Where's The Brakes?!?

I took my big van in to my mechanic brother, Stephen, for a check-up, and was told that it was a good thing I came in, the brakes were almost gone. He tells me that they work as normal right up until they go, then they suprise you. But I'm looking at $800 to replace them...ouch.

Val came home from a drive about town today, and told me the brakes just started squealing on my little van... OUCH!

Sickening

"...and the second is like it; you shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Except in Canada, where we read this command as "You shall leave your neighbor by himself."

Most of you have probably heard by now of the (surely) demon-possessed fellow who stabbed and decapitated a fellow passenger on a bus in Manitoba. How many people were on that bus at the time? It surely takes at least awhile to complete the deed of removng someone's head, why did nobody intervene? There were lots of things at hand that could have been thrown at him, to distract him long enough for somebody to tackle him and disarm him.

He could have been stopped cold, before he did the deed, if it were legal to carry concealed firearms in this country. In fact, you can be sure this would not have happened at all if that were the case...

I strongly suspect that there will now be a push to outlaw knives in Canada. Just watch.

The Difficulty of Movie Smooches

You know how it works. When the guy finally gets the girl they smooch, and usually with open mouths. I have told my children that those kind of kisses are essential, but not until they are married, and that they should not engage in such activities until then.

Easier said than done... Val was sitting at the table the other day while 6 year old Chloe was eating a peach. Chloe seemed to be greatly enjoying the sensation, with great big bites and long contact with the peach.

"What are you doing, Chloe?" says Val.

Chloe replies, "I'm kissing my wedding boy!"

Sigh...

The Standard Song

This was a kind of a kids song before I was writing kids songs. My wife tells me I should record it again...


The Standard Song
Watch your eyes, they might see
Things they’re not supposed to see
Always screen the things you view
They become a part of you
Have a standard and stand by it
As a safeguard against the devil’s lies
You’ll regret it if you cross that line
It will lead you into compromise
So watch your eyes

Watch your tongue, it might say
Things it’s not supposed to say
Careless words can leave a scar
So stop and think before you go too far
Have a standard and stand by it
May a song of love always be sung
Your neighbor feels the effects of it
He may be blessed or he may be stung
So watch your tongue

Watch your mind, it might think
Things it’s not supposed to think
What you think is what you’ll do
So dwell on what is good for you
Have a standard and stand by it
Don’t be fooled into changing your design
You can choose what you will think about
You can leave those evil thoughts behind
Oh watch your mind

Have a standard and stand by it
May the Lord’s reflection never dim
Victory is certain if you will
Take your thoughts as captives unto Him
©Mar.31/1987 Jamie Soles

Trusting In You

This is the oldest song of mine that i have on any of my albums. I had been writing songs for about 3 years when i wrote this, and it is on my Fidelity album.



Trusting In You

Sometimes life gets hard, don’t know just which way to turn
And it seems like one way or another I’m gonna get burned
But Jesus I know that You’re holding my hand
And You’re gonna be there when I need You, helping me stand
Helping me stand, I’m trusting in You

When I see the storm closing in around me
There’s no shelter in sight and it seems like it’s gonna drown me
But You’re a rock I can cling to, to weather the storm
And no matter what happens Lord I’m safe in Your arms
I’m safe in Your arms, I’m trusting in You
Trusting in You

Jesus when you are near anxieties fade away
My fears and troubles seem to disappear cause they can no longer stay
Lord in Your marvellous presence I’ll always want to be
Cause Jesus when I am with You my bonds are loosed and I’m free
I truly am free when I’m trusting in You

Lord I need to trust in You more
Won’t you help me open up my door

Lord by Your hand You uphold me with strength from heaven above
You take my thoughts from this world full of sin
And surround me with Your love
And when my work here is finished, my final day is done
I know to heaven You’ll take me to live forever with the Son
Forever with the Son because I’m trusting in You

©Mar.5/1984 Jamie Soles

The Least Of These

This song was recorded on my first ever album project which is now (thankfully) unavailable, "Walk By Faith". Our band, Damascus Road, was pretty popular in our town, and people were clamoring for a tape, so one of our guys booked a studio for us. I think we had been apart all summer, and had about a week to practice these songs... After a total of 9 hours in the studio, we had recorded our 10 song first album! By the time it came out we were sick of it...

The Least Of These

Another heartbeat, another voice
Another hand reaching out for help
Do we have a choice
A man is hungry, a man is ill
In a world so self-preserving
If we don’t help no-one will

CHORUS
We are to be the light of the world
Shining out to the lost and the lonely who are near
But will a man listen to the good news
When he has no bread to eat
Or he has no shoes upon his feet
I tell you he is the least of these
The least of these

Another drunkard, another bum
Another derelict on the street
Will you be the one
He needs the gospel, he needs a meal
Don’t give one without the other
He doesn’t need a halfway deal

CHORUS

You did it unto the least of these
You did it unto Me
You did it not to the least of these
You did it not to me
You did it unto the least of these
You did it unto Me
You did it not to the least of these
You did it not to me

©Apr.14/1986 Jamie Soles

Leave 'Em Behind

Leave ‘Em Behind

I have seen the dying embers of desire in silence lay
Half buried in the ashes of defeat
I have known the waves of apathy to break upon my shore
And swirl the dust of death around my feet
I have listened to the whisper of deception in my ear
And felt the subtle poison in my mind
But I have seen the wind of heaven blow away the clouds
And it’s time to leave those other things behind
Leave ‘em behind

I have noticed the condition in the shadows of my heart
To choose to do what’s wrong instead of right
I have harbored my ambition in the shelter of my soul
And made myself an idol in Your sight
I have shared the yolk of bondage with the proud and evil men
And joined them in the scorn of those who find
But I’ve been drawn with power by the Man upon the cross
And it’s time to leave those other things behind
Leave ‘em behind

There is no room for excuses there is no room left for pride
There are no unbridled passions left untamed
When you’re chosen by the Father there is nowhere you can hide
From the gates of hell your life will be reclaimed
To the ones who will not listen, to the ones who will not hear
To the ones who close their eyes and ears and minds
In this life and ever after let the consequence be known
That Jesus Christ is leaving you behind
He’s gonna leave you behind

©Nov.26/1989 Jamie Soles

This song was an expression of my early readings in reformed theology. I can track when I first started thinking along these lines by looking at my songs... They generally started moving from a "the-end-is-coming-soon!" approach to a much longer view of history, in September of 1989, three months after Val and I were married. What a ride I have taken her on! Wheee!!!!

Old Songs

I periodically look back thru my catalogue of songs from the old days. Some of them need to stay in the catalogue... but others could stand an airing.

I think I will start posting the lyrics to some old songs that have either never seen the light of day, or the day they saw was a lot of years ago.

Benny

Remember that story at the end of the life of David, where he gives Solomon instructions about dealing with a few tough nuts in Israel? "Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.", he says of Joab. Solomon hears and heeds, and the first couple chapters of 1 Kings tell the tale of the deaths of Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei. In each case, Solomon sends Benaiah to do the deed. It sort of looks like the tale of a don with his hit man, so I have taken the liberty to shorten Benaiah's name to something more manageable. Bible stories meets The Godfather...

Benny (1 Kgs.1:52-2:46)

If you show yourself a worthy man
Not a hair of your head shall fall
But if wickedness is found in you
You know who I’m gonna call
I’ll call Benny, Benny, Benny
I’ve got a job for you

If you play your game of subterfuge
If you seek to undermine
If your hat size grows too big for you
You fight against your life
Hey Benny, Benny, Benny
I’ve got a job for you

If you hold onto the altar horns
To escape from what you’ve done
In the day of peace you shed the blood of war
Your blood thirst days are done
Benny, Benny, Benny
I’ve got a job for you

If you break the oath you swear to God
If you love to disobey
If you think your words will be forgot
We’ll remind you yet today
Benny, Benny, Benny
I’ve got a job for you


@Mar.31/2006 Jamie Soles

Off To Camp...

We are leaving early tomorrow for a 12 hour drive down to Abbottsford, where we will stay overnight, go to church in the morning, and head to a family camp just outside of Princeton, BC on Monday morn. It is sponsored by Christ Covenant Church of Langley, and is promising to be a great time. This is a good tool for the building of body life, if it is in the hands of elders who care about their flock. And the men in Langley certainly qualify in this regard.

Pure Words

The album we just recorded will be called "Pure Words", from the text in Psalm 12 "The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times." ESV

I have been in the studio recording an album of the early Psalms (1-
16, but missing Psalm 9, which I may one day be man enough to
write.). I have done mostly through-composed, word for word versions
from the ESV, in song style, most of which could be sung by a
congregation that sings modern music. But I do have a few
chant/quasi-chant numbers that may interest you.

I have a vigorous antiphonal version of Psalm 7 that I have now
recorded (John Barach translation) with guitar, bass, drums,
tambourine, and other percussion.
It will take a thorough learning of the song for a drummer or a bass
player to know when to change. But it seems to me to be easily
memorized.

I have also done a chant version of Psalm 4, in high Anglican style,
brought low by me...:-) It seems to me easily sung. I have
accompanied it with guitar, bass, a string pad (I think...), four
part harmony, and another instrument following the words and melody.
I think this one will be hard to accompany until the musicians learn
it well.

I have a Psalm 5 version that is very easily learned and very easily
played by most normal accompaniment instruments. When I first played
this for our church, the guys came to me afterward and said "Gordon
Lightfoot!"... It apparently reminded them of The Wreck Of The Edmund
Fitzgerald. (Which may or may not commend it to you...)

For Psalm 10 I did the Cantus version of the Genevan, minus the
harmonies and twice the speed. This song will, I think, be very
difficult to accompany as I am doing on the album, but hey, you have
the Cantus! My drummer and bass player had to greatly stretch their
imaginations to make this one work... The bass guy did it, but we had
to put the drums together piece by piece. It sounds pretty awesome to
me, but I am biased.

This album will not be available for a few months yet, it is still
being edited, but I hope to keep you posted. And I will try to get sheet music built for it as well.

Tracks

We are tracked. We are on track. Our tracks have been laid. After wiping out our tracks in the entryway (it was raining), we made tracks for home yesterday, and arrived last night.

Bryan Adams Anthology

On my way home from Three Hills I listened to 33 straight songs by Bryan Adams. Quite a feat, I'd say!

I like Bryan Adams sound. He can write compelling, feel-good music. But you can't trust anything he says, especially if you are female...

Behold, the man who proceeds into every undertaking loins-first... Even as he has grown older, he still desires to be led about by his hormones. Rushdoony's "Revolt Against Maturity" applies here, right across the board. Perhaps this is why he has never learned to write anything in a minor key...

Adams has made his (substantial) living on "last-night-was-the-greatest, Babe!" songs. They are all lies, intended to seduce you, but there is obviously something else going on here. If each of these songs could be divorced from other contexts, they would probably be much easier to accept. I could imagine a married man employing one of these songs for his wife and it would be fitting and appropriate. But I confess, I don't understand how it is possible to write a song for such an occasion and not have it misappropriated by fornicators and adulterers, including (it seems) the author of the song. He writes the song as though it is autobiographical, but he has written so many of these to so many different women...

I suspect that these songs have been great engines for immorality in our culture, and will continue to be. He can't stop this thing he's started... But I do hope that God would save this fellow soon, and cause him to stop putting more of it into the airwaves. His voice needs to join with a congregation of God's people, because it was made for the praise of the Triune God, and it will maintain the desire to be "18 till I die!" until he can leave behind his pursuits of self and pursue Jesus.

Kill To Get Crimson

My life has been greatly enriched by listening to the music of Mark Knopfler. I have been on to him since the mid-nineties, when I first heard his Golden Heart album, and discovered a former rock star who could actually think. Wonder of wonders! This man reads! Then I listened again to the Dire Straits stuff he did in the eighties and discovered I had not been listening very closely. His whole body of work is full of stuff that Christians should be listening to, rather than the drivel on the (sub)christian radio station.

I listened again to Kill To Get Crimson today as I was driving down to Three Hills. What a superb album! It seems to me there are not many musicians who can build a thematic album, let alone to develop their theme in such a way that their music is the perfect fit for the songs, but Mark Knopfler is a master at it.

The singer of the songs is old, an old man, (and once an old lady) reflecting on various happenings in his life. He is not the same man from song to song, but he has a long history in all of them. Knopfler is able to get himself inside the head of someone in the latter portions of his life, and to sing his story. There are hardly any moments of great energy (though the one with the accordion and clarinet in Heart Full Of Holes is a great moment.), but there is a good bit of quiet beauty, and some quiet ugliness too, in Behind With The Rent.

I remember the officers watch in my hands
Repair it or die, I was told
It's a wonder to me, I still don't understand
Why I ever survived to be old
With a heart full of holes


He remembers learning to waltz as a twelve year old, under the dreaded tutelage of MacIntyre, an old army commander-turned-teacher. It's funny...

One, two three, Two two... we're all a disgrace
MacIntyre tore us apart
And we danced with ourselves when we all found a space...
Waltzing with fear in our hearts
Waltzing with fear in our hearts


He recalls what it was like for an artist in the late nineteen thirties, with the pressure to go to war and bury the gifts that he had for the common good...

Get a job with a pension
And don't ever mention
You once had a craving for the brushes and paints
So go, forget it, let it all go, let it all go
Go, forget it, let it all go, let it all go.


This is a masterful album. Are there other artists of Knopflers' quality and status in the music world who are doing these kinds of things? It is a delight to me that Knopfler has the vision to write through the eyes of the old, and to beautify and dignify the aged in this way. He has done this for several albums now. Sailing To Philadelphia was about the discovery of America, both early and recent; The Ragpickers Dream was, by and large, a bums-eye-view of life, and it was set in the early twentieth century. All The Roadrunning (with Emmylou Harris) is a travelling, road of life album. Now Kill To Get Crimson does life through the eyes of age, with music that is both aged and very finely crafted.

Putting yourself in someone elses shoes and seeing from their perspective is a good way to gain understanding of that person; it is also a good way to keep you from thinking about yourself all the time. Christian musicians need to learn this lesson, cause we are really stuck on ourselves and how we feel and how we think.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for Mark Knopfler, for the great gifts You have given him and have caused him to share. If he is one of Yours, thank You! And if he is not, would You please change that situation and make him one of Yours?

The stuff I find...

I found a note on my desk in front of this computer today, written in very neat handwriting...

"I am exceedingly annoyed with this computer. Yes, sirree, it doesn't do anything it's told. That is a very bad quality in a slave of any type."

Timbrel

Oh, April...

It was -15 and snowing at my house this morning at 8AM.

Lord, please bring global warming...

Update on Ontario Concerts

Please note the changes in the schedule for Ontario concerts. The Guelph concert is on Tuesday, Apr.29, at Emmanuel Canadian Reformed Church, rather than on the 24th. And there is a new contact number for the Brampton concert, Sharon Brink left me her phone number. Please check over the list and see if you can make it!

Concert Schedule April-May 2008

Hi folks!

Here are the concerts and conventions I expect to play in the next couple months.

Wed. Apr. 23/08 - fly from Grande Prairie to Hamilton, ON
Thurs. Apr. 24 - nothing yet
Fri. Apr.25 - OCHEC conference in Hamilton
Sat. Apr.26 - OCHEC conference until 4 PM
- evening concert at Cornerstone Canadian Reformed Church in Hamilton... Saturday, April 26 at 7:00 pm
Cornerstone Canadian Reformed Church
365 Stone Church Road, Hamilton, ON
Opening by ION!
Contact: Brigette VanHuisstede at pbvanh@mountaincable.net or 905-387-6252


Monday, April 28, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Rehoboth Canadian Reformed Church on Hwy.#5
1225 Dundas St., Burlington, ON
Joined by Covenant Christian School choir
Contact: Joanne Hordyk at joanne.hordyk@primus.ca or 905-689-8735

Tuesday Apr.29/2008 at 7:00 pm
Emmanuel Canadian Reformed Church
8037 Hwy 7, Guelph, ON. From Guelph, W on Hwy 7 past Jones Baseline
Contact Anita VanRootselaar at vanr.pa@gmail.com or 519 831-2144

Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Heart Lake Baptist Church
10245 Kennedy Rd. N., Brampton, ON
Contact: Sharon Brink (905) 793-2179 or the church at 905-846-1770
http://www.heartlakebaptistchurch.com/hlbc/map.shtml

Thursday, May 1 - 10:30 AM at Dunnville Christian School. If you have children coming to this, please accept the invitation to bring yourself to the concert! Contact Margaret Kamping mkamping@dunnvillechristianschool.ca

Fri. May 2 - INCH convention in Lansing, Michigan. At the Lansing Convention Center, 333 East Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI
Sat. May 3 - INCH convention

Mon. May 5 - fly home from Hamilton to Grande Prairie

May 19-30 I go into the studio to record another album, this time of the early Psalms, most of them from 1-16.
May 31 at Christian Felowship Assembly in Grande Prairie, AB.

Random ipod selections Mar.18/08

1) Ruth 4 - Alexander Scourby

2) Daughters - Jamie Soles, Memorials

3) Through New Eyes - Jamie Soles, River

4) Busted - Johnny Cash, Live At Folsom Prison

5) Long Way Back Home - Pierce Pettis, State Of Grace

6) Revelation 084 - James Jordan Revelation series

7) It Don't Mean A Thing - Eva Cassidy, American Tune

8) Leviticaus 7 - Alexander Scourby

9) Esther 8 - Alexander Scourby

10) Jack's Valentine - Over The Rhine, Good Dog, Bad Dog

Larry Norman; 1947- Feb.24/2008

http://purgatorio1.com/?p=641

I have many of this mans songs burned permanently into my internal hard drive. I'll do this one out of memory, in honor of a man who inspired me to make music.

The Great American Novel

I was born and raised an orphan in a land that once was free
In a land that poured its love out on the moon
And I grew up in the shadows of your silos filled with grain
But you never helped to fill my empty spoon

When I was ten you murdered law with courtroom politics
And learned to make a lie sound just like truth
But I know you better now, and I don't fall for all your tricks
And you lost the one advantage of my youth

You kill a black at midnight just for talking to your daughter
And you make his wife your mistress, and you leave her without water
And the sheet you wear upon your face is the sheet your children sleep on
At every meal you say a prayer, you don't beleive, but still you keep on

And your money says "In God We Trust!"
But it's against the law to pray in school
You say we beat the Russians to the moon
But I say you starved your children to do it

You were far across the ocean but the war was not your own
While you were winning theirs you almost lost the one at home
Did you really think the only way to bring about real peace
Was to sacrifice your children to kill all your enemies?

Your politician, they all make speeches, and the newsmen all take notes
And they exaggerate false issues as they try to shove it down our throats
Is it really up to them whether our country sinks or floats?
Well, I wonder who would lead us if none of us would vote...

My phone is tapped, my lips are chapped from whispering thru the fence
you know every move I make, or is that just coincidence?
Well you try to make my way of life a little less like jail
If I promise to send you tapes and slides and send them thru the mail

And your money says "In God We Trust!"
But it's against the law to pray in school
You say we beat the Russians to the moon
But I say you starved your children to do it
You say all men are equal, all men are brothers
Then why are the rich more equal than others?
Don't ask me for the answers, I've only found one
That a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son


Larry is now In Another Land, and I hope to meet him there one day.