Starting next month, Beacon of Hope Church will be doing a series on the Enemies of the Church, looking at enemies that we face both from within and without. As the worship music leader, I have taken a fair amount of time to prepare for this series, seeking to choose music that will compliment each topic and form a cohesive church service from start to finish (which is another topic for another time). As I have been studying and preparing for this series, the parable of the sower has continued to come to mind.
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I recently read a book by Stephen Altrogge entitled My Friend, My Hero, My Dad. In the book, Altrogge shows the many ways that he looks up to his father Mark, but it's not just that. This book is an encouragement in the Gospel to all parents, reminding them to hold fast to the Gospel as they shepherd their children. Now, I am not a father (yet; and as my parents continue to tell me, there's no need to rush into that world :P), but I found this book encouraging, reminding me of all the things my dad taught me as a kid. This past Tuesday was one of the best, most exciting, most stressful days of my life. My old college choir, The Master's College Chorale, was in town giving a concert at my church! I learned much that day about how crazy event planning can be, but it was all worth it for how well the whole day, primarily the concert, went. We got to hold the concert in one of the oldest, most historic buildings in downtown St. Paul, and everyone I talked to could not stop talking about how great everything sounded in that venue. It's something that we interact in virtually every area of each day. Walk into any store, restaurant, waiting room, and you will hear some sort of music playing in the background. Most everyone has some sort of portable device with which they can listen to their personal playlists. (I have to confess, I'm listening to my Easter mix as I write this.) Music permeates into every facet of our lives in one way or another, because it grabs us and captivates our minds. We interact with it intellectually, emotionally, etc. Music has been scientifically proven to have an affect on every major part of the brain. Yet scientists, primarily those with an evolutionary worldview, don't understand how this developed, since music doesn't pose any sort of evolutionary benefit to humans. They have studied every part of music and remained as baffled as ever on this topic. We all know that yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. No doubt, even if you had forgotten, you remembered as soon as you saw the extra green clothing being worn by those around you. (I'm sincerely glad I've gotten past the stage where people used this day as an excuse to pinch whoever wasn't wearing green.) But while most people were sporting that green, I took the opportunity to wear some pretty vibrant orange for most of the day. And I have a specific reason why. It didn't take long after I moved out to Minnesota for the "polar vortex" to land on the Midwest. Being from California originally, it took a little while to get used to walking outside to below-zero temperatures, and driving through snow and ice. By the grace of God, I haven't been in any dangerous situations out on the road. But that does not mean that everyone else has. I remember one night driving to work seeing a car that had flipped on its side in the middle of a freeway onramp, blocking the entire lane. Needless to say, I began driving slower for a while after that incident. Recently I watched a video where the Kimyal people on the island of West Papua, Indonesia, were given Bibles in their own language for the first time. I was moved, almost to the point of tears, at their response to the gift they were receiving. These people would be able to read the Word of God in their own language for the first time ever in their lives. The first thing that came to my mind after seeing that was the number of Bibles in my apartment alone, and how little time I spend studying any of them. I even have multiple Bible apps on each of my high-tech mobile devices, yet I still squeeze in time in the Word only when it's convenient for me. Sometimes, you are your own illustration. Yesterday was a rather unique day for me. It was the first time I had worked an opening shift at American Eagle and had to show up early to clean the store. I set my alarm the night before to ensure I had plenty of time to get ready for the day and make it to work on time. Still, I ended up racing out the door and arriving just in time for my shift. That morning was rough; 6 hours of work and a fairly busy day at the store (schools were closed due to the intense cold, I'd guess people came to the mall to pass the time). By the end of my shift that afternoon I was completely drained, and I really didn't know why. I'd worked in the store on far busier days, but that day had taken everything out of me.
This past Sunday I made a stop at Target on my way home from church. The cashier who rang up my purchases noticed my more formal attire and correctly assumed that I had just come from a church service. She then began to tell me about all these funny signs she had seen outside of churches around the area. You know the ones, with the removable letters that you can arrange to make some witty, funny comment that might draw people into your church building on a Sunday. It seems that was all this young woman at Target knew about church: the funny signs. Is this how church should be known?
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AuthorA simple servant of the Master. Archives
February 2016
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