CD

Sunday was fun. I love Sundays because by noon I've put in eight hours and I can usually relax and hang with the fam. Anyway, Sunday we went to a CD release party at Calvary. Marcy Each released "Gravel Road". It has a strong blue grass feel to it and of course the vocals are beautiful. It was fun. I saw a lot of people I haven't seen for a long time too. It got me thinking, though...

Lately I've been writing a lot more songs. I have a wife with an amazing voice. I have some worship team people that would probably be up for recording. I should make a CD.

I don't really care about ME making a CD or about MY songs being recorded. I just write these songs and they have no where to go. I write a song and it sits in the office and collects dust and is never sung to anyone. I don't think they are great songs, but still, I write them and nothing happens. So, I figure, either I make a CD or I quit writing songs and start using my time for something better. Let's take a vote. The following are the lyrics to four songs I'd like to record. I've more, but this will give you an idea.

Here I Am
By Joel Rohde

Here I am in need of your grace
Broken before you, draw me near
This I pray

Here I am use me Lord
I surrender all, make me less
Make You more

And I will live to worship you
I will go to the ends of the earth
Whatever you want, tell me now
Here I am, Lord make me Yours

I Love You
By Joel Rohde

You chase the night away
By lighting each new day
Your light revealing who we really are
You see the wrongs we’ve made
And love us anyway
Your grace is more abundant than the stars

And as we stand and sing these songs
Of worship in this place
May the Spirit of our God
Provide us words of praise

‘Cause You are Holy, mighty to save
You’re the Great I Am, The Ancient of Days
And I will worship You forever
It’s all I can do
Jesus, my Savior.
I love You.

In you all shadows flee
Including those in me
You know the deepest secrets of my heart
You have brought to light
The things I’ve tried to hide
You daily grant to me a brand new start

Meet me here, once again
Breathe new life, enter in

Kinkade vs. Rembrandt
By Joel Rohde

Well it’s raining outside and overcast
My shoes are wet and I have to ask
Without the rain would I be
Thankful for the sun?
I’m shivering because it’s cold
My hands are numb needing hands to hold
If it were always warm
Would I appreciate the warmth?

And maybe in my selfishness
I find it hard to see
The truth of that which God desires for me

I have made a fantasy into my own reality
Like Kinkade my world is
Always blooming bright
I know now, we can’t ignore
The shadows of our life no more
Like Rembrandt we need the darkness to see
God’s reality

Took my son to a great parade
Parked about a block away
We thought we’d put him down
And let him walk on his own
He stopped to pick a dandelion
So we picked him up and he started crying
He didn’t understand our plans
Were so much better than his own

And maybe in his selfishness
He found it hard to see
The plans of his father were much more exciting

How He Loves (Not by me, but I would love to cover it because it is the most beautiful song I've ever heard hands down.)
John Mark McMillan

He is jealous for me
Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

Oh, how he loves us so,
Oh, how he loves us,
How he loves us so.

Yea he loves us,
Oh how he loves us,
Oh how he loves us,
Oh how he loves.

So we are his portion and he is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes,
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking.
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest.
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way...

He loves us,
Oh how he loves us,
Oh how he loves us,
Oh how he loves.
He loves us,
Oh how he loves us,
Oh how he loves us,
Oh how he loves.

I've done some research and to record a CD it will cost around $400 dollars for an 8 hour block of studio time, $1026 dollars to publish 1000 CDs complete with jewel cases, full color inserts and tray panels, UPS bar code, and shrink wrapping. I would need $60 for a copyright. I've no idea how I would go on the mastering of the project. It looks like having a professionally mastered CD would cost between $800 and $1000. So anyway, the whole thing would be less than $3000. I have no idea where I would come up with that, but if you look at it this way, if I sell 300 CDs at $10 a piece I've paid the project off. I don't know if I could do that or not. Let me know your thoughts people.