Counting the Sand of the Sea

August 30, 2016 By Stanton Lanier 4 Comments

Click above to listen to a portion of Counting the Sand of the Sea as you read. Visit climbtothesky.com for links to the new music video, CD, MP3 Album, Sheet Music, iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify.

What is your favorite seashore memory?

My 10th and newest album Climb to the Sky has two songs drawing inspiration from Psalm 139. The first is the title track, and the second is called Counting the Sand of the Sea, which came from verses 17-18…

“Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful! God, I’ll never comprehend them! I couldn’t even begin to count them—any more than I could count the sand of the sea.” (The Message)

From 6th to 12th grade I lived in the Florida panhandle, about thirty minutes from Santa Rosa Island, part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. The water is a beautiful blue green, and for many people, perhaps their favorite element. However, for me it is the sand — a glorious white color, with an extremely fine texture. There is just nothing like it between your toes.

The gulf island seashores are one of my favorites, but in 2015 a new seashore took first place, when I was able to see the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. The combination of cliffs, sand, and sea creates breathtaking views, and stirs the heart with God’s beauty and wonder.

Hillsong United is a worship band based in Australia, who wrote one of today’s most popular songs of faith titled Oceans. The chorus sings…

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior.

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Will you join me today, in remembering a favorite seashore, and in meditating on Psalm 139?

Dawn and Dusk Take Turns Calling

August 16, 2016 By Stanton Lanier 2 Comments

Click above to listen to a portion of Dawn and Dusk Take Turns Calling as you read. Visit climbtothesky.com for links to the new music video, CD, MP3 Album, Sheet Music, iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify.

What is your favorite — a beautiful sunrise or a beautiful sunset?

This is not an easy one for me. I love both, don’t you? If I must choose, I would make a beautiful sunrise a slight favorite. I have seen several over the past year. The most memorable were from an ocean shore or from a hilltop or mountain view. Maybe the awe and wonder of a sunrise comes from being rewarded with such beauty, after making the extra effort to rise early in the morning. Or, maybe it is the grace and hope, the new beginnings, symbolized in every sunrise.

Sunsets don’t require us to rise early, but to patiently watch and wait at day’s end. They can be just as beautiful, or sometimes even more beautiful than a sunrise. As long as you can see the horizon, with an unobstructed view, there is always a chance to behold a wonderful sight. The awe of a sunset could come from the sense of ending a day peacefully. Perhaps we have worked hard on a project or rested well on a vacation. Or, maybe it is the grace and hope in storybook endings, in finishing well, embodied in every sunset.

One of the new pieces on my upcoming 10th album Climb to the Sky is titled Dawn and Dusk Take Turns Calling. I loved this phrase the moment I came across it in Psalm 65. Even more suitable, the psalmist writes what dawn and dusk take turns calling — “Come and worship.” Perhaps this is the nudge we are feeling when a beautiful sunrise or sunset takes our breath away.

How does Psalm 65:8 below speak into your story today?

“Far and wide they’ll come to a stop, they’ll stare in awe, in wonder. Dawn and dusk take turns calling, ‘Come and worship.’” — Psalm 65:8 (The Message)

“The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.” — Psalm 65:8 (NIV)

Climb to the Sky – Part 1

August 9, 2016 By Stanton Lanier 8 Comments

Visit climbtothesky.com for CD and MP3 Album pre-orders, and October 13th Atlanta release concert tickets. For the time being, I hope you enjoy listening to Taken by a Cloud from my 5th album Unveiled in the background as you read…

What does the phrase “Climb to the Sky” bring to mind for you?

As a young boy I loved to climb trees. Growing up in North Carolina there was a 100-foot tall sweet gum tree in our neighbor’s yard, across the street from our house (I have written about this before — you can read here if you like). My friends and I climbed to the top often, but I also remember being up there by myself. There was something about the quiet, the breeze, the view, and the perspective there was something, some One much greater than me. I didn’t know it then, but Psalm 139 (the inspiration behind Climb to the Sky) would be waiting for me in the future to describe this sense of awe and wonder.

Whether climbing a tree, visiting the mountains, hiking a high trail, or looking out an airplane window, the bigness of the sky is fascinating. What is your favorite “big sky” experience? Fluffy clouds, breathtaking sunrises, captivating sunsets, and starry nights have brought unforgettable memories of the sky in my faith journey. It is not the creation though, but the Creator who offers us a personal relationship through Jesus and His death on the cross to save us from our sins. He had the ultimate climb to the sky in Acts 1:9, which inspired the piano-violin duet Taken by a Cloud.

I hope these thoughts have stirred some of your life’s “climb to the sky” memories, and they give you hope in whatever you are facing today. The “Sky Maker” made us too. He, our heavenly Father, loves us more than we know, and has redeemed us by His Son’s grace and forgiveness. It takes child-like faith to believe, but I have found Him faithful in showing me the way and watching over me in all things. Trusting Him during our quickly passing days on earth prepares us for the ultimate “climb to the sky” and eternity with Him.

What verse from Psalm 139 speaks most to you today (see below)?

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there!” — Psalm 139:1-8 (ESV)

“God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too—your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful—I can’t take it all in! Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! — Psalm 139:1-8 (The Message)