Nearly twenty years ago now, in the spring of 2004, I had a memorable experience that would later inspire the writing of my most recent song. At that time, I was teaching English to graduate students in northeast China. One of my students invited me to visit his family over a week long holiday we were always granted in May. He was from Henan Province, and it so happened that his father worked as a provincial historian.

I accepted the invitation, and we spent days driving to and fro around the area with the father teaching my all kinds of interesting background stories about each place via his son’s translating help. Though I got to see some sights that other people might find far more recognizable and impressive, such as Shaolin Temple, the place that left the biggest impression on me was Yuntai Shan (Cloud Tower Mountain), a part of the scenic wonders around Jiaozuo. It felt like less of a mountain and more of a canyon when we hiked it. And at the time we went, it was blessedly lesser-known and not overcrowded, as is so often the case with any scenic spot in China, especially during a holiday.

When we hiked to the bottom and walked along the rugged path on the valley floor, we came alongside a wide steam. The water was so clear, we could easily see the sandy bed, rocks, and small fish under the gently moving surface. A local man was sitting nearby, selling snacks from a small cart. He called out to us when we stopped to take in the sight. “Put your water bottles in and have a drink. The water is very refeshing!” We looked back at him and then at each other a bit dubiously. Where in all of modern China could we drink the water without first boiling it, mostly for safety also in an attempt to make it taste better? But at his ongoing insistence, we did as he recommended.

And that may have been the sweetest, purest tasting water I have ever tasted in my life, before or since. I could not believe how wonderful the flavor was, and I drank from and refilled my bottle twice before we moved on.

A couple weeks ago at church, I overheard one of our gifted pianists, Joshua, playing “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.” I eagerly began to sing the second verse which speaks of the Living Water that Jesus offers so that the one who drank it later said, “my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him.” Later that day, I woke up from a nap with a scrap of melody running through my brain, the sound of a rushing brook plotted out in note form. I dashed to the office to hammer out what was in my head. And then the words started to flow over the coming days as well.

Here is the new song Living Water, in a video assembled by my Paul who also used his talent to create all the instrumental background around my rushing brook note theme.

Be blessed, friends.