Hope In Love

last entry in my Lessons Learned at NamRock series…this is a not serious post…

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I used to think musicians are hot…they aren’t! No really, it’s not the musician that’s attractive, it’s the instrument. I was sitting all by my lonesome at the welcome station at NamRock and so I decided to get my (actually Stephen’s) guitar and just do some practicing. As soon as I got the guitar, anyone who went anywhere near the station suddenly stopped to talk to me and ask me to play…which was really cool – not the playing cos I didn’t actually play anything, but the talking to people. I met a lot of people through it.

At one point I had the whole Durban/Gauteng crew and some Western Capers sitting in/around the truck with me…just cos I was holding a guitar – didn’t even need to play anything…just holding the instrument was enough. (And just by the way, thanks to the Durban crew for restoring my faith in Durban guys.)

So if you want more friends, get a musical instrument. That’s the lesson.

and that is why i attended a songwriting workshop at NamRock . jokes, that’s not why i attended it, but the workshop was totally awesome (thanks Charl) – complete with lyrics like “shake me, break me, make me” (highlight! – thanks Beth).

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Thoughts that came from the lesson:

When I was a kid I wanted to be a singer – the next Miriah Carey…then I realised I can’t sing, and the dream died…Now I want to be be a songwriter…not professionally – no one is ever going to see what i write – but I want to be able to make music. I want to be part of the music making…i don’t just want to listen to it or sing it, but i want to make music…don’t know if that makes sense to anyone outside my head. I love music…I’m passionate about music. I…anyway, don’t know how to say what i’m thinking/feeling right now. I express myself so much better through song, even if it’s someone else’s song…there’s always a song to say what i’m thinking/feeling.

a secondary reason that i want to be a musician is that i want to own like a whole roomful of guitars like David Crowder…and as many pedals as john mayer wouldn’t hurt either…

joking.

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God talks to me through music a lot. He’s often used songs to draw me to himself and to convict me and to remind me of his promises and to wake me up and and and…For instance, there was a point when I was struggling with this whole “unconditional love” concept and he used the song “how he loves us” by kim walker to tell me that i really don’t need to understand the how or why, i just need to know that he does and live in that and be in awe…cos that’s what the song is saying to me – wow, he loves us so much…with a jealous love…it’s overwhelming…but it’s real…i don’t understand it…and i don’t need to…it’s enough to know that he does…wow, he really does!

So that’s why i want to make music…cos I think there’s a lot to say, and when I can’t say it in plain words, I think that music will help me express it better. I think.

And I think God really likes music, almost as much as frisbee, cos he created it to be so beautiful and so heart-wrenching and so moving…and also cos he delights over me with singing (Zephaniah 3:17).