John Dandrea

The year was 2000; I heard the melody to this song first.  It was awhile after that until I heard the verses, but the chorus part with the title, was immediate.  The theme was of finally being in the physical presence of our Lord, in direct fellowship with Him in Paradise.

I would soon work around this theme for the entire album - a very spiritual journey of fellowship with our Creator and Guide.  When the song was completed with the lyrics, I looked at the title and knew that it was perfect for an album title track.   Finding these cover photos from Shutterstock, provided a great visual for both the song and album cover.

I heard this melody one morning as I was driving to work, along with the chorus part "and I hear Your voice, in the rolling thunder;   I feel Your touch in the slightest drop of rain..."   and that very quickly developed into the rest of the song with verses leading up to that chorus.

The theme with this title is that there are things that we can be absolutely certain of and totally confident in - that the Lord has showed us the Way, the Truth, the Life, and that He will return again.

I composed this song on piano rather than guitar.  It had a nice rhythm to it, the kind of acoustic ballad I  wanted.

This song is very special to me - one of many that I've written that has a vivid imagery (a sailboat out on the sea, at sunset) and it's also one of my favorite styles of writing that is meant to let the listener feel emotions from more than one perspective.  It's also special to me because of where I was and what I was doing at the time - when we associate a song with an event like that,  it tends to remain special.

It can be about a man letting his woman know that his love is true, no matter what troubles lay ahead. . . but it's also a song about a man calling out to God, to help him with life's storms and deep waters.  As long as he places his faith in God, he will  "make it through" the stormy  seas of  life.

I was focusing on the scene outlined in Matthew 28:1-8.  By the time anyone got to the tomb, an angel of the Lord had come and rolled away the stone and spoke to the women saying  "He is not here, for He has risen as He said He would".  It was this scene, this picture, that inspired me to write this song and its lyrics "No one saw Him rise, in Victory. . ."  (except the angels of God, at those initial moments).

I think about that Empty Tomb, and what it means to us all.  That Jesus is NOT on that cross any longer.  Now, He sits in the Highest Heaven, at the side of God, and He is as real as real gets.  And  no one can come to God except through Him.

This song has the distinction of being the only song I had written as a full choir song - with SATB voice parts.  It was difficult in the aspect of drafting a  musical score, but the song itself  had tumbled out easily.

I was inspired to write the lyrics of the song from a different perspective.  The words of this song are more like a prayer.  They are a very personal expression of  both  my  own  times of  trials  as  well as of  God's unending grace and forgiveness.  The title itself is also special to me, and I often spend the earliest hours of morning in prayer with God before beginning the work day.  That "stillness" before the dawn - is a great time to use in focus of God's blessings.

This song was composed on piano rather than on guitar.  The particular phrase using the piano rhythm of   "On My Knees" sort of started the entire song and lyrics at the same time.  Musically it's a fairly simple song, but served well to communicate the ideas that I wanted to express. While I'm not a trained pianist, I really enjoy playing this song.

It came about as I was reading Luke 11:1, in which Jesus had just finished praying and one of his disciples said to him "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples".  And Jesus Himself gives us what we call  The Lord's Prayer.  This to me, was a very special moment in all the Bible.  Coming from God Himself, this prayer is just a remarkable gift.

This one began as an instrumental piano part - it was a lot of fun to just play and hum a melody to.  The title "Somewhere Down the Road"  was the chorus part,  and I just worked back from that. The theme  I used for this song was that in our walk with Jesus throughout this life, we will keep our focus on God's spiritual Kingdom and not on the here-and-now.

In the second part of the song I focused on two ideas that were important to me - that we "walk that narrow road", and that we "take each day and help us to start anew".   I wanted to stress this concept, that we try to not get discouraged or give up when we have a bad day, and that with each new day there can be a fresh, new beginning with God.

This is a song of praise, primarily written on piano.  The thought of the first verse was the amazing truth that in dying for our sins, Jesus conquered death through God's plan of salvation.  Jesus was the proof to US, that we can also live again through our faith in Him and in His blood that was shed for us.

The chorus lyrics contain a simple prayer "Jesus, remind us each day to rely on You, to guide us through the rain".  Subsequent verses express the themes that Jesus is eternal, having been with God in the beginning and will be for all time - and that through our praise and honor of the Lord, we come into a right relationship with God.