Remembering Wonders

   This is our last day over here in Arkansas, and one of our most pleasurable experiences has been to take walks with the kids. A couple of times we have walked over to the campus and gone through the Jewel Moore Nature Reserve which sits on the south side of the university property, close to playing fields and busy roadways.

   So this morning I went back to stroll through the trails one more time. I thought, as I walked, of the other visits this weekend with our grand daughter and her mom. It was great to see the flora and fauna through the eyes of a 9 year old and hear her talk about the various things that she was seeing.

   I thought also about the wonders of God's creation and how little time I stop to see and wonder. One of the features of this Reserve is a prairie restoration project which seeks to replicate what the area looked like before the current civilization urbanized these lands.

   I can hardly imagine what the early pioneers thought when they came upon fields covered like this, or, in fact, what Native Americans lived in prior to that. Was there a sense of awe and wonder as to what God had done, and an appreciation of His work?

   In Psalm 111 there is a verse that states:

   "He has made His wonders to be remembered;"

   Wonders to be remembered.

   And so I am grateful this morning for the people who made my walk possible, who thought it was important to show future generations what a glorious masterpiece God created, one that can be seen in history texts for sure, but so much better in experiencing it firsthand on any early morning.

God is on Campus, Too

   When we travel, especially when we go to be with family, it is easy to be distracted from our relationships. That is not only with our friends and other family, but also with God. From the time we get up to the time we go to bed, it seems like the grand children are there, with board or card games, with plans to go somewhere or just to be around us. Now not that it is all bad, but it does take up a lot of the day, leaving me to realize at the end of a busy day, that I have just put God away and taken care of them.

   Today, when I do manage to go out for a quick walk before the house stirs, I ask myself if God is there. I walk toward and into the campus and note a sign for incoming students:

   I have heard of this organization, in fact I passed their house on the main street yesterday on the way back from supper. I note that they are a campus ministry and I realize that God does have some active students on campus.

   There is a chapel in the middle of campus, built in 1963, that I walked toward this morning. I just wanted to sit in the quiet and let God speak to me. The doors were open and no one was around, so I went in and sat for a few minutes. Just knowing there was a place where students could come and get out of the rat race of college life and connect with Him was comforting for me also.

   Later on in the morning, Cady Gray and I went back to campus to take some shots that I wanted to us in this blog post. Sitting in that chapel, just watching that 4th grader sitting in that pew or pretending to play that piano, it seemed right somehow, as if God was saying to me: "I am here, I will be with you while you are here and when you go home, and I will be here for these students. Take time to look for Me and you will find Me."

   I need to do just that, each and every day...

Just Fun...Nothing Profound

   After a couple of days on the road, we are over in the great state of Arkansas, visiting family for a few days.

   Always good to be over here with these kids and grandkids, and we look forward to some fun days and some memories made.

  Cady Gray and her mom took us on a nature walk after supper over in a prairie restoration project on the UCA campus and they took the time to point out some good stuff.

   Here are the 3 generations of ladies beginning the trek to the wilderness. Pioneer women?

   A couple of the views:

   It is always good to have some photographic ideas framed by an 8 (soon to be 9) year old.

   Tomorrow could be even better...

Seeing Red This Morning

   A preacher came to our church in Knoxville one day and gave an illustration that I recall as I sit to write this morning. He said that as we live there might be something like a tape recorder in our brain that is recording all we say and do, our thoughts and what we hear.

   I thought of that this morning, because of all the music that seems to be in my mind as I wake up on a lot of days. Sometimes the melodies and the lyrics are secular, but most are religious, and I not only hear them as I get up, but they continue with me on my walk. Often I write about them as I feel that the words and meaning are what God is trying to impress on my heart and mind on that particular morning.

   Oft times it is the sweetness of the melody and the words that come through as I walk and as I look at the pinks and the blues of the sky as the sun gets ready to come over the eastern horizon. It is easy to sit and write of the beauty of nature and the implications of a new day. Uplifting phrases and verses from the Psalms come to mind as I write, and, I think, that perhaps someone might get the same feelings as they read.

   The words of an old William Cowper hymn came to my mind earlier today, as I woke:

"There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains."

   I realized that these were for me on this day, but how was I supposed to process them and then write about what they said?

   Then the sunrise filled the eastern sky, not with the pastels of some mornings, but with the deep rich colors of orange and red, like this:

   God seemed to be saying, "Write about the Blood of Jesus Christ. He is the One that has given you eternal life and the platform to speak about things that matter most."

   So I do, with the knowledge that the redemptive work of God in the life of a person comes through the shed blood of Jesus on that cross, so many years ago. He alone made the sacrifice that allows me to claim a relationship with God the Father.

   It seems so easy to write about the "good things" of God in nature, but harder to get into the real nitty-gritty things of the Gospel. But they are there, and they are good also, even blood and death and sacrifice.

   These words are in the Gospel of Mark:

"For if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

   I am not ashamed to be a follower of Christ.

 

Peace

   How many folks wake up this morning full of worry about what this day will bring? How many need the peace that the words of this song speaks about?

"When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul."

   This was the verse and the music that was on my mind this morning, and I can see where these thought come from. Two of my best friends are facing medical issues this day, and when I woke up I knew that I needed to get up and pray for them and the ones that love them.

   One friend I visited with yesterday is having all kinds of trouble with his back and can't seem to get much relief from the pain. I'm sure he is looking for a way out of all that, even as he deals with the uncertainty of when.

   Another friend is facing surgery this morning to fix a blocked artery. Although this is a common procedure, there is always the nagging fear any time a person faces this.

   I know that there are many others that face uncertainty this morning, even maybe some that will read these words. None of us know what this day will bring, and sometimes the future looks so murky that we cannot but tend to be uneasy.

   So I pray for these two men and their families right now, and I throw in a prayer for anyone else that is going through anxiety over anything else. I pray that they might have the peace that the hymn writer speaks of.

   And I pray that for my life also. We all need it.

   God knows about my life today, and He knows about those tomorrows, too. His is the peace that gives us rest and security, and we all need just that.

   Lord, help us to know those words in our lives and not just sing them.

An Apology and A Thought

   It is bad when you wake up and the first thing that you think of is how you messed up yesterday. It is not great big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I made a big mistake yesterday morning in my quick blog post. I used the wrong composer of the music I used for my backdrop. It was not Mozart that penned this symphony, Ode to Joy, of course it was Beethoven, but I guess I was in too big a hurry to get out to play.

   Then, as I walked, I got to thinking about how other people got up this morning.

   I saw a light on in one home, and the TV picture shown through the window. Thinking it was pretty early for this, I then remembered that the British Open was being played, and the 5 hour time difference meant that the telecast of play was already being shown. The person in this house was up watching golf. What thoughts were on his mind as he got up early to do this?

   I stopped and talked to a lady that was leaving on a trip, going to visit a home where a dear friend had passed away. What were her thoughts when the alarm went off this morning?

   Then there was the man that I passed on the cart path. I see him a lot of mornings and, as is usual, he nods with a quick "morning", and moves on, hardly making eye contact. I resolve to stop him the next time I pass him and talk, but, as we meet again on this circular path, his curt nod and demeanor say "not today". What are his thoughts and his attitude toward this new day?

   All along my path this morning there are homes. People living in them may wake with anticipation, with dread, with hope, with none, and all the emotions between. God sees each one, and He cares, even if they do not know it.

   The sky was still out there in these early hours. Looking toward the east it looked like this:

   Looking toward the west it was more like this:

   It all depends on the direction I look, as to what I see.

   God help me to turn around and look if I wake with my skies cloudy and gray. Help me to see You in the light of this new day and know You are there, and that You care.

   And help all those others out there also.

Morning Glories

   With so little time to write, I still must put down the song that was in my head as I awoke on this Friday morning. One of my favorite pieces of music from the pen of Mozart, Ode to Joy, and the hymn that springs from it, from Henry J. Van Dyke in 1907:

1. Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
   God of glory, Lord of love;
   Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee,
   Op’ning to the sun above.
   Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
   Drive the dark of doubt away;
   Giver of immortal gladness,
   Fill us with the light of day!
2. All Thy works with joy surround Thee,
   Earth and heav’n reflect Thy rays,
   Stars and angels sing around Thee,
   Center of unbroken praise.
   Field and forest, vale and mountain,
   Flow’ry meadow, flashing sea,
   Singing bird and flowing fountain
   Call us to rejoice in Thee.
3. Thou art giving and forgiving,
   Ever blessing, ever blest,
   Wellspring of the joy of living,
   Ocean depth of happy rest!
   Thou our Father, Christ our Brother,
   All who live in love are Thine;
   Teach us how to love each other,
   Lift us to the joy divine.
4. Mortals, join the happy chorus,
   Which the morning stars began;
   Father love is reigning o’er us,
   Brother love binds man to man.
   Ever singing, march we onward,
   Victors in the midst of strife,
   Joyful music leads us Sunward
   In the triumph song of life.

   I thought of morning glories this morning and actually went out to look at some, but the light was not quite good enough to enclose a photo. Maybe next time.

   Anyway, it is a joyful morning, enjoy the day with the music of the Master ringing in your mind.

A Snowball in July

   Yesterday, when I awoke, I had this feeling of being right with the world. I had a song in my mind and the words of it spoke to my heart. As I walked I could feel the rightness of those lyrics, and it was easy to see that God was using those to bless me, even as the song said I would bless Him.

   So, what is different about this day? I still got up, I still saw the morning sunrise, the grass was still green, the birds sang, but it seemed that I did not react the same way to the same stimuli. Was not God still there, and was He not still blessing my life, even by allowing me to be moving about in His wonderful world?

   I wanted to have the same feelings of gladness, of being in the right place, but still I sensed that there was more to it than I had felt or written about. There was a nagging thought that I did not say all there was to say about those blessings that I felt.

   It seemed right yesterday, to end that blog post on a high note, to project what I was feeling during that early morning time, but there was another thought that intruded into my thinking at the end of all of that. There was that verse in Luke 12:

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more."

   Whoops, why could I not just leave it with the blessing part, and not think so much? Why couldn't I just stay in that land of blessings and not visit that place of responsibility?

   I am not sure of what that will require of me today. Will it relate to money, to time, to trust or to attitude? The only thing that I know for sure is that my first requirement is to acknowledge it.

   The next is to place this additional thought right after what I wrote yesterday, so that both sides of that blessing coin can be realized.

   Then the afterthought, when I bless others I am blessed again. It is not so much the opposite sides of a coin, it is more like a snowball, picking up new snow as it rolls down a hill.

   So, I pray, "God keep me rolling and don't let me melt".

   Amen

 

My Mind Sings

   There is one good thing about waking up and being able to search quickly for something that is on your mind. Technology may be a mixed bag, but for me this morning, it gave up the lyrics to a song that was playing in my head as I woke up.

   I always think there is a reason for any particular piece of music that floods my mind as sleep falls away, and I begin a new day. Most of the time I cannot even remember the last time I heard a particular song, but it is there, to remind me of something. Today it seems to tell me how to start this day.

   First the chorus to the song that is there this morning:

   Bless the Lord, O my soul
  O my soul

  Worship His holy name

  Sing like never before
  O my soul
  I'll worship Your holy name

   Then the words to the first stanza of this Matt Redman music:

   The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
   It's time to sing Your song again
   Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
   Let me be singing when the evening comes

   It is still early when I leave the condo to walk, and I am greeted by this:

   My favorite part of the sunrise is when the sun is still just below the horizon, but its light is evident on the clouds in the sky. Even before I see it, I know it is there, getting ready to light my day.

   And, as I think on these things, I know that I am blessed, and I know where those blessings come from.

   And, I want to still be singing as the sun goes down and this evening comes, regardless....

Question of the Morning

   Here is the question that plows through my thoughts this morning:

   Can a person keep working on something and be waiting at the same time? It may seem like an oxymoron, but is it?

   Here are some verses from Psalm 25 this morning:

"Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;"

"for you I wait all the day long."

"May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you."

  It seems as though waiting is a virtue for sure. There are too many references to it for that activity to be overlooked, no matter how busy our life appears on the outside.

   I can wait before making a decision on something, but continue on doing what I feel He has called me to, trusting Him for the outcome of it all. Maybe trust is a key element here. If I trust that He has led me into something, do I have to know all the results of the call, or do I do the job and wait for Him to show me any results?

   Is all of this just an hypothetical exercise, or is there some actual questioning here?

   Since I am retired, and have no regular job to attend to each day, I fill my time with activities that I like to do. God has given me those "likes", but are they there for a purpose other than to fill my waking hours? Can my liking of playing sports, taking pictures and writing be a pathway to something else? If I do not see the benefit to someone else, do I trust that God has given me the pleasure in all of these for a purpose that I do not see?

   It is not hard to continue to do the things I like, but can I also be waiting at the same time, waiting to get a glimpse of a purpose beyond liking? I know that self-gratification is not the answer.

   If I had a life-changing decision like a career path, or a new job, or a new responsibility, it might seem easy to say that I need to keep doing what I am engaged in to the best of my ability until God shows me the new path. Where He leads, follow, but until that leading comes about, wait.

   I can fulfill my responsibilities while waiting, and I should, but can it be that "having fun" while playing, clicking, and choosing the right words to write is a worthwhile wait also?

   I guess the answer comes more from a sense of any call on my life, than it does for my knowing what the outcome of my activity will be.

   And still enjoy the beauty of the world around me, even as I play, and wait.

Desires of the Heart

   There was a verse this morning, from Psalm 20:

   "May He grant you your heart's desire"

   As I walked, I had to ask myself the question: "And what really are my heart's desires? Are there many or maybe just one main one that the others might flow out of?"

   I think I was true to my real feelings this morning when I answered to myself, but to God in heaven also, "what I want most of all in my life is to know that God is with me, and that He cares about what I think and do, that my life is in His hands and His Will is the best that can be fulfilled in my life".

   Before I slept last night, I asked God to wake me up so that I could spend some time in the quiet, reflecting on my time with Him. I had been somewhat busy this week, with a couple of early morning items on my agenda. Along with these appointments, I had some things on my mind that I wanted to write about, and these thoughts seemed to preclude much of my in-depth study and prayer.

   And mostly, I missed the feeling that I was doing what He wanted me to do, and that was to spend time, quality time, in this quiet before my mind got cluttered. I got no specific messages as to what the day would bring, even as the clouds in the east covered the sunrise, but I did confirm again that He is in control, and He wanted me to do this.

   So He did, and I did.

             and......

   It is well with my soul

Cinematic Reflections

   Several things combined this morning to get me to thinking about movies. One of the articles in the morning paper was plugging a series of classic movies to be shown at the Ritz theater on Thursday nights for a few weeks this summer. In an email yesterday, my daughter over in Arkansas was telling me about a new job that her husband had signed on to that dealt with movies, but more in the current realm.

   My mind went back to some of my earlier experiences in the theater. On Saturday afternoons, when I was growing up, the big thing to do was to walk a few blocks to the neighborhood theater to sit and watch a newsreel, a cartoon, a serial, and a full movie, all for 9 cents, and those cliff-hanging endings to each edition of that serial would bring you back again next week to see what would happen, how the hero would escape from his predicament, and the bad guy be foiled again, and again, and again.

   Then there were the double features downtown, the "big" movies at the Tivoli, and, of course, the drive-in. A lot of memories are packed into those venues of my growing up years.

   When I was in college, the second time around in the 80s, I needed some easy credit hours one summer, so I took a course called "Understanding Movies". I sounded like a crip course, was in an air conditioned theater, and was not a difficult grade. The instructor led us through the ways movie directors gave meaning to their films, and it was an interesting course. Looking back on it, the only movie I remember from that course was "Easy Rider" which may mean something, but I don't know what.

   I confess that, for the most part, I am not a fan of current day movies. The indiscriminate use of what I would call "bad language" turns me off, and the violence and sexual themes are not very uplifting. There may be some good acting and good direction, but I can't seem to get past those negatives. I guess I could not prove a correlation between the trend in violence, sexual promiscuity and bad language resulting from the movies, but I think there is one somewhere. 

   Besides, they have raised the price of admission, and I still remember the 9 cents.

   My son in law has turned a love of this cinematic art form into a career. Over the years he has written reviews for various publications around the country and has developed quite a following. I confess that most of the films he reviews, I have not heard of, much less seen, but there are a lot of people out there that must read him faithfully. One time he mentioned a blog post I had written, and my readership blasted to 7 times the normal for that day.

   His new venture in this area seems like a good fit for those who like movies, The Dissolve, check it out if you fit this category.

   As for me, I guess I will have to stick with the classics, although I still don't know if "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is a classic. It is in color.

   Black and white, in an old theater, maybe that is me after all.

   Not the Ritz in Brunswick, but the Ritz just the same.

   

   

Wouldn't It Be Nice?

   I have been playing around with a technique that a friend showed me the other day. This brings an object out of a photograph and highlights it so that it becomes the main focus of an image. It involves taking a color shot, reducing the colors to a grey, or black and white print, and then letting some of the color back into the picture. It might sound complicated, but is not, and does place the emphasis on one part of a shot. As an illustration:

   This seems to ask a question, like "where would you rather relax?"

   Or this one, "don't live a drab life".

   Sometimes I want to have a picture that is very explicit as to what my life resembles. When I am confused, or seem not to have a purpose in life, it would be nice to have it brought into focus with a dramatic change of color.

   It might be like this one, one I might use as a metaphor right now this morning:

   This seems to say: "Look at me, I may be old, but I am sitting here ready to be used."

   It is easy to see where the emphasis lies in each of the manipulated pictures, now I just need to see where it needs to be in my life.

   And my prayer "God, hit me with some color".

The Unpredictability of Routine

   Even though we had a good week away last week, it is good to get back to some sort of routine. There is safety in routine and comfort in the doing of the same things at the same time and in the same way as I would consider "normal".

   To be sure I do like this normal that I have gotten into over these past few years. The early morning quiet, the stroll about the golf course, even before the guys come to cut the greens, the music of the birds, the sun's rays hitting the tops of the clouds before breaking over the horizon, the time to read, pray and think. These tend to start my day off right.

   Then, as I go about this early morning routine, I think of that Erma Bombeck quote, "Normal is just a setting on your dryer". Then when I write this and think to look up how to spell her name, and read some of her quotes, and laugh, and don't find the quote, and look up the quote on Google and then find out it is a book by Patsy Clairmont, I realize this is what happens to my life most days. What I think I know, I don't, and then as I look for the answer, rabbit trails lead me away from my intended topic, sometimes to an unsuspected destination.

   Even if the things that are on my agenda for the day get done, as I look back on them, I find out that many small parts of this activity or plan have been altered, even as I do them. Just the knowledge that I did some fact checking this morning, and ended up laughing out loud at some sayings, shows me the unpredictability of any routine, however good.

   So, what do I take away from all this?

   Perhaps it is just that I should open my mind and my eyes to things that come into my life, even in the midst of routine. God may want to remind me that every day is a new one, like He did this morning, that every so-called routine is anything but, if I really look.

   And that laughter is a good thing.

   And that routine does not have to be a rut.

   There can be joy in unpredictability, if I stay open to it.

A Week Away, and Good

   This has been a different week. Living in a strange place, keeping a teenage grand daughter, supervising a dog, and having no schedule but theirs, has made these days like living "one day at a time". Flexibility has been the name of the game.

   I have read a lot of books, played some with my photography, walked the dog several times a day, rode the bike, played card games here at the house, walked the beach early and late and in between, along with various chores that had to be done.

   It has been good to have time with Sydney. Since her family lives 6 hours north of us, we don't get to see her too often. She will be in her senior year of high school this coming September, and making those college choices will consume her thoughts for some months. Her parents will live through the "empty nest" period, and she will begin making her way in the world outside. A lot of changes for all concerned in these next few months.

   And then there is the canine part of the family, Kasper.

   Here is a guy that has got it made. Food, water, walking and resting are the main parts of his day, plus making friends with all those other four-legged people that walk where we do.

   I can't forget the weather. Rain has been abundant, some days a lot, some a little, but always some. As we prepare to leave, it is sunny, but it was yesterday also, before the moisture fell. But that did not mess up our plans. How can it when you don't have any? Just take life as it comes and do the best with the hand you are dealt. We lived this week in that way, and it was good.

   It was a good week. We enjoyed our grand daughter, we even enjoyed Kasper. We liked the rest and the lack of schedule. We would do it again in a heartbeat.

   Thanks Dwayne and Karen for asking us.

   P.S. The sunrises were exquisite.

Looking Closely

   One thing that this camera thing has taught me, or is trying to teach me, is to look closely at what is around me. An example in point happened yesterday as I took me camera out to explore.

   As I walked down the sidewalk, I brushed into a spider web that had been spun about head height right off to the left side. Although my first thought was one of annoyance at the placement of the web, on closer inspection I saw the spider sitting in the middle, I guess waiting for dinner, and he, or she, was like none that I had seen before.

   This unusual looking critter really caught my eye as I enlarged his image on the computer. I knew he was strange, but how strange he really was.

   I thought about him this morning. I was not happy with the placement of the web, right on my path, but just perhaps there was a reason. Because he had spun his web right there, I was forced to stop, look and think. I was reminded to take a closer look at what was around me all the time.

   There may be more spiders on my path this day, or there may be people that I do not need to just brush on past on the routes that I take. There may be situations, like spider webs, that I should treat with more respect than annoyance.

   Maybe that web was in the right place. After all, it was still there this morning, and the spider looked healthy and well fed. He even brought along a friend, who had spun another one right beside it. As I duck to stay out of the way, I'll try to remember the lesson and look more closely as I travel.

   I'll never know unless I stop to look.

A Grand Daughter on the Brink

   We get the privilege this week, of spending time with our oldest grand daughter. This busy young woman lives pretty far away from us, and so our times together are limited.

                    (Sydney, on the left, with Cady Gray)

   This is an exciting time in her life, but I'm sure, a time of wondering about the future, her future, as she gets ready to begin her senior year in high school, looking forward to college and what it will bring.

   Sydney is a multitalented young lady, smart, pretty, athletic, with a lot going for her. She is personable with a great attitude. I'm sure she has "her days", but she has been raised well and shows it. Her parents have done a great job getting her to this point in her life.

   Her future stretches out before her. There is the final year in high school, the new life in college, and then her life outside of the academic environment. There is, to be sure, a lot of question marks out there for her at this time as to what it will all look like. The decisions that she makes in these days, will shape what she is to become.

   So, as she questions, and as she makes those hard decisions, I just pray that God will keep His hand on her life, that He will keep her safe in her new worlds, that she will find His purpose, and that He will bring people into her life that will help her along that path.

   As our oldest grand daughter gets ready to follow her brother off to college and out into the world may she know the peace and love of her Heavenly Father, who stands ready to help and guide her in all the times of her life.

   And may her grand parents be there to support and love her, too, however we can.

   I can't wait to see how it all works out.

Music and a Can, Too

   I come to this post in an unusual way. I write in the late afternoon instead of the morning. The morning just did not work out as I planned, and I moved through the day without a blog thought in mind. After lunch, we watched the Sunday service from our church since we had missed it the day before.

   Our pastor is preaching a 6 week series with a them of Summer movies, in which he takes a thought from 6 movies and gives a message from the Bible. Yesterday was Les Miserables and the opening clip was his beginning. I love the song from that, I Dreamed A Dream, but could not remember where I had heard it. Then it hit me, it was the song that Susan Boyle sang on the British talent show a few years back.

   It is a powerful song, both the lyrics and the music, and I am moved by each rendition, probably as much by the emotion of the situation as the song itself, but it is good

   As I listened to Susan sing it again, I could not help but wonder of the affect that music has on my feeling. There are certain songs that bless me each time I hear them, and, I'll confess, often bring a tear or two to my eyes. I'm sure that I will miss some good ones, but I compiled a short list in my head and here it is.

   The aforementioned I Dreamed a Dream, and here is a YouTube version:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSrAJsWvEIc

   Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th Symphony:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wod-MudLNPA

   Amazing Grace with bagpipes:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FKoX7u_Jo8

   Stuart Townend's hymn How Deep the Father's Love:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYV7hpD9JTI

   Almost anything by my favorite singer, Sissel, like this:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSy1Do0wwEA&list=TLVgByKunB3xw

   I'm sure, when I finish writing this, I will think of others that deserve to be on my own personal list, but I did think of a photograph that seems to symbolize what this music means to me. Music is like that can, it makes the picture.

 

   OK, I know if you listen to all of this and meditate on the picture, too, you will have killed your day, but it has made mine, because I have gotten to listen to these again, and it has been good.

   Thank You, God for music