July 17-19, 2009

Sandy Creek Gospel Jamboree is always the third weekend in July and it takes place in a beautiful park and campground just west of Caronport, Saskatchewan. The stage is placed in a lush lawn shaded by giant oak trees and the yard fills with lawn chairs and blankets as folks come to get their fill of gospel music.

We arrived early Friday afternoon for a sound check. Well, Bobby had a soundcheck and I trimmed my childrens' hair in the back of the parking lot while we waited on him. I just realized I've put in a lot of hours just waiting in the van for Bobby on this trip and I'm always looking for things that I could be doing while I wait.

The festival began at five o'clock Friday evening and continued all day Saturday until five o'clock Sunday evening. There were approximately one dozen groups, duets and trios that sang and ministered over the weekend. The kids were so excited about seeing the Hunter Family once again. Landis, especially, was turned on to the Hunters when we met them a couple of weeks earlier and when I asked him why, he said, "Because they dance more than Dad." Neither Bobby nor I are dancers, but I so appreciate the way the Hunter Family has come out of a box and I can see why the kids love them so much. I'm not talking about my kids alone. I can see the Hunter Family reaching youth like many other singing groups never have. The Osmond Brothers and the Jackson Five are long gone but the Hunter Family is here for such a time as this, with a much better message, I might add. I believe Nashville and the rest of the USA will know who these singers/farm boys/hockey players are before long.

We also reunited with the Daae (doe) Family. I only got a little acquainted with mom, Cathy, at the festival in Oungre on July 1st. Spending forty-eight hours at a festival and sharing our lodging space with other singers helped in getting to know them a little better also. Sisters, Amanda and Crystal Daae are some the sweetest young ladies (they get that from their mother) I've ever met and fine musicians. Daae brothers, Brian and Michael married musicians, a drummer and a violinist and signed them up in the band too.

I mentioned our lodging. The campus of Briercrest Christian College makes up half of the town of Caronport and they are gracious enough to host the singers for the weekend in their dormitories that have emptied out for summer holidays. Everyone stays Friday and Saturday nights and when the jamboree is over Sunday evening, everyone goes home or on down the road. Because our next date was in western Montana on Wednesday night, we had a couple of days to make a twelve hour drive so we asked the jamboree staff for permission to stay Sunday night as well. Permission was granted and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that a couple of other groups stayed behind too. One of those groups was Freedom Band from Winkler, Manitoba. I walked passed the student lounge at one point Sunday evening and heard some beautiful singing accompanied by piano. Daughter, Catherine Plett was lying on the couch, singing and waving her hands and arms to demonstrate tempos and arrangements she was hearing in her head as her mom, Anne, accompanied on the piano, and never having heard the tune before was learning the song on the fly. Come to find out Catherine writes a new song nearly every day and her mother learns it soon after as Catherine teaches it to her. Catherine told me that she had struggled for years with song writing. She longed to write but it was such an effort to get something on paper. Finally she prayed and asked God to gift her with this desire of her heart and a couple of years ago on Christmas day, God gave her her first song and the words and melodies have been flowing like a river ever since.

I thought we were the southernmost singers at Sandy Creek this year but the Lumber River Quartet, I found out, came from North Carolina. What a great bunch of guys and anybody that flirts with Grace like these dudes did, are friends of mine. I told Grace later that I noticed she sure did make a lot of friends and boyfriends over the weekend. Grace enjoyed the music, the beautiful weather and the attention as she got lots of handshakes, kisses and the Hunters gave her a T-shirt and CD. When I asked her which one of the Hunter boys she wanted to be her boyfriend, I reminded her that second oldest, Dusty was married but his wife, Suzanne generously told Grace she'd share Dusty with her.

The Daae Family led some hymns and other worship songs on Sunday morning and as I sat apart from the congregation, I was situated off to the side of the stage where I could see many of their faces and not their backs so I could hear the singing very well. As the soft Canadian summer breezes blew and the sunshine sprinkled in through the waving leaves of the giant old trees, the chorus of five hundred voices rose melodically with harmonies as the saints stood to their feet and sang. Whether with heart-felt meaning or absent-mindedly, I don't know, but it was beautiful and I couldn't help but think of yester year's church services.

The kids were able to ride their bikes the whole weekend, catch frogs, fish and...leeches and make new friends. Needless to say head-to-toe cleaning was required each and every night before they crawled into bed.