We Exalt You Oh Lord
"We exalt you oh Lord.  Oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together."

While reading the Psalms, have you ever been moved by different phrases that speak of the greatness of God? This song was not written from an isolated text, but is rather a collection of various phrases found through out the book of Psalms.
 

The Will Of My Heart 
"Surely you desire truth in the inner parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

From the time we are born, we are destined to be caught up in the battle of darkness. God has given us a wonderful refuge in His strength which He offers if we will receive it. The most spiritual of human beings will have to deal with temptations the same as any other person will.  Even Jesus had to experience the pressures of temptation. Every day we face a new challenge of choices, these choices often reflect where our heart really is.

David in the Psalms, sinned a great deal and yet it tells us that God really loved this guy. I believe that God's love for him was special because David was the kind of man who was ready to admit his sin, then turn away promptly. My wife and I faced a situation in our walk with God where we needed to admit to the Lord that the will of our heart was stronger than the influence of the Holy Spirit. Lucy, my wife, shared with me the prayer that she had been praying, "....Let your Spirit be stronger than the will of my heart." 

After she had gone to sleep, I sat at the kitchen table with the Bible open, and with tears in my eyes I penned this song.  May it be a source of encouragement to you in days ahead.
 

Preacher Brown
I don't remember the title of the book, but it was at least 80-90 years old. I pulled it off the shelf where it had been snuggled in between some of the more contemporary looking literature.  As I began flipping through the pages, I discovered an old letter tucked in between the old musty-smelling leaves of paper.  I put the book down and reverently opened the letter, so as not to cause any further damage to this mysterious message written long ago.

It was penned by an older preacher to either a son or daughter.  In the letter, he described how as a result of a rumor the church folk had heard about him, he was asked to leave the small town where he had been pastor.  This older pastor had obviously not seen his children for many years because he went on to describe how he had gone back to this special little town several years later and had been warmly welcomed back into the church. It's a story about forgiveness and the hurts that take place in the process. What the rumor was, I don't know, and whether the church folk were justified in their actions toward him, I don't know either.  However, I do know that I had to write a song about it. So here is real Canadian Christian history, about a man I've chosen to call Preacher Brown.

If anyone reading this account can identify this turn-of-the-century pastor and family, would you please contact me.  (The name 'Brown' is fictitious).
 

Let It Shine
I sat at the kitchen table in Houston, B.C. with a friend and fellow guitar player, Mark Fichtner, and we wrote this song. My wife, Lucy, came home when we were half done. Well you know how it goes when you've just written the best song ever. We sang it to her and got the reaction we were looking for and proceeded to finish the song. Mark is a real rock and roller and it was fun watching his influence become a strong part of this song. I think my influence (being a more laid back writer) was keeping the song from becoming a smoke and lights tune.  Maybe it should have been, to late now, hey?
 

I Will Observe
"...teaching them to observe all things..."  Matthew 28:20

I was raised in a Christian home, made a commitment to God at an early age and was baptized when I was ten years old. I remember the classes where I began to learn the full meaning of what I was doing by being baptized. In those classes, I discovered the need to observe and reflect on the things that God has done for me. As I sat in the church bench beside my mother, waiting for the first time to receive communion, I bowed my head while the organ played quietly, and began to thank God for all the things a ten year old boy could be thankful for.

Many years later I picked up a book my wife was reading and within the first paragraph I read, "I will observe, I will remember."  I immediately thought of Israel's grumbling in the desert.  If someone is in a spiritually dissatisfied state of mind and heart, then they obviously have not, by an act of their will, sat down and taken inventory. When I sit down and begin to thank God for all he has done for me, it becomes easy to forget about why I was grumbling in the first place. Communion has always been a special time for me. It's a time when I observe and remember the goodness and generosity of my God.  It's a time when nothing else is more important than being totally focused on the Lord and what He has done. I hope this song can become a part of your communion experience as you daily observe and remember.
 

He Blesses Me
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing..."  Ephesians 1:3

Psalm 23 is definitely a favorite for many people. Perhaps this is because many of us have experienced what it is like to walk through the valley. Most of the testimonies I have heard over the years have described how God has blessed, in spite of adversity. When it seems you are being beat down from the hail storms of life, God becomes a shelter in the time of storm. When there is death in the family there is going to be grief, and yet in that grief we often rediscover our Faithful Friend who knows what it is like to lose someone close.

In those times of stress and fear, He gives peace and strength. God hands out, in measure, these priceless blessings to support us in the hardest times. He wants you to recognize who your Provider is. You see, you will never know how strong the rope is, until you pull on it. "He blesses me, and blesses me and lets me rest in Him."
 

Blessed Be Your Glorious Name
"...Oh may your glorious name be blessed and exalted above all blessing and praise."

Nehemiah 9:5b

The Old Testament has many Hebrew names for God. However, a description or characteristic of God could also be summed up in one word. And so, through the act of worship, God would be praised by the attention given to His name, or the meaning in that name.  For example, Yahweh Jirah means The Lord will Provide. When Elohim was praised, people would think of God as the strong one, mighty leader, supreme deity, one who is to be feared, respected, worshipped and reverenced.

As I page through the Old Testament, I see many passages start off by first giving praise to the name of God.  When I came across Nehemiah 9:5&6, I was impressed with the poetry of praise given to God. I didn't need any extra encouragement at that point to start writing another song about His Holy name. The verses of this song are taken from Nehemiah 9. This song is being sung in many different churches as worship, and I hope it finds a place in your own church worship as well.
 

Renegade Husband
I wrote this song long before there was a major crisis appeal to the men of America. I was noticing the women were doing more and more of the church work and the men were happy to sit back and well, ...whatever. I was pleased that my wife was involved, but disturbed that I myself had become so unmotivated. One night at a church picnic, as couples were casually sitting around the fire, I began to play this song I had just written. I still don't know to this day why all the men got up one at a time and slowly drifted into the darkness, but when I looked at the group of people after I had strummed my last chord, I realized that only the ladies remained. Well, we had a good chuckle, and it dawned on me. . . I'd written a pretty convicting song.
 

Tell Him Your Business
When I was in Bible College, we would sometimes travel into Vancouver to spend time with the street people and share with them whatever we had.  On one of those visits, I spent a good deal of time talking with a man who was dressed in rags and carried an odor about him that was beyond description. Thru the course of our conversation I 

learned that he had been a lawyer, had two children and a wife who said she'd take him back anytime he went home.  At one point in his life he had everything that a man could want, and then he lost it all. I shared how the Lord wanted to see his life restored and renewed but there was no response. I wrote this song with a happy ending and have always hoped that it was indeed an ending like the song says for this man.
 

Light One Candle Tonight 
It was a cold winter evening, our home lay 16 km west of Houston, B.C. on a good logging road. We had just received hydro power, having lived without it for nearly five years. We still did not have a telephone, but that would come later.

I remember one night I was downstairs in the recreation room and the power went out. This was not a problem for the Spletzers. We would just bring out the coal oil lamp and turn on the propane light and enjoy the soft light like we used to. I lit a candle downstairs and it’s warm glow filled the room, which put me in a song writing mood.

I picked up my guitar and the melody came quickly. The words fell into place and when "Jesus, Saviour and Lord," came off my lips, I began to repeat them over and over; it was a declaration of who God was to me. That night with the song completed and light dancing off the walls, I thanked God for using the candle to give me a song. I hope and pray that this song will give you the opportunity to worship our Lord Jesus at Christmas and any other time of the year.