You know me let someone else do the thinking part. I have tossed around several idea's about this blog and decided to go with the creative title that John came up with for his article on my website (with a slight twist). I don't think its plagiarism if you say you're plagerising...is it? 

I thought about telling you about some of the new things coming up for this ministry in the Fall, or perhaps telling you this truly incredible story that happened to Jennifer this week - a necklace that has been missing from the family for over 20 years is now back in the family, and I have to interject that we figured out that though the necklace was ALL about her family - the only reason it is BACK in her family is because of MEEEEEEEE!!! Can you believe it! I will tell that story soon, but for now I'm just still not believing it - just truly amazing. I thought about just being "real" with you and talking about the difficult week I've had. Though being "real" with you is not an issue for me, writing about it would probably only be therapeutic for me and would not be worth your reading time. I thought about writing something about the Olympics - lots of material there and analogies with the Christian life, but now that I've sat down I decided to write about one of the new songs that Darren and I have been working on.

No artist is going to put forth the effort to record a song that doesn't help him say something that he really feels driven to say. Even fun, light-hearted, songs done for the shear enjoyment of them have to be "fun" enough to commit to the process. And oh yea, we are working on a fun one now. The first NEW song that Darren and I have worked up is called "Who Am I." Most of you have heard it done by Casting Crowns. The words and idea's mostly plagiarized straight from scripture (just kidding), there is something about the marriage, if you will, of the lyric and the music, for this song that just made my heart weep the very first time I heard it. What is really weird about that is that I couldn't tell whether my heart wept out of sadness, or joy, or whatever emotion in between. You see, I'm a guy and identifying emotions is not something we practice, and so we're not that good at it.

Now that Darren and I have pretty much finished this song - complete with vocals, sax, and video, I have to tell you that I still can't directly identify why this song effects me the way it does except to say that "It's more than just a song to me." Although it doesn't say anything that I don't know and haven't heard, for some reason I hear God trying to remind me of Himself through it in ways that I've not experienced in a long time. This songs strikes the core of my struggles and victories in sooooo many ways. It is interesting to me that the few times I have included it in one of my recent concerts, the comments I get about it, though positive, are so varied. People tell me what they see and hear in that song and the video, and it amazes me how differently people relate to it. It stirs different thoughts and emotions in different people and the interpretation of what they see and hear is quite different. It seems to be "more than a song to alot of people" I can hardly wait for it's release.

I have decided to release it on itunes soon. You will be able to download the video and audio from my website through itunes soon. I will let you know when that happens. I am excitedly anxious to see what you think about it.

In His Grip!
Cliff