Shining

Matthew 5:14-16 (New International Version) says...
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

As we drove up to Morning Star Ministries this verse echoed in my mind and continued throughout our time with the people of this special place.
I kept thinking to myself that this is what church was meant to be – a place where people from all walks of life intermingle, fellowship, and join together to learn, to pray, to sing, and to share a meal.

It was an honor to be there.

Just before sharing a song that Josh and I wrote called “Come Down”, I read the following Psalm aloud. Interestingly, a member of the church also shared it later in the service before people prayed for him as he left for a mission’s work overseas.

This Psalm has always been special and inspirational to me and to countless others, ever since the King David penned them thousands of years ago. So often I get down about circumstances I see or situations I face, yet these words remind me to look up rather than to look to myself for strength.


Psalm 121
"I lift up my eyes to the hills --where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip --He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you --the LORD is your shade at your right hand;the sun will not harm you by day,nor the moon by night.The LORD will keep you from all harm --He will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forever more."

Off and Singing!

Well, the Minus 40 Tour has begun and the weather has been much warmer then the name of our tour…YAY!!!!

Colleen has shared about our kick off at the Second Cup, as well as our trip to sing out at Fort Qu’Appelle and since she is excellent at reporting and details I will leave that in her capable hands.

I was just thinking about the actual delivery of our music and how much it is changing since our first time on Friday.

Originally, we intended to do two separate concerts with an intermission between. It quickly became apparent though, that it would be great to intermingle and collaborate throughout our shows.

Both Colleen and I touch on similar themes in our writing including: the importance of place, family roots and the legacies they give, love and relationships, and faith and how that translates into social justice. Even though our styles of writing and voices differ, the themes tie our music together in such a way that it fits to sing back and forth for our future tour dates.

I look forward to seeing and hearing how our tour will continue to evolve!

my Morning Star dream

Dara and I were so blessed with singing at Morning Star this morning. She will fill you in on many of the details, but she's spending time with her 3 little boys right now (they're out tobogganing with a cousin), so in the meantime I'll just say that we love that church so much. They said they appreciated us and were so warm and responsive, but it absolutely went both ways! Many thanks to Pastor Glen and Julie Povey for helping make this happen.

I was pretty tired after getting home from Fort Qu'Appelle last night and doing a bit more prep for Morning Star. So when my alarm went off at 8:00 I hit snooze, but it didn't go off again and I didn't wake up until Dara knocked on my door at 8:45! When she knocked I was deep in the middle of a detailed dream about singing with a band at a First Nations church. Dara and I were leading in this chorus:

Alive, alive, alive forevermore
My Jesus is alive, alive forevermore
Alive, alive, alive forevermore
My Jesus is alive.
Sing hallelujah! Sing hallelujah!
My Jesus is alive forevermore.
Sing hallelujah! Sing hallelujah!
My Jesus is alive.

It was an interesting dream and Dara and I chuckled about it, but then during the prayer time before the service I was quite impressed that we should sing it to start the service. Dara and I had done up a set list, but nearly half of it went out the window this morning as we responded to the Spirit of God moving in the congregation. It was powerful.

Dara talked a lot about her life in Pelican Narrows and some people even put up their hands to ask questions! Afterward, there was a soup and sandwich lunch, and I talked for quite awhile with Stu, who seems like a cornerstone in the congregation. After lunch, Stu suddenly had an idea, so he left the room and came back with two copies of a book about Canadian First Nations ministries by a man named Norman Taylor. What a blessing for us to have these.

When I showed the book to Julie Povey she got excited. "Oh, Norman Taylor! He's an older man, and is quite sick in the hospital now. But that first song you sang, 'Alive,' that was his favourite. I though of that as soon as you started singing."

Wow. Sometimes it pays to listen to dreams!

Dara will tell you so much more ...

Fort Qu'Appelle photo gallery

We had a lovely evening with the folks at Fort Qu'Appelle Lutheran Church on Saturday, January 10th. Dara's Aunt Fay and Uncle Walter organized the evening with about 30 guests. Dara's father, Don, met us beforehand to help us unload and set up, then he took us for a quick supper at Dairy Queen before the concert. Dara's cousin Michael and his wife Elizabeth were also at the concert. We had yummy dainties afterwards.













Thanks to Dara's cousin Michael for grabbing her camera and catching this shot ... before the batteries died! :)



Dara has written a song for each of her three little boys. Here's a clip of "God Bless You My Dear," the song she wrote for the middle boy, Josiah.



I'm going home to Duval this afternoon for a few days to teach guitar, work at the newspaper, and do some things at home. Back again on Thursday for another weekend of touring, starting with coffeehouse at Aegean Coast in Regina that evening.

Dara will write more reflections sometime in the next day or so.

Regina: Second Cup

We had a great evening at Second Cup in Regina's Cornwall Centre this evening. The staff were great and were so excited to host their first concert. We had a nice turnout, mostly people we had invited, though two young women were lured in by the music, stayed for the whole concert, and are thinking of coming to see us at Aegean Coast next Thursday evening.

It was so nice to get the first concert done! Slept lightly last night. Will sleep better tonight.

Dara's Mom and her Mom's fiance came with cameras, so we've got two pictures and one little video clip to share.

last date confirmed ... or second last?

Today we confirmed a final booking: Thursday, January 15 at Aegean Coast coffeehouse in downtown Regina. Details are here.

We have one more possibility to pursue and then our schedule will be FULL! Well - might be open to something else midweek.

Our friends the Last Mountain Boys will be recording in Regina next week, so we hope to stop in at Touchwood Studios for a visit - a field trip!

I drive to Regina tomorrow morning. Dara and I will have lunch, pick up our equipment from Long & McQuade, try it out at her Mom's place, have a bit of supper, and head to the Cornwall Centre to set up around 5:30. Here we go!!! Saturday evening we're in Fort Qu'Appelle and Sunday morning we're at Morning Star Ministries in Regina.

These plans are "Lord willing," of course, as in if the weather holds! I'm praying that our title, "Minus 40 Tour," doesn't turn out to be prophetic. I've had just about enough of the cold and am eager for the predicted reprieve of zero degrees Celcius on Saturday!

I hope to be home in time for my friend's foster son's birthday party on Sunday afternoon. Nothing like DQ ice cream cake on a winter's day!

Inspired by Dara

Is our tour really starting on Friday?!?! Dara and I have been planning for months – emailing each other and our hosts, talking on the phone, filling our schedule, planning promo materials, stage décor and set lists. Tomorrow Dara will pack up her extended cab truck with three boys and a keyboard and everything they’ll need for the next two and a half weeks in Regina. Dara’s mom will take care of the boys on the first two weekends, her dad will keep them on the last weekend, and we intend to be home most every night after our concerts. I’m in awe of Dara that she’s even willing to try this!

I think “in awe” is a good way to describe my general feelings about Dara. She is tall and graceful, immensely talented. Yet she’s earthy, homespun, and approachable. She sings about ordinary themes of family history, marital love, and interpersonal healing.

Dara’s husband Josh is one of my brother Jeffrey’s best friends. They try to go on a North Saskatchewan canoeing trip every summer. Josh is an RCMP officer stationed in Pelican Narrows, SK for the past year and Dara is homeschooling the oldest of their three small boys. She has been really entering into the community and culture – even learning worship songs in Cree! Even before moving to Pelican Narrows, Dara had a real heart for First Nations people, which you can hear in her song “Legacy.” Proceeds from her “Live at Hudson Bay” CD are going to two Pelican Narrows girls who are taking helpful initiaives in their community.

Last summer I led some songwriting workshops for teens at Arlington Beach Camp. The small group met in my cabin, next door to the Hallett cabin. For one exercise I had the teens write new words to familiar tunes. Then we ran next door and had Dara write new music for the new words without knowing the original tune. The results shocked and delighted the teens. Dara took the first set of lyrics and said, “Oh this looks like a slow worshipful song,” and as she played the girls giggled behind her because the original tune was “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”! Here’s the final result: You’re My Best Friend Jesus Christ. The next set of lyrics were for the original slow, worshipful tune of “How Great is Our God” but we ended up with a cheerful little song for kids: Muddy Shoes! So that gives you some idea of Dara’s creativity.

When OptionS Pregnancy Centre asked me to sing at their November banquet, I immediately felt that I should write a song. But my ideas didn’t flow and I felt the need for a co-writer, but wondered who to approach. The very next Sunday, Dara and Josh were in church in Strasbourg (a very rare occurrence considering their geography). They were going to be in the area for a couple of weeks, so we made plans to get together at Arlington Beach, were serendipitously joined by my cousin’s wife Lisa Cornish, and we made a good start on “Child of My Heart”, which Lisa and I later finished then sang at the banquet.

That was late September (I think) and Dara asked if I would be interested in doing a tour together in the new year. Weather-wise, we might have preferred March (maybe!), but it’s not a good time to get away from the newspaper, so we settled on January and the name "Minus 40 Tour." Hopefully the name is not prophetic!!!

Our schedule is as full as we want it to be, but I have a feeling we might be wanting just a bit more when it’s done. But there’s a rule, “quit while it’s still fun,” so I guess we’ll reluctantly say so long at the end of January. But on Thursday we will say “hello!”