Everyone Gets to Play
A couple of years ago a friend of mine wrote a stunning play called ‘The Manhattan Taproom’, for the school where we both teach. It was a play about young women who make a journey to New York to make it in the artistic world in some form or another, be it as a musician,… Continue reading Caught in-between
This song was written in response to a friend who lost both her parents in quick succession. I felt an overwhelming sense of compassion for her which was not so much from me but how I felt God felt for her and about her. This was one of those plop-on-the-page songs. I feel it is… Continue reading Child
This song was written for a friend of ours who worked at the same school as us in Taupo. She had had quite a few complications getting into New Zealand with regards lots of red tape. She is a delightful person with an open heart and beautiful eyes. This was written for her for her… Continue reading Journey of the Heart (Gill’s Song)
This song was written a few years ago but is dedicated to a beautiful friend of mine. Her and I talk a lot about ‘breathing’. I love our deep and meaningful conversations that we manage to have in the business and demands of our teaching jobs. In the mish-mash of our lives we sometimes crowd… Continue reading Breathe (Julie’s Song)
Background: When I heard that my lovely sister was soon to be married I wanted to contribute something to the wedding. I had been messing around on my nylon string guitar. I figured out a little kind of light jazz piece and thought it had something going for it. I realised it needed a bit more and… Continue reading Two in One
I got up yesterday morning and thought of all the things I could do. I had one little phrase in my head. I thought, “I could write from that phrase. I haven’t written for a long time. Perhaps I have a story in me.” I sat down for about 5 hours and wrote. I abandoned the initial… Continue reading Travelling Light
This song is part of the 3 songs that we recorded almost by accident a couple of weeks ago. We had just worshipped to Hope is Rising. Simon reminded us that we do really need to take time to “breathe”. We hung around on the Am7 theme. I played a bit and added in a… Continue reading Creator God Meditation
Simon here: This is the final song that we recorded almost by accident a couple of weeks ago. I wrote it some time back in 1999. Once we got the music out everyone joined in. The song is about God being our refuge, our strength, our rest, our hope… our everything. The song was revived… Continue reading Be My Place of Safety
Last week as we got up in the morning Tanya, my wife, and I were chatting about how early mornings when you are half asleep can be filled with great hope and also sometimes confusing and even dark moments. I had said good bye to her and she went to work. I had some time so… Continue reading Early Morning
This song is hopefully the new start of song writing in Hamilton, New Zealand. Simon had an idea and Tanya and Ian added some lyrical ideas. We wanted to keep it really un-religious and so, accessible to everyone. Simon laid down a very quick version – playing a Baby Taylor guitar. The version is so… Continue reading Hope is Rising
