Roby Duke

It may be a little known fact to many, but singer-songwriter/folk/fingerstyle guitar music has been a favorite of mine for many years, though I tend to steer clear of the names that most people know (James Taylor, etc.)

Instead I have a handful of lesser known artists that I've grown to appreciate over the years: Tuck and Patti, David Wilcox, Neil Finn, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, EmmyLou Harris, John Hiatt, etc.

One such artist that I have been influenced by over the years was a man named Roby Duke.

I was introduced to Roby (musically) by my friend, John Czerwinski, back in 1990 or 1991. I had never heard of him before, but John insisted that I take a listen to this person.

One listen was all it really took.

It was hard to find Roby's recordings (and still is to some extent), but I remember purchasing "Bridge Divine" and just getting lost listening to it as I drove around Iowa City (a habit I developed to escape for a little while).

That particular CD told much of Roby's life story. From his upbringing in Mississippi, to his struggle with friends and family, to his ultimate desire to surrender to God.

If you read Roby's story on his web site, there were some definite times of struggle. There were some definite times of doubt. Sounds like a familiar theme to the things you read here on my blog, eh? But in the end, I think Roby found himself where he longed most to be... at the feet of his heavenly father.

If you wonder why I speak of Roby in past tense... let me explain it to you: December 26th, 2007, Roby died of a heart attack in his home.

I kick myself because just a few months earlier, I met Roby at the CMS conference in Seattle. We greeted as we passed each other... he as leaving one class (which he taught) and I was attending one starting in the same room, moments later.

I had fully intended to go to some of Roby's sessions that weekend, but there were only so many times certain other classes were offered, including ones I was assisting my friend, John Carlson, in teaching.

It is hard to explain Roby's presence... he seemed to me a rugged, but gentle man who wanted nothing more than to be used by God in spite of everything. He definitely didn't fit the mold of the stereotypical worship leader/Christian musician... which I found very cool.

I remember some years back emailing Roby to ask him about the tuning on a song (Bridge Divine). To my surprise, he emailed me back and we had a nice conversation about the song. It impressed me that he was willing to do so.

Anyhow, I want to share with you three video clips of Roby from YouTube, to give you an idea of the man and his music. Maybe some of you will be influenced by what he has to say and how he says it.

The first clip is from the 2006 CMS conference in Seattle.



This second clip is a version of "Amazing Grace" that Roby performed at another CMS related conference in mid 2007. This song in particular struck a chord with me.



I've read that Roby enjoyed his last show on the 24th of December with his son. Everyone said he was smiling and couldn't be more proud sharing the stage with his own son.

Lastly, 3 days before his death, Roby shared this song with a congregation at a church. Listen to the song and enjoy the heart of the man and remember that just 3 days later, the lyrics of the song came true.



Roby - thanks for the music and thanks for the ministry... I smile at the idea of you getting your chance to touch God's very face.

In Him,
Jim

Life: Carnival ride or perfectly orchestrated plan?

Hey everyone. I know it has been a while since I last sat down to share with you all that has been going on. I apologize for that.

With that out of the way, let me talk to you a little bit about "life". I find it funny how God seems to take people through similar paths in life. I've been dealing with a lot of things that are weighing heavy on my heart and mind lately (more on that later) and dwelling on the distance that I seem to create between me and God when I am "in the valley" (as my good friend, Mango would say).

Its a feeling of complete loneliness.

For some reason this afternoon, I decided to look at my band's (I should say ex-band's) MySpace page and noticed that my friend, Jason, added a blog post to his MySpace about prayer. More specifically he posted about dealing with his lack of prayer and disappointment of prayers of the past. The entire post is on a site he is involved with called "The Rabbit Room" and can be found here.

I'll be honest with you... reading the post brought me to a point of helplessness (because I'm not coming out of my valley like Jason is), fear (because I'm reminded of the troubles in life right now) and jealousy (because Jason speaks so eloquently into the lives of others via cool things like "The Rabbit Room" and I'm just... well... me).

How sick is that?

So what's going on that brings this heaviness? Let me give a quick list:

1) Job anxiety: I'll leave it at this, but know that there are significant changes that leave me anything but comfortable and confident.

2) Church anxiety: I started a new service with three friends at a church here in town almost 1 year ago. Two of the friends have removed themselves from any sort of active involvement, which leads the brunt of the work for the other two.

3) Basement anxiety: We've lived in this house for nearly 5 years now. We finally decided to move on finishing the basement (we have a two year old living in our closet because the rooms for the children aren't done in the basement). As we've worked on the basement we've run into multiple issues: leaky, condensating windows, cracks in the foundation, budget issues (see reason #1), time issues (see reason #1 and #2), etc.

4) Health anxiety: My family has been sick this fall/winter. Don't know why, but it seems like as soon as one is healthy, the next one falls. Once it gets around to all six of us, it just seems to start over.

5) Personal disappointment: Over the past year, my convictions in certain areas related to our purpose and pursuits have strengthened considerably. The problem is, the more I strive after purpose, the more disappointed in my abilities I become.

What all does this amount to? Well, honestly not really much. There's nothing in the above list that really matters from an eternal perspective. Yet these very things have driven walls between me and God. I know that God didn't put the walls up, which means that I must have... so... here we go back to reason #5.

People always suggest taking a step back and gaining perspective on things. Or perhaps reading a book about particular matters. The big problem is that when I feel so strapped for time and energy that I can't even read THE book or talk to THE Man about what's going on, how could ever make time for some other reading material?

Now don't get me wrong... God's still done some amazing things lately. The problem is, I just simply don't understand "why?"... or better yet "why me?". This holds equally true for both the good and the bad situations.

Do you ever pray for God to show up in an amazingly unmistakable way? Do something so outrageous that there is no way to doubt? Did He do it or was it a case (as Jason describes) where you were just talking to yourself?

It is times like this that I wonder "is this a perfect plan or just a carnival ride?"

My heart knows what the answer is, but my mind seems to want to disagree.

Jim