India-bound

This:

is currently my desktop background. SO excited...and now that I'm almost done with finals, it's getting to be more and more of a reality every day.

Camp Ghetto Camp

The group. I'm the one wearing the Long Beach (49) shirt ;)

So last weekend I went to Camp Ghetto Camp with SOMA, the college group at Rocky Peak. I said to a couple of you and in an earlier blog entry that I'd been reflecting on all the work that I'd done over the past year or so: specifically physical labor like on the Navs Road Rally, Spring Break Trip, STP, my job over the summer, and then this camp. In my quiet time with God lately I'd been asking Him to teach me what he wanted me to learn.

Boy did I get an answer.

Jammin with Apollo and Amy during some free time Saturday night

Friday night I was having my quiet time because I just hadn't gotten to it earlier in the day. I was getting to the end of my routine (a psalm and then whatever else i'm reading: currently it's Galatians) when I decided to do a bit more than usual-I had the time and was looking for God to speak to me. What better way than to read the Word?

I looked over the table of contents in my Bible, hoping for a bit of inspiration on where to go next. For some reason Haggai jumped out at me.

"Haggai?" I asked, directing my question upward. "Really?"

The Complaining Hat. If you complained, you wore it.

I mentally shrugged my shoulders and flipped to the page. Haggai is only two chapters but the message was crystal clear: God was talking to me about my work.

A VERY abbreviated summary (that's right, an abbreviated summary) of the book goes like this: the people of Judah are supposed to rebuild the temple after returning from captivity. However, they aren't doing it. God says in chapter one:

"The people say, 'The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built'...Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" (1:2, 4)

After calling them out, God speaks what becomes a refrain throughout the book: "Give careful thought to your ways." (1:5)

He then encourages them to work for Him, and not themselves. He encourages Zerubbabel, their leader, and Joshua, their high priest. Then he says to the people:

"Be strong, all you people of the land...and work. For I am with you," declares the LORD Almighty. (2:4b)

As I reflected on what God was saying, I evaluated all the work I'd done over the past few months. Who was it for? It was pretty easy to say honestly that the work I'd done on Navs trips and the camp I was at was work I was doing for God. I wouldn't have gone on those trips if not for the opportunity to serve and be an extension of God in various people's lives. But my job...I got stuck there.

You see, even though I do almost the same exact sort of work at my job as I did on all these trips with different ministries, my motivation was/is completely different. On the trips, I paid money to go work. At my job, I work for money. The first set of work was others-focused. The work I did at my job was all about me, me, me.

Why? I couldn't come up with a single answer aside from selfishness. I want things so I work in order to receive money. I build my own house and install nice paneled walls, all the while neglecting the Lord's house. Now this isn't to say that you can't hold a job and glorify God at the same time. i have no plans on quitting early before going back to school. However, my attitude and ultimately my motivation whilst working needed some adjusting.

It was a humbling message to receive [as they so often are :) ]. But I came out of it determined to work for God's glory, and not mine, no matter where or in what circumstances I'm working.

Retooling

Hey guys,

So I just wanted to take a moment and say a couple things.

1) I'm not dead (despite what the lack of updates might imply...lol)

2) I'm still really passionate about writing songs

3) I want to change this blog up a bit and make it a bit more inclusive

I think the first two are pretty self-explanatory, so what does the third one mean? It means that I think I'm going to start posting things other than just music here (i.e. what God's been teaching me, recent goings on in my life, etc.).

Honestly, part of the reason is that, with the kind of work I'm doing, I'm just not nearly as prolific writing music as I thought I'd be. After swinging a sledgehammer all day, when you sit down to play guitar your arms and hands are just dead-it's pretty sad lol.

I'll still post songs and videos whenever I feel like I have something to share, but to compensate for less of that sort of update I'll start including more things here. I figure you can worship God with more than song, so why limit a worship blog to just music? :)

So I'm leaving for Camp Ghetto Camp (http://tinyurl.com/lkv5f9) in about half an hour. We'll be spending all day tomorrow working around the camp-it's kinda like road rally with the Navs. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to it. Good times with some of the SOMA folk (the college group I'm going to here at home for those of you that don't know). I really feel like over the past year-ish God has been teaching me about work, specifically physical work and hard labor, so I'm going to be all ears this weekend.

With Everything

I heard this song for the first time at SOMA (college group) at Rocky Peak a week ago and I can't stop listening to it! This is seriously one of the most powerful songs I've heard in a long, long time. Check it:

Not done yet, but...

So I'm not done with the song, but I thought I'd share anyways!

Here are the lyrics and chords so far

Verse 1:

G Am7 Em

Here I am again

G Am7 Em

I've fallen on my face

G Am7 Em C

And I don't know if I can stand

G Am7 Em

To pick myself back up

G Am7 Em

And march into the future

G Am7 Em C

If all I'll do is fall again

Am7 Em

But still you care for me

Am7 C

And beckon me to rise

And I am confident of this

Chorus:

G Am7

I know that He who began

Em C

A good work in me

G

Will be faithful

Am7

He'll be faithful

C

To complete it

And the chords are as follows

G

3x0033

Am7

x02013

Em (it's actually closer to Em7 but whatever)

x22033

C

x3x033 or x32013 (I switch it up sometimes haha)

So yeah, there we go. As always, comments are appreciated!

Song Writing

I was just reading an interview with Tim Hughes (he wrote, among other songs, "Beautiful One" and "Light of the World"). When asked about what he'd pass on about songwriting, he said:

My favorite quote on song writing is by a guy called Andy Park. He says 'songs of devotion spring from a life of devotion.' I love that. If you want to grow in writing songs that will express the wonders of God, immerse yourself in God. Study His word, pursue Him daily. Only out of a relationship with God can you start to write songs that will glorify Him and bless His Church.

I love both the quote and the rest of what Tim Hughes had to say.

Where has this been all my life?

Just realized that the program I've been writing down my songs in (I'll usually just write down the lyrics, chords, and melody) does several awesome things:

1) it records audio and/or video

2) links the audio to the entry that you're currently writing in

3) puts the song into itunes on a playlist

This is going to make things SO much easier haha. And I'll have little bits and pieces of music that I'm working on on my ipod! awesome!

Chords/Lyrics-"Sing Praises (Psalm 47)"

I said I'd post the chords and lyrics, so here they are:

Sing Praises (Psalm 47)

Capo 4 (all chords relative to capo)

Intro: G/B G G/B G

G/B G

Sing Praises

Em C G

Sing Praises to God

G/B G

Sing Praises

Em C G

Sing Praises to our King

Em C G

For God is the King of all the earth

Em C

God rules over all the nations

G D

God sits on His holy throne

p.s. So I tried as best as I could to get the chords to sit above where the transitions are supposed to be, but blogger is being silly and not spacing them in the post the same as I do before I publish it. So maybe i'll put up a word doc with them or something lol. But here's this for now.

Sing Praises (Psalm Forty-SEVEN)

So here's an actual song: enjoy! (and leave feedback if you have any)

Note: In the video I say that the lyrics are from Psalm 48...but it's actually from Psalm 47. I wasn't about to re-record the video just because I mixed up the reference ;)

The Format? You mean like the band?

Unintentional Consequence of Writing Songs #6: Getting your own song(s) stuck in your head.

So I've figured out a bit more of the format that I'm gonna try to use when posting to this blog and thought I'd share to give you guys a heads up on what to expect. I think that I'll aim for one complete song per month. Now before you cry, "That's WAY too slow-i'll lose interest in a day at that pace!" (lol) let me assure you that I'll be updating much more than once per month. Some days i might put up lyrics to a song, other days I'll record what i've got so far. Maybe I'll post the inspiration behind or thoughts that resulted from a particular song. Anyways, the point is that it's gonna be eclectic :).

So here's my first few tidbits:

1) I'm pretty much done with a song that I'll put up by this weekend. That won't count for july-we'll just say it's the complete song for june.

2) I really want to write a song using Philippians 1:6-I know there's that older song based on it (heck, i was the one that played it at STP), but I kinda want one of my own. Maybe you and I could work on it together a bit, Danny? (I'm still writing it even if you're content just to watch/listen lol)

3) new guitar strings sound SOO good!

Alright, that's it for now. sayonara.

Nail=On Head

Today I was reading Psalm 51 (coincidentally the Psalm that Jon Foreman used as inspiration/lyrics for "White as Snow") and a verse really stuck out to me in regards to what I'm endeavoring to do by writing songs.

"O Lord, open my lips

That my mouth may declare Your praise."

Psalm 51:15

That's EXACTLY what I want. It's as if David were talking for me. If God doesn't open my lips, then it's useless-I could write and write and write but never come up with something worthwhile or pleasing to God. It has to come from Him.

God, open my lips so that I may praise You.

What do I have?

So recently I've been trying to develop the songwriter that I know is buried somewhere inside me...I've always LOVED music and occasionally had that urge and/or inspiration to not only enjoy what other people have written but to participate in the process myself. However, I've never really written anything substantial. Sure, there's the song I wrote in 10th grade that I don't remember all too well (what i DO remember makes me cringe a bit!) and bits and pieces here and there, but nothing that I would feel comfortable sharing if you asked me about it.

Until now.

When I was at the STP in San Diego at the beginning of summer I ended up writing a song with Mr. Danny de la Huerta called "Still I Rejoice." As a result of that experience I've been dabbling a bit with writing other songs. So far I've got two that are somewhat close to being at a point where I would consider playing them for someone.

So why this blog? Because I want a place where I can share either lyrics or melodies or complete songs that I come up with and somewhere to get maybe a little feedback: I figure since I'm already following other people's blogs and contributing to another blog here on blogger that it's a good place to start. So we'll see how it goes.