The Galaxy Cafe is a new addition to DesertSnow. This section will feature artists and their music, as well as different types of coffee and coffee products so that you can order items while you listen to music. You can also order an artist’s CD, as well as read the lyrics from songs and read interviews by the artist.

Stacey’s previous CD - “No Words.”

So pull up a chair and read about Stacey Dee, an artist from Georgia. She just released a new CD called “Learning to Love,” and you can play some of the music right from this page. You can also go to her page on CDBaby.com and listen to more of the tracks as well as order the CD.

Stacey has just finished a set at the Galaxy Cafe, and is enjoying some brew by candlelight. Her interview is found on this page, too, so enjoy!

Pictures are from CD release concert in Atlanta, Georgia. Courtesy of Stacey Dee/Ching Man Music (ascap) ROI Records

Click on the front cover of the CD to listen to all the tracks on CDBaby.com.

“Even Though” is the second cut on the album. This is my favorite song, and to me it describes the enigma of knowing someone who is invisible to our eyes. People have accused me over the years of having “An imaginary friend.” In other words, I am just a little (or maybe a lot) crazy. Before Jesus left the Earth, he said, “I will not leave you alone...I will send you the Comforter...” John 14:16-18

The Holy Spirit is called the “Paracletos” in Greek, or “One called alongside to help” (John 14:16, “Helper”). He was sent to be our friend, and to speak softly in our minds the things God wants us to do. But it is still very difficult sometimes waiting to see Jesus Christ, our Friend whose presence is near like the wind right now, but who will be there in a very tangible way someday.  “Even the creation... is waiting and longing for that day.”  Romans 8:18-25

Even during difficult times, the Holy Spirit gives those who know Jesus Christ a peace inside that is “beyond human comprehension.” There are lots of things that are true, lots of things that are complex, and lots of things that seem to be contradictory in life that are incomprehensible to us. We use tools and machines all the time that we don’t understand the inner workings of. But they are real and they are part of our world. The wind is one of the most mysterious things in the world (if you really think about it). In John 3:8 Jesus said, “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound of it, but you don’t know where it came from or where it’s going to; so is everyone who is born of the Holy Spirit.”

The next time you get into a real bad situation, cry out to God for his help. Cry out to Jesus Christ. Ask Him to help you by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. He will be there for anyone who calls on Him.

Randy Stahla

Click on the button to play “Even Though!”

“He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. And your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it..’”

Isaiah 30:20b-21

 

Even Though

I was made naked and unashamed

And even though I know redemption is the reason why you came

Perfection’s written in my soul

And I am longing for the day when I will once again be whole

 

Even though You are here I still miss You…

 

Even though Your promise is enough

I still find my heart gets tangled up in all the earthly stuff

Even though some day I will be free

I just wish it could be now ‘cause the wait is killing me

 

Even though You are here I still miss You…

 

And life is hard You told me, You told me

Oh but I’ll be fine ‘cause You hold me, You hold me

Even though, even though

 

Even though You’re here with me I still miss You

Even though I will be free I still miss You

Even though You’re here with me I still miss You

I still miss you, I still miss You

 

Even though You are here I still miss You…

 

Interview with Stacey Dee

What prompted you to write the song, "Even Though?" - tell us the background of this song, and if you wrote the lyrics and the music by yourself.

I did write the lyrics and music on this song. It's one of the first songs I wrote on the guitar as well. (Most of my other songs before this were written on the piano.) This song explains not only the beginning of man but also the current state of man. It explains why we long for life, why we fight for freedom, why we cry at death, why we cringe as we watch and feel our own bodies age. We were not created for this! We were created for perfection and it is still written in the deep hidden pages of our souls. All of us feel it - whether on not we know what it is or why it's there. It's a common ache. This song speaks to that ache.

What is the hardest thing about relating to someone (the Lord) who from a human standpoint is invisible? Have you ever been thought of as "crazy" for doing that - have you been accused of making up an "imaginary friend?"

 I'll try to answer both of these questions together. Probably the hardest thing about not being able to see and experience the Lord in the same way that we see and experience the rest of our world and the rest of our relationships is that it's less familiar. But the more I get to know Him and the more I experience Him in my life the more real and tangeable He is - even more "real" than the "real" world! People that haven't experienced Him can look at my faith and my assurance in Him as a bit crazy or unrealistic. It's only natural that they would feel that way. But I think the ache they feel inside that can only be filled by relationship with our Creator is very real to them. And I believe God uses that ache to draw people to Himself. Especially when they have experienced a lot of this life and seen that none of it comes close to filling that ache.

 I assume when you say, "Learning to Love," that you are talking about yourself and the changes and struggles you have gone through over the years.

Yeah. That's a good way to sum that up!

In "Alright," you talk about your Dad leaving you when you were 4 years old. Do you ever hear from him, and does he know about your career in music?

Actually that's a huge redemption story because my dad became a believer before me and actually led me and my sister to the Lord! My dad is a musician and he's been very influential in my music career. The story of my parents' divorce is deeper and more complicated than it appears in the song. And my dad was still in my life - my sister and I spent every summer and every other Christmas with him while we were growing up. I can look back now and understand it a lot more, but as a little girl all I knew was that my daddy was gone and that it hurt. And looking back it's very obvious how that cut had a major impact on my life and my identity.

 Is there still a "hole in your heart" from when you lost him and the years he could have been there for you?

As I said above, the Lord has brought great redemption to my relationship with my dad and great healing. But in the sense that I'll never get back that lost time and intimacy with him, then yes, there will always be a hole from that. But it's not a debilitating hole. It's one that's covered by God's sovereignty and grace and He's used it to minister to other people who are hurting in their relationships. My dad heard this song for the first time just after I released the cd and I prepared him for it and explained that I didn't blame him or hold any bitterness but that the song was just the reality of what I experienced and how it felt. He actually called me after listening to it and told me how much he liked it! I'm so thankful that what Satan intended for evil, God intended for good!

Click here to play the song “Almost There”

Learning to Love

With every ache of the pounding within

With every taste of the salt on my skin

I’m letting go one breath at a time and finding a peace that isn’t mine

‘Cause I’m learning to love, I’m learning to hold without holding on

Learning to love, learning to breathe until I am gone

Learning to take without taking away

Learning to give even when I can’t stay

‘Cause I’m learning to love

When I am old if ever I am I wanna retrace the years like a friend

Don’t wanna be bold, just wanna be true

Don’t wanna forget loving you

‘Cause I’m learning to love, I’m learning to hold without holding on

Learning to love, learning to breathe until I am gone

Learning to take without taking away

Learning to give even when I can’t stay

‘Cause I’m learning to love, learning to love

Not what I am or ever could be

But I know I can love ‘cause You loved me

With every beat and every breath in my life and in my death…

 

Click on the button to play “Learning To Love!”

Almost There

Too much heartache and you don’t know if you can take one more sadness

The madness is ripping you to the core

The pain seems unending and you’re spending too many nights on the floor

You’re breaking and it’s taking so long and you wonder if you can take anymore

Don’t cry now, it’s not that I don’t care

Don’t cry now, its just that we’re almost there

Too much heartache and you don’t know if you can take one more sadness

The madness is ripping you to the core

The pain seems unending and you’re spending too many nights on the floor

You’re breaking and it’s taking so long, you can’t take anymore

Don’t cry now, its not that I don’t care.

Don’t cry now, it’s just that we’re almost there

When you don’t wanna’ live and you don’t wanna’ die

When you don’t wanna’ go on feeling the way you feel inside

When the end of the road is not in sight keep moving on… ah ah

Don’t cry now, it’s not that I don’t care

Don’t cry now, it’s just that

Don’t cry now, it’s not that I don’t care

Don’t cry now, it’s  just that we’re almost there, almost there

All photos, songs & lyrics Copyright 2007 by Stacey Dee/Ching Man Music (ascap) ROI Records; used by permission.

To me, the song “Almost There” is about perseverance. It’s about believing that God still loves us even when the road seems to go on forever. And it’s about having a great destination and hope for good things in this life and the next.

But we can easily lose sight of the future, and lose our hope. This can lead to drifting away from God, and then having to deal with forgiving ourselves for mistakes we make. It’s not easy to forgive yourself.

But whatever happens, we can start at the beginning. Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Revelation 22:13

We can start at the cross, where everything we have done wrong was judged. The cross was our judgement, our punishment, our sentence, our execution for things we have done wrong - past, present, and future. God poured our wrongs into Christ and poured Christ’s righteousness into us.

Think about Barabbas (Matthew 27:15-26), the prisoner awaiting execution when Jesus Christ was on trial. Imagine him sitting in his jail cell. He was a murderer, a thief, and was a leader of rebellion against the Roman authority. Suddenly, a Roman soldier walks in, and opens the jail cell. “You’re free,” the jailer says.

“FREE?...WHY?” Barabbas answers.

The jailer explains that someone else is taking his place.

Barabbas walks away...

Now imagine, Barabbas thinking to himself, “Someone else is being executed for what I did, but that isn’t enough. I am going to punish myself. I am going to stay here in the jail.”

And Barabbas initiates a self-imposed sentence.

Are you punishing yourself, after someone else was executed for what you did wrong? That is a slap-in-the-face to the person who died for you. Every time you hurt yourself you are saying,

“What you did for me wasn’t good enough. I need to add to it. I know more about justice than God does, and I am setting myself up to be the judge of what He has done to pay for what I have done wrong as well as the judge of my own actions and failures.”

During the Civil War there was a man with a family who was called into military service. Another single man volunteered to go in his place. This man went into battle and was killed. A death certificate was sent to the person who had the family.

Later, the military tried to draft the family man into service. But when they came to his house, the man showed them the death certificate and said, “I am legally no longer alive. You can’t draft me.” They couldn’t take him. He was legally beyond their reach.

“You have died with Christ, and been raised with Him”  Romans 6:3. This is our legal position. No one can take this from us, and we are not to be punished because we are legally dead to our former life. We are not legally obligated to repay our debt, because our debt has been cancelled.

“...He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled  out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumped over them through the cross.”

Colossians 2:13b-15

So if you are still punishing yourself, walk away from the jail cell like Barabbas. There is nothing to stop you - unless you just want to stay in the jail cell. Stop accusing yourself and hurting yourself.

No one is expecting you to pay a debt that has already been paid!

The Master Key

 

You may not be able to be innocent

But you can be pure

By the blood of Jesus Christ

You may not be able to change your history

But you can change your life

By the power of the Holy Spirit

 

You may not be able to start over in the past

But you can start over in the present

By the cross of Christ

 

The cross is the starting point

For real living

And real life

And the Master’s key is what he did

For you and me

It is who He is

With His perfection and purity

It is where He is now seated

On the throne of glory and power and authority

Answering our prayers

Guiding us even when we are unaware

Speaking softly to us when we are alone

When we are frustrated or discouraged

Giving us hope and light in the darkness

And truth when evil surrounds us

Speaking comfort in times of distress

When we are so troubled we cannot speak

He gives strength and courage to those who are weak

 

The cross is where you can leave that which is

Too heavy to carry

Too difficult to answer

Too far to travel

Too hidden to find

Too painful for your heart

Too powerful for your mind

And you can only find peace through the Master

For only the Master has the Master key….

Want to read more? Click on the picture to read the “Runner’s Way” poem.

Galaxy Cafe Menu - coming soon!

“...The one who comes to me I will certainly not cast aside.” 

   Jesus Christ   (John 6:37b)

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