Just returned home from playing Friday night through Sunday morning at Church at Charlotte, for a HOPE Cancer Ministry benefit as well as weekend services. Before leaving on this trip I had a very energizing conversation with Will Ackerman in Vermont about the possibility of working together for our fourth recording project next spring. In Charlotte I had a conversation with a lady who had received a CD as a gift from someone and had used the music many, many times in her counseling practice helping clients receive a sense of peace and rest. There were many other special conversations throughout the weekend, including talking with my family back home. Conversations and relationships are gifts to treasure in life’s journey.

The song “May it Be” by Enya from the soundtrack to “The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring” has brought me to tears many times.  The opening words “May it be an evening star shines down upon you. May it be when darkness falls your heart will be true. You walk a lonely road. Oh, how far you are from home.” invoke in me a longing for heaven, my true home, and a longing to treasure life’s precious moments here on earth.

These words from Psalm 23 (The Message) refreshed me this morning . . . “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.”