album artwork 2025
While the weather outside has been frightful, I hope you’ve been able to find peace and warmth inside your homes, relationships, and most importantly, within your hearts. I hope your 2026 has been off to a great start; but the key is maintaining that momentum once you get the ball rolling. peaking of keeping the ball rolling, I’d like to continue the mood of the music we’ve started with in 2026. Last month we heard from Cleo Sol who reminded us to “Know That You Are Loved” with her song that had lyrics that were repeated like a mantra that reminded us that even if we’re unaware of it, that we are loved. Following that review, in January we also remembered our baptism where we learned from Pastor Drew that baptism was the outward confirmation of God giving us identity and purpose where we outwardly accept Jesus Christ and God’s love. From this point we are to look to God to see what and where we can pour God’s love into the world, agreeing to a life long duty of doing just that. This is what makes baptism so important and what makes the symbol of water in the church symbolic. This month, we’re going to continue this idea of love, baptism, and extending the love of God to others, especially if they don’t know that they are loved, as we listen to Austin Koukal’s song, “Water.”
“Take me to the water
I believe
Your love won’t leave me”
This song starts out with tranquil synths accompanied by an acoustic guitar that gives a waking up or morning kind of sound to it that also adds a kind of vulnerability in the sound that fits the way that the lyrics are being sung perfectly by the singer, Austin Koukal, until the trumpets are added to the ensemble which give an even more immersive and trancy feel as the lyrics float over the melodic guitar strums. Koukal’s music captures this ambient and trancy vibe that is mixed with an indie/folk sound, while his lyrics are about his life and his faith. These styles fit great together and create more of a new age church music sound, but it still has a little more floaty-ness to it that makes it unique.
“So all my devotion
All my love”
The lyrics of our song this month encapsulate the feeling of being immersed in God’s love; a love that will truly never leave us. It’s by us accepting the invitation of God’s love and it’s through that love that we are able to find our identity. As the instrumentation of the song tells its own story, there’s a part where the song picks up from this trancy state and becomes more full adding the drums to the mix–bringing us to the full identity of the song just as the bridge comes in–achieving the maximum beauty of the song. The music at this point of the song is nothing short of amazing and sounds like a sunrise, the beginning of something beautiful.
“So all my love
So all my love”
I hope you had a good start to 2026 and I hope you continue the momentum you’ve started, and if it has been a little turbulent, it’s not too late for things to iron out. I believe that if we have a good mindset that many things in life will tend to gravitate around that. I pray that this song brings you more tranquility, and maybe even a reminder to some that you are loved, and as side note to my friends who maybe haven’t just yet accepted their invitation, know that you’re invited.
References:
Church of the Cross. “Second Sunday in Ordinary Time.” Facebook. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
Koukal, Austin. “Austin Koukal.” Spotify. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.