Larry Norman

I ran across a great old video of his song, "Why should the devil have all the good music"

Dont forget the time change

Did you know that the official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight SavingS Time.Nevertheless, many people feel the word savings (with an 's') flows more mellifluously off the tongue. Daylight Savings Time is also in common usage, and can be found in dictionaries. For more on this insightful time study see the links below ;-)

http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b.html

daylight

To be grateful

“To be grateful is to recognize the love of God”
– Thomas Merton

During an October 2004 interview with Robert Emmons, Ph.D. and author of The Psychology of Gratitude (Oxford University Press, 2004), Emmons recounts his ideas about people like Mother Teresa and others who ‘gave themselves away’ as those having the quality of gratitude.

“They don’t seem to fit the usual conception of gratitude where you see a benefit and then you’re grateful. They felt grateful for the opportunity to help, as opposed to receiving help. They knew there was some benefit for them in developing compassion… the ability to be helpful…created in them a sense of gratitude, a sense of purpose, that they wouldn’t otherwise have had.”

Funeral for Larry Norman today

LARRY NORMAN, a solid rock in the history of Christian music, passed away February 24 at age 60, in Salem, Oregon. He had been battling heart problems for several years.

Norman, who virtually invented 'Christian rock,' released more than 60 albums and was frequently cited as an inspiration by other musicians. His most influential work was 'The Trilogy,' consisting of Only Visiting this Planet, So Long Ago the Garden and In Another Land, all released between 1972 and 1976. Some of his more important songs were 'Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music,' 'I Wish We'd All Been Ready,' 'I'm the Six O'clock News' and 'The Rock that Doesn't Roll.'

According to Assist News, Norman was for several years "a permanent fixture on Hollywood Boulevard -- where, despite being a star with Capitol Records, he would spend his days and nights sharing one-on-one with the lost youth of Hollywood, about the love of Jesus Christ."

Assist also noted that Norman was "credited with inventing the 'One Way to Jesus' finger-pointing sign."

In a statement announcing his death, his brother Charles said: "We spent this past week laughing, singing and praying with him; and all the while, he had us taking notes on new song ideas and instructions on how to continue his ministry and art. Several of his friends got to come and visit with him in the last couple of weeks, and were a great source of help and friendship to Larry."

Just prior to his death, Norman dictated a message which read in part: "I feel like a prize in a box of crackerjacks, with God's hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home . . . My plan is to be buried in a simple pine box with some flowers inside."
link to larry norman message board

2/19 ;-)

After the christening of his baby brother in church,
Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.
His father asked him three times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied,
"That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home,
and I wanted to stay with you guys."

2/18 Thought

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.

C S Lewis

It Snowed 29 years ago February 17th

A reprint from last year a way for me to remember that I am a very blessed man, blessed indeed….

You may ask how I remember that.
It was on that day in February that a couple of kids that many said would not make it, said their vows. Married by a minister who we did not know, in a church that we did not attend with no rehearsal prior to the evening. The day started out with some snow flurries and turned to several inches of snow by the evening. As my best man and I made our way to the Church in my 1965 Chevy truck, we topped a hill and looked down to see several cars in a tangled mess. I was unable to stop, so I did the best thing I could do and steered into a yard coming to rest in a ditch against a line of hedges. Due to the roads, we were already running dangerously close to being late. I got out of the truck in my baby blue tux (quite stylish at the time) and slid down the hill, where I explained to the group of angry, frustrated drivers that I was late for my own wedding. To my surprise they crawled back up the hill to my truck with me where they and my best man (also dressed in an equally stylish baby blue tux) pushed the truck back on to the street and around the wrecks.
I learned later that back at the church my future father-in-law was saying, "I told you he wouldn't come, I told you he was a bum."
I did finally make it, a little muddy, a little cold, a little frustrated and scared to death.
I look back today and can say the same thing about the last 29 years.
We both made it to the church that day; and due to the same determination we have made it these years. We have gotten stuck, sometimes others didn't believe in us, it has taken a lot of help from family, friends and strangers to get us out of ditches that I put us in. But today we are here, but not at our destination. Just like that day not so long ago, we are not finished yet, we are only beginning another phase of this wonderful journey.

Happy Anniversary Deb.

Greg

Some poetry help for Valentines

I searched and found some of the best poems and sayings I could for this special day. I am thinking about getting into the greeting card business

I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon. ~Author Unknown

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip. ~Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum"

We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. ~Author Unknown


True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked. ~Erich Segal

Maybe the best is:
A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it. ~Frank A. Clark


OK maybe I should not go in to the greeting card business..

Elizabeth's Party

Many know that Mona was admitted to the hospital over two weeks ago with pneumonia and has been on a ventilator now for 14 days. Last week her daughter Elizabeth had her birthday. We did what Mona would have done for us, instead of the normal study, and youth program on Wednesday, we stopped and had a party. It was not to forget about Mona, but to honor her by giving her family what she would have given if she could. Today she had lung surgery; she is stable but has a long road ahead.

Elizabeth ask me to pose with her, here we are together.



Her Party Pictures

2/10 Thought

I came across a powerful writing about prayer, it is a bit messy, but so is life.....

How shall I pray? Are tears prayers Lord? Are screams prayers, or groans, or sighs, or curses? Can trembling hands be lifted to you, or clenched fists, or cold sweat that trickles down my back, or the cramps that knot my stomach? Will you accept my prayers Lord. my real prayers, rooted in the muck and mud and rocks of my life, and not just the pretty, cut-flower, gracefully arranged bouquet of words? Will you accept me Lord as I really am. Messed up mixture of glory and grime?
Ted Loder from Guerillas of grace