Philippians 1:27-30

Here is the last post for the 1st chapter of Philippians.

I'm enjoying this process (of course in storing up the Word of God in my heart) but also I'm getting more acquainted with my music software. I also look forward to one day actually having a microphone, but until then i will continue to use a mic attachment for my iPod...at least it works!

This week, I decided to use both guitar and piano. I contemplated adding drums, or just a sweet beat to the background, but it got late. Maybe in the future. (Luckily it got late during last week's recording...I was contemplating using a bit of Auto-tune to add a little 'T-Pain' flair! Let's just hope I never actually record at a reasonable time of day or these will start to sound quite different. lol.)

Anyways, here it is:

Happy memorizing!

Philippians 1:19-26

Wow! It's week 4 already. I can't believe how fast this has gone. And we're still plugging away!

I am trying to use piano in some of these because I think they sound better than guitar (on certain arrangements) but I really am a beginner at piano, so please be gracious in your listening. Your focus should be on learning God's Word and not in musical ability, or lack thereof.  :)

Here is this weeks video:

Blessings.

...no justification for abortion is necessary.

On this anniversary of the day the Law of the Land said murdering the innocent is legal, I am reminded of Greg Koukl's (www.str.org) simple summary of the question at hand:

"If the unborn is not a human person, no justification for abortion is necessary. However, if the unborn is a human person, no justification for abortion is adequate."

This properly sums up the debate. If the unborn is simply a blob of cells, who cares if we kill it?

That forces the question: "Is the unborn a human person?"

Well, last time I checked, traveling 6 inches down a birth canal had no transforming effect changing something from one type of entity to another. And based on what was removed in these instances (http://bit.ly/eh5tJm), it seems safe to conclude that the unborn is a human person.

Call me crazy, but the logic seems to speak for itself:

Premise: If the unborn is a human person, no justification for abortion is adequate.

Observation: The unborn appears to be a human person (based on what is removed) and based on science (http://www.sfuhl.org/)

Conclusion: There is no adequate justification for abortion.

The end. Or don't we wish.

Pray for those involved in this culture of death. Pray for life.

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The Prince's Poison Cup

Book Review

I recently read R.C. Sproul's book The Prince's Poison Cup. Meant to convey "deep biblical truths to children on their own level," this book presented a unique, easy to grasp retelling of the story of the gospel.

Starting with creation and working through the fall to redemption, I was happy to see a close parallel with the biblical accounts. Sproul keeps true to his reformed perspective throughout:

Total Depravity - "...their hearts turned to stone." (p. 15) "...they no longer felt any love for their king." (p. 15)
Unconditional Election - "...those whose hearts were changed..." (p. 34)
Limited Atonement - "Some people's hearts remained hard and cold..." (p. 34)
Irresistible Grace - "...they could not hold back." (p. 34)
Perseverance of the Saints - "...healed their stony hearts." (p. 35) "They no longer wanted to run and hide form the King." (p. 35)

R.C. Sproul has a masterful way with words, tying in elements of the Holy Spirit's role in redemption "...the wind blowing seemed to carry His words..." and the location of man's heart prior to salvation "...people watching from the shadows." There are many more great truths conveyed within this book, and to help relate the story to what the Bible says, the end of the book does a great job showing the scripture references.

As a father I greatly value this book's ability to take biblical truths and tie them beautifully into a story that any child could understand.

I highly recommend all add this book to their collection. Whether you have children or not, you will benefit from the simple wisdom of R.C. Sproul.


Note: FTC guidelines require me to state that I will be receiving a free copy of this book upon completion of this review. This is not contingent upon a positive review, merely an honest reflection of the content.

Philippians 1:12-18

Here is this week's #P2R memory verses in a video:

And of course, all these songs are available for download for free on the right side of this page :)

God Bless and happy memorizing!

Philippians 1:7-11

Simple post here for this week's song:

And don't forget on the right, under "Philippians to Music," you can click on the appropriate verses to be able to download the songs.

Happy memorizing!

Fast Food Prayer

This morning it hit me like a ton of bricks: I've become accustomed to fast food praying. After peaking in on Emery before I left for work this morning, I noticed her eyes were wide open as she jerked around to look at me. I quickly bolted out of the room and closed the door and watched her lay her head back down through the crack of the door.

As I was getting my coat on I noticed I was half talking to myself in my head hoping that she wouldn't wake up and wake mallory up, and half praying to God that this wouldn't happen.

I felt both convicted and reassured that my prayers would be intermingled with my own thoughts. Is that a sign that Christ has become such a close part of my life that I'm always in prayer? Or is it a sign that I consider prayer so cheap that it could get lost in my own thoughts?

I don't want my prayer to be only asking God for things, although I know that it is perfectly fine to ask God for things.

This year I will work on being more purposeful in every prayer, everyday. I don't want to pray in vain.

Resolved: Pray intently or do not pray at all.

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Philippians 1:1-6

As mentioned in my previous post, Mallory and I are working on memorizing the book of Philippians by Easter Sunday along with @TimmyBrister and many others who have decided to get in on the action.

If you're interested in learning more about it, check it out here.

I have decided (with encouragement from Mal) to attempt to put the entire book of Philippians to song.  I have previously put memory verses that we had been working on to song, and found it made memorizing the verses much easier (and a little more fun).

Sooooo, I am going to take it week by week and attempt to put the words to music.  I'm not sure if I will be able to complete it, depending on how much time it takes, but I hope to do this every week.

At the very least, it will be a learning experience, and also challenge myself as a musician; it should turn out to be an overall interesting experience.

My desire is for the entire book to flow together, not making each week's batch of verses sound completely different.  I also don't want each week's to sound exactly the same (same melody).

We'll see how it goes.

I plan on posting here each week, so check back (if you think it will help you memorize the verses). I will do my best to post them early on in the week so that they will actually be a help in memorizing; if time does not permit me to get them done in time for that, maybe they will help you keep what you already memorized in your head.

Just so you all know, I am no professional musician, I'm not a great singer or brilliant composer, and there will be many mess-ups along the way.  I am merely posting these to share with others who may benefit by using them.

Also, I would really appreciate feedback on the format.  It is difficult to organize the text to flow nicely and not sound really choppy, so I'm struggling with cutting verses (in the text) into different verses (in song) to make it flow better.  You will see what I mean.  Let me know if you think this is not a good thing to do; I'm not trying to reorganize the text and split up verses, but if that helps me memorize them via music, I'm going to try it.  The obvious difficulty here is not memorizing exact verse numbers for reference.  So your regular reading repetitively to memorize will still be important.

I'm learning as I go, so please be gracious.

Again, any feedback/comments/encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

On the right, under "Philippians to Music," you can click on the appropriate verses to be able to download the songs.

With that said, here is this week's video for Philippians 1:1-6: