One of the challenges we bloggers face is time, if you stick at it for any length of time, there will come a period when having enough time to write your blog become sparse. That goes for any form of creative expression, unless you are fortunate enough to do it professionally. I have been through one of those seasons recently but fortunately have managed to maintain enough creativity & will to continue to create to at least bring you some poetry fairly regularly. I think that is the key to getting through these seasons, intentionally keeping your desire to create at the forefront of your mind. Then, even if it is not as often as you would like, or the lengthy deep thinking post you were hoping to write, you will still find enough time a few times a week to create something, at least that is how it works for me. This life is amazing when you take the time to look around, inspiration is everywhere, from a warm cup of coffee to a cold rain drop, beauty & creative inspiration is just waiting for you to cease it.
What has been keeping me busy this time? I’m glad you asked J early in the summer my beloved daughter asked me if she could play soccer this fall. Overjoyed I said yes, this is something I had been hoping for since she was born, but consciously had not pushed the game on her. I wanted her to find her own love for the game, if she were even to like it at all, the last thing I wanted was to be the Dad forcing his kid to play the game he loved. So, to cut a long story short, she is playing soccer now & I am coaching her team. We practice 2 nights a week, those days I don’t take a lunch break to make sure I can leave early enough to get there, then they play their games on a Saturday. To add to that, the itch to put my boots back on has become too strong and so for the first time in 7 years I too am playing soccer, practicing once a week & playing once a week. So, while it is for a good & very enjoyable reason, writing more than a few poems has not been possible recently & will probably remain a struggle until mid-November.
Now for all the Brits who might be upset as me calling the beautiful game soccer, don’t fret, my adopted country has not got to me quite that badly yet 😉 I use the name for ease of translation, but also I know & understand it’s origins. You see, the word soccer does not come from people who refuse to call anything other than the NFL football. Back in England during the mid-1800s when rules were being set for the various codes of football, the 2 most notable games that came out of that were Association Football & Rugby Football. In order to differentiate between these 2 new and popular codes, the terms Soccer taken from AsSOCiation and Rugger from Rugby were coined. Rugby of course down the road split again into Union & League – the proper version 😉 So, now when someone asks you about soccer, you can be assured that it is actually a piece of Victorian English slang & not an offensive American misnomer.
Another down side of being so beautifully busy is that after trying to call myself out to get back into recording music, I have barely had time to do anything with it. Although I did acquire a new acoustic guitar, a PRS (SE) Angelus, which is a beauty of an instrument, I should write a review on it or something soon. I took a couple of vacation days at the start of last week, to rest & unwind, the plan was also to use them to record some music. I made a start, but not much progress, the first day I did nothing, the 2nd day I recorded a scratch track for the next song I will be recording & started to work on the drums. Unfortunately I appear to have never considered how the drums should sound for the track. Between trying to get the tempo right & finding at least a foundation midi file to me to mold I lost a bunch of time & got a headache. Still, it is a beginning & my goal is to have it done by the end of the year. Not exactly a tight deadline, but it is at least realistic! This will be the first song I record with Cubase 7.5, I recently took advantage of a significant sale & upgraded from Cubase Essentials 5 to the full & newest version. The initial impressions are very favorable & I am looking forward to really getting to know it.
Today I had the privilege of leading worship at Solomon’s Porch the weekly homeless ministry put on by The Lords Hands & Hearts. I didn’t get to do it in September due to my coaching commitments so it was a real pleasure to be there today. I actually met a volunteer there who is a music producer & he invited me to go to his studio sometime to see what we could create together, which I found very exciting (& slightly scary). Unfortunately with everything else that was going on there on the day we forgot to exchange info, still, it was a nice boost that someone like that had good things to say about me. I am sure I’ll see him again soon, I should probably start writing some music, or putting some of these poems I keep writing together into songs, that was always the plan anyway.
So there you have it, I’ve been busy but in a good way, life is going swimmingly & for the first time, maybe ever, I feel like an effective time wrangler, not someone holding onto a piece of driftwood on the ocean of time. It’s almost like the peace of God has filled me up & despite all of the “me” that tries to get in the way, His love and supernatural joy make me realize that “it is well with my soul”.
Be blessed my friends & make time to create, what you have to day. No matter how brief is beautiful and important.
Here’s a video of the aforementioned song that I am working on. I did it in a hurry for you so please excuse the clipping. I wrote this at the beginning of the year. The song is supposed to prompt the listener to ask them self the question of where do you turn when things are going wrong. I believe having a good answer to this question is the key to a happy life. For me it is Jesus, what is it for you?
The idea for the final sound is to be fairly folksy but more Americana than full on Mumford & Sons. The initial idea for the song came to me while listening to Breathe Me In by Jared & the Mill. I was driving in the car with my family at the time & had that annoying thing of having to try & remember what had just happened in my mind until I got home. Next time I’ll just have my wife write the lyrics down or something lol. I have really been enjoying the recent resurgence in acoustic folk / blue grass type music. This was my attempt to write in that style, I feel that lyrically it is one of the best songs that I have produced.
Here is the Jared & the Mill song for you to enjoy
unhiddenlight 
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