Posted 10:41 pm Saturday, September 05, 2009
Song Of Faith Highlight: David Cook
There was "a dark side" to his Baylor University experience," said David Cook, 35, of Chandler.
|
"People don't realize it but there is a dark underside to every college and I found it at Baylor," Cook said candidly.
"I turned my back on God and got into the party lifestyle. I found myself living a way I knew God never intended for me. I embraced the world."
Cook went swimming one day with his buddies in the Bosque river. It would be the inspiration for his Song of Faith entry, "Downstream."
"I stepped out into the current and straight into a hole and began to be swept away," he said. "The current didn't seem that fast and I thought if I just swam back to where I stepped in, I'd be OK."
But Cook couldn't control the current.
"I began to panic and I almost drowned. I could barely hear my friends yelling for me to turn my back to the current and let it carry me downstream."
"I began to panic and I almost drowned. I could barely hear my friends yelling for me to turn my back to the current and let it carry me downstream."
The experience left him shaken.
"It changed everything," he said. "My life changed around the last semester of college when I made the turn back to God. I needed to be swept away and let him show me I had purpose in my life."
"It changed everything," he said. "My life changed around the last semester of college when I made the turn back to God. I needed to be swept away and let him show me I had purpose in my life."
He clearly saw the analogy, he said.
"Spiritually speaking, I was drowning," he said. "But when I finally said 'no' to the world and 'yes' to God and accepting his mercy, I turned my back to the current instead of swimming upstream. Things got easier for me as God's grace began flowing back into my lifestyle."
"Spiritually speaking, I was drowning," he said. "But when I finally said 'no' to the world and 'yes' to God and accepting his mercy, I turned my back to the current instead of swimming upstream. Things got easier for me as God's grace began flowing back into my lifestyle."
Song of Faith judge and professional songwriter Emmy Lou Hubbard resonated with Cook's vivid descriptions in "Downstream"
"
Why do I fight so hard to go the other way? How can I run so far, but never get away? Could it be that the one I've been fighting against is fighting to save me? Could it be that the one I've been running from is running after me? Well, I'm down on my knees."
Why do I fight so hard to go the other way? How can I run so far, but never get away? Could it be that the one I've been fighting against is fighting to save me? Could it be that the one I've been running from is running after me? Well, I'm down on my knees."
Miss Hubbard listened to 29 songs and said, "In a field of really good songs, it was hard to choose one over the other," she said, "but 'Downstream' is my number three pick."
Cook is married with three children. His wife, Emily, encouraged him to enter the contest.
"I write a lot of songs," he said. "I've looked for way to get them heard, just to get the message out. Emily said 'Here's your chance.' She was right. It's not important if I win, I just want to get the message out to as many people as possible."
Cook plays in a band from Tyler Christian Fellowship called "Chains Off" that has been together for a year. Contact Cook at DavidnEmily1990@gmail.com.
