fREe deLIVEry

If there is one thing that I can say Dad did NOT give us, it was our talent in music. :) that would be from my mother's side. BUT, they both, were extremely supportive in that they loved hearing their children's music.

I remember the first moments of Free Delivery. Dad was at the hospital and Noah was fiddling around on my keyboard, finding a talent that he had for rhythm and music. God has given me the gift to sing, so I love to sing and would attempt to write songs growing up but none of them were good enough, of course. But Noah and I wrote a song that night. We all were already in band at school. I played the flute, Noah played trumpet, and Seth was a percussionist. So when Noah and I were making this song, Seth got together different articles, such as Tupperware, due to him not owning an actual drum set, made a drum set. We all three were playing together, making the first fruits of music, the beginning of another chapter of our lives that we would remember for the rest of our lives.
Noah was soon learning to play guitar, so he did not keep playing keyboard, but stayed on guitar for any music that we collaborated. Our first song was entitled, "Believe". It was the foundation of our ministry band, and the reason that we even had the strength to do so. We found it healing to actively share our sufferings with others, to let them know, that there is a God. A God who loves, and gives strength to anyone seeking it. "..... All you have to do..... is believe." ( a line to that song)
Mom and Dad were so proud of us, so they had us perform it for church, and Dad got to see it. Everyone was amazed at our strength, including us. Seth, Noah, and I became very close through all of the working together in our music. We all had talent in different areas, and you put those differences together, and we were unstoppable. Sure we had our quirks now and then, due to the fact that we were brother and sister, but we worked it out. We gained members fairly quickly, filling in the holes. With Bub on lead guitar, who was already so talented. With Jered on the bass, after a temporary bassist before him. And then Devin, the keyboardist, my boyfriend at the time. The picture above has everyone in it. Seth had gotten a real drum set when Mom and Dad realized how serious he was. Seth, too, became one of the best drummers I know.

Playing music, for those boys, was there outlet of expressing themselves in a way as pure as anything. For me, singing was my outlet, being heard because I had a voice that needed to be heard because of our trial. We, together, found an avenue to release a lot of our grief, because in reality, we were already grieving Dad, preparing for his death, not knowing when it would happen. This was our healthy distraction. Keeping our minds focused on the bigger picture. Through our songs we were able to profess our faith, and hopefully, teach anyone willing to listen that no matter where you are in life, no matter what you are going through, God will be watching over you, Jesus will be holding you, and the Spirit will guide you and give you peace.

We didn't have a name at first. I don't even remember what we were looking at for names. But we were riding along in the car, one day. Dad had just had surgery on something, and so he was pretty doped up. We were all talking about names for the band, then Dad started to chuckle. He said, " I just figured out what the band name should be!" he chuckles some more. We, of course, were very eager to hear what he had to say, especially since we would love it if he came up with the name.
"Free Delivery" he said. We all looked at each other, with smiles on our faces. We all talked about how profound that was with the meaning behind it. How Jesus died for us, and now we are free to be delivered, and that the price has been paid. We loved it, so everyone agreed unanimously, to name the band, Free Delivery. We also pointed out the RE LIVE inside it. We thought it was so creative.
We had asked Dad how he had thought of that. He replied, pointing down the road, "Oh...... I just saw it on that Chinese Delivery truck."
That had us all laughing.