Dear friends and supporters:

I'm glad spring is here. You may or may not have heard that the west coast had its worst winter ever. The lowest amount of sunshine and second highest amount of rainfall ever recorded. Sixteen separate windstorms over 60km!

As you know, I was due to record my latest album early this year but unfortunately I came down with a viral-related bug called "Vertigo Malaise" or labarynthitis. This is a motion sickness bug that affects your whole ability to function. It creates a wobbly, de-centering unbalanced experience. Your IQ level feels a major dip into the dim-witted domain, with limited ability to focus. Suffice to say that I've been living an altered life - and have not been able to perform live or undertake a full recording project yet. I've had it for 8 weeks now and may have another 4 to go.

The fifth album is still going to occur but has to wait for God's good time, literally. I've been learning more about patience (hurry up and wait syndrome!), trust, prayer, and strength in weakness. I'm sure these learning curves will go on for life, but they've been accelerated by my recent circumstances.

On mine is the tragedies in Kosovo, the bombing in London, England, the deaths in Littleton, Colorado, the shootings in Taber Alberta, the trial concerning the murder of Reena Virk of Victoria, BC, dating back to November 1997. As the father of the son killed in Taber said - Rev. Lang "there is no sense to be made."

I am not a 'seer' or reader of the times, so to speak, and these are complex issues. There have always been problems and tragedies - war and murder are no new thing - but there is a sense that despair and chaos seem to have an increasing ability to throw negative curve balls of the first order.

Where is the light to bring change?

I still believe that light is Christ. Christianity itself is fraught with its own issues and problems. But the person of Jesus still holds out something that is "imperishable".

Today, we could use a dose of real people, starving for a real life, not playing games of having it all together with our high performance. Nor denying that we all have some baggage to deal with. We are damaged goods and the human condition is indeed a broken condition, a condition not healed by positive thinking in and of itself. As much as it's positive to 'stay positive', we need to dig deeper.

I'm not suggesting an instant panacea here, anymore than positive thinking is a be-all solution. Most people, myself included, can find any number of bothersome and frustrating elements in the church, but the figure of Christ remains attractive, compelling and more than just an alternative to me.

I'm hoping that my condition - not just my recent physical illness - but my very soul, will be dealt with in this lifetime. My hope is to see some healing spread out as far as possible. Music is a big part of that, and for the moment I want to stay put in this eternal relationship and friendship. It's going to take some personal perseverance and commitment to trust in the work He accomplished on all our behalf. It would be nice to catch a few more waves of that redemption in this brief and increasingly frail life.

So, what's on your heart these days? Drop me an email at mhart@stairway.org

I won't dispense advice. You're free to disagree. I'm not a pastor or psychologist, just a musician trying to listen. But I care enough to hear - and I'll pray for you if you want.

P.S.  If you have any comments or questions as a result of anything you've seen on this site, please Email me at mhart@stairway.org. Responses are made to each individual, generally within a week.

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