Pear Blossomation

For those who are unaware of the significance of Pear Blossom, it really marks the start of Spring in the Rogue Valley.
The day starts with early morning runs/walks and then at 11am, the main parade through Medford's downtown.
For the last 2 years I've been a part of theDove's float, but this year we had started talking at the Naz about whether we could get the band on a float for Pear Blossom. After batting it around, we found that the personnel were available, and thanks to the genius of Joe Bettis and a crew of technical marvels, we found ourselves at a local lock-up on Friday  night, soundchecking for the parade, which would serve as the first real advertising we have done for Saturday nights at Naz.
As you can see from the pictures, the technical marvels had also rigged up a really neat gazebo thing which was chiefly designed to protect from any rain, but which also came in useful as a sun shield, as it turned out. Final touches were added to the float at 7.30am Saturday, just as Pastor Trevor was coming 4th in in the run for his age bracket - and first among Central Point runners in that bracket, so in my book, he's a winner. His sister-in-law came 20th out of around 400 girls, which is probably not a huge surprise to those of us who know her!
By 8.30am, the float was parked up in place in the holding area with a band consisting of keyboards, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums and bass, along with 5 vocalists, complete with our own on-board sound engineer. It wasn't as cold as forecast, but still very brisk, especially for guitar strings etc. so plenty of retuning was needed. We ran through a few songs as we waited for the off, which would be well after 11am as we were right at the back of the parade. By the time we pulled away at around noon, we'd played quite a bit and the conditions were warmer, with some sporadic sun.
As we got under way and started to encounter the people lining the route, the reaction seemed very positive. As far as we were aware, we were possibly the only live band apart from the various marching bands, and people seemed really into the music,  and not just those we saw from our church. A surprising number of people we saw seemed to know the words of the songs we were doing.
The setlist was kept upbeat, with what outside of worship would be called "crowd pleasers". Lincoln Brewster's "Everybody Praise The Lord", "All To You" and "Give Him Praise", New Life Church's "Mighty King Of Love", Chris Tomlin's "Sing Sing Sing", Jesus Culture Redding's "Your Love Never Fails" and Tim Hughes' "Happy Day". I think we probably played some of those songs six or seven times by the time we had finished, so we had the arrangements pretty much down.
Judging by the reactions, I think it was a very successful thing to do, and well worth all the effort. At our 6pm service later, Pastor Grinder reported that 8 or 9 people had come after seeing the band playing in the Pear Blossom.

One final story to report. A guy who was marshaling floats in the holding area came up to us after we'd been running through some songs. He was interested in where the church was and talked about maybe coming to check out a service. His comment was "We're gonna have to pull you out of the parade......cuz you're too AWESOME!!".

Reflections on Prayer Day

As expected, yesterday's Dove Day of Prayer was hectic from start to finish with well over 300 emails and phone calls taken between 6am and 6pm.

It is strange how draining something as seemingly simple as prayer can be, but the truth is that you are making an emotional and spiritual connection with God every time, and especially when praying on the air, we have to be so careful not to give out any names, or to give away too much about a particular situation that someone is able to guess who it involves.

That said, I was moved by how - after having prayed with people over the phone - it really sounded in their voices as if a huge weight had been lifted. Maybe I ought to pray more for those I know and love, since it costs me nothing but can be such a massive encouragement, just to know someone cares and is trying to understand.

It was encouraging to be joined in the studio yesterday by two great men of prayer, Pastor David Grinder from First Church of the Nazarene here in Medford - my home church - and Pastor Ron Timen from Rivergate in Ashland (who, as it turns out, is a huge fan of the Motown backing band, the Funk Brothers, and like me, a big fan of the legendary James Jamerson, so we had plenty to talk about in down moments).

Now comes the excitement of awaiting news of how God has been answering all those prayers, because he is and he will, in his own time.  I look forward to sharing encouraging news of answered prayer. In the meantime, don't forget the National Day of Prayer on May 6th.

Prayer Day

So tomorrow is a big day for my workplace, theDove. It's our annual Prayer Day, when we get to pray for the needs of our listeners, and it's the only time we get to ask them to call in with no agenda of our own, other than to pray for THEM.

This is important because usually if we're asking people to call in, we're asking for something -- usually money! The last few times we have had days like this, the response has been almost overwhelming and it is really humbling and also rather sad to know that SO MANY people listening to the station have such a depth and breadth of problems and life issues. It certainly helps put life in perspective.

Last year when we had a Prayer Day the phones were pretty much white hot from 6am through to day's end at 6pm, and tomorrow -- if initial email response is anything to go by -- is going to be just as busy.

So can we pray for you? If so, go to www.thedove.us and click on the praying hands, and tomorrow you can call us from 6am through 6pm with your prayer needs.

The Self-image thing

Those who know me will be aware that I have personally been involved with a long battle involving self-image, and so when something appears in the public domain that helps people (of any age) with an understanding of that, I'm very keen to highlight it.
For several years now I've been a fan of the Christian girl trio Everlife, who originally came to prominence as a part of the whole Disney Channel phenomenon, but who are now very much doing their own thing.
Their latest single, which you can buy on iTunes is called "What's Beautiful" and the lyric is perfect for anyone -- though in particular teenage girls -- who is struggling with self image issues.
It is well worth getting the single for 99 cents on iTunes, not just for the message, but also because it ROCKS! There's also a video made with Ransom TV which you can find on Youtube, which is really well done.
You can check out the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onq4KpdZhdQ

Blessing in disguise

So my laptop just decided around one month ago that it would not let me on the internet at home. It will do everything else I ask it too, but apparently allowing me online is just one step too far.
As it happens, this is not such a bad thing. I've wanted to take a step back from my online reliance, and this has turned out to be very helpful in keeping me away. If I do want to check stuff I can still go online on my iTouch, since my wireless connection is not to blame.
The hope is that I can use the time that would otherwise be spent mindlessly surfing to do something constructive like reading, rather than just heading to the TV all the time.

Let's hope I can keep that going, but in the meantime, if it takes me a while to reply to your email or whatever, that's why. Plus it's darned hard to avoid typos on the iTouch keyboard!

The Blind Side

This is a movie I have wanted to see for a long time, and having heard so many positive things about it, expectations were high. The movie is based on the true story of Michael Oher (the real one pictured above) who was without a family, a home or any real hope when adopted in Memphis by the Tuohy family. They gave him a home -- and a family, helped him through school, and stuck by him as he developed a career as a formidable left tackle. Oher went on to play for Ole Miss and then was drafted in 2009 by the Baltimore Ravens, for whom he can regularly be seen playing, although at Right Tackle.

The movie itself opens with an explanation of the significance of the Left Tackle (which, remember, is Oher's position). It traces the growth in importance back to the infamous Joe Theismann injury in 1985, when the Redskins QB received a career-ending hit from Giants Outside Linebacker Lawrence Taylor. This led to the Left tackle being given a more prominent role in protecting the blind side of right-handed Quarterbacks.

The injury itself is shown on numerous occasions in slow-mo, and since it is generally considered to be the most gruesome injury in Primetime NFL TV history, it's best to avert the eyes for the first few minutes. I'm not sure that this is necessarily gratuitous to show because it does very effectively explain the importance of a left tackle, but to someone squeamish like me - not good!!
The rest of the movie shows the Tuohy family getting to know, and love Michael. Sandra Bullock is fantastic as mother Leigh Anne, who is a whirlwind of energy with a faith that motivates her to strive to do the right thing.

Bullock has since commented:
"I’ve had the blessing of having my -- not a restored faith, but I now have faith in those who say they represent a faith, whereas before I was like, “Do not give me a lecture on how to live my life when I know I’m a pretty decent human being. I might not go to church every day but I know I do the right thing or try to. You’re going to church and you’re still sleeping around on your wife and spending everyone’s money. How are you better than I am?” So I’ve finally met people that walk the walk and it’s made me happy, really happy."

There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, lots of emotion, but mainly a sense of well-being and restored faith in the good in people as a result of seeing the movie.  There are great performances from Tim McGraw as Leigh Anne's husband, the 2 siblings in the family, and of course the previously-unknown Quinton Aaron as Michael. There are even some cameos from then-college Head Coaches such as Lou Holtz (now a TV pundit) and the newly triumphant Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban, who was then with LSU.

Reaction from Michael Oher himself has been virtually non-existent, but he was thought to be displeased at the film's portrayal of him arriving at high school as a passive, unskilled big guy who was only barely acquainted with football. In truth, Oher was an aggressive, fairly experienced football player when he enrolled, and he then developed into a premier left tackle who was (as depicted) heavily recruited by the top schools in the Southeastern Conference. I suspect the way the movie depicts Michael is to provide some light relief, as that whole section -- and it's resolution -- is  really funny.

This is definitely a movie to see, not least because it provides some hope in a world where hope in the movies is so rarely seen. To see the good in people gives us all hope of our potential to do the same, and to follow God's prompting in Isaiah 58 verse 7  to "..share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help."

Brit Hume Takes A Risk To Proclaim The Gospel

I wanted to elaborate a bit on what I said yesterday about Brit Hume because this story clearly will not go away, and as Christians, all of us in the faith know that ANY mention of Jesus Christ and the Gospel in the mainstream media leads to a torrent of reaction, mostly negative.

Fortunately, Hume himself was more than prepared for the backlash that came. Christianity is, after all, probably the only faith which divides, since it is the only one that claims exclusivity. This claim comes from God himself, and since God's detractors seem unable to get through to God himself, it is only to be expected that they take out their frustration on the next best thing - God's representatives on Earth.

The Bible makes it clear that opposition is to be expected from those who do not understand or accept our faith.

1 Corinthians 1:18 says: "The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God." (NLT)
Matthew 10:22 -- "And all nations will hate you because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved." (NLT)
And in John 14:6 -- "Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."" (NLT)

So we know that opposition will come, and mainly from those who cannot or will not understand the good news.

Brit Hume talked about the differences between Buddhism and Christianity. Generally Buddhism does not believe in a personal God or a divine being, it does not have worship, praying to, or praising of a divine being (although some sects do.) It offers no form of redemption, forgiveness, no heavenly hope, or a final judgment to those practicing its system. Buddhism is a moral philosophy, an ethical way to live for the here and now of this world to gain the ultimate state. It has more in common with humanism and atheism than its original religion Hinduism it separated from. But Buddhism is not atheism just because they don’t believe in a personal God. It is more like pantheism, there is a impersonal force the void which is the ultimate.

Against this background, Brit Hume was correct when he offered Christianity as one of the few hopes Tiger Woods has. From the above description it is clear that Buddhism does NOT offer hope to Woods, and to say so is not anti-Buddhist rhetoric, it is FACT.

Brit Hume has widely been accused of proselytizing over the past few days. Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary defines proselytism as:
"to induce someone to convert to one's faith" or
" to recruit or convert especially to a new faith, institution, or cause"

Now I think it is pretty clear that Brit Hume cannot convert anyone to the Christian Faith. He can encourage, but only God can convert someone, and of course, the decision to convert is up to the individual concerned. There was no "inducing", no "recruiting" and no "converting" on the part of Hume, so that accusation holds no water.

What Brit Hume DID do was risk his career and reputation. Why did he do that? Because after the suicide of his son some years ago, God proved Himself to be real to Brit, and Brit felt that what he said was worth the risk.

Elizabeth Elliot said "There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for. ”. I challenge you today -- do you have anything, any values in your life that you consider worth dying for, worth sacrificing your reputation and credibility for? I ask myself the same question, and if the answer is no, maybe it's worth all of us re-examining our lives...