Book Review of Then Sings My Soul Volume 3 by Robert J. Morgan

   Then Sings My Soul Volume 3 is an excellent book! I've got all of Robert Morgan's books in the series. While this book has less of a devotional feel to it, I liked it more than the others. As a music minister I have mainly used his books as background information to share with my congregation about the songs we were singing. I don't see myself using this book in that capacity as much, but the overall read was even more enjoyable for me. The stories in the previous edition are great. However, the entire set-up of this book is even better.

   Morgan starts with a section of the History of Hymnody. Starting in the early church and continuing through to modern times, he highlights the progression of congregational singing as well as the types of songs that were being used. In the middle section (the longest) entitled "Do You Know These Hymns," He highlights lesser known works and or authors of hymns. I found many of these hymns to be excellent and plan to incorporate them into our local services. The final major section of the book is devoted to telling the story of 6 different hymn writers in a much longer form than normal. Normally he has a hymn on one page, and the story on the opposite page. For these final six stories he takes several pages and includes multiple hymns from those authors to tell a more complete story of those authors lives. He ends the book with some personal thoughts on worship and "worship wars" that many churches go through over style and preference. While obviously a lover of hymns, Morgan encourages churches to continually be searching for new songs to sing as well as continuing to use those songs from our past.

   All in all, I gained a greater appreciation for hymns than I already had, discovered several new hymns that I plan to use, and I look forward to passing hymns as well as more modern songs of God on to my children. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

   I received a copy of the book from the booksneeze program for free in return for an honest review. I was not required to give a good review, but in this case it is a pleasure to do so.

Wonder as We Wander

Do you feel wonder at anything in life? A child’s voice, a song, a story, God’s gift of breathe and life…? Do you revel in God’s love as revealed through nature? Do you ever take time to simply dream, imagine, and create? When is the last time you pulled over to appreciate a sunrise/sunset? Can you remember the last time you colored a picture simply to enjoy creating something? Do you ever feel the desire to run through a field, climb a tree, or splash in a puddle? Do you allow yourself to sing out loud, even in the privacy of your shower?

Our God is a God of creation. He has gifted us with a world that literally shouts His name if we take time to hear it. He has gifted us with the ability to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch His gifts. He has given us the ability to dream and create with our own hands.

I know that many of you are already thinking things like…”I don’t have the skills needed to create.” “I don’t have time to waste.” “I’m too old to act ‘foolish.’ What if someone sees me?” To these excuses, I would urge you to make time, forget your age, and create without worrying whether your creation is perfect. Slow down, relax, play, and create. I think you will experience God when you do.

The Message of the Song Service

   I was wondering aloud Sunday with a friend about whether people in the congregation saw the progression that I saw when I put songs in a certain order. There's nothing super spiritual here and it might not even be interesting to anyone but myself, but one of the things I try to do every week is try to make sure that the songs fit the message and each other. I also try to put them in an order that progresses both musically and lyrically. For instance, this past Sunday we had a guest speaker so I wasn't able to plan the music service to compliment the message like I would on a normal week. So I spent time trying to put music together that would work well together and have a message together.
   We used the following songs, Come Thou Fount Come Thou King, Forever Reign, Crown Him with Many Crowns, and Jesus Draw Me Close. I pictured the progression like this...With the first song, we prayerfully admit our own tendency to wander and our utter need for God. Within the first song we ask for God to be present with us in this place. Then we move to the second song which recognizes God as the one who is all that we cannot be with Him. We claim the right to run into His arms as His children and we promise to seek Him and Him alone. Crown Him with Many recognizes the greatness and worthiness of our heavenly Father. We see Him as the Lord of all we see and even that which we don't see. Finally, in spite of the great awesomeness of the Lord, we ask Jesus to draw us close to Himself so that the world around us would fade away.
   I often see an arc in the music I choose. Sometimes it is not as strong. Sometimes I find mini arcs between 2 or 3 songs rather than every song for a service. Hopefully you found this look into a music guys head interesting. If not sorry...maybe next time. God Bless

Invasion by Jon Lewis. Review for Booksneeze

   Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. The story of a young man who's world is turned upside down after his parents are killed in a car accident. He learns of the existence of aliens and that they live among us. As he learns more and more, he is thrust into the middle of an invasion that has been brewing for many years, and learns that he might be the key to stopping said invasion.

   The plot for this book was well developed and I enjoyed the concept a lot. I think pre-teen and young adult readers would enjoy this book. For those who enjoy the sci-fi/fantasy genre, this was a solid effort for a Christian publishing house. While there are some good discussion topics in the book (loss of a parent, crushes on girls, etc...) they are not always handled with much thought. Pretty average sentiments expressed without allowing for the characters to grow through the situations. My biggest complaint about the book (and the reason for giving it 4 rather than 5 stars) is that the Christian influence is almost non-existent in this book. Outside of saying that some characters go to church and believe in God, faith in God plays very little into the story. For a book published by Thomas Nelson, I would expect Christianity to play a more prominent role.

   I look forward to the next book in the series, and I hope that Christianity will play a bigger role in the characters lives as they continue to unravel the mysteries that face them.

I received a free e-copy of this book for the purpose of review from Thomas Nelsons book review club booksneeze.com.

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Newspaper Article 4

The Final installment of the newspaper articles. Enjoy...or not...it's up to you.

Week 4: Thankful for What Is to Come…

            By now Thanksgiving is a distant memory for many of us. We are busy putting up the Christmas tree and hanging lights on our houses. Christmas may be the culmination of the “holiday season” but it starts with Thanksgiving. Without true gratitude, how can we ever come before a loving, gracious, and holy God to worship Him? Gratitude for creating us, for loving us despite our sin, and most importantly, for sending His son to die for the forgiveness of our sins. Our holiday season begins with thanks as we look forward to celebrating the coming of the greatest gift of all time, Jesus.

            What or who will you worship this holiday season? We worship those things which we devote our time, money, and talents. What are you focused on? The amazing meals, the beautiful decorations, the family and friends, the gifts, the extra hours you need to work to buy the gifts, etc...? Or are you truly ready to remember the one who came as a baby, lived on this earth in a simple human body, and died for your transgressions so that you wouldn’t have to?

            So often the holiday season is all about turkey, friends, and family at Thanksgiving, and all about Santa, decorations, and gifts at Christmas. If you would like to make this holiday season different, take time each day to remember who it is that has given you everything that you have. Then take time to thank God for sending His son. Many of us know how many shopping days we have left before Christmas, but when was the last time you had a good long talk with God? Worship during the holidays is no different than any other time of the year. In fact it should be easier since we are reminded to be thankful and we celebrate Jesus’ birth.

            My prayer for each of you today is that you will take a deep breath, slow down for a few moments, and remember who is in control. Thank Him for who He is, and for what He has done. If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I would love to introduce you to Him. Give me a call.

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

Newspaper Article 3

It has taken me a few weeks to get this up, but here is my third article I wrote for the newspaper. It got a bit long...oops...

Week Three: Who Are You Living For?

            In I Samuel 6, we see the account of King David returning the Ark of the Covenant to Israel. Though his first attempt ended in failure (due to a lack of regard for the instructions God had given on how to move the Ark), eventually we see David succeed in his task. I love the story of David’s second attempt. This time he follows the correct procedure for moving the Ark. With everything in place, David and the rest of the moving party start down the road. After six paces David calls a halt and orders a bull and a fatted calf to be sacrificed to God. The group continues in this way the entire journey, stopping every six paces to offer sacrifices to God. Not only this, but as they near the city, David is unable to restrain himself. He sheds his robe and begins to dance in worship before God. David’s wife witnesses his public display and despises him in her heart. When he returns to his rooms later that day, she confronts him about what she considers an embarrassing way for the King to behave in front of the common folk. Look at his response to her in verses 21-22:

So David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel; therefore I will celebrate before the LORD. ²² I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes…

          

        David’s response to her accusations of impropriety is that he was acting before God and God alone. Not only that, but he was willing to humble himself even more if needed. I have shared this glimpse of David’s live with you for two reasons. First, you might have taken me up on my challenge from last week to speak up about your love for God in front of your family or friends. If you were met with less than open hearts and minds, you might feel something like David did when Michal reprimanded him. I want to encourage you to remember who you live for. Like David, we live to serve the Lord God in heaven. Even if we feel like we’ve accomplished nothing when we shared our love for God with others, we can remember that God is pleased with us every time we share Him.

            The second reason I want to share this story is to encourage you. Maybe you read my last article and wanted to stand up for your faith but just couldn’t do it – you couldn’t put yourself out there like that. Guess what? You can try again. The first time David went to move the Ark, he failed.  I’m sure he walked away feeling down and discouraged. However, he did not stop thinking about how to get the Ark back. When he was reminded about the Ark, he got up and decided to try again. This time he came with a plan. Maybe you felt inadequate to share your faith with your family yesterday, but don’t let that stop you from planning another opportunity to do so (Christmas is coming you know).  Even David (the man after God’s own heart) felt inadequate and failed occasionally, but he didn’t give up. Give thanks that God allows second chances. Enjoy your leftovers and be encouraged that you can still try again tomorrow if you didn’t make it today.

Review for Seraph Seal

   Interesting book to say the least. An end times novel that seems similar to the Davinci Code in style. Lots of clues to follow to an end destination. Lots of characters and stories and speculation.Enough espionage and natural disasters for anyone.

   In general this was nothing more than interesting. It has too many characters and story-lines to follow. I never truly felt engaged with any of the characters because the book jumped back and forth between the stories so often, and there were so many stories to follow. While I like a good imaginative tale, this one felt like it wanted me to think it was real, or could be real. However, much of it was simply too far-fetched for my tastes. If you like intrigue novels, end times imaginings, or davnici code style stories then you might truly enjoy this book. However, it wasn't my cup of tea. I did not find it inspiring, more just interesting. It has taken me many months to finish reading it.

This review is for a book I was given by Thomas Nelson for the purpose of review.