I’ve often been asked when I started writing music and how I learned, and it’s hard to say because it’s kinda like how I learned how to speak or walk or trust Jesus. People around me showed me it was possible & out of some combination of necessity, curiosity or boredom, and as a gift from God, it just happened. And much like my first steps, my parents could probably give you the play-by-play better than I could. A couple of memories come to mind though:



I’ve struggled with insomnia for most of my life and until about middle school, it seemed normal to me. I remember one night, when I was about 6, lying awake listening to the chorus of dogs outside, the rhythmic rain on the roof & whistling trees and making up a song to go with it. I think my Mom might have transcribed it the next day, but I couldn’t tell you any of the words except “drip drop”. Don't even know if you could call it a song ;p



The first “real” song I wrote was at about 7. As a pretty socially awkward kid, I’d had a hard day at school and on the long bus ride home, I kept thinking “there’s no place like home” probably in my head from The Wizard of Oz (still a classic favorite). And I wrote a simple 3-chord song with an unintended meter change and a few imperfect rhymes. Again, my Mom was sweet enough to record it and I think we still have it tucked away in a file somewhere.



Since then, I've written easily hundreds more- none of them notable and most would make me blush if anyone heard them, but song-writing has become kinda like walking to me. I don't do it for its own sake- even I go for a walk- I go to get outside, clear my head, or to get exercise. I walk because it helps me get somewhere, and I write music because it helps me know Jesus better. Emotions come and in my attempts to deal with them, God pours out music. I honestly don't even feel like I can any credit for it. I just happen to be there when the magic happens.



In the last year or so, God has brought incredible healing into my life more deeply than I could have imagined. It may or may not be related but I haven’t written any new lyrics in awhile. If this season continues, I might not write any lyrics again and you wouldn't find me complaining. : D



Instead, I’ve been digging into the rich reservoir of poets & hymn-writers with wisdom more faithful than anything I’ve composed. It’s been sweet adding more contemporary melodies though I hardly feel like I can add much to the work of these legends.



In my life the gift of song-writing is a testament to the fact that God does not put anything in our lives that he doesn’t give us the resources to manage. In our hurt, he gives us language (whether or not if feels sufficient), in our burdens he gives us strength, and when we have nothing left, he gives us himself. If we lose everything in this world, like Job, I know that Jesus Christ is enough