(James) I actually remember very little about the writing process for this song, other than I wrote around the time my wife’s father was dying of cancer. As he passed away through a long process, everyone who knew him would tell stories that reflected his life. He was a Christian, and it became overwhelmingly clear to me that the only thing that would matter after he passed was how he lived for the glory of God. All of the times he put God’s will about his own will in his church, workplace, and home were going to long outlast his own life. Having the perspective of mortality, I suppose this song was inspired by wanting to fully live for something greater than myself.

“Praise the Lord, my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” - Psalm 103:1-2 (NIV)

There is an important parallel in the song between “all within me” praising God, and “all of creation” praising God. There is really only one song in the universe that will go on for eternity, and the song is giving glory to God. “All within me” doesn’t necessarily add anything to the song, but is rather the act of choosing to join in with the grand purpose for all of creation.

I actually didn’t think this song was anything particularly special until the college ministry spring retreat back in March of this year. I thought it was too simplistic, and only thought to introduce it because it was the “least likely to fail” of all our original songs up to that point. I really don’t think most of the songs on this album are really intended for the congregational worship setting, but rather for times of personal worship and meditation. This one, however, did at least seem like it begged to be sung along with, and so we introduced it without much expectation for how it would be responded to by the students. It actually turned out to be the highlight of the weekend for many people, and Isaac and I quickly adapted our worship setlists over the coming months to include this song. It was well received at all church services.

The recording process was more arduous. Something about how magically everything seemed to come together live for this song wasn’t as easy to capture in the studio. Every time we added something, it always felt lacking. Even when we presented an early final version to a group at a “listening party” for the album, everyone could feel that there was something missing from the live experience. So, we recorded a lot of people singing it! It was absolutely incredible to hear how much the extra voices added to the momentum of the song and turned it into a recording that is not just adequate, but probably one of my favorite tracks to ever record.