Beggars

All you great men of power, you who boast in your feats
Politicians and entrepreneurs
Can you safeguard your breath in the night while you sleep?
Keep your heart beating steady and sure?
As you lie in your bed, does the thought haunt your head
That you’re really, rather small?
If there’s one thing I know in this life: we are beggars, all

All you champions of science and rulers of men?
Can you summon the sun from its sleep?
Does the earth seek your counsel on how fast to spin?
Can you shut up the gates of the deep?
Don’t you know that all things hang, as if by a string?
O’er the darkness, poised to fall?
If there’s one thing I know in this life: we are beggars, all

All you big shots who swagger and stride with conceit
Did you devise how your frame would be formed?
If you’d be raised in a palace, or live out in the streets
Did you choose the hour or the place you’d be born?
Tell me what can you claim? Not a thing, not your name!
Tell me if you recall just one thing
Is that not a gift in this life?

Can you hear what’s been said? Can you see now that everything is grace after all?
If there’s one thing I know in this life
If there’s one thing I know in this life
If there’s one thing I know in this life
We are beggars, all

© Words and Music: Dustin Kensrue, Teppei Taranishi, Eddie Breckenridge, Riley Breckenridge

Guys, if you haven’t registered for GraceCon2012 yet–WHY NOT?–please do here.

Favorite Christmas memories

As a child, I lived in Mayberry. Ozzie and Harriet were my next door neighbors. Father knew best, and my best friends were Mike, Robbie, and Chip.

Well, not really. None of those things were true. But growing up in the small rural town of Union, SC, in the 1950s and ’60s was like living in those insulated, idealized TV towns – at least until you peeled off the veneer of racism, class envy, poverty, illiteracy, sexism, crime, discrimination, etc.

One upside to my upbringing in a small southern town is that I have some very warm memories of Christmas. And I’m genuinely thankful for them.

Such as…

• Going with my Dad to the “country” to cut down a Christmas tree
• Popcorn balls and pecan pie
• Waffles cooked with pecans on Christmas morning – Dad’s specialty
• Totally believing in Santa Claus, for an embarrassingly long time of my life
• Leaving cookies in the den for Santa Claus
• Thinking I really heard Santa Claus on the rooftop
• Staring with wonder at the Santa and reindeer set that my parents put out on the living room coffee table
• (OK, you get the idea; Santa was a big deal)
• Keeping a fire going in the fireplace
• Impatiently waiting for the grandmothers to arrive so we could begin opening presents
• A new bike almost every year (complete with banana seat, raised handlebars, etc.)
• Wishing for a white Christmas that never came (it seemed to rain every year)
• Watching tons of corny Christmas TV specials with my parents (Andy Williams, Mitch Miller, Sonny and Cher… sheesh!)
• The annual Christmas service at our First Presbyterian Church (here’s a shout-out to Mr. Nabors, our faithful organist)
• Walking the neighborhood and looking at everyone’s Christmas decorations (our neighborhood gave prizes for the best exhibits, and Dad entered something creative every year)
• Seeing Main Street decked out in lights
• The annual Christmas parade, which featured my Cub Scout troop, Miss Union High, the Shriners, the marching band from the “black” high school – oh, and Santa always brought up the rear

My parents are both gone now, but I’ll say a belated thank-you anyway for all they did to create special Christmas memories.

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Guys, if you haven’t registered for GraceCon2012 yet–please do.  The leadership has worked and prayed to give you a creative experience that is deeply enriching for you.  Good bible teachers, fun & good refreshments, as well as hit the street discussion with other guys and some great music from Chris and a group of guys.

This is for the FCA guy who asked me about understanding the parables.  You’re welcome.  By the way, www.monergism.com is always a good place to do research.

The Purpose of the Parables (MP3)
D.A. Carson

The Parables of Christ (MP3)
Michael Horton – Luke 8:4-15

you’ll enjoy this, and Feb 10-11 GraceCon12.  Get IN THERE, fellas.

Here, There and Everywhere, Mike Osborne

I just read the book Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles, by Geoff Emerick. Geoff was the recording engineer behind most of the Beatles’ music from Revolver through Abbey Road. After the Beatle break-up he went on to work with Paul McCartney and Wings. He also helped John, George, and Ringo with some of their solo projects. I wasn’t as interested in that phase of Geoff’s career. But the book is a fascinating expose of the wizardry and drama behind the Beatle albums that I love as much as ever.

When Geoff was just 15 years old, he was an assistant on some of the Beatles’ early hits like “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You.” The book starts there and moves on through the Beatles’ career, sharing inside stories behind the best-known Beatle songs.

Much of the book focuses on the technical aspects of audio engineering. What I liked best was Geoff’s recounting how, take after take, Beatle songs evolved into the finished products we listen to today. He also shares a lot about the relationships among the Beatles. It is clear that Paul McCartney was (and is) his favorite. Emerick did not care for George Harrison at all, and is often critical of George’s guitar playing and voice. John and Ringo also get their share of jabs, especially when Geoff writes about the Beatles’ late career. But you can tell Geoff Emerick loved the Beatles’ music, loved playing a key role in their recordings, and grieves still over the world’s loss of John and George.

The book illustrates common grace. God gives gifts to all, even to those who are his enemies. Some of the world’s greatest musicians are people who deny that there is a God. Such seems to be the case with the Beatles (notwithstanding another book I read recently titled The Gospel According to the Beatles, by Steve Turner). Geoff Emerick is an incredible artist. His ear is precise, his hands careful, his mind quick and alert. Yet he apparently has yet to bow the knee to Jesus. This proves the truth of Acts 17:25, “[God] himself gives all men life and breath and everything else,” including artistic gifts. Why is God so generous and patient? “…so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being'” (Acts 17:27-28).

In other words, God is here, there, and everywhere.