"I Don't Want to be Anywhere Else but Here."

 "I don't want to be anywhere else but here."  My wife is at the beach right now and I can see her saying that.  Some people are vacationing, others are in pools, Disney World, a Yankees game, any type of enjoyable situation you can imagine and I can see any of them making that statement, "I don't want to be anyone else but here.  If it wasn't me here, God would have someone else here."  But those words that are ringing in my thoughts right now where spoken by a sixty year old man who was laying in bed at Hope Hospice.

His name is Mr. White and from what he told me today he had lived a life where he would never have that kind of peace before he had an encounter with Jesus.  As me and Caleb, a young man traveling with me on this missions trip, walked into his room he immediately wanted to pray for Caleb.  He wanted to encourage a young man to stay strong in the faith, and to go to greater heights.  He was speaking encouragement like he was a seasoned pastor.

Mr. White has ever reason to wish he was anywhere else, but he only wants to be where he is.  He explained to me that God has placed him where God wants him.  My prayer is that I could have that kind of focus, that kind of peace.  In the day to day of the world I live in, I am surrounded by the world always trying to think you need to get more.  Mr. White humbled me today reminding me that what I really need to do is give more.  I gave him a Yankee hat before I left his bedside and he quoted Matthew 25:40 to me, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."  I'm glad it touched him, but Mr. White is not one of the least,  in the kingdom of  Heaven he will be richly rewarded for showing an attitude of gratitude where other simply would not.  In my eyes he is hero.  Lord willing, as we return to Hope Hospice this Friday I think can i say there is no other place in the world i would rather be.

Part 2 of 3; The Heart of Worship, Or is it?

The first blog in this series was more or less dealing with music as a whole. This time around I want to get more specific. I'm not just talking about Christian music, I want to break it down a step further. I want to talk about "praise and worship" or even simpler the music we sing in our churches during corporate worship on Sunday mornings. Prayer time, study of God's word and maybe most importantly obeying God's word are all forms of worship. However for the purposes of this blog when I use the word worship, I will be referring to the time, activities and music that we do on Sunday morning during corporate worship.

In today's church culture there are two predominate type of worship, traditional and contemporary. Traditional is usually characterized by the singing of hymns played on a piano and sometimes, though not so much any more an organ. Contemporary service usually have a full band, guitars, drums etc., while the songs are newer and in different styles and tempos, with worshipers often clapping hands to the beat of the songs or lifting hands in praise.

While the two styles are so different there has been much argument over which was correct way to worship. I've attended churches where both types of worship take place and I know good God fearing leaders from both camps, so is it possible both are right?

Traditionalist often make the argument that the traditional style of music isn't based in scripture. I've heard it said they hymns say all that needs to be said and these new songs are more about the person singing it than to the One they should be singing it too. Maybe some, but I've found just as much scriptural references in contemporary worship that traditional. "Everlasting God" is pretty much Isaiah 40:31 put to song. "Revelation Song" takes us through John's Revelation in music almost as beautiful as the writing. "Trading My Sorrows" shows the joy of the words written in 2 Corinthians 4:8. Scripture is in lots of songs, the problem is do we know scripture when we hear it? (Different blog for a different time.)

The other prevalent complaint I've heard traditionalist levy against contemporary worshipers is that they are "putting on a show". To make that claim, in my humble opinion is to go down a dangerous slope. In John 4:24 Jesus tells us to worship in spirit and truth, or in other words with a pure heart. The clapping and faster tempo music to most is an expression of joy, freedom, and celebration in the new life and liberty of sin found in Jesus Christ. The lifting of hands is symbol of submission. In Old Testament times one would come forward with both hands raised to show that they weren't holding a weapon while surrendering. This gesture today is show surrender to the will of God. Granted it's not for everyone and I don't see one who does as holier or more of a worshipper than another.

However, one of the comments I've heard from some contemporary churches, well a church I won't name, that gives other contemporary church a bad name is "Wow, that didn't feel like going to church, it felt like going to a rock concert!" The last secular rock concert I went to reeked of marijuana, had people throwing up or passing out from to much drinking and other things I won't mention as children could be reading this. (This will come back to haunt be in the third and final part of this series.) This is not what I want my church to be and if you hear this and think it's all contemporary churches, please think twice, this is more of a seeker friendly atmosphere that can be found within any type of church.

On the other hand traditional churches draw criticism from the contemporary churches as well. The main one I've heard is that the churches are "dry" or "dead" because of the hymns and lack of fast paced music. Again I disagree, maybe because of my up bringing, but I feel sometimes a hymn and no instruments could be just as powerful as an orchestra. "Amazing Grace" or "How Great Thou Art" can stand alone as far as how touching a worship song can be. That said, just singing these songs doesn't automatically bring holiness. If you've ever rolled your eyes when the song leader said let's sing all the stanzas instead of the first and fourth, you know what I'm talking about, I've done it too, it's hypocritical to say another group is "putting on a show".

In 1 Samuel 15:22 it says "to obey is better than to sacrifice". To me this means we are to worship the Lord not with our lips, but our hearts. It's not the songs that what we sing but the lives that life.

Part 1 in a Series; What's Wrong with Today's Music?

On this blog I often attempt to use pop culture to illustrate Christian points in way to reach those who normally wouldn't want to discuss spiritual matters. In this blog I'm going to be a lot less "preachy" and more just give my opinion and try to open up dialogue on what's wrong with today's main stream music. While I do think a lot of today's Christian music is head and shoulder's above what mainstream artist are producing, I want to stay away from using the life style of either as an arguing point. My reason for this is because I feel there are some "closet Christian" in main stream music who could be a great witness if they weren't afraid to take a stand. Just as there are some wolves in sheep's clothing Christian artist who just view Christian music as a vehicle to stardom in a genre where some feel it's easier to get their big break. I say all that to say, I want feed back on this, suggestions to good music, what others feel the problem is, or anything else this might stir up, but the artist's life style is off limits.

I've had discussions with friends on separate occasions over who will be the bands from the 2000's who will stand the test of time and still be around twenty years from now. The more I thought about it, the more I realised I hate today's mainstream music. From time to time a song will come out that I can tolerate but for the most part my radio is either set to contemporary Christian music, or classic rock. When I went back and tried to name bands I like, all of the ones still making music now started out in the 90's or earlier, with the exception of any band Jack White is in, so far he gets the lone pass. The fact that I have two pre teen daughters doesn't help matters at all. Over the past couple of years they have educated me on the fact that a guy's vocal ability is determined by the transitive property of how cute they are.

I'm serious, if that's not the case then some one please explain to me why the Jonas Brothers or Justin Bieber ever became relevant? Don't get me wrong these guys could, and probably should warrant the same pop and fizzle Hanson did, and but the way the media has acted like they are the second coming of the Beatles is just insane. Seriously if Bob Dylan debuted today he would be told he didn't have "the look". For the record I'm not hating on boy bands, my all time favorite band started out as a boy band, except they played instruments, wrote their own songs, and evolved past the bubble gum pop on the way to setting the bar for all music that followed, thank you Beatles.

But it's not just that, it seems music today is almost pointless. Rolling Stone magazine named the Black Eyed Peas the number one reason to get excited about music again. If songs like "Where is the Love" was the bulk of what they where putting out I could get behind that statement. A song about helping your fellow man, fighting racism, and taking social responsibility is just what we need. Sadly however instead of having a conscious they are more content to talk about "all that junk inside yo trunk, my humps, my humps." I get they tunes are catchy and what not, but where is the substance? We are living in times of more turmoil than the past couple of decades before us and the best we get from our musicians, who are the philosophers of our time can give is "P p p poker face my p poker face"? (I don't care if she is the new Madonna, I've never cared for her music either.)

Even rap music which was at one time the most social active genre of music has lost it. You may not have liked the language or the violence, but groups like Public Enemy and N.W.A., had something to say. Today rap seems to be all about either a glorified insult contest, bragging about how much money one has, or just plain crazy. A few weeks ago a friend wanted me to hear Wacka Flocka and that was about twenty seconds of my life that I wasted and probably lost a few IQ points, thanks Matt.

It sees to me main stream music has lost it's passion. Somewhere in the age of digital downloads the idea of making a great album has gone out the window and now it's about making one okay song. I remember buying CDs in middle school where the entire disc was good. No need to press skip, just let it play. Now you're lucky if a song is any good once you get past the chorus and hook. I'm not sure if the problem with today's music if that it's all about the money or just complacency.

On the flip side Christian music seems to be experiencing a bit of a revolution. Chris Tomlin is writing some of the best worship music that has come out in a while. TobyMac is putting out music that has a message while making you feel good when you hear it. Jeremy Camp is blazing a trial of what Christian music can be, and these artist all have one thing in common. Passion. They are writing music about something that matters to them, their lord and savior Jesus Christ. The music isn't written to make money, while I'm sure that's not a bad perk of the job, but it's written to glorify God.

Now putting God in music doesn't automatically make it good. In fact I'm not a fan of older contemporary Christian music. Back then it sounded like artist where more concerned with fitting in. A lot of the music sounded like they where taking chords and rhythms from rock songs and changing the words. Back in 2004 when I went back to church for the first time in almost seven years I couldn't believe it. They where singing Christian music but the base line to the song sounded just like Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Give Me Three Steps", I wanted to shout "Free Bird".

What I'm saying is music can be great. It has been great, but with out passion it's garbage. I just think we deserve better and shouldn't settle for what we are force fed by main stream radio.

Green Dino Silly Bands

To be completely honest I detest silly bands. I think they are one of the most useless fad that has come out in the past few decades. I mean they are so...... well silly. To make matters worse before we headed out for our missions trip to Jamaica some one had the bright idea that it should collect as many of those glorified office supplies as we could and hand them out in our school and the orphanages. I thought to myself "this is not going to be good". This feeling I shared with my friend Marc Allen (add him as a friend on facebook, he is blogging on his month long mission trip to Guyana, it's good stuff).

He shared my way of thinking. We predicted the kids wouldn't care much for them, but they did, in fact they loved them. We figured the fact that one kid got a red race car and his friend got a yellow duck would set off a fight just shy of being called World War III. That it is also did, there where some insane fights over these colored pieces of elastic that Dana White would love to put on a UFC card. We predicted they would break and set off mass panic as to how they could get not just another silly band, but that exact blue guitar band that just popped off of their wrist. Amazingly the bands held up pretty good.

The thing we forgot to add to our discussion though was the most important. That this wasn't a work about giving away something I deem cool or silly, but about doing God's work. Matthew 10:42 says "And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

To even further illustrate this point I have to tell you where this school was. First off think of Jamaica, the clear water, beautiful palm tress, and forget that picture that's in your head. The area we were ministering in is called Flankers, and it is as far as the image of paradise the word Jamaica conjures up that you can imagine. Words can't begin to describe the poverty and crime that is rampant in this area, but if you would like to take a stab at letting words describe it just do a google search for "raid in Flankers Jamaica", what comes up is a pretty accurate picture of what goes on there.

It was so bad that as we arrived at the entrance to the neighborhood on Friday we had to talk our way in as the local army had locked the hood down in a raid. I would have better pictures but when guys carrying guns don't want their pictures taken I tend to comply.


So I went through all that to get to this, the kids at the combined Grant's Basic and Flanker's Basic Schools have it rough. These kids don't have much, and they don't expect much. They are tough as nails, but they are still kids. So when you give these kids attention, a hug, and yes a silly band it's a big deal. To see their faces after receiving a silly band you would have thought they where just given an Xbox 360. It was true appreciation for the gift, but joy that some one, though they had never meet them cared enough to give them a gift. I could wrap it up here and we could all agree it's better to give than to receive and call it a day, but I can't.

I went to Jamaica to bless others, and instead I ended up getting blessed, ain't that just like God. After we passed out the bands we took the kids outside to play, and this beautiful little girl named Denicia came up to me and noticed I didn't have a silly band on my wrist. So she took off her green dinosaur silly band and said "Mister you don't have one, take mine." I could have told her I thought those things where ridiculous and I didn't want one. But the fact that this little girl who basically had little to nothing was that willing to give touched me to the core.

So now I, the guy who has slammed these bands with out mercy, has one. When I wear it I think of Denicia, and I thank God for her. Even at that tender age she is not defined by her surroundings and with God and prayers as she grows older maybe she and other like can be the ones to make the change not just in Flankers, Jamaica but in the world as a whole.

Symbolism

My mission when I set out to do this blog was to take aspects of our popular culture and use them to relate those who haven't yet accepted Christ as their personal savior, and use some of the things we normally use to kill time and look at for deeper meaning or at least use it for a good purpose.

No I didn't make it to Twilight last night, not because I'm going to condemn it, but because I'm a straight, thirty year old man, therefore I have no need or desire to see it. To all my Christian people who did go see it, it's okay to post about it on Face book, I've already seen several post, but instead of just talking entertainment, find some redeemable value to talk about with it.

Instead of just calling people out I'm going to try put my money where my mouth is and bring some spirituality to something as foolish as a baseball cap. 1 Corinthians 1:21b says "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." To me this says things that may be trivial or foolish can be used to save others, which leads me to this.





What do you think of when you see that?

My dad would tell you Mickey Mantle, his dad would have told you Lou Gehrig or Babe Ruth, they understood about "train up a child". When I was ten I would have said Don Mattingly, at twenty I would have said Derek Jeter, what I would say now I'll hold of on for a second.

Haters would have an entire different feeling when they see that logo than Yankees fan do. While on a mission trip in Jamaica last week I took some good hearted (I think) kidding, mostly from disgruntle fans of Atlanta, about all the Yankee gear I was wearing, that's when it dawned on me, the interlocking N.Y. means different things to different people and at this point in my life it has to do with friends I have been fortunate enough to meet over the years.

When you go on missions trips you give stuff away, that's just the way it goes. It's a Christian principal and it makes you feel good and it makes them feel good, and in time that memory fades. Back in 2007 while at Grant's Basic School in Flankers Jamaica I met a kid named Jay, and before I left I gave him my Yankees cap. Not really a big deal, as this hats are common in the US and easy to come by, but before I returned home I did a thing called a video shout out.

In the greater Montego Bay area of Jamaica there is a twenty four hour Christian televising channel, channel 93, called Friends Forever TV. The unique thing about this channel is it doesn't just show out dated Christian TV, it shows the people of Montego Bay interacting with international friends from the US on missions trips, so in a sense even when you leave and go home you are still there. Check out some of what is shown on channel 93 here http://www.youtube.com/user/friendsforevertv.

So as I was recording this shout some how the Holy Spirit got me to tell Jay that every time I saw the New York logo I would pray for him. I hate to say it but I haven't prayed every time I've seen that logo, but I often do. So several times a day I pray for my friend because the news paper, or Sports Center, or a random person on the street wearing the cap will pass me by and it will remind me of my friend.

So when I returned to Jamaica I brought more caps, and I gave one to a friend I met once again at Grant's Basic School, Antwain Stevenson (Stephenson is my Grandmother's maiden name, coincidence?) and I began to start praying for him daily. Then I gave one to a young man named Demar Irving and his named enterted into my prayer life. Just this year I made friends with Omar Warren, and Marlene Morgan.

So now every time I watch a game a prayer goes out. Not just a prayer that the Lord would help A-Rod not to chock in the ninth inning but I pray for my friends, I give thanks for them and I remember them.

When I saw Omar for this last time this year last Monday he ran up and hugged me saying "Me a Yankee, Me a Yankee", with this huge smile on his face that I will never forget. So now I also say "Me a Yankee", to some that may mean I'm a fan of the greatest franchise in the history of sports, to others it may mean I pull for a team who can only "buy championships", but to me it means I'm a person of mission, and that mission is to shine God's light, and show his love in the parts of Jamaica that American ignore because they don't know about it, or because it's reality is just to much for some to take.

Introductory Blog and Ronnie James Dio?

Laodicean

This word is the reason I'm starting this blog. It was the winning word in the 2009 national spelling bee. It means lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics. It's a reference from the book of Revelations speaking of a church that was neither hot or cold, in fact this attitude bothered God to the point he would "spit thee out". Great lessons come from this passage of scripture, but let me get back to my original point.

I would have never have known that was the spelling bee's winning word had it not be shown on ESPN, the world wide leader in sports. Now from time to time ESPN shows programs that aren't really sports. Poker, strongman contest, pool, soccer, just to name a few, but a spelling bee? I think this is God trying to get our attention, with all the words that could have closed out the bee, it was that one.

To me it seems pop culture can be used to reach a lost and dying world. Instead of being afraid of the world, we should be trying to save it.

Which brings me to Ronnie James Dio. He became the lead singer of Black Sabbath after Ozzy Osbourne left the band. Dio passed away May 16 at the age of 67 after a bout with cancer. This morning before leaving for work I saw a facebook link that disgusted me. (See it here http://www.nme.com/news/black-sabbath/51188)

Apparently a church wants to picket and protest Dio's funeral. Wow, where do I begin? Picketing? Really? Are you on strike? Fighting for civil rights? What is picketing going to do for the man himself? At this moment he is either in Heaven or Hell and no amount of signs or chants is going to change that fact. However, others could be reached, but in this fashion it won't happen. Any time someone passes those who are left behind let their thoughts wonder to eternity and the afterlife. In this time of need people need comfort and these so called Christians want to go to the funeral and stir up hatred. According to these protesters those who listen to heavy metal are destined to hell.

I'm not so sure about that. I'm not a big fan of Dio. In fact the little I do know about Sabbath was more or less from Ozzie's time with the band. I do know I can crush "Paranoid" on Rock Band, and it's also a great song to lift weights too, but what do we really know about the man personally. Is it possible Dio could have been a born again Christian? Does listening to metal send one to hell? No more than listening to gospel will send you to Heaven.

So why write all this. After looking at these post I've seen Christians taking a beating across ed the board, and I just want it to be known that this group of wackos does not represent the entire body of Christ.

A few closing things to think about; 1 John 4:8 "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." God loved Ronnie James Dio, he loves his family, he loves his fans. Instead of shouting angry lines about hell and only irritating and turning others away from he gospel, if one wants to crash the man's funeral they should try to mirror that love of God.

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." An even more specific example of what God wants from us, an entirely different picture from what is actually going to happen when the funeral is crashed.

So if we hear of this in the next few days let's resist the urge to try to judge, because really we don't know. Even if things are the worst as Christians we should always remember Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." If anyone is reading this who isn't a Christian, when you see this kind of insane behavior know not all of us are like that, and in times of trouble and you think you've reached a breaking point I hope this words from 1 Peter 5:7 find their way into your consciousness, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you."