a cappella

I'm tired of all the villians
Tired of all the killins
Tired of the men who make the laws
And break them any time they please
I'm tired of all the big lies
Where are all the good guys?
Sometimes I think I feel the way
That Noah did when the Lord commanded...

Build an ark.


Straight up old school.

I'm listening to the online radio station Totally Acappella while I work.

Man. It evokes the same kind of feelings as looking through an old high school annual or going to a family reunion. I've heard everything from AVB to Zoe; From Watershed to the Gaither Vocal Band; From random really bad praise teams across the country to olden timey congregational SATB music. I even heard some congregational singing led by Ray Walker of the Jordanaires.

I'm a big fan of Casting Crowns, Chris Rice, Aaron Schust, and many other instrumental contemporaries, but a cappella music will always possess a special place in my heart.





*This post was made in its entirety without the use of any instruments.*

Wx

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't ever get tired of this:

Christians Having Hotter Sex

Church of Christ minister, Joe Beam, received a lot of press last week about the seminars on sex he has been leading for several years. He performs his marriage and sex seminars through his Family Dynamics Institute organization.

MSNBC wrote an article about Joe and his seminars and he was interviewed on the Today Show. Also, Mike Cope, wrote a couple blog entries about these same thoughts.

The premise of his seminars, lectures, and books on this topic is twofold: 1. there is a strong correlation between strong, healthy marriages and those marriages where both partners are sexually satisfied; and 2. being sexually satisfied within your marriage reduces and removes tempation to have those desires fulfilled outside of your marriage.

His aim is to remove any inhibitions or guilt that people may have in the bedroom...with very few constraints. He says sex must remain between a husband and a wife (this means no pornography), and nothing in sex can hurt either partner.

Sounds pretty biblical to me.

Becoming one flesh can be fun and full of pleasure for both partners. As Christians, we should strive to have intimate relationships with our spouses that includes uninhibited, fun, enjoyable sex.

Derek Webb

Derek Webb is giving away a free download of his latest album, Mockingbird. It's not my favorite album of all time, but I don't generally turn down legally free music. The music is not bad at all. You can hear some Bob Dylan and The Beatles influences in his work.

One song is entitled "Rich Young Ruler". The lyric presents a challenge for anyone who calls themselves a Christian.

"Rich Young Ruler"
Derek Webb
poverty is so hard to see
when it’s only on your tv
and twenty miles across town
where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash

he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me

so what must we do
here in the west we want to follow you
we speak the language and we keep all the rules
even a few we made up
come on and follow me
but sell your house, sell your suv
sell your stocks, sell your security
and give it to the poor

well what is this, hey what’s the deal
i don’t sleep around and i don’t steal
but i want the things you just can’t give me
i want the things you just can’t give me

because what you do to the least of these
my brother’s, you have done it to me

‘cause i want the things you just can’t give me
i want the things you just can’t give me

Beat Analyzer

Mixmeister has put out a free tool, aptly named BPM Analyzer, that figures out digital music's Beats Per Minute (BPM).



I think the intention behind the Beat Analyzer tool is so that DJs can sort and then play songs with similar BPMs to keep that dance floor hoppin'.

If you are an exerciser who likes to listen to your iPod while you work out, this little free download can be pretty helpful. I sorted my music library by BPM and put all my songs that are 75-82 BPM in a separate playlist on my iPod. My running pace is about 78 BPM (or 156 strides per minute) so now I can run along right with the beat of my music. I can even arrange the music so that the homestretch sprint accelerates to 85-90 BPM.

One disclaimer: it's not real accurate with acappella music. The music needs some good percussion so the program can recognize the down beats.

911

We all need to remember the lives lost during the events that occurred 5 years ago on this day. Like Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination, or the Challenger Space Shuttle accident, many people recall exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard.

I was sitting in a Hebrew refresher class with some fellow linguists. We cherished our annual refresher classes, because they gave us a chance to recall and improve our language skills. During the class break after the first hour of class, word came back from people watching a TV that one of the towers had been struck by a plane. Incorrect assumptions that it was probably an accident were made. Initially I didn't give it a second thought. Cars have accidents, trains derail, airplanes crash.

During the second hour of our class, we were interrupted with the news that a second plane had hit the other tower. Then it was clear. We were under attack.

At that time in my life, I was burnt out on world affairs, fighting, and conflict. Being consumed with the events of the Intifadah in the West Bank and Gaza, I tried to avoid world events as much as possible. Of course avoiding news about Laden's attack on American soil was clearly impossible.

I remember the American lives that were lost that day.

I remember the symbols of the American economy that fell.

I remember the untouchable Pentagon caving in.

I remember the news coverage that seemingly would last as long as our country's grief.

Mostly I remember one evening Dixie and I stood in our kitchen and shed tears for God's mourning. While the country was overwhelmed with a dark sadness, I think that must have paled in comparison to what Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac felt. His heart had to break as his children killed each other because of their different understandings of who He is and what He wants.

Twenty descendents of Ishmael thought Allah God would be pleased if they killed thousands of Isaac's descendents (both blood line and faith descendents). I think neither Abraham, nor God were pleased.

A few short months later, in Janin and Ramallah, an army of Isaac's descendents oppressed and killed thousands of Ishmael's descendents (these events received little to no press attention).

While it is important to remember the events of 9-11, I think it's even more important to remember them in the context of God's story. While we are saddened and have to overcome great grief, the author of life and maker of our bodies must suffer even more greatly.

I don't think we'll ever be able to solve this cycle of violence and hatred. The only thing that can alleviate it is the Shalom of God. The completeness and fullness of His kingdom is all that can break it.

We see glimpses of His Shalom even now. But, one day God will let it take foothold and completely break out. Oh, what a glorious day that will be.

Central Dallas Ministries

Larry James, the CEO of Central Dallas Ministries is championing an effort to raise $100,000 by Oct 31 in order to ensure CDM's neighbors have food security.

Let me encourage you to do two things:

1. Read Larry James' blog every day. Larry is a man who has had great success at conditioning his heart to mirror Jesus' heart in the realm of dealing with poverty and social injustices. I'm sure he would say he still works at conditioning his heart towards empathy and caring for all of God's children, but let me assure you, he is living out a life of faith, exhibited in his care for the poor. His blog will challenge you and inspire you to examine how you treat society's untouchables.

2. Consider making a donation to CDM during the blog campaign. I'm a firm believer that we need to first and foremost be concerned about our local communities. Now that I am a Jacksonian, the majority of my resources and time need to be invested in this community. Still Texans have a special place in my heart. For you SA readers, you may want to consider that CDM has an urban outreach in San Antonio. Anyone is welcome to share funds in this effort, but Texans especially need to rise up.

Babyless

September 2nd was the big day. Jaylie Grace turned 1! Of course, this event officially marks the beginning of a new phase in the Livingston household: we are babyless. Now, Dixie will argue that both Jaylie and Ethan are still babies, and I guess that they are in some regard, but in my opinion they have both graduated into toddlerhood which is mutually exclusive from babyhood. And as soon as Ethan gets out of diapers (we're working on that now) I think he graduates into littleboyhood.

To celebrate Jaylie's first birthday we invited our neighborhood friends down to the playground to share some of Jaylie's pink strawberry birthday cake. We had a good time watching Jaylie walk around on the grass and then eat handfuls of cake.

Since my pictures are still on my camera, these pictures are courtesy of Carrie Henry. Thanks Carrie!

Jaylie couldn't quite blow the candle out but luckily she had lots of help.



Jaylie digs strawberry cake. No utensils are required.

Crikey!

The Crochunter was killed in a freak accident with a stingray tonight.

Man that's weird. The guy wrestles crocodiles all his life and then a little stingray gets him and that's it.

While he certainly took some unhealthy risks in life, it's always a tragedy when a parent dies leaving behind small children.

...

Pluto's planet worthiness has recently been called into question. I understand that this is a worthy scientific issue that needs to be addressed and studied. But these people are just silly:



They are protesting to maintain our 9th little planet's status as a planet?

What in the world?

Don't they have something better to do? They made signs and everything. That's funny to me.

Untouchable

I'm untouchable now. As of August 26th, I'm out of the reach of United States Air Force. My enlistment was for 6 years, but after I was separated, I had to remain on the Ready Reserve list for 2 years. The Ready Reserve is not like the regular Reserve or National Guard. Basically the Ready Reserve is just a list of recently separated active duty personnel that on occasion will get called back to duty in times of war or national crisis. I'm not sure that the USAF has ever exercised its right to call on the Ready Reserve, but the Army and Marines are using them right now. In fact the Marines just called up 2500 Ready Reservists last week.

Since it is such a rarity, I wasn't really nervous about it until the last month when Israel and Lebanon had their little spat. Given my specialty code of 1N357C, (that's a Hebrew Cryptologist to those of you who don't have all AFSCs memorized) I was slightly nervous. I guessed my chances of getting called back went from about .001% to 1%. Still unlikely, but a great increase of possibility. Iran's recent attitude problems just added fuel to the fire. Had Israel attacked Iran (which I expect will happen in the next 24 months) my chance of recall might have gone to 50%.

Anyway, August 26th came and went and now being called back to service is out of the realm of possibility, save for a draft.

I am glad I had the opportunity to serve in the Air Force. I learned Hebrew, obtained an A.A.S., finished my B.S., earned a living, lived in some places I would have otherwise never lived, had some fun experiences, made some interesting friends, had two kids for which I never saw a medical bill, got to experience some unique church communities, and contributed to the U.S. strategic and tactical intelligence effort. All in all, I wouldn't go back and spend those six years any differently.

Still, I'm glad to be done with my service and glad to be out of the AF's reach to be recalled.