Because most of my previous 7 albums have been focused on particular topics, certain songs that I have composed over the past ten years have never made it onto an album. So here is a home for these songs. I still have not been able to record any of my music professionally; I hope you can enjoy it anyway. So here is an eclectic mix of emotions I've felt over the past 10 years expressed through the sounds of instrumental music as well as different lessons my Lord Jesus Christ has taught me, expressed in lyric songs. May they serve to strengthen your heart with the peace and joy of Christ and the challenge of His Word.

SOUND

Just after I got my Delay effect pedal, I piddled around with making echoes, and this is what I came up with. I can't remember what the 14 stands for, but I think the piece is about 120 seconds long.

Somehow I missed the Coffee and Pepsi generations. What I really love on a cold day is A Nice Cup of Tea and quiet time to think and pray.

On Lookout Mountain, it can rain for two weeks straight and you never see the sun. It was always such a relief when (usually on a Sunday, for some reason) the clouds would roll away and the sun would once again bathe the fresh earth. This recording was made in two passes, one laying the rhythm and chord structure, and the second standing in front of the synthesizer, guitar in hand, and switching back and forth between them playing melody lines.

I began raising financial support for my mission work in 1990, and that was one of the most difficult things I've ever done! I couldn't even draw any salary until I had raised 50% of my budget. I finally told Paula to quit her paralegal work and I'd go get another job. But before I could find one, God pulled us over the 50% mark, and we could make ends meet without either of us having to get another job! That was cause for celebration!

Christmas 1986, my family gave me a nice used Takamine guitar--the only guitar I've ever had since, and this was the first song I composed on it. The name is a statement of the crazy goodness of the Christian faith--death is not a terrible thing because it leads us into God's presence. It almost seems inappropriate, as inappropriate as the time that Laudon Williams and I were called down for pulling antics in a graveyard during a high school choir tour...

(Matt Shadid on String Bass) I never could get the hang of dancing, and I've never dreamed of dancing, but I DO daydream, and, despite my dislike for heavy 3/4 time, this IS a Waltz. It just came out while piddling on a synthesizer--It sounded aweful, so I've re-done it. Perhaps that's why it's taken so long for this piece to find a home...

Our fourth child was born last Fall, and we named him Peter Justin, which, being translated is, "Rock Righteous." We didn't intend to name him that, but our oldest son said he wanted the baby's name to be Peter, and one of our guests named Justin said, "I don't see why you don't name him Justin," so, there it was, and we kinda liked it. I must give some credit to Christopher Parkening for some of the chord structure of this piece, which I heard on his album Simple Gifts.

I made this arrangement based on the original tune composed by Adoniram Gordon.

Despite the simplistic summaries people give of the book, Ecclesiastes has fascinating, thought-provoking wisdom in it. Chapter 8, verse 6 says, "For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter when a man's trouble is heavy upon him." (NASV) When I'm feeling troubled, it is often my procedure to play music. (I see now that this verse is interpreted rather differently in different English translations, but let's not get into that...)

Fredrick borrowed my 4-track one night and brought it back to me the next day with these recordings he had made of his electric guitar. I really liked this one, so I mixed it down in stereo while trying to play a bass guitar line at the same time--It would have been better if I had had four hands. Fredrick named it, so you'll have to ask him what it means.

By Antonin Dvorzak. This was basically an experiment in playing a theme using different instrumentations, so during the recording, I was constantly fumbling from one instrument to the next. In addition, I did it on a two-track recording system, so it was almost impossible to control instrument volumes. I feel that it really gets out of hand in the middle, but oh well, I needed another song to fill this album.

The more advanced a civilization gets, the further the distances that its people travel. When I was little, I didn't get much outside of the Cahaba Heights area of Birmingham, AL. I wrote this song in college when I realized that, for the rest of my life, it would probably be a long-distance phone call to call "home."

In the Bible, the Name of Jesus is frequently associated with peace. It is true that when we submit ourselves to His Lordship, we no longer have to worry about anything because we realize that He controls everything perfectly. Having a job without a predictable salary has provided plentiful occasions for anxiety, yet through it all, we have Peace from our Lord.

One of the music albums I grew up with was by a Christian touring group called "The Living Sound." On their first album is an arrangement of this Bach pastoral piece, so I've borrowed heavily from that arrangement.

As I was putting this album together, I was going through my first year at Sangre de Cristo seminary. The peaceful outdoorsy environment and the cyclical nature of the classes are reflected in the piece as I spontaneously layered a few different instruments on the 4-track.