Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon gloat over you and say, "Now that you have been laid low, no one comes to cut us down." Isaiah 14:8
When I was attending Trinity Western University in Langley during my first three years of university, I tried out for the chapel worship team Although I didn't make the team, my brother who arrived a year later did. Because I was a songwriter, I submitted one of my songs for a chapel contest and they played it as a contestant for the whole school. By the time my brother was leading worship, he played a few of my songs on a regular basis: one of the them was "The Return" (based on Isaiah 35).
The Return
Em G/B C G
Dust of our eyes, unquenched land
Em G/B C G
With fearful hearts and trembling hands
Em G/B C G
We were the blind, we were the lame
Em C D G
But one day we will see again
Em G/B C G
We shall see
Em G/B C G
And we shall hear
Em G/B C G
Water in the wilderness
Em C D G
The redeemed shall walk here
Barren of hope, we leave the dead
In streams of night, we bow our heads
Upon the way we will return
And ransomed we will sing in Zion
Near the end of his time there, my brother was leading worship one Monday morning and Monday was the day the President gave his message. So my brother played his set, and played my song last. The President got up, and when he gave his message, he had changed his mind and decided to preach on my song instead. He gave a powerful message, and the song stuck in the hearts of the students at that time.
About four years later, I had kept writing songs, and now had a song out on the radio. I was invited to play a song for the worship in chapel at Regent College. The worship director that week asked me to write a song on Miriam (a prophetess from the Old Testament). I wrote a song but did not play it at that time.
Miriam’s Song
Gm Eb D Gm
Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted
Gm Eb D Gm
Sing to the Lord, for he is worthy of praise
Eb Bb Gm F
The horse and rider he has thrown into the sea
(repeat)
Gm Eb Bb F
Yahweh has risen in the shadow
Gm Eb Bb F
Yahweh has triumphed in the night
Gm Eb Bb F
We cry unto you, Most Holy
Gm Eb D Gm
Our deliverer draweth nigh
Gm Eb D Gm
Sing to the Lord, let all the nations praise him
Gm Eb
Lift up your hands with gladness
D Gm
Let the nations bow
That morning when I arrived at Regent, I parked my car in the parking lot across the street. Little did I notice, but as I was walking out of the parking lot, two trees fell over and one of them landed on a sports car. I mentioned this to the worship director. "Oh it's just the cedars of Lebanon," he replied. I ended up playing "Mary's Song" instead. As was my usual style in my twenties, I did not arrive wearing a nice dress, but jean cut offs and organic cotton long johns under them. (Which I wore under everything.) I was sometimes seen wearing--if not ripped jeans--jeans under skirts, no jewelry, no makeup and had long blond hair. It's no wonder I adopted a hippie lifestyle in my twenties and traveled around in an old BMW.
I had used 100 % essential oils since my twenties, and now teach on them today for their potency and medicinal value. More on this next week...
