religion sucketh

Just doing my daily reading the other day (which I must admit, has become not so daily) and I began reading Philippians. Chapter two, verses one through eleven really jumped out. I usually use Eugene Peterson’s The Message for my personal study, so that is why I chose to post that version here. I also just love how blunt it can be at times.

“1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

 5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

 9-11 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.”

“Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.”

“Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”

And if those verses weren’t enough, I love how blunt verses 5 – 8 get. Jesus had equal status with God the father, yet He dropped every advantage, every right He held as part of the Godhead to be one of us. To be human. He felt pain, He had His feelings hurt, He lost friends, He was tempted, He loved, even when that love was unrequited; He was human. And when He had the choice to say no, and to leave us to our own devices, He instead chose to follow through with the final reason for His coming: death. And as verses 9 – 11 state, because of His obedience, God the father has honored Him above all else: past, present and future.

So yeah, I got a lot out of that passage.

Then I bought the first North Point album from the iTunes music store.

It should be no surprise that my favorite song on the album so far is Todd Fields’ version of Not To Us.

Kinda funny how it echoes the sentiment expressed at the end of verse 11:

“Not to us, but to Your name be the glory.”

J

Ever have one of those dreams where you don’t want to wake up?

The kind where the dream is better than reality?

Sucks when the alarm starts, doesn’t it?

J

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