Here’s a CRAZY STORY!!!

Last night, I had a dream where Pete Shambrook and I were leading worship together at some event, and I was hanging out backstage, right after sound check, and vamping on this chorus I was writing to lead out of “Lord, I Give You My Heart”. Anyway, I woke up and had the song still in my head! I got up (4 a.m.) and scribbled it down…chords and everything….from the DREAM!

Here’s how it came out in real life…

Something UPBEAT, finally! …sorry for the dreary streak…

OK, so I KNOW your dying to know more about that GRANOLA in the last post….so, here’s the recipe!!!

This comes from my mother’s super-secret recipe stash (through way of Aaron Fox). All five of us boys grew up on this stuff, and here it is published for the first time ever:

Fox’s Granola

…this is the Dry Mix

6 cups Oats
1 cup Powdered Milk
1 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup sesame seeds
1 cup Slivered almonds
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup bran
1 cup coconut
(now mix this all together in large turkey cooker like thing)

Blend in a blender:
1/2 cup Canola Oil
1 cup honey
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup water
(now mix EVERYTHING together)

Put in oven at 325 degrees / stir every 15 min. for 1 hour
Add dried fruit to taste

YUMMY!!!!

So I’m renting a car last weekend for a short tour through Central Cal, and I got the Toyota Prius… I didn’t know anything about it, but quickly became a SUPERFAN! Yah, I’m totally nerding out on this thing!!! In fact, I had to show you how it turns on:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGC5wxJiad4]
I loved getting awesome gas milage, driving in the CARPOOL LANE all the time, and feeling all “green” and everything. The NorCal spirit so overtook me that, before long, I was even eating home-made Granola in the car…

OK, another simple one that I just can’t seem to shake… I’ve had this around for several years. I just wrote the second verse while I was recording the demo, right on the spot, and I’m pretty stoked about it! Here ya go:

Here’s a different kind of tune…I’m pretty excited about it, but not sure how to make it “come alive”, you know? This is my super leather “lord-of-the-rings”! songwriting book I got for Christmas, and this was one of the first songs I wrote in it. I got the idea while driving late at night, and then got home and put it together. Here’s a rough idea:

A song celebrating God’s amazing forgiveness and the challenge to pass it along…

Many people ask me after an album has been out for awhile, “hey, when are you going to make a new CD?”. Well, I am now going to attemp to answer that question in a more thorough way than ever before: One of my intentions with this site is to document, song by song, the making of our next record - and you get to be a part of it! For the next several months, I will be writing songs, recording demos of them, talking to producers, recording the band, printing the artwork, and throwing the ALBUM RELEASE PARTY, and taking you along every step of the way! Ready???!

OK, here’s my first demo to share. It’s a little tune that got in my head on a long drive to Santa Cruz. Inspired by our church’s (www.ROCKHARBOR.org) message series and what God’s been teaching me these days. It’s pretty simple, so I’m not sure how it will work on a full-blown CD, but here it is to throw into the hat.

Send in your comments!

Justin

This May 15, Heidi and I celebrated 14 years of marriage! What an amazing time it’s been! We’ve been so thankful realizing that God has led us through such green pastures of life. Four crazy, wonderful children - joy, peace, and love in our home…and the sense that we are still growing with a long way to go!

We got away for a couple days to my favorite little So Cal city; Encinitas. Heidi took this pic of me at Pannikin’s- a small taste of Santa Cruz in the south — we had a nice dinner, and I ate a squid of some sort! Yah, baby!

Cheers,

Justin