Advent Continued

After spending another couple days in concert land (including improvising somewhat questionably on my horn), God has reminded me about the real reason for the season. Oh yes, music is a worship language for our one and only Savior, who came to earth to rescue us. But He is the one who invites us to sing and play and worship. He is our greatest gift!

Day 3 Why Mary?

Here she was, a young girl about to be married a carpenter named Joseph, when the angel appears to her. Luke 1:26-38 captures the moment and answers this question.

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. (NIV)

Day 4 Why the Song of Mary?

Mary’s response reminds me of Abram’s first encounter with God, trust and belief in the miracle of God’s presence and His promise. Luke next picks up with Mary hurrying to her relative Elizabeth who also experiences God’s miraculous love and divine interruption. God speaks through her (v45)”…As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.”

Mary’s response, her song, is one of worship for the Lord and is filled with many scriptural references. Read Luke 1:46-56 and then look at Hannah’s story in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 (Samuel’s mother). Amazing praise from two who look to the Lord so fully!

Why the Nativity? An Advent

12-2-10

So for the month of December, I’ve been led (arm twisted in these busy times, actually) to do a daily advent devotional based on David Jeremiah’s book Why the Nativity? He asks 25 questions that lead to the full answer. Since I’m running behind a bit, here’s the first 2 questions and a quick synopsis with scripture. If you can, buy the book and read it to your loved ones because it’s amazing to see God’s workings. I received this book free (my first free book!) as one of the giveaways at Goodreads.com and have been savoring it ever since. Wanna join me? Please leave comments along the way!

Day One – Why the prophecies?

There are more than 300 Old Testament prophecies predicting a coming champion. “Every page, from Genesis to Malachi, seems to tremble with the wondrous anticipation of his coming. The books were written by many different writers, at various times over many centuries.” (p. 2) All but a few prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus Christ and those few remaining are for the days ahead. Look up these pairs of scripture to see God at work to send us one last king: Isaiah 9:7 and Luke 1:32-33, Isaiah 53:12 and Matthew 27:38, Zechariah 6:13 and Hebrews 7:24-25 (p.5)

Day Two – Why did God become man?

Even though God created man, a gulf developed between them: “God’s children chose disobedience and fled in shame from his presence. Another name for the disobedience was sin, and it became an insurmountable barrier between the Creator and his creatures.” (p. 8) That gulf and the resulting sense of loss can be seen throughout history. The prophets and teachers were sent to bridge that gap until He would solve it once and for all – by leaving heaven to walk among us and to do so fully human! Read the New Testatment book of John out loud to catch the full impact.

Four Generations

November 2010

I went to my grandson's infant baptism not too long ago. We were in charge of bringing the main dish, a lot of it. We were carpooling as well so I rushed around getting all the details together since our wonderfully musical family was in the midst of the holiday concert season. It wasn't until I finally arrived at this new little church and stopped to sit in the pew that God finally caught my attention. It wasn't the food, the decorations or even our being there that God pointed out to me. It was the fact that this was the start of a fourth generation who would love Him.

I had been feeling pretty inadequate recently. For God to clasp me on the shoulder while in that pew and whisper how much He had used my love for Him to reach into my children's lives and into their children's hearts was unexpected to say the least. But this has never been about me, I thought to myself. "No," He answered. "It's about us." I worshipped God during that church service, humbled and filled with joy at being a part of our first grandson's baptism. I looked in awe as our whole family (minus only my one brother's family) was witness to God's graciousness!

Mesmerized

As seen by TLC

10-20-10

I stopped by to see my daughter and her 1 month old this morning, my first grandson. She was holding him, post feeding, and he was just staring at her. I sat next to her, amazed at his focus. She smiled at him and his eyes widened. She spoke to him and he moved his mouth. No smiles yet, that comes soon, but his contentedness and his intense gaze caught me so that I could not look away from them.

This is what I want, the Lord mentioned to me later. In prayer time, the one-on-one time with our Heavenly Father, He wants to be with us and to experience our unwavering gaze upon Him. The delight on my new grandson’s face was to hard miss, his beloved mom was holding him and he had the ability to not just feel her heartbeat or hear her voice, he could look on her with love and awe, mesmerized.

From Could or Ought to

As told to TLC on 10-15-10

I woke up to Moody’s radio station, hearing this very interesting discussion concerning a new book on the praying life by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. The radio host talked about the necessity of moving away from the thought that prayer is more “could or ought to” and into prayer as a “get to” state of mind, where God prompts us to talk with Him. It’s not that we get to come to God when we choose, but that He prompts us to come into His open arms for a chat. The ladies on the radio continued to discuss that Christians need to move away from a prayer “time” and into a praying life, a life in constant dialogue with Jesus Christ our Savior.

This so sums up my blog and God’s attempt to move me into His arms – to move beyond looking and seeing God into the closeness of being with Him, daily – hourly – minutely. I can’t fathom being with Him every second yet but that’s how Christ walked this earth. I’ve again gone a few days “running” through my life with barely any thoughts directed His way and, again, I’ve asked forgiveness for not being with Him more, He who created me and loves me more than anyone else. I get to be with the Lord, my God and Savior who pursues me daily and who asks that I just look and be with Him. “Get to” is present tense not just a vague future tense!

Training to Run the Race

as told to TLC on 1-31-10

Run the race as if to win, the apostle Paul said in his letter to the church at Corinth. It was the topic of church and lots of sports analogies were used. But I understood it from a different direction. I loved music and endured running in high school, especially since I always came in last place in sports but took firsts in music. So this running to win analogy made sense to me intellectually but not tangibly and God knew it. He came at me a bit sideways with this principle, so I could fully grasp it.

Training physically is equally valid in sports and music. But we musicians call it practicing and God brought to mind a typical musical practice – with long tone warm ups, scales, breathing exercises, sightreading and the actual playing of a piece of music. Like a physical warm up routine for sports, there’s a method to musical practice. I then thought of the difference that practicing for a competition made in contrast to just playing my instrument daily. Quite the difference – the intensity of the warming up, the variety of exercises I would choose and then the sheer amount of time focused on the competition piece. Wow – quite the difference! Musically, I do not compete anymore but instead play for fun and I wonder if I am guilty of unfocused training – neither musically nor spiritually! My love of God and love for music are too important to leave behind in the dust as I meander through life.

So, I stop meandering and start intentionally giving my time and attention to finishing what I began long ago – to communicate through music and to love my Creator with all of me. The finish line is just ahead and it’s time to get serious again!

1 Corinthians 9

Homecoming 2010

October1st 2010

It’s Homecoming Week for my family and it’s been a pretty busy month overall: family wedding, new grandbaby, 50^th anniversary for our folks and now Homecoming. I had the privilege of delivering a meal to another family from church this week too and enjoyed actually being home for a couple hours, baking and cooking. I was looking forward to a brief visit while dropping off the food, hoping God might do something but it didn’t happen. Thankfully I had put in a card with our prayers for them and our contact info, just in case. But it saddened me – whether because I felt too shy to barge in briefly or intimidated by their nice home in a new neighborhood or both. It’s very rare that I drop off a meal to someone in house that’s like mine – really old with lots of work put into it. God reminded me that I could entrust Him with their circumstance and mine, and that He had it all covered. Besides, the gift of warm, homemade cinnamon bread was just right for that moment in time for both of us. And I find myself content in His warm love once again.