If CD sales were a reason to continue writing and performing, I would have given up a long time ago. It's no secret that I'm not exactly "moving the merchandise" when it comes to my product. So, why keep doing it? Why keep writing all of these songs? Why keep trying to tell story after story after story?
The answer is somewhat simple. I've tried to stop - trust me. There have been times, particularly when CD sales are low and there is not another show or performance in sight, that I've wished I could stop writing. But there's something inside of me that won't quit. There's something inside of me that continues to look for the stories in the world around me that move and work to form the billions of parts of The Story that God's been telling us since He created the world.
See, I believe that every follower of Jesus has something in their life that they are given that they cannot escape. I guess the technical term is a spiritual gift. But it's the mechanism that, among several we are given, is the best one that God gives us. It's "best" in the sense that it is uniquely us, creating in us the Gospel in ways that nothing else can. For me, it's been the song. My writing is, therefore, an expression of my heart, the very depths of my spirit, where God works in ways I will never understand while on this earth. And it's that working that allows those 4-minute snapshots of life I call songs to communicate truths of the heart in ways that dig deeper into people's souls than even I can imagine. That's why I write. And I suppose I'm going to do it until my fingers can't fold around the strings of a guitar anymore, no matter how few CD's or iTunes tracks I sell along the way.
My question for you is - what is your gift? What is the mechanism inside of you that God has given to best communicate the Gospel in your life? How do you train it and grow it? Or, have you tried to suppress it?
Let the conversation begin...
