Saturday Song Stories - "Not Be Afraid"

Songwriters will often talk of times when songs seem to write themselves. One of the rare times that has happened for me is with "Not Be Afraid", the album's opening track.

One Saturday night in early 2006, I turned on the news. Big mistake. There were bombings in the Middle East, train wrecks, people killing each other, politicians lying... I'm not one of those people that is always griping about the state of the world, but I have to admit that it was a particularly scary news cast. It seems that our world is fueled by fear. If this world is all there is, we have reason to be afraid.

People even try to capitalize on this fear. For instance...There is even a recent television commercial that sells bathtubs to elderly people. The commercial has clips of people who are 75+ talking about how afraid they are of falling in the bathtub. Once the comsumer is sufficiently convinced that they need to be afraid of falling in their bathtub, they are urged to buy the slip-proof tub. Ours is a world where danger really does lurk around every corner and towel rack.

And so, on my basement couch after I had turned off the news, "Not Be Afraid" was born. It started as a reaction to the fearsome problems that the world is facing, but turned into a prayer that simply says, "I will not be afraid...I am safe within your arms." Repeatedly in the Bible we are told to "Fear Not". Whether we face death, poverty, sickness, or slippery bathtubs, we have no need to fear while we rest in the shadow of His wings.