Derek Sandstrom

You Have To Try This!

This may sound a little strange to you, but it's hard for me to find time to pray.  

What!  You're a fulltime Christian singer/songwriter!  It's, like, part of your job, isn't it?

The truth is that, even for me (ESPECIALLY for me!), life collapses in around our time, like those holes in the sand that you dug when you were a kid.  The waves come in and soon you have a mushy, wet pile where your hole with the nice, sharp edges used to be.  My time goes that way.  I have a nice plan in my mind or on paper, and soon life comes in a mushes up the time.  And what usually gets squeezed out?  Devotional time.  Sad but true.

So I share the following.  This has been working for me really well, and I've really been enjoying it.  I take morning prayer walks.  This required a decision to start doing this, because I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON!  But I saw the need and decided I would do it.  And the rewards have been well worth it.  

1. I get up.

2. I get shoes and coat on and go outside.

3. I start walking.

4. While I walk, I pray.  Out loud is how I do it, because I'm so distractible.  Everything gets me off the track.  If I mumble my prayers out loud, I stay more focussed.  

5. We have a circle of roads we walk in our neighborhood which is 1.6 miles.  That takes me about 30 minutes.

At the end, all my problems aren't solved, exactly.  But I have connected with God in a way I am not good at doing here at home.  Home has SO many distractions.  Outside does, too, but they're things like trees, birds, grass, flowers.  They wind up pointing me TO God rather than away.

So, anyway, I challenge you to try prayer walking.  I predict more peace for the beginning of your day.  Sound good?

I need your input...

Greatest Hits.

I've always thought that greatest hits albums were sort of lame.  I mean, if you're a fan, you probably have all the albums that contain those songs anyway, right?  But then as I have grown up I realize that I don't have the money to buy all the albums even from the bands I like.  So, the greatest hits album is a way to get the best songs in one shot.  Makes sense.

A friend of mine has suggested that with three CDs already out that it might be a good time to think about releasing a greatest hits CD.  But I don't want to do so without your input.  So I ask you to please answer three questions for me.

1. Is this a good idea?

2. What should it be called?

3. Would you buy one, or do you think other people would?

4. What songs should be on it?  List as many of your faves as you wish.

Here's my list of faves.  Of course, I'm biased.

1. I Know The Plans

2. Worthless

3. So Much More

4. Tear Down The Wall

5. Today

6. A Simple Faith

7. Rest

8. The Father Knows

      

Our Trip To Austin, TX

My family just had a wonderful trip to Austin, TX.  In fact I'm on the airplane right now heading to Detroit (??) and then on to Harrisburg.  I don't make the flight plan, I just ride.  Anyway, we had a great time.  And yes, I did play while we were there.  They say if you want to play in Texas you gotta have a fiddle and a band.  I was allowed to perform with only my iPod and the piano at the church.  I guess they waived the requirement for a Pennsylvania boy.

The crew

Here are some of the highlights.

The city of Austin is very cool.  There are many places to eat, and many places to hear live music.  If you want to hear the music, weekends are best, but not a requirement. We went downtown on a Tuesday night to hear my sister-in-law's band Acoustalyn play.  They are mellow, Acoustic musicians who were booked at a heavy metal bar.  It was a little weird, but they did well and sounded great.  And they weren't the only ones out playing on a Tuesday night.  For shopping with attitude, head down to South Congress.  Lots of quirky, fun places to see.  We were also "privileged" to see Leslie, the Queen of Austin, who is a famous, cross dressing man with a beard and long hair.  For us he was sporting a cheerleader outfit with portions cut out so that we could see his choice of undergarments.  There's a slogan in town that goes, "Keep Austin weird," and Leslie is certainly doing his part.

Austin is also a very beautiful, natural area.  There a park called Zilcker Park, which had a botanical gardens, nature center, and a large natural pool which is fed by springs.  Beautiful stuff.  You should definitely check it out.  We learned that all of Texas only has one naturally occurring lake, but there are lakes that have been created by damming of rivers.  We saw one called Lake Austin, which we enjoyed by climbing the cliffs overlooking the lake.  Gorgeous.  We also went out to Lake Travis, which likewise is lined by tall cliffs overlooking the beautiful lake.  There are many luxurious homes positioned around the cliffs.  The owner of Dell Computers has a home there, and it is a palace.

Natural pool at Zilcker Park

Mr. Dell's house.

We also took a couple field trips while we stayed in Austin.  One was to Fredericksburg, an old, German Texas town.  Now it's mostly shopping, but the old, German influence remains.  On the way there we saw Wild Seeds wildflower farm and gift shop.  It was amazing.  Definitely a highlight.  The other field trip we enjoyed was out to San Marcos, a town which featured a glass bottom boat tour of their "lake."  Very cool.  You can also tour their wetlands which were manufactured by damming of a river in town.  It's very trendy, apparently, all this damming.

Wildseeds.

I was able to play at two churches, while in Austin.  One in South Austin and one in Cedar Park.  It is always great when I can get out and sing God's praises anywhere.  That includes Texas.  Hmm.  I wonder how many states I have performed in.  Here's the list off the top of my head.  PA, NJ, NY, MD, VA, NC, GA, FL, OH, WI, MN, TX, and Ontario.  Not too bad.  I'll keep working on building that list.

A Blast From The Past!

Sometimes people like to know what I did before I went out on my own in Christian music ministry. Well, actually I was in a band. We were called Punch. We practiced for a few years in the York, PA, area. We did a handful of gigs, mostly for free. Although I think we were pretty good, we did a bad job at creating the kinds of sets that would get us into most clubs. So I present to you the following clip for your amusement. If you like it, maybe I'll post more. 

Click on comment and share your thoughts. 

Bon appetit!

"A Whole World Waiting"

Welcome to my new website!

Welcome to the new website!  This new format here on Typepad will allow me to update much more easily.  Hopefully that means more frequently, too.  I hope to be able to blog more often, and I hope to give you beta samples of new music.  I might fire up my iSight camera, for example, and give you a private advance performance to new songs as they get written.  So stay tuned and visit often.  If you subscribe to the RSS feed, you will be alerted when I update the site with any new content.  I would invite you to do that so you can stay informed.  You can also still browse the old blogs and learn about things like the disturbing Road X, the Killer Gourd From Outer Space, Water Disasters involving our camper, Silly Songs we have written for our kids (complete with sheet music!), and much more.  Browse and enjoy.  It's all here!