“When I was young, I fell in love with story.” It was the first line that caught my attention. I knew that feeling – that falling in love with story. I’ve done that. But then the words went on, and struck even deeper chords than my love of story: the tension of roots and wings, of settling and adventuring. It […]
Review of Walking Song Published at Curator
A few weeks ago, WORLD magazine published a review of Ron Block’s new album, Walking Song. While, in essence, the review was positive, it was, quite possibly, one of the most dismissive I’ve ever read. The reviewer seemed to be saying that the promotional material for the album, which talks about the process of creating it, should be ignored and the […]
Jenny Youngman’s The Girl With Good Intentions: A Consideration
A few weeks ago, my friend Julie asked if I’d be willing to listen to Jenny Youngman’s new album, The Girl with Good Intentions (released August 1, 2013 on iTunes and for sale on her site) and write about it somewhere. I agreed, and then ran into some existential angst and general busyness that delayed my doing so. A note […]
Rabbit Room Listening Party – Andy Gullahorn
There’s a listening party going on over at The Rabbit Room today for Andy Gullahorn’s new album, Beyond the Frame. I heard the song that inspired the title almost a year ago – “Grand Canyon,” the first thing I ever heard from Andy – and it has remained with me since. If the rest of the album is half as good […]
Nothing is Wasted: Redux
Over a year ago, I posted the lyrics to Jason Gray’s song “Nothing is Wasted” on this blog. I wrote: This has become a theme of my week – not because I’m going through anything particular, but simply the truth of it – and its applicability to past and future events. Its been, for lack of a more somber word, […]
There’s a Drought in My Hymnal
This morning, on Facebook, I posted the following as a status update: So, I always feel a bit perturbed when we sing hymns of the early 20th Century in Church. It is not that I dislike singing hymns, just that I’ve never thought the first half of the 20th Century particularly fertile soil for hymn-writers. I think to myself, “There […]
The Blind Writer
I had a professor once who said, “The writer is the one who points and says, ‘Look.’” I’ve internalized that idea so deeply that I can no longer recall who said it – the words are now mine, and I repeat them from time to time when I’m called upon to say what it is I do – I point. […]
Don’t You Want to Thank Someone
I heard this song for the first time about a week ago at Andrew Peterson’s Light for the Lost Boy release concert, and it’s been in my mind ever since – not in the “stuck in my head” sense so much as the “stuck in my soul” sense. I’ve been washing it through my mind’s ear over and over again… I can’t […]
Nothing is Wasted
This has become a theme of my week – not because I’m going through anything particular, but simply the truth of it – and its applicability to past and future events. Its been, for lack of a more somber word, “refreshing” to remember that Christ redeems sorrow and pain. The hurt that broke your heartLeft you trembling in the darkFeeling […]
Mystery
A child was born on Christmas DayBorn to save the worldBut long before the world beganHe knew His death was sureThe pain and strife secured Mystery, how He cameTo be a manBut greater stillHow His death was in His planGod predestined that His Son would dieAnd He still created manOh, what love is thisThat His death was in His hands […]