THE MUSIC OF SALVATION - On how my guitar is like God's blessed gift of salvation.



          It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen and I knew if I could get my hands on it, I wouldn’t stop practicing until I could play it well.  My lucky big brother had gotten a new guitar for his 16^th birthday and I wanted it – bad.  But of course, it was new and exciting to him too so he disappeared into his bedroom and played it for hours.  Sometimes I watched him and it didn’t seem that hard; push the strings down at one end and strum them on the other.  How tough could that be?

          Life went on and my brother got busy living the life of a popular high school age boy with friends and sports and cars – but his guitar stayed home – with ME.  With his permission, I could use it if I tuned it and put it back away when I was done.  And play it I did.

          When you’re learning to play the guitar it sounds absolutely horrible. It takes time for your fingertips to toughen up and until they do, it’s quite painful.  You have to develop strength in your hands to compress the strings so they ring clearly.  Until then they just produce a dull thud.

          From my brother’s birthday in September that year I played whenever I got the chance.  I played my fingertips off – literally.  I played until my fingers bled and then played more.

          When Christmas morning came that year, we all went out to see what Santa had left for us and I can remember like it was yesterday.  There was a beautiful black guitar case behind the tree with a bow and MY name on it!  I could hardly breathe as I opened it and inside was the most beautiful full size guitar I’d ever seen.  You could just have thrown away any other gifts that year because all I wanted to do was go to my room and play. I kissed my mom and dad profusely and at the first opportunity I found a place to bond with my new beauty.

          I played for anybody that asked.  I played and sang.  I wrote songs; funny songs, happy songs, sad songs, love songs.  Every emotion I felt, I expressed in my music.  And let’s face it; an 11 year-old’s musical pallet is not too sophisticated.  But it was all me.

 

          I was thinking today that the gift of salvation is a bit like that guitar.  The instrument called Salvation is in itself beautiful and it is given by God to us as a free gift.  The potential to enjoy it fully is all there but it must be pulled out of its case and carefully, systematically practiced.  It takes time, knowledge about how it’s supposed to be played, and joyful discipline as something crude and rough at the beginning slowly develops into what the instrument was designed to sound like.

          I have a friend who is a piano teacher and she says, “It’s not ‘Practice makes perfect.’ It’s “Perfect practice makes perfect.’”

          As we grow in love for and knowledge of our blessed Redeemer and we move forward in following His ways more truly each day, we begin to produce the lovely music God intended when he gave us the gift.  Often the process is painful and trying but the music is growing sweeter and more beautiful than we ever could have imagined!  Until one day, when the music that we sought to practice perfectly in our lives will indeed BE perfectly played with all the saints and angels in eternity!

 

          And what a day of rejoicing that will be!!

 

I - ME - MY: It's all about me

It's All About Me Jesus

 

 

I love being a part of our church's praise and worship team.  About once a month I refile all the music that we've used that month in an alphabetical file folder.

  

Today I noticed that one of the folders is MUCH bigger than the rest.  It's the folder labeled

 

...   I   ...

  

Hmm. 

 

And then it hit me.  Even our worship is all about us.  We sing, "It's all about You, It's all about You Jesus!"

  

If only it were true.

 

I want - I will - I hope - I dream

My desire - My joy - My wish

 

I write music and I have to admit that some of my lyrics are self-focused too.  The wonder of God loving me is - astonishing really.

 

But I want GOD to be seen above all.

 

A window!  Yes, that's what I want to be.  It's not there to be looked at, just through.

 

 

John 3:30

HE must increase but I must decrease.

 

 





MY SON - Thoughts on how Mary must have felt.

Thinking back on how it all began, it seems so long ago,

I was so young, just sixteen years.  How quickly by years go.

One night the angel Gabriel spoke words that seemed so odd;

He said I’d conceive and bear a Son, for I had found favor with God.

I was amazed, bewildered and said, “How can this be?”

He said the Holy Spirit would overshadow me.

I said, “Father, I’m so unworthy, just a handmaid of the Lord,

But I’ll obey, yes, let it be according to your Word.”

I don’t know why the Lord chose me, it makes me shiver still;

But even then I knew enough to just obey His will.

 

We had to travel to Bethlehem at the time the child was due.

The night we arrived in the little town the prophecy came true.

The inns were full but we managed to find a stable in which to stay.

So I set clean cloths to make a bed in a troth we filled with hay.

And on that night I bore God’s Son - Oh, what a precious boy!

Already with eyes full of wisdom, He became my deepest joy.

As Jesus grew there never was a time when he was bad.

I never had the problems that the other mothers had.

When I felt discouraged, He always seemed to know.

I knew the time was coming when my Son would have to go,

But I had no way of knowing His impending agony.

Not even in horrible nightmares was my Son - nailed to a tree.

They had no case against Him.  They paid witnesses to lie.

When Pilot offered Him freedom, the crowd screamed for Him to die.

And so they ripped at my Son’s flesh with ruthless whips that tore.

That body I had nurtured, they battered o’re and o’re.

They hated Him and spat and pulled out handfuls of His hair.

But through that wretched torture, He loved all the people there.

See - He knew inside that vicious crowd was never going to win.

And as was written, in three day’s time my Jesus - rose again.

And finally I understood the sacrifice He made.

We’re free from sin; the penalty of death is finally paid!

 

If you my friend have ever had a child of your own,

Perhaps you’ve had an inkling of the pain that I have known.

For you in future ages, whom I have never met,

I beg you to accept my Son for He has paid your debt.

And now He rules from heaven and we His glory share.

My friend, accept His precious gift -

We’d love to see you there!

I AM EVE - Seeing myself in the women I've come to know in the Bible

 

 

I Am Eve

I am Eve:  I defy the One Who created me.  I choose to do the very things that separate me from living in oneness with Him.

I am Rahab:  I seek satisfaction in things and people that bring no fulfillment.

I am Bathsheba:  Breaking my promises.

I am Sarai:  I have trouble believing that God can keep his promises.

I am Naomi:  Feeling at times abandoned.

I am Ruth: Seeing that there is one true God and He is to be followed no matter what the cost.

I am Esther:  Pleading before my Heavenly Father’s throne for strength and guidance when my actions will impact others.

I am Sarah:  Following my husband to a new land knowing God has a wonderful, but unknown plan for us there.

I am Mary:  Astonished that God chose me to be a vessel through which He would do His work.

I am Martha:  Getting distracted with all the busy activities and missing what really matters.

I am Sally:  Lost, Blind, Found, Saved, Doubting, Struggling, Faithless, Faithful, Prayerless, Prayerful, Astonished, Distracted, Transformed, Hopeful, Growing, God’s Woman – Eternally!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



AND THEY WERE WATCHING... a poem about integrity

And They Were Watching
S. Bentley

He went to work and did his job
And now and then shared his faith in God
And those around all watched his life
His love for God, his kids, his wife
And they were drawn, not by his words
But by what their eyes could see

And they were watching - they always do
You never notice but it’s true
Watching me and watching you
What is it they see?

He preached the gospel on T.V.
“The Lord shall bring thee victory!”
But many tender souls were crushed
When news arose of his crimes of lust
They were repelled not by his words
But by what their eyes could see

 

She was the mom of one small boy
She taught him faith in God with joy
And as he matured that boy could view
That in fact his mother’s faith was true
And he was drawn, not by her words
But by what his eyes could see

 

He was a man who shared his thoughts
Then lived it out before those he taught
He asked them all to come follow Him
Then laid down His life to free them from sin
And they were drawn, not just by His words
But by His magnificent deeds!

 

And they were watching - they always do
You never notice but it’s true
Watching me and watching you
What is it they see?

A LITTLE PRESPECTIVE - Seeing what matters

   As a little girl, I can remember one summer playing on the front lawn when something on the sidewalk caught my eye.  There was a trail of ants marching dutifully in a line across the pavement.  Some were heading one way and some coming the other.  Some had cumbersome loads of useful bits of leaves and dead bug carcasses that they were hauling into their little ant kingdom down a hole in a crack in the cement.

   So busy … so constructive … so focused.

  They were completely unaware that this little seven year old girl would spend the next half hour trying to make the trip a little more challenging for them.  First I placed my little pink clip-clop in their way.  They seemed a bit distressed but soon found their way around the sides and continued their trek.  Then there was a garden hose, a leaf and finally a little water.

   Very determined little creatures, ants are!

   Never could they begin to understand the complexities of my world.  Ants think that bringing treasures to their queen is all that matters.

 

   We are ants.  No.  Not the bug kind of ants.  The little earthly creatures that hustle about thinking what we’re doing is so very important.  But God looks down and wants us to understand Him.  He wants us to acknowledge Him as Master and Creator.

   Sometimes, I look up.  And I begin to understand HIS world.  It’s huge and amazing.  It’s wonderful … mostly because …

  He loves this little silly ant; this worthless, pitiful   …and busy ant.

 

Colossians 3:1-3 Reminds me –

   Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Click HERE to hear us sing it (may take a few minutes to load) 

THE (not-so) GREAT WALL OF COARSEGOLD - a cautionary tale



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In a little town down the mountain from us, a retired couple bought a lot on a hill to build their dream.  They thought if they could spend all their retirement savings and build a storage facility it would bring them good income for the rest of their lives.  Of course the county made their dream more difficult because they would be required to build a huge retaining wall to assure the business below them no danger of landslides.  So they did what was necessary to make their dreams happen.



That was ten or eleven years ago.  Now the wall is crumbling away, it started buckling at the base and eventually it has become an unsightly nightmare.  A small wall of cement rails keep auto & foot traffic away from imminent danger of being crushed by it.  Twisted rebar and crushed cinderblock protrude from the base like some kind of disemboweled dinosaur.  A few years ago they began to cover it with plastic in hopes that slowing the rain erosion might prevent  the destruction.  Instead, plastic sheeting is being shredded as the falling block rips and tears at it.

How much like this is a person whose intent and purpose is to build all their hopes and dreams on anything less than a foundation with eternal solidity.  You work, scrimp and save to build a dream.  You pour your blood, sweat and tears into designing it and you give shape to the structure of your imagination.  The only problem is, it’s being constructed on the weakest, most vulnerable of undergirdings. 

The God Who created us, designed a rock-solid foundation for a life to be built upon.  He could have no friendship with sinful man so he became sinless man to bear the cost for that sin.  He invites the lost, the blind, the dying to build where our structure will stand, unharmed by the wind, floods and earthquakes of life.

Why do people not understand this?  I simply don’t understand what is SO great about a life that is destined to end up like the Great Wall of Coarsegold? 

Whenever we drive through that little town, it reminds me to pray for those who don’t understand; the lost, the defiant, the confused, the rebellious.

Oh Father, please open their eyes!  And please use me in any way that might help!

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Matthew 7:24 – 27  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶ Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”