When We Need Hope 
One of the greatest ways God revealed himself to me was during a time when I was dealing with depression. When We Need Hope was written out of and in response to grief, loss, and broken relationships.
When I was going through this period of time I would pick up my guitar and just play to soothe my overwhelmed heart. I would play worship songs because I wanted to be in God’s presence. I wanted Him to comfort me because nothing else could. I wanted Him to speak to me in hopes of some sort of revelation or closure.
Worship music ushered me into the throne room of God and I felt at home there. I felt accepted...I felt loved...I felt like God was committed to me. I felt healing in all the areas that I had been grieving over. However, God hasn’t answered all my questions and He is sometimes mysterious and distant. Learning what it means to be a Christian has been confusing at times and even frustrating. When hearing God’s voice is difficult, my own faithfulness sometimes falls short and I lose perspective.
What draws me to God is not Him blessing me with a picture perfect life...because that is clearly not the case...but it is His commitment and His faithfulness. The story of God from start to finish is a story of God’s love for the world and the message is of hope and newness of life.
To say that Jesus is my Savior means He is saving me from the introspective mentality that brokenness has power over me. He is saving me from broken relationships and comforting me with one that truly gives me hope and this hope is Jesus. I need to constantly remember that there is more to this life than what I see. There’s love and forgiveness that brings life to the dead in me.
I Will Go
I Will Go was inspired by John 21. In the passage Jesus had already been resurrected and He finds His disciples fishing....out of all places! The disciples had just spent the last 3 years with Jesus and they go back to fishing!?! Because it’s something they know?... or maybe because it’s something they were comfortable with? Jesus calls to them from the shore and tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat and they catch an enormous amount of fish. They begin to realize that it was Jesus who was calling to them. Jesus then tells them to take the fish they just caught and to come have breakfast. I interpreted this to mean that Jesus wants to be the source of nourishment for the disciples. The last place we saw this group eating together was at the last supper. I believe the author of the gospel really wants us to see that Jesus is the source of life. Next there is this dialogue between Jesus and Peter. Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” With each response Jesus responds by saying if you love me then love what I love... people! He tells Peter to take care and feed His lambs and sheep. The last time Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” Peter says, “You know that I love you!” The dialogue ends with Jesus telling Peter to follow him. I Will Go captures this scripture and focuses in on Peters response to Jesus, “You know that I love you.” This response is a part of our story as we follow Jesus too. As we learn and have experiences with Jesus in our life we begin to realize He is the source of life. If we revert to something comfortable or fear binds us from truly living, Jesus will initiate with us and call us to follow him. Sometimes like Peter, it’s to places we might not want to go! I believe Jesus asks us the same question He asked Peter, “Do you love me?” I hope that in our communities we understand the realistic and practical truth that following Jesus can sometimes be hard, but I hope we also realize that Jesus is the source of life. To truly live, we need Him. It has been my prayer that Jesus leads me because I’m lost without Him. It has also been my prayer that Jesus completes me and becomes the change in me that I cannot do for myself.
Our God
Our God was initially inspired by Psalm 51 and was actually titled “Psalm 51” for a number of years. When I was a senior in college I went to an InterVarsity camp over spring break. In one of the seminars we were asked to do a creative project that expressed something we had learned about God during our time at school. I decided to write a song that focused on why we worship. I had first heard Psalm 51 in Bible study when I was a freshman at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I distinctively remembered the text, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart.” Throughout my years at Poly, while my idea of worship was being molded, I used this scripture as a foundational reference point when I led music for various worship gatherings.
As I reflected on Psalm 51, the hope and desperation of the Psalmist cry for a merciful God surfaced. The verse lines flew solo for about 4 years until I read Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. In the book, Shane, has a section about Jubilee that was brilliant. The old lyrics and the new ideas merged together and started to form the chorus. Since Easter was coming up, my mind drifted towards the resurrection and Jesus’ victory over death. The empty tomb is salvation's song restoring us to God. Our God is the hope for the nations and His love is the unfailing foundation! Our God is a piece intended to be a foundational reference point for congregational worship. It draws us back to Jesus, reminds us of His faithfulness and rejoices in the resurrection.
In the Image
I started writing this song in response to how I felt about prostitution. I remember the sallow eyes of a woman on an exotic billboard breaking my heart. I thought about her being objectified and her helplessly believing this was who she was made to be. I wished in that moment that I could speak healing and restore her self worth.
A year later I was attending a conference and Paul Tokunaga was speaking on Hosea. Paul had written this beautiful narrative of the story in a current cultural context. At the end of the sermon he said we have all given our love towards things that don’t deserve our hearts. This really struck a chord with me. Whether it’s material things, relationships, career success, or our reputation, we sell ourselves to the highest bidder. However, God takes the initiative in restoring our image by dying on the cross. He loves us! He made us and He doesn’t make mistakes. We need to recognize that Jesus is the highest bidder on our lives and let His words speak healing into the way we view our worth.
I have had my own struggle with self image. Sometimes I have looked in the mirror and said, “Who can love that?” Or when I think about my mistakes I tell God “I’m not worth it.” None of us can claim to deserve the kind of love Jesus offers or His commitment that continually initiates and fearlessly pursues our hearts. That is what is so amazing about Jesus! His death on the cross becomes the redemption of our identity that was lost at creation! With every bit, every piece and every broken insecurity we are accepted into His Kingdom! With time I hope you come to see your beauty through God’s eyes because you are beautifully made, unique to the core and loved beyond measure for simply being you.
Born in His Heart
This song is about being adopted into God’s family. My sister Amy and her husband, Adam, were unable to have a child after many years of trying. Once they made a decision to adopt they started a long and patient process of waiting. This eventually brought Hailey into our lives. We wouldn’t be the same without her. She is a bundle of energy, joy and is a brilliant little girl. In anticipation, I started to write this song before Hailey was born. Six months after adopting Hailey, Amy became pregnant with Ryan! These two little kids mean the world to us! They are God’s proven faithfulness! We prayed for a miracle and we got two! I rewrote the lyrics after being inspired by this amazing compassionate work of God.Even though Hailey wasn’t born in my sisters womb she was born in our hearts. One of the great truths in the story of God is that we are all adopted into His family. We were born in His heart before time began and He’s been waiting to show us the world.
The publishing and writers share for Born in His Heart will be given to Mosaic(mosaic.org) for families looking to change the world by opening up their homes and adopting precious little children in need of loving parents.
