Mar 18th, 2008 by admin |
I met some wonderful people today at the Dallas Life Foundation. Ten of us from the church went to volunteer our time and energy to serve food, wash dishes, and minister to the people living there. One of them that 
I met was named Calvin Holmes. Calvin and I shared lunch and conversation and I learned a great deal from speaking with him. He was born in Denver sixty years ago and has lived a full and interesting life. He joined the Army at the age of seventeen and was stationed in Louisiana where he began to experience prejudice for basically the first time in his life. He can vividly recall some trying moments of living through a time of racial tension and unrest. Calvin said that he has worked at nearly every job under the sun, including carpentry work, truck driving, working at a print shop, and being a cross-country bus driver (from which he is now retired). He intends to go on vacation to Denver on the first of June and, if I understood correctly, he hopes to not come back as most of his family still lives in the area. We discussed music as well… he said he is a “big fan of Madonna’s music. Calvin accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior several years ago and he said that he doesn’t worry about much any more. He described it as not just “cleaning out his closet, but really getting in there and dusting it all out.” He also said that he thought “a person’s character is reflected in their eyes.” I think he’s probably right about that for most people (does that change the way that you look at a person when you speak to them?). One thing I can say about Calvin is that he has an awful lot of light bursting out of him and it was a sincere blessing to meet him. Calvin also introduced me to a guy named Will. Will loves comic books and drawing and music and just has a general passion for life. I believe that his ultimate desire is to draw for an occupation… he’s been studying for that purpose. I’m looking forward to speaking further with Will about a few things.
I also met an awesome family… the Bishop’s and Woerner’s (and Joseph… whose last name I didn’t catch) basically originate in the Maryland area near Baltimore and have also lived in the eastern Tennessee area. Their son, Michael, had his last name (Bishop) tattooed on his right arm… they seemed to be a very tight and loving family. Once again, there was light and life just absolutely flowing from this family and I look forward to speaking with them again. I am working out details to do a concert/service at the DLF on a Monday night in the near future and I am very excited about the ministry that the foundation is doing.
Woud you pray for each of these people with me? Father, thank you for Calvin Holmes and the life that he lives in You. Help guide Calvin in your truth and in your path and help him to continue to shine Your light into the lives of everyone that he meets. I pray that you will bless him in his endeavors and that you will make clear the direction that you desire for him to take in his life. Thank you also for the exuberance and passion that I saw in Will today. Help him to take his gifts and use them for Your purposes and for Your kingdom. Bless him. And thank You so much for the loving family that I met. Keep them steadfast in Your will and as close or closer than I saw them today. Bless them, guide and direct them. Give each of these people a sense of peace and comfort. Thank you for allowing each of them to change my life in a positive way just a little bit today. Thank you for the grace that covers all of us and bonds us all together through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus. It’s in His Name that I pray for these… Amen.
Mar 17th, 2008 by admin |
So, I have decided to begin a series of sharing with each of you some of my most favorite songs… they may be recent favorites, all-time favorites, or even rotational favorites. I am doing this for a number of reasons… many of which are very personal, but I feel that I NEED to do this to help me better understand some things about myself. I will try to give you as much information about each song as I possibly can… or at least what it is about the song that has impacted me so greatly. When I feel like it, I will provide info on the artist/composer/singer as well as lyrics and, when available, a sound or video clip. Perhaps you will be exposed to some stuff with which you are unfamiliar… if not, you will gain some form of insight into the music that keeps me ticking. Without further ado…………
Sufjan Stevens (pronounced Soof-yahn) is an incredibly gifted and complex individual. I won’t wast
e time trying to give you my version of his bio… click his name and read it at his label Asthmatic Kitty. He will end up having several songs on my list, but since I was listening to “Abraham” this morning, I will speak of it. The song appears on the album, Seven Swans, released on the Sounds Familyre label. You can currently purchase the album on vinyl from the label, on CD elsewhere (like Amazon), or on iTunes (here is the link to the song).The song deals with the story in Genesis 22 of Abraham taking his son, Isaac, up Mount Moriah to sacrifice him because God asked him to do so. God sent an angel at the last minute just as Abraham was about to kill his ONLY SON and provided a ram instead to complete the sacrifice until the day when God would send His ONLY SON, Jesus, as the ultimate and final sacrifice. This story is important for a number of reasons and I think Sufjan does a fairly good job of covering a good deal of them in a 2 1/2 minute song. Enjoy the video and words…
Abraham.
Worth a righteous one.
Take upon the wood. Put it on your Son.
Leg of Lamb.
There is none to harm.
When the angel came you had raised your arm.
Abraham.
Put off on your son.
Take instead the ram until Jesus comes.
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Feb 24th, 2008 by admin |
I could not be happier to let you guys know that I am now employed once again! Highland Terrace Baptist Church in Greenville, Texas, voted this morning to call me (us) as the Associate Minister of Music. The church is comprised of around 1,000 active and attending members. They have three morning services… the first and third services are musically more traditional while the middle service is contemporary. I am being hired mostly to lead the contemporary service, but will also be in charge of youth music, upkeep of the church website (eventually), and filling in for the other music minister when he is gone. The church has made it clear that they want to encourage me to continue to write and record and I will probably begin singing in different places again in the late summer or early fall.
We will miss Arkansas as both mine and Kimberly’s familys are all there, but we believe that God has brought us here for a wonderful purpose. Pray for us that our house sells… and sells soon. The church has been gracious thus far and has said that they will help us in any way they can during this transition process, but we would love to go ahead and begin buying something here.
God IS faithful!
Feb 22nd, 2008 by admin |
It has been over two months since my last post… WOW! For those of you that actually read things here, I would like to apologize. I actually made a decision to keep quiet here for a bit and “lay low” during my search for a new church position. Anyway - that all seems to coming to a close as Kimberly, Micah, and I are going in view of a call this weekend. I would love to tell you all more about it, but I would rather wait until we know something definite. So, pray for us if you get a second. I will be back to the bloggin’ soon enough. I also have a new album in the works… just have to get straightened out financially again. 
God is FAITHFUL… God IS faithful… GOD is faithful!
Dec 6th, 2007 by admin |
… this time to murder… Jason Wenger was 27 and a creative writing grad student at U. of Alaska-Anchorage. Jason was genuine… great smile and laugh… great guy. Jason attended church with us and we played softball together (along with his dad, Mason) when Kimberly and I still lived in Colorado. I can vividly recall a conversation that took place behind the fence in right field in which I encouraged him to pursue his creative writing dreams… he did… very proud of him for it. I don’t really feel like typing about the details of how the murder happened… they have been spelled out numerous times in numerous papers, but I couldn’t help but smile when I saw this headline in the Rocky Mountain News (a paper that generally slants its stories away from anything that might cast Christianity in a good light): SLAYING VICTIM FROM COLORADO WAS DEDICATED CHRISTIAN
Can’t wait to praise God with Jason for eternity!
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Nov 30th, 2007 by admin |
I recently got my very first GPS device (a TomTom One LE) and have just been astounded by the little sucker. I have never been the greatest at efficiently getting from Point A to Point B… I do get there eventually… but I often make wrong turns along the way. Not so with my TomTom. I have maps of the entire United States and Canada loaded into this little box… and if I ever want to go to Guam, I have a map for that as well. My little box will guide me around and let me know if I have missed a turn or if there is a Red Lobster nearby… very important stuff!
Many of you know by now that I resigned from my position at Second Baptist in Monticello on Wednesday. This really isn’t the venue to discuss the whole situation, but for those of you that read here regularly… I was not asked to resign (this means I didn’t resign because of some nefarious action on my part… no “peeping tom” or embezzling or anything like that… thought I should clear that up ’cause… you know… it happens sometimes). Through a lot of prayer, I felt that I and my family had come to a point in this church in which I could no longer have an effective ministry. The scary part of the situation is that I do not currently have another position lined up as of today (I am speaking with people, but the process sometimes takes quite a while).
So, this is where my TomTom doesn’t quite measure up… it can’t tell me where to go if I don’t know where I want to go (or should go). That’s why I actually rely more on a God-Positioning Satellite (GPS… get it… I know, very corny). The funny thing about the God version of GPS is that sometimes He doesn’t reveal the final destination, but does instead give us the directions on how to get there. Many people (perhaps rightfully so) look at a person that resigns from a position without having another one lined up as being foolish and irresponsible, but if that person has his/her GPS (the God one) device turned on, then knowing the final destination is less important than beginning the journey.
So, I ask for each of your prayers for my family as we journey out in faith and trust that God’s plan is bigger than our own.
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Nov 27th, 2007 by admin |
Romans 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Nov 9th, 2007 by admin |
Go and increase your vocabulary skills with words like circumspect, cerulean, maudlin, and perambulate, by
playing a word game that rewards correct answers with grains of rice… For each word you get right, they will donate 10 grains of rice for distribution through the
United Nations World Food Program.
Free Rice is a partner program of
Poverty.com. In about one month thus far, this program has generated donations of 1,008,771,910 grains of rice… that’s a LOT of rice!
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Oct 27th, 2007 by admin |
Enjoy this new tune inspired by both my many hours spent playing video games when I was a kid and also by the new life (1UP) that I have been given… it’s just a fun little song that I hope you will like!
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Oct 19th, 2007 by admin |
I really enjoyed reading Proverbs 25:20 today:
Singing cheerful songs to a person whose heart is heavy is as bad as stealing someone’s jacket in cold weather or rubbing salt in a wound.
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