back from vacation...ready for reality

i'm back from vacation and so far, this week has already been busy busy busy. i'm grateful to have a job in this crazy economy though and especially grateful to be able to do something i love.

over the vacation i wrote a lot, especially and surprisingly some country songs. how bout them apples, right?! life is really funny, and circumstances always seem to shift and change and evolve into new opportunities. over my break i got a chance to go to nashville, tn and spend time at a songwriting workshop. there were hundreds of crazy-talented writers there learning from the pros and i don't know how but i got inspired and started writing country.

one thing i've truly had my eye on is the tempestuous state of our world, literally. today another earthquake not to mention the last few months of tornadoes, tsunami's, famines and natural disasters. put all these alongside our current political, economic and cultural unrest and i think it's safe to say everybody's affected. not to mention the quiet aching inside so many of us...what will happen next?

i do believe we are experiencing something scriptural, something beyond us and yet intimately tied to who we are and how we live. one day i want to explore the idea of 'end times' further, but for now, the simplest thing i can say is that in times like these a ton of love and grace is needed. wherever we go someone is hurting--whether they show it or not. you and i can't save each other from the struggle, but we can ease the load by being present. now's the time to dig in and serve. now's the time to be gentle, patient, kind and thoughtful. now's the time to ask: how can i help? we cannot turn away from the suffering that nature and bad decisions have brought upon us all. now's the time to face reality for what it is and leave behind our proclivity to worry only about ourselves. it's an exciting time to be alive and to give life away. and for whatever reason, the creative juices inside me are speaking through country music.

"Solid Ground", Written by Monty Hobson

Verse 1:

You have to learn the hard way

Aint no one you can trust

But far from passing the blame

Remember who's the worst

Pre-Chorus:

Cause everyone will let you down

But no one will more often then you yourself

Verse 2:

So what to do with this thing

We can only take so much

How can we keep believing

If the problem’s always us

Pre-Chorus 2:

Cause everyone will let us down

But no one will more often then we ourselves

And what are you to do

When you can’t live without yourself?

Chorus:

We gotta love, forgive

We gotta keep on pressing in

We gotta pray for wisdom, cause no one knows the way of the wind

We gotta stand, we’re in a fight

We gotta live cause we’re all dying

We gotta love each other till there aint no fear around

We gotta love each other till we stand on solid ground

Verse 3:

Times keep getting crazier

There’s no one who ain’t touched

Everywhere is shakier

Mother earth displays disgust

Pre-Chorus:

Cause every storm is breaking down

The world we thought we knew that we could trust

And now the ground is shaking round

And we can’t even tell which way is up

Chorus:

We gotta love, forgive

We gotta keep on pressing in

We gotta pray for wisdom, cause no one knows the way of the wind

We gotta stand, we’re in a fight

We gotta live cause we’re all dying

We gotta love each other till there aint no fear around

We gotta love each other till we stand on solid ground