Philco Page 14
It is God we are looking for in these spaces, and it is Him we sense. He is the excitement that is on the very edge of our consciousness that makes it all so tantalizing. We think we are taking a break, or that in our own greatness we have planned a getaway and financed a trip to a wonderful place, believing that because of our amazing ideas that the grand experience is because of us. But, in reality, it is because of God. The unpleasant stuff we are escaping and think we are shedding is the “us” in all of this, and that sweet serenity that we seek, intuit, and become engrossed in is the “Him” of it all. Therefore, we think we have discovered something or brought something about when all along it is His beauty we sense—His peace that passes all understanding we have read about. Yet, there is something unexplainable about the ocean, the forests, and the meadows. I think it has a lot to do with the sounds. When you are around these places or in them, the only thing you hear is nature.
The ocean sound comes from below, out and away in a unique fashion, because as you stand before that incredible vastness, it’s at your feet, evolving from beneath you and then pulling you in until together you merge away—out to the horizon. Its sound wells up and engulfs you as it spreads out before you. When you are there at the seashore, it is all you can hear, see, and smell. It blocks out your senses by crippling them into submission to only its offerings. The embellishments come from the sea birds, the foghorns, the crinkling of the sand beneath your feet and the negative ions that make you feel so positive that all is well.
The forest comes at you from all sides, above, before, and behind as it surrounds and engulfs you. Unlike the ocean, which is more distant, the forest draws you further in instead of taking you away. Its sound is in the trees that envelop you. It has the same dominance as the resonance of the surf exploring the rocks and beach. The wind whistles through the branches and it too comes and goes in waves augmented by the birds, the rustling limbs, branches, and the stillness of its core. Because of these wonders, it is no wonder that you get lost in its depths. You feel oddly safe in its mysterious majesty and it is truly a place of awesome splendor.
Meadows are tranquil; they are the calm and peaceful pleasure that grace quiet places. They exist to bring rest to your soul by the simple nature of their presence. When the morning winds sweep across their stillness, they become the adagio to God’s symphony of creation. It is this song that lives forever in my heart. I have always said when God made meadows he had me in mind.
God bless us all,
—Ken Mansfield
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Philco is my alter author. We wrote these stories together. Each story is based on real events in my life and Philco has embellished each one with his fantastical imagination. We made this excursion into an alternate space called Hurricane Hills bonded together as one—maybe that is why people say I write like a Christian on acid. The beauty of Philco’s interior quest led me to wonderful discoveries as I looked back at a gracious time gone by.
On this reflective trek I discovered I had developed deep friendships that began with my first book almost twenty years ago and these fellow wunderkinds of words have been traveling by my side up to the moment Philco got into that rusty old truck. So to my “Band of Brothers On The Run” Gabe Wicks, Bucky Rosenbaum, Dave Schroeder, Joel Miller and Brian Mitchell, I thank God for your friendship, encouragement, impartation of wisdoms deep and dear, for providing a safe place to rest between paragraphs and participles, great bar-b-que and fine wines. Thanks to fellow author and friend Marshall Terrill who also joined me many times along the writing way, adding and deleting words and ideas to many of my books.
Special Kudos to Bucky Rosenbaum, who was the first person to tell me I was an author and Brian Mitchell who has kept me going, kept me relative, and, most of all, kept me assured that what Bucky said was true as we floundered with my offerings in a sea of publisher rejections together. Thank you, Brian, and your great company Working Title Agency, for being a preposterously incredible literary agent and a solid true friend.
When Philco and I needed a friend to sit down with us to help weave and whittle our words to a point of clarity, Cara Highsmith offered her literary counsel, guidance, and incredible editing skills. As with Cara and all the people mentioned above I find it invigorating to be involved with people who are much more talented than I am.
As always, a tithe from proceeds of my books will go to founder and president Nancy Alcorn’s fabulous ministry for young women: Mercy Multiplied. Check it out at mercymultiplied.com.
Most of all, I dedicate this to my wife, Connie, the light of my life and who from the first day we met has been the beginning and ending of all things eternal and lovely in our journey. She introduced me to the risen Lord…I love it that the first person I see every morning when I wake up is the one who saved my life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ken Mansfield’s legendary career in the music industry began as a member of the Town Criers, a successful southern California folk group in the early 1960s. From there he moved to executive tenures as US manager of The Beatles’ Apple Records, director at Capitol Records, vice president at MGM Records, and president at Barnaby/CBS Records. As a record producer, he was instrumental in launching country music’s “Outlaw” movement in the 1970s, producing Waylon Jennings’ number-one 1975 landmark recording “Are You Ready for the Country” and Jessi Colter’s number-one hit “I’m Not Lisa.” Ken also produced the Gaither Vocal Band’s 1991 GRAMMY and Dove Award-winning Homecoming album, which launched another historic movement, the resurgence of Southern gospel music via the Gaither Homecoming series of recordings, videos, and concerts. Ken is now an ordained minister, a sought-after speaker, and the author of: The Beatles, The Bible and Bodega Bay; The White Book; Between Wyomings; Stumbling on Open Ground; and Rock and a Heart Place.
To contact or order autographed
books directly from Ken:
MainMansfield.com
Bookings:
Premier Speakers Bureau,
Outreach Events, Ambassador Agency
By Philco