All Things New

11 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." We were created to glorify God...to need Him, to know Him, to love Him. We are all walking miracles when you think about heaven being a part of who we are, and the life that we know in Christ throws out the old and brings in the new. It is freeing to know that this promise for us is eternal, but sometimes even more liberating to know that it's an every minute, day-to-day promise too! We can remember finishing this song in a park on a beautiful fall afternoon. We sat on a blanket looking up at the sky through the towering trees and the bridge to this song came..."I'm so thankful for this life that I know, that I am no longer what I was, because of Your love and beauty of the cross...I can see Your work in me." It was as if God was reminding us in those moments that day, that because of who He is and who we are in Him, He makes all things true, pure, and most incredibly new.


More Than You'll Ever Know

Through the years we have discovered a secret, or maybe one of the few remedies for a busy life on the road...true friendships. We are firm believers in surrounding ourselves with people who intercede for us, challenge us, and who truly know our hearts. This song celebrates those people in our lives, who have been that constant stream of kindness and unconditional love. It is vital to our passion for God, our marriage, and our ministry, to highly value the friendships that God has placed before us. Strong accountability and spiritual partnership is so important for both of us to have. One person in particular, Whitney, who is a good friend of Christy's, inspired this song. We are so humbled to have such people come around us and pray God's word over our lives...and so thankful. We pray that our love and prayers would run just as deep for others


Incorruptible

This was one of the last songs we wrote for this album. It almost came overnight while we were all ready starting the recording process. It was written one night after reading and studying through 1 Peter 1. When we read over this scripture we realized that this is such an important passage for our generation. So much of what our generation has put our trust in are things that are unstable, things that deteriorate over time. Even those of us who have committed our lives to God struggle with the same issues. We have put trust in money because it seems to make us feel secure, and we often judge our success by how "secure" we feel. We also have traditions, even religious traditions, that we spend our lives trying to keep up with. It seems that we can so busy ourselves with even "ministry" and forget the depth and the power that is within the message that we are singing about. This song expresses praise to God through whom we have an incorruptible inheritance that will never pass away. Our favorite is in verse 23 that says, "For you have been born again, not of curruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, through the living and enduring word of God. This lyric and melody are from a gratefulness in our hearts, that we are able to be rescued from an empty way of life


Where to Find Me

This song came in pieces over time. Over a span of about 7 years this melody and these verses have weaved in and out of our living room writing sessions. Sometimes when you wrtie songs there are certain phrases that stay with you for years. Some of the lyrics to the verses came the very first time we sat down to write together, even before we were engaged in 1994. This is a perfect example of God's timing in the songs He gives us. The chorus to this song, which is the title of the song as well, came a few months before we started this record. It's as if God completed this song in His time... We were reminded of 2 Chronicles 16:9 - " The eyes of the Lord roam to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong to those whose hearts are blameless towards Him." Whether we are in the deepest valley of our lives, or at the top of a mountain rejoicing, the eyes of the Lord always know where to find us. When we have been away, or have strayed far, He sees our wounds and rescues us when we call out to Him. This song reveals the truth that he is truly as close as saying His name. When we cry out His name He comes and stills our hearts like only He can. There is not a place where we can wander that he will not be there, and no one truly knows our hearts the way he does. We pray that this song would cause those who feel far away to find themselves at home again in the arms of God. With a grateful heart they can look back and say, "Thank you God, that you always knew where to find me."


Good For Me

Our favorite line in this song is "laughter to my house"...We love to laugh and for the sounds of it to fill our home. Even in the midst of some very painful trials and sorrows God has always brought us laughter. This song reminds us of the times that we have painfully chosen to let go of something and to lay it at the feet of Jesus. The hardest part sometimes to be said about the joy that comes when we are obedient. It is truly good for us, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually to give our lives to God...every day submitting it to Him. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." It is when we have confessed that He knows what is good for us, and what is best, that His joy surrounds us and our desires are filled with all that He is.


Glory Baby

Romans 8:28 - "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." This song began a journey of healing in our hearts for two great losses in our lives. This past year, we lost two precious babies by early miscarriages. The first loss was in January of 1999, which was such a difficult way to start the year. The lyrics and melody to the first part of the verse came to us shortly after, but no matter how hard we tried we couldn't seem to finish the song. We eventually gave up. Soon our hearts were alive again in July of 199 to the news of the second pregnancy. We made it to about 10 weeks before learning the terrifying news that this pregnancy too would end in devastation. Both times, through the midst of tremendous heartache the peace of God rested on us. We couldn't even explain it, even through days of being in disbelief that this could happen, even sometimes feeling anger, God's peace would cover every emotion. This past September, the words and melody of this song came and birthed a healing in our hearts. We want our healing to be a part of theirs as well as we are aware of so many couples who have experienced this kind of loss. We pray that this song will bring hope, healing, and joy as we have presented the truth that God holds our precious children, and we will see them and hold them one day. They are all "glory babies," as heaven is all they've ever known, and God's glory will be their home.


My Heart, Your Home

Many of our summers have been spent with kids, leading worship for camps. This song was written in 1997 for a camp that we did for my brother's youth group. The theme of camp was "My Heart, Christ's Home." This song became a very worshipful expression of wanting Christ to come into every area of our lives and take up dwelling there. We wanted it to be a simple song that the kids could sing as a commitment. We ended up singing it a lot that week and have continued to use it these past few years. Every time we see camp kids who know it, they ask when it's going to be on a Watermark album...we recently wrote a bridge to it and felt that this was the record it needed to be on. Although we wrote it for camp, we don't just consider it a "camp song" because we have seen God truly use the concept of this song in all ages. It is just as much a commitment song in our own lives, as God has shown us that "He is our portion" in life... who daily desires us to yield our hearts to Him and Let Him fill up every room in our souls.


Don't You Know

The lyrics to this song came through a journal entry one night in our hotel room. We had been on the road for quite awhile and both felt a little homesick. As I wrote in my journal, these words just poured out. The original title at the top of the page was, "a lullaby from God," the words that followed, we both felt were directly from God to us..."Don't you know that I know you, don't you know I know where you are...and all of the heaven sings over you, because of the depths of my love." We have both wept over these comforting words many times, as they remind us of all the promises we have in Christ. One night in our living room the words became a song. It's pretty far from sounding like a lullaby on the album, but the overwhelming expression is still the same...all of heaven sings over us...because of the depths of His overwhelming love.


You Are My Stronghold

This is also one of the very first songs that we wrote together. It has changed a lot since then, but it has the same familiar feel to us. We wrote this on the floor in our first apartment in Oklahoma City. This lyric is from Psalm 27, "The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-of whom shall I be afraid?" It is definitely a worship song. This Psalm beautifully expresses all of the things that God is, instead of focusing on all the things that we're not. If we think of the things that have "strongholds" on people's lives...addictions and places in our flesh that are the weakest...it is so amazing to put God in place of those things. To us, it was as if the Psalmist were saying, "God is the addiction of my life," or "God is the strength in places I am the weakest." We have both dealt with the issue of fear this past year with the loss of two babies by miscarriage. It is amazing how God can use the very songs He gives you in your own life, so many years later.


Who Am I

We wrote this song in the car one night several years ago. I would sing some word and Nathan would hum the melody as he drove. I was thinking of my dad when I wrote this song...and how I saw the grace of God truly transform him about 10 years ago. This song, to me, expresses the frailty of who we are and the overwhelming kindness of God that he would love us so gently, yet so powerfully. Psalm 8:3 says, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for Him?" This song is also very special to us because it was recorded first by Point of Grace on their album Steady On, and it built a bridge to a friendship with the girls as well as getting to tour with them in 1998-1999.


Grace Flows Down

This chorus flows out of "Who Am I?" on the record. This song was written by some friends of ours, Louie Giglio and David Bell. We first heard this song when we met Louie in 1997. Louie and his wife Shelly have been extremely instrumental in our lives. God has put a vision in Louie's heart to see this generation know the fullness of God. We have been a part of a movement called Passion with Louie and some other worship leaders across the country. It is an awakening of the collegiate generation to seek God and what it means to worship Him with their lives. Louie is also the one who came up with the name Watermark and shared it with us.