Sometimes I Have One of These Days…

Sunday Set List 1/25/09

Today at RCC, we had an interesting time of musical worship. The “D” string broke on my guitar and when you are playing songs in the key of G and D, this can be a bad thing. Luckily we started in the key of E…oh wait, that didn’t make a difference at all! Anyways, I welcomed the church into worship and as I hit the first chord, my D string broke, but I kept on with mostly bar chords on the E and A string.

What I have to keep in mind is that I am there to teach and lead people in worship. Even though it killed me to do it, I felt as though I don’t need to play my guitar to lead, so I led simply with two strings most of the time. It is funny though, because as a musician, it killed me at times to lead this way but hearing the voices of our congregation really helped me to continue on. As they worshipped, my worship increased – almost as though they were leading me.

Here was the setlist from today as follows:

Our Love is Loud – David Crowder 

Let Everything that has Breath – Passion

Be Glorified – Chris Tomlin

Jesus, All For Jesus – Robin Mark

Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus - Traditional

As we continue on in the epiphany series, it is sometimes easy to find songs that go with the theme of Christ in Culture. The tough part is trying not to repeat the songs, because they all go so well each time.

“Jesus all for Jesus” has to be my favorite song. I love the simplicity of the words and the power that they project as you realize the simplicity of our relationship of Jesus and how hard we really make it sometimes. Isn’t that our way sometimes though? We seem to take a gift and try to explain it in more and more complicated ways. This song I feel explains the beauty of our gift that Jesus gave us.

My Attempt to Inspire Us To Share with Others…

I consider myself an artist. I create, I discard, I create again, and if I’m happy with it I display it proudly – then I flake out somehow. This past summer I was lucky enough to record some music that I’d been sitting on for a while with my friend Chris Cochran. I had this whole CD recorded, mastered, and ready to be released, but unfortunately it stopped there. Life caught up with me and for the past 6 months or so I’ve had this music that I hadn’t shared…until now.

I’ve posted some of these songs (I have more music in various folders of my hard drive) on my MySpace account for you to download at http://www.myspace.com/ronpaimusic

My original intent with this CD was to get some art work done, package it, and sell it. Well, I’m growing tired of putting it off and so I am releasing it to you. It is my gift to you. I will continue to create, but I wanted you to have this.

My only thing is this: I would appreciate something in return. Let’s barter! Buy me a coffee and lets catch up on life! Donate money to a charity of some kind (Rebound of Whatcom County is my favorite).  Volunteer with a local organization in your neighborhood. If you wanted to donate to Loa’s college fund ($5 minimum please) we could do that also! If we exchange goods of some kind, I will give or send you a full legnth CD that has some other songs that I’ve recorded. Let’s be creative.

As I mentioned earlier, you can download the music off of my MySpace page. The reality is that I’ll never know if you download it or not. Regardless, my hope as the artist is that you enjoy the music I’ve created.

Peace,
ron

God Help Barack Obama.

Seriously, how much pressure can this man take? I am so proud of him and his accomplishments, but I feel bad for the guy. The BarackStar has become a pop culture icon who can find his face on everything from t shirts to blankets and even on American Currency! I just pray for the man and the tons of pressure he is under!

The down side of this whole thing is the public circus it has all become. Never in the history of the United States Presidential elections have we seen such craziness. We have never seen our president elect at the beach without his t shirt. We have never seen the future leader of our country become such a celebrity rather than a politician. We have never seen our president become a rock star. I am saddened by this.

I feel so sick when I serve up drinks in a sleeve specifically made for the inaugoration. I wonder why we never celebrated our past president’s elections with such fervor? Why did we not see presidential coverage like this when any president came into office (that I can remember). I wonder if the reason such media attention was put on this man because of the popularity of our last president. Maybe the Bush Administration had fallen so short of “the mark” of the american people that we anxiously await the next chapter and we can’t wait. I just become puzzled when I think about the pressure put on the man who we will see become our president tomorrow. I rejoice for change and I also worry simultaneously.

God Help Barack Obama.

MLK

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

The Good & The Bad

Here are some things that I’ve been loving and hating lately.

5 things that I love right now:

- My baby girl. She’s lots of fun. Lots of work, but lots of fun.

- T.V. on the Radio. These guys were on the top of everybody’s list of best album last year. Think any indie band with David Bowie singing and Prince shows up once in a while. Very interesting. They are the darlings of the music world right now.

- Simpsons and Theology. I read a book a while back titled, “The Gospels According to the Simpsons”. I LOVE the simpsons, and the fact that Tony Campolo did the forward didn’t hurt either. I’ve always seen the relevance, both spiritual and cultural, in the Simpsons. I’m trying to start a discussion group surrounding these issues and using the simpsons. This is forcing me to read a lot on topics for discussion. Example: What is Sin? Episode: Homer versus Lisa and the Eight Commandment. Book: Our Moral Life in Christ by Aurelio Fernandez. Other Topics: Why Do Good Things Happen to Bad People? Episode: Homer’s Enemy and What is the Soul? Episode: Bart Sells his Soul

- Black Tea Lattes. Starbucks started these a couple weeks ago with the London Fog and The Vanilla Voirbos. The Fog and Vanilla taste like Pot Pourri with milk in it. It’s nasty. The Black Tea is delicious.

- Sleep. I don’t get a lot of it lately, because I have a one month year old who likes to stay up until 1:30 in the morning; which is a perfect segway into:

5 Things that I don’t like lately

- Sleep Depravation. Babies are like God’s little torture devices. IF you sleep, you get a good couple hours and then you are awoken suddenly and kept awake for a couple more hours.

- The Inauguration. I am so excited for Obama to be officially put into office. It is a wonderful thing for people everywhere. I am just saddened by the thought that some people are making a buck off of the whole thing. Case in point, the Obama Coins that you can buy. Also, though Starbucks is politically neutral, they are giving out free coffee on inauguration day if people volunteer to make a difference in our community as our president is asking with the “Are You In” movement. Though this may have shades of neutrality, the coffee sleeves that they are putting on the cups are going to be red, white, and blue with a quote from Ronald Reagan. hmmm.

- Notorious did not open in bellingham. Seriously? I have to drive to Burlington to see this movie?

- SuperStars of Dance This show sucks. The only good part is when the chinese judge gives his score.

- Trying to read The Republic of Plato alone. Tupac Shakur used to read this over and over again and he understood it! That is my goal. I want to read it and understand it.

Facebook, Myspace, Blogging and Texting

…these do not qualify as a relationship. My friend, Awesome Jen (I just gave her that name), was telling me that she was teaching a class for the Northwest region of Younglife on this very subject. I think that we should look at this idea in all aspects of life.

In ministry, we can type about all aspects of our life but if we are not willing to share it with others beyond typed words then maybe it is all for naught. As I type this I realize the irony, but I tell you this, the people who read this are mostly people who live in a radius around me that I can hang out with them personally.

I just wonder if anybody has any thoughts on this idea? Where does the gap bridge and suddenly relationships form? I think that I have to think a little more about his.

I Had an Amazing Start to My Day…

Cynthia had a doctors appointment this morning and I stayed home until Loa woke up. I was watching the Today Show and I begin to hear her stirring. She begins to fuss more and more, and so I go in to get her. I say as I enter the room, “are you awake you little monster?” Instantly she stops fussing and looks at me like she recognizes my voice…my heart melted.

I put up a post on her blog tonight also.

LOST!!!

I am so excited! LOST is coming back in a couple of weeks! Here is a sneak peek for you:

I’m such a nerd that I also subscribe to my favorite LOST fanblog’s, Dark UFO, Twitter feed.

 

I am also looking forward to Friday Night Lights to return next friday!

God Speaking Through Song

As a worship leader, I am constantly looking for tunes to sing at my church. When looking at these songs I look for the following things:

- Is it biblical? Is it theologically true?

- Is it easy to catch on to? Is this a song that people can sing when leaving the service?

- Is this something that RCC can associate to? Does it match the ethos or the direction of the church?

- Is this something that the church needs to hear?

- Is this a song that will last or is it a song that will disappear in a couple of months?

These are a few of the things I look at. This may be why our church songlist is smaller than most. hmmm.