I was waiting for youth group today, and I moseyed on over to the organ.  Before Wolf Point “graduated” to the computer, Wolf Point was the place I’d play organ for church.   It worked, but took a lot of effort on my part, and frankly, I just didn’t have the energy with everything else that goes on on a Wolf Point Sunday…

Anyways, I played some Advent/ Christmas tunes out of a simplified organ book.  Oddly enough, I found myself refreshed and rejuvenated.   As I was playing, I remembered a time when I had taken a break from studying for the pastoral ministry.

Back then I had felt that I had burned the public ministry bridge.  I was too disillusioned with pastors in general to even think about becoming one myself.  Then after a particular church service, I moseyed over to a piano.  The piano had a hymnal on it and I started plucking away at some hymns.  I eventually settled on “Dear Lord, to Your True Servants Give” and “Oh Lord in Prayer You Spent the Night.”  I played those hymns again and again, thinking about and praying for the pastors I knew.  I was refreshed and emotionally drained after playing, but strangely enough, felt encouraged to think about the pastoral ministry again.

Music is a powerful thing.   I love singing and I make an effort on Sunday to just sing the text and not think about leading others in worship.  Playing the hymns was different than singing them.  You are using different skill-sets.  It’s like hearing something as opposed to reading it, it hits you differently.

I thought of all the people that sat in those pews over the years.  I imagined all their voices singing the text and how wonderful that would have sounded.  I could sense how much fun it is for an organist to make an organ reflect the text.  I suppose a good organist also attempts to “just play the text” and let that lead others in worship.

Anyways, I’m in for Christmas now.

I hit a deer.  It was right over a crest of a hill.  I braked and swerved to the left, but he took out my passenger side mirror and “antlered” a nice long line on the body of the car.  As far as I know, the deer survived.

i drove to the “cop shop” (a new term I learned from the youth group), and the sheriff asked me, “Was it a pretty good buck?”  Perhaps the Sheriff was checking to see if he needed to drive out there and check if I had sawed off the antlers.  Anyways, I was repulsed at the thought.  You see, I love hunting.  I want to be able to give my family food options as well as help out the ranchers who love wildlife but also have to deal with that wildlife impeding on their livelihood.   I love pursuing an animal God created to be pursued.  I love watching them move.  I am amazed at how well they can hide.  I’m filled with wonder at its beauty.   I don’t like the thought of a deer ending its life being side-swiped by a hunk of metal screaming down the highway. There’s nothing beautiful about that.  There certainly is nothing beautiful about having to fix that hunk of metal, that’s for sure.

My oldest son (5) watched the video of the Knight Rider GPS.  On the way up to Sidney yesterday, I asked my wife to get out my eastern Montana map just so I could get some bearings to find a ranch I hadn’t been to in a while.  My son was listening in the back and said, “Dad, you need to get a GPS.”  Good son.

If ever I was in the market for a GPS, this would be it.

HT: BDK

New Blog to reccomend:  Girly Granola – not crunchy enough for some, but definitely too crispy for others.

You might want to check my blog lists if you haven’t for a while, as I have added some more worth your time to check out…

What a delight to teach meaty stuff!  Not that I get to teach meaty stuff, but to watch God’s people chew and digest and take ownership of what the Bible teaches.  Two weeks ago in Wolf Point, a member asked me what THEY had been asked: “Is Obama is the Antichrist?”  “Whaa?” I say.  I listened to Daniel on the way home.  Four days later, in another Bible class 120 miles south (the topic having been switched to the Antichrist for some reason….) another person says that just that week in the grocery store someone told them that Obama is the Antichrist.   What a delight to say, “Here read  1 John 2; read 2 John;, now read 2 Thessalonians 2.  Let’s identify the characteristics of the Antichrist (and consequently, any other antichrists), let’s discover why Obama is not the Antichrist.  Connect the dots and see who the Scriptures identify as THE Antichrist.”  A few eyes got big, a few sighs of relief.  Relief that the Scriptures defend and interpret themselves quite well….  Today I went back to Wolf Point and told them how their one question now will get answered, and how it answered the questions of others as well…

I tell that story to tell another one.  On my long trip home through the snow on the possibly icy roads depending on the temp, prompted by all the discussions, I listened again to the whole book of Revelation. It doesn’t seem so scary when you read it, but when you hear it, watch out!  This CD also had appropriate sound effects.  The repetition of the trumpet eerily broke the night. The Worthy Lamb fearlessly opened the seals. You can’t stop him, even if you tried… Pestilence, scourge, and destruction, and then even worse news, “They still would not repent.”  I don’t know if it was the caffeine or the roads, but it all spooked me something fierce, until I got to the  “Hallelujah!  For our Lord God Almighty reigns!”  Oh, what a relief!

May I never lose the wonder of Your Book, Lord.

My 5 year old likes to make up his own songs.  This morning he was singing his new song called “Peace and Quiet.”  Here are the lyrics:

Peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet.

Repeat

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