My desire is to assist people in memorizing God's word through memorable melodies and music.
Psalm 129 is a song of ascents, meant to be sung on the worshipper's journey up the mountain to Jerusalem. In the lyrics, this psalmist reviews the past story of Israel as if it were his own story. Notice that rather than highlighting the successes and accomplishments of a mighty nation, these people sing of their survival in the midst of suffering.
1 ‘Often have they attacked me from my youth’
—let Israel now say—
2 ‘often have they attacked me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 Those who plough ploughed on my back;
they made their furrows long.’
Think about that. It's not normal. When my family celebrates our past, we laugh about the good times! We fondly recall the funny moments, the surprises, the positive outcomes, maybe the near misses! But this isn't the way this song goes, at all. Instead, they're reminiscing about the scars on their backs! They're turning their pain into poetry!
That begs the question: what can we take from that?
First, when we ...
In today's culture, unity is given special attention, though it may be only lip service. In the name of unity, we are asked to agree with lots of different, and often contradictory ideas. In the pursuit of unity, we are fed a doctrine of acceptance. Failing to agree with someone's point-of-view, is now seen as an assault against them personally.
For the world to be united, we are asked to abandon our uniqueness, and instead, embrace conformity.
But is that really unity? How can we truly accept one another when we reject even our own distinctiveness?
It's interesting to me that the words "unity" and "unique" both have the same root. They both mean "the state or property of being one." I've come to believe that when we're true to our unique selves, we're most able to be at unity with others. It's not about conforming, it's about expressing our God-given diversity in love.
In Psalm 133, David sings, "how very good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" Is he espousing a ...
Hello friends, thanks for being interested and supportive of the ministry I'm passionate about. Your contribution of prayer, or comments, or finances, or all of the above are such an encouragement.
I haven't posted on my blog since the end of December, 2022, so I thought I was long overdue to say a little about what's been going on.
God has been doing so much in my family life. My daughter Grace received a treatment which brought healing to her. Both of my sons are now engaged to be married in August and September! My wife and I just celebrated our own 29th wedding anniversary on Sunday. My in-laws are marking their 60th anniversary this summer in Saskatchewan, and my family will be flying out to be with them for the some partying (Mennonite style), as well as participating in the 100 year anniversary of their family farm north of Saskatoon.
Another excitement: On Wednesday I received two complementary copies of a hymnal in the mail, which is composed entirely of Psalms. It contains three of my ...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hi friends! Thanks so much for your friendship and support over the last year! It has been a wonderful year for me musically, (lots of creative endeavours, and the Philippians album recorded), and very rewarding in other ways, too.
I hope your year has been full of blessing and worship, also! Wherever you are right now, I pray that God will fill you with His spirit, and give you a sense of his loving presence. Jesus loves you, this I know. May his peace overwhelm you so that you can be the arms and legs of Jesus toward others.
A praise report: there has been a break-through for my daughter recently!
As I've mentioned before, Grace has been diagnosed with many different things of late: autism, fibromyalgia, seronegative inflammatory arthritis, and most recently, P.O.T.S. (postural orthostatic tachycardia).
It's been so difficult for her. She hasn't been able to go to school, and can hardly get out of bed most days. For months she has been struggling with her...
I'm not sure how I missed it before, but today, when reading through Psalm 126, I noticed something very interesting! Maybe it's nothing, but bear with me for a moment.
It's in verses one through three, as contrasted with verses four through six. See the word "restored?" Here it is in context:
1 When the Lord RESTORED the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;...
It sounds great! The fortunes have been restored; everyone is laughing and shouting, presumably back from exile. But what I find noteworthy and just a little confusing is that the writer doesn't seem to be quite satisfied. I'll get into this in a moment.
The six last words of verse one stick out to me: "We were like those who dream." I'm tempted to ask, "Is he actually living the dream, or just dreaming to live?"
I like that play on words, but in case you're not following, take a look at the next section:
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the ...
