Thank You

God has been faithful. Once again His grace has proven to be all we need...
And He has taught us to sing a deeper song of thanks through the last week.
So to all those who have prayed for, encouraged and supported us through this venture... A hundred times Thank You.

The real work has only now begun... And just hours after the last track was bounced out to rough mix 1.0 (to signal the beginning of listening, editing, tuning, re-mixing, tweaking, re-listening, re-listening, re-listening and re-listening,) half of my office/studio got packed in boxes for a two week jaunt to Oklahoma (where I am cumbersomely typing this post.)
So, the "behind the scenes" clips will be a bit delayed until I can access real internet. :) But I will post them, notwithstanding rough audio.....

Whatever is worthy is God's gift.
Thanks to you...

Sent from my BlackBerry

Harmony

I have formulated a new definition for harmony...

It's what happens when you mix life and love.

And the harmonies captured here today certainly consist of the love of more than 6 musicians...

Somebody's been praying. 

And we'll always be indebted...

We're at 7 of 14. 

And we're smiling.   

Thanks friends... :)

Reflections...

If I was not formerly convinced that I have no light to shine, no song to sing, and no love to give of my own, I am now. But that is just fine... Why would I want to love with my feeble little heart when I could learn to love with His? Or sing my tuneless human compositions when I could be singing the songs of Heaven?

No comparison.

Now, I've said for some time I wanted to be a reflector... But I've learned something of late...

Not all reflections are created equal. 

Some reflections are worthy

Some things are best absorbed...

Reflect light.

Reflect only light.

Pray for us this week... And stay tuned for samples while our next CD takes shape... :)

Lingering at Sunset...

Sunset. 

My favorite color.

(That'll be on a quiz someday. :))

Few things stop me dead in my tracks more quickly or rivet my soul more completely than God's fingerprints across the western sky.

I always, always linger...

And if I'm compelled to tear my gaze away before the color is gone, my heart lingers. My heart sings...

Sometimes there's a twinge of loss too... After all, the day is gone.

But there's so much to be thankful for.

Well, I watched a "sunset" today.

The last teenager in our house turned 20.

And my heart is lingering. 

Our day started early-- or late yesterday, as the case may be. I got my first "Happy Birthday!" in way before you were awake this morning between blasts of my siren at herd after herd of obtuse elk on the highway.

But it's been a happy day...

Happiest because of the joy we find in a God Who is faithful. . . and sister and daughter who is following where He leads.

And also happy because in the gather darkness that necessarily accompanies a sunset, we have begun to learn things we never could have learned in the light. 

The next dawn is still shrouded in mystery.

But we're all-out excited.

Excited about the altars that await us...

And the promises that sustain us.

And the joy of Jesus being All Sufficient.

It seems I'm seeing more sunsets in life of late...

Saying more goodbyes to yesterday.

But that's ok.

The stars are coming out now.

we kinda went "all out" this year, and planned a once-in-a-lifetime surprise party with beloved friends and neighbors...

Chantée's brainchild, the product of several girls' culinary art and creativity.

Thanks for loving Jesus, sweet girl...

All photos: © Joshua Nebblett

Hope is My Prison, Lord

It's been one of those weeks...
You know, when every 20 minutes there was another I-should-blog-that moment. And indeed, I would have posted more, had the luxury of time been afforded me. 
Instead, I transformed the office into a recording studio/mastering suite and ran through life from summit to valley to next summit (every twenty minutes!) taking it all in faster than I could even journal about it. 


Then yesterday afternoon it all came together. 


I haven't written a song in over a year... (Though I've half-written at least half a dozen)
And it wasn't because I didn't really want to. Just something would get me halfway through, and then drop me. 
I got to the point where I was nearly convinced I'd written my last song. 


Until this week. 


Then I recognized a sweet little melody woven through everything...


- Through the boxes and boxes delivered by our friend the UPS man
- Through fists wrapped around a taught barbed wire while starring into the canyon, and talking to a God that's a million lightyears away, and still within easy reach.
- Through middle-of-the-night prayers for a friend's safety
- Through reality checks
- Through emails not so easy to read  
- Through prayers for you-- my blog friends. (I pray for you by name-- all of you) 
- Through reminders of loss
- Through conversations with my little sister...
- Through hours spent pacing over dust and rocks fighting darkness and finding light...


Here's just an excerpt. Maybe the melody will never be published, I don't know...
But I'll always pray the prayer.


-- 


Water Your dreams my Lord, 
  with tears I shed
Feed hungry children Lord, 
  my promised bread
Send me to darkness Lord, 
  teach me to pray
Through fire or freezing cold, 
  I'll smile and say--
. . . 
Hope is my prison Lord, 
  love is my chain
If I can serve You Lord, 
  my loss is gain
I am a soldier Lord, 
  called by Thy name
Let me walk worthy Lord, 
  worthy of Your name...