9stines

It was in the 1980’s that I learned to play the guitar. Little did I know that while I would never be a famous musician I would see the guitar create significant bookmarks in my life. Recent events has caused me to reflect back on the last almost 30 years I have been alive to see just ‘what happened’ and to also see what it is or was that I learned from it. I am not sure what the purpose or intent of this writing is but I felt compelled to tell the story. Perhaps it will make sense and mean something to someone somewhere. We will see. I am not sure of the exact dates. I just know the approximations. But the dates aren’t all that important to the point I think I am trying to make.

I grew up listening to a fairly wide variety of music. While my mom and dad mostly listened to country music in the car at home it was a mixture of oldies, some pop, and some other music that I can’t quite put into a category. One thing is for certain is that I did have a vast influence of music styles. I never took a real interest in music until my high school years. That seems typical for the teenage years to be the ones most influenced by music. Rock and Roll music was not even introduced to me until my freshman year. At that very time another interest was set aflame that would be with me and that was playing the guitar.

My very first guitar was an acoustic guitar that I got for Christmas when I was much younger. It was a beginners guitar I think from Sears or someplace like that. It was a orange burst color and had steel strings. As much as I tried I just could not get it. I think the biggest issue was that I could never figure out how to tune it. So, it was set aside and closeted for some time and then was eventually accidentally broken. After some time of tinkering around with a single coil pickup dime store type guitar my dad had with my best friend at that time I got my first electric guitar, a Lotus Les Paul copy. The biggest reason why is that my best friends guitar was also a Lotus Les Paul copy and I liked his so much. He had modified his with a Carvin M22 pickup. His was a beautiful tobacco burst. Mine was slightly modified in that I tore the pickup covers off of it and adjusted the action. Mine was a red sunburst color. I loved that guiatr and had it for a number of years before it was met with a serious accident that would change my feeling toward guitars forever. But, I digress…

A year or two after I got my Lotus I picked up several other guitars along the way. One was a semi hollow body that thinner than my Lotus and had a thinner neck. I for the life of me can’t remember who made it or where it went. I also had a wine colored Hondo Les Paul copy, a silver Lotus Strat copy, and for a long time I used a Lotus Acoustic that my best friend left behind when he moved to Arizona. I was a guitar nut. I loved them. I loved tearing them apart, rebuilding them, modifying them, painting them, even building them from scratch. I always dreamed of one day owning a Gibson or a Carvin but never thought it would actually happen at least not until the band I was in would actually go somewhere.

1989. I hate and love that year! That year was the most influential year of my entire life. It is this year that would impact every single aspect of my life. It was in that year I learned tons of in and outs about love and relationships, what it is like to work in corporate America, and what happens when you are injured by a friend. Also in that year I learned about profound craftsmanship and elegance in a musical instrument. We had a place where the band call our HQ. It was near the middle of town and was easy access for all of us to get to. Because we would practice nearly every evening I would leave my guitar and equipment there. There is a well known and understood rule when it came to other peoples stuff and that was don’t touch! Ever! One day I came to rehearsal and the other guys were already there. I walked in and instantly sensed something was very wrong. After a few moments it was disclosed to me that one of the members had taken my guitar out of the case and dropped it snapping the head off of the neck- cleanly. I was devastated. That guitar held such an important place in my heart that it was almost unbearable at the moment.

A trip to a music store in Indianapolis, IRC Music was in order. I needed to see if a luthier or someone else could repair the damage. I knew in my mind that the likelihood was not. I still had to try. I carried it in like a dad carrying a wounded son and pretty much responded the way losing a son would do to a man. I was in numb shock. I was told that with that time of break there would be no way to repair it. I was hurt bad. There goes my ability to play. I could not afford to buy another guitar and I began writing myself out of the band, the whole time wondering why me and why did my bandmate just not respect me and my stuff. I strolled into the back where all of the electric guitars were kept. In the corner at the top was one of the most gorgeous objects I had ever seen, a brand new Gibson Les Paul Custom that was black with gold trim. It was breathtaking! The man behind the counter, aware of what just happened to me noticed what I was looking at it. He asked me, “You wanna hold it?” and I hesitantly said yes. He gently lifted it from it’s throne that looked down upon all other guitars and handed it to me. I first noticed the weight of it. Then the smell of it. Then the contour and it’s deep black finish that actually competed with the deepness of space, I was in enchanted. I barely had it in my hands a few minutes and started to hand it back when the salesman asked if I wanted it. I chuckled and thought , yeah right. He immediately whipped out a credit app and the next day called me and told me to come pick up my guitar. And I did.

The Gibson Les Paul Custom- There a few guitars that come close. Don’t get me wrong though. Every Gibson Les Paul is of top notch quality from the Studio to the Standard, from the Special to the Custom, they all are awesome instruments. But the custom is set apart for its beauty and elegance. The finest materials, and craftsmanship go into the six string supermodels and I had one! The first night I had it home I had to keep peeking at it to see if it was really real and that it was not stolen. I was like a new father of a child and rightly so, I just dropped around $2300 for it! None of the cars I owned cost that much! But there it was. I have had the opportunity to play many different styles and makes of guitars over the years. I have played a number of really notable ones. The Carvin line of guitars are awesome! The Fender Stratocaster and Tele caster are great too, although I prefer the weight of the ‘Tele’ over the ‘Strat’. I had a Gretch hollowbody. I had several other guitars made by Lotus, Hondo, Peavy, but none like the Gibson Les Paul Custom. The sustain, strength and weight of the Les Paul are simply second to none.

As with many would-be famous guitar players my career went South. I traded it all for the family life and when my sweet little daughter was born I parted with all of my stuff…including the Les Paul. It was bittersweet. I made the right decision and do not regret it one bit. But the place in my heart for the dynamo of a guitar would be reserved only for it. There would never be a replacement…I would never play again. But I have. And it was the Lord’s doing.

I gave my life to Jesus Christ in 1993. Our church was a more contemporary church with a touch of tradition. Some newer songs were done during the worship service but mostly older hymns. It wasn’t until our new pastor and his wife came that things really changed for the better. Eventually a full band was used for worship and the songs were much more modern. There was another guitar player who played a Les Paul copy that sounded great. He had a cleaner overdriven sound than I have never heard in a church before but it worked! I would often find myself envying him for being able to play, especially in church. Yeah, I know, envy is supposed to be wrong but I couldn’t help it. A few years later I went to a Christian retreat and there were lots of guys there playing acoustic guitars is a campfire type way. You know, singing and playing the guitar, several men at the same time. It sure lit a fire in me!

I bought my first guitar in several years called an Epiphone Alleykat. It was a semi-hollow body that featured a humbucker in the bridge position and a New York mini-humbucker in the neck position. The guitar was an absolute joy to play and to look at. I noticed right off the bat that the neck felt like my Les Paul’s neck from years before. It seems it was designed more for jazz and blues but it could really tear into any kind of music and keep up with any guitar.

A short time later I acquired a Fender Squier Affinity 20th Anniversary Edition Strat for doing some major computer work. It was brand new! Asthetically it was rather sterile. It was a beautiful cobalt blue but had a white face plate and white pickups with white accessories. Like I said, sterile! But that did not last long. This guitar has now been modified so much that you could not possibly recognize it. This guitar has been an important part of my life. It represents so much about me that I could not part with it even if I wanted to. You see, first of all it was a Strat. To me, prior to this point, playing or owning a Strat was anathama for a Les Paul dedicated player. Secondly, it was a cheaper Fender. Thirdly it came to me towards the beginning of my Christian worship career and the sound of it seemed a good fit with the other guitar player who played a Les Paul copy. Many things began happening in my life that were not so good. Some past sins began to rear their ugly heads and began to intertwine with me, basically debilitating me and making me an ineffective Christian. I was still a believer but was dealing with life issues that would nearly destroy my life.

At one point our bassist gave me a gift. He had a Fender Stratacoustic guitar that he asked me to check out and then later let me have. My goodness it was an interesting instrument. Realizing it was built for more of a bluegrass setting I often used in in hard rock songs. I would run it distorted and muddy and it would allow me an array of controlled feedback and odd sound that could not possibly be achieved by any other guitar. I loved it! I loved it for it’s character and I loved it because it was a gift from someone special. One day last Fall as I was loading up after a church service my Stratacoutsic was stolen. Ouch! That had never happened to me before. My guitar was stolen from the one place I never thought it could.

As a result of this another good friend of mine gave me his acoustic guitar. He had a well broke in Seagull S-6 acoustic. For a swap of some PC service it was mine. I had never heard of Seagull before. But, I can tell you if I ever buy another acoustic guitar it will be a Seagull! What a beautiful sound! It has become a guitar that I can play when I am feeling down or in a dark place and it ministers to me. I have even put a heavier gauge electric set of strings that gives it a special twang. Most of my peers don’t like it when I do that. They can’t figure out why I put electric guitar strings on an acoustic guitar. I just like it that way!

For several years these trials wove in and out of my life. The trials wrecked havoc with my marriage. I had drinking issues, purity issues, financial issues- it was bad. It would continue to worsen with light little reprieves here and there until somewhere around late July of 2009 when I decided I was done running from God and causing so much pain in the lives of those around me. I completely surrendered- totally surrender and God began a new work. At one point in time I made a radical decision concerning that guitar. Right out of the blue I just stopped what I was working on, got the Strat, took it all apart, took the body down into a room I was building, loaded my drill with a stripper and took every bit of paint off of it! I even did the head stock. I eventually gave the body to the drummer of the praise team who is a very good wood worker and he completed a fine sanding on it. That is how it is to this day and that is how I think it will stay. It has become a symbol of my life- stripped new and clean. It has two humbuckers now and is a massively jamming machine!

The Strat was my number one guitar until I acquired an Aria Pro II CS-350 Cardinal which featured coil taps and phase switches which made it the perfect guitar for the music I played. I got this guitar through our acoustic player in the band. He asked me if I was interested and remembering my opinion of Aria guitars in the past I decided to check it out. I was very impressed and quickly acclimated it into our scene. With the coil taps and phase switches I could literally get any sound I wanted out of it- well almost any sound. None the less it became my number one guitar until I hit a financial crunch and had to let it go.

Also, during this time period the word got out that I would do computer work for barters and trades. Another situation resulted in getting a black Fullerton Strat and a Hondo II Strat. The Hondo was in such bad shape that I thought that after playing it I would need a Tetnus shot! The strings were so rusted! I ended up reselling the Fullerton but kept the Hondo. That Hondo has a most amazing sound and you almost can’t knock it out of tune. I can take it out of the gig bag and the darn thing will be ready to go! I have no other guitar that can do that.

On my birthday I came across a great guitar too. It was a birthday present and it was a B.C. Rick Bronze Series Warlock. I never in my life ever dreamed I would ever play a B.C. Rich guitar let alone own one! But, the guy that had it said it needed new pickups and I became the new owner. It plays like a dream! A full 24 fret access- high speed neck and it is surprisingly comfortable. I am about to load it with Gibson pickups either from a Les Paul Signature or using some Gibson 490 pickups from a Gibson/Epiphone SG. That will be one unique and loud guitar when I am done with it!

Now I have an Epiphone Les Paul Studio and I absolutely love it! I bought the Epiphone Les Paul for these reasons; I loved my Alleykat and since Epiphone is directly tied to Gibson I decide what the heck- get and Epiphone Les Paul! What’s more, I decided to not get a custom but get the guitar that has a perfect balance of everything- the Les Paul Studio. I am so happy I did. Believe it or not it actually plays better than what my old custom did. Yeah, I know that is hard to believe but it’s true. And what is also interesting is that the very same day I got my Les Paul Studio another guy wanted another guitar I have but wanted the electronics taken out of his Signature Les Paul. I told him that $50 and the empty Signature would get him my B.C. Rich Warlock guitar. This is all still in the works but it is irony just the same.

I started out dreaming of stardom in one day being a famous guitarist. Life, well my destiny had other plans. God, by His grace and mercy, has been steady and patiently guiding me one step at a time toward something even greater than stardom on earth. I will ultimately achieve a stardom of sorts when I get to be with Him. Until then He is giving me plenty of time for practicing for what I think will be the ultimate job and that is being a musician in Heaven where I will help sing His praises forever and ever. Maybe even then there will be a perfected form of a Les Paul style guitar! Who knows?

This morning for my quiet time I had quite a bit on my mind. As I began to unload my burdens of the day I was convicted by the blessings I am constantly receiving all the while I am considering all the bad stuff going on. Funny how we do that. We are so wrapped up in problems and finding a resolution to those problems that we ignore all of the good stuff, which by volume, is far greater than any pressing issue we may have.

I am so thankful today. In fact I am so thankful that I am already anxious for Sunday to get here so I can play my guitar for Him again and tell Him how much I love Him.

We had a goofy and funny experience happen with our son, Noah recently and instead of giving you the link, I thought I’d share it with you in email. Members were asked to post something they thought was funny or excellent in some way and to share who the designer was, as well as the design. (I think they were looking for logo’s and signs and such in our city, but my whole world revolves around my kids). I hope this makes you laugh—it sure gave me the jollies (and still does).

God is the Designer and here’s the design: My son Noah, who is 8 years old, was in our van in a Marsh parking lot along with his five sisters and one brother, plus myself, when he saw an elderly white-haired lady walk out of the store and get into her car. She had a couple bags of groceries in her arms and she got along just fine to her car. Upon seeing her, Noah shouted loudly, “Wait! where’s that old ladies crotch?” Every one of my children along with myself, gasped in horror of his question. Then his big brother, who’s 11 and knows him very well, said “Noah, you mean a crutch! And not every old lady needs one!” He was referring to a cane I think, but this kept me giggling as I kept playing the shock over and over in my head. This was not something you hear your kids say very often! It was also an opportunity to redirect his minds image of the elderly. (they are not just wrinkled people with white hair who carry sticks——–they are amazing human beings who have the experience that everyone else could and SHOULD learn from!). And besides that, God willing, you’ll be elderly one day!

This evening my daughter had a meeting at our church. I drove her there and was left with nothing to really do: that is except one of my favorite things in the world- play the church piano. Now understand that I am not a pianist. I am a guitarist. I love to go into the sanctuary when no one else is around and keep the lights off. There is a stained glass skylight above our baptistery and it give off this amazing glow sometimes. It is airy in there and the echo causes the room to seem vast. The large wedge shaped room is perfect for these types on intimate times with me in the Lord. It is so quiet except for the occasional traffic that passes by. Other than that you can actually hear yourself breathe.

We have a Cherry colored Baldwin baby grand. It is very pretty. It needs a tuning but it works just fine for my purposes. I open the top cover to the soundboard and I expose the keys. I adjust the bench and then I sit very still for a moment just taking in the elegance of the instrument. Very carefully I select the positions at which my fingers will make the initial sounds and press down the foot pedal. Down go the thumb and forth finger on my left hand while my right hand press down the three notes I have selected. The sound launches from the soundboard and into the space of the vast room and the notes seem to be racing to be in all places at once. The sound is full and majestic. Just like the God for which this instrument serves. Gently and slowly with great care I select the next series of notes and send them chasing after the other notes still echoing off the walls. Wow! I pour out that which is in my heart the best I can at it feels like the Lord is actually listening.

Holding down the foot pedal as I finish the little piece I let the final notes ring into infinity. When I can no longer hear the faintest of sounds I quietly, as if ceremonially gently, bring the cover down over the keys and slide off of the bench and with the tenderness of a surgeons hands I lower the cover over the soundboard. All is quiet once again. In those quiet moments I tell the Lord I love Him. That I thank Him for the gift of music. I can’t help but remember what God says about praises, that He inhabits the praises of His people. I wonder, as I listen to those notes dancing all around like children on a playground, is God there? Is He there in the music as well?

Do you remember the theme song from the movie The Titanic? It is a gorgeous song and Celine Dion does a fantastic job singing beginning and throughout the song you hear the charming melodic sound of an Irish whistle. Irish whistle, penny whistle, tin whistle, Feadog, they are know by many names but they are simply a small pipe with six holes and a mouthpiece. They come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes and even keys and ranges but the whistle is simple and beautiful and has been around a very long time.

The whistle is pretty similar to the recorder and to a degree sound similar. Probably the most famous of the whistle family is the Clarke Tin Whistle. This Whistle has been around a very long time and continues to be a favorite especially for whistlers just starting out. It has a warm smooth tone and in the hands of a skilled player can bring someone to dancing or lull them to sleeping. It is one of my favorite instruments because I think it is a very intimate instrument. I have one of these along with 2 Walton’s. You can get them in a variety of keys but the most common are D and C.

I spend a significant time alone. My daily job requires me to do a lot of driving. Often times my lunch breaks are spent in my car. I sometimes spend the time for prayer and meditation time, I sometimes listen to the radio, and very often it is a time I get my whistle out and let go. I have discovered that the whistle brings a very soothing state over me. This whistle has a way of filtering my spirit and bringing out what I am feeling inside. Helps me to reflect. Sometimes I even imagine I am at the edge of Grand Canyon or in the hills of Ireland or Scotland. You have to know, however, that I am a beginning whistler myself.  I have been playing for about two and a half years but I still have so much to learn. I too often hit bad notes or I completely get into what I am doing and forget to breathe resulting in me nearly passing out.

Since I started I have been made fun of for my tin whistles. Often from other musicians who have never ‘experienced’ that type of music. I don’t know why, maybe if I let them listen to recordings from some of the whistle masters it may change their minds. Maybe it is because they are so cheap to buy? Is it because they think the whistle requires a minimum amount of skill to master? Is it because you will never attend Julliard to learn to play one? Beats me. I just know I like it. It is the tin whistle which caused me to build in interest into Celtic music. But why would I be so into this little thing so much as to give it a place here on this website? Because I feel it deserves it. And there are a lot of other whistlers who agree.If you are a fellow whistler I would like to hear from you

You know there really is no possible way to reconcile Star wars with Christianity. I have seen it attempted by a number of young pastors. I guess the reason why they do it is that there is a smidgen of guilt they are dealing with because they think the movie is so cool. Well, here is my take on attempting to reconcile Star Wars and Christianity.

First of all the religion of focus in the movie is that of Zen Buddhism. The whole concept of the balance between good and evil, light and darkness, and white and black. The religion of the ninja type Jedi’s teaches that there needs to be a balance brought into the universe driving Force. The Force is a mystic power that is actually is carried by midi-chlorians which are symbiotic beings that live in host. This hosts ability to use the force has a connection to the amount of midi-chlorians he or she has. So anyway, there is a strong reference to the Force throughout the movies. There is all the rest of the makings of any other movie such as a western, an adventure movie, or a war movie. All of the elements in those movies are in the Star Wars series. So, if we take that into consideration; that if you as a Christian can watch Westerns, adventure movies or even war movies that it would be acceptable to like the Star Wars movies. It’s that Force thing that gets in the way. So, if I site other movies as examples please understand that I am not questioning ones Christianity because they may like the movie The Wizard of Oz or Fantasia. It’s just that I am trying to make a just judgement.

As a young impressionable boy Star Wars made a monumental impact on my life. I had the toys, the posters, the games, and even some of the weapons. I read the books and I saw the movies. I even watched all of the TV specials and shows that starred any of the Star Wars characters. I also, during playground talk, would discuss the Force and how cool it would be if it was real. Catch that? How cool it would be if it was real. I never for once thought that this Force was real. I mean, here were space ships flying around, strange creatures never before seen, and a battle station the size of a moon. None of that was real, although I fantasized, so why in the world would I consider a religion like that to be real?

Well, as time went on I did begin to wonder about the validity of a belief system that was like the Force. The native American Indians had a similar belief system as did some from the orient. So, maybe there was something to it. Maybe there was some validity to it. Well, I gave that about a week of thought before I dismissed it as fantasy. Even if I had believed that there was a similar religion out there the fact that these Jedi can have powers to levitate themselves and other objects was ludicrous so, I was never in any danger of falling for a false religion. My sense of reality kept that from happening. Even though I was not a Christian during that time.

Now, I have a family. My two boys love the Star Wars movies and even the stories that go beyond the movie series. Favorite characters like Kyle Katarn, Mara Jade and Dash Randar have captured a bit of my sons hero status but never has anything these characters done or believed in the stories influenced the fundamental belief system they have. They know that there is no real Millennium Falcon flying around and there is no Rebellion or no Empire. In fact there has been some acknowledgement by them as to the similarities of the Empire and Nazi reign of WWII. But, again no consideration of the Force in their lives. As a Christian I really love the Star Wars movies. It is a wonderful escape from reality from time to time and it does teach some good lessons of loyalty, honor, family, and yes the triumph of good over evil. But, you know what I like best about it all? It is one thing me and my sons can share that allow us to spend time together and have fun too.

This is an older blog that has been transferred from another site:

I was reading the various news sources I have this morning as I prepare to take my daughters to their acting practice and became somewhat discouraged. Most of the news I read comes from Christian sources. Occasionally I will read from other sources such as Fox. I will not read from liberal sources unless the subject matter is sterile and can’t somehow be blamed on Christians, Bush, or Republicans.

I have been grieved by some of the subject matter I have been seeing. Killings by the hundreds, perverse stories that you would have never dreamed would even be covered, and well, just so many other things I can’t list here. What I have been noticing is that everyone else is not noticing that we are heading toward a stop with destiny- the soon return of Jesus Christ.

I sometimes stop and ask myself, ‘what happened’? What made homosexuals so bold that they would even think that any right thinking person would think thier lifestyle is ok? What made Islamic people think that they had dibs on the world? What makes minorities think they have the right to take from others what does not belong to them because they have not earned it? Why would American born blacks want to be called Afro-American? Do they not see that by title alone they are seperating themselves from others? Makes no sense. What makes Catholic Priests think that they are going to get by with molesting kids? What makes teen perfomers think that we want to see a kid looking like a sex starved whore? What makes talk show hosts think that people think its cool to do degrading things on the air? Why do people think that government owes them anything? Why do kids hate thier parents? Why do parents hate thier kids? Why is material things so important to people? Why do people invest so much to become wealthy on earth but invest nothing in God’s kingdom. Why is it so important for churches to grow like corporations and there to be a church practically on every corner now but no evidence in society that they are getting the gospel out? Why on God’s green earth would a church have a coffee stand and donoughts in the foyer before the service? Why do church leaders fall for the Satanic “seeker sensitive” crap permeating the church today? We are indeed a very sick and dying world and Christendom is part of the problem.

Ok, I know that I am being a bit much here. But, it really seems that the world is coming apart at the seams. I have never seen so much selfishness. And, how quickly we have forgotten the 911 wakeup call. Churches were busting at the seams and the leaders FAILED! Hello, newsflash…you don’t want to hear that that was a wakeup call, a judgement? Are you really that blind? Think about this a second, you really think that a bunch of radical killers could just pull off a stunt like that on thier own power? We kill babies, legally, we laud sodomites, we tolerate killers by giving them light sentences, We allow suspected killers such as OJ to write books on how he would have killed his wife had he done it to profit himself? Are you freaking serious? We allow an immoral president who swore he did not have sex with a woman other than his wife to come on and later apologize because he DID have sex with her, and many others, and today he is still a powerful political leader!!?

I am 39 and have had a very close brush with death. I can see the value of life. I see the value of giving that life to the One who made it. I am so much more grieved now by the foolishness of men. Everyday, so many people are going to eternity into fire- forever! We are worried about retirement when just a few short years after the retirement we will be dead. worked all that time just to have all the good stuff when your body is tired achy and well, decaying- makes no sense to attempt to live extravagantly does it?

I know I have offended. If so, I am sorry for that. My frustration is not aimed at any particular person but rather our world at large. I am thankful to God for all the little things that bring blessings like a smile from a child, a purr from a cat, a dinner with the family together. Why can we not live more simpler lives? Why can we not all love the Lord and put Him before ourselves? Imagine what the world would be like. Imagine, John Lennon had the solution to that song all along and he had some power to do something about it, but he missed it. Now, he knows the truth and well, I imagine he is regretting so much.

Enough of my ramblings.

As a believer, a disciple of Jesus Christ, one of the most wonderful things we have is prayer. Jesus made reference to prayer many times during His ministry and He Himself demonstrated the tremendous importance of prayer. Early in my Christian life I prayed all the time. I prayed about everything. I prayed about praying. I had a great time with my new relationship with God and I wanted to spend all the time I could with Him.

I heard a sermon once about a prayer closet. Jesus made reference to going into a place and pray in secret and saying the your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. I love that verse because it tells you that God wants that alone time, just you and Him.

I found my place early on. It was my car. I drive all day long. I visit many places and at any given time I could literally be anywhere in the state. What is neat about my secret, sacred place is that the view from the window is always different. It allows me to see Gods handiwork from a new perspective each time. It gives me a chance to see His tremendous power. It is sort of like a live postcard from Heaven showing me places where God presence is and is working.

Sometimes the worship is totally mind blowing. Often I will hum a song or a melody. Sometimes I will whistle. Sometimes I play my tin whistle. Other times I just deeply meditate. Each time learning more about God and developing a more meaningful relationship.

What is your secret sacred place? In what ways do you spend quiet time with the Master? In what ways to you worship? I would be interested to hear.

This evening my daughter had a meeting at our church. I drove her there and was left with nothing to really do: that is except one of my favorite things in the world- play the church piano. Now understand that I am not a pianist. I am a guitarist. I love to go into the sanctuary when no one else is around and keep the lights off. There is a stained glass skylight above our baptistery and it give off this amazing glow sometimes. It is airy in there and the echo causes the room to seem vast. The large wedge shaped room is perfect for these types on intimate times with me in the Lord. It is so quiet except for the occasional traffic that passes by. Other than that you can actually hear yourself breathe.

We have a Cherry colored Baldwin baby grand. It is very pretty. It needs a tuning but it works just fine for my purposes. I open the top cover to the soundboard and I expose the keys. I adjust the bench and then I sit very still for a moment just taking in the elegance of the instrument. Very carefully I select the positions at which my fingers will make the initial sounds and press down the foot pedal. Down go the thumb and forth finger on my left hand while my right hand press down the three notes I have selected. The sound launches from the soundboard and into the space of the vast room and the notes seem to be racing to be in all places at once. The sound is full and majestic. Just like the God for which this instrument serves. Gently and slowly with great care I select the next series of notes and send them chasing after the other notes still echoing off the walls. Wow! I pour out that which is in my heart the best I can at it feels like the Lord is actually listening.

Holding down the foot pedal as I finish the little piece I let the final notes ring into infinity. When I can no longer hear the faintest of sounds I quietly, as if ceremonially gently, bring the cover down over the keys and slide off of the bench and with the tenderness of a surgeons hands I lower the cover over the soundboard. All is quiet once again. In those quiet moments I tell the Lord I love Him. That I thank Him for the gift of music. I can’t help but remember what God says about praises, that He inhabits the praises of His people. I wonder, as I listen to those notes dancing all around like children on a playground, is God there? Is He there in the music as well?

This is an older blog that has been transferred from another site:

The word Hell is an interesting one. You know, when I was a small boy I learned that Hell was a bad word and I was not allowed to say it. In school we would do the 7734 thing on our calculators and giggle because we spelled a naughty word and we could not get in trouble for it. I would hear things like, ‘Go to Hell!’ or ‘you’re going to Hell if you don’t change your ways!’ or ‘I hope you burn in Hell!’ and I thought that it was just something grown-ups said when they were mad at each other. I was even told that Hell is where the devil lives and when you die if you weren’t a good person that is where you went.

Lets take this time and talk about Hell. At the moment I am writing this there are people literally dying everywhere. Death surrounds us. There is a war going on, there are miners trapped in Utah, cancer patients, heart attack victims, AIDs victims, auto accidents, plane crashes…all sorts of death. So, what does death and Hell have to do with each other? This is what I am going to attempt to explore here. I want to tell you about me first. I am not a theologian. I am not a scientist. I am not a philosopher. I am not a scholar. I am just a family man who has a concern about his eternity and the eternity of his wife and children. I do happen to be a born again Christian and I have put my faith in Christ. So, I will be looking at the topic of Hell from a Christian perspective.

I am going to refer to myself by three different names. First, there is Jimmy. Jimmy is me up to the time I turned about 14. Then there is Jim. Jim is the person I was from 14 to 24. Then there is James. James is the person I am now. The reason I am doing it this way is to be able to distinguish between the varying views I have had in life. I honestly believe that apart from what your beliefs are on who Jesus Christ is, what you think about Hell is the most life altering factor there is. What you believe about Hell will help shape your life and your morals. So, lets begin this study.

As a boy I believed that there was Heaven and there was Hell. The way it was explained to me was that if you were good when you died you got to go to Heaven. If you did bad things you got sent to Hell. I was also taught that you could be in the state of going to Heaven in one minute and then in going to Hell in the next. Life was a constant state of flux. You had to be on your toes so that God would not have anything to judge you on when you got there and that He sort of graded on the curve and weighed your good deeds against your bad deeds. So, me as Jimmy, was actually a pretty decent boy because I wanted to go to Heaven and not Hell. I did my share of naughty things but I did not steal, I did not cuss, and I did not beat up on people, and I strove to please my teachers. I was afraid of God and that He wanted to catch me doing something wrong.

To me Hell was the place where the devil would poke you with a pitch fork and he looked like a small skinny man with horns and a forked tail. Hell was the devils home and he would come and go from there to get people that died and take them there. I heard men, mostly my uncles, say that they were looking forward to Hell and that their friends would all be there.

As Jim my views of Hell really did not change that much. I did believe that there was a Heaven and Hell still, but I was also and evolutionist. I somehow was able to blend a safe mixture of believing in evolution, that we evolved from nothing, with the idea of when we died we had two options of eternity. In truth though I actually though that when we died we just ceased to exist. But, just in case…in case I was wrong the thought of being in Hell did not sound appealing to me. There were bad things I did but again I thought that my good things would out weigh the bad ones.

As James something wonderful happened. I was presented with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I read the New Testament and was terribly convicted. I had never read the scriptures before. I had never heard the gospel before and here I was coming face to face with eternity in a powerful way. The message I got from reading the gospel- I am going to Hell and it will be very bad. I read the gospels and I did not find Jesus to be a kind gentle soft person- I found Him to be harsh and stern and the primary message was that I am going to burn. I learned there was no way I could do anything to change that. I was hopeless. The sermon on the mount was like a battery of hot arrows piercing me. Whoever says Jesus is just kind and gentle does not know what he is talking about. Jesus gave us the message just as a ship crewman would yell ‘all hands abandon ship!’ He was not giving a soft blow- His message was urgent. Hell is going to be very very bad. I also gathered that there are varying degrees of Hell. God is just and we will be judged based upon what we have done, said and thought. That would mean that a person such as Adolf Hitler would get a greater dose of Hell-fire than say someone who lived a ‘good’ life. Child molesters, adulterers, murderers will be burned based upon the deeds they have done. Their punishment will fit the crime. I saw that the whole purpose Jesus came was to save people from this eternal damnation. His whole ministry and purpose was to be the sacrifice for us so we would not have to suffer in Hell.

Hell is real. Think about standing in an open field in Kansas and looking out and see a large tornado that you can not possibly run from or hide from come straight at you. Imagine standing in the side of a mountain that has just errupted into a volcano spewing ash and lava that you can not possibly find shelter from. Imagine being in the midst of a six lane highway with vehicles racing at you at 70 mph and you can’t move. Imagine being in the belly of a great ship that is sinking and you have no means of escape, Imagine being in a tall building with the floors below you engulfed in flames and you feel the heat through the floor and you have no hope of rescue. Imagine being suspended over a tank of hungry crocodiles about to be dropped with your legs and arms bound. These are all scary scenarios and the outcome for these leads to inevitable ending of life- you are going to die. But now think of this, in all those scenarios the outcome results in death of the physical body, but after the body has died the soul goes on and it never dies. After the physical death which can occur in a heartbeat, what about the destination of the soul that lives forever? Can you now imagine yourself on fire, burning, in searing unbearable pain with the knowledge of why you are there with no hope of relief for eternity? Can you imagine this happening to your loved ones? Can you imagine it happening even to those ‘good’ people you knew but they did not accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? That is exactly what will happen. Don’t be mad at me! I am just the messenger, God is the One who said it so if you have a problem you will need to talk to Him about it. Go ahead, He will listen…