I've been challenged to think about leadership this week.  It reminded me of the song I posted on 3/8/11 -- "Kingdoms Will Fall" based on Isaiah 2:2-5.

It really summarizes my theology:  Go out with the life God has given us, light up the world, be generous and feed others' bodies and souls, lead them to the Mountain of God.  Leadership is exercised in many ways.  One of my favorite leadership movies is U-571.  It's about a man rising up from just wanting to be one of the guys to being the one responsible in a crisis situation.  Gary North says "leadership always flows to those who take responsibility."  I adhere to that. 

More than anything, thinking about the song again, our exercise of leadership in every form or fashion should show facets of our heavenly Leader and lead others up to him.

It has been very busy the last seven days with a lot of out of town travel.  I got to do a little lyric development for a new song while I was away and missed getting to practice guitar and work on my audio workstation.  I did a little catchup on the new song after getting home last night while doing a mound of laundry.

Tomorrow I will be heading out again -- this time to Nashville for Spring Training.  I'm looking forward to that event -- two solid days of advice and how-to from hit songwriters hosted by NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International).

I've had the pleasure of making some new friends this week, suffered some heartbreak and gotten to enjoy my relationship with the Father of creativity.  Maybe I'll write a song about it.  Seems that's how some songs come to be.

I ran across an essay on a favorite commentator's site the other day.  This commentator was elaborating on the value of belonging to a community of craftsmen and he pointed to the last three paragraphs of this transcripted speech by C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia, etc.) given a number of years ago.  It is of particular interest to me as a songwriter.The essence of the message is this.  Many of us want to be stars, to have notoriety -- to be in with the "in" crowd.

Problem -- the pursuit of fame, fortune or notoriety can take you places in your life that you never really wanted to go, effectively robbing you of what you wanted to begin with.

Solution -- if you focus on excellence in your craft, doing great work, you will eventually find yourself surrounded by others who are excellent in that craft.  You will find yourself in the "in" crowd for that craft almost by accident, because the great ones know who each other are and they seek to be together.

I always remind myself at my day job that it's about the work, not about the title.  The same applies in the songwriting craft.  Excellent work is what it's all about.  If that is there, the rest will take care of itself.

One of the statements I run across almost invariably in the profiles of gals who are looking for a match on internet matchmaking sites is something similar to "likes to laugh" or "makes me laugh".  Guys, has the humor gone out of your marriage?  Get it back!  One of the lines in my new song "Forever My Man" is "He's the one who make me laugh, the one who gives me pleasure, the one who makes the simple things a treasure."  This mirrors the -- shall I say -- universal expression of what a gal sees as a relationship need.

Now, I'm all for serious.  There is plenty to be serious about, and it is a necessary thing for guys to get hold of, too.  But... leave a little room for laughter.  You can listen to "Forever My Man" by clicking on the Tunes link above.

It has been a productive weekend.  As I posted the other day, I went to the Little Rock regional meeting of NSAI.  I enjoyed contact with other writers I have gotten to know plus met several new ones, got a last "set of ears" on my song "Rubbin' Off On Me" before sending it off for a demo and heard a very good presentation by Rob Perry -- one of the owners of Songramp.com -- on how to writer for Film and TV, very interesting!

On the way, I got to give Ricky Skaggs "Mosaic" CD a good listen.  I'll post a little more about this great piece of work soon.

In addition, I had four new plausible song ideas and started writing one of them.  All in all -- a great weekend.

I had to miss the meeting a month ago, so I am so-o-o-o looking forward to this afternoon's monthly meeting of the NSAI Little Rock regional.  It is always a pleasure to be with other writers and be involved in hearing, learning and critiquing.  I will take "Rubbin' Off On Me" for critique as a kind of final "gatekeeper" check for last minute changes before I demo it.

It's been a busy week but I'm posting a new worship song tonight - "Kingdoms Will Fall" based on Isaiah 2:2-5.  Hope you enjoy and benefit.

Kingdoms will fall around us
Kingdoms will fall
Kingdoms will fall around us
Everywhere
Lift your eyes to God's mountain
Above them all
Kingdoms will fall around us
Everywhere

Going out with a message
Kingdoms will fall
Going out with his life
Everywhere
Going out from God's mountain
Into the night
Bringing the world around us
Into the light

Teaching the world around us
Kingdoms will fall
All the kings of the earth
Everywhere
Feeding the world around us
Feeding his sheep
Lead them up to God's mountain
From everywhere