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The Flame Story |
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It was a very ordinary March afternoon in the Kyle's home in Minnesota. I just so happened to be helping my son Joshua with his homework, when "out of the blue" a phrase dropped into my mind. "Does the flame burn brighter" I yielded to the muse and lifted the guitar. Within 30 minutes, I had the song. As always there would be some further crafting to do, but the basic chorus and four verses were there. So I returned to Joshua's homework. He handed me his spellings. The first word on the list - was "FLAME" At the same time I was considering an invitation to participate in a city wide church conference in Sydney, Australia. Our family were due to make a trip there in June, so it didn't seem logical to go all that way just for one week in April too. Once again, however, I yielded to my "spiritual" sense, and decided that Luke, my seventeen year old son and I should go. We weren't scheduled to do a lot at the conference, and I was wondering how worthwhile the trip had been, when at the final session, we were asked to contribute something. I decided to sing "The Flame". As we were leaving the hall a girl rushed up to me and said " My best friend is on the Olympic Committee - she needs to hear that song!" Luke and I were flying out the next morning, but somehow we managed to get a "demo" of the song recorded that evening. When I returned to Australia with the family in June, we were told that if we could get a proper recording made, there was a good chance of the song being included in the Olympics ! My son Ben was in Belfast working on a recording with my friend Paul McAree. I asked them to work on an instrumental arrangement fpr the song, to record it, and then send it over to me in Australia. I also contacted my friend Terry, who owned the recording studio in Sydney where we sensed we were to record the vocals. He had only one day free at the studio, before our family were due to return to the USA. Our schedule was also full for the next two months - except for that same day, at the very end of our trip! The day arrived, but no instrumental track had arrived from Belfast. We were due to record at 12 noon. One hour before the deadline - literally at the eleventh hour, a knock came at the door ! Yes, it was the postman with the eagerly awaited package from Ireland! We went straight to the studio in the beautiful Blue Mountains, and there again experienced God's grace. I sang the song once, and we decided to take it (Sometimes it can hours getting the take "just right" !) We then decided we needed a "peoples choir" for the ending of the song. Terry lifted the phone and half an hour later we had assembled 20, men, women and children - all musical friends from the neighborhood! Just two weeks previously Terry had installed the very latest computerized equipment which meant that by midnight, the whole CD was finished !! I was able to give the recording to our Olympic contact the next day - again, the deadline date for the Olympics! The song has not been selected as the "official" Olympic song, (although the atheletes will hear it). It is however the "ordinary" Aussies who have begun to pick up the song as they have heard it. The message of being faithful in the race of life and passing on our torch of faith seems to have captured their imagination. Youth With A Mission have asked for several hundred of the CDs, to give to their Olympic workers. Many churches and schools have been learning and singing it. Groups have been practicing the song and an accompanying dance so that they can perform it as the Olympic torch passes through their neighborhood, and daily reports come in about how "The Flame" is continuing to spread like a prairie grass fire, from mouth to mouth and from heart to heart.
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