Forgetting What is Behind

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:12-14.

I guess I should start out by saying that I recognize it's been quite some time since I wrote on here last. I kind of forgot about this thing for a long time and just haven't gotten around to writing anything lately. To be perfectly honest, I don't expect myself to keep it up this time around either, but I'm bored tonight and had a few thoughts I wanted to write down somewhere, so here it goes...

I've been leading a Small Group Bible Study for the better part of the school year for the High School students in our worship band at Thomas Road. Every single one of these students have both incredible musical talent and an amazing heart for God. This small group time has been challenging to me, as well as the students, as we seek to grow closer to God and consequently grow together as a band.

Lately, we've been going through the book of Philippians together. Last week, we studied Philippians 3 -- an awesome, awesome chapter in this challenging and humbling letter of the Apostle Paul's. While there is plenty to talk about in this chapter, one of the things that really stood out to me was the popularly quoted verses 13-14. In our discussion time, we were going over what Paul meant when he instructed his readers to "forget what is behind." Of course, are first inclination is to think of all the bad stuff -- the sin, the mistakes, the failures, etc... And let me say that I do believe we should forget about those things and strive to move on. But I believe there is another aspect to this statement that Paul is making. Not only are we to forget the bad stuff, but perhaps, we also need to move past the good times, and strive for what is ahead of us.

Think about it. How many times do you find yourself looking back at your "mountain-top experiences" in an effort to make yourself feel better about where you currently find yourself? Or do you ever catch yourself looking back at yesterday to remember a time when you were really close to God -- when you were really seeking him, really loving him, really serving him? I know I find myself doing this a lot more than I would like to admit.

I'm not proposing that we totally forget the great things that God has done in our lives. Nor am I suggesting that we should cease to reflect on the victories and successes that God has given us. In fact, I think this practice of remembrance is commanded in other parts of Scripture. What I am proposing, however, is that sometimes we miss out on what God wants to do in our lives now because we are so focused on what happened yesterday -- both the good and the bad. What if God has something amazing for us tomorrow, but we miss it because we are content to simply reminisce about the high points of yesterday?

What is God wanting to do in your life, right now? What are the ways that you can "strain for what's ahead"? Have you been holding on to yesterday's successes to the extent that you are missing what God has in store for you?

Thanks for reading...

Telling Stories through Sound

So I realize it has been quite some time since my last post. I expected this when I started the blog a few months ago. Between being fairly busy and not having a lot to say, I just haven't gotten around to another post. But I've got some thoughts on my brain today and I was encouraged by a friend to try to write them out in my blog. So here we go. No promises that I'll revive the blog, but we'll see what happens.

We had a special guest lecturer in my Worship class again this morning, Dr. Stephen Newby. He has quite the resume, but in short, he's the head of the Center for Worship at Seattle Pacific University, and has done quite a bit of songwriting, conducting and composing. In class today, he was given the task of talking about the emerging church, highlighting the things that they are good at, and the things that they are not so good at. While I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture, we didn't stay on that topic very long. His opening point was that the emerging church does a great job at telling stories and narratives of salvation, redemption, creation, etc... He then went on to expound on this idea of communicating ideas through narratives.

Since this is a worship class, Dr. Newby began to talk about how we, as worship leaders, need to use music, specifically the sounds, to tell stories. To explain his point, he played the two opening arrangements of his first symphony that he wrote. It's called Let Thy Mercy Be Upon Us, A Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., and I really enjoyed the 6 or 7 minutes that we go to listen to it. The first part of the symphony invovled creation, this idea of God breathing things into existence. And then it transitioned into the second part of his symphony, that was about God calling this prophet, who in this case was Martin Luther King Jr. I wish you could have heard it. It was truly spectactular. And even though it was nearly totally void of words, his message was communicated perfectly through sound.

Let's think about this one more way. What's the first thing you think of when you hear the movie title Mission Impossible. Regardless of your personal feelings about the movies, the theme song is fairly catchy. While the song has no words, barely even a title, the song conveys a message. What would those scenes in the movie be like without that song? The song shouts tension. It yells adventure. It informs the viewer of peril, danger, energy, and action. Every horror movie is full of scary music. Why? Because the music tells a story.

Ok. I've done too much writing already, but if you're still with me, let's keep going. The question for us then is two fold. First, is this idea of communicating a message through sound something that should be/needs to be worked into our worship services. And secondly, if the first answer is yes, then how do we incorporate this idea, this practice into our worship services? Think about it. What if we used music to create tension in our services during this Season of Lent? And then on Easter, the music conveys a message of ressurection, of hope and deliverance. What stories can be better told through sounds and tones than through words?

I'll close with this thought. And this is really what I've been thinking about most of the day today. Dr. Newby's symphony was beautiful. I really enjoyed listening to it. But here's the deal about that symphony. I wouldn't know how in the world to even begin writing, playing, or even reading any of that stuff. He said he based the entire symphony off of one hexachord. I had to look up how to spell hexachord, much less know how to form one of the piano. Here's my point. Do I really need to know what a hexachord is? Maybe, or maybe not. But in today's popular worship music, if you teach someone how to play a G, C, D, and Em, and show them how to use a capo, they can play 85%-90% of our music today. (Trust me, I feel like I do this half the time.) I've taken one music theory class in my life. To tie all of this back in, how are we to use music to tell stories and communicate messages and themes, if we don't really understand it ourselves? the only way I know how to create tension in a song is by playing a few minor chords and playing louder. (I'm exaggerating a bit, but I think you get my point.)

So I'm really interested in your thoughts on all of this? In a few years, I'll walk out of this seminary with a Masters of Divinity in Worship Studies and unless I do some extracurricular studying, I still won't know what a hexachord is, or how to arrange music. Is that a bad thing? Should we find opportunities to tell stories in our worship gatherings through sound, or is it a waste of time, with a message that will either be lost in translation or could just as easily be communicated through words? Is our worship music today too simple? Too plain? Does our God deserve something better? A lot of questions I know, but let me know what you think....

Beat Dook

If you look closely, Steven Moody and I are in this video three times. It's all the same picture, but it appears three times behind the dates of the games that they show.

Why Not? 25 Random something-or-anothers

So since everyone else has already done their 25 things, I guess I'll try to think of mine as well. Here it goes...

1. I almost went all four years at UNC without stepping foot in the Library. My last semester, I had to go find a biography for a psychology class. I was incredibly disappointed.

2. I have been to the last four UNC/Duke games in Chapel Hill. I've sat everywhere from the front row to the top row, and even got to shove JJ Redick my freshman year after rushing the court.

3. After making all A's in high school, I made exactly 1 A at UNC. It was in Beginning Racquetball. I was very proud. (This might be related to #1, but that's not really the point.)

4. I don't like to sleep with my back to the bedroom door. I'm really not sure why this is the case.

5. When I was 16, I was accused by the police of stealing gas. They told me they were going to take me to jail if I kept lying to them. Fortunately, they figured out it wasn't me before we got to the whole going to jail part.

6. I have gotten two speeding tickets in my life. They have both been in situations where I was trying to get to a Carolina basketball game on time.

7. I have been to NBA games, MLB games, and an NHL game, but never an NFL game.

8. For about the past three weeks now, the hot water knob in my shower has been broken. It won't cut off. The only way to cut the water off is to jam my mop between the back of the bath tub and the hot water knob. It pushes the knob hard enough to where it cuts the water off. I think I need to get that fixed.

9. I really don't care who wins the Super Bowl this year.

10. I turned 23 today. I feel old.

11. I yell at the referees a lot. One time I got on the ref's nerves so much at a UNC game, that he came over and offered me his cup of water if I would shut-up. I felt like I had done my job.

12. I have broken my thumbs more times than I can count.

13. I opened for Thousand Foot Krutch one time when I was playing drums for Micah. That was kind of cool.

14. I really really like Roller Coasters. My dream summer would be to drive around the country and stop at every amusement park I could find. I've been to Cedar Point in Ohio, and really want to go again one day. Millenium Force is my favorite roller coaster ever.

15. I picked up Annabelle Gurwitch from the airport. Does anyone remember TBS's Dinner and a Movie? Yeah, it wasn't that cool.

16. I played volleyball with Marvin Williams and Sean May after they signed their NBA contracts.

17. I really cannot go to sleep without some form of white noise.

18. I am currently an unemployed grad student and I really need to find a job.

19. I never washed my clothes by myself (without assistance) until 6 months ago. I still try to avoid it whenever possible.

20. There is a groundhog that lives in my back yard, and I see him just about everyday. We are becoming very good friends.

21. I am a huge procrastinator. I cannot remember ever proofreading a paper. I don't always write intelligibly when I am tired. A combination of all these factors makes for some pretty interesting papers.

22. I have shrunk 1 1/2 inches since my freshman year of high school. (See #10)

23. I cried every morning for weeks when I first started Kindergarden. I remember hiding in the bathroom at school for a long time one day because I didn't know what else to do.

24. I really want to Bungee Jump over a river one day. I just haven't found anywhere to do it yet.

25. Sometimes people think I'm Amish. --->>>


Wow. That was harder that I thought it was going to be.

Thoughts from Class

So you have to know that I'm really missing my Dr. Pepper if I'm about to write stuff about one of my classes. Just for a quick update, I'm on day 7 of my water only kick. I'm really hoping to make it a whole month and see if I can tell any difference. It's going OK but I really miss it. The hardest times are late at night when I'm just sitting around the apartment. (Kind of like now!)

But back to my class today. I'm in a worship class focusing on current trends in worship, mainly the emerging church (at least I think that's where we are headed). The first few days, we've spent the majority of the time focusing on the millennial generation (those born roughly from the early 80's until 2000), and the ways in which they have broken from the previous generations. One of the ways that we looked at this is through the acronym EPIC.

E xperiential
P articipatory
I mage-driven
C onnected

I wanted to find something that really encompassed all of these aspects of Millennials. The first thing that came to my mind was some of the concerts that I have attended. One of my favorite bands, and by far the best concerts that I've been to, is Mute Math. Check out this video and look for some of these aspects in their show.



I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. But it's obvious that through using lights and sounds and wierd Atari instruments hooked up to computers and synthesizers, they engage their audience. It's truly an Experience, the audience is participating. I didn't see it in this video, but I've seen them use projectors in their shows, simply rotating different black and white photographs in the background. They connect with their audience, the lead singer goes out into the audience and lets them play the Atari.

So all of this got me thinking. How should we incorporate these aspects into our worship services? Is there any carry over between a Mute Math concert and our time of worship on Sunday mornings in "big church?" I know that our worship services are not for entertainment purposes. They are not meant to be a show. Worship services aren't about us, about us receiving any praise or glorification; we don't do it for a big applause at the end of the service. But I'm thinking in terms of engaging the audience, specifically this millennial generation. It may be hard to discern simply from watching the video, but when you attend one of Mute Math's concerts, you are instantly drawn in, instantly engaged, instantly focused on the matter at hand. All other distractions are postponed, put aside, or forgotten. So should we start lining the backs of our stages with fluorescent lights? Should I start practicing my handstands on top of my keyboard? How about pouring water on the drum set and putting a back light on them, so you get a cool splashing water effect when the drummer pounds the drums?

What do you think? Obviously I'm being semi-facetious in some of my examples, but what lessons can we learn from these concerts, if any, about engaging the people we lead in worship?

To Heat or Not to Heat?

So it's starting to get a little chilly here in Lynchburg. Currently it's something like 17 degrees outside and it's supposed to get down into the single digits tomorrow. Now, I am certainly not complaining. I'm actually quite excited about the cold weather finally arriving. I can't imagine what -40 degrees feels like, and I'm sure that's not very fun. However, I really do enjoy the cold weather that usually accompanies these winter months.

But now, I'm facing a dilemna. I have yet to cut the heat on in my apartment these year, other than twice earlier in the winter just to see what it would do and how bad it would smell. Let me qualify that statement by saying that I do live in a well insulated basement, so my apartment stays warmer than many other places. Yet, it's starting to get kind of chilly in here. Currently, my thermometer says that it's 53 degrees in here. It really doesn't feel that cold, but after a while it starts to get to you. You know when your hands are really cold and in a last ditch effort to warm them up, you run your hands under hot water, and you get that stinging sensation? Well that's how my feet felt this morning when I got in the shower. Anyways, I think I'm going to try to make it through this weekend without the heat and see how cold it gets. After that, I'll reassess the situation and decide whether running the heat is worth it.

In other news, I'm on day 2 of my "only water" test. It took me about 45 minutes to figure out that this experiment was not a lot of fun. I'm sticking to it, and I'm drinking plenty of water, but it's just so disappointing everytime I go to the refridgerator, and all I can pull out is my filtered water. It also doesn't help that I still have dozens of empty Dr. Pepper cans all around my apartment; they just serve as a reminder of the greatness that I am missing out on all day long.

Ok, that's enough complaining for one post. I'll leave you this time with an amazing video and song that was brought to my attention by a good friend of mine. After hearing this song, I immediately spent my remaining iTunes giftcard on this album. Check it out here. (Sorry, embedding this video has been disabled, so you'll have to click on the link.) It's by far one of the best covers that I've heard of any song in quite some time. It's definitely worth your time.

What am I about to do?

I love Dr. Pepper. Can I say that again? I love Dr. Pepper. I really don't remember when I started drinking Dr. Pepper. But for as long as I remember, me and Dr. Pepper have been really good friends. On a regular day, I probably go through 6 or 7 cans each day. Like I said, we're pretty tight.

But over the past few months, for one reason or another, I've started drinking more and more Dr. Pepper, all while being pretty lazy and progressively getting more out of shape. So I don't know whether to blame this on my desire NOT to have any New Year's resolutions or what, but today I decided to give up Dr. Pepper for one month, and drink only water. I've tried this one other time way back in high school, and if I remember correctly, I managed to stay off of Dr. Pepper for a few months. Since then, I've tried caffeine free, and diet, and diet caffeine free, but I always come back to Dr. Pepper.

But today, I'm going to give it one more shot. I'm really not sure if I'll keep it up or not, but I want to try it for 1 month. Hopefully, along with the drinking only water, I'll start exercising a little bit, but no promises on that part. After 1 month, I'll see if I can tell any difference in how I feel, my energy level, etc... If I can't tell any difference, then it's back to Dr. Pepper for me.

We'll I'll let you know how it goes. To borrow Disciple's album title from several years ago: "This might sting a little."