Wow... where does the time fly off to? Oh well - glad I'm not trying to blog every day like I started out to do. I know, I know - I said I would try to look each day and see what God was doing and share. But the truth is - I am going full-tilt boogie (as I used to say in the '70s) and between college (oh crud! got another paper due tonight!!!!!), teaching ... (awww man - gotta get ready to bludgeon my kids with a test tomorrow) and all that life is tossing at me right now, when I get home at the end of a day, my pillow calls my name and I drop off to sleepy-by land. But... I am still here, God has indeed been present every day and visible, so let me give you the highlights since my last post:
1. I got a glimpse of what love looks like. I get a chance to go into deep thought with all the driving I do when I am traveling to a school to teach. I was thinking about 1 Cor 13 - the "love" chapter in the New Testament. The thought hit me - I know what loves look like. I see it every day when I wake up in the same house with the same woman I married almost 35 years ago. There is almost no greater comfort than to know when I come home, she is there. There is no greater comfort than knowing that she would defend me to her last breath, that she is mere seconds away from helping me in any way she can. And she does this by choice. She chooses to be this way. And I would do the same for her, and indeed it IS my choice to live my days with this woman. That's what love looks like. I cannot imagine waking up and her not being there.
2. I get confirmation almost every day concerning my vocation. It seems I hear about or from current or former students almost every week who are now involved in teaching music, leading worship, or going off to study music in college, recording an album - gosh, you name it. And when I heard a young man tell another student of his (he didn't know I was listening) that "Mr G taught me all of this - and this is important, so you need to pay attention..." I almost started crying. I really needed to hear that. And when I heard from a former student that he just got hired to teach at a private academy and wanted me to know that he got accepted because of what he knew and also because they knew he had been a student of mine... wow. Break out the crying towels.
3. I have learned to quit saying "I can't" and to stop giving credence to those who tell me I can't do this or that thing. I have loved jazz for years, especially the songs from songsmiths like Gershwin, Rogers and Hammerstein etc. I have assumed for years that to play solo guitar gigs performing jazz tunes like these was out of my reach. Others have told me that I couldn't realistically expect to do this - especially since I only seriously started studying guitar seriously a little over 10 years ago. After all, I am almost 55 years old - isn't that a bit late to get into playing a genre that is as complex as jazz? I don't know exactly when the idea occurred to me to quit listening to idiots tell me what I can or cannot do. But I know this... I have now played two solo jazz guitar gigs, the audience loved it, I was ecstatic, and am no longer listening to naysayers. I am finally taking my own advice that I hand out to young musicians all the time; namely that the contest in music is not between players of differing skill levels, but instead is between the artist and himself. After a gig - ask these questions... did you like what you did? did the audience like what you did?
So there you have it - you are now caught up with the life of Mr G. God has shown me that I am living in the middle of what love looks like (1 Cor 13); that I am in the middle of His plans for me and that I am making a difference (Jeremiah 29:11); and that I can indeed do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:13).
It is truly epic being me right now. I kind of dig it.
Be encouraged and be blessed!
Mr G
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