Lord, when they laughed at You, I was laughing too... 

I must have been about ten or so when Jimmy Tepper and I decided to climb the hill in my backyard and work our way to the church that always hovered over us. It seemed like only moments later we were inside enjoying the air conditioning, the water fountain, and amazing ourselves with how empty the building was. Where were all the people? Of course this was a weekday but a church this big can’t be left all alone, we thought.

 Being young boys we needed to explore and explore we did until we found…

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I waited patiently for the Lord and He heard my cry... 

My first years as a Christian were not easy, to say the least. Having come from an environment where I was the center of attention, where acting, dressing and being strange were not only the norm but expected practice, this was a huge change.

By this I mean church. I have so many fond memories of my first church home, Church On The Way (Pastor Jack Hayford).  The worship, the loving congregation, the stellar teaching all made it hard to leave a few years later when God showed me that I had to get…

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I can see your sin from here... 

I never expected when I wrote those words that sin- your sin, my sin - would become the centerpiece of my ministry. I had been moved by a pastor’s sermon to write the piece and it challenged every work thereafter to meet a standard of compassion and communication.

When I saw that I was revisiting the concepts of God’s love in light of Christian’s persecution of Christians, I was glad I had found my voice and place yet  I was heartbroken at the need for such a voice and that such a dark place…

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Where there is one person, there is hope for change... 

I think of Noah, outside for days, weeks, months performing a task that everyone obviously found pointless, ridiculous and most likely offensive. The tenacity, perseverance, bravery and hope (fear?) that must have motivated this man not to waver.

Sure, many will point out that he heard from God, so of course he was motivated. To that I offer you a big fat HA! We’ve all heard from God, HELLO! He’s all around us, and in us. He’s given us His word, His spirit, His name yet we flounder and rebel.

No, it…

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See lonely faces, it makes my heart to burn... 

More than anywhere else in the world I have had the good fortune to live, Phoenix to me seems the loneliest of all. Not just for me but the people around me. Since many would argue my observation let me clarify by saying that in this instance by lonely I mean isolated. Arizona seems to be filled with people that moved here to “get away” form something (or someone) more than a place people migrate to build on their dreams.

Without betraying confidences, let it suffice that I’m probably one of those…

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Door closed in my face, dreams sat in my lap, my eyes clouded with tears... 

In 2004 when I was preparing to record Not Unclean, I was short one song and decided to write something special catering to the style of the record more than the message.  I wrote Shouldn’t Hurt Like This in the course of  a couple of hours and made very few changes to it along the way.  To me it’s one of the most interesting songs on the record and was a stepping stone to my experimentation on future records.

I could hear someone laughing, I could hear someone screaming, “Justify my fears”

Everyone has…

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Don't go to sleep angry... 

Kinda hard not to.

Angry at growing older

Angry at not being able to eat anything in sight without getting fat

Angry at allergies

Angry at finances

Angry at people who promise one thing and deliver another

Angry at sleeping alone

Angry at my dog for destroying his plastic pool

And angry at Walmart for not carrying them anymore because they are “seasonal”

 

Now that that’s off my chest…

I wrote Desire when I was in my early 20s for a girl who had spent most of  her life trying to make it as a musician…

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I've got a body... 

And an obsession.

The way it looks, the way it feels, what YOU think of it.

A slowly decaying shell that I think of far more than I ever think of my soul.

Or yours.

 

Sorry, it’s the truth.

My Pagan friends will be quick to point out that we’re wired for survival so out bodies will always be first and foremost on our minds;  what we eat, where do we sleep, who will keep us warm..? Christians know that our war with evil begins and ends in our flesh, so an obsession is justified there as well.

While I…

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I know what it's like to be alone... 

When I first read Leaha McGillivrey’s words that  would one day become this song Human Love I was moved by her awesome use of the obvious. By listing instead of trying to rhyme she created a powerful indictment of human frailty and how it sets us up for failure and tragedy.

Jesus lives in the shadows of this song but makes a grand entrance in its finale. Not unlike real life, huh? Are we not profoundly wrapped up in the human condition in light of the presence of a real God? A bitter man once said…

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Were you there when they crucified my Lord...? 

I have so many memories of this song as I have been performing it for years. I first heard it back in the early 80’s when I was just coming to the Lord. I got my hands on a Tennessee Ernie Ford gospel cassette that literally changed my life. I had never heard music like this: religious (as I called it back then) music with so much passion, heart and conviction.

I remember hearing Were You There and weeping. I did not know it at the time but it was, as a friend recently pointed out, the conviction…

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