My completely unorthodox worship song...

Music.


Actually a very controversial word. People have very staunch opinions on their music. Narrow it down to one genre and the audience gets much smaller, but the opinions are just as strong. Christian music is a much smaller, yet growing, genre of music. Throw in the term “worship” and the people go nuts. Here we go… the whole hymns vs. choruses/contemporary music debate. No, not today. But why do we get so defensive about our music? Why is it so controversial? I think it’s because it’s so personal to us. We can identify with it and it begins to define who we are. For me personally, music is “like a symphony, all around me, running through me” and I can relate to that. Switchfoot realizes that, too, and compares this feeling to God’s love in Your Love is a Song which, in turn, I can also relate to.

There’s the camp out there with the opinion that if Jesus isn’t the center of each song, it’s not worthy. Basically Jesus has to be mentioned (by name, or one of his names) and held up for it to be good. But others believe that music that is completely Jesus focused isn’t popular because it speaks nothing of human experience and people can’t identify with it because it’s not real. Still others think vague lyrics water down their listening experience. What I know is that with music, you’re not going to make everyone happy. But what is grating is the thought that “if it isn’t our message delivered our way, it’s bad”… or worse is really what they mean. So when I find lyrics in pop music that minister to me, what am I supposed to do with that? Look at these lyric from my newest favorite song (I have roughly 60-70 favorite songs… it’s like a Lay’s chip, I can’t have just one)…

     Pretty, pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel like you are less than, less than perfect
     Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel like you’re nothing, you are perfect to me.

I can hear Jesus saying these very same lyrics to me every time I listen to this song. It still about reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It’s not “Christian” and it wasn’t intended to evoke these emotions from me. (By the way, this is the clean version of P!nk’s Perfect.) So what do we do with a song that speaks to us in a way that it wasn’t intended to? Is it rubbish? Does it matter? Does it really matter what brings us closer to Jesus? That’s not much different than bickering over denominations or even different religions… if whatever you practice and believe brings you into a closer relationship with the real Jesus Christ spoken of in the Bible, what does it matter what we call it? But that’s a-whole-nother topic for another day. But it is a similar thought process to this music idea. Does it matter what music brings you closer to Jesus? And does all music have to be about Jesus and “family friendly” to be “good”? I have Perfect  on my iPod and so do my daughters ages 13, 11, and 10. Does that make me a bad mom? And, what would you think if our favorite Christian music station (like The House FM) starting playing P!nk’s newest single? Could you let it minister to you, or would you immediately see it as heresy? Just a thought.

Video still of "Perfect"... go watch it.  It's powerful stuff.  Look for the clean version.

Music makes my heart happy...

Have you ever been listening to a song- a familiar song- and out of nowhere a line in it just smacks you in, well, the ears, and you’re thinking Why have I never heard that before? or Absolutely! I completely understand what they’re saying. I’ve been there several times. Too many to count, actually. It’s like that one lyric sums up everything you’ve been going through… puts it to words for you in one neat little package.

A couple years ago I was really struggling with something. I was listening to my iPod and heard this… “I need your grace to remind me to find my own.” And I melted into a puddle on the kitchen floor. The song was very familiar to me… I’d heard it hundreds of times but never listened too much past the chorus. My husband had been handling the issue I was struggling with so much better than I had, and his example led me to do the same and get past the problem as well. In essence, I found my own grace and began to extend it, and the problem dissipated. Song:Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.

Most of the time I feel pretty confident in my skills, my knowledge, my ability to be objective, but some days I just feel worthless. I feel like I have nothing to offer. I feel like a jack-of-all-trades but master of nothing. I feel like no one needs me. I don’t have many days like this, but I do have one occasionally. Then I’m listening to my iPod and I hear “Sometimes I believe that I can do anything. Yet, other times I think I’ve got nothing good to bring.” Exactly! That’s exactly how I feel. In my head, I know better. I do. But some days it’s just too much to believe. Song: Free to be Me by Francesca Battistelli. 

I love music- all kinds. Music is like “a symphony, all around me, running through me.” (Switchfoot’s Your Love is a Song) I love the mystery of it, the simplicity of it, the complexity of it. I love it when it‘s silly and when it’s serious… when it’s subtle and when it’s in your face. Most of all I love the music that reflects a little piece of who I am or where I’ve come from or where I’m going. Just yesterday I was laughing about David Frizzell’s I’m Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate our Home… one of the latest additions to my iPod. It’s where I come from… I remember listening to this in the bars in my small, one-horse hometown with my grandparents and great grandparents in the afternoons when I was a child. [In Minnesota, of course, out of the Bible belt, where children were actually allowed in bars] To me, these were good times. Carefree. It makes me smile... …even if I did think they were going to hire a rhino.

Two worlds collide...

While out and about today doing chores I literally saw two of my worlds collide.  Rodney went to the oilfield today and asked me if I would go to the wheat fields and check the cattle and make sure the water tanks are full and functioning properly. 

We are in the middle of a work transition that will affect our lives dramatically.  So many things are going to be different.  As of the January 2011, Rodney is employed by DRC Oilfield Services as a foreman.  We signed a contract with the auctioneer yesterday for our farm sale happening next month.  Rodney has spent a good bit of time working at gathering up all his farm stuff- feeders, bunks, implements, tractors, mowers, etc. and rowing it up here at the house for the sale.  We live on ten acres here in town, so we will have the sale here at the house & barn instead of in the country on our land that we're selling.  He hired a high school boy to shine up his iron and clean out the cabs.  I told Rod that it looks like a wax commercial from the late 80s where they go into the junkyard and polish up different old cars and make them shine like new.  The auctioneer was very impressed when he came out to shoot pictures of our stuff for advertising.  That was exciting.  After the sale and at the conclusion of harvest, he will officially go full time with DRC.

But today when I was out and about, it was very depressing.  We need rain desperately.  The wheat is burning more and more with each passing hot, windy day.  Sure, from the road it looks beautiful, but when you walk out in it or get above it, it's turning blue.  The dark spots are stressing due to lack of moisture.  This will be our last harvest and we'd really rather go out with a bang instead of a bust.  We don't have another year to "make it up".  Oh, Lord Jesus, please send rain... and do it quickly.

At my first stop, I found some cattle who were munching on our hay pile.  We used to have it fenced off, but they mangled the fence so we just picked up the fence and let them have it.  They looked pretty guilty... they even fled when I pulled in.  Busted.


The dark line in the middle of the picture is where the burning starts.  This is east of Custer City.



At my second stop, I said hello to a couple old friends, Roanie and Bay Boy... the horses were grazing with the herd and I stopped for a chat.  I did all the talking.

This is east of Thomas on a neighbor.  The dark running through the middle like a river is burning wheat.



Checking on my last herd is where the collision was... north of town, less than a mile from where all the wild fires were burning this week, and it's changing daily.  Formerly a one-horse road that was barely passable even in the jeep wrangler (and not passable all the way through), now it has 2 oil rigs on it and a third going up as I write this.  The roads are new and wide and extremely rough from all the heavy traffic.  Oh, the traffic!  There are men and pickups everywhere.  Trailer houses and  pipe stacked all around. Semis coming and going.  Workers constructing and destructing.  It's virtually a little community out there... and our curious cattle are taking it all in.  Even the 11 waywards visiting the neighbors came up to the gate wanting to come home and see what all the commotion is about.  While out there doing my job today, I was thinking that this is literally my two worlds colliding.  As we're stepping out of the farming and into the oilfield, the oilfield is covering up our "space" for lack of a better word.  It's ironic that it's here in our "backyard" yet, Rodney drove his crew to Billings today... nothing short of a 2 hour drive to work in the oilfield.  I think I'll stick with the wheat field, and when that's gone, I guess I'll have to find another way to help my husband.  I'm sure he has a few ideas.

Equipment rowed up on us as they build a new rig pad just over the hill.  Another rig on the neighbor peeking over the tree.



The first rig on us.  You can't see all the trailers, pickup and workers at the base of it.  It's hidden behind the hill.  Side Note:  we don't own the land where the rigs are... we rent it.  I only wish it was lining our pockets.  Oh the ministry that money could fund!


 

The grass isn't always greener on the other side, huh girls??

My ultimate destination... and all is well.