This is a picture of my precious companion, wife, and best friend, Audri, taken at dusk whilst on board the Branson Belle steamer at Vision Forum’s Titanic 100 event last month. She is the greatest earthly gift I possess.

Over the course of the event we heard stories of brave men who stayed aboard the sinking ship so that their wives and children could live on, and tales of wives and children who would never see their brave husbands and daddies again this side of eternity.

When I hear stories like this I can tend to fret because in my mind’s eye I can see the inevitability of separation from my wife in stark vividness. I can see myself on that ship, embracing my dear Audri for the last time, telling her I love her for the last time, and whispering a verse of encouragement in her ear for the very last time as she, giving her final loving glance at her husband, steps into the lifeboat and disappears over the side.

Now by God’s good grace, I was not aboard the Titanic on the night of April 14, 1912, but that does not negate the fact that there will be a day where one of us will go home to be with the Lord and the other will have to wait here alone: a day will come when Audri and I will be separated by death. A man I greatly respect, R.C. Sproul Jr., had to face this painful reality last year, but he praised the Lord for His blessings and instructed, by Godly example, thousands of husbands to realize that this time will come for them as well.

But it is not here yet.

I’m sure many of us think of the verse “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away” only in situations when we’ve lost something, but it’s important to remember that the first part of that verse is as true as the latter! The Lord giveth! Blessed be the name of the Lord! Now is the time where I have my wife in my house, in my arms, at my side, and that is PRECIOUS. Husbands, look at your wives long and hard and be grateful for this day that you have with her – it may be your last.

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I wrote this piece of music with the intention of conveying a series of emotions, from gratitude at the tenderness of our union, to the fear of separation, and finally to the blessed assurance and comfort of knowing that we’re held in the Lord’s loving hand. I pray this piece will be a timely reminder and source of encouragement to many.

Every now and then I write something swashbuckling and adventurous just for fun. This is one of those times.

Composition: Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor by J.S. Bach
Orchestral Arrangement: Leopold Stokowski

It’s a legitimate question–’why can’t we’? …Or maybe the question is ‘why don’t we’? We’ve got unparalleled access to vast quantities of music and possess instrumental tools that Bach and his contemporaries would have traded their wigs for (wigs were a big deal back then).

Hearing this music just makes me wonder what sorts of musical achievements Bach would have accomplished (on top of all his other unparalleled musical achievements) if the modern symphonic orchestra (that Stokowski helped develop) had existed during his day. Then I wonder a step further: if Bach had access to the musical tools of today, not to mention the virtually unlimited access to sheet music and recordings of basically every piece of music written in the last 400 years that we have access to (including the 260 years of music written after Bach’s death he never was going to hear), what more might he have accomplished with that knowledge?? Yeah, it’s kind of a humbling thought.

Let’s not waste these precious advantages–nay, privileges–that we’ve inherited, and let’s not be lazy. Maybe we can apply a Bach-ian level of industry to our craft and, standing on the shoulders of such great men, progress beyond even their accomplishments, for as J.S. himself said:

“I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed . . . equally well.”

EastWest’s Hollywood Strings is, in my opinion, the best string library out there for someone serious about string writing. It is more cumbersome and resource heavy than the other best-string-lib-contenders out there (largely because it is so expansive and in-depth), but if you are willing to work around these realities, it does yield the best sound of anything out there right now.

The audio file above is a medley of some string sketches I wrote up with HS in a very short amount of time–about 15-45 minutes each.

A quick sketch I did with East West’s excellent library Hollywood Strings. All strings are playing Con Sordino (with mutes) in this clip. Photo: Audri Botkin.