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I'm
Shawn Cole and here's a quick snapshot of
me.
I
was born in 1961 to loving Christian parents
David (Bud) and Margaret Cole. The youngest
of four (yeah!), the baby of the family. When
I was four years of age my father, an avid
musician, was killed in an industrial
accident. As relatives and friends surrounded
us as a family, it was very clear that God
had us in His hand. A short time later my
mother met and married a wonderful man, Ron
Preston. They were soon wed and I now was the
youngest of six. Our "Brady Bunch" continued
to flourish and meal time was never a
bore.
We attended an independent church in
Vancouver, Canada that was very musical
oriented and all of us kids played in one
band or another. By the age of ten I was the
backup drummer for the church's 120 voice
choir.
My
parents would take us to Sunday afternoon
concerts at the Vincent Massey Auditorium in
New Westminster to see groups like the
Blackwood Brothers and the Oakridge Boys,
among many others. A local business man,
Jimmy Pattison, used to lead the kids'
orchestra on Sunday nights. I remember going
to see Andrae Crouch one Sunday afternoon,
with about fifty kids from the church. Mr.
Pattison picked us all up with a rented bus,
complete with Big Macs and soft drinks so we
would get back on time for band
rehersal.
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With so many influences of praise and worship music from
a young age it was completely natural to play and sing to
the Lord. As a teenager and later in my twenties I gained
some experience playing with Geri
Karlstrom (I
was her first bass player). I also played guitar for the
MLG band, led by Michael Gossett and later played drums
with his brother Donnie. Ben Karlstrom, a longtime
friend, had a group with his wife Geri, and I played bass
in one incarnation of their band and later played guitar
in a worship band with them.
Ben and Geri introduced me to the recording studio, and
as they're prolific songwriters it was exciting to be
involved in working on music.
You may have noticed that up to this point all of my
roles in music have been as a support person. I was happy
with that. Never wanting to be the front person, I was
totally comfortable letting someone else take the
lead.
While leading a worship band musically at a startup
Calvary Chapel in Surrey BC, I suddenly found myself
without a lead singer. I quickly auditioned everyone in
the team and at the end they all looked at me and said
"Why don't you do it?". This was way out of my comfort
zone. But I thought that I'd give it a try, knowing that
sooner or later someone would feel sorry for me and want
to take over. That person never showed up.
Running a business, building a house, pursuing a career
in flying and leading/fronting a worship band was
becoming too much to deal with, on top of being a
husband. Something had to give, so I stepped down and
gave the reins to someone else.
As I started to tune in to the voice of the Lord, He
started giving me songs. I would wake up in the morning
singing a new song to the Lord. Most of the time I would
just forget them. Sometimes I would write them down or
even record them. I'd rarely play them for anyone.
Jumping ahead... my wife Chrissie and I and our two sons
(Levi and Jonathan) moved to Texas in 1999 where I was
pursuing my career as a commercial pilot. It was probably
the single largest mistake of my life. But I'd later
realize that this was all perfectly in God's hand. In
June of 2000 I began to have a lot of trouble with my
right leg and went to a doctor to get checked out. After
many misdiagnoses, I was visiting with a friend (who is a
dentist) in Vancouver. He took one look at me and
correctly diagnosed the problem as a blood clot.
A week in the hospital and months of recovery time were
only the beginning of a period where the Lord would have
me take time to ponder what he had in store for me. Every
time I made a move something else would go sideways. To
make a long story short -- it was a long eight and a half
months that we survived with no pay and excessive medical
bills.
My wife and I, along with our now three children, watched
God provide for us over and over. This was not just about
trusting for God's provision. One day at the breakfast
table, after exhausting myself dealing with the airline
doctors and the FAA trying to get clearance to get back
to work, my four year old son Levi, feeling the pressure
of what was going on said, "What are we going to do?".
For the first time I could remember I said, "I have
absolutely no idea".
I'd been able to muscle or steamroll my way through
everything my entire life. God had simply brought me to a
place where I had no control. He simply wanted me to let
Him take the lead and do things in His time. This
certainly didn't mean doing nothing, but it did mean
waiting for His lead. This was unbelievably difficult for
me.
As I learned to wait on Him, He gave me the first song
for what would later become this CD project,
"Shelter":
"Lord you're wonderful, almighty God
Creator of all things
You have brought me to Your throne of grace
Unto Your throne I bring
My humanness, my brokenness
My body of unbelief
In the disease of my humanity
All I can pray is... Jesus be
Be my shelter, be my strength
In my weakness, a hiding place
Be my source for everything
Jesus be
Be my healer, be my health
In my poverty, be my wealth
Be my source for everything
Jesus be"
I eventually got back to work and my health has steadily
improved. God continued to put me under the microscope,
and still is. I'm in a place now where I'm daily
reassessing where I am and what I'm doing. I think that's
what he wants me to do.
Jesus is all about second chances, and I know He has
given me mine. I hope you won't hide the gift God has
given you, whatever it is, like I did for so many
years.
Shawn
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