“Peace Be Still” was written as an interlude for “Knowing Jesus.” In between “Our Father” (a song on the Lord’s prayer highlighting Jesus’ prayer life) and “All Things Are Possible” (a song about Jesus’ miracle ministry), I wanted to continue to tell the story in a unique way.
I attempted to create a soundtrack to when Jesus calmed the storm. This event showed Jesus’ command and even nature itself. I began to collect sounds from storms and began to create what the feel might have been like on the boat when the disciples thought they were perishing and Jesus was snoozing on the lower deck. In the song, the storm escalates to this big crescendo and then dies down to this beautiful calming effect.
Then, I just had to try to come up with a guitar riff that sounded like it could be a soundtrack for that moment.
Sure, that sounds simple.
I kept coming up with different types of parts and trying to structure the whole thing, but it was losing some of the accurate feel. I didn’t want it to feel so programmed out that you lost some of the chaos of this moment. Due to the nature of the piece, it had to be one take recording for the guitar. I eventually came up with a decent take for the song.
As the storm dies down, the piano takes over as you can almost hear Jesus shout at the storm “peace be still.”
It’s a reminder in the chaos of this life that Jesus is still able to command storms to subside. There is no chaos to which Jesus is unable to bring order. Jesus could sleep through the things that have us on the edge of our seat.
We can’t wait to do this live again on March 29 & 30th. Here are some links to keep you informed and to help us get the word out:
Get chord charts for entire album here.
Listen to a snippet below or get your copy on iTunes.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
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