Every Other Wednesday

On the tour I was blessed to have the opportunity to share a bit of my story each night.  And really share my actual story, not just silly ones as a setup for a tune.  I talked at length about the Neighborhood Fellowship Group my wife and I have been a part of going on five years now.  We meet every other Wednesday.

What I didn't talk about was the opposite Wednesdays.  For about the past three years just our guys have met on those off weeks.  For me, this has been where a lot of the actual dirt-digging has occurred, and it's been amazing.

Recently, we've been taking time to listen and identify the voices that speak to us.  The lies told by the evil one.  Lies like: "you're not good enough", "they just put up with you, they'll never really love you", "you're a failure", "you're a fake", etc...  The list could literally go on without end.

We're attempting to name the loudest voices in each of our heads, and then combat them with the Truth.  So more recently we've been listening, praying and seeking the Truth that answers those lying voices.  Both the voices that speak to us and the voices that speak to our brothers.

Tonight was the first night of sharing the Truth, and it was powerful.  As the Truth always is.

We are loved by a good God, who speaks with bold kindness.  And often He speaks through the believers around us.

I don't need to share the specifics of what was spoken, that's pretty sacred ground, but I can tell you that I'm so grateful for these guys and their place in my life.  The folks on the Samson Society podcast talk about knowing the men who will carry your casket when you die, and how we should let them carry us while we live.  These guys do that for me and I am honored to do it with and for them.

I said on this tour that I believe we honor one another when we share our stories with each other.  And we honor by listening.  One of the first words we ever heard from God were "it is not good that man should be alone."  I think this means more than just having a mate, and I also think the inverse is true: "It is good when man is not alone."

Tapestries in Progress

As promised, here's a (grainy) photo of the studio in its current "tapestries on the wall" phase.  It's still a work in progress, but thankfully I've had actual work to do so my time for decorating has been slim since I moved in.  I think it's a good problem to have.

I'm writing this blog while my wife is watching Gilmore Girls. They talk so fast I can't concentrate.

So, blog day #2.  Starting it at 9:45 pm, so I'm going to get this one in just fine.

Two days back in the studio now and I'm just now getting over the pile of emails and the To-Do list is whittled to a single column.  Feels good.  I also hung up some Indian tapestries that I got at a shop in Houston.  But they're authentically Indian.  I love them.  I'll take pics tomorrow.

Today I started working on some guitar stuff for Jonah Werner.  He cut the record up in Colorado but I'm doing the guitars and bgv's here and shooting them back to him.  I love working this way, cause nobody has to hear the weird stuff I dig through to find the thing that works.  No awkward moments of "What is this guy doing and why am I paying him?"

Tomorrow I'll be writing with Mitch to try and come up with new songs for YoungLife camp in June.  I was initially going to try to re-record a bunch of old songs, but since I'd have to pay a ridiculous amount to use Normals songs (that I wrote) because of a quaint little piece of paper I signed when I was 18, I had to nix that.  I will be doing "After the Last Tear Falls" but other than that I'm going to try to find some new songs to really fit the evening.

As always I'm starting too late with too lofty of a goal, but the Letters EPs turned out great, so I'm going to go for it.  I have some thoughts on ways to provide a copy of these songs to each camper for free, but that's a later post.

Ok, I think that's enough for now.  Entertaining things will follow this week.  I promise.  But last night I stayed up til 2 working on a new AndyO.com and I've been dragging all day.  Time to get these tired buns in bed.

See you tomorrow.

A promise is made.

Will it be kept???

Crooked Creek and a new CD

So this Summer my family and I will be traveling to YoungLife's Crooked Creek Ranch for a month. I'll be the musical artist and will help lead songs and other random things. My wife and children will hang out and have an awesome time.

YoungLife is a high-school para-church ministry (meaning it's not affiliated with any one particular church) and it was a huge part of my life in high school. It's really the place where I met Jesus, though I had known about Him all my life. Through years of conversations with leaders and, particularly through the time I spent at YoungLife's camps, I really tasted the grace and freedom of Christ and his redemption.

It's a huge honor and blessing to get to go back to the place that was so transformative half my lifetime ago and get to help out. We've done a few camps before, back in the pre-children days, but haven't been in six years. And we're thrilled.

I'll be able to sell CDs at the camp, but there's a pretty rigid pricing policy and, basically, you don't make much money, if anything at all. I'm going to compile a CD of the songs I'll actually be doing at camp, as well as re-recording some songs I've written but didn't record on my own (After the Last Tear Falls, Hold the Light...) and just have one CD available. I hope this will make it easier for kids there to decide to support us by picking up one of my records.

Cause, you know, kids are really digging CDs these days...

I doubt this will cover the entire month of lost income, though, so I'm going to try and have the CD ready at least a month or so ahead of time and offer it on here. A lot of the tracks you may have already, the new recordings and maybe a couple new songs withstanding. Hopefully, between selling them on here and at camp, we can at least break even for the month.

We're going to camp because we completely believe in what happens there and are thrilled to be a part of it, and hopefully this little project can help make that happen for us.

I'm still compiling a list of songs I'll be performing there. If you have any suggestions of songs from my records or Caedmon's/Normals/other co-writes you think could work there, or you'd just like to hear a new recording of, let me know! And any other suggestions of ways for folks to support our time in Colorado are welcome as well!

Thanks! You guys are awesome.