Musicians

Jamie Music History #25

When I arrived as a first-year student at PRBI, I discovered there, in my year, a plethora of good musicians. Lots of guitar players, singers, and even a few songwriters like me honed our crafts there in the men’s dorm.

Some of these fellows particularly stood out. John Raschke was already an amazing player. He had taken up playing guitar in the beginning of grade 11 and must have held it in his hands continually in the two years that followed. He played some of his songs for us, and I was astonished to watch a guy play a complicated lead guitar pattern and to then sing over top of it. It took me a long time to do a similar thing even poorly, but he had the whole thing as a unit.

Bruce Agla was impressive in a very different way. His voice was really something; smooth and rich, and his guitar accompaniment was pretty good, too. Put that all together in a six-foot-three body who could spike a volleyball straight down over the net, who could dunk a basketball, and Bruce was memorable. He came from the same town as John, and the two of them played songs together. The Spirit spun their sounds together in captivating ways.

Larry Robideau could harmonize with anybody, and he was a drummer, and an excellent character. Larry was later to become the best man at my wedding.

There were several others who were musical as well.

A second-year course that was required of us was Life Of Christ, taught by professor Glenn Loewen. For one of his projects, which made up a substantial bit of our final mark, one of the options was to write a song on some passage in the gospels. He told me later that he had being giving that option for years without many takers, but this year there were seven of us who opted to write a song. I had written probably 30 songs by that point, and I was confident I could do it. I wrote one on the passage where Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

I searched through my song history and found it there in November of 1984. Here are the lyrics.

I Will Lead

I never said it would be easy to live this life I have called you to

But I have promised you

That I will never leave you, and I won’t forsake you

And I will never let you out of My hand

But that doesn’t give you the option to turn and walk away

Cause there’s a price that you have to pay

CHORUS

If anyone wishes to come after Me

Let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me

I will provide you with the strength that you will need, just believe, believe

I want for you to put your life within my hands

There’s no need to fear, cause I am here to help you stand

What I want to do for you is set your spirit free

So believe in Me and I will lead

You might be rejected by all the friends that you hold dear

But still you need not fear.

For I am your provider in sorrow and in laughter,

And when you call I will always be here.

So when you’re facing trials because of your commitment to me

I only want for you to see

If anyone wishes to come after Me

Let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me

I will provide you with the strength that you will need, just believe, believe

I want for you to put your life within my hands

There’s no need to fear, cause I am here to help you stand

What I want to do for you is set your spirit free

So believe in Me and I will lead

So I am calling you now to turn away from your life of sin

And fill that void within

But first you must acknowledge within yourself you’re nothing

You need to have My life within

Rely on My resources instead of your own to see you through

And this is what I will do for you

If anyone wishes to come after Me

Let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me

I will provide you with the strength that you will need, just believe, believe

I want for you to put your life within my hands

There’s no need to fear, cause I am here to help you stand

What I want to do for you is set your spirit free

So believe in Me and I will lead

©Nov.10/1984 Jamie Soles