This Very Moment – Being vs Doing

April 2, 2014 By Stanton Lanier 8 Comments

Click above to listen to This Very Moment (from my 8th album Open Spaces) as you read. If you enjoy you can stream, download music, or find sheet music at the following links: Open Spaces CD, MP3 Album, Piano Book, This Very Moment PDF Sheet Music, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora.

Be. Be still. Be still and know. Be still and know that I am. Be still and know that I am God.
This way of praying through Psalm 46:10 is a great way to pause and allow your “being” to refuel all the “doing” that lies ahead. Repeat the phrases above a few times while listening to the music. Consider pausing a few times throughout your day to reflect on Psalm 46:10. Gives thanks for life’s blessings that come to mind. Remember a time that God helped you through, or maybe even a time when He did something amazing. Cherish life’s moments today. What area in my life needs a little more “being” before I keep “doing?” “…Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life…” (John 5:24, The Message)

Humpback Whales Echoing Brilliance

March 31, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

When is the last time you saw something brilliant?

What does this have to do with humpback whales? The connection was a “brilliant” experience for me. In high school and college years I worked several summers at Adventures Unlimited, the largest canoe rental in the Florida panhandle. In recent years they built one of the top zip line tours in the southeast through pine forests and along the Coldwater River. Jack, the owner, and my boss, taught me and all his employees the value of hard work and customer service. He also made sure we laughed and had fun in the process. He was, and still is, a great leader and visionary on a person-to-person basis, with creating unique outdoor adventures, and with preserving natural beauty. He is also a lifelong friend.

I got to see Jack last December when he and a friend attended one of my concerts in the area. My performance included Singing in the Ocean Deeps from the album Open Spaces. Afterward his friend said, “I have a friend in Tonga, in the South Pacific, who is a world-class ocean videographer. Do you want me to see if he might want to combine his film with your music?” Below is the result…

Sometimes we see something brilliant, literally, like this amazing video of a mother humpback whale and her calf. Sometimes we “see”something brilliant when we take notice that something good wasn’t just a coincidence. Like what may happen through a friend. Sometimes we can sense that God was the author of “brilliant” as expressed in Psalm 8 (The Message)…

“God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name. Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; toddlers shout the songs that drown out enemy talk, and silence atheist babble. I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way? Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods, bright with Eden’s dawn light. You put us in charge of your handcrafted world, repeated to us your Genesis-charge, made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild, birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps. God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.”

This is the passage that birthed Singing in the Ocean Deeps. God was brilliant as the inspiration came, as the piano keys began to sound like the ocean, and as the French horn was added in the recording studio to symbolize whales singing.

What is an experience that echoed “God, brilliant Lord” in your story?

Scoring Big – A Basketball Discovery

March 28, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Discovery (from my album Unveiled) as you read. If you enjoy you can stream, download music, or find sheet music at the following links: Unveiled CD, MP3 Album, Piano Book, Discovery PDF Sheet Music, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora.

What is an awesome “mountain top” memory you could call on today for encouragement?

Since this weekend is the Sweet 16 of the 2014 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament (it’s okay if you don’t care), I couldn’t resist sharing a story from my past that I call on from time to time. To set this up, you have to know I was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, home of the North Carolina Tar Heels. This gave me a love of ACC basketball, and I would later go to college at Georgia Tech during some great basketball years (1982-1986). I played high school basketball in the Florida panhandle — what I like to call “football country.” We had a Florida state champion football team. Lots and lots of basketball practice, wanting to play in the ACC one day (which did not happen), and having some great teammates at Milton High School, led to two favorite “mountain top” sports moments. My junior year I scored 30 points in a game. I was never more “in the zone” than that night, going 14 for 19 from the field and 2 for 2 from the free throw line (there was no three-point line to reward my long range). My senior year I didn’t have much playing time, but was blessed to be on a team that made it to the Class AAA Final Four for the state of Florida. We lost in double overtime in the semi-final, but it was still a mountain top. During college and early career years I learned that life would be a roller coaster, filled with some mountain tops, and more valleys. When my age matched my career high point total for a basketball game — age thirty — I discovered that the true meaning of success involved surrender, rather than striving to “score big.” It was the year that Joshua 1:8-9 would really take root in my life, and forever alter my game of life. “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” There is a basketball player inside me when I compose, record, and play concerts on the piano, seeking to offer God’s peace, rest, hope and healing to listeners. My prayer is that everyone who encounters the Scripture-inspired melodies would discover or re-discover a mountain top moment. What is one of your “mountain top” memories, and how can this give you confidence and courage today?