Rain

Most of you who know me know that I spent my early twenties rolling around with a band called The Pedestrians.  I played guitar, wrote, and provided the occasional sour note on background vocals.  We weren't amazing, but it was a great time and we got to see a lot of cool places while meeting some lifelong friends along the way.  One of those friends is Tony Brown.  We first met Tony when he was booking for a great little club in Texas called The Underground.  Throughout the latter years of the band's tenure, Tony became a close friend who was a huge help in managing, promoting, and mentoring the group.

A few months back, Tony and I cooked up a crazy idea.  What if we got back together for one more show six years later?  If I remember correctly, I think I just shot it to Tony as a joke, but lo and behold, he has us booked within a day.  If it started as a joke, it became a reality pretty quick.

Once it was settled that all of us except our rhythm guitarist Noble was in (schedule conflicts), I knew we had to get some fresh material going.  Of course we'll play our old tunes that people know, but there was no way I was going out there without some new songs superior to those that were recorded back in like 2000-2003.  Luckily, the songs just seemed to come.  Sometimes they don't and it frustrates the crap out you as a songwriter.  This wasn't one of those times.

Within about three weeks,  I think we had five or six potential new tunes for the show.  At this point, we have four that have made the cut for the reunion show this week.  We could have worked up more, but practice time has been at a premium and we'd rather focus on a few and nail them than a bunch and sound like a bad cover band covering our own songs.  One of my faves is a tune called Rain.

When I was working on new songs, I thought back to a song called Reach off one of our previous albums.  That song was inspired out of an instance in which something dumb (but harmless) I said set off a little controversy among some pretty conservative folks who we were networked with for promotion/booking purposes.  We basically felt like they were making a big deal out of nothing and wrote the song about how quick people are to tear others down rather than to extend grace and overlook things that are not of eternal significance anyway.

Rain kind of hits on a similar idea, but is more personal in that it points the finger back at me.  In the years after the band, I got a real job and a house, joined a local church, and basically "grew up" as some would define it.  However, as I looked at my life since the band, I realized that I'd actually become much like the folks I was calling out in Reach.  I noticed that I often tended to speak out against situations, groups, institutions, or individuals who frustrated me with the self-righteous attitude that I was honorably "standing up for what's right" or even "proving that I loved others by speaking brutal truth."  In all honesty, I'd just become pridefully negative.  Rather than being an encourager who spoke words of life and blessing to others, I typically saw folks as on my side (right) or on the other side (wrong) and endeared myself to them or bemoaned them accordingly.  I'm not saying we shouldn't confront people with truth (if that were true, Paul would be in serious trouble), but the problem was the ugly motives that were hiding behind my words.  I felt I could throw what I saw as truth in people's faces without actually having a God-inspired love for them in my heart.  I thought I could convert them to my way of thinking without really giving a rip about them.  Thus, I found myself tearing others down instead of building them up.  As James says, salt water and fresh water don't flow out of the same spring, and as I look back, I just see too many times my mouth was spewing salt water pretty dang liberally. 

I could explain further, but I'll just let the song speak for itself.  Here 'tis.

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Rain (The All-Too-Familiar Saga of Debbie Downers and Negative Nancies Everywhere)

God bless your soul

A good man is hard to find

Critics come a dime a dozen

When will you learn

Throwing stones is not a hobby

Every bridge is not to burn

Your compassion-colored wine tastes like blame

Do my ears deceive me

When all I hear is rain

Pouring down

We’re all clinging to the raft

While you’re flooding the whole town

The clouds roll in whenever you do

And everyone is wishing that you

would come in from the rain…

Another tongue untamed

Why bother holding back when

Sticks and stones just come so easy

Such a cute little game

Sounds so bad to call it discord

Let’s just call it “honesty”

You preach love but in your wake you leave pain

Do my ears deceive me

When all I hear is rain

Pouring down

We’re all clinging to the raft

While you’re flooding the whole town

The clouds roll in whenever you do

And everyone is wishing that you

would come in from the rain…

Please know I’m listening,

But it’s so hard to hear you

When all we hear is rain… 


The good news is that in my age I've learned enough humility to admit things like this.  I'm not always right and every little frustration is not worth drawing a line in the sand and polarizing all those around me.  It's my prayer that when people speak of me, they'd call me an encourager, not a firestarter. I pray that I could live out the following words:

Ephesians 4:29-- Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

James 4:11--  Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

Matthew 5:9-- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.


Oh, and if you're in Texas this Friday, you should definitely come see the show (or just make a sweet road trip that you hadn't planned on until right now).  I'm totally biased, but the new songs are really strong...strong enough that it's hard to get fired up to play the old stuff.  The back catalog kind of pales in comparison musically and lyrically.  Kim Scowden, our keys player and co-vocalist has written one of the most beautiful tunes we've ever played and I'm chomping at the bit to perform it live. Will post some vids from the show next week.  Wish us luck!!!