Three Bucks on Pump 10…

 So, thanks to my friend Mark Stone for inspiring this idea - which started with his observation at a Quick Trip that sounded to me like a country song.

Three bucks on pump 10 and a pack of Marlboros

It’s been a hard minute, been a rough go

Can’t ask for no help now from nobody I know

My wife left the house, took all I had

And I’m headed to work with what’s left of my pride

Hoping just to make it, just to survive

Since she left me running on empty - literally moving on fumes, can’t catch a break and still need a light.  Maybe some smokes can set something right. 

So gimme three bucks on pump 10 and a pack of Marlboros, tonight

I can’t afford whiskey 

don’t got money for beer

But nicotine will have to get by 

until i get miles from here,

gotta make headway 

before I drown in these tears

It don’t feel like much, but it’ll have to do 

Just need a bit, one thing at a time

She left me running on empty, literally moving on fumes, I can’t catch a break and still need a light.  Maybe some smokes can set something right. 

So gimme three bucks on pump 10 and a pack of Marlboros, tonight

Friend - I don’t know if you’ve been in a spot

Where what you got is all you got

But there’s a God that knows your name

If your running on empty 

man, he knows your pain

He won’t leave you empty, 

even when your road gets bumpy

He’ll keep you in the palm of his hand

So for now,

I know what I’ve got ain’t enough to last 

I’m just praying it’ll get me past 

The rough spot I’ve found here tonight

So give me three bucks on pump ten

And a pack a Marlboros, 

And buddy, can you spare a light?

Bad logic

Bad logic

I walked what I thought was the road to success

Followed the American dream 

down the path it leads

I did what I thought I was supposed to

And it didn’t work out

So what do I do now

So what do I do now

I’ve tried to laugh in the face of danger

I thought I could ride on the crest of the waves

Yet I’ve still run into my share of trouble 

And when I’ve looked in the midst of the storm

I’ve seen my own face

So what do I do now 

So what do I do now

There’s times I thought my plan was flawless

And I thought nothing could go wrong

I leaned so far into my own understanding

That it took the stillness of surrender

To hear God’s voice ring out 

So what do I do now

What do I do now

when I really walk with Jesus

When I really see his face 

I’m captured by his goodness

Captured by his grace 

And it’s then in the mending 

that answers are really found

So what do I do now

What do I do now

Creative Differences

 Creative differences

Me and this guitar can’t get along

As we sit here together

Trying to write this song

The ideas up in this head

Can’t make their way down to these frets

My guitar and me, we just can’t get along 

Most of the time I’d say we’re in synch

I grab some chords and this guitar just sings

But perhaps tonight the song is just too heavy

And neither of us can carry

A tune, a tune, a tune

Oh I know the notes are in here

And I know this thing can sing

But tonight every word comes hard 

and somehow every line sounds wrong 

maybe it’s the words and tune

But tonight we can’t agree

Me and this guitar can’t get along

Usually we’re good friends 

But tonight it’s just gone wrong

It started with that last tune

And ended with this song

This guitar and me, we just can’t get along 

Memories

 Memories

A faded photograph in an old wood frame

A small placard bearing my name

Just trinkets on a shelf or desk somewhere

They themselves aren’t the memory

But nonetheless it rattles around inside

Oh memories are often strange things

Hidden away in places and names

The more time you spend

The more they hide away

And grab your heart when they show their face

I’ve got a big ol shed out in the yard

Built with my own hands, board by board

And I could tell you every nail I felt

But I can say that’s not best thing I’ve ever built

Cause I’ve got two kids who now are men

I hope the best of me is built right into them

Oh memories are often funny things

How they shape your fears 

your hopes your dreams

The more time you spend 

The more it slips away

So make the most of moments you have here

A cup of wine and a loaf of bread

A heavy cross, thorns on his head

Reminders of the price he paid 

For us to really live

Oh memories are funny things

Reminders of how things should be

Don’t forget to take them in

Let them live well beyond 

The moments they were born

Oh memories are funny things

Let them shape your hopes and dreams

Adventure Scrapes

Adventure Scrapes

 It’s late in the evening and I should be asleep suddenly I feel the weight of time

Pressing in on me - and these eyes

Will only close to blink.

You know I’m excited about what’s in store for you

But you’ve been a fixture here in my life too.

Decades now you been daily here with me

So now, as you go on

Carry on those hopes and dreams

Stretch those legs and spread those wings

Wherever you go carry the light,

Carry hope in to the night

And never lose sight of the way home.

You’ve been my boy, my son, my friend

A constant in these seas

And moving on you’ll take with you a piece of me

From here on out the adventure scrapes

Are more on the heart than on the skin

But often the adventure’s more than worth it in the end

So take a breath and press on

Often the hardest part is just to begin

Carry on those hopes and dreams

Stretch those legs and spread those wings

Wherever you go carry the light

Carry hope into the night

And never forget your way home

Someday, when you’re looking back

I hope you’ll be wiser than I could hope to be

Just know you’ll have me cheering you on

Whether I’m here or if I’m gone

So carry on those hopes and dreams

Stretch those legs and spread those wings

Wherever you go carry the light

Carry hope into the night

And never forget your way home

Because Home’s not a place you leave behind.  

Home’s not a place you leave behind.