Still Life

By Dave Morrow

Still Life is a collection of stories about the inspiration behind some of the songs written by singer-songwriter, and worship leader Dave Morrow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543922073

Book preview

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ROAD TRIP

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

Psalm 19:1-3

ALL CREATION SINGS

Still the mountains rise up

Still the rivers they sing

All that You’ve made, is filled with Your name

Still the oceans will roar

The heavens still proclaim

All that You’ve made, is filled with Your name

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All creation sings

I want to join in the song

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You hold it all together, from the first day to the last

You’re the Lord of the future, You’re the God of the past


from the album Safe Within Your Arms


The drive up through Northern California and into Oregon is among my favorites. Once you get passed the Redding area, at some point you begin to see a white peak rising above the horizon to the northeast. As the miles roll by, the peak grows until finally you can see the full majesty of Mount Shasta standing alone in the middle of the high plains. From there the scene continues up through the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon. North of Bend, you can cut in going northwest and across the mountain range passing by Mt. Hood, another volcano rising out of the many rivers and lakes, until finally you emerge east of Portland on the mighty Columbia River which then runs to the Pacific Ocean.

Sometimes I’m not really a lot of fun to take road trips with, although it’s one of my wife and my favorite things to do. You see, most would assume that songwriting is something you do in your living room, office, on your front porch, or even in a recording studio. For me, driving on long trips is where I have done a good deal of my writing. I don’t talk much as it is, and so often my thoughts just run with a song. Sometimes Debbie will sense what’s going on, and after miles of silence just ask, Are you writing a song? Sometimes I’m just being boring. Of course, the bad part is that often in the past I have written a complete song on my way home from work, only to walk in the door to the kids, a wife who needs adult conversation, and dinner on the table. When I finally got the chance to sit down with my guitar, I would realize that I had forgotten all of it. Those are some of the songs that I assume were just between me and the Lord. At least that makes me feel better about it. This led to me carrying a small digital recorder. Now of course, I can just use my iPhone.

It was on one of these road trips that I wrote, and remembered, All Creation Sings. We were able to take two weeks and drive up to Victoria, Canada. We had never been to Canada but always wanted to go, and this was a much needed getaway following a time of uncertainty and stress. Just a few months previous, the senior pastor who I had served under on staff for the previous sixteen years had to resign because of major health issues. I didn’t know the new pastor taking the helm all that well yet, and we were not sure if my ministry or job were secure, or to what extent things might change. However, after a smooth transition, and getting to know the new pastor, we were blessed with the opportunity to get away for a couple of weeks. It was not a vacation/ministry trip like most of our other trips had been, but a real vacation, just the two of us and no ministry. If you’re like me, it takes awhile to actually wind down to the point where you can enjoy the time away. My wife is always gracious to allow me that, and this time we both needed to unwind, so we headed out. Living where we live, you have to first get out of Southern California, which means getting through Los Angeles, Central California, the Bay Area, and then finally on to the good stuff.

After leaving on a Sunday after church and stopping on the central coast for the night, we ended up in Redding, California by the second evening. We chose to stop there for the night so that we could start the trip up into Oregon the next morning and not miss anything. That next day was really like the first day of our vacation. We set out ready to rest, even if it killed us! We made the drive north, with Lassen Peak to the east, Shasta on the horizon, and the Oregon border just beyond. From the time we had left home on Sunday, to arriving in Bend, Oregon that day, we had already listened to every CD we brought with us. So after stopping for lunch, we hit the road again and drove in silence for quite some time. Remember, I don’t talk much. As I began to see Mt. Hood off in the distance, a song started rolling through my head. It occurred to me that these mountains have served as monuments and markers of God’s creation so many thousands of years before, and are still here doing what they were created to do. They aren’t worried about what has happened in the past or what uncertainties lie ahead. They just stand there proclaiming God’s power and majesty. The rivers flow, the waves crash on the ocean shores and the stars come out at night, and as long as they do, God is proclaimed. I want to be a part of that song. I want to stand in the face of uncertainty. I want to do what I was created to do and be what I was created to be. Creation goes about its business whether we are watching or not, and while we run around in our crazy busy lives, we forget that God has got it all worked out. He has been faithful in the past and He has the future under control. So rest, and join with all the creation to sing His praise with your life. The mountains do it.


DIAMONDS AND BLACK VELVET

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

Revelation 2:4 (ESV)

FALL IN LOVE AGAIN

I can still remember like yesterday

When I thought that first love was here to stay

Well I still trust You and I still believe

But for my heart, I’m on my knees

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I want to fall in love again

With all my heart, and soul again

I want to fall in love again

With You, with You Jesus

from the albums Everything and Yielded & Still

I have always thought that one of the goals of a worship songwriter is to put into words what God’s people want to express to Him. That’s part of why the Psalms hold such a valuable place in the lives of believers. You are reading real, sometimes raw emotional expressions of the heart of a child of God to their Lord for all the world to see. We can relate to what the Psalms are saying because we find in them our own heart’s cry and frustrations. We also find in them the highest praise to the Lord of Hosts. The same is true in our worship as a church. I know there is debate as to what really constitutes a worship song. There are those who see too many of our songs being self-centered and not focused enough on giving God praise. They feel that we should only sing hymns or songs that are heavy on theology, but not too personal. Then there are those who like very sappy, emotional songs about how they feel about God and what they will do for Him. They want very simple songs that are more about our relationship with the Lord. I think our worship can and should be somewhere in between, a balance of both. To me, it’s often the contrast expressed between who and what we are, compared to who and what God is, that helps set Him apart and shows how worthy He is of praise. I think the Lord wants us to come to Him honestly and then see Him for who He is. If you go to a jeweler to look at precious stones, they are often laid out on a black background. The contrast causes the gems to shine even more, and ultimately to be all you really see. I think it can be a good thing to overlay the darkness of our inner man with the brightness of God’s glory to further express His worthiness and praise.

One of the things I have loved about the ministry God has called me to, has been traveling and having the opportunity to lead worship at various churches, retreats, and events in other parts of the country and the world. Years ago, I was leading worship at a retreat for a church that a friend of mine pastors. It was a men’s retreat and we were at a conference center in a beautiful setting in the mountains of Southern California. Normally, whenever I do outside ministry, I have my wife with me unless it is just not possible. Being that this was a men’s retreat, it was just not possible. Since Debbie wasn’t with me, during the time between sessions with nothing else to do, I took my guitar and went to my room by myself. Because of the lyrics of this song, you may be expecting me to talk about a struggle in my own heart, or that I was having a crisis of faith. I was not. I was merely playing my guitar alone in my room, and as I began playing a chord progression, a song started to flow from that.

There are often high spiritual expectations at retreats. Families see their loved ones off for the weekend hoping that God will finally do a work in that person’s life. Some go to retreats, looking for a moment to happen. Some go merely to get away and enjoy a little down-time. Jesus told the church at Ephesus that they needed to get back to their first love. Sometimes, that’s not so long or dramatic of a journey as we think. Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of remembering what we once knew. That was what I was hoping to express in this song as words started to connect with the chords I was playing and a melody formed. Trying to express it for myself and for those who might sing it later. We’re not always backslidden when we need to come back to that place of first love. It’s not always a matter of not trusting the Lord or struggling with unbelief. It was just that we thought when we first came to Jesus that it would always be that way, but then life happens. We have jobs, families, and ministries that all rightly need our attention, and our hearts simply start to drift. We know all the stuff we need to know with our heads, but our hearts forget something. We don’t necessarily need to repent or come back to Christ in some tear-filled moment, we just need to remember to be in love with Him again.

This song was one that was written in a matter of minutes, almost singing it under