Hope of Glory This album was the slow work of 2+ years of recording and editing and then editing some more. Below you will find the track list on the 2019 album release. By clicking on the specific posts on the homepage, you will find some of the inspirations I had with each of the songs. Please listen and enjoy. God bless. Diving Nothing Else to Do Hold on to Hope Jesus, Our God With Us You're All We Have This Little Baby Christ Liveth in Me Old Man Haunting

I wrote this song after spending one too many mornings trying to pray and getting stuck on myself and my failures. One day, the Lord reminded me that it's not about how good I am or what I have done, it's about Him, so this song came out. Because of the salvation He provides, I don't need to straighten myself out first, I just need to come to Him; I just need to turn to Him. There is already a River of Water of Life flowing, I just need to jump in and find that the supply of Jesus meets all my need for salvation and changes who I am. After all, the exhortation in Hebrews 12:2 reads that we are to be “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith...” (New American Standard Bible). Instead of dwelling in myself and my failures, I will turn to Jesus and enjoy the bountiful waters of life that are already freely flowing, as we are all beckoned in another place: “The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let th...

Nothing Else to Do Many of us have heard the cliché that following the Lord is simple but not necessarily easy. Sometimes it is possible to get caught up in thinking that we need to do lots of “things” to be a “good” Christian. Now there will be a time and place for specifics as the Lord will reveals them to us, but a lot of the Christian life is simply following the Lord. Think about many times in the Gospels when Jesus is calling His disciples (Matthew 4:19, 8:22, 9:9; John 1:43, 21:19); He doesn't tell them, “do a lot of Christian-like activities”; no, He tells them, “Follow Me.” This idea is the main theme for this song, “I have nothing else to do, Lord, I will just follow You.” So much of our life we just need to abide in the Lord, follow where He leads, and cooperate with Him as He works within us and through us to make us and others more like Himself. Also, this song is supposed to be fun, so enjoy! ;) Nothing Else to Do 1) There's no...

Hold on to Hope As a Cleveland native, it was just a matter of time before I would write a song about the weather (in case you are not aware, Cleveland has notoriously exceptional weather, where it is not totally uncommon to experience 3 or 4 seasons in a week's time). Several inspirations can come from this charming tendency of changing weather: (a) so many times I quickly change my mind and life-course (just like the weather in Cleveland!), but the Lord Jesus is the faithful Rock that we can stand on whose word and promises is sure (Matthew 24:35); (b) even when it may be gray, overcast and dreary, we know that the sun is still shining behind the clouds, so we can be those who endeavor to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7); and (c) when we consider the words as seeds that were sown into our hearts (see Mark 4:1-20), the rain and sunshine can help those seeds grow to maturity to produce fruit. Specifically in the book of Hebrews, many times we are exhorted to...

Jesus, Our God With Us I was inspired by one of the many names of our Lord Jesus — Emmanuel. About 700 years before the coming of Christ, Isaiah prophesied about a virgin giving birth to a son, whose name would be called Emmanuel  (Isaiah 7:14) , which means 'God with us'. Though there are a number of ways to view the coming of Christ, one of the important aspects is that our God wants to be with us. God is not satisfied to sit on His distant, lofty throne in heaven; no, He desires to be with us, to dwell with us, to walk with us and for us to walk with Him. The book of Ephesians talks about how Gentiles (non-Jewish people) were once far off, having no hope and no God; they were once strangers and foreigners, separated from God's people and promises; but now have been brought near through Christ and His blood, to be included in God's family and house (2:12-22). We may joyfully praise our God for all that He has done and all that He is to us! ...

You're All We Have This song was written specifically as a continuation of Jesus, Our God With Us . When I realize my own hopelessness and helplessness apart from Christ, together with wonderful salvation that is available to me in Christ, I can only acknowledge my deep necessity of Christ and ask for more of Him. You may notice the second of half of the track contains a section of singing prayers on this theme which naturally flowed on one afternoon (with just a few minor revisions afterwards). Though there may be some in today's age that falsely claim there are many ways to come to God, the Bible is clear when Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6, New American Standard Bible); and when the Apostle Peter declares, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), which is the precious name of our Lor...

This Little Baby This song could be considered a song about the incarnation of Christ, but I hope that we can see more than merely “the Christmas story” that is appropriate for little kids during one season of the year. It is true that the Son of God was born of a virgin as prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 nearly 2000 years ago as a fact in history. But more than that, it is the spiritual reality that is affected in every genuine Christian that is born again, as described by Jesus in John 3:3. The fact is we need to be born of God by receiving Him and believing in His name (John 1:12-13), born with His life by simple faith in Christ. The inspiring hymn-writer A. B. Simpson succinctly states in one of his hymns: “Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born, if He's not born in thee, thy soul is still forlorn”, which points to the necessity of Christ's work being applied to your life. As this is the beginning of the Christian life, so it is with its continuation. The praye...

Christ Liveth in Me This old hymn has long been a personal favorite of mine. I love how the chorus repeats how Christ lives in me, and that this is indeed such a wonderful salvation! Instead of placing our hope in so many outward, fickle things, we may set our hope on this fact that we have Christ, that He lives in our hearts by faith (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 3:17), and that we can trust in Him all the way to the end to finish His work of salvation to make us fully like Him (Romans 8:29). Christ Liveth in Me 1) Once far from God and dead in sin, No light my heart could see; But in God’s Word the light I found, Now Christ liveth in me.  Chorus Christ liveth in me, Christ liveth in me, Oh! what a salvation this, That Christ liveth in me. 2) As rays of light from yonder sun, The flowers of earth set free,  So life and light and love came forth From Christ living in me.  3) As lives the flower within the seed, As in the cone...

Old Man Haunting Perhaps you are like me and have tried to do the right thing and have sometimes failed (or, more like just about always!). In my experience, I feel like the old person that I was oftentimes seems to haunt me and gets in the way of me following the Lord. But praise God for His word! We are told in Romans 6:6 that our old man was crucified with Christ that the body of sin could be destroyed. It is a glorious fact that Christ died on the cross to accomplish redemption and make the way for us to be forgiven of our sins. Yet it is interesting that part of God's solution to sin is to crucify the old, sinful man I was with Christ, that I may have a new life in Christ to walk in freedom before Him. You may notice that this song has a melancholy feel initially, but with the bridge there is an introduction of a new hope and a positive turn occurs, which naturally flows back into the opening track of the album, Diving , as we turn away from ourselves and our failures...