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That is one of the sayings I seem to repeat often. I guess it sort of comes with the territory, being involved in the “business” of sharing music with thousands of people each year.

On the other hand, I have always loved music, and things people may say, or situations that come along just seem to always remind me of a song. For example, while driving across the plains of Kansas, on our way to Colorado in August, Joy and I stopped at a rest area and commented to each other on what a beautiful day it was. As we looked out over the fields of grain, not quite ready to harvest, I couldn't help singing, “O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain”. I said to Joy, “and later today, we'll be in the land of the 'purple mountain majesty”.  For those who don't remember, it was those same Kansas plains and the Colorado Rockies (specifically Pikes Peak) that inspired Katherine Lee Bates to write the words to “America The Beautiful”

Recently, my tendency to connect everything to a song became more noticeable because we met someone else who does the same thing. His name is Billy Schneider, and he has a tremendous ministry in schools, working with teens and pre-teens, as well as in churches, challenging people to look at others as Jesus would. Billy and I are about as opposite as possible in many ways, but have found we also have lots in common. For example, Billy grew up in New York and learned “street-smarts” early on; I was born in Oregon and spent my early years living on a farm. What we share, though, is brotherhood. From our first meeting, it was clear that our  love for the Lord and His work was a common bond that easily transcends our differences. There is a lot more to the story of Billy and Joanne Schneider, but I don't have the space to tell it here., so please read the sidebar and contact them.

Billy and I spent some time together when we were in Michigan and it seemed like every other sentence in a conversation prompted one of us to start singing some song. We sang songs from our past often reflecting, within the same song, the different perspectives from our own lives.

I guess that's why some of the songs I like most are those that tell a story.  In our ministry, we often use “story” songs to share a concept or specific teaching from God's word, usually something directly related to our own lives as well.

                          GOD BLESS AMERICA 

Since September 11th, we find people all across the country singing this song because of the events of the past several weeks. I hope we are listening to the words of  this song and other great patriotic songs. The song says, “God bless America...stand beside her, and guide her through the night with a light from above…”.

My prayer for America is that we will return to the “God of our Fathers” in whom the strength of our nation lies. We support our President, and we pray for him often. I'm sure every decision he makes as Commander In Chief of the military is a difficult one. Our prayer for him is that He would continuously rely on God's leading in the performance of his duties. We read in Proverbs 21:31, “The horse is prepared against the day of battle; But victory is of The LORD”.

Another great patriotic song is simply entitled, “America”. The second verse pleads, “Our fathers' God, to Thee, author of liberty, to Thee we sing; Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light, protect us by Thy might, great God, our king”

I hope we will all remember to pray for our President and other leaders of our country. I hope we will also look individually to God and ask him to help us live in such a way that we will be worthy of good leadership and God's blessings.

Ministry Notes

Our ministry tour took us through lots of  new territory this year, and some of you knew we had some additional vehicle trouble in Colorado. It turned out to be the fuel pump, which was brand new when I rebuilt the engine early this year. Replacement of the “new” pump solved the problem and the truck took us over the high passes with no trouble at all. In fact, with the improvements to the engine, we picked up about 3-5 mph on the long grades, compared to the first 5 times on that route. For those of you who prayed us over the mountains, we say “thanks” again.

Our schedules for the remainder of this year, and for 2002, are beginning to fill up, and we will again be heading through  the “familiar” territory of the Pacific coast and Rocky Mountain states. Much of the scheduling is tentative at this point, but I plan to get another ministry letter out before the holiday season, and it should have most of the schedule in it. Meanwhile, you can find it at our website, if the internet is available to you. Until then, may God bless you, and may God bless America!

Phil and Joy

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