Christmas Music

Here is a video that was forwarded to me by Tracy Wallace (our choir director). Its funny because there are several people that I am reminded of throughout the song. Check it out.






Here a little non Christmas music just to show how good these guys are.

Where The Rubber Meets the Road

Here is a great video that Pastor Dan made recently. Love it.

I Just Couldn't Resist

When presented with this opportunity I just couldn't resist.

Support for a Friend

I have a friend named Debra Gordon. She recently moved to Nashville to be involved with the music community down there. Those of you on facebook have seen the below video, but I thought I would show it to those of you who aren't. Hollar back and let me know what you think. I'm sure she would appreciate your support.



Deb's Description of the video:
"The first song I co-wrote with Steve Oliver when I got to Nashville, TN. This song is about getting over the loss of a loved one (more)"

Hey, They Had A Baby!!!

Another couple I adore had their second baby! The little one is home and I think I get to see her tonight. Anyway, I was just sent this secret footage from the hospitals surveillance cameras (that’s why its in black and white). They sure look excited about the new baby. Ellen even looks GREAT after giving birth. She is such a trooper....and Ian....Who knew he was that talented???

Ian and Ellen Celebration

A Tribute To Some Couples I Love

I love these guys. The fact that I was able to catch them doing these things with a video camera is just luck. I had no idea they were sooooo talented.

Here's To Dan and Kelly Mac


Here's To Michael and Kate

Five Minutes To Kill

I am constantly facinated with the things that people discover they have a skill at. I am also shocked sometimes at the levels in which they develop that skill. Watch this video if you have a spare five minutes. This kid must have spent countless hours developing this skill. Some of the things he does are unbelieveable, especially towards the end. Do any of you have a strange skill out there?

Nothing But The Blood

I am preparing to lead worship this week at my church. Its always hard to put together a worship order. I have so many songs to choose from, and I want to craft a service that will lead the congregation to worhsip in spirit and truth. I want it to please the Lord. While listening to another song with the same name as the below posted song, I remembered this one. Its old and I googled it. Just read and reflect.

Nothing But the Blood
Words and music by Robert Lowry.
Public Domain.


What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

chorus:
O! Precious is the flow,
That makes me white as snow,
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
(chorus)

Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
(chorus)

This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
(chorus)

Seeker vs. Missional

Part One



Part Two

Three Kinds of Men

Here is a two minute Clip from Tim Keller that couldbe a companion to his article that Deb posted over on Sola Fida. Read it and watch this.

Give Me Liberty.....

So I haven't posted in a bit. Life has been busy. Tonight I think I will share another story in my car saga. A few weeks ago I started to detect a strange grinding noise from my back tires whenever I applied the break. I knew that my breaks were pretty jacked up. So I took it in for some work and got a loaner car for several days. While they were doing this, I also had them look at a few more problems I have been having lately. The steering wheel was a bit loose and my check engine light comes and goes. All my problems were fixed except the light and I received the car back and went on my merry way.

Two days later I received notice that my tags were getting ready to expire and that I needed to visit the inspection lanes soon to get them renewed. That's not a big deal, so I read their notice and noticed that it listed a frequently asked questions section. It must have been a slow news day because I read it. What did I see? Well I saw that my car was destined to fail when I went to visit the DMV. The problem? The check engine light. If it is on, they will fail the car. This caused me some issues. What to do?

When I took the car in, they told me that the light was in relation to a minor transmission problem. It slipped occasionally and I was advised by the service writer that it really wasn't worth fixing until the trans really started to have problems. I was stuck between a rock and the DMV. The car was a 97 Olds and wasn't really worth me dropping at least $1000 to have a new transmission put into it. The solution was that the car needed to go, and so me and my friend Aaron went shopping on Thursday night and I bought a new (used) vehicle. So without any further delay........Here is my new Jeep Liberty.






Pictures courtesy of Abigail Tokarski. She is an 8 year old budding photog and was more than willing to take these pics for me. Some day she'll be a great photographic artist I think.

When The Children Cry

Ok, so here is the situation. There is a particular child that I attend church with. He is 2ish. The picture over there on the left is me and him when he was a day old. He hadn't even left the hospital yet. Isn't that a cute pic?

So lately he has taken to running in panic from my presence. One Sunday morning I walked int he building and he started screaming and clung to his dad as if I was going to eat him. It was odd at the time, but his dad and I chalked it up to the little ones mother being away for the weekend. Kids get funny when mom disappears for a day or so. Well, a couple days later I was again in the church building and I was sitting and talking with the church secretary. I heard this young mans mom coming around the corner (little guy in tow) and thought to myself that now we would be cool again, since mom was back and all.

Surprise, he saw me and turned and ran down the hall away from his mom. She tried to bring him back and he cried and hide. This situation persists. You may think that I have done something to this child to cause this reaction, but I haven't.

The most bizarre part of this whole situation is that he talks about me all the time when I am not around.....favorably. I mean as favorable as a 2 year old can, but he'll see me on a video and be happy. He'll dance around when he thinks that he is going to church and that he will see me. His mom even tells me that he has spontaneously prayed for me when she prays with him. It just goes to pot when I am in his physical presence.

Its weird I tell you. I know that kids have their strange periods, its just odd to be involved in one. One day I'm sure we'll be best friends.

Check It Out

For those of you that are looking for a good laugh. This one is funny.



Check it out.

What is Bob Fosse Were A Prison Warden?

Ok, here is another little video that is a little creepy, but also (like a car wreck) something you can't help but watch. So the question is, what if a choreographer ran a prison?

This is an actual prison in the Philippines. I wonder if this is part of the punishment or the rehabilitation.

My Car - Absent Without Leave

It was a regular Sunday morning, as my alarm started to make an obscenely loud noise. I opened my eyes and I think I only hit the snooze button twice. I curse the day I ever discovered the purpose of that button. I eventually got myself up and in the shower. I’m really not awake until that water hits me. I love a morning shower. I don’t really understand those who only bath at night. Next step, get dressed for church and get out the door. I like to stop at Dunkin Donuts and grab an iced coffee before worship team practice. I’m running a little behind schedule as I walk out my door debating on whether I should still attempt this, or go straight to church and be on time.

As I get to the bottom of my steps and enter the parking lot, I start scanning for my car.

Hmmm, I thought I parked right there…….Maybe its further down that way. Hmmm, this can’t be right.

At this point I am confused and start strolling around and looking for my car. After about 2 minutes of this, I have realized that my car is AWOL. Its somewhere not here. I walk over and sit on my steps and decide that there are two options. Option 1, my car was stolen. Option 2, my car was towed by my condo association. At this point I take my phone out of my pocket and call my friend Ian at church and tell him that my car is missing and I need someone to pick me up for church. I’ll deal with this later.

Since I live a couple miles form my church, it only took about 15 minutes until I was standing next to my fellow musical types explaining that I my car was away from home without my permission. After church my friend Bernie drove me home and I called the number for the towing company that our condo association uses. The woman I spoke to said that she wasn’t sure that they had taken my car. This was not what I expected; I began to think maybe my car had been stolen. I spoke with her again 30 minutes later and she told me that they did have my car.

Having located who was in possession of my vehicle, I asked why. She advised me it was something to do with my tags. At this point I feel it necessary to explain that on 6/15 of this year my condo association began a parking enforcement program. Some people from a nearby neighborhood were parking excess vehicles in our spaces. We also had some residents who would have extra unregistered cars or several overnight guests. At this time, you need to have your car registered, your guests need a pass if its overnight, etc…. If your car isnt’ registered with the complex, you get a warning. If it is in an illegal spot, handicapped spot, or is untagged, it is towed immediately.

Being told that my car was towed for a tag issue, I began to think about the last time I went to motor vehicle. I was almost sure that it was tagged appropriately, but I have been known to let my tags expire in the past. I would deal with this when I had all the facts and picked my car up Monday morning, so I called my mother and made arrangements for her to pick me up early Monday morning. I spent the afternoon and evening with MC_Shan and Kate going to a friends afternoon church service and having dinner at Outback. I needed a good steak.

Monday morning came and I was up and ready to go when my mom picked me up. We are very different in how we handle stressful situations. Where I am calm and tend to avoid worry and rushing into more stress, my mom is ready to call everyone in the county to complain and yell about something. Needless to say, I had to calm her down about the situation. When we got to the towing company, she wanted to come in with me to “question” why my car was towed, I wouldn’t let her. I knew it would turn into a scenario in which she would "loud talk" to me on the injustice or stupidity of the situation. It wasn’t the towing companies fault; they were just doing their job. So after I paid the $200 (this was the most painful part of this whole situation), I sent my mom home. My car was at another lot the company maintained, and so they graciously offered me a lift to that lot.

Here is a fun part of the story. I got to ride in a tow truck with two of the most stereotypical tow truck guys you will ever meet. As we drove to the other lot, the driver was yelling at women he passed while complaining about his ex wife and telling stories with the other guy about run ins with the police over the weekend. The experience was priceless.

We got to the lot and my car was released to me, and just as expected the liscense plate sticker said Nov 06. Now I have let my registration go a few weeks in the past, but never 7 months. I drove to work and when I got to the office, I rifled through my glove box and found the registration slip. It said that the car expired in Nov 06. At this point I am kicking myself, because it looks like it is completely my fault. How could I let my registration go for 7 months.

At lunch I went to Motor Vehicle to get the car inspected and get a new sticker so that I wouldn’t be towed again that night. I waited in line for inspection for over an hour. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but my air doesn’t work in the car and it was something like 97 degrees out. I got through the lane, went in the building and went to the counter. Surprisingly, everyone at Motor Vehicle is more pleasant than they used to be. The lady at the counter took my paperwork and when she pulled my car up, she informed me that my car’s registration didn’t expire until Nov 07. Suddenly struck by the comedic value of the whole situation I would have smiled or laughed, except that I was also immediately struck by the waste of $200 that wasn’t my fault. The nice lady gave me a new sticker and a new registration card for free and I was out and on my way back to work.

That’s the story. Funny, painful, stupid and confusing. I’m out $200 for what looks like the theft of my DE license plate sticker. I have no idea who took it, or if it just fell off for some bizarre reason. I don’t even know how long its been missing. The towing company isn’t at fault, the complex isn’t’ at fault (except I think this whole situation exposes a flaw in the parking enforcement system). I’m certainly not at fault. I plan on writing letters to the condo association and the property management company they contract to plea for changes so no one else goes through this. It would be nice if they would reimburse me as well.

So what is it that God is trying to teach me in this situation? Many people were perplexed at my casual and calm approach to the whole thing, and I believe that this is an appropriately biblical response.

How about you dear reader, can you see the lesson in this adventure?

Emergent vs. Traditional and Seeker

Here is another video clip from Desiring God ministries. Ever since Dr. John Armstrong visited our church during our 20th anniversary celebration and introduced to concept of being missional, I have really been challenged on how "church" is done. These video bits and pieces that I have found are very thought provoking and I am interested in any thoughts that my readers have on these. I'll be posting these bits in between my semi regular posts on various other things. This particular video is from Dr. David Wells. You can read more about him at this link. The video isn't very long so take some time and watch.

I'm Being Challenged

This clip is from Pastor Mark Driscoll. He leads Mars Hill Church in Seattle and I have been listening to a lot of his sermons of late. I think I am going to be posting several items in reference to him and some other pastors/theologians who have been challenging my thinking lately. The below clip is from some pre conference interviews from Desiring God ministries 2006 conference. The conference title was Above All Earthly Powers and centered around the postmodern mindset and the emergent church. Many of the clips discuss engaging the culture. Great stuff.

Whats Going On?

So I have been really busy lately. My dad had brain surgery to help combat the symptoms of his Parkinson’s, I went to Columbus Ohio for work for several days, and I am getting busier at work all the time. It’s crazy crazy crazy, and because of this several things I like to do (like Blog) is falling behind. Add to this the upcoming graduation season, weddings I'm involved with and (as of last night), my involvement with the children’s musical Jailhouse Rock, I felt I needed to make myself update the world. I'm still here!! So here are some random thoughts on some topics that I am interested in.

1. The iPhone - I don't think anyone would be surprised that I like gadgets, and I especially like cool gadgets that do multiple things. I have high hopes for the iPhone, but there are several factors that will hold me back from getting one when it is released in June. Number one on that list is the price. It’s over $500 for the 4Gig version. I'm just not willing to pay that. The other reason I won't run out and get one is that it’s new. I so want to be an early adaptor, but I also have a stronger aversion to purchasing anything this complex in its first generation. I think that Apple needs to have a generation or two to get the kinks worked out. There is no doubt about it that this device is really cool and I will eventually own one, maybe sometime in 2008 or early 2009. This is of course subject to change if something crazy happens.....like I get a deal I can't pass up.

2. HDTV - So a few weeks ago I decided that I would dive into the HDTV world and upgrade my television to a flat LCD TV. I did a lot of research and stumbled on a great open box deal for a 36 inch LG at Circuit City. It was a nice TV, and I bought it on the spot and took it home. This is where I learned that I was not ready for HDTV. The issue.......I don't have digital cable, and I'm not willing to upgrade to it. As I watched regular TV stretched to fit the screen, it was blah. When I adjusted it so it looked correct, the picture was significantly smaller and I had a lot of black space on the edges. I didn’t' like that. DVD's looked great, but I hated everything else about it. So I took it back the next day and got a refund. I decided that until the prices dropped more on the TV's and that a solution came about to solve my cable issue I would wait. Regardless, my 32 inch Sony is still a great picture and still has a nice size for my condo.

3. Jail House Rock - What do I get myself into? Last night I was asked to participate in the audition process to help the leadership team pick parts for the annual kid’s musical help in July. So with my regular "big ideas" mouth I made several suggestions and then without even thinking I said, I can coach those kids on that. Bam the team jumped on it and now I have a group of boys and one girl that I am coaching on how to be a rap gang. They'll be beat boxing and rapping during one of the songs. This will be a challenge, but also a lot of fun I think. One thing for sure is that it will take time. I know I will enjoy it, I really like musical theater, and I’ve just never been on the coaching directing side of it before.

4. My Dads surgery - So my dad had brain surgery. I know you can either think wow, that’s serious or you can insert joke here. He has Parkinson’s disease and it’s been almost 20 years since the symptoms started to show. Of late he has really been having a rough time with it. The shaking is the least of the problems. When he walks he needs a walker. He could be going along and his legs will freeze, but his momentum continues to carry him forward and so he falls a lot. He has to wear knee pads to protect him. So after several months of consideration he had surgery to implant a really cool gadget into his body. This device is sort of like a pacemaker (it’s in his chest) and it has two leads that are strung up through his neck and implanted into parts of the brain. They fire an electrical current in sequence and this helps to offset many of his symptoms. It’s no cure, but they turned it on yesterday and he says that he was able to walk without falling and the shaking is noticeably less. This is good news. It buys him some more time before he will be really forced to a wheelchair. I have a lot of thoughts about when a parent becomes disabled....I'll share them in the future.

That’s all for now, hollar if you are reading.
RAV

Pollution and Tending The Garden

On Tuesday night I attended a concert at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington. It was offered by the University of Delaware Choral program. Over the course of the evening they shared competition pieces that they will be using at an international choir competition in Estonia. Much of the music was beautiful, and a good deal was sacred. As a side note, I find it very interesting that secular universities use sacred music in their music programs. I wonder if at some point this will be considered offensive, but I digress.

The music was beautiful and at one point a young man read a statement before the choir sang a Venezuelan piece. The statement was a list of environmental disasters and their effect on the environment. After each disaster he dramatically spoke the word "Listen". He then quoted an old African saying about the "earth being tired." I have to say that I am not a proponent of global warming theory; at least not the theory pushed my many. I do believe that the earth is going through changes and that in some cases, we are responsible. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, he gave them the duty of tending it (Genesis 2:15). He also gave man dominion over the planet (Genesis 1:26-30). Now dominion is a serious responsibility. I am consistently disappointed with my brothers and sisters in the Lord who are so against anything that resembles agreement with liberals, that they dismiss the responsibility God gave us at our creation.

Let me be clear, I am not saying we are in a environmental crisis. Nobody would call me a tree hugger or a hippie, or a left wing environmental wacko. What I am saying is that we can all take our responsibility to be good stewards of the gift God gave us a little more seriously. Conservation isn't just to appease the environmentalists. Its good stewardship of the world we were give dominion over and asked to tend. We can also do all we can to eliminate pollution and live a little more clean. If everyone did a little it would add up to a lot. Global warming is debatable, but pollution is not. It’s happening and it doesn't have to.

Berries and Cream

Ok, I know that my posts have been pretty serioys lately, but today in church Tony told me I had to watch this video and I have to tell you......it is scary funny. Enjoy.