Dance at My Funeral

What are parents to do when their prolific singer/songwriter son, healthy at age nineteen, writes a song titled “Dance at My Funeral”—and they find themselves six years later doing just that?

Dance at My Funeral, the book, details the tales of Dan Steven, a troubadour who wandered the urban jungles, critiquing his world, challenging hate, giving away his shoes, loving angels, and surrendering his life to God in a most spectacular way. It’s also a story to which many families can relate—those who’ve raised boundary-breaking teenagers, love music, search for peace, have travelled the road of grief and know life’s quixotic melding of sorrow and joy.

“Dance at My Funeral is a story that needed to be told … of a remarkable young man whose prophetic gifts include the premonitions of his early death and his grace-filled reaction. Added to that is Dan’s extravagant love of this world, his faith and longing for the next, and the irrepressible surges of creative inspiration expressed musically in his many songs with messages for our times. It also provides an insider’s look at the grace needed…in living with such an unusual, non-conformist son whose lifestyle issues would drive many parents crazy. How does one live with a contemporary prophet anyway? Are there any books that describe in detail the love displayed in this divorced family, showing a unity many intact families would envy? I do not know of any.” —Richard Westmaas, Clinical Psychologist

“But there is another kind of sorrow, too—the kind that comes from working to make a difference in the world, and despairing at the enormity of the task. Sorrow can come from seeing our world—fallen and broken—through God’s eyes. I have met two people who have been touched by such saintly sorrow. The first was Catholic scholar and theologian Henri Nouwen…the second…a young man by the name of Dan Steven.” —Lloyd Rang, columnist, Christian Courier