The rain falls quietly outside. I'm on my 3rd day watching Blaise solo during the day while Kristen goes to work...what craziness. i'm taking two evening classes this spring, a light load because of little Blaise Robert (born on January 29th!) and because I was able to take such a heavy load in the fall.
Life is full of struggles, joys, challenges to overcome, situations to exercise patience. Playing music has been a challenge since leaving Holy Trinity last August. I've been playing a decent amount with School of Faith ministries, but am struggling to find time to play caring for a baby full time with my wife!
I don't really mind, you know, this is the calling we strive for. To clarify the love of God in our lives, to find the way to best serve Him, to find the way to best serve the Law of Love and Forgiveness. While I can serve him much through music, I can also serve him intellectually, through focus, intensity, academia, and love.
Don't get me wrong, I have not given up playing music, and I fully intend to ramp up my playing with School of Faith and playing on weekends once this guy gets a little bigger and easier to handle! Until then, we wait in faith and patience (Heb 6.12) for the love of God to be more clearly present every day--in the rain, in little Blaise, in the love of my beautiful wife, in the studies and oftentimes frustrations of academia, in the unknown future.
Here's to a waiting, patient God and the desire to be more like Him every day. Here's to faith realized and future unforeseen. Music is so much more than music sometimes. =)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Nachfolge
There is a quiet resistance these days to the idea of the holiness of desolation. I recently finished reading and studying "The Cost of Discipleship" (in German: Nachfolge) a profound book by the WW II martyr and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In his elaboration of the Sermon on the Mount, Bonhoeffer writes of the absolute necessity to not only pray in secret, but give ourselves spiritually, mentally, and physically to God in secret.
We are intertwined as human beings, spirit, soul, body, and flesh. We cannot detach ourselves from our 5 senses. Christ commands us to humble obedience and service to the Father. He commands us to suffer ourselves for the sake of the Kingdom of God. There is no nationalism that outweighs the Kingdom of God. There is no pride in country that can ever push aside our service to God.
And yet, we are beings intertwined in the flesh. The music we hear must be to drive us closer to God. That which we see must serve to stimulate our existence into building the Kingdom. That which we love must be, first and foremost, the will of God and God's presence in other people.
I am here to bring others to God. To help bring music, thoughts, sights, and feelings that will stimulate the mind and the body towards a holier existence. I have no illusions as to the size of my audience, but I will press onwards nonetheless. Because God is far, far greater than I could ever imagine myself to be.
We are intertwined as human beings, spirit, soul, body, and flesh. We cannot detach ourselves from our 5 senses. Christ commands us to humble obedience and service to the Father. He commands us to suffer ourselves for the sake of the Kingdom of God. There is no nationalism that outweighs the Kingdom of God. There is no pride in country that can ever push aside our service to God.
And yet, we are beings intertwined in the flesh. The music we hear must be to drive us closer to God. That which we see must serve to stimulate our existence into building the Kingdom. That which we love must be, first and foremost, the will of God and God's presence in other people.
I am here to bring others to God. To help bring music, thoughts, sights, and feelings that will stimulate the mind and the body towards a holier existence. I have no illusions as to the size of my audience, but I will press onwards nonetheless. Because God is far, far greater than I could ever imagine myself to be.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
to never let go.
Now we sit, and think, and write. Three weeks into grad school classes and the Word of God is surrounding me from all sides! Music had taken somewhat of a back seat, and yet tomorrow I lead worship for a wedding and Sunday night I'm assisting at a service. The plans God must have in store...I can only walk in faith, in love, in hope of His promise and care.
On top of all this, my wife is pregnant! A little boy! A new school, a new year, and our first child. 'Wow' barely scratches the surface. But what love!
One of my favorite songs over the past year has been David Crowder's "Never Let Go." Near the end of the song (depending how you play it), a building backdrop of instruments and vocals surrounds the simple phrase "oh what love," repeated over and over again.
Oh what love
Oh what love
Oh what love
In joy and pain
In sun and rain
You're the same
Oh you never let go
Never let go
You never let go
Download the song on iTunes, listen to it on youtube, learn to play it yourself, or hear someone else play it...just experience it. There are few worship songs I can dive into wholeheartedly every time I play it.
Praise God who never, ever lets go.
On top of all this, my wife is pregnant! A little boy! A new school, a new year, and our first child. 'Wow' barely scratches the surface. But what love!
One of my favorite songs over the past year has been David Crowder's "Never Let Go." Near the end of the song (depending how you play it), a building backdrop of instruments and vocals surrounds the simple phrase "oh what love," repeated over and over again.
Oh what love
Oh what love
Oh what love
In joy and pain
In sun and rain
You're the same
Oh you never let go
Never let go
You never let go
Download the song on iTunes, listen to it on youtube, learn to play it yourself, or hear someone else play it...just experience it. There are few worship songs I can dive into wholeheartedly every time I play it.
Praise God who never, ever lets go.
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