The Real Meaning of Easter 1922

Probably one of the most interesting facts in connection with Easter, which, to those of Christian belief, marks the Resurrection of the Saviour, is that its origin dates back to the old Jewish Feast of the Passover.

"The first Christians being derived from or intimately connected with the Jewish Church," says a Church historian, "naturally continued to observe the Jewish festival, though in a new spirit, as commemorative of events of which those had been shadows. The Passover, ennobled by the thought of Christ as the true Pascal Lamb, the first fruits of the dead, continued to be celebrated and became the Christian Easter."…

Increasing importance has been attached by Christian communities in later years to Long or Good or Great or God's Friday. It is probably, as the day on which Christ offered up his life for the redemption of the world, the most sacred and solemn of the Christian year. In the churches on that day the altars are stripped of all decorations; except the Cross, which is veiled in black; the hangings are all black and the day is given over to prayer and meditation. The note of sacredness and solemnity has found its way even into secular affairs, many of the states of the union having made it a legal holiday. The custom of celebrating the day is involved in obscurity; though from the earliest times, every Friday among the Christians has been observed as a Fast Day, as every Sunday has been a Feast Day, and the connection between the one as marking the day of the Crucifixion and the other as marking the day of the Resurrection easily traced.

--The Coconino Sun, Flagstaff, Arizona, April 14, 1922 (Page 3)

Have a blessed Easter, everyone! He is Risen!

Bible on Kindle

A friend of mine recently mentioned she wanted to buy an electronic Bible so she could just search for words easily. I suggested she buy a Kindle instead and get a Bible program for it. My reasoning is that a Kindle is a lot more flexible and can hundreds of books (religious or otherwise).

Looking at http://www.bibleknowledgebookstore.com/bibles/electronic.html, most of the electronic Bibles look similar to my cell phone, which is something between a smart phone and a dumb phone. (And most cell phones can run a Go Bible just fine.)

On my Kindle I have the English Standard Version, which appears to be a pretty good translation. It is fairly easy to navigate, and it is currently FREE!

I also downloaded the HCSB--I'm not the biggest fan of this version, but again…free!

So you can get 2 translations for the price of a Kindle. Other translations range from $0.99 to at least $19.99.

Even in the easy-to-navigate ESV version, it's still faster for me to thumb through my regular Bible. I don't use the Kindle for church. But for personal Bible study I find it valuable. I don't know of any good notetaking apps on Kindle, but I downloaded the app Notepad for 99 cents and use it to type in my prayer requests.

Anyway, I think the Kindle might be worth the price if you JUST wanted to use it for reading the Bible. If you want it for other books, too, then it's a great purchase.

If you have a Nook, here are some free Bibles you can probably load into your Nook (and possibly other readers).

Christmas Carols - 1921

I didn't see much reference to Christmas carols...at least not in the newspapers from December 17, 1921...

Church of the Beloved Disciple

39TH ST., BET. MADISON AND PARK AVS.

REV. GEO. R. VAN DE WATER, D.D., Rector.

Communion, 8 and 10, 11, Rev L. E. Sunderland, Supt. City Mission Society,

CHRISTMAS CAROLS, Ancient and Modern. Organ, 'Cello, Violin, Harp.

4 P. M.

Silent NIght, First Noel, Three Kings, Lo, How a Rose, 1609, Slumber Song, Song of the Angels.

--The New York Tribune, December 17, 1921, Page 17

I'd never even heard "Lo, How a Rose" (the 1609 appears to refer to the arrangement) or "Slumber Song." I'm assuming those are these two songs.





I can't find which song is "Song of the Angels."

Surprising Christmas Album by Our Hearts Hero

NOTE: You can get this album FREE on NoiseTrade!

"Love is Breathing", the new Christmas album by "Our Hearts Hero," is different from any Christmas album I've heard (by Christian artists or not).

Perhaps the most striking aspect to me is that every song is about Jesus' birth--not a single song about chestnuts or snow or anything. The closest to a "secular" song is the excellent (and currently FREE on their website!) Carol of the Bells, but they threw in an interlude of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" in the middle to fill it out.

Now, granted, I'm sure there are plenty of all-religious Christian Christmas albums out there. But it seems like even many everyday Christian rock albums throw in a remake of a secular song, and most Christmas albums seem to have some religious songs and some secular ones. To hear an album that's so heavy on rock but all REAL Christmas songs is something special in and of itself.

Others have noted that from the titles of the songs you might think it's an all-original album, when it's not. (Though this close to Christmas, I imagine you're probably buying from an online outlet, and if you listen to the previews you'll figure it out quick enough.) "Love is Breathing" is the only fully original song. Most of the others have at least some snippets of new music and lyrics and/or new and unique arrangements. I think giving the songs names like "Glow" (for "Gloria in Excelsis Deo") is fair, because the majority are not really the old songs, but not something completely new, either. Relient K does some of this in "Let it Snow Baby, Let it Reindeer," especially in their version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" where the verses are made up but the chorus is classic. But I think several of the songs on "Love is Breathing" one-up that classic album in that regard.

If you're the type who doesn't want to hear another rendition of old classics, then this may not be the best pick for you. But this album is full of fresh and unique takes on truly classic songs.

And it's a joyful album, too. Many Christmas albums, as well-intentioned as they can be, are kind of somber. The upbeat takes on the songs, coupled with the fact that there's absolutely no longing for absent family or snow or the like, makes this a very Christmasy album.

Their own original song, "Love is Breathing," has some amazing lyrics from the point of view of a shepherd. The chorus goes "Love is breathing, Hope is screaming tonight in the baby's cry. I have mercy and I saw grace inside of this newborn's eyes. And everything we know's about to change. And He's laying in the stable in a manger asleep on the hay."



(My one issue with it is the Digital Rights Management on the Amazon version, but that's probably Amazon's fault, and it's Christmas so I'll save that vent for another day.)

Anyway, if you like Christian rock at all, hurry and buy "Love is Breathing" by Our Hearts Hero. The sooner you buy it, the more time you have to listen to it before Christmas!

(FTC disclosure--I got the single "Bells" free from ourheartshero.com and got hooked into paying $8.99 for the rest of the songs!)

Tons o' free (to you) music

First, A Rotterdam November could really use your help...if you have $5 or more to spare, please hop over to their Kickstarter and preorder their upcoming EP. I have no doubt it will be excellent. $5 for the EP or you can put up more money and get some really cool stuff.

I was surprised to find my library subscribes to a service called Freegal...you can log in with your library card info and then download up to 3 MP3s a week at no cost to you. The count resets Sunday; I understand some libraries may run through their allotment by the end of the day Sunday or Monday.

When I investigated further, I found it may not be the best use of the library's money, as the library is often paying Freegal (who appears to work through Sony?) about $1 per MP3. But on the other hand, it also appears it's kind of a prepaid thing, so if your library has it, it's paid for and you might as well take advantage.

Christian artists include Switchfoot, Relient K, Fireflight, Nevertheless, Skillet, The Fray, and Red (you'll have to do Advanced Search for those last two). Certainly a ton more, but their browse option is absolutely abysmal so you have to search for a particular artist to find them!

Assuming you actually would've bought all these MP3s for $1 each, that's a free $156 a year...not too bad!

Now that I've saved you all that money, don't you want to go support a band who needs you? :)

Time Tithe - Results

So when I set up my goal to do 100 hours of church/time with God/writing in 40 days, I knew full well I'd set a goal to have The Healer and the Pirate finalized and on Kindle in November. Fair enough. But somehow I guess I had this idea that somehow the formatting would take like 15 minutes and I'd fill the rest of my time with editing and such. Or, maybe formatting in Word would take ages but then it'd fly into Kindle with no problems.

Uh, yeah, no. I spent probably 5 or 10 hours wrestling with Kindle in the last few days and I'm still not so sure about the formatting. It still has some small glitches I can't get rid of, short of converting the whole thing to HTML (and since I moved it all into Pages because that can convert to ePub, I don't want to knock it into another program....).

But anyway, if you count doing formatting/Kindle work, and Googling for solutions to that and interesting and necessary things like tax questions online, I definitely hit my 100 hours in 40 days! Will probably take a bit of a break tomorrow and will be reading one more time on my Kindle this weekend.

Those Corinthians must have liked music

Just happened to find these verses reading through my Bible yesterday.

Oh, and A Rotterdam November could totally use your help, if you have a few bucks to spare for their new EP. $5 pre-orders a digital download; more gives you more spiffy stuff!

Here is a lovely song from them.


A Rotterdam November's "Letter"

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

--2 Corinthians 3:2-3 (NIV1984)

Using some Bible verses and working them into a love song…pretty neat.

Moving along, 2 Corinthians 4:7:


Jars of Clay's "Four Seven"

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;

--2 Corinthians 4:7 (NASB)

And from the very next lines in the Bible, we have

"I'm pressed but not crushed persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I'm blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure
And his joy's gonna be my strength"



Darrell Evans' "Trading My Sorrows"

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

--2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NIV1984)

Thank God for Procrastination

Weird title, I know, but I mean it.

The fact is, when I write, sometimes I can get caught up in how "brilliant" I am, how "great" my story is, etc. (Which, as any writer knows, you may find out it is not be as great as you think it is when you share it with others. LOL)

But when it comes down to it, even though I LOVE writing, I tend to take the path of least resistance. Would I rather write, or goof off on the Internet? Internet wins almost every time. Heck, would I rather write, or chat with a co-worker at lunch? Kind of a draw, and once you know someone the chatting just comes so easily...

And in a way that makes me THANKFUL for procrastination. Because I've spent enough time goofing off on the Internet to know that when I just sit down and the words fly out, that is God helping me to focus and get some work done. When I actually turn or keep the TV off so that I can work on writing? That is definitely God helping me.

So if it weren't for procrastination, it would be oh so easy to think that I am the reason I'm writing, instead of realizing that--like in everything--I need to lean on God.

Old Man Shattered

Randomly got a couple songs from "The End of the Matter" by Old Man Shattered stuck in my head last week. Not sure why, since I haven't listened to that album in years. But I popped that 2006 album into my laptop...was surprised to find I'd never made any MP3s of it, even, which shows how long it's been since I've listened.

But the songs were even better than I'd remembered! One of those albums that may get better the more you listen to it. (A Rotterdam November's "Love Is" is one of those too, by the way; I was on the fence on it the first few listens, as you could tell from my dreadful review if you ever read it, but now I recognize it is technically superior to the first album, and on the balance, catchier too!)



Anyway, I cannot write a good music review (I've tried, and I failed). So just have a listen if you want. :)

Shut Up and Write

Deadlines and goals are amazing things. I haven't done that much work lately so I decided to do another 2.5 for 40 (spend 2.5 hours a day with God and/or writing and/or editing Christian fiction).

When I first tried this back in May, I thought of this as a "time tithe" but that's not really the correct word for it, aside from the fact that tithe means "tenth" and 2.5 hours is roughly 1/10 of the day. But I can't say the 100 hours was completely about God. In fact, last time it worked out to mostly going to church on Sunday and then an average of 2 hours and 15 minutes of working on writing each day the rest of the week, with the balance of time spent in Bible reading/prayer. Doesn't feel terribly godly when you put it like that, though I did attend at least one church event I would have made up excuses for otherwise, and I think it really kick-started me into attending Sunday morning Bible Study weekly.

Anyway, I at least get a surge of energy when I start toward a goal. (Happens in NaNoWriMo too, though I don't think I'll be doing that unless The Healer and the Pirate is done November 1.)

And I do think if you actually COMMIT to doing something, you have a better chance of completing it. (Even better if you think God wants you to do it and you can put it in His hands.)

Astoundingly, I even TURNED OFF THE TV at 10 last night and got in the 1.5 hours that got me to 2.5 for the day! (Usually, I get ahead with church and writing on Sundays, and then slow down during the week before catching up again on Saturday with more writing or Sunday with writing and church.)

Anyway. I don't love being "forced" to do something, but it is great to be working on my writing (and yes, on my time with God) in earnest again!

Revelation of song meaning

So a sister of a close friend of mine is very sick with cancer. Cancer is just horrible, period. But it's so awful when everyone in that family is so very nice and sweet and struggling with so much right now. And aside from praying, it doesn't sound like there's much to be done.

I was listening to my MP3s on the way home from work and "The Only Constant" by Mending Point comes through the cycle. I've had that album since probably 2003. I don't even know how many hard drive crashes that particular MP3 has survived, and I've listened to the song probably 15-20 times this year alone just because I don't have a giant rotation of songs.

If you actually listen, the song's meaning is blindingly obvious. But for some reason it never occurred to me until that moment that the entire song is from Jesus' point of view. The veil was lifted, so to speak, at just the moment when I could be moved by Jesus' love.

Hello to my fragile one
It's been so long
But I am still here
Walk beside me
I've already won
I know it's hard
Just believe
Just believe

Did I not remember you
When the world was on my shoulders
Do you feel my heart
When colors fill the sky
You cannot erase the words
That I sing to you when you're broken
Not a thing has changed
I still feel the same
For you

I'm not at all an emotional person, to put it mildly, but my eyes got hot with tears, and I even felt a few fall, driving down the freeway. Sometimes things just hit you. God will always love us and nothing can take that away.

Rest of the lyrics here. Since the album's 8 years old, the songs aren't on YouTube that I could find, but you could buy it online at places like Amazon (in CD version!).

Providence in Writing

If you've been following my Facebook you may have seen me note my amazement that God not only works things out in our lives, but He can give ideas for His providence to work in our CHARACTERS' lives.

I mean, it's fine and good if God just reaches down and saves my characters from doom. But how amazing is it if a series of events work together to rescue those characters?

I got some inspiration recently to edit a scene in "The Healer and the Pirate." I think the inspiration is from God. I do think it's a good idea, but then, I think a lot of things are good ideas. More impressively, my co-author Maggie also thinks it's a good idea. She's the one who usually strikes down my exciting ideas with her relentless logic. (I tease, but I do believe that is why "The Healer and the Pirate" is by FAR the best thing I've ever worked on.) Anyway, hopefully the edit will go well, and I'm hoping the scene will be greatly strengthened, letting our characters take some action. You'll have to tell me if you can spot the scene when it's finally published.

I think the best example of God's providence in the Bible is probably the book of Esther, which doesn't even mention God, but which has clear evidence of God's providence through events as simple as insomnia. It would have been fine if God would have just smote Haman from the getgo, but as literature and as a Biblical text, the story is more compelling and moving as the drama plays out through the lives of people.

I'm glad God lets us get involved, instead of just smiting people.

Personality types and writing

OK, busy night tonight, so I'll make this short!

Have you ever done a Myers-Briggs or similar personality test? I usually come out as an INTP when I do the test for myself. Some of my traits (indecision; difficulty following through without deadlines) can make writing tricky.

This page gives a rundown of the types. Here is a free test you can try.

To be honest, the test results can almost read like horoscopes, in that you can probably find something that pertains to you and something that doesn't. (In fact, I understand some Christians don't believe in personality tests at all, thinking they're too similar to horoscopes/etc.!) But I don't think the personality tests are wicked.

Though actually, once I realized that two people I knew--same gender, similar body structure--had similar traits, and got this idea of Satan having a HUGE list of personality types--far beyond the 16 Myers-Briggs types--that let him target everyone by their type's weakness. Whereas God sees us as individuals!

I do think it is fun to type characters. Aridin, male lead in "The Healer and the Pirate," tests as an ESFJ. What does that mean?

SUPER shorthand based on my reading and experience--serious students can actually figure out the way the different types interact.

E - Extroverted (50% of people)
I - Introverted (50% of people)
---
S - Sensor - Grounded in the physical world (65% of people)
N - Intuitive - Grounded in ideas (35% of people) - By the way, someone who is extremely messy is quite likely to be a "N" type. Yo.
---
T - Thinker - Ruled by logic (65% of men; 35% of women)
F - Feeler - Ruled by feelings (35% of women; 65% of men)
---
J - Judge - Makes decisions easily (50% of people if I recall correctly)
P - Perceiver - Has a hard time making decisions (50% of people if I recall correctly)


So Aridin is extroverted...as a pirate, that shouldn't be terribly surprising. Sensor sounds right for him; a pirate who's not very aware of his or her surroundings may not make it so long. I frankly have some trouble understanding the Judge/Perceiver one in general, but Aridin is quick to act and certainly "judges."

Feeler is the unusual one for a man. People think that women are the emotional ones and men are the unemotional ones. I think the 65%/35% idea is about right, personally. The majority of women are more emotional than the majority of men, but there's a big continuum. I actually am not very emotional, or good in social situations. (And it can be tricky to be a woman who's not emotionally sensitive!) I imagine it can also be hard to be an emotional man. Though I think men have more outlets for their emotions than some people give them credit for. (Like those guys who are so caught up in sports they come close to crying over sporting events!)

Of course, I think romance novels generally have the heroes being more emotional/sensitive than most men are...and I know someone who noted her husband is a "feeler" and it can cause some problems! But Aridin is just a very passionate person. And if you believe the scientists, 35% of men ARE "Feelers." I think there is room for all personality types, regardless of genders, in fiction (romance and not!)...and in life, too!

(Or at least, this Thinker woman hopes there is. :) )

Saving Money with Kindle with Special Offers

So depending on how you count it, I either just spent $28.21 because of my Kindle with Special Offers, or I saved $53.11. Maybe both.

Let's look, shall we?

The Kindle with Special Offers has some ads on it, yes. A little ad bar on the bottom of your home page only, and then screensaver ads. But most of these ads have some sort of discount with them. You can check SlickDeals to see some of the recent deals.

So what codes did I use?

One recent offer was $5.00 of Amazon MP3 credit. Ever since I heard The Glorious Unseen's song "The Hope that Lies in You" from a free download from Tooth and Nail, I fell in love. Rather than wait for an eventual sale, I finally just actually bought it. Sounds good in my iTunes. Some heartbreakingly touching lyrics in Falling Into You (and I'm not even an emotional person!):

Why do I medicate? Why do I go back to the things I hate?
There’s something broken in me - I must be soaking in my apathy.

And You call me as your friend, as I drive these nails again. I’m falling into You.
You call me as your friend, as I break Your heart again. I’m falling into You.

All who are found in this place, come to the ocean of grace.
And all who have spit in His face, come and live!

Anyway.

Subtotal of items: $7.99
Discounts/Promotions: - $5.00
------
Total before tax: $2.99
Tax Collected: $0.00
------
Total for this Order: $2.99

$2.99 for 11 new songs (and 1 I already had). I consider this a savings because I had decided to buy the album anyway; it was just a matter of when. But you could argue the Kindle made me spend $2.99.

Then there was another code for $5 off any $10 item purchased from Amazon.com. I saved it for a good deal.

And then came another code for 50% off many grocery items. Most of the items there also have coupon codes you can enter at checkout to take out another 5-15%. So you can get the items for 55-65% off the Amazon price...pretty darned good if you want mass quantities of groceries.

Being one person with limited space, I only bought a few things: 36 tiny packs of freeze-dried apples, 6 8-counts of Quaker Breakfast Bars (also apple, hmmm) and 12 boxes of Lorna Doone cookies (my new office-mate's favorites; sssssh). OK, the 12 boxes of cookies was excessive, but they came out to like $8.10.

Shipping Method: FREE Super Saver Shipping
Shipping Preference: Group my items into as few shipments as possible
Subtotal of Items: $73.33
Shipping & Handling: $11.59
Super Saver Discount: -$11.59
Promotion Applied: -$0.90
Promotion Applied: -$5.00
Promotion Applied: -$36.67
Promotion Applied: -$1.88
Promotion Applied: -$3.66
------
Total for this Order: $25.22

Technically, did I NEED any of these items? Well, no. But would I have bought them if they were on a crazy sale at the grocery store? Yes (just not in such quantities!).

In theory, at least, someone with a big family could make a killing with that coupon. It's no wonder some people buy multiple Kindle Special Offers (to get multiple codes). Occasionally, I understand even people who don't read will buy just for the sales!

Three Writing Tips from Back to the Future

Quite some time ago, I watched the Back to the Future trilogy on DVD, and as usual, I watched/listened to all the bonus features. Each disc has a "commentary" (really a question/answer session) by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. There were a few things I learned about how the film was written that I think can apply to writing novels.

1) If inspiration strikes, run with it. Bob Gale said he was inspired when looking through his father's yearbook, and he noticed his father was class president. Gale wasn't at all friends with his own class president, and he wondered if he would've even been friends with his father if he went to high school with him. (see http://backtothefuture.wikia.com/wiki/Recurring_gags) Obviously the final story really has very little to do with that little snippet, but it seems like some of the most popular stories originate with a simple idea or image. (And most popular stories can be summed up in a sentence or two. Which is hard for someone like me who comes up with complex ideas...)

2) Use cause and effect to build your story. The commentary discussed cause and effect in a simple way I was able to grasp. Basically, they wrote index cards of each scene, and then put them up. They used this to show them what other scenes to add from there. For instance, they knew they wanted Marty to introduce rock and roll to 1955. That meant they had to have an earlier scene in the 1980s to show that he could play guitar, so there's another card. Frankly they made it sound really easy, though I find it really hard to pull off in real life.

I don't know that Scribe Meets World's screenwriting post on the structure of Back to the Future was written in response to the commentary or not, but it seems to have some good stuff.

3) Embrace restrictions; they can actually help you write a better story. If you know much about the history of Back to the Future, you know the original climax was going to be at a nuclear testing site (!!!). This involved more setup in the introduction (to establish when and where the nuclear tests were happening and how they worked) and required the characters to travel some distance prior to the climax. The main reason they had to change it, however, was because they had to cut some money out of the film budget!

In the end, moving the climax to the clock tower in Hill Valley made the film infinitely stronger. I think sometimes when you're faced with restrictions--whether it's Nanowrimo, the restrictions of various Christian or secular publishers, or perhaps even facing feedback from critique partners or editors--sometimes these limitations can lead you to greater ideas.

Of course, I tend towards making too many changes and having too many ideas. If I had been writing the movie, I likely would have come up with several even less plausible ideas and perhaps never even realized the clock tower idea (had I had it) was the golden one!

Scariest Entry Ever - 2.5 for 40

I didn't mean for this first part to be scary, but I guess you can take it that way too. From my Facebook:

Bin Laden was a very bad man and I'm not sorry he's dead. And I can't know the grief of those who lost loved ones. But I think singing "Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye" may be a bit much.

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Or the LORD will see it and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him. Proverbs 24:17-18 (thanks, Laurel Shields!)

(And yes, God promises the wicked will get their comeuppance, and I'm thankful for that. I just don't know if partying like we won a sports game is the most Christian reaction.)

So on a completely unrelated note--I actually got these ideas Sunday morning before church!...

I love writing and feel God has given me a gift and/or interest in writing. I don't work on writing as much as I should, even though I think God has some things He would like me to write for whatever reason. I don't spend as much time with God as I should, and I'd also like to get some writing done.

So I got to thinking. I believe in tithing 10% of your income to God (interestingly, that's what my pastor preached on soon after I got this idea!). But as an adult I have never been in a position where I've found tithing my income difficult.

I do NOT believe the Bible says you have to give 10% of your time. Honestly, I'm not sure if many parents or students would even actually be able to do that if they wanted to!

But I'm single. Employed, yes. Tired when I get home from work, often. But my obligations outside my job are really pretty minimal. For pity's sake, I have machines to wash my laundry and my dishes for me!

(Every time I think of complaining about "having to do laundry" I think of my great-great-grandmothers. If they didn't have servants, they could have easily spent something like 2 days EVERY WEEK doing the family laundry. I guess the fact that my great-grandmothers have not given me a solid beating for my laziness is evidence that the dead do not walk the earth among us.)

ANYWAY. I've got a bunch of time I'm squandering. I wonder...could I give 10% of my time towards God and pursuits I believe God would like me to follow, such as writing Christian fiction?

Honestly, I'm kind of scared. But I'm trying it for 40 days. My goal is to spend an average of 2.5 hours each day (just over 1/10 of my time) praying, reading/studying the Bible, at church activities, and/or writing/planning my writing. This is stuff I should be doing anyway. Realistically, the writing/planning is going to take up the majority of this time. Thing is, I am lazy and I am easily distracted. Only by the grace of God will I manage even this meager goal. I realize the idea of calculating this time may be a little crass, but if I just have a fuzzy goal of "more time doing these things"...it just doesn't happen.

The first day was Sunday, May 1, so I got a jump start with church and all. I actually got in 5 total hours before my bedtime Bible reading/prayer time. So RIGHT NOW I'm well ahead. The other 39 days...well, my follow-through is not so good, and again, I'm going to need God to help me here.

Can you see why I claim this is the scariest entry ever? But hopefully an exciting one too.

Captain of our salvation

The first Easter morning was the most glorious hour of history and has shed its radiance down through all succeeding centuries. The empty tomb of Christ turned his tragic cross into an effulgent crown and proclaimed him Lord of Life and Master of Death. Here at last is a visitor from "the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns." Here is, not simply a whisper from the silence of eternity, but a clear strong voice; not merely a gleam for peering strained eyes but a gush and flood of light from the gates of the celestial city pushed ajar. The Wonderful Night with its Babe of Bethlehem is irradiated by the Wonderful Morning with its risen Lord. In the dawn of this day life takes on grand meaning and immortal hope, death is robbed of its sting, and the light and joy and song of it gild all our crosses and fill all our days. Let every sorrowing soul be comforted, and every fainting heart take courage, and follow the Captain of our salvation who hath marched to the gates of endless joy and opened them for our entrance. Plant a flower of hope on the grave: it "is the green mountain-top of a far new world."...

--A Wonderful Morning: An Interpretation of Easter by James Henry Snowden (1921)

Thank You, Jesus, for Your sacrifice, and for the gift and promise of everlasting life.

Media/Music Monday - Skillet/Luis Palau/Tempe - March 20, 2011

So a week ago Sunday, my friends from Tucson (!) drove up to Phoenix after church, pretty much to see Skillet at Tempe Town Lake for the Luis Palau Cityfest.  We arrived about 5 PM, and providentially just about stumbled across a couple of my church friends, who I thought would have arrived much earlier and would have already been on their way out.  I'm still stunned over that!

The festival had extreme sports (seemed to be bikes/skateboards) and a kids' area, both of which were winding down when we arrived.  From everything I'd heard, I half-expected the crowds to be totally oppressive, but they were just brisk.

Setup Friday before the event.

Crowd Sunday.

There were a lot of tents for organizations, and also a lot of vendors selling food, invariably for TICKETS.  $1 = 1 ticket. I think the booths were generally run by churches and other organizations. I heard the food could be of mixed quality (as in, a friend said HIS friend had gotten a raw hamburger Saturday!).  So despite the fact that they had some interesting culinary items (like pomme frites!) we just walked down Mill Avenue and ate sandwiches at Jimmy John's.

We came back over to catch much of Luis Palau's sermon from a distance.  Just about every sermon I've attended at this kind of event has been Evangelical (about half the time, including this one, they preach on the prodigal son).  More than half the time there seems to be reminders about sexual purity, too (and with Palau's statistics about children born to single mothers, that's probably necessary!)

Since the bands had some secular appeal and the event was free, an Evangelical message was definitely the way to go, and hopefully a lot of people who raised their hand that they had prayed the sinner's prayer will grow in their faith.  (I read someone on YouTube who was there on Saturday said he saw "thousands" raise their hand!)  

After the preaching we did some more wandering and I picked up some cotton candy (the last one I saw in the whole festival on a stick!).  My friend said I should give it a face.

It turned out surprisingly like a Jack-o-Lantern.

Then we got up a bit closer for Skillet. So everyone I told I was going to see Skillet, asked, "Who are they?" I asked them if they watched TV, then sang "I need a heee-ro" and then they said, "Oh, yeah."  I assume because they recognized the song, not to get me to shut up.

Skillet opened with "Hero"--I've noticed some bands lately are doing one of their biggest songs right off.  Is that to get the crowd fired up?  And/or to remind those who haven't heard much of their music that oh yeah, this band plays the song I like?  I don't know.  Regardless, I love that song.  They did some pyro a bit like the music video but thankfully, no rain.

Here it is live (not my footage).  Song still gives me chills listening to it a week later.


The Last Night (with explanation of the song):


Rebirthing:


And a few photos while we're at it (they ARE from me, but between me forgetting to set my camera's settings other than "auto" and the motion on stage, not so great :) ).

Would've been cool if the people with kids on their shoulders would have stood in front of the random Luis Palau flags that also blocked people's views. Fortunately, we weren't packed like sardines so there was room to move for a better view.

I was most impressed by the fact that yes, they brought a violinist and cellist--some of their best songs have heavy strings sections, and both men seemed quite talented during their random solos.

Having mostly gone to RAGE and other smaller events, I was surprised at the amount of pyrotechnics.

Jumbotron.

Did I mention there was a lot of pyro?

There was a lot of pyro.

Anyway, it was a good night with good company.  Hope you've got a Hero living in you!

Thursday Bonus - Music (free music by A Rotterdam November!)

Scroll down most of the way for a great video and all of the way for free music!

So I've been listening to the news on my drive to and from work lately. Between all the turmoil in Japan and also Libya, I've found the news interesting. But it's not always good for the spirit.

This morning I felt like singing...but I only like some of the music on Air1, not much on KLove, and still miss when The Effect was in Arizona. So I ended up listening to the news again.

But this evening, I finally put on my music and got to sing along to a band I like. I believe they've broken up, and the songs I cite here are actually from their album "These Words Become Us," which is out of print; Amazon.com has one used copy for over $60 (!) And I wouldn't sell my copy of that album for that price!

I was blessed to listen to the late (?) great Ever Stays Red on my whole drive home. I love encouraging songs, I love rock songs, and I love Christian songs. I love this song! (And most of their others.)

You can listen to it here. The fan video is kind of appropriate because a commenter noted, the band used to play a video of the old animated Superman while playing this song live (with lyrics!).

The lyrics listed below are a combination of the liner notes (which are artistic but have typos and missing lines) and my ear, which is horrible at helping me transcribe. (I'd argue it's "break of day" but the liner notes say "light" twice.)

You say you're ready to fall, you say you're down on your luck
You say you've given it all but now you're giving up
'Cause everything's your fault, you're so ready to fall
You've got nothing to lose

Is there anyone there, is there anyone that
Could take a second to care about the place where you're at
When everything goes wrong you can't see to your heart
What are you going to do?

Is there anyone who hears me talking tonight?
We're so ready to fall, we're all ready to fall, what are we going to do?

You've grown tired of a life
Where there's no one left alive
Hold on if only for this one last time.

Look to the sky to make it through the night
This all won't last forever
These times can't last forever
One beat in time could bring the break of light
This all won't last forever
These times can't last forever

You say you're ready to fall, you say you gave up the fight
You say you tried to be strong, but you forgot how to try
You love to say it's your fault, you're so ready to fall
You've got no place to turn

Now I say there's a chance, I always said there was fight
Trying to hard to breathe just to prove you're alive
When nothing seems to work and now that you're all alone
Who will help heal the hurt?

Hold on if only for tonight
I swear it'll be all right
Take your hand in mine and we'll be fine

Look to the sky to make it through the night
This all won't last forever
These times can't last forever
One beat in time could bring the break of light
This all won't last forever
These times can't last forever

So tell me, can this carry us through the night
And keep us still 'til the first sign of light?

Look to the sky to make it through the night
This all won't last forever
These times can't last forever
One beat in time could bring the break of light
This all won't last forever
These times can't last forever

Anyway, songs like that really lift me up, and Ever Stays Red also has excellent outright worship songs to sing along to. Probably the best concert imaginable, which I was blessed enough to go to several years ago, was Delirious? with Ever Stays Red opening. Love them!

And also, I DARE you to watch this video and not at least smile.



OK! The free music (for a limited time only, I'm sure) is 3 songs from another band I like, A Rotterdam November. It is on their fan page on Facebook, but I don't think you need an account to download it. Just scroll through the songs; three say "download." If you like them, go ahead and "like" the band's page too. It's the least you can do; those songs are like a $2.97 value.

Sunday Bonus - Jonah and God's will

The last 4 weeks at Corona After Hours the sermon was on Jonah. Spoiler alert! As Bryan noted, it's very ironic that Jonah had prayed for God's mercy, and then was super-ticked that God had shown mercy to Nineveh.

God says:

Jonah 4:11 (NASB) "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"

First off, pretty cool that God even cared about the animals in Nineveh.

Second, Jonah was likely proud because he was one of God's chosen people. But Bryan said (and I reckon he was right) that Jonah was also trusting in his own righteousness. Which is interesting considering that God literally spoke to Jonah right at the start of the book:

Jonah 1:1-2 (NASB) The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,

"Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me."

And what did Jonah do? He RAN AWAY. He basically said to himself, "Nah, I'm not going to do what God told me to do." Later, he as much as says, "God, You're wrong. Just shoot me now."

Do you ever do that? I've never asked God to take my life from me like Jonah did, and I pray I never will. And as awesome as ships are, I've never got on a boat to try to flee from God.

But at times I sure have said, "No, I don't want to do this...." And more often I delay obedience until God presses on my heart that yes, really I'd better do this. (I've heard it said that "obedience delayed is disobedience.")

I'm trying to get better at just acting when I feel the Spirit lead, but it's something I sometimes struggle with.

Confessions aside, my point was, which do you think is worse? Disobeying God's direct call, like Jonah did, or not knowing right from wrong, like Nineveh?

Luke 12:47-48 (NASB) "And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

Ouch for Jonah. Ouch for us. Thank God for His grace through Jesus' sacrifice, and I pray I more readily do our Master's will.