SONG STORY: "We Are Waiting." A Prayer for Advent

Now available on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and many other digital distributors.

Some songs write themselves, or at least they come about unintentionally.  This song's story is one of those.

Conceived in the Advent season of 2010, it took shape late at night (as most of my songs are) and it was actually a prayer not a song, though it took shape in words and melody simultaneously.  I actually prayed this before I ever envisioned that it would be a song to share with others. It started with simply the line, "we are waiting, Lord," which I repeated.

My thoughts were on the original Advent season... before it was even called Advent.  Before there was a Christian church at all. Before Christ was known to His creation.  Israel was awaiting her Messiah. But I imagine there were many who found themselves stuck living between anticipation of the coming redeemer and questions as to whether He would be coming at all. This was a time that would have tested faith deeply. This was the first Advent.

So now we observe this season, but for us it takes on different and even dual meaning. We observe it in remembrance of what took place, what was announced through the prophets and has now been revealed. It reminds us of God's faithfulness though what He has done.  But in a different sense, we also anticipate yet another coming — Christ's return to us to complete restoration of His kingdom.  So this is Advent now.

So now we wait.

In the same way generations before Christ waited and wondered, “where is God? Where is our Messiah?”  Many today also wonder where God is, or perhaps they've even stopped looking. But, “in the fullness of time”, and in a way no one expected, Jesus was born. And just as unexpectedly He will return.

So we wait. But how do we live in this period of waiting?  As I was wondering this in prayer, the answer came in lyrics as well.  We pray. We give. We serve. We love each other.

We do what He did when He was here, until he returns.

My prayer is that others can join me in this prayer.

"We Are Waiting" is available on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and many other digital distributors.

We Are Waiting
by C. Sobalvarro, 2010

VERSE 1
We are waiting, Lord 
We are waiting, Lord 
We are waiting, Lord 
But until you come, we’ll (pray, serve, love) 

CHORUS 1
Come, Lord Jesus, come 
Come, Lord Jesus, come 
Come, Lord Jesus, heal our land 
Come, Lord Jesus, come 
Come, Lord Jesus, come 
Come, Lord Jesus, come to us 

CHORUS 2
Come, Lord Jesus, come 
Come, Lord Jesus, come 
Come, Lord Jesus, as our King 
Come, Lord Jesus, come 
Come, Lord Jesus, come 
Come, Lord Jesus, come to us 

VERSE 2
Love our brothers and our sisters 
Love our neighbors as our selves 
Love every nation 
Love our enemies

CCLI Song Number: 6182302

SONG STORY: Great and Mighty

I have been writing songs for years and have made a habit of making them available to others in written form — chord charts, lyric sheets, etc. as I've written them.  As a worship leader who has had the chance to be a guest in congregations outside my home church, I've usually made it a practice to include one of my own songs in the set when I play out, thereby introducing them to others. But I've not widely released them in recorded versions, until now.

Today marks the online release of Great and Mighty on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and CD Baby. Other digital channels including Spotify and Pandora are coming in days to follow.

While this song is newly released, it's already familiar to some.  In starting to record my own originals the big question was where to start.  I chose to let the numbers speak for themselves. Simply put, Great and Mighty is thus far, my number one song in this genre based on the usage reports I receive quarterly.


Without a doubt the most rewarding thing for me as a songwriter is to hear that other people are using my material.  As the writer and copyright holder, a benefit has been that as they're used by others and reported to CCLI's Song Select service, I get a report of which songs are used.  Believe me, the royalties don't add up to much more than support for my coffee habit, but it is immensely peronally rewarding to see that my songs are being sung in countries literally around the world. So, as this new recorded release hits the ears of new listeners in new ways, my hope is that more and more people will sing it and share it with others.

Many thanks to all those who were part of this project. Vinny Passanisi, Mission Studio for engineering the recording and offering great advice along the way; Jeff Hazen, for bringing life the groove with his drumming; and, Gabrielle Jackson for sharing the vocals with me on this so beautifully.  In many ways this project was a "proof of concept" for recording in my home studio in partnership with a professional studio and an engineer. I was personally thrilled with what I gained working with Vinnie at Mission and super happy to have them be a part of this. Thanks also to DearlyLettered for the cover art that will be the face of this song in players wherever it's heard!

Download the song lyrics and chords here:

Great and Mighty song chords and lyrics