My Challenge

I’m not sure how to start this blog post other than to say…. I’m trying to start writing again, both in the blog as well as music.  February seems to be the month that groups do challenges.  In the past I’ve done the Family History Writing challenge as most of you know from reading my posts, and just recently I became acquainted with a challenge to write 14 songs in 28 days.  My problem with these challenges is that I tend to produce with inspiration versus perspiration and have an underlying belief that anything produced other than through inspiration is somehow “less than” good.  That’s not to say I haven’t perspired (or worked long & hard) on something because I have, it’s just I need the initial idea to come from a place of inspiration rather than writing for writing sake.

 So having said all of that I will move off the subject and leave it only to say I’ve recently been challenged by an anniversary of sorts. 20 years ago, this year (2017), Simple Truth produced its first album “The Truth.” Another scary fact is that I’ve been playing guitar and writing music for close to 42 years!   Ahhh, here is the inspiration and spur I needed to get “back in the saddle.”  Tell me, where has the time gone?  Shortly after the album’s release an idea was raised about writing a companion devotional, which was started back during the days when I was hand writing things, and did not have a computer (that’s how long ago it was,) but never finished. Some of the handwritten notes were put on computer and saved to a floppy disk, which thankfully I’ve discovered.

Why am I telling you this? Because I’m challenging myself over the next few months, yea, even the year, to write the devotional and new songs, but I need some help.  First I would ask for prayer for perseverance and Godly wisdom to complete this task.  Secondly, for those of you familiar with our music, I would love to hear your insight concerning how the songs speak or have spoken to you.  If you aren’t familiar I’d encourage you to check out Simple Truth’s website www.simpletruthmusic.net or Facebook page (Simple Truth Music) to hear excerpts from our 3 albums.   Over the years many people have told me stories about how one of the songs touched them or how they’ve heard their small children singing our melodies; I love those stories and would love to hear any you may have.  It is those stories that will inspire and assist me in writing the devotional.

Just one further FYI - If you wonder where I’ve been since July of 2015, I have still been writing, only I’ve been, teaching, writing and developing PowerPoint’s at work.  As is evident from my disappearance things began to “ramp up” around July of 2015 and just recently slowed down.  Please don’t forget to comment here or message me with any and all stories about how the music has touched you. Thanks ahead of time!  Hope to write soon again!