Nathan Tasker is one of those Aussie musicians played often on ultra106five. Back in 2006, after over a decade in the Christian music industry, Nathan won a couple of major awards on the Australian Christian Music charts. At that point he and his wife Cassie decided to pack up and leave our shores to work with their contemporaries in Nashville, Tennessee. It has been an important and successful move for them.

Earlier this year Nathan and Cassie were very pleased to announce to their friends and family the impending arrival of their first child, and even more excited some weeks later to discover that twins were on the way. But sadly in early August, the twins arrived too early, at just 20 weeks gestation.

Amazingly, Nathan was happy to be interviewed about the tragedy only weeks after their loss. He wrote on his blog, “Last week I made the decision to do a series of interviews with Australian Christian radio. It was not a decision I made lightly . . . In no way did I want to speak flippantly about the deep sorrow and loss Cassie and I have been experiencing. And I definitely didn’t want to suggest that I had worked through my pain completely, or had uncovered an “easy answer” as to why God allowed us to lose our twins.”

Behind the scenes
When ultra106five Program Director Scott Haas suggested I conduct an interview with Nathan Tasker about his twins in my role as host of Sunday Morning Favourites, I was quite wary.

To be honest, I was hesitant to interview someone so close to the cause of their grief. Personally, I have experienced the death of close friends and family members over the years, including my mother’s unsuccessful fight against cancer when I was only just 16. Even after all these years I am still quite tender when it comes to talking about death and grief. But in the end I agreed to conduct the interview, precisely because I am tender.

Man of Sorrows
As I spoke to him it was clear that Nathan was incredibly level-headed in the midst of what was obviously a very traumatic period in his life. He talked about how he and Cassie were managing day to day, how their church community had gathered around them in support, how some days were better than others, and how much they were relying on God to just get through. “I’ve been most struck with Jesus’ life, that he was called the Man of Sorrows,” he said. “I am so grateful he isn’t called the Man of Happiness . . . He stands beside us and goes before us.”

We agreed how, sadly, Western culture sanitises death, and we are often not at all prepared to handle the consequences when death impacts on life.  In response, Nathan reflected how helpful he has found one of the wisdom writers in the Bible who said, “Wisdom is learning how to number your days to realise . . . what does your life look like in the light of eternity, and how does that change your perception?”

When you think about it, it makes good sense to take a longer term perspective than we are usually prepared to think about. “If you know where you are going,” said Nathan, “then the journey makes a lot more sense.”

You can listen to Jenny Baxter’s interview with Nathan Tasker here: Part One and Part Two

Before this tragedy struck his family, Nathan had recorded and released a new single called Love is the Compass. This song identifies the very thing that Nathan is faithfully leaning on right now – love is what makes the difference when things are tough.
At the time of writing, Love is the Compass has just come off No.1 in the TRAA charts, and on the way up at No. 15 on Australia’s Hot 25 Countdown. Click through to see where the song is up to now.

You can listen to Love is the Compass on ultra106five, or of you can’t wait, why not listen by visiting the front page of Nathan’s website .

You can also watch the story behind “Love is the Compass” on Youtube.