The more I live, and the more chances I am given to get this wrong in every conceivable way, the more I have come to realize that the heart of the Christian life is a jaw-dropping awe for the love of Jesus.
The difficulty in talking about this love is that it can hardly be explained with our words, especially those written and necessarily devoid of emotion and inflection as these are. But even just saying that doesn't quite convey what I mean... I shall dive in regardless!
The Lord works in mysterious ways, and most recently he decided to speak to me through a movie. The film in question was "Ragamuffin," a film about the life of Rich Mullins. I highly recommend this movie for many reasons, including it's relevance to the use of music as a tool for ministry, the ideas that will be discussed in this post, the fact that not knowing about Rich Mullins' life is a shame, and more.
I had God speak very palpably to me for the first time so clearly in quite a while during and after this movie. When I thought on the things I'm writing here, I was kept awake by a joy-breeding desire to worship, to sing and write music and write this post and just enjoy the truth of it all. I pray that, through this admittedly poor yet far-reaching medium, God will share it with you as well.
I'll begin this post with a long quote from Brennan Manning that is featured in the movie (in fact, it may not really be a quote, perhaps more of a paraphrase or compilation. Strictly speaking, I'm quoting the movie) because I'm not to do much justice without it:
"In the 33 years since I was first ambushed by Jesus in a small chapel in western Pennsylvania, and the literally thousands of hours of prayer and meditation, silence and solitude in those years, I am now utterly convinced that on Judgment Day the Lord Jesus will ask one question and only one question:
'Did you believe that I loved you? That I desired you? That I waited for you day after day? That I longed to hear the sound of your voice?'
The real believers will respond and say, 'I believed in your love, and I tried to shape my life as a response to it.'
But many of us who are so faithful in our ministry, our practice, church going, are going to answer, 'Well, frankly, no sir. I never really believed it.'
And there's the difference between the real believers and the nominal Christians that abound in our churches across the land. No one can measure like a believer the depth and intensity of God's love. But then again, no one can measure like a believer the effectiveness of our gloom, our pessimism, our low self-esteem, our self-hatred and despair that block God's way to us.
Do you see now why it's so important to take hold of this basic truth of our faith? Because you're only going to be as big as your own concept of God. We make God in our own image and he winds up being as fussy and rude and narrow-minded and judgmental and legalistic and unloving and unforgiving as we are.
I've been in churches in Bangor, Maine, Miami, Seattle, San Diego, and Saint Louis, and honestly the God of so many Christians I meet is too small for me. Because he is not the God of the Word. He is not the God who is revealed in and by Jesus Christ, who at this moment comes to your seat and says,
'I have a word for you.
I know your whole life story. I know every skeleton in your closet. I know every moment of sin and shame and dishonesty and degraded love that's darkened your past.
Right now, I know your shallow faith, your feeble prayer life, your inconsistent discipleship, and my word to you is this:
I dare you to trust that I love you. Just as you are, not as you should be.'
Because none of us are as we should be."
-Brennan Manning
This quote stuck out to me incredibly, and I feel like it will be sticking with me for my entire life. I wrote it in various places, posted pieces on the farthest-reaching social media platforms I had, and memorized it almost instantly (isn't it funny how that happens sometimes?).
I don't think there's a person alive who doesn't need this spoken into their life; I sure did, as did Rich Mullins. What Manning says here is profoundly true. It is so easy to lose sight of how much God loves us. I have spent more of my life in such a state than I have spent really seeing God's love for what it is.
But taking a step back, to not be constantly awestruck by the fact that God loves me is just ridiculous! I have done absolutely nothing to deserve His favor, in fact nearly everything I have ever done has involved throwing his mercy back into His face. Even what I do in the name of righteousness is more often motivated by misguided piety or disguised pride than by true love.
The heart of the Christian gospel is the fact that we don't have to change to come to God. God came to us, in all of our garbage, and is willing to bear with us through all of it. This is amazing. It's much easier to type or read than it is to really believe. Seriously, how often have you said "Jesus loves me" and REALLY meant it? Recently, I've been able to mean it more and more.
Grasping (or beginning to grasp, as its full magnitude is unfathomable) the the reality of Jesus' love for me, even as watching a movie, filled me with the sort of joy that only such a reality. The sort of joy that we as humans were created to run on, that which flows from God's very presence, that which we will experience forever in eternity, and that which we are unbelievably blessed to experienced as sweet tastes of Heaven here on earth.
This sort of joy is what worship, in its natural state, flows from. Worship is a response. We must not get to thinking that worshiping God is what we do first, before we talk about God's love for us. Or something that somehow impresses Him and elicits such love. No! When the reality of Jesus' love is seen clearly, joyful exultation in worship is the only possible response!
There's probably much more I could say here, but I am going to stop because I believe I have said what, hopefully, some or all of you will be blessed by hearing.
Dare to believe that He loves you. Right now. With all of your skeletons, all your doubts, insecurities, cynicism, past, present, and future. His love is reckless, relentless, and downright stupid crazy.
Know that when you sing this song, you sing the most theologically profound statement you will ever hear:
Jesus loves me, this I know
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Monday, November 10, 2014
It's All About You, Jesus
I have a new favorite worship song. You know it; it's called "The Heart of Worship" by Matt Redman. I'm going to tell you about my experience with this song thus far and why I have rather suddenly decided that it is basically pure gold.
This song is nearly as old as I am, and I can remember singing it growing up in church for as long as I can remember. So, naturally, for very much of my life it has been a song that I've known very well, yet I never pay any attention to the words. This trend is tragic, but it happens all the time, even to people like me who really play a ton of worship music. Something psychologically within us allows us to sing songs without listening to the words. I often say that I hope one symptom of my worship ministry will be to encourage people to really listen and really sing the words. Unfortunately this is a rather difficult task, one that there's no clear-cut way of achieving. One possibility, I hope, is to write a blog post on the subject.
It was just tonight that the song took on new life for me. As I was singing whatever songs came to me, this one came to my mind. I realized, after singing the chorus once or twice, that I had actually misunderstood what exactly the chorus was saying the whole time. I'll briefly talk about that here: basically, the "it" in "it's all about You" does not refer to the "heart" of worship, but "worship." So, despite its place of honor in the title of the song, the song isn't so much about this ethereal "heart" of worship as it is about worship itself.
I guess I had always been annoyed by that first phrase, I'm coming back to the heart of worship. It sounds like Christian-ese with little actual meaning. And that would be the case, except that (given the distinction I made above) the next line defines this odd term: It's all about You all about You Jesus. What is coming back to the heart of worship? Coming back to having worship be all about Jesus. Tragically, this is not always the case. It may not even be the case a majority of the time. I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it is something I have confessed to God on many occasions. Turning "worship" into a performance or popularity grab is so easy and so common. This pitfall is difficult to avoid, but I'll suggest one solution: sing this song and mean it! I found myself this evening unable to stop confessing and realigning, getting more and more excited I get to say that It's all about You all about You Jesus.
Of courses, the verses and prechorus to the song are great too, but I'm not going to go through them line by line. To reexamine the song cuts deep as I realize how often I've only brought "a song in itself," and not myself in worship.
I would love to urge you, in any way I can, to develop a practice of really listening to the songs you sing in worship. It is so easy to just sing words! I do it all the time, I'm trying to develop this discipline right along with you. I want every word I sing in worship songs to be something I am actually personally praying and meaning. I have no problem confessing that this is not the case at all times, but I foresee a future where it happens more frequently.
I don't see it or act like it all the time, but it's all about Jesus.
This song is nearly as old as I am, and I can remember singing it growing up in church for as long as I can remember. So, naturally, for very much of my life it has been a song that I've known very well, yet I never pay any attention to the words. This trend is tragic, but it happens all the time, even to people like me who really play a ton of worship music. Something psychologically within us allows us to sing songs without listening to the words. I often say that I hope one symptom of my worship ministry will be to encourage people to really listen and really sing the words. Unfortunately this is a rather difficult task, one that there's no clear-cut way of achieving. One possibility, I hope, is to write a blog post on the subject.
It was just tonight that the song took on new life for me. As I was singing whatever songs came to me, this one came to my mind. I realized, after singing the chorus once or twice, that I had actually misunderstood what exactly the chorus was saying the whole time. I'll briefly talk about that here: basically, the "it" in "it's all about You" does not refer to the "heart" of worship, but "worship." So, despite its place of honor in the title of the song, the song isn't so much about this ethereal "heart" of worship as it is about worship itself.
I guess I had always been annoyed by that first phrase, I'm coming back to the heart of worship. It sounds like Christian-ese with little actual meaning. And that would be the case, except that (given the distinction I made above) the next line defines this odd term: It's all about You all about You Jesus. What is coming back to the heart of worship? Coming back to having worship be all about Jesus. Tragically, this is not always the case. It may not even be the case a majority of the time. I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it is something I have confessed to God on many occasions. Turning "worship" into a performance or popularity grab is so easy and so common. This pitfall is difficult to avoid, but I'll suggest one solution: sing this song and mean it! I found myself this evening unable to stop confessing and realigning, getting more and more excited I get to say that It's all about You all about You Jesus.
Of courses, the verses and prechorus to the song are great too, but I'm not going to go through them line by line. To reexamine the song cuts deep as I realize how often I've only brought "a song in itself," and not myself in worship.
I would love to urge you, in any way I can, to develop a practice of really listening to the songs you sing in worship. It is so easy to just sing words! I do it all the time, I'm trying to develop this discipline right along with you. I want every word I sing in worship songs to be something I am actually personally praying and meaning. I have no problem confessing that this is not the case at all times, but I foresee a future where it happens more frequently.
I don't see it or act like it all the time, but it's all about Jesus.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
The Armor of God (God's Armor)
The following are the most interesting nuggets of information I gleaned from an inductive study of Ephesians 6:10-18. Getting into the meaning of many of the Greek words (via bible dictionaries and Logos software) really illuminates a lot of the meaning of the passage, much of which may have been lost or muddied in translation. Enjoy! I think there's some pretty great stuff here. I suggest reading the passage in question at least once before continuing.
Verse 10, "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power," serves as a heading under which the rest of the passage falls. The verses that follow are an explanation, more specifically, of how believers are to fulfill this exhortation.
The phrase "full armor" is the technical term (panoplia) for the complete armor set of a heavily armed infantryman. Paul (the author here), through his frequent imprisonment, had frequent run-ins with Roman soldiers. Some scholars suggest that he was chained to one or otherwise in rather close quarters while writing this passage (I don't think this is the case, but my faith would not be in shambles if it is). This means he is not necessarily referring to an ambiguous set of objects, but a specific set of things that his audience would have been familiar with.
The difference of a seemingly unimportant connective really illuminates the purpose of the armor. The phrase translated "stand against the devil's schemes" is most literally translated "stand toward the devil's schemes." This word is the same one used in 4:12, "equip... for works of service." This phrase does not denote a passive defense to the devil's schemes, but willful and overt opposition.
"Day of evil" does not refer the end times, any specific act of the devil's, or even any specific event at all. Notice in 5:16 that Paul says all "the days are evil;" the same word for "evil" is used in both cases. It more specifically has to do with work or toil, as the sort of "evil that causes toil." Paul is not talking about preparation for a future event but action to be taken right now in the evil days that the world has continually experienced since the first evil day, when man fell away from Him.
My previous understanding of "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" was, I confess, incorrect. "Spirit" here does definitely refer to the Holy Spirit, the Person, and the connective "of" denotes origin; so we are not talking about just any spiritual sword here, but a specific sword that has come from the Holy Spirit Himself. The second half of the phrase makes it clear what exactly the sword is- "word of God" here refers to that which God has literally spoken. It is, importantly, not the same word used in John 1 to refer to Jesus. Paul names the sword "the word of God," referring to the Scriptures, which were God-Breathed, indeed given to us by the Spirit Himself.
What follows is the most interesting thing that I personally learned. Paul didn't even make up the armor of God! He took them from Isaiah (11:5, 52:7, 59:17), which he would have known very thoroughly. In Isaiah, it is God Himself who is wearing this armor, which illuminates the phrase that titles this blog post. "The armor of God" refers to the armor that god wears, "God's armor." This makes more sense when you consider that many of the pieces of armor, like truth and righteousness, are God's attributes, with which he is eternally clothed. It seems that the whole armor passage is an extension of Paul's call in 5:1 to "follow God's example." When we "put on" the qualities and attributes of God that He has revealed, we become truly strong.
As I mentioned in my previous post, this study has as its ultimate aim an application to be applied to daily life. This is a very specific action to be taken by the perpetrator of the study- I suppose what I should be doing is using "big ideas" and "pedagogical ideas" to "teach" this passage to you, but I haven't gotten that far in the class :). Therefore, I'll just share what I got out of it for myself. Perhaps in your own study the Spirit will illuminate something that you can do in your own life in response to what He has taught you with this passage.
What stuck out to me was the passage's clear focus upon preparation, and prayer's essential role in such preparation. Even "putting on" any given piece of armor is not automatic, but something that happens only through prayer. This passage has illuminated the fact that I am often unprepared for the constant assaults of the devil and his forces as I live my earthly life. More specifically, I do not pray regularly, and when I do, I don't often pray for the kind of preparation this passage discusses as so essential.
If I were to live out the preparedness through prayer that Paul is urging upon the Ephesians, I would daily seek strength from the Lord to resist lethargy, temptation, and any other "flaming arrows." Over this month, I will pray every day, setting aside a specific time to do so. Each time I pray, I will read this passage and be sure to pray in the manner Paul urges. After each time I will write a small (one sentence) journal entry signifying that I have done so, providing a way to keep a record of preparedness.
Like I said above, this is specific to me. Perhaps you don't even need this, and you walk in prayer and preparation. If you are like me and want to choose to have the same response to the passage, tell me if you want to be kept additionally accountable. Consider making the decision I discussed in my previous post to actually, tangibly respond.
In any case, thank you very much for reading, and I pray the Spirit will use the word of God to bless you.
Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this n mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
Ephesians 6:18
Verse 10, "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power," serves as a heading under which the rest of the passage falls. The verses that follow are an explanation, more specifically, of how believers are to fulfill this exhortation.
The phrase "full armor" is the technical term (panoplia) for the complete armor set of a heavily armed infantryman. Paul (the author here), through his frequent imprisonment, had frequent run-ins with Roman soldiers. Some scholars suggest that he was chained to one or otherwise in rather close quarters while writing this passage (I don't think this is the case, but my faith would not be in shambles if it is). This means he is not necessarily referring to an ambiguous set of objects, but a specific set of things that his audience would have been familiar with.
The difference of a seemingly unimportant connective really illuminates the purpose of the armor. The phrase translated "stand against the devil's schemes" is most literally translated "stand toward the devil's schemes." This word is the same one used in 4:12, "equip... for works of service." This phrase does not denote a passive defense to the devil's schemes, but willful and overt opposition.
"Day of evil" does not refer the end times, any specific act of the devil's, or even any specific event at all. Notice in 5:16 that Paul says all "the days are evil;" the same word for "evil" is used in both cases. It more specifically has to do with work or toil, as the sort of "evil that causes toil." Paul is not talking about preparation for a future event but action to be taken right now in the evil days that the world has continually experienced since the first evil day, when man fell away from Him.
My previous understanding of "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" was, I confess, incorrect. "Spirit" here does definitely refer to the Holy Spirit, the Person, and the connective "of" denotes origin; so we are not talking about just any spiritual sword here, but a specific sword that has come from the Holy Spirit Himself. The second half of the phrase makes it clear what exactly the sword is- "word of God" here refers to that which God has literally spoken. It is, importantly, not the same word used in John 1 to refer to Jesus. Paul names the sword "the word of God," referring to the Scriptures, which were God-Breathed, indeed given to us by the Spirit Himself.
What follows is the most interesting thing that I personally learned. Paul didn't even make up the armor of God! He took them from Isaiah (11:5, 52:7, 59:17), which he would have known very thoroughly. In Isaiah, it is God Himself who is wearing this armor, which illuminates the phrase that titles this blog post. "The armor of God" refers to the armor that god wears, "God's armor." This makes more sense when you consider that many of the pieces of armor, like truth and righteousness, are God's attributes, with which he is eternally clothed. It seems that the whole armor passage is an extension of Paul's call in 5:1 to "follow God's example." When we "put on" the qualities and attributes of God that He has revealed, we become truly strong.
As I mentioned in my previous post, this study has as its ultimate aim an application to be applied to daily life. This is a very specific action to be taken by the perpetrator of the study- I suppose what I should be doing is using "big ideas" and "pedagogical ideas" to "teach" this passage to you, but I haven't gotten that far in the class :). Therefore, I'll just share what I got out of it for myself. Perhaps in your own study the Spirit will illuminate something that you can do in your own life in response to what He has taught you with this passage.
What stuck out to me was the passage's clear focus upon preparation, and prayer's essential role in such preparation. Even "putting on" any given piece of armor is not automatic, but something that happens only through prayer. This passage has illuminated the fact that I am often unprepared for the constant assaults of the devil and his forces as I live my earthly life. More specifically, I do not pray regularly, and when I do, I don't often pray for the kind of preparation this passage discusses as so essential.
If I were to live out the preparedness through prayer that Paul is urging upon the Ephesians, I would daily seek strength from the Lord to resist lethargy, temptation, and any other "flaming arrows." Over this month, I will pray every day, setting aside a specific time to do so. Each time I pray, I will read this passage and be sure to pray in the manner Paul urges. After each time I will write a small (one sentence) journal entry signifying that I have done so, providing a way to keep a record of preparedness.
Like I said above, this is specific to me. Perhaps you don't even need this, and you walk in prayer and preparation. If you are like me and want to choose to have the same response to the passage, tell me if you want to be kept additionally accountable. Consider making the decision I discussed in my previous post to actually, tangibly respond.
In any case, thank you very much for reading, and I pray the Spirit will use the word of God to bless you.
Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this n mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
Ephesians 6:18
The Blog Returns!
So, I have material for another blog post. I may have material for some more after that. Before jumping right into it, I thought I'd post about the fact that I'm beginning to post again.
It is amusingly ironic that this blog, created originally to chronicle my college experience, basically disappeared as soon as I actually experienced college. There's a lot to say about college; it's incredibly fun, and incredibly busy. Perhaps my experience will be further explored in further posts. The reasons for its disappearance are many and are rather subtle; in the end it just became something that wasn't very important to me.
God has really been speaking to me recently, over the past two days specifically, and it's because of this that I'm posting again. I had spent a long time without reading the bible or praying very regularly, with a definite feeling of something lost but not quite enough motivation to seek that lost closeness. This began changing because of numerous small motions on the part of God, but it most specifically began yesterday in Zondervan Library.
As I was in the midst of an inductive study on Ephesians 6:10-18 (for Intro to Christian Educational Ministries class), it became clear to me that I had uncovered enough interesting information to form a blog post. That was the beginning of the train of thought that will culminate with my next blog post. The ultimate goal of these inductive studies is an Application to be directly applied to our own life, and (in theory) actually carried out. I am no foreigner to the idea of such applications, having heard a plethora of lessons and sermons that ended with one or more such things. My pattern in the past has been, usually, thinking about it, maybe even doing it a little bit, but not really implementing these sorts of things. As I wrote my application for this passage, I resolved to be sure that that would not be the case.
Part of my application involved praying every day, at specific times. As I finished writing the application at 8:45, I wrote "the weekly time for Saturdays would be 9," printed my assignment, and headed to the prayer chapel to practice what I preached. Once there I prayed, out loud, for the first time I had with such sincerity in a long while. I prayed through the passage I had studied and then began laying before the Lord all the thoughts and insecurities and hopes I had kept subconscious previously.
It is hard to describe that experience, or describe the change in general attitude that followed. I re-found the closeness with God that had only ever been one intentional step away. I resolved to, yes, actually pray through this passage every day. It has become clear to me that, as long as I approach life in this recently re-found fullness, I will indeed have experiences to blog about. So here we are.
Church today was fantastic, as the presence of God was experienced and a lot of relevant truth was spoken into my life. I have resolved to live with a different response to these sort of experiences, to actually live differently because of them. This blog is a way of chronicling those efforts. I think I'm back to posting about what this blog was originally about, finding how to worship everywhere and in every way. My experience worshiping through study and prayer has lead me to worship by, well, blogging.
Thank you for reading this, I hope the relating of my experiences will inform you regarding the posts to follow and, hopefully, be used by the Spirit to bless you in some way beyond that.
It is amusingly ironic that this blog, created originally to chronicle my college experience, basically disappeared as soon as I actually experienced college. There's a lot to say about college; it's incredibly fun, and incredibly busy. Perhaps my experience will be further explored in further posts. The reasons for its disappearance are many and are rather subtle; in the end it just became something that wasn't very important to me.
God has really been speaking to me recently, over the past two days specifically, and it's because of this that I'm posting again. I had spent a long time without reading the bible or praying very regularly, with a definite feeling of something lost but not quite enough motivation to seek that lost closeness. This began changing because of numerous small motions on the part of God, but it most specifically began yesterday in Zondervan Library.
As I was in the midst of an inductive study on Ephesians 6:10-18 (for Intro to Christian Educational Ministries class), it became clear to me that I had uncovered enough interesting information to form a blog post. That was the beginning of the train of thought that will culminate with my next blog post. The ultimate goal of these inductive studies is an Application to be directly applied to our own life, and (in theory) actually carried out. I am no foreigner to the idea of such applications, having heard a plethora of lessons and sermons that ended with one or more such things. My pattern in the past has been, usually, thinking about it, maybe even doing it a little bit, but not really implementing these sorts of things. As I wrote my application for this passage, I resolved to be sure that that would not be the case.
Part of my application involved praying every day, at specific times. As I finished writing the application at 8:45, I wrote "the weekly time for Saturdays would be 9," printed my assignment, and headed to the prayer chapel to practice what I preached. Once there I prayed, out loud, for the first time I had with such sincerity in a long while. I prayed through the passage I had studied and then began laying before the Lord all the thoughts and insecurities and hopes I had kept subconscious previously.
It is hard to describe that experience, or describe the change in general attitude that followed. I re-found the closeness with God that had only ever been one intentional step away. I resolved to, yes, actually pray through this passage every day. It has become clear to me that, as long as I approach life in this recently re-found fullness, I will indeed have experiences to blog about. So here we are.
Church today was fantastic, as the presence of God was experienced and a lot of relevant truth was spoken into my life. I have resolved to live with a different response to these sort of experiences, to actually live differently because of them. This blog is a way of chronicling those efforts. I think I'm back to posting about what this blog was originally about, finding how to worship everywhere and in every way. My experience worshiping through study and prayer has lead me to worship by, well, blogging.
Thank you for reading this, I hope the relating of my experiences will inform you regarding the posts to follow and, hopefully, be used by the Spirit to bless you in some way beyond that.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
It's Raining (Right Now)
After completing my grueling 2-class first day of college, I'm taking advantage of the fact that I'm stranded in the Student Union by tons of rain to blog a bit.
Welcome Weekend here finally ended with classes beginning last night. I'm sure all of my fellow freshmen also enjoyed the seminars, schedules, and sweat. (I've sweated a LOT these past few days. It's been hot. Hopefully this rain will be cooling us all down.)
In between fun with O Groups and various other officially scheduled Welcome events, I've been spending a lot of time having fun with my floor, 2nd Berg (aka "Sigma Beta"). We've chilled in the DC, played large amounts of games, gone out for Thai, and generally enjoyed each other's company quite a bit. This is a pretty great floor to live on.
In between fun with O Groups and various other schedule Welcome events, and in between spending a lot of time having fun with my floor, I have already been able to get quite a few jam sessions in (as of now... 4). A student body including a lot of musicians who were as big a fan of worship music and I am is one of the huge benefits of going to Taylor. I've made fast friends with many, and there are still plenty of guys and gals I have yet to jam with.
Over the past few weeks/months, I hope to continue having as many jam sessions as possible and hopefully get one or two band lineups actually solidified to start actually practicing and performing music. We'll see how the plan goes, for now it's going great.
If you're at Taylor and you want to jam- make sure you let me know. I believe my e-mail is somewhere on this blog, but it's probably best to find me with a FB message. See you soon!
Peace.
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a LOUD noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
Psalm 98:4 (KJV)
Welcome Weekend here finally ended with classes beginning last night. I'm sure all of my fellow freshmen also enjoyed the seminars, schedules, and sweat. (I've sweated a LOT these past few days. It's been hot. Hopefully this rain will be cooling us all down.)
In between fun with O Groups and various other officially scheduled Welcome events, I've been spending a lot of time having fun with my floor, 2nd Berg (aka "Sigma Beta"). We've chilled in the DC, played large amounts of games, gone out for Thai, and generally enjoyed each other's company quite a bit. This is a pretty great floor to live on.
In between fun with O Groups and various other schedule Welcome events, and in between spending a lot of time having fun with my floor, I have already been able to get quite a few jam sessions in (as of now... 4). A student body including a lot of musicians who were as big a fan of worship music and I am is one of the huge benefits of going to Taylor. I've made fast friends with many, and there are still plenty of guys and gals I have yet to jam with.
Over the past few weeks/months, I hope to continue having as many jam sessions as possible and hopefully get one or two band lineups actually solidified to start actually practicing and performing music. We'll see how the plan goes, for now it's going great.
If you're at Taylor and you want to jam- make sure you let me know. I believe my e-mail is somewhere on this blog, but it's probably best to find me with a FB message. See you soon!
Peace.
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a LOUD noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
Psalm 98:4 (KJV)
Friday, August 22, 2014
Arrival at My New Home
As I have mentioned on numerous previous occasions, I originally had the idea of creating a blog in order to journal my college experience. I created quite early. Now, I am glad to announce, the time is here! I arrived on campus here at Taylor University today, and this is what I did.
The first order of business was carrying all my stuff, in large and heavy bags, up a flight of stairs to my room. This was accomplished with ample help from my father. After unpacking a little bit and "Facetiming" my mom, dad headed back home and I was on my own.
I didn't have anything going on till dinner at 5 Indiana time, so I set about setting up my dorm room. I have a really fantastic setup (TU peeps: come say hi!). My room is very large and there are only 2 people in it (my dorm, Bergwall, usually has 3), so all in all it is quite spacious. I have plenty of space in which to store/display my various instruments, currently including 2 guitars (Thor and Little Thor, christened by my dad), a banjo, a "Jingling Johnny" (see previous blog posts), and a harmonica.
I am currently sitting and typing at my desk, situated strategically at an outlet so I can dial in all sorts of gadgets into my surge protector. Add sheets to the bed, dry-erase calendar to the wall, and clothes to the closet, and my room is pretty much set.
Anyway, around 5 P.M. I headed down to dinner with my roommate Jacob Bernard and his parents for dinner, where we were joined by our floor PAs (Personel Assistants) and our floor DA (Discipleship Assistant). From there, we wandered around our floor a little bit, I whipped out some card tricks, and Jacob, myself, and my boy Trayvon headed to our "Dedication Service" at 7.
I am going to continue in my general trend of shooting very straight here and say that this Service was boooring. It was rather exciting to be gathering as a body and committing to the Life Together Covenant, but after the 6th or 7th person detailing how excited yet frightened I was supposed to be, I was ready to check out.
Eventually all the freshman from my dorm gathered and met our Hall Director, later splitting off by floors and meeting with our PAs/RAs. Then we waited in the Berg lobby, making friends and generally socializing, waiting for the members of our sister floor to swing by in order to participate in an activity that was, at that time, a secret.
This secret event was the "Awk Walk." You probably have a good idea of how this went down. Each guy had to walk beside a randomly selected girl, occasionally switching partners, being given odd walking instructions, or discussing prompted questions. It was all very good fun (really).
After the Awk Walk we headed back to Berg, watched a little Top Gear, and here I am blogging before I go to bed. Looking forward for many great days to come!
Cheers!
The first order of business was carrying all my stuff, in large and heavy bags, up a flight of stairs to my room. This was accomplished with ample help from my father. After unpacking a little bit and "Facetiming" my mom, dad headed back home and I was on my own.
I didn't have anything going on till dinner at 5 Indiana time, so I set about setting up my dorm room. I have a really fantastic setup (TU peeps: come say hi!). My room is very large and there are only 2 people in it (my dorm, Bergwall, usually has 3), so all in all it is quite spacious. I have plenty of space in which to store/display my various instruments, currently including 2 guitars (Thor and Little Thor, christened by my dad), a banjo, a "Jingling Johnny" (see previous blog posts), and a harmonica.
I am currently sitting and typing at my desk, situated strategically at an outlet so I can dial in all sorts of gadgets into my surge protector. Add sheets to the bed, dry-erase calendar to the wall, and clothes to the closet, and my room is pretty much set.
Anyway, around 5 P.M. I headed down to dinner with my roommate Jacob Bernard and his parents for dinner, where we were joined by our floor PAs (Personel Assistants) and our floor DA (Discipleship Assistant). From there, we wandered around our floor a little bit, I whipped out some card tricks, and Jacob, myself, and my boy Trayvon headed to our "Dedication Service" at 7.
I am going to continue in my general trend of shooting very straight here and say that this Service was boooring. It was rather exciting to be gathering as a body and committing to the Life Together Covenant, but after the 6th or 7th person detailing how excited yet frightened I was supposed to be, I was ready to check out.
Eventually all the freshman from my dorm gathered and met our Hall Director, later splitting off by floors and meeting with our PAs/RAs. Then we waited in the Berg lobby, making friends and generally socializing, waiting for the members of our sister floor to swing by in order to participate in an activity that was, at that time, a secret.
This secret event was the "Awk Walk." You probably have a good idea of how this went down. Each guy had to walk beside a randomly selected girl, occasionally switching partners, being given odd walking instructions, or discussing prompted questions. It was all very good fun (really).
After the Awk Walk we headed back to Berg, watched a little Top Gear, and here I am blogging before I go to bed. Looking forward for many great days to come!
Cheers!
Friday, August 15, 2014
"How He Loves"
"How He Loves" is a very well-known and well-loved worship song, and has been particularly meaningful to me recently. Unfortunately, not too many people know about the circumstances surrounding this song's creation, and I think the story adds significant depth to the song. Here it is!
First off, you should know that it was written by John Mark McMillan, NOT the David Crowder*Band. A woefully low number of worship music listeners are aware of this, as the song was made popular with the circulation of DC*B's cover. In fact, to this day I have never heard any of John Mark McMillan's recorded versions on the radio. (BTW, I have many problems with the radio, and discrepancies like this are only one of them. My general dislike for the radio will serve as the subject matter for at least one, probably many, future post(s).)
So, John Mark McMillan wrote this song shortly after one of his best friends died in a car crash. He was frustrated and angry, and in his words "needed to have a conversation with God." As he tried to process his agony through music he created this beautiful celebration of God's love that we sing in churches across the nation today.
There's actually a third verse to the song that is far too personal for any worship leader or cover band to sing. On the first recording of the song (I think the only one in which he includes the third verse), McMillan actually breaks down and cries. I'm sure he could have recorded it once without crying, releasing it this way was definitely a conscious choice, don't lose sight of that. Regardless, my favorite line from this verse says "people try to tell me You're cruel // But if Stephen could sing he'd say it's not true." I think you'll agree that such sentiment is quite powerful, especially coming after such tragedy.
Lines like "all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory" and "I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that He loves us" certainly take on more meaning with context. Moreso, the entire great song with its great poetry saying "God loves us so so so soooo much," having been written on the worst day of his life, showcases a very pervasive and inspiring faith. Resilient joy that endures despite negative circumstances, as John Piper said in his last sermon from his pulpit, is THE thing the world needs from the church.
The song would be awesome and worth singing if it was written and sung from a mountaintop. Unfortunately, the fact is that many people who walk into worship are not going through a mountain, but rather a valley. These are truly beautiful lyrics to sing in such times, celebrating a love that is at once beautiful and unfathomable.
The act of looking beyond tragedy and seeing God's steadfast love through it all that this song represents has always been powerful to me, and now with a recent loss of my own to keep in mind, it has become that much more personal and poignant.
Anyway, it's a great song. Here's a link to the original recording I referenced above. Give it a listen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0luHiWwi08
We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
-"How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan
First off, you should know that it was written by John Mark McMillan, NOT the David Crowder*Band. A woefully low number of worship music listeners are aware of this, as the song was made popular with the circulation of DC*B's cover. In fact, to this day I have never heard any of John Mark McMillan's recorded versions on the radio. (BTW, I have many problems with the radio, and discrepancies like this are only one of them. My general dislike for the radio will serve as the subject matter for at least one, probably many, future post(s).)
So, John Mark McMillan wrote this song shortly after one of his best friends died in a car crash. He was frustrated and angry, and in his words "needed to have a conversation with God." As he tried to process his agony through music he created this beautiful celebration of God's love that we sing in churches across the nation today.
There's actually a third verse to the song that is far too personal for any worship leader or cover band to sing. On the first recording of the song (I think the only one in which he includes the third verse), McMillan actually breaks down and cries. I'm sure he could have recorded it once without crying, releasing it this way was definitely a conscious choice, don't lose sight of that. Regardless, my favorite line from this verse says "people try to tell me You're cruel // But if Stephen could sing he'd say it's not true." I think you'll agree that such sentiment is quite powerful, especially coming after such tragedy.
Lines like "all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory" and "I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that He loves us" certainly take on more meaning with context. Moreso, the entire great song with its great poetry saying "God loves us so so so soooo much," having been written on the worst day of his life, showcases a very pervasive and inspiring faith. Resilient joy that endures despite negative circumstances, as John Piper said in his last sermon from his pulpit, is THE thing the world needs from the church.
The song would be awesome and worth singing if it was written and sung from a mountaintop. Unfortunately, the fact is that many people who walk into worship are not going through a mountain, but rather a valley. These are truly beautiful lyrics to sing in such times, celebrating a love that is at once beautiful and unfathomable.
The act of looking beyond tragedy and seeing God's steadfast love through it all that this song represents has always been powerful to me, and now with a recent loss of my own to keep in mind, it has become that much more personal and poignant.
Anyway, it's a great song. Here's a link to the original recording I referenced above. Give it a listen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0luHiWwi08
We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
-"How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan
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