A new song and a new season

2008 has been a crazy year, and it seems like it's flown by! I've been busier this year than I can remember in a long time, and yet I've been so slack about posting blogs and sending newsletters that probably nobody knows what I'm up to and wonders if I've dropped off the face of the earth.

The truth is, I've been doing a lot of touring with another artist, Leah Martensen www.leahmartensen.com on what we call the Road to Recovery tour. We have visited recovery groups all over the country, sharing our music and our individual stories about our own journeys of recovery. This is a ministry that's really close to my heart--many of you have heard my testimony and so you can understand why! (If you haven't heard my testimony and would like to, check out the media page on my website www.bethchampionmason.com and watch the 700 Club video about my testimony). In fact, I was sharing at a recovery group just tonight in Stafford VA, up near Fredericksburg.

The reason I love recovery ministries is because they are the way churches are *supposed* to be: accepting people exactly the way they come in the door, no matter what their hang-ups are, and loving them to Jesus.

A lot of people don't know that I lead worship every Tuesday night (when I'm in town) at a recovery group in Virginia Beach called Recovery for the City ( www.recoveryforthecity.com ) because when I found out about this ministry, I just wanted to be part of it any way I could.
Anyway, I'm *finally* making good progress on a new CD (yay!!), the first one since "Postcards" came out in 2005 (I can't believe it's been that long!), and I've posted the first completed song from it on my myspace page today, called "I Can Stand." ( www.myspace.com/bethchampionmason ) I wrote this song originally to sing as a congregational song at Recovery for the City. I wanted something that hurting people could use to cry out to the Lord, knowing that even though we're messed up and broken, God is faithful and we can declare that with confidence, resting in Who He is, not in who we try to be. It's a song that was written to give others words to speak their hearts to God, but at the same time ended up being very personal for me. After I wrote it, I thought, "People in recovery will totally get this song, but that's probably it." Then I realized... we are all in recovery from something. We are in recovery from the sin that invades our lives, from the pain of struggling through this world and getting our hearts stepped on time and time again, from mistakes we've made and mistakes others have inflicted on us. So I hope that this song is something that everyone will be able to identify with. My favorite part is the second verse, the things that I think God says about us... that's the truth that I want to focus on.

I'd love for you to take a listen to the song, and post your thoughts.

May God bless you today!
love,
Beth

So You Think You Can Dance?

So now that it's summertime and "American Idol" is no longer on, I have a new addiction: "So You Think You Can Dance?" This week, I'm on tour, and I'm so excited that our day off fell on Wednesday so I could watch it!! I like it for the completely opposite reason that I like "Idol" -- I love "American Idol" because I know singing inside and out, and I'm a pretty good judge of what's good and bad, technique, etc. But dancing... there could not BE a subject I know less about. Ok, maybe there are a FEW subjects (quantam physics, alligator training, automotive repair... ok, so there are a lot of subjects I know little about. :)

But I love this show partially because I have absolutely no capability in the dance department. I watch these people dance and think, "Oh my gosh, how in the world do they do those things with their bodies??" And how do they remember the steps? How do they know where their foot (or arm, or torso) is supposed to be at an exact moment in time?

I guess I have a lot of respect for people who can do things that I can't. And there's so many things I can't do! Do you ever feel like life is just too short? There's not enough time to study and learn and experience and see everything there is. Sometimes I feel like I wish I could have about 20 different careers. I want to be a singer/songwriter, but I also want to be a writer, and I want to be a mom, and I'd love to learn how to dance, and I want to be a pilot, and I want to learn to garden, and I want... I want way too much, apparently.

But in the midst of all those wants, I'm learning a lot more these days to be content with what I have and who I am--I've certainly come a long way from the perpetually discontent person that I used to be. And for that I thank the Lord! It's only His power that changes me for the better, and mellows me with time.

And as for all that stuff I won't get around to... well, I take comfort in the fact that I'm not done yet, and I may well get to a lot of that stuff! And if not... there's still an eternity to come where I'm pretty sure I'll find some things to hold my interest. Like worshiping my King forever.

New Year, new resolutions

It's almost the new year, and I'm pondering New Year's resolutions yet again. What is it about the rolling over of the calendar that makes it feel like a clean slate? Really, it's just an arbitrary number. We could just as easily pick Chinese New Year or Jewish New Year, but instead we just pick January 1. Well, no matter--whether it's arbitrary or not, I'll take any chance I can get to turn over a new leaf.

My resolutions this year:
- lose some weight (always the standard one)
- exercise more (standard)
- spend more quality time with my husband
- spend more quality time with God -- pursuing Him, rather than all the trappings around Him.

What are yours?