Where heaven meets earth

I grew up in rural Missouri, about an hour north of Joplin. It’s all gravel roads, hayfields, lots of whitetail deer, & at the time, a lot of Meyers.

Most of my early memories revolve around two things: nature & music.

Hunting, building fences, cutting wood, & music theory on the Euphonium.

I think it was a good foundation for me, it gave me the chance to learn basic music theory and how to read notation before heading in more of a bluegrass/folk music direction.

Over the years, my siblings & I turned bluegrass. We found ourselves playing local gigs & competing at Silver Dollar City. Honestly, we were just kids learning to play and having a great time. 

Along the way, I moved to the big city to pursue music full-time.

It’s a gift that few get to experience & I’m grateful beyond belief.

I don’t distinctly remember choosing to play music as a career. It was kind of like it kept choosing me, I just knew I loved it. I loved learning how different melodies and harmonies fit together, and I loved playing music with other people. 

As the Lord would have it, I met my wife playing music at a wedding (foreshadowing, perhaps?).

A few years later, we had ourselves a prairie wedding & eventually, were blessed to start adding children to our family.

Eventually, we realized the big city life wasn’t what we wanted for our kids — we wanted them to experience a deep rootedness that didn’t exist for us in middle Tennessee. We wanted them to run around & be free to roam & play, similar to how both of our childhoods were.

Shortly after moving back home to the Ozarks, my wife & I experienced the most heart-wrenching loss. My first cedar casket was for one of our sweet babies that we will meet in heaven someday. Building a casket for this baby we haven’t yet met was incredibly healing for me — for us.

As we lowered this small box into the ground, I couldn’t help but think about the imagery of sowing in tears of sorrow. That day, heaven & earth met.

The Lord’s ways are higher than ours, this I know.

& yet, the loss remains.

It is my deepest hope that I’m able to honor the imago dei in those around me as I build handcrafted coffins for those around me.