This page is not about us or promoting an album. This is about the Lord and being obedient to what He told us to do which is to give this album freely.

HI FROM IRELAND

My name is Raymond Robinson and I am a worship instrumentalist from Ireland. I currently play a range of instruments (flutes - [concert & alto], irish whistles, chinese dizi flutes, quenas, recorders, native american flutes) and have a passion to play ethnic (traditional instruments) in worship.

A GIFT OF BLESSING TO YOU

The Lord told us to make the "Be Still" album available freely as a gift. So to download go to www.christianflute.com and the "Be Still Free Download" page. You can read the story of how it came together on this page below. If you can, listen to "Be Still" in one go as that is how it was received. If you wish please sign the GUESTBOOK on the site as we do not keep records of who downloads the album.

We hope you can take the time to read the story on this page about "Be Still". I promise you will be encouraged by it, so please take the time. It is an amazing story of God's blessing. God told us to give this album away freely and that is what we are doing. We are not promoting an album, simply being obedient to what He wants and this website assists greatly in this.

THE STORY OF "BE STILL"

One Saturday afternoon when Steve Allen and I were not expecting it, the album "Be Still" arrived.

The purpose of this story is not to promote a ministry, ourselves or to look for endorsement of any kind. It simply explains God's blessing to us and the purpose of the "Be Still" album.

Two verses sum up this album for us. Luke 1:37 "nothing is impossible with God" and the words of Jesus in John 15:5 when Jesus talks about the vine (Him) and the branches (us) and in it He says, "apart from me you can do nothing".

In August 2005 I was part of a team leading worship at a Bible week in England. During the week I got to know my now good friend, Steve Allen. It was the second time we had met and the second time we had played together. Steve lives in England and at the end of the week, myself and Andi Oakes, who was with me, had a day over before we went home. Steve invited us to his home to have lunch with his lovely wife Donna and wonderful children. Over lunch as we chatted Steve suggested going into the little studio he had in the house which he uses for his work to "experiment". We thought this sounded like fun and we were intending to get Andi to sing and get some vocal recordings. Well as lunch progressed Andi felt the Lord saying to him that He wanted Steve and I to play in the studio and record what we played. Now you have to remember that Steve and I had really only started to get to know one another. Both of us had not even thought of, or was interested in recording music. So without any plans or preparation we went into the small studio.

Before we started Andi prayed for Steve and I and really felt the Holy Spirit direct him to pray over us that what would be produced would be a fragrant oil (the Holy Spirit reminded him of Esther being bathed in oil and perfumes for a year before she was presented to King Xerxes). In Andi's own words this is what happened:

" It was an amazing experience" he recalls, "The presence of God was wonderful, like He was filling the room. I think the most amazing thing about this recording, is that...when you listen to it...you will find it hard to believe that it wasn't planned or that the two guys didn't even have eye contact with each other while they were playing! Steve had his back to Raymond the whole time and Raymond was in a sound booth. I remember the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up as I listened to what they were playing."

As we started to play together (as Andi says, we actually could not see each other as we were in separate sound booths) the Holy Spirit orchestrated everything. What you hear from the first not of "Be Still" to the last note is what we played. It was all in one take, one track after the other. Totally live and unexpected. The only conversation we had in between takes was simply "What key do you want to start in?" before each track and then we simply played. In human terms, to produce music like this is simply impossible without some form of boundaries and rehearsal, so we are amazed at what God sent. From the first note to the end the whole process including getting ourselves ready took about 50 minutes.

When we finished we prayed and thanked God for His amazing gift.

The other amazing bit of the story is the drawing at the bottome of the page in the Photos section. It is a drawing I received from a 12-year-old girl called Bethan. She is the daughter of one of the leaders at a Baptist church in Neyland, South Wales. Bethan gave me the drawing in October 2004 after a church service I had been serving at. She said that God had told her to draw it and give it to me. I did not know then what it was for but when "Be Still" arrived I knew that this drawing was to go with it. It says what "Be Still" is all about really, more than my words could explain. It is the purpose of this worship album.

As I have said before Steve and I have never had a desire to produce an album. We felt after we finished that God wanted us to give it away. So, we started making small copies at home, a few CDs at a time giving them away as we felt directed and using my website for downloads. In early 2007, during a conversation I was not expecting a gentleman called Lester Manley asked about the CD as he had a copy. He said that God had blessed him through it and he wanted to talk to me. So one evening in March myself and my close friend Mark Mahaffy went to see Lester and his wonderful wife Viv. During the conversation Lester and Viv told myself and Mark that they had been praying about the CD and that God basically had told them to help design and produce copies of the album. We were blown away and a few months later Lester had designed the CD cover and paid for the production of many thousands of CDs to fulfill the vision from God "to give it away". God even told Lester to name it "Be Still" as we had first called it Simply Worship. The funny part about this is that before Lester told me he felt God tell him it was to be called "Be Still" he did not know how to tell me. But again, God prepared the way. Two days before we were to meet and Lester was going to tell me, God spoke to me all day saying "Be Still". I did not know why, until 2 days later when I met Lester. So when he told me in the meeting about naming the CD "Be Still", I simply laughed and said how wonderful God is, as He had already told me.

We believe that we have been given this as a gift and are responsible for giving it to God's people so that is why "Be Still" is given away freely. We know God moves through what He has given as we have been blessed and encouraged as God has allowed us to hear hundreds of stories of how He has touched people in so many different ways as they listen.

At this point we must stress that "Be Still" is not about Steve and I, we were simply the recipients of something God gave through is. God could have sent this gift to any flautist and pianist so it humbles us that He sent it through us. May we always stay that way.

We would suggest that you try and listen to the CD all in one go as that is how we received it.

Please send the link on to others. We were told by the Lord to give this music away and we are being obedient to that but we also need people to help us. This is not about promotion, BUT ALL ABOUT THE LORD. If you have folks who do not know the Lord (yet), please send it on to them. We find that because it is instrumental worship people who normally would not listen to Christian songs, are happy to listen to it and the Lord does what He wants to do.

The fourth track on the player is a new one I recorded at home (on 5th Sept 07). It is a new short melody that has been with me everytime I pick up one of my new instruments that I have had for a few months, a Native American Flute. When I initially listened to it and looking through the Psalms the verse that stood out for me was Psalm 46 v 10 "Be Still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

I would love if you could listen to it and wait for what God says to you through it (its track 4 on the player). I think there is a message in it. I would love to hear your thoughts, God's prompting to you.

The last track on the play list above is Amazing Grace which was recorded in my house into a sony minidisc recorder in my kitchen using a Moeck Alto wood recorder. I just love the words of Amazing Grace and the music.

I live in Ireland and I am married to my beautiful wife Julie and have two wonderful daughters Hannah and Rebekah (their picture is under "Raymond" in photos).

God's richest blessings
Raymond
www.christianflute.com