VOICE

Listening to Rebecca sing in church on Sunday got me thinking. Her voice is amazing. I was telling my wife about it after Church and she asked what song Rebecca sang. I couldn’t remember and it didn’t matter, none of the words registered, only the voice. It could have been a different language for all I knew. There were only two people in the room at the time: Rebecca and her God. It was that worshipful.

Hers is one of the most soulful voices I’ve ever heard, soft like a comfortable pillow with a cool side underneath. There are a lot of different voices you hear. Some of them belt out and hit you like a baseball bat and make you say wow. Others are more utilitarian like a screwdriver or a pipe wrench; not real pretty but they get the job done. But those aren’t the kind of voices that move you to a place you weren’t planning to go.

I think voices can do that without sounding pretty, voices like Tom Waits and Bob Dylan. People say they sound bad but you really have to listen to what they’re saying, they don’t give you an option. Their voices are harsh and cruel and they wake you and tell you things that you don’t want to hear, things that you need to hear, warnings. And warnings aren’t pretty. I doubt that Tom or Bob have ever been accused of being pretty.

All this made me think about what my voice sounds like, not my singing voice, I’m well aware of that. What do people hear when they hear me? Is it the voice of worship and purity or something else? Is it a voice of confrontation and warning? Do I voice the Gospel or do I just say words? The answer is not what I want it to be. More of a clanging gong than anything else.

God and Beer

Ah! This is nice. I have not posted in while. I have occupied myself with other activities and forgot how much I enjoyed this. As usual my topics will be limited to the only two things I know anything about: God and Beer.

Lately I've been discussing the book of James with some friends. Studying James is a mixed bag. The book is contentious and the source of certain forms of dispute. Many thought that the book had no place in the Bible because it stood awkwardly in contrast to other books, most notable those of Paul. But stand it does, it’s cumbersome in-your-face examination of the conflict between what we do and what we say we believe peering head and shoulders above some less prickly letters. On the other hand it’s common sense nature is timeless as it calls for balance and caution in the words and deeds of the faithful.


I wouldn’t make a very good salesman. A friend asked me if I ever feel like I’m not doing enough for God. I think that if we constantly had people coming up to us telling us how great our relationship with God is we would feel a lot better about things. But that wouldn’t really affect our relationship with God it would just make us feel good about ourselves. I was reading some Don Miller the other day and here are some of his words mixed in with my thoughts:
As it is I feel very much like my relationship with God is looked at as a religious system or as a product that keeps falling apart and who ever is selling it holds the broken pieces behind his back to try to divert everybody’s attention.


I don’t think I can do that, it’s exhausting. Let God worry about holding it all together. James doesn’t tell us to sell God. Instead he begs us to dive headlong into the relationship with him and with people in general. I guy named Pat Goodman always used to say, “Love God and love people, that’s all that matters.”