Three Songs from
One Convention Weekend

I had planned to attend the 2026 convention in person.

Instead, I found myself at home with two dogs, a livestream, a cup of coffee, and a lingering sense of disappointment. What began as a frustrating change of plans unexpectedly became one of the most meaningful convention experiences I have ever had.

These three songs tell that story.

The No Dog Daycare Blues begins on Friday morning. The convention is starting, friends are gathering, and I am sitting at home because a delayed vaccine appointment kept my dogs from boarding. The song captures the humor, frustration, and wistfulness of missing something I had been looking forward to for months.

But something happened as the weekend unfolded.

In Jesus Smiled, the convention videos brought the Gospel accounts to life in a way I had never experienced before. I found myself watching Jesus call Matthew, heal the sick, comfort the broken, and show mercy to people everyone else had written off. What struck me most was not a miracle or a sermon. It was His smile. For the first time, I felt like I was seeing the people behind the verses and the compassion behind the words.

By the third day, the experience had become deeply personal.

Turn My Ears Into Eyes grew out of a convention talk that encouraged us to use our imagination when reading the Scriptures. Not imagination to invent things, but imagination to inhabit the truth. To hear the wind, see the faces, feel the emotions, and walk beside the people in the account. The song became a prayer: that Jehovah would help me move beyond simply reading the words and begin living inside the story. That seeing Jesus more clearly would help me draw closer to Jehovah. That what I learned would shape the way I see, change all of me, and ultimately make Jehovah the air I breathe.