Thursday, January 31, 2008

Hymn - In the Hour of Trial

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In the Hour of Trial

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Here's one I ran across the other week when given the option of picking a hymn concerning Jesus' arrest and betrayal. It doesn't really, but it does mention Gethsemane. I decided to experiment with it. I'm not nearly done but ran out of time so this will have to suffice for now. Gotta move on to another. This is barely roughed out, I haven't figured out yet how to mix and master these things, but as you'll see it's a great hymn. And as you will see I still can't sing. But there is great neglected potential in every corner of God's creation to fellowship with the Lord, and my vocal cords are no exception.

And I just had to see how this hymn would sound playing it in this style. It sounds like I'm hopelessly Scotch-Irish. And I found out that it sounds very rough.

I'm sort of on my way here to covering My Jesus I Love Thee in this same style, so I'll be trying to go there next.

In the Hour of Trial


Words: James Mont­gom­e­ry, 1834; first ap­peared in his Orig­in­al Hymns for Pub­lic, Pri­vate and So­cial De­vo­tion, 1853.
Music: Spen­cer Lane, 1874

MI­DI, score.




In the Hour of Trial
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In the hour of trial, Jesus, plead for me,
Lest by base denial I depart from Thee.
When Thou seest me waver, with a look recall,
Nor for fear or favor suffer me to fall.
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With forbidden pleasures would this vain world charm,
Or its sordid treasures spread to work me harm,
Bring to my remembrance sad Gethsemane,
Or, in darker semblance, cross-crowned Calvary.
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Should Thy mercy send me sorrow, toil and woe,
Or should pain attend me on my path below,
Grant that I may never fail Thy hand to see;
Grant that I may ever cast my care on Thee.
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When my last hour cometh, fraught with strife and pain,
When my dust returneth to the dust again,
On Thy truth relying, through that mortal strife,
Jesus, take me, dying, to eternal life.
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Sunday, January 27, 2008

To Do List...

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Things I need to do today:


1. Have as my ambition to be pleasing to Him. (2Cor. 5:9)


2. Be controlled by the love of Christ. (2 Cor. 5:14)


3. Grab some cod liver oil from the natural food store.


4. Commend myself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. (2Cor.4:2)


5. Give no cause for offense in anything so that the ministry will not be discredited. (2Cor. 6:3)



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Thursday, January 24, 2008

A Song of Mine.

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Song: Reborn of the Spirit

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A few years ago, let's say 3, I pulled a phone number off of the bulletin board of a local music store. It was a woman advertising her own organizing of a Christian coffee shop band up in Conover, WI. Quite the middle of nowhere. She had some huge goals she claimed God had purposed for her. Well I thought I would give her a try, after all, I was getting closer and closer to becoming proficient on the piano and perhaps in the meantime I could just fake it and slide by. I had a nice toy piano that I though made some pretty convincing sounds. Well she interviewed me over the phone, but not knowing that was the last I was going to hear from her, and being a little nervous with my still novice skills, I thought I'd better work out a little on some contemporary sounding chord progressions and be ready.

About an hour later I had sort of gotten to like this little ditty I was doodling with and just kept going with it. I played it an hour or two here and there through the years, just never yet being able to play what I had in mind. Until about two weeks ago when I finally decided to take a good run at it and see where I was at with it. After all I can't really go on putting it off and putting it off. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was making some solid progress in my playing and then got it down on a recording, which is a whole nother thing. If I ever get the time and the resources to formally record it I will have someone else do the final mix. But in the meantime, I was able to get alot of ideas down on this rough recording of mine here. And it is rough. This one has got a long way to go yet.

Of course, everything on it needs work. Including the way it's arranged. But it's getting closer. I couldn't play nearly like this a year ago so I'm excited to see next year what another year's practice will bring; especially another year working on the voice.

Now that I can sit back and listen to it, I see all the things wrong with it, and the lyrics and much of the rest of it is still subject to change.

There are about four other songs I've made that I'm hoping I can get up to speed yet this winter and put here on public display.

For the lack of liking any other name I'm going to call it, Reborn of the Spirit.

I don't want to quit on it right now. I would love to have another couple of days to sink into it, work out some errors and develope some more ideas. But this is where it's going to have to stay for now. There're a couple of awkward spots I don't know what to do with yet, but hang in there. I'll definately get to them. Plus, I'm in about the middle of growing a whole new set of vocal cords. Takes time. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Again, here's the link.

Barring any sore throats, one of my goals next week is to re-sing Whiter Than Snow. Which is not sung so bad right now except for the timing and the two different voices I have. Have you noticed that? I redid The Love of God, but I still can't sing it any better so I still have the old one up. It's a hard key for me or something. Sounds atrocious. But it'll come.

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Reborn of the Spirit

There was a time, it’s written to see
The Maker of all, made our hearts to be free
Made them much like His own, in His image He’d sown.
And He fashioned a temple out of flesh and bone.
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He told it one day, His word to obey.
But He already knew, that heart was drifting away.
So He sent forth His Spirit, Who to make the way clear,
The path of redemption, down which our hearts He would steer.
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To believe in His Son. For behold He has come.
To be placed on the altar, that His justice be done.
To turn the hearts of His children, from their own earthly ways,
To the things of the promise, for whom the Son he obeys.
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(Chorus)
The wind it does blow, right where it wishes, we’re told.
And you may hear the sound, but know not wherefrom it goes.
Such is the one, who’s been reborn of the Spirit,
And just as the wind, unto the Kingdom,
you’ll draw near it.
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Then His beautiful son, said He just could not stay.
Said the world that we live in, is just passing away.
But let your heart be not troubled, when I’m gone from here,
Cause the gift from the Father, of the Spirit will be here.
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Because the Spirit will come, and dwell in each one,
Who asks of the Father, for His will to be done.
He’ll be a Light to your pathway, and teach you to see,
That My Word is Truth, and My Truth sets you free.
____What the eye has not seen, nor the ear not yet heard.
What’s been shielded in mystery, within God’s holy word.
What has never before, to the heart entered in,
Has now been prepared, for all of those who love Him.
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Chorus
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(3rd part-choral)
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In through the eyes of your heart you will see,
The Light of the world who wants all men to recieve,
The Spirit of Truth Whom the Father did say
Will know the way home, and will help show you the way.
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Friday, January 18, 2008

Website out of order.

Well nuts. I messed up my personal website. That includes all music links to it. But I should have it rebuilt by the end of this coming week.

Actually that doesn't include all music links to it. I just checked and they are all still there after completely uninstalling and reinstalling my Yahoo Sitebuilder. All the better. But I can't co-mingle with the old site because I messed up the operating folders so badly. I learned what I needed to learn in the process though to make it more functional in the long run, so all is not lost. I do like the Yahoo Sitebuilder a lot and things will reconstruct very quickly; except...I did have other things to do. Oh well.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Hymn - Whiter Than Snow

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Here's a hymn I found last week that I really liked and made a rough recording of this afternoon. I had to do a voice track in order to see what the instrumentation should sound like. And just to see where to go with it next. The voice is coming along although it's going to be at least another year before it's going to start to sound like anything. Everything needs work. You have to start somewhere. It is in A Flat, which is a new singing key for me. Seems a little more in my range but has too many flats.
Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole; I want Thee forever to live in my soul.
Break down every idol, cast out every foe; now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Refrain:
Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow. Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Lord Jesus, let nothing unholy remain, apply Thine own blood and extract ev’ry stain;
To get this blest cleansing, I all things forego—Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Refrain

Lord Jesus, look down from Thy throne in the skies, and help me to make a complete sacrifice.
I give up myself, and whatever I know, now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Refrain

Lord Jesus, for this I most humbly entreat, I wait, blessèd Lord, at Thy crucified feet.
By faith, for my cleansing, I see Thy blood flow,Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Refrain

Lord Jesus, Thou seest I patiently wait, come now, and within me a new heart create;
To those who have sought Thee, Thou never saidst “No,” now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Refrain

The blessing by faith, I receive from above; o glory! my soul is made perfect in love;
my prayer has prevailed, and this moment I know,The blood is applied, I am whiter than snow.

Refrain

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Time

Using left-over egg nog on raisin bran is something you may not want to try. Although it did get my feet to warm up this morning.

I will not be installing satellite dish's for Directv this winter. It's a field directed toward folks who want to marry a 6-7 day workweek plus holidays and I'm not on this planet to get rich but rather to raise my kid and it's very hard for me to do both. Although being solvent would be nice and I'll continue to work toward that goal. In the meantime, it's a spiritual windfall for me during the winter when I can let the fruit of the Spirit grow within me, being fed by spending time consuming the Lord's word, and bring my life to a greater understanding about the riches which the Lord has prepared and revealed for us. Invaluable stuff. Well worth the 27% interest it's costing me for letting my credit card get out of control; a price one has to pay sometimes for not having a savings; and truly a costly and foolish way to subsidize one's life.

But there's better income in farriering than there is in dish installing.

So enough off-season supplemental job hunting and back to redeeming that elusive thing which I now have, which we refer to as... "extra time". Time to go after things everlasting in value which are unsurpassed by anything else here on earth. Things that money can't buy; but that only "time" can. Although, it's just a shame, once you've wasted a lot of "time", how much money it takes to get any more of it.

Or perhaps the whole process opens the door up for the gradual aquiring of God's wisdom and the spiritual strength and growth that will follow.

Eph 5:16
"making the most of your time, because the days are evil."

1Ti 5:13
"At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention."

Ga 6:9
"Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."

O the useful gift of time.