Another great day in the UK to talk about “Worship You”…
I had the privilege of doing the morning devotions for the Authentic sales conference held at Send the Light, for delegates from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England- and sang a few songs live for these very enjoyable guys, who do the important work of trying to sell the music we artists work so hard to create. While at Send the Light, I did a couple of interviews, one with the sincere Debbie Bunn from the Challenge Newspaper, geared to present the message of Jesus to un-churched. The next was with Eleanor McCabe, an easy going in-house writer for the music catalogs that feature all the CDs that Send the Light/Authentic Media distribute. “Band with no name” members Chip K and J were also there to talk about their new CD. It was really encouraging to hear about their work.

Dave and I were in a bit of a rush to get to our next appointment, at UCB Radio near Stoke, England, about 2 hours away; and another beautiful drive through the scenery of sheep covered rolling hills and nice towns to get there. The lovely South African Ruth O`Reilly did not seem to mind a bit us being late, and she graciously received my attempts to answer her questions, ranging from “Worship You” CD-related topics to my time in Tirana, Albania and my observations on the challenges women face there, from poverty to sex trafficking, addressing women’s issues. UCB has a very nice facility, and I was impressed by their staff and the atmosphere of the entire place.

The last interview of the day was very memorable- with Mike Rimmer at Cross Rhythms Radio, Stoke. This was live radio, and assisted by web technology we had interaction all the way from Nashville, with Eric Nordhoff, and other music business people like Bill Williams and UCB journalist George Luke sending in little remarks. Talk about being prepared- Mike Rimmer went more than the extra mile; he even dug up my duet with Larry Norman, “In the World”, a radio single from an album I did with Day Spring, WORD that Larry helped translate from Norwegian to English, way back in 1986! This was at the time when I had that bleached hockey hair style that was very cool then, you know!
Mike Rimmer appears to be a walking encyclopedia for Christian music, well known for his colorful hair styles, and easy and entertaining radio hosting. It was a real treat to be with him, and also meet Mr. Tony Cummings, Managing Editor of Cross Rhythms, whose knowledge in music is nothing short of amazing. Mike asked the wildest questions, gave me a quiz on Norway, and in short covered most of my life, it seemed. He teased me about the journal on my web site being utterly empty, and kindly played 4-5 of my songs. I was truly honored to have this time to share about the CD in such fine company. Having “good ole Dave Bruce” around, (as Fernando Ortega calls him) was very nice. But the quiz on Norway was smooth sailing, no need for Dave there. (Skulle berre mangle, ikkje sant? Eg er jo norsk!)

After another two hour drive to Leighton Buzzard and the Bruce residence, I met Dave’s great wife Sarah, and fell happily to sleep in their upstairs spare bedroom…For the gift of having a family- and for the simple things of life, I am deeply grateful, but most of all for a relationship with Jesus. Oh, to have found peace with God, and with oneself! I would not exchange that for anything. Certainly, at 40, having been granted an opportunity for a new international CD release does not make one exactly sad either. Praise His name forever!