of kings we call Him.
Hebrews 13:8 is still as true today as the day it was written – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!
Recorded 2/19/2018 – late afternoon session
GREATER LOVE HAS NO ONE THAN THIS
One year quite a while ago at Easter time, I decided that I needed to write an Easter song. This is what came forth, and I continue to marvel at the fact that although there are so many mysterious ironies about this Christian faith, God’s love for us outweighs them all. Any question that I have about God (or for God) is eventually swallowed up completely by “greater love has no one than this.”
Recorded 2/19/2018 – early afternoon session
SOUL ANCHOR: HOPE
The Word of God uses a lot of plays-on-words. I think that the interchangability of the words “soul” and “sole” here is just really, really cool. Whether you can tell or not, I’m alternatively singing the words “soul” and “sole” throughout this song.
The author of the book of Hebrews uses many visual thoughts to convey very deep messages to us. Hope in Jesus being an anchor to keep our souls from drifting away is one of them. And there is no other anchor besides Jesus.
Recorded 2/19/2018 – morning session
STEADFAST AND IMMOVABLE
One Friday evening roughly a decade ago my wife and I were bickering about something. Not unusual for us really. However, that particular evening was unusual because as our argument turned into silence, in my frustration I did something that I should do much more often. I handed my wife’s bible to her and grabbed my guitar. And I said, “This week’s Psalm is 112. Read it.”
The word of God pulled us up out of the mire, and within just a short time we had written this song together. We used as much of the Psalm’s exact wording as we could, and Laura suggested the New Testament verse for the chorus. A very natural fit – both lyrically and conceptually.
Recorded 2/19/2018 – late afternoon session
HE LOVES US TO DEATH
To me, this is a companion piece to “Greater Love Has No One Than This.” Musically and stylistically they bear no resemblance, but the content of the songs is actually very similar, and so in my mind they are cut from the same cloth.
Way back, years ago, I had the tune and words in my head, but was completely unable to even begin to play it on my guitar. So I asked Mark Oda to help me out one evening, and within a very short time we had the basics of the song completed; something that I could actually play on the guitar, too. I’ve revised and reshaped it several times over the years, but without Mark, I know it would have never seen the light of day.
The main thought of the song came from a message by Jon Courson of Calvary Chapel that I heard on the radio way back when I was new in the faith. Probably something he himself had heard someone else say first, but he’s the one I remember hearing it from, and it really struck me in a powerful way that day.
Recorded 2/24/2018 – early afternoon session
OH THE DEPTHS!
This was one of the earlier songs I wrote as a new Christian. I always liked it, but thought it was too weird to do anything with. (The original version can be found on The First & The Last CD.) As I was sifting through my older songs to round out this project, I came across this, and began playing around with it. I randomly selected a beat and tempo on the keyboard, and (to me) it was the perfect fit for where this song always should have been. Oh the depths!
Thank you, Lord Jesus, and to You be all glory and honor and praise! Amen.
Recorded 2/19/2018 – morning session
SHOW US A MORE EXCELLENT WAY
A recently revised version of this song, which first appeared on “Alive in the Chapel.”
Recorded 2/24/2018 – morning session
HE CAN TAKE CARE OF THIS TOO
Another revised version of a song which first appeared on “Alive in the Chapel.” Laura and I struggle. I say that I wrote this for her – and I did – but I know I wrote it for me, too.
Recorded 2/18/2018 – evening
HE CAME, HE LIVED, HE DIED, HE ROSE
This song is the only newly written one in this project. I listen to a lot of Progressive Rock, and there are a few intentional nods to that here. And to the Gospel, of course…
Recorded 2/4/2018 – late afternoon session
HE IS THE ONE (EYES ON JESUS)
Need I say more?
Recorded 2/10/2018 – morning
YOUR MERCY IS DIVINE
I seriously had no idea what the word “pensive” meant until I was tweaking this song late one night and struggling to come up with a word that not only fit the cadence, but also conveyed what I was feeling inside. All of a sudden, this word “pensive” popped into my mind. It seemed to fit, so I set down my guitar and headed to the bookshelf for a dictionary… wow… perfect! I can only think of one way to explain that one… Thank you.
Recorded 2/9/2018 – evening
O MY SOUL!
Psalm 103 was the first larger portion of scripture that I committed to memory. I also wrote and shared a short devotional about it once at the Fellowship mentioned above, showing how the entirely of Scripture is captured and presented in this one Psalm. I highly encourage you to read Psalm 103 today.
Recorded 2/19/2018 – early afternoon session
THE ONLY HOLY GOD
The same thing happened with this song as I mentioned for “Your Mercy Is Divine” – and the very same night!
I had no clue what the word “sublime” really meant. People don’t really use it that much (at least around me). There was that band back in the 90’s that was on the radio, and I had one of their CD’s, but I always thought the word meant, like, low-key or subliminal or something like that.
Anyway, I spent a lot of time tweaking this song (this is about the fourth different rhythm and timing I think) and changing the title, and struggling with that one word there for quite a while. And then later that same evening as “Your Mercy Is…“, I was down to just that one last word that I was wrestling with, when the word “sublime” popped into my head. Did that really fit? So I grabbed that dictionary again… and again, perfect! It actually happened twice that night. Again…thank You!
Recorded 2/4/2018 – late afternoon session