Andrew Peterson.
How I wish I had a better sense of recall.
I
think we first discovered him through the online program
Haventoday.org
How often have I and my beloved been served up true blessing by the widely diverse
and oddly well-timed contributions featured here?
(a rhetorical question that can be blissfully ignored btw:)
It was a series on Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas, complemented by a music video of Petersons'
Dancing in the Minefields that had us first sitting up straight and taking notice.
Imagine that for starters - a marriage referenced as a dance of two in a minefield.
Newlyweds will balk and quickly proffer disgust at such a notion. Been there, done that.
The seasoned longer-serving couples however will smile at its quirky truth. Been there, doing that.
We fell in love with his gift for getting to the heart of the matter in song and story and even made a road trip to Valparaiso, Indiana last year so we could listen to him live on stage.
I'm here to tell you he's done it again with his newest album:
Light for the Lost Boy
But don't take
my word for it. Click the link and decide for yourself.
You are urged however, to take your time with it, to listen carefully to the words, to let them steep slowly in your soul.
Andrew Peterson is equally gifted as a writer - working on book four of the fantasy adventure series
Wingfeather Saga. I couldn't put them down, now joining the throng who wait eagerly for the conclusion of the story.
(truly? does it have to end?)
To be so doubly gifted seems almost cruel to the rest of us.
Conversely, the rest of us can simply take up and read or take up and listen - finding ourselves a place of respite in a crazy world and a peace to pass on to those around us.
Well, I call it a peace but it is perhaps more aptly termed a restless sense of grace. Such as you might eventually discover in reading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy or least this commentary of same:
A Sudden Joyous Turn
When I look at you, boy
I can see the road that lies ahead
I can see the love and the sorrow
Bright fields of joy
Dark nights awake in a stormy bed
I want to go with you, but I can’t follow
So keep to the old roads
Keep to the old roads
And you’ll find your way
Your first kiss, your first crush
The first time you know you’re not enough
The first time there’s no one there to hold you
The first time you pack it all up
And drive alone across America
Please remember the words that I told you
Keep to the old roads
Keep to the old roads
And you’ll find your way
You’ll find your way
If love is what you’re looking for
The old roads lead to an open door
And you’ll find your way
You’ll find your way
Back home
And I know you'll be scared when you take up that cross
And I know it'll hurt, 'cause I know what it costs
And I love you so much and it's so hard to watch
But you're gonna grow up and you're gonna get lost
Just go back, go back
Go back, go back to the ancient paths
Lash your heart to the ancient mast
And hold on, boy, whatever you do
To the hope that's taken hold of you
And you'll find your way
You'll find your way
If love is what you’re looking for
The old roads lead to an open door
And you’ll find your way
You’ll find your way
Back home
Enjoy exploring this artist as we have.
I think it's time for another road trip with my beloved.
