Music With A Mission To Rock Your World!

It’s Mothers Day! A fantastic celebration of those amazing people who we owe so much to (quite literally). It’s a celebration of childbirth in the West but did you know it’s not always a happy event in the developing world?

Childbirth is approached with a sense of trepidation for woman living in sub-Saharan Africa because 1 in 16 giving birth will die in pregnancy, compared to a 1 in 13,300 risk for a woman in Australia.

Mercy Ships are floating hospitals, crewed by volunteer doctors and nurses visiting some of the world’s poorest countries and providing life-changing medical assistance free of charge and Mercy Ships New Zealand raises money to fund reconstructive surgery for West African mothers suffering from the childbirth injury vesicovaginal fistula (VVF). Their annual Mother’s Day Appeal has proven to be enormously successful, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to help West African Mum’s.

So how about you make Mothers Day marvelous and join me in donating to the Mercy Ships Mother’s Day campaign improving mum’s health in Sierra Leone.

Want a cheap laugh? It’s Limerick Day so how about you write a limerick about me for a wee giggle?

A limerick is a short, comical, and almost musical poem that often borders on the nonsensical … similar to when I get talking :p

Limericks were popularized by Edward Lear and hence Limerick Day is celebrated on his birthday, May 12.

Writing them takes a little practice at first (less than what’s needed to write a song), but before long you’ll be addicted to coming up with these witty, whimsical rhymes. Need some help – check here.

Post your limerick about me below so everyone else can laugh at my expense … go on you know you want to make me look stupid :p

I flew to Hong Kong for a week just recently and here’s a quick look around at my world while I was there…

What you won’t find in the video is something bizarre that I experience when I travel – it has a bitter-sweet impact on me. The crush and rush of my everyday life drowns out the critical and pivotal of my life. Meeting deadlines and wrestling with my gorilla of a to do list overshadows what really matters. But by the time I pull up at the airport parking I get hit with amazing clarity on what matters the most. As I hand over my suitcase at the check-in I have an epiphany of my life, my dreams, my love – it all becomes crystal clear.

I know – I’m weird :p You get this with the whole creative interpretive musician thing ya know.

Anytime I travel it has this bitter sweet taste – I get to see everything really clearly but I’m normally somewhere strange and separate – alone in a crowd.

So I’ve started writing a song about this … got a rough draft of lyrics so take a look … and you might recognise it as the soundtrack to the video this article starts with

Miles Away

I’m blankly staring at the nicotine tinged ceiling, haunted by the air conditioning hum

Ghostly glowing numbers at the bedside table, I can’t sleep though they said this would be fun

Clutching my homebound ticket this hotel air’s too thick to breathe

Miles away, I’m miles away – but you’re here beside me

Miles away, miles away – but you’re here, miles away

[(C) Words and Music by Peter Woolston]

Maybe you could join me on this journey to make “Music with a Mission to Rock Your World” by signing up below and getting a FREE live recording of my song “Hope On My Horizon” plus my Backstage Pass.

So the question remains: where should I travel next to finish this song?

Pete
Sign up below to receive a FREE live recording of the song “Hope On My Horizon” and my Backstage Pass:

I sought out a specific cafe a few days ago – one with lousy coffee in an out of the way part of town. I admit to being an espresso snob preferring a smooth deep aromatic flavour to the swill that this cafe serves. To get there I walked through a park dancing with trash and hallucinogenic heralds flat on their backs.

So why would I go somewhere with bad coffee away from my well-worn familiar routes? I was by myself with nothing but my thoughts and some comfort food as I reflected on the past 2 years.

I sat in this cafe in 2010 with a friend after touching down from my last adventure in Romania. The amazing people like Nelu and Adi from Speranta Church were fresh in my mind along with the fantastic fun playing with Steve Thomas (drums), Leanne Silver (electric) and Richard Kaggwa (bass in a can) in jam-packed jumping rooms in Galati. The buzz and inspiration of hanging and living with the close-knit community who were giving themselves away to help others was better than any colombian caffeine I’ve ever had.

The last time I sat in these cafe seats was in 2011 when I was fizzing from telling a friend about starting out my journey with New York music coach Cari Cole. My music world was exploding with activity and possibilities and I was about to pull the trigger on the Sing2 Win contest to find someone to record the Mercy Ships fundraising song “Hope On My Horizon” with.

This time? Well I’m seated at a table for 3 with 2 empty chairs sipping on a dishwater flat white. The Sing2Win contest is over and I haven’t beat a path to Romania or Bulgaria or any other “aria” for close on 2 years on any missions trips.

Life takes unexpected turns. Sometimes we even go backwards. And that’s when I remind myself to not give up …

How about you focus and keep aiming with me and hold on tight cos it’s all about to take-off!

Tash Khoo – she’s a proud Mum, a loving wife, a sold-out Christian and she’s known me for … well that would be rude to even disclose the possible age of a lady :p

And even tho Tash has known me for [insert undisclosed period of time here] she has always encouraged and supported me as a musician – she has been part of the Backstage Pass crew and a Street Teamer since 2008 – wow! That’s a whopping 4 years of putting up with my crazy, creative and slightly strange Kiwi emails and antics.

Tash has been around long enough to see me head off on short-term missions trips to places like Bulgaria and Romania a number of times … and even after all that Tash still makes comments on my FaceBook Page etc.

So I just wanted to say … Tash, thanks for rocking this world with me!

Pete
Music With A Mission To Rock Your World [with the ongoing help of Tash Khoo!]

If you want get a FREE live recording of my song “Hope On My Horizon” and receive my Backstage Pass just like Tash does then please signup below:

Today is ANZAC Day here in New Zealand. Our nation awoke to dawn ceremonies gathered around those who put their lives on the line for us and for our freedom. It’s a paradise here but history has shown our freedoms and Kiwi way of life have a high cost … young men, fathers, husbands, and brothers have protected and paid for that and we remember them today.

Some stood in the cold dark morning air – at attention – like statues while we paused to honour them and remember our ANZAC’s.

Some were not there – they lie silent in other lands – they never returned after giving their lives for to protect and defend.

Lest we forget …

With their hair a little whiter, their step not quite so sure

Still they march on proudly as they did the year before.

Theirs were the hands that saved us, their courage showed the way

Their lives they laid down for us, that we may live today.

From Gallipoli’s rugged hillsides, to the sands of Alamein

On rolling seas and in the skies, those memories will remain.

Of airmen and the sailors, of Lone Pine and Suvla Bay

The boys of the Dardenelles are remembered on this day.

They fought their way through jungles, their blood soaked desert sands

They still remember comrades who rest in foreign lands.

They remember the siege of old Tobruk, the mud of the Kokoda Trail

Some paying the supreme sacrifice with courage that did not fail.

To the icy land of Korea, the steamy jungles of Vietnam

And the heroic battle of Kapyong and that epic victory at Long Tan.

Fathers, sons and brothers, together they fought and died

That we may live in peace together, while at home their mothers cried.

When that final bugle calls them to cross that great divide

Those comrades will be waiting when they reach the other side.

Ken Bunker

Les Fejos is my pick for Numero Uno this week Why? I’ve know Les for years and years and if knowing someone for a while does one thing it gives you an idea as to who that person really is.

Some people just take care of themselves and their own interests but Les is one of those guys who looks beyond himself to other people in the world – he puts his faith and his money where his mouth is by getting involved in missions and using his resources to care for other people on this planet.

He’s my kinda guy – he’s a man on a mission!

So I just wanted to say Les, you’re an inspiration

Pete

I’ve been in so many meetings with people trying to solve a seemingly impossible problem and someone inevitably chirps in with …

I understand entirely what they mean but I grimace inside.

When you’re back’s against the wall if ALL you do is hope then it’s not likely that anything will CHANGE.

Hope does two things to me – it makes me admit that I need help beyond myself plus it’s the spark that starts the change.

Hope is the firestarter, it’s the pilot light that just barely keeps burning when there’s no reason to keep on going or keep on believing. Hope is the spark that ignites the signal fire to grab God’s attention.

But that in itself is not enough – hope crashes in on my world and forces me to make a decision – do I give up and back down, or do I choose to keep believing and decide to move, to take action, to cry out to God to meet me – does hope put feet on my faith?

I’ve found myself many times with the odds stacked against me and sometimes even with friends or family telling me I should just give up, shut up shop, and let it all go ….

But the ember of hope, that ‘thing’ that I cannot see, the whispers of God in my spirit that just won’t go away – the hope that remains – is just enough for me to choose to stand on what I believe and take just one more step forward.

That’s the story behind my song “Hope On My Horizon”. When I penned the lines

With my heart racing and my confidence crumbling

I’ll take a chance instead of wondering

I see hope …

I wasn’t referring to four leaf clovers or a rabbit’s foot – I was talking about how hope is a “true north” and points me toward trusting in God and spurs me into taking steps that line up with that trust – even though I have no guarantee that anything will change. Those steps of hope are living evidence that I WILL trust that God can do something and so I put myself in a place where He can.

And that’s when I find myself singing ….

I see hope

I see hope

I see hope

I see hope on my horizon

Do you?

Take care

Peter

Sign up below to receive a FREE live recording of the song “Hope On My Horizon” and my Backstage Pass:

I’m nothing without the fans who get behind me and spread my music. My fans are the ones who make all of this work. And believe me my fans are AMAZING people!

So I wanted to tell you about one of these amazing people cos it’s Fan Friday – and my pick is Charlotte!

Charlotte McConnell

I met Charlotte at Parachute this year when she auditioned for Sing2Win. She’s a great singer and she made it through to the Final 8 with amazing support from people. But she DIDN’T make the Fabulous Final Four and DIDN’T win – and that’s WHY she’s the winner of Fan Friday – it’s because of WHO she is when she DIDN’T win!

Charlotte is amazing because she showed great enthusiasm and confidence in God and how He had made her with tons of people supporting her during the contest. But what happened when she got cut from the contest?

Charlotte didn’t act like a self-centred “artistic” diva by having a hissy fit or a tantrum! Nope – she just kept being enthusiastic about the contest and directed all of that at the singers still in the contest by encouraging and supporting the people who had taken away her ‘chance’ – and she did that all the way to the end.

Charlotte is a person of amazing character – she’s a true artist – someone who is doing something for others and not just themselves. Charlotte reminds me of Jesus – He was the ultimate ‘artist’ by giving His life to get us and God back together without worrying about what He got out of it.

Charlotte – a huge thank you for being the incredible person and inspiration that you are!

Pete

Music With a Mission to Rock Your World

Cadbury creme eggs. Hot cross buns.

I’ve had more than I should!

Like Linda Grayson put it

“There’s nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.”

And that’s how I see Easter.

Now don’t get me wrong! I wholeheartedly agree with Douglas Horton that

“On Easter Day the veil between time and eternity thins to gossamer.”

It’s the nearness of God at this time when I’m stuffing my face with chocolate that overcomes me [God's nearness - not the chocolate].

Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;

Death is strong, but Life is stronger;

Stronger than the dark, the light;

Stronger than the wrong, the right…

~Phillips Brooks, “An Easter Carol”

So what am I on about? Putting it simply I’d be at a loss without Easter – Jesus Christ stood in the gap and got rid of what kept me and God apart. It cost Him everything and cost me nothing.

We live and die; Christ died and lived! ~John Stott

So I snack on chocolate & hot cross buns to celebrate what Jesus the Messiah did for me as I read these verses from 2 Corinthians 5 (The Message) at this time:

10 Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.  15 He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. 16 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. 17 Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! 18 All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. 19 God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. 20 We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. 21 How? you say. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

So it’s at Easter that I dwell on the fact that Jesus fixed my relationship with God and at Easter there’s loads of chocolate and hot cross buns. So I agree with Linda Grayson that “There’s nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE” because Jesus has been the BEST friend in the world to me and there’s more chocolate on offer than any other time as we celebrate Easter!

God is just waiting for us to be His friend – He calls us His friend so I’m gonna be His friend too [while I munch on this Cadbury creme egg].

Happy Easter

Pete