Be Thou My Vision

I wouldn't call myself a hymn guy. Personally, I prefer modern worship songs. That being said, I do have a soft spot for hymns. Especially when you put a modern twist on it.

My favourite hymn is Be Thou My Vision. Originally, it was an Irish folk song. You can hear a bit of that history in the overall sound/ composition.

I know and love this song. However, I feel like I just heard it for the first time recently.

We sang it at church on Sunday. It wrecked me. I don't know how else to describe it.

I'm a big advocate of meaning what you sing in Church. If you don't want to surrender your whole life, singing "I surrender all" probably isn't the most sincere thing you can do!

During practice I was hit with this line - 

Verse 3 

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise; 

Thou mine inheritance, now and always;

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise... is that true?

I hate to admit it, but I don't think it is for me to the level I believed it to be.

Riches and praise are tangible. They can be measured. Success can come through awards, critical acclaim or wealth. None of those things are inherently wrong, but to strive for them is.

To make God your main focus is hard. There's not a goal you can set. There's no tangible standard or evidence for it. Depending, there may not even be any earthly reward. However, as Christians, it's what we're called to do. It's what I am called to do. To daily take up my cross and follow him. That's hard.

I did sing the song on Sunday. However, not as a statement of my frame of mind or how great at being a Christian I am. I sang it as a prayer. A prayer that one day I would be able to say that line without any hesitation. That I could sing it without a shadow of a doubt that that is who I am. Someone who seeks God before praise, wealth or anything else this world has to offer.

Worship Tunes

I had the chance to play on my church's worship team on Sunday. Playing music is awesome in general, but worship music just has that extra something too it... probably the worship aspect. That's my guess.

It's been about a year since I was on a team. Man, have I missed it! Working together as a team to arrange the songs, practising them like crazy and then playing them on Sunday morning is just... awesome!

Anyway, I've discovered a couple of new favourite tracks that I thought I would share.

Kari Jobe - Hands To The Heavens

Really cool song. Saw her play this one at Wonderjam this year and fell in love instantly.

Revelation Song - Candi Person Shelton
We play a couple of Candi's songs on Praise and Worship Sunday, but I hadn't been introduced to her cover of Revelation Song until Sunday. I dig (which I guess goes without saying as I wouldn't have put it on this list if I hated it...)



Chris Tomlin - At The Cross
The chorus of this song is so poetic. "Where your love ran red and my sin washed white". I know that's Christianity 101, but still, such a great way to phrase it!

Chris Bray - As I Fall

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to shoot another music video. This time with Chris Bray.

I had wanted to work with him for a while, we just couldn't line our schedules up! Thankfully we were able to, I'm so glad we did.

The church scenes were shot at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Barrie. What an awesome location. It was a real blessing to be able to use there sanctuary. The natural colours and lighting made it extra special.

The best part of the day (and trust me, the sets were a huge blessing) was our leading lady Shannon.

She didn't have any acting experience going in, but gave it her all and was more than willing to take direction. She even took her sandals off while walking on gravel to keep the look going. Ouch!

Hopefully you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it!

2013 Covenant Awards

I don't think I've been this excited for an awards show in a long time. Yes, the Doves (and Nashville) were awesome. But the Covenants were a bit more personal for me.

Mostly cause I was presenting 6. It was a blast. The thrill of knowing you will make someone's night... but not knowing who! I also got to use a teleprompter. That was cool. I've always wondered how easy it would be to use. I kinda want one now. You don't have to move your eyes to scroll the page, it does it for you!

The other thrill was Anthem for Today. Since first meeting them in January, I've been on an adventure or two with the guys. 

The Covenants definitely proved to be another. Not only were they nominated for 3 awards, they won one! It was Modern Rock Song of the Year for Inside Out. 

It was cool seeing Prosper and GPM (Air Raid Alumni) walk away with two! Dan Bremnes also managed to grab a couple.

All in all, it was a great night in Burlington!

Heart of Worship 2013 - Recap

This might surprise a lot of people, but I love worship music. I'm not 100% sure why, though I have a hunch it's the singing songs to God bit. I love that. Especially when you're singing worship songs with other Christians. There's just something about having that community.

That's exactly what we had at the Heart of Worship concerts! Man, was it good!
Shae-Lynn August, Scott Towaij, Jordan Donald and Jon Bauer in Barrie and Peterborough totally free!

I missed out on the Peterborough show at Christian Victory Church, but managed to make it to the one at Hi-Way Pentecostal in Barrie. I haven't regretted it yet!

If you missed out on the show, here's a quick recap of all that happened!

Air Raid 22.1

Last night was the night! After months of planning and preparation (most of which done by people other than me!), Air Raid 22 hit the stage in Huntsville.

It was awesome!

Every Air Raid I always say "that was the best Air Raid yet." So I'm not going to say that, but MAN! I think it may have been!

Anthem For Today got things off to a rockin' start. It felt like a real life version of the music video for Earthquake!

They did hits like Falling Asleep at the Wheel and Inside Out, plus a great Taylor Swift cover.

Anthem for Today lead singer Pip Lucas

Then came Prosper and GPM... I didn't know what to expect. Hip Hop can be super high energy awesome or really slow and dull. It was anything but slow or dull!

The crowd and the performers were all over the place having a great time! They did amped up versions of songs like Yes I Can and Without You. Plus, they did the Harlem Shake!

Prosper of Prosper and GPM fame!

Then came the Color. These guys drove all the way from Manitoba. THEY DROVE. They did songs like Made to Be and their first hit, Let It Go. They even did a few acoustic songs!

The Color rockin' out

Then the headliners came. To Tell.

Zach Havens from To Tell

I love these guys. Always fun, always tight and they just keep getting better! From the crunchy guitars of In Your Eyes to the pop of The Problem, it was solid.

All in all a great night! Now, we get to do it all over again tonight! See you at Air Raid 22.2 in Owen Sound!

Poetry in Motion

Have you seen this? 700,00 Lite Brite pegs. 50 hours of work. One amazing music video.

What does this video mean to you?

One of the lyrics of this song is "You have overcome this heart that is overcome."

To me this video represents the times in life when we are overcome. A death in the family, a lay-off... whatever. Even though it may seem impossible to "bounce back" from these scenarios, God is mighty enough to "over come when we are overcome."

That encouraged me.

How about you?