This is (hopefully) the first of several videos over the coming year of what I think are my best songs. Many of you know that I have played guitar and written songs for about two decades now. I think some of them are very good, others not so much. Different songs are liked by others, again…others not so much. 🙂 [simfany]303975[/simfany]
I have thought for some time to share some of what I think are the best songs. Many of my students have never heard the music, and even fans of our old band Anodyne probably don’t remember them all. Some of the songs to come are Christian worship songs created for use at my church Numinous, while others are songs I wrote while being the lead singer of the band Anodyne. Anodyne was a creation with some men within my church and ministry, and we had a good run from 1999-2009. We had the fun of playing locally around Orlando in some fun little clubs like Holly & Dolly’s, Johnny’s Rockin’ Bistro, the Fringe Festival Encore and The Haven. We also played for some churches and Christian gigs, including being an opening band for Mercy Me.
This song, The Man and The Cross, emerged from a true story…I was really sitting at a traffic light. It was at the busy intersection of 17/92 and 436 in Orlando, near Casselberry and Altamonte Springs. Anyway, as I sat there, this guy walked by with a huge cross on wheels. You could see everyone staring, a few people snickering or wondering what to make of this. I couldn’t get it out of my head, wondering just how much I was willing to be that open with my faith.
Well, as the song says, two days later my boss sent me way up north of Orlando, past Apopka on highway 441. You can take 436 in Orlando to where it merges with 441 and keep on going towards Mt. Dora. So, as I was racing by at 65 mph, I sure enough saw the exact same man sitting on the side of the road, “resting his dogs” (dogs–an old slang for feet). As I went past him, I really thought about stopping, more to talk with him than to offer him a ride. I just wanted to know his story. I didn’t. Not sure if I was just thinking about my job errand or perhaps embarrassed about what he would ask me—“why don’t you carry your cross this high?”
I came home that night and wrote the lyrics. As I wrote, I thought about one of my favorite hymns, “The Old Rugged Cross” and that killer line “and I love that old cross, where the dearest and best, for a world of lost sinners, was slain.” The entire thing came together in less than an hour. I can still remember debuting it at church and it became a favorite at the church in our early years of ministry.
I hope it touches your life.