I don’t usually repost other’s work, but when I read Anthony Coppedge’s blog this morning, it stood out so much I had to do something. I thought about rewriting it to give it my own sound, but I wouldn’t add or remove anything. He really nailed it with this one.

During the times of my life when I’ve been really stretched and I learned to grow, God has often shown me an old thing a new way. For me, this has sometimes been through a different translation of the Bible (I usually read the NIV and NJKV). Last night that happened yet again when, on a whim, I used BibleGateway.com to read 1 Corinthians 13 from The Message.

I have a love/hate thing going on with this chapter, as it continually encourages me and then kicks my butt. So when I read it last night, it really popped off the page with a new twist. Here’s how verse 7 read:

1 Corinthians 13:7

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Sure, it’s the same, but the new twist of reading it differently made it come alive in a new way…a way that causes me to rethink where I’m right (dogmatically). As a husband, I can look at Ephesians 5 and think I’ve got a handle on things. But then when I re-read this, with a new twist, I realized that being “right” has less significance than showing love.

I’m a work in progress. I’m learning. But I am getting it…slowly.

Here’s your assignment:

• Man or woman, married or not, are you loving this way?
• When you think you’ve won a disagreement hands-down, does it matter if you’re not loving this way?
• Who you are going to show this kind of love to today?

So, I’m watching a video on Dave Stagl’s blog (he’s the technical director at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA). He is showing how to create snapshots on the Digidesign Venue D-Show FOH console.

I WANT ONE!


Dave's Home Guide to the Digidesign Venue: Creating Snapshots from David Stagl on Vimeo.

I now have an idea of what a day in the life of a music producer is like. Not that I am as skilled as guys like Rick Rubin, Bob Rock or Brendan O’Brien, but today I spent five hours producing and engineering for the Four Points band. We worked on a grand total of……(drum roll please)……ONE SONG!

It makes me appreciate albums such as Metallica’s black album even more.

Albums that took over a year to record.

Yeah.

I thought five hours was bad.

Imagine spending a year in a studio.

I’m going to bed.

All of you should go listen to the black album just to hear what happens when you spend one year and over $1,000,000 to record an album.

And that was in 1990. Considering inflation, what is the equivalent in 2008?

J