Sketch of me done in 2003 by a student

The Digital Age

           

Four of the dudes from the David Crowder Band have teamed up to create The Digital Age. Hear is a little session from the studio they just put up. Good stuff! Can not wait to hear more from these outstanding men. 

special goodness below!

Leonard the Lonely Astronaut: A Review

Over a year ago I supported, on Kickstarter, an Artist that I have enjoyed listening to since my time in India almost 7 years ago. His name is Andrew Osenga and let me say this now, if you haven't found Andy's music yet, you need to find it now! I really can't begin to compare him to many artists, but one that comes to mind is Josh Ritter. Andy has a wonderful story telling writing style and plays a mean guitar. I know this. I saw him play once here in Portland. (Still waiting to go out for burgers and beers Andy! Oh the places I could show you.) Andy is the driving force behind most of his recordings. He plays just about everything on them. I envy the mans talent as well as his heart for creating beautiful music.

Andy just put the finishing touches on his latest album Leonard, the Lonely Astronaut. The album doesn't officially release until this coming Fall, when the trees turn orange, yellow, and brown, yes, that Fall. So why a review so early? So that when the album does come to a record store near you, you go and pick it up so your ears and heart can be in wonderment and joy.

Leonard, is about an astronaut. Actually a single and very lonely astronaut.He is leaving Earth and wont come back for a very long time. So long in fact that all the people he knows on Earth now will be dead upon his return. Leonard is all alone. Bursting out into space,into that great vast expanse that we all look up at night with awe and wonder, with stars, planets, air, blackness, and of course his space craft. The story is full and precise, it aches, breaks, overflows and like aloe stings a little then feels real good on our burned skin. No notes or words are lost in this album. Andy gets everything out on the table with Leonard. And when I say everything, I mean everything. When you are all alone in space, you have a great deal of things to think about, miss, hope for, and try to reconcile. Leonard does it all.

This is not going to be a track by track summary, you don't need it, because you can't hear it yet, so why on Earth, or the Heavens for that matter,would I try and cause you to long for something you can't have?

Here is what you do need to know. Andy recorded this album in a spaceship built just for the process. He made this music in a custom made spacesuit. He played all the music on this album. He has accomplished with this album, brilliance in every essence of the word. From the first note to the final silence of the last track you will be strung out on the epic story of Leonard. This is the ultimate concept album. An album that is messy. An album about a lonely man after the death of his wife, who he was planning on divorcing, and then he is thrust into space. The album is a healing album, but like any album that helps you heal, wounds have to be opened and then over time they heal. Leonard hurts and it also redeems. You will immediately press play again and fly back into space with Leonard.

Also, if you can get your hands on the B-sides, do it. Totally worth it and will further your experience into space with Andy and his companion Leonard.

Six years of my Lady Friend!

Beach fascination-A re-post for six years together.

On mothers day...after the ritual dinner at the Speghetti Factory...My sister, Brother-in-law to be, Lady friend, and I went to the beach spur of the moment. We left at about 8 and got to the beach at 9ish.

There is something about the ride to the beach that pulls me in and takes not only my breath but my wonder as well. Hugging curves as the car pointedly makes split decisions on how and when to turn. Embracing trees right and left. Noticing certain things that I havent noticed before and I have gone to the beach a lot. Thanking God for a beautiful day. Wondering what the sunset will hold in store...and if we will get to see it on beach front property or somewhere between the trees and coast line.

I enjoy the beach. And at the same time, I wouldn't want to the explore it alone. I have much respect for the most untamable thing on this planet. I have awe for what the horizon brings and what those crashing waves mean. I am afraid of the depths of the ocean, but the reason is because it is so unpredictable.

This evenings trip would not be too unpredictable. In fact, it would be one of the better moments I have had in worship in a long time.

The night was clear. Stars were blanketing the sky and illuminating the shoreline perfectly. The moon was a understandable size. The waves were crashing. The air was brisk and cool. Thermal underwear long sleeve would be fine.

The four of us ventured out across the cool sand. No one going anywhere in particular. Just wandering and being. And then we saw it. We ran to it. We hoped we could salvage it.

So far upon our journey there were freckles of fires scattered across the entrance to the open waves.

We had just found a flame that had recently been covered with sand, but some of the hot coles were still burning. We huffed and puffed. Found twigs. Threw in a few old reciepts.Found copius amounts of kindling. The girls discovered and recovered a few hefty logs to stoke the flames. We blew...we breathed...we inhaled smoke...we burned our eyes...we burned our hands...we re-created fire. Fire!!!

You wouldn't think that four people huddled around a small fire would be beautiful. But to me it was. To us we were in our own little world and even more so individual worlds. We gazed at God's creation as if we had never seen the burning specks that lit the night sky before. We breathed in the cool air as if it were more refreshing than it really was.

As we sat there talking. Being. Listening. Thinking. Playing old games such as I never. I found myself thinking of about a fire that started years ago. And how only weeks before, I had been working at rekindling that fire and giving it life again.

I was in eigth grade, she was in seventh. I didn't know her or even notice her until she was pointed out to me by my middle school director. I was captivated. I was stung. I was feeling weird. I was speechless.

I remember her grey sweatshirt that she was wearing. Her brown hair fairly long. Her fragile hands. Her smile that could disarm and entire task force. HER.

It took me a month before I asked her out. I was young and stupid. I was crazy. She was crazy enough to say yes. We were funny.

Nine months later I got disctracted and ended it.

I never forgave myself. I could never really talk to her. I was afraid. But the crazy thing was I noticed her. I knew her moves. I knew what she was doing and who she was dating. I recorded every memory. I can recall most even today. I was jealous and I was full of loss. But I was a boy and chased other people. But a certain song would come on the radio and I was back, she was back. I would get tingles. Still do get tingles. I actually really don't know if I like the song anymore. I might have ruined it. Not that I can ruin a song when I didn't compose it.

Anyway.

I began trying to make contact again. About 6 years later. I began to check up on her more often. I began to care more. But I still felt sorry for leaving her way back then.

Then I left for India. There were other crushes and so forth. There were close calls. There was life.

But I knew I would pursue that flame again when I came home. I knew I would try to figure things out. I knew I had questions. I knew.

And about a month ago today...her and I drove to the beach in the middle of the night. Frosty's in hand. Talking.

I had to apologize. She forgave me...before I even finished. I finished though. I wasn't sure what to say. I never planned anything. I hand't planned on having the talk this soon. I thought I would ask her to dinner and a movie...but the opportunity never came. So here we were racing to the beach in the middle of the night. We re-stoked the fire that night. We decided to say yes to a journey...although we don't know where it will lead. We are excited. We are scared. WE ARE.

Sitting next to her on mothers day. Moon in sky. Fire in sight. Dreams of what may come. Holding her hand. Wondering. I realized that the fire the four of us had just brought back to life. Was not much different than the one that Her and I had just started again after seven years.

I have a fascination with the beach. Fascination with stars. Fascination with fire...now. And a fascination with HER.

New Andrew Osenga Song!

New album coming this fall. I am lucky enough to have supported the album through Kickstarter. So I will be listening to it soon. Of course an album review will be coming.

Matthew 25:31-46 (Part 3)

Another perspective on the passage. Very catchy tune, try not singing it for days after you hear it. Come to your own conclusions in the comment section.

Matthew 25:31-46 (Part 2)

When did we feed you?

"I think that every prayer which is sincerely made even to a false god or to a imperfectly conceived true God, is accepted by the true God and that Christ saves many who do not think they know Him. For he is (dimly) present in the good side of the inferior teachers they follow. In the parable of the Sheep and the Goats those who are saved do not seem to know that they have served Christ. But of course our anxiety about unbelievers is most usefully employed when it leads us not to speculation but to earnest prayer for them and the attempt to be in our own lives such good advertisements for Christianity as will make it attractive."

C.S. Lewis-from a letter to Mrs. Johnson, November 8th, 1952

Matthew 25:31-46 (Part 1)

New International Version

The Sheep and the Goats

    ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.    ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
   ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
   ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
   ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
   ⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
   ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
   ⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Whispers of Your Glory (Song)

I find you in the sunrise
I see you in the night skies
Flowing with the rivers stream
Creator of all living things

I felt you in the snowfall
I heard you in the birds call
Cleansing with the rains pour
Voice behind the thunders roar

Pre-Chorus
In ev-ery-thing You're shining through
All these things are whispers of YOU

Chorus
I will awe who You are
And all of Your glory
You have spoken your heart
In all that you've shown me

I know you in the silence
I fear you in the violence
Breathing a breeze through the trees
Composer of ev-ery heart beat

I taste you in the fountains
I read you in the mountains
Receding with the oceans flow
Author of all I know

Pre-Chorus
In ev-ery-thing You're shining through
All these things are whispers of YOU

Chorus
I will awe who You are
And all of Your glory
You have spoken your heart
In all that you've shown me

Bridge
You wove it all together
In all things a trace of you
You are the great I AM
And I worship you

Holy Holy Lord God almighty
You are Holy Lord God almighty

My Birthday Pipe...Thanks Wife!