This song was used as the music for Psalm 49. The campout at the LH7 Ranch in Bandera, where the song was written, was horrific. LH7 was owned by my friend Maudeen Marks, who had the ranch just in back of where Landmark built their building on Cypress Run in 1984. It was where I wanted to prototype a new type of city, and the site Ray Gardner used for The Intelligent Habitat Project report he did for me back in about 1990. Maudeen had told me about her Bandera Ranch, and so I thought it would be fun to take the scouts there. Horses, wild west, river, and all of the necessary ingredients for a good scout camp. It also had a lot of dry grasses. I had one of the worst allergy attacks of my life on this campout. When I woke up om the back of my caravan, not able to breath, there was no one else in camp. The allergy pills had put me into a deep sleep. One of the younger scouts, I think Jonathan Schmidt, had also got so sick the others had taken him to the emergency room. I still remember my prayer that evening, literally pleading for my life, and promising to do better. This was at the beginning of the divorce “discussions,” and it seemed like just one more trial. I was reading a book called “Tribes,” and this song is kind of a summary of concepts in the book. Family was obviously on my mind. I love my children, and was (and remain) very concerned about the impact of divorce on them. We were on a Boy Scout camp out, with teenagers, who move to a different beat than Scout Leaders. Marriage was supposed to be forever, despite the fact the words in my wedding ring at the time read “Celestial Kingdom or Bust.” And having had a sort of near death experience, death was on my mind. I remember one of the older scouts, I think it was Mike Romig, asked me to sing what I was writing to him. This was hard for me, as the songs I write have always been very personal. He liked it. Maybe this is one of the reasons I am putting the effort into posting these songs for my kids. It is not easy for me to share deep feelings. Getting older, and guess I do not want all of my work to just die with me.
A goal is for this site to be interactive, for others to record their versions of the Psalms, or provide images or videos which explain a Psalm better. E-mail images, audio, or video to submit@psalmscountdown.net. By making a submission you agree to release copyright and to allow W3D to publish your submission, acknowledging posting of your submission is entirely up to W3D.