Playing Fast or Slow - Which Is Harder?/ The Power of Subdivision

Aaron Kampman and A Tornado In Small Town Iowa

Writing for Sports Illustrated, Peter King has a great profile of NFL All-Pro defensive end, Aaron Kampman and the tornado that recently hit his hometown of Parkersburg, IA. Parkersburg is just a few miles from the town I lived in for the first 23 years of my life. Aaron is a friend due to the very strong relationship I have with this brother Andy. Everything you read about Aaron in this article is true and beyond.

Peter King writes:

Kampman is a giver. He's been on a church mission to India, and he's scheduled to go on one to Africa this year. He's doing everything he can to spread the word about his town. (You can donate to the rebuilding effort, by the way, if you'd like, by sending a check to: Lincoln Savings Bank, Attn: Dave Ragsdale, 932 Parrott Street, Aplington, Iowa, 50604. Write "Parkersburg Relief Fund" on the check.)

"In the end, when a disaster happens to you, you're going to be motivated to help,'' he said. "We know a family there that's had a lot of financial hardship, and has a 9-month-old baby, and the wife just found a job. She just started. They had no insurance. None. They just bought a house, and now it's gone. They have nothing. I don't know that it will motivate people outside of the area, because I understand all the suffering that goes on in the world. Can I say the need is greater in Parkersburg and the suffering great there than with the cyclone in Burma or the earthquake in China? No, I can't. The reality is there's a lot of need in this world. There's a ton of good people can do. I just hope people do something.''

Spoken like a pro -- a pro with a conscience.

Read the whole piece. It's great.

Challies On "Planet Earth"

Tim Challies gives some more great reasons (9 actually) on why you should watch the DVD series, Planet Earth. You can buy it here on Amazon, or rent here on Netflix.

Hoarding Does Not Work

(HT: DGM Blog)

Quote of the Day

Amy Hall, writing for STR.org:

"Religions make claims about reality, and we must examine them rigorously in that light, not talk about them with a wink and a nudge as if we're comparing Middle-earth to Narnia. If Christianity is not worthy of attempts to prove it wrong, then it's not worthy of my life or anyone else's."

Read the whole post.

Hermeneutics

Here is a copy of a downloadable one page pdf from the NA blog that will greatly help you interpret the Bible. If God has given us his Word we should work hard to know how to understand it. Print it off and place in your Bible for easy reference.

Hermeneutics (hur-muh-noo-tiks) n. [Grk.]: the craft of interpreting Scripture

7 Questions to Ask Every Passage

1. Who is the author and who is his audience?

2. Why is the author writing and what is his burden for his audience?

3. How does this verse connect to the rest of the chapter and the book the whole storyline of the Bible?

4. What does the language of the passage highlight and draw attention to?
(e.g., parallels, word pictures, specific details, repetitive words/phrases)

5. What does this reveal about the nature of God and the nature of mankind?

6. How does this passage reveal our need for a Savior and God's disposition to provide a Savior?

7. What response or action does this passage call for?



A Starter Bibliography: For Further Study

•Knowing Scripture by R.C. Sproul: Short and sweet. Start here.
•The Message of the Old Testament & The Message of the New
Testament by Mark Dever: One chapter for each book of the Bible.
•God's Big Picture by Vaughn Roberts: A helpful introduction to
storyline of the Bible.
•The ESV Study Bible: Our favorite study Bible (or it will be when it
releases this fall).
•Your Pastor's Sermon's: Every week your pastor helps you interpret
Scripture and apply it. Listen closely. Hermeneutics 101

Books vs. Blogs

"Books aren’t better than blogs: it’s about content, not delivery. Pick any blog and I’ll show you a worse book that people actually read, making it more harmful than that bad blog."

-Abraham Piper


If you want to read my reasons for blogging, click here.

Not Good

Pictures of the day: 3 June 2008

(HT: ADIAPHORA)

Obama and Progress In Race Relations

As much as I loathe Obama's position on abortion (if you read this blog much you have seen the evidence) and believe that about 5 min of thinking about ethics of human life should quickly drive your vote away from this man, you have to admit that his nomination as a candidate for president is a huge statement of growth in race relations in our country. To give some perspective, Thabiti Anyabwile shares a historical time line that sheds some light on the issue. Check it out here.

The Spot

Here is a great article about community development for the sake of the Gospel in Iowa City, IA.  It profiles a ministry called "The Spot" from Parkview church (the church I used to work at for 5 years) that has been doing some wonderful things with those who might otherwise go unnoticed and cared for.  

The Importance of Playing With a Click

I asked Scott what he thought about playing with a click (a metronome) for personal practice and during music leading in the church. We all chimed in after his response.

Just as a side note for those who might not know... When we refer to "tracks" we mean musical parts that are coming from the computer and not found on stage. We use a click track in our in-ear monitors to keep everything aligned between what the computer is playing and what we are playing ourselves.

Song of the Day - John Mayer - Something's Missing

In light of the post below I thought it would be good to do a John Mayer Song of the Day...


Line from the song:

"I'm dizzy from the shopping mall
I searched for joy, but I bought it all"

Sounds like an angst for the Gospel, eh? This song is so sad, especially when he says "I wish there was an over-the-counter for loneliness, loneliness like this".

Another winner, "How come everything I think I need, always comes with batteries?"

This song is classic songwriting genius. It's a must have, especially as a reminder of the glory of the Gospel for those who know that what's "missing" can be found.

John Mayer - On His Playing

Secrets of the Guitar Heros - John Mayer

Viva La Vida - Live

See Coldplay's performance from MTV movie awards here.

Playing With Confidence/Making Mistakes

Here was a cool spontaneous moment from our seminar. One of my drummers, Ian, stopped us and made the point that he heard Scott the drummer make a bit of a mistake but that it seemed to morph into something that was actually kind of cool. This led to a great discussion of the importance of playing with confidence and being willing to take some risks musically. I think this was one of the coolest moments of our day. At the end of this clip you can hear our arrangement of "All Creatures Of Our God And King".



Here is the MP3 to the recording from Steely Dan that Scott (the drummer) refers to. If you dig musical genius then you need to at least purchase the song "Aja" and listen to the last minute of that song where Steve Gadd unleashes some drum fury that demands your appreciation.

Boys Adrift

As a father or two young boys, this caught my attention from Tim Challies:

What follows are three quotes from Leonard Sax’s book Boys Adrift. I am going to post a full review of the book soon, but for now suffice it to say that if you have boys or you are a boy (or a young man), you need to read this book!

“Forty years ago, even thirty years ago, there was no shame in a young man choosing a career in the trades. Beginning in the early 1980s-and particularly after publication of the Nation at Risk report in 1983-a consensus grew in the United States that every young person should go to college, regardless. “Vocational education” lost whatever prestige it had, and came to be viewed in some quarters very nearly as a dumping ground for the mildly retarded.”

“Traditionally, one of the factors driving Western society has been the fact that women prefer successful, affluent men over men who are less successful. Because men understood that women would be reluctant to marry men who couldn’t comfortably support a wife and children, men were motivated to be successful. That simple mechanism has suffered a double whammy in the past forty years. First, sex has been divorced from marriage. Second-and here’s what’s really disturbing to those of us in the over-thirty crowd-sexual satisfaction has been divorced from women altogether.”

“Thirty years ago, if a boy cursed his parents and spit at his teacher, the neighbors might say that the boy was a disobedient brat who needed a good spanking. Today, the same behavior from a similar boy might well prompt a trip to the pediatrician or the child psychiatrist. And the doctor is likely to ‘diagnose’ the boy with Conduct Disorder (DSM-IV 312.82) or Oppositional-Defiant Disorder (DSM-IV 313.81). The main criterion for both these ‘disorders’ is disobedient and disrespectful behavior that persists despite parental efforts.’ Is there really much of a difference between a neighbor saying ‘That boy is a disobedient brat,’ and a doctor saying ‘That boy has oppositional-defiant disorder’? I think there is. If another parent whom you trust and respect suggests that your son is a disobedient brat who needs stricter discipline, you just might consider adopting a tougher parenting.”

Evangelism Is A Hate-Crime?

From STR.org:

From the Telegraph:

A police community support officer ordered two Christian preachers to stop handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham.

The evangelists say they were threatened with arrest for committing a "hate crime" and were told they risked being beaten up if they returned. The incident will fuel fears that "no-go areas" for Christians are emerging in British towns and cities, as the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, claimed in The Sunday Telegraph this year....

"[The officer] said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message. He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam and said that he was going to take us to the police station."...

West Midlands Police, who refused to apologise, said the incident had been "fully investigated" and the officer would be given training in understanding hate crime and communication.

Apparently this wasn't a "hate crime" and it was an abuse of the officer's authority. But consider the culture today that influences a policy officer to interpret evangelism as a hate crime. Religous pluralism doesn't promote tolerance, but criticizes those who believe - and act on the belief - that religions have objective truth value. Not only are those believers wrong, they are guilty of hate crimes.

That's not only truly oppressive, but self-refuting.

Song of the Day - Miles Davis - Freddie The Freeloader

As a guy who studies and loves to play jazz I thought it might be time to give a recommendation in that genre. Some people say it just sounds like random noise, or "they don't get it". If you feel that way, today's song might be a good place to start. Miles Davis' Kind of Blue record is a landmark in jazz. If you want to get started with some jazz, this is the record to get. I've chosen to highlight my favorite song from Kind of Blue: Freddie The Freeloader. It's a cool little blues number. Wynton Kelly's swing feel is scary on his piano solo. Check it out below.

Guitar Rock

Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Rock Songs Of All Time

Revival iPod

At first I found this funny, then silly, then my emotions transitioned sadness, and now I am just ticked. This stuff needs to stop.