Thursday, September 11, 2008

Here Am I; Send Me

Awhile back, a friend of Diane's asked her daughter to sing at their son's mission farewell. Well, nothin' like a mission farewell to inspire the creativity and bring out the Spirit, so we decided we'd squeeze in a song. We had been quite busy, me with the Messiah and Diane with school and life, so it was an occasion where we really had to count on the Spirit it get it done. In a week.

So I wrote a verse and a chorus and sent it to Diane to start composing; then I wrote the second verse and bridge. It all came together amazingly quickly. Originally, the chorus ended simply with "Here am I; Send me," but Diane had the inspiration to stretch out the musical phrasing and repeat "Here am I" three times before concluding with "Send me." When she sent the music to me, I adapted the lyrics to read as they do now, "Here am I; I will go. Here am I; Send me." As is usually the case when we collaborate, the synthesis of our separate efforts combines to make something greater than either, alone, could have created.

"The love of God has followed me all of my days," is one of the phrases in our music I love the best. It says so much of how I feel about the Savior. I'm not sure I can even take credit for writing it; it was a gift.

But this song is our testimony of the Gospel with gratitude for all that the Lord has graced our lives with.

Link to "Here am I; Send Me"

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I will bring the light.
Staley sang this at Rafe's farewell. It was as though sung as though by an angel just for him.
The Lord wants the Finnish people to recognize the love that has always followed them during their long dark days is the LOVE OF GOD

Stephen & Kendra said...

I googled free LDS music and found this song and I am so in love with it. I am going to sing it in church in a couple of weeks. Thank you for writing such a perfect song. When I've practiced it, I have gotten chills. I love it! Thank you so much!

Garland 4th Ward said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Garland 4th Ward said...

Just wondering if you have the mp3 version of the 2-voice music you have on your website? Our R.S. has been asked to sing in a couple of weeks and we have chosen to sing this song. It is perfect!! However, the solo version and the 2-voice version differ a little and it is hard for the sisters to practice with. Please let me know. Thanks!