Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 13 – No. 4111 October 08, 2011
Thought for the week: "If you do not conquer yourself, you will be conquered by yourself." – Napoleon Hill
"Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again." – Og Mandino
"Faith is not a hothouse plant that must be shielded from wind and rain, so delicate that it has to be protected, but is like the sturdy oak which becomes stronger with every wind that blows upon it. An easy time weakens faith, while strong trials strengthen it." – Katherine Workman
"Humor is a rubber sword; it allows you to make a point without drawing blood." – Mary Hirsch
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." – Abraham Lincoln
"Sympathy has been defined as two hearts tugging on one load." – Michael Josephson
"The twin killers of success are impatience and greed." – Jim Rohn
During the course of my travels, I sometimes have the occasion to speak to people from Texas. In one Sunday morning service I said to a group of Texans who happened to be visiting Southern California, "You will be interested to know that in the Northern Territory of Australia there is one cattle station (ranch) that is bigger than the whole state of Texas," and added, "I say this very humbly, of course."
Prior to the evening service a man come to me and said, "I checked to see if that story about the cattle ranch in Australia is true. It is true and you will be interested to know that it is owned by a Texan."
Look out the window. Your field of view catches a vista perhaps a mile wide. It all appears projected onto half of a sphere at the very back of your eye, the retina, less than three centimeters in diameter. Yet your brain sees within those three centimeters of information a world a mile wide and knows it is no Disney cartoon the size of a postage stamp. Light from the outside world has reached your retina with only slight distortion. That's because somehow those clever genes in your body produced crystal clear, transparent cells for the eyes' outer casing, the cornea and the lens just behind the cornea, and the thick fluid that fills the globe of the eye between the lens and the retina. Amazing. All those totally clear cells and fluid even though most of our body is opaque or translucent. Some cells of your eyes are yours for life. As you age, more are added, but the ones you were born with are still with you as well.
The iris, which is controlled by an array of muscles, regulates the amount of light entering based on feedback from the retina. Behind the retina is a heavily pigmented layer that absorbs light not captured by the retina. A second array of muscles changes the shape of the lens, bending the light more or less as per the extent of the lens's curvature, focusing the incoming images sharply on the retina. (All land vertebrates use the system to sharpen the image. A fish lens acts in a manner similar to a camera, focusing by moving the lens backward or forward.) Of course, the concept of focusing assumes the brain makes some decision as to what a "sharp" image means. Might the world really be blurry and we just see it as sharp?
All those muscles work in unison with no conscious thought on your part, and all in the blink of an eye, and all originally stored in one fertilized cell.
Gerald L. Schroeder, The Hidden Face of God, "Meiosis and the Making of a Human," 82-83. Cited on KneEmail. To subscribe or to find archives go to www.forthright.net/kneemail/
But to every mind there openeth,
A way, and way, and away,
A high soul climbs the highway,
And the low soul gropes the low,
And in between on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man there openeth,
A high way and a low,
And every mind decideth,
The way his soul shall go.
One ship sails East,
And another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
'Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales,
That tells the way we go.
Like the winds of the sea
Are the waves of time,
As we journey along through life,
'Tis the set of the soul,
That determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.
As most of we church people know, music in today's church has been one of the biggest areas of conflict. Pastor Steve Moore has two very interesting theories regarding worship music that are well worth serious consideration.
Theory #1: Imprinting (a biological phenomenon). I saw this taking place in the animal world in the true story played out in the movie, "Fly Away Home." Some Canada Geese eggs were discovered by a girl in Canada. She artificially incubated the eggs, and when they hatched, the first thing they saw was this little lady. The chicks immediately recognized her as their "mother," and faithfully and happily followed her everywhere. But the concern was, when the birds matured to adulthood, to get them to follow their instincts and fly south for the winter. Dad contrived an ingenious plan to have them follow an ultralight airplane, which he owned and flew for a hobby. But the birds wouldn't follow when he flew solo. But when he brought his daughter along, the birds took wing and followed "their mother." So dad gave this 12-year-old flying lessons and bought her her own plane. They flew both planes to New York state, with the flock of geese following the girl's ultralight in true-to-form "V" formation. It was an absolutely amazing thing to see. I know the story's true because I read it in the Reader's Digest book section many years before the movie was made. My point is this: the first music a brand new baby Christian hears, in the context of his faith, will be his "mother tongue" of worship. It may be rock style or it may be soft hymns on the organ—or anything in between.
But greater than this is another principle.
Theory #2: Two Corresponding Trinities such as that of the human person as linked to the trinity of the components of music. We are tripartite beings composed of body, soul and spirit (I Thessalonians 5:23). These correspond to the three most basic elements of music: rhythm, harmony and melody.
Rhythm is the lowest of these; that is, the most primal and fundamental. Music that is all about rhythm appeals to and stimulates primarily the body. Another thought here is that rhythm, although crucial to music, is like the skeleton to the body. Even the most beautiful woman, of face and form, is ugly—even frightful—at the skeletal level. So a bongo beat, for example, during communion would help little to direct the mind and heart away from the body and things of this world, and toward the things of the Lord. (This, I believe, would be true whatever the imprinting mother tongue of the worshipper might be.)
Harmony coincides with the soul: mind, will and emotions. These are more complex components of the human personality than just the body, just as harmony is more complex and therefore potentially appeals beyond the body to our mind. But harmony at the forefront of a piece of music can be as confusing and therefore dissatisfying as the dominance of rhythm would be, because harmony is still, at best, subsidiary and supportive to the primary element of music, which is melody.
Melody is the tune, the thing you whistle or hum when you don't know the words. It is the primary substance of music. If you had to choose only one element of music, melody is what you would choose. Melody corresponds with the spirit of a man, the part of him that never dies. What is man? Is he a body who has a spirit? No, he is a spirit, dwelling in a body (its house, its temple—see II Cor. 5:1-9). So, music that builds around a beautiful melody, with harmony and rhythm all around it as servants—and not masters—is the best music. Otherwise you have, as the saying goes, "the tail wagging the dog." (This second theory I got second-hand from a friend who heard it expressed at a Bill Gothard seminar.)
It is the merging and synthesizing of these two quite different, and yet, I think, compatible theories upon which I base my philosophy of Christian music. I've tried to share these ideas in teaching and sermons when I've served as music minister in churches, but it's an uphill battle to fight against "city hall," which at the present time in most contemporary churches, is "contemporary praise" music, some of which has "no holds barred" even to the point of bongos "beating" worshippers into meditation and contrition at the partaking of communion at the Lord's supper!
In 1927, Max Ehrmann gave us timeless advice in a poem called "Desiderata" (Latin for "things desired"):
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Taste and see that the LORD [God] is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him."1
A fellow shared how, in much younger days, he walked more than a hundred miles to see Niagara Falls. When he was about seven miles from the Falls, he heard what he thought might be the thunder of the crashing waters. When he asked a man working on his house if this were the falls that he could hear, the man replied, "It could be, but I don't know because I've never been there!"
Amazing! So near, yet so far!
I grew up in Queensland, Australia, the state where the Great Barrier Reef is. It is one of the wonders of the world and I'd never seen it until a few years ago! When I lived there, I took it for granted and never bothered to see it for myself. Now I live in Southern California and am amazed at how many locals have never visited Yosemite or the Grand Canyon. Jokingly I tell them that they have "sinned"—by not seeing and experiencing these breath-taking marvels of God's creation.
Even more amazing is the fact that so many more have never bothered to taste of the goodness of the LORD [God], or have ever taken the time or interest to marvel at his greatness, to experience his divine love, or to consider his great gift of salvation with his pardon for all their sins, and the gift of eternal life which is there for the taking. They are so very near and yet so very far. And as God's Word says, "How shall we escape if we ignore [neglect] such a great salvation?"2
Marvel of marvels,
how amazing it is that God
should ever choose to love me, a sinner.
But even more amazing,
and far beyond my comprehension,
is the fact that the Great Creator
and LORD of all this vast wide universe,
Wants you and me to love him too!
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, Please open the eyes of my soul so I can see your unfathomable power in all of creation, and even more, to see and experience your divine love for me—a sinner for whom you gave your life to save me from eternal damnation. Help me to accept your great salvation, and learn to love you and live for you in return. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
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