Started through the Psalms this morning before my first day in the studio. Finished recording three songs today: 1) Always in Blossom (Psalm 1 . . . you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month. Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom), 2) Across the Skies, featuring interpretations on Pachelbel’s Canon in D (Psalm 19 . . . God’s glory is on tour in the skies, His Word vaults across the skies), and 3) Bread of Angels (Psalm 78 . . . They ate the bread of the mighty angels; he sent them all the food they could eat). Tired and ready for rest. Grateful for life’s blessings and looking forward to tomorrow.

Today I travel to Vermont to begin recording the new album “A Thousand Years,” inspired by Psalm 90:4. It’s hard to believe this will be my 7th recording, and my 4th with Windham Hill Records Founder Will Ackerman producing. There is nothing like his Imaginary Road Studio. It will be a much needed refuge over the next 10 days, as I create and record new music. I discovered in my thesaurus that another word for refuge is sanctuary. What a beautiful word picture for the simplicity, silence, solitude and surrender that is so vital for peace and rest in this hurried and noisy world.

Horatio Spafford wrote the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” in 1873 following the news that his four daughters had died in a shipwreck. His wife Anna survived and sent him a telegram that said, “Saved alone.” Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died. “When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.” I have been working on a new piece of music that combines Mozart’s “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” theme with this hymn to symbolize the child-like faith and trust God wants us to have in life. Horatio Spafford’s story is a great example of this.