Love Will Overcome

There is always this urgency when sitting in the studio tracking parts.  I feel the desire to hurry through the process, but I know that only through concentration and patience will the song be allowed to breathe.  And that's the hardest part right?...as a songwriter/musician.  We want our voice (literally & metaphorically) to be all over our artwork.  But at what point do we end up screaming what was meant to be whispered.  

So the past few songs we've written have been more like a fall dew instead of spring downpour.  This song is a birthing of this idea.

Not only is this song a new way of writing music from a melodic standpoint, but also from a lyrical perspective.  We have always written from personal experience so taking on a song that tells the story of another person was a huge undertaking.

We heard the story of a young girl who had lost her boyfriend in a car accident.  He was definitely a leader among his peers and so his unforeseen death was tragic.  For her....for his family...for his friends.  Our connection came through his girlfriend who had had her heart stolen by this young man.  She loved him and was more than crushed by his absence.  Hearing her story birthed these lyrics of how she longed to hear his voice again and how she knew she would.

Love, abundant and sure. Like a million shores.  A love so pure

He was here, the next no more.  A love so pure

He had gone and now awaits her there.  So she sings...

I know too well the sound of a broken heart.  

I know the pain of a thousand tears and a thousand nights

This loneliness destroys my soul, but I know a Love that will overcome

Dark crept in like a moonless night.  But still we fight

Hope will win and we'll meet again.  We'll meet again

*We have yet to record it so here is a live video of "Love Will Overcome"

Inspiration from Art

Can art change the world?  Thoughts?

http://www.hulu.com/watch/221157/tedtalks-jrs-ted-prize-wish-use-art-to-turn-the-world-inside-out
Can art change the world?  Thoughts?

Studio

So today my band is in the studio recording some of our tunes.  Super excited to be a part of something like this.  Music has always had a way of soothing the soul.  Hope we come out with some stuff you all will like.  If you don't, we will just keep it between us!

A New Resolution

I have always had this love for music (as most people do) and I'm constantly trying to find new or old bands to be inspired by.  From U2 to Mumford and Sons, Sigur Ros to Michael Jackson.  They all have had a huge influence in my life.

However, the past few months I have felt this conviction over the burning of music.  Granted, this has not been a recent discovery among music lovers, but has abruptly struck something inside of me.

One word that has really been coming up in journaling and conversations amongst community is "integrity".  I know that my life will be best lived if it is guided by this one word.  However, one of my deepest passions is also the one place that I lack integrity.

So today I decided to delete all the music that I had ever illegally downloaded.  This was not easy for me.  My collection started at a staggering 75 gb's worth down to a mere 17 gigs.  I lost the music of many artists that I absolutely loved.  Many of which I claimed to admire the most.

From now on I will open my wallet and pay these incredible artists their well deserved $9.99 per album.  I will listen with integrity.

Obsession

I heard a great line from a song today that really struck something inside of me.

"everyone has their obsession.  Consuming thoughts, consuming time.  They hold tight their prized possessions that defines the meaning of their lives"

There is this warring inside my chest that battles against that which I want to do and that which I don't.  (Romans 7:15)  If only I could buy and sell that which I want to entertain and the rubbish in which I long to eradicate.

I will always burn for something.  Let me burn for you.

Us Unplugged

We finally came to the conclusion that our lives would be much more fulfilled if we cut ties from the sucker-of-time that is television.  Granted, I don't think Farnsworth intended for his 20th century invention to be labeled as such, but if you are anything similar to myself, this motion picture box steals hours off the clock as I incoherently stare into its beautiful LCD display.


Amy and I's daily routine after coming home from work would be to plop down on the couch as we dug through the one-hundred-and-some-odd digital channels.  Sometimes we would find that perfect show that we both anticipated, but more often than not one would catch a glimpse of a show that only interested them while the other headed off to another room to find something to use up the next thirty minutes.  Our lives, unbeknownst to us, we growing together like two positive-charged magnets.


As we began to notice this overwhelmingly destructive trend, conversations began of how life would be without our talk box.  "Could you handle not watching basketball?"  "We won't be able to watch this is we get rid of cable."  What were we to do?


Well, today completed our second full day without cable t.v.  We have already noticed a huge difference in the amount of productivity we each can yield as well as the influx of conversation time.  One may comment that we have only been going at this for two days, but may I remind you that we have been barricaded in with over twenty inches of snow since Monday night.  One might feel trapped; tortured even. But I have thoroughly enjoyed the quietness of life.  I have also been able to do the hobbies I enjoy the most such as writing music, cooking, and spending time with my wife and little girl.


Life without television, I have discovered, is not as bad as it sounds.  Although I do not think this is an act everyone must adhere to, it has allowed me more time to bask in the riches of life.  Years from now we may go back to cable but as for now I will pass on the television as I have a second helping of time.

A Prelude

Well first of all I would like to thank you for your time and interest.  This blog is a venture in which my attempts for soul-searching, relevant, and life-changing thoughts will come into view.  However, this space will serve more as a way for me to better understand who I am as a human.  We all have tendencies, issues, and personalities that we are constantly asking God to modify.  My hope is that I/you can come to a place that rests with the biblical truth that God has intended for us to breathe, communicate, interact, and live in a way that allows for us to fully rely on Him.  None of us have it together, none of us are deserving of justifiable pride.  Once again, I thank you for your time and interest.  Please know that these posts are written by someone who struggles, sins, and doubts as much as anyone.  However, there is a second chapter to our story and it is the life in which we have been given through Christ.  I know that through our struggles, sins, and doubts God works everything out for His kingdom.

Photo credit: Alexandra Jordan Photography