I went and saw Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant in concert the other night.  Amy Grant was the "warm-up" act, which kind of surprised me.  Everyone stayed seated for the entire time she performed, which seemed kind of unusual to me.  I thought that maybe it was just a very conservative glued to their seats kind of crowd.  I didn't want to get up unless at least a few people around me did, and that never happened.

Eventually Michael W. Smith came out and played piano for some of the songs they wrote together.  The crowd liked that pretty good.  Then it was time for his concert, and every started clapping and rose to their feet, and I realized everyone was there to see him.  After a worship song or two, I overheard a man behind me say, "now that's a Christian song".

Amy Grant sang a lot of her early songs that were very biblical.  There were songs about not compromising your faith and values, and songs about how the simple godly life a Christian leads can be more important in God's eyes than "Hallelujahs".  And later more songs about God's word guiding our steps, and songs about looking forward to heaven in light of the evil in the world.  I honestly think the comment about finally hearing a Christian song was a snapshot into the minds of a lot of people glued to their seats that night, and it reminded me of how judgmental Christians can be.  I know of another person who refused to go to the concert because of not liking Amy Grant (anymore).  And yet, Michael W. Smith admitted to using Cocaine before signing his first record deal, and he seems to be acceptable to all the Amy Grant haters.  Her ex-husband remarried and divorced, and has been arrested for DUI in recent years, but I guess he's just off of everyone's radar.

I guess I have just started feeling bad for her.  She is very cognizant of her mistakes, pointing out that she and Michael W. Smith had between them been married 3 times.  She talks a lot about not knowing where life was going to take her, and similar comments about her life, and her past.  She seems to me to be someone that not only has had to deal with the reality that is true of all of us - that she is a sinner, but she also seems to be someone that has had a lot of pointing fingers remind her of it for many years, without really knowing any of the detailed circumstances of her life.

That doesn't keep people from their hatred, though.  I told my wife that night that since there's a "Friends of Amy" fan club, I bet there's an "Enemies of Amy" site also.  Well, maybe not by that name, but I did find sites claiming she was flashing the "Satanic Salute".  Others that said she "worships Satan".  Others that said that because of her divorce she can never represent the Christian community in any way.  It just goes on and on.

I'm guessing the people in the audience didn't know of her Satanic ties, otherwise they probably would have been more critical of Michael W. Smith for cavorting with her.  Whatever level of dissatisfaction they had with her, evidently silence was the perfect way to express it.  For me, the silence was deafening, a little stifling, and very strange.  For Amy Grant, it was probably just another day.

Vacation

I don't feel very qualified to write about vacations, because though I've found places I'm very happy with, it always seems like the people I know have been to many more places, but if you've never been there, you probably will have trouble believing your eyes when you first see Western Michigan.  Our locale of choice has been Ludington, Michigan for a few years now.  It's the kind of place that makes you wish you had a better camera.

These pictures were taken with a 5 year old $99.00 camera with a small lens and hardly any zoom.  Imagine how much better it would look in person...

I'm not going to Ludington this year, though I think I'll probably miss it.  I'm going to take a road trip to some places that I've been told are even more scenic.  There are a ton of places to visit, but if you've never been to Michigan's West Coast, Ludington is a great place to start.

The End of the World

I checked out the weather forecast.
It appears the world is ending soon.
4 to 6 inches of rain may happen in our area.
Damaging winds, hail, and tornadoes all likely.

I guess the tornadoes are more of a certainty than the 4 to 6 inches.
I'm not sure of the importance of grammer in meteorology.

I should have gotten one of those emergency weather radios that turn on when there's emergency weather,
but it's hard enough to sleep during a storm without some stupid radio waking you up every 15 minutes.

Have you ever tried to take cover and discovered your home wasn't built for taking cover?
Hopefully it was built for winds, hail, and tornadoes ... and maybe 4 to 6 inches of rain.


We have a hallway we go to so that we can get away from the adjoining rooms full of windows that will surely break into hundreds of pieces and fly down the hallway we go to.

I like going to the movies during storms.  It's probably safer than staying in the house, and if the power goes out I stand a good chance of getting a refund.  Now that's what I call a deal!

I have three minutes to finish this blog.  I need to get sleep to prepare for the big day tomorrow, you know, because of the storm and all, and the ensuing end of the world.

I'm down to one minute.

Chaos

The word "chaos" probably means something a little different to different people.  For me, it signifies stress and disorder - all the crazy out of control aspects of life.  Things I would change if I could, but I seemingly cannot.  I guess if I got down to it, with few exceptions I would say that life is chaotic.  Life is chaos.

On the other hand, I have been known to see chaos as something to long for - at least more consistently.  Sometimes so many things happen when I least expect it, I figure at least if the same things would keep happening, I'd find some comfort in the predictability of chaos.

I guess it's a variation on "if you can't beat them, join them".  If I can't eliminate the chaos, I'll try to manage it.  I'll try to normalize it, accept it, and call it by a different name... "life".  But even under a different name, it still has the same effect on me.

I have a specific memory of being on a Bass Fishing Boat on an inland lake in Michigan.  It was summertime on a quiet clear day near the shoreline.  Though we could quietly move with the trolling motor, the lily pads would keep us from drifting.  I saw a frog jump from pad to pad, and on the edge of the shore, about 20 feet or so from me was a deer drinking from the water.  For me, that was the most peaceful moment I can remember.  I've often thought of getting a boat, and this memory is the biggest reason why.  I know I'd be content with a 16 or 17 foot Bass Tracker from Pro Bass Shops, because that is the boat that made this memory possible.

That moment, however long it was, was not chaos, but peace.  And though life does offer a bit of peace from time to time, I think heaven stands in opposition to our current circumstance primarily because of this difference.  The chaos of life, or the difficulty of it, or the pain in it are all contrasted with the peace offered by heaven.  Some people think of Jesus' title, "The Prince of Peace", in terms of pacifism and ending war.  But for me, it's calming the sea, quieting my mind, and taking the burden of controlling life out of my hands and into his own.

Like that day on the lake, I need to focus on Jesus and his words, "I am going to prepare a place for you."  He is more than one fleeting day in the past, overwhelmed by the years surrounding it.  He is my future, and in that future, the chaos is gone.

Baby Steps

I remember the time when my son didn't walk or crawl.  He rolled.  He was the best roller I ever saw.  He made an art of it.  It always seemed like he looked across the room and set his mind on getting somewhere, planned out his strategy, and started his maneuvers.

With determination on his face, he would roll to a piece of furniture, use his feet to spin till he faced the proper direction, begin rolling again till making it to his next predetermined position, make the necessary adjustments and efficiently proceed to whatever he had set his mind on.

It's interesting how this compares to adults who have difficulty getting where they want to go in life.  We call it baby steps when we make short steps of progress, but when I think of my son, it seems he turned the phrase around.  He merely rolled, yet his determination and achievement were more the end than the beginning.

I know that part of accomplishment involves moving beyond our childhood, but I think another part of it is retaining our childhood.  Sometimes achieving a goal has more to do with remembering what we've left behind than where we are going.  Though it may seem a foreign and distant place, the other side of the horizon may be where we began.