Month: May 2005

  • Oh yeah-
    By the way…

    The Midway Praise Choir rocks the house!! What a fantastic job you guys did on Sunday! The worship in BOTH services was sweet! and the July 4th special was pretty awesome!! It almost makes me want to have chior lead worship like that every Sunday…I mean, wow! Praise the Lord for anointing the services–it certainly wasn’t anything I did!!! (or you, for that matter…it was all the LORD!).

    Thanks for your dedication. It is what makes this all possible.

    For those of you that aren’t in the Midway Praise Choir, or have a choir like it at your church-bummer!! Cause it’s RAD!!

    Oh yeah, and I’m bringing RAD back in. Ya know, with the 80′s being back in style and all…now everything’s gonna be RAD!!!

    You guys are RADICAL!

  • Thanks for your comments in the previous entry…

    Happy Memorial Day! We accidentally saw a little bit of some kind of celebration in Washington D.C last night on PBS. Tom Hanks was hosting, and we turned it on right before the orchestra and choir performed “Hymn to the Fallen”–a John Williams piece from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. It is gorgeous. The gift God has given John Williams to write music like that is just unparalled. I’m glad we accidentally saw it!!! We watched for a few more minutes after that, but then turned it off. It was cool. I guess next week is the 60th anniversery of D-Day. I wouldn’t have known that unless Tom Hanks told me last night, but that’s a pretty big deal to a lot of people. I guess not as big to us younger folk. We just don’t appreciate it.

    We went to Spirit West Coast in Del Mar this past weekend (or as Nathaniel called it, “The Holy Spirit”). It was neat, but tiring with the little children. Sunday was the best! We saw a little bit of Petra (this is their last year) and then Chris Tomlin did an excellent set on the Main Stage. I can only deduce that Chris lives exactly what he preaches/writes about. That guy is so successful in tapping into the heart-strings of the world with his worship songs–more than any other song writer today, imho. He did a set including Forever, Indescribable, Enough, The Wonderful Cross, We Fall Down, Your Grace is Enough, and How Great is Our God. Everyone was singing along, ’cause we knew them all…this dude is anointed! Thank you Lord for guys like Chris Tomlin, who fill our churches with excellent songs about our dependency on you, and about your marvelous grace and love for us!!

    Psalm 108: 1-5
    1 My heart is steadfast, O God;
    I will sing and make music with all my soul.

    2 Awake, harp and lyre!
    I will awaken the dawn.

    3 I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
    I will sing of you among the peoples.

    4 For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

    5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
    and let your glory be over all the earth.

  • OH BOY!!!!!!!!

    Congrats to Carrie Underwood!! My favorite!! Yahoo!!! FINALLY!!!!! The one I want to win, wins!!
    OK-I didn’t care last year because I didn’t really care about ANY of the finalists (except maybe Latoya), I just wasn’t into it. And the year before that, I wanted Clay to win–not that it mattered, he is a WAY bigger (and better) star than Rueban…imho
    So yay! YAY for Carrie!!!!

    AND LOST!!! Wow! I have never seen such a riveting finale of a show since “The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1″ from Star Trek: TNG in 1990. That’s 15 years!! I was enthralled and pleased beyond belief. Sometimes I dream of working in the kind of creative environment that comes up with the genius stuff that goes into that show. I don’t know about the process, but the end product is amazing.

    Watched some of the MUSICalifornia DVD today of the MPC. The mix on the DVD is awful. The instrumental track is a fine volume, but the choir is just too soft underneath. I was a little bummed. I know it is not really supposed to be a fantatic product–just a resource for the publishers and directors, etc…but I was a little bummed to hear that you can’t really hear the choir that well on it. Soloists, fine. Narrator, fine. Track, fine. Choir, WAY too soft. It was still fun to watch, though. Big close-ups of the choir and stuff. Good for me to see as a director, and good for me to see my own conducting, too. Not so good…I’m going to try a few things different (but that’s not something you need to worry about…I’m just ranting…)

    It is cool to see the amazing answers to prayer among the people in the Midway Praise Choir. There was one group that had 5 out of the 7 of their prayers answered between last week and this week. What a blessing! Praise the Lord!!!!
    Not just that, though. A few different individuals are really being blessed by being in the group. Now we just have to tie everything together…help me Lord! We need unity among our people!

    Thank you Lord for the sacrifices people are making to be in this choir! It is awesome to see their dedication to You!!

    Oh yeah-and if this is the day the Lord has made, then what are you griping about????

    OK-so it’s been 365 days since I’ve joined xanga. Don’t know if I’ve actually blogged exactly that long, or if I just created a user name since that time, but here’s the question. AFTER ONE YEAR OF DOING THIS, should I keep going??????
    thoughts????
    …and be honest….

  • Psalm 105: 1-4

    1 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
    make known among the nations what he has done.

    2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
    tell of all his wonderful acts.

    3 Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

    4 Look to the LORD and his strength;
    seek his face always.

    ————

    More and more I am seeing in the Psalms, a life-long dedication to Praising the Lord. No matter what, when, or where, David is always talking about singing to the Lord, Praising the Lord, worshiping the Lord. It really is an inspiration, ’cause we don’t really do it enough, and when we do it is usually NOT in the hard times. I hope that is something we can ALL learn to do better…

    Praise the Lord for a great choir practice last night. Feedback?? Anyone? It is easy to get wrapped around people that are saying good things, but not to get honest feedback from others…what did you think??

    A.I.—–I hope Carrie wins…we’ll see….

    down with Bo Bice!!!!!

  • Psalm 104:33-34

    33 I will sing to the LORD all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

    34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    as I rejoice in the LORD.

    all my life…as long as I live…

  • One of my favorite Psalms of all time:

    Psalm 103:

    1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
    2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits-

    3 who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,

    4 who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,

    5 who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

    6 The LORD works righteousness
    and justice for all the oppressed.

    7 He made known his ways to Moses,
    his deeds to the people of Israel:

    8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.

    9 He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;

    10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.

    11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;

    12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

    13 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

    14 for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.

    15 As for man, his days are like grass,
    he flourishes like a flower of the field;

    16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.

    17 But from everlasting to everlasting
    the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children-

    18 with those who keep his covenant
    and remember to obey his precepts.

    19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
    and his kingdom rules over all.

    20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,
    you mighty ones who do his bidding,
    who obey his word.

    21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
    you his servants who do his will.

    22 Praise the LORD, all his works
    everywhere in his dominion.
    Praise the LORD, O my soul.

  • Saw Star Wars Ep III again tonight…magnificent, again. I actually almost shed a tear right before the end credits began to roll–when the JEDI theme (technically, I actually think it is Obi-Wan’s theme-see the Ultimate Star Wars Sountracks…) comes to a swell and Luke is passed on to Uncle whoever…hm, what a beautiful story this all is…so epic and grand in its scope and season.

    Kudos for a good special music today Midway Praise Choir! Congregation seemed to like it, too…we’ll be singing that one for Summer’s Night, definately.

    here comes Monday…

  • I had two seperate meetings yesterday with instrumentalists that are producing albums for themselves in the immediate future, and they asked me to do all the arranging for both projects!! Yahoo! I am totally pumped! Looks like I’ll be pumping out somewhere between 24-28 arrangements over the next several months for these things. I can’t wait! I’m going to get started right away! Talk about the hookup!

    Anyway-I’m excited.

    I guess Joli named my office. She named it “Triple Star” which I deduced while talking to her was for Star Trek, Star Wars, and Starbucks. Nice. Although, they forgot Starburst. ANd what about Starlight, starbright? or Star 100.7, or Star Tours…*rambling on and fading off*

    Psalm 101:1
    I will sing of your love and justice;
    to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.

  • I need to apologize to all of you blog readers of mine for my ranting and raving about PETCO park. I was writing out of frustration and irritation, and wrote stuff that was mean-spirited…sorry folks. Didn’t want to offend…my bad.

    and Star Wars!!!!!!!!
    WAHOO!!!!

  • Yes, I was there.

    I was there when the doors opened at 10:30 PM; when the lines wrapped around the entire building of the AMC Palm Promenade 24. I was there when the lines for the snack bar stretched to the back of the lobby. I was there when they showed STAR WARS: The Revenge of the Sith at 12:01 AM on TWELVE SCREENS!!!!

    I was there.

    …and the only word I have been able to come up with that describes this movie is PERFECT. If you are looking for a masterpiece of a movie, you must see this film. It is absolute perfection. It absolutley is the perfect movie in this double-trilogy. I felt like if I went home and pushed play on my Episode IV, I would be in the exact right place. It was PERFECT!!

    Thank you George Lucas. You have now fulfilled your destiny…