awaiting rain

Music While We Wait

This post is pinned at the top of the blog so you can choose music to listen to while reading. The newest posts will always appear below the playlist. Enjoy!

The Prairie Dogs Legacy

Planting a church was perhaps the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life.  Upon hitting the ground in Illinois I felt that I had learned in my internship and voracious reading everything that I needed to know about planting a church.  Within weeks I realized that I knew absolutely nothing and that the only chance of survival was to abandon all of me for all of Him.  Some days I succeeded in that abandonment, many days I failed.

Two years out from the fog of war, I can look back and count many battles lost.  But I can also count many battles won.  I can count many days of pain, anger, and frustration with circumstances and people.  But I can also easily recall the faces, voices, and tears of those who came among us far from God, met him, and are still walking with him today.  There were people who made me want to give up on the whole of humanity, especially the humans who claimed to be followers of Christ.  But there were people whom I still think about as the people who have brought me more joy than anyone in all of my 39 years of life.  The five people in this picture are among them.  They are the young men and women known today as The Prairie Dogs.

Matt, Ann, Joe, Amber, and Dave all entered our church family at various times and brought with them the stuff that, today, gives me the desire to enter back into that very difficult calling and the hope that, as long as God brings me people like them, we would do well.

Dave was one of the first people to join with us in the earliest days.  I don't think I've met a man with the love, gentleness, generosity, and servant's heart that possesses Dave.  Matt, Ann, Joe, and Amber are the principle four who made up the worship team at our church.  They are men and women of amazing talent and character.  I had the privilege of leading Joe to Christ and baptising him.  God honored me with the responsibility of walking with Amber through some very difficult days.  Matt and Ann are simply a delight in many ways with Matt's quiet wisdom mixed with a winsome sense of humor.  Ann's laugh is absolutely contagious as is her love for and devotion to Christ.

As I write this I am listening to many of the tracks from the CD about to be released from The Prairie Dogs.  They have, with uncommon love and generosity, released this as a project through which to raise funds for our adoption.  What amazes me most is that this love and generosity is being poured out on a pastor who abandoned them.  That's right.  I am the one who lost faith in people (not these people), faith in God to provide for us, and walked away.  I, their pastor, ended up being a terrible example of what it means to take up your cross, die to yourself, and walk with unshakable faith.  I dropped my sword, walked away from the battle, retreated to a comfortable place, and left them to carry on the mission alone.  And today, these five people are teaching me about grace and unconditional love.

As soon as the CDs arrive from the production company, you'll be able to purchase them through this blog.  I'll let you know when they are available.  In the meantime, look for "Ethos" at the top of the right sidebar, click play, and listen to a track from the CD.  It's a song written by the band called "Jehovah Jireh" and it's awesome.

Matt, Ann, Joe, Amber, Dave, I love you all with a love that I can't express with words.  I would give anything for us to all be together again.  You are the legacy of New Prairie Community of Faith and you are the music of my life as a pastor.

New Ethos

Click play on the player to the right for the newest ethos, "On Sacred Ground."

Where The Streets Have No Name

In memory. Performed by U2 at the 2002 Super Bowl - four months after 9/11.

Musical Journeys

In high school my musical tastes were relatively normal.  My radio or cassette player usually emitted the sounds of groups like R.E.O. Speedwagon, Journey, Foreigner, and even the occassional Air Supply (when I was trying to get a girl to kiss me).

However the older I get the more unusual my musical preferences seem to be.  Most white guys pushing 40 are either still listening to those 80's tunes, or groups like Nickleback or Coldplay; maybe even some Tim Mcgraw.

Not me.

There is music out there that stirs my soul and takes me to a different place; which is really why I listen to music.  It has a powerful effect on me.  If a song doesn't take me somewhere in space and time then it's not a song I'll likely come back to.

I think I'll take Saturdays to share with you some of that music.  Below is a selection from my next music purchase.  As I listen to this song, here's where it takes me.  Close your eyes, listen, and see if you can go there with me. 

It's deep into autumn, but moments away from the advent of winter.  I'm sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree, not far from the placid waters of a lake situated safely in the middle of a Wisconsin forest.  Most of the leaves have fallen, but small streaks of color meshed with the perpetual green of the pines create a masterpiece tapestry suspended between heaven and earth.  The season's first flakes of snow are beginning to fill the air around me.  A cup of tea is still hot in my hand.  The stillness of the moment is punctuated by the laughter of my wife and children and the playful barking of our dog in the distance.  Everything is good, and right, with all of our tomorrows pregnant with meaning and purpose.

 

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