I can still sing you every word nearly 10 years later!) You take turns picking titles and there’s no going back! We once had the title, “Green and Yellow and Pink and Stuff” (okay, that was me)… and my song was TERRIBLE, but my friend wrote one that is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. (And yes, you have to do it no matter how crazy the title is. I believe it was actually stolen from Nickel Creek… they used to do it daily on tour.

It’s a game I used to play in college with my songwriting buddies. The game? At the end of most lessons, we pick a title and then challenge each other to write a song with that title before the next lesson. I help her put music to them with her guitar, and basically, it’s the best hour of “work” in my whole week. She’s a teen and she writes incredible lyrics. This month, it’s a song I wrote while doing a songwriting game with one of my long-term students. (I’m telling you, it’s the place to be!) Sometime they are remakes of popular kid songs, holiday songs ( this Halloween song and illustrated book has been the favorite by far!) or one of my tried-and-true songs I’ve used with kids over the years. This has been a year of God reminding us that He is far from finished with us.Every month we send out a free early-childhood song to our email subscribers. We’ve humbly stood with our hands open before God, trusting Him to fill them, determined to do His will, and believing that on the other side of obedience is blessing.

We’ve faithfully leaned into the work of discovering the shape and the scope of the ministry God is building with us. Throughout this year we have continued to learn to cling tightly to the truth we have been taught and to hold everything else loosely. We left 2020 feeling unwanted and crushed, misunderstood and confused, but entered 2021 with a fledgling, hopeful grip on a beautiful, God-given mission to call and equip fellow wayfarers to deeper living, eyes fixed on Jesus and hearts set on Heaven.

We were determined to follow Jesus forward, but reeling from wave after wave of grief upon grief. This time last year, Crystal and I were still finding our feet beneath us. It’s the last day of 2021 and I’m naturally feeling reflective.

We are the brave lyrics