A walkway back in my hometown of Ridgefield, CT.
...The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford soundtrack is one such album.
Those who know me well know that I have more movie soundtrack albums than any other genre. I used to hold up an old tape deck next to my mom's 1980 TV set when I was a kid to record like 10 seconds of a musical part from a film. Didn't care about what movie it was...but if something caught my ear I recorded it. In fact, I still have my first cassette (remember those anybody?) back in my home in CT.
This movie in itself is a masterpiece...more a film and character study than anything else. The two main characters powerfully portray America's most notorious criminal and the man who worshiped, hated, and killed him. However, it was the music that did it for me. And when that happens, the medium through which I heard the music becomes immaterial. Such is the case here.
It's been a long time since I've heard music that caused me to imagine...to dream..to long...to believe...to think about my God in a way I've not in a long time.
Music with words and our contemporary styles have their place indeed. But I wonder about David out on the hills thinking of God. He had no mp3 player, no top 10, nothing but the music in his heart. What music did he hear when pondering the awesomeness of the Lord?
What kind of music do I hear when meditating on the goodness, long suffering, mercy, fear, and love of God? Click the photo above for a sample...this is what I hear.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky displays what his hands have made. One day tells a story to the next. One night shares knowledge with the next without talking, without words, without their voices being heard. Yet, their sound has gone out into the entire world....(Psalms 19:1-4)
By far my favorite comic strip of all time.
I have come too far. I have come too far. I've come too far to turn around, a higher plain Ive found. This I know: I'm gonna make it, I cant turn back now.
Though the storms may rise, though winds may blow! I know the Lord is by my side, to comfort and to guide. This I know: I'm gonna make it, I cant turn back now.
Forgetting those things which are behind me. I'm reaching to those things which are before me. Oh I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ!!
-Richard Smallwood
LESSON
Sensei: "...TAA ta TAA ta TAA..." but in jazz, it's the opposite. "Doo TA doo TA doo TA..." Just follow that beat, you can jazz up anything. Try it.
Students play...unfortunately.
Sensei: No, no. All wrong!
STREET
Student 1: What are you doing?
Student 2: Is this jazz?
Student 3: Are you nuts?
Student 4: No, it's not.
Old school clapping vs. New school revelation ensues...
Students: Wow! It sure is jazz now. SWING!
oy: Mom, who are they?
Mom: Don't look.
STORE FRONT:
Mother: So this is jazz...
Grandma: Just like street hawkers.
I don't know why, but feel like posting up tons of pictures of my students and other kids I knew while living in Japan:
As a primary school teacher I have the blessed opportunity to learn, remember, be refreshed, and enlightened each day by these bundles of conviction (at least they convict me by reminding that Jesus said of such is the kingdom of God) called children.
1. One day, 3 primary one girls seemed bored being in the jungle gym. There were other kids running around, going crazy as if there was no tomorrow. These 3 girls, however, were standing in a circle right in front of me deciding how to overcome their boredom. "This is boring, what should we do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" Silence ensues for about 25 seconds. Suddenly, one of the girls shouts, "Look, it's a hairy monster...RUN!" Screaming at the top of their lungs, the girls found their escape from the prison of boredom. This monster apparently chased them for the next 10 minutes or so because I never saw them bored for the rest of that recess period. I might try that the next time I'm on the Singaporean MRT system at about 7am during a workday.
LESSON LEARNED: God gave us an imagination. I should use it. Bah-humbug to adults and 'mature' people who scoff at seemingly immature rantings or actions of others. hey, I like to watch cartoons...especially silly ones. What? Inappropriate or really strange behavior for someone like me? Well, that's ok...you can think that and use up energy while I watch the newest episode of Animal Yokocho and laugh my head off... :-)
2. Today, we were studying patterns in numerals and geometric shapes. After doing a class wide instruction, the students were busy working out their individual questions, trying to solve pattern problems in their packet. One girl was having trouble with a few so I went over to help her with a geometric pattern problem. I asked, "What part of this pattern is giving you trouble?" "I don't know," she said. So I replied, as any good teacher would, "Ok...look at it closely." She, as any good student would, widened her eyes, leaned in very close, and proceeded to stare at her worksheet...about 2 centimeters from her paper. I'm glad she didn't see my face...I was about to explode with laughter.
LESSON LEARNED: I could learn a lot from kids regarding obedience. When God says, "Look at this" I should do like my girl. When God says go, I should go. Stop, then I'll stop. I wonder if God gets a kick out of us sometimes. I love my kids...they keep me young.
3. Sometimes my students do bad things. Like swearing, or hitting other students, or just being mean to each other. When I deal with them I always ask, somewhere in the interaction, "...WHY did you do it?" The answer is usually always the same: "I don't know." Inside I weep because I know they really don't know why they do mean things. Who does? A prophet in the bible once said, "The heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it?" It's the same with adults, teenagers, anyone really. We don't wake up in the morning saying, "Ok, how can I be bad today?!?" We just act...and, more than nought, in a way we aren't too happy about. Like a child, I find myself saying, "Now WHY did I do that? I don't know." But I do know....my fallen heart, carnal nature, old man that sometimes rises up and gets the best of me.
LESSON LEARNED: Kids have the same problems that non-kids do. And it is just as serious for them as it is for us. It's not about rules, and a government or society...no matter how moral or civil it is...cannot change our hearts. We all need Jesus. He is the only one that can make an old man a new man. An old kid a new kid. A bad student a good student. Period.
Anything you want Lord, you got it.
I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!
I tired fighting You, I tired I tired its true. I tired fighting you, I tired I tired its true.
Your love win me over, Your love take me over. Cause your love set me on fireYour love take me higher.
Anything you want Lord, you got it.
I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!
Show me the way, so I kneel and pray. You teach me how to understand how to be a righteous man
But inside of me there is a battle going on, inside of me there is struggle. But this fight is over, to You I surrender. This fight is over, so come and take controlrule my world!
Anything you want Lord, you got it.
I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER
-Isaac Blackman
The act of prayer teaches us our unworthiness, which is a very salutary lesson for such proud beings as we are. If God gave us favours without constraining us to pray for them we should never know how poor we are, but a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalogue of necessities, a revelation of hidden poverty. While it is an application to divine wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness. The most healthy state of a Christian is to be always empty in self and constantly depending upon the Lord for supplies; to be always poor in self and rich in Jesus; weak as water personally, but mighty through God to do great exploits; and hence the use of prayer, because, while it adores God, it lays the creature where it should be, in the very dust. Prayer is in itself, apart from the answer which it brings, a great benefit to the Christian. As the runner gains strength for the race by daily exercise, so for the great race of life we acquire energy by the hallowed labour of prayer. Prayer plumes the wings of God's young eaglets, that they may learn to mount above the clouds. Prayer girds the loins of God's warriors, and sends them forth to combat with their sinews braced and their muscles firm. An earnest pleader cometh out of his closet, even as the sun ariseth from the chambers of the east, rejoicing like a strong man to run his race. Prayer is that uplifted hand of Moses which routs the Amalekites more than the sword of Joshua; it is the arrow shot from the chamber of the prophet foreboding defeat to the Syrians. Prayer girds human weakness with divine strength, turns human folly into heavenly wisdom, and gives to troubled mortals the peace of God. We know not what prayer cannot do! We thank thee, great God, for the mercy-seat, a choice proof of thy marvellous lovingkindness. Help us to use it aright throughout this day! -Spurgeon's Daily Devotional
Most of us know what it is to be overwhelmed in heart; emptied as when a man wipeth a dish and turneth it upside down; submerged and thrown on our beam ends like a vessel mastered by the storm. Discoveries of inward corruption will do this, if the Lord permits the great deep of our depravity to become troubled and cast up mire and dirt. Disappointments and heart-breaks will do this when billow after billow rolls over us, and we are like a broken shell hurled to and fro by the surf. Blessed be God, at such seasons we are not without an all-sufficient solace, our God is the harbour of weather-beaten sails, the hospice of forlorn pilgrims. Higher than we are is He, His mercy higher than our sins, His love higher than our thoughts. It is pitiful to see men putting their trust in something lower than themselves; but our confidence is fixed upon an exceeding high and glorious Lord. A Rock He is since He changes not, and a high Rock, because the tempests which overwhelm us roll far beneath at His feet; He is not disturbed by them, but rules them at His will. If we get under the shelter of this lofty Rock we may defy the hurricane; all is calm under the lee of that towering cliff. Alas! such is the confusion in which the troubled mind is often cast, that we need piloting to this divine shelter. Hence the prayer of the text. O Lord, our God, by Thy Holy Spirit, teach us the way of faith, lead us into Thy rest. The wind blows us out to sea, the helm answers not to our puny hand; Thou, Thou alone canst steer us over the bar between yon sunken rocks, safe into the fair haven. How dependent we are upon Thee--we need Thee to bring us to Thee. To be wisely directed and steered into safety and peace is Thy gift, and Thine alone. This night be pleased to deal well with Thy servants. -Spurgeon
