Elvis Impersonators and Jesus Imitators

At a recent festival, I went on to do my set after an Elvis impersonator. He was a pretty good one, too… blue jumpsuit, mutton chop sideburns, full head of black hair (his own too!), the arm movements, tossing teddy bears and scarves to the crowd… and he had the voice.

A couple of years ago I was in Branson and caught a show in one of the theaters featuring the Liverpool Legends, a Beatles tribute band. Just like the Elvis impersonator, these guys had done their homework… the outfits, the guitars, the hair, the accents, the onstage behavior… a good show!

I started to really think about these folks who do the tribute shows – how they must read all the biographies, watch the videos, listen to the records, and practice practice practice to be able to impersonate Elvis or the Beatles. In other words, they eat, drink and breathe the character. It reminded me of what we as Christians do… we read the Bible, we gather in worship, we sing, we attempt to act like Jesus… ideally Christians eat, drink and breathe Jesus. But as I thought in that direction, I must confess that I was also bothered… if we are just like these folks, who are in reality actors of a type, do we end up being no more than Jesus impersonators? And let’s be honest… the phrase ‘Jesus impersonator‘ doesn’t sound good!

Ephesians 5:1,2 tells us to ‘Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.’ (NIV) Paul says to imitate God, so that would make us Jesus imitators, not impersonators… now, you might think that is just semantics but I think it is a big difference. An impersonator, by definition, is pretending to be someone. While an imitator, by definition, is using the subject as an example, something to model him or herself after.

An Elvis impersonator is only pretending to be Elvis for that time on stage… it is a character, a costume he puts on and takes off, if you will. It isn’t really who he is. When an Elvis impersonator faces a moral decision, I doubt very much that he asks himself “WWED?” In fact, to be a good impersonator you have to separate and remove yourself from the character. You have to look and act like Elvis, not like you being Elvis.

Christians, on the other hand, are not trying to be Jesus at all. We are trying to be like Him. Life in Christ should not be a costume we put on and take off in different situations. And we should definitely be asking ourselves what Jesus would do in any given situation. A fascinating difference between impersonator and imitator is that God calls us to be totally ourselves, we are all part of the Body, after all (1 Cor. 12:12). We are not supposed to remove ourselves from the equation, rather we are called to be totally ourselves infused in every way with the character of Jesus.

Obviously, the biggest difference is that Elvis doesn’t actually live inside of the impersonator,  no matter how accurate the impersonation. But as Christ followers, we are actually inhabited by the Holy Spirit, no matter how shallow the imitation. So, may we all go forth and be imitators of God!

Ditching Parents on the Way to School

I have two kids, one in Jr Hi and one in Elementary… and this year something interesting has happened. We live close to their schools and when the weather permits, we like to walk. And for various reasons, they have both ditched me on the way to school.

Now, I expect this from the Jr Hi kid, because he is at that age where everything I do embarrasses him. And to be fair, I do my best to embarrass him – it is so much fun… so, about a half block from the school, when we start to see other students, he slowly disengages and walks faster than me, heading at an angle to cross the street and enter school ‘alone’ while I veer the other direction and head home. We’ve been doing this for quite a while so I am used to it. But last week, my younger son asked me to hang back so his buddies wouldn’t see me and I will admit, this stung a little.

Now, I know that in the larger picture this doesn’t mean much. It doesn’t mean that my kids don’t love me. It doesn’t mean that they want to move out at the first opportunity… but I was surprised at my own reaction. It bugged me. It saddened me. It hurt.

I don’t recall ever doing this to my folks when I was a kid, mainly because we rode the bus. But as a ’spiritual kid’ I have often ditched my Father outside of school. Sometimes as literally as putting God aside before entering a room of people… sometimes ditching Him outside of a conversation… sometimes turning my eyes away when I had a decision to make… a person I should love… a stand I should take… sometimes I ditch Jesus in the areas of where I spend my money, how I spend my time… and based on my own experiences, I bet it bugs Him, I bet it hurts.

Beyond the obvious lesson of not ditching Christ in the everyday moments of life, I learned something deep about the character of God on that morning outside of the Elementary school… my gut reaction was to be mad all day, maybe a little snippy when my kids got home – let them know that they had hurt my feelings. But when has God ever treated me like that? When has He ever been snippy with me? Every time that I can recall ditching Him, He has loved me anyway. Even hurt by my decisions, my choices, He has loved me anyway. So on that day when both my kids ditched me on the way to school, I got to aim higher and love them anyway.

And isn’t that the Gospel in a nutshell? Jesus loves us anyway.

An African Blog, a Celtic Journal, and the Seeds of a new CD

A few months back, my wife sent me an email with a link to a blog. The blog was being written by a friend of ours who was spending some time in Africa. In a post entitled ‘The Cry Of My Heart’ she ends with this line:

“Without Christ I am nothing. Apart from Him there is nothing good that I can do. And yet in His great love and mercy He has chosen to use the foolish things of this world… He has called those that He has rescued to love the world as He loves it. These are the thoughts that I have been pondering the last few days… this is the cry of my heart—that I would draw so close to my Jesus that my heartbeat falls in rhythm with His and that through my life His love would be displayed vibrantly as a testimony to His greatness”

My management team has on occasion suggested to me the possibility of recording 1) a ‘praise and worship’ record (which I am not interested in) and 2) an edgier youth oriented record (which I am interested in). After hearing so much P&W music that is simplistic, overly repetitive, chronically ‘me’ centered and musically dumbed down – I wonder if an ‘artistic’ worship album is possible? Or is all music written unto the Creator, in actuality, worship music? Won’t I bring the most honor to Him by crafting the best music I can? By digging deep?

The phrase from our friend’s blog – the cry of my heart – struck a chord with both my wife and myself… maybe I can dig into this phrase, this desire, this call and make a record that is both the rockier, youth edged one as well as (through the back door) a worship-ful record?

Knowing that the first phase of any record is the writing, I went to Barnes and Noble and found a small journal with a Celtic design on the front and started jotting down notes, thoughts and ideas. This  journal will hold the chronicle of the journey from seed to CD, with all of the complete songs, incomplete songs, fragments, titles, versions, ruminations, and musings that go into the writing.

And when it is all over… there may be a new CD from the effort. Or as my wife pointed out, maybe a new depth of heart… indeed.

The Gift or the Giver?

This past Sunday was, of course, Mother’s Day. My two sons and I put together a little grab bag of gifts for my wife and I discovered the answer to an age old question… which is really the more important? the gift or the giver? The answer? It is totally the giver!

I know this because of a neon green t-shirt. Among the home made cards, coupons for good behavior, a candle, and other things… there was a neon green t-shirt. Now, for some back story – my wife is a beautiful woman and looks wonderful in anything she wears, but she has definite ideas about what she likes and what colors/styles she will wear. And while she does like the occasional t-shirt… well, let’s just say there is not a single neon green item in her closet. So, as she pulled this shirt out of the grab bag… she looked at me. No, I mean she LOOKED at me… husbands – you know the look. It was that “what were you thinking?” look. It was that “we have been married how many years and this is what you get me?” look. She didn’t say anything in front of the kids, she just looked. I must admit that I was a little befuddled by the look because I didn’t give her the shirt.

She went on through the bag and after she had finished it, our youngest son proclaimed loudly how many of the gifts were ones he had made or purchased (with his AWANA bucks at the AWANA store). When it became clear that he was the giver of the neon green t-shirt and not me, my wife’s entire demeanor changed. Suddenly the shirt was wonderful, the color was perfect, and the probability that she would wear the shirt went from “a snowball’s chance in Texas” to “this summer, for sure!” The gift, itself, was almost irrelevant -  the whole story was about the giver.

We are offered so many things in our lives. People will offer us ‘love’, governments will offer us ’security’, items will offer us ‘wholeness’… and we often look only at the gift being offered. I know I do. I focus on the thing and not the one offering it. And usually, the item offered doesn’t live up to the hype. The gift falls short. I wonder if I were more focused on the givers, would I accept those gifts so readily? Or if the giver was the important thing, would those gifts increase in their value and meaning?

I have been offered the gift of ‘a better life’ on several occasions… from people who wanted me to vacate myself to get it, from governmental systems on both sides of the aisle, from an industry that chews artists up, and finally from a God who sacrificed Himself instead of me. If I am focused on the gift only, then I might accept any of these several versions of ‘a better life’ without realizing that they do not all mean the same thing. In fact, it is the giver in each instance that defines what the gift really means. And in the end, it is the giver that is important, the gift becoming a side issue (even if it is a neon green t-shirt).

And the irony of the Christian faith, is that in Christ, the Giver is the Gift.

Just Like You, Daddy!

I was dropping my youngest son off at school the other day when the Music Teacher came up to me. She told me that my son had announced that he was going to be a musician just like his dad. At first, I must admit, I was very touched and full of love for my little boy – how cool that he wanted be like me!

The incident stuck with me through the rest of that day and kept cropping up in my mind… but as the day went on, it lost some of its shimmer. After a hasty, snarky comment I remembered it… after I let my thoughts wander, I remembered it… after I wasted some effort on unproductive activities, I remembered it… how much of ‘me’ do I really want my boys to imitate? And for that matter, what parts of ‘me’ are making the biggest impact on them?

The apostle Paul put it this way, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:9) He doesn’t stop at the official press release… not just what you have learned about me on my web site where I can control how I appear… he includes it all… what you have learned from me, received from me, heard from me (the controllable factors) as well as what you have seen in me (the uncontrollable). In other words, balance what I say (in the guarded moments) with how I act (in the unguarded moments) and the sum of that shows you who and what I really believe.

I have often heard it said that people will see the real you whether you want them to or not. No matter how hard we try to whitewash the outside, patch up the cracks and smooth the sharp edges, eventually our real selves will be seen. This, I think, is true for everyone regardless of race, gender or philosophy. But, as a Christian, this takes on a deeper meaning… when we are honest about our faith, we want others to see not just us, but Jesus sanctifying us by His presence in us. And what critics of our Faith often bring up is the way we blur that. What they see is not Jesus in us, but rather us standing in front of Him and using faith as a tool to get something.

So, back to my son and his comment… knowing that he will see the real me and have to reconcile that with the ‘web site’ me… I want to actually become the man that is worth imitating. I want to become the man after God’s own heart, as David was described. I want the me inside to match the me outside and know that both inside and out, I am being sanctified by His presence.

Just Start…

This blog entry was started in the mid 80’s… 86 or 87, somewhere around there… in a meeting room of the Forum (the student union building) at Grinnell College… I don’t remember the guy’s name, he was the friend of a friend who had come to our guys Bible study that day, but he was in a world of hurt over a girl he loved but had lost due to some bad choices on his part. He made a point of telling us that he wasn’t normally ‘religious’ but in his anguish he had pulled out his Bible and come across one of the episodes in Elijah’s life… 19th chapter of 1 Kings… Elijah is on the run from Jezebel, who has vowed to kill him, and he is finally worn out and drops in the desert and cries out to die.. God sends an angel to his side and… this is the part that had lit this guy’s eyes up… the angel said only “Get up and eat.” (1 Kings 19:5) I remember thinking that this was pretty mundane as far as pronouncements from angels go but this guy was fired up about it. Apparently, he had been pretty much lying in the dark for a couple of days, just hoping to fade away, when these angel’s words spoke to him… get up… eat something… life goes on, continue living, get up, eat something, just start…

How many times have I had a dream or a plan or a New Years Resolution or a goal but decided that I could never achieve it, so I quit before I really even started? From the starting line, the finish looks so far away… and for some reason, I always feel that I must start the race by finishing it, does that make sense? But you can’t finish the race without taking those first steps… you can’t finish until you start…

If I am daunted by the economy and how the income looks, I can be overwhelmed with the need to book 120 gigs for the coming year. But to book 120, I start at 1. I can be daunted when I am considering a new CD project, the songs needed, the budget required, etc… but a finished CD starts with me picking up a guitar tonight. My sons can be freaked out when facing the looming years of Jr Hi, Sr Hi, College and possibly grad school beyond that… but that all starts with school on Monday. A long lasting marriage is a huge goal, but it starts with a kind word and servant’s heart towards my wife today. A life lived in the shadow of Christ isn’t necessarily attainable by lunch time, but it starts with a choice to act like Jesus now. Just start…

Regardless of what the car commercials say about 0 to 60, people can’t live that way. We don’t go from start to finish that fast. Whatever the trials you face, whatever the goals you are looking at, whatever the road you are walking… you don’t begin at the finish line. Maybe you are in the middle of the darkness, you have lost a loved one, or given something up that you never should have treated carelessly, maybe like Elijah you are at the end of your rope… remember the words of the angel “Get up and eat”… To finish the race, the first thing you must do is just start…

Out-of-Touch or Old Code?

I often have the following conversation:

Them: What do you do?
Me: I’m a musician.
Them: Oh! That’s cool! What kind of music do you play?
Me: Christian rock…
Them: oh… that’s… interesting. Hm.

Often, at this point, the person gets a somewhat glassy-eyed look and tries to figure out a way to disentangle themselves from the conversation.

On occasion I have even been told outright that as a Christian I am just simply out of touch with reality, with the real world, with our very modern and enlightened world. And truth be told, there are probably many more who think it but are too polite to voice it. Out of touch… Hmm… I wonder…

Anyone remember the movie ‘Dragonheart’? I loved that movie, the fantasy of it, the adventure, the voice of Sean Connery as Draco the dragon… there is a moment in the movie when Dennis Quaid, as the hero Bowen, tells the young prince Einon that they are knights of the Old Code and strives to impress upon the boy those ideals. As the movie progresses we discover that Einon is not interested in the Old Code at all and they have, in essence, the conversation I started this post with. Bowen is old fashioned, Bowen is foolish, Bowen is naive and simple minded, that both Bowen and the Old Code are out of touch… the conclusion of the movie, in part, centers on Bowen’s personal struggle to answer this accusation.

I am also reminded of the fourth book in the Chronicles of Narnia, “The Silver Chair”, by CS Lewis. Again we have a young prince, this time taken prisoner by an evil sorceress who hopes to use him to ensnare the land of Narnia. Puddleglum, a marshwiggle, acts as a guide and protector for the two English children that Aslan has called to rescue the prince. At a crucial point, the heroes are facing down the villains in their underground kingdom, with the fate of the Prince and Narnia in the balance, and the sorceress tells them that all of their talk of Narnia and Aslan are just fanciful dreams that children create based on the ‘real world’ around them… for example, their comments about a ’sun’ in the sky are just dreams that are based on the light in the corner of the room… the sun is fantasy while the light in the corner is the reality… Puddleglum, when faced with this accusation tells the sorceress,

“One word, Ma’am, one word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things – trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.”

Reminds me of three Hebrews about to be thrown into a furnace by a king who tried to get them to deny their God… they said “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

Out of touch… babies playing games… unable to function in a modern, enlightened society…  no, I reject those characterizations outright. As a Christ follower I am a believer in a very old Code. And if faith, love, kindness, purity, integrity, self sacrifice, and Christ on the Cross are just the musings of the weak and foolish then I, along with Bowen, Puddleglum, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and 2,000 years worth of believers who loved their lives less than their Lord say proudly, “I’m on Jesus’ side even if there isn’t any Jesus to lead it. I’m going to live as like a citizen of Heaven as I can even if there isn’t any Heaven.”

Out of touch? No way, I’m Old Code.

Quest For Love?

I love the idea of quests. They intrigue me, they call to me.

I am drawn to them in stories – whether in the legends of King Arthur; the worlds of Tolkien, Lewis, and others; or even in the gritty back alleys of espionage tales.

I enjoy them in games – I am a paladin on the Adventure Quest website – and can recall vividly employing a long stick as a sword questing down the creek near my grandmother’s house as I imagined the feeling of seeking glory, death or victory last stands and snatching life from the jaws of death on the battlefield.

I have even experienced them (to a point) in real life… the adventure of making a living as a musician (even naming my first record company QUEST Records…), the undertaking of training for a black belt in karate, but most pointedly in the area of finding love. The quest for love. Apropos in February, no?

In a couple of weeks I will be at a Jr Hi Retreat and the theme is love and I am once again drawn to the quest for love. Pictures and memories flit through my mind as I recall the many attempts I have made in this area, mostly comical, some sweet, and even one successful. Discovering that when I completed what I thought was the quest for love, and I got the girl, then the real quest for love began – to make and live a life together. I even recorded a CD about that quest (insert shameless plug for Everyday With You here…) As I prepare for this retreat I am struck by a thought… our many quests for love are actually glimpses into Love’s quest for us.

One more quest before I close… the Magi… they went on a long journey following a star, informed by prophecy and travelling (according to scholars) some 2 years looking for the newborn King of the Jews. All by itself, it is a fantastic tale… and yet, there is a larger story here. The very King they sought was, in reality, looking for them first. That newborn King of the Jews was the same one who first caused the Star of Bethlehem to rise, who in ages past had given the prophecies they learned, who said (in essence) “This quest you are on to find me is an illustration of the larger quest I am on to find you.”

So seek love, quest after dreams, and realize that you, yourself, are the treasure sought by the King, Himself.

The Deeper Mysteries and Intrigue of Christmas

Thanksgiving is over and we are diving into the season of Advent and ultimately Christmas… and as the song says, it’s the most wonderful time of the year! But, maybe not for the reasons that first come to mind… **SPOILER ALERT** If you are a devotee of Santa Claus, don’t read any further as this article contains spoilers!

Don’t get me wrong, I did the whole Santa thing as a kid, loved it, believed it, and survived it when I found out that the jolly old elf was really my mom and dad. It was actually more nerve wracking for me as a parent… do I perpetrate as truth something I know is not? Does it somehow wreck Christmas if I don’t? What if my kids, upon finding out the truth about SC, look suspiciously upon everything I have told them? Especially when it comes to the truth of Christ…

I remember the transition I went through as a kid… and as I recall, after that initial shock, I was fascinated by what I discovered Christmas was REALLY about. I loved the FAO Schwartz toy catalog and all, but the deeper mysteries and intrigue of the first Christmas completely outstripped the glitz of a polar toy maker. It was the difference between candy and steak; one tantalizes and the other satisfies.

What was that first Christmas really? It was the moment when prophecy from years past came true… when the God who is behind all of the universe injected Himself into our story in a real and physical way… it was the ultimate undercover spy operation, the King Himself taking on the guise of a human baby to grow up behind enemy lines and by the ultimate act of self sacrifice, opening a way of escape for all of us… it was the moment in history when angels looked on in awe as God took on the form of lowly humanity and placed Himself on the path to the Cross; it was the moment when Mary and Joseph must have wondered what they had gotten themselves into; it was the start of a two year quest as wise men sought to find the reason for the Star; it was a happening that has fired human imagination ever since in the form of stories, songs, traditions and continual remembrance; it was the birth of the Messiah who would later capture the heart of a third century man by the name of Nicholas…

That first Christmas really was earth shattering… it was the first move in what would become the pivotal moment in all of human history. Regardless of what you believe about Jesus, there is no denying that He is the central figure in our drama… eastern and western, male and female, believer and unbeliever. So… Merry Christmas and God bless us, everyone!

Jewell’s Theme

Jewell’s Theme is a song off of my instrumental CD, TAKE IT IN, and actually has no lyrics in it (sort of circumventing the category this blog entry is in…) However, I am reminded of the song today and wanted to address it here…

Yesterday, I was asked to take part in the funeral of a person in my town. I didn’t know the person but their family has heard me sing in church and asked that I sing their mother’s favorite hymn at the service. It reminded me of my own Grandmother’s passing. Jewell Ames passed away on September 10, 2001 and due to the terrorist attacks of the next day, most of our family was unable to get to her funeral. My Mother sent me a copy of the service and included in that letter a copy of my Grandmother’s favorite hymn… I Would Be True. I will be honest, I had no idea my Grandmother had a favorite hymn nor was I familiar with the hymn itself, but in the back of my mind I knew it would find its way onto my guitar some time.

When the Take It In CD was being recorded, I found the copy of I Would Be True again and decided to use it somehow. So, I started with the chord progression for the hymn. At first I wondered about doing sort of a Pachabel’s Canon type of treatment, stating the actual melody of the hymn and then with each repetition adding and accentuating the structure until it became something altogether different by the end. That would also keep the hymn like structure of the repeating verse form minus chorus and bridge. I never got far with that idea… just not as inventive as Pachabel, I’m afraid… what I did finally do was to take the IWBT chord progression and create a new melody over it. As I did that, I also added a few other chords here and there as well as a chorus. The hymn itself comes back as the bridge before crescendoing into a final chorus.

I had one other element that I wanted to use in this piece, a banjo-ukulele that belonged to my Grandmother. I had originally thought about making it one of the rhythm instruments on her song, but keeping the thing tune proved quite an adventure and not particularly doable. However, I tracked the banjo-uke playing the chords and melody of the hymn, added a sample of an old vinyl record spinning complete with scratches and, voila, I had what sounds like an old 78 of my Grandmother’s favorite hymn as a prelude to the song written for her based on that same hymn.

The Banjo-Ukulele!!

The maple resonator door

Signatures and Doodles on the Head

The ’snake shaped’ Peghead