[Scroll down to skip the background and to link to my songs.]
Introduction
Someone once said, “If you want to change the world, don’t write a book, write a song.” I’ve spent my best years seeking truth, writing books, and serving folks through various ministries, but music has always been an important part of my life. In fact, my first book, The Contemporary Music Debate, defended a missionary mentality of using popular styles (people’s “heart music,” what they sing to themselves at their leisure) to communicate spiritual truth. Today I’m putting that into practice by translating some of my most important life lessons over my almost 70 years into music. I timidly shared my songs with a few friends and some were quite enthusiastic, encouraging me to move forward. Here’s the result.
Suddenly, AI music tools such as Suno enable music lovers with limited tools to produce quality music. Throughout my life, I’ve occasionally written songs primarily for my own edification and a few friends and family. While my lyrics were quite meaningful to me, I never especially liked my tunes and my limited expertise on musical instruments would never enable me to perform.
So I write the lyrics and direct Suno with stylistic prompts that I feel suit the message. Thus, styles range from pop rock to punk rock, from country to orchestral, from the Beatles to praise and worship. In other words, some you’ll likely hate, but hopefully at least one you’ll love, since it’s the messages I’m trying to communicate to people who enjoy at least some of the wide-ranging styles of my heart music.
I hope you enjoy and grow! (I have a backlog of songs and will try to put up a new song every week or so.)
Links to Songs
The Way to Wisdom (2/28/2026) Slow, melodic folk song about seeking wisdom, informed by Proverbs 1-3 and James 1. I’ve been hard after wisdom, both regarding spiritual truth and practical “how to live life” wisdom for five decades. My Suno style prompt was “Contemporary accoustic guitar worship song in a soft 3/4 waltz feel, male contemporary voice, ambient pads.”
Face Toward Aslan’s Land (3/7/2026) Perhaps I began writing these lyrics when we lived in Slovakia, near the Danube River, just after the fall of Communism. It’s a land of great beauty with many castle ruins scattered about. My son Andrew was a first grader reading The Chronicles of Narnia, and I was so inspired by the little mouse Reepicheep, the head of Aslan’s army, who was determined to find Aslan’s Land. I wanted a Medieval, orchestral, fantasy-adventure feel, so I directed Suno: “Celtic fantasy ballad, orchestral strings and horns blended with acoustic harp and lute, heroic build, ancient Middle-earth atmosphere.”
Ode to Hume 3/14/2026 On a more serious theological/philosophical note, I wrote the lyrics and used this prompt to try to achieve a harder rock, chilling style in Suno: “emotional alternative rock ballad with electronic textures and ambient pads, clean expressive male vocals, introspective and melancholic mood, gradual build into powerful bridge then calms somewhat for final verse, polished modern rock production, dramatic and cinematic.” I’ve been reading 1700’s philosopher David Hume this winter as I research arguments against the afterlife for a forthcoming book. (This will follow my three published books defending the afterlife.) Reading Hume’s relevant essays along with an intellectual biography (by Harris) and personal biography (by Mossner), Hume emerged to me as one who was not a humble, objective seeker of truth. Instead, he was convinced from an early age that people who believed in the Bible and miracles were ignorant and naive and took it upon himself to disuade people of such ridiculous beliefs. But as much as Hume’s fellow skeptics tend to almost revere him, I must agree with philosopher John Earman (not a theist), who deems Hume’s work against miracles as an “Abject Failure.” Hume ridicules believers and especially religious leaders, yet bases his own arguments against their beliefs on largely unsupported premises. He has all the marks of one who’s overly confident of his opinions, blinded, and refusing to listen to the many able critiques of his works at his time, making a point to never respond to counter-arguments.
Peachy Was a Gentle Soul (Death’s So Final…Unless It’s Not) (3/15/26) A soft, storytelling ballad with acoustic guitar. I gave Suno the lyrics and left “style” blank. Some call me “Dr. Death,” since my dissertation was on deathbed experiences and I’ve been researching/writing books on it ever since. So in grieving over the loss of our really, really sweet rescue dog, I wrote this tribute to her a couple of weeks ago. All the details are factual. Yes, she’d always find a way out of our fence. Yes, she begged relentlessly for our cat’s food. And yes, the young son of a missionary colleague in Ukraine died when a snowbank caved in on him and when revived in an ambulance reported on the other side. I interviewed him personally by phone.
Heavenly Dreams (3/21/26) I wrote these lyrics decades ago about how reflecting upon the promise of heaven impacts the way I handle life’s hard times here on earth. Life hasn’t been easy! But temporal trials and losses lose their devastating edge when I view them in the light of eternal joy in a place with no more tears and no more suffering. I’m convinced the struggle will be more than worth it in the end. This song helps me to meditate on that. I used the promp “Moderate energy pop rock” in Suno to generate the tune and arrangement.
You Found Me (3/29/26) Nobody would have considered me a bad kid as a 16-year-old, but I had no purpose in life. On Summer days I’d mow yards for money, ride dirt-bikes through the mountains, had loving parents and nice friends. But my life lacked meaning. I suspect that many growing up in the 1960s and 1970s felt that same emptiness, which may have been one impetus to the Jesus Movement of that era. I attended a retreat, because a girl I liked was going. The leader explained from John 10:10 that Jesus came to give us life, and to give it abundantly. I realized that my life was a rollercoaster–up when I was having fun but down when things didn’t go my way. Plus, there was that lack of purpose. If God had the best for me, then why was I fooling around outside His will and missing out on His best. I gave my life to Him and although life hasn’t typically been easy, it’s been full of purpose and meaning. I wrote the lyrics and instructed Suno to give me a “chill love song.”
Wouldn’t It Be Nice to Be Forgiven In high school I learned a simple key to mental freedom and spiritual growth: confess my sins to God as soon as He brought them to mind, and pray for the power to keep repeating them in the future. According to I John 1:7,9 I knew that if I confessed sins to God, He would forgive. This kept me from living life in a state of shame and misery. Also, it was transformational. By admitting my faults, rather than justifying or minimizing them, my mind renewed over time. For example, I hated one guy who picked on me and kicked me. But realizing that hate was wrong, I’d confess it every time hate raised its ugly head, ask for power to love, and eventually, when I thought of him, I felt sorry for him rather than hating him. I wanted a happy style, so I imagined the early Beatles being influenced by the Jesus movement of their time. I wrote the lyrics and told Suno for style: British invasion-inspired power pop with jangly guitars, energetic drums, tight harmonies, big sing-along chorus, 60s throwback vibe but polished modern production.
Distracted and Delighted Following Jesus isn’t so much about rituals and morals as it is about a relationship with God. Jesus summed up the most important commandment as basically to love God and love people. This is a love song to God. It’s about intimacy. In my study of near-death experiences, people who report seeing God often report His all-consuming, astounding winsomeness and attractiveness. They say things like, “I never wanted to leave the presence of that Being.” To be in the presence of unspeakable love, all mixed up with infinite wisdom and greatness…WOW!!! I wrote the lyrics and asked Suno to put it in a love song or folk style.
The Ladder of Success I heard successful actors Matt Damon, Jim Carey, and Matthew Perry all say, in different ways, that they wished everyone could have all their dreams come true, so that they would realize that it doesn’t bring happiness. (e.g., see Perry’s memoir, p. 81) Ralph Barton, a successful cartoonist in the early 1900s, took his life at age 39, having written his reasons in a suicide note. I just put the words of these folks into poetry and connected it with Jesus’ warning that it profits nothing to gain the entire world and lose your soul. Then I prompted Suno’s style with “1990s–2000s country style, rich male vocal with slight rasp, acoustic and electric guitars, steady drums, emotional storytelling about love and life, cinematic build, anthemic chorus.”
(More to come each week)
More about the Songs
I think deeply about things, whether they be spiritual, relational, philosophical, theological or scientific. Think: “Philosopher Songs.” Thus, although I address common themes such as romantic love or friendship, I also reflect upon the problem of evil, human nature, quantum physics, and the beginning of time. What brings the songs together is not a consistent voice or style or theme, but the fact that they are all themes important to my life story, whether of love, loss, or ideas I’m passionate about and feel the urge to get out there before I die, even if only friends, family, and a few outside listeners find them helpful.