well, the contest was a no-go. i ended up being a little surprised by some of their finalist choices — there were a few guys i thought for sure were shoo-ins that didn’t show up in the top 5 at all. it would be interesting to see the overall scores for everyone that entered — i wonder how far down the list i ended up? i suppose we’ll never know. in any case, congrats to mr. jeremy poland, who ended up being the winner – you can check out his original entry here. you done good, sir.

i had the interesting experience of playing ‘you are never really gone’ at the funeral for my wife’s grandfather a couple weeks ago. most of you know the song was written when rick’s (a friend of mine) father died. it was written with him and his family in mind, but also drew on the experience of having two other friends of mine pass on in college, andrew clayton and justin fisher. but even though the song was written for a funeral i had certainly never played it at one. it was quite an honor. the experience of having something you write mean something to people reminds me why i wanted to write in the first place. to know your words have brought even the slightest measure of comfort to someone in pain, or the slightest amount of honor to a life well-lived is a humbling and fulfilling thing. i feel a sense of purpose, and it makes me grateful for whatever gifts i’ve been given to that end. i’m no good tunesmith on my own – God’s in there, nudging, prompting, whispering….enabling whatever good comes out. i love it.

with that said, the nudgings to want to start writing again have been popping up more frequently recently. i tried to figure out why i hadn’t started yet, and part of it was feeling disorganized. so last night i got all my previous bits together and sorted them out — set aside stuff i’d already used and stuff that was….well, crap…..and kept the bits that might still be useful. now i’m organized, and the obstacles to start writing again have been cleared. so all that’s left is inspiration, and then we’ll see what comes out. if you read this, you’ll know when (and if) anything noteworthy does.

other than that i’m just getting ready for the concert later on this month with warren barfield, which should be cool. it’s in carrollton, which i know is far for a lot of you, but if you’re around there or bored, come on out. it’s for a good cause, as well. for more info on the event, click here. if you want to go ahead and get tickets, you can click here.

anyway, more to come.