A writing night.

The adventures in writing continue...

I stayed up very late last night and ended up writing almost two songs. The first song is the "almost". The bulk of it is done, but I want to go over it with a rhyming dictionary to make the images deeper and the text less obvious. It's inspired by my Dad's sermon yesterday. When he started to write his sermon, he was inspired by the hymn, "We are a race of travelers". He wanted to say how God is with us as we travel the world and life. But then Katrina hit, and how does that not find it's way into a sermon? We're all thinking about it, and, in simplest terms, travel is affected. But what about the awful traveling of people from hotel roof-tops into helicopters? What about the traveling of family members who are escaping the area to go to their homes in other states and countries? And, of course, what of the journeys ahead of those who have lost their jobs, their homes, their towns, their families? What "travels" are ahead of them? Dad talked about the Bible passage that tells us not to worry about clothes and food. God dresses the lilies of the field, and His eye in on the sparrow, so of course He's watching us. But when those families were sitting in those horrid sports domes, surrounded by garbage and violence, unsure of what tomorrow would hold, do you really think they cared about the lilies and sparrows? It would be a hard Bible verse to hear in that moment. And, yet, that was Dad's point. Sometimes, a Bible verse may not be what we want to hear, but we should try to keep it in front of us at all times - to know that God is always with us - to know that even when we are surrounded in darkness and racked with fear - God is there. We may not see Him. We may not feel Him. We may not even believe in Him. But God is there. God is always there.

How awesome is that?

So, that's the start of one song.

The second song is really exciting for me as I believe I have written my first real Southern Gospel song! It's a Christmas song called, "Welcome to Bethlehem". Rhythmically, it feels like a convention song, but I can't say that it's one for sure. But I absolutely hear it with quartet harmony. Sooo exciting! I didn't start out to write a Southern Gospel song, but I guess God was in my pen last night. I'm going to arrange it in four parts myself ( I'm so proud to be able to say that! ) and bring it to my choir rehearsal on Thursday. They'll be my "test group" - not just to see if they like it, but to see if my harmonies work out as well!

Oh, and it's pretty sure now - I'm going to attend the Write for Jesus conference. Very excited!