Thursday, May 31, 2007

it's thursday again

so I have a new story post.

other then that i have had an intersting week, most of it had been spent writting my sermon for sunday. my first time preaching in my new church. lets hope everythign goes well. i mean my boss is not going to be here he is going to a wedding in MT.

the new post, as i was typeing it up i started to wonder if it had gotten fluffy. I like it but i am worried that it might be a little too sterio tipical christian writting type thing. tell me what you think.

oh on a nother note i ran into some Mormon Misionaries and I agreed to meet with them. they seem like nice guys.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Graduation

so this sunday at church the graduates were reconized. and i did not think that i would be up there, becasue this is usally for the high school. but I was also reconized. and I got cards, with money in them.



I really did not think I would be made a fuss of. I mean the church got me quick verse and that is awsome, but I did not expect to get 120 dollars as well. I mean, High school that's a big deal. theres glamer pictures, parties, invitations, and family coming up for the day.



college well it is imporrtaint and maybe it should be celibreated more then High school but when it comes down to it peopel don't seem to make as big a deal about it.

so I was very surprised when people fromthe church started handing me cards. verys surprised. and I had to stand up front with all my teens who graduated yesterday. it was a very wierd feeling.



So i did not expect to be made a fuss about

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Galeed's story part one

even if you have not read any of the story i have been posting on line I would really like it if My friends who do wonder through here every now and then would take a moment to look it over and tell me what you think. it is a longer post then the others but it and the one that follows are some of my favorit posts so far. they were a lot of fun to write and were written the week before easter.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Here there be Dragons



This book was written by a student of my grand father and when he came back to Taylor for a book signing my grandparents got a signed copy for each of their kids. becasue i am the one who loves fantisy it is now on my book shelf with the rest of my favorit books. If you like classical sci-fi Such as HG Wells or Jules verne, and fanitsy such as Tolkin and CS Lewis you will like this book. or if you are a fan of althorian ledgon you will probably like this book. Just don't peek at the end.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Women of Faith

I just got back fromt he women of faith conference. and it was great. first off it was what i needed a chance to get to a place where i could worship God and not feel hindered in any way. and of corse God spoke to me.

I have always known that God had created me to write. and at this confrence i felt that God was telling me through these amasing ladies that it was time to get sirious about it. up till now i have been just using writing as a hobby.

I have desided to stop being lazy and to start disoplining my self to finish one of the books i have been writting. In September of 2008 I will at least be sending the first volumbe of the Chronicals of Utopia to a publisher.

to get to that goal i will be setting asided apoxamitly 20 hrs every week to work on it. this will take a lot of self disopling because this was ariganly my new year's resolution.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

new story post

Gotta love miraculas resuces. this will be that last of Lucky for a wail.

yes the carectores are nephium. it was something i have been wanting to play with for a wail.

sadly there are no illistrations again because i have not done them. no ther reason. hopefully i will get back to that soon.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Music wars

Is anyone else tired of the war of music. I mean since coming to work at Bismarck I have been trying to understand this war. At college there of course was no obvious signs of the war. of course it was probably there some where. at the churches that I went to wail at college there seemed to have been a cease fire, compromises, even treaties. the war was over. at my parents church where i attended during Jr. high and High school we had our skirmishes but peace has come due to the compromises made by both sides.

Here at cornerstone community Church it is a different story. there is a treaty in place but it is not doing well in keeping the peace. Since coming here i have taken the time to put together my observations plus what has been learned through experience and a class called church music and worship Plus insights gained through discussions with my mother who is a worship leader and My boss.

First off there seem to be three armies in this war. the first is the hymn only people. This is Generally in the older generation. they have this belief that curtain music is holy and other music is sinful. often times these are also people who refuse to listen to jazz, hip hop or rap. some of these people have been fighting this battle for a wail as they also did not approve of their children listening to the Beatles, Bod Dillon, or the Who. now there are others in this camp who are in our parent's generation, those who grew up in the 60s and 70s. these people either agreed that only curtain music should be played in church or due to associations they have with styles of music and their sinful past they now are in this camp. these people also have no intention of compromise, it is their way or the high way.

the second side of the war is the side that says we should only play modern music in the church. this is mostly in the twenty something age group. from my observations this army is actually is the smallest of the armies. they are also people who have not been exposed to the stories behind the hymns and so their stance is one of throwing out the old and bringing in the new.

the third army is a group that is in the middle of the two extremes. this army is made up of people of all ages, the majority being somewhere in the up coming generation to that or our parents, those who grew up in the 60's and 70's. this army believes that there is no musical style that is more holy then an other, and that all music belongs first to God. they also believe that there is great truth in the hymns and in the new songs that are being written today.

the third army is where i find myself. I love the hymns, at least most of them. there are very few songs that will ever replace the Old Rugged Cross, or It Is well With My Soul, or Amazing Grace, or (one of my personal favorites) Crown Him With Many Crowns. I also love the new stuff because it is written in the music that i grew up listening to. and the lyrics are just as powerful. Songs like Beautiful one, or Blessed be the name, or As I Wait, or I Yearn

Te last couple of months I have come to understand why this war is so violent, and the soldiers in it are so passionate. Music is powerful. God speaks to people through music. so for people songs that God has spoken to them through are part of their spiritual journey. so when someone says that a curtain style of worship song is out of date, or not appropriate, it is personal. to say that the song that spoke so emphatically to a youth kid wail they were at camp is not appropriate for Sunday worship is to say that God could not have spoken to them through that song. To say that a song is out of date that was a song that helped a grandma though a troubling time is to say that the problems she went through are out of date.

at the same time people sometimes think that because God used a certain song to speak to them means that He will speak to everyone through that song. lets face it some of the imagery of the hymns is lost to the new generation, and some of the lyrics of the new songs don't make since to the older crowd. we can't force a song down someones throat any more then we want someone forcing something down our own throats.

this had been my conclusion and I had decided I would live with the treat that was in place at the church in which I now serve. but this Sunday I was almost draw to tears because of wall I felt the music choice was making between me and worshiping God. each service our worship leaders choose two hymns, now one of the genital men in charge has decided that we will sing threw the whole hymn book in the year so we sing everything and many of them I don't know and I don't understand. this Sunday the hymns chosen were two I did not know. that is not a bad things I am good with new. we also do some contemporary songs. those this Sunday included one that I loved in college, Let it Rise. I could hardly contain myself, and then they started to play and sing it. our musicians are very talented, they play with excellence. It was not the talent involved with the playing that turned a song from a way to meet with God into a cacophony of sound but they way they played it. they played it as if it was a hymn.

any more I hate the way I feel during the singing part of worship. I feel very selfish and as thought I am trying to make the service all about me and my needs. I will remind myself over and over again this is about God. not me, this is about worshiping God corporately. if the song does not speak to me then sing anyway because it is speaking to the people around me.

But that doesn't change the fact that the music chosen places a box around me and makes me feel cut off from God. So what do I do? I don't know. I've thought of trying to find a way around this, maybe by sketching during the singing or journaling, letting God use the songs to maybe speak to me in other ways.

However this leads to another serious question, what do I do for my youth? they have not come out and said it, but from the few things that I have been said I think they are going through the same thing. how can I help them know that this singing thing is just as much for them as it is for the older people?

I am at a loss as what to do. especially in keeping with the treaty that stands by a thread to keep the peace.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

news

well life is getting better. after a very rewarding trip to the wonderful world fo the bethany bubble i am back in North Dakota. youth group is not going better and i actually feel as thought i am starting to get to know my kids now. I have found a second job to help me fill up time and pay back those wonderful things called student loans.

Life is good for now.

I have hopefully gotten back to up dating my other blog on time but i haven't gotten any new illistrations done yet. hoepully i can do that tomarrow sence i am taking the day off.