It has been a dry season. As it got particularly hard, I decided to check if the plans i had made were in line with what the Lord really wanted from me. I asked Him for some encouragement if I was on the right path. I went to bed not knowing what the next day would bring. As Amber and I prayed the next morning, we received a phone call from a radio station in Albany, NY wanting to have me as their featured artists and play my songs for at least a week. We were surprised and excited.

ny bound…
it seemed right to travel and do the interview rather than over the phone. I had always driven with gear so i began to check into flying with a guitar. I wasn’t excited about my findings.

They throw guitars?!?!!…
I came across a video of someone who had their taylor guitar ruined.  
I found that shipping it isn’t cheap. Some airlines allow you carry them on so do your research before buying. Ours didn’t allow it. A guitarist might risk it and hope they allow it and put it inside a plane closet.

No time for a flight case. I decided to put some armor on the guitar with two sheets of oak plywood to add support to the center of the case.
I watched United set my guitar gently a couple times and felt more at ease.

radio interview nerves…
speaking isn’t my strength and so i was nervous for the interview. Michelle and the Pulse staff were super cool to us and helped a lot. I tried to settle in to play a song.

David Paulsen sings “Come Find Me” at “Pulse 96.7″ Radio Station in Albany, NY from David Paulsen on Vimeo.

quiet time brings new life…
perhaps the best thing was the time I made to just be alone with God on this trip. My time with him healed and gave me new life.

I am home now. The guitar made it safe -good job United. I continue to make more time each day to spend with God and it has made a huge difference. the staff at the Pulse greatly blessed us. I would imagine that God would expect my faith to grow from this. To be able to follow Him longer without needing encouragement. I am grateful for His answer. We had an awesome time.

what about you? Following dreams of your own? Wish God would instill His passion for your life into you? You may benefit from the following book that describes some of the things you will likely face as you follow God’s plan for your life.

“The Dream Giver” by Bruce Wilkinson

Nicholas Petersen performs “Lights” with David Paulsen from David Paulsen on Vimeo.

This one is from our non-profit side.
Nicholas Petersen joined us to share music with guests at InCommon Community Development’s Christmas Dinner.
I love Nicholas’ song “Lights” and I added some improv guitar.

ep artwork

We were heading to a shelter to play music for the guests. An artist friend named Joel also volunteered there. He and I used to be on a team together and when he had left that team, I had wondered if any of it had to do with me.
I asked God to heal our relationship if I had sinned and strengthen our friendship and if God wanted him to do artwork for this project, that he would open the door. Joel and I ended up talking after. He asked about music. I told him we were planning a two song ep. He said if I needed any artwork for a cd he would do it and do it for free.
Crazy! I was astonished at how quickly my prayer was answered and what had just happened.
I told him that would be awesome and Amber and I left and I told Amber about my prayer and what had happened.

Amber and I spent time in prayer asking where to record. We felt our answer was Omaha studio ARC. ARC is owned by the Mogis brothers connected with many SaddleCreek artists. We went in late one night to sit in on a session. The studio was amazing, the people we met were great and we had a fun night.

sang vocals on someone else’s cd but no cd of our own…

Amber and I were asked to sing a backing track to the band that was recording that night. The track turned out great! We had to wait to book the studio because an artist had paid for a large block of time (which i believe turned out to be Pete Yorn) and so they had to schedule his time before they wrote me in. however, our contact at the studio had a family emergency and left his position and we weren’t able to schedule.

Meanwhile, we had given Joel M!ghty Damon the concept for the artwork. We asked for a graphic based design, however, it wasn’t coming out and Joel said he was going to do a painting.

Working out parts at home, I had the thought that if God had brought Amber and I together, we might sound good singing together – even if neither were amazing singers, they might complement each other. I began to teach a part to Amber for “My God and My All”.
As I continued to work the songs parts out and rehearse, we ran into Tim Cich, owner of bassline studios and old friend. We booked some time for the next week and it was set.

I brought a carload of gear that next week. Took a tour of the studio and settled down for work. note: these studios have some sweet gear. Initial tracks were the hardest. “My God and My All” had nearly a thousand fingerpicked notes. Don’t mess one of those up or there goes your track. And then if it doesn’t have feeling behind it then its no good as well.
We tracked the guitars by about midpoint of the session. Tim liked my vocals first take. I re-sang one note.
Amber stopped by the studio later and sang her part.
We spent the rest of the session mixing.

I spent some more time at home on the distorted guitar on “my God..” and the next day I stopped in for and hour at the studio and got my final disc.

Joel said his painting had turned out great and was going to finish it soon.

Word on the street was that Doug Van Sloan was the guy in Omaha to have your cd mastered at. We had seen his great new studio earlier when he opened it. We dropped the recordings off to be mastered.

Joel’s painting turned out awesome!! He put the type on. We got the master from Doug and sent it away.
Joel had said he would do the artwork for free which was really cool. We gave him some money anyway and I wrote him the story of my prayer.

We went and played our dates in New England.

The EP was completed. I look foward to the next project and improving.

Merry Christmas. -David

I love getting together with friends at Christmastime and so the Christmas shows  turn out to be one of my favorites of the year.

This year, songwriters Nick Bank, Jason Hinze and myself will be performing.  Nick is the talented vocalist from fROMdUST.  Jason always has a handful of good Christmas songs up his sleeve.  Musician Taylor Venema will be joining us as well.  Looking forward to seeing all who can make it.    -David

While I played a show inside, North Adams in Massachusetts held a bed racing contest that ran down the street in front of the venue. Check it out.

“A Celebration Like No Other- Compassion International now serving One Million Children at the same time”

I’ve been overjoyed at this news since a week ago when I heard! Check out what Compassion President Wess Stafford says:

“Are you like me, growing weary of bad news? It’s true we are facing serious issues, domestically and globally, and awful things do indeed happen every day. But sometimes it feels like the 24/7 news machine piles on, saturating our consciousness with a relentless barrage of gloom and doom, a sky-is-falling perspective that extinguishes hope that anything good could rise from the rubble.

Well, I’ve got some good news for you! In the midst of everything from battlefronts to bailouts, God has once again lovingly reminded us of His sovereignty by blessing Compassion with a shining treasure of hope to cherish and celebrate: We have reached the momentous milestone of sponsoring 1 MILLION children!

Our founder, Everett Swanson, stooped to pick up Compassion’s first child from a doorway in Korea 57 years ago. Since then, more that 2 million children have been sponsored by Good Samaritans like you. But this is the first time we are privileged to serve 1 million children at the same time.”

My wife Amber was already sponsoring two children when we met. when we married we sponsored a third, who somehow refers to us as his loving parents. Wow! We are very thankful God has blessed us with them. It is a joy to write to them and receive their letters. I am inspired by the selflessness of the Compassion organization and it is a reminder to me that with the Lord’s help, my selfishness needs to go.
More good news? Stafford says it’s possible that Compassion could reach TWO million children in a short five years!
Check out compassion.com to learn more! -David