Day 22: Vision part Deaux... what's in the toolbox?

What's in the Toolbox?

As I mentioned in my previous blog on day 21, my former pastor Rodney H challenged me  to develop my vision statement. The first step down that path was to look in my "toolbox" to see what tools I had available to accomplish whatever it is that God has me on this mudball called earth to do. Doesn't it make sense that the God of this universe would supply me with what I needed to do whatever it is He wants me to do? What are the tools that God gave me? For me there were three things:

1. Spiritual Gifts  - those special abilities given to each Christian by our Creator to accomplish His will through us.

2. Abilities and aptitudes... beyond those specific spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible, the tendencies, temperament and abilities of an individual. How do you respond to different situations? What skills do you possess? Carpentry? Music? Art? Engineering?

3. Circumstances... look around you. Where do you always seem to find yourself? Look at relationships - what kind of people seem to gravitate towards you? Where are you living?


The rest of this blog post will deal with item #1 - Spiritual Gifts.

The Bible tells us that God distributes gifts to all of us - look in 1 Cor 12,13 and 14 for the discussion Paul the Apostle is having with the Corinthian church. Not everyone gets the same gift(s), because not everyone is called to do and be the same thing. Now - lots of folks weird out a bit when you start a conversation like this, and somebody almost always bring up the subject of speaking in tongues. They will have a problem with it, because it does indeed seem a bit weird. And based on that, they throw out the baby with the bathwater, as the saying goes, and (many times) dismiss the topic of the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians altogether. For the sake of brevity, let's blow right past that one - and save it for another conversation at another time. It doesn't figure into my story, anyway, and I have no energy to enter into that conversation right now. I believe every gift from our God listed in Pauls' letter to the Corinthian church is valid and has its place in the Church. Remind me later to perhaps address the topic of tongues in another blog.

There are tests that have been written that ask a battery of questions that, when analyzed, give an accurate description about which gift(s) are at work in a believer. Just Google "spiritual gifts test" and look into what you find. Answer the questions and look at the results.

I took a Spiritual Gifts test after I had the conversation with Rodney. I had also taken several of these throughout the years and the results have always been very consistent.  I would recommend that you take several  spiritual gifts tests over time. For me, these top three gifts have always shown up when I take these tests... Teaching, Administration and Prophecy.

1. Teaching - an innate ability to communicate difficult topics is a manner that is clear and understandable.

2. Administration - the ability to bring order out of chaos, to schedule and, well... administrate. (I know it is bad form to use a word in a definition of the same word, but well - there is no real special extra spiritual definition for this word, as it is what it is). Not everybody has this gift, though many could use it, methinks.

3. Prophecy - one of the weird ones that folks tend to get all wrong, or get bent out of shape over. This gift isn't about telling the future - it's about speaking God's mind in a situation. It's all about knowing God's Word to the extent that when confronting a situation or person you can begin a sentence by saying "Thus says the Lord..." and then say what God says. It's not about foretelling as much as it is about "forth-telling".

The first time I took a Spiritual Gifts test and these results showed up, I jumped up and down... God wants me to be a preacher!!!! These three gifts are a pretty typical set of spiritual gifts that you would expect a pastor to possess, and I suspect that most pastors do indeed have these gifts operational in their lives.

However, knowing what the tools are in your toolbox and knowing what to build with them are two different things. Anybody who knows me knows I am NOT a preacher. What happened? Did I miss the boat when I pursued a career as a United States Navy sailor followed by another career as an IT engineer followed by a career as a musician?

First - God made it abundantly clear to me years ago that my becoming a pastor or even a worship pastor was totally out of the picture. I will you that story sometime. Suffice it to say, God spoke with a very loud and unmistakeable voice back in 1985 (or so). Second -  He has also made it abundantly clear that I am doing EXACTLY what He wants me to do now - be a music teacher. Hmmmmm.

The Spiritual gifts I possess as a Christian are indeed part of the puzzle, but they by no means tell the whole story. They are the tools in my toolbox that I  use every day as I pursue the fulfillment of the vision God has put in front of me.

In the next two blogs I will bring in the other two items that God used to help me craft my vision statement - my aptitudes, abilities and temperament and my circumstances.

I am such a tease... I know. But it is late and I must toddle off to the land of nod.
Blessings!
mr G

Day 21: Where there is no vision....

Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish....
Another translation says 
"Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained..."


When there is no vision - no forward-looking-goal-seeking-attitude - in a persons life, there are no boundaries and/or borders. You might say there are no restraints. You might go so far as to say that if you have no vision you are unrestrained.... oh wait... that's already been said. In Proverbs 29:18! 


So  - let's put wheels on that verse and see how it drives around, kick the tires a bit and check out the ride.


I had a meeting with a pastor/mentor about 7 years ago and he asked me two very simple questions:
1. Why are you on this planet?
2. What are you gonna do about it?

This was his way of saying I needed to develop a "Vision" statement for my life and a "Mission" statement for my life. His reasoning for walking me down this road was to give me boundaries, a framework (if you will) within which I can make decisions. You see, I had come to Rodney and told him how crazy my life was. I am a self employed musician, and I was taking advantage of every opportunity that came along to make a dollar. On the surface, that makes sense. But in reality, before long you can become like a hamster on one of those spinning wheel-thingies. Going real fast, but getting nowhere. I had become that hamster. Ergo - those magical two questions - "Why am I here" and "What are you gonna do about it". Their scientific names are "Vision Statement" and "Mission Statement".  
Rodney told me that once I answered those two magic questions, then the framework was in place to help me say yes or no to "opportunities" that presented themselves. He went on to remind me that the enemy of   excellence was not "bad", but "just good enough". And if I spread myself too much, I would accomplish alot of "good enough", but sacrifice excellence in the process.
Without a vision for my life, I would be unrestrained... running this way and that, accomplishing nothing but keeping myself really busy. That was a pretty good description of my life back then.
If I could nail down why God has me here, then I could (with God's help) lay out a plan to work His plans for me. That was the challenge.
 Nailing down God's vision for my life took some time, alot of counsel and some tests. I will cover that on my next blog-post. But suffice it to say that "God knows the plans He has for us - they're good plans - not evil.." (Jeremiah 29:11); and wouldn't it make sense for US to know the plans He has for us? I'm not talking about knowing the future - I prefer NOT to know much about that, to be honest. But I can tell you that knowing the task He has for us to do NOW is a very advantageous thing. That knowledge (or vision, if you will permit) gives you boundaries - it restrains you. And that is NOT a bad thing. 
There are boundaries in my life due to the fact that I am married. There are certain activities that are easy to say "no" to because of the boundaries and restraints on me due to my being married. I like those boundaries and restraints. They keep me out of trouble. Anything that helps me make a wise decision is a good thing for me.
So the next blog will deal with how I arrived at my personal "vision statement". It changed my life. It focused my life. It focused my future. It guides my present. It brings peace into what may appear to be a difficult decision. It set up boundaries for me to run between. And I am off that stupid hamster wheel-thingie.




Mr G out.

Day 20: I love you

Pretty powerful words - "I love you". I doubt if a day goes by when my wife and I don't say those words to each other.  And every time we speak with our grown kids, we tell them we love them. Every time I see Millie the Wonder-Dog, I tell her I love her.
Here is what occurred to me today - My wife knew 35 years ago that I loved her. After all, I told her so. How stupid it would be for me have never spoken those words to her again- because after all, didn't I tell her I loved her in 1976? Those words are food for her soul. She like to hear me say those words. My kids like me to say those words. My dog likes it when I say those word. And they NEVER get tired of hearing me say I love them.
About 15 years ago, I took a trip to Russia to play a series of concerts and to work in some orphanages. I was going to be gone for about two weeks. I arranged with a local florist to send my wife a bouquet of flowers every day that I was gone. So even though I was not able to call her during my time away, I managed to tell her I loved her through a stranger with some flowers.
So as I just finished reading my blog posts (nineteen of them!), I realized how often God has affirmed to me that I am doing what He wants and that He loves me through students, parents, colleagues,my family and even complete strangers. You see - I can't see God... physically. But He still manages to communicate to me His love for me... kind of like the way I did with my wife way back when I was in Russia. And the message is ever the same..."Paige - I love you. I love it when you play guitar. I love it when you teach. I love how you connect with kids." Every time a parent or a student or a stranger tells me any of these things, it's like that florist showing up with a bouquet of flowers at my wife's classroom. A complete stranger being used to communicate my love to my wife.
The message never gets old. The words never fail to encourage.
I love you.
Pretty powerful stuff.
Mr G

Day 19: Full Tilt Boogie!

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

Day 18: Shared Joy

Ok - just got the news yesterday that my wife and I are expecting!!!!! A grandchild, that is. A granddaughter, to be more specific.

I personally find it amazing how God has set things up, allowing us humans a peek into the Creator's joy, when a single cell from each partner in the marriage combine to bring forth a child that will contain traits and likeness of both mother and father. Kind of like when God said in Genesis "Let us create man in OUR image..." and so mankind has traits of the Trinity within it. And just like my son's son and soon his daughter will at times reflect their mother or their father, so it is with us. At times we reflect certain aspects of God's character and form. Sometimes when Roran (my grandson) turns his head this way or that, or smiles in a certain way, it's like looking at my own son (Rorans father) when he was a baby. It's easy to see that he is the son of my son.  And I expect the same will be when my granddaughter makes her appearance in June of this year. At times I am sure she will reflect her mother... and at other times her father.  And the joy this will bring that house is akin to the joy our heavenly Father must feel when He sees us reflecting this part or that part of His character. When we act charitably, and love unconditionally; when we give with no thought of benefit or return; when we respond in true righteous indignation when our Father's Name is sullied or misused - all this comes to mind as I look at the picture of my grandson today and anticipate seeing my granddaughter in the very near future.
I am so grateful to the God I bow my knee to that He gives us this gift of seeing our children and then our children's children come into this world. I am in awe and very much in love with this God Who creates... and then lets us share this joy.

Joy is a good word.  It's the perfect word for how I feel right  now.

Mr g

Day 17: heroes

Heroes come in many shapes and sizes and mean different things to different people. I have had a few in my life. When I was little I would fight to the death if ANYONE dared to suggest that Superman could possibly be less cool than Batman... I mean, come on... is there really a contest between the son of Krypton, and a really rich guy with cool toys and a neat utility belt... ok - he had a cool car too. But Superman was the bomb-diggity of all super heroes. Conversations would get heated back when I was 10 or so. Superman was my first hero. Others would follow - there was my dad, who was so big and strong when I was a wee little one, and got so much smarter as the years rolled on. By the time I was a father of my own two children, my dad had achieved genius status.
I am sparing with my hero worship - not many applicants make it into my personal hall of heroes.

Having said that, however, I have recently installed one other honoree... Johnny Cash. And this was a result of a couple of conversations with students this last several weeks. Isn't it a bit of a hoot that I get paid to teach, and then get educated by my students? That seems to happen so often.
I am teaching a class on the impact a few artists have had on Pop music in the 20th century. In one of the classes, we discussed Johnny Cash - within the context of a discussion of how truly great songs seem to transcend genres. Case in point - so many Beatles tunes have been performed by Ska bands, Reggae bands, symphonic orchestras etc. In fact, I am currently working up some Beatles tunes as jazz guitar solos. As part of the discussion, I had them listen to a song from Johnny Cash's last album... a song called Hurt. This is a song that Mr Cash covered by a band called Nine Inch Nails. We listened to the NIN version, and then listened to Johnny Cash's version. I asked them for their input, and as usual, got some very insightful comments. One of them mentioned that in the NIN version, you got a real sense of the evil power addiction has (the song is about drug addiction). NIN use alot of ambient effects and some real dissonant accompaniment - their performance of the song really does give you the creeps. Then we listened to the Johnny Cash version...Johnny's version has his voice, an acoustic guitar, a piano and a violin.... compared to NIN, this is a really stripped down version. But the impact that Johnny Cash gave to it was powerful. After his version was done, someone said something to the effect that where NIN's version gave you the sense of the pure evil of drug addiction, Johnny Cash's version gave a real sense of the despair from an addicts point of view...NIN's version seems to show the power of the drug, and Johnny Cash gives the tragedy from the addicts point of view....  using the same lyrics. This led to a conversation that went down several paths - one where one student asked "Why was Johnny Cash - a country star - listening to a Nine Inch Nails tune?"Great question... one of the things I try to get across to my students is that great musicians listen to EVERYTHING. Country stars don't just listen to country music. Metal musicians don't just listen to Metal music. Real musicians listen to everything. That thought was driven home to that one student when he asked that first question. That led another student to mention that it was pretty neat that someone like Johnny Cash would respect an artist like Nine Inch Nails who was so different from him. That led someone else to say that it was pretty brave for an established country star to step so far outside his genre to get a tune to record.
I proceeded to tell them some of what I knew about the life of Johnny Cash. How he fought drug addiction his entire life - even as a Christian. I told them that this was the last album he recorded before he died. I asked them if it were possible that he knew his time was close, and if he had given thought to what would be something important to say if it were indeed the last thing he WOULD say. Of course I don't know for sure if that was the case.... but for someone who never completely won the battle against addiction, I can certainly see why the message of the song "HURT" would be an important one to him. Here are the lyrics:

"Hurt"

I hurt myself today 

To see if I still feel 

I focus on the pain 

The only thing that's real 

The needle tears a hole

The old familiar sting 

Try to kill it all away 

But I remember everything 

[Chorus:]

What have I become 

My sweetest friend 

Everyone I know goes away 

In the end 

And you could have it all 

My empire of dirt 

I will let you down 

I will make you hurt 

I wear this crown of thorns 

Upon my liar's chair 

Full of broken thoughts 

I cannot repair 

Beneath the stains of time 

The feelings disappear 

You are someone else 

I am still right here 

[Chorus:]

What have I become 

My sweetest friend 

Everyone I know goes away 

In the end 

And you could have it all 

My empire of dirt 

I will let you down 

I will make you hurt 

If I could start again 

A million miles away 

I would keep myself 
I would find a way

The more I thought about it, the more my already considerable admiration for Johnny Cash grew.

So - Johnny Cash has earned a place in my personal pantheon of heroes.

As a Christian man (which I believe he was) he never quit. He fell, got up and kept swinging. He sang about what he believed, and he didn't let himself become conformed by the world he lived in. He was always known as a bit of a rebel in Nashville, and he was so NOT perfect. But in truth none of my heroes are perfect - what's there to be heroic about if it all comes easy? Being heroic is all about facing unimaginable odds and finding a way to persevere and perhaps even to conquer. Johnny Cash was just doing his best to emulate Jesus, Who is the greatest Hero of all. And yes - Jesus is in my Hall of Heroes. Just in case you were wondering.


Mr G

Day 16: I Never REALLY Liked Resolutions Anyway...

Resolutions in Congress are pretty useless. Some politicians get together and say"Let's resolve to say we don't like Figgy Pudding.... or this tax. or the entire socks and sandal movement sweeping America thanks to that troublemaker in Georgia - the inestimable Mr G!" Ok - so they didn't say any of that... but their resolutions, no matter how noble, accomplish nothing, really. Well, the same is true of my resolutions. I resolved to blog every day.... sounded good, but dudes and dudettes, this old man got exhausted, my soft comforter on my bed called my name ever so sweetly, my flannel sheets and flannel pillowcases whispered my name just loud enough for me to hear and I was lost - a prisoner of flannel sheets and a soft comforter that held me in their gentle grip these last few nights.
But I'm back! Therefore I am making a new resolution... I hereby resolve to therefore make no resolutions  resolving to do anything about any resolutions made, past or present. Wow... already broke that resolution. See how helpless I am? I am a victim of my own resolute nature.

Ok - on to more serious matters. This last Saturday, I had a dream gig come true. I got to play Jazz standards for four hours at the Chick Filet at Barrett and Hwy 120 for the Father-Daughter day. It was a dream for the following reasons:
1. I love Gershwin, Rogers and Hammerstein etc. And I got to play so many great tunes as a solo artist.
2. I got to use only my Macbook (for my guitar tone) and my iPad for the accompaniment tracks within an app called iRealBook - over 900 jazz standards with accompaniment tracks using real sampled instruments (Bass, piano, drums) and not cheesy midi substitutes. It was a superior sound. No amps... woo hoo!!! A small PA, my Macbook and the iPad. I took up very little room and it was easy schmeezy set up and tear down.
3. Being primarily a bassist who has only started playing guitar seriously this last 10 years or so, I know my limitations and I know I am not  a complete jazz guitarist. But I am a musician who loves these tunes and I wanted to find out if I could pull off a gig like this and not do dishonor to the genre or myself.

Well - the owners loved it, the patrons loved it, a cow danced with several of the young ladies there with their dads, so I counted it as a win.

I faced what was for me a formidable challenge and won!!!!

I love to teach music, and I believe I am pretty good at it, but teaching music and performing it to a degree that is acceptable to the listener and myself is a different matter. I still need to be stretched and challenged and pushed even after 40+ years after I made my first dollar as a musician.

I guess the one big thing about what happened Saturday was the simple fact that the God I serve knew my love for this music and my desire to one day to be able to perform it for an audience, and this job was a gift straight from Him. I did not solicit the gig, in fact I wasn't looking to play jazz ANYWHERE on my own on guitar (especially not on guitar!). But this was one of those "friend of a friend" deals. A friend of mine asked me of I would consider doing this for a friend of hers, and I said yes... and the rest is, as they say, history.
I am not so arrogant as to say that now I am a jazz artist. But I do know that I can play some of it without shaming those who are, in my eyes true jazzers. So what am I? A most fortunate child of a God Who gives good gifts to His kids, Who deposited a love for these tunes by the great songwriters of the 20th century into my heart , and Who moved events in such a manner that I found myself actually playing a solo jazz gig for an appreciative audience.
How cool is that?
Mr G