Day 12: Preferences

    Why preferences for a title? Because I attended a pentecostal church today to help out a Christian brother on the worship team.

  

Why preferences for a title? Because I am from the Reformed camp, theologically speaking and am a member of a Southern Baptist church.
Ok.... I can hear the thoughts.... WHY PREFERENCES FOR A TITLE!!!!!!!!
Wow - so pushy.

AllllRIGHTY then - follow me on this.

    My theological bent is towards the Reformed (think Presbyterian/Calvinist) side of the house. I am Reformed in my theology by conviction. That simply means I researched, I studied, and I believe I am right. ;-) As a result, my preferences for the kind of Bible I use (Reformed study Bible), the kind of teachers I usually listen to (RC Sproul for example) and USUALLY the churches I attend (think PCA Presbyterian) are determined as a result of my decision to embrace the Reformed system of thought. These are my PREFERENCES.

     So how is it that I am a member of a Southern Baptist church (not Reformed) and how is it that today I attended a Pentecostal church to play in a decidedly NOT PRESBYTERIAN worship service? Simple. My preferences are not chains. When you have decided, through study, prayer and meditation, the church you prefer and the theological stance you will operate out of (and EVERYONE has a theological stance), two paths lay in front of you.
1. You can religiously barricade yourself behind the wall of your preferences and never venture out into a different church/denomination or a different preaching/teaching style.
2.  You can occasionally go to other churches, listen to other preachers and hear a different facet of God's voice.

     Don't hear what I'm NOT saying... I am not saying to rush out and start running around to every church, or start listening to every teacher under the sun. You have your preferences for a reason - hopefully, a well thought-out reason. What I AM saying is that as you walk through life, do not put blinders on and shut out what someone is saying or preaching, because they are "Pentecostal" or "Episcopalian" or... fill in the blank. Don't be averse to attending  a "high church" worship service (think traditional Catholic, or Lutheran or Episcopalian), because your preference is something else. Two of the most powerful worship experiences in my 35 years of being a believer happened in a Lutheran church service and a Catholic worship service, neither of which are my "preference".

      So - for this season of our lives, my wife and I are members of a Southern Baptist church. The pastor preaches topically, and is very much enamored with teaching a "real-life-rubber-meets-the-road" Christian lifestyle. Personally, I like this. Not Presbyterian - but we are serving there, and touching peoples lives there and sitting under some of the most balanced teaching around. I have no problems here. Should they start to handle snakes... well.... (Just Kidding!!!!!!!!! They don't do snakes here...)

     And today, I helped a brother out at a Pentecostal worship service. You would think that would be a wee bit uncomfortable for this closet Presbyterian. But the people were wonderful. The music was liberating, and the pastor?  I loved what I heard him say. The pastor does not know it, but God used him to give me a very specific word today. What was it? Won't tell you... yet. Still mulling it over. But had I let my "preferences" bind me to the point where I wouldn't even consider going to a Pentecostal church, who knows - would I have missed this word from my King to me? Well - as I don't really deal with woulda-coulda-shoulda scenarios, I won't even try to think that one through.

    But I know what I believe and why I believe it. I am not afraid of someone who disagrees with me, and I am not afraid of a different worship style. I generally live within the confines of my preferences, but when God directs me through circumstances to a place outside of my preferences I am not afraid. God is nurturing this Reformed Christian from within a Southern Baptist church and today He spoke to me through a Pentecostal preacher. Personally - I am digging it. I won't be attending there regularly - God has me somewhere else, and my preferences being what they are, I do not see myself being a member of a Pentecostal church. But I am NOT chained. I am NOT a prisoner of my preferences. I am a child of the King - and I am free to enjoy the company of those brothers and sisters who think differently than I. Wow... what an incredible, diverse body this universal church is. Today was a GREAT day. I heard God whisper something into my soul.

    Lord- thank You for giving me a hedge of protection in my life called my "preferences". But thank You for the neighbors I have who live outside of my hedge. I look forward to the day when all hedges are removed, and we all know ALL of the truth. But until then - You blessed me today in a church I wouldn't normally attend, through a servant of Yours that I have never heard before.
MR G out.

Day 11B: Handel and Secular Christian Musicians

Hey! A bonus post!!! As I consider myself a Christian secular musician, I find myself sometimes (tho not often) misunderstood by fellow believers who have trouble seeing how I can be a believer-musician in a secular marketplace. I record secular tunes, I have written secular tunes, and I have performed in clubs and other secular venues.I am so in love with music, that I want to play anywhere I can. I am like that Scottish runner in the movie "chariots of fire" who declared that God made him to run fast and he felt God's pleasure when he ran. That's me and music. I used to be in love with playing the guitar, then in love with playing the bass, then back in love with playing the guitar again.... but the truth is, I am falling love with music, period. 

As I have been preparing for this school years classes, I have been reading about Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, an Bach. I have discovered things about each of them that makes me feel almost like they are old friends. When I discovered that Handel was persecuted by the "mega-church" of his day (the Church of England) for composing operas and Oratorios concerning Biblical settings and putting them in the secular arena, I am so amazed. Especially when I read that one of his more ardent foes was non other than the author of "Amazing Grace", John Newton, a clergyman in the Church of England. Isn't it odd that one of history's greatest Christian musicians was attacked by the church? Christian musicians who have occupied their talent in the mostly secular arena have always been misunderstood and sometime even attacked by the one institution that you would THINK would have their back. Handel is even more a hero to me now - not because he wrote incredible music - but because he was comfortable with who he was as a Christian - and he expressed his Christianity by writing music.... all kinds of music. Not just music for the church. He just did what he was wired by God to do. He wrote music. Handel was the quintessential Christian secular musician.... and he is my hero.

Day 11: cranked!

Cranked? You bet! A great day of teaching, seeing great progress from my students and then over to the house of a new friend, a worship leader for a church near me. He asked me to sit in with their band this Sunday, so I went to his house today to practice and get ready. Personally, I think it was a big chance he took, committing to let me play when he had hardly heard me, only talked to me twice on the phone so far. Unlike Nigel Tufton of Spinal Tap, I am NOT known for my soloing... Don't get me wrong - I can do it, and I have done it, but people almost always hire me or ask me to play bass. But God has me in a place right now where I am falling in love with the guitar like I did when I was a teenager... Just after the cretaceous period. It is such an incredible instrument and I am every day pinching myself because I get to play guitar....every day. So I am cranked. Tomorrow I get to play guitar with some great musicians in a great church. Did I mention I was cranked? Pretty sure I did.

Gonna be great tomorrow ... I can feel it. Lesson from God in all of this? Perhaps it's all about God opening doors of opportunity to allow me to use my gifts and abilities. It might just be because God loves me and delights in me being...well...cranked. Either way, tomorrow I get to play my guitar for the King. And I am cranked.

Mr G

Day 10: Adding it all up

Well here it is - day 10 of blogging. If you knew me at all, you would really be scratching your head, because you... well, you KNEW me. No New Years resolution has ever made it this far for me. That's why I didn't make this a New Years resolution, so since it isn't a resolution, I'm still here. Kinda like the improbability drive for Ford Prefect's space ship in Hitchikers guide to the Galaxy... it calculated the odds AGAINST you getting where you wanted to go, and the greater the odds against you getting anywhere were, the quicker you got there. Yeah, kinda stupid... especially if you've never read Hitchikers Guide before. If that's the case, I just wasted approximately 10.385 seconds of your life. I'd like to apologize. I'm not going to, you understand - I just wanted you to know I'd like to.

Anyway - back to adding things up. My purpose for starting this blog was not to entertain, not to look for those funny spiffy little moments to amuse all who read it. I really DID want to force myself to intentionally LOOK for something God was doing or telling me each day. And so I have. So now I am adding it up to see what God has told me this last 10 days.
Here it is.

1. I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing. I am a teacher, one of the proud members of a great anonymous group of people who intentionally insert themselves into the lives of students, hoping to do more than just get them to remember that "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue". Almost every week, a different student will tell me that I am important to them, and sometimes they will even tell me why.
2. The pre-teen and teenagers I teach are really smart. I can learn so much from them. They still have all the teenage angst going on - every generation suffers thru that... no way around it - but there have been times when I will be talking to one of them about something and they will offer up an insight so profound that it almost takes my breath away.
3. I need to get out of the way and let the kids create. That's the big difference between this year and last. Last year, I ran rehearsals, directed each group. This year I told the groups... make it happen, make it good. And they are magnificent.

Well - that's the scoop so far. I have a feeling this year is going to be a blockbuster for me, because after only 10 days in, I am so overwhelmed with what I have seen God tell me so far. Kinda like this is the previews of coming attractions, like what we see at the movies.
Blessings!
Mr G

Day 9: Behold - I am a Platypus

      I love Wednesdays. I get to teach music at a small fine arts academy in Woodstock, Georgia called the Masters Academy of Fine Arts. I teach composition, music appreciation, and ensemble. The theme this year in all of my music classes is the motif - a small musical phrase. The best example are the motifs used by Prokofiev in "Peter and the Wolf" where there are instruments of the orchestra assigned to specific characters in the story and even special little melodic phrases that are identified with each character of the story (these are motifs). My music appreciation class, after listening to Peter and the Wolf have decided they would like to write a small story like Peter and the Wolf. Only they want to have animals represent their teachers and write motifs for each one. One group wanted me to be a beaver- "Mr G - it's because you are steady, round and furry!" Hmmmmm.... ok. It's an apt description... but they finally decided I was to be a Platypus. An odd assortment of pieces put together to form a really unique member of the animal kingdom. 

       So I am a Platypus. All kidding aside, I am taking this description as what it is - a glimpse into the souls of kids I am tasked with mentoring. It was given in love, and I fully accept it and all it represents. Apparently I remind them of a warmblooded creature that lays eggs, has a beaver-like tail and a ducks bill.... I am Darwin's nightmare!

Some kids thought I met get upset.... but I just started laughing - these kids put some serious thought into this, and after thinking about me, they deemed me worthy of being a platypus. And I gratefully accepted.

All hail the mighty Platypus... for apparently he is me.

You learn so much when you teach kids.

Mr G

Day 8: Tired

Whew! Long day today. A longer one tomorrow. I love teaching, though and it is really no burden. This is a good kind of tired. I learned stuff today... like how to work my iPad (Lindsey W showed me how to do snapshots of screens on my iPad. I love teenagers. They know so much about gadgets and technology!). I heard a teacher in chapel today stand up and tell the students "You need to listen to us grownups sometimes... we actually know stuff!" (amen, Mrs Bradshaw - preach it!).  My 7th grade class assigned animals to each of their teachers. Apparently I am Garfield the cat.... go figure.

I went to Bluegrass rehearsal after school today, and was reminded how much I love my friends and how much I love playing music with them.

But now I am home, under my comforter, happy that I got the gift of today. It was a great day. Now I am going to lay me down to sleep, and know the Lord my soul will keep... after all that's His job. I won't finish that childhood prayer, as it is a bit macabre. It's enough to know that I blessed kids and was mightily blessed in turn. I am tired... but happy.
Mr G

Day 7: Contented

Sunday...
          A day of rest - that slow, relaxing, teeshirt, jeans and no socks kind of restful day. There's a reason we need it.
           I didn't always treat Sundays as a rest day. I would use it as a catch up day, because as a self-employed musician there is almost always something that's been forgotten that has to be done; and then there's church. For me, church days were almost always the busiest day of the week. For years, I was a guitarist or bassist for whatever church I was attending at the time. I would have to get there way early, and in the bigger churches, sometimes play three services, then go home and plan my following week out. It would be 10 pm before I knew it, and  I would be exhausted and beginning to fret about the next weeks activities.
        This went on for years. It hurt my marriage, my relationship with my kids - everything. Everybody but my family got pieces of me on every day of the week - even on that sacred "day of rest".

       Not any more. Today rest is in order. Here is what it looks like at my house. As I type this, my bride is sleeping upstairs. The house is quiet - no TV, soft music (Carrie Underwood) playing in the background of my man cave. When Glenda wakes up, she is going to discover the dishes are done and the kitchen cleaned. Why? Because she feels restful when she sees a clean kitchen. Ladies that I know say this is a big deal. So I am going to score a few points with the wife and do the dishes. We will watch a movie, eat something easy to fix, get to bed early and wake up tomorrow ready to roar through another week.

God knew what He was doing when He declared a Sabbath rest. I really needed today.    

Mr G

Day 6: Happy

Last night was so much fun.
      First, I got to meet John Clemmer. He is a former Navy Musician, as am I. Though we were never stationed together, it turns out we knew so many of the same people! What a treat to take a trip down memory lane. We would have been old friends had we met back then. As it is, we will just have to settle for being new friends - I'm ok with that.

     Second - John and I got to play together on a bunch of jazz tunes. He played tenor sax, I played guitar. And he was so gracious. You see, I love jazz. I love to listen to it, and I love to play it. But I can in no way describe myself as a jazz guitar player. My primary instrument is the electric bass, and guitar is a fairly recent affliction/affection (sometimes one, sometimes the other), as I have only been working on the guitar seriously for the last 10 years or so. As I have such a rigorous teaching schedule, I can't devote all the time I would like to becoming a better jazz player.

     But this particular blog post isn't about how inferior my jazz chops might be compared to John or anyone else. You see, if you get caught up in that whole who's better gag, you miss the point of playing music. Music is not a competition between players - well, it shouldn't be, anyway. But there is a competition to win. There are several wins to be scored every time you play.
1. Did the audience like what you did?  Win.
2. Did you enjoy what you did? Win.

If the answer to either of these questions is no, then you have two choices.
1. Sulk. Pout. Take a walk to Mamby-Pamby land. I love that Geico commercial with the drill instructor . You can watch it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhlWddAXSRA
2. Figure out what went wrong and fix it. Better luck next time.

Last night with John? Win. Win. The audience loved it, John and I had a good time, epic win.
Last night I met a new friend. I got to play jazz with a gracious REAL jazzer. Today I woke up happy. Off to work!
Mr G

Day 5: Contemplative

Okay - Right now I am wondering how long I can keep up titling my blog entries with a one word adjective. (Have I already fulfilled the word "contemplative" by just thinking about it?)

This week in one of the academies  I was very pleasantly surprised by God via my students. I co-teach a Discipleship of the Artist class, which really means that the teacher who REALLY knows what to do teaches, and I am the surly enforcer of proper student behavior. The main teacher is a film-maker who has been doing a remarkable job getting the kids to REALLY look at the songs they listen to, the movies or TV shows they watch, or the art they look at. Throughout the first semester, she would send the kids home with an assignment and she would collect the papers, not saying what her purpose was. The first paper had a question: What movie, or song or piece of art moves you to anger? I did the exercises as well, and my answer to this one was the scene in the movie Forrest Gump where kids from his school are chasing him on their bicycles and throwing rocks at him. Further on into the semester, the teacher asked us to select a movie , song or piece of art that "got it right". My choice here was the scottish runner in the movie "Chariots of Fire" who told his sister (who could not understand why he wanted to run in the Olympics) that "God made me to run fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." The last paper she assigned was to pick a song, movie or piece of art that moved us to action, to want to change something about ourself. My selection here was Handel's Messiah, primarily because Handel was opposed for taking sacred Biblical texts and placing them in secular environs. He did not waver and he stayed the course that he felt God had called him to.
Alrighty then - this teacher brings back these papers and then looks at me and tells me to be quiet (pretty hard to do for me), and then reads my responses to the class and asks them what is the thread that connects the things I had written about. One child said -
"It goes beyond Mr G hating bullies. It's more like Mr G hates it when people won't let other people be who they really are.  Forrest Gump was different. The runner was different. Handel was different."
Wow - to be nailed to the wall by a 13 year old student. I had never connected the dots like that before.But the student was right - I DO hate it when the world around us won't let us be who and what we want to be - or are called to be. I was that weird little kid that other folks felt awkward around sometimes. Not much has changed - I am just a larger version of that weird little kid. But now I am hanging with folks who let me be who and what I am. I love to teach... because I learn so much. What a racket - they actually pay me so I can go to school and learn from my students.
                                     Mr G

Day Four:Rockin

Ok - Day four... only missed one day so far. It's 9 am, and I am getting ready to rock. In the words of Hannibal Hayes, the fictitional character from the original A-Team tv show... "I love it when a plan comes together!"

      Yesterday at Masters Academy of the Fine Arts was our first day back after Christmas break. I was having a mini-crisis; not one of those sackcloth-and-ashes-wailing-and-gnashing-my-teeth type of crisis, but a crisis nonetheless. I like to work around a theme each semester for each class I teach, and I had not decided on that theme for my 7th grade music appreciation class. Couldn't decide. Had no clue. So as a stop gap measure, I put on Peter and the Wolf by Provokief, to let the kids hear how a great composer uses music to communicate about characters. As the music progressed, I watched these 7th graders REALLY get into the  music, to the point where one of them started imitating a duck whenever the duck showed up... a really good duck imitation, btw. This is what I was looking for. When I teach, I know what I want the student to know, and they will get that no matter what. But I keep my eyes peeled for that indefineable something - that moment when a child's eyes light up and gives me  glimpse into what captures their heart. Last semester the kids got totally caught up in the Mozart and Salieri story and the mystery surrounding Salieri's possible poisoning/murder of Mozart. So we had a trial. Salieri was exonerated... too late to do him any good, sorry to say. So what lit them up this semester? Peter and the Wolf. A great piece of music that illustrates various instruments in the symphony. So there it is... our theme. We are going to characterize each of their teachers, assign an instrument to each one, and write a motif (a teeny tiny musical theme) for each one.  The kids are totally jacked up for this project... so off we go.

       Actually - for me, this was a life-lesson example about how God usually works in my life. When Moses was leading Israel out of Egypt, when did God part the Red Sea? When it was time. Not a moment too soon, not a moment too late. Just in time. Moses was as prepared as he could be, he just did not know exactly what was coming. He did all he knew to do, and then he got to the Red Sea. Bummer. No way were that many Israelites gonna swim over that thing. He looks over his shoulder... great. The Pharoah and his army were coming. I know a good time when I see it, and that was NOT it. Well you know the rest of the story - the Red Sea  parted, etc.

      That's what happened to me - except no Red Sea, no Pharoah, no army... but other than that it was EXACTLY the same thing. I was prepared as I could be.... and God showed up. In the guise of a young man imitating a duck. A REALLY good duck imitation.

I am indeed ready to Rock. God showed up. 

Mr G

Day Three: Expectant

Thought I would write this entry BEFORE my day gets started - an experiment to see if I am a morning person, one of those poor tormented souls who get up at "zero-dark-thiry" (as a former commanding officer I had in the Navy used to say... but I digress) to start their day with an inspiring time of quiet reflection. So here I am - quietly reflecting except for the ticky-tacky sounds of my keyboard as I peck away relatively effectively with two fingers of each hand and the occasional thumb thrown in whenever I am feeing ambitious and daring.
There! I have just managed to talk about nothing except what I am going to do, which I haven't done much yet. Ok - back to this blog thing.
Today - getting ready to head out to teach at another academy with my bride. I am so grateful the Homeschooled community is so vibrant and alive - as without them, 80% of my current income would be gone. Nada. Zillch. Zippo. I never set out to be a teacher of music. I was a Navy Musician 30 years or so ago, but then left music to be an electronics technician and then a LAN/WAN engineer. Approximately 10 years ago, having lost my lucrative engineering position, and after having lost my shirt (and all my money) in a failed videography venture, the only thing I could do to make a dollar was to try and teach teach guitar, which I had never done, and in fact was about 30 years removed from even PLAYING as a professional musician. It's like God said "Poof! You're a music teacher!".  So 10 years after that magical "Poof!" from the hand of my God, here I am. All dressed up, ready to go teach. It looks to be a good day.
Wow - this "quiet reflection" thing is a bit disjointed. Maybe I need more coffee. Yep. More coffee. then off to work. But coffee first. Burned bean juice. Java. Go-juice. Whatever you call it, I am getting me some!
Have a wonderful day. Maybe today will be the day God goes "Poof! You're a ________" to you. What a marvelous thing - to be "Poofed!" by our Maker.

Mr. G

Day Two: Affirmed

Wow. What an incredible day. I had one of those things I call a "God-Sighting". One of those moments where time seems to stop and something amazing is revealed. I had just finished a long day of teaching guitar classes - from 8 am until 5 pm - and was having a conversation with a student of mine, a 12 year old girl. She wanted to ask me a question. She mentioned that the worship leader at her church had asked her to consider playing guitar in the worship band. I told her that she was certainly skilled enough. Personally, I think that her church is getting ready to be blessed with her talents.
This is where the moment - the "God-sighting" - took place. In the midst of this conversation, I flashed back to the kids I have taught who are now involved in worship bands, leading worship, going to college for music or getting ready to go to college, recording, performing... wow. I can name kids in each of those classifications - and here I was, watching another young musician taking her first steps into ministering to others with the gifts that our God has planted in her. I was watching the birth of ministry.
I thanked her for blessing me with this conversation, and she responded, a bit bemused,
"How did this just bless you?"
I took a breath, and responded
"I'm almost 55 years old. Men in my family rarely live past 70 years of age, so that means that if the odds play out, I have roughly 15 years of life left." (if you think this type of conversations is a bit macabre to be having with a 12 year old, it's only because you don't know this girl. She is one of the most even-keeled young ladies I have ever met, mature beyond her years)
She responded with
"okayyyyy - I blessed you how?"
I went on to tell her "As you get older. you will find yourself from time to time evaluating what you are doing with your life, sometimes being tempted to second-guess your life's decisions. I'm no different. I am not famous, I am not rich, and don't have any plans to attain either of those goals. As far as being a professional musician goes, I am traveling the road less publicized. The world will probably judge my life as one that did not live up to its potential..." she interrupted me by saying, rather forcefully I might add, "that is NOT God's opinion!"
I smiled and said "I know - that's why you just blessed me."
She smiled and left the classroom, running to meet her mother.

I have said it before and I will say it again - I would rather be well known by God and anonymous to man than the other way around. I love being a teacher. I love seeing ministry birthed. I love today. And God's plans for my life were affirmed by a 12 year old girl. Another good day in the world of Mr. G.

Day One: Grateful

My iPad and I are becoming fast friends. The applications available for this thing are incredible, and will seriously impact how I teach. I am in awe of the technological breakthroughs that are available for teachers today. Thanks to the Internet, almost any information I need is almost instantly available. I can show movies, find music, download videos of my guitar heros demonstrating what it is that makes them so incredible. I can find and put together what amounts to a masterclass with Joe Satriani, Steve Vai - anybody - thanks to technology and the internet. I have the worlds libraries at my beck and call. Truly amazing.
      But as incredible as all that is (and it IS incredible), do you know what amazes me even more? Do you know what brings me so close to tears and in awe of what my God does? It's the text message conversation at 1:30 in the morning with a former student of mine who is facing a truly huge life crisis. After four years, I am the first one he calls. It's the phone call from a 
weeping mother of one of my current students, who after having a conversation with her daughter, called to tell me (thru her tears) how grateful she is that I am her daughter's teacher. It's the cry of delight as my grandson cries "Boppa!" when I come to his house. It's the realization that at home, as my wife and I watch a movie together, I look over at her and realize that after 34 1/2 years, I still love this woman.
      I have managed, with a great deal of skill, to avoid fame and fortune. And I suspect that will continue to be the case. But - I think that I wasn't put on this earth to be famous or rich. I believe I was put on this planet to be a husband, father, grandfather, friend and teacher. The world may assess my life and find it wasted and in want. But I suspect and in fact believe that the God Who placed me on this mudball called earth places more value on my being a husband, father, grandfather, friend and teacher than He does on my bank account or hits on my YouTube videos (Good thing, too. If YouTube hits were God's measure of success for me, were I to die right now, I think I would be consigned at least to the fifth level of Dante's Hell).

So here I am- at the end of a wonderful week, digging out from under the winter storm of a decade, just home from a church I love, after hearing a message from one of the kindest yet steadfast old-school Baptist preachers I know. My bride is out shopping, and I am getting my mind and heart ready for this next week teaching at four academies. I am so grateful to my God Who has brought me from the hinterlands of Alaska to establishing three generations of Garwoods in Georgia. I am grateful to be given the task of teaching music to the next generation. I am grateful to be known by Him. Yeah - this is a good day to be me.
                                         Mr G