Take Refuge from God in God

"We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft of the rock while the glory of God passed by. We must take refuge from God in God. Above all we must believe that God sees us perfect in His Son while He disciplines and chastens and purges us that we may be partakers of His holiness." 

- A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

I've been reading and studying the minor prophets a lot lately... yep, those scary books full of God's judgement and phrases like "consuming fire".  When I signed myself up to write a song for every book of the Bible in a year, I was mostly thinking about writing songs from the Psalms, etc.... and I've had several "oh-crap-these-books-are-intense" moments while trying to write songs from the minor prophets (not to mention Leviticus, eh?).

But as I've studied these books - specifically Joel, Zephaniah, and Malachi - in the past few weeks, I have seen a major theme emerge: Even as God sends His all-consuming wrath against sin, He sends a refuge from that very same wrath.  We cannot hide from His judgement, because we all fall short of His holiness.  And yet, He says "hide here."  Hide in the wounds of Jesus and hide behind the cross.

What I'm trying to say might be best summed up by a chorus that I wrote for "A Place to Hide" (the song I wrote for Zephaniah, see below to listen and download):

Oh He’s both the refuge and consuming flame

Oh He brings the judgment and He mediates

Oh He sends the justice and He justifies

Sends the wrath that finds you and the place to hide

You know that verse that Christians quote from Zephaniah?  The one that says "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing"?  When put in the context of God's just judgement, His wrath and His consuming fire, this verse becomes very, very good news and so much more than a feel-good verse that reminds us of God's love.

June 1 a Year Ago

The below is from my journal June 1, 2010, which was my last day of work at Gordon-Conwell and just a few days before we moved back to Texas after being away for 4 years.  I was really overwhelmed about moving to Tyler, mainly because we hardly knew anyone here besides Nick's family... It's just amazing to see how God has answered this prayer:

"God, we pray for community - real, authentic - that would encourage us toward You.  We pray for a sense of purpose there, and we pray for a church and an opportunity to be a part of Kingdom work..."

God, thank you for our community here in Tyler.  The way you put it right in front of us almost immediately - it's really amazing how quickly we have gotten to know these friends here.  And thank you for giving us purpose - I know that I have never felt more purposeful with music than I do right now with this Scripture to Music project, and my mom gig is so fulfilling.  Thank you for the opportunities you have given Nick so far.  We are still trying to figure out our total purpose here, but we are catching glimpses.  And thank you, thank you for our church - the way you led us right to it, and the for the amazing people there.  And thank you for the opportunity to share your love and your story with high school kids through Young Life.  Thank you for your love and care for us, even in the smallest details and the hard moments too.  Amen.

Why is Good Friday So Good?

To celebrate Holy Week, I am going to try to post a video a day, similar to the one below.  I hope it helps you dwell on what was accomplished for us on that Sunday so many years ago.  


Why?

Because Sunday's coming.


Video by Igniter Media

A Heavy Load to Carry

To celebrate Holy Week, I am going to try to post a video a day, similar to the one below.  I hope it helps you dwell on what was accomplished for us on that Sunday so many years ago.  


Just last week, Nick and I went to Arizona.  He was on business and I... well... I mostly just sat by the pool.  :)  What was cool though is that I also got to spend a lot of time working on songs for the Scripture to Music Project - one for Hebrews and one that I'm currently calling "Gethsemane", taken from Mark 15:26-52.

For "Gethsemane", I tried to both describe what is happening and also capture the feeling and emotion and angst of what is happening.  It might sound a little presumptuous, but put yourself in Jesus's shoes on the night before he went to the cross, just for a minute.  Late on Thursday night, and into the early morning on Good Friday.... He knows He is about to be betrayed by Judas, and He knows the painful death that approaches.  It's dark and growing darker, and the weight of what lies ahead lays heavy upon Him.

The song ends on Friday, and it doesn't allude to Sunday at all.  I think we often skip ahead to the end of the story - to the resurrection - without dwelling on the darkness and sadness of that Thursday and Friday.  The cross Jesus carried was much more than just a physical object - it was all of our mess and sin and grief, and it was a heavy load to carry indeed.    




I climbed a mountain with three friends

Feel the darkness pressing in
I ask them to please stay awake
And I go off alone to pray

Father, please
Would you take this cup
It’s a heavy load to carry
But not my will
But what you want
Until I’m dead and buried

Sweat and blood they fall like tears
It seems the last star’s disappeared
Death it comes to separate
And my friends can’t stay awake

Father, please
Would you take this cup
It’s a heavy load to carry
But not my will
But what you want
Until I’m dead and buried

They came with clubs to capture me
An old friend he kissed my cheek
And all my friends they ran away
And I’m alone, denied, betrayed

Father, please
Would you take this cup
It’s a heavy load to carry
But not my will
But what you want
Until I’m dead and buried

My God, my God’s forsaken me
Hanging broken on a tree
Who can save you now they laugh
The darkness comes, I breath my last

The Power of the Cross

To celebrate Holy Week, I am going to try to post a video a day, similar to the one below.  I hope it helps you dwell on what was accomplished for us on that Sunday so many years ago. 


We used to sing this song by Keith and Kristyn Getty at our old church in Boston, and it is rich with truths that I know I need to meditate on as Easter approaches.  I love a particular line in the last verse:


"Oh to see my name, written in the wounds..."


What a LOVE, what a COST.  We stand forgiven at the cross.




I'm not really familiar with this song, but Keith Getty describes it as a prequel to "The Power of the Cross", so I wanted to post it here!  It makes the good news of the first song that much better.

Come Awake

To celebrate Holy Week, I am going to try to post a video a day, similar to the one below.  I hope it helps you dwell on what was accomplished for us on that Sunday so many years ago. 


If the message of Easter is true, if Jesus' resurrection laid sin and death in the grave, then why do we often live as if it's not true - as if those things never happened?  Shackled, sleepy, and bored.

There is a great song called "Christ is Risen" by Matt Maher, and my brother-in-law Rob's company Igniter Media did an amazing video using it.  Re-watching it just now filled me with hope and excitement for Sunday morning.  Seriously, make sure you watch til the end.

I love the last part: "O Church, come stand in the light.  Our God is not dead; He's alive!"

He Laid Death in His Grave

When I get the chance, I like to read blogs by songwriters that I really respect and look up to... a more recent find being Audrey Assad.  I read this post by her the other day, and it has stirred in me since, particularly the words she quotes from John Mark McMillan's song "Death in His Grave" (see video and words below).  


As Good Friday and Easter Sunday approaches, I am trying to dwell on this thought... that death is defeated and one day we will no more feel its sting.  Instead, we will experience LIFE full and complete.  Hard to imagine....  

The DEATH of death! 

To celebrate Holy Week, I am going to try to post a video a day, similar to the one below.  I hope it helps you dwell on what was accomplished for us on that Sunday so many years ago.  

PS - I just wrote a song the other day about Jesus' experience in the Garden of Gethsemane, and I'll try to post it at some point this week.  

Although the earth cried out for blood, what satisfied her hunger was

Her billows calmed on raging seas for the souls of man she craved

Sun and moon from balcony turned their head in disbelief

That precious love would taste the sting, disfigured and disdained.On Friday a thief, on Sunday a King;

He laid down in grief, but awoke with the keys of hell on that day;

First-born of the slain, the Man Jesus Christ laid

Death in his grave.

God's Hidden Hand

We recently studied the book Esther in my Tuesday morning Bible study, and I was so encouraged by its theme:

God's plans may be hidden, but his hidden hand is always working for His glory and for the good of those who love Him.


I sometimes wonder... why did this or that happen in my life?  God, why have you moved us from Austin to Dallas to China to Boston and now to Tyler, TX?  Why have we moved every 2-3 years?  Why did my businessman husband go to seminary?  How in the world did we end up in Tyler, where we never thought we'd be?

Could it be that one of the many reasons we have moved to so many places so that it has provided me with a larger audience of people to (hopefully) encourage with music?  Maybe...

Could it be that one of the reasons we went to seminary in Massachusetts was because, there, all fertility treatment is free for those who have insurance?  Did God, in His sovereignty, so sweetly work that out for us, all behind the scenes?  I will never forget that feeling when I realized God's tender and providential care for us in this.

Could it be that Nick went to seminary at Gordon-Conwell not to become a pastor but to serve in other ways?  What those ways are, we don't fully know quite yet... but we are seeing glimpses.

Could it be that, in Tyler, we are exactly where God's hidden hand has guided us to be for now?  To serve our church?  To love high school kids?  To make new friends that will deeply affect us and live life with us?

God is telling a Story and, crazily, He is using our small stories to tell it.  We can take great comfort in knowing that the Story maker's hidden hand is working, even if we can't see what it is doing, and it is working and moving for our good and His glory.

This song from Esther reminds us of this truth... I hope you like it!


Can't see the player?  Click refresh or go here to listen, even on your mobile phone.

An Extraordinary Life?, Part 2

I feel like I need to clarify a post from earlier in the month.  In it, I mentioned that I wanted to stop focusing so much on doing big, "extraordinary" things for God and start focusing on being extraordinarily faithful.  Extraordinarily faithful in the unobserved and ordinary moments.

I don't mean that it's wrong to chase a dream, to create, to imagine.  In fact, I'm all about those things! I feel so alive when I am crafting a song.  I dream about The Scripture to Music Collective becoming a movement.  I take little steps to chase my dream of becoming a songwriter, like submitting songs to contests and working at it as often as I can so that I can write a better song.

But where things get twisted for me is when it becomes about ME.  About making a name for myself.  About doing something "extraordinary" in the eyes of the world.  About being discontent with my life because I'm not "there" yet.  

But if I'm always living for "there", then I'll never be fully here. 

I have been really content lately (not the norm!).  Content with writing songs because I love it.  Putting them out there in the hopes that they'll encourage someone, but trying not to worry about how many people actually listened.


I think I've been more content because I'm trying not to view songwriting as a ticket to "there" but as part of who God made me to be... right HERE.


Do you agree?  Disagree?

Here is a video of the song I wrote about this, mentioned in the last post...


Lyrics:

A Life Unobserved

Nick's grandad, Rufus, passed away only a few weeks ago.  At his funeral, they read through a few of his earthly accomplishments.  He pastored a number of small-town Baptist churches and started a prison ministry that was always small.

"Brother Rufus" never made much money and was always doing outside jobs while continuing to do ministry full-time.  He was never a well-known guy. As a preacher, he wasn't one to blow your socks off with his charisma or engaging personality.

He was more of a pastor, visiting folks in the hospital and at their homes.  Let's just say that if Rufus had pastored today, he probably wouldn't have been "Google-able", even with a name like Rufus!  He wouldn't have many Twitter followers or podcast subscribers.  In fact, he probably wouldn't have tweeted at all.

In other words, Rufus was never extraordinary.  He lived a life unobserved.  But... it seems as though he was extraordinarily faithful.


My mother-in-law read a letter to her dad at the funeral on behalf of all of his kids.  After teasing him for being stubborn and strict and a little ornery at times, she sincerely thanked him for doing 2 things.  First, for loving and serving her mom so faithfully and adoringly.  Second, for loving God's Word.  

And aren't these the unobserved things of life? 

Oh God, please help me to live faithfully in the unobserved things as well as the observed things.  

Top 4

Guess what?!  I'm 25% done with my crazy goal of writing and recording a song for every book of the Bible before I'm 30 (on 11/11/11).  Whew!  It's been a fun ride so far.  I've posted 18 songs from 16 different books.  Only 50 left!

To celebrate, I've posted 4 of my favorite songs from the "first quarter".  These are all free downloads, so download away and enjoy.  Thank you to those who have followed along over on the Scripture to Music Collective site.  I've had a few new songs from other songwriters too, so it's been fun!

If you're interested in hearing the other songs I've posted, please go here.  You'll find songs from Nahum, Habakkuk, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Revelation, and more.    


Strong as Death (Song of Solomon) by Caroline Cobb


Woman on the Roof (2 Samuel) by Caroline Cobb


Philippians 2 by Caroline Cobb

All the Stars by Caroline Cobb

Jude & Ellie: Then & Now

My friend Ginger just sent me a few more pics from New Years Eve and I just had to post one of her son Jude and our little daughter Ellie.  Baby friends for life, yo.

Ellie around 2.5 months and Jude around 3 months.

Ellie (10 months) & Jude (10.5 months) on New Years Eve.  I love the little hand holding going on!

Concert Recap (Tazza 1/20/11)

I played a concert at a venue in Tyler, TX called Caffe Tazza on Thursday night and had the best time!

Jar of Clay
Right before the concert, I was really anxious about my voice... just a few days before, I had no voice to speak of (literally and figuratively!) and could only whisper.  I was nervous it wouldn't play out so well with a 4 hour concert!  Much prayer and prescription drugs were had prior to the big event.  Pulled out the big guns, I'm telling you.

I often remind myself that I am just a "jar of clay," and little cracks and creases like a weak, croaky voice only make the treasured message that I'm trying to sing about shine the brighter, even if my reputation decreases a bit.  Turns out, the concert went fine.  My voice held out throughout the concert - all 4 hours of it! - and I only croaked once or twice. :)

The Support of New Friends

So many friends came to the concert that night... friends I see all the time, friends I've only met in the last few weeks, and new friends who are more like friends of friends, really.  I love sitting in my little chair, singing into the mic, and watching all of these friends talk and laugh and drink coffee and have a great time together.  There were babies and parents of high schoolers and 20 somethings and grandparents and little kids... and even our head pastor and his family were there.  What really amazes me is this... just a few months ago, I didn't know any of these people.  And now we are surrounded by supportive friends.  I am grateful. 

     

And a big thanks to my friends the Heatons who took some amazing pictures at the concert.  Just for fun.    But it still made me feel like a rock star, ya know?  Anywho, I big THANKS to all of you who came out.  I hope you had a great time!  I definitely did.  Thanks for all of your support.

Ellie is 10 Months!

Ellie turned 10 months on Jan. 6.  So hard to believe she's only a month and half away from being one.  Woah.  When did this happen?

This month, Ellie celebrated her first Christmas, played with lots of cousins and friends, got to see old friends, laughed and talked a lot, and has started to learn how to "walk" with lots of support.  Her favorite toys right now are her bouncy balls, her bath toys, and anything else that's not really a toy at all... like a pile of Christmas cards and things that she can pull out of the drawers... or even out of the trash (yuck).  She definitely knows who her mom and dad are now, and that makes us feel great.  I've been trying to sing hymns to her at night as part of her bedtime routine.  My new favorite moments with her are when I'm comforting her after she's been crying or wakes up in the night, and she leans her head on me and falls back to sleep.  Wow.

Here's a little video of what Ellie has been up to this month....

Thankful

41.  This beautifully written and God-centered blog: A Holy Experience.
42.  Finding a new songwriting community online
43.  Days to write and create
44.  Talented photographer friends
45.  Ellie's company
46.  The way she crawls into my arms
47.  Sweet Reunions
48.  Skype dates with old friends
49.  Time with the Cobb family, all together
50.  Nieces and nephews

Art & Scripture

Makoto Fujimara, an accomplished and well-known contemporary artist in New York, has recently released an amazing project called "The Four Holy Gospels".  He has "illustrated" the four gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - using his art.  An introductory video is posted below.  Many of you may have seen this, but I wanted to make sure you did!

I love the part in the beginning where they speak about the line between worship and art, saying that the modern view is that you cannot do both together.  But with this project, Makato proves that you can.  The result is "connecting truth to beauty."  

May I never separate my "jobs" as mom, wife, homemaker, and songwriter from worship.  May it all be worship!  When I write a song, when I change a diaper, when I make a meal, when I run an errand, may it all be worship.  May I connect truth to beauty and beauty to my everyday and my everyday back to truth.


Makoto Fujimura - The Art of "The Four Holy Gospels" from Crossway on Vimeo.

New on Caroline Cobb Blog: Sexy Songs

What am I even talking about? Go here to find out more...

caroline cobb: Sexy Songs

Sexy Songs

Just thought I'd grab your attention with that title.  Did it work?!

Here are two songs that I've recently posted to The Scripture to Music Collective, one based on the story in the book of Ruth and one from Song of Solomon.  These two songs are definitely a bit "sexy", especially the one from Song of Solomon (yeesh!).  I hope you enjoy them.  You can download them for free!  Go to the Scripture to Music site to check out the lyrics.

Strong as Death (Song of Solomon) by Caroline Cobb


Where You Go (Ruth) by Caroline Cobb

10 books down, 56 to go!

New Years

This is a little late, but I wanted to write a quick post about New Years 2010, since I don't want to forget it!  Amazingly, many of our seminary friends were able to be in Houston for NYE, so we ended up having a reunion of sorts.  There were new babies that we had never met and kiddos we hadn't seen in 6 months (a lot of growing happens in 6 months!). Most people there hadn't seen Ellie since she was about three months, and she's definitely changed quite a bit!  Needless to say, it was a great time to be with these old friends again, although it didn't last long enough.

The next day, we got to go to brunch with the Hicks, the Laedings, and the Wolfes.  It was such a great time, and we sat for a few hours just talking.  It was a great start to 2011. 

The newest additions: Felicity Hicks and Noel Lehtinen

The girls with the kids.  We have DEFINITELY multiplied in the last year!

At lunch on New Years Day.  I love these girls.

Ellie loves Aunt Rach.

Social little kid... She loves eating out.

Ellie also loves Aunt Ja.

Ellie's 10 Month Photoshoot

On Saturday, we went out to Lake Tyler for a photoshoot with our good friends the Heatons.  They are incredibly talented, and we are so thankful that they would do this for us.  The pictures turned out so wonderful, and I know we'll really treasure these for a long time.  If any of you Tyler people need a photographer, call up the Heatons!

I put a slideshow below of some of our favorites.  Thanks again, Heatons!