Feeling fat and happy,

I sit down at my computer to post:

The Sunday morning worship service was moderately uneventful, yet full of meaning and purpose. The Sunday School lesson, which was Matt. 5:1-12/the beattitudes, delighted me particularly. I had often wondered how that these attitudes/states-of-being were to be realized. Our teacher told us we could study the passage two different ways; the first being a study of each attribute individually and how we can be like each one. The second being a sweeping overview and discussion on the first 12 verses grouped in a comprehensive unit. Joel, our teacher, chose the second one.

As aforementioned, I had often wondered how these “states of being” were to be realized. In our class today, I discovered (with the help of Joel, and fellow classmates) that Jesus, by reason of His deity, was sharing the character traits of Himself in these first twelve verses. He did this so we have specific character traits to emulate and become like, given that we are In Christ.

The next powerful thought for me was that these “states of being” are character traits that come from the inside out as a realization of our growth and maturity in Christ. This resonates well with what I have been reading in “Living With Men”, by E. James Wilder. A thought that comes through his writing often is that growth into maturity is a lifelong process that should not be prematurely rushed or slowed down.

I believe this discussion resolves fully when we realize that knowing God and abiding in Him are the important things in life. The “states of being” that we discussed this morning in SS class, come from inside our hearts if/when we are like Jesus.

Feeling virtually as fat and happy as before, I strike the “Publish” button and TADA!!! We have a post!!!!!!!!!

thesinger

Quotes of the day on “Light”

I thought these were just great!! Enjoy. . .

You are … the lens in the beam. You can only receive, give, and possess the light as the lens does.
– Dag Hammarskjöld, 1905 – 1961

When you get to the end of all the light you know and it’s time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.
– Edward Teller, 1908 – 2003

Begin today! No matter how feeble the light, let it shine as best it may. The world may need just that quality of light which you have.
– Henry C. Blinn

Science is spectral analysis. Art is light synthesis.
– Karl Kraus, 1874 – 1936

We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own.
– Ben Sweetland

Concert Wrap-Up

It’s a cold and relaxing morning here at the LaVerne Miller residence. I’m sitting on couch with Dad’s laptop and I’m hacking away at it furiously so I can post before it’s time to go to choir.

The concert on Wednesday night went well in some areas, and perhaps not so well in others. God’s part of the evening (the worship, the praying, the working in the peoples hearts) went very well. I had the succinct feeling during the course of the evening that God was using our music to touch and inspire lives. PRAISE HIM!!

If that were all I had to say about the concert that would be just great. But no, I must go on to say that the tension of performing in front of a big crowd had our voices stressed out, dried out, and laid out in the first half. Let me explain why. First, when doing small group singing, (read quartet) than the entire concert is similar to one big long solo. You have no fellow members of your voice-part to lean on for support. Second, everybody has to be singing exactly their part, no more and no less, all the time. This requires extremely intense concentration that can lead to tension, quickly!! An example of when one member failed to concentrate very well occurred during a renaissance piece by Palestrina entitled Sicut Cervus. It has extremely polyphonic musical lines, so when one member fails to get an entrance, or misses several notes during the piece, everybody suffers. Near the end, somehow, I don’t know how, I spaced out. When I came back to the earth, I discovered I had missed a succession of several critical notes and left my fellow members in the metaphorical smoke of my burnout. Yes, it really struggled. Yes, we did somehow manage to get back on track for the ending. Yes, the ending was very successful. Yes, we were working so hard that we were sweating like madmen.

We had a long break in the middle of the concert. We got Darrel (5th and 6th Grade teacher at PCGS) to do a children’s story as our inspirational talk of the evening, and we had Lyle lead three congregational songs. This gave us about twenty minute break to regroup, settle down, and get our act together.

The second half went like a piece of cake compared to the first half. We had purposely planned it so that our intense and more meaningful stuff would be in the first half with the lighter/easier-to-listen-to stuff would be in the last half. So, because of the lighter material and the long break between standings, the last half went very well musically. Something we did differently than normal was have announcements, last prayer, and then sang the hyper praise song, Shout to the Lord. We sang it while everybody was still standing and then dismissed the people directly afterwards. I think it was a smashing hit!!

Over all, I feel ok with how it went. The perfectionist in me says, “It could have been a LOT better.” The worship leader in me says, “Thanks God. You came through great!!! You showed your great power again!!”

With these thoughts in mind, may you have Peace in the Valley,

thesinger

ps, Steamboat is reporting 14″ of fresh in the last 48 hr. Praise da Lord!!!!

Thought for the day.

John 6:35-40 says, “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

What should I post about?

I am running into a difficulty. (not a brick wall though). It simply is that I am not sure what I should post tonight. Should I post about the awesome weekend that I’m having? Should I post how that school will not be starting for me until about a month from now? And how that I have dealt with some sadness/anger because of that? Perhaps, I should post about how that Chanticleer is a truly amazing group. Yeah, I think I like that. I will do that.

To begin, Chanticleer is a group of 12 men who use the full range of the male voice. You see, guys essentially have three or more voices, a falsetto, head, and chest voice. Chanticleer utilizes the head and falsetto ranges of half their members, enabling the group to sing music that is written for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass, instead of Tenor, Tenor, Bass, and Bass. Because they have male Sopranos and Altos, they have a completely different sound than is normal.

Something incredible about Chanticleer is their versatility. They can sing about every genre out there; Jazz, Pop, Renaissance, Choral, Christmas, and Spirituals. I would like to speculate that if I could sing in all these styles, I would be a much better musician than I am now.

Their tone is amazing. Their diction is understandable. They are always perfectly in tune. They sing some of the most difficult music out there and have a party while they are doing it. Do I need to say more? The answer is: NO. You get the picture.

thesinger

Life as Vanity

Ecclesiastes 1

1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

6The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.

7All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

8All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

9The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

I think that this warped guy has some good things to say to modern man.

Life as Vanity

Ecclesiastes 1

1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

6The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.

7All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

8All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

9The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

I think that this warped guy has some good things to say to modern man. Yay, Dufus!!!!

thesinger

We are talking about an uber Saturday.

ya, We are talking about a GOOD SATURDAY!!!! I woke up at about 8:59 AM, drank some french vanilla coffee, (it was better than our average El Salvador coffee) and slowly woke up, did some surfing, (I’m trying to buy a snowboard on ebay,) and just generally felt great. Mom’s pancakes were next activity on the slate. They were excellent.

Did some more random surfing, decided that I should do some household chores, outside work etc, etc, etc.. Got the work done around 3 in the afternoon. Had plans to go to town with my family. Went to Sanford’s Computers Works ware house, got a tour there, went to Walmart, shooooopped. Went to Good will, Shoopped. Bought some shirts, some pants, am happy with my purchases.

Then, Dad was feeling like having a party so he took us out to eat at El Potrillo. GOOOOODDD TIMES!!! Then, Loyal thought we should go play some tennis, so we did.

I’m home now, and am watching some AIG movies.

Peace out,

thesinger

Kevin is HERE!

Ya, teh good man is here. Last night, when we went to the airport to pick him up, he seemed really bushed. Ok, so, actually, ALL of us were bushed. You see, it happened that he had at least one (maybe two, I’m not sure) canceled flight(s), and then the one he actually got on was postponed until really late at night. This meant that he got into Wichita, KS at the “wonderful” time of 2:23 AM. What a joy!!!

So, we were all very bushed! This meant that we didn’t even talk all the way home, we were too tired. Pain.

Another good thing about this whole story is that we got to bed at about 4:00 AM. This morning, when Dad came into my room to wake me up, if felt as though I had just taken a little nap. (He woke me up at 7:00, like normal.) So, all day today I was working at the Seed House with only three hours of sleep under my metaphorical belt. Pain, again.

So, I am tired. Should this surprise you? I think not.

thesinger

ps. The next time you see Kevin, remind him not to come into Wichita at 2:00 in the morning. It will make us all feel better.

My Constipated/Tired Brain

Yeah, I was just noticing how constipated my brain has become. I have not worked my brain very hard since school has let out. I think less and less of important issues in my life, mostly since the vast majority of my awake time is spent at Miller Seed Farms doing physical labor. Do I like the break from thinking and learning? Is it good for me? Is it right for my energies to be focused towards my work? I do realize that most of my life will be spent pursuing a living of some kind. How will I train myself to think even while I am focused on a different goal, the goal of survival. I don’t know this.

At the end of a hard day of work, my tired body/brain does not feel like taking time to think about hard-to-grasp ideas, personal “hot topics”, or church issues. Is this normal? Should it be this way? Is there a better way?

I have come to appreciate school because it’s an excellent way to force myself to think. But I only have one year of school left before I finish high school. I won’t be able to have school as my crutch forever and ever.

In conclusion, I will have to teach myself to think, even when most of my physical efforts will be devoted to surviving on this complicated earth. Could anyone out there who is older and wiser shed some light on this topic? I would appreciate any and all thoughts that you might have.

thesinger