Awana Grand Prix Time.

One gravity hungry block of wood. I just went at it with the bench grinder and finished it with some old spray paint I had. I even had a can of enamel. I'm hooked now.

Google doesn't remember the password to my daughter's blog right now so I'll post it here. Isn't Awana grand Prix time fun? I was dreading all the time I was going to have to come up with to get a car made but it wasn't so bad afterall.

Now I have to make another one and try and get her to let me race this one in the leaders race. Otherwise I might be racing the prettiest little girly looking car in the group.

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Just A Short Note: Theology Is Not Always Our Friend.

For my own personal growth in the word, and to fend off the clever and self-important messengers of historic and contemporary christian theology, I need to once in a while remember certain important things.

You have those who say that to study scripture and even merely read the bible is to engage in theology. Theology is an inescapable part of looking to and understanding God's word.

The truth be reconciled that, yes, theology is a study of things religious. Is there any disagreement with that definition? We have Christian theologians, Hindu theologians, Islamic theologians and even Greek Mythologogical theologians. This man-made science of theology has to be applied with the uttmost care when using it to clarify the words of God's revealed self, Jesus, in Christianity, for Jesus said already that His words are Truth which came from the Father. We have to recieve them that way, all of them, together, purely and plainly.

Yes, and then you have spiritually guided Christian theology, in which you have wild disagreement and spiritual disharmony that is in reckless opposition to the clear scriptural counsel to agree and be of the same mind in scripture. When the theological tools are applied to God's word discretely and with measured restraint it can lead to reinforcement and support for Christ's own words. When it's used selfishly or superficially it can leave brethren splintered and scattered and left apart from each other in slightly different gospels.

The world of Christian theology, has long ago taken on a life of it's own, apart from sound workmanship in and under Christ's counsel. It's become virtually a man-made science trying to prove those things which God ordained for us only to know in part for now.

This makes it clear to me that Christian theology is not always our friend and cannot be said to be a part and parcel of studying God's word.

I need protection from the fleshly biting and devouring forces thriving within the Body of Christ in the form of self-proclaimed christian theology. And that very reassuredly comes in the form of a good literal rendering of scripture in the NASV bible, a Greek/English NASV interlinear bible in Greek and English, a good scriptural dictionary, a concordance to bolster the memory, along with the promised indwelling Spiritual help that Christ came through with for us. A good teacher is invaluable as well. One that's always learning. One that you can be sure you have when he uses the entire bible to teach itself, so to speak. And it's a big book and is very helpful to have someone around with a love and a respect for it that's been through it a few more times than I have.

Very few people share my fascination and admiration for christian theological thinking from just after Christ and until now. In my own mind, that may be why I can see it, not only for what it is, but more importantly, for what it is not. And then get back to studying the pure milk of the word right from the book. As it was intended. Oooo...can I say that? As it was intended? Yes, most definately.

It was a more comforting day when I came to that realization. Hope it works for a few others as well.

Comfort and joy, spiritually, from Him to us, as promised. Together in Christ(ripped asunder in theology, ohhpppssttt...sorry). And it is well with our soul.



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Regrets, Minor Regrets and Blessings.

A day very well blessed. I get to practice piano for a couple of hours. Then go about 20 minutes away and make a pretty good worthwhile time of getting out in the mud and trimming up some Morgans that I had put some shoes on for the Christmas parade last November. Come home to about 2 more hours of practice after when my kiddo will get home and we'll skate off to girl scouts. I'll get some reading time in while I wait, come home, and after dinner she can practice her piano briefly, do a little Awana, and then it's either computer games with dad or watch a little tv while dad goes of to practice or study some more. Nice well rounded day.

I'm trying to finish My Jesus, I Love Thee and Since I Have Been Redeemed. My playing is growing in leaps and bounds-at the cost of a huge time investment-which I thank God continously that I have, and owe to Him. I will work at filling out the four tunes I have on my website, or the two instrumentals that is. I won't be posting hymns and songs I'm going to formally record. There is no hurry for them, as I see it. There are, however, many great hymns that are left for the meantime to have some fun with and to share with friends and aquantainces here.

I also intend to press on and explore as many fascinating scripturally relevant questions as time permits. Such as the one in the last post that I still have to answer. A minor regret is that I don't have the time to debate away alot of the divisive Christian theology that has crept into the Church, from right about the time Jesus, probably reluctantly, left us to our own devices down here and went off hoping we would listen and testify to what He said. But people have always and always will listen and be tickled by every wind of doctrine that comes along, and so all a person can do is make sure that they're grounded in what Christ has done for them, and leave it at that. And let's not forbid, even make some use of what He has done for them. Given the opportunity, I would love to host a 'Theological detox' blog to give some of these hard core, hard label, theologically opposed and encamped Christians a new look at going 'theology free', so to speak, and uniting in scripture, and scripture alone. And there have been worse dreams. But for now I slog on in the vast sufficiency of the present.

Here's (part of) My Philosophy.

My hope is to take these hymns and put a little complementary twist in them. Probably the same as most any player of hymns. There are a lot of musical tools and techniques that have developed along since most of these hymns were written and I suspect most of the orignal authors would enjoy having many of these musical developments employed in the presenting of their masterpieces. I can't help but have my entire history of musical experience well up inside of me as I play through many of these hymn pieces, and consider it a privilege to let them share in the growth that has occured in the musical arts since their own beginnings. Music is........form and content. All of it's form is 'of ' the world, and there is none which is by itself unclean. But it's content springs from the heart, and for the 'new heart', there is a spiritual standard. Looking forward to explaining that further as time permits. And as the Lords gracious teaching enables.

That's all I know for sure tonight, because, my time allotment has run out and my daughter just let me know that.

I'm awfully excited about the He Hideth My Soul arrangement. Not necessarily the recording of the present arrangement as it stands. Because it's time in line finally came to sit down with it and decide where I was going with it and, it wasn't until I was done slogging through it many times, and I was done recording it, that the theme really firmed up. So I'm looking forward to a few weeks of learning how to play it and then coming back and tentatively finishing it. And then singing through it. And that's what I'm looking forward to almost the most. That, I have to emphasize, is the great hope I have that many of these pieces will useful for to others than myself. That's more of the philosophy thing...there are many who love to sing these vintage hymns that simply need some musical accompanyment that presents a pleasant opportunity to do just that. I'm still trying to figure out how to best manage that. At least I can finally play them.

I'll be resinging all of these as my sort of self taught voice training progresses. All of them that make the website that is. There are many that won't, but will, however, be formally recorded and ultimately shared. I've learned I can't sing very well in the morning but that that's when I start on a song and the voice track needs to get in early so I can build onto it as opposed to the other way around. I'm doing most of these in the course of one or two days. As a means to figuring out how to do them the next time better. Or just socking them away until I can get them to a better producer than myself. But the ones on the website will be slowly evolving all the time.

I sat down the other evening and resang, "I Sing the Mighty Power of God". It sounded more like yelling. That let me know that my voice conditioning was working. It's nice to know that the pipes are starting to pump pretty well. But now I have to work toward that happy medium. I've got to work on improving the voice. Speaking of that tune, that was my first home recording effort and wasn't really intended to come out as such a pop tune. But I've fallen in great like with the end product. It's all from my electric effects piano so I know I could easily reproduce the whole song for a crowd of people and that has some practical benefits. But not a lot of my stuff is going to have that sort of sound. Just wait until half of the hymnal I've turned into a jig. Yikes. Still working on my technique there.

So on it goes.

http://toddsaunders.us/livemusic.html



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I Know Whom I Believe.

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I Know Whom I Have Believed
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Here's one. Something got into me, I think even the first time, when I was assigned this hymn to play on a Sunday. About four years ago this spring as I remember. We play a hymn at the beginning of the service and one at the end. I hadn't played the piano in about probably 23 years, my last lesson had been in the fourth grade (or 38 years ago), but was glad to get back at it because frankly, between my fiddle, guitar, accordian, and trumpet, it was my first love. Just a little big to lug around. But when I began to get these assigned hymns, I couldn't stop my left hand from wanting to get a little excited. Nor could I quit toying around and adding little variations. And it's happened with every hymn I've played since. So it's chronic. The sobering news is that these hymns are not complete without their God honoring words and I can't really sing very well yet. So I'm trying to get serious and get my voice a little more well trained. So watch your ears.

The hymn came together for me on Monday morning. I finally figured out, on Monday morning, how the extra pieces which I've enjoyed playing to myself with this hymn for several years now would all fit together. Seemingly. So this is meant for your enjoyment and to put a little bounce in your step while meditating on the truly inspiring words contained in this hymn.

It's by no means finished yet. It's what you would call a rough demo. But I see no reason to keep it in a box. It's the very popular and familiar hymn called I Know Whom I Have Believed and below is the link:


I Know Whom I Have Believed


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Not Exactly As I Had Planned, But Even So, Better...And With Some Time Left Over To Share It With A Few Others.

Not at all what I had planned, but all in all, a good day. A true cross section slice of the days around here. While I have the time and the inspiration to tell anyone who may be curious about it, I may as well get going on it. God enabled me to have a remarkable couple of days in spite of His changing my well laid plan. Always our good fortune when that happens. Please, let me tell you about it.

I had no water since yesterday afternoon. I rent a house and forty acres owned and plumbed by the contractor that built the 50 parcel mobile home park who's water system broke down yesterday. They turned the water on at 2pm and it took until 5:30pm to work its way up the hill to the last place on the line which mine is. In the meantime, my daughter was home from school today with either pink eye or the look alike virus with the painful eyes minus the pink. She didn't do to badly pain wise. She did decide it was important enough to make a wild concoction in the kitchen that spread wildly dirty dishes across the whole table with no water in sight to do any cleaning of the dishes or the floor. Then she had been dreaming of cracking a bunch of eggs pretending to be baking something. I finally let her get it out of her system today. I told her, yes, she could even crack an entire carton of them. She thought I meant both cartons. I had a flat of bacon in the fridge and with a bunch of cheese I made a huge favorite dish of mine while she fell back from exhaustion on the couch from her cold. It was scrambled bacon and eggs with cheddar cheese. I ate almost half of it myself. The water came trickling back slowly and I finally got everything cleaned up. The horses and the dog and the cats were happy to have a drink of water again. I even managed to get a shower after three days and it's now 10pm.

What made me feel particularly useful was cozying with my daughter for an entire Care Bear video tonight. There were so many other things calling me. I think she's beginning to see that she has a pretty special dad. I thank God continuously for that and allowing that to me. In the respect that she's getting pretty much most of the things a young girl needs from a parent. She came in on me in my bedroom/office/music studio when I had just laid out her crazy mom's latest communication from jail. Her mom is crazy as well as in jail. In jail for not abiding by the conditions of probation she recieved for illegally taking her daughter from her daughter's father. As for the crazy, naively this is something I had not realized until after she was pregnant with my daughter. We'd been together for 2 1/2 years before that happened, planning to get married, even with marriage certificate in hand at one point. Just after my daughter was concieved the subsequent stress brought out the fact that the mom had a serious reality disorder. Clinically a personality disorder. Which had it's roots far before the pregnancy. These things happen in this life. My daughter looked at the colorful drawings and messages from her mom, said, "oh, look at the stuff mom sent me", and then never looked back at it. At 7 1/2 years old she still remembers when mom took her from her dad, and other family and friends, because she was mad at dad. She lived in mom's van on and off for nine months while mom taught dad a lesson. She was only 18 months old when she didn't quite understand where good old dad was. The guy who took her everywhere he went.

So the daughter is getting a pretty good dose of what it's like to have a good dad. One that loves her like he loves Christ. Even if that's the husbands job, she's going to know what a good husband looks like when the time comes. And I do thank God almost everyday that I am not physically attracted to young girls. Many are, which I don't quite understand other than attributing it to genetics coupled with lack of self control. I'm a lucky dad and she's a lucky young lady. And she knows it. She's stuck with the cherished and dedicated God ordained leader of her family all day long on a lot of days and she knows it's good.

Therfore, not at all what I had planned for my day was able to come to be. She's sick again. We had both been sick for a week two weeks ago. Still barely over that one and now again. I'm fighting it and don't know if it'll get me yet.

Yesterday was a good day. I took all day and worked on "As With Gladness, Men of Old". Trying to get an acceptable fingerstyle guitar part down. I gave up playing the guitar almost altogether when I took up fiddle playing about 13 years ago. And then a year and a half ago I found no more time to play the fiddle. I returned to the piano after answering a call to be the substitute piano player at church. I hadn't played in 25 years. I found out that all the years of playing guitar and fiddle playing by ear gave me wild, crazy fingers on the piano, which I never dreamed I had, never happy to leave the melody alone. And an end all love for the hymns of the hymnal with their powerful messages about the word of God and the Lord Himself. I couldn't believe it. I don't think I'll be able to play all of them enough if I live to be 90 years old.

So I worked on "As With Gladness...", slowed it way down even from the slow tempo I settled on a few weeks ago when I tried to get some ideas down. It's no ordinary Christmas tune. The lyrics are truly extrodinary and the melody absolutely sets itself apart. And today, I finally put the electrical tape on the top two strings just right, in order to muffle their overpowering bass and still get a ledgible note out of them. I discovered the right place to put it and went through the whole tune one time and got a keeper. Not great but enough of a foundation on which to build the rest of the tune.

I also discovered that sitting down in my office chair, instead of standing up, and tilting my head straight back is the only way I can hit the notes I need to hit in the key of G. I still have the same problem of having to cry when I first hear the tune being done. I think that was helping to be in the way of getting some listenable vocal tracks down a few weeks ago. Certain parts of the body swell up when you cry. Even from joy. But the solution is a simple mind over matter thing(not always simple). Good emotions are a dime a dozen. Inspiration and encouragement from a godly message accompanied by music requires you to control your emotions and grow.

Not as much as I had hoped for these three days of freedom with my daughter in school and myself off from work. But somehow I am on track and all is well in my little place of preparation for the Kingdom to come. Monday I managed to finally get comfortable with the basis of an arrangement of "I Know Whom I have Believed". So now it's just a matter of learning how to play what I've decided what must be played. It's another special tune among many. My whole goal with these hymns is to let no one, young or old, be able to say, "Boy, there's an old hymn that I'm tired of". But instead want to say, " My goodness, now there's one we should sing more often". The hymns themselves make that easy to do.

I've been having so much luck finishing an arrangement of the beautiful hymn, "He Hideth My Soul", that it looks like I'll have that one to share real soon.

This is My father's world is one that I started to play fairly regularly about a year ago. It was a nice tune and it was in E flat. E flat is a difficult key with many good tunes from the hymnal played in it. My hymnal anyway. Fairest Lord Jesus, Holy Holy Holy, All Creatures of Our God and King. About a year ago I was telling a customer of mine who is a very devoted Christian woman that I work at Christian inspirational music in my spare time when she requested that, when I get my recording equipment this winter, I make her a recording of This is My Father's World for her to sing along with. Then I didn't hear from her for a long time. When she called a few weeks ago I was so excited that the recorder and my playing had finally come together and so I would immediately make her a copy and bring it along when I went to trim her horses. Problem was I hadn't really been working on it. So I sat down the day before I was to see her and made a recording of it to meet the deadline I had set. I was as much learning how to use the recorder as I was figuring out how the arrangement wanted to sound. But here it is if you'd care to listen to it. http://toddsaunders.us/livemusic.html. It's really very rough but is primarily meant to mark a valuable milestone in my plan to help serve God's plan. When you reach the website just click on This Is My Father's World.

Beyond everything, I did some comment exploration on some ideas I am lead to believe are valuable in helping to manage some of the ages old theological fractures of the church, by trying to get to some of the root causes of this believer enabled object of so much heartbreak within the church. Yes, I've concluded that I'm oversensitive to it but that nonetheless there is a great deal of sensitivity towards it which has been asked of us by the Lord. A post on some observations on labels among Christians and their potential to get in the way, by my good friend and inspiring brother in Christ Brian Hedrick. https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=19707504&postID=5701756458559092817

So I truly had a day of so much less than I had hoped for yet so much more than I could have asked for. It's late now. I have to wake up in the morning and see whether or not my body is going to give in to this cold. Looking forward to more of this conversation.

Finally...A Coming Together.

At last, a coming together of two things, neither of which I have time for. I just discovered I can do voice exercises and blog at the same time. So here I come again. But I can't comment and do voice exercises, so take heart. But I will need to do voice exercises for a couple hours a day if I'm going to whip this voice of mine into shape. While I'd like to 'sing the mighty power of God', I can't yet. Not mightily anyway. But maybe soon.

Today While Driving.

2 Corinthians on tape, in NASB form, has been playing in the tape player of my Rav4 now for months. What a unique letter from Paul to those wealthy young-in-Christ folks. Paul is so refreshed by Titus, such a workman in Christ, who had such an edifying effect on the new church in Macedonia, and now is hoped on by Paul to have an equally strengthening effect on the Corinthian church. That is just something that never quite sank in as it did today. There is so much there.

Here are a few of the other verses that jumped out at me today that I'd just like to mention especially. Just good stuff:


8:4, "...begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this we had not expected,..."

I am in awe here.


11:21, "To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison."

It seems to me, that what is indispensible to the vital ability in Paul's personality which makes all of his trademark truth revealing sarcasm work so well is, his humble honesty.


13:11, "Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace;..."

How can we thank Him enough for that.

Click Below For My Live Music Page(My Hymn Singing and Piano).

Hymn: The Mighty Power of God

My Favorite...

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Domine Fili Unigenite (Only Begotten Lord and Son of God...) by Antonio Vivaldi.

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...with my other favorite:

Gloria

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And...Another Nice Carol.

This is John Rutter's Nativity Carol.

Nativity Carol

Claire Rutter, Eric Traulert, Carl Davis

John 6 and Election

I have here an piece of exegesis on John chapter 6 done by a speaker who is a leading apologist for a major branch of theology and whose name I do not remember. I had it saved to a draft for a few months and thought I would now just get some critical thoughts down regarding its accuracy. The following is that piece of scriptural interpretation from the speaker who's name I have misplaced.
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John 6 and Election:
We see clearly in John 6 that faith is the gift of God given only to those whom God has chosen. Jesus says in v. 35, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” The words “comes” and “believes” in this sentence mutually interpret one another, so that both designate a coming and believing that saves, for those who come to Jesus and believe in him find life through his death.9 Two verses later we read, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). It is evident from v. 35 that “comes” is another way of speaking of believing. Furthermore, the coming and believing in both vv. 35 and 37 clearly refer to the actions of individuals, for John uses the third person singular.10 Verse 37 also teaches that all those given by the Father to the Son will come to the Son, and that all those who come will be received by the Son. In other words, all those given by the Father to the Son will believe in the Son. The text does not say that only some of those given by the Father to the Son will come to the Son, but all of those given will come and believe. It is clear that not all human beings come to the Son, for not all believe.11 So, only some come to the Son, and those who do come have been given by the Father to the Son, and all those given by the Father to the Son come, so that it follows that those who come do so because the Father has given them to the Son. Moreover, v. 44 clarifies that human beings who do not come to the Son have not been drawn by the Father. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Those who do not come refuse to believe because they were not given by the Father to the Son. We can conclude, then, that John 6 teaches individual election unto salvation. All those given by the Father to the Son will come to faith, whereas those not drawn by theFather cannot and will not come.__________________________


Here is the above text again with my comments intermingled in blue:

We see clearly in John 6 that faith is the gift of God given only to those whom God has chosen. Jesus says in v. 35, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
I think it's much more clear that this is a wide open invitation to, "whomever comes to me", than it a statement about who are, "those whom God has chosen". The word 'clearly' here would have to be strictly rhetorical and actually comes back to betray the speaker.

The words “comes” and “believes” in this sentence mutually interpret one another
No they don't. They are distinct by their seperation and individual use. As well as difference in definition. Yes, they have a pairing in the Greek however that pairing does not guarantee the tenuous point the speaker is trying to conclude.


so that both designate a coming and believing that saves, for those who come to Jesus and believe in him find life through his death.9
Come and believe here are two separate verbs and ideas. Both able to and intended to stand alone.


Two verses later we read, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). It is evident from v. 35 that “comes” is another way of speaking of believing.
Not evident to me. What is evident to me is that it is 'apart from' and 'precedes' believing.

Furthermore, the coming and believing in both vv. 35 and 37 clearly refer to the actions of individuals, for John uses the third person singular.10 Verse 37 also teaches that all those given by the Father to the Son will come to the Son, and that all those who come will be received by the Son.
It doesn’t say they are raised or saved, just recieved. Where else is recieved used synonymously with saved?

In other words, all those given by the Father to the Son will believe in the Son.
No, that they will just come.

The text does not say that only some of those given by the Father to the Son will come to the Son, but all of those given will come and believe.
Does it say ‘come and believe’? No, ‘come and not be caste out’.

It is clear that not all human beings come to the Son, for not all believe.

It does not say that. There's that 'clear' word again. Danger.


11 So, only some come to the Son, and those who do come have been given by the Father to the Son, and all those given by the Father to the Son come, so that it follows that those who come do so because the Father has given them to the Son. Moreover, v. 44 clarifies that human beings who do not come to the Son have not been drawn by the Father. “Noone can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Those who do not come refuse to believe because they were not given by the Father to the Son.

No, just that they were not drawn and therefore cannot believe.


We can conclude, then, that John 6 teaches individual election unto salvation.
Yes we can.


All those given by the Father to the Son will come to faith,
Where does this one come from. Someone forgot to explain this one. This statement has been rejected, please reinsert in the appropriate passage of scripture.


whereas those not drawn by the Father cannot and will not come.

We still can't be sure how it all works so just be glad you have an inkling of how part of it works and beware of any grand conclusions.

It's interesting, as you follow this thread of reasoning, and how after you go along and string all of these words together and come up with something sounding like a fairly convincing riddle, that you are left with absolutely no guarantee that you have the answer right. I think that sort of reasoning would be much more accessible to me if the pope had a bounty on my head such as he did on Calvin's. It lacks truth.
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We sometimes look inside the apostles words to see if there is even more meaning than they knew they were recieving, not the things they had heard during their time spent listening to Jesus and recited later on, but more meaning from what they were taught by the Spirit than they were even aware of themselves, as if we can somehow read their minds and recieve more than even they did...and satan beholds an opportunity. Don't let him have it._____________________________________

Another Nice Carol

This John Rutter tune is another nice carol which the choir I'm singing in is doing.

What Sweeter Music.


The Choir of King's College in Cambridge does an excellent job. Here's a link to the cd homepage to listen to more inspirational christian selections from this Christmas cd.

On Christmas Day: New Carols From the Kings.

Four Pieces From Vivaldi's Gloria.

Here are four great pieces of choral music I'm doing with a six week Christmas choir. The Northwoods Conservatory Choir in Minoqua WI. We rehearse 8 times in six weeks and then perform one Sun. afternoon at 1:oo. I do two short choirs a year to work on my singing voice and because now I'm hooked on them. It's great fun if you've got a penchant for playing and singing music. I was stunned to find out when I showed up the first night that it was all christian inspirational music; at this secular musical institution. I only went because it was organized by some folks who I sing with in a christian choir during the spring. I can't believe the excellent musical selections we're doing. I'm absolutely loving it. So I thought I'd start to share them with you here.

What an amazing resource this Rhapsody.com was for me. I came away from the first rehearsal with 8 complex pieces of choral music that I had to learn and 10 minutes after returning home I found most of them on this site after just 'searching' the author and title. I read music but can learn much quicker by ear. Hope this stuff adds to your library of good Christmas tunes. Vivaldi's bio is also very interesting.

In order to listen to each one of these, you'll click on the title below, which will take you to the right page, and then will have to scroll down to, and click on, the 'selected track' which will be highlighted for you.

Gloria in excelsis Deo

Et in terra pax

Gloria in D, RV589 -...

Cum Sancto Spiritu

(I included the four that don't remind a person of Christmas as much because it's a little early for me to start thinking much about it.)

The other neat thing to do, while you're at Rhapsody looking at their music, is to add some that you like to your 'favorites' page for easy access to perhaps raise your spirits at certain times(or even to vanquish some other moldy old seasonal tune out of your head with).

Peace and joy and hope and most of all love as we get closer to the highly stress filled dual-natured Chrismas season. Lots of hard work ahead. Joy as well, with the mind set on the Spirit. Let me echo a hardy praise God! Todd

Not a Bad Day For Evangelism.

A few loose ends came together for us and my pastor's sermons are now digital. This is a good day for evangelism. I'm still pinching myself to make sure Jeff is really here in this way out-of-the-way northwoods community that I likewise chose to settle in, and is teaching the bible very commendably. And now is he not only less isolated evangelically but I won't have to be sending as many tapes in the mail or spending as much of the church's money.

For the past three or four years Pastor Jeff has been working his flock through the bible on Sundays at roughly a chapter a week, the first half hour looking at the chapter and the second looking at it's living relevance to life today and the rest of Christ's living word, in an effort to build up and strengthen his church as people prepared to serve and glorify the Lord in their lives.

This would be the link to his first digital sermon:
http://www.rhinelanderbible.org/serm1029.html

He's managed to do it at virtually no expense by using the freely available resources of the internet, and alot of tenacity.

It's a Blogs Life.

What a big friendly smile?

My daughter is off to an overnight at her friends and I am left with some time on my hands. I've been waiting for the chance after a hectic busy season to update my blog with my year older and wiser me. Isn't it a wonderful thing to be able to grow wiser.


















My goals were to become a better musician, a better workman in the service of God and Christ, lead my daughter through her seventh year of life, stay out of debt, and minimize my day job to the maximization of those ends. It worked out. I was able to accomplish covering all the bases and be only a little further in debt than I was a year ago.

I study the bible, write lyrics and make up tunes. I have a long modest musical experience to draw from, having played the trumpet and most stringed instruments modestly well, but primarily have a good ear with a not so bad musical memory. I like my music to dance along and my slow tunes to waltz slowly and graciously being very light on their toes, and kicking high up in the air. So I'm not everybody's church pianist. But I've fallen hopelessly in love with the hymnal and its huge library of inspirational music. In fact I've just decided what I'm going to tell people I play on the piano instead of gospel music. I will tell curiosity seekers that I play inspirational music. Music meant to inspire you to dance and reflect heartily on God while enjoying His gift to us of music. I'm sure I will play secular music again at some point, afterall, that's how I discovered and developed the gift that I can now use to serve God, all of that Irish fiddle playing, but I just can't envision when secular music would draw my attention back at this point. Not with all of the inspirational fiddle tunes to be played on the piano. So anyway, that is what I spend my spare time at and I've finally entered the phase where I can begin to share it with others. I bought a home recording studio-from-a box, they call them these days. Pictured below:

Below the recording unit and under the half inch thick instruction manual is not a phone book but the
reference guide "Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies" upon which I pin my guarded optimism.

The sobering news to quickly return everyone back to the state of anticipatory dread is that I have to learn how to work it now, and that is going very slowly. This piece of equipment will easily satisfy my needs of being able to create a recording that demonsrates that, with a good producer, the music will sound great...or perhaps, will sound still beyond help. But I now have the equipment to enable me to either make the music fly or flop as I may. God has made it completely accessible for me now to serve Him musically in some fashion and have it on the record in cd form to boot. Just not very soon.

That is why I won't be doing much lengthy blogging. Because the thousand some hours I put in last year learning to play fluently by ear in the keys of E flat, A flat, F, G, C, D, A, didn't entirely get it done. Even aided by the fact that I refuse to play any tune in D flat.

Some good news is that the 'cut and paste' electonical technology of today is greatly improving my chances at becoming brilliant sounding, but the fact that I'd like to also take my act ouside of the safety of my bedroom, is going to add another thousand hours onto the end of my practice schedule. But I do think, with a few more thousand hours of practice I'll be able to survive the public without the 'trap doors and mirrors'. At the very least I think I'll be able to accomplish being a tolerable sounding church pianist.

One thing I must stop doing is getting in these time consuming debates with athiests and other marginal characters, albeit a tremendous learning and growing experience. I've used up considerable hours in the past week trying to show a group of flamboyant athiests the error of their ways. It can be a challenging area to serve the Lord in up to the point where you've said what's needed to be said. I've often thought of what a great opportunity blogging with athiests would be to serve the Lord. I just don't know how effective I can be. I'll post it shortly in my reference blog just so you can be sure of what an oddball I am. If it ever ends.

So hello! and thanks for checking up on me. If you are anyone in my sidebar (if you can find it, I've tried everything to get it back in place and have given up) or if you are any number of other great brothers and sisters in the Lord I've met while blogging then please continue to teach me as you have been doing. Help me learn more about the knowledge and wisdom of God's word and let me help you learn anything I am be able to which God has gifted me with any additional insight towards. What a fabulous year of growth in and from the Lord it has been for me, which you can tell from my sidebar if you can find it. Much more profitable fellowship with you to come while we celebrate and praise God together, and while we serve each other and the Lord, in study and deedful service.

Together with you in Christ,

Todd Saunders

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Song

I will try and see to it that the music is available a.s.a.p.

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One Day the Trumpet Will Shout

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The time...,

Will come upon us on that faithful day.

To the clouds...,

Up from this world we will be swept away.

And then ohhhhh...,

One day the trumpet will shout,
And all Christ’s people come out,
That’s what God’s loves all about.

And then...,
His Son will gather away,
All of the faithful that day,
Because they trusted He who lit their way.
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I don’t know...,

The season that He’ll use to work His plan.

Or just when...,

It is to be His wrath poured out on man.

But ohhhhh...,

One day the trumpet will shout,
And all Christ’s people come out,
That’s what God’s loves all about.

And then...,
His Son will gather away,
All of the faithful that day,
Because they trusted He who lit their way.
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The world...,

Will not escape what evil’s brought to bare.

It’s condemned...,

And with the devil it will sorely share.

But ohhhhh...,

One day the trumpet will shout,
And all Christ’s people come out,
That’s what God’s loves all about.

And then...,
His Son will gather away,
All of the faithful that day,
Because they trusted He who lit their way.
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It’s not mine...,

To know the seasons set for things to come.

Or just when...,

The time’s been set by the Almighty One.

But ohhhhh...,

One day the trumpet will shout,
And all Christ’s people come out,
That’s what God’s loves all about.

And then...,
His Son will gather away,
All of the faithful that day,
Because they trusted He who lit their way.

In Progress

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A Halfway Position.

Roland Bainton, in his publication The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, said, "A halfway position was taken by those who made a distinction between dogmas some of which are essential and some not. At that time it was an attempt to reduce the fundamentals to the smallest number in order that constraint might be restricted to this minimal area and all else left free. The distinction of course was an old one. The Church had always differentiated the cardinal tenets from the minor. The anti-dogmatic groups of the late Middle Ages had gone further and pointed out how little dogma is necessary for salvation and that of course was the whole point, not how much is true but how much needs to be known and believed in order to be saved."

He also said this idea was worked out in much greater detail by the Italian Protestant refugee, Acontius. I'll enjoy investigating the ideas of this fellow and others of his persuasion because it may be the one area of theology that holds as part of its system the imperative to be of the one mind of Christ. It might actually be the first workable system that invites Christ honoring unity. But first I will evaluate Calvinism. I've had a four week persistent cold that has not been very farrier friendly. But it must be on it's way out.

I read this book three years ago. Why didn't I remember that the second to last chapter held some key informaion pointing toward much more sound, scripturally supported theology than the present divisive choices of the last couple thousand years.

Soon

To whomever it might be of interest. I really am trying to get at the topic listed at my last post. My busy season is upon me but I have a few good windows in the coming two weeks. Should be plenty of time to get a serious post up. In the meantime, anybody ever have a dog they really liked? We had eleven good years that ended peacefully a few years ago.


Above, we were moving back from California where I'd been working at river rafting and construction for 7 years. That was 14 years ago. So the dog's been gone about three years now. I don't miss him anymore, I thought I'd just fill up some space with a little of my available photo history.












The good old Sierra Nevadas




















Tuolemne river canyon.















Too much sunshine.






Trying to figure out how to get the people on the rock, and their boat that's buried against it in the water beneathe them, back up and running downstream again, before dark.

Calvin's Institutes, Chapter XXIV: Election

I was fortunate to recieve a fine copy of John Calvin's, Institutes of the Christian Religion, an intrigueing book written during an unusual period of history, by an unusual man, for unusual reasons, while the Christian religion was being misimplemented to war against itself. It seems, thus far in my reading, as though he is taking advantage of the state of the times, wherein it was fashionable and permissable for the major Christian power players that be, to disseminate to others the truth of the Bible, in whatever way it was that that truth appeared to themselves, expressing parts of that truth often in quite apparent and highly speculaive and highly subjective terms, relying on the complexity of their interpretations, the heartfeltness of their interpretations, and finally, the ever persuasive sword, to very tenaciously put forth a set of Christian beliefs intended to stand alone unto themselves, and serve their own personal experience.
I gravitated over to the chapter on election and, as I'm sure he would put it, I am going to 'cavil' my way through it, point by point, until he has made his point and I have made mine; for the sole purpose of then knowing what he believes, and what I believe, concerning the revealed word of God which we both share. I wish I had much more time than I do to put toward this, but I don't, so this will not go very fast; but it will lack nothing in the way of patience and ordinary standards of thoroughness, and hopefully lead to a greater understanding and comfort between myself and those of my brothers and sisters in Christ who prefer to adhere to any Calvinist beliefs which I may not.