Saturday, November 7, 1998

Brush with death adds life to music

By LORETTA FULTON

Senior Staff Writer

On the morning the moving van was supposed to take David and Leslie Bailey to a new adventure in Boston, David instead woke up in a hospital, diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

The family had been packing to move from their home in Fredericksburg, Va., when David said he had a splitting headache, felt dizzy, and fell to the floor.

His wife rushed to the phone to call an ambulance while David protested.

"This is silly -- I just have a headache," he insisted.

On the way to the hospital David had a seizure in the ambulance. Tests at the hospital showed a tumor the size of a baseball. That was in July 1996, and David was given a year to live.

Not only has David doubled that prognosis, he has completely changed his life and started to really live. He teamed with friend Douglas Ebert to form the duo "Not By Chance," and the result has been three CDs, performances in 22 states, a website, an appearance on TV's "48 Hours," and a nationwide following.

"We decided we were just going to take our songs and go where they led us and make a difference," Bailey said in a telephone interview from his home.

The duo will be in Abilene Sunday, performing a free concert at 7 p.m. at First Central Presbyterian Church, 400 Orange. An offering will be taken.

The concert, which is open to the public, is sponsored by First Central Presbyterian and the Texas Cancer Center.

"Not By Chance" doesn't categorize itself as overtly Christian, although the duo's music is based on Christian teachings. The young men have performed their acoustic guitar, folk-type music in churches, hospitals, prisons, college campuses, and in coffee houses.

"It's important to be universal," Bailey said.

Bailey's life looked grim at best two years ago when he awoke in the hospital and heard the news. A week later, he was sitting in his backyard with Ebert when Bailey's wife brought out two guitars, handing one to each man.

"It was a secret little deal between Doug and my wife," Bailey said, but he didn't know it at the time.

The two had played together before, but not seriously.

"Nothing really happened, and we just kind of quit," Bailey said.

But that day was different. After playing for a while in Bailey's backyard, the two friends looked at each other and asked the question, "Well, is this a calling or not? We decided it was," Bailey said.

Ebert quit his job to devote all his time to the new venture. The duo played for a youth group in their hometown but had "no fire," Bailey said. Then they were asked to play for a group in West Virginia, which seemed to set them on the road to success. Calls began coming in for more performances.

Bailey, who writes most of the songs the duo performs, said people seemed to respond to the message of "Not By Chance."

"Just to say, 'time is important' doesn't really mean much," Bailey said. But telling people that, "God gives you a dream for a reason, and you'd better chase that dream," has a deeper meaning.

A performance by "Not By Chance" is low key compared with some contemporary Christian groups. Don't expect any preaching or an altar call after the concert, Bailey said. But do expect to be changed for the better.

"We want to make people reconsider what's important," Bailey said. "I wish I had had that message 10 years ago."

The duo's name itself says much about what Bailey and Ebert believe is important. They've learned that God has a hand in people's lives, perhaps beyond what they can see.

"It's impossible to believe there are 500 coincidences all piled up right in a row," Bailey said.

Although Bailey is enjoying good health at the moment, he suffered a scare about a month ago when doctors found something suspicious. It turned out to be scar tissue, and now it's "all systems go" for Bailey, who is chasing a dream and and living life with a purpose.

"I'm still here and loving life," he said.