musings for a resurrection sunday
1. He is risen indeed!
The Lord be with You.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give Him thanks and praise.
2. Last week I ordered some music from an independent online dealer. Here is why I like independent retailers. The e-mail confirmation was titled "CD Baby loves Jeff" and the body was as follows:
Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.3. It seems like all music from Sovereign Grace Ministries has been automatically given the stamp of approval. If it's a song from Sovereign Grace, it must be awesome. EVERYONE seems to be the biggest fan of anything and everything Sovereign Grace puts out. Is this warranted? You decide... but at least do your homework. Don't take anything for granted. I'm not ripping on them... it's just something I've noticed lately. Thanks Clyde and Albert for the great discussion we had that prompted this one.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Wednesday, April 5th.
I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year". We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!
Thank you once again,
Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music
phone: 1-800-448-6369 email: cdbaby@cdbaby.com
http://cdbaby.com
4. I'm not really a fan of the organ part in "Before the Throne of God Above." Don't get me wrong... Mr. Sturz plays it excellently, as is typical for him. I just don't care for the arrangement, which wasn't his doing anyway. This morning, that song could have been titled "Before the Brass Section," because it sounded like the trumpet players were sitting in the row in front of us, with the bells of their horns pointed right in our direction. In reality, we were about 10 rows back, and their backs were to us. It's not a criticism of the sound guys... just a humorous observation. Also, of all the songs that Kory sings, I think "Arise" is the best fit for his voice. I wish his voice could have been louder in the mix, but either way, I do enjoy him singing that song.
5. I've been reading James White's The God Who Justifies during lunches at work. I actually started of with J.C. Ryle's Holiness, but after reaching the chapter on assurance, I wanted a break. Ryle's writing is so exhaustive, and White's book tied in so well thematically. Besides, reading a few chapters of Ryle is like reading an entire book by some other authors. (I find Jonathan Edwards' writing very similar in that regard.) In White's book, I've been soberly reminded that there is no such thing as neutral with God. Throughout Scripture, people are identified as either those who love God or those who are His enemies. Romans teaches that unbelievers suppress the truth, and this is no passive act of rebellion. It is not ignorance, or indifference, or skepticism, or even agnosticism. It is an active rejection of God. Understanding our position before God is crucial in understanding why the Gospel is good news. It's nothing I haven't heard before, but truth never gets old. It's good to be reminded of such things. It's made me treasure God's grace all the more, as I realize that salvation was all of God and by grace through faith alone.
6. The other morning I had the most bizarre dream. I was going to watch some documentary-type videos with Andrea. I decided on one about prisoners who had to clean up an oil slick. What ensued had nothing at all to do with prisoners or oil slicks.
The main character was Samuel L. Jackson, who played the part of an Army Sergeant. He walked down a dark narrow corridor, all the while extending something sort of like a tape measure. When he got to the end of the hallway, he exited through the door, only to find himself at a dead end outside the building. Frustrated, he began to take off the bayonet from his high powered sniper rifle. I don't think snipers generally have need for bayonets... I suppose that kind of defeats the purpose of being a sniper.
Anyway, since it was just a movie, the bayonet was made of the same material as the tape measure... that thin aluminum-type stuff.
Out of nowhere, Susan Sarandon appeared. She played a type of special forces commando. After grilling Samuel L. Jackson for conducting himself improperly, she pointed out four units of enemies across a small bay. Susan Sarandon grabbed Samuel L. Jackson's gun and looked through the scope. (Somehow I could see what she saw) Sure enough, the enemies were on the move. She pulled the trigger. After glaring at Samuel L. Jackson for having the safety on (do sniper rifles even have a safety?), she pulled the trigger (cut to in-scope view) and an enemy fell dead. Susan Sarandon gave the gun back to Samuel L. Jackson. (cut to the scope cam)
Somehow, Susan Sarandon was now in the midst of the enemies, wreaking havoc. Samuel L. Jackson fired, and caught a jumping enemy in mid-air. He must have been wearing explosives, because things started blowing up. Another soldier on Samuel L. Jackson's "team" fired a little missile, and it exploded into the jungle. That seemed to take care of the rest of the enemies.
We then cut to a view of Samuel L. Jackson, Susan Sarandon, and Missile Guy, standing around... a dead bison. That's right. Claim Jumper and/or Bear Country Jamboree-style bison. Apparently, it had been killed in the missile blast. Serves him right for being in the jungle instead of the plains of North America. Susan Sarandon and Missile Guy gave Samuel L. Jackson a hard time for killing a bison on his first special forces mission. Then, Missile Guy informed Sameul L. Jackson that a bison's uvula is a Southern delicacy. Samuel L. Jackson pried open the bison's mouth, which opened like the front of an old-school Volkswagen Beetle. Missile Guy was complaining about getting bison saliva on his hands, and then I woke up. Weird, huh?
