recording grace

I woke up this morning to more snow. The snow is not the news. Neither is the fact that I woke up. That I woke up this morning, however, is a bit surprising to me. I got in pretty late last night from three intense days of recording in Nashville. I was sure, and honestly, hoping, that I'd sleep at least until noon or later. But I didn't.

The last two or three recordings the Bishops made were based pretty much on a theme. We hadn't always taken that approach early on, but later we found it was a successful formula and helped the record companies and distributors market the recording. The last recording we made together, Stories, was probably the single best recording we ever put together. Every song was built around the idea of sitting around and sharing stories of faith, struggle and victory.

With an even more determined mindset, I wanted to do the same with my first solo recording in over ten years. When I started talking with the folks at Daywind Records, I had to work hard to convince them that what I wanted to try and do was worth the risk. They acknowledged a little concern, but ultimately felt good about the idea of putting together a record that makes grace and mercy the only thing you see - or hear. I'm grateful for their confidence in me. And now that we've chosen our songs, arranged the music, recorded the tracks, and put some singing on it, I'm more convinced than ever that this was the right thing to do.

Grace is just so huge. I mean, without it there would be no Southern Baptist Convention, no Roman Catholic Church, no Nazarenes, Methodists, Pentecostals, Mennonites, Adventists or anything else that teaches unconditional mercy. But grace is even bigger than all of the different flavors of Christianity. It's bigger than can be described in a sermon, a song, a book or a denominational creed. It goes and comes in so many different directions. It is given to us. We give it to others. There is the grace that sees past our sins to save us. The grace that sustains us in trouble and worry. There is even a grace that orders our steps. Grace is huge.

At first we were worried we wouldn't be able to find ten songs that say it the way we wanted to. In the end, we were disappointed that we had to keep it at such a limited number. We heard so many fantastic songs that gripped us, blessed us and made us shout. But we had to choose the ten that we felt said it best within the context of the complete recording. We could do quite a few records on grace. I'm really anxious for you to hear what we are putting together. A lot of my singing friends are joining me on several of the songs. I've been praying that God would make this the record that reaches the used-to-be believer. I've also been asking Him to use it to drag all of us who've been satisfied in our state-of-grace complacency, into the more dangerous places where grace can really abound. That has to be its real intent anyway.

We still have a bit more work to do on the recording. But grace will remain the focus, the message, the intent, the theme. I woke up excited about it way too early this morning.