BLESSINGS TO YOU / WE ALWAYS PREVAIL
Recorded Saturday 9/14/19 late afternoon.
Written by * 5/14/09. The account of David and Goliath is one of my Bible favorites; not so much the actual battle, but all of the verses leading up to that. I just love the fact that David is only present there in the first place because his parents sent him to the battleground merely to take some cheese to his older brothers!
The title has two names because I was writing these two different songs around the same time – until I realized that they were basically the same chord structure. One was about David and the other was about Jesus. I couldn’t choose one over the other, so I fused them together instead. David ultimately points us to Christ, and so it made sense to make this a two-in-one song.
At the very end you can hear the body of the guitar bump into the keyboard. And of course, this version with the erroneous keyboard notes at the end was by far the best version I had recorded that day. Rich Mullins once said that he thought perfection was boring…. He also wrote a song about David and Goliath too. So here’s to you, Rich. And may God be glorified by us both!
‘ROUND ABOUT JERICHO (FOR HIEL)
Recorded Sunday 8/25/19 late afternoon.
It’s amazing when you begin to start connecting the dots in the Bible. There’s this one simple verse at the very end of 1 Kings chapter 16, which is sooooooo easy to pass right by. But then you realize it’s significance by linking it to a verse at the end of Joshua chapter 6, and you go, “Oh Wow!”
The name Hiel means “God lives,” which is why I love singing that name in this song. God lives indeed and whatever He says will happen will happen!
TELL YOU THE TRUTH
Recorded Saturday 8/10/19 afternoon.
Written by * June 2002. The bridge part was written with the assistance of Bruce Fauls on 12/17/10. It also appears (without the bridge) on What Then? – Alive in the Chapel – Disc 2 as “Two Pennies” and there are further Notes about this song there.
WAITING FOR JESUS
Recorded Monday 11/25/19 evening.
God doesn’t just do what we want Him to when we want it done. But I’m afraid that’s what most people expect from Him.
But, no, He makes us wait for Him, and in doing so He tests us, and allows us to prove to ourselves (and to Him) what we’re really all about. And besides, He has already done for us everything we truly need – by creating us in His image, and giving us His holy word to reveal to us what we need to know about Him and about ourselves, and by sending His son Jesus to live a perfect life and pay for our sin on the cross and be raised from the dead to seal it all up.
Now we’re just waiting for Him to return. Regardless of our circumstances, God offers us the opportunity to be found waiting for Him as Jesus returns (Luke 12:43). It’s our choice.
THE ONLY WAY
Recorded Friday 11/1/19 evening.
Written by * 12/21/03. This is one of my old BC songs (the verses) with a rewritten chorus. From the time I wrote this (BC) until I finished recording this version, I changed the title of the song over and over and over again. My daughters would kid me about how this song about change was always being called something different… One day I heard someone preaching about Hebrews 13:8, and the light went on inside my head. That’s exactly what the chorus of that old song about change should be!
WHAT SAMUEL DID BETWEEN MIZPAH AND SHEN
Recorded Monday 12/23/19 later evening, and using the first recurring theme for the Ebenezer Stone Albums.
This track was called “Ebenezer Stone 3” on the first version of the Ebenezer Stone Albums and “Samuel 1” on the second (restacked) version.
O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM
Recorded Monday 12/23/19 later evening.
Written 12/20&23/19. This is the source of the second recurring theme of these Albums.
For quite some time after becoming a Christian I struggled to believe that I was really saved from my sin because now it just seemed much more pronounced and didn’t just go away like I expected it would. Then one day I was (re)reading Romans chapter 7 and I realized that the very fact that I was struggling with sin was the proof that I was saved!
This is because I now have the Spirit of God in me, which is at war with my flesh and my fleshly desires. Before Christ, I had little hints of conviction (my conscious), but always gave in to my flesh (to sin) without any quarrel. But now, with Christ’s Spirit within me, I am able to identify the sin clearly and fight against it by the Spirit. It’s not something I can do on my own – the flesh has such a strong hold on us all because of sin. But if not for the Spirit, there would be no war going on inside of me at all. To quote Gary Storms again, “The battle rages…”
THE UPWARD CALL OF GOD
Recorded Wednesday 12/22/19 mid-afternoon. (Replacing the version recorded on Wednesday 11/20/19 early evening.)
This song was written as my wife and I drove around Schenectady NY and stopped at various Thrift Stores (an all day excursion for us). This melody just relentlessly ran through my head over and over that day as I added the words to it (occasionally checking the Bible in the van for the right words). I actually recorded this song five times trying to get the right feel (another version appears on The First & The Last – Disc 2). When I “un-restacked” the Ebenezer Stone albums I dropped this song altogether. But the melody kept popping into my head, and I knew this had to be resurrected and included here. It’s not exactly the way I hear it in my head, but it’s the best I can do. The words mean a lot to me. I don’t want to be someone that drifts away from serving the Lord (see Hebrews 2:1-4). I am determined to be someone that runs the race to completion (1 Corinthians 9:24 & Hebrews 12:1).
A NEW SONG THAT I’VE SUNG BEFORE
Recorded Wednesday 11/27/19 early evening.
There are lots and lots of verses in the Old Testament about singing a new song to God. But on this side of the cross, where the old meets the new every day, it took me quite a while to reconcile singing Amazing Grace “as something new.”
AND CHRIST WILL SHINE ON YOU (SLEEPER)
Recorded Saturday 8/10/19 mid-afternoon.
A different version of this song just for the sake of doing it differently. This is one of my old B.C. songs – reborn & renewed, and just like me – always evolving and changing in either obvious or subtle ways. Another version of this song appears on What Then – Alive in the Chapel – Disc 1
JESUS SAID YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN
Recorded Saturday 8/10/19 evening.
This is a different (alternative) version than the one appearing on the first two Ebenezer Stone releases.
The very first version of this was on a cassette tape that I recorded by myself using our church’s sound system in June 2002. I gave some folks copies of the tape, and I’ll never forget when two parents told me about how their three year old daughter would request that they put on “Must…” and she would dance around and try to sing with it!
After all those years of trying to make it big with my foul-mouthed traditional folk metal recordings – wondering why I had so little response to all those cassettes I’d been recording and sending out – I finally had such amazing joy over this one tiny soul who was asking to hear my music (for free) and truly enjoying it!
The version found on The First & The Last – Disc 1 is much more similar to that June 2002 version than is the one found here in Ebenezer Stone.
BREAKING THE FLASK OF NARD
Recorded Sunday 11/22/19 afternoon, using the first recurring Ebenezer Stone theme. The words were written 9/2/19. Please see Narrative – Part 3 for more.
LORD FORGIVE ME
Recorded Sunday 12/15/19 early evening, playing the keyboard, and fighting a nasty sinus infection. There are Notes for this song on What Then? – Alive in the Chapel – Disc 1.
LET PATIENCE HAVE ITS PERFECT WORK
Recorded Friday 11/29/19 just before noon.
This is one of my old BC songs, which I still remember my buddy Dan Thomas helping me record way back on 3/6/96 (for some reason that date has always been special to me….). I’ve taken so many long drives, and often found myself writing songs in my head along the way. This is one of them. When I resurrected this song, I rewrote it to remove all the foul language and the overall nasty tone of the original version, and replaced that with self-reflection and humility (…and a memory verse of course!).
AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US
Recorded Saturday 8/10/19 late afternoon.
Another old BC song that was completely rewritten by * 12/21/03, and then was re-re-worked again for this project. The 12/21/03 version can be found on The First & the Last – Disc 1.
As a young kid I memorized the Lord’s Prayer, and kept it as a sort of good luck charm that I could pull out whenever I was scared. But man, when you start to really get to know God and His word, you begin to understand what you’re actually saying when you pray this! Not to be taken lightly…
DELIVER ME FROM THIS BODY OF DEATH
Same as O Wretched Man That I Am above.
IN EVERY DIRECTION
Recorded Wednesday 11/20/19 early evening.
Originally called “Your Witnesses” this was written the week before 4/13/14 to sing at the church where I was leading worship at the time – and it was very different than this (and we only sang it one time at church). It was first recorded during the Earnest Expectation sessions, but I decided to leave it off of that Album. Then I rewrote it almost completely, finishing on 11/10/19.
I pray that God has used this website to bear witness to you of His mercy and of His kindness and of His steadfast love for you.
SHIGGAION
Recorded Sunday 12/22/19 mid-afternoon.
The first Ebenezer Stone theme one last time. Sort of hummed this time. That’s all that’s left.
May God graciously and most richly bless you with salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. Seek Him. Get to know Him. Amen.
* Note: Wherever it says “Written by…” that indicates the oldest recording or live performance date that I know of (so it must have been written by that date obviously).