OHHH Life

....is bigger.

Bigger than you

And you are not me.

..But that was just a dream

Try, cry, why try?

That was just a dream

Just a dream, just a dream

Dream

When the day is long,

and the night, the night is yours alone,

When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on.

Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes

Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord,

Count your blessings.

The papers wouldn't lie!

I sigh, not one more.

It's been a bad day.
Please don't take a picture.
It's been a bad day.
Please.

I've got R.E.M. running through my head this morning for some reason so I looked them up and smashed some songs together. I never really realized how sad and depressing a lot of their songs are. [Thoughtful pause] Still cool though~very cool indeed. And apparently they knew what was really going on-a bunch of sad stuff you just can't do much about.

Well, it's the end of the world (and R.E.M.) as we know it. But I feel fine. (fine, fine)

Okay, I can't stop. Since my brain IS 80% song lyrics, I guess this is to be expected.

I just can't get out of my head how rough times have gotten for most of my loved ones lately. Where are all the lighthearted sitcom circumstances? All the shiny happy people laughing? It's hard to find it amid the job loss, money lacking, sickness and death we've been seeing around here lately. If there's comedy, it tends to be dark or short lived.

Hold on.

This is not the kind of change we were hoping for! (Oops, that was campaign slogan banter, sorry.)

Back to the jumble in my head. I'm starting to wonder if the Lord is allowing more people to pass away so fewer are here to worry as even harder times come. Or is the crowd only thinning lately from my perspective? My aging self.

This weekend as we watched a dear cousin suffer a fatal heart attack during our yearly Red Rock Canyon reunion, I found myself thinking "And now, of course, THIS is happening." I didn't feel surprise-just more sadness. More grief for those suffering.

Why does praying not seem like quite enough?

If I thought latch hooking a rug would help in these times of grief, by gum I'd be turning out tacky mats by the dozen! I just don't seem to know what to do with myself to aid in this pain. I guess I'll just have to keep praying and work on being a blessing to others rather than a burden(says the dramatic high maintenance diabetic.)

Consider this, consider this:

Everyone around, love them, love them.

Where tomorrow shines, gold and silver shine.

Throw your love around.

Happy, happy.

And on that note:

This one goes out to the one(s) I love.

(My apologies to R.E.M. for what just happened.)

XOXOX

Love Out Loud 2009

Calling all bloglookers(cheeky monkeys, YOU)!!! :D

This weekend (Sept. 25th and 26th) we will be in Fayetteville helping promote the Love Out Loud Art and Music show our Friend Freedom Rodriguez puts on to raise money for his missions work in Africa.

The descriptive from the Love out Loud 2009 facebook page sums it up like this:

"Love Out Loud is an annual fund-raiser promoting the use of creative gifts and talents in cross-cultural ministry.

This event is inspired by exploring the question of the purpose of creativity. We may not all be artistic, yet the truth is we are all creative in various ways — through our vocations, hobbies, our everyday lives are filled with creativity. This creativity is ingrained in our human nature. Yet where does it come from? The Bible says that we are created in "His [God's] image" and we are the "workmanship [craftmanship or poem] of God". What does this mean in our daily lives? Is creativity solely meant for self-expression? Or should we actively pursue to glorify God in our creativity? This and many more questions are being asked. What's your conclusion? Maybe your still seeking. Well, Love Out Loud is the place you can explore these questions and possibly find the answer. Join us and feel the love."

If you are in the area, we hope you stop in to this creative extravaganza. There will be many hand made and painted items for sale, wonderful music by our friends Tab and David from Fool For Now, and I will be there both nights giving my contribution by playing some keyboard and doing backup vocals for the ever talented Herva.

Now, seriously, are you gonna wanna miss out on that last bit? I'm in a band for Pete's sake!! (Can we just guffaw together for a moment? )

Ok, now, back to business.

Here's the video Jamey and Freedom put together for those of you who haven't seen it:

Host:	Vintage Fellowship
Type:	Causes - Fundraiser
Network:	Global
Price:	FREE ADMISSION - Art and gift items for sale, and donations made to OM-ARTSLINK will be accepted.

Date:	Friday, September 25, 2009
Time:	7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:	Vintage Fellowship
Street:	3416 N. College Ave
City/Town:	Fayetteville, AR

Live it. Love it. And then, buy the t-shirt(they're really cool)!!

Love Out Loud from herva on Vimeo.

If I were the choir director at my church...

As I was thinking about Jesus this morning and all of the nice things he has done, the music player in my head (see #1 on the previous post) started in on that Prince (or %, whatever he goes by these days) song I WOULD DIE 4 YOU!  And it's been in there ever since!

While I was singing it to my children and screaming "DAHLIN IF YOU WANT ME TO!" and they were thinking "So glad we don't homeschool with this woman!" I began to daydream about singing it in choir on Easter Sunday.  Naturally we would need a really spunky choir to pull it off and I'm envisioning changing the I's to HE'S and then just a couple of the other words like:

Sopranos: (very formally of course) HE is your lover.  He is your friend. He is something that you'll never comprehend. 

Tenors:  (just as formally) He'll never beat you.  He'll never lie-high.  And if you're evil He'll forgive you by and by 'cause....

Everyone: (soul it up now with some dancing) YOU!  He will die for you.

Alto(me): (with feeling)  DAHLIN' IF YOU WANT HIM TO! 

Everyone:  (still dancing victoriously) YOU! He DID die for you.  

And so on.  Are you feelin' it?  Are you feelin' what the Shan is showering to? AMEN!

And on that set of notes... Since Prince doesn't approve of youtube, I give you the only version of his song I could find.  It's not the highest quality video but I know if such technology existed back in the 80's, no doubt that would have been Arl and I workin' out our moves to a Tears for Fears song (Am I right or am I right Arly :D).