Ok, Here’s the scoop…
I don’t believe in evangelism and also don’t promote church attendance even though many see attendees as my dads source of income. It’s not. My dad is cared for and provided for by God. Just as the rest of creation.
This is what bothers me… Show offs, hence the reference to bonnets, and guilt ridden people who are pushed to attend by their relatives and friends. If you’re gonna go to church you should go for the right reason, to worship.
The song came from my own observances which I’ll try to explain now.
In the late seventies my dad left the “traditional” church. He was a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor. He started his own church and some “traditional” folks followed him there. On Easter and Christmas we, mom, dad and I, noticed a lack in attendance because our members returned to their roots on those “special” holidays. They just had to satisfy their relatives and “do” church with them. In the mid 80’s our members started to bring their relatives to our non-denominational church. I saw it, and still do, as useless. I don’t believe you can save yourself or your family… Only God can do that. He chooses His people. I believe we are saved by Gods grace, not any action of our own. We can not contribute to our own salvation so any claim of ours would be “works righteousness” and negate the power of Gods grace and sacrifice.
Now for the funny part… hehehe
One Palm Sunday we had a packed house. We always filled the church every sunday but this was extreme. Lots of visitors. I went right home and wrote the song.
Later in the week, being quite proud of it, I took my guitar to my dads office and played it for him. He loved it. Then he told me I should play it in church on Easter sunday. Now, I’m not a person afraid of conflict but I knew this was going to stir some up. After some discussion with my dad I agreed to do it. He wanted the message sent out and to be honest so did I.
That sunday I started off by humming the Easter Parade bit while playing some nice blues chords. The congregation, now hanging from the rafters, hummed along. hehehe I had them goin’. Then I sang the song.
Sometime during the second verse a couple of our regulars got up and walked out. They had done a really good job of guilting their relatives so there was an Easter Parade right behind them. Some folks stayed for the rest of the song, not to be rude, and then they left. We were really left with the “core” of our membership who, just sayin’, liked the song and have always supported me.
In the days after that Easter my dad was visited by many of the members who walked out and I’m happy to say most stayed on and I hope understood their faults with regards to who God wants worshiping Him. Church is NOT a social gathering place unless people make it to be. In that case God wants no part of it and won’t supply it’s needs.
My dad will not allow fund raising, bingo, pot luck dinners etc… and has never passed the offering plate or discussed money from the pulpit and yet has never been late on a bill or failed to help in times of need anyone who we knew needed help, even non-members.
Church is for the purpose of worshiping God for our own good. A place for us to learn about Him and do the things He leads us to do.
Now you know the rest of the story.
They say that these are not the best of times
But they’re the only times I’ve ever known
And I believe there is a time for meditation
In cathedrals of our own
Now I have seen that sad surrender in my lovers’ eyes
I can only stand apart and sympathize
For we are always what our situations hand us
It’s either sadness or euphoria
And so we’ll argue and we’ll compromise
And realize that nothing’s ever changed
For all our mutual experience
Our separate conclusions are the same
Now we are forced to recognize our inhumanity
A reason coexists with our insanity
And so we choose between reality and madness
It’s either sadness or euphoria
How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies
Perhaps we don’t fulfill each other’s fantasies
So we stand upon the ledges of our lives
With our respective similarities
It’s either sadness or euphoria
Before you roll your eyes, please hear me out… Most musician sites are polluted with music fans. Don’t get me wrong, fans are great (me personally? I’m not a fan, I’m an interested participant) and I have nothing against them (other than when they live to… well… FAN) but I’d like to think I could go somewhere where every profile I was drawn to was that of a fellow musician. When I’m browsing through member profiles I’m looking for something which relates to my craft. I would like to know if there are any clubs, people, basically gigs I should be seeking out or gear I should consider buying. I’m NOT interested in who has been wearing leather pants, what club can be the right one for “sightings” or who’s gonna be on the cover of next weeks “Teen Beat”. Do they still print that? lol
Well, It seems like I’ve found where I belong. Created by a guy named “Don Bob Bush” who is a (surprise) longtime musician and (another surprise) has his head on straight. The site is small right now but growing and it has quite a few Michigan members which is right up my alley too. It features all the tools for making a page you can be proud of with minimal effort and a generous offer from Don himself if you have any questions.
If, and that is a big IF, you are a musician and would like to have a home, please give this site a try. You can upload your pictures, up to a hundred Mp3’s and plenty of videos for “showin’ off”. Oh, and please, invite your fans to visit… Just not to join. I don’t want to be the site spoiler.
I don’t get a lot of junk mail and I like it that way. I do, however, receive forwarded mail from friends which I have to read (they are from friends don’t ya know).
A couple days ago I got one about McDonalds and the source of their beef. I was going to pass it along to you here so… I checked it out. Guess what… It was bogus. In fact, it’s been in circulation now for eight years and was a lie right from the start. It looked real, had upsetting info in it (made me mad at McD’s), was so believable and even included the authors name and contact information (the only part that was accurate except that he didn’t author the thing).
So now what? I thought…
Maybe I’ll just drop it and chock it up to experience. Nope. In fact, I copied the article (one of many exposing the fraud) and sent it to the friend who sent me the original mail. I felt the need to correct the bad info, for McD’s benefit at least not to mention my friends future gullibility. Along with it I felt the need to apologize for correcting the error and to assure that friend that I wasn’t being judgmental. Was that really necessary? Unfortunately I think it was. We’re all so defensive that our feelings are hurt when we, among so many things, have to admit we’ve been duped.
Now there’s a new question on my mind. Will I ever get another forwarded message from my friend? I hope so because that will tell me that I’ve handled the situation properly and my friend took no offence. We all fall prey to false information and I hope this instance serves to help us all to communicate in a helpful way after all, the McD’s beef article was forwarded by someone with my best interest at heart. Right?
As citizens, artists, scholars, educators and cultural workers from all artistic practices, academic disciplines, advocacy and service organizations in the arts, we hope you will read and consider the words of Alicia Alonso as we call upon your Administration to:
1. Open a respectful dialogue with the government and people of Cuba in accord with established protocols supported by the community of nations;
2. End the travel ban that prevents U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba and allow for Cuban artists and scholars to visit the United States, thus eliminating the censorship of art and ideas, and
3. Initiate, by working with appropriate members of Congress, a process that can result in the development of normal bilateral relations between our countries.
Pete Seeger has been an ambassador for Peace and Social Justice over the course of his lifetime. He will be 90 years old this year. As a prominent musician his songs, messages and performance style have worked to engage other people, particularly the youth, in causes to end the Vietnam war, ban nuclear weapons, work for international solidarity, and ecological responsibility. It is time that a cultural worker receives the recognition that this work has great influence and global reach, that it is not only a medium of entertainment but of education, compassion and action.
If you are unfamiliar with Pete watch this video and you will see his heart and compassion.
DESIRED OUTCOME…
The nomination of The American Friends Service Committee for Pete Seeger as their candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
WHO WE NEED TO INFLUENCE…
The Nobel Prize Committee of the Norwegian Parliament
Yep…. A real product … Well, at least there’s a patent.
Toilet Snorkel
US Patent Issued In 1982
This guy is using the new breath easy, Toilet Snorkel, intended to provide a fresh air (???) source during fires in high rise buildings.
Evidently an inventor designed a way to snake a snorkel through your toilet. Now you can breath sewer air instead of smoke! Just Great? Ummm — No?
Besides the fact that sewer gas can be flammable, jeeze…. it’s methane, have you ever had a lung full of it? Choke me with a….
Now I’ll give anybody a break here as far as coming up with this idea but to go the distance of design not to mention the patent search and filling it? Maybe he has no friends or family members to tell him how insane the whole idea is… Besides, Can’t I just use a piece of garden hose to fill my lungs with methane and turn myself into a potential fire ball? Jeeze
Ok, This could be boring so I’ll try to keep it short.
For a couple years I’ve tried to distribute audio files of sermons and bible studies to anyone who wanted them. This service, I believe, was helpful when our church members were on vacation, lucky them, or missed for any reason. I thought I had an answer, files are too big for email, when I found a web site which provided free storage and downloads. All was good I thought. Truth is, most people had trouble navigating the drive so I created a menu… More success (hits) followed but I think still too clunky and a bit scary to users with fears of virus attacks. BTW the site is clean and reliable.
Now to my next answer and the reason for this babble. SkyDrive!!!
When you join Windows Live you automatically get 25 gigabytes of free storage both public or private (you decide). That’s 4 times what I had with my previous service and it’s all point and click. The interface is no different than the file storage system on your PC or Mac. Folders, Files (photos, documents, etc). Click… Drag… Drop!!! Eureka!
If you don’t “join” Windows Live (free too by the way) you can still access a SkyDrive. All you need is the posted link (here’s mine), which can be sent by email, and you’re in. The sermon and bible study files are in the Life Talk folder.
BTW… There are a lot more bennefits to “Live” but I’ve borred you enough… for this moment. Ha!
Last night I found Blurb. Quite by accident too. I was browsing Digg and read an article about book sites in which one site mentioned self-publishing your own books. Eureka!
My dad has written a few books and, long ago, submitted one to a few traditional publishers. All of them turned him down. One of them even told him why. His book didn’t promote the sale of more books. In fact, his book answered too many questions and the publisher was afraid the reader would never buy another Christian book. Duh?
Well last night I fixed that. Ha!
The site lets you download, for free, their very “easy to use” software which lets you choose from “stock” sizes and qualities to suit your needs. Whether you want to make a wedding book, travelogue, coffee table book, or a simple 5″x8″ paperback.
So… This is what I did… I downloaded the software, loaded a Word document of my dads, corrected some format errors, put a picture on the front, and submitted it for publishing. This morning it was already part of their catalog, complete with a preview, so I ordered two copies, one paperback and one hardcover. It’s a miracle.
You’ll find a link for it on the right under “Dads Books”…. “Christianity Is Not What You Think”. Now maybe I’ll write one but with fewer words, lots of pictures, and illustrations. lol
Yep…. A real product … Well, at least there’s a patent.
