Weird

I turned down a fishing trip on a blue ribbon trout river tonight. I was planning on going but when I sat down and thought about it, I just wasn't that excited about it. I would rather stay home and be with my family than get up at 5am and catch fish. I wonder if this is what growing up feels like. Whatever it is, it feels weird.

Breaking Home Ties

I saw this painting for the first time a couple months ago in a news story. The original was found behind a fake wall in the home of a man who had died. It is called "Breaking Home Ties" by Norman Rockwell.
There are a few things that struck me about this painting when I first saw it. First, the detail in the painting is amazing. The contrast in the old, weathered face and hands of the father and the youthful excitement in the face of the boy headed off to college. The man seems like the type who has lived by the sweat of brow for a long time. He strikes me as the kind of man who will see his son off with a handshake instead of a hug. Notice that the boy is looking for the train and the old man is looking back toward home.
Looking at this picture today I noticed something I hadn't before; The old man is holding his hat in his hand but he is also holding the boy's hat. His last attempt to hold on to his son. Maybe he knows that he won't see him again for a long time. maybe he knows that his son will not follow in his footsteps.
I have at least 12 years until this scene becomes a reality for me but it hits home.

What do you see?

Girl With a Pearl Earring

I watched a movie last night called "Girl With a Pearl Earring". The story is about a girl who becomes a servant in the house of a Dutch painter in the mid 1600s. the movie, I felt, gave some insight into artists and how the creative process is fostered. If not for that fact, I probably could not have endured more than 20 minutes of it.

The interesting thing to me was that the story revolves around an actual painting. The painting inspired a novel and the novel was made into a movie. I thought that was the coolest thing. I would love to be able to see art inspire art more often. To write a song about a painting or a picture or paint a picture inspired by a short story. To see creativity cross-pollinate. That would be cool.

Unagi: More Than A State Of Mind.

I just got finished with a creative meeting regarding Christmas. It was fun and sort of a continuation of a meeting I was in yesterday. With zero notice, I was involved in a getaway meeting to discuss the teaching calendar for 2009. We left at noon and went to lunch at a secret place which ended up being a cool sushi restaurant. I'll be honest; I'm not a sushi fan. But it wasn't that bad and didn't taste as fishy as it has in the past. Bad pun, sorry. We grabbed some coffee and headed to our meeting location in downtown Renton. We spent the next 4 or 5 hours brainstorming. Thoughts and creative ideas were flying like hymnals at a revival...um...never mind. Hunger began to creep in again but we were able to shove it away like it was Andy Dick trying to get into a club before he was famous. When we finally did break for dinner, we ate at a little deli across the street. Then we came back and did a quick review, packed up and headed back to the church.

It is always fun to be around other creative people and feed off each other. To see an idea start like a mountain stream, small and indefinite, and as it is added to, it gains depth, definition, color and speed and becomes a river.

It hit me last night as I was brushing my teeth: What an awesome responsibility it is to be involved in shaping and leading this church. It is truly humbling.

No, It's not named after the bad actor.

I got to break in the Keyano (see below) this morning as I was playing the keys for the Sunday morning main services. It worked pretty well. The only thing was that the stool was a little tall and my mic was rocking back and forth when I would tap my foot to the beat. It was way less cluttered than having the piano and keyboard on stage and it made transitioning between sounds quick and painless. All in all it simplifies things and it looks way more rock and roll than the grand. Now I have to sort through the thousands of sounds on the new software!

The Keyano

So the new project is finished. It is an old Baldwin console piano with the guts torn out and a 49 key midi controller mounted inside. There is a wireless keyboard and small touch pad controlling the Mac tower running Logic 8 and Mainstage. Oh and don't forget the Digi 002 interface/output. Here is is in all it's glory!

Plug

If you are in the mood for some good poetry, check out my friend Cerissa's blog. cerissacerissa.wordpress.com or click the link in my "Blogs I Read" section. Good stuff.

Nothing Sticks to a Clean Heart

We had our pastoral staff retreat the last couple days. We were in the small tourist town of Leavenworth, WA. It is decorated in Bavarian style with small shops everywhere. The weather was crazy hot: 101 the first day and 90-something and rainy the second day. The focus of the sessions was the heart. Pastor Troy spoke on keeping our hearts right. It was a lot of fun, we went on hayrides with a snarky driver and even took group square-dancing lessons (I threw a little Robot-fusion in just to keep it real).

I really had an opportunity to practice what we had learned in the sessions as I had a reason to become very offended. Even though I knew that there was probably no malice intended, I was hurt. When you are new in a place, it is easy to feel like an outsider. When you have no history somewhere, it's easy to feel like you don't belong.

Here is the thing; I heard someone once say that "Nothing sticks to a clean heart." Clearly there was a heart issue I needed to deal with. It was my insecurity. The root of insecurity is pride. The pride that needs acceptance from people, that cares what other people think about me.

So I had to work through it. I knew that if I didn't, bitterness would eat me alive. I had to deal with my pre-disposition toward feeling like any time I am not included, I am being rejected which is of course, not true. I spent a couple hours brooding and moping and trying to sort things out in my head. I got over it. I came to the realization that I could have changed things and it really wasn't that big of a deal.

You might wonder "If you are so insecure, is it hard to get up on stage and lead people in worship every week?" The answer, oddly, is "No". By nothing but the grace of God the answer is "No". When I'm worshiping, I am in my sweet spot. It's what I was made to do. I need to learn to walk in the security that comes from knowing that I am accepted as a son of God. I need to walk around with a clean heart.

The Jeep Wave

So I drive a Jeep Wrangler. It's a '97. Some day I would love to get one of those new Wrangler Unlimited 4-door models. Man, those are sweet. I see quite a few of them around and almost every one I see is driven by someone who has never owned a Jeep Wrangler before. How could I possibly tell that you ask? Because people who drive those do not know about the "Jeep Wave". The Jeep Wave is a small gesture made by Wrangler owners when they pass one another on the road. Generally with one hand on the steering wheel, the driver will raise two fingers in a casual manner. It conveys a sense of community; a shared misery only the owner of a Wrangler could understand. Leaky roofs and windows, broken suspension components, sketchy wiring, all things we are familiar with. It's all part of the mystique that is Jeep ownership. That's why we wave.

Barbarian?

Well, I got back from our staff retreat in the Bavarian town of Leavenworth, WA yesterday and it's good to be back.

I was lying awake in bed one of the nights and the thought occurred to me: I bet deaf people appreciate text messaging on a much deeper level than you and I.

You Can't Do That On Telelvision

I just got finished with worship practice and got home. It's exciting to see the progress we have made and are making with the worship team. We are really getting things dialed in as far as our sound and excellence of our musicians. I was thinking today how blessed I am to be able to make a career out of the gifts, abilities and passion that God has given me and the fact that I don't have to break my back to put food on the table. I get to do what I love full time. So blessed.

My wife is watching the women's gymnastics right now on CBC. That's right; the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. If you have never watched CBC it's kind of weird. It's almost like American TV except everyone has a slight accent and the sports they show are different. For some reason there is a maple leaf on EVERY logo. Even the Golden arches have a maple leaf on them. Have a headache? Take some Tylenol with a maple leaf on the bottle.

Now they are showing highlights of men's field hockey. Canada lost.

Head Wounds

They say you never forget your first head wound. Well today my 6 year old got his. He fell in the back yard and gashed his head on a concrete block. I had to rush home and run him over to the urgent care because my wife is not good with blood. I told him to tell the doctor that he was in a gang fight but he wouldn't do it. Two staples to the head and he was ready to go home. I was proud of him, he did really well with the whole thing.

Have you ever noticed that when you are in a hurry, no one else is? I tried really hard not to be agitated on my Cannonball Run home but it wasn't easy. That made me think about driving and being frustrated. As someone who has his face projected onto a giant screen in front of a couple thousand people a week, it only takes being recognized a couple of times at Starbucks to realize that when I am in public, I can't have a crappy attitude with baristas even if they totally screw up my order or get 5 people behind me in line their drinks before mine (Sadly, these are things that sometimes trigger a crappy attitude in me). I have to think about that when I drive as well. If someone cuts me off, I can't give them a dirty look even though deep down I feel like giving them the bird. I represent New Life Church. My problem is not with the fact that I can't do those things; My problem is with the fact that I want to.

Someone completely cut me off today and then glared at me. For some reason, my first thought was "Why am I holding on to this aspect of my personality?" The part of me that wants to punish people for their mistakes. I want to be a person who is completely surrendered but I don't want to let go of that part.

I once heard someone say "You can't cast out your flesh, you have to crucify it." I have a part of me that needs to be crucified. I need to make a concious choice to crucify my flesh every day. This, I think, is the least fun part of following Jesus.

Again, I feel like today I grew a little.

Let the Games Begin!

I just finished watching 5 hours of live coverage of the TBN olympic games opening ceremony from southern California. It was a brilliant production, ok, it was Carman singing extended dance mixes of his greatest hits but still...

I can't wait until the actual events take place. My favorite is the toupee toss. They are adding a new scoring system this year for accuracy. The closer you get it to Paul Crouch's head the higher your overall score.

The team from Texas, anchored by Joyce Meyer, is heavily favored to win the 4x100 meter offering plate relay.

Rod Parsley and T.D. Jakes won the world championships last year in synchronized hand raising and are expected to put on quite a show in these games with a brand new routine.

A new event this year is expected to cause quite a stir in international competition. The open event consists of competitors ballroom dancing around theology to get their point across.

The gymnastics portion of the games is expected to draw huge crowds. The fan favorite is the balance beam where athletes try to balance prosperity ministry and good solid doctrine. Not an easy task.

Well I should get back to the tube, the swimming in cash competition is about to start!

;)

Special thanks to Brian Foster Kane for the inspiration.

Yo Momma

Some of us were talking yesterday about Tourette's Syndrome and why you never hear of a case of polite Tourette's. One thing led to another and that evolved into a discussion on polite "Your Momma" jokes. Here are some.

Your momma is so holy, she sweats anointing oil.

Your momma is so holy, she smells like a hymnal.

Your momma is so holy, Jesus has her face tattooed on His shoulder blade.

Your momma is so holy, when she bakes a pie, it can feed 5000.

Your momma is so holy, when she snores, it sounds like organ music.

Whatchu got?

Like a Warped Basketball?

I am watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympics right now. I was thinking that there are 1.3 billion people in China and over a billion people in India. That's a full third of the entire population of the planet! Given the proximity of the two nations, I am surprised that the Earth can actually rotate on it's axis with all that weight loaded on one side.

Moments

I had a moment this morning. One of those moments where suddenly things become clear. It's like when you look at a river and occasionally the surface becomes smooth and briefly you are able to see the bottom without distortion. I was sitting at a stoplight and there was a police officer in front of me in line. After our light turned green a full-size pickup ran the red through the intersection right in front of the cop. I was thinking "Wow, bad timing. Enjoy your ticket." The truck was stopped at another light about 100 yards ahead waiting in the left turn lane but to my surprise the cop slowly drove up to the light and made a right turn.

My first thought was "Are you kidding!!!? That guy deserves a massive ticket!" I was actually mad a little. Then I had a moment.

I felt like God wanted me to see something. He seemed to say "Why do you ask for mercy for yourself and expect justice for everyone else?" Suddenly I could see a little of the ugliness inside me. I pray for mercy, I have been praying for mercy for a while now, and yet somehow I become indignant when mercy is shown to someone else. Ugly. Maybe the cop was off duty or wasn't looking; Whatever the reason, no ticket was given and I was not OK with that.

My prayer is that I would not be quick to stand in judgment, but be merciful. To not demand justice for others while begging for mercy for myself. These moments are the growth points of our lives. I think I grew a little today.


What can we do today to show the mercy of God?

Test Confirmed

Well the test has been confirmed. Turns out it took a little prodding by some family members but my wife finally read my blog. Turns out I'm not in trouble. That's good news.

A Cool Thing to Say

I think a cool thing to say to someone who tells you that they dreamed about you is: "Oh, sorry about that. Sometimes my awesomeness bleeds over into other people's sub-consciousness."

Meetings!

I think I might be strange. I really enjoy meetings, especially when there is the possibility of being creative. I actually feel energized after a good meeting. Strange, I know.

Last night we had a creative meeting about a sermon series we have coming up in a couple months. It was so much fun that when I got home I wouldn't shut up about it. My wife said "I'm glad you had fun at work today. Why don't you fold some laundry?" Geez, some people have no appreciation for the beauty of creativity.

The New Project: When Baldwin meets Makita

So we have a new project. Brent and I got started on gutting this old piano that someone found whilst cleaning out a storage closet. Brent got the idea to gut it and put in a midi controller and mount the computer inside so it looks rustic but it's totally slick. We even hooked up the existing sustain pedal to a keyboard sustain pedal.

I apologize for the video being sideways; I always forget to rotate my phone when I take video. This is what happens when Baldwin meets Makita!

Groups at the Game

I got to go to a Mariners game last night. My sister got some tickets through her work and gave them to me for a belated birthday present. My wife and I went and enjoyed an evening without kids which was a long time coming. Baseball games are fun but the Mariners are bad so I had to occupy myself in creative ways during the game. One way is to notice people. We have been to 4 games at Safeco field and there are always certain groups of people that also attend the games and somehow always end up sitting by us. This is a brief description of some of them.


Group 1: Rooting For The Other Team Guy, or RFTOTG. This individual usually has a smug look on their face and the visiting team's colors on their dome. As if that wasn't enough, RFTOTG has to say obnoxious things like "Let's go Nick", like the rest of us are going to believe he is on a first name basis with these players and cheer loudly when the other team does something good. Bro, you're in the third deck, they can't hear you.


Group 2: Chatty Folk. Chatty Folk come in 2 subgroups; baseball educated, and social chatters. Baseball educated folk always bring someone with them who has apparently never heard of the game before and they spend the entire game explaining the finer points like "That is a baseball and that is called a field." A necessarily evil I suppose for the furtherance of the game. Social chatters seem like they know a lot about the game but spend absolutely zero time discussing and/or watching the game. They are more interested in sharing details on anything from their job to their health problems. One time, there was a couple behind us, apparently on a date, and the guy was talking about completely inappropriate bowel issues he was having. Seriously.


Group 3: Group People. these folks get group discount tickets and arrive in herds, normally in the nosebleed section. They are the ones making entirely too much noise when nothing is actually happening. These folk are the ones responsible for attempting to start "the wave" 87% of the time. (By the way, just say no to the wave.)


Group 4: Arrive Late, Leave Early People. ALLEPs attend so many games that they know the names of the ball boy and they say things like "Billy looks a little slow tonight. I'll bet he had a hot pocket for dinner again." They show up right after you mention to whomever you came with that you are glad no one is sitting in the seats in front of you. Right around the 2nd or 3rd inning. These people are usually cool and will talk to you about the game if you want. They are very familiar with ballpark etiquette. Generally they will get bored by the end of the 6th and start discussing the idea of leaving. By the 8th they are up and out of there. I kind of like ALLEPs.


Group 5: A Few Too Many Before The Game Even Starts Guy. This guy, well, we've all seen this guy in public. A good talking to by the Alcohol Enforcement officer and he will calm down a little.


I hope that prepares you in the event you get out to a game. There are a few more groups that regularly attend games and hopefully I will be able to post about them the next time my sister gets some tickets.