So Where's the Fruit or Sneaking apples from another man's orchard

    So here it is... Fall is upon us once more. I must confess that it is my least favorite season. I always approach it like a defendant waiting for his sentence to be handed down from the judge. "I sentence you to 6 months of cold dreary dark, dank winter. You will spend your winter shoveling snow until you suffer a heart attack and die". YUCK.
    But there are a number of things that I do enjoy. the colors, the sunsets that I'm still awake to enjoy, and the sun rising as I go to work to name a few.

    After our nightly walk today, Ali and I were sitting in the backyard admiring the fall colors when we noticed the neighbor's apple tree. After sneaking half a dozen tasty apples (they were hanging over my fence after all) we were commenting on how fruitful the tree was.
    Ali: Isn't it amazing how from one tiny apple seed a tree grows and matures and produces an abundance of fruit. It produces it for years. All it's life in fact. right up until it's death.
    At this we both couldn't help but feel that we have a lot to learn from nature. How much fruit do we produce? do we (I) look like that tree? Hundreds of apples every year. Year after year. For 30-40 years.
    Make me like that tree lord. I bear fruit, but not as a fruit tree. Not by a long shot.

Expecting Worship

How's your week been? Great? Bad? Somewhere in-between?

Each week when we gather together in church for worship, I'd venture a guess to say that maybe only half of us are "ready" to come in and give God thanks. There's so many factors that can lead to how we feel on a given Sunday, aren't there?

I mean, I can think through my Sunday morning process, and there's so many variables that can determine how I feel when I get to church. Did I cut myself shaving? Did I sleep well? Did I get my morning caffeine? It would be interesting to see how many different things affect our attitudes not just on Sunday, but throughout the week.

So if we multiplied the number of variables throughout the week that we all experience by the number of people we have in church on a Sunday, then we're talking about an astronomical number of things that can change the "feeling" of the room once we all get to church.

And then you have someone like me get up on stage and say that we need to be excited about being with God!

I remember that it was generally thought that worship wasn't about emotions--that we should be able to take whatever we're feeling and push it all aside and focus solely on God. That never sat right with me, to be frank. To me, that always felt that we were disconnecting a part of ourselves from experiencing God's presence.

I think that a large part of our worship is made up of our emotions--it has to be, doesn't it? If worship (how do you define worship? When it comes to worshipping God, to me is expressing love and thanks for who he is and what he's done...) is an expression of our love back to God, then emotions have to play into it. Otherwise, it's an intellectual experience only.

When you read the Psalms, you can see how the writers there poured out their emotions to God. I can't read those passages and not hear the vocal inflection in people's writing. I can't read it monotone as if Spock was reading them. They are filled with emotion: honest, open, raw, and even violent emotions at times.

So when you come to worship on Sunday, bring your emotions with you. God's not afraid of how you feel--he'd much rather have you be honest and frustrated with him than put on a show--that "everything's happy" church face.

And your worship does not have to be singing along with me and the band. Yes, we sing a lot of songs that are celebratory--that's intentional. We want to express thanks and adoration back up to God. But we also sing a lot of songs that have deeper meaning than that. Maybe one of those songs helps you connect with God this week.

You know you don't even have to sing and you can still be worshipping your hearts out. On weeks when I'm not leading, There's some conversations that I've had with God in my head that are the most honest and open that I've been with Him (or anybody!).

At any rate, worship is more than just group singing. Our times of worship are designed to be moments where we can connect with the heart of God--we want to be open in front of him, regardless, no maybe because, of how we feel. Maybe in those moments of complete honesty with him something life changing happens to us.

What are you expecting from worship this week?

Change the Key boys

As many of you are aware I sometimes like to worship God through praise and worship songs. Now this is a reoccurring theme that keeps creeping up between the worship teams.Some songs that I do are too high for Brenda, and some songs Brenda does are too low for my team. I have also become aware of the fact that for some of you the key in which we sing is a hindrance to your vocal chords. So let me impart a few tips to make your praise and worship time in church more vocal, and and a little easier.

Now let me start way back when a lot of our old hymns were written.. I am thinking of Hymns by the gifted composers such as Fanny Crosby and Charles Wesley.

Did you know that the majority of tunes for these wonderful hymns were written by some of the most gifted men in history. Why? Well, because the men were the ones who were educated in the writing of music.
So why are these hymns and the modern hymns so difficult for men to sing in church..
Let me give you an example or two…
Blessed assurance Jesus is mine.. This wonderful hymn is so high to sing that men are standing on their toes to reach the high notes.  How Great thou Art.. now this stumps me at times and I sing pretty high.. SO. .. let me give you a few tips here my friends…

Men.. you are not intended to sing these hymns in the same octave as the women… you my brothers at times try to sing at exactly the same pitch as the women, but your voices are different .. therefore it cannot be done! So what do you do? Well, you sing the song an octave lower than the women. If you struggle, relax your voice and move down an octave. Now it is the same note, just an octave lower.
I am going to defend the music writer here my friends.. The worship music is not written for women’s voices. If you take the time to study some of the higher worship songs you will find they are written by men and originally sung by men.
I can only Imagine” A truly wonderful song of adoration sung by MercyMe… Now have you ever tried to sing this? It is almost impossible for a woman to sing this as it is written for a tenor voice, therefore for girls to sing it in the key in which it is written and in our octave, we would need a hot air balloon to get to the heights required.

Of course, there are times when the person in control of the team should consider lowering the music a key or two. I certainly don't want you to stand in church and feel robbed of the ability to worship through song because you just can’t reach the notes.
So my friends what I am really trying to say is this.. Music is NOT written for the female voice. It's not written for the Male voice.It is written for THE voice, what men and women need to do is forget how it sounds.. sing it high, sing it low,, start singing from your heart and not your head.

Having Some Fun

I'm having such a blast listening to this song by Don Francisco. I love his lyric writing. Very nice… not hugely a fan of his music style, but then, I know it's awesome!
You should check these lyrics out! It's so great… in case you want to download the mp3, it's free, and I'm attaching the link at the end of this post. Please listen to it! It's fun! The lyrics are here:
The Package
by Don Francisco
 
I was wakened in the morning' by a knockin' on the door
So I got up and went to see what all the knockin' was for
There stood the Devil with a box addressed to me
He said "Boy, I've got something here I think you oughta see
 
I said, I know that I don't want it if it's anything from you
'Cause I hate everything you say and don't like anything you do
But then he pointed with his finger and he smiled kinda sly
'Cause the package said "from God" there in the corner, way up high
 
So I said, "if it's from God, then why'd He send it here by you"
He said, "He always sends me when there's dirty work to do"
And this box is full of misery, poverty and shame
To perfect you thru your suffering 'till you're worthy of His name
 
Well, I'd been pretty patient, but that last line took the cake
I just couldn't take no more, I'd taken all that I could take
So I told him what I thought of him and all his filthy lies
Then I fired a shot that got him right between the eyes
 
I told him "Jesus took my sickness and my poverty away
You nailed Him to the cross yourself when you murdered Him that day
The suf'ring that I do will be for love and not for shame
I'm already worthy by His blood, to wear His name
 
And I know my Father loves me and has only good in store
So you just take that jive and get away from my front door
You can write my name on packages until I'm ninety two
But every single one I'm sending back to Hell with you"
Go on get out of here

http://songoffaith.com/mp3s/Albums/ThePackage/TP_ThePackage_DonFrancisco.mp3 

“Does anyone care?”

Those who have suffered severe loss often lament that their day of tragedy seemed like a normal day for everyone else. On the day they were fired, learned of their cancer, discovered their spouse was unfaithful, or held a child as she died—on that very day other people went about their business as usual. My divorce is final! My mom is dieing! they silently scream. How can you go to work, eat out, and catch a movie as if nothing has changed? Don’t you care?

Worse, this lousy day seems normal to God as well. The sun shines, clouds roll by, night falls, stars appear. Doesn’t God care either?

The book of Lamentations captured Jeremiah’s anguished cry as he considered the suffering of his people. Life was bad. Jerusalem had been destroyed and its citizens carried off to Babylon. Those left behind had resorted to cannibalism—mothers eating their own children to survive (2:20). Jeremiah laments that his suffering “is bitter beyond words,” but he grasps a glimmer of hope when he remembers that “the faithful love of the Lord never ends” and “His mercies begin afresh each morning” (3:19-23).

Actually, the Lord’s mercies don’t merely begin each morning, they are each morning. Psalm 104 praises God for faithfully tending His diverse creation. The routine events of nature—are all directed by God’s powerful hand. “When You give them Your breath, life is created, and You renew the face of the earth” (v.30).

The clockwork consistency of nature on your worst day is a reminder that God cares. Take it as a sign that God loves you. He’s not debilitated by His grief for you, but is preserving your life until the morning when His mercies will begin afresh.

I know that as I walk through a difficult time in my life, I can only do it through the knowledge that "yes, my God does care for me,  Yes, He will walk with me as I mourn, and as I try to be the dad my kids need me to be while they walk through troubled waters of their own."

The Meaning Of Life

Good Friday. Let's always remember the meaning of life

1 Peter 2:21-25 (The Message)
 21-25This is the kind of life you've been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.    He never did one thing wrong,    Not once said anything amiss.They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you're named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls

Worship with your heart

Many people think that praise and worship is only singing songs at church, but it is so much more! It is also a condition of your heart -- a willingness to exalt God and yield to his will. Worship is an expression of love and awe to the God who gives us more than we deserve. Whether you express your worship by singing, playing music, dancing or in some other way, remember that you are called to worship God with your every action, every day of your life. God is holy, loving, and worthy of all our worship and devotion.

"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deut. 6:5)