Books by Dale Harris

Books by Dale Harris
A Feast of Epiphanies

Though I Walk, A Novel

Daytime Moons and Other Celestial Anomalies, a book of poems

Second Wind

Second Wind
An album of songs both old and new. Recorded in 2021, a year of major transition for me, these songs explore the many vicissitudes of the spiritual life,. It's about the mountaintop moments and the Holy Saturday sunrises, the doors He opens that no one can close, and those doors He's closed that will never open again. You can click the image above to give it a listen.

The Song Became a Child

The Song Became a Child
A collection of Christmas songs I wrote and recorded during the early days of the pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020. Click the image to listen.

There's a Trick of the Light I'm Learning to Do

This is a collection of songs I wrote and recorded in January - March, 2020 while on sabbatical from ministry. They each deal with a different aspect or expression of the Gospel. Click on the image above to listen.

Three Hands Clapping

This is my latest recording project (released May 27, 2019). It is a double album of 22 songs, which very roughly track the story of my life... a sort of musical autobiography, so to speak. Click the album image to listen.

Ghost Notes

Ghost Notes
A collections of original songs I wrote in 2015, and recorded with the FreeWay Musical Collective. Click the album image to listen.

inversions

Recorded in 2014, these songs are sort of a chronicle of my journey through a pastoral burn-out last winter. They deal with themes of mental-health, spiritual burn-out and depression, but also with the inexorable presence of God in the midst of darkness. Click the album art to download.

soundings

soundings
click image to download
"soundings" is a collection of songs I recorded in September/October of 2013. Dealing with themes of hope, ache, trust and spiritual loss, the songs on this album express various facets of my journey with God.

bridges

bridges
Click to download.
"Bridges" is a collection of original songs I wrote in the summer of 2011, during a soul-searching trip I took out to Alberta; a sort of long twilight in the dark night of the soul. I share it here in hopes these musical reflections on my own spiritual journey might be an encouragement to others: the sun does rise, blood-red but beautiful.

echoes

echoes
Prayers, poems and songs (2005-2009). Click to download
"echoes" is a collection of songs I wrote during my time studying at Briercrest Seminary (2004-2009). It's called "echoes" partly because these songs are "echoes" of times spent with God from my songwriting past, but also because there are musical "echoes" of hymns, songs or poems sprinkled throughout the album. Listen closely and you'll hear them.

Accidentals

This collection of mostly blues/rock/folk inspired songs was recorded in the spring and summer of 2015. I call it "accidentals" because all of the songs on this project were tunes I have had kicking around in my notebooks for many years but had never found a "home" for on previous albums. You can click the image to download the whole album.

random reads

From the Beginning: A Devotional Commentary on Genesis (XIII)

It's interesting how God sometimes uses tiny, seemingly random details in the text to put his finger on things for you, spiritually speaking.  In Genesis 24:11-20, Abraham's servant is looking for a wife for Isaac (at Abraham's behest), and as he's standing beside a well near the city of Nahor, he prays for a sign.  "When the girls come out to draw water, if I ask for a drink, the girl who offers not only to give me a drink, but also to water my camels, may it be that she's the one you've chosen for Isaac."

It was just an offhand thought, but it got me wondering, how big a deal would it be for a girl to water all this guys' camels; so I did some basic math.  Genesis 24:10 says that he had a caravan of 10 camels specifically, and according Google, a thirsty camel can drink up to 40 gallons of water (they had just made a 400 mile trek from Canaan to Haran, so they were probably pretty thirsty).  But even if they were only half thirsty, we're talking about 200 gallons of water to water all 10 camels.  We know that when Rebekah arrives, she's carrying her water pitcher on her shoulder, so it probably wasn't more than 5 gallons, which would have weight about 40 pounds.  What this means is that, for Rebekah to water all 10 camels, it would have taken somewhere between 40-60 trips to the well.  Even at a rate of one trip every 5 minutes, we're talking 3-4 hours.

In other words: the sign this servant of Abraham asked for was: God, let the girl you've chosen for Isaac be someone willing to spend 3-4 hours of grueling manual labour, watering the camels of a perfect stranger, and let her offer to do this freely without being asked.  And this is the very sign God provides: Rebekah waters the camels just exactly the way Abraham's servant prayed it.  And here's where God put his finger on something for me: because this is, when you stop to think about it, a remarkable request for an incredible sign, and yet it's what the servant asked for and it's what the Lord provided.

I gets me wondering if sometimes we low-ball our expectations of God, if we don't ask his Spirit often enough to confirm the path we're meant to take, and if, even when we do seek God's direction on this or that step, we too often limit the possibilities based on our ho-hum common sense of what is or isn't likely to happen. I mean: Good gracious, no one's gonna drop everything and spend the next 4 hours sweating over camels of a perfect stranger, are they?  May God give his people the un-common sense to look for his hand and follow his lead into the least likely possibilities of life with him.

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