The Break

It has been a very busy couple of months for gigs and work and social things. The social stuff has been amazing, starting with a friends 40th birhtday party and ending with our friends annual, now Burlington, Christmas party, it has been great.

The Cliff Cline Jazz Club is starting to gain some great momentum (with and without me!) an I am looking forward to making tonnes of music with the guys this next year. The CD, as expectd, has slowed in December but will have to resume on the break week and into January.

With some transitional things at work, the CD, The Jazz Club and the hopefuly more gigs in general this year should be very busy in a good way.

An Interesting Season

Ironically I am not talking about Christmas, although what I am pondering is related - closely. Life throws many different things and experiences at you. I would have to say that I have not experienced anywhere close to the harsh or tragic things others I know are dealing with or have had to deal with just to survive.

Have I had a easy life? No, I don't think so, but everything becomes very relative quickly, and really it is not a contest. What I do know is that being able to go through life with others and do more than survive, indeed to thrive and grow, is a blessing.

Now you do get into the issues of what is surviving, growing etc., but I think if you read this blog at all you realize that, although I may struggle with materialism and the like, I uphold the ways of God as the ideal, and try to follow what the Bible teaches in that regard.

The mystery is in this. The Bible is simple enough that a young child can grasp and believe its fundementals, but complex enough to keep one pondering its meaning for a lifetime. Moreover, it seems as we get older, living those fundementals becomes more difficult to do, not easier. And yet, the basic concept never changes. Truth about life and its "keys" are given to us through the Bible. Christians believe that the Bible is the supernatural (although strikingly simple by today's standards) method by which the Creator of the universe has revealed everything we need to know to survive this chapter of existence. 1 Peter 1:3

What strikes me as most important as a person who believes in Jesus and in God (Yahweh, the name that the Bible uses to describe the God of Israel) is that I live a life that is defined by my submission (a dirty word today) to what the Bible teaches. A life that truly seeks to learn what the Bible says, to do what the Bible says and to teach others what the bible says. That progression can be seen well in the life of a teacher of Israel from the old testament times Ezra. Ezra 7:10

I think the opposite is true as well. It is important not to be defined, if one calls oneself a Christian, by thoughts, actions or proclamations that do not help others see the truth of the Bible more clearly. In the end, too much time spent on ideas or thoughts not aimed at doing what the Bible teaches as the keys to life is simply a waste of time.

Living a life akin to that of Ezra harvests a God honouring crop as it were. That is a narrow focus I admit, and one which I am striving to regain. Simple, focussed and true. It is hard to vacate the mind of the wisdom of this world which can seem all too enticing and logical in favour of the wisdom that is contained in the Bible. 1 Cor 1:20 All to often techniques and thoughts that the world reveres are the exact opposite of what the Bible would teach.

The simple focus is that success will come with a life lived in the truth of what the Bible teaches. John 17:17 Jesus was clear on that. Success of course looks very different than what the world thinks is successful. That concept is true, but very unpopular, cliche, unrealistic and trite to many. But it is a simple truth to dwell on and study. Look at Matthew 5: 1-13, Jesus' teaching is simple but completly counter to every human instinct it would seem. I am looking forward to preaching on that Dec 31.

So what is so interesting about this season? Well at a time when I could wrongly try to conjure up all that I think is right by the standards of this world to aid in succeeding in the eyes of many who may be watching, I am prfoundly pleased that I don't have to rely on my own wisdom, or the wisdom of other men, but to jointly rely with other trusted friends on the wisdom of God to stay focused on this simple truth: I need to learn more of what the Bible teaches, do more of what the Bible teaches and teach others more of what the bible teaches everyday. There may be other strategies out there, but I think that is a simple way of describing what Jesus would have us do for life. John 8:31.

KISS

Do you ever feel that for all of your striving, you are ever failing? A walk around the block is a circle, not a journey, and a debatable amount of exercise.

Sometimes I relate too much to the movie It's A Wonderful Life. By that I mean, I can't see the good stuff. It might be there, but I can't see it. As some other movie said, after a while the bad stuff is easier to believe. (because it is just way more prevalent)

I have been reading several blogs lately. Quite a few of just folk, linking through a friends blog to their friends etc., not artists or intellectuals, not "thinkers" or writers, just folk.

There is so much criticism in our society. It seems that many many people feel judged, not good enough. Like they don't measure up. I am there. How can you not be. Almost everyday I/we are told how we do not measure up to someone's standard.

Ironically that is a message that can too often come from the people who bare the responsibility to pass on the message of God's hope for the world. The hope that the world would try and know who He is and hat He's about. I know I mess up with this all the time.

So what is the message of God. On one hand, yes you don't measure up to God, but.... you can. As has been said often, it is not easy, but it is simple. KISS, keep it simple stupid. Man do I need to remeber that. Just be the truth that is in the Bible. When you fall short, just try and be more the next day, knowing that the very exercise (humility, repetence, trying to live the truth, not just know it) is success in God's eyes. Following the teachings of Jesus and the Bible (accepting and following them) allows us to live in this positive and hopeful reality. We are better than ok with our creator God.

Yes it is incredibly difficult to keep that simple focus, but I write this to remind myself, and I suppose others - Just Do It.

Had rehearsal tonight with the Jazz Club. Quite a blast. Drums, piano, stand up bass, sax and vocals all in my basement. I was blown away by the fact that my kids just fell a sleep. It was not quiet by any stretch, but they were out. Thought that was a neat experiment gone right. A little jazz to put them and keep them a sleep!!

The band itself, although behind schedule in our aspirations, is starting to realize our vision in some of our repetoire. (not all yet) We are doing standards, but are starting to out our own spin on several, with the goal of doing that to all plus starting to wrtie our own jazz tunes etc.

Anyway, our Christmas jazz party is next Thursday night December 14th at Not my Dog link to link. Love to see you there. We can't wait to make music and enjoy everybody's company!!

Just One Thing

A lot of reflection lately on many things. One of the things that has been bubbling to the surface again is purpose in life. As a middle leader in an church I often have to consider how am I doing at conveying the one important thing that all members of this community need to know and do. What is that thing. I think the answer is simple, the process is also simple, not particularly easy, but simple.

We are to make disciples of Jesus Christ Matthew 28:19 and of course be disciples by following the teachings of Christ, The Bible John 8:31. That is very Christian sub-culture language, but I do not know how else to say it.

As with anything it goes much deeper. Look at these thoughts on leadership:
link 1
link 2

One of them talks about Marcus Buckingham who talks about the need for clarity from a leader. I like the picture in the other article that shows the "one thing" a leader needs to be.

Nevertheless, I think this underscores some of my thinking and learning. You must be known for something. One thing. You must lead people towards one thing. That one thing may have incredible depth and breadth, but it must be clear and you must lead people towards it.

Simply, I need and want to be someone who follows the teachings of Jesus and helps others, who want to, do the same with passion and integrity. Not just a Christian nominally, not from the Christianese perspective a disciple because that's the right term. In the end someone who says what they will do and be (this is part of that) and then outside the blogsphere (the hard part) actually does it. Oh yeah with depth and breadth.

A Long Week

Hey Guys,

Sorry again for the lack of blogging. It was a great week, but incredibly busy.

The FTC gig went great in Burlington last week. There I played with Ali Matthews and also warmed up with a little set. Moreover, I had a jazz practice and a board meeting at church, two "gigs" last weekend and a tonne to do at home and work.

I spent a little time on the CD today after the service this morning at church. I am still optimistic that I can get this thing done "on time" (lot of ""'s today eh?) but I need to find time to press through December so I am ready for some heavy recording in the New Year.

Anyway, more as it comes. Thanks for reading and keeping up. Hope to see you at a gig or church or something soon.

Gigs a Coming Come on Out

Hey it's been a bad week for blogging, sorry. Lots going on.

I had a rehearsal this week with Ali Matthews who I am warming up for and playing with 4 times this Christmas in the FTC Christmas shows. I have done very little playing for other people in my life and this is a great experience. So fun to be able to "sit back" and have fun in the background. The whole band is great and the music is all Christmas and fun. You have got to see this!! We wil be playing in Hamilton first Nov. 30th at the Royal Botanical Gardens, sounds cool non! Then a few days later in London at the Lamplighter Inn in London on Dec 3rd.

For tickets call FTC 1-877-382-2262. Hope to see you there!!

The Cliff Cline Jazz Club Christmas Party

So mark your calendars Dec 14th, 2006 and come out to Not My Dog for our first annual Christmas bash. Love to see you there. We will have lots of the Jazz Clubs guys out that night, should be a casual hoot!! Come by and say hi, love to hang for a few hours.

Computers - Yeesh

So I am not technically much of a computer geek. I know enough to be dangerous and generally right a wronged ship, but I am not energized by the process. I run the computers at church - three went down last month. Without boring you with the details, it si also crucial in a small environment that all of computers work, well all of the time. There is no pad. Needless to say I have been wokring like crazy to make us ready for this weekend and the staff able to do their respective jobs. Now they are back to normal, I better go and catch up!!

The Cliche Police - A Tribute

I was recently cited and fined (rightly) for cliche (Christianese to be exact) use on my blog, something I try very hard to avoid. I was reminded by this fine, payable with remorse and apologies, that sometimes trite sayings or expressions get in the way for what you are actually trying to say. I will take better care in trying to write with more intelligence and clarity in the future. In fact, I will definitely put my best foot forward and give it 110%, take it one word at a time, and leave nothing on the keyboard, put my sholder to the computer, and not accept cliches as an answer.

Phew, now that I got that out of my system, maybe I will stay clean for a while.:)

Joy In Work

I definitely think it is a struggle to keep constantly motivated. I also think it is tough to stay totally positive in the midst of high pressure and high goal setting. On top of that I think it is very difficult to keep balance across all areas of life in the midst of pushing on all fronts, positively with great motivation.

That is, however, what I think we need to do. I am reading a couple of John Maxwell books right now. In one of them he cites Edison as an example fo a incredibly positive thinker who succeeded through positive attitude and thought.

Many of the thoughts have caught my attention as I read these books. The one thought recently is this: Remain positive, hopeful, persevere, don't give up.

I am totally pumped by the work I am doing both at church (and at home for the CD and book etc.) I am working out, trying to do even more with and for the kids, and the decision to keep it positive is helping me get up in the morning. When you decide life will be good, it tends to agree - even when all of the circumstances you ind yourself in are less than ideal.

Technical Difficulties

I have been having some technical difficulties as of late. I think I have figured out it is FIrefox and/or the Mac OS. Alas, I have put in a couple of backdated ones that you may have read when I publihed a couple of posts in iWeb format, or maybe not. Just letting you know.

Cool Find

So one of my laments over the years has been the lack of ability to record and keep easily accessible demos of all the songs I have done. For obvious reasons, when you have written as many songs as I have and you are not performing and recording, well every year pretty much, unless you are diligent at writing them down and/or recording them, then you are in trouble.

I have always known that I have lost a few good ones, but lately I think it has become worse. In part because I have written so many "secular" songs that I am not really using in any venue right now.

Interesting the journey I am on in life (to me anyway). This CD project is pulling and pushing me to, perhaps, re-find my voice artistically.

Anyway, I did a concert 7-ish years ago, if you can believe it, at a friends photography studio downtown (link). He no longer has that place. I found a video tape of the concert, and have hence found several songs that I must consider now for recording. I am starting to think I am going to have to release a volume one and two under the same title a year a part or something.

Anyway, re-finding the songs in my hands and voice tonight. Very fun. Thought I would share.

Studio 60

So there is a new episode of my new favourite show (apparently already cancelled) on tonight. After a long but productive week, and at the start of what looks to be another one (Sunday is my first workday of the week) I am excited to chill with my bride and catch some entertainment.

Was at a friends triple cool 40th birthday party last night. Great friends he has. You can tell a lot about a person by their friends (or lack of them I suppose). The people were amazing, and the so was the get together.

Going to be a busy month of singing which I am excited about. I will be in Stratford, Burlington/Hamilton, London and Toronto over the next few weeks with Ali Mathews and FTC Canada. Should be a blast!!

Blogger has been having some problems, so I put up a couple blogs from the mac. I will have them re-entered under this format in a day or two.

'til next blog.

Questions

The discipleship journey in Christ is both simple and complicated. Tonight I want to concentrate on the simple.

Several conversations about this topic have led me to this blog. How do I know I am moving forward in Christ, or more specifically, how do I know that I, as a Christian, am in the right place?

The answer to me is simple, but multi-tiered. If you are moving forward in Christ, than you are in an environment that God would like. He wants you to grow in Him. Therefore, the environment itself may or may not be totally positive (e.g. can one under persecution grow - of course) but if you can find are focussing on God and are able to grow, it probably is an acceptable environment. If not, move on.

In the Bible, some related to Paul, some to Apollos ( as I understand it) Paul was like, dude who cares as long as Christ is being taught. Makes sense non?

Maybe too simplistic, but we need to serve God to out fullest in humility and with passion. If we move from place to place and never hit that, it is probably us, if we move and find it - good move.

Progress Report

It feels like I am writing a lot about the CD to come. I have spent a fair amount of time thinking about all aspects of it this last week. Production, marketing, tour support, all of those things. For sure part of it has been invigorating and, of course, a big part of it is stressful. There has been a great progression people getting into my music since the release of "Noticing the Sky", I am very excited about the prospect of building that even further, and hopefully adding value to peoples lives through the art that I can create. The most encouraging comments are the ones from people who describe how this song or that has helped them through a tough spot, or in their daily or weekly walk for a time.

That being said, it continues to be the process of producing this CD that is juicing me. I have set an aggressive target date for release, but I am not going to share it publicly - yet. All that to say, I am thinking sooner than later - it's the carrot to keep coming back here and reading. All that to say it will be months.

Some of the tracks are really coming alive in this stage of the production. (Still pre-production really) I am excited for where this CD is going. I think it is going to represent a new flavour for me, and from all aspects that excites me. I think it represents growth in several areas, musicianship, writing, singing, arranging, producing and more. That alone is making it all worth while.

Ahh the Sun

Well it has been a great week of soaking up the sun. Temperatures in the 80s and the 90s have rejuvenated the soul. Yet another week of relaxing before I am back at it around various places including, of course, work.

I over exposed this picture a little, but you get the idea.

Thanksgiving Weekend!

We haven't been as busy as we were this past Thanksgiving in years. Three dinners: one Saturday, Sunday and Monday. (throw a church service in there as well!) Saw almost all of our immediate family and some friends, that alone something to be thankful for.

Unfortunately I came down with a pretty good cold that has gotten worse today. Hopefully I can fight it off before the big drive to Florida for vacation at the end of this week!

Pre-production on the CD has been happily taking up alot of time lately. What can I say, the process has really lit some creative juices and I am growing more and more comfortable on the engineering side. I have been reading for a couple of years now on mic techniques, mixing techniques etc. trying to get some knowledge into the brain, and although I got some practice on the really low end version of Cubase I was using for some songwriting, working in Logic (Express) has been a great experience. Anyway, I am sure I need to find other things to post about, because the CD is months away, but man am I enjoying the process!!

Where Am I?

I wasn't refering to the amount of posts recently, but some may have assumed that was the context of the title:)

Anyway, I am really talking about the progress on the new CD. I am absolutely having a blast recording. I am about seven songs into the pre-production of about 14. Although that would make it seem like I am half way through at least this phase I am not, because I am not finished what I think I need to on all of the songs either. I do have to remeber this is the 'scratch' phase of the recording, nevertheless, I want to be happy even with this phase.

The CD is shaping up to be very different from my first, so down the line I will be interested to see what people think of the change. I would describe it as more of an artists CD than a worship CD, more songs for listening to then songs for singing to. Anyway, jsut felt like shooting up some info up here to keep something flowing from me to you.

Have a great day eh!!

Peace.

An encouragement!

Well I found it encouraging or inspiring, maybe you will too! I am an instant fan of the show Studio 60. I really liked West Wing for the most part, and have really enjoyed the stylized kind of TV that Aaron Sorkin has put out. I have not personally ever experienced that intensely cool of a work environment, but then again I have never worked in a premier studio in all of the world, or the White House - so it makes sense. I get that may never be my reality in terms resources and environment, but one verbal exchange from the show was very inspiring.

One of the characters was slightly at odds with another character regarding some historic issues between them. It was crunch time and the one wanted to make sure with the other that they were good. Paraphrased it went:

"Hey about yesterday"
"Forget it, let's work"

So many things in life, so many successes and failures, and challenges. Sometimes so many "good things to do", or tensions. Too often they are distractions from the cause.

Jesus faced this too. I am still processing the learning I did from this within the last couple of years, but really early in Jesus' ministry (Luke 4:38-44) He was healing people and the people did not want Him to leave. His response, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." Surely you can stay a while and heal Jesus, I mean that's good stuff right. Nope, got to work, at the right thing, not just the good things.

So what's the encouragement? Simply I think it is to stay focused on the mission of Christ. The other stuff will happen, but we must keep it from defining us. Jesus was known for His ability to heal, but His legacy is His message of the kingdom of God. We can know God through Christ. To be like Jesus, that needs to be what I am about. So back to work.

Shoulder to the Wheel

Someone asked me what's new today. I have to admit I kind of felt refreshingly boring. I have my CD project to work on and a whole lot of things to do at work, home and with the family. I pretty much have th next 8 months mapped out if God wills it.

Tomorrow shoul be a day of good progress on the pre-production on the CD. Gigs are copming in November and Deember and I anticipate a couple of more bookings as well.

See you early next week on the blog. Until then. Peace.

Work and Play

One of my personal goals for this year at work is to makes some gains in my use of both technology for worship and make better use of the actual space that we have. I simply write that to write it. The things that I could do are immense. Use of moving graphics in worship, more video production and more use of others video production. Adding more lights to our rig etc.

Well that's work.

I have been reflecting on the past four plus years at my current church. One of the things that has brought a great amount of satisfaction is thinking of the people that I have been able to work with that whole time. There have been busy seasons and hard seasons and dry seasons, but years later we are still doing it and better for it. This morning was a great morning working with some of those people, and of course some of the new ones who are joining in and I hope feeling the positive vibe.

Ultimately we do life with people. When relationships are good, life is good. I gather Jesus thought the same thing when he told us we have to love each other. John seemed to agree when he said you don't really know God if you don't love your brother. I know I need to get better at loving, well everybody, but it is encouraging to see the harvest of friendships growing. Life would be very empty without it.

So Much To Learn

The last few years have been ones of intensive growth. Thankfully, the majority of that learning has originated from the Bible, but I have found the experiences of others interaction with scripture has helped me learn more, and hopefully faster, than if I stared at the Bible in a vacuum. You can look at my book list for some of my reading, I have several more books I am into that I need to add to that list.

One thing I read last night was a monograph by Jim Collins on leading in the social sectors. In essence it was an extrapolation of his Good to Great book for organizations like churches, hospitals etc. His end conclusions were not changed from his book just tweaked. Rather than really do a poor job of summarizing a 30 page monograph, I suggest a quick read if this subject is of interest.

One of the hardest things I have had to learn over the past few years is the [un]-importance of being right.

The one exception I will make to this is the importance of defending Biblical truth, but the how to and what is a very long and intensely dense discussion that this blog would trivialize.

So what do I mean? I suppose I continue to learn more, and realize the brilliance (or lack thereof) of many people. Some whom I know and many of who I look to to learn, read, etc. A lesson that Jim Collins learned in writing his book was that the qualities of greatness in a great leader are humility and an uncompromising desire to see the mission accomplished.

I think humility is so important, and I have had to learn that on issues not involving biblical truth that it is my pride that drives me to be right. It is arrogance and a desire to be seen as superior or worthy that causes me to defend myself or my decisions. Leadership requires a response to some things - it just does. But other times it requires a trust that God is in control and may, in fact, defend you to others. If you let Him He may actually correct you too. I think I have experienced both sides of that learning, but the Bible says that God disciplines those he loves. Let's just say I feel loved!

As with other very personal, very public issues of how you are to others in a public arena, I think your reputation precedes you most places you go. Moreover, these things can positively change as you let God take hold of you, to transform you. I am so thankful that others have seen growth in my life and that I too have experienced growth. The great part about it is that I attribute the positive change to God, because I have looked to God to help, and then the change has occurred. It is part of how I express God, by identifying the work He has done in my life through specific interaction with Him and His Son Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Anyway, I haven't written a learning blog for a while. I hope this helps. One thing I know is that I need to keep growing in humility. I think to encourage any of my readers to do the same is a safe bit of Biblical advice. I know it is an endearing quality on earth, and I also know that God loves it too!

Looking Ahead

So I have three Christmas type gigs confirmed going into the winter season, and I will be warming up for and playing for Ali Matthews for FTC Canada awarenss concerts. It should be great time. I need to add them to the appearance page, but for now they are:

Thursday, November 30th at the Royal Botanical Gardens in HAMILTON
Sunday, December 3rd at the Lamplighter Inn, Crystal Ballroom in LONDON
Sunday, December 17th at the Church Restaurant in STRATFORD

I am anticipating an amazing time with these. It would be great to see many of you readers come out and catch the show nearest you!

Running the Race

So I am taking this Sunday off, and in fact the next couple of days. I think I have done a very poor job of relaxing for some time now. And by relaxing I do not mean to say sitting on the couch and trying to take a load off. I do mean spending quality time with God, my wife and kids and doing the the things that keep all aspects of who I am as healthy as possible. Last January I started eating better and running and managed to lose 20 pounds and felt way better. Well that took me until May, and since then I have not been discipined in either area. I have managed, by the skin of my teeth, to keep at the weight I got to - so now I need to go to the next phase - another 20 pounds before Christmas. Although I am no where close to as cool as my buddy Sven
(http://svenwalther.blogspot.com/) I am trying to motivate myself anyway I can to run more and improve. The chart below is where I am starting from the last couple of days. Tomorrow will be an improvement I would think, and then the chart will be more interesting to look at over time.

Anyway, thought I would bring some of the mundane into the blogsphere!!

On the Horizon

Well as you know I have begun the pre-production of my next CD. Things are coming along. I have no way of knowing how long it is going to take to get this CD done, but I know I won't release it until I am incredibly happy with the songs and the production. Pre-production is a long way from that, but am having a tonne of fun adding bones to the songs I have written. I am almost 4 songs into the pre-production process and I think I will pre-produce ay least 14 to choose from. After that the process gets more exprensive as I hire musicians to put in the real deal.

On a side not I have been using the stuff I bought to enhance ministry at Valley View the church I am music pastor at. I have done a whole service with the drums and bass "programmed" into Logic, and I roughly did some production to a tune I wrote specifically for a sermon last week.

It has been fun to learn and experiment and create. I am looking forward to much more of the same.

Recent Things

My apologies, I haven't felt as inspired on the writing side of things lately, and thus, haven't written. A few little fun things to recount.

Last weekend I used my new-ish MacBookPro laptop running Logic to back up the worship band. The band consisted of 4 singers, myself singing and leading from piano and a led guitar player. The computer played bass and drums programmed by yours truly. Apple Loops are pretty amazing, I switched up the verse, chorus and sometimes even the bridge drum parts to make them sound as legit as possible. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to keep the energy up. Reviews were actually really good. Everyone likes live, including yours truly, but a good experiment gone well.

The day before I spent the whole day rehearsing and the evening dong a live worship recording for Heather Thirsk (no website yet) in Barrie. Really a great experience, and I connected with some amazing musicians and singers who I have not connected with for a while or ever. Great to do that sort of thing.

I have a few more updates, but I need something to write about in the next few days so I will let you know more then.

Peace.

Thanks Windsor!

So last weekend I lead worship at Heritage Park Alliance Church, (link) Sat night and two Sunday morning services. Man I had a great time. The worship experience was great, I really felt a vibe between the people there and myself, and the worship of God was amazing - the point of course. Those of you that know me know I pound the piano pretty hard. It ended up being a patch chord, but the last song of the last service the piano just quit. A funny moment to say the least.

I always find it interesting to work with other worship bands, especially under tight time conditions. It challenges me to assess quickly and see what I have to do to make the band sound its best with very limited knowledge and personal experience with the players. All in all I think it went very well.

The real kicker for me was the spiritual side. I REALLY felt at ease, at home. I remember praying and thanking God before one of the services for the body of believers - His church. I really felt like, man, these are not strangers, these are my brothers and sisters - it was very cool. Anyway, we connected very well. Not only with the band but with other people in the church.

Another fellow I met and had lunch with was Terry Lesperance a pro drummer out of Windsor working in Detroit. A real cool connect and lunch.

I feel like it was one of those important connections in life, maybe as much for what it taught me about the church (BIG C) as it was for the experience itself.

Ebb and Flow

I still have not grown accustomed to the ebb and flow of music life and gigs. Granted I am still a part-timer with a real day job - I think I always will be, but as an organized guy I would love to pace and book things out perfectly. I don't think too many artists get to do that.

So last week was the surprise of the Rick Warren service. Obviously that was a thrill (granted for some wrong reasons like I get to say I led worship for a Rick Warren event) but it was great regardless. This week I have known for some time that I am going to Windsor to lead worship, should be a blast. Then next week, unscheduled until this week again, I am going to be part of a live worship recording in Barrie for Heather Thirsk (http://www.freshwind.ca/guests.asp). So it is fun, it ebbs and it flows.

Going away for a few days so I will talk to you in a day or two.

Rick Warren In Toronto

So I did end up leading worship for a Rick Warren event last night. Wow, that already seems like so long ago. It was an intimate event and it was certainly last minute from the putting together the music standpoint. In the end, the event was most likely life changing. I say most likely, because my life hasn't changed yet - but I am praying and working towards clarity on how I might make it life changing.

I have also been processing a lot of information lately. Some of the snippets of thought have come out in this blog, but over the next couple of weeks I hope to collate some summary thoughts on some of the most important things I am learning and applying. Hopefully you will find it helpful.

Good night!!

Growing Up!

It is my firstborn's Birthday today, she turns 7!! They grow up - fast. Funny how at 7 the parties go from family, and well that's it, to seven different occasions at all the families houses and of course the HUGE friends birthday party. Honestly it is so cute to see the hostess side of her personality come out. You start to see the joy she is getting out of the preparation alone and you realize how important relationships are going to be for her over her lifetime. It has been a fun couple of weeks building towards the big day. The party should be a blast, followed by two parents falling into chairs exhausted!

Cliff Cline Ring Tones

Come on, now this is funny!! I didn't do this, nor did I know it existed until today. Check it out!

link

Leading Worship with Rick Warren

I have confirmed today that I will be leading worship for a service where Rick Warren will be speaking that is coming together in Toronto around the massive aids convention (link). For those of you who are unfamiliar with Rick Warren, he has become more and more interested about solving some of the worlds problems - literally. His P.E.A.C.E. plan can be seen here, and how he got there can be seen here.

Anyway, unless anything changes I will let you know more when I know more.

Sorry, I was wrong

I don't know if I have ever been so humbled by how stupid I am. You see, I believe in Jesus Christ (that's not the stupid or wrong part). For years now I have called the place where I gather with other believers church. The building we meet in church. I have said stupid things like you should come to our church.

Christians en masse are the church. Wherever we gather, we are the church - at least potentially. If you are a Christian you can't really stop going to church, you can only stop doing the things Jesus said we need to do and be to be the church, which is Christians being as God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit would have us be together and apart.

If Christ were to come back for His bride tonight (tonight to us in Toronto anyway) we would most likely be asleep in bed. OH NO, we are not at church (the building), so we are not the church (Christ's followers, the bride of Christ), so to hell with us - literally - NOT.

I think we have been living the language we speak, and the language we speak belies what Christ and God's word, the Bible, tells us being "the church" is. Every minute we follow Christ's teaching more fully, we are set more free (John 8:31-32) to be His followers, and let me think, think, think, what's the word - to be His church across denominations, platforms, organizational models, and blah, blah, blah. Live it more with more people. Sounds good to me.

Tough Times

I think one of things that is most perplexing today, for me anyway, is how much time we as Christians spend debating morality, politics etc. My take on that is that we end up defining ourselves by what we do not believe in, rather than what we do believe in.

An example of this kind of dialogue can be seen here and here. ( Aug 2, 2006 about Colson)

There are visionaries out there that keep on claiming the same message day after day, month after month, year after year. They do not veer off course, because although they could spend time defending what they are not, it is far more productive to say and be what they are. You need to ignore to some degree the criticisms and just be.

Yes I am talking about being like Jesus Christ. We need to be Christians. People who are defined by love, guided by the Bible and the Holy Spirit, defined by caring for others, taking care of the poor, the sick (of every kind), the friendless, the homeless etc. When someone asks us an opinion on an issue we need to be like the new Chrysler commercials link (wait through intro to get to commercials). We need to tell them follow us through our day of helping people, telling people about Jesus, caring for people in our community etc. and be done with it. If they can't follow us through a day and get that message through our example, than we are preaching the wrong message somehow, don't you think?

Le Justy

The clean sweep. Seats out, rug out and washed out!



Two views, why not?



And of course, the new high tech, unbelievable cup holder!! No more spills man, no more spills!!!!

Pics of the Justy

Hey guys,

I am sorry pics of the Justy repairs coming soon, I promise.

Smelly

Those of you that know me, or that have listened to more than one of my Cds knows there is a theme of coffee that runs through, well most things to do with me. Well the other night coming home from a gig I buy a tall latte (Starbucks bien sur). You know, keep me awake for the drive home. The Justy doesn't have a cup holder, so I place the drink temporarily on the dash. You guessed it, it spills all over. No need to buy another, the anger seething through my veins kept me awake.

Humid weather we are having don't you think? I have shop vac'd the car, Febreezed the car etc. What a stink.

Well, one of my freinds and readers is about to fall off his chair, because he knows how much:
a) I hate tinkering and doing manual labour and;
b) Working with tools on a job I have no familiarity with.

So I decide I have to get this carpet out. I mean out of the car until I can decide how to clean/get rid of it if need be. The problem with that of course is you have to take the seats out of the car. Kind of scary.

Well the Justy is stripped like an old piece of furniture. Pictures to follow - you wil laugh.

No, that does't mean I am giving up coffee. Cream and lattes in the car, maybe, but let's not get crazy. I usually drink it black anyway. Americano anyone?

Speaking Tonight

I have been asked to speak offsite (not at my home church) a few times this past year, which is a great thrill. Interestingly it has been pretty much a split between speaking specifically on worship, and speaking on any other biblical theme.

Tonight I am speaking on worship (link for when and where). The thing that never ceases to amaze me is how I can never seem to force myself to speak the same talk twice. I attribute that to continued learning for sure. Usually there is enough of a break between engagements that I have learned more, thought of better ways to express the same thought etc. Although much of the material builds on previous thoughts and talks I am excited about the opportunity to explore again with new fresh thoughts (at least to me) the musical side of worship and its implications for the Christian community today.

The Space Between Us - Playing Musically

A friend of mine sent me this link as something I could pass along to my the worship teams I lead. As some of them read this blog regularly I thought I would throw it up here as well.

Unbelievable Storm

So last night I came home from a board meeting and had barely sat own with Stef before I heard some pretty severe rain and wind. I ran to the back deck just in time to see our umbrella from our table a story above the deck, and two above the ground. We also HAD a tent covering thingy, which we struggled in some sideways rain and wind to quickly dissemble but to no avail, it was snapped in a place or two as we tried, and our deck anyway, looks like a disaster.

Overall it seems that we came out really good, just $100 to the bad, I heard that houses relatively close to us got somewhat hammered.

Tomorrow after work I am taking off with the family for a break, a vacation induced long weekend. I do not get many Sundays off (about five a year) so I will be back to do worship on Sunday morning at Valley View, but it will be great to have a couple of days of down time.

Jamn Session

Great night on Saturday, three of four members of the jazz club were at the annual Mike Davies jazz Jamn party right off the Danforth in Toronto. I have been invited a few times before but this is the first time I have made it out. It was really fun doing some standards. There were a couple of vocalists, three drummers, couple upright bass players, guitar, and sax. It was an amazing night connecting with other musicians and old friends. I am thinking I need to start a similar tradition with the jazz club. I will let you know.

I'm On iTunes, really!!

Ok so I am doing my thing, checking up on things and I see that I have finally made it. I am on iTunes for purchase. Ironically I was checking out my online e-distributor because I have been making some humble sales through Emusic and Napster, but now I am with the big boys. Kind of fun.

Pass the word along to everyone please!!

A Great Experience

One thing I did not share yet from last week was the experience that I had Saturday morning leading all those Senior Pastors in worship. I definitely put alot of effort into what was in essence a simple worship set, but the time was amazing. The speaker, David Fitch (link) was very thoughtful as he addressed th issues that face followers of Christ today trying to actually achieve Christ follower status - meaning in my mind - a life worthy in everyone's eyes of being called Christian.

Anyway, after the talk came the response of worship and let me tell you 200 plus men singing like that was amazing. I led simply from piano only and was honoured to be able to lead in such an environment. What a blast.

Anyway, just thought I would close the loop.

What is the church?

I have been a slow painful process of being wrecked about what the church is. I would have to say that years ago I thought that the church was what happened on Sunday mornings. Really, that was church to me. It is not that I didn't think that you needed to behave in a Godly/Christlike manner all week, I just thought the communal expression of church was the Sunday morning service. Even coming into ministry that was my most prevalent thought. The tension has always been that Sunday morning was supposed to lead us a people to be Godly/Christlike and massively influence the community we are in in Christ's name. Oh yeah, massively....Positively.

A speaker last week repeated an expression I have heard several times, I heard it again anew. If I was to leave my community, if my church was to leave my community who would care? Who would miss me/us? That is it. The degree to which we are the cup of water, the jacket, the shoulder to cry on, the rescuer from abuse, the pathway to the Creator is the degree to which we are the church. I tend to think that until that is noticed we might as well shut our cake holes about what we believe, it's rubbish to those who do not see it in action. Yours truly being the worst of all offenders.

I am preaching this Sunday morning....

Heading Home

well it was a very long week. Don't like being away from the family that long. In the end the worship segment I led was very fulfilling (successful) and the peaker I supported in that session was great. I am taking the red-eye home and then leading worship tomorrow morning at church . Am I insane? Talk to you soon.

In Edmonton

So I am in Edmonton for the week at our denomination's national assembly. Today is the really the first day after arriving. I have much to do this week, the most nerve racking of which is leading worship this Saturday morning for 200 plus senior pastors from accross the country.

Looking forward to the experience.

The Beginning

So I have decided on an approach for this CD for now. It's not rocket science, as it is my understanding of how many artists produce their CDs. Right now I am starting the pre-production phase. For me that means getting all the songs in with a scratch piano or acoustic guitar (sometimes both) and then some scratch vocals and drums loops. I will be getting them all in (probably more songs than I will actually record) so that I can see how some of the songs sound with a little more production around them. I was surprised how much some of the songs I thought might not make it last CD really came alive early in the bed track phase. I have already started one of the tunes (as a way to learn the new equipment as well) and I am really pleased with the results.

Obviously I will keep you all up to date on the progress. Pretty early in what will undoubtedly be a 6 to 9 month project, but such is the part-time CD producing life.

A Good Busy

So last weekend was very busy, in a great way!

Thursday night and Friday morning I had the priviledge of speaking to a group of leaders at camp Mini-Yo-We to begin their summer of service. (http://www.miniyowe.com/) That was followed by a Friday evening worship service that I led. An amazing worship time. Great to see two of our youth from Valley View up there to serve this summer. One more will be joining them later on!

Good to see friends pictured here!!



I returned to a Cliff Cline Jazz Club gig Saturday afternoon. It was great to get back on that horse so to speak. Here is the band in our very cool set-up.




And here is Ken Michelle (of Dustkicker fame) our very kind host.



And lastly Rog (piano) and Greg (drums) looking too cool.



So, hey, book the Cliff Cline Jazz Club now for your fall and Christmas parties. The dates will go fast!!

Back to work this morning, which had a cool moment in ministry as I sang a duet with my wife Stef for the first time ever!!Well, that about covers it. Talk to you soon.

CD Announcement

Hey Everybody,

You will need Quicktime to view this. If you don't have it you can download it BlogItemURL>
here.


CD%20Release%20News%202.mov

{Re}Creation

One of the words that has really been {re}emphasized in my life lately has been {re}creation. I remember hearing a pastor talk about the fact that the root of the word {re}creation is to {re}create. To {re}create ourselves. His point was that we need to find a way to consistently {re}energize ourselves for life and ministry by {re}creating our emotions, our spirits our bodies etc.

I think there are two components of {re}creation (to be simple):
1. Doing something we enjoy that makes us feel better in some or all of the above areas;
2. The second is intentionally going for a {re}fill from a source of high intensity or purity.

I think most of us get some, probably not enough in our own minds, of number one. Golf, vacations, date nights etc seem to do the trick in {re}juvenating us a bit. I think very few of us get the second right very often at all, yours truly very included.

To put it simply I think to be the best humans that we can be (and by that I don't mean musician, or business person, or homemaker, whatever) I mean a person who positively impacts everyone around them. Someone who is loving, humble, kind, gentle etc, I think you have to go to the source. I think you need to spend "alone time", call it meditation, prayer, devotional, journaling, whatever you like, as long as it means going to the purest source of these things. I believe we were created to be these best things, and the best place to be transformed into more of that kind of person is alone with the Creator - God. If you are looking to be a better person, more fulfilled. {Re}create yourself, by going to your Creator.

Changes a Coming

So I have decided it is time for a spring/early summer clean-up of the webspace. There a some exciting things happening in the background on the musical front, annoucements to come, and I think new web look will be needed. I am also looking to upgrade the e-commerce side of the site and offer more options and eventually "product" for everyone to enjoy.

So the coming weeks should provde some mild entertainment for you as I struggle to grow a little in the technical side of my life and make things more functional and appealing.

For those of you that come directly here, and do not pass "go", or in other words my website you can see the before now, and then keep coming back to see the after. http://www.cliffcline.com

The Honda

So my main vehcile is a Subaru Justy, kindly donated to me by some missionary friends who fled to serve God after the transaction:) It is a fantastic little beast, as in, it gets me around justy fine. Our other vehicle is a Honda Odyssey. That's my wife's vehicle. She fills the bus up with our kids and often others with regularity, so obviosly I am pretty passionate about keeping it in top notch shape.

So last night I come out and the tire is audibly hissing. Literally just gushing air, and sure enough the tire is flat by this morning. So Iam here in the dealership, hooked up online, while they fix it up. Minor issue in the end, nevertheless, bit of a pain.

The engine light has been on recently as well. The van has been operating fine and I knew it would cost the better part of $100 just to get it checked, but I thought per my comments above, and alot of travel to come this summer on the van, that I should make sure I got it checked. Cool, problem under warranty, don't have to pay for the analysis or the fix.

Somedays, not having to spend money is a real good thing! Thanks Honda.

Great Guitar Player

Check this out. You need quicktime player to do it, but it is a treat to see.

link

Nike and iPod - How Cool

This is the kind of stuff I thought would have been developed sooner. Very impressive. Nike Link.

Although I have been very consistent with my running regiment for some time now, and I am actually starting to enjoy it, I can't see doing this sort of thing. I still don't have an iPod, not for lack of desire, and I sure the runners don't come cheap either. Regardless, a cool idea.

Here's a thought. Biblegateway could do a deal with iPod with a few versions of the Bible. People could read verses and chapters, the device would record them as read and have some sort of a community map on the Bibegateway site showing our progress as a community in doing out spritual workout when we sync to our computers each day.

Does that sound fundy or postmodern?

Avid Reader?

Someone told me yesterday that if you have eight or more books on the go you are considered an avid reader. I am sure there is a rate one should be going through them as well, but for now let's go with criterion one.

Sidebar, today was an early morning, 4:30am for a false fire alarm call at the church - nice.

Alas, I have been wanting to post some of my reading here for a while, and I couldn't get back to sleep so I have been puttering away at some tasks here at the home office over a quad espresso.

Current Books: link

Hopefully I will knock a bunch off this list and from here I can start expanding. By the bye. I am quite sure my rate of reading does not qualify me for avid, but I am certainly reading more than I ever have.

Winding Up

The English language...so strange. By winding up do I mean finishing ala 'winding down' or starting up again? I mean the latter for clarification.

I continue to read Getting Things Done, by David Allen. I should finish it soon, but I think I have already picked up the one or two things that could really help in the time management side of things this next year.

By winding up I am referring to the feeling I currently have after an unbelievably good vacation. First you have to:

1. Catch up, then;
2. Respond;
3. Re-engage;
4. And get back up to full speed.

On top of it all I have the great problem of several gig requests coming in simultaneously for both music and speaking. I will update appearances as I confirm and get details.

All that to say I think I will be back in the groove by tomorrow. I must admit though, I really miss the siestas!!!

Postcard

Unfortunately I am not a digital camera boy right now, but if I were I could send you some ridiculous pictures of where we are. Needless to say it is a constant postard. In the words of Phil Collins, 'think twice, it's another day for you and me in paradise.' Well me anyway, sorry.. I know, don't antagonize the readers.

Finished reading the George Barna book, Revolution, that I mentioned to you a few blogs ago. Man, it is a challenging book. Not a hard read, just difficult material.

Do you ever find yourself wondering how you are going to take your life, your Christianity, if you are a Christian, to the next level. How you are going to make a bigger gap between the stuff we do for ourselves and the stuff we do for God and others. It certainly is the journey that I have been on for the last several years. This book is making a strong case that I have miles to go, and the may be quite a few unexpected turns yet.

Ah well, for now, back to the beach.

Peace.

Mexico!!

Wow. This is going to sound wierd, but do you know the sadness of seeing God's beauty. By that I mean, the sadness of the unspoiled combined with man's best level of respect and creative work, and not getting enough of it. Well in concert I have mentioned how I love to write songs in God's creation. I will be doing some writing here. TALK TO YOU SOON.

Gone for the week!!

So I think I will not be blogging for the week, going to Cancun! I will talk to you soon. Who knows, if there is free internet I may try and drop another line. Until then.

A Big Week

This week is going to be action packed. It always works this way it would seem.

1. Prayer meeting tonight
2. Kids basketball awards evening tomorrow
3. 3 assignments to complete for my masters course before we leave for vacation
4. Preach on Friday night
5. Preach 2 services Sunday morning
6. Leadership meeting to implement at church Sunday afternoon
7. Church Coffee House service to implement for Sunday eve

A little bit more than I wanted to chew off and those are just the big things. But there is a light. Cancun on Monday for a week. The break will be timely for refocusing and relaxation going into the final busy stretch of the ministry year.

Worlds Collide

World One:
Well I am pretty sick today. Strep throat I think. Went to the doc got some meds. Pretty much have done two things, slept and watch TV. Mostly kids TV, but TV nonetheless. I was fortunate enough to catch a couple minutes of a human interest story on CBS. Human interest generally means not depressing, so being a little under the weather I was happy to stop even for a minute. The story was on Cameron Clapp a triple amputee who has a made something of bad situation.

World Two:
I am taking a course on Biblical Interpretation for Preaching and Teaching right now. I have finished reading the overview of interpretive style and approach from the 'beginning of time'. Not heady at all. The humerous part about the history is you see this ebb and flow in interpretation from simple, literal to complex multi-layered and frankly less useful methods. The flow is that over the centuries the church of or better yet, Christians have done better with the simple, humble approach to interpreting the Bible. It has amounted to better Christianity and better Christians.

Collision:
So I was thinking about the media in Canada and the States. How are they trying to interpret history and events as they unfold? The media in Canada is sooo liberal, and frankly self-righteous, but why? Then it hit me. Because they are trying, for the most part, to be honest, to be authentically critical. They don't believe that every cloud has a silver lining, they believe every government is covering a scandal, or a negative, suppressive, meta-narrative-like religious agenda. In their zeal to interpret news correctly, as in some of the bible interpretation methods, they have errored on the side of critical. There is not nearly enough constructive, or just plain, life is good coverage, especially in the news. Perhaps one would argue the Dr. Phil's and the Oprah's of the world offset this. I think they just make the world look unbalanced and sick, but that is another story.

Conclusions:
Keep it simple. I suppose I think we need to pursue truth not just story. Life, not just celebrity and scandal. Hope, love, each other. It would sure be nice to wake up one morning and feel like everything wasn't on the precipice about to tumble. Not head in the clouds, just looking at the lining as well.

Revolution!

George Barna in his book, Revolution, © George Barna 2005, had this to say:

"Many well-intentioned pastors promote this perspective by proclaiming, "The local church is the hope of the world." Like most advertising slogans, this notion is emotionally appealing. The trouble is the sentiment is not biblical. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the hope of the world. The local church is one mechanism that can be instrumental in bringing us closer to Him and helping us to be more like Him. But, as the research data clearly show, churches are not doing the job. If the local church is the hope of the world, then the world has no hope."

I have "published" a similar thought (July 28, 2004) previously to some criticism. Now that someone with a name has said it, I am sure I will be told who I am quoting:)

What's Going On?

• Spring, sweet spring is bringing energy back with gusto. Man I love the heat, any heat, when it comes to weather.
• Vacation. We have not taken a break since last October. Poor planning in some respects. Making up for it with a 10th anniversary break in Cancun!! (sans les enfants) with amazing friends!!
• Music:
• At church the bands and singers have been soooo good. I have really been enjoying some of the musical ideas and progress we are making. Worship has been great.
• Personal Music. Not enough gigging is getting me down a little. That being said, and I think I have several times, I am writing some cool new tunes. Also it looks like the jazz thing might come back onto the table soon. Kind of cool.
• Beyond that looking forward to slowing down a little (I hope) over the summer. Connect stronger with family and friends.

Eating Out

Humoursly the name of a new song I wrote. But that is already a tangent. I wanted to give you a picture of the pizza but I can't. All that said here is the meaningless link. The real point is that we don't eat out that often and if we do, well it's on coupons or gift certificates or something. But heh, here's a full price you can afford once in a while. $5 pays for three little princesses to chow down!! A buck and change a head. Come on, that is unreal. Not always healthy, but a parent saver once in a blue moon. Just thought I would add little to no value to your day - or....

Le Bible

Two languages. Cool eh?

Do you know what kills the message of Christ in culture. Opinion. That's really it - opinion. My own success in living a Christian life is often helped or hampered by how much of an opinion I have on something. And here is the rub. The degree to which what I am saying AND living agrees with the Bible is the degree to which I am living a 'successful' Christian life.

How does that play out without becoming legalism?

1. Interpretation of the Bible should agree with historical interpretation of the Bible throughout time. (e.g. saying that this is a dumb point based on an abuse of the Bible during American slavery, which was later corrected back to better interpretation is not valid)
   
2. The principles applied should be applied as principles rather than as practices. What do I mean? One person may show love by giving away tonnes of money or possessions while another only gives away a little bit of money and stuff. Both are applying an Acts 2 (the Bible) view of the church and how a Christian should act so both are doing right. One may have given a car - does that mean giving a car is the right way to "do" church or Christianity, of course not.

This can be applied to many things can't it. Very often the principles are clear, and if we were honest, practices are grey. Jesus himself was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton (for socializing basically), and John the Baptist was called demon possessed (for hanging out in the desert where they thought demons lived and not socializing and eating and drinking). Seems to me that there is only one way to God (Jesus), but many ways to be a Christian:

1. Poor
2. Rich
3. Middle Class
4. Simple
5. Complex
6. Educated or not
7. Single, divorced, married, youth, children, le aged.
   
8. Right brain, left brain, a little of both (please a little of both:))
9. and so on....

Where does this leave us? I think humbly realizing that far more of the good in life than we give credit came to us from God through the Bible. Literary style for instance in Western culture. The concept of goodness and charity. A healthy (but fading) view of money, work ethic, family, creativity, music, art, friendships and so much more. Why don't we live the origin of our best stuff simply, PASSIONATELY, through the lenses of the greatest book every put together.

Changes a coming

Well I just found out from a friend that it can take up to 10 months for an independent to get tunes on itunes. Wow, not a very quick way to get stuff out there eh. I also am also considering some other options as it pertains to distributing music. I really enjoy the ministry and creative aspects of the music career, but I have not had the time with everything else to try anything new lately. I have been writing more tunes, some of which I think are pretty cool. Hopefully I will have more news for you in the next few days.

Writing on Guitar

Well this year has been slow on the gig side of life. The positive side of that is perhaps a little more balanced with all that is going on and...I am writing more new tunes! I suppose you always hope that your writing improves as life goes on, and I feel like that is the case with the new tunes that are coming out of me right now. Moreover, as happens because of all the songs I have written and never recorded, some of the old good ones that have never made it to CD have been re-visited and re-vitalized. It has made for some real fun jam sessions.

Another real cool thing is the writing coming out of playing guitar now. My goal is to be able to play everything I write on both piano and guitar, no matter which instrument I write it on. I think it helps shape the songs more fully. Also creates more grooves or textures to play with.

Anyway. I am already dreaming up new sets for concerts and I am looking forward to getting out there a little more and sharing them with all of you. Hopefully that will happen sooner than later.

Peace for now.

The Bible

If I thought I had a passion for the Word of God before this course I just took I was wrong. My passion level has risen to levels like a nuclear reactor about to explode.

I get to preach on the Bible at Valley View on May 7th. I can't wait.

Gaining Knowledge

I, as most who would read this blog, am on a journey. There have been some incredible things I have learned from God in these past few days. I don't think I could ever write them in a single entry. It feels like a book of information, and that has been so encouraging.

At the same time I have been on a very regular journey. A plugging away journey. I am taking a masters course right now on Biblical Interpretation for Preaching and Teaching. Besides being incredibly humbled by the process, I am finding it a source of personal comfort. Comfort because although I leave every session or assignment feeling inadequate for what I don't know, I am caught in the truth that at least I am trying to add knowledge to this proud foolish man. The verses below speak to the need to do so.

link

So be encouraged. If you are on the regular journey of trying to grow in God, it is the right thing to do. If you are not, be encouraged, the process can be very simple to start, not always "easy", but right!

God Bless.

Going Electric

Well ok, probably not in the near future, but you never know. I have been playing acoustic now for a couple of years and feel like I have finally hit a place where I can rapidly get to where I want to be.(be able to strum any pop tune you put in front of me on site - well)So as I near the completion of goal number one, it naturally leads to thinking about the next goal - starting to expand skills and sounds to the electric medium of guitar. I will need to experiment a lot with sounds - but I know I want to be a little different than the norm, probably steering away from a Stratocaster or PRS. No options are closed however, got to try them all! Shopping should be fun. Below is a Gretsch. I will have to try one of those soon at the local music store.

A little time to reflect?

Played a bit of Tiger Woods Golf on X Box with a buddy today - his house. I am not blessed with such a machine at this point in my life.



Things have been simutaneously viciously busy and kind of slow. So chilling out was a welcome respite.

The day job (being an Associate Pastor) is very important on many levels and has been nuts. I have been trying new things, continuing old things and generally working around the clock to get everything done.

The extra curricular things have been there but not to the degree I would like. As noted in some of my other blogs link I have been doing some speaking, a little consulting and a little singing. I have been hoping for a little more singing to come my way (yes I know I have to work at getting gigs), but it has not materialized so far this year.

There is a reflecting time going on in all of this as well. I am analyzing all of the things that I do and wondering if I am really supposed to be doing so many different things. It does not give me much time to reflect and write (songs poetry, and prose) or time to hear God as it were.

Not to be cliche, although to be cliche, I think I have become so busy I am not stopping long enough to listen to God. (you thought smell the flowers, admit it) That is a major thing. When you feel you have responsibility to be God's representative on earth (really let's face it, that's what you are saying as a pastor) than even being too busy doing God's work can be a problem. You have to hear to translate.

Alas, kind of random, but true. Going to bed. Trying to slow down and listen. I also recommend it - for anyone. Listening to God that is.

Peace.

My new studio - not

I am sorry but how cool is this!!

I Have Hit iTunes

At long last I have hit iTunes. I have been waiting since late last year for my distributor to get me there. Alas, tell all of your friends, they can get there favourite tune for a buck or so. I am obviously very excited to be on such a huge distributor. Hopefully it will be a major way I can open up more ministry opportunities and get my music out to a larger audience!

Singing in the Rain

My middle child will be having her first dance recital this weekend. My first has been through this once or twice already. Life is firsts with children. It is amazing to see them process the firsts. I honestly don't know how much they get out of it of lasting value at 3 or 4 years of age. More than anything I hope it builds in them the love and appreciation that mom and dad have for them. Three girls, and they are all amazingly beautiful and cute. What can I say. Oh yeah, it is raining outside, and if you remember the movie that is the big dancing scene. See what I did there?

Learning New Things

I was asked to speak at a nearby university (Ancaster, Ontario) called Redeemer University College at their "Church in the Box" monthly service last night. I hadn't really researched the event itself, I was asked to speak at it through one of the students that from our church and was very pleased to go and be apart of it. I anticipated something similar to what I run for about 10 to 20 called The Church Coffee House. It had some of the same elements, except there were over 600 people in attendance last night. I was instantly humbled. I definitely didn't feel worthy. Some things about the talk went better than I thought they might, from my perspective other things did not go as well I had hoped. Ultimately, I hope the message from God's Word was heard over my nervousness. Ironically I have sung for thousands many times, I used to sing several times a month at a church of more than 3 thousand, but preaching and singing are different, and not anticipating the environment correctly is just, well, different. Alas, I would covet another opportunity like that. The worship was really good, the vibe was amazing. The potential for God's kingdom to moved ahead through a ministry of that size is amazing. I pray that God will bless them richly, and if you are ever in that town, I recommend you check their online calendar and see if Church in the Box is on. It is worth a visit.

Technology Woes

I have been previously pleased with some of the things I have been able to accomplish through gifts of friends outdated technology. Or at least there redundant equipment as they upgrade.

Well my wireless router has been great until this past year. Since moving to this new house I have had a terrible time keeping it on and engaged. Not only has it been inconsistent wirelessly, but it has also been bad wired. Jumping in and out, constantly needing to be rebooted. What a pain.

Alas, I am trying to implement some advice about changing the channel to something other than the default. I have done that, and have been up for awhile. We will see if it can stay up for a few days and prove the point. Another weakness is our 2.4ghz phones as well - which is the only type we have on our house. Alas, we will see how much improvement we net (pardon the punn).
Maybe I will get back to blogging more if when I fire up I can actually get on the net.

Peace.

The Speaking Thing

I have begun preaching or speaking on the Bible now for a year and a half. As is my nature, I am relatively self-critical. When I began, I received good feedback and mistook that to mean I was good at preaching.

I have really begun to critique my past performances and I am not very impressed. The good news is I think I have many things I can get better at. Time to dig in and really try and move this part of my life forward.

The second peice of good news is even for my newness to the task I am starting to get asked to guest speak other places, so I must have done something half decent. Looking forward to some preaching at Redeemer University in the next few weeks. I will let you know how it goes.

Peace.

State of the World

Much has transpired recently. "Big news" in Canada is that Stephen Harper and his Conservative government have taken over rule of Canada with a minority government. I personally am not very impressed by the result as a conservative. I think that ultimately the conservative view is one somewhat rooted in Christian morality, although it would be a massive stretch to think it is a significant influence in reality. The only way that the conservatives, in my opinion, will get more seats is to further distance itself from a Christian worldview, or moral view. That would allow it to "appeal" to those who hold to some sort of morally relative post-modern view. That really just creates two liberal parties and does not give a real choice. I think that the bottom line is that Canada is sufficiently morally bankrupt to ensure that those who have any moral agenda whatsoever will never gain any significant political control of the country. Influence is another question, but control - I think not. When crookedness to the level that Canada has seen barely begets a tap on the knuckles for the perpetrators then I think that more than lets us know the climate in Canada. What's the golden rule? Do unto others. Apparently most of us are afraid of being held to account ourselves, because we sure don't want to be accused of holding the liberals to real account.

Going away!

Well I am heading out to Niagra Falls to do three days and 5 sessions of worship for out sister district in Ontario for the Alliance.

I am very excited to have been asked and to be going there to lead this group of pastors.

On the muscial side I am priviledged to be taking my constant drummer Kevin Jongsma, Fergus Marsh (of Bruce Cockburn fame) on bass, and friend Ryan Fletcher to run the technical side of life.

I will let you know about the highlights, and I will see if I can get some pics.

Peace.

New Things

Well I am trying to get over my fears of the technical. It is starting to work. I wouldn't go as far as to say I am turning into a geek, but as it pertains to creating music and trying things out I am having a tonne of fun.

I am currently starting to lay down some demos of new songs I have written this past year. The equipment I currently have is pretty humourous:

1. Dell Pent 3 866
2. Cubasis VST
3. Audiophile 2496 audio accelerator card
4. Beringer 8 channel mixer (four "mic pres")
5. Korg O1/W
   

The rest is not worth mentioning. Perhaps to some the above wasn't. Anyway the real fun is in learning the technology available. Free drum samples on the web, syncing things up, seeing your songs come to life with "bed tracks" etc.

I have much more to learn, but I can sure see how guys get addicted to the engineering/producing/mixing side of things. There really is alot of creative outlet in there.

Computers, Yeesh

Well my old Dell, actually a good computer to us, had to be re-done this past week. It is a few years old and after various upgrades and far too many programs installed, including too many kids games etc. it was time to wipe it clean and start again.

Through connections we have the Pro XP and Office Microsoft stuff so I was able to reformat to NTFS and put clean versions back on old bessie. Of course then you have to go up and put every security upgrade and SP2 back on it, but I am hoping (and it seems to have) re-stabalized the home machine. No loss of data as it was all backed up in preparation of the endeavor.

Who knows, maybe I will get blogging more again.