jonmilleronlinemusic

About the CD

In this collection Jon Miller brings you all of his best inspirational songs that deliver
his unique perspective as a musical artist through songs about life, love, and faith.
What's so great about Jon and this collection is that it is inspirational without being
cliché. These are songs that will get you ready to take on whatever life brings your
way. All of these songs come off as a completely authentic and genuine
representation of what Jon is all about and the type of music that he is becoming
more and more known for doing.

Six of these songs are already fan favorites among his loyal followers, including
"Days Like This," "Go Ahead and Laugh About it Now," "Trading Me For Us," "Live
More," Louder Than Words," and "Choice," which was a top five hit on Inspirational
Country radio for Danny Ray Harris this past year. There are also four brand-new
songs on this collection including "Just Married," the song he dedicated to his bride
on their wedding day June 28, 2008. This compilation is heartfelt and solidifies Jon
Miller's sound with his unique brand of "positive country" in a way that only he is
doing.

Choice

"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." - William
Shakespeare

Life is just life. We can only control but so much of what happens to us. In fact, really
the only thing we do control in life is our own thinking about the situations and the
people that are in our lives. Think about it. I have little over control what happens to
me, but I do control completely how I respond to what happens to me.

The Bible says this in 1 Timothy 4:4 (The Message), "Everything God created is
good, and to be received with thanks. Nothing is to be sneered at and thrown out.
God's Word and our prayers make every item in creation holy." In Genesis the when
the Bible talks about God creating the earth it turns around many times and says,
"And it was good". Life is life. It is what we make it to be.

Two people can go through the same exact setback and turn out totally different
from each other. Why? Because one of them believes it is a wake-up call and the
other believes it is their downfall. One person thinks this is the end and other thinks
it's just getting started. It all comes down to choices. Do you choose to see
misfortune as a disaster or a challenge? Do you have faith that makes you the
victim or victor? Are these stumbling blocks or stepping stones? Trust in God and
you'll be able to see through faith that all things work for good. This song stands as
a reminder for me to actually go out and do the things that I know my life is about.

Less of me, more of you

“God loves us the way we are, but too much to leave us that way” - Leighton Ford

I have always jokingly said that everybody is a little bit 'too something'. Have you
ever thought about that? This person is 'too quiet', this person is 'too loud'. This
person is 'too excited', this person is 'too sad'. Some folks are 'too goody-goody'
and some people 'too rebellious'. Think about it. None of us are perfect and we all
should be looking to improve ourselves, but how can this happen if all of us are 'too
something'?

John says in John 3:30 (NIV), "He must become greater; I must become less." He
was speaking of Jesus and was pointing to him as the Christ, which literally means
"The Anointed One." When we turn are eyes to other people there is only so much
that we can learn from that person because they are so much like us. When we turn
our eyes to Christ there is an infinite amount that we can learn. Too much of
anything can be a bad thing except when it comes to God. His abundance is
something we can never have too much of because we can grow in our walk with
Him forever and never be completely finished.

Days like this

I try to make music about things that are important to me, hoping that other people
can identify. This is one of those songs where when I finished writing it, I said,
"There it is! That's it!" This song is very much me. It's about noticing the ways in
which God has blessed us and being thankful for it. It's about being aware of how
truly blessed where are even on what we think is the most ordinary of days.

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” -
Oprah Winfrey

Blessings start with a thankful heart. Hey, that rhymed! Anyway, what I want to get
across to you is that we must be able to see the blessings that God has already
given us so that we will be able to see the blessings God is putting in our lives right
now. There is always something to be thankful for, sometimes it may be harder to
find these things but it is always rewarding to remind ourselves of God's faithfulness
to us. This is something we need for ourselves to build our trust in God.

I've caught myself before where I had prayed about something and almost forgot all
about it. Then the next thing I knew I looked back and realized that my prayer had
been answered. I had just went right along and forgot to thank God for His
blessings. It's important to open ourselves up to God's goodness. When we do this it
is much easier to see how God is working in our lives.

Look at Philippians 4:6 (NIV), "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." We must
start off by being thankful, in our gratefulness we are able to bring ourselves in tune
with God's blessings. I try now to start all of my prayers off by telling God what I am
already thankful for in my life. My family, my friends, the situations that He is bringing
into my life, these are all things that I am thankful to have. If we can be thankful for
the things that God has already brought us, then we can be in alignment with His
goodness and strengthen our faith. Challenge yourself to notice all of the ways in
which God has already blessed you and you'll be able to notice how God is working
in your life right now.

Still

It's important in the craziness that is called our everyday lives that we take time to
put things into perspective. In Psalms 46:10 it says, "Be still and know that I am
God." Lots of people have what they call quiet time. More than anything its just a
time reflect, to spend in prayer, and doing alone study time. If you're like me, this
can be very difficult. You know yourself better than I do. Find a time and a spot that
is best for you. There are countless distractions when I stop to pray or study. The
important thing to remember about a quiet time is that it isn't about quieting what is
going on around you, it's about quieting what is going on inside your own mind. Put
it all to rest. It may take a few minutes to do this, but just find a quiet place, get in a
comfortable position and just relax. Put all of the struggles and worries of your life
aside and just concentrate on God and the blessings in your life. I find its better to
pray first because it relieves me of all the distractions I have and it opens me up to
why I am doing my quiet time in the first place. When you pray, be sure to thank God
for all of the blessings in your life and ask for wisdom and guidance.

It's important to remember that the reason why we have our quiet time is for our own
good. It is us who benefits from spending time connecting with God. One of my
favorite lines in the Bible is found in the Lord's Prayer. The disciples had asked
Jesus how to pray and we all know how it goes...

"Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will
be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us
our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory, for ever. Amen."

That line in there "thy will be done." I just love those four words. Its why we need to
spend time in prayer and devotion, so that we are open to God's divine guidance in
our lives. Its a time that we can sit down and instead of someone telling us what the
Bible says or what God wants for us, we can discover for ourselves.

Waiting with open arms

I think I must lose my keys at least once a week. I always end up going all through
the house searching for them. Usually I have to go through all the different rooms
about three times before I eventually find them. Of course they always end up being
right where I left them. I'm always excited when I find them because the whole time I
had been going over my head what would happen if for some reason I could never
find them. Did you know God is always waiting for us to rediscover Him?

I think of the story of the prodigal son. The son decides he can do better on his own
so he leaves his Father and brother to live a completely independent life without his
Dad, but he loses everything he owns when he's out on his own and before long he
realizes that he had it better off when he was with his Father. So he decides to
return home and in Luke 15:20-24 (The Message) the Bible says, "When he was still
a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him,
and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've
sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.' But the father
wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes
and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a
grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful
time! My son is here-given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now
found!' And they began to have a wonderful time."

I have this picture in my head of God always waiting and desiring for us to turn back
to Him. When we finally come around, God is right there ready to fully embrace us.
God is always wanting for us to embrace Him and draw near to Him. He waits for us
with open arms, ready to accept us but we must be disciplined and bring ourselves
to Him. James 4:8 (NIV) says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you." No
matter how many times we have defied Him, He is ready to accept us at any moment
and celebrate that we have turned back.

Go ahead and laugh about it now

It's the little things that really get to us, isn't it? Stuff like being in a traffic jam, or
running late to work. Things like that tend to really get us worked up into a frenzy.

I think about this vacation where Tiffany and I were heading back to town from being
gone all week with my family in Gatlinburg. We had stopped at a drive-thru
somewhere in Tennessee to get some breakfast and since the window person didn't
want to hold up the line he had asked me to pull up while I wait. Well, I pulled up to
where they had asked me to and I waited. After a couple of minutes I heard
someone outside my window say, "Thanks Buddy!!!" I looked around but I didn't see
anyone. Finally I looked behind me and spotted a guy who was giving me the most
evil eye and mad, driving around me as he stared. It occurred to me that the spot
where they told me to park was in front of a newspaper machine. Now he could
easily walk to the machine but he wasn't able to drive right up to it because of where
I was. As I figured this out, I looked up again and there he was driving down the
street, still just glaring at me and (I'm not exaggerating) shaking his fist at me!

Now this guy was all upset about something that I didn't even realize I was doing. I
can only imagine that this may be a typical thing for this guy, if only for the day.
Have you ever encountered this sort of thing? I'm sure you have. Have you ever
been that person? I know I have. One of things that I love that Dale Carnegie said
was, "Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do." The point
is, we don't need to let the little things in life get in our way. If the guy had just said,
"Excuse me, I was trying to get a newspaper." I probably would have just moved the
car out of his way and I may have even apologized for being in his way in the first
place, but instead he glares and shakes his fist, probably baffling other people he
encountered yesterday too.

Maybe you've heard people say, "One day you'll look back and you'll laugh about
this." Why not do that now? When you feel like you're getting frustrated at life try
seeing what is happening to you from a third person perspective. In other words try
looking at it as if it's not happening to you but like you are seeing it happen in a
movie or a show. This should help you separate yourself from the situation and see
it in the big picture. You'll probably feel silly. You may come to realize that the
person that has you all frustrated may not even know that they have upset you and
most likely didn't mean anything by it. Remember, while we are much more
interested in what's happening to us, we are not the only character in this thing
called life.

Trading me for us

This was a co write with a great friend of mine from high school, Beth Nations. We
had actually been saying since high school that we were going to write a song
together. So after a few years had passed we got together and fulfilled our promise
to each other. The thing is, I don't ever like to write a song unless I feel like I can say
something that I've never heard said in a song or I can say it in a unique way. We
had tossed around a lot of different ideas and this idea sorta sticked. The whole
idea was to write a song about all of the fears and insecurities of your own self that
you trade in a relationship for faith and trust in that other person and that
relationship that you have with them. I love how the chorus turned out.

"I'm trading me for us, I'm trading fear for trust
You made me believe again when I love faith in love
And I'm ready to let go of that heavy, prideful load
I surrender heart and soul
And I'm trading me for us"

And that's the way it should be, you oughta be able to let go of all of your "baggage"
and doubts when you go into a relationship and find a place of refuge and fulfillment
in that other person. It's all about trading your brokenness and incomplete parts for
wholeness in the relationship that you share with the other person.

Just married

A couple of months before Tiffany and I got married I knew that I wanted to write a
song for our ceremony. I had a lot of ideas, but I wasn't sure how I wanted to pull it
all together. I had tons of inspiration from our relationship, our counseling sessions,
and even the vows we had decided on but I just didn't have the hook. Finally it
occurred to me one day that I already had the hook. I came up with it several years
ago but I always said I would get back to it because it would have to be a co-write.
The line was, "We could be so much more than just married". I'm so glad I got to the
point that I needed to be at with my life so I could finish the song and give it to my
bride on our wedding day.

From our ceremony...

The Art Of A Good Marriage

"Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage must
be created. In marriage the little things are the big things. It is never being too old to
hold hands. It is remembering to say 'I love you' at least once a day. It is never going
to sleep angry. It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not
end with the honeymoon, it should continue through all the years. It is having a
mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is standing together facing the
world. It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family. It is doing things
for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy. It is
speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways. It is
not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife to have wings of an angel. It is
not looking for perfection in each other. It is cultivating flexibility, patience,
understanding and a sense of humor. It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow. It is finding room for
the things of the spirit. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. It is
establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is
mutual and the obligation is reciprocal. It is not only marrying the right partner, it is
being the right partner."

- Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Live more

This may be one of the only songs that I was ever actually scared to write. It scared
me because I loved the idea for it so much that I didn't want to mess it up by (get
this) writing it. Seriously. So I waited and waited. One day I guess I got bold enough
to sit down and write and I'm glad I did. It tells us an important truth, that none of us
really know when our time will come and we will leave this earth. I'm so proud of this
song because it really does call for us to get more living out of life.

"One of the greatest moments in any body's developing experience is when he no
longer tries to hide from himself but determines to get acquainted with himself as he
really is." - Norman Vincent Peale

When you get to the end of your life what is it that you would like people to say
about you? Kind of a crazy thing to ask I know, but really take a minute to think
about it. The reason I ask this is because so many times we get caught up in the
things of life that don't really matter. Most people are caught up in the current
(current problems, current situations, etc...). So much so that they lose the real
meaning of their lives.

Sounds almost morbid, but what is it really that you would like someone to say for
your eulogy? I'm here to tell you that whatever the answer to that is, really should be
what your life is about. Whether it's being a great father or mother or if it's being a
person who followed your heart to accomplish the things that were most important to
you. The truth is regardless of circumstance, those of us who will make it to old age
will probably at some point end up saying to ourselves, "I'm glad I did", or "I wish I
had". See you were designed for a specific purpose and only you can know what
that is, you can't live anyone else's life and they can't live yours. So what is it that
you would like to say, "I'm glad I did" about?

Louder than words

Most of my songs are pretty straight forward, but this one, not so much. It's one of
my more abstract songs. I wasn't necessarily trying to go anywhere with this one
except to express the pure emotion that I was feeling at the time. For me love is
really almost indescribable anyway so why not write this song in a way that is not so
much trying to explain as much as it is simply expressing the feeling. After all,
nobody can describe love using mere words.

Have you ever thought about how big love is? No really. Is it possible for too many
people to experience love and for it to run out? Is it possible for a person to love too
much and never be able to experience it again? Of course not. Why? Because love
is infinite. Think about space. As far as science can tell there is literally no end to
the universe. This is how big love is and as abundant as air is to breathe, love is
even more abundant. It has been experienced and desired throughout all of history
in every culture, on every continent, and by every person who has walked this earth
in some way or another.

Like many things in life the more we give, the more we receive. It doesn't cost us
anything but yet it is of priceless value and always comes back to us. You may have
heard the phrase "God is Love", its in the Bible in 1 John 4:7-8, "Dear friends, let us
love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of
God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is
love."