On Wednesday, February 20, 2002 at 2:24:47 AM UTC-7, Yann Gratia wrote:

hi all,

I'm looking for info about the story / testimony /
background behind the famous praise song "You Are My
Hinding Place" writting by Michael Ledner. I've been
searching thru the web. But all i can get is almost nothing.
I only learn that it was written by Michael Ledner in northern
Israel at a time when he was under fire from the PLO in the
Bekaa Valley.

Can anyone show me more about the song?

Thanx in advance. =)

Rgds,
Yann

Yann,

I wrote "You Are My Hiding Place" in 1980 and it was published 1981 by Maranatha! Music. I wrote it because I like to write music and use Scripture - especially the Psalms. It was January, 1980. I was playing guitar on my bed with open Bible in the
Psalms. I wrote lots of "songs of deliverance" at that time while I was going through a divorce. I'm happily remarried with 2 children and 7 awesome grandkids and I'm still writing songs. About the Israel connection - about a year after I wrote my song I
was living in Israel for a short time, There was fighting going on at that time in Northern Israel but I was in Southern Israel. The song seemed to bring comfort to some of my friends that were up North while they were in the shelters and listening to
the bombs going off in the background. While in Israel, Maranatha! Music contacted me and asked to publish the song. Regarding the song "Phantom Of The Opera" which Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote in 1985, whether or not he stole the melody, consciously or
subconsciously, or whether or not it was just a coincidence that, years after I wrote my song, he ended up writing his song using the same exact 9 first notes of the song (and same exact chord pattern for those 9 notes), I do not know. If he did and is
reading this, he should know that I have no intent to sue him for copyright infringement - though he ought to make some kind of amends nevertheless (my email is bemabound2003@yahoo.com). George Harrison got sued for unintentionally stealing the melody
and chords from "He's So Fine" (by the Chiffons) when he published "My Sweet Lord." Anyway, the main thing for me is that people would draw close to the Lord as they hear and/or sing the song. I do all things for His pleasure (2 Corinthians 5:9,10).

By the way, I just noticed that your post is dated February, 2002 and it's only 14+ years later.

Blessings!
Michael Ledner 6/20/16

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Story online here http://songscoops.blogspot.com/2013/11/you-are-my-hiding-place-michael-ledner.html?m=1

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Dear Michael
Thank you! Your beautiful song helped me draw close to Jesus at the worst time in my life!! I made it through and am now whole and healed thankyou Lord xxx
Linda, your sister in Christ x

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On Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at 9:31:54 PM UTC-6, meliss...@gmail.com wrote:

Story online here http://songscoops.blogspot.com/2013/11/you-are-my-hiding-place-michael-ledner.html?m=1

You don't need to keep digging for the story.
The actual composer posted his input.
That's pretty definitive.

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Michael,

Last November I went to a concert by Trace Bundy, a super-talented guitar player and Christian guy. His shows are secular, but in part of one of his songs he uses what sounds like the "You Are My Hiding Place" theme. Now, one might ask why I think it was
YAMHP and not the "Phantom..." theme. You know, since they're the same.

Well, in chatting with Trace after the show, I asked him if he is a Christian (I suspected he is based on some things he said during the show). He answered in the affirmative, then asked if I recognized YAMHP. I had recognized it! Anyway, it was a cool
moment.

Thanks for using your talents to write this great song, and I'm sorry ALW used it in his musical. Maybe someday you'll be able to have lunch with him and he'll thank you.

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On Wednesday, 20 February 2002 04:24:47 UTC-5, Yann Gratia wrote:

hi all,

I'm looking for info about the story / testimony /
background behind the famous praise song "You Are My
Hinding Place" writting by Michael Ledner. I've been
searching thru the web. But all i can get is almost nothing.
I only learn that it was written by Michael Ledner in northern
Israel at a time when he was under fire from the PLO in the
Bekaa Valley.

Can anyone show me more about the song?

Thanx in advance. =)

Rgds,
Yann

Dear Michael,

I thank our Lord for the musical talent that he has granted you to compose songs with the bibical scriptures. You might not know how much comfort and encouragement YAMHP has brought me in times I was down and vulnerable. I love this song the very first
time I heard about it, and it heard about it again during my baptismo. What a cooincidence, right? No, it was not a cooincidence. I believe it is God who is using your song to encourage His people who need it - to encourage weak people like me to
stand strong in His strength, and praise His love and mercy with your song of deliverance. Amen.

Thank you Lord! And thank you, Brother Michael Ledner!

In Him,
Fai

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Dear Michael,

Thank you so much for your song „You Are My Hiding Place”! I first came across your song during a Christian youth camp years ago and since then have been enjoying playing it from time to time. It certainly is one of my favourite (worship) songs. I
just uploaded a recording of my piano improvisation of this timeless song at a chamber concert in 2007 on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH_lBpTQcAY&feature=youtu.be

Please let me know, whether this okay with you. Also I’d be glad, if you had a listen and left a comment.

Blessings!
Daniel Warner

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I read that Corrie Ten Boom's father quoted the Bible verse Psalm 119:114,"You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your Word," to the women taken captive during the Holocaust.

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Song Scoops
I am fascinated by song stories...the glimpses of composers' lives that their creations permit us to see, although oftentimes not so readily. Here are my my "scoops", posted here for your enjoyment, and for what I hope will feed our mutual curiosity
about His musical purposes for us. Join me in this history adventure, as we find what circumstances coalesced to create the songs we all love! Play detective with me, and tell me what song "scoops" you may know that I don't...yet.

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David Cain
View my complete profile
Sunday, November 3, 2013
You Are My Hiding Place -- Michael Ledner


Michael Ledner felt really vulnerable as he reflected on his circumstances one day in 1980. He couldn’t ignore how he felt, though he was a firm believer in the One to whom he turned as he sat on a bed with a guitar and his bible close by. “You Are
My Hiding Place”, he called out to God, using the words of David, his ancient spiritual compatriot who likewise sought Him who can reassure the lonely. He wasn’t completely certain he wanted to dwell in this place, however, or if he wanted to share
with others the feelings the song evoked. It was a private moment. It took his travelling halfway around the globe to discover others needed to link with that intimacy, to rest in the comfort He offers.

Up and out of the pit came Michael Ledner, from a low moment into a broader appreciation for His God and the life he began to experience after this difficult period. Ledner was separated from his wife at the time and living in a tiny room in Arizona, so
small that it must have been easy for him to feel isolated and forgotten. But, he clung to something – or rather, someone -- one day as he read Psalms and strummed his guitar. King David’s Psalms 32 (one of the ‘maskil’ Psalms) and 56 provided
the inspiration that Michael needed, as he pondered and worshipped alone, but not without purpose. He’d often turned to music, not unlike his predecessor whose words struck him and provided the prose Michael used to vocalize his own hiding place, some
three millennia later. (David sometimes sought physical refuge in a cave, not too unlike the manmade one shown here, along a coastal area in Israel.)

But, as he reflected for some time afterwards, he wondered how wise it would be to share his feelings. Was he being a weakling? He recorded the song for himself a couple of different times, including once with a few friends, but he didn’t really share
it otherwise in churches he visited for a while. It was still a difficult part of his life, as his marriage finally and permanently dissolved. Many months later, he was in David’s homeland, and again he shared the song with some visiting friends.
Unbeknownst to him initially, they took the song back home, where it found wide acceptance; a formal recording by Maranatha Music soon ensued. From a private, difficult moment, to another where his experience found broad camaraderie with other believers,
this was a sweet turnaround for Ledner. It was his renewal moment, and his life progressed positively after that. Many years later, he’d become a pastor and was married again, feeling as though he’d learned a valuable lesson from the day he sat in a
small room with his guitar, bible, and feelings he didn’t want at the time.

Don’t run away, or try to ignore the pain – that perhaps best sums up what Michael Ledner discovered from a challenging episode in his late 20’s. He wasn’t alone after all. There’s no place to hide, but there is a person who can hide me. Seems
kinda strange to realize this, until you understand, as Ledner probably did, that hiding in a place only makes you lonely. Hiding in a person is radically different.

Sources for the song story are the books “Celebrate Jesus: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2003; and “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About
600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006.
Posted by David Cain at 10:38 AM
Labels: audience-God, era-1900s, Ledner, loneliness, maskil, Psalms, turning point, weakness

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