Please continue reading today’s post at Eastern Hills Staff Blog.

Hey Folks,

HAPPY NEW YEAR! OK, technically, it is a little late to say that… but there it is.

The New Year is typically a time when we take a long look at our lives and that can be a very good thing. To evaluate, dream, rehash, re-imagine…

In my somewhat new capacity of working in the local church, the new year brings an opportunity to look at my responsibilities and weigh them against the expectations of the job I fill. So, in the last week I pulled out my official ‘job description’ and was struck by these words under the heading of ‘Expectations’:

Personally, I will strive to live out the Mission/Vision/Values of the church; maintaining spiritual, physical and emotional health…

Now, spiritual health is a bit of a no-brainer. As Christians, this is a must and certainly a place all of us can improve in – but that is not what struck me.

Physical health is also pretty obvious and a pretty common place people evaluate each New Year. A good place to make new habits, but again, not what struck me.

It was that third one that got me – emotional health. We don’t talk about this one much, unless something is wrong. But all of us have it and all of us need to maintain it. You might be surprised to find that the Bible addresses emotional health (as well as the other two). For example:

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
~ Proverbs 17:22

As a creative type, I am never happier than when I am being creative. Unfortunately, even in a job whose focus is to be artistic, duties and schedules and meetings can quietly take all my time and before I know it, I haven’t been creative in months. And it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that, for me, my emotional health is tied (in part) to my being artistic, creative, and musical. If I’m crabby, I just need 30 minutes with a guitar. What about you? What are the things that light you up?

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
~ Proverbs 14:30

We, as people, are much more complex than just our jobs and our families and our skills. There are things that interest us and intrigue us that may be a surprise to others. Me? I love trains. I love to ride them, to read about them, to check my Amtrak app and see if they are on time, and to model them. Sometimes I find that when all the ‘obvious’ parts of my life are dry, a little time spent “on the train” can do me a world of good. What about you? Do you have a hobby?

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
~ 1 Corinthians 10:31

So, this year, take care of your Spiritual health and your physical health, yes… but don’t neglect your emotional health…

In His Name We Play…

Actually, as I picked up the first Bible I found in my living room book case I was struck by literal identity – my identity from a stretch of time in 1994…

Please continue reading today’s post at Eastern Hills Staff Blog.

My mother is a life long knitter.  As far back as I can remember, she would be sitting on the couch with those needles clicking and clacking. And though the yarn would fly, I never thought about where those knitted items went to… until I was in college.

Home on a break, I wandered down to our basement and came across a pile of sweaters, made for no one in particular (according to my mom); a wide variety of sizes and styles and colors. As a college student always on the lookout for cool, odd or eccentric clothes, I was thrilled and several of the sweaters made their way into my closet (neon orange and green sweaters were soon to become infamous on that Iowa campus in the mid 80′s…) I would regularly check the pile every time I came home. And then one year I found this:

I was drawn to it for the colors -red (my favorite) and green – making it an obvious Christmas sweater. The large grizzly bear? I didn’t really pay much attention to that…

…until years later when my then-4-year-old son, Bean-Pole, asked me what the bear had to do with Christmas. Now, being faced with a question that I didn’t know the answer to, I did what all good dads do… I made something up. The story had to be something that would appeal to a little boy raised on the legends of King Arthur, Middle Earth and the land of Narnia with images of battles and dragons and orcs and axes and swords and wizards and magic dancing around in his head… so here, for the first time in print, is the story I told him… the Story of the Christmas Bear.

“Each year on Christmas Eve after all the children of the world have gone to sleep, the Christmas Bear comes around and one by one sniffs each child. If the child has been good, the Christmas Bear simply leaves. But… if the child has been bad… the Christmas Bear rips his throat out!”

Bean-Pole’s response to this heartwarming Holiday story was, and I quote, “Yaaayyyyy!”

Merry Christmas!

There was a popular song back in the 90′s called ‘From A Distance’… a Bette Midler song, you may remember it… a big hit… on the radio constantly… here’s the chorus:

God is watching us
God is watching us
God is watching us
From a distance…

I absolutely hated this song.

On the surface, it feels good – there is sort of a warm spiritualness to it, but really it is stark refutation of all that the Gospel is about. And no time of the year shows that more clearly than Advent, the time of preparation for the birth of Christ. Not the birth of an idea or a philosophy or a pattern but of a physical baby.

This past weekend at church, our pastor’s message centered on this truth – that Jesus came in the flesh – fully human and fully God to live among us, not at a distance. And it is this fact more than any other that drives me, personally, to my knees.

My youngest son hates going upstairs alone.  When he has to go upstairs he will turn to me and say, “Coming Dad?” I have tried to reason with him and let him know that I am here in the house and that he is safe with me down and him up. No dice. I have tried to encourage him to be the brave 10 year old and let me sit there in my chair. No go. It isn’t until I walk upstairs with him that he will go. I don’t have to do anything upstairs, I just have to be there with him.

I am fully aware of the mess that is my life. The places I struggle, the places I fail, the ‘upstairs’ that I fear, the messes that shame me and the sin that poisons me. And it is precisely because I live in this mess that I hate that Bette Midler song.

A God who watches me from a distance is of no interest to me. I don’t need a ‘lifeguard’ at the edge of the pool watching from the outside. I need a God who is in the thick of it with me, like a ‘fisherman’ who puts on waders and goes into the stream where the fish are. Only a Savior who walks into my mess can lift me out of it.

This is exactly what happened at the manger… Jesus came into our world as an actual person, fully human while still fully God. He has come to us ready to meet us in the midst of our life, not from a distance.

That is Love wearing waders.

Hey Folks,

It is Christmas time officially! I love this time of year for so many reasons, but none more than the fact that the ‘magic’ of Christ can seep through even the hardest of hearts at Christmas. Even those of us who have followed for years can feel that breathless excitement again.

One of my favorite songs of the season is ‘The Little Drummer Boy’. Now, before you comment, I know this is a totally made up story. In fact, I am not sure if the song came before the clay-mation tv show or vice versa. But, I love it because bundled within it’s lyrics is a parable that so many of us artistic folk need to hear.

Somewhere along the line we have come to believe that any display of skill is selfish or self centered or self serving; that to be Godly and servant-hearted we need to stay back in the groove, out of sight, “humble”. And yet, as a parent, when my kids come and put on a show for me – I love it. I love seeing them putting their skills to work, seeing the excitement as they display what they can do and then look at me to see if I approve… because, for them, that is the real currency. Not a record deal or money or fame or power, but my smile, my applause… my approval.

Are we any different than our kids?

Come they told me… a new born King to see… our finest gifts we bring… to lay before the King…

As a musician, what finer thing can I bring than music? Nothing in my life gives me more joy than to play my guitar, so it makes sense that if I want to honor Christ with my best, then that is going to be with my guitar.

But if you play a solo you are just trying to get attention! You are trying to make yourself look cool! You just want to impress the girls! And guitar solos during church? Well, I never…

Those may be struggles for me, now, as an adult… but as a child? Those things never entered my mind… playing a song was a gift from me to the person I was playing for. Back then I hadn’t learned to wield my skill as a tool or a weapon. Could I unlearn that?

I have no gift to bring… that’s fit to give the King… shall I play for You?

YES! YES! Resoundingly YES! It doesn’t matter if you play guitar or bass or horns or drums or bag pipe or glockenspiel or violin or sing… let the child in you walk to the manger and play with all your heart and all your might and all your skill. If someone tells you to be quiet, ignore them – you’re not playing for them. If someone tells you that this is not appropriate, ignore them – you’re not playing for them. If someone tells you that this is not how ‘good Christians’ act, turn up your amp and ignore them – you are not playing for them. You are giving your skill, as a gift, back to the One who gave it you in the first place.

I played my drum for Him… I played my best for Him… then He smiled at me…

While there is a real discussion to be had about our hearts and our motivations when we play, there is no question that we should drop our fears and our pretense and ‘play our best for Him, pa rum pa pum pum.’

So, next time you are on the platform – let it rip!

In His Name We Play…

Hey Folks,

Have you ever found your mind wandering when you are on the platform? Maybe thinking about the stuff you have to do later in the day? Thinking about how you don’t like this song very much and wish the band were doing a different one? Wondering if this Worship gig is worth the effort?

I have.

And it doesn’t just happen on the platform leading Worship. I remember a road gig in Cincinnati when I was playing at an ice cream shop and I was wondering, “Really? All these years on the road and I am playing an ice cream shop?” Or a gig at a library hosting local music and it became obvious that they had no idea of the nature of my music and were uncomfortable with the spiritual content. “What am I doing here??”

But it doesn’t just happen in a performance context, either. I recall rushing through my kids bedtime ritual so I could get back to some work I had to do, missing what my wife was saying because I am having other conversations in my head, sending phone calls to voice mail because I didn’t have time or desire to talk… bypassing the moment because I thought I had somewhere more important to be…

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

These words of Jesus’ hit me right between the eyes. It’s not about tomorrow. And by inference, it’s not about yesterday either. Today is the the thing. This one moment. The only moment I have to act in.

That means that this conversation with my wife is the most important conversation I can have. This moment with my kids is the most important time I can spend. This ice cream shop where I am singing is the most important concert I can play. This morning of Worship Leading is the most crucial way I can serve… all because it is the only moment I have.

All the regret of the past can’t change it. All the re-living of glory days can’t bring them back. All the planning in the world can’t make tomorrow come any sooner. Today, this moment, is all we have, so let’s make it count.

Serve today. Love today. Be faithful today.

In His Name We Play…

Hey Folks,

I imagine that all of us have spent quite a lot of time learning/practicing/playing our respective instruments and somewhere along the line have heard an instructor or a parent or a friend say something like, “Sing Out!”

The encouragement to project or sing/play louder is a common one. People who love us want us to be heard, our gift to be appreciated. Other people give this advice in an effort to get us to engage our skill – if you are going to play, then do it! Don’t hide – Sing Out! Play Out! Still others will reference Scripture such as Psalm 149:1 ” Praise the Lord! Sing a new song to the Lord; praise him in the assembly of his faithful people” as a way of reminding us that we serve our King with this skill, so Sing Out! Play Out!

And though all these encouragements are good ones, I want to point us in a different direction…

In Mark 16:15, Jesus tells us to “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” So – Sing Out! Play Out! …literally. Don’t save it all for Sunday mornings. Don’t hide it all in the Church. Get out there and use your musical gifts in the larger world, also. Join a community choir, start a band, sing your songs at an open mic, make a CD, do community theater. Be light and sound to a hurting world. Music can go anywhere that people gather – pubs, clubs, weddings, funerals, parties, street corners, you name it. So we too, as the King’s musicians, should go anywhere people gather and Sing Out! Play Out!

In His Name We Play…

Hey Folks,

I have often heard musicians of faith discuss whether what we do on Sundays is a ‘performance’ or ‘worship’ as though the two are mutually exclusive. Or talk about the people gathered as an ‘audience’ or a ‘congregation’ as if one were bad and the other good. Invariably, someone makes the comment that we play for an ‘audience of one’. And while I know what that means, I don’t really know what that means. You know what I mean?

But I got a little glimpse today.

A few weeks back I released a new CD and, as part of the Release Party, held several silent auctions. One of the prizes was to have lunch with the band and today was the day. Now, it would be very easy to fall back into the comfortable routines of band jokes and inside gags but that wouldn’t include the young woman sitting across the table from us. So, we made a point of asking her questions, listening to her, letting her in on some of our inside gags, and leaving room for her to join in. For today’s lunch time performance, she was our audience of one.

How does that translate to Sunday morning? Well, first it eliminates the whole ‘audience’ vs. ‘congregation’ question since the people gathered are not the target. God, Himself, is the target of our worship (musical and otherwise). He is the audience of one. Instead of falling back into our routines of church jokes and inside gags, we should make a point of talking to God, asking questions and listening for His response – leaving room for Christ to join us.

But, what about the people, you ask? Since we are not playing for them, we must be asking them to sing with us. It follows, then, that if God is our audience of One, then the people gathered must be our band of hundreds.

In His Name We Play…

My family was making the rounds at the Fall Sale when a woman came up to me and said I should look in the CD bin at her sale. I walked over and she said excitedly, “Look, there you are! I have your CD for sale!” And sure enough, my Everyday With You CD was in her used CD bin… for $3. I wanted to ask her if she had not liked it? Or if she had at least ripped it to her iTunes before getting rid of the disc… instead I laughed with her and walked off with my family.

I am still not sure if I should be flattered or a little insulted…