let my words be few

So, I’ve been reflecting on some things that I’ve always enjoyed, but recently have been enjoying them more than ever. Here they are with brief commentary.

1. Phil Keaggy - I’ve listened to and enjoyed him for a while now, but i was able to see him in concert this past Sunday night and was blown away once again. I also got to hang out with him since I was the “promotor” of the concert which was lots of fun. He is genuinely humble, funny, and caring. And he’s incredibly small.

2. 7th Chords - This is a musician thing, but I’ve been playing/adding 7th chords to some music recently and it’s amazing how one note can take you somewhere totally new. When I finally learn how to play 9th, 11th, and 13th chords, I’m not going to know what to do with myself.

3. Oreos and Milk - Most of you who read this know I don’t like chocolate. However, there is great goodness in Oreos. Add to that a big ol’ glass of Organic Valley Whole Milk (yes, whole milk, don’t get me started on the evils of skim milk) and you’ve got one of the best treats ever.

4. Old friends who used to want to be like you and bought red Takamine guitars and mini-vans because that’s what I used to have, well, still have - When I first started playing and singing, there were some guys who thought I was cool because I played guitar and drove a mini-van with a CD player in it (this was back in the 90’s), so they decided they wanted to be like me and bought the same guitar as me, started driving mini-vans, and growing beards. They now have better guitars than me, cooler cars, and fuller beards and that’s awesome.

5. My wife - This is the most important one. Sometimes we get lazy and don’t recognize how good we have it and begin to take the ordinary for granted. Then one morning you wake up and realize (by God’s grace) that you’re married to the girl of your dreams, your best friend, the one who knows your voice inflections better than anyone else and is the only one who can harmonize with those, the one whose laugh makes your heart sing, the best mommy in the world, an amazing web designer, one whose beauty can stop traffic, a great cook, a joy to be around, the one who I’m staring at across the room right now without her noticing and longing for the moment where she will lay her head on my chest tonight and go to sleep. And then you smack yourself for not fawning over her everyday to tell her all she’s means to you, and how thankful you are for her, and how she truly is a gift from God that you don’t deserve. I’m in love, smitten, whipped, captivated, enchanted, moonstruck and crazy about her.

That’s what I’m enjoying right now. How about you?

This happened when we were in Florida. It’s my most embarrassing moment as a worship leader. We were coming to the end of a set of songs asking Christ to be the center of our lives. Be Thou My Vision flowed right into Jesus, Be the Centre. At the end of the song, our drummer, who was playing on the dreadful electronic drums, accidentally hit the “Count Off” button. So, as we sang the words, “Be the reason that I live,” we began to hear, “1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4…” over and over and over again. The only appropriate response at that moment was to laugh and turn it over to the pastor. How do you recover from something like that? Enjoy.
Click here to hear!

This summer I had an amazing opportunity to go to Thailand and lead worship for a missions conference.  It was one of the most moving experiences of my life.  Many of the folks there serve in very hard places and often have no church other than their own family.  So, for most of them, to gather together for times of corporate worship was a huge blessing.  It was also a blessing for me to serve them in this way.  Below is a video of the last day and we’re singing together “Not to us, but to Your Name be the glory.”  We began the conference with this song and from the first note the sense of Jesus Christ being in that room, leading the worship Himself (Psalm 22:22, Hebrews 2:12), was almost overwhelming.  I’ll never forget that moment.  This video is the last day and we sang this song again to bookend what this conference was about.  It’s a little choppy because it was recorded with a little digital camera made for still pictures and not movies, but you get the general idea.   

Today, December 6th 2007 at 2:13 p.m. my iTunes stats just reached 10,000.  I’m actually at 10,001 right now.  That’s 28 days, 13 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds of music.  I’ve been putting Christmas music in the past few days and the album that put me over the 10,000 mark was The Lost Christmas Eve by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  If you haven’t heard of them, you need to.  It’s Christmas music that ROCKS!  So, I’m going back to banging my head to “Siberian Sleigh Ride” and celebrating this milestone.  

Oh, and by the way, if anyone is still looking for a Christmas gift for me, these guys are playing in Columbia on Dec. 23rd at the Colonial Center.  *hint, hint*

Fanny Crosby was one of the most if not the most prolific hymn writer in history.  Having written over 8,000 hymns in her lifetime, her songs are found in almost every hymnal in America.  Growing up as a Baptist many of her songs are ingrained deep in my memory and my soul.  Her best known hymns are “To God be the Glory,” “All the Way My Savior Leads Me,” “Blessed Assurance,” and “I Am Thine, O Lord,” plus many others that would take way to long to mention.

The thing I most appreciate about her writing is the joy in Christ that is so evident.  If you didn’t know already Fanny was blinded by an incompetent doctor when she was only six weeks old.  She died just a month shy of her 95 birthday and this is what she said of her blindness: 

“It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.”

Over the past week I have been reading some of her lesser known hymns with the intention of putting new melodies to them for use in corporate worship.  My goal was to write the melodies in such a way that they seem familiar.  I would love for people to sing these songs and say, “I think I’ve heard that before.”  My first attempt at this is a song called “Blessed Redeemer.” 

Once I figure out (or Kristi figures out for me) how to post audio of it I’ll do it ASAP.  (Update: click for audio file here.) Here are the lyrics:

Blessed Redeemer, full of compassion,

Great is Thy mercy, boundless and free;

Now in my weakness, seeking Thy favor,

Lord, I am coming closer to Thee.

Refrain: Blessed Redeemer, wonderful Savior,

Fountain of wisdom, Ancient of Days,

Hope of the faithful, Light of all ages,

Jesus my Savior, Thee will I praise.

Blessed Redeemer, Thou art my Refuge,

Under Thy watch-care, safe shall I be;

Gladly adoring, joyfully trusting,

Still I am coming closer to Thee.

Blessed Redeemer, gracious and tender,

Now and forever dwell Thou in me;

Thou, my protector, Shield and Defender,

Draw me and keep me closer to Thee.

SDG