This is a recent addition to the set list of our dance band, The Beltway Rockers...

"Valerie" (Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeVUvA_BOzs

This one was written by Dave McCabe Russell Pritchard Sean Payne Abi Harding Paul Molloy Boyan Chowdhury.

Which is three more writers than chords in the song... but you know what? This one is just crazy fun.

​When it works it just works.

Enjoy!

My daughter (Evangeline, a VERY precocious 11) and I have taken to affectionately calling each other "Weirdo."

Probably not the best nickname for that stage of life for a young lady, but we say it with love.

LOVE YOU WEIRDO...

And we laugh, because it's funny.  And as Sigmund said correctly, we "laugh because it's true."

But one of the things that I suspect is odd about me is that I hear music in my head. That comes in various forms... stuff I'm working on with our church, or our dance band that will someday play out again post COVID, or things that I've heard that captured the reptilian part of my brain by hook or by crook.

Sometimes it's music that hasn't been written yet, that's mostly pretty bad, and is mostly for my ears alone.

One of the internal manifestations of this for me is that when I wake up in the morning, it is almost always to an internal soundtrack and it sort of becomes the opening musical score for the day. It normally follows me around for a bit and then I get distracted by a dog, or a phone call or la Chupacabra on the interwebs.

And it can be literally anything, from Holtz, to MoTown to "You Are My Sunshine" - pretty much anything in my subconscious seems to be fair game.

I tracked this for 10 days or so, and for no particular reason, I'd like to share with you... The Music in My Head. It will be a motley collection, that I promise.

Here we go!

Up first is this one...

"The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" by Switchfoot and with a bit of fortuitous fun, they did a COVID version of this one from their respective homes.  Enjoy!

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhR6qV_WWxs


​

“Without music, life would be a blank to me.”― Jane Austen

 Imagine what life would be like if we only did what was “required.”

All duty, all the time, without ever reaching for “the extra mile,” never going “above and beyond,” never giving “110%” as it were, always “phoning it in.”

Imagine writing only in cliche’ with never any original thought or communication.

I’m serious. Picture it. Take a moment and imagine that world. Your work, your relationships, your play without innovation, without any striving for more, where we keep our kids alive and our bills paid and sink into an ever increasing landscape of grey and muted tones. It’s a place where the volume always gets turned down. Or worse, when it internalizes. Where we do just enough to not be fired. Or divorced. Putting in just enough effort to not be left completely alone. To give just enough to stop people noticing our lackadaisicality.

What an awful, mud covered, tasteless, lifeless, boring, joyless, foul-smelling reality that one would be.

Generosity isn’t just about money. Though some folks right now could use your help if you’re able - click here for COVID-19 support. It is about time and heart and intention. It is about a life-long stance of giving more than you take and being more than a mouth breathing collection of particles swirling around like a lump. That’s more for me than for you by the way.

Real generosity is an internal position of the soul.

And it’s one that we desperately need to be healthy… and one that we desperately need to find any sustainable sense of righteousness or joy. We need to strive, to lean, to push, to climb, to give, to risk and to get back up after falling down again.

Generosity isn’t just about money. That’s a symptom and an expression, but not the heart or central urge. It’s about giving gifts of time and gifts of attention; gifts of the cherry on top; gifts of the great conversation. Those things cost us something, but the returns are legendary. Think about the landscape of where you are right now. In context, in relationships, in life. And do this for me, would you?

Don’t be afraid. Decide to not be afraid.

No really. Stop being so afraid of that new thing you’re thinking of, and all the trouble it will be and if you fail it won’t be worth it and Netflix is calling you to fix a plate of nachos and check out.

Don’t mishear what I’m saying. A life well spent will frame and rest and will protect margin with both hands. You will find greatness in rhythm and groove. It is also necessary to take a day off and enjoy your vacation.

But don’t forget to say “no” to the cruise control and put the pedal to the floor occasionally. Go for it!

Because Generosity, in our dreaming and execution, in our friendships and love, in our work and play… in our inside and out… is Necessary.

 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (emphasis mine)

A sweetgum tree that's on my walk to work provided these prisoners of war.  If only as easily we could contain their tiny look-alikes.

Death, suffering, quarantine, and lost income are no causes for smiles. Yet it is also true that laughter increases infection-fighting antibodies and immune cells.  Martin Luther wrote, “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.... The devil is a melancholy spirit, and cheerful music soon puts him to flight.”  Thomas More similarly stated, “The devil…that proud spirit…cannot endure to be mocked.” In Proverbs chapter 17 we have, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

Psalm 46

   God is our mighty fortress,
      always ready to help in times of trouble.
   And so, we won’t be afraid!
   Let the earth tremble
      and the mountains tumble into the deepest sea.
   Let the ocean roar and foam,
      and its raging waves shake the mountains.

   A river and its streams bring joy to the city,
      which is the sacred home of God Most High.
   God is in that city, and it won’t be shaken.
      He will help it at dawn.

   Nations rage! Kingdoms fall!
   But at the voice of God the earth itself melts.
   The Lord All-Powerful is with us.
   The God of Jacob is our fortress.

   Come! See the fearsome things
      the Lord has done on earth.
   God brings wars to an end all over the world.
   He breaks the arrows,
      shatters the spears,
      and burns the shields.
   Our God says, “Calm down, and learn that I am God!
      All nations on earth will honor me.”
   The Lord All-Powerful is with us.
   The God of Jacob is our fortress.

In a church building of my youth, we kids had Sunday school in the basement.  Above the piano was a painting of Jesus.  To the right a sign admonished: "Be still and know that I am God." So I sang quietly. Later I figured out that Psalm 46 directs "be still" at boisterous heathen nations, not boisterous heathen boys. Indeed, a pile of Psalms incite, "make a joyful noise!"  Wish I'd known sooner.

Upstairs over the foyer door leading to the sanctuary was the line, "Enter to worship". Over the foyer door leading back outside was a companion line, "Depart to serve".  This pair bothered me.  Wasn't it called a "church service"? Why not have identical reminders both ways? "Worship. Serve." Love God, love people.

Some people post little scripture quotelets around their homes. I've seen this in a couple of bathrooms.

       Cast all your cares on him, for he cares for you.

This is a great reminder in these times.  Even greater is the entire sentence. Peter's point is not that if I talk to God, I will feel better.  The point is not to feel powerlessness against a virus nor against government. Nor ought I become cynical about idiots, including my unprepared self. Considering what the future holds, I need neither shiver nor shrug.

This promise activates in humbling myself before God, before the God who cares.

1 Peter chapter 5:
      Clothe yourselves, all of you,
        with humility toward one another,
         for “God opposes the proud
               but gives grace to the humble.”
      Humble yourselves, therefore,
         under the mighty hand of God
            so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
            casting all your cares on him, for he cares for you.
      Be sober-minded; be watchful.

(In the original Greek writing, "Be sober-minded; be watchful," is just two words:  "Nepho Gregoreo." When I get too flippant, you have a duty to admonish me:  Nepho Gregoreo! Nepho!)

      Your adversary the devil prowls around
          like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
      Resist him, firm in your faith,
      knowing that the same kinds of suffering
      are being experienced by your brotherhood
           throughout the world.
      And after you have suffered a little while,
      the God of all grace, who has called you
      to his eternal glory in Christ,
      will himself restore, confirm, strengthen,
            and establish you.
      To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

This week I've been called on the phone by old friends who have control issues. They hope that as in the past I can talk them down from their agitation or talk them up from their despair. OK, that's flattering myself. They really want me to be still while they vent.  "Two ladies brushed by me at the grocery!" "I'll go crazy if I can't get out!" "I have no income." "I don't know, I just don't know!"

People more than ever find something humbling every day, every hour.  Rather, the path through scary times to "the proper time" is to feel humble under the mighty hand of God.

Jesus put it this way in Matthew chapter 10,
      "And do not fear those who kill the body
            but cannot kill the soul.
       Rather fear him who
            can destroy both soul and body in hell."

James chapter 4:
      Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
      and He shall lift you up.

2 Chronicles chapter 34:
      "Because your heart was tender
            and you humbled yourself before God
       when you heard his words
            against this place and its inhabitants, and
       you have humbled yourself before me
       and have torn your clothes and
       wept before me,
       I also have heard you, declares the Lord."

Daniel chapter 10:
      Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel,
      for from the first day that you
      set your heart to understand
      and humbled yourself before your God,
      your words have been heard."

Paul, in Romans chapter 8:
      Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
      Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
      or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
      As it is written,
         “For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
          we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
      No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
      through him who loved us.
      For I am sure that neither death nor life,
         nor angels nor rulers,
            nor things present nor things to come,
                nor powers, nor height nor depth,
                     nor anything else in all creation,
      will be able to separate us from the love of God
           in Christ Jesus our Lord.