Insider Info

I Am Saved : I was out on the ocean, on a pitch black night, paddling my SUP (a stand up paddle board), and it was so dark that I could barely see my feet. I was a mile or two offshore and it was strange trying to balance without visual clues. With each stroke, would I be bounced to the left? the right? some weird angle? There was no moon and, looking out to sea, there was no horizon - only blackness.

I looked behind me and could see the warm and glowing lights of the shoreline and I knew I was safe, all was well, but it got me thinking... "What if I were out here all alone and couldn't see those comforting lights?" How scary.

I started writing this song in my head while I was still out on the water that night. If I were truly lost and alone, how wonderful would it be to be saved? "Hallelujah, I am saved!"

A friend went through the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in Lousiana. Families were on the roofs of their homes, praying to be rescued before the water rose higher. What a relief for those who saw first responders in boats, rafts and helicopters, coming to their aid. "Hallelujah, I am saved!"

When I was writing this song, my daughter was helping to plant a church in El Paso, Texas, called "The Anchor" and it got me thinking about anchors. There's more than one type of anchor to which we can tether and there's more than one way to be saved. "Hallelujah, I am saved!"

The Recording: This one, as usual, is built around "Angel," my Larrivee C-10E acoustic guitar, but it really features a homemade guitar that I built out of an old cigar box and a 1x2 piece of wood. I don't really know how to play slide guitar, but it was a lot of fun trying, and so I did. It really added the feel that I was going for. I used the CBG (Cigar Box Guitar) for the slide on the right side of the stereo image, and for the chords and rhythmic strumming on the left.

I tossed in a few tracks of background vocals, a few tracks of clapping hands, a tambourine, a pinch of this and a dash of that, and the next thing you know... well, give it a listen and see what you think. Fun stuff! I hope you like it.

I Am Saved

Words & Music by Ron Hall - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Adrift upon the water on this cold and lonely night
Hope begins to dim and fear surrounds me
But I feel Your love come shining
Like a lighthouse burning bright
And I know within my heart, You have found me
And I am saved, Hallelujah, I am saved

The river breached the levee and muddy waters rise
So I climbed up on my own roof and I knelt there
To the Lord I sent my prayer
And when He saw me kneeling there
He sent a boat to ferry me to shelter
And I am saved, Hallelujah, I am saved

Oh, any single sin of mine is too great to forgive
And yet, upon that wooden cross that's just what Jesus did
He offered up His own life so that I could live in Him
And I will praise Him. I will praise Him

Moored within this harbor, bedded down for the night
I'd be dashed against the rocks but for my anchor
But I know I'm tethered firmly for my chain is forged of faith
It binds me to my Savior, my creator

And I am saved, Hallelujah, I am saved
And I am saved, Hallelujah, I am saved
Oh I am saved, Hallelujah, I am saved
Thank you, Jesus