sovereign timing

Thanks to those of you who prayed for my husband last Friday night. Several months ago, the InterVarsity group at BU called the church to request a speaker for their gathering this past Friday. B was the only one available so he agreed to the event and to the topic they gave him at that time -- Where is God in the good things in life??

The timing of the event falling during the week of the VA Tech tragedy is just a 'God-thing' and was very stretching for B as the students changed the requested topic to "Where is God in tragedy?"

Here's a clip from Fox 40 News. The media focused on the concerns this student group has with a potential 'Asian backlash' from the shootings (the majority of this student fellowship are Asian Americans).

Again, thanks to all of you who were covering B in prayer last Friday.

lists

I realize I've been pretty verbose lately so today will be a short post. I just realized that I haven't told you about some pretty great stuff I've been watching, reading and listening to lately and thought I'd send along my recommendations for anyone interested....


Movie:
Blood Diamond -- some pretty tough storylines (especially the child soldiers), but a deeply inspiring father/son storyline and beautiful cinematography


TV Show:
Planet Earth - Discovery Channel (gotta see it in HD!); I am not normally a nature TV lover, but every time I watch this show I start crying because I am just speechless at the diversity and originality and joyfulness and sensuality of our Creator. The camera work that covers the broadest landscape to the tiniest microscopic detail is astonishing. If you don't get the Discovery Channel you should buy the DVD set.


Music:
Glory Revealed - I think I've said enough about that lately.


Book:
Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson - written by the man who brought us the Message paraphrase; about the supremacy of the Word; i'm only part way through, but I have been inspired to absorb the Word into every pore -- to breathe it in and breathe it ou in my everyday life.

on wrestling watermelons

The other day I left a comment on one of my blogging buddies sites.


His post reminded me about one of my very first posts on this blog regarding my view of God as a greased watermelon. (ironically, that post was written in response to another friend's post at the time!) Here is the major point of the post:

It strikes me that God loves our pursuit of Him so much that He sometimes seems to playfully hide from us (picture peek-a-boo or hide 'n seek with your kids and all of the giggling that goes along with it and the joy of being found by them) in order to keep us moving forward and unable to make ourselves God because we figured him out (picture Eve wanting to eat the fruit in the garden so she could have the same knowledge as God)

It seems that God chooses to be more like a greased watermelon than a bird with clipped wings in a cage. Even those this often leaves me feeling frustrated, I wouldn't want to serve a God who could be caught-- by me or anyone else.

This thought has been rolling around in my brain for several days. Then, this morning, I was reading in Psalm 46 and a sentence in the last verse caught my attention and seemed to jump right into the pond with that greased watermelon theory,

"Jacob-wrestling God fights for us"

...and the phrase just got stuck in my head.

"Jacob-wrestling God fights for us."

NASB states it this way, "The God of Jacob is our stronghold."
When I read it this way, the phrase feels passive. There is God and there is Jacob. It appears as though Jacob possesses God and visa-versa. Jacob is very blessed that his God is willing -- and even intentional -- to be known in connection with Jacob's name (which has been synonomous with both good and not-so-good circumstances).
BUT, when I read the Message paraphrase, the statement appears in a totally new light. It appears as an active thing is going on here. Both parties - God and Jacob - possess each other through the action of WHAT....?!?

No, it's not a Hallmark kind of word, like:
"Jacob-loving God" or
"Jacob-hugging God" or
"Jacob-befriending God"
NOPE! It's "Jacob-wrestling God"!!

Wrestling.
Wrestling?

Think about it for a moment. (first, you gotta get the whole WWF thing out of your head...that's not really wrestling)

I think of two things:
1. wrestling-the-sport: guys dressed in funny leotards and padded helmets
and
2. wrestling-the-favorite-form-of-affection-for-Daddies: kids and their dad tussling and tickling and squealing (and Mom closing her eyes out of fear....someone is going to get hurt!)

Hmmm? I need more clarification on this whole wrestling thing. I go back to the beginning - the book of Genesis. I need to remind myself of the exact play-by-play of this historic GOD vs. JACOB smackdown. (no pay-per-view for this event, but what with the presences of Deity and body-deforming injuries HBO could have made a killing!)

Here's the text (and it is amazing):

But Jacob stayed behind by himself and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn't get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob's hip out of joint.
The man said, "Let me go; it's daybreak."
Jacob said, "I'm not letting you go 'til you bless me."
The man said, "What's your name?"
He answered, "Jacob."
The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel (God-Wrestler); You've wrestled with God and you've come through."
Jacob asked, "And what's your name?"
The man said, "Why do you want to know my name?" And then, right then and there, he blessed him.
Jacob named the place Peniel (God's Face) because he said, "I saw God face-t0-face and lived to tell the story."
The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip.

I'm almost speechless from this text. I will try to sum up my thoughts, though....to put into words my amazement at my God and His ways.
Let's consider the opponents in this match:
there's God, otherwise known as Creator of the Universe, Lord Most High, Great King and the Mighty One

and there's Jacob, otherwise known as Heel, Deceiver, and Mama's Boy

Read for yourself chapters 26- 50 on the less-than-stellar details of this man's life:
rejected by his Father and coddled by his mother;
cheats his brother out of jealousy;
totally deceives his aged father;
gets what he dishes out when his own uncle plays a cruel trick on him and Jacob is heartbroken as he faces great disappointment in the love and marriage department;
is on his brother's list of 'most wanted dead' list;
following in his own parents' footsteps, he showed favoritism toward one of his sons, thus rejecting the others;
fathered children with tons of their own baggage (imagine their stories in a CrossCurrent small group!)victim of rape;
murderers and looters;
and, in a classic case of generations improving on the sins of their fathers, torturers and deceivers;
experienced grief, depression and starvation as famine kept him from being able to provide for his family;
in his own words at the end of his life, Jacob summed up his entire existence as a "short and hard life".

To be fair, Jacob showed some really great qualities during his lifetime also. I love the way he falls in love at first sight with Rachel and then demonstrates acts of machismo and chivalry to gain her hand in marriage. And, while some might call it sneaky, I admire his clever dealings in business and wisdom in conflict.
My favorite characteristic of this guy, though, is the way he is always building monuments to God. He seems able, more than the average guy, to recognize God's protection and blessing in His life. (check out Genesis 28: 10-18; 32:18-20; 35: 1-8; 35:13-15; 46) He continues to seek God and is, in return, blessed by God and even reconciled with his father and brother
and later in life, reunited with his beloved son, Joseph, whom he had given up for dead.

OK -- so that was a detour to dig into the life of the man. I think it's worth the trip because, after all, this is the only guy I've ever heard of who went head to head with the Holy of Holies in a wrestling match (it says, "the man realized he couldn't get the best of Jacob" and had to resort to injuring him to win the fight!) Until the day I die, I will live in astonishment of the way God interacts with and blesses and uses such ordinary -- and even wacky -- characters (couldn't you imagine Jacob and his brothers on the Jerry Springer show?!?). Having written that last sentence is a little bit frustating because it's been said before so many times, but it still manages to take my breath away and feels almost impossible to believe.

And, now, back to the watermelon thing. My theology has been all messed with. It was a huge stretch for me to believe that God allows himself to behave like a greased watermelon -- not willing to be 'caught' and tamed. But, this passage about Jacob and the wrestling match makes me believe that God allows us to behave (in His image after all) in the same way. In this story, Jacob caught God and "would not let Him go" until he received a blessing. Jacob, the man who had had to cheat and lie to manipulate blessing from all the previous leaders in his life -- was not outmatched in a wrestling match with his God. It's absolutely crazy, I tell you.

And, then, instead of God being ticked off, God is so impressed He gives him a blessing and a new name.

Laaaaddddiiiieeeessss and GENTLEMAN, introducing Jacob-the-God-Wrestler!

I'm gonna have to go and think about this some more. Farewell, to all my favorite, God-Wrestlers....

night with Glory Revealed tour

Can't wait another day to post about our night with Glory Revealed in Lancaster, Ohio. Since I traveled with B to Akron ... we tacked on another two-hours to the drive to see the tour near Columbus.

May I be honest?? This has been a really, really, (did I say really?) hard year as far as work and ministry goes. To be able to get out of town and attend an event that we were only responsible to show up for -- no work involved other than reading the map and finding a good parking spot. We were able to sit in the second row ... just feet away from the stage.

We were also surprised to discover that the evening was being recorded for a future CCN satellite-feed to churches across the country and a tour DVD. (It felt like our experience with David Letterman a couple of years ago).

All the logistical hoopla aside .... to be able to just allow the richness of the music and the warmth of the harmonies and the truth-speak of the Scripture encased in lyrics to wash over us was truly a cup of cold water for me. I felt like those close-up time lapsed video shots of a flower in bloom -- just opening up from exhaustion and discouragement. Resurrection comes to mind again.

I know I've said it before, but you gotta get this album! It's fresh and excellent and rich and full of truth.

As far as critique of the evening, B and I were both enthralled with Hyper Static Union's Shawn Lewis (who wrote a lot of the music on the project). If there is a way for a banjo to sound groovy, he's got it down. We also became huge fans of previously unknown to us Trevor Morgan. He sings on the track #1 of the album, Zephaniah 3:17 and played bass almost every song of the concert. (just for a visual aid -- he looks like the perfect combination of Tom Hanks and Scott Gravelding!)

We also can't believe we had never heard anything from Candi Pearson Shelton. The woman's got pipes! She added beautiful descant layers to many of the songs. She solos the title track, Glory Revealed. She also provided one of a couple of musical finales to the concert with Mighty to Save. (amazing song. shhhhh, don't let anyone know it's from Hillsong and we might be able to add it to our playlist at church)

As for a couple of thumbs downs, we gotta be honest, Brian Littrell drove us crazy. We may be biased 'cuz we never fell for the boyband stuff in the 90's and that's all we could think of when we watched him. He seems to have some kind of stage onset of A.D.D. and seemed to just pull random comments out of the air when he was supposed to be singing. His voice is OK and he adds a kind of unexpected surprise to this cast of characters, but mostly he just seems to fit the bill of 'one of these things is not like the other'. Having said that, though, I did enjoy the two songs he sang from his solo album, Welcome Home.

I also have to say that I am mega-impressed with the producer of this project, David Nasser. Appearantly, he is a good friend of Mac Powell's and is the originator of the concept for a 'bluegrass - ish' style. His main emphasis, however, is on the power of the Word and how dehydrated we are as Christians when it comes to the Living Water. I feel that he totally hits the bulls-eye with this project. HOWEVER, both B and I were turned off by his speaking approach during the intermission. Out of this amazing organic, musically elegant project his speaking style made me feel like I was back in highschool listening to a canned youth talk. His point was powerful and timely, but his methods felt contrived and demeaning. It was hard not to be part of the post-event evaluation team... I so much wanted to let him know how frustrated we were by his talk.

Oh, and one more thing -- two actually.
1. MAC
2. POWELL

I know I only see him in one light -- on stage, beneath the lights, backed by amazing musicians. But I walked away from this event feeling like we were buddies. Maybe it was the second row seat and the fact that I'm pretty sure he looked me straight in the eye a couple of times (i know, i know, i sound like a jr. high crazed fan...but hear me out) B and I were both impressed with the subtle, but very strong, leadership he demonstrated. Even though the event was supposed to feel organic and somewhat unrehearsed, it was very clear who the leader was on that stage. (it's a good thing, too, or i'm afraid it might have turned into the Brian Littrell variety hour) He's also just got a darn great voice.

alright, enough said already. even though i still didn't say how MUCH i love Shane & Shane. the guys just sing from their toes and exude joy all over the place. i also am pretty certain if it were zeph317 or burningalive writing this review of the evening they would have had much more to say about all the hardware on the stage...it's just out of my realm! i've pre-ordered the DVD so we'll have a premiere party when it comes out, ok?!?

i'll stop now, though. i can't wait for heaven. i know we're not supposed to think of it as an eternal hymn sing in the sky, but after a night like the one we spent with Glory Revealed a few millenia like that would be just fine with me!

thankful that our God has overcome the world!

I know that I've copied these daily readings into my posts several times, but some days it's just SO right on to where I am at spiritually, emotionally and physically and it just seems to make sense to post it here. I've been thinking a lot lately about desires and what a challenge it is to acknowledge the Holy Spirit's influence in them without making the desire itself my god. I'm very bad at this. I have lived often out of the desire to just get everything situated, get the plan down, get everyone happy so we can just sit back and cruise through the rest of our life with comfort and joy. God has been re-programming me, but i realize this desire still lurks deep within me and taints almost all of my perspective on life. I choose not to live in a defeatist attitude of "what's the use in hoping when we live in a cursed earth and everyone around us is cursed by sin and my flesh refuses to stop trying to rule me!" but still live in the acknowledgement of the reality of this truth. It's a hard place to live and it grieves me -- and I know it grieves our Father. enough said....keep reading below....


The Promises of God
04/14/2007

---

God promises every man futility and failure; he guarantees every woman relational heartache and loneliness. We spend most of our waking hours attempting to end-run the curse. We will fight this truth with all we’ve got. Sure, other people suffer defeat. Other people face loneliness. But not me. I can beat the odds. We see the neighbor’s kids go off the deep end, and we make a mental note: They didn’t pray for their kids every day. And we make praying for our kids every day part of our plan. It doesn’t have to happen to us. We watch a colleague suffer a financial setback, and we make another note: He was always a little lax with his money. We set up a rigid budget and stick to it.

Isn’t there something defensive that rises up in you at the idea that you cannot make life work out? Isn’t there something just a little bit stubborn, an inner voice that says, I can do it? Thus Pascal writes,

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end . . . This is the motive of every action of every man. But example teaches us little. No resemblance is ever so perfect that there is not some slight difference, and hence we expect that our hope will not be deceived on this occasion as before. And thus, while the present never satisfies us, experience dupes us and from misfortune to misfortune leads us to death. (Pensées)

It can’t be done. No matter how hard we try, no matter how clever our plan, we cannot arrange for the life we desire. Set the book down for a moment and ask yourself this question: Will life ever be what I so deeply want it to be, in a way that cannot be lost? This is the second lesson we must learn, and in many ways the hardest to accept. We must have life; we cannot arrange for it.

( The Journey of Desire , 96–97)

another beautiful red sky this morning....

I've been a little busy lately and not able to get to my blog! I miss it. This morning I woke up in Akron, Ohio and as B and I walked out of the hotel at 6:45am, we saw a gorgeous red sky.

I'll send updates about our trip in a while, but first I want to re-post something I put out on April 3. This post is pretty personal and I've been cautious about the level of transparency I allow in this tool of blogging. When I first posted this journal entry, I was still pretty raw. I am a recovering approval-addict and somehow when I first put out the entry I felt a lack of peace -- like I was turning to you for approval instead of my Heavenly Father. Often, I think we can do that simultaneously, but this time I think the Holy Spirit was checking my motives. So I got up in the middle of the night and deleted the post.

I'm ready to put it out there again -- this time more as a 'this is where i've been lately' instead of 'o.k., everybody! make me feel acceptable right now!'

My journal entry from Monday, April 2, 2007

Spring.

Opening day in the Bronx stadium.

A hair cut and color.

Running through new mossy grass and withered autumn leaves with Griffin.

A fat, glossy robin feasting on wriggling worms and assorted other bugs on
the yellow grass next to Smokin' Joes over the PA state line.

Resurrection.

Call me man's best friend - I am a woman who loves treats and rides in the
car. After a week of yucky coughing, chills and nose-blowing, I hit the
bottom of a deep melancholy late last night. A simple, run-of-the-mill
parenting experience shot me to the bottom of that abandoned well in a
matter of minutes.

Standing in the middle of my teenage sons' disastrous bedroom while
lecturing my 9-year-old daughter for her April Fool's prank that turned out
more foolish than funny. (water soaked blankets, sheets and mattresses) the
rope ran out of line. Whack - almost a literal physical impact...the anxiety
and pain of old memory hit that hard.

Tears took a while to reach the surface having to follow the plunging
thrusts of anger and fear . 'I must be crazy! What is wrong with me? Will
someone please tell me once and for all if I am a terrible mom! Who sets the
rules 'cuz I'm sick of not knowing the play book. Do clean bedrooms matter?
How about the fact that I feel like I can't stand my kids sometimes? Tell me
what mother of four this side of the abuse hotline who feels that way???"

Plunging the depths of me - like the bucket in the cracked well - sobs force
out the tears. The release comes as a 'woosh' - almost fake they seem. The
highlight reel in my head shows me at the same age as my daughter lying in
my blue and white gingham bedroom sobbing with deep, guttural anxiety that
my bedroom was such a mess. I had failed life by age 9. Funny, I don't
remember what that messy bedroom looked like - I only remember the feeling
of drowning in failure and worthlessness. 'what is wrong with me? Why can't
I keep my room clean? Why am I such a failure? Why can't anyone see that I'm
not right? What is wrong with me??"

My helpless husband asks, "Is this just about messy bedrooms? We can fix
that." I shake my head as an answer because I can't figure it out either.

The bucket lurching off the frayed rope scrapes bottom once more. "Oh, yes,
I am crazy! I finally have the proof I've been trying to figure out my whole
life. I am certifiable because... [EDIT: not ready to put this memory into
print] What's wrong with me? " Tears seem to spring out of my very pores by
this point. My face has lost its form and has become a pool of water and
mucous. The sobs actually hurt my head. My husband asks what is wrong. I do
not answer. I can not answer. How can I when any words I form on my tongue
and in my imagination seem like they are taken from the screenplay of a lame
after-school special??

So, today - after the hair cut and color and romp in the yard with my nephew
- I return home and crash back on the couch with my box of tissues and bag
of cough drops. My husband announces his plan to drive to the state line for
cigars. If I had ears on the top of my head like our Jack Russell, they
would have quivered in the excitement. A ride? Maybe a treat while we are
out?

Husband and I do not speak during the ride. I close my eyes against the
breeze creeping in through the cracked windows. My own iPod shuffle on the
truck stereo - a groovy mixture of Jack Johnson, Patty Griffin and Third Day
serenading my sunny nap under the open sunroof. The spring sun seems to pull
me inch by inch out of the bottom of that well as if were straining biceps
heaving the rope. I fantasize that I am one of those wealthy, Victorian-era
swooning females taken to the shore by doctor's orders to paint
impressionist landscapes and regain strength in the salty sunshine of the
sea.

Ridiculous fantasy over, I open my eyes and instead find myself parked up
against the yellow grassy bank behind Smokin' Joe's just over the NY/PA
border. This is the best place to get cigars for my husband's weekly walks
with the Jack Russell. I choose to stay in the truck while he goes in. He is
kind to leave the music playing and the sun roof open.

A black fluttering outside the window gets my attention. My brain is on
automatic - it's just a robin after all.

JUST A ROBIN! Rewind!

It's the Official-First-Robin-Of-Spring Sighting.  I sit in the truck outside the PA convenience store and find resurrection with each worm the giddy bird pulls out of the
soggy ground.

Cars pull in on either side of me and I jerk my head to see if the drivers
have noticed this wonder of nature and are smiling the same crazy smile as
me? I am literally surprised when they do not appear to share my awe and
wonder.

The smile felt odd on my lips, anyway...like someone was sculpting it there
just above my chin and just below my chapped nose. (the week's worth of
sniffling and coughing and blowing and then the night's worth of torrential
grieving have done significant damage!) Next the lips push up the cheeks and
I can feel the light almost reach my eyes.

I am resurrected.

Not in the sense of being totally dead and now totally alive -- not in the
sense of what the Emmaus road traveler's discovered in their walking
companion, but a resurrection of hope.

Resurrection hope brings shafts of transcendent light into the dark drowning
places in my soul.

"Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope always!" -- Ps. 131:3
Wait, Tami, for God. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope always!

red sky in morning

I woke up this morning with the feeling that i may be getting better. the sky was red this morning which I think is beautiful, but doesn't that old proverb say that red sky in morning mean sailor's take warning??

sick...

I did not realize when I posted that last bit about being tired that I was, in fact, coming down with a good, old-fashioned chills and fever and sore throat and achy head, cough-your-lungs-up and blow-your-nose-till-it's-chapped flu. Yep -- ironically, after making a commitment last week to not watch so much TV, that's all I've had the energy to do for the last coupla days. I forgot how much I love MASH! (lots of great observations from all the dynamics of that show, but don't have enough healthy brain cells right now to put them into coherent thought)

So, before my latest dose of Nyquil kicks in, I thought I'd just post a 'hello'.

Maybe I'll take this opportunity to post some of my favorite quotes...yeah, that's what I'll do. then I can still appear intelligent and engaged with my blogging buddies. (i know it's cheating, but what else do you want me to do?!?)

Here's one that I carry with me in the front of my daily planner (which is all shot to heck now that I've been in bed for three days):

"A well-ordered heart is to love
the right thing
in the right way
with the right kind of love."
-- St. Augustine

tired...

If there were some kind of contraption that would pull all of the interesting and thought-provoking ideas out of my brain and transcribe them into a post, this would be a HUMDINGER!

Unfortunately, I am plain old weary and unable to put the energy into typing letters that form words that form sentences and paragraphs onto this page.

i'll be back soon....

Art & Fear -- a review

So, I decided to stop watching TV on weeknights. I have way too much thinking and reading and writing I'd like to do in my lifetime, and since we've been reminded recently that

"We are becoming who we will be -- forever"

I decided I'd better get cracking! I also decided that -- for now anyway -- I'd stop spending a lot of time on other church websites. Don't get me wrong -- this has been a hugely valuable (and fun!) resource for me in my ministry role at church. I've found, however, that it is way too easy to get discontent with what God is doing right here where His Kingdom meets mine in Broome County, NY.

My first goal is complete -- to finish reading this great book, Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. I could complete a review in one sentence...

IF YOU ARE AN ARTIST OR HOPE THAT YOU ARE AN ARTIST OR KNOW AN ARTIST, GO BUY THE BOOK AND READ IT IMMEDIATELY!!


But, maybe you'd like a few more details??

What does the title mean?: It wasn't till the second-to-the-last page that the authors really described this fully. In their words,

The question was: Do artists have anything in common with each other? Like any good question, that one quickly generated a flurry of relatives: How do artists become artists? How do artists learn to work on their work? How can I make work that will satisfy me? For young artists filled with energy and idealism, the answers seemed just around the corner. Only as the years passed did we begin to encounter, with increasing frequency, a much darker issue: Why do so many who start, quit?

Although, I have no reason to believe (or disbelieve) the authors are church attenders or Christ followers, all that they wrote to the artist as an individual could be applied to what we try to do together as a community of artists in the church. I especially appreciated the practical and, yet, thoughtful way the authors 'de-mystified' the process of artmaking and art appreciating. By adding context to statements like, "ARTMAKING INVOLVES SKILLS THAT CAN BE LEARNED" and "ART IS MADE BY ORDINARY PEOPLE" and the fun Q & A spoof,

Q: Will anyone ever match the genius of Mozart?
A: No.Thank you.

Thank you. Now can we get on with our work?

allows the reader to relax and believe that maybe -- just maybe -- this desire to be known as an artist is not just some kind of pie-in-the-sky, what-the-heck-have-you-been-smokin' hoke.

Another myth that gets busted by the authors is the ever-popular artist declaration: "I'm only able to work when I'm feeling inspired!" According to the authors and in the words of my highschool friend, 'That's BULL Ca-Ca!!'

"...artmaking can be a rather lonely, thankless affair. Virtually all artists spend some of their time (and some artists spend virtually all of their time) producing work that no one else much cares about. It just seems to come with the territory. But for some reason -- self-defense, perhaps -- artists find it tempting to romanticize this lack of response [from the art viewer], often by (heroically) picturing themselves peering deeply into the underlying nature of things long before anyone else has eyes to follow.
Romantic, but wrong. The sobering truth is that the disinterest of others hardly ever reflects a gulf in vision. In fact there's generally no good reason why others should care about most of any one artist's work. The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars. ... The point is that you learn how to make your work by making your work, and a great many of the pieces you make along the way will never stand out as finished art. The best you can do is make art you care about -- and lots of it!

I'm gonna stop here 'cuz I'm afraid to climb on a soapbox!! (And, that's just the first chapter...we haven't even gotten to the 'FEAR' part) I might continue this in my next post...

new music review

1. He Will Rejoice (Zephaniah 3:17) Trevor Morgan
2. By His Wounds (Isaiah 53:5) Third Day's Mac Powell, Steven Curtis Chapman, Brian Littrell and Casting Crowns' Mark Hall3. Waters Gone By (Job 11: 13-20) Hyper Static Union's Shawn Lewis4. To The Only God (Jude 24-27) David Crowder and Shane & Shane5. Glory Revealed (Isaiah 40: 3-5) Candi Pearson-Shelton6. Altar Of God (Psalm 43:4) Josh Bates7. Come, Worship The King (Jude 25) Michael W. Smith with Shane & Shane8. Who Is Like You (Exodus 15: 2, 11, 13) Starfield's Tim Neufeld9. Restore To Me (Psalm 51: 9-12) Third Day's Mac Powell and Candi Pearson-Shelton
10. You Alone (Revelation 15:3-4 and Psalm 34:4-5) Brian Littrell

I listen to New Release Tuesday podcast each week. Often, I listen while I work on stuff in the office and don't notice all that is being discussed. BUT -- last week, I heard an interview with the podcast host and Mac Powell (of Third Day) and David Nassar about a new compilationon project they had produced.


Well, I have loved Mac Powell ever since I heard him first at a concert ON Daytona Beach in the spring of 1998, so that got my attention and I started listening more closely but it wasn't till I heard the theme of the project that I dropped everything, got onto good 'ol Amazon.com (use that 'cuz I've got free shipping there) and ordered a CD before the podcast was even over.


The album is called Glory Revealed (check out the promo video...love the guys sitting around on the floor strumming guitars!) In executive producer, David Nasser's words, "My passion for this project was to call a generation back to God's Word....We want people to walk away [from listening to the music] more passionate about the Word of God."


Recently, in my new role as worship coordinator I've been paying a lot more attention to worship music and have been kind of surprised how few 'scripture songs' are written anymore. I love much of the worship music being written today, but I guess I've been surprised how few new songs are being written like those kind of scripture songs I sang when I was a kid -- "This is the Day", "From the Rising of the Sun", "Beloved Let us Love One Another" and the like.


So the CD arrived yesterday and I've been immersing myself in the music ever since. This project is excellent. Each song is straight from Scripture and was created with the worship leader and congregation in mind. Musically the album has the feel and tone of blue grass -- really lush acoustic instrumentation and beautiful, accessible harmonies. Powell's description is 'stripped-down and organic.'


Another thing I love about compilation projects is the matching of the voices and talents of different artists. As you can see from the track list above, this project is full of recognizable artists. However, the songs are so musically 'tight' that I am not thinking about who is singing -- each song speaks for itself and really just showcases the truth and beauty of Scripture.


Beautiful.


Who wants to join me for a road trip?? I'd LOVE to get to one of these shows!


p.s. -- if you are on the worship team at U.C., get your pickin' fingers ready -- you're going to be seeing some of these songs in our service orders soon!!


p.p.s. -- Hey, Z -- did you notice track #1 was written just for YOU?!?

I found this on a website I was checking out, flightofideas.net.
It's called, "Management is behind you all the way"

i love it!

in response to last post...

from my daily reading from Ransomed Heart ministries....

Awkward Love
03/19/2007

---

Honest communication in love is the only way to live and grow in friendships. There are ebbs and flows. There may be real hurt and disappointment. But with the grace of God firmly holding us, it is possible to nurture and sustain deep friendships. We are designed to live in relationship and share in the lives of other women. We need one another. God knows that. We have only to ask and surrender, to wait, to hope, and, in faith, to love. We must also repent.

For a woman to enjoy relationship, she must repent of her need to control and her insistence that people fill her. Fallen Eve demands that people “come through” for her. Redeemed Eve is being met in the depths of her soul by Christ and is free to offer to others, free to desire, and willing to be disappointed. Fallen Eve has been wounded by others and withdraws in order to protect herself from further harm. Redeemed Eve knows that she has something of value to offer; that she is made for relationship. Therefore, being safe and secure in her relationship with her Lord, she can risk being vulnerable with others and offer her true self.

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable . . . The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers . . . of love is Hell. (C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves)

( Captivating , 181–82)

my birthday

I turned 36 years old on Friday.

This is the first year I actually felt kind of depressed about my age.

I'm not sure why.

In fact, my 9 year old daughter told me that I was one of the youngest moms of all her friends.

Then, my husband gleefully reminded me that I'd been out of school longer than I had been in school.

Maybe it's less about my age and more about the season of life my husband and I are now in. Our oldest son is on his way to turning sixteen. SIXTEEN!! I love that my kids are teenagers and soon-to-be teenagers, but it is sobering -- no TERRIFYING -- to think of all that we hope to teach them still. And time is just flying by.

So, i'm home from church today. Celebrated my birthday with a dinner out last night and all that rich food did not make my stomach happy. (or is it just a sign of old age to go along with the sun-spots on my face and hands??) With an unscheduled quiet morning on my hands, I dusted off my journal and took a sort-of inventory of my life up to now.

I'm thankful.

I'm blessed.

I have a lot of work to do.

The list of years became less about numbers and credentials and more about people. I realize that I have fought hard for the relationships that are most vital to me -- my family, my God. I also realize -- in that dispassionate inventorying of my life's years -- that there are many relationships I've let go of. Some for reasons of the reality of time and space that distances us. Some for reasons of chemistry -- something just didn't click between us. Some for reasons of fear and self-protection. For so many, many, many years (I'd say about 35 1/2 -- unless I shouldn't count the year before I could walk and talk) I haven't really known who lived inside this skin I'm in. I haven't really known if it was OK to know her, let alone to be her.

Even with the passive-agressive battle I've fought against the true self God intended, sometimes my life circumstances have allowed certain parts of that self to thrive -- but always the results were skewed...like switching back and forth between one or the other lens of a pair of binoculars. And so -- certain relationships would begin to form based on the one part of myself that happened to be showing (like my grandmother's slip beneath her dress) -- whether it be the creatively-chaotic girl who made all her siblings and cousins plan plays and circuses and musicals that never happened or the adolescent who cried for hours on end because her friends didn't seem to love Jesus or the teenager whose body was more mature than her heart and who just really, really liked boys or the college roommate who could care less about college and just wanted to be married or the terrified 19-year-old bride or the exhausted new mommy or the financially broken married couple desparate to get food on the table and a house for our four kids or the professionally employed business woman or the grieving victim of abuse or the misunderstood artist or the mom of four busy kids who have dreams and desires of their own (but who refuse to clean their rooms or care about their homework) or the girl who loves classic rock, the smell of cigar smoke and the taste of a cold beer (preferrably on the sand of some Caribbean island) or the woman who loves Jane Austen, beat poetry and hopes to someday visit every coffee dive across Europe -- preferrably alone. That doesn't even take into account the chic who loves to sit in her bathrobe and watch old episodes of Matlock and Magnum P.I.!

What a wacky combination! How is a girl to edit that all down to a couple of sentences for a relationship classified ad??

Consider this statement from Frederick Buechner:

Starting with the rather too pretty young woman and the charming but rather
unstable young man, who together know no more about being parents than they do the far side of the moon, the world sets in to making us what the world would
like us to be, and because we have to survive after all, we try to make
ourselves into something that we hope the world will like better than it
apparently did the selves we originally were. That is the story of all our
lives, needless to say, and in the process of living out that story, the
original, shimmering self gets buried so deep that most of us hardly end up
living out of it at all. Instead, we live out all the other selves which we are
constantly putting on and taking off like coats and hats against the world’s
weather. (Telling Secrets)

If I were to add one sentence to Buechner's quote it would be that not only have I lived out all those selves like a variety of coats and hats -- each of those selves is looking for relationships -- other people -- that would serve as the perfect accessory (maybe like umbrellas and scarves?).

Even as I write, I hear the Holy Spirit's encouragement to accept the gift of a variety of friendships and levels of relationship...just as He is asking me to accept the entirety of the person He has created me to be. The root of the problem is the identity crisis of my soul -- the restless part of me that is 'constantly putting on and taking off' selves 'like coats and hats against the world's weather.'

To sum up: I am so grateful for the foundational relationships in my life -- my parents, my God and now, because of a deep, deep grace that I dont' deserve, but treasure without indifference, my husband and children. I could stay there and be a thankful woman.

I could stay there. But I'd be disobeying God. I am convinced this is true.

I want to grow into this part of the DNA God has given me that is free to actively love anyone in my sphere of living and yet truly know and live with just a few. I desire to live out of the entirety of the woman God has created me to be in pursuit of this next level of relationship.

I am thankful that in this thirty-sixth year of my life I have a renewed hope in that possibility.

what i want to hear Jesus say

beautiful comments on that last post, you guys. thanks.

i have thought and thought about my own answer to that question and don't really know what to say because everything will be new and different than anything i can imagine. i would love to hug him and hear his voice. i love the thought that i'll be able to express love without any feelings of self-conciousness or awkwardness. i remember when i was a little girl i loved to hug my uncles that lived far away because they always smelled of good cologne...this makes me wonder what Jesus' scent will be??

then i can't get away from the stories i've thought about -- both Elijah in the OT and the blind-man Bartameus in the NT (probably others, too) where God/Jesus asked THEM the question...basically, "What would you like me to do for you?" I can imagine Jesus asking me this. Not like a genie-in-a-lamp kind of thing, but a loving, gleeful question that is something like, "You've made it here. What do you want to do first??" And, for once in my life, I might be able to answer that question from the truest part of me -- instead of the classic female response, "I dunno..what do YOU want to do??"

And then again, maybe that's exactly what I'll ask!

i can only imagine...

I was listening to an old Derek Webb podcast today. At the close of the interview with Derek Webb and Donald Miller, the interviewer asked this question:


"When you die and go to heaven, after hearing God saying 'Well done, good and faithful servant' what would you most like to hear God say to you??"


I've been pondering this question all day. What would your answer be??

snickers on my head

maybe the most basic point of the last post and all of its comments is that we all need to be willing to tell each other about the snickers on our heads?!?

(ps. for those of you who don't attend Union Center, there really is a profound meaning behind that statement! when it gets posted, listen to Pastor Craig's sermon from 2/25...)

words for my thoughts...

Over the last several months, I've been puzzling over a difference in viewpoint held by different ones of my church family. I've had an instinct of what my opinion was, but had been unable to voice it. Today, while reading the latest book on my reading list, 'imagine. a vision for christians in the arts' by steve turner i finally found the words for my opinion!

The discussion in question is 'what does being real really look like in community?' Are we to wear masks to hide the sin and pain we are struggling with in order to not burden or disturb the people we come in contact with -- specifically our Christian brothers and sisters?? Obviously not. But is the only answer then to walk around totally 'naked' -- willing to share every sin and wound with anyone who will listen so that we don't come across as hypocrites? I should hope not.

I have a weakness.

I need to confess it here before going any further.

I have a hard time seeing in shades of grey. Because of my personality and life experiences, it is far easier for me to see things in black and white. This is the reason I struggled with the dilemma mentioned above. Some of my readers may have found the perfect balance of an answer to the dilemma. As I mentioned, I have not yet been able to do that. Until this morning....

"Admission of personal sin has to be treated carefully because we live in a climate of exposure. Artists [the audience for this particular book] are routinely commended for being 'daring', 'honest', 'frank' and 'disturbing' by admitting to base desires. [this sentence is followed by some examples of just that sort of artwork].

But the attitude behind such gut spilling is not one of remorse and shame but of brazenness. The sin, in their view, would be to hold back, and the virtue is in telling all. The Christian is bound by some important considerations. There is a responsibility not to use examples of our vileness as entertainment. "For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret" (Ephesians 5:12). We must put the needs of others before our own: 'Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others" (1 Corinthians 10:24).

I sometimes hear Christians justify mentioning their weaknesses in their art because 'I am a sinner like everyone else.' That is just not true. The Christian isn't a sinner like everyone else because a Christian is a forgiven sinner, and this alters his or her whole relationship to sin."

[this last statement is even more interesting to me since Pastor Craig's sermon from yesterday)

For any of you who share my struggle with an out-of-balance-black-and-white-thinking-paralysis, let me be really clear....

i am not saying that we are wrong to share our stories in very real and open ways with each other. We are commanded to 'confess our faults to one another that we may be healed.'

At the same time, i am saying that i think we need to watch our motives (hence the scripture qualifier, 'confess...that we may be healed').

Am i speaking from a place of humility that displays Christ's strength in comparison to my weakness OR

am i just brazenly and unashamedly so self-absorbed that either 1) i refuse to air any of my 'dirty laundry' in the appropriate times and places in order to maintain an image or just plain-old appear 'mysterious'

or 2) am i intent on building a 'fan club' for the personal sins and struggles that i've built my identity on and then masking all this self-disclosure in the premise of "I'm just being real."

i admit that i'm on a little bit of a rant today, but i'm so tired of hearing that phrase, "i'm just being real" as if that absolves us of any personal responsibility or consequences. i'm starving to hear more people say, "i have sinned and i repent and i'm pressing on toward the prize of Christ."

can you even imagine what our community would look like if we all owned that attitude??

Wow!

do i ever agree with this...God change us.

From Tim Steven’s blog (Granger Church)

Q&A with Bill Hybels
We also had an opportunity to be involved in a question and answer session with Bill Hybels. There was one thing that he talked about that I resonated with so much. In fact, it tied directly into an ongoing discussion we've been having on Granger's senior management team.

Willow did an exhaustive survey. What they found was the most satisfied church members were those who were new believers or early in their faith--and the least satisfied were those who were more "mature" in their faith.

Bill said they had really missed teaching their growing believers to not be dependent on the church for their spiritual growth. The goal, Bill says (and I agree), is to slowly make believers independent. We (as a church) should focus our attention on introducing people to Christ, and then helping them grow to a certain point. After that--they should feed themselves and focus on helping the church introduce more people to Christ.

To do that, Bill continued, we need to help people "right-size" what they should expect from the church. The reason that the seasoned believers are more dissatisfied is because they still expect the church to be feeding them. They haven't been taught to feed themselves.

This is great stuff for every church leader to wrestle with!
February 08, 2007 in Conferences Permalink

winter blues

it's official -- i have SPRING FEVER in a big, big way! i've been kind of moping around the last couple of days and finally figured out why.

i'm done with winter. i mean literally done. i've enjoyed all the benefits of the winter -- the warm fuzzies of the Christmas season, the joy of bundling up next to the fireplace with a good book while the wind howls outside the window, the big snow day with my daughter's famous coffee cake -- and now i'm done. i realized that for about 7 years out of the last 10 i've either had a business trip or incentive trip to some warm, exotic place right about this time of year and that part of my life is over, but someone forgot to tell my body! (of course, following zephaniah317 road trip in the sunny, green West hasn't helped my maladay at all. )

so, i could post about the eventful weekend we had babysitting my 2 and 4 year old niece and nephew, or how hearing the french horn playing the Lord's Prayer on Sunday brought me to tears, or how thankful i am that there are now blue hot tamales (actually they are called ice tamales), or some vague references to major disappointments i am feeling with a former mentor in my life, or how b and i have learned that we can not have service evaluation meetings when we are in bed, or the response i gave to a John and Stasi Eldredge critique i read today or all the ways the sermon series on the kingdom is effecting me (is it effect or affect, i'm never certain!) -- SOOOO, i'll just leave the post saying that i am really, really, really missing warm sunshine right now.

be back again soon (or brb as my kids say) -- with a smile on my face

ps. z, maybe my blog template is a reflection of my current need for sunshine?!? actually i just like how the font colors show up on the black background...the colors are sooooo pretty.