So to share another facet of my creativity, I decided to tell you a bit today about a recent opportunity that I had to lead worship at Regent. My husband, Jacob, and I have an amazing band called "Crossing Currents" which consists of him and I on vocals, him on acoustic guitar, our friends Dan, Ben, Tim, and Chandler on bass, drums, electric, and electric respectively. Chandler just recently joined our band and is the newest member as the rest of us have been playing together for almost two years now. When we were asked to open for Christian songwriter/singer and recording artist Matt Maher, we jumped at the opportunity. Since school only started two weeks ago, we basically had only three weeks together to write the original songs and practice after a whole summer off for this huge concert! Kind of intimidating but God was definitely on our side! The concert was this past Thursday night and by Sunday, we still had only one original song which Jacob had pulled off his archives. Even that one was not satisfactory and we ended up changing all the lyrics and the melody two days before the concert. But on that Sunday, before we had one of our final practices before the big day, a miracle occurred. Jacob and I slept in for once as he had been working 14 days straight for Campus Ministries and had not had a day to rest in 2 weeks. After we woke up, we took a brief trip to Guitar Center so Jacob could buy a pedal for his guitar. While we were at the store, I went to play around on the keyboards (even though I really can't play anything). While I was sitting there in the piano room of the shop, Jacob peeked his head in and said "I love you" and winked at me like he always does. As always, his loving words inspired me and I began to fumble through a few chords on the keyboard while singing these three simple words. While they have so much meaning, it just did not feel like enough to express what I wanted to tell God that day. "I love you...like the moon loves the stars??? No...that's not right... the moon doesn't really love the stars... but it does something to the ocean doesn't it? It draws it..." So out came the first two lines of my song which I scribbled on a receipt I found in the bottom of my purse...
"You draw me like the moon draws the tide..."
When I got home, the tune was still on my heart so I went to our music room to continue my fumbling with our own keyboard. I have tried writing songs so many times and while lyrics often come quickly, I often am never completely content with them. I try to put them to music but my lack of ability when it comes to instruments leaves me frustrated and tuneless. Yet that day I found that my pen was flying across my old notebook and my fingers found all the right keys to play. Within an hour, I had a beautiful song of worship laid out before me and was playing it completely through from beginning to end, verse, chorus, and bridge. Done. Jacob came in to adapt it to the guitar and we left for our practice. The band thought it was a hit and quickly caught the groove of it. By Thursday, we were on stage in front of 800 people but only One member of our audience really mattered. As we worshipped our hearts out, I was amazed by what God had enabled us to do... Matt and his band were soooo very nice as were his reps from Sony Provident. We could not have had more fun and after everything was over, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for an awesome ending to our night. My parents had driven up to listen to us and my mother-in-law surprised us by hitching a ride down on Wednesday. What an amazing experience! If you have not heard Matt Maher's music, I highly encourage you to listen in and buy his songs! Some of his hits include "Alive Again" and "Love Will Hold Us Together" and he also wrote "I Will Rise" (sung by Chris Tomlin) and "Your Grace is Enough" (sung by pretty much everyone). One of my favorites that he sang said something like "You're making my heart a garden" and then another song I really liked said "We're less than perfect, more than flesh and bone." Oh, and besides the fact that he gave an amazing concert and worship night, it was also amazing that he even came all the way out here to be with us since he is getting married THIS WEEKEND! Congratulations, Matt and thank you SO much for spending a night with us. I. AM. INSPIRED. ....
For those who are interested, here are a couple shots from the night as well as the lyrics I wrote (or that God wrote through me). Don't worry, I've already copyrighted them :)
- Crossing Currents -
A view from the wings...
- Matt Maher -
Worshippers!
A view from the balcony...
And here's the new song :)
Deeper than Deep (Moon and Tide)
Written by Anna Wright, Jacob Wright – Crossing Currents
Verse 1:
You draw me like the
Moon draws the tide
And I can’t resist your grace
And though I try to run
I know I can’t hide
For you find me in the secret place
Chorus:
Deeper than deep, higher than high
Lord, I have seen how wide is wide
Farther than far, closer than we know
Your love is sure, your love, O Lord, is mine
Bridge:
And if the world stops turning
Or just a sparrow falls
Lord, you prize me more than all
My heart cannot contain
The wonder of this love
It is too wonderful for me
