Music To My Ears

The one truly universal language is Music, it communicates to the very soul of a receptive hearer, I have always had a great love for music from my earliest recollection of being a huge John Farnham fan, then Elvis, through the pop and techno music of my early teen years (which I now shudder at the thought of) unfortunately, this soon gave way to hip-hop/rap which is where my taste did abide for some time.

When I was about 12, I started to learn Bass Guitar which was a struggle to say the least, I just couldn’t “feel” the music but I persisted until i was about 15 when I moved away from the home of my youth in NSW to sunny Queensland, at this point my skill stagnated, the bass became a dust encrusted talking point in the corner of the room, it was coaxed into life by the occasional visitor but that was all, for over 4 years.

More recently my ears found the inexplicably unpredictable style of Jazz, which I got into, so much so that I went and got a fedora as I reached again for my Bass guitar, suddenly, I could “feel” music, this was an odd sensation as I had labored so hard with such meager results earlier in that decade of life, I started jamming with people when the option was presented, but as the Lord moved in my life so did my musical taste…

I lost my taste for jazz and R’n'B, and for a while didn’t listen to anything, it was like I was unintentionally cleansing my musical pallet, after this time, my love for acoustic sounds and harmonies grew and then it happened, whilst walking through my home, I noted the unplayed acoustic guitar in a cobweb ridden corner, looking almost bored with its own lot in life. I sat and tried to play the only chord I knew, D, and guess what… it sounded horrible, not unlike the sound that is made when you forget your favorite house-pet in the clothes dryer, but it was a start…

Soon thereafter I saw a friend of mine, an accomplished player and an inspired singer, who gave me a few pointers, this is what truly started my walk, that was about 6 months ago now, and since then I have acquired a guitar of my own, which was by divine appointment a great sounding guitar with a low price-tag, and I now play at every opportunity, not to perform, or impress people, but for praise.

I can tell you now, I am not naturally talented musically, if I was, I surely would have discovered it before now. My renewed desire to play was rooted in my longing to be able to worship my Savior in music, and indirectly to help others do the same, it was when I prayed this prayer that my hands seemed to find their skill, most assuredly I say unto you, this skill that I am in the process of obtaining was not hewn from natural ability, or even hard work and will power, indeed one hundred percent of the skill is a direct and free gift from my maker.

HARK! Inspiration!

Goodmorning all!
Yes it is true, Inspiration has visited upon me, stay tuned for 2 upcoming posts… one spiritual one musical.

What would you die for?

“Life is not worth living until you have found something worth dying for”

These words echoed around my head when I first heard them… I spent the proceeding minutes allowing them to sink in, and my thought process reached critical mass, do I believe in God or don’t I? if the answer is “No” I have been living a lie, if the answer is “Yes” the way I live my life needs to change.

After some thought I reached the inescapable conclusion, there is indeed a God… a God who loved me enough to sacrifice his own Son that I could have life, in view of these facts, I realized this was something worth dying for, and if it is worth dying for, then it is certainly worth living for.

If we agree there is a Great Controversy going on between good and evil / Christ and satan it is obvious that a side must be chosen. In this struggle there is sadly no room for mediocrity, apathy or “fence sitters” there rarely is in wars…

Ok, God is real, worth dying for and we have a war on our hands how does this impact my life, well, step one is to get to know my Boss better, as one draws closer to God his voice becomes clearer, but just like if you are at a noisy party or on the tarmac next to a jet that is taking off, it won’t matter how close your friend is to you, it is always going to be hard to hear them because of the noise going on around you. It is the same with God you can get closer to him but until you clear the static out of your life you won’t be able to hear what he is saying…

Now I am not telling you to run out and burn all your worldly possessions, I am saying in my life, anything that separates me from God has to go, whatever makes the voice of the Holy Spirit less audible has to go, for a man of my interests that means most of my music must go, (this one was a long and tough struggle to decide) music was designed to worship God so I choose to only fill my mind with heavenly music.

It means most of what I watched on TV had to go, most movies too, in many cases it is not that they are “Bad Things” in and of themselves, but they are things that take many hours out of my life and give me nothing in return, in turn taking time I could be spending with God, same with much of what I did on the internet, it was just to while away time where now I am in the process or regulating myself down to the things I perceive to be of value, using it to communicate with friends, Design and necessary research.

Like it says in Phillippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Well that was phase one, reconstructing my personal life, as it has been some time since making the above changes I am happy to report, that while is is not the magic bullet to a trouble-free life or anything like that, it has certainly done amazing things for me spiritually, my study of scripture has become more meaningful, generally my attention span is much better, as is my relationship with my family (as they adopted similar changes soon after)

Now back to my main point, if you are really willing to die for something you must be willing to sacrifice things in your life the amazing thing is, once you give up those things it is amazing, not only do I not think of them, but I now actually have a distaste for them… that shows you what the Holy spirit can do in your life…

Before you label me some kooky legalist, please understand… you live a righteous life and are obedient because you Love the Savior, never in order to BE saved, works cannot save you, for by GRACE are you saved THROUGH FAITH in Jesus.

If you don’t see things the same way I am not here to bash you with it,
but I am more than happy to discuss this with anyone.

God Bless.

“The person you are calling is on the phone, Please try again later”

Fear not my friends, I have not disappeared, I am merely busybusybusy,  rest assured there are half a dozen, half written posts in my drafts folder i will try to get to them soon honest…people just may need to kick me a little.    {;-)

Luke.

COMMENT

Just evaluating the usage of my time… and wondering if i should Blog more regularly, So i though i should put it to my faithful, and not-so-faithful readers, should  I prolong my time as a denizen of the blogosphere or should i just leave it be… forget about blogging and take up something more life changing… like whittling… or playing the spoons please don’t be scared, comment away!

NB: I reserve the right to totally disregard your advice and blog anyway… or not

Cairns Trip: Day4

Well, thanks to all the walking of yesterday I didn’t surface until the rediculous time of 9am

At which time a performed my morning rituals and went in search of internet, the most cost-effective location was indeed the “lounge room” I had sat in the day before in the Pier Center.

So after doing battle with the note feeder and the caretaker re-booting the system, I was away, (setup was a string of dell thin-clients from what i can tell) I buzzed through messages from my fine readers (this means you) and posted the first 3 days of the trip on this very blog.

After I had my fill of the internet, i scooted off in search of food, a kebab was what I felt like and indeed, a kebab was what i found, but not just any kebab… THE greatest kebab known to this connoisseur of kebabs… it was enough to fill me up, it was moist yet did not fall apart at the end, did not leave a greasy residue in my mouth, and to top it all off, it tasted fantastic.

After that, I did retire to my room, as my feet were less than impressed about the caining I had given them the day before, I watched a bit of TV then hooked into some serious reading of the books I brought with me, the Case for Christ, by Lee Strobel (required reading for ANYONE in my humble opinion) Satisfied by Mark Finlay, my Bible and Identity Wars by Adrian Ebens, this was followed by a healthy dose of music. At this time (8:00pm) Mum and Dad arrived, after settling them in, we went to “La Pizza” for dinner,a nice Italian woodfired Pizza place a couple of blocks further along the esplanade.

All up it was a great evening and we ended up getting home and crashing by about midnight.

Cairns trip: Day 3

I surfaced sometime around 7am, Had my morning devotions, then switched from recouperate mode to explore mode, I first found my way to the esplanade (which was a nice stroll) then I decided to hang a right and head back into town where the main shopping center is, on the way I saw a massive sign, “GUITARS AND UKE’S” so I couldnt help myself, I went in, had a look, took some photos and talked to the owner, “Brent” played the bongo’s and an electric Uke, which was an interesting experience

As I moved on, there was another music store, less than 50 metres down the street, but this one was different, more DJ gear etc, but not a cool as the first one, I did hang around long enough to play all the different kinds of Bass guitar they had, and answer a call from a very good friend, after that, I did eventually find Cairns Central shopping center, monsterous place that it is, when I had been one end to the other I decided to return to the food court for lunch, there were many choices, subway, KFC, curry, carvery, maccas, JB-hifi, keba- huh?… yeah, thats what I thought, why is there a JB-HiFi in the middle of the food court? but I knew something about this JB… it was not just any JB, it is the JB of my fellow denizen of the online community: Speedlabs … some say his forehead was erected for the sole purpose of art, others say he is a luminary of tech culture, and can only be contained by an egg of the spotted newt, all we know, is he is called The Morris. [For those of you not familiar with “Top Gear” “The Stig” “AtomicMPC” or “Speedlabs” I don't expect any of the above to make sense to you]

I eventually spotted the man and called to him “Morris!” I was met with “Yes…” and a blank stare, which I expected “I’m Glitch” ah! that made sense to him, we had a bit of a chat which was cool, I finally got to meet the guy etc. after that I ended up having lunch and continuing on my way, I took a more direct route back and found another cooler area of town, an huge plaza, terminating near the large pier shopping/dining/office/lifestyle center which is where I am sitting at the moment in some very convenient lounges, typing this post.

After retiring to my room I received a message from Morris, so, as per volley of messages, I returned to the esplanade to meet Morris at a cafe, it was great, we had a chance to catch up,etc we then wandered the esplanade for quite a while, he is actually a pretty awesome guy, now I know him better I have much respect for the man. however, before parting ways a photo must be taken…

Again I returned to my room, after a little relaxing I decided I should eat something, so I made the 20minute round trip to maccas and then crashed.

Cairns Trip: Day 2

‘KA-THUD’ my eyes flew open… it was… around 2:30am and we had just pulled into Rockhampton station the thud was the train pulling the handbrake on I guess, but it was just enough to dislodge my head from the head rest… I checked the movies but they were replaying the same ones I had watched a few hours earlier. after a while, sleep returned and I was out until around 5:30 when the people started to stir to life around me.

It was daylight now, so I decided to do some exploring, I returned to where I left my big bag on the rack to inspect that murky corridor in the light of day, it turns out it was the restrooms/cleaning closet etc which was so interesting, I was compelled to try the other direction which was more my scene… ‘The Dining Car’ where I talked to a couple of people, one guy has moved out Biggenden way, and has caught the Tilt Train to Bowen to bring a car down, poor guy wasn’t real well either, but seemed appreciative of the conversation.

After that I retuned to my seat and took in some tunes via my iPod, what a difference it made, I went from being comfortable to being totally chilled out. however, in perfect syncro, the rest of the train burst out laughing… this was indeed an odd occurrence, as I could not see anything I found to be a real rib-tickler, then I realized, the source of these jollies was a movie that was playing, so I hooked up and joined them in sporadic but syncronized laughter… I dont know what the movie was but it is worth finding and buying, it was about this guy who competes in a marathon to win his girl back from some high flying pain in the neck… if anyone can ID this movie please let me know what it’s called.

After a little more music, my lunch arrived: oriental chicken and noodles in blackbean sauce (YUM) it was chased down by a wildberry crumble and a small pot of vanilla ice-cream.

As the afternoon wore on, I started chatting to the lady sitting across the aisle from me, turns out her name is Donna (seemed to be in her early 40’s) and she was traveling home with her daughter, she works in admin at their local hospital and had been in Mackay to see her Dad for the first time in about 5 years.

Thanks to some segway I have since forgotten, she asked me what I believed and why, so I shared my story with her, spelt out my reasoning and the research I had undertaken, by the time I was done, I had erected quite a monument, a verbal monolith if you will, of my belief structure.

I then returned the question, she seemed a little unsure and told me that she was a ‘jehovah’s witness’ I found this an odd experience because most JW’s I have come across are quite sure of their beliefs, and vocal about it, but she was happy to have some open discussion about it which was excellent, when we arrived at her station she told me she would be going to do some research on some of the points I made. oh how I love the free exchange of ideas…

After her departure, my one legged friend(i later discovered his first dame is “Burn”) took her seat and struck up a conversation, we covered just about everything, when he was young he wanted to be a carpenter, but had an aptitude for electronics so his parents pushed him in that direction, he got his degree in electronics at RMIT, became an Instrument calibration expert, he worked on a project during the Vietnam war which would analyze the Parabolic trajectory of a missile to be able to target where it came from, for return fire, accurate to 12metres.

However, just before he was actually sent over to Vietnam, he lost his leg in basic training, he then cut From that story and told me about the youth work he did in Ryde (Sydney) helping them get their lives back on track.

In the end he told me why he was on the train, many years ago, he had broken his forearm in 2 places, after 6 months of it not healing right, they eventually pinned it, during this time he could not work or care for himself that well, so he moved back in with his parents and went to Church as that was about all he could do, because he could not drive either, one of the girls from church was playing taxi for him to get to-and-from church, he ended up marrying that girl and they were on their way to cairns to celebrate their coral wedding annaversary.

He was a real character, the hostess was walking down the aisle asking “Any rubbish?” he piped up and said “yeah but she just went to the dining car” the hostess made the obvious threat “oh well, i’ll be sure to tell her that when I see her” but his reply really cracked me up… “Go for it, thats why i’ve got a wooden leg, it’s easier to put my foot in my mouth”

Anyway, we finally made it to Cairns just on dark, I hailed a Taxi and FINALLY made it to my accommodation, there was however, a slight hitch, as I did not have the credit card which ‘booked’ the room on me, I had to throw myself on the manager’s mercy (along with a few hundred dollars of my cash as collateral) before they would give me my room… in any case, I made it, showered, watched a bit of tellie and crashed around mid-night.

Cairns Trip: Day 1

Mum and Dad brought me to the station after choir practice on monday night, of course, while waiting to board we started singing “This train is bound for glory” (for those of you who know that Praise chorus) as I got onto the train I was partially lost, as I was in a corridor with seemingly locked compartments and one luggage rack, when I found my way to the end I was in no better condition as there was just a locked glass door, which I could not see through or open.

However! there was a talkative guy who appeared behind me and had played this game before, as he put his bag on the luggage rack he asked me “So… this train is bound for glory is it?” I replied “Sure is.” with a chuckle he then asked “are you bound for glory?” I gave a grin “Most definately.” he continued to chuckle as he turned and pressed the huge, bright Yellow button that said “Press to open Door” (thats me, Mr. Observant) and we both walked through into the cabin where he was kind enough to point out my seat.

It turns out he was a serious athlete back in his hayday… so fit, his heart-rate was about 40bpm, somehow he lost his leg which put an end to that, but I kid you not, he walks so well on his artificial one he gets around this jostling train better than I do…

Anyway I stayed awake watching the movie until after midnight and playing with the in-seat screen, churning out the first of my many Twitter status updates. until I finally dozed off…

My Baptism

Yes it has been a long time coming but i am finally here to record the greatest day of my life…

I will start by giving you a brief prelude in saying, the path to my baptism has been a long and at times difficult one, but the wheels only started turning at full speed this year…

For those of you who don’t know Pastor Larry, please read this blog entry to provide some background on him…  “Walk the Walk” . When Larry Called and suggested Baptism to me, I felt impressed to take the opportunity as for years I have left the timing of this event in God’s hands, and now it seemed to be his will, I was happy to take that step and it was quickly picked up By My Local Pastor, Frank Williams…

While I have always read my Bible, it was always in a somewhat intermittent fashion, but leading upto my baptism i knew that if i wanted God to be truly in control of my life it was going to take more than cursory reading of my Bible and Church attendance. So about a month before I was to be baptized I started driving down to the beach and spending an hour with God every morning, studying the Bible,and praying.

At first, it was a bit of a hassle, but soon the benefits started to show themselves, no longer was my faith blind, I had proof, references, information, and much more understanding than I had previously enjoyed or indeed expected.

This set me in a great place for my baptism, I was, on that day (and to now) totally sure of my Creator, what he did for me, and what i wanted to do for him, all my doubts were cast into the depths of the deepest sea… but those doubts were not alone, with them went my sins, My Saviour, Jesus Christ paid my debt many years ago on an old rugged cross. I accepted that free gift, and it gave me peace.

My Baptism turned into quite an event people came from far and near, many from Hervey Bay of course, the Samoan wing of my “family” came up from Brisbane and even interstate friends, Naomi and Collin Flew in from Sydney for the occasion…

Sabbath morning came, and I arrived at church amongst many well-wishes and smiles the day began, after a bit of running about, getting microphones sorted, the service started with the dedication of a new baby in the church, after which, Larry began his sermon on the rivers found in the bible, the rivers of life, discouragement, healing, restoration and living water, it was an amazing message made all the more amazing by Larry’s health, after over a year fighting a very aggressive Cancer, Larry was, to the glory of God, Finally in remission, although still a shadow of his former self, when he preached, it was with such power and joy, there was no question left in my mind that he was working in the power of the Holy spirit…

At the end of his sermon, the whole church was amazed by this Physically small, Spiritual Giant, at this point there was a special item by Steve who, as I mentioned earlier is part of my “family” on the Samoan side, he sang a song he had written for his own baptism only a couple of weeks beforehand called “In my Father’s presence” and it was Great, when God’s people commit themselves to his service he really does bestow amazing talents.

Frank, Larry and myself then went into the baptismal font, after Larry briefly recounted my story they Baptized me… getting Baptized is a very individual thing, people react to it differently, some experience euphoria, others weep, some feel absolutely nothing, in my case it was none of the above, it was a realization, for want of a better term, it felt like I was Commissioned into his service, like up until that point, it was a wrestle for my personal salvation and now I just want to work for him, helping guide people into a saving relationship with him.

Definitely the most powerful thing that has ever happened to me…

However, the day did not stop there it continued with about 50 friends/family coming back to my place for Lunch/fellowship etc. that Day had a profound impact on me, and I just want to share that joy with all who would listen.

A relationship with God means living With Joy as your constant companion, that does not mean you will be happy all the time (in fact quite the contrary), there is a chasm of difference between joy and happiness, happiness is an emotion based on your circumstances, but True joy, is an attitude to life knowing that regardless of how bad the situation becomes you are under the care of the Creator and nobody can take that Joy from you.

I think Paul Said it best in Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” That is to say (if you read the context of that passage) while I live, I will joyfully work for Christ and if I die in that pursuit, that is ok too, because the next concious thought I have will be The Second Coming of Jesus and I will be Going to Heaven with him. Not only does that allow you to live a life of purpose and victory, it conquors the biggest fear of all, Death.

May God Bless anyone reading this Post, I hope it has encouraged you, and if not, I hope it has provided a window for you to see the changes in my life.

|G|Luke|