The Shack

I just got done reading The Shack. I start two nights ago but read the bulk of it through the better part of today. I have never wept so many times reading a book. I feel like I should communicate that I am a crier. There. I admit it. I own it. It only takes a moment in a movie, a story told with redemption, or a well written song that shines a light on a place inside of me I have never seen. I cry.

This book takes some liberties with painting the trinity with the father as a black woman and the Spirit as a super interesting Asian woman. Jesus kind of played himself in this story as a Middle Eastern Jewish Man. Don't let the liberties scare you. The story of redemption that gets played out in this book is simply beautiful and the truth and love behind the character of God resonated so deeply with me.

It is such a worthy read.

Write About Jesus

I got back this last Saturday night from a weekend retreat called Write About Jesus. Sue Smith, the woman I wrote "Everything to Me" with started this retreat about 8 years ago up in St Louis and I have been up there as a "Clinician"(teacher) 3 out of the past 8 years. It is a weekend for people who love songwriting to gather together and connect with each other and learn about the craft of songwriting and some of the life-stuff that goes along with being creative. There is a competition during the weekend and the 120 or so registrants enter it and there is one winner at the end of the weekend. I kind of feel like it's purpose is less about winning and more about asking each person to write the best song they know how and to come and learn how to make it better and themselves better in the process. The way that gets played out is that people submit the song and then everyone gets split up into groups of about ten. Then two of us teachers will listen and critique each song in front of the group so that everyone can learn from each other's critique.

I was talking to someone before this trip about not caring so much about the song they were handing me to critique but more so about how it would affect the next 30 songs that would come out of them. When I mentioned this to Sue she liked the idea of communicating about expectations. She came up with a title of a class for me to teach called Holy Tension: Your Ambition and God's Sovereignty. When she sent me that title, I thought, "what a great name" and then the next thought was, "oh crap...how do I teach that??!!".

Sue had the wisdom to pair me up with Dave Clark, a guy I have so much respect for. He has been writing songs professionally for over 30 years and is truly gifted at it. The lens that God has given him to look through is really inspiring.

When the class came along, the room we were having it in filled quickly and fit more people than I thought it would. When we started, I told the class that I was scared to death because of that title and was nervous about what to say but once we settled in, truth started coming out in a really organic way.

We talked about the good and bad sides of ambition and that God truly has a plan for each of us and for our songs. Looking back, the hour seemed Holy to me. Truth was communicated in love. The Lord guided what we said in an organic way that seemed to be encouraging even to me. Dave told stories about the faithfulness of God that brought tears to my eyes.

If you love God and are an aspiring writer, Write About Jesus is a great weekend to put on your calendar.

Great job Sue!

Apologies...

I know this is so cliche but...sorry about the lack of posts recently. I've honestly been uncommitted to this for a while. I kind of knew this would happen when I started but because I was excited about it, I had no idea when the apathy would officially kick in. I don't want to lead you on as a reader but from the writer, all I want to ask is...Can we hug?

The Fixer

As a kid, I used to love to watch Super Friends on Saturday mornings. Even as I am typing this, I am hearing in my head, "Meanwhile, back at the hall of justice". I always thought it would be pretty amazing to be Superman just for the ability to be able to fly but I am reconsidering that power.

I was talking with my Sarah on the way home from church today about what Super-Hero power we would like to have. She said she would like to have the power to know how people need to be loved. Given the last few days with there being a strain on a relationship, I told he that I would love to be "The Fixer". I love the idea of fixing things but I am horrible at it. I love the idea of being able to fix the problem with my car's front wheel(making some strange noise). I love the idea of being able to fix a hole in the drywall. I just have no idea of where to start.

This mentality of wanting to fix things crosses over into relationships. When someone has a problem, I want to fix it and move on. Sometimes I feel equipped to fix whatever problem someone has and sometimes I have no idea. When I feel like I can help, I usually just pragmatically give my thoughts on how to fix it and step in to try to control it's outcome. I am starting to see the value in patience in instances where I start to put on the "Fixer" cape.

Maturity is slowly setting in and I am fighting it ever step of the way. Maturity is telling me that God is in control and I am not. Maturity is telling me to let things play out and allow people to make mistakes. It's messy but it allows God to fix things in His time and the way He wants to. I am continually needing to be reminded of the eternal value of staying present to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to guide me in conversations. It's not my responsibility to fix. It's my responsibility to Love and allow Him to show me what that looks like in any given situation.

Love is telling me to put the cape down.

Greatness

Sarah and I took some Belmont Students backstage at the Opry for a show on Saturday night. It was a great evening. It was Marty Stuart's birthday and Keith Urban sang a few songs and then joined Marty for a few songs. Dierks Bentley showed up as a surprise guest and played with him as well. Because of Sarah's job at Belmont, she has gotten to know Ricky Skaggs through various events. Ricky played the show and after, we ended up talking with him for about 30 minutes. This guy loves Jesus. First of all, it consumes his conversation and he is excited to talk about what the Lord is doing in his life. It was inspiring. One thing about some of the successful people that we have spent time with(again, sometimes through Sarah's job) is that there is an ease about them. They make you feel good about yourself. I don't know where I heard this quote or who said it but it goes something like this: "Those who are truly great make you feel like you too can become great." I hope that with any level of success, people will feel like that around me.

USC/Oregon State

I'm not a die-hard football guy. I love a good game but don't spend my entire Saturday in front of the TV. Tonight, there was a great game on. A kid who graduated high school only 4 months ago played running back for Oregon State against USC. Coming into the game, USC was ranked #1 and Oregon State was unranked. All of that changed when Jacquizz Rogers ran for 186 yards with 2 touchdowns. He is a small guy and it was almost like he was David running around and through 11 giants at a time. It was spectacular. In the last 4 minutes, all of the student section jumped over the wall and stood behind the team. Oregon State won the game 27-21. The crowd rushed the field when the game ended. There's nothing like a huge upset.

The Magic of the Dinner Table

There is something truly beautiful that happens when you connect with close friends around a meal...when authenticity meets a ribeye and a bottle of wine. Sarah and I had such an evening tonight with another couple. Laughter, struggles, gratitude, and tears all found it's way out so organically. Nothing forced...No agendas except to just know each other and to be known. The couple were a few more years down the road age-wise and carried the wisdom of walking with the Lord and often pointed things to scripture. It felt like a glimpse of the Wedding Feast to come when we will join around the table as the grateful beloved and share a meal together. We may find ourselves sitting at a grand table wanting to share bites of each other's food because everything is so exquisite. We may drop a fork on a white shirt(which I did tonight) and just laugh about it. I have no doubt that that Feast will be about true relationship and food.

Two things I love...

Matt Wertz at the Ryman

Sarah and I went last night to hear Matt Wertz open for O.A.R. and he did an amazing job. I haven't seen him more polished and ready to entertain. He was gracious to the audience and you could tell that he was loving playing the Ryman for the first time. His CD, Under Summer Sun, releases today. I wrote two songs with him for his record...the title cut "Summer Sun" and "5:19", his current single. He played both of them last night and they were both received really well by the audience. Yessssss!

Side thought...the opening act is a strange gig. You really have to be on your game to sell an audience that is there to see the headliner. They really don't care. If people are there early it seems that they are there to find their seat and chat it up with friends. Matt did make a good move by playing the Bob Marley song "No Woman, No Cry" and as soon as he started I could see about a hundred beers being lifted into the air because all the O.A.R. fans started cheering.

The song-list was great. The endings were nailed. The songs were hooky.

Great Job last night Matt. Proud of You.

Want to Laugh?

This is just ridiculous. Give it a few minutes. It gets hilarious. I laughed for probably 10 minutes.

Getting my toenails did

I've never had a manicure. Because I play guitar, I do have long nails on my right hand to be able to finger pick when I'm playing. I'm kind of particular about my nails. Being long, they are creepy enough but if I let them grow past the time that I would normally cut them, they just look and feel really weird. I have however had a pedicure. Sarah's mom drove into town one day and wanted to take Sarah to go get a Pedicure and somehow I got roped in to go with them. I was super skeptical about the idea of a man going into a nail salon(a lot like my trip to the show "The View" but that's for another blog). I don't think that I would go back and have it done again. Sarah and I are hosting a friend from Seattle this week who we met in Italy and she showed us this video. I have spent a total of probably 27 minutes in a nail salon in my life but it was enough to make me laugh at this video. Check it out: