I heard this song a while ago as I was doing some deliveries.  It turned into a real moment of worship.  Amazing what pop radio occasionally throws your way.  Anyway what do you think?

“You, looked at me as you walked in the room Like the red sea, you split me open Somehow I knew these wings were stolen All you did was save my life Tried to run but I couldnt move Well I paid for these concreat shoes Like a singer that sings the blues You saw hope in the hopeless I’m not dying All you did was save my life Pulled me out of that flat line Put the heartbeat back inside I’m not dying All you did was get me through, I owe every breathe to you Heart and soul unparalyzed, all you did was save my life Save my life I’m not for sale but I’ve been sold The more I hear the less I know The lies are swallowed whole In there insignificance The storys been told a million times, but it’s different when it’s your life I won the lottery tonight, the lottery tonight I’m not dying All you did was save my life Pulled me out of that flat line Put the heartbeat back inside I’m not dying All you did was get me through, I owe every breathe to you Heart and soul unparalyzed, all you did was save my life Save my life I started to come around, the dogs are backing down I’m not afriad to see, the devil’s gone underground This tightropes been cut down, and I can finally breathe You, looked at me as I walked in the room Like the red sea you split me open Somehow I knew these wings were stolen I’m not dying All you did was save my life Pulled me out of that flat line, put the heart beat back inside I’m not dying All you did was get me through, I owe every breathe to you Heart and soul unparalyzed, all you did was save my life All you did was save my life Put the heart beat back inside All you did was save my life Put the heart beat back inside All you did was save my life” – Our Lady Peace

9 Songs with the word “California” in the title.  Fitting since we are heading that way.  Perhaps the best of which would be “Going to California” By Led Zeppelin (although “California Girl” by Tristan Prettyman is also good ’cause that’s what my wife is gonna be soon!!)

6 Songs with the word Traveling in it.  Also fitting since Niki and I seem to never be in one place for more than a few days in a row right now.  My favorite was “The Road I Must Travel” by the Nightwatchmen.

87 Songs with the word “Home”  I think I’ll choose John Mayer “Home Life” because it talks about staying at home and not being a nomad… and frankly I can’t wait to have a place to call home.

17 songs with the word “Chaos.” Because if it wasn’t for pen, paper and the lists they make, I would have lost my mind sometime last week.  For this word I choose “Chaos” by Mutemath

99 songs with “New”  I choose “Brand New Sidewalk” by Nickel Creek… just because they are my favorite band.

And that is some of my life according to itunes… how about you?  What’s your itunes saying about you.

“There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.” - Calvin

Coffee oh yes! But not just any coffee.  My person fav right now is the Ethiopian Dark From Ten Thousand Villages.  Not only do I get the best cup of Coffee, but I help people to.. Now that is worth getting your groove on for.

Next we have The Doors.  I couldn’t tell you why but I am loving all things Classic Rock right now.  And the Doors kick some serious butt.  Maybe it’s the groove that is in all their music.  Or maybe it is that it is frighteningly psychedelic.  But either way, they are on the top of my itunes right now. And Roadhouse Blues definitely gets the groove on.

harmonica

Harmonica is next.  I got one for Christmas, and I love the way that it sounds along with my guitar.  I am hoping to go and buy one of those around the neck thingies so I can play both guitar and harmonica at the same time… I know, I know, a little hillbilly, but come on! Who isn’t grooving when Dallas Green is workin’ it.

One more for today.  That is Sermon Jams.  If you are looking for some sweet inspiration mixed with DJ’s spinning than this is the thing for you… and even if it isn’t your thing.  it is totally worth checkin out.. Plus it’s FREE (and free ALWAYS gets my groove on).  Go and Check it out and for sure download King by S.M Lockridge in Volume four… If you don’t get the shivers when you listen to it I’ll… well I won’t have to do anything because you’ll get the shivers for sure.

Ok well that’s all for now.  And I think I’ve used the quota for “Get my groove on” for everyone in the world for the next two years… sorry about that.

As I was driving the other day I heard Rufus Wainwright cover Leonard Coehn’s Hallelujah.  Rufus changed a few of the verses from the original and one of his new lines goes “Remember when I moved in you; the holy dark was moving too, and every breath we drew was Hallelujah” As I heard the line “The Holy Dark was moving too.” I stopped. What does it mean? Holy Dark?   I don’t think that these are two words that we put together very often.  But why not? Maybe I am just reading too much of the Book of Job, but doesn’t the idea of a Holy Dark make perfect sense when trying to understand God?

So often when I think about God and the way he works I think BRIGHT and PASTEL colors.  But I am beginning to think that isn’t the way God always works.  Often He works in the Dark.  The dark is scary, we don’t understand the dark.  We bump into things in the dark and we can’t see past our noses (the reason I stubbed my toe last night).  And there are times that life seems very dark.  Where is God for the barren woman?  or the Woman who loses her child in birth?  Where is God when men go to war?  Where is God when all our plans are smashed on the rocks?  Life seems to be filled with a lot of dark.

This is where. for me, the idea of a Holy Dark comes in.  I have faith that behind the darkness there is a God who cares for us and is moving behind the scene.  Maybe instead of imagining it as a black darkness, we should think of Holy Dark as a deep blue, like the night sky as it gives away to dawn.  Personally I believe that the scriptures tell us we have a God who cares for us, who can guide us through the pitch, and a God who defends and pulls for us.

I don’t know what this all means.  What does it mean when we can’t see God moving? How does someone having cancer fit with this idea? I don’t know, I don’t have all the answers, but in my own moments of night, I will keep having faith that behind the darkness God is moving, so it’s not just a dark that envelopes me, it is a HOLY dark.

I’m disillusioned with the news media.  It is an essential part of a cycle of fear that keeps going around and around.  This week the BIG news story is about a guy in Winnipeg who got bitten by a West African Gaboon Viper.

Fact: Has the biggest fangs of any venomous snake

Fact: While it doesn’t have the most dangerous venom is has the ability to deliver a lot of it in one shot, making it very deadly.

Fact:  It is a very lazy snake.  Experts call it the couch potato of snakes.

If you haven’t heard, the guy was apparently bitten on the lip by the snake (I’m betting big money the guy was drunk and was showing off to his girlfriend… “watch me as I make out with this snake.” And got what he deserved).

The story has been on the CBC news every half hour for the last two days.  We are learning all about how it is a very docile snake and doesn’t usually attack people.  How they flew the drugs from Ontario because we don’t have th right antidote in Manitoba (and why would we? this is the first time ever anyone has been bitten by one of these snakes in Manitoba and will probably be the last).

The thing that make me believe that news just continues (if not starts) a cycle of fear is some of the questions that people ask in interviews.  They haven’t found this snake yet and so the hosts of shows ask people if we should be worried… as if this snake poses any serious threat to people…. I am sure the mental picture they are going for is a giant AFRICAN snake squirming along the sidewalk looking for innocent-looking people.  When it does find just the right victim it leaps up the five foot six inches off the ground sprouting wings as it goes, fangs bared, and grabs the poor guy by the face and then swallows him whole, growing larger and larger with each person until it is an unstoppable super snake destroying the whole world… seriously… IF, and it is a very BIG if, this snake is loose outside it has for sure gone and curled up somewhere to die.  It was 0 degrees outside last night.  I’m no expert but I am sure this snake is either hiding out in the house somewhere, or else dead and some stray cat has had a feast.  But the lovely people on the radio want to make you think that it is still out there posing some serious risk to public safety.  Personally I think the whole thing was an interesting story, but now has been way overblown and the only reason people are talking about this and not the fact that hundreds of thousands of children will die this week because of malnutrition is because big ass snakes are scary.

Ok… one more example of this.  Today an unnamed exec for the NHL mentioned that they were looking at giving Toronto another NHL Team.  This is, of course, is Manitoba where the big two dreams are having a good football team and the return of the Jets.  So on the call-in show today the lady was asking what people think about the talk that Toronto will get another team, and she had this guest on who has been working on bringing the Jets back for a long time.  He comes on and in two minutes says, this is all talk, there is nothing here, forget about it, to which the host passes over faster than Scrooge would dive for a penny.  The host just kept pressing about this possibility and what people thought.  Listening to this I thought the guest had pretty much closed the conversation but apparently I was wrong.  There was still some anger that could be stirred up among rabid Jets fans, and fear that we might get passed over so that Toronto could have two teams that will never win the Stanly Cup.

These are only two of the MANY stories that I could point to that I hear in a day.  I kind of feel like one of those crazy right wing commentators on the radio in the States who is blabbing about how you shouldn’t listen to the “liberal” media because it’s lying to you.  To be clear I think that most of those guys are a few screws short.  But I’m starting to think that they have a valid point.  Too much of what we hear is meant to scare us, or to get a reaction.  And it all serves to distract us from what are real issues in the world.  Perhaps it is the news media who will share the lions share of the blame for the death of children from malnutrition, shortage of clean drinking water for choosing stupid stories about an idiot who got bite in face over the real problems in our world.  That’s my trip down the rabbit hole today.

Right now, by far, the best show on CBC is Q.  I love the mix of high art and pop art.  And Jian Ghomeshi’s commentary is sweet.  I would say that he is definitely one of the best interviewers on CBC (especially when compared to some of the morons on the local morning and late afternoon shows).  So Q at Ten is one of the highlights of my day.

There is also a new radio show (only two weeks old now) called The Point.  It’s not too bad.  My biggest complaint is that it feels a lot like Q, but not as good.  The subject matter seems to overlap way too much.  Although, they did have a really interesting conversation about how in Canada more and more public restrooms are being turned into co-ed bathrooms.  It has to do fixing the inequality of wait times in the bathrooms for women.  On the one hand it makes sense (I guess).  If you’ve ever been at a concert or sporting event the line into the women’s washroom usually goes out the building and around the block a couple times, while a guy can just walk right in and find a place.  Still though, the idea of having a lady in the stall next to me… no thanks I would rather see twice as many lady’s washrooms than have to share. 

But I digress. On the rare occasion when I tire of CBC, I flip over the radio to FM and start scanning the stations for some popular music.  So I was going through and got to our local Christian station CHVN.  I was in the mood for some nice uplifting music so I stayed on it for a few minutes.  I heard a couple sweet songs, mostly they play stuff that is geared more towards my parents than me, but there was some good stuff playing so I stayed on the station for a little bit.  But then my greatest pet peeve happened.  Some new song came on and it was the most trite, clichéd, bland, and OUTRIGHT TERRIBLE thing I had heard all day.  I couldn’t even tell you what it was about or who sung it because I changed the station in disgust.  I know there are a lot of people who say that you shouldn’t say hate because it is such a strong word.  But I HATE it when Christians write crappy songs.  I hate it when they can’t think of a beautiful poetic way to express their love for God, or the way that God moves in creation etc.  And instead they must fall back on tired clichés and then put it to bad music and melody.  What makes the whole thing worse, is that CHVN plays these ads where this guy says that he used to never listen to Christian music because it was bad musically, and then he discovered CHVN and now he listens to it all the time.  If you are going to play an ad like than then I think that you have a responsibility to ensure that you keep that standard.  I couldn’t stand it.  I changed and didn’t go back…. It makes my blood boil….. enough of that.  Here is some good art.  One of my favourite poems of all time, written by one of the greatest Christian minds G.K. Chesterton.

Gloria in Profundis                                        

(1927)

There has fallen on earth for a token

A god too great for the sky.

He has burst out of all things and broken

The bounds of eternity:

Into time and the terminal land

He has strayed like a thief or a lover,

For the wine of the world brims over,

Its splendour is spilt on the sand.

Who is proud when the heavens are humble,

Who mounts if the mountains fall,

If the fixed stars topple and tumble

And a deluge of love drowns all—

Who rears up his head for a crown,

Who holds up his will for a warrant,

Who strives with the starry torrent,

When all that is good goes down?

For in dread of such falling and failing

The fallen angels fell

Inverted in insolence, scaling

The hanging mountain of hell:

But unmeasured of plummet and rod

Too deep for their sight to scan,

Outrushing the fall of man

Is the height of the fall of God.

Glory to God in the Lowest

the spout of the stars in spate—

Where the thunderbolt thinks to be slowest

And the lightning fears to be late:

As men dive for a sunken gem

Pursuing, we hunt and hound it,

The fallen star that has found it

In the cavern of Bethlehem.

G. K. Chesterton