Dalton Roberts

I was speaking at a church on Easter Sunday and wanted to write an Easter song to go with my talk about how humans, for some mysterious reason, seem to resist transformation. I came up with “Mister Caterpilar” and it has become one of my favorite songs to do on my one-man shows. It is so simple and yet, so profound.

It will be on my forthcoming CD, “A Brand New World.”

MISTER CATERPILLAR

As Mister Caterpillar moseyed down the road
He stopped and had a chat with Mister Toad
By and by a butterfly came flitting overhead
The caterpillar pointed up and said

You’ll never get me up in one of those things
They’re pretty as can be but check those wings
They’re thin as onionskin, oh, it just makes me cringe
You’ll never get me up in one of those things

I’m gonna keep my 50 feet here on the ground
They may be slow but they get me around
I’ve always been afraid of heights and I’ll add one more thing
It looks too much like work to flap those wings

If God had meant for us to fly we’d be born with wings
And if that thing should crash your goose is cooked
I’m much too old to try to change, no flying’s not for me
I’m doing quite well crawling don’t you see

I really wrote “His Amazing Grace” to be done in the style of the old James and Martha Carson songs (mandolin and guitar duet). However, it didn’t work out in the studio so I just did it as a country/gospel song.

I pitched it to Paul Craft and he got the Lewis Family to record it. They did it very well and said on their DVD that they opened their shows with it.

From DR’s CD “I Wonder What He Wrote in the Sand” (Buy It Here) and the Lewis Family CD “So Fine” and their DVD “At Home With Family and Friends.”
~~~~~~
HIS AMAZING GRACE

I have found a Friend who walks with me
Down life’s unending road
His amazing grace has set me free
And it satisfies my soul

His grace
His amazing grace
Satisfies my soul
His grace
His amazing grace
Has made me whole

I can ne’er forget how He came to me
In the dark night of my soul
He picked me up so tenderly
And carried me to His fold

If you know Him, too, sing along with me
Let the hallelujahs roll
Sing amazing grace how sweet the sound
That satisfies my soul
Tag
Sing amazing grace how sweet the sound
That satisfies my soul

MY SUNDAY JOURNAL
Things That Really Matter
By Dalton Roberts
9-11-11

Ruthie Steele and I wrote this song using Instant Messages. We were IMing one night when I told her I wrote a book titled “Things That Rally Matter” and she said, “That would make a good song!” So we made one.

Ruthie is a wordmaster. It is fun to write with her. Her brother, Max D. Barners, was one of Nashville’s top writers for decades. I think Ruthie is every bit as good.

She’s a Republican but I love her. And Republicans need love, too!

We tend to forget when hard economic times come to us, like they came to the man in this song, they come to all of us — Democrats and Republicans, black and white, Baptists and Unitarians, educated and uneducated. In the final analysis, God and each other is all we have got.

Let us cherish one another.
~~~
THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER
By Ruthie Steele & Dalton Roberts
From the Dalton Roberts CD “I Wonder What He Wrote in the Sand”

It’s midnight and he’s at the kitchen table
Going through a pile of unpaid bills
He won’t feel like getting up tomorrow
And going in to work, ah but he will
He chooses two to pay
And puts the rest of them away
They’ll have to wait until the end of June
When overtime kicks in he’ll have the money
To pay the rest and paint the living room

He lays down his pen and all his worries
There’s nothing else that he can do tonight
So right there sitting at the kitchen table
He says his prayers and then turns out the light
The kids are sound asleep
He prays the Lord their souls to keep
His woman’s lying waiting in their bed
He knows she’ll hold him tight
And rub his shoulders tonight
And God will help him keep his family fed

As the king of Willow Circle counts his blessings
He feels the touch of gentle, loving hands
He may not have some things he really wanted
But he has the things that matter to a man
The things that really matter to a man

Someone reminded me that Jesus never wrote any words as far as we know. As a songwriter I wondered why he didn’t write some songs. Then I realized that He does write great songs … inside of us. So I pulled off Amnicola Highway and wrote this song. It is on my “I Wonder What He Wrote in the Sand” CD.

JESUS WRITES SONGS, TOO
By Dalton Roberts
Happy Doghouse Music

I tried to write a little song about Jesus
But just couldn’t find the words
I could hear the melody, the harmony
But I couldn’t write what I heard
I cried out in the holy spirit
Jesus help me writ my song
He said, “Son, the song you hear inside
I wrote for you alone.”

Yes, Jesus writes songs, too
He writes His songs on our inner spirit
Each song is a personal symphony
For no one else can hear it
You can’t find words for love unending
Or peace that passeth understanding
Jesus sings through you
Yes, Jesus write songs, too

I tried to put down on a piece of paper
The music moving in my soul
But it was a stream of living water
My little cup couldn’t hold
I heard Jesus say, “Lay down your pen
And let my song come through
You’ve written a lot of songs for me
And I’m writing this song for you.”

When someone beautiful enters our life, it effect the way we see the world. I discovered that the Lily of the Valley makes everything in the world become brighter and sweeter. That’s why I wrote this song ad it is one of my favorites. From my CD, “I Wonder What He Wrote in he Sand.”
~~~~~
JESUS PAINTS A BEAUTIFUL LIFE
By Dalton Roberts
Happy Doghouse Music (BMI)

A rose can make me sigh
With a drop of dew in the corner of its eye
Sometimes a sunset can make me laugh and cry
Jesus paints a beautiful life

A mother’s first look at her child
Is Jesus smiling through her eyes
The first time a baby laughs it’s the voice of Jesus Christ
Jesus paints a beautiful life

The magic touch of th Master’s brush
Makes old things become new
He can make a masterpiece
Out of common clay like me and you

An old man with Christ in his eyes
Can make me really high
He can almost take you to heaven when he dies
Jesus paints a beautiful life

LORD CAN I COME HOME
By Dalton Roberts
Happy Doghouse Music (BMI)

I’ve been all the places I thought I had to go
I’ve done all the things I thought I had to do
But Lord I’m so unhappy, I think I always knew
I’d never find myself till I found you

Lord, can I come home
My faith in everyone but you is gone
I’m tired and all alone
Lord, precious Lord, can I come home

I bring nothing with me except the life you gave
Troubled years have blown the precious years away
Lord please take what’s left of me & what I used to be
The only thing I know to do is pray

Lord, can I come home
My faith in everyone but you is gone
I’m tired and all alone
Lord, precious Lord, can I come home

By request I’m posting the lyrics to one of my most requested songs today.

I WONDER WHAT HE WROTE IN THE SAND
By Dalton Roberts
Happy Doghouse Music (BMI)

She was just a woman of the street
They threw her in shame at Jesus’ feet
As they stood there with stones in their hands
He stooped and wrote something in the sand

I think He wrote, “You can always start again
No matter who you are or what you’ve been
I’ll help you if you’ll give me Your hand”
I wonder what He wrote in the sand

They said, “Master, she should die for her wrong”
He said, “If you have no sin, then cast your stone”
One by one they dropped them from ther hands
At the words He was writing in the sand.

I think He wrote, “Only love can change a man
So love one another, it’s the great command”
As He stood there with her life in His hand
I wonder what he wrote in the sand

HOW GOD BECAME REAL TO ME (561 words)
By Dalton Roberts
My Sunday Journal
7-10-11

People who knew me during my years of agnosticism sometimes ask what turned me in another direction. I will try to answer that.

One thing was experimenting with a statement by Ernest Holmes, a turn of the century mystic and author of the classic, “Science of Mind.”. He said, “There is a power for good in the Universe and we can use it.” I found when I was doing good and trusting in this power, it responded to me.

I might add that I have been working with it for many years now and it continues to respond to my faith in it.

Another thing that moved my life in a different direction was a prayer that God become as real to me as he was when I was a child. I have written about the time I spent in my “honeysuckle tabernacle” and how real God was to me there.

I know how mercurial human nature is. I also know how deceptive it can be.. I have thought back to those years to see how real God was to me. I have no physical miracles to report from that time of my life but I do remember clearly how real the presence of God was to me.

When my son enters my home, I feel his presence. It is unique and very special. When dear friends enter my home, I sense their presence in a special way. Why would it be any different with God?  God’s presence is one of the most unique and special things we experience in this life.

I was 45 years old when I prayed that prayer that God become real to me and asked for doors to open for me. I was unemployed (had been for months) and living in a one-room apartment. A few months later I was elected county executive. The way doors opened for me and the way I became aware of the presence of God was the most incredible series of miracles in my life.

If you ran for office against a PH.D in political science, and again against a multi-millionaire and didn’t have enough money to get elected dogcatcher, what would you conclude? You might quickly decide, as I did, that God can become very active in human affairs. You might conclude that God had work for you to do.

People often ask me how I resisted the temptations of public life — the bribes and deals often offered to elected people. Yes, I had many of them. But when you have just made a deal with God that you will live for him and his people if he will help you, you are welded into a place where your only desire is to do God’s will and to help his people. It’s no problem to turn down temptation.

Just to feel the presence of God in your life keeps you from betraying the people and your God. “Your” God has become special to you. His presence is so real. You do not want to do anything to lose or dim your awareness of it.

I simply took Jesus word that if I opened the door He would come in and sup with me. That word “sup” means many things but it certainly means to fellowship and become real to us.

Jesus does not lie. Open the door.