How cool is this...today Glyn sent me a link to a review he found that had been written about our performance at the Big Session Festival last Summer (June 08). Here it is ! The bit on us is under "Lee's Saturday sessions", about 1/3 of the way down the page. It's not too bad :-)
Apologies for not blogging recently; things are a bit manic at the moment with having been away a fair bit and having lots of work to now do. I currently have at least 2 posts in my mind that I want to write, one of which is a follow-up to the last post I wrote, but I think writing them will have to wait til at least next week, when I have enough time to spend writing them properly !
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Seeking and finding
So...I've been feeling a little under the weather the past few days. On the outside I look fine, and have been going to work as usual, but on the inside my stomach is churning about, and is somewhat uncomfortable. I've also been feeling really really tired for no apparent reason today, with a slight headache. All this combined, meant that I have spent a large proportion of time today not really being able to concentrate on what I should be doing, and hence procrastinating (although, I did do a few useful things too).
In the course of my procrastination, I discovered this blog, via a link from a friend's blog. I think it's excellent - very very funny (I kept getting odd looks at work when I kept bursting out laughing; Christians do the strangest things sometimes - which you don't realise until someone points it out!), but also very very thought provoking too.
I was especially provoked to thought by this post. Have a read, but I was especially struck by this:
"In a way there are many films, songs, books, and images that point our imaginations to God even though the artist may not have intended this. To those who are seeking after Christ and his kingdom, they see glimpses of it all the time in the most peculiar places."
There are a number of points I could make from this:
1)I identify with this completely and think it is very true. When I was little (and in some senses I still do this now, but slightly differently) I used to listen to pop songs and immediately relate all the lyrics to my own circumstances. I guess this isn't unusual, for someone who doesn't consider themselves wonderfully good with words to use prewritten words to try to fit them to her own life and use them to express how she feels ! But anyway, this meant that a lot of songs I would relate to how I saw God and what I wanted to say to Him. I saw God everywhere.
I still do. As people who know me well will tell you, I have a tendency to think about things very deeply (although I'm not always able to express this well in words). I can go and see a film, and will come out not necessarily thinking about how amazing the story was, but often thinking about what it taught me about God and who He is, and my identity in Him ! I can also go into a gig - be it a university concert (as last Friday), or a folk club, or anything else - and come out feeling like it has given me as much to think about and has made me feel much the same way as when I come out of church on a Sunday.
Why is this ? Now, it could be because God is bigger than just being God of church! He doesn't just speak to me when I'm sitting down on a Sunday morning, but He is a God who loves me and wants a relationship with me, and wants to relate to me in every aspect of my life i.e. He can 'speak' to me through other mediums as well as sermons (!) and He in fact chooses to speak to me through things I relate well to - like music and nature. (For those of you who aren't quite sure what I mean about God 'speaking', I'm sorry to use 'Christian Jargon'. But I think me trying to get my head around what I actually mean by using that would probably take up a whole nother blog post in itself ! Suffice for now to say that I'm not necessarily referring to speaking with an audible voice per se - although, that isn't impossible.)
It could also be because if God has created all things - including us, who He has given the ability to be creative - then surely all things will therefore point back to Him, and speak to us of His nature ?
2) The fact that I identify with this encourages me; it means that although I often feel like I fail to be pursuing God's Kingdom (again, another whole blog post! :) as much as I should be/want to, by this definition I must still therefore to some extent be pursuing Him, even when I know that there is more !
3) This is going to be a more long-winded point.
I went to a lecture tonight at the University, which was entitled:"Right hand, left hand: Asymmetry in brains, bodies, atoms and cultures." It was really really interesting - I learnt a lot of new things, like for example the fact that our bodies are asymmetric and about 1 in 10,000 people have their bodies wired around the other way from most other people, so with their heart on the right instead of the left etc. It's called Situs Inversus ! Basically, it was an astounding story that he was piecing together, about how inherently more complex things are asymmetric. For example, the majority of humans are right-handed (although most other animals are about 50/50 right and left), but that this asymmetry only arises because of underlying other asymmetries etc... all the way down to atoms in our bodies and the laws of physics ! But I was sitting next to a friend, and she said to me (I can't remember how it came up exactly) something along the lines of that people see what they want to see; like if someone is obsessed with the number 13 they will see it everywhere.
Are we endanger of being accused of this as Christians ? That the only reason we see God everywhere is because we are looking for Him ?! I know that in "science and God" debates I have often heard the point that there are many scientists who see God in the complexity of things, but there are also many scientists who are atheists as they believe that science alone explains things without a need for God - both groups are accused of seeing what they want to see, when in fact, science IN ITSELF can neither prove or disprove God.
But then, on the other hand, take these Bible verses:
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matt 6:32-34
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 29:13
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matt 7:6-8
It says that when we seek, we will find. Implying that when we don't seek we don't find ? Hmmm...this would lead me nicely into an analogy that I like using sometimes...but that will have to wait for another blog post, as I really do need to go and get some sleep !
Questions, questions, and no easy answers. It's often the way, I start blogging thinking that I know what I'm going to write, but finding that it gets more confusing as I go along and process stuff ! Apologies for my incoherent ramblings.
But ultimately, however all of this stuff works out, it is encouraging and I know that the God of the Bible is, as I said in point 1, a HUGE God; He has made us creative people (in His image in fact, as He is the ultimate creator!) And I do definitely believe that He isn't limited to drawing us to Himself through only sermons at church or "Christian Music".
I shall end, as is fairly frequent on this blog I know, with some song lyrics; the opening two lines of a Steven Curtis Chapman Song:
"I found You in the most unlikely way.
But really it was You who found me"
- from the song "Remembering You" by SCC
In the course of my procrastination, I discovered this blog, via a link from a friend's blog. I think it's excellent - very very funny (I kept getting odd looks at work when I kept bursting out laughing; Christians do the strangest things sometimes - which you don't realise until someone points it out!), but also very very thought provoking too.
I was especially provoked to thought by this post. Have a read, but I was especially struck by this:
"In a way there are many films, songs, books, and images that point our imaginations to God even though the artist may not have intended this. To those who are seeking after Christ and his kingdom, they see glimpses of it all the time in the most peculiar places."
There are a number of points I could make from this:
1)I identify with this completely and think it is very true. When I was little (and in some senses I still do this now, but slightly differently) I used to listen to pop songs and immediately relate all the lyrics to my own circumstances. I guess this isn't unusual, for someone who doesn't consider themselves wonderfully good with words to use prewritten words to try to fit them to her own life and use them to express how she feels ! But anyway, this meant that a lot of songs I would relate to how I saw God and what I wanted to say to Him. I saw God everywhere.
I still do. As people who know me well will tell you, I have a tendency to think about things very deeply (although I'm not always able to express this well in words). I can go and see a film, and will come out not necessarily thinking about how amazing the story was, but often thinking about what it taught me about God and who He is, and my identity in Him ! I can also go into a gig - be it a university concert (as last Friday), or a folk club, or anything else - and come out feeling like it has given me as much to think about and has made me feel much the same way as when I come out of church on a Sunday.
Why is this ? Now, it could be because God is bigger than just being God of church! He doesn't just speak to me when I'm sitting down on a Sunday morning, but He is a God who loves me and wants a relationship with me, and wants to relate to me in every aspect of my life i.e. He can 'speak' to me through other mediums as well as sermons (!) and He in fact chooses to speak to me through things I relate well to - like music and nature. (For those of you who aren't quite sure what I mean about God 'speaking', I'm sorry to use 'Christian Jargon'. But I think me trying to get my head around what I actually mean by using that would probably take up a whole nother blog post in itself ! Suffice for now to say that I'm not necessarily referring to speaking with an audible voice per se - although, that isn't impossible.)
It could also be because if God has created all things - including us, who He has given the ability to be creative - then surely all things will therefore point back to Him, and speak to us of His nature ?
2) The fact that I identify with this encourages me; it means that although I often feel like I fail to be pursuing God's Kingdom (again, another whole blog post! :) as much as I should be/want to, by this definition I must still therefore to some extent be pursuing Him, even when I know that there is more !
3) This is going to be a more long-winded point.
I went to a lecture tonight at the University, which was entitled:"Right hand, left hand: Asymmetry in brains, bodies, atoms and cultures." It was really really interesting - I learnt a lot of new things, like for example the fact that our bodies are asymmetric and about 1 in 10,000 people have their bodies wired around the other way from most other people, so with their heart on the right instead of the left etc. It's called Situs Inversus ! Basically, it was an astounding story that he was piecing together, about how inherently more complex things are asymmetric. For example, the majority of humans are right-handed (although most other animals are about 50/50 right and left), but that this asymmetry only arises because of underlying other asymmetries etc... all the way down to atoms in our bodies and the laws of physics ! But I was sitting next to a friend, and she said to me (I can't remember how it came up exactly) something along the lines of that people see what they want to see; like if someone is obsessed with the number 13 they will see it everywhere.
Are we endanger of being accused of this as Christians ? That the only reason we see God everywhere is because we are looking for Him ?! I know that in "science and God" debates I have often heard the point that there are many scientists who see God in the complexity of things, but there are also many scientists who are atheists as they believe that science alone explains things without a need for God - both groups are accused of seeing what they want to see, when in fact, science IN ITSELF can neither prove or disprove God.
But then, on the other hand, take these Bible verses:
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matt 6:32-34
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 29:13
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matt 7:6-8
It says that when we seek, we will find. Implying that when we don't seek we don't find ? Hmmm...this would lead me nicely into an analogy that I like using sometimes...but that will have to wait for another blog post, as I really do need to go and get some sleep !
Questions, questions, and no easy answers. It's often the way, I start blogging thinking that I know what I'm going to write, but finding that it gets more confusing as I go along and process stuff ! Apologies for my incoherent ramblings.
But ultimately, however all of this stuff works out, it is encouraging and I know that the God of the Bible is, as I said in point 1, a HUGE God; He has made us creative people (in His image in fact, as He is the ultimate creator!) And I do definitely believe that He isn't limited to drawing us to Himself through only sermons at church or "Christian Music".
I shall end, as is fairly frequent on this blog I know, with some song lyrics; the opening two lines of a Steven Curtis Chapman Song:
"I found You in the most unlikely way.
But really it was You who found me"
- from the song "Remembering You" by SCC
Monday, May 11, 2009
Isn't God amazing...continued...
"So what can I say?
What can I do?
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You
So I’ll stand, with arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all
So I’ll stand, my soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours"
- from "The Stand", Hillsong
What can I do?
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You
So I’ll stand, with arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all
So I’ll stand, my soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours"
- from "The Stand", Hillsong
Friday, May 08, 2009
Isn't God amazing ?!!!!!
Isn't our God so amazing !
I am so amazed at how He continues to love me, even when I'm so rubbish, and how even when I've been being really bad at spending time with Him He still takes the time to tell me He loves me, in so many ways.
I am amazed at how He has blessed me, and continues to bless me SO much ! : I am amazed everytime at work when my supervisors tell me that they're pleased with my progress so far (when myself I get so frustrated with knowing that I want to do and be so much more !); I am amazed to have found this place where I am actually happy in what I'm doing (even if there is always far too much to do ;) I am amazed at how many amazing friends I have who I care for and who continue to care for me (even when they get to know me!); I am amazed at how amazing my family is. I am amazed at how God has given me this huge love of music and the accompanying ability to be able to play some music, and I am amazed at how He has led me to friends with whom I can share this love and with whom I can have such a wonderful time playing it !
I'm never the most eloquent of people, (or at least, I never feel it!); and words can never express how amazing He is anyway. Yet, I know in my heart that although there is still so much more to learn, to discover, to become, on this journey, there is also already SO much to be thankful for right here and now. He is at the heart of it all, and He is amazing :-)
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" James 1:17
"The Lord your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17
"But the harder I try the more clearly can I feel
The depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me clean
Glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy, holy God
So here I am, all of me
Finally everything
Wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly Yours
I am wholly Yours
I am full of earth and dirt and You"
- from "Wholly Yours" by David Crowder
I am so amazed at how He continues to love me, even when I'm so rubbish, and how even when I've been being really bad at spending time with Him He still takes the time to tell me He loves me, in so many ways.
I am amazed at how He has blessed me, and continues to bless me SO much ! : I am amazed everytime at work when my supervisors tell me that they're pleased with my progress so far (when myself I get so frustrated with knowing that I want to do and be so much more !); I am amazed to have found this place where I am actually happy in what I'm doing (even if there is always far too much to do ;) I am amazed at how many amazing friends I have who I care for and who continue to care for me (even when they get to know me!); I am amazed at how amazing my family is. I am amazed at how God has given me this huge love of music and the accompanying ability to be able to play some music, and I am amazed at how He has led me to friends with whom I can share this love and with whom I can have such a wonderful time playing it !
I'm never the most eloquent of people, (or at least, I never feel it!); and words can never express how amazing He is anyway. Yet, I know in my heart that although there is still so much more to learn, to discover, to become, on this journey, there is also already SO much to be thankful for right here and now. He is at the heart of it all, and He is amazing :-)
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" James 1:17
"The Lord your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17
"But the harder I try the more clearly can I feel
The depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me clean
Glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy, holy God
So here I am, all of me
Finally everything
Wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly Yours
I am wholly Yours
I am full of earth and dirt and You"
- from "Wholly Yours" by David Crowder
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Another year older !
So, today I am another year older ! I've been having a really great birthday so far, having spent time with family this weekend, and played lots of music yesterday, and I will be celebrating with friends tomorrow evening! But most importantly, for me every birthday is a time when I celebrate again how amazing God is ! I wonder at the fact that He's taken care of me and loved me for thus many years, even when I wasn't aware of it or when I forget, and that He's going to continue to walk beside me and love me into the future. I've recently gotten Vicky Beeching's latest album, "Painting the Invisible", and listening to it the last song on the album really sums up how I feel today (and have been feeling in the run up to my birthday). I quote the lyrics for you below (the song is originally entitled "Twenty-Six summers", but when I play it on guitar I change the lyrics slightly...)
"I don't know what the future holds
Or what lies beyond my horizon
The years ahead are just out of sight
Well, I think sometimes that You hide them
So that I'll walk by faith not sight
So I'll take Your hand, holding tight
Through twenty-four summers
And twenty-four winters
I've laughed in the springtime
I've cried in the rain
Though I've questioned the meaning
Of some of life's seasons
It's true that they've left me holding on
Tighter to You
My one desire for the road ahead
Is that we would walk it together
Friend and King, You're my everything
May I stay by Your side forever
For when my heart's afraid, You're near
Whispering to my soul, 'don't fear'
Through twenty-four summers
And twenty-four winters
I've laughed in the springtime
I've cried in the rain
Though I've questioned the meaning
Of some of life's seasons
It's true that they've left me holding on
Tighter to You
And I will trust in You alone
For You're the hand leading me home
Leading me home.
I've spent twenty-four summers
And twenty-four winters with You
Through all of the seasons
And my search for reasons
You've carried me through
These twenty-four summers
And twenty-four winters
I've laughed in the springtime
I've cried in the rain
Though I've questioned the meaning
Of some of life's seasons
It's true that they've left me holding on
Tighter to You
I will keep holding on to You"
- Twenty-Six Summers
off the album "Painting the Invisible" by Vicky Beeching
(slight lyrics changes in italics mine)
"I don't know what the future holds
Or what lies beyond my horizon
The years ahead are just out of sight
Well, I think sometimes that You hide them
So that I'll walk by faith not sight
So I'll take Your hand, holding tight
Through twenty-four summers
And twenty-four winters
I've laughed in the springtime
I've cried in the rain
Though I've questioned the meaning
Of some of life's seasons
It's true that they've left me holding on
Tighter to You
My one desire for the road ahead
Is that we would walk it together
Friend and King, You're my everything
May I stay by Your side forever
For when my heart's afraid, You're near
Whispering to my soul, 'don't fear'
Through twenty-four summers
And twenty-four winters
I've laughed in the springtime
I've cried in the rain
Though I've questioned the meaning
Of some of life's seasons
It's true that they've left me holding on
Tighter to You
And I will trust in You alone
For You're the hand leading me home
Leading me home.
I've spent twenty-four summers
And twenty-four winters with You
Through all of the seasons
And my search for reasons
You've carried me through
These twenty-four summers
And twenty-four winters
I've laughed in the springtime
I've cried in the rain
Though I've questioned the meaning
Of some of life's seasons
It's true that they've left me holding on
Tighter to You
I will keep holding on to You"
- Twenty-Six Summers
off the album "Painting the Invisible" by Vicky Beeching
(slight lyrics changes in italics mine)
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