3.6.2008
"These Words Aren't Working" and new Tour Dates!!...
"These Words Aren't Working" my new record is just about here. It will be available here at nathanshaver.com April 11th.
Check out the tour for upcoming dates and locations. Hope to see some of you at a show soon!
- Nathan Shaver
1.07.2008
Sing Louder...
Friends why don't we sing the song of Salvation louder than the song of defeat and sin?
Please read this poem written by a 16 year old Rwandan Lady, whose maturity and insight have brought forth a desire to see the gospel song sang once again...Please take and read, slowly and deeply.
Because I Love This Land
Susan Kigali
I hold a thousand tears
In the cup of my skinny hand.
I carry ten thousand wails
In the deep hollows of my ears.
I host a million bloated babies
In the deep brown of my eyes.
I house ten million graces
In the curls of my thinning hair.
I have stored pouches upon pouches of pus
In the blisters of my heart.
So we do not talk about them
Those others wrapped in rebel and state crossfire.
We do not sing about them.
How can we sing of things we do not know?
How will we sing about old men’s guts eaten out by hunger,
Old men’s eyes closed for fear of watching axes tear the heads
Of their grandchildren?
How can we explain missing ears, lips, noses,
Lone limbs traversing the land
Without their owners?
How can we ever talk about these things
Without tumours of bitterness
Teeming on our hearts?
No wonder we are silent.
I will not talk about them
I will talk of other things
Of the man who hung naked
On the tree and sweated sorrow for us.
I will sing only of water and blood
Flowing out of a side and a voice
That whispered “It is finished.”
I can think about glory
Wrapping darkness in a shroud
And storing it in an eternal grace.
I will think on love of a heavenly prince
Clothed in earthly tatters fighting
Swindlers in the temple of God.
I will think of a little child talking
To bearded men about his Father’s Love.
I will sing about a risen Son
And transcending peace.
I will sing of the victory
Of love embracing love
That is the only way I can ever walk upright.
- Nathan Shaver
1.04.2008
Seek the TRUTH...
Satan is the master of bending truth just enough to make it look like truth, but it ends up being a grand distortion. While working through the gospels, I'm encountering some statements that I find myself questioning the “real” meaning. Is that really what Jesus meant? Should this really impact my life in this way? Sometimes the gospel/truth just seems to be so…intolerant of my lifestyle.
Maybe that is why I’m being reminded to preach the gospel to myself over and over, rely on Christ, trust in God’s promise, listen to the Holy Spirit and obey. I so easily try to preach another gospel, one that sounds more like a grand distortion. My prayer is to submit to the Truth revealed by God in his Word. May it never be said that he taught a false gospel to himself and in doing so led others astray.
"It’s an illusion to think that recovering doctrines is simple and straightforward, that they need only to be reaffirmed to be rediscovered. Far from it. All truth in a fallen worlds is vulnerable to distortion. In fact, each truth has it own foreseeable distortions that are its shadow side. Each also has a sort of magnetic attraction to distortions prevalent in the people who believe the truth and the times in which they live."
-Os Guinness
The Call
Seek to know the TRUTH.
- Nathan Shaver
12.31.2007
On the Verge of Something Beautiful....
Another New Year is on the verge of blooming into a beautiful gift of God. Many people are planning and preparing to do this year right (I am one of them). Most are thinking of ways they can be a better person in their physical, mental and spiritual life. However, how much of this is really dependent on our planning and strategies, but more on the graces that God gives us? I am not saying that resolutions are all together bad! We must be proactive in sanctification, joining with the Holy Spirit to bring about the character of Christ in us. All of these thoughts were birthed out of random reading by Oswald Chambers. Read on...
"We want to cling to our natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us in contact with the life of Jesus Christ— a life that can never be described in terms of natural virtues. It is the saddest thing to see people who are trying to serve God depending on that which the grace of God never gave them. They are depending solely on what they have by virtue of heredity. God does not take our natural virtues and transform them, because our natural virtues could never even come close to what Jesus Christ wants. No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands. But as we bring every part of our natural bodily life into harmony with the new life God has placed within us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that were characteristic of the Lord Jesus."
-Oswald Chambers
My Utmost for His Highest-12/30
My prayer is that as we proceed into the New Year (Lord willing) that we would learn to keep in step with the Holy Spirit and learn to grow in the grace of God as the character of Christ is grafted into our life. That the community of faith would be solely dependent on Jesus for their life and direction and that his glory would be our joy and delight. Grace to all in 2008.
Happy New Year!!!
- Nathan Shaver
9.20.2007
Tracking Complete...Ready for Mixing.
Tracking is complete! We finished laying all the tracks for the new record last week, and its headed off to get mixed. Vance Powell will be mixing and mastering the tracks and I couldn't have asked for a better ear. This guy is crazy good!
Thursday and Friday of last week were a blast. We invited JJ Heller in to sing on a song called "Say It Out" she nailed it. Can't wait for you to hear her angelic voice. Dave Henry (Over The Rhine, Indigo Girls, Ben Folds) visited on Friday and added cello. I laughed, I cried, he really moved me.
We are on our final lap of what seems to have been a 10 mile race, but everything is really coming together. Looking forward to sharing this record with you. Till next time!
visit my purevolume or myspace for more info.
- Nathan Shaver
9.11.2007
Andrew Osenga visits...
Today we're tracking some electric guitar tracks. Mitch invited and I welcomed Andy Osenga (former front man of the Normals, now Caedmon's Call) to lay down the guitar and we've had a great time. He's a very hard worker who has an incredible ear. You are going to really love what's been created here today at Sputnik.
I would like to attract your attention to his website to get a better feel for Andy Osenga. He's a wonderful human! More to come...stay tuned.
visit my purevolume or myspace for more info.
- Nathan Shaver
9.06.2007
In the Studio Pt.2
A few days have passed since the last update, so I've decided to give an account of all things since my last post. Mitch Dane and I spent a few days hammering through songs, tweaking lyrics, rhyme, melodies. It was an incredible experience, I really think that we've come up with some great new material that will awaken your senses and make your emotions aware of all things good and true.
After all the fun of writing and arranging, we started tracking drums and bass. I was so thrilled to welcome Aaron Sands (Jars of Clay) on bass and Andy Hubbard (Matthew Perryman Jones, Jars of Clay, and Little Big Town) on drums. These strapping young men are some of Nashville's finest and I can't wait for you to hear what they've added to the goodness. They we're great!
As of today we have vocals for 7 songs done, more singing tomorrow! All the acoustic guitar tracks are finished! I got to play a Gibson J-160 on most of the tracks. Very exciting for a guy who swears by Taylors most of the time.
All of this to say, that this record is really going to be great. It's my truest expression as an artist thus far!
Till next time...
visit my purevolume or myspace for more info.
- Nathan Shaver
8.21.2007
In the Studio...
I am very excited to let you all know that I am entering the studio this week. Much time has passed since my last record released and the day has come for a new project to enter the world. I will be working with the great and mighty, grammy award winning, Mitch Dane (Jars of Clay, Bebo Norman) and I am really looking forward to what we can create. His past work has always intrigued me and I consider this to be one of the greatest opportunities of my life! I think we are all in for a tasty little treat.
Stay tuned to nathanshaver.com for updates and news. Thanks for being a friend!
visit my purevolume or myspace for more info.
- Nathan Shaver
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