"God Has Come To Earth"

Christmas messages in February!?  Yes. Before I released "Silent Night" for free download last December, I had been working on recording a different song.  There was a Christmas chorus I'd written a few years earlier for which I couldn't, for the life of me, come up with suitable verses.   

One morning (12/10/06) I was doing some reading and came across an old Christmas Carol by Martin Luther in the 1520's called "All Praise To Thee, Eternal Lord."  I thought the words were dynamic and after composing a melody for them and playing it few times on the piano, I remembered that chorus I had written that didn't have a home.  The two became one and I played it that evening at a Christmas party for some dear friends who had been supporting me throughout the years.  Nine months later we hit the studio to record the new song: "God Has Come To Earth", but by the deadline, I wasn't satisfied with the progress.  In a desperate move, I benched the project (unknowingly without going through proper channels) and we hurriedly recorded what I think is a beautiful version of Silent Night.

So now, my record label, rightly so, wanted me to finish the song, and finish it early.  So here we are Feb 22nd, and we're just about finished with my next free Christmas download which won't be available until November 2008!  I'm pretty excited about it though: I think it's a great message with a good Christmas-y feel (chimes, bells, sleighs and a piano part that sounds like snowfall.)  I can't wait. 

And don't worry.  I'll remind you.  ;)

ps. excuse the 'lower-case G' in the photo.  we'll fix it. 

In My Heart

I just got back from a couple days in Midland, TX: home of Friday Night Lights, the Heroes' Cheerleader, the Bush family, Tommy Lee Jones and Spud Webb.   I hadn't seen my little boy (16 months old) in 6 days because he was spending some time with my parents before I left.  The older he gets (and the more personality he develops) the harder it is to leave home.   I got back last night right before he went to bed, and this morning we're both sitting down in the living room, I'm doing some light reading with my coffee and he's sitting in a chair across the room with about 15 books around him, reading like Daddy.    

One time I looked up and he was just staring at me with a slight, curious grin on his face as if to say, "Hey, you're my Daddy."  It melted my heart that he was watching me and I told him, "Hey buddy, you know Daddy loves you, right?  You know that I missed you SO much?  But did you know that you were right here the whole time?"  I pointed to my chest, "You're in my heart!"

Then I realized a little more clearly what it means when we say "Jesus is in my heart."  It means we take Him with us no matter where we go.  It means we love Him and think about Him a lot!   It also made me think that I never had to ASK Daniel to come into my heart, so that he could say, "okay Dad, since you asked..."   He's in my heart, simply because I love him, more than a blog could describe, and I 'take him with me' wherever I go. 

The Family. The Church

Sometimes family members do strange things.  Not mine, my entire family is perfect.  ;)  But I imagine that some of you may know what I'm talking about.  But have you ever heard someone say, "YOU can't pick on my family, only I can do that"?  While that's pretty much hypocritical, the point is this: "Don't mess with my family.  I don't care if what you say about them is even true.  I will take you down if you talk badly about my family."  (at least I'll want to) 

If you believe Jesus is the Son of God, then the Church is your family!  Sometimes I look at people in my own church, or at some church down the street, or this preacher on TV, or that preacher on TV and I think, "Whoa, that's weird."  or "That's not right."  But, I was recently challenged by a message by Steve Brown.   He says that while "we need to have an orthodoxy of truth, we also need to have an orthodoxy of love!"  While we may disagree with some of what other people in the Church are saying, they are our brothers in Christ, and they are our sisters in Christ and we need to LOVE them!  Is your theology perfect?  Mine's not.  So I think I'm going to stop throwing rocks.

Check out the message: Click Here.  I didn't think it was life changing, until I realized I couldn't stop thinking about it.  :)

I love you all, regardless of what you believe.

Watch Over Me (Part II)

Sarah and I just bought one of those baby monitors with the night vision camera on it.  It's an incredible amount of fun.  We can hook it up to the TV in another room and watch to see if Daniel is awake, or falling asleep, or fidgety, or standing up shaking the crib.  One time as he was falling asleep, he lost his little stuffed monkey, it was so sad to see him grope around in the dark for his misplaced security.  Of course, the darkness shines like the day to us, thanks to the infrared camera.  We cheered him on as he searched for his monkey, "to the left!  Oh no, back to the right..." We threw our hands in the air as if we witnessed a game winning touchdown when he finally landed his tiny little hand on the prize!  It's great TV watching your own child, even if the writers Weren't on strike!

As Sarah laid him in bed tonight, I kissed him goodnight and hurried to the room to watch him.  I watched him lay on his back, cuddling and patting his stuffed monkey and bear, while his eyes searched in vain around a pitch black room, occasionally staring in the camera, directly at me.  I told him, "I'm watching over you tonight, my little boy.  Daddy's going to take care of you.  Sleep."  Of course, he couldn't hear me.  He is in his own little world, but his Daddy's watching over him.  And he's in good hands.

Point being:  Jesus said that we who were evil know how to give gift to our children...how much more will our Father, who is perfect?  If I (who am evil) know how to watch over my child, how much more will God?