Unwinding

Directions from Wesley

2008-09-22T17:46:00.002-05:00

John Wesley said this...

Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this, attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

Worship Thoughts Part 1

2008-09-19T13:35:00.002-05:00

I've started reading another book on worship. This one entitled Unceasing Worship by Harold Best has already sparked some thoughts in my mind. I plan to present a multiple part installment on some of the thoughts.
First thoughts...

Best defines worship as this...

Worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing God.

Everyone worships at all times. The question is - what are you worshiping?

more soon

Love Lustres at Calvary

2008-09-16T08:29:00.002-05:00

here's a Puritan Prayer that blessed my soul the last few days.

I challenge you to read it outloud

My Father,
Enlarge my heart , warm my affections, open my lips,
supply words that proclaim 'Love lustres at Calvary.'

There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy Son,
made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me;
There the sword of thy justice smote the man, thy fellow;
There thy infinite attributes were magnified, and infinite atonement was made;
There infinite punishment was due, and infinite punishment was endured.

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,
cast off that I might be brought in,
trodden down as an enemy, that I might be welcomed as a friend,
surrendered to hell's worst, that I might attain heaven's best,
stripped that I might be clothed,
wounded that I might be healed,
athirst that I might drink,
tormented that I might be comforted,
made a shame that I might inherit glory,
entered darkness that I might have eternal light.

My Saviour wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
groaned that I might have endless song,
endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem,
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
expired that I might live forever.

O Father, who spared not thine own Son that thou mightest spare me,
All this transfer thy love designed and accomplished;
Help me to adore thee by lips and life.

Why Hymns?

2008-09-12T14:59:00.000-05:00

this from red mountain church

This question seems to come up a lot, so I will try to give a brief but thorough answer. First, it is certainly not because we are against any other type of music. Clearly there is a large body of music in the church today, and strong arguments can undoubtedly be made as to the validity of various types and styles of music and texts. At Red Mountain, it is simply that we are overwhelmingly excited about the way hymns have affected our people. We are drawn to hymns because of the impact they have had on our church. Second, I often hear discussion about worship styles being “contemporary”, “traditional”, or “blended.” I believe that I accurately represent my peers when I say that these terms seem vague and poorly defined. For example, many songs considered “contemporary” were written more than 25 years ago. Many of us at Red Mountain feel like we’ve found a perfect blend: traditional text with truly contemporary music. It’s important to add that when we play songs that already have beautiful and familiar melodies, we rarely change them, and we enjoy the original tunes. Examples of this would be songs such as “Come Thou Fount” and “Amazing Grace.” However, many of the hymns we sing do not have familiar music, so we’ve reworked them and, in a sense, re-introduced them to the church. Third, hymns connect us with our past. It is wonderful to think of all the people who have gone before us who have sung these songs. Singing hymns promotes the idea that a Christian is part of a historic family of believers, and they remind us that God’s gospel transcends time and place. Fourth, hymns ring true in a way that many modern songs simply do not. At times, it seems our ancestors had a stronger command of the language than we do. Their words drip with truth and paint pictures of the kingdom that make believers long for heaven. I cannot begin to describe what reading through these old hymnals has done to encourage the spirits of the musicians that play here. We find ourselves continually able to rest in the truth of these great lyrics, always with a sense that we are part of something much bigger than us or our little church. We are excited about this time in the church, and we are thrilled about this music.

Brian T. Murphy
Red Mountain Music

Worship Styles

2008-07-29T13:22:00.001-05:00

A great reminder from Packer

I was just flipping through the latest issue of Modern Reformation and enjoyed reading Shane Rosenthal's "An Interview with J. I. Packer: The State of Evangelicalism" (July/August 2008, pp. 40-42). (Unfortunately, online access to the complete article requires a subscription.) The final Q & A is on worship styles:

Shane Rosenthal: What do you think about a niche marketing approach that has by virtue of the different worship styles--teen pop, alternative, and adult boomer--created generational segregation?

J. I. Packer: We have separated the ages, very much to the loss of each age. In the New Testament, the Christian church is an all-age community, and in real life the experience of the family to look no further should convince us that the interaction of the ages is enriching. The principle is that generations should be mixed up in the church for the glory of God. That doesn't mean we shouldn't disciple groups of people of the same age or the same sex separately from time to time. That's a good thing to do. But for the most part, the right thing is the mixed community in which everybody is making the effort to understand and empathize with all the other people in the other age groups. Make the effort is the key phrase here. Older people tend not to make the effort to understand younger people, and younger people are actually encouraged not to make the effort to understand older people. That's a loss of a crucial Christian value in my judgment. If worship styles are so fixed that what's being offered fits the expectations, the hopes, even the prejudices, of any one of these groups as opposed to the others, I don't believe the worship style glorifies God, and some change, some reformation, some adjustment, and some enlargement of spiritual vision is really called for.

Fear

2008-07-22T10:37:00.003-05:00

This morning i was listening to a message from the Psalms series that Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland has been in. The text was Psalm 56 - one of my favorites. It got me thinking of just how crippled by fear and worry (fear in disguise) i can tend to be.

Psalm 56
1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;
all day long an attacker oppresses me;
2my enemies trample on me all day long,
for many attack me proudly.
3When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?

5 All day long they injure my cause;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk;
they watch my steps,
as they have waited for my life.
7 For their crime will they escape?
In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

8 You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
9 Then my enemies will turn back
in the day when I call.
This I know, that God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

12 I must perform my vows to you, O God;
I will render thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered my soul from death,
yes, my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.

Here's an excerpt from Josh's sermon
"Do you see how fear can keep us from the good that God has called us to? Do you see how it can keep us from doing the things that will bring glory to His name?
See so often when we think about fear, we make the issue ourselves. I need more self-confidence. I need to get over my fear so i can show everyone how great I am!
No, as a Christian we have a totally different motivation. We don't need more self-confidence, we need more God-confidence! We need more God-esteem!
And as we get that, as we trust in Him, we will step out in faith and do things that we could never do on our own. And yet as we do them, God will be glorified because people will see that a mighty God uses weak vessels like us.
And so when you think about fear, don't think about the visions and dreams its keeping you from, no, think about how fear is hindering God's purposes in your life and going forward."
- Josh Harris

Fellowship And Evangelism

2008-07-10T12:56:00.001-05:00

"The only difference between fellowship and evangelism is the audience, but both are about the gospel"

End of the Semester

2008-05-19T10:34:00.004-05:00

So the end of the semester has come and gone and i have an observation that seems to occur at least for me toward the end of every semester. it goes a little something like this

you've been up late for days and are really behind on even a college student's definition of decent sleep. there's still another 10 pages of papers to be written and 300 of reading to do on top of extension, church and prayer meetings. The spring concert is coming up and so there's not only the stress from that, but also the extra rehearsals and such. Thankfully your recital was last week and so even though you're desiring to practice more than ever due to the high of a great performance combined with the new music you have to dig into for next year, you simply don't have the time. The girlfriend is as wonderful and lovely as ever, but its hard to find the time that either of you would desire to spend so whether you consciously acknowledge it or not, you guys are on a psuedo-holding pattern until after ________ is done. you've pushed everything out of your brain for the moment so that the only thing on your mind right now is getting through this lunch line to sit and enjoy a few minutes of life as it seems to be passing you by.

Its at a time like this that weirdest thing happens. you look up and see someone, who just by observation you determine must be a student, but you could swear you've never seen them again. you find yourself staring at them for a few moments at a time, trying desperately to place them - but you have not seen this person before. you lean over to the nearest friend and point them out and receive one of two responses. this first is complete agreement of the non-recognition. it is a rare response, but still viable. the second and more common response is shock and disbelief as your friend pummels your character by telling you who that person is, how many classes you've shared and that in fact he is in your year. embarrassing! i've never been so impugned before.

and yet it happens a couple times every semester, no matter where i am. its strange.

does anyone else have this happen?

Broad is the Gate

2008-04-30T12:56:00.002-05:00

The average church is filled with people who live on Broad Street. I know the lay of the land, so let me give you directions out of it.

When I'm not living for Jesus daily and show up at church after squeezing out life on my own terms all week, I'm needy when i walk through the doors. I need the greeter to make me feel welcome. I need my friend to sit by me. I need the soloist to sing my favorite song. I need the pastor to be engaging. I need the small group leader to love on me and do cartwheels when I enter. I need the small group care leader to call me when I'm sick.

I am so needy because I'm not complete when I get there, and when I'm not being completed by my walk with Jesus, I unwittingly demand completeness from people. I raise the bar of expectations, and people don't meet me needs because it is impossible to do so.

Then i face a Catch-22. When I'm not walking with Jesus during the week and then come to church I'm reminded of just how wide the chasm has grown. Why sing when I'm so far away from God that He couldn't possibly hear me? Why worship when nothing comes out of a heart full of...nothing?

This scenario usually produces one of two results: I experience godly sorrow that generates repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10), or i callus over and turn my attention elsewhere. I find items to read in the weekly bulletin. I notice what others are wearing. I think about the afternoon's football matchups. I arrange lunch preparations in my head. Sound familiar? Have you ever done that?

Have you ever pursued those little escape moments to remove yourself, as much as possible, from the thought that something is not right in your life? Sometimes our little escapes even include dwelling upon what's wrong in somebody else's life - what's wrong with the guy three rows back who everybody knows is an alcoholic, or what's wrong with the pastor's presentation, or what's wrong with the day's music selection. It takes half of the Sunday service to get our minds and spirits engaged, and by then the worship is over. We pantomimed another week.

Can't you just see the screen with the words to the worship songs? They have such grandiose statements: "You are the Lord of my life"..."You are all I need"..."You are my everything." Such terrific claims!

I am left wondering whether we even hear what we're saying when we repeat such lyrics. I confess that I have been in the middle of worship, paused, looked at the words on the screen that I had been merely reciting, and thought, "Wow, I haven't lived like that at all this week."

It all stems from not walking day by day and moment by moment with Jesus.

- Mark Hall

Worship Leader

2008-04-28T13:19:00.002-05:00

This gets me fired up - i love it.

A faithful worship leader magnifies the greatness of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by skillfully combining God's Word with music, thereby motivating the gathered church to proclaim the gospel, to cherish God's presence, and to live for God's glory.

couldn't you replace worship leader with just leader? but i love it. its quickly summing up my passion.

Meanwhile, a year later

2008-04-21T14:05:00.000-05:00

so its been over a year since i blogged. i am ashamed.

well here are some of the highlights and changes in the last year

toured all summer with MBBC's Triumphant Brass

had a great fall smeseter at MBBC

transferred to NBBC

mom and dad celebrated their 28th and the boys got to surprise them

recital's next week

Bethanie and I are still happily dating.

i doubt anyone will read this. unless i post the link places. anywho - i might do this more.

Spring Break

2007-03-24T23:10:00.000-05:00

so friday break began. the lomaxes came to watertown and we just relaxed. kicked at eastowne mall for a while followed by prime quarter. it was awesome. we 3 boys of hometowns afar attempted to go pranking early saturday morning - started by walking from holiday inn to leland parking lot in the cold to get my car (since mom and dad had wisely gotten their keys back before going to sleep). then we attempted to go to several different local groceries for supplies and inspiration - but they were all closed so we just went back to the hotel.
saturday - St. Patty's Day in Chicago, green river and all sorts of imbibing beverages. no of course we did not partake in that wickedness, but we did have so much fun i felt like i could defy gravity.
sunday - church and relaxing in peoria at the lomax residence.
monday and tuesday - micah had fieldwork to do in the local junior high and high school so i tagged along and was able to teach, coach and even fill in for the absent first bone player. we also watched several movies. tuesday night we went swimming - not so much just goofing off, but rather lots of laps to work off all those dining hall trips and lack of cardio at school.
wednesday we directed the band for the out-of-town music pastor at micah's church/school. that night we went to revival meetings across town with mike manor (friend of mine and the lomaxes). we hung out for several hours afterward eating and story swapping and all. it was uplifting.
thursday - relax! that night micah and i went to open gym volleyball at the rec center. it was fun.
friday - hung out, watched more movies, went to a friends house and played racquetball. fellowship with brother and sisters in Christ is so refreshing.
today - helped at the church's basketball tourny by working concessions (aka read like 50 pages). then shopping and more relaxing. right now i'm mentally packing so i can quickly physically pack in the morning.
tomorrow - drive back to school, go to brookside. can't wait to be back with the body of Christ.

Not Even A Hint

2007-02-22T08:36:00.000-06:00

so after 7 hours of band recording Saturday, chambers out Sunday morning, offertory Sunday night, triumphant brass recording Monday and Wednesday, commencement competition Tuesday, marc's recital Wednesday and tomorrow (Friday), and finally chamber's leaving on tour on Saturday - its been an extremely busy musically filled week - and its not over yet. you might notice that i don't actually have anything extra musically going on today - but you'd be wrong - i actually have to go to orchestra today. *dusts off alto clef reading hat* but that's not that big of a deal but i also will teach lessons and practice for a chapel special coming up today.

but that's not where i want to focus my attentions. everyone is busy and everyone has extra things going on - but i want to share is just one little aspect of what God has been teaching me. God is a loving, comforting and truly awesome God. Because He loves me, His child, sometimes i need to be spanked and other times corrected. usually, these correcting measures come through trials and testing. there's been more of both of those these last two weeks than i think there ever has been. but God is good. :)

I've been doing a study on purity. I've been listening to a series on purity by Josh Harris and i just finished his book Sex Isn't the Problem, Lust Is today. its been amazing. i think that many should read it - even if you have read it before - there's so much sin in this lust centered world that we, or rather I, as a Christian must active seek holiness and getting rid of anything that doesn't please God. How much lust is allowed? well according to Ephesians 5 - not even a hint. what is sin for me? where do i draw my line? John Wesley's mother, Suzanna put it like this -
"Take this rule: Whatever weakens your reason, impairs your tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish for spiritual things then it is sin for you, however, innocent it may be in itself."
its uncannily (that's probably not a word) like James 4:17 - "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."

the ramifications of these remarks have for the first time really hit home. there have been numerous chapel messages and devotions and sermons from Pastor Sam that all deal with an aspect of purity in the last few weeks. its been awesome. as i sat in church Sunday night, i thought of this illustration (that word actually has the word lust in it - just an observation) -
its like I'm climbing a rope. it i don't focus on climbing- i, at best, stay right where i am on the rope. if i grow complacent, the rope will start sliding through my hands and I'll have more to go and my hands will get burned. to complicate matters, not only do i have to fight with my own self and strength to keep climbing, its like PE class - there's my friends that usually encourage me to keep going, for which i am so very thankful, but there's also the guys in the class that discourage. Then there's the things in my life that are tying me to the world - its like they're little fish hooks caught in my body, in my arms and legs, my *flesh* that are connected to ropes that are being pulled on randomly yet purposely. they hurt and they hold me back and pull me down. so what do i do? well, endure. keep going no matter what - go after God with everything that i have. next - identify my fish hooks and get rid of them! first off they hurt in general and secondly they get caught on things and get pulled on which really trips me up. lastly - listen and gain encouragement from those that are climbing their ropes while letting them know that you want them to keep on going too.
i don't know if that makes any sense - but it does in my mind. one final quote that is helpful in both the low hard times and the high uplifting times comes from Jerry Bridges -
"Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."
Since I'm on God's team - His grace is more than enough for me.

My Flesh

2007-02-14T11:41:00.000-06:00

completely seperate from recent events, i found this article from josh harris that articulated some of my thoughts concerning my flesh. i thought it was worth sharing.

Feeding the Flesh

This past Sunday, in considering what holiness requires, we looked at Romans 13:14:

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

The text describes the radical, decisive action of casting off sin, but it also tells us that there’s a daily ongoing aspect to ridding our life of sin. And that is to cut off those things that strengthen our sinful desires or flesh. Look at verse 14. It takes us to a deeper, heart-level struggle for holiness. It says, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ," and here’s the phrase I want us to hone in on: "and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires."

In my message, I wanted us to consider what "the flesh" is, and how it functions in our lives. As I was thinking about this, I started doodling on my notes--something that helps me think more clearly. (I tend to do it in meetings, which sometimes irritates my friends.) Anyway, these doodles gave me the idea of sharing a bunch of the cartoons I drew to try and explain the flesh and how it functions in our lives. So, here goes:

1. This is you. Or us--a human made in God’s image. Ladies, sorry you have to identify with a little guy...and I’m not sure why he doesn’t have a shirt.

2. This is the flesh. He’s kind of a Jabba the Hut meets WWF wrestler. The Flesh represents the sinful, corrupted desires of our heart. It’s not a reference to our bodies--our bodies are created by God and are good. The flesh represents our sinful cravings to live for ourselves and disobey God’s laws and commands.

3. Before Jesus saves us, this is how all of us relate to the flesh. The Bible says that we are slaves to our sinful desires. Our flesh is boss. If you’re not a Christian, I’m not trying to offend you. I know this isn’t a flattering picture of your current condition but it’s true of all of us apart from God saving us.

4. This is what happens when we trust in Jesus. Because Jesus died on the cross and conquered sin and rose again, we are freed from the power of sin. It’s no longer our boss. See how the chain is broken? And we get clothes, which is really great.

5. But our flesh doesn’t disappear. It still hangs around to entice us. After we’re Christians, we’re no longer slaves to sin, but the flesh can still tempt us. We can choose to give into temptation and indulge the flesh. This is what theologians call "indwelling sin." Jesus broke the power of sin, but we still live with the presence and influence of sinful desires.

6. That’s why the Bible is full of encouragement to fight our fleshly desires.
We can’t live at peace with it. We have to attack it and deny it. (In hindsight, I guess the "sword of the Spirit" would have been a bit more biblical. Oh well.)

7. The problem is that too often Christians make friends with their flesh. In fact they feed their flesh. We give into our sinful desires. We pamper our flesh. We provide it three rounded meals a day with snacks and dessert. We might think that since we’ve been freed by the cross it’s okay to indulge the flesh. But there’s a real problem. When we feed the flesh...

8. ...it grows! And before you know it, the flesh is bigger and stronger than you and starts to push you around. That’s why Paul is telling us in Romans 13 that we need to...

9. ...starve our flesh!
That’s what we want our flesh to look like. We want the flesh gaunt and feeble.

When Paul says "make no provision for the flesh" he’s saying don’t feed your sinful desires. Don’t do things—don’t think things, don’t watch things, don’t meditate on things--that strengthen your sinful inclinations.

Let’s think for a minute about our media diet. I think one of the biggest ways that Christians today feed their flesh is through what we watch on TV, in movies, and online.

We each need to ask the question "Are the things I’m watching feeding my flesh?"

And if the answer is "yes," it doesn’t matter what the movie is rated. It doesn’t matter if everyone you know watches it. You need to act on what God shows you. Don’t feed your flesh. Don’t make provision for your sin. Turn away from it.

• Maybe for you the sensual scenes, or even plots, in certain movies or TV shows increase the strength of lust in your heart. Turn it off.

• Maybe violent movies and shows feed anger and a desire in your soul to use violence to get your way. Turn it off.

• Maybe the advertisements and the values you expose yourself to are feeding your cravings for material things or wrong ideas about your body. Stop watching.

• Maybe the things you watch feed your unbelief and fear. One mother I spoke to recently requested prayer because her dreams were filled with demonic images. She was afraid to sleep. When asked her about her television viewing habits, she told me that she often watched TV shows about real-life crime that were very violent. As we talked, she began to see the connection between what she watched and the bad results in her heart.

Friends, what we view in media becomes our meditation. It either feeds our desire for godliness or it feeds our flesh. Which one are you feeding?

If you added up the time you spend reading God’s word, praying, listening to sermons or reading Christian books, how would it stack up against time spent watching TV and movies? If you give more of your time to worldly entertainment and pursuits, is there any reason to be surprised that sinful desires are so strong in your life? No. If we're feeding the flesh, it’s no mystery that we’re not growing in holiness.

The New Year Begins

2007-01-01T15:43:00.000-06:00

well, the last week has been ENJOYABLE!
last monday morning - Christmas - i woke up and drug myself up the stairs only to find that my brother nic had flown home to surprise us all! it was awesome. we commenced with the traditions and family devos, opening presents and such. i even tried out mrs. lomax's sweet lil smokies recipe for breakfast. then about midday we were able to go to my uncle's house and visit it with their family (with fresh baklava!), then we toddled over to the firehouse and visited with my uncle since he was on duty. it was fun playing on the new firetruck.

tuesday we headed up northwards to the grandparents and that was a blessing.

wednesday was a totally kewl day cause we just kinda sat around and relaxed.

thursday, justin dad and myself went to downtown seattle in hopes of getting to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. well we got tickets for sunday since they were sold out. we did get to go hang out downtown and a funny thing happened. my dad and i were walking into barnes and noble and my dad looks at the guy that just walked out and was like "that's david gergen." ok, my dad tends to pull names out of mid-air but i'm like who's david gergen? he thinks justin would know but he only remembers his name. so we walk outside to go to the cheescake factory and he's standing on the street corner. dad gets a pen for justin and a 3x5 from me. he walks up to the guy and sure enough - its david gergen - wearing a coat and tie with jeans and hiking boots. he explained that we was being interview on the news of Ford's death and that we was about to fly out. we're at dinner and dad explains that this man has been an advisor to nixon, ford, reagan and clinton. we're like, ok that's kinda cool but dad its so random that you know these things about people we've never heard of. so anyhow midway through dinner we see the tv across the room and there he is - wearing the same coat and tie we just saw him in. we're like ok, we believe you now dad. but we've asked anyone that would know political people like that and i think the score is like 9 to 1 against dad. sadness. anywho - kudos to dad for knowing weird stuff. i think if you put all the random things my family and i know, we might be able to win a couple of gameshows.

friday was spectacular. all of dad's siblings came over and all the cousins from the Howe side and we cooked chinese from scratch and ate till we couldn't eat any more. it was awesome. we're a pretty wild and crazy family. i played the came of life with all the little cousins and we watched ice age 2. it was basically just an awesome time hanign out as a family.

saturday, we played football with some guys from the church and it was a blast.

yesterday i saw the Dead Sea Scrolls. i'd wax eloquent on them, but i'm still processing what i learned and think and i've run out of steam to finish this blog.
Happy New Year everyone.

Christmas Break

2006-12-23T00:40:00.000-06:00

well, its been a while.
the semester finished with late nights and the stresses of extra music rehearsals.
after my last exam i split from campus quickly and after a stop at brookside to help my bro, headed up to northland to surprise a friend. that was a fun couple days. (note the use of the word friend for all you nosy ones out there, if it were more, i'd call it more, right?)
then 4 hours back to watertwon to pickup nate muse and then we drove another four hours south to micah and noah's house in IL. micah is transferrinf to MBBC next semester as a music edder, combined with the fact that he and i were most likely seperated at birth. i'm stoked to have him at school.
i flew home tuesday with a 4 hour uneventful layover in reno. its nice being home - change of pace. i've caught some sleep, more relaxation and so QT with the folks.
that about catches it all up, now posting won't seem as mountainous a task.

Break

2006-11-25T09:37:00.000-06:00

thanksgiving i went to the endyk's house for about an hour and helped them finish making a few of their foods and apetitzers. then i shot some big scary zombies and such on the xbox 360 before headin o the brown's for the actual festivies. the ledgerwoods, miss pabon and her mother (retired NYC professional singer) and nathan sutherland were also there. the food was plentious and amazing. i ate so much that my esophagus felt full - like in pain. no i'm not kidding. the pies were unbelievable and the games were a blast. then yesterday i went shoppping in green bay with some totally cool peeps and it was a lot of fun. it was pretty much all awesome and i had an awesome couple of days, each one better than the next.

Catching U Up! Part 3

2006-11-10T13:47:00.001-06:00

Edwards Trombone factory.

*Disclaimer* This post is almost entirely "music major" talk in content and may bore and confuse you. nevertheless, it is what happened and yes though i don't normal shout it from the rooftops, i do enjoy my trombone and music so if that doesn't interest you - oh well, its my blog now isn't but if you read (or scroll past) the actual content, you'll see some amazing pictures of som it.e exquiste instruments.

A week ago thursday, i went to the Edwards trombone factory and had a custom trombone fitting. Ron Knaflic and Christian Griego (the guys that stated Griego mouthpieces) were there and they had me warm up on my horn and my mouthpiece. then thy started with mouthpieces (since that is what is was in the market for). They would not let me look at the mouthpiece before playing on it and they wouldn't tell me what i was about to play. i just repeated the same half-page excerpt from Saint-Saens' Cavatine. then they'd ask me what i liked and didn't like, how it felt and such and then they'd comment on how it changed my sound. then another mouthpiece. they narrowed it down to one but Chris still didn't like some of the things his mouthpice was doin in my sound. so he a number of times took it from me and then would adjust it in the back - shaving this, boring out that, hardening the throat, things like this - adjustments so small i can barely even see them (but again he didn't tell me what he was doing - just "here try that") and finally it was perfect. height, depth, soft, loud, accented, legato, intervals - everything just works better, some much better and some just a little but beyond all that, the mouthpiece just felt incredble - no pain, no pinch, just a warm comfortability. it was amazing. then they spent probably another half an hour just setting me up with the perfect trombone for me. it was awesome, because not only that, but these two guys basicaly just ripped me to shreads in lesson form. it didn't feel good while it was happening, but they pointed out some great things in my playing - mini-masterclass. following this we toured the getzen/edwards factory and it was awesome. now for the promised pics.

Slides - each one is a set from start - they are made perfectly to each other not a bunch made and sort of put together

Notice the signature 3rd from the bottom - Joseph Alessi - the foremost trombone player in the world - Principle of he NY Philharmonic, Julliard Teacher

The Bell tolls for thee

"here - try this!"

Catching U Up! Part 2

2006-11-05T06:46:00.000-06:00

the next installment of catching you up has to do with last weekend.
myself, Chris C, Justin J, and Joel S left at 4 in the morning last friday for ashtabula ohio. Justin's home church was having a youth rally with numerous youth groups coming. our objective, get there and provide icebreaker games and 2 sessions of improv comedy (we part of the Xcalibur improv teeam here on campus). basically afer 10 or 11 hours of driving we were there. the youth rally last year had about 50-60 kids, this year - i think it as about 300. the theme of the youth rally was star wars thus the life-sized anakin statue by chris. anywho, the icebreakers went fairly well. however the 2 improv sessions were absolutely hysterical. God reall just allowed us to be super funny and connect with the kids. it served the purpose of breaking through the barriers the kids have and setting them at ease at being at this weird place before some weird guy comes to preach (R. B. Oulette). He brought the fire and God gae the increase - 7 souls saved! it was awesome. afterwards, cleaning up gave way to a shindig at applebee's with Justin's family and the youth pastor and wife from his church. it was awesome. get back to justin's house, sleep, get up and leave at 8:30 the next morning.
the rundown:
20 hours of driving in 36 hour: arduous
eating fast food upwards of 5 times: fattening
Seeing God work and call 7 to Him: Priceless
there are some things money can't buy

Catching U Up! Part 1

2006-11-04T22:33:00.000-06:00

So, i have been remiss in my blogging as of late and i have basically four cool events to tell you about. this is obviously the first installment.

two weekends ago, i left after classes friday and went to my friend's sarah's house in illinois with her and her bf, Zac. it was awesome. her little sister was throwing her parents a big surprise party for their 23rd anniversary. the best surprise was that her parents didn't know we were gonna be there. it was awesome. i'll never forget the look on momma jones' face. i'll have to file that one away in my mind under "surprise/shock/joy." it was awesome. the rest of the weekend consisted of movies, driving her dad's camaro, attending her church and finishing with a fine sunday meal at Cracker Barrel.

Friday

2006-10-14T11:36:00.001-05:00

i'd like to start off by asking anyone who reads this to just post a short little comment so i can see who reads this. i know for a fact now that parents, g-parents, old family friends (including peoples i know at Burge), camp friends, school friends, random friends, etc all read this and i'd be cool to see who all this blog reaches. no you don't have to leave your real name, but a first or last or initial or something would probably give me the idea. well then, now to the post!

we, the sophomores, rocked the spirit of the week :)

first off we had crazy chapel today

like all games and camp-like cheering and intesity

with al the fun of rival classes

and they started off by announcing who won the week as far as dressing up goes

and sophomores won

then we had all these games - a girl has to get 5 clothespins out of a pan of flour and the next guy has to pin them on face and he tags next guy when he's done to chug a couple pints of apple sauce. another game was

a guy hd to unfold frozen scarf and tie around neck, the girl put the frozen glovse on her hands

make 3, 10 man pyramids as fast as possible but you can't start the next one until the one before it is done - all must remain standing. tiebreaker was a fourth pyramid.
3 on 3 on 3 on 3 dodgeball.

and we sophomores had the most spirit and if we didn't win a game, it seemed we came in second

and we're all in black

we stole the cardboard cutout of pres. bush from the library, put a sophomore shirt on him and in the middle of things Dr. Oats introduced the pres and we had him carried out with like 10 guys in black suits and shades escorting him

but then when all the games were over, the scores were presented

it was 35.5 both seniors and sophomores

so like i told a few guys to recommend a cheer competition since we only had like 1min left of chapel

so they gave us the minute

but i may have or may not have cooked up an echo cheer the week before in Life of Christ and taught it to a few guys the night before

so we did ours first

and it goes something like this (each line echoed)

we're all dressed in black
don't you dare be talkin smack
cause we're headed down the track
so you're better watch you back

we are the sophomore class
we're comin in a mass
you'd better take good notes
or we'll send you to see Oats

the whole time having like 10 guys doing "OO!, go soph-mores, OO! go soph-mores"

and we could see in the the seniors that they knew they didnt' have it

you might ask, did we win? well...
they go to the judges

(mind we got like half the faculty to dress in black with us)

and we start chanting sophomores, i'm up on the table and i look to the juniors and got them chanting with us, then the freshman

and then the announcement - Sohpomores win

the roar, literally the ROAR, was so loud i couldn't hear

it was awesome

i had 4 shots of espresso that morning

it wasn't me though

we have an awesome class

our class pres told me to go nuts and that he'd back me up

so i just turned team leader from camp again

and thought of all those good times from the summer.
you should definately check out the spirit week pictures at www.mbbc.edu

Fall Festival went very well. lots of fun backstage is always had. after that i went to a haunted forest with a bunch of people and it was so much fun. random "scary things" were placed everywhere. then throughout the whole walking on the path thing, 20 guys dressed all creepy jumped out periodically and would scare you. the coolest part was that they had a giant spinning tunnel with a walkway across it. but once you're inside, you can't see the outside and your equilibrium gets all off balance. a few people in our little group closed their eyes and were fine, but i enjoyed it more by not and i was like falling over and what not. it was awesome.
that's the latest news here. but hark - my practice room calls.

just a reminder to comment please

'Rodeo'fest

2006-09-25T20:03:00.000-05:00

This weekend was awesome. Myself and 2 other guys went up to Northland this weekend to be counselors at Rodeofest. We left friday and had an awesome time on the way up. computers, music, fellowship were all enjoyed. a stop at barnes and noble in green bay to take in some starbucks followed by a stop at a gas station an hour later to let the starbucks out ;) We got there and had just one or two little setup tasks to do so we spent most of the evening - lke 3 or 4 hours - in the Daily Grind just laughing and having a ball with friends from the summer.
Saturday started out bleak - woke up at like 7:25 for the 7:30 counselor meeting. oh well. i spent the day playing the carnival games with the kids and sitting in on the sessions and counselling a few decisions. it was awesome to see some of my campers from 4 of the 5 weeks of pioneer village. in fact i got to deal wih sam (2 for 2) on assurance. Jason, the kid saved on the way to the showers, was making some good decisions on sin and habits and that was a blessing to me.
After it was all over and we tore all the games and fascades down, otter, hummer, birch and mongoose had found a car to go down to green bay with we 3 mbbc's of watertown far. some awesome fellowship on the way there, we ate at moe's - a first time for everyone but myself i believe. after leaving moe's, i was leading the caravan of 2 to the highway where the nbbcers would head northand and the maranthaites to the south. the light turned yellow and i had plenty of time to stop so i did. one one thousand. i looked in the rear-view mirror. two one thousand. jack's gonna hit us. three one thou-BAM! oops. i asked if everyone in my Rodeo (a weekend full of rodeos!) was ok and it appeared we all were so we hopped out and ran to the northland-bound car and everyone there appeared shook up but ok. since we were in the middle of an intersection i temporary moved jack's bumper back into place and we drove a block to the barnes and noble parking lot. damage report - my car: trailer hitch bent in toward the car a little and the spare tire pushed the tailgate in just enough so the glass won't close. jack's borrowed car: bumper hanging on by a thread, headlights smashed, grill gone and the radiator leaking a smidge. and oh yeah, my spare had bend the hood into a nice tent shape. it took a little while to get the number for the cops so get a report. the officer, wade graul (awesome name i think), was abrasive at first but by the end he was laughing and joking just like the rest of us.
well to wrap up, the northlands had a friend in greenbay that was heading back up so they were able to catch a ride. since my car functions normally, we drove back and got back to campus at roughly 12:30. seeing as i woke up so late i didn't have time to get my devos in so as the clock hit 1am i opened my Bible to find Psalm 91 next in line. First off its one of my absolute favorite Psalms. Second, its all about God being our refuge and fortress and his protection and care for us. it was like the perfect culmination to an awesome yet crazy day.

God is good.

Sunday

2006-09-17T20:54:00.000-05:00

*yawn* its sunday.
school is becoming normal. drag one's self out of bed and get ready. go to classes all day, go back to the dorm and change out of the tie, slip in a powernap if time allows. then its off to the practice room after which i work on homework and get in bed as fast as possible to maximize sleeptime. its reall ynot that bad. conducting in probably one of the funnest classes because its almost entirely hands on and just a blast with both colleagues and professor. i also am enjoy practicing most of the time, now that my lip is a little more in shape. God has been so good. a few days ago, i was continuing my biography of God in the Psalms and i read an imprecatory psalm which basically asks God to bloodily destroy our enemies. compared to some others, there's just not always a lot of meat in there. i was like, Lord thanks for taking care of us - but i left wanting more from my devos. but everyday since then its just been God's love, his faithfulness, just amzing God Almighty. so refreshing. I'd like to point out Psalm 84:10-11
10For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
it just ministered unto me and rebuked me in my desiring the things of this world.

Random Calls

2006-08-31T13:56:00.000-05:00

Its at times like this - the start of a new year in a different place, even though i've been here before - that i remember and miss friends that aren't here. So i think about the last time i saw them or talked to them or emailed or whatever and remember that we said to call anytime, or just call randomly or whatever. so at times, i'll pull out my phone, scroll to someone's name and then...i'll put it away. What if they're busy? What if they're not there? What if they think i'm weird? What if i'm interrupting? thoughts like this flit through my head. but then i thought that this was a manifestation of the fear of man. i don't know if there's any substance to this, but i've talked with some and they seem to agree. when i promise someone that i'll call them and then don't, first of all i'm breaking a promise to them. secondly i don't call due to the afore-mentioned fears which i think is a direct manifestation of th fear of man. but yet when i have just randomly called people, or been randomly called, i've always (without exception) been encouraged and had a great couple of laughs. and the ones i've called have also told me that they were encouraged and enjoyed the call. it shows that you really do think about that person and care for them. sometimes the conversation is completely spiritual and intellectual in nature and i know i am blessed from it, yet other times it makes no logical sense and the topics are random cause for some well-mannered frivolity. even if one of your fears came true - what's the worst that can happen? they say they can't talk right then? who cares? so my question is, are you living in the fear of man and not calling a friend, a brother or sister in Christ and just brightening their day or challenging them in the Word or checking on their walk with God?

Chillaxin

2006-08-18T00:58:00.000-05:00

Well i've been home for a few days now and its been alright. i'm caught in the paradox of enjoying being home and relaxing while wanting school to start to be with friends. don't get me wrong i have thoroughly enjoyed being home seeing family and friends but i'm so bored. monday was great sleeping in for the first time all summer and then spent the afternoon hangin with my aunt. tuesday i got up but really didn't do anything all day except that i picked my bro up from the airport and got back at 1:30am wednesday. but then wednesday i spent the majority of the day in downtown seattle shopping and hanging out with some friends. that was a blast in fact that's where these pictures are from. but then i get back and today i had a dentist appointment and some chores but other than that there's nothing really to do. i'm trying not to let myself just watch movies and tv all day like i normally do when i'm home but there's not a whole lot to do beside that. i'm just rambling at this point but anyhow, does anyone else feel the same way about the doldrums of summer?

In the Rear View Mirror

2006-07-31T21:18:00.000-05:00

As another week of family camp starts and I look back over the summer, I look at what God has done and wonder to myself - wow, why me God? I look at myself as a broken vessel that God chose to break and mend repeatedly to be used as His tool this summer. I thank the Lord for who He is and for His unfailing love for me - even though I fail Him with my love. God has taken away sins and weights (the non-sinful things in life that distract me from running and enduring in this race) and I know there's more work to be done in my life. Carly and I broke up a little over three weeks ago. God showed me that our relationship had become a weight in my life combined with some different views on a few issues. In those last three weeks, not only have i had a wonderful peace about breaking up, but God has grown me in amazing ways. God has shown me that He is enough for me and that he is stronger than my problems and caring and loving to shield me from both outside and inside influences. I am reminded of many songs -
In Christ Alone - how it is only Christ that I need and all my hope is in Him
Complete In Thee - God is everything for me and i have no need of anything including the works of my own hand (hmm, kinda sounds like the In Christ Alone)
Anyhow, I found a nugget in my devos about a week ago and i'm thinking that it might start to become my life verse. Psalm 28:7 - "God is my strength and my shield, in Him my heart trusts and I am helped; my heart exults and with my soung I will give thanks to the Lord." It just shows me that God is entirely capable and strong enough to handle any problem that i might face. He also - and i have found this out first hand even this this week (and at this time i'm even rebuked of why i have to say week and not today) that He sustains and gives my strength when i need it. He is my shield. He protects me from outside problems and challenges when i can't handle them. He defends me from things that i will never know and he shields me from myself - from my own desires and wants and thoughts and selfishness. If i will but trust in Him - He will help me. When He helps me - my heart explodes (or at least it should explode) in a cascade of exultation, praise and adoration. I will sing His praises and thank Him for what He's done and for who He is.

Northland

2006-06-25T15:58:00.000-05:00

I suppose its about time i post.
i'm here at northland and having a blast. staff training kicked me in the pants spiritually. we also work like dogs all day which is so refreshing. last week was my first week with campers - i had 5 guys, about half the normal - so it was a great introduction week. that's about it.

w600i

2006-05-22T12:36:00.000-05:00

check out my new phone!

i like it. its pretty and it does cool stuff. such as...

Enhanced WalkMan(TM) ACC/MP3 media player
1.3 megapixel camera and video phone
Bluetooth® connectivity for connecting wireless accessories
Interchangeable shells (comes with orange and blue)
GPRS/EDGE High-Speed Data Access
850/900/1800/1900 MHz - Quad-band for international compatibility
Mobile Instant Messaging using AOL®, Yahoo!® and ICQ® Instant Messaging
Multimedia messaging - send text, pictures and sound
MegaBass(TM) stereo headphones included
Email Client (POP3/IMAP4/SMTP)
Large 1.8" color display and unique fold-out keypad
Downloadable polyphonic/full-audio ringtones, graphics and games
Java(TM) 2.0 support for application download and games

The Earth Shatters?

2006-05-13T00:09:00.000-05:00

this is my new blog.
i got up lazily this morning. i declared it a "no tv" day for me. so i sat in bed and read for a while then i got ready and did my couple chores. after changing out the glass in the front door for the screen, i was weeding. it felt good. but i got a call from my brother. Dr Jaspers resigned as president of Maranatha. its for personal reasons, i'm sure its not anything like sin but still. its shocking and completely unexpected. its not like my day has been ruined, but its like ugh! i don't know. each and every person at Maranatha, whoever you liked or didn't, if you liked the school or not, you loved Dr. J. he truly was the father of the maranatha family. he will be missed.