Hmmmm…

Psalm 8

This Psalm is really awesome! Every time I read this passage I will undoubtably think of “The Majesty and Glory of Your Name”-a choral piece based off of this scripture. It is a fabulous choral piece that was maseterfully written, not only to stay true to the scripture verses, but to communicate them with the kind of pictures that only music can create, and to do it well! It is always something to me when someone (a composer) can create images in our minds with a particular passage of music. I think that is what originally had drawn me to love music, the ability to envoke emotion with music. Ironically enough, some of the most talented musicians in the world are also the most bored with music. They’ve played so much that it’s more of a job than a passion.

But back to Psalm 8. Props to Tom Fettke (and the other lady) who wrote “The Majesty and Glory of Your Name”. It has been on the TCMR “Favorite Choral Anthem of All Time” list for years, and with great reason. It truly is a beautiful song, set to a beautiful passage of scripture. The cool thing is, scripture WILL stand the test of time, no matter where it is used–so for this song to continue to stand the test of time also, says something about the pleasure of singing and hearing it.

God, thanks that You are Majestic and Glorious. Praise Your name!

BTW–the pic on my blog is Nathaniel-notice the cut…I also have a REALLY close up pic if you’d like me to email it to you…

AND, this Travis Cottrell album, “Alive Forever” is absolutely fantastic. I rarely listen to Worship albums all the way through (I usually grab a song or two at most and never listen to it again…) but this whole thing is AWESOME! I totally love it–and that really is saying a lot! Props to the coolest guy-Travis Cottrell. He sings with great ability and passion for the Lord. You’ve got to hear this album…

Psalm 7: 17
I will give thanks to the Lord because
of his righteousness
and will sing praise to the name
of the Lord Most High.

Too often I thank God because of stuff He’s done for me-thanks for helping me, etc… Much less often I give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness. Although I totally love this premise (loving/thanking God for WHO He is, not what He’s done), I rarely practice it.
Something to work on…
Reminds me of the song “You Are Good” (we worship you, Hallelujah, Halleujah, we worship You, for who you are…You are Good)–love that song…

Christmas Eve was traumatic. Nathaniel split his head open on the hard-wood end of a pew at church. I called 911 because there was blood literally GUSHING out of his forehead, and I really felt it was the best thing for him to get help RIGHT AWAY. The ambulence arrived and we had stopped the bleeding, but not the hysteria. Once we got on the road to the hospital, and they put a bandage on the wound, Nathaniel finally calmed down. He was very dead-set on NOT going to the doctor…we got to the hospital and they put another bandage on his wound, this time with an anisthetic to numb the wound so they could put in stiches. He was happier when the nurse gave him some Spider-man stickers.

The next part, however, was the most traumatic-for us as parents as well as for Nathaniel. They had to give him stiches, so they wrapped him up in a straight-jacket and strapped him to the table. A nurse held down his head while the Doctor took what seemed like forever to put in a bunch of stiches in his forehead. Nathaniel screamed non-stop. I feel sick right now as I think about it again. It was really painful as a parent to watch my kid go through that-and I’m pretty sure I am only recounting about a tenth of what went on…it will be something we remember for a LONG time…
Needless to say, he’s fine now. Playing and having fun. I’m not fine, though…our church was supposed to get chairs a long time ago, but has delayed and dragged their feet at picking the color/fabric/style and all this stuff. It seems like the longest, most-dragged out indecision (IN MY OPINION…). Perhaps there are other factors involved that I don’t know, but what I do know, is that my kid (and I) wouldn’t have had to go through all that if we’d had those big, thickly padded chairs-
….at least, I think.

Let’s get some chairs, already!

Psalm 5 says something that catches my ears today:

“But let all who take refuge in [the Lord] be glad.
let them sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them
that those who love your name
may rejoice in you.
For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous,
you surround them with your favor as a shield.”

Off the subject…my workplace has been like a cemetery lately-and I’m working the graveyard shift. Seriously, it’s like NO ONE is ever around. Did I miss a memo?? Am I the only one working this week?? Did everyone secretely get the week off except me? Oh well, there’s always another service, another rehearsal, another concert. A musician’s work is NEVER done…which leads me to say, “Bah, humbug!”

BTW- Meet the Fockers was pretty good. Hardly something worth writing about here-and lots of sexual humor (beware). I would’ve laughed more at some stuff, but I had just had a VENTI Caremel Machiatto and 1 liter of water…needless to say, i didn’t want to burst anything-and I DON’T leave movies to go to the bathroom…HA!

I’ve been reading Psalms and I’m thinking to myself as I’m reading these things-I have some things in common with good ole King David…
He’s emotional-if you’ve read Psalms, you’ve got all kinds of emotion coming through here. Pain, distress, anger, joy, thanksgiving, peace, love for God, and many more! You can hear David crying out to God in some of these Psalms. There are a lot of ups and downs-it’s like a rollercoaster! I must admit, there are times when I’m frustrated-asking God “what is going on?” “what do you want me to do?” “please give me wisdom in this situation”…and so on.
As I read Psalms 4, I see in verse 1 “Give me relief from my distress” and in verse 7 “You have filled my heart with greater joy…” and I’m thinking, I can relate!!
Can you??

The best stories in life are the ones you can relate to (a whole paragraph can be read on this in the “A TIme for Christmas” playbill-I’ll post it later for your enjoyment).

It is similar to the reason why we cry at movies…the parts in movies that always get to me, are the father-son moments…like in “Hook” when the son finally chooses his own dad over Capt Hook-for some reason that always gets me *choke*

But anyway-getting back on track-right now, I feel a good connection with David…

Staff Christmas party last night…had to bring a gift, no problem! Starbucks card to the rescue-I’m sooo creative.

Now, is this tacky, or not-(Christy said it was) I brought the SB gift card, and in the BINGO gift exchange-thingy, I picked my own present…I thought it was GENIUS, because, then, all the more coffee for me AND I had to bring a gift anyways. Since I really shouldn’t spend too much money on coffee, I thought, why not???
tell me your thoughts. GENIUS or PARTY POOPER…I’d like to hear your opinion…

Christy electricuted herself with some Christmas lights. Better her than me!!! HAHA! Needless to say, THIS heartless monster threw that strand away…

Out to do more xmas shopping. Merry, you know!

Well- I guess no one liked my vacation poem! Humph!

Vacation is over-back to work this morning, but I am looking forward to it a little..

——
Psalms 1

1 Blessed is the man
    who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
    or stand in the way of sinners
    or sit in the seat of mockers.

    2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.
    3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
    and whose leaf does not wither.
    Whatever he does prospers.
—–
I think the word wicked connotates something extremely evil in our minds–like Wormtongue or Saruman (from Lord of the Rings)–but in fact, I think it can be things that are a lot less blatently evil than that. Things that get you off track from whatever might bring you closer to God. Perhaps work, or hanging out with friends, TV or games…anything that makes you too tired or busy to spend time with God–THAT’s the stuff we need to watch out for. Not that any of that is inherently bad, itself–just make sure you stay balanced…I’ve got to get back on track…

My vacation is over-so I’ve got to get back on track with getting up earlier (oooh, sleeping in is fun!) and getting into a routine again…and I’ve GOT to get exercising again…diet starts Monday! HAHAHA!

MOre vacation!

Vacation is cool

Vacation is fun

Vacation is Rad

and now I am done

Still on vacation-how nice it is!

We have unplugged the phone–no one can reach us! Yahoo! I don’t want to talk to you anyway! HA!

Disneyland was amazingly fun! We actually spent most of the time in California Adventure-which, frankly, imo, is much more fun than Disneyland…maybe I’m just tired of Disneyland–not much has changed there, the stuff is old…who likes animatronics anymore anyways?? That stuff looks so old to me-AND someone died on Thunder Mtn a year or two ago?? Hmmmm. i LOVE California Adventure…

Going to watch hours and hours of TV today…don’t bother me! HAHAHA!!

WOW!

The show is over and was great! I can’t even say how proud I am of the cast and crew that sacrificed their time and effort to put this all together! If you read my last blog entry, you know that I said God would have to intervene supernaturally to pull this off, and I believe he did! Our dress rehearsal was pretty terrible–we stayed late to fix a couple of things, and then somehow on Friday, everything was ten times better than the night before…it was cool! Fantastic job everyone!

NOW I’m on vacation…whew! It feels fantastic!
See you soon–I’ve got some relaxing to do!

so overwhelmed.
I don’t know how this show will come together. It will only be by God’s supernatural power that it isn’t a mess. Final dress is Thursday-and we’re just not ready. I’m hoping the pro-orchestra players will help out the flow of the music. We have a tech rehearsal tonight that is VERY much needed. I’m sick, Christy’s sick, Nathaniel threw up 2x in the past 12 hours. Noah is still sleeping…it’s past 10:30 and he usually gets up at about 7AM. We’re all a mess. Please pray. (help Lord!)
The set needs to be fixed, the curtain is disasterous, please Lord, help!

In other news, LOST is supposed to be good tonight. AND I will be taping the Clay Aiken xmas special on NBC as well–I caught him on Leno the other night and it was fabulous! The dude sang “Mary, Did You Know?”. I’m just like- that song is SOOO Christian…but he’s singing it everywhere…how can he get away with that!?

My buddy has his grad recital tonight. I really wish I could be there-he is such a fantastic player! My life needs to slow down enough so I can go support my friends in things like their grad recitals…ARRGHH! I really want to go!! Good luck, buddy.

Paul Baloche put out a Christmas version of his song “Offering”. It’s nice, and a free download from IntegrityMusic.com check it out!