a concert [& a slightly forced break]

[pt. 1]

Hey there,
I went to my first concert @ The Strand Preforming Arts Center in downtown York on Tues.
i went to see Bela Fleck & The Flecktones. I knew I'd love the concert, I'd seen Bela Fleck & co. before. They had reunited with Gordon Levy [piano & Hamonica, among jaw harp & other instruments]. This made familiar tunes seem recognizable, yet fresh. It was truly amazing to see him playing a harmonica with one hand & a piano with the other, playing a dizzying flurry of notes on both at once. Levy has replaced Jeff Coffin, who will be/ has joined the Dave Matthews Band. He, too is amazing when I saw them @ York College many years ago. Coffin [a sax player] he played 2 saxophones at one time. Drummer, Roy "Futureman" Wooten, this time out played both his self created "drumitar", as well as a small acoustic set. [playing both at the same time] These men are incredible. As well as very unique. I'm so gald I got to go. Better still, my friend Joe got to see them live for the first time. We had a great time hanging out before hand.

[to hear them]

I had never gone to the Strand before. If you haven't either. Go when you get the chance. It's a great venue. The staff were very helpful & friendly. We did not realize you can get food there. It's laid out very well. The gal who cuts my hair told me, when I wondered aloud, "there's not a bad seat in there". I admit, I thought, yeah... right. There really isn't a bad seat in there. It's a nice, smaller venue. For those of you with good ears,like me, the sound was mixed extremely well. Loud enough to feel like you were there, yet I didn't feel the need to wish I had brought my earplugs. [yes, I'm 40, & for more than the last 5 years I have taken earplugs to shows. I'd like to hear...as long as I live. Forgive me... or don't]. If you like architecture like me, get there early. The place is very well restored.

[pt. 2]
sigh... I am going to be on Prednisone for about 10 days or so. So I won't be posting much at all for the rest of June.

take care,
enjoy the adventure,
see you in July,
B

Today

I have mixed feelings about the news of Bil Laden's death. As horrible as it may seem to say this way, I'm glad that someone who enjoyed killing people is no longer with us. His death does not bring anyone we lost back to us. As some in law enforcement, & government have mentioned, hopefully there will not be any retaliations. I'm thankful that no one on the SEAL team was hurt. As good as these men undoubtedly are, they can be hurt, especially in conditions like that. I can only imagine how the President, & others felt watching this as it unfolded. I have to admit, I'm not big on killing people. Yet this man would have shot me, if we met, simply because I was born in America. This idea, killing/ hating someone because of something they had no choice over... I will never understand.

I've had different emotions about this all day...
and, of course songs...
peace on Earth

I
myself
long for the day
when there are
cob webs
on tanks
that no longer work
when
the news of the day
is the death
of sin
and death
war
is told
"your job
has been phased out,
here's your pink slip"
families
can live together
fear
becomes
extinct
no one has to tell
the Devil
to go to Hell
because
we saw him
put there
the door slammed shut
and forever locked

...one day
not soon enough
my teary eyes
will see
that day
...the day
when we finally
get to say
literally
we got the Hell
outta here...

May His grace drip from your fingers,
B

not a real post, more of a post-it

Well, I wanted to post on Easter. Yet have missed the boat. As I look over this week I may not post till next week, anywhere. As tomorrow is my b-day. Normally I take off of work. Normally, I am alone on my b-day. Just me & Jesu, usually. Which has both been fun, & slightly depressing. However, my dear, sweet wife has taken the day off tomorrow as well. So, I'll be celebrating with her. Running around, "hanging out". As I have just mentioned on facebook, I do find it an ironic thing that a band I like [King Crimson] happens to be celebrating the same milestone as me. -we're both 40. And promptly asked: "is it bad to like a band that's as old as you are?". Let's hope not. Well... I'm off for now. I'll try to "make up for" this non post next week.

till then,

May His grace drip from your fingers,
may His mercy flow from your lips,
may His love wash over your mind,
like a wave crashing onto a sandy beach.
-B

something she said

"It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act." -A.W. Tozer

I first saw this in Charlie Peacock's Love Life cd.
It came to mind as a woman spoke at The Summit @ LW, a while back.
She asked about a "more ambiguous" art form. "how do I do this & proclaim God's glory?" [actually she said it so much better, more achingly, & more "from the heart" than this] So... I'll use my photography to try to "put an answer" to her question. [it is SO much easier to have courage from behind a keyboard!]
First, I'm not trying to "save somebody". To be simple, I can't. I can't even save myself. What's more...I'm not impressed enough with me to bother to save me if I could. [if you knew me like I do, you'd understand]
Maybe you [& I] are going about it the wrong way. I always liked that song by In Reach, called God you are. "...& God you don't need, to stand on my shoulders, to reach the waiting crowd, God you are..."
When I go out... on a Sat. morning... in solitude... camera in hand. It isn't to preach about God. It is to drink deeply of his creation. To celebrate, to be swept away by/in, to thank, to praise, to be in awe, of the one who made the world... in six days... with his voice. [imagine what the rest of Him can do!]
I guess I'm saying [or trying to] get lost in creating with the creator. Don't do it for Him... rather with Him. I think you'll both get more out of the experience. You don't have to worry about whether your art is guiding someone to God. For, maybe, by guiding someone to you, you can explain the relationship that you have, that inspires you to create the way you do. So they will ask you: "what inspires you to create with such passion?" or "How do you do it?" ...& an opening arrives.
I've been asked, how do you get such pictures? It isn't where I go... it's who goes with me. It isn't the camera it's the maker of the scene in the photo. It isn't my hands... it's His. I'm just loving walking with Him. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words... than my photos are thousand word thank yous, to the maker of all things.

May His grace drip from your fingers,
B

I wish I'd thought of this...

for once, a short post....

You HAVE to read Donald Miller's review of Love Wins.
Thank you Donald Miller. [it had to be done!!!]

B

A question posed to Rob Bell, that’s not about his book

MSNBC handed Rob Bell [pastor, author, speaker in the NOOMA videos] the question of
“Is God all powerful, & unfeeling/caring? Or… Is He caring, empathetic, yet unable to fix everything?”
This has everything to do with Japan & Libya, yet nothing to do with his newest book. I guess I would answer that with a question of my own. Do you believe Rob Bell is God? If not, why are you asking him a question that only God can answer? Let me quickly be clear here, I’m not mad that the question is being asked. Rather, I’m perplexed that the interviewer cannot ask God himself. God is rather used to people being angry/frustrated/confused with Him, & vocalizing/praying about it to God’s face. [See the book of Psalms] I cannot ask a human to answer a question that I’m really asking God. God knows each human better than any group of humans understand our entire species. I understand that the interviewer felt like Mr. Bell was side stepping the question. However, I cannot speak for another human. So it stands to reason that I cannot answer for God, whom I have a very primitive, rudimentary understanding of. I accept that there are a great many things about God for which, if He came here, sat on my futon [next to my pc], & explained, at great length, His reasons for why some things are the way they are, I’d simply reply: “huh? I don’t think I get it”. And, since He’d be explaining it inside of space & time, I might be a quite older individual by the time He was finished. Which, by the way, may be a reason why He never explained it to me in the first place. There are many questions that are posed by people who don’t know God, & cannot wrap their mind around such a being. What, I believe, is one of the silliest is: “can God make a rock that God cannot lift?” regardless of your answer, He is not omnipotent. …my first question, if you were omnipotent, would you bother? Does making a rock, solely to prove you cannot lift it, make a good story? Ah, no. It is brief, but no.
Now, being the smart aleck that I am: Yes, God can make a rock that God cannot lift, yet be able to lift it.
[this, of course, goes against the “do not test the Lord your God” verse]
How?!?! You ask. Simple. God, the father, makes a rock. Jesus, God the son, cannot lift it. Jesus prays to the father, & the rock is lifted. [either by Jesus, or by The Father. Or, perhaps it is “unmade” & thus “lifted”]
So, I can think…does that matter? Depends a great deal on what I think about…& what I do after thinking it. What you have is not nearly as important as what you do with it. [or, perhaps better still, what you have is not as important as what you allow God to do with it. …it is much easier to make this statement than to live it]

It is one thing to see the land of peace from a wooded ridge,
and another to tread the path that leads to it.
-St. Augustine III

Do I like Rob Bell? Yes, this isn’t based on time spent together, of course. I like what he’s written, spoke in videos, et al. I have not read Love Wins. I won’t comment on a book I’ve not read. If Mr. Bell & I spoke for a while, on matters of God, & the universe God has artistically fashioned, I imagine we’d have things we whole heartedly agree on. We would also have things that we would not agree on. If Rob Bell agreed with me, on everything in the universe, I would cease to read his books [watch his videos, etc.]. We would have no reason to spend time together. I already live with myself. [which, sometimes, isn’t as much fun as the “brochure” says it is.] Mr. Bell causes me to think. To think in directions that I maybe never thought in before. This would be why I like him. Sometimes, this is the reason I like Living Word. Maybe I always believed what they are saying… yet never thought to say it the way it’s being said.
I do not spend time with pushy people, who want to tell me what to think. I want to learn to think better. [so much could be said on that statement alone] People who threaten violence because you do not believe the way they do, or threaten because you have to “do what they say” or else. I usually pick else. It’s kind of mean, really. Yet, I’m just wired that way. I sometimes have to take time to think, am I just doing this or going this way because a bully doesn’t want me to? Or do I actually have a real reason?
Mr. Bell isn’t perfect. Yes, it takes one to know one, & I am one. [imperfect, that is]
I could go on…& on…&…
Love Wins, perhaps not today, but yes

[I have run out of time on here, so I didn't fix the font issue that shows up half way through this, sorry]

May His grace drip from your fingers,
B

a rough post Christmas post

Christmas was wonderful. I hope it was for you all. I finally got to get my butt out of bed & help my Mother put the turkey on for our Christmas dinner. A goal I’ve had for at least 5 years now. We also made Sandtarts together.
LW has a wonderful tradition of giving for Christmas. Which is such a wonderful tradition to have. Our older tradition, is giving away our Christmas Eve offering. The goal was $134,000. We ended up with $143,000. LW began, a few years back, doing “giving trees” [they don’t call them that, but I’m not sure what –if anything- they do call them]. Each tree is for a certain charity or objective. One was reading glasses that will be taken to another country [don’t know if I should say here what country, so I won’t]. they needed 200 pairs. 1 person donated 200, so we ended up with 700 total. So very cool! There were some growth groups who did different things on their own as well. Helping needy families in our “neck of the woods”. I don’t mean this to brag or anything, I just think it’s wonderful.
Serving on the Sunday after Christmas, I heard all kinds of statements & questions. “any returns to do?” “my wife takes our tree down on Christmas day.” Figuring the holiday is over.
For me, I procrastinate taking the Christmas decorations down. In previous years, I guess the thought of “it’s over [sigh]” was just too much of a downer. I’m just learning [ok, at least I hope I’m learning] to enjoy where I am. After all, I won’t be here all that long. I have shared all kinds of song lyrics over the Christmas holiday, so here’s one for right now:
[I first heard this on First Call’s Christmas cd: Beyond December]

After December Slips Away

The season comes
but once a year
A gift
of precious wonder
For all
who hold
it dear
But past the sights
And colored lights
Lord,
far beyond December
I will
remember

After the carols fade away
After the Yule fire dies down
When there are no longer dreams
to open and see
Because You are hope
and joy and peace
Because You're the only gift I need
In my heart
the season will remain
After December Slips Away

Years ago
beneath a tree
Fell the drops of crimson
That set the faithful free
The gift was life
sent in love
Lord,
far beyond December
I will
remember

After the carols fade away
After the Yule fire dies down
When there are no longer dreams
to open and see
Because You are hope
and joy and peace
Because You're the only gift I need
In my heart
the season will remain
After December Slips Away

No matter how bright
the glitter shines
No matter how many
hopes come true
I know that
all I have
Begins
and ends
with You

After the carols fade away
After the Yule fire dies down
When there are no longer dreams
to open and see
Because You are hope
and joy and peace
Because You're the only gift I need
In my heart
the season will remain
After December Slips Away
In my heart
the season
will remain
After December Slips
Away

May you have a Wonderful New Year,

Enjoy the journey,

B