Song ideas come from all different directions. Sometimes the idea is completely fictitious in nature, and sometimes there are elements of truth in the lyric. Some stories have to be designed, and other times you just sit back and watch them unfold-
Several years ago, at Northside Elementary school in Bonner County, Idaho, my wife Susan and I sat in the gym and watched our then third grade daughter Heather, along with all of the other students perform a musical program honoring the many American veterans in attendance. The whole room stood up as one of Heather’s classmates, dressed in his boy scout uniform presented the colors. The kids sang about our heritage as a country, and how America came at great cost, a cost shouldered by some of the very men and women seated on that basketball court with the rest of us that morning. Men and women who at some point in their lives had raised their right hand, and when asked if they would defend the constitution of The United States Of America, even to the point of death, answered, “I will”.
As a nation, we build memorials out of stone to remind ourselves, and the generations who follow us that freedom comes at a very high cost. We fashion markers to honor the sacrifices made by those who indeed answered the call with, “I will”. In God’s word there is more than one instance where God instructs the people to lay stone upon stone to mark an event that had taken place so that generations would remember.
While the grandfather seated in front of us that morning was wiping the tears from his cheeks, I turned to Susan and asked, “Are you catching what’s happening here”? As she answered yes, I began to grasp the fact that we were seated in the precense of living stones, living memorials who could testify to battles fought, wars waged. Men and women who had witnessed first hand the stagering price of freedom.
Over the next month or so, I did what songwriters do. And as I had the privilege of sitting at a piano, on a glorious sunny morning while looking out over the blue Pacific ocean, I put the finishing touches on another song. As I glanced down the hill from my position, what did I see? A United States Marine Corps flag flying fast, in a free wind. Fitting I would say, very fitting.
Living Stones…
Listen to LIVING STONES- http://www.reverbnation.com/open_graph/song/175216 45
