Music These Days

As I've been substituting I've gotten a small sample of the musical favorites of the young people in our country, and I'm sad to say that among African Americans the common artist is Lil Wayne. 

He has a new song called Prom Queen. It is definitely my least favorite song of 2009. Kids are walking around singing it in the hallways and visiting his myspace page in class to listen to it. His last album was the best selling album of 2008, somehow. The music industry really concerns me now-a-days because of the ridiculous amount of junk that they produce. I can't understand how young people today are desiring this type of music. I'm sickened, also, by the life that many people choose to worship. Lil Wayne was interviewed and he openly admitted that he smokes marijuana recreationally--he was arrested numerous times for this.

There are so many trends in the black rapping community, specifically (but not limited to): the objectification of women and their complete demoralization; prideful, ego-inflating songs about how money, women, cars, and every luxury are the most important things in life; the list goes on and on. What is a complete shock to me is that Lil Wayne and numerous other rappers wear gold chain crosses and busts of Jesus around their neck, calling them their "Jesus piece."

It literally makes me sick. In their videos they hold them up in front of them and make hands that pray like it means something. When you look at their lives, it doesn't mean a thing to them. Are their lives dedicated to serving and being obedient to the Lord Jesus? Their lives don't show it. You'll know a tree by its fruit: no bad tree can produce good fruit and a good tree cannot produce bad fruit (Matthew 7:18). American cultural Christianity at its worst. 

When I see kids in high school and junior high idolizing people like this, it doesn't give me hope for the future. Granted, no one is out of reach of the Holy Spirit, but loving Jesus is a personal decision, you can't make it for someone. All this talk about gold and such leads me to my next topic: Heaven.

I hear lots of people talk about the streets of gold that they read of in Revelation, describing Heaven. In my life I've heard it from the homeless or the poor, predominantly. It's very true that Revelation describes Heaven in that way, but I think some of us are missing the point. 

Heaven isn't a place where we have every amenity and luxury available to us, and the fact that John noticed the streets of gold enough to write about it is interesting to me. It reminds me of my favorite quote from John Piper:

"The critical question for our generation--and for every generation--is this: if you could have Heaven, with no sickness, and all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with Heaven, if Christ was not there?"

Boom. When I first read that it really shook me. I had forgotten the first commandment, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength." I think about it every day now. And this next point is what I want to emphasize:

The fact that there are streets of gold in Heaven should change how we look at things on earth. Not that we should ask Heaven to come to earth for its golden parkways, but it shows us part of the economy of Heaven. God is the owner and creator of all things, and the fact that He chose gold for the roads is brilliant! Here on earth we chase after gold (especially with all these commercials about gold kits--I don't think they're bad, just an example), whereas in Heaven gold is so common to God and so abundant for His use that He uses it to pave the roads of Heaven. He's saying "It's nothing special. Look, there's plenty of it out there, just dig up a brick if you want it, it has no value here. I'm the real value, I'm the real worth you're looking for."

Heaven is not a "New America." Heaven is paradise spent with the redeemer of our souls.

Washington D.C.

I got to school early this morning and read Deuteronomy 1-6. I've always been interested in the Old Testament that God made with His people, so I decided to brush up on it. Plus, Christy has been reading it and sparked a recent interest in me. 

Since I really detest how some Christians in America have woven democracy and Jesus into an inseparable fabric, these verses really stuck out to me--Deuteronomy 4:15-18 and also Exodus 20:4, respectively:

"So keep watch on yourselves with care; for you saw no form of any sort on the day when the voice of the Lord came to you in Horeb out of the heart of the fire: so that you may not be turned to evil ways and make for yourselves an image in the form of any living thing, male or female, or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air, or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth."

"You are not to make an image or picture of anything in heaven or on the earth or in the waters under the earth"

Jefferson Memorial? Mount Rushmore? Lincoln Memorial? Graven images? Statues of Mary, the Apostles, and the saints? What about countless scores of other Christian paraphernalia depicting angels and the innumerable portraits of Jesus? It would seem so! 

I've always disliked Washington D.C. because it's a city-wide monument to men. Granted, they are men who have done great things (and they've had important women in their lives as well), but that doesn't change the fact that God has commanded that no image be made of such things. God has actually commanded it. 

That doesn't mean that no good has come from any of those things. The well-meaning things that we do are not incapable of being redeemed by Jesus. BUT we should not continue to do the things we know to be wrong if we have seen a positive result from them in the past. 

The next verse in Deuteronomy goes like this (4:19):

"And when your eyes are lifted up to heaven, and you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of heaven, do not let yourselves be moved to give them worship, or become the servants of what the Lord has given equally to all peoples under heaven."

Horoscopes? It blows my mind how Christ-followers can follow their horoscopes every day. 

I am very passionate about these types of things because they're the "minute, small" pieces of America that we've let enter the Church. So what are we, as individuals changed by the love of Jesus, going to do about it?

Adventures in Substituting

Today I was a roaming teacher at West Lake Elementary, so I was in and out of four classrooms. It made the day go faster, but I had to learn four different plans for the day. I've found that most teachers aren't very good at explaining everything to the sub; but once in a while you get someone who will go over everything with you. I'm learning that my detail-orientedness must be rare amongst subs. 

In one of my classes the students were cutting out pictures of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.  I was surprised that a number of them were putting lipstick on the former presidents; I got quite a kick out of it. And one boy even gave Mr. Lincoln a mohawk!

Something I've learned as well is that if you ever want to invoke laughter in elementary school children, you just have to say the word "fart" and they will crack up for a solid five minutes--boys and girls alike. A couple times we finished an activity early, so I would say someone farted and that would take up the rest of the allotted time with cheerful giggles and laughter.

Worship Unto Jesus

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about worship music. I just led worship last weekend at a church in Ladoga, IN for their first night of worship. It was an hour of musical praise with a small teaching mixed in--a lot of fun for me to come into a new place and sing to Jesus. I've also started singling out Jesus a lot more from the Trinity, because I feel as if a lot of people talk about "God" but don't mean Jesus. So I'm starting to get more specific when I talk about it.

Anywho, I've written lots of music that I quite enjoy praising Jesus with in my own time. I've done a few of my songs here and there when I lead worship, and usually they're met with success and failure. And honestly, this is a legitimate finding, the older members of congregations tend to not like the songs that I've written as much; but I've gotten good feedback from my peers. I'm not saying that I write awesome worship songs, but I write them as a personal response to God--and I know that not all people share my personal worship views.

Something that I absolutely love doing is praising Jesus for the small things: shoelaces, mug handles, sliding doors, the garbage disposal in the sink, banana trees, individual blades of grass, computer cords, etc (the small things that I tend to lose with my "big picture" mindset). I wrote a song a few weeks ago called "Unstretched Arm," and here are the lyrics:

When I consider the beauty of Your fingertips

Such eyes as mine cannot comprehend

That the rings of Saturn proclaim Your dynasty

The gales of Neptune mimicking Your love for me

The coals of the Sun are conquered and pale in Your light

No other star can outshine You, none as bright

Resounding power rests in Your throat

All creation's patented by the Lord of Hosts

You imagined black holes and comets in Your mind

Celestial bodies formed when vocalized

The coals of the Sun are conquered and pale in Your light

No other star can outshine You, none as bright as the Fire of Heaven

Stars flare as You pass by them

You chill Pluto with Your shadow

All of outer space is kept within the breadth of Your arm

Within the breadth of Your unstretched arm

___________________________________________

The above song is about how astounding and expansive the universe is that Jesus created, and how such great power rests in His words. I'm not going to lie: I wanted to write some lyrics like Jesus dribbling mars through the universe like a big basketball and shooting from downtown for three into a black hole (of course He hits it every time). Or like Jesus snacking on asteroids like they're chocolate covered cookie dough balls from the movies. He is so much grander than what we see. Imagine Him actually using the Earth as His footstool. Warming some marshmallow comets on the star Sirius until they're burnt on the outside and gooey on the inside, just how He likes them.

I enjoy writing songs about specific things in nature and God's creation, like wolves howling or whales catching krill in their baleen, or thermal vents deep in the ocean or the chemical reactions of the upper atmosphere. I see a trend in worship music that is very generally-oriented. Granted there's good to it, because more people can connect to it, and when you're selling albums, that's important. As well, when you're leading a new song in a church it's good to have a simple, not-too-wordy vernacular in the song so that people can learn it and carry it on their own quicker--you know, make it their own worship song to God. So while I'm not making a living by it, I'm completely and wholly doing it as a response to God's greatness and not concerned about anyone else connecting with it. Although, every Christian should be able to worship Jesus through any praise song, no matter how specific.

Like I was saying in a note I just posted, I try not to jump on the "bash worship" bandwagon. I'm not a music snob, and I know very little about music, truth-be-told. I just simply enjoy praising Jesus in as many ways as I can, and that generally involves me stepping out of a comfortable area into a realm where I maybe feel awkward singing about how the adenosine triphosphate in my cells shows me Your love, or that an overflowing cup is a great way to see how You really provide for me (that I need to quit looking at the cup itself and start realizing the huge pool that is flooding my room).

So I'm quite glad that I don't have a recording label breathing down my back. I would probably become a much better musician if I had that type of input and direction, but for now I'm doing my best.

You can check out the song on my Virb page.

Photos

Here are some random photos I've taken with my iPhone. The first is an advertisement for the Great Wolf Lodge (I liked it because of the two wolfies high pawing in the background). The next was taken on the asphalt outside of Carl Corder's house. The rooster and the t-rex was taken from a book in the children's section of Border's at Purdue. The last photo is a self-balanced blueberry snowman that I made at an after-church meeting.






Time for a few quick updates on my life:

I got the skateboards I ordered in the mail on Monday! This is the first batch of boards we've ordered to test and experiment with, and is consequently the beginning of King Size Skateboards. I'm pumped for the spring to really start hitting the skate community with the ministry.

And as for jobs, I'm still substitute teaching. I had my first job at the high school and I liked it the best of any grade so far (I've had every sector now: elementary, junior high, and high school). I got a call from a place called Kelly Scientific, and I have an interview on Friday with them! I'm pretty excited to see where this leads.

Creator of Biological Wonders

Today I spent some time marveling at the vast diversity of life, from bacteria to bats, amoebas to marmots, and poison dart frogs to duck-billed platypi. I thanked Him for squids and for tentacles. They're really quite interesting. He thought of all this and more and actually made it. Think about it. Not like when a man sits down and widdles a twig into a figurine. God uses atoms to create life. The closest we humans come to that is procreation.

Some might say that scientists have done that in the lab. But they've only used what God already made: He originally created it. He imagined birds, each in its unique color scheme, and then made it. Wow! I bet He had fun making this little guy in Grapevine, TX.


On a more serious note, my recent encounters with "cross" necklaces has been quite alarming. A month or so ago I played guitar for my friends' wedding in Mitchell, IN. As I pulled into the town, I noticed I was over an hour early. About the same time I saw some skateboarders going the opposite way down the street. I pulled over and asked if I could skate with them. I got out my board and we rode to the local bank and hit up a manual pad/gap. They had never skated with anyone from the "big city"; it was a good little session. One of the guys had a very shiny gold cross on his neck. I told him that I liked his necklace, and here's what He said:

"Thanks. Yeah, it's fourteen carats. I got it for seventy-five percent off. I banged the jeweler's daughter and she gave me the discount." Then he laughed.

That was not the response I was expecting. To say the least, it broke my heart.

I was subbing at my old junior high on Tuesday, and noticed quite a few young black men running through the halls and one in my class with long gold chains and thick, three inch gold crosses with embedded jewels in them.

I'm not saying that I am incapable of mocking the cross of Jesus, I'm just saying it's much easier to notice the ways others publicly demean it. Jesus said to take up our cross daily. It wasn't an adorn yourself with precious material and make sure everyone knows your status kind of statement. He carried His cross in obedience to God, who led Him to the hill of Calvary where He shed the last of his blood by being hung to death on a wooden cross that He was nailed to by the Roman soldiers who mocked Him. Is that what rappers like Lil' Wayne are doing? I can't say, but I know for sure that Jesus would not be inducing children to idolize and fixate on women in a completely carnal and perverted way.

He shed His blood. Not like when I get a splinter and there's a sliver of blood which I quickly cover with a bandage. He spilled blood. Imagine filling a large glass with water, and then spilling it all on the floor. Yeah, Jesus spilled His blood. He did it because He was being obedient to God. He followed in response to God. Carry your cross? Gold necklace that is completely overpriced?

I don't use this word often, because of it's strong meaning to me, but I mourn for the generation that is growing up idolizing popular culture icons like these. I am brought to tears for the reckless mention of satan/lucifer in society, and especially amongst young people.

For me to be a failure doesn't requisite that I have Jesus; He is required for me to be triumphant.

Skateboarding in the Midwest

California skateboarders are spoiled, but Praise God for the Ghetto Berrix! It's so nice to have a warm spot skate, even if it does get a little crowded. Yesterday was a great session for me. I landed three out of six frontside 360 ollies that I attempted, and I even landed a backside 360 ollie (but really a 270 with pivot landing). I'm getting better at fakie five-0's, and I landed a nosegrind-five-0-180 out on the box. It's a circus trick, really, but it's fun.

I'm getting excited, too, because I have a "show" this friday at the Starbucks in Avon. It starts at 7 and will go for around an hour or so. Today I'm going there to put up flyers for it. Say a prayer if you think about it.

Back on track. Living in Indianapolis and being a skateboarder can be harsh at times, only because of the weather. My friend Ryan is friends with Jireh Sports in Indy and they let us use their facility every weekend for skate sessions. It's such a cool thing, and we have some of the best skaters from the city coming there every weekend to skate with us. I'm praying that they spend that time in the presence of God.