points of focus

I recently started reading "the purpose driven life" which is set up in devotional format and I certainly recommend it. I particularly love my copy that I picked up at the library booksale which has notes in the margins and scraps of paper stuck in from the previous owner. It's fun to see how closely they relate to me in their reactions to what the author has written.  there are a few points of contemplation that I'd like to share here and hopefully invoke discussion on.

There are a lot of things that people focus on that I've never really found myself prone to spend countless hours contemplating. considering the topics of this book I'm wondering if perhaps I should spend more time meditating on the subjects. for one, the question of meaning of life has never really peaked my curiosity.  It just seems blatantly obvious to me that we were put here by God to serve and love Him. He gave us certain gifts and we are to use them to His glory. the rest is inconsequential. however, its thorough discussion in Christian novels are making me wonder if (like the first time I read "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and assumed the identity of the Half-Blood prince was obvious but then it turned out to be a different character than I expected) my hasty conclusion is not all there is to the matter.

also, I don't spend a lot of time contemplating what comes after this life. I know that if I love God and live for Him there will be a place for me in His house once my time here is up. A lot of places say that this life is "preparation" for the next. what on earth does "preparation" mean? is it like High School where you're learning how to learn so that when you get to the stuff you need to learn for your particular field you know how to? I thought the only thing necessary to be ready for the next life is loving God.

Evangelism is another thing. I read a book by Pat Boone called "A New Song" (I don't recommend it to anyone who is bothered by sub-par writing style or grammar). It's basically a spiritual autobiography for him and his family. They were a family that was very outspoken about their faith and very willing to talk to people with different beliefs and "talk them into God" so to speak. I'm definitely a person who would like to respect other people's beliefs. I mean, I have a hard enough time walking up to other christians and saying "hey can we talk about God?" so clearly I don't have the gumption to talk to people with other views. I will certainly ask them about their views and hear what they believe, as well as share what I believe and answer any questions that they have to the best of my ability, but I'm just not in the business of imposing my views on others. I have in several instances heard what they believe and sometimes I can tell that God is the only gap in their logic and begin praying for them that their hearts might be open to Him. To make up for my lack of outgoingness on the subject matter I also frequently pass on books I feel would be helpful to them and their faith as well as particular songs or bands that speak more articulately than I can. I think I've decided the evangelical path for me is to live my life all for God and hope that serves as a catalyst for people to ask about Him.  Pat's daughters all had a certain glow about them that other people very much noticed when they decided their lives entirely to Jesus, and that is what got them asking about God and their faith and led to many people coming to Christ in the Boone home. 

My strongest tool is prayer. so I will be praying for the strength and guidance to live in a way that touches everyone I meet with God's light and love and gets them thinking about Him, as well as praying for those who don't know Him, that the eyes of their hearts might open and see Him

I thank God for timing. A few years ago I read a book that was just so perfectly timed in my life and today I picked up the next book by the same author and it is the best imaginable timing. He has so much planned and in control that we could never know about. I suspect that one of my lessons for this summer is how to lead a less busy lifestyle to highlights the habits that need to be cleaned up and learn how to truly know that God is in control.

I also think this summer is the answer to my prayers at the end of the semester which was my daily morning wishes of only wanting to practice and learn about God.

and on that note, I think I'll practice organ tonight :-)

Psalm 4- a bedtime prayer

I feel like this is the Psalm for when the troubles of the world are weighing on you as you are preparing yourself for rest.  This is the perfect Psalm for letting go of all your frustration and remembering God will take care of it. not to mention, it ends with: 

"In peace I will lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe"

why let any worldly thing bother us? God's got it under control, and he can do far more heavy lifting than any of us. Jesus came for and left with our burdens. 

~I pray we give all our burdens to you~

Psalm 3- God in Harry Potter terms

God is my Patronus. (yes. that wizard rock tour has influenced my mind to be on Harry Potter more than it should be)

ANYWAY

God is my Patronus. oh jeeze, i should probably explain for those who haven't experienced HP or forgot what a Patronus is. right, ok, so there's these things that suck the happiness and soul out of you and the Patronus is what you cast to make them go away. it's like a shield or a force field around you that you have to think of something happy to create. Good Patronus' take the shape of an animal that most closely resembles you, or if you have been changed by grief or something else strong it might change form. ANYWAY hopefully the rest of my explanation of my statement will clarify it further. so.

God is my Patronus.  It is from Him that my joy comes and He is my force field that keep the sadness at bay. By eminating Him I am protecting my soul from all the evil influences that seek to taint or control it. 

When Harry learns this spell he is told to "think of something happy" what could be happier than a Heavenly Father who loves you more than anything and holds you in the palm of His hand?

"I'm trading my sorrows for the joy of the Lord"

~I pray when the unpleasantness of the world press upon us we may remember the Joy we have in God and let that joy shine through us like a forcefield against them~

Psalm 2- Freedom

God created us in a particular way with certain abilities and passions. We are free when we live our lives using the abilities and passions he gave us, not by following what the world tells us we should be doing.  We need to listen to God's voice and live by His will. If we fall slave to other voices we are not FREE

What does it mean to be free? 

to me, when this Psalm talks about being Free I imagine the feeling of freedom. The liberating feeling of overwhelming joy. I most closely associate that feeling with 2 memories in my life- 1 was riding a 4 wheeler in a field in Potter County, not having to stay on a road or avoid the bumps, just going as fast as I felt like and feeling the air rushing past me. and 2-the feeling of doing what I love and knowing that's what I'm meant to be doing. this happens frequently but most strongly at State band my Senior year with Peter Boonshaft. the music that ensemble made was unbelievable and we all felt it. to this day I can't listen to the recording of that concert without being moved to tears. 

I know that the feeling of freedom that came with those experiences is the same feeling I get when I sing to God. When I'm making music for Him or listening to music being made for Him I feel that same liberation. That same overwhelming joy. That's how I know that's God's will for me. He blessed me with the gift of music and when I use it for his Glory I get that freedom.

does that make sense? when you read Free does it mean something else to you?

~I pray we are all free in living for God, the way He created us to be~

Psalm 1- the voices we listen to

I read this Psalm and immediately wrote another song that has a chorus with no verses.

Here's the chorus, it's still a work in progress:

I don't wanna hear it

not what you've got to say 

I don't wanna hear it

not from you, not today

What to do how to live

Cause I've got more to give

I just know

I've gotta do it God's way

yeah. it needs work. anyway...

I feel like this psalm is encouraging us not to listen to what non-christians advise us to do. It's not God's will if it's not coming from Him or His children. God wants us to listen to Him and His followers for their hearts are with Him and they live for Him. To live a Godly life it is good to be closest friends with other christians. we should love everyone but only seek counsel from those whose hearts are with God.

who do you go to when you need help figuring life out?

"where does my help come from?"

we should look to God and God's children

"My help comes from you, maker of heaven and Earth"

~I pray we all look to God and children of God when we need counsel~

Blessing vs curse

So I went on tour with Lena, one of my best friends from school, and was the drummer for her Wizard Rock Band (music about Harry Potter) The Butterbeer Experience (youtube us. there are videos from our gig at the venom club in Boston!!). I've decided to call it the Cursed tour '09 (though for lena and graceface it's the "Parking ticket tour") It was tons of fun and a great experience, if for no other reason than now I know what that kind of a tour is like. Parts of it, like Perkins after the Bethlehem show and hanging out in NYC with my alumni friends and hanging out in Boston with friends from Ithaca and Larry were SOOOOOOOOOOO fun and wonderful and awesome and I was so grateful that this tour provided me with those opportunities. And the parts when we were playing were excellent also. Other parts, however, were not so sunshine and daisies.

Have you driven in NYC? It's actually not as bad as I was expecting. Yes, people drive absolutely STUIPD but the good news is that they do it really slowly. It's like when you're learning a really difficult lick but it's totally manageable when you take it really slow. It's TOTALLY possible to manage the stupid driving because everyone's traveling under 10mph. so THAT part of driving was a relief. the part that was not so great was not knowing how to get where I was going. thankfully, Susan had enough internet to find me on a map and talk me through how to get where I was going. Lena and I got separated before the holland tunnel and it turned out she didn't get there with her directions anyway. epic freaked out quote of that drive "I'M ON A BRIDGE" (for those of you on the Creation '08 trip, it was in a tone quite akin to "I DROVE INTO A FIELD") So the stress of getting there behind me Lena helps me find a parking space and now my only worry is for the safety of my drumset in the back of my car. Lena and Grace (another wrocker) both got parking tickets, though I was spared. 

there were other parts of the tour that I was grumpy about, such as rain while I was bringing my drumset in in Boston. and being in the wrong place in Boston. and random other small things, but the thing that struck me most was when we arrived in NYC and we got the go ahead from Lena to set up and everything then someone walked in and the sound guy came in and started flipping out that the drumset was on the stage because supposedly they had told everyone not to put anything on stage till the sound guy got there. they were very rude and much more upset than they needed to be. later on they calmed down and were perfectly pleasant to us and even really enjoying our playing, but to me I felt that if they had been leading God centered lives they probably wouldn't have gotten so worked up about something so easily ameliorated. The only kind of (rock/pop) band I ever imagined myself touring with was a Christian band. I can't help but think that should I ever be in a band that does a lot of touring it would have to be a christian band because then I'll be mostly encountering and working with other christians. I know that's not guarantee, but I think it would be better anyway. I'm hoping for a Blessed tour someday.

My visit to Boston University last week looking into grad school only reinforced this hypothesis. We had an appointment at the School of Music and the School of Theology. while they were perfectly friendly and inviting at the School of Music I couldn't help but feel more comfortable with the admissions counsellor at the school of Theology. I didn't realize it right away but as our conversation went on I realized it was because we weren't just talking about a school but a place in which people grow spiritually. And it was evident that we were both people who seek spiritual growth. the atmosphere surrounding that conversation and tour was drastically different than that in the music school, even though a music school is where I feel most comfortable with having lived in one for the past 3 years :-)

I really like the idea of surrounding myself with christians, which segues nicely into my next post actually...

Prologue (or Prelude, if you will)

today I'm gonna put up a bunch of posts. I'm splitting them up so they're more manageable. so that's why. now you know.

the ones following this one are my reflections on Psalms. the reason: I've been wanting to do a Bible study with people for over a year now, and while everyone I've asked has been very enthusiastic, the ball never rolled for any of us. so I decided to start in on Psalms and post my reflections with the hope that they will inspire discussions in the comment section for them. It's an open bible study I invite everyone to join me in :-)

I will be using my NLT student study bible which has lots of sidenotes and background info and stuff to think about it. I might reference some of it. I invite you to read your favorite version of the Psalm I'm discussing at biblegateway.com it's very easy to search and look at your favorite translation or multiple translations

My bible has a lovely intro to Psalms I'd like to share:

God's Word was written to be studied, understood, and applied, and the book of Psalms lends itself most directly to application.  We may turn to Psalms looking for something, but sooner or later we will meet Someone.  As we read and memorize Psalms, we will discover how much they are already part of us.  They put our deepest hurts, longings, thoughts, and prayers into words.  They gently push us toward being what God designed us to be- people who love and live for him.

but first, the post I meant to post a while ago.