Oh, man…I could talk for days about this one! If you haven’t guessed by now, the beach is my “Happy Place.” Just by putting my feet in the sand, seeing the ocean & hearing those waves, I am instantly at peace & closer to God. It was a week where I was REALLY stressed out, my wife was out of town, so I took the day off at work and headed straight for the beach with my guitar. As I sat on a bench at a picnic table with my feet in the sand on the Texas Gulf Coast, I wrote this song about what a difference it made to me, just by being nearer.

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“Just By Being Nearer” by Randall Everitt

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I took the day off to go down to the beach.

‘Had to get out of town, or peace would be out of reach.

I had so much turmoil churning inside,

but when you run from yourself, there’s no place to hide.

As the seagulls fly,

and the waves hit the sand,

with this old guitar

here in my hands,

suddenly Your peace

washes all over me,

just by being nearer

the sounds of the sea.

As the seagulls fly,

and the waves hit the sand,

with this old guitar

here in my hands,

suddenly Your peace

washes all over me,

just by being nearer

the sights of the sea.

Why does it take, a trip to this place?

Why can’t it come from just seeking Your face?

Lord, let me live every day with your peace,

just by being nearer, my God, to Thee

As the seagulls fly,

and the waves hit the sand,

with this old guitar

here in my hands,

suddenly Your peace

washes all over me,

just by being nearer, my God, to Thee.

Suddenly, Your peace

washes all over me,

just by being nearer, nearer, to Thee.

Sitting on a bench in the sand by the bay,

on the shores of Texas, this unclouded day.

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