Yesterday, Americans all over this country told the world the following:
- Integrity is important! No matter what the left says, we are people of character and integrity and we will not surrender those qualities.
- We are a people of deep faith. Regardless of what the media says, this country was founded on faith in God (Jehovah) and the people of this country love and serve him.
- We want to be successful - on our own. Liberals want to give you everything, they think that every human is entitled to all the same things. That just isn't true.
- 2000 wasn't a fluke. I am tired of hearing about the 2000 election and Florida and blah blah blah. Al Gore lost the election because he couldn't even carry his own state! BTW, Edwards didn't deliver his own state to his running mate, but Cheney did!
- Democrats (and their liberal media buddies) don't understand what the word "mandate" means. We Americans delivered a mandate, George W. Bush was the first president in many years to get 51% of the vote, he won the popular vote by a wide margin, won more states. He is our president and we want him there and we like who he is and what he is about. There is no need for him to change just because Kerry lost.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Friday, October 22, 2004
Reinvention
"...we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18
Reinvention.
Everytime I get things the way I want them, God says "we can do better".
Recreation.
"I never expected to be in this situation". I wonder if Abraham had the same thought.
Rediscovery.
"I never knew that about you". How is it that I can learn new things about someone I know so intimately?
Reconception.
"Lord, why have you put me in this situation?" Did he put me in this situation or did I, and he just always gets me out?
Reinvention.
"Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?" 2 Corinthians 3:7,8
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
A Blast From the Past!
I recently found an article on the Zoe Group website that brought back a flood of memories and made me shout "Amen" all at once. It's called "Heart of Worship: Gen X and was written by none other than Randy Gill.
That name may mean nothing to you, but it means a great deal to me. I first met Randy through a friend who had been in the Metropolitan Detroit Youth Chorus (MDYC) with me and was then going to Michigan Christian College (now Rochester College). She invited me to a concert the chorus was doing at a local church and she introduced me to Randy. The rest was history. At that time I was all but set on going to another very remote, small college in the middle of corn country, but once I met Randy I knew I wanted to be in his chorus.
A good bit of what I know and understand about worship and leading singing I learned from watching him and being around him about 6 days a week. He never took worship lightly, even 20+ years ago, his song leading was "cutting edge" and listening to him in chorus practices on tours you knew he had a fire for his Lord that could not be contained in boring, ritualistic service. I could lead singing before I met him (thanks to people like Cecil and my mom), but just being around him took me to the next level and the next.
His article addresses something that I have referred to here ("Church Music Part IV - Our Kids"). Our kids DO think differently than we do. For example, for us, it was enough for us to spend some time on the phone with a best friend. For my son, he "talks" to 2, 3, 4, 5 or more AT A TIME on his computer using "Instant Messaging". These are not kids from school (for the most part), but kids he met at camp, or at a youth rally or from short trips to Michigan. It's not as simple as saying that they are the "MTV Generation", because (here's a secret), they are not. Most of them stopped watching MTV (or never did) a long time ago.
Randy is right, they don't think linearly and even though I couldn't get my hands around it (or start to) until I read his article, I already knew that. I talked about it in another article called ("Spontaneous Part One"), we have to find some way to come to a happy medium of organization and spontenaety.
Do I have the answers. I think not, but I'm going to continue looking, in fact I'm going to look harder. I may make some mistakes, but I would rather make mistakes of action than make the big mistake of inaction.
Thanks Randy.
That name may mean nothing to you, but it means a great deal to me. I first met Randy through a friend who had been in the Metropolitan Detroit Youth Chorus (MDYC) with me and was then going to Michigan Christian College (now Rochester College). She invited me to a concert the chorus was doing at a local church and she introduced me to Randy. The rest was history. At that time I was all but set on going to another very remote, small college in the middle of corn country, but once I met Randy I knew I wanted to be in his chorus.
A good bit of what I know and understand about worship and leading singing I learned from watching him and being around him about 6 days a week. He never took worship lightly, even 20+ years ago, his song leading was "cutting edge" and listening to him in chorus practices on tours you knew he had a fire for his Lord that could not be contained in boring, ritualistic service. I could lead singing before I met him (thanks to people like Cecil and my mom), but just being around him took me to the next level and the next.
His article addresses something that I have referred to here ("Church Music Part IV - Our Kids"). Our kids DO think differently than we do. For example, for us, it was enough for us to spend some time on the phone with a best friend. For my son, he "talks" to 2, 3, 4, 5 or more AT A TIME on his computer using "Instant Messaging". These are not kids from school (for the most part), but kids he met at camp, or at a youth rally or from short trips to Michigan. It's not as simple as saying that they are the "MTV Generation", because (here's a secret), they are not. Most of them stopped watching MTV (or never did) a long time ago.
Randy is right, they don't think linearly and even though I couldn't get my hands around it (or start to) until I read his article, I already knew that. I talked about it in another article called ("Spontaneous Part One"), we have to find some way to come to a happy medium of organization and spontenaety.
Do I have the answers. I think not, but I'm going to continue looking, in fact I'm going to look harder. I may make some mistakes, but I would rather make mistakes of action than make the big mistake of inaction.
Thanks Randy.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Granny's Quilt
When I was young, I can't remember exactly when, my Granny made me a quilt. In my house this quilt is always referred to as "Granny's Quilt" and it holds a special place in my heart.
To anyone else, this quilt would look quite ordinary...a simple quilt not too much unlike others you may have seen here or there.
To me, it's priceless.
Made of simple fabric and very colorful, a patchwork of all kinds of patterns and colors, not unlike looking at farmland from the air. It's heavy, warm and soft.
It's also durable. Yes, over the years it has lost just a touch of it's former brilliance, but to me it's more beautiful now, than the day I first saw it. It's been everywhere with me. All through college, on Chorus trips and late nights in the lobby coloring with my future wife. It was there when I left home and followed my own path, there when I married my wife. It was there to keep me and my baby boys warm as I put them to sleep.
It's always there when I am sick to keep me warm and make me feel better. There on those cold nights at home spending time with my family, enough room for two to watch a favorite movie. It's there when we take trips to snuggle up in the car for a nap or to read a book, there for every picnic, to watch fireworks on the 4th of July, there when my son and I saw Michigan for the first time at Michigan Stadium to keep us warm. It also makes a great tent to watch Saturday morning cartoons in!
Granny's quilt has brought warmth, care, comfort and love for me and my family, just like she did and always will. When I wrap Granny's Quilt around me I can imaging Granny's soft arms holding me as a child, singing to me and making me feel completely safe, secure and loved.
Granny is now with Grandaddy, but her quilt is here and so is a part of her. Like the quilt, just as strong as ever, always ready to comfort, warm and love anyone that comes in contact.
Thanks for the quilt, granny.
To anyone else, this quilt would look quite ordinary...a simple quilt not too much unlike others you may have seen here or there.
To me, it's priceless.
Made of simple fabric and very colorful, a patchwork of all kinds of patterns and colors, not unlike looking at farmland from the air. It's heavy, warm and soft.
It's also durable. Yes, over the years it has lost just a touch of it's former brilliance, but to me it's more beautiful now, than the day I first saw it. It's been everywhere with me. All through college, on Chorus trips and late nights in the lobby coloring with my future wife. It was there when I left home and followed my own path, there when I married my wife. It was there to keep me and my baby boys warm as I put them to sleep.
It's always there when I am sick to keep me warm and make me feel better. There on those cold nights at home spending time with my family, enough room for two to watch a favorite movie. It's there when we take trips to snuggle up in the car for a nap or to read a book, there for every picnic, to watch fireworks on the 4th of July, there when my son and I saw Michigan for the first time at Michigan Stadium to keep us warm. It also makes a great tent to watch Saturday morning cartoons in!
Granny's quilt has brought warmth, care, comfort and love for me and my family, just like she did and always will. When I wrap Granny's Quilt around me I can imaging Granny's soft arms holding me as a child, singing to me and making me feel completely safe, secure and loved.
Granny is now with Grandaddy, but her quilt is here and so is a part of her. Like the quilt, just as strong as ever, always ready to comfort, warm and love anyone that comes in contact.
Thanks for the quilt, granny.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
We're not in Kansas anymore...
OK, so we are looking for a new Church to worship with. This has been going on for sometime (it SEEMS like a long time, but probably isn't). Some of our friends that have left the congregation we were attending went to the Christian Church "down the road". We have HEARD a lot about this Church, but had never gone there. I decided that before I dismissed it that I needed to see it for myself. Off we went.
Knowing full well that the Christian Church and the Church of Christ have the same descendants I felt that there might be some familiar things, but I also knew (again, from what I had HEARD) that there would be differences. What I experienced was just about what I expected...but not exactly...
Our first impression was good. One of the parking lots is across a small street from the building and there were greeters at the sidewalks when you crossed the street. That's cool, a real person greeting you with a smiling face. There wasn't any more to it than that (there could have been) but that was a good start. The fun, though, was about to begin...
It's one thing to talk about instruments in the worship place as being "OK", but it's another thing altogether to see them there - knowing they will be played while you are worshipping. We walked into the auditorium and it struck us in the face, the courage we had mustered to get this far was wavering...why?
Drums.
There was a drumset up there, also two or three guitars, a piano and another keyboard! I turned to my wife and wispered, "we can still get out of here if you want". We both decided to hold our ground, despite our uneasiness.
Knowing full well that the Christian Church and the Church of Christ have the same descendants I felt that there might be some familiar things, but I also knew (again, from what I had HEARD) that there would be differences. What I experienced was just about what I expected...but not exactly...
Our first impression was good. One of the parking lots is across a small street from the building and there were greeters at the sidewalks when you crossed the street. That's cool, a real person greeting you with a smiling face. There wasn't any more to it than that (there could have been) but that was a good start. The fun, though, was about to begin...
It's one thing to talk about instruments in the worship place as being "OK", but it's another thing altogether to see them there - knowing they will be played while you are worshipping. We walked into the auditorium and it struck us in the face, the courage we had mustered to get this far was wavering...why?
Drums.
There was a drumset up there, also two or three guitars, a piano and another keyboard! I turned to my wife and wispered, "we can still get out of here if you want". We both decided to hold our ground, despite our uneasiness.
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