Today started with an early morning scurry to get to the airport for a 7:15 flight to San Antonio, TX. I am half way to my destination, sitting in Houston with my laptop, writing this.

The process for each trip always involves making sure each electronic device is fully charged, every needed accessory is packed and my reservations are intact with an e-ticket waiting. Today, I am fully wireless. I can reach anyone and, unfortunately, can be reached by everyone. I have all of my magazines available in digital form on my iPad, email and IM on my Android, and all of my work files stored on my MacBook. All of this was but a geeky dream 20 years ago.

The problem is, I still like real magazines and real books. Even though my Kindle is filled with e-books, there’s still something about the tactile experience of turning real pages and, most importantly, the smell of the ink on paper.

I like vinyl records, too. The experience of listening to them one side at a time, all the while studying the liner notes and pictures, is something kids can’t relate to today. I still definitely prefer real tube guitar amplifiers over digital, virtual amps. Some musicians still prefer analog 2-inch tape over digital recording.

As I ponder the days of analog with the shag carpeted, orange-hue of the Seventies, and never being “connected,” I begin to see that I really never want to go back there. So many advantages are brought to us via digital. When I traveled in the old days, I had to depend on payphones or hotel operators to communicate with family. That adventure was always full of logistical and financial challenges, especially with overseas travel.

So, as I finish this, I am hearing the call to get on the flight to San Antonio. Hey, never mind all of that foolishness about analog. It’s a good memory, but I’ll take digital over analog any day. I’ll finish this, check my email messages on the phone and head down the aisle to my seat…maybe do a few last-minute things on my iPad before they close the door and make us turn our toys off.

At least travel is still analog. One day, maybe we’ll be looking back to when people traveled without a Star Trek transporter “beaming us up.” Until then, I’ll be patient.

It was in the summer of 1977, during a date after an Angels game, that I first heard Foreigner and the song “Feels Like the First Time” on my car radio. I was blown away! The lead singer of this new group, Lou Gramm, would become one of the greatest singers in rock history. I rushed to the record store to buy the self-titled Foreigner album, studied the illustrated cover (photo above) and read the liner notes. I learned that the band was comprised of six guys–three British and three Americans. Soon, the music went viral and the whole world knew of Foreigner. Just like the phenomena with the group Boston a year earlier, everyone had a copy of their record.

The two standout members in Foreigner were also the chief songwriters of the group. Mick Jones, a guitar-slinging refugee from the English group, Spooky Tooth, was out to create a super-group culled from both sides of the pond. Youthful Lou Gramm, a golden-voiced Rochester, New York native, auditioned for the band while on hiatus from his own group, The Black Sheep. In early 1977, after Gramm spent several days in NYC with Jones, putting his iconic vocals on the soon to be famous tracks, he was invited to be the front man of Foreigner.

Over the years, Foreigner released back to back albums with singles adding up to several top hits, including songs like “Cold As Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “I Want To Know What Love Is,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” and “Juke Box Hero.”

2011 marks the 30th anniversary of Foreigner 4 which, arguably, is the masterpiece of their career. Its hard to fathom that three decades have passed since I purchased that cassette tape in a record store somewhere in the midwest while on tour with my own band. That record inspired me as a guitar player, singer and songwriter. My loyalty to the band continues even as Foreigner releases a Wal Mart exclusive, three-disc set this week (a fresh recording of their hits, along with an unplugged acoustic version, and a concert DVD, filmed earlier in March, 2011). Needless to say, I am a big fan.

Foreigner has experienced personnel changes on just about every album since their debut in 1977. In 1992, Lou Gramm made a decision to get sober and, in the process of recovery, became a Christian. He continued to tour and record with the group even as evolving radio formats refused to play their new songs–only the older hits. Gramm made a few solo records and remained with the group until a brain tumor brought everything to a screeching halt. Three months after the surgery, Gramm was back on the road with the band. Over the ensuing months, his health wasn’t getting better and his weight gain, due to therapeutic steroids, added an extra 100 pounds to this previously lanky rocker’s frame. Audiences were shocked.

He has since left Foreigner to form his own self-titled group, along with his two brothers. I came upon an interview today from the CBN website that Lou Gramm gave in November, 2009. I was inspired with his story and testimony. Even as Foreigner releases a new CD this week, Lou Gramm’s legacy still resounds in the hearts of fans to this day.

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Today, September 12, 2011, has been designated the National Day of Encouragement. Brenda tweeted this last week and made the point that it is appropriate placement, following the tenth anniversary of the attacks on 9/11.

Sometimes we need to retreat–to take cover and rest after a day like yesterday. It was hard to dodge the many 9/11 specials all over TV. I saw one program on MSNBC that touted the injustices inflicted on detainees at Guantanamo Bay. If there was a more inappropriate day to air that special, I know not one. It was so sad to see families on other networks as they tearfully remembered their fallen loved ones.

So a Day of Encouragement is due. Sometimes the road gets long, we get weary and faith can waver.  I’m ready for some good news today. It may be in the form of a compliment, or as a great future opportunity. Today, the greatest hope and encouragement comes from God. When I read Jeremiah 29:11, my spirit is lifted: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'”

Basking in the warmth of those words, have a great National Day of Encouragement!

At the age of 15, my father sat in a movie theater near Los Angeles in December of 1941. The feature was suddenly halted and every serviceman in attendance was summoned to duty. Japan had just bombed Pearl Harbor, a little known name to Americans back then. It would become an infamous place on the map, and the occasion an infamous day in American history. The moment is vivid in my dad’s mind each time he tells the story. He usually ends the account with, “We must never forget.”

In 2001, we had just sold our home in North Carolina, looking to relocate to Tennessee and, in the mean time, were staying with Brenda’s parents for a few days in Mobile, Alabama. We gathered around the living room TV after the news broke that the first tower had been struck. We continued to watch in disbelief as the awful truth slowly unfolded and world changed before our eyes. Brenda and I mentioned how, just a few years earlier, we rode the subway to the Towers on a trip to New York and took the iconic escalators that led many to their doom. It was a helpless sight to see the jumpers, and to realize that thousands were trapped with no recourse but to wait and pray for rescue. It was a terrible day– one that could make a happy-go-lucky person become cynical and bitter.

I was just 3 years old when the world changed back in November, 1963. As Kennedy lay lifeless in a Dallas hospital, the people of this great country reacted in much the same fashion as on 9/11, my elders tell me. What was once a post-WWII climate of positivity and economic prosperity–with babies being born in record numbers, new home building and interstate highways creating a single nation out of scattered regions– instantly became a more fearful place as Kennedy faced-down Kruschev, close to home, during the Bay of Pigs debacle. When Kennedy was struck down a few years later, it ushered in a new brand of fright: America was vulnerable to attack from within it’s own borders. Whatever the case, the fact is, we Americans are vulnerable. We seem to forget, over time. When our economy is on an upswing, and our bellies are full, the threat to our freedom becomes a hazy memory from the past.

This weekend, as we sit around the TV to take in all of the 9/11 tenth anniversary remembrances, we must also remember that a dark world exists outside our comfy homes. I’m not trying to be morose, just speaking the truth. Our naive tendency is to believe that good dwells in all humanity. I will say now that, outside of the Spirit of God, evil dwells in the heart of man. In the Bible, Jeremiah 17:9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (NIV)” Where there is an opportunity for power, humans will do whatever it takes to gain the upper hand. Therefore, we must never forget that dreadful day when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and into that lonely field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We must never forget–because if we’re not careful, it could happen again.

We must remember the rescuers and the fallen this weekend . The many souls who perished in the flames and rubble will forever be honored in our hearts and in history. Like my dad says, “We must never forget.”

When I visited my alma mater last week, I ran into an old friend from Truth, Alicia Williamson Garcia, who is now teaching there at the University of Mobile. She feels her contribution to students who pass through the very popular worship leadership track is to inform them how very important theology is when leading a worship team and/or writing songs. I think she is going to be very effective–the church will benefit as much as the graduate.

I have been asked over the years by many Christian song writers to listen to their song demos. Usually, my biggest critiques have been in the areas of song style and theology. (I am a lyric hound., and a big area of concern for me is in this area, but I won’t bore you with details about lyric writing here). As to style, I am surprised how many writers are copying musical styles from 15 or 20 years back. I ask them if they listen to the radio or some sort of Top 40 format, just to keep in touch with listeners. I am not surprised when they say, “No.” What? If you are gonna be a writer, then read! And if you are gonna be a songwriter, listen to music! When it comes to theology, Its imperative that every thought , assertion and teaching is in-line with Scripture. We must strain every lyric we write through the filter of the Word of God, otherwise, we are being irresponsible toward God, the Church, and ourselves as artists.

Its mind-boggling how many poorly written songs make it into church worship services. If we are allowing artists, song writers. publishers and record companies to be the purveyors of truth in our churches, we are foolish. With every song that we consider for our worship services, it is our responsibility, as worship leaders and pastors, to look over every lyric and scrutinize the accuracy of the message before we take it to the next step and introduce it to our congregations.

The advantage of many (not all!) great hymns is that they have stood the test of time with their timeless melodies and Truth-based lyrics. Just because a great artist sings it, the music is killer and we really like the way it makes us feel, doesn’t mean we should use it. Is it based on the Bible, or is it just a great rhyme?

ATTENTION SONGWRITERS: a song isn’t written, it’s re-written! I am not impressed with someone who says they wrote a certain song in 15 minutes. Edit a song until it has no holes in it. Then, and only then, should you demo a song. Even at that point, it should be open to changes.