I have an evergrowing stack of books on my nightstand to wade through. Some of them are partially read. Some of them are rereads. Some are just want-to-reads.
01. Les Miserables -Victor Hugo... 3/4 of the way through
02. Tale of Despereaux -Kate CiCamillo... read to Benjamin
03. Naked Spirituality -Brian McLaren
04. Love Wins -Rob Bell... almost 1/2 way through
05. Kingdom Triangle -JP Moreland
06. The Eyre Affair -Jasper Fforde
07. Dune -Frank Herbert...1/4 of the way through
08. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo -Stieg Larsson
09. The Divine Conspiracy -Dallas Willard
10. What's So Amazing About Grace -Philip Yancey...reread
Throw in the mix a couple of Bibles (NLT and The Message), a journal, and a bar of Godiva Dark Chocolate and it is truly a wonder I can find my alarm clock.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
There Is A Reason I Don't Blog Late At Night...
When I blog late at night, my thoughts become more random and scattered than usual. I have been working reasonably late for a pretty consistent basis, most of that work being typing with my playlist from Playlist.com resounding in the background. I have a couple of lists, and the one that I most frequently listen to while working is a bit eclectic, to say the least. Of the 200 songs, tt ranges from Jim Croce and The Mamas & The Papas to Kid Rock, Ozzy, and Metallica. After I finished working tonight and cranked up the volume, earphones on, I realized that there are some songs on the list that I want to listen to more than others...hence my post tonight. It is no deeper than that. So, without further delay, my current favorite favorites...
(in no particular order)
1. Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
2. Breathe - Anna Nalick
3. Thank You - Led Zeppelin
4. Basket Case - Green Day
5. Miss Misery - Elliot Smith
6. All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow
7. The Messenger - Linkin Park
8. Drops of Jupiter - Train
9. Closer To Fine - Indigo Girls
10. Just Like Heaven - The Cure
That is as deep as it gets...nothing profound or riveting...just a few songs that make me smile.
(in no particular order)
1. Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
2. Breathe - Anna Nalick
3. Thank You - Led Zeppelin
4. Basket Case - Green Day
5. Miss Misery - Elliot Smith
6. All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow
7. The Messenger - Linkin Park
8. Drops of Jupiter - Train
9. Closer To Fine - Indigo Girls
10. Just Like Heaven - The Cure
That is as deep as it gets...nothing profound or riveting...just a few songs that make me smile.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Blinded By The Light
(Originally posted 12/29/2008)
This is a great song with a great solo in the middle. Bruce Springsteen did it, but I prefer the Manfred Mann version: Blinded By The Light on You Tube. (If on Facebook, click "View Original Post" for video and You Tube links.)
This song came to mind this morning as I went out to start the car. It is not sunny, but what light there is reflects brightly off of the snow. So I put on my sunglasses. Then, as I began to scrape and push the ice and snow off of the windows of my car, I began to think about the True Light..."The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." (John 1:9). That Light, of course, is Jesus Christ.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Revelation: "...and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength." (Revelation 1: 16b). Imagine that for a moment. John is seeing Jesus Christ, and He is so bright that He is like the sun in its full strength and glory, but that Light is God Himself.
I do not want to put on glasses or try to hide in the shade, but I want to run out completely into the warmth and glory and beauty of Him, enveloped in the rays of His love. I want to be blinded by His Light, completely immersed in His radiance.
So as I sit here listening to Manfred Mann and jamming out, I hear two songs...the one that was written about 40 years ago, and the One written by God Himself.
This is a great song with a great solo in the middle. Bruce Springsteen did it, but I prefer the Manfred Mann version: Blinded By The Light on You Tube. (If on Facebook, click "View Original Post" for video and You Tube links.)
This song came to mind this morning as I went out to start the car. It is not sunny, but what light there is reflects brightly off of the snow. So I put on my sunglasses. Then, as I began to scrape and push the ice and snow off of the windows of my car, I began to think about the True Light..."The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." (John 1:9). That Light, of course, is Jesus Christ.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Revelation: "...and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength." (Revelation 1: 16b). Imagine that for a moment. John is seeing Jesus Christ, and He is so bright that He is like the sun in its full strength and glory, but that Light is God Himself.
I do not want to put on glasses or try to hide in the shade, but I want to run out completely into the warmth and glory and beauty of Him, enveloped in the rays of His love. I want to be blinded by His Light, completely immersed in His radiance.
So as I sit here listening to Manfred Mann and jamming out, I hear two songs...the one that was written about 40 years ago, and the One written by God Himself.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Musical Spirituality Reprise
Thought this post from August 2009 was worth revisiting...
Musical Spirituality
My mom is a piano teacher. When I first learned to play the piano, the keys, learning the notes and then chords, inversions, and scales were drilled into my head. One octave - two octaves - three octaves - accenting keys accordingly. These were the building blocks that my love of music, of playing music, and of listening to music was built on.
The keys are the same wherever you may go, but what people do with them, the musical compositions, from classical to rap and metal to hymns to rock-n-roll to jazz...they are all different styles, just in different arrangements of the notes.
That is a simple way of how I view Christianity. In this analogy, the notes would represent foundational Truth, core concepts about the nature of Christ and such, the virgin birth, and the Resurrection, etc. The way the "notes" are presented in composition varies from fellowship to fellowship.
In a Lutheran congregation, you might find those notes in more of a classical style similar to Mozart. In a reformed congregation, these notes might take on an arrangement similar to that of a waltz. A non-denominational congregation could vary from rap to 70s rock-n-roll to - dare I say it? - jazz (with a nod to Don Miller)in their presentation of "the notes." And biker churches? Gotta be similar to Stevie Ray Vaughn:) But the notes are still the same.
How would your walk with God appear musically? A symphony? A waltz? A great 70s guitar solo? Something that you could slam dance to? Or sadly, a dirge?
Just my random thoughts for this morning, and if you have read this far, you might enjoy the following from Keith Giles...
"What I think we fail to realize is that, conversion to Christ is really a process of falling in love with Jesus over a period of time. When we make this process about a series of steps and a progression of words, we have seriously interfered with something that is far outside our ability to grasp and coordinate."
Read The Entire Article.
This excerpt also reminded me of another quote that I have written in the front of my Bible...
"I think the most important thing that happens within Christian spirituality is when a person falls in love with Jesus." Don Miller in Blue Like Jazz.
Beatles - Hey Jude (please click thru to blog to listen)
Musical Spirituality
My mom is a piano teacher. When I first learned to play the piano, the keys, learning the notes and then chords, inversions, and scales were drilled into my head. One octave - two octaves - three octaves - accenting keys accordingly. These were the building blocks that my love of music, of playing music, and of listening to music was built on.
The keys are the same wherever you may go, but what people do with them, the musical compositions, from classical to rap and metal to hymns to rock-n-roll to jazz...they are all different styles, just in different arrangements of the notes.
That is a simple way of how I view Christianity. In this analogy, the notes would represent foundational Truth, core concepts about the nature of Christ and such, the virgin birth, and the Resurrection, etc. The way the "notes" are presented in composition varies from fellowship to fellowship.
In a Lutheran congregation, you might find those notes in more of a classical style similar to Mozart. In a reformed congregation, these notes might take on an arrangement similar to that of a waltz. A non-denominational congregation could vary from rap to 70s rock-n-roll to - dare I say it? - jazz (with a nod to Don Miller)in their presentation of "the notes." And biker churches? Gotta be similar to Stevie Ray Vaughn:) But the notes are still the same.
How would your walk with God appear musically? A symphony? A waltz? A great 70s guitar solo? Something that you could slam dance to? Or sadly, a dirge?
Just my random thoughts for this morning, and if you have read this far, you might enjoy the following from Keith Giles...
"What I think we fail to realize is that, conversion to Christ is really a process of falling in love with Jesus over a period of time. When we make this process about a series of steps and a progression of words, we have seriously interfered with something that is far outside our ability to grasp and coordinate."
Read The Entire Article.
This excerpt also reminded me of another quote that I have written in the front of my Bible...
"I think the most important thing that happens within Christian spirituality is when a person falls in love with Jesus." Don Miller in Blue Like Jazz.
Beatles - Hey Jude (please click thru to blog to listen)
Monday, December 13, 2010
An Odd Pairing?
I love the song Closer To The Heart by Rush. Here it is if you have not heard it and the lyrics follow:
Closer To The Heart
"And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mould a new reality
Closer to the heart
The blacksmith and the artist
Reflect it in their art
Forge their creativity
Closer to the heart
Philosophers and ploughmen
Each must know his part
To sow a new mentality
Closer to the heart
You can be the captain
I will draw the chart
Sailing into destiny
Closer to the heart"
As I was listening to the song, the words, I found the theme of people from different backgrounds with different abilities all being called to contribute the talents that they have been given to something bigger than themselves. The following from 1 Corinthians 12 then came to mind:
"4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice[b]; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.[c] 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages,[d] while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. 12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ..." "27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it."
Everyone has a part to play. No one is expendable. Philosophers or plowmen, blacksmiths or artists, captains or navigators, fishermen or tax collectors... as followers of Jesus we are called to tell others about Him, His love, His redemption, His grace, His compassion. We are His body, and as we take seriously our faith, our hope, our love for Jesus, we will begin...
Molding a new reality
Forging our creativity
Sewing a new mentality
Sailing into destiny...
closer to His heart.
Closer To The Heart
"And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mould a new reality
Closer to the heart
The blacksmith and the artist
Reflect it in their art
Forge their creativity
Closer to the heart
Philosophers and ploughmen
Each must know his part
To sow a new mentality
Closer to the heart
You can be the captain
I will draw the chart
Sailing into destiny
Closer to the heart"
As I was listening to the song, the words, I found the theme of people from different backgrounds with different abilities all being called to contribute the talents that they have been given to something bigger than themselves. The following from 1 Corinthians 12 then came to mind:
"4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice[b]; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.[c] 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages,[d] while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. 12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ..." "27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it."
Everyone has a part to play. No one is expendable. Philosophers or plowmen, blacksmiths or artists, captains or navigators, fishermen or tax collectors... as followers of Jesus we are called to tell others about Him, His love, His redemption, His grace, His compassion. We are His body, and as we take seriously our faith, our hope, our love for Jesus, we will begin...
Molding a new reality
Forging our creativity
Sewing a new mentality
Sailing into destiny...
closer to His heart.
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