Some friends called a few hours ago.  Someone set their house on fire last night while they were sleeping.  Two other homes in our town were set on fire as well at around the same time, by the looks of it.  Fortunately, the fires burned out on their own, but my friend's house has a large burn mark from the foundation to the roof.  It's right outside their 6 year old's window. 

 

It chills me to the bone to think that maybe these people knew full well that a family was sound asleep inside.  It makes me sad to think of what my friends are going through right now, as they tuck their kids in to bed.  It scares me to think there are people in this world who want to hurt or kill other people just for the fun of it.  And, it makes me really, really mad.

 

Times like this are a very sobering wake up call for me.  In one moment it could all be gone.   It stirs me to the very core of my soul.  I'm not proud to say that as soon as I got off the phone, I felt nothing but fear and fury.  My first thought was that we are at the mercy of ruthless people who choose to sneak around at night and start people's homes on fire.  It was the same feeling I had 6 years ago as I watched two planes fly in to the World Trade Center buildings.

 

But my second thought is that NO, I'm NOT at the mercy of ruthless people.  I am at the mercy of the Merciful One.  My life is His. Someday, I pray His sovereign care for me is my first thought in the face of scary news. 

 

Pray for my friends.  Pray for their children to sleep peacefully.  As for me, I want to sit on my porch all night and keep watch, but instead I'll pray to trust that God is already doing that for all of us.

I read once in one of my songwriting books about the worth of getting away from your writing for a while.  I think it was in The Artist's Way, but I'm not sure. This person was even talking about the benefits of getting away from listening to music for a while.  Sometimes, we get so glutted in our passion that we lose creativity.  We get clogged...overloaded so to speak.  Well, I was talking to Simon about it on the phone the other night, and he likened it to a colonic cleansing.  He's right, even if the mental images it evokes are disturbing.   Thanks for that, Simon. :)

 

Anyway, the "blogonic cleansing" time is over.  I'm ready to blog again.  Thanks for the friends who were very "faithful" (aka ginormous pests--Bill Filer you were the worst) to ask me repeatedly about when I'd get back to the blogging.   I appreciate all of you so much, and am a little bewildered at times that people find my glorified drivel worth reading.  (I say "glorified" because I can put a pretty background behind it.)

 

So, this past year has been really rough.  Most of you know that.  I went from writing 45-50  songs in 06 to probably less than 10-15 in 07.  Life got hard, I actually COULDN'T write for a while because of how mentally/spiritually weighed down I was.  God was demanding that I deal with some more important issues in my life.  It was a desert time on many fronts.

 

Well, the rain is pouring, and I don't know what to make of it.  God is blessing me in areas I had surrendered as hopeless causes long ago.  However, it's becoming very apparent in my character that I'm a terrible receiver.  God has answered prayer regarding my husband's career issues, ministry at church, in our marriage, with my kids, in decisions regarding writing, and with some hard relationships.  In the middle of it all, I feel a little suspicious, and wonder why I should receive all of these answers in such an amazing way.  I'M PATHETIC!!!!  God is good though, and so let it rain!

 

One cool example before I go clean toilets (do you see the underlying theme through this blog?  I'm troubled...*sigh*...or maybe it should be *phhhht*  ha!)  Last Wednesday I had been with a couple of writer friends all day.  We had talked about writing, written, and then I got to sit in with them during their worship team practice. It was so fun.   When I arrived home that night, I opened the car door and then started fumbling with all of my stuff.  (computer, purse, jacket, sunglasses, carmex, Beano...oh wait...etc)  Well, the keys were still in the ignition, and since the door was open, the car was beeping every half second.  As the beeping continued, I started writing a melody in my head to the beeping.  In that moment, I stopped what I was doing and just sat in my car, and thanked God.  It feels good to want to write.  It feels good to have melodies and hooks floating around in my head again. It feels good that something as everyday as a car beep could inspire me to write.

 

Maybe the swishing of my sponge in the toilet will produce a killer melody in my head.  Or, maybe I'll just have a cleaner toilet. 

 

Blessings to all of you!