JEFF AND SHERI EASTER Jeff and Sheri Easter, Southern gospel musicians from Lincolnton, have landed two 2010 GMA (Gospel Music Association) DOVE nominations.

The nominations were for “Song of the Year” and “Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year,” both for their hit single, “Born to Climb.”

Written by Joel Lindsey and Wayne Haun, who earned a total of seven nominations himself, the song reflects the recent journey Jeff and Sheri have taken as Sheri has battled cancer.

“We wrote this song while Sheri was going through her cancer treatments,” said Lindsey. “As an cancer survivor can tell you, the struggle is just as much spiritual and emotional as it is physical.

“The title for this song came from a greeting card my mother sent me when I was going through treatments myself. There was a line in the poem on the card that said something like, ‘When you’re facing a mountain, remember you were born to climb.’ It wasn’t that exact line, but it was close.”

“This is not a song about sorrow,” added Haun. “It’s about triumph and hope. It is about the journeys in life. So often it seems that while we take those journeys and encounter mountains, all we can think about are the snares and jagged rocks along the way. But eventually, after we get through it, we stand at the top and see the beauty of the trip and the breathtaking views, and we realize we made it. We were born to climb.”

“Born to Climb” is featured on the group’s new Spring Hill Music Group release Expecting Good Things, which has just hit the shelves nationwide.

Produced by the Easters and Greg Cole, the release offers several songs that paint pictures of the highs and lows of the past few of years in the couple’s life.

“I understand all too clearly now the analogy of the mountain in physical and spiritual climbs,” stated Sheri. “But one thing’s for sure, you can’t experience the view from the top if you never begin to climb.”

From foot-stomping’ Gospel tunes and heart-wrenching ballads to western swing-style numbers and bluesy hand-clappers, Expecting Good Things finds the Easters with a new lease on life.