Mental Musings

I decided to write a Christmas hymn tonight. My wife read it and suggested that I needed a bridge and a tag (to give it the modern form of VCVCBCT), so I added those as well. Christmas Hymn by Steve Poole, 2011 Mary, Joseph traveled far to reach the chosen place Wise men followed a blazing star With gifts for Christ to grace Angels came from heaven on high Proclaiming the newborn King Shepherds came from fields nearby Then left with songs to sing Gifts of love we each can bring Christ has come, now let us sing Let your praises ever ring Glory to the newborn King Now we often travel home Nearing Christmas Day Yet, wise men share with those who roam Of love and hope, I pray For angels shout to hear them call For help from all their strife Christ lying in a manger stall Was born to bring new life Gifts of love we each can bring Christ has come, now let us sing Let your praises ever ring Glory to the newborn King Glorious day, rejoice and sing Come to Chri...

There are certain things that you hear in your life that you may never forget. It can be as simple as just another way of looking at something or perhaps a completely new thought or idea that had never occurred to you prior. I don't think I will ever forget a statement that was made in my Practice of Church Music class: "Anytime a church has a large number of policies, you can tell that they have had many problems in their past." I have found this to be true in most any organization that I have encountered. Why is that? I believe it is because we would rather make new policies than actually deal with the problem. Example: somebody in your Homeowner's Association puts up a really ugly shed and at the next meeting they vote to create a policy about what type of shed is acceptable for your association. Why not just deal with the problem in a loving and caring way? If the ugly shed really concerns people because it could detract from their property values, then simply ...

I have a problem with people who force their religious beliefs on others, be it Christians, Muslims, Atheists or Secularists. "Wait a minute," you say, "what do you mean by secularist?" Secularism or Secular Humanism is a religion because it is a belief system that supersedes and/or replaces God. It includes people of many beliefs, including Christians sadly, but the fundamentals of secular humanism override all other belief systems. It is a religion that has spread throughout our higher education, political system and judicial system, spurred on by the mainstream media. The one area that Secular Humanists have been most successful is in teaching the young people of our nation to believe that there is good in all people and that, regardless of their individual beliefs, society can work together to bring an end to war, pestilence, famine, poverty, hatred, and bigotry. How? Through scientific enlightenment and communal values. This is beamed into the mentality of o...

My Winter Holiday by Steve Poole, 2011 Putting up the holiday tree, Mailing holiday greetings with glee, Buying presents for others from me, Why am I still so empty? Singing holiday carols ‘til three, Then watching holiday shows on TV, While sipping a cup of holiday tea, Why am I still so empty? Then reading the card you sent to me, “Not presents nor cards nor even the tree, Are reasons we celebrate this day, you see” Now I don’t feel so empty. You shared about Christ and His nativity, The star, the angels, the shepherds, Mary, The birth of the One who died for me, Now I don’t feel so empty. Now looking at my holiday tree, The cards and carols and presents for me, I know the reason for all of the glee, And I am no longer empty. For Christ was born and died for me, I want my friends and family to see, That Christ is the reason for all of my glee, And I am no longer empty. Merry Christmas

Looking back on the past five and a half years that I have been blogging, I realized that I have many posts which have had virtually no views. But then I also have a few that have had thousands of views. So I thought I would share some of the posts that I think deserve a second look. Hope you enjoy some of these. WORSHIP Your Worship Ministry: Community or Country Club Defining Worship Styles Spotlight on Competence Worship Wars Should We Compete with Hollywood Don't Compete...Complete Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs Primary Purpose for the Church Worship Changes Silent Lord's Supper Communion: How Should We Observe It ? Heavenly Music What Is Wrong With Professionalism Nothing New Under Heaven WRITING Christmas Hymn Building the Church Together The Writing Process Poetry Seasons of Life Free Dramatic Script I Want You Thankful In a Daze Rest in Him Everyone Prays in His Own Language Friend To Me DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS Elijah Was a Man Ju...

I have had the opportunity recently to use the iPhone 4s in home rather than drooling over it at the Apple Store. Since I have been using the Android platform with my HTC Evo for the past year, I thought I would write a short comparison. But I must admit up front that I have been an Apple entusiast for many years. I would have purchased an iPhone for my own use before even considering the Android, but I was limited to using the Sprint network due to our churches contract. Now that the iPhone is available on Sprint, I can guarantee that my next phone will be an iPhone. Since I have had the Evo for over a year, I will list what I do not like about this particular phone and the Android OS and compare that to the iPhone and Apple OS. Single Hand Use - FAIL. Maryland restricts holding a phone while driving, so I am limited to one hand usage while in the car if I am going to obey the law. This phone is virtually impossible to answer, dial, or put into sleep mode with one hand. I...

I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes and happenings from behind the scenes of The Christmas Post musical being performed at our church this Christmas season. The names have been withheld to protect the guilty. From a teenage boy: "I need help putting on my makeup!" From a preteen boy: "Do I really need makeup? Aren't I pretty enough already?" "Does she look old enough?" From a male cast member to another male cast member: "That shade of makeup suits you." "Don't you need to put some makeup on your head, too?" "I am so sick of donuts." From a male non-cast member to a male cast member after he left the makeup area: "You look sweet." "Can you text me that picture?" From a male cast member: "I am going in here. I don't want someone taking a picture of me putting on makeup." "Does this make me look fat?" Yes, even in the theatre you get this question. O...

Our second night of The Christmas Post also went well. And once again the comments left are overwhelmingly supportive. Individuals that spoke to me directly have commented on how professional and realistic everything was. I will list a sampling of the printed comments below. I look forward to come to your church every year. Very good performance. You do a great job every year. Wonderful show with a powerful message. Thanks for portraying what we should remember and keep in our hearts. Good play, but the soldier can't act - love Ashton (Ashton played the soldier and decided to write a prank comment) Thank you. What a wonderful ministry. I appreciate Alysson for inviting me. Excellent, funny, very enjoyable. Thank you for the beautiful message of Jesus. Absolutely Great!!! Wonderful, energetic production. We really enjoyed it. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Amazing production. Excellent production and presentation of the true reason of the season. Love Oak ...

Our first presentation of The Christmas Post is complete and the reviews are here. First thing, not one negative comment...which, believe it or not, is a first in the six years and 48 Christmas performances that I have directed at Oak Grove. The best news is that four (4) people indicated that they accepted Christ as their Savior tonight. There were also seventeen (17) people who indicated that they rededicated their lives tonight.  Here are some of the highlights from the comments left: Kevin age 8 gave this play ****** out of five The Christmas Post was super! You [shuld] pay them $10. (I think he meant he would pay $10 to see it) Wow! Great performance guys. You were so good! The play had a great meaning and message about faith with humor. Great set and singers. Wonderful gift to the community. Thank you. Thank you for the inspiring evening. A beautiful presentation of the story of faith in Jesus. The message was clearly presented and the performance was well do...

Thanksgiving, a national day set aside to give thanks to God for His blessings on our country, came about because of the true historical accounts of the Pilgrim's celebrative meal shared after their survival as recorded by Governor Bradford of the Plymouth Plantation. I love history, unfortunately most of what they teach in schools today is false or in the least politically motivated. When I was in elementary school 40 years ago, we were taught that Thanksgiving was a celebration of how the Pilgrims working together were able to survive the harsh winter and successfully plant crops with the help of the Indians (now named Native Americans by the politically correct crowd). In fact, it was stressed that were it not for the collectivism of the Pilgrims and the knowledge of farming that the Indians shared with them, the Pilgrims would have perished. This might have been a nice, feel-good story, and it may have fit in well with the liberal theology that has been f...

As those who follow me on Twitter or Facebook may know, I recently spent five days in New York City as part of the American Festival Choir's trip to perform in Carnegie Hall . The trip was organized by Phil Barfoot's Celebration Concert Tours (CCT). I would highly recommend them for any concert tours as they did an incredible job organizing every aspect and they desired to make a positive and lasting Christian impact on New York. The concert included performances by Christian recording artist David Phelps and syndicated radio host and singer Marcia Ware . With 360 singers in the American Festival Choir we were the largest choral group to ever sing in Carnegie Hall. The choir consisted of 145 sopranos, 115 altos, 60 tenors and 40 basses, from thirteen churches from ten states including California, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Maryland, Oklahoma, and New York. The concert was a fund raiser to provide support for after school care program held at a Brooklyn chur...

Just a quick post to share a concern. It seems that the more the politically correct people of the world preach tolerance and acceptance, the more they become hateful and disrespectful toward opposing views. It amazes me that the very people who say that we must accept others for who they are will not accept conservatives for who they are. Jan Morgan , a conservative news commentator, recently posted this on her facebook wall in response to a barrage of nasty comments and threats: I will not tolerate people on my wall disrespecting me by calling me names and I will not allow people to come on my walls and state something as fact when I know the information is erroneous.  This wall is NOT A debate forum. It is my wall. IT IS TO BE RESPECTED AS IF YOU WERE A GUEST IN MY HOME.. and I retain the right to determine who will be my guests. I think it is some good advice. Learn to treat others with respect even on facebook. Treat their wall as if it is their home and you are a gu...

Many Christians have held to teachings by uneducated pastors or bible study teachers who are just ignorant of God's Word. Think of the many fallacies that have been taught throughout the ages and retaught by others who placed more trust in the teachers than in the actual Word of God. EXAMPLES (some of which are controversial even in my own religious denomination): Drinking - many pastors in evangelical churches have taught that drinking is a sin for the past 80-90 years. Why only 90 years? Because prior to Prohibition in the United States (1920-1933), most evangelical churches had no issue with alcohol. The reason was not that they believed it to be a sin, but that they believed as Christians we were to obey the laws of our land. However, some pastors began to preach that drinking was a sin and even found a way to clear Jesus from a perceived sin by teaching that the wine Jesus drank was "new wine" and would have been no stronger than grape juice (which became t...

Tonight I was watching "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" for about the seventh or eighth time. The Ring Trilogy was one of my favorite sets of books as a young teen and I was thrilled when I heard they were making movies based on these books. One of my favorite quotes from the first movie happens when Gandalf the Gray is talking to Frodo Baggins as they sit in the dwarf mines trying to determine which way they should go. Frodo comments how he wishes that the ring had never come to him and that none of the problems had ever happened to him. Gandalf replies, "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." Have you decided what to do with the time that is given to you? Many people spend their entire lives just searching for the purpose to their life. While everyone has a purpose for life that is unique to them, we all have a common purpose: to have f...

December 2, 2011, is the date for our first performance of The Christmas Post . Most who attend will have no clue about the countless hours of rehearsals required to get to that point. Some of these rehearsals would have made for some pretty funny outtakes if there had been a camera around. But only a few know about the work that went into this before we even started to rehearse the lines and music. I guess it all started around October of 2010. We were in the midst of preparing for the One Bethlehem Night Christmas musical that we performed last year. That musical was to be a one time event as a break from the 25 years of performing a Living Christmas Tree. We were struggling to find the support necessary to continue the Tree ministry, specifically in the areas of decorations, light programming and the choirs. Our plans were to take a one year break from the Living Christmas Tree ministry while we worked on replacing old lighting so that we could continue the ministry the nex...

I really miss not being able to go to church today. Sundays, while extremely exhausting with three services and evening rehearsals, are one of the things I look forward to each week. Joining together with hundreds of fellow believers as we lift up and proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. Since I have been sidelined for today, and possibly the next few days, I decided to search through the blogosphere, twitterverse and social networking sites to see what people do on Sundays. Most of my ministry friends have been pretty silent so far today. Probably because this is their busiest day of the week. Most of my Christian friends are also silent, but some are tossing in a few scripture verses or short status updates about going to church. But most of the rest of the world is in their Sunday morning mode: asleep or talking about sports. We focus so much time and energy on things that are for self gratification: eating, sleeping, sports, leisure activities, etc. It seems that we work our ...

I found this in my draft folder. Not sure why I never published it, but it seems like now is a good time. About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. "During those 200 years,...

I was reminded recently how deficient I am in the spiritual gift of encouragement. It is something that I have to work on daily because it is not something that comes to me naturally. My mind is typically focused on perfectionism, something that comes standard for most musicians, so I am often guilty of being too picky about the little things. I wonder if a lack of encouragement is something that is common among creative people? After all, they are the ones who seem to need encouragement more than any other group. I am sure we have all known more than a few prima donnas in our church music ministries. So, as I have heard that AA teaches, accepting that you have a problem is the first step to recovery. I guess this means I am a recovering non-encourager. So what can be done to help me along my road of recovery? How can I endeavor to become more naturally encouraging? My first plan is to remind myself that, although I do not need to get those pats on the back in order to continue do...

Just watched the new Courageous Movie by Sherwood Pictures. There were some incredibly emotional moments in the movie. During one particular scene I personally wanted to reach out and hug my boys...but they were home and not with us. The crowd was laughing so much at times that it was difficult to hear the movie's sound. I was not exactly thrilled about spending $19 to go see this movie. Most Christian movies are embarrassingly corny with holier-than-thou dialogue. The previous Sherwood Pictures movie, Fire Proof, showed that Christian movies do not have to be corny, but it was also still a very in-your-face Christian movie. Courageous on the other hand proved that Christian movies can combine fast-paced action movies with the core Christian values and sprinkle in some real life Christian speech and relationships without the corny dialogue. I certainly applaud the growing ministry of the team at Sherwood Baptist Church. I would love to meet these people some day because th...

What can we learn from Mayberry when it comes to worship? I was thinking about that as I watched an episode of Andy Griffith with the very small church that was packed with enthusiastic singers. Some of the things I noticed: The hymns were all sung very fast with little difference in style between them Everyone sang even if they did not have a very nice singing voice-even the men The music was led by the organist-no minister of music People had trouble staying awake during the sermons-especially the men Woman often made a point to draw attention to their new hats Everyone spoke to the pastor on their way out So how does this compare to worship in your church?

And another one gone, and another one gone. Another one bites the dust. I have to admit that I had my doubts about continuing my 1lb per week weight loss since I am taking a staycation and we went out to eat twice this weekend. But I was happy to see that I am indeed down one more pound this week. I had actually prepared some ideas for what I would put in my blog if I had not lost weight or worse had gained some this past week. All of them were excuses as well as a little pep talk about how it is not important if you lose a little ground as long as you keep pressing on toward the finish line. But the truth is that I still do not have a goal in mind. I just want to keep working on losing a pound at a time and see where I go from there. It is amazing how easily it is to get discouraged when trying to make lifestyle changes such as this. I did some yard work on Friday and my back has been hurting since. Add to that the slight pain that I feel around my waist as some tightening is go...

We live in a world gone amuck: Political Correctness; Sensitivity Training; Anger Management; etc. Remember the days when men were men and women were women and men married women? Remember when children were raised by their parents instead of a village? Remember when it was safe to watch a football game on TV with your family without any fear of inappropriate commercials being aired? Remember when Christians took a stand for morality and were not ashamed of letting people know how they felt or what they believed? Sadly the moral fiber of our world has been corrupted by a well oiled machine of liberalism, intellectual elitism, and religious multiculturalism. Everyone of these isms have shouted out their mantras of acceptance and non-judgmentalism, however they are the most bigoted, judgmental, uninviting groups around. How often have we heard about how we are not allowed to take away a women's right to choose? Yet when a woman chooses to honor the life that is within her, sh...

I imagine that normal people never think about things like this, but today I was wondering what things would be like at work if everyone acted like cats. So what did my imagination perceive? Everyone would get to work very early and they would walk around from room to room waiting to find someone who would start the coffee. If nobody materialized, they would all gather outside any door that held the person who usually makes the coffee. As soon as this person arrived, everyone would crowd around them doing their best to trip them and force them to step lively around everyone until they made it to the coffee pot. While this person was making coffee, everyone else will be stretching and scratching at the cabinets. Some may even be standing incredibly close to the individual who is making the coffee. After everyone gets their coffee, they will suddenly go running around the office place. The least little thing would distract them, especially if it is something that moves. A few employe...

12 weeks, 12 pounds down. It seems that I have definitely hit on the right mix of exercise and diet for me. The best part of my diet is that I have still been able to eat some no-nos, such as cookies, pie, chocolate candy and even a couple iced doughnuts during the past 12 weeks. And there has only been one time that I had to turn down something that I really wanted to eat because I was thinking about my diet. I have only three more pounds to go and I will weigh the same as when I got married 19 years ago. I don't plan to stop there, but I really do not have a goal in mind. After I lost the first 7 pounds I started to notice that my energy was coming back. I have never been one to sit around doing nothing, but the problems that I have had with asthma for the past 3 years has really taken a toll on my generally hyperactive mind. My mind was still going at light-speed, but my breathing and body were slowing me down little by little. I am certain that most of the credit for my abi...

No, I am not getting married or reminiscing about marriage or working with a couple in premarital counseling or anything else to do with marriage. But I have created something new to share something old. Actually, several somethings old to be more specific. On my Blog, I have added some pages with some samples of dramatic sketches, poetry and hymns that I have written over the years. I decided that the hundreds and hundreds of files that I have saved on my computer are just sitting there getting dusty. Well, not actually getting dusty because that would be bad for a computer harddrive. So I decided to share them with everyone. None of these have been previously published, so they are royalty free. I just ask that you make sure credit and copyright information is used whenever you find something useful for your church or ministry.

Just before the east coast earthquake happened yesterday, I heard a loud grinding noise as if two very large and very rusted gears were trying to turn against each other. Then the walls, floors and furniture started to shake. The entire episode was over in less than 20 seconds. It reminded me of other naturally destructive forces where you hear them before you can feel the effect: tornadoes and flash floods, for example. You get a very short time prior to the destructive event where you are warned with a faint sound. If you recognize the sound and take immediate action, you can get to safety. Usually by the time you see the cause of the sound it is too late to do anything about it. It is sad at how many people notice the warning sounds about their eternal destruction, yet do nothing about it. Pray that God opens the ears of those around you to the warning signals before it is too late for them.

It has been five years since I started blogging (August 10, 2006). I wish I could pull an Oprah and tell all of my readers, "You get a car, and you get a car, and you get a car!" But, don't hold your breath waiting for anything like that. Although, I do want you to know that I appreciate all twenty of you who are bold enough to admit you read this blog. Or at least the one person who has been reading it for the past 5 years (my wife), whether she wanted to or not. Blogging is not something that comes natural to me. I only kept a journal one summer in my life. However, I did spend much of my spare time writing throughout my years of middle and high school. It was amazing how much free time I found during classes to write skits, poems, song lyrics, and more. I still enjoy writing and have thousands of such things clogging up my file cabinets and the documents folder on my computer. I believe that the thing I like the most about blogging is that it gives every individu...

I have been blessed to have known some very intelligent people over the years: computer programmers, aeronautical engineers, composers, doctors, lawyers, bio-chemical engineers, authors, electrical engineers, designers, and more. I am not speaking about simply the ability to express extreme knowledge in regards to their own particular idiom, but rather the mental ability to garner knowledge about any field and bring their own unique viewpoint to the table. They could discuss music or mechanics, art or astronomy, Plato or Pluto (Mickey Mouse's best friend). None of the people I have in mind ever came off as know-it-alls. They did not flaunt their intelligence in front of others, but often seemed hungry to learn what people around them knew and thought about the subject of the day. Many who meet them might think of them as intelligent giants, but I saw them as people of great wisdom...for they all were strong believers in Jesus Christ. There are many intelligent people in the w...

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 Since I am a musician, I often think of things in musical terms. And when I hear a musical term, I sometimes relate it to things other than music. That is why when I once saw the phrase “Coda of his life”, meaning the end of someone’s life; I started to think of how an entire piece of music would fit together to symbolize a life. The very basic thing you need for any music is the melody. That would represent your life. Each melody is unique and beautiful in its own way. The melody continues on throughout a piece of music, but sometimes it is changed a little: it could change tempo, the speed of the music; the rhythm of the melody could change; it may go into a minor key, which is often thought of as a sad or lonely sound; it could simply change keys so that it gets higher or lower for awhile, very similar to the peaks and valleys of our own lives; and sometimes o...

This past Sunday, Jim Testerman used the aliteration "Grumbling, Growling and Griping" as part of his sermon. This reminded me that while on vacation recently I was thinking about the general attitude of people around me. As a minister, I often hear a lot of complaining. It is not that people who attend church are always complaining, it is just that generally if they are happy they don't have a need to speak to me about it. So, it goes without saying that the main reason those who attend church speak to their minister is because they have a complaint about something. I have done my best throughout my 20+ years of ministry to realize that the complaints are not meant as a personal insult or as a judgment on my character. But I must admit that anytime you hear 80% complaints versus 20% compliments it is going to affect your attitude as well. I often find myself in a rather foul mood immediately following worship services or special events because of the complaints that I he...

I am not In favor of starving the poor or taking medicine away from the seniors or taking away the pay of any federal employee (with the exception of the President, his cabinet and Congress), but I am likewise just as much not in favor of allowing our country to become so indebted that my future grandchildren will be working 80+ hours per week just to pay for our current Social Security, school lunches, college loans, and every usueless governmental grant that Congress can get approved for their districts and states. We can easily become enslaved to our own government if we continue to allow them to spend, spend, spend as they promise more and more freebies to the people. I have only had to pay federal income taxes a few years in my entire adult life. I generally qualify to get everything back except for the 15.2% Social Security payments that I am required to pay as a self employed minister. Yet I realize that if we continue to ask the wealthy to pay more and more of the load, then th...

And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:9-13 Elijah was feeling sorry for himself and God had to teach him a les...

Every minister of music must deal with the battle of personal preferences when it comes to worship styles. But the worship style war is nothing new to the church. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote that he could not stand the music his children enjoyed. Bach wrote music mainly for churches in his time, and almost none of it is performed in modern churches except as part of a classical concert. He was not using the old traditional music, but his own, newly composed music. George Frederic Handel never saw any of his music performed in a church because it was too contemporary and used opera-like techniques which were forbidden in church music. But today his “Hallelujah Chorus” is performed in churches around the world every Christmas. Martin Luther believed that music should be written in a language that people could understand and that it should include new texts at a time when only scripture and Latin were used for church music. He was also an advocate for new forms of music. Hymns such as the...

I have been contemplating "worth" lately. Not in any specific context, just the concept and meaning of the word. For instance, this blog has on average of 100 readers per week plus those who might read the posts on facebook...so do I ever post anything that is really worth the effort of those who take the time to check out the blog? Honestly posting worthwhile comments was not my original intent when I started a blog. I just planned on share some random thoughts of things that interested me. That is why I labeled it Mental Musing. But lately I have wondered why should I bother posting anything if it is not worthy of being shared? But worth is something that actually creeps into our minds quite often. What are my possessions worth? What is my time worth? Is this worth my effort? Am I doing anything worthwhile with my life? Sometimes we substitute other words such as value, success, or gain. I guess the one that concerns me most is when I hear somebody say that they feel worthl...

Everywhere I look it seems that death is a popular subject. When people die in war or in a natural disaster it becomes big news. When people die in a murder or industrial accident it is the leading story of the local news. Video games and authors make millions on war and murder. When a celebrity dies, the world spends days mourning them. We even seem to celebrate the death of a business. Have you ever witnessed the crowds at a going-out-of-business sale? It seems that we love to see people hurt and even killed. We have become a morbid society. America's Funniest Home Videos thrived for more than 10 years on the pain and suffering of others. YouTube is the new place to post videos of somebody being beat up or injuring themselves in some stupid dare. Television, movies and video games have moved beyond reality in the area of gore. And is there anyone who believes that people watch racing while hoping that nobody has an accident? Perhaps this explains why people seem to be content wit...

On Sunday, April 24, we sang the Finale from our Good Friday musical. On Monday, April 25, I was finalizing the plans for our Christmas musical. On Tuesday, April 26, I was working on music for the May 22 worship services and meeting with a local music minister to discuss our plans for a Mass Choir event in September 2011 as well as for special events in October 2011, November 2011 and March 2012 making sure not to conflict with Christmas or Easter special services. That is the way it is in the music ministry. While most people are listening to Christmas music, worship pastors are listening to Fourth of July music. While most people are enjoying the Easter egg hunt, worship pastors are looking at new music for next year's Good Friday service. At 12:03 PM this past Sunday, I thought to myself as I shook hands with people leaving our fourth worship service that Sunday, "It is finished." But since I am not Jesus, it really isn't finished. The goal that Christ has put bef...

This week we have had an extra teen at home as our nephew came to visit. We were trying to think of some fun things to do with the three boys (ages ~13, 14 and 15). I asked them what they would like to do and this was their response: N: Nothing especially. A: Play video games. Z: It depends...can I have $20? Later I suggested that we go to tour the Havre de Grace Chocolate factory. This was their response: A: You don't want to get me near chocolate. N: Yeah, we would probably end up in the chocolate vat. Z: Could I get $20 instead? I then suggested going hiking and these was the response: A: Yeah, we could go hiking at Best Buy. N: Yay, Best Buy. Z: Could I go hiking and get $20? While at Best Buy I purchased something for myself and commented that I could have gotten it for free if I had printed out my RewardZone certificates ahead of time. Z said, "Can I have the certificates?" After visiting two Best Buys and four GameStops in the past three days with no money to spend...

I saved up and purchased an iPad 2 as my Christmas present. I went with the wifi only model, because I had researched ahead of time and discovered that I could tether the iPad to my phone to utilize the 3G/4G when I am not where I can get free wifi. I have had it for less than two days and thought I would share which apps I decided were most important for me. My first app was YouVersion's Bible app. After that, my goal was to get it set up so that I could use it as a computer replacement. While there are many free apps out there, I will start with the apps that I chose to purchase. I must have access to my Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. I had already used Documents to Go by Dataviz , so I decided to purchase the Premium Office Suite ($14.94) so that I could also create and edit files for Word, Excel and PowerPoint on my iPad 2. I also needed a way to print documents. The new OS 4.2 allows you to print to select printers which utilize the new ePrint or through Apple...