• Thu 14 Jan in Alsip, IL
• Fri 15 Jan in Orland Park, IL
• Sat 16 Jan in Elmhurst, IL
• Sun 17 Jan in Naperville, IL
• Tue 19 Jan in Lansing, IL
• Thu 21 Jan in Frankfort, IL
• Sat 23 Jan in Lockport, IL
• Sun 24 Jan in Hudsonville, MI
• Mon 25 Jan in Grand Rapids, MI

Get out and support EP if you live in the area; if, like me, you don’t, ping your friends who do!

• EP in Huntsville, AL on Sun 25 Oct 2009
• EP in Baton Rouge, LA on Fri 13 Nov 2009

Randall Goodgame:

• RG in Aurora, IL on Fri 6 Nov 2009
• RG in Elmhurst, IL on Sat 7 Nov 2009
• RG in Columbia, MO on Sat 14 Nov 2009

• EP in Birmingham, AL on Wed 16 Sep 2009
• AG and JP in Nashville, TN on Thu 17 Sep 2009
• Andy and the Andys in Charlotte, NC on Sat 17 Oct 2009

Do you have Chrome yet? What do you think of it?

These are potentially expensive words. I see how they could easily be misinterpreted or taken out of context without knowing the story’s backdrop. Hence, they may be expensive in that customers might want their money back after purchasing a “christian” album expressing such sentiments. I have no idea how the song will be received, as it is hopefully as honest in its narration as the true story on which it is based. The reality of humanity is that we owe to grace as great debtors. In our worst moments, we curse the blessing of our own skin, our own breathing in and out, the universe and Maker alike. In our best moments, we remain desperately in need of that which is beyond our frailty or capacity to bring anything good to the Mercy Table. I struggled for weeks, in the process of writing it, to allow the main character the red-blooded freedom to tell God, “I hated you that day.” That is not the sort of cheap, plastic, pre-fab line that floats easily upon the waters of this industry. I am trying to be as honest as I can, since I so personally and closely related to the story of my friend’s losing and losing, while in the midst of such tremendous anger, hostility towards God, loss of income and business, found himself spewing those very words with all the venom and bile his hard, tired heart could muster. And in the process, God still showed up with all the mercy and hope He ever possessed.

The emphasis is Eric’s, but that’s where I would’ve put it, too. I personally have written before about what doubt is to us as Christians, but I don’t think that writing about sinful things is, in and of itself, sinful. After all, Christianity teaches [or at least it should] that we are sinners, broken and needy. If we learn this through anything other than our own foibles with sin, we learn it through others’ experiences—and I have the feeling that this kind of song that Eric’s talking about, while it might be hard to hear, is what we need to hear. The lyrics he quoted struck within me ways that I’ve felt at dark hours, and it’s important to know that others have felt that way and moved on from there to right thinking and living. Not that any of us have attained all this…