Can You Hear Me Knockin'?

Here's an article I came across this week related to hearing loss among musicians. It might help someone out there in the blogosphere.

Did you know that as little as 15 minutes of exposure to very loud music may permanently damage your hearing? Or that 30% of rock musicians and more than 52% of classical musicians have some level of measurable hearing loss due to exposure to high volume levels of music? If you or someone you know is involved in music-making, it’s time to learn a little bit about the risks of hearing loss and the simple things you can do to insure that you retain your hearing well into the future.

(Read the rest of the article)

8.30.09

Great day today at Journey Church here in Raleigh. Pastor Jimmy finished up a 4-part series called "The Sickness Within." He challenged us from James 1 regarding temptation--that we've got to separate ourselves from temptation and saturate ourselves in Scripture. It was a great reminder.

Well, in a matter of months this will be our new home church, and I'm pretty stoked. Great worship. Solid biblical teaching. Commitment to the Gospel. Family already here. The Lord is obviously at work--genuine life-change happening all the time. And yes, you did hear correctly. We've got our house on the market in Charlotte and will be making the Triangle the new base of operation for our ministry and Journey our new home church. I'm excited to jump in and be a part of the team here at Journey. Not much will change in terms of our ministry focus. But Journey will act as the new launching pad for our ministry--and it's exciting because we've already developed a great relationship with Journey in the past 2 years through our visits here. And having my brother, Smooth, on staff here as the student pastor helps it feel like home as well.

So pray for our family as we make the move to Raleigh and as we deal with the other multitude of life changes that seem to always come at the exact same time. But ... isn't that the way it always is?!
--------------
We played:
1. Yours Forever (Hillsong U)
2. In Wonder (Newsboys)
3. God of Our Salvation (Journey original by Adam Neal)
4. God be Praised (Josh and Tasha new one)

Broken Things

Yesterday I went on a hot date with my little girl, Rainy. You can catch more details about where we went and what we did here on Tasha's blog. But let me share a quick highlight.

During our hike on one of the trails at Reedy Creek Park, our journey took us to the ruins of a stone house built in the 1700s. I must have seemed cold and heartless to the fact that these nice people's house was destroyed, because Rainy reiterated over and over to me how sad of a situation it was. After many failed attempts at trying to explain to my worried daughter why the house was destroyed (and already having failed at trying to explain why there were "frozen"animals in the nature center [--see pic below--] and how they got to be frozen in the first place), I finally clued in and realized that one of those teachable moments was staring me in the face. Usually I'm clueless to these moments, but yesterday the Lord was gracious and helped me see it for what it was. So, I tried another approach. It went something like this:

Rainy: That's sad that that house is broken. What happened to it?

Daddy: Well, Rainy. It just got too old and it fell down.

Rainy: That's sad that things get old. But what happened to the people who lived there?

Daddy: Well, they probably died.

Rainy: Oh, that's sad that they died. Why did they die?

Daddy: Well, that's the way this world is, Rainy. Things are born and things die.

Rainy: Oh, that's really sad.

Daddy: Yes, it is, but you know what? One day God is going to make everything new again!

Rainy: He is?

Daddy: Yea, He is. Everything will be brand new. And all the bad things about the world will be good again. You know how your Nanna and Grandpa and Paw Paw and Nena are getting really old? And they get sick alot?

Rainy: Yea.

Daddy: Well, one day God is going to give them brand new bodies. Isn't that cool?

Rainy: Yea!

Daddy: He's going to give all of us brand new bodies and we won't have boo-boos anymore and we won't get sick, and there won't be poison ivy (she was worried about poison ivy from the moment I first mentioned it on the hike--almost to the point of terror--way to go me for ever bringing it up!). And remember when I fell off the ladder the other day and got lots of boo-boos?

Rainy: Yea.

Daddy: Well, when God gives us our new bodies, that won't happen anymore. We can fall and not get hurt. And you won't even scrape your knee when you fall.

Rainy: I won't?

Daddy: Nope.

Rainy: Oh, that's cool, Dad. That's really cool ... Oh, Dad, let's go find the white flower and red leaf that's on the map.

Daddy: O.K. Rainy.

(2 hours later, we pull into our driveway and Zeke comes running out)

Zeke: Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! Wainy, Wainy, Wainy!

Rainy: Hey Zeke!

Zeke: Hey Wainy! I missed you!

Rainy: I missed you too, Zeke. Guess what Zeke? We saw lots of dead animals and a broken house!

Zeke: Oh, that's sad!

Rainy: Yea, it was, Zeke, but, but, one day God is going to make everything new again and bring everything back to life and fix everything that's broken!

Zeke: Yay!

The Christian Playing Field

Imagine that you were visiting your local farmer's market and you overheard one of the farmers talking about how great his produce was because he caused them to grow up to be so beautiful, so succulent and so nutritious. First you'd think him an arrogant egotist, and secondly you might think him a madman because you know instinctively that the farmer does not and cannot control every chemical and biological reaction necessary to cause his crops to grow. He can plant, he can harvest, he can use the best insecticides, he can even artificially water, but he simply cannot control the growth of his crops.

I believe this is the same point Paul is making in 1 Corinthians 3 regarding spiritual growth. The Corinthian believers began turning spiritual growth and discipleship into a game, trying to place Paul and Apollos on opposing sides of an imaginary playing field--as if the process of disciple-making was a contest. So Paul took immediate action to dispel such thinking. He says,

"⁵What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

⁷So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth."

Who causes the growth? God. Growth is not a result of our clever devices. Spiritual fruit is never our work, it's God's work alone. So, it's no contest.

But someone might argue, "Yea, but you didn't read the rest of the passage where Paul talks about rewards for labor." Sure, rewards for labor is absolutely a biblical principle. That's why Paul says in verse 8, "but each will receive his own reward according to his labor."

But here's a key distinction that must be made:

Rewards for faithfulness in the work and rewards for the effectiveness of the growth are two completely different things.

Paul is arguing for the idea that the laborer is, indeed, rewarded for his work. And Paul is likewise arguing against the idea that rewards happen as a result of the subsequent growth. Paul says, "No! God alone causes the growth. And God alone brings about the increase."

In 2009, not much has changed--especially in the Bible belt. We still make this thing a contest. We still have a tendency to think that we have done something to cause the growth. So we continue to construct our imaginary playing fields and set up our pastors and shepherds and spiritual gladiators against one another in a battle to the death. We choose sides. We wear our colors. We sport our bumper stickers and t-shirts and fancy logos believing that in them we have the victory. And all along the world laughs at us and asks, "Wait a minute, aren't you all on the same team?"

But Billy Baptist might ask, "Are you saying that I shouldn't be proud of my church?"

Certainly not. We absolutely should celebrate and be proud of what God is doing among individual bodies of believers--also biblical. However, the problem arises when pride for a particular church, denomination, or entity due to measurable success, visual growth or extraneous results causes the type of schism, segregation and ridiculous division that we see taking place among the Corinthian believers. That's why Paul pounded into their thick skulls the fact that God causes the growth. And that's why he concluded this whole section reminding us that our primary devotion and belonging is not to our church or organization, it is to God.

²³and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.

When we forget this crucial fact, unnecessary division lines are drawn. And in the words of Billy Graham, "THAT is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

Grace Quotable

"This grace is the mistress of truth, the teacher of discipline, the light of the heart, the consoler in anguish, the banisher of sorrow, the expeller of fear, the nourisher of devotion, the mother of tears." - Thomas a Kempis

Limestone College

Saturday we played at Limestone College in Gaffney during their new student orientation. It was fun to do mostly all original tunes for a change. Andy Cherry did some of his originals as well. Fun times were had by all.

Photos Galore

Tasha sneaks a photo opportunity











Tummy time











Tasha's mom (Nonnie) getting in some cuddle time









Tasha and Cai the day after he broke into our world










Zeke loving his little brother










My mom (Meme) loving her 7th grandbaby









My sister, Joy, coming in for a visit














Tasha's dad (G-Daddy) steals a kiss










Not a whole lot to do in the hospital except cuddle a lot

Tasha Beasted It

Interview with Tasha shortly after delivering Micaiah

Micaiah Joel

We had our baby!! Micaiah Joel. He's a little guy weighing in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. and perfectly healthy. He and Tasha are both doing great. We couldn't have asked for a smoother labor and delivery. Tasha will give you more details on her blog, since she's the detail person in our family. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement over this past week. Now begins the tricky part of assimilating him into our family life, but a task that we're eager to take on since we view this little guy as an added blessing to our growing family.


His name means, "Who is like Yahweh?" Micaiah was one of the obscure prophets in the OT, one who stood for truth at the risk of his own life. In 1 Kings 22, when commanded by the servants of King Ahab to prophesy only good things about the king, Micaiah said, "As the LORD lives, I will say whatever the LORD says to me." (v.14) Those words happened to be words of death and destruction regarding King Ahab, the King of Israel. And his words came to pass. He declared the truth, knowing that it could cost him his life. When false prophets were everywhere declaring victory and prosperity for the King, Micaiah spoke the truth.




And that's the prayer for our son, that he will be a man with strong convictions. A man with a strong backbone to stand for truth regardless of what the rest of the world is doing. To preach the truth of the Gospel whether it is convenient or not and whether people want to hear it or not. That the truth and power of the Gospel will be written all over his life, and that when people observe his life, they will ask in wonder, "Who is like God?" "Who is like Yahweh?"

Why I Don't Have an iPhone, and Why My Life is Better Because of It

I just came across a great article by Chris Haw, a writer for Relevant Magazine and co-author of Jesus For President with Shane Claiborne. The article is called "Just a Phone?" (you can read it here on p. 27) and in it he explains why he has held out this long in refusing to purchase an iPhone. He lists some compelling reasons.

He explains that "for many, the iPhone easily answers this: the problem with the world is lack of information and entertainment, and the Internet conveniently (and slickly) located in one's pocket is the sacrament of the eschatological answer."

He goes on to reference Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, a Catholic theologian who explains that "in the least, the Christian should often be a late or slow adopter. They should not be magnetized by the hype. Many technologies are not created out of a genuine need but a profit motive. These inventions are followed by advertisers telling us what we need--and they just happen to have it on sale! And these technologies often harry us with promises of how they are solutions to our problems."

Haw's article has made me think about my own reasons for not purchasing on iPhone. And as I processed this article, I came up with four reasons of my own:

#1 - I can't afford it!

#2 - I know my own proclivity and preoccupation with fluff and time-wasting activities, and the iPhone would be one more tool in the belt of idleness, futility and vanity. (For this reason I have, up to this point, also refused to involve myself in Twitter, though I'm quickly discovering that Facebook's status function accomplishes the same purpose. Furthermore, to think that people really care about what we're doing at every possible moment only fuels the narcissitic flame that is enveloping our culture. God help us! If you can convince me of any redeeming value for Twitter, I'm listening, but I've yet to discover it.)

#3 - I also know my inclination toward idolatry. God knows I already struggle with checking out Craigslist multiple times a day to see if there are any great deals on guitars, guitar pedals and music gear. I don't need another gadget to capture territory in my heart. Nor do I need to listen to the lies of the advertisers telling me that I have a particular need and void in my life that I didn't know existed in the first place and can only be filled by the iPhone.

#4 - Finally, there's the instant gratification factor. And I don't even need to say anything about how internet pornography has grown exponentially with the onslaught of the iPhone. Porn in the pocket. How convenient. Why should I willingly submit myself to yet another temptation when I'm already bombarded on every side?

At this point, you iPhone users are already organizing yourselves in haste ready to burn me at the stake. But before you do that, you need to know my heart. Am I only picking on the iPhone? ... Of course! ... No, I'm kidding. I've made the application in my own heart in areas not involving the iPhone. And I encourage you to do the same. Make the application to whatever gadgets or ideologies have taken up some area of residency in your heart. What is it that you think you need? What is it that you just have to have?

I've heard numerous people in my circle of friends speak of how they need an iPhone. And it makes me laugh inside. No, it actually makes me sad. Especially when I spend a few hours with them and in the course of that small amount of time, I rarely see their face because it's buried in their phone. That's sad. That might be idolatry. Or is it just multi-tasking? You make the call. (no pun intended)

The Wait

We're still waiting. Tasha's actual due date is tomorrow, but there's still not a whole lot of action to speak of. So, we wait ... and wait some more.

In other news:
Sunday was an awesome day. I led worship for the Richland Creek Community Church in Raleigh, NC where two of my bros serve on staff. RCCC is a biblically-solid, growing church and doing incredible things to reach that area with the Gospel. I led with their house band, a really solid group of players, Tim, Josh and Arianna.

We played:
1. Awesome is the Lord Most High (Tomlin)
2. Center (Charlie Hall)
3. Be Thou My Vision (Via version)
4. Yours Alone (Via - a new track that will be on "All That Glitters")
5. How Deep the Father's Love (I love this hymn - Stuart Townend is the stinkin' man!)