Mental Musings

I have had several people ask me about how they can get published. I guess they assume that I am an expert in this area because I am a Music Minister. My first question for them usually is why do they want to get their item published: is it for educational purposes; to make money or for fame; or just to share with others? I have had over a dozen various things published with LifeWay (part of the Southern Baptist Convention ), but all of these except one were things that I had written for use in a local church. My intention when writing them was not to get money or fame, and I certainly did not. My skits, articles and one song were published just because I already had them and thought "why not send them in and see what happens." I have probably had more than 100 refused and just over a dozen accepted. Again we come back to the reason for wanting to be published. While in college I realized that professors would willingly share with you from the vast storehouse of knowledge ...

During our vacation we visited our relatives' churches for worship. Both churches are about the same size as the church where I serve. One was a country church in Mississippi and the other was a church in Branson, Missouri. I thought I would outline their worship styles and some observations that I made while there. Wade Baptist Church in Mississippi has two identical morning worship services using a blend of contemporary praise and worship music and traditional hymns. They had a small orchestra of about five wind instruments along with a bass player, organist, pianist and acoustic drums. They projected the lyrics of the songs on three screens (two at front and one for the worship team). They used a choir and soloists with the worship leader standing behind the pulpit leading the congregation. The choir was able to sing without folders during the congregational singing because of the rear screen projecting lyrics for them. The congregational singing was not very strong, but most ...

There is an old saying, "There is always tomorrow." Procrastinators love to put things off until tomorrow. Financial gurus tell us to put aside a nest egg for tomorrow. Forecasters try to tell us what the weather will be like tomorrow. There is another old saying, "Tomorrow never comes." Life coaches want you to understand Carpe diem, seize the day; friends may encourage you to eat drink and be merry for tomorrow may never come; or parents may be telling you to never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. I guess it depends on your outlook on life. Some people are longing for tomorrow because they are in the middle of a storm in their lives. Others are dreading tomorrow because of some impending doom that they perceive. And while I find the time to "live in the moment" of life and believe that God teaches us to live day by day, I also think it is foolish for us not to prepare ourselves for the future. If we were only concerned about the here and now,...

Watching a Disney environmental commercial and my boys start complaining about all of the resources they wasted in making the commercial: paper, paints, electricity, money, etc. Glad they have learned how to spot hypocrisy on their own. Like we are to believe that these Hollywood stars actually have smaller carbon footprints than us regular folk. Energy conservation in our home starts by living within my salary. That is the reason I am always turning off lights, not because I am trying to save a horned-bill white-crested mole-rat in Saskatoon (I doubt they actually exist, so don't try to Google them). I am not trying to conserve water during the mini-drought we are experiencing by not watering my lawn. It is because I do not want to pay that larger water bill when it comes next month. If I had as much money as Al Gore I might own multiple mansions, fly on private jets, ride in limos, etc. The difference is that I would not be out telling others that they need to conserve energ...