The Composer

If you know me or have been following this blog at all, you will know that I love music.   My wife, Caroline, and I played in high school band together, got married right out of college, and are now playing in an adult band together, The Georgia Wind Symphony.  We get to play some great music.  One of my favorite composers is Alfred Reed.  We played one of his works, Russian Christmas Music, at your December concert.  I have to work hard to prepare my one little part on the stand in front of me, playing one note at a time.  I marvel at the ability composers have to first “visualize” (audialize?) the work in their head and then begin to flesh out the entire piece – with all of the variations and the scoring of the individual parts - the weeks, months and sometimes years of work to get it just how they want it. I can imagine it would be tough to ever be finished.   When I think of my God, the Creator, I like to think of him in these terms.  First visualizing the finished product and then building it carefully step by step.   And knowing from the beginning that He would need to come to Earth as a man to complete the work, so that He could one day proclaim, “It is finished.”  The Great Composer, indeed.

Fatal attraction

The Vine Church started a new series last week entitled “Exponential”.   As a church, we are reading through Proverbs this month.  There are 31 chapters, so that will help to keep us on track.  King Solomon wrote Proverbs, and Chapter 7 deals with lust and sexual temptation.  I couldn’t help but think of the movie “Fatal Attraction”.   Michael Douglas’s character gets lured into a sexual relationship that doesn’t turn out well for him, or his family or his pet rabbit.   The consequences that he endured were natural consequences (on steroids) associated with his infidelity.   We think of the current cultural sexual explosion as being something that has developed recently, but Solomon confirms that this has been a problem for at least 1000 years, and probably much longer.   While the natural consequences for infidelity may vary from situation to situation, the separation from God that it creates is inescapable.  I am not sure if our pastor is going to focus on this subject in this series, but Andy Stanley had a great sermon series a few years ago called Guardrails.  He offers practical recommendations for how to avoid all of this.  I watched the first one again today.  I hope you will too.

Remembering 2015

Just thinking back on the year, I first remember it being the year of my first granddaughter – and my second granddaughter - definitely the highlights of my year.  I remember my church launching a new campus and getting to be a part of the serve team there.  I remember helping Dan lead our small group studying the Divine Conspiracy.  I remember playing in the Georgia Wind Symphony under the direction of my good friend, David Gregory.  I remember three fun trips to the beach – one with Caroline’s family, one with my family and one with good friends.   I remember fun with family and friends at the lake.   I remember having the privilege of working with Janet and Michael helping others find their own spot on the lake.  I can’t wait to see what 2016 brings.

Innocence of a baby

The Christmas season comes to me burdened with the pressures of finishing the year strong, shopping, Christmas cards and entertaining.  My church has helped me to remember that this season is about the innocence of a baby – a baby born to a scared mom who felt the weight of the world on her shoulders.  The innocence of that baby has been made real to me this year by the recent births of Caroline and Nora to my children.  To hold those babies close and look into their eyes, I am amazed at the miracle of their creation and reminded of the miracle of their Creator.   I hope that your experience more of the joy of Jesus this week.

Perfect innocence

This season is all about celebrating the birth of the baby, Jesus.  Our family has been blessed with another reason to celebrate.  Nora Catherine was born to my son, Michael, and daughter-in-law, Emily last week.   This is their third child and their first girl.  There is nothing like holding a newborn baby and being totally overwhelmed by the wonder of the event.  At the same time, I am convicted of the responsibility we all have to make sure that she has everything she needs to grow into the person that God has intended her to be.   I will be praying that we make Jesus known to her so that one day she will trust Him as her Savior.

Connecting the dots

I try to be true to not repeating myself in this blog, but I felt the need to connect the dots today.    Last year, before Christmas, I posted this entry with a link to one of my favorite pieces of music, O Magnum Mysterium, sung by the Kings College Choir in Cambridge, England.     “O Magnun Mysterium”  is Latin for “the great mystery” written about the birth of Jesus.    In February, I wrote about my dear friend, David Gregory.  David was my high school band director and predicted that one day, Caroline and I would be married.   On this coming Saturday, under the direction of David Gregory, Caroline and I, now married, will perform O Magnum Mysterium under the direction of David Gregory at Cambridge High School,  all connected by the black dots on a piece of paper - and everything in between.

My Kind of Coach

I don’t have much to add to everything that has been written about Mark Richt leaving UGA.  There are people who know a lot more about football than me, and there are people who know him much more than I do.  So I won’t repeat everything that has been said, but I do have two personal memories that I want to share.  The first time I met Mark in person was when he came to our church to speak.  I can’t remember the year, but it must have been very early in his  tenure at UGA.  He spoke on a Sunday evening and the sanctuary was full.  He shared his stories of football and his faith – very well done as you might expect.  Afterwards, our minister mentioned that Mark was going to need to leave quickly after the service to be with his family.   I’m sure that some who had hoped to shake his hand were disappointed.   On Monday morning, the church office got a call from Mark’s office saying that he had felt bad that he had left quickly the night before and wanted to know if he could come back to meet people and sign autographs.  He stayed true to his commitment and came back on a Wednesday evening to the delight of many members.  The other story I have is through my daughter-in-law.  She worked as a trainer with the UGA football team while Mark was coaching there.   In a regular review meeting with him, Mark’s question to her was “are they guys treating you with respect?”   I appreciate Mark for looking out for my daughter-in-law.  I am a fan for life.