... when it wonders

I just finished a DVD for a friend. Her sister passed away about two weeks ago and I was asked to video the service. 

I was doing my usual concentration thing while the eulogies were being presented trying to be as unobtrusive as possible when one statement the Pastor gave made me stop in my tracks.He said, "Sharon was born in May of 1949..." That's the year I was born and almost the month. I was born in April.

I had never thought much about it before but I realize now there are a lot of people dying in their 60's lately.

What day will I die? How will I die? Will there be anyone there to see me go or will I be alone and have to wait to be discovered? Will there be a lot of people at my funeral? There were certainly a lot of people at Sharon's funeral. The whole church filled up and on a weekday at that. It's hard enough to  get people to come to church on Sunday much less on a Thursday. She was greatly loved and will be sorely missed.What  better testimony to a life well lived than a church full of loving family and friends to see you off?

The odds are that I will live awhile longer I know. I'm not that anxious to go, even though I know there is a far better place awaiting.

Funny how the mind wonders ...when it wonders.

... it has to shine

I arrived at the studio a little after 5. A friend was to meet me there to do a short video that would  be added to a project congratulating someone celebrating 35 years in ministry. After finishing the shoot I did a quick edit and put the finished clip into Dropbox where it could be uploaded later.

That left me a few minutes before our regular Tuesday recording session. I spent the time answering emails.

Phil arrived right on time and we began sorting out what he wanted to accomplish for the evening. I hadn't anticipated anything special, I was just glad to get some 'studio time' after so much work at the park. I was beginning to think that I would never get back to the music. The enormous amount of individual things needing done has been and is growing almost daily. I find it harder and harder to 'let go' of the duties and then get into the music like I used to do so easily before. What is that all about?
Once into the session I found that I could relax a bit and let the creative side open up but I still have a long way to go to get back to the free flowing feeling I was used to experiencing before.
What 'releases' us to create? What switch gets thrown that allows the juices to flow? Is there some sort of mind control or better yet, 'spirit control' that has to happen that either opens up or shuts down the creative? I wonder.
As the evening came to a close and we began shutting everything down I took inventory. What had we actually accomplished?  Had we done something that would be considered 'a keeper'? No.
We had made progress but we haven't gotten to the place of 'acceptable' or better yet, superior; which is what we are reaching for.
As I said before, I want this to be the very best project I have ever done. It's time has come. I have recorded thousands of hours of sound and I believe that it's time to bring forth the very best. For people to experience what we do when the song is being born and arranged we have to take the time to 'build it' in a fashion that presents the material in the best light ... it has to shine.

... 'hindsight is 20/20'

We could have been hurt very badly or even killed.
Dianna and I worked frantically all day Friday to get ready for a 'quick' trip to Joplin.
It turns out that the room addition Dad had contracted on his home in Joplin didn't meet city code. We were notified by the realtor that it would have to be 'disassembled' in order to list it, unless he was willing to greatly reduce the asking price. Unfortunately he was already going to take a big hit because the market value on homes in that area had declined in the last few months.
That made the trip more or less a necessity; we thought.
Di loaded all the 'essentials' needed for a two day trip and I loaded all the tools we had for doing demolition. At that point I headed for the shower to rinse off while she left to go gas up. I didn't want to travel four hours smelling like a wet goat.

I haven't used the driver's side window in quite awhile because it was acting up and about to go out. Di didn't remember that little tidbit of information and rolled the window down to tell the gas station attendant how much fuel we needed. It wouldn't go back up. And so after almost an hour I came to the conclusion that I was not going to get that window to go back up but, like the troopers we are, we pressed on anyway.
That 'broken' window should have been the 'final clue' that kept us off the road but we missed it... along with all the other promptings throughout the course of the day.

Now if you will, envision the three of us whistling down the road at about 70 miles an hour with two ladders strapped to the roof of the tool filled Suburban and the driver's side window down when ... "Bam"! The left front tire tread explodes off of the tire and flies away in shreds making a horrendous noise somewhat like a plane crashing in a world war II movie. I don't know about you but I don't like sudden loud noises; especially the ones that give me the distinct impression of impending doom.
I wrestled the vehicle to the roadside and put it into park.  Di looked as white as a new sheet and Josh was as wide eyed as I have ever seen him, but we were alive.
At that point I stepped out of the car to survey the damage.
As the tread was coming off it had loosened the metal wrap inside the wheelwell, buckling it, causing the tread to whip the outside of the left front fender as well as the front bumper, which in turn tore off a strip of rubber trim.
I was amazed that the tire had not deflated. It was still fully inflated but the metal belt beneath the tread was sticking out like a pile of old dried spaghetti.

What had kept it from going flat? I think I know. As far as I'm concerned, God had his hand on us, keeping us from being harmed or even killed.

After all the hints and promptings we were still not listening; just bumbling along like we had good sense. If we had only prayed about the trip I fully believe we would have shut down the plan to travel and not gone through what we did.
How true it is, the old saying, "hindsight is 20/20".

... still waitng

I placed an order for a special gift for Dianna after seeing the commercial on television. This special surprise is designed to make her job of cooking a great deal easier. However, if she doesn't have the product how can she perform this amazing feat?
It is now a month later and still no package. I have called the service center listed on the online commercial several times. The first call should have been sufficient but unfortunately it hasn't been. Not only do I have to try to understand which East Indian dialect I am addressing over a poor phone connection, I have to listen to the same rehearsed answers each time. What is the definition of insanity again?
The commercial says that you will receive a tracking number within three days of your purchase; not so.
Now I am being told after the fourth call that UPS has finally picked up the package and I will be getting the tracking number via email "at any time now".
Had I known all of this I would certainly have handled this in a totally different manner. I would have searched out a brick and mortar store that carries this 'wonder product' and made the drive however far that may be.
In any case, I'm extremely frustrated that companies can exact these tortures on unsuspecting people like me.
I have ordered other products online and they have arrived within a week. What makes this one such an issue? It's for Dianna.
She overheard the last minute of the conversation with the saleslady and asked me."who's that?"
Of course I couldn't say, so  gave her a 'snappy ' answer, which went totally in the wrong direction. I received 'the look' and then the 'silent treatment ' all the way to church. She did say. "I don't see why you can't tell me who was on the phone...." I didn't agitate her further by giving her another 'snappy' answer, but I didn't get out of the dog house either.
As I said, it has been a month since placing the order. The 'surprise' has long since lost it's 'surprise appeal' and I get 'the look' when the subject surfaces. I'm determined to see this through to the end, whenever that may be,but in the meantime, you will find me.... still waiting.

... with what we do on this one.

I'm sitting in my chair in the studio listening to Phil put the 'Click drums' to the songs on the new project. They will set the tempo for what we eventually record. It's amazing to listen to him pick out a beat and then set the timing to the words.
His knowledge on the drum machine has already shown me his attention to detail. I am really pleased to have him as my Producer. He shared some ideas he has for some of the songs and I was pleasantly surprised at his creativity coupled with his sense of knowing the material.  If you ask most people what a song is 'about', they usually talk about the meaning of the words. To a producer the meaning of the song is all about the instruments and the arrangement. Phil definitely has 'the touch'.

He's only had the songs in written form for a week but he knows them and comments on what he "sees" in how he will accomplish the arrangements.
This time I will get to concentrate on the playing and the musical creating while he guides the project and adds input on instrumentation and voicing. I will help with mic placement and the acoustics. Up to now I have done all previous projects alone, deciding what to do when and how to present the material. I like some of the choices but not all. That's why I asked Phil to join me on this latest project.

This should be far and away the best one ever. The words are good, the tempos are good and the music has a sense of being right for 'such a time as this'. Many times Di and I have 'heard' the songs before we actually got them down on paper or found the chords. Sometimes the song came on stage right before a service and I had to then 'recreate' the sound and listen for the words after church was over. Other songs were birthed late at night as the Lord woke me. I would quickly put pen to paper often writing an entire song in only a few minutes. Sometimes I just get a small piece of the melody or a short phrase of the wording but I always know ..."here's another one!"

I love the music. A few sound a little country but I'm sure that will change once Phil gets the beats on them. Not that country is a bad thing, it's just that we're reaching for more of a praise and worship feel, especially on the two or three that were 'born on stage'. 

As you can tell, I am kinda "in to it". Pray for us if you would. We want to really please the Master with what we do on this one.

...see ya later, Buddy

I never would have thought that I would get old. The odds that I would live past thirty were far and away against me from the start. Some of the wild things I did early on should have taken me but in the end I outlasted them and, well, here I am.
I just spent four long days with a friend of mine on a road trip to Texas. He is almost 80. His mind is going but he thinks he still has good judgement. Some of the things he says and does are so totally out of the realm of reality I can't even respond to them for fear of hurting my friend's feelings. I wouldn't know what to say anyway. His opinions are all but set in concrete.

I had to stop for a minute yesterday to remind myself that I could be him in a few years, if I actually make it that far.
What we do with our lives is so very important. I never used to think about the consequences of my actions but more and more I consider them.What I do matters. What you do matters.
Everything we say or do matters and we have to be aware of the ones around us and how we react to their actions and opinions. I'm not saying keep silent. Not at all. I'm saying be aware and responsive in a positive way. Give good advice and follow it yourself; don't just give advice for the giving's sake. Too many want to 'give advice' but refuse to live by the opinion as a standard. That's being judgmental and somewhat prejudice.
In  the end I helped my friend. He is like a father figure to me anyway so I have to do what I can, given the opportunity. He looked back as I was driving away and I could see him in the rear view mirror.
"See ya later, Buddy...."

... those are the good times

I had to hold my breath for a second or two when I got to the studio today. I was attempting to get some artwork done on a website but I couldn't bring up the hard drive that has everything on it. I'm talking literally everything about every website, art project, video project and more. The two Terabyte drive has been a stalwart tool for over year now and I hadn't backed it up with another one due to lack of funding for equipment. I will be getting a back up soon.
I unplugged it and put it on another computer and it fired right up. I sighed a huge sigh of relief and went about my way finding out what had happened. For some reason that particular USB port on the back of the new computer doesn't read.... and so .... I got the artwork done and went on to other things.
How often do we get surprises I wonder? How many times do we expect one thing and another thing happens, spoiling our otherwise comfortable lives? Probably too many to keep up with, but my point is we should always be ready for changes and we're not.
The latest electric bill arrives and includes a new raise in rates. The refrigerator stops cooling. The neighbor calls and informs you that your son has just broken a large picture window while playing ball in the street and by the way, a valuable vase was destroyed by the 'home run' as well.
Are we prepared? Not for the most part; usually we just take it on the chin and carry on. Most of us have a second gear when it comes to life's adversities. We settle in at a certain pace and when trouble comes we tighten up and ready ourselves for the blow we know is about to arrive, if it hasn't already. That's when the pace changes. Things begin to happen faster and faster until we are overwhelmed and that's when we react.
But just how do we react? Are we calm and cool and unaffected? Or do we become enraged and sullen and arbitrary? I find my self in the second category on too many occasions, wishing I was in the first category.
But I do have to add that there are times... wonderful times that I allow the adversity to 'bounce off' and I carry on relatively unaffected. Those are the good times.