Somewhere East of Eden

In 2013, I was living in North Carolina. I was listening to a sermon that Mark Hamilton preached at my parents’ church in Ohio. He observed that when God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, He banished them to the east (Genesis 3:24). And when He banished Cain after murdering Abel, it was further east (Genesis 4:16).

I thought it would be an incredible metaphor for where we are in our moments farthest from God’s presence—in those moments where He meets us and shows us grace. So I wrote a lyric draft that was quite sorrowful and lamenty. Each verse ended with “To till the sod and reap the thorns / Somewhere east of Eden.”

I mentioned this song idea to Dianne Wilkinson, and she loved it. She knew of the novel and movie by the same name (I had been oblivious!) But she heard the idea as an energetic country- or Southern Gospel-style song, ending in “Somewhere east of Eden / there is grace.”

It was totally different from where I thought the song would go. But her melodic direction had such an infectious energy and enthusiasm that I loved it and agreed to go in that direction.

But when you have a line that’s good enough, you don’t throw it in the trash can. Even though it didn’t fit this song, “till the sod and reap the thorns” only had to wait a few months until it found its rightful home in another song, “Remember We Are Dust”!

Ben Garms of The Garms Family did an exceptional job with the track. I think it was his first time recording something in this particular style, but it doesn’t sound like it! And my brother Michael Mount was gracious enough to sing the second verse and some chorus harmonies!