Walk With The (Sean) Wise

My mom got me this shirt for Christmas. I love the reactions I get from people when I wear it. I, myself, laugh at what it suggests. As I'm sure Boromir would put it, "One does not simply play the trombone calmly." On this point, son of Denethor, we agree. The trombone is truly the king of the instruments. The slide makes allowance for amazing feats of musicality that valves just can't handle. On the trombone, the fortes are louder, the fortissimos are explosive, and the pianos are... Wait, what are those? And so, my friends, I give you a choice. You can keep calm, you can play the trombone, or you can do neither. If you're truly daring, you can try to do both. But I don't see that lasting too long.

My friend Jeff has been rather prolific about writing limericks based on Scripture. I've been inspired to do likewise as a jumpstart to my own creativity. Here is my first entirely self-written attempt. Enjoy. My love, kissing you is divine, Like tasting the sweetest of wines! And your fragrances, too - The young girls adore you! Let's rush to your room and recline. (Song of Solomon 1:2-4)

My wife led the staff devotions at Divisional Headquarters yesterday, and she asked me to lead the song "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" at the end of our time.  I was elated to be asked, because this is among my absolute favorite songs in the Salvation Army Song Book.  Don't get me wrong here.  There is and always will be a special place in my heart for the entirety of "The Salvation Soldier" section.  But there is definitely something to be said about song #991. As a Soldier of the Holland, MI corps, I enjoyed seeing this song fairly often in the bulletin.  I'm not sure what attracted me to it then.  I just knew that I liked it.  Upon re-reading it recently, though, I think I've figured it out.  So much of its relevance for me comes in just the first verse. "Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise, just to know: 'Thus saith the Lord.'" - Louisa M.R. Stead While the repetit...

Our sin may be the death of us, But it is atoned for. The cross may be what we deserve, But it's taken for us. Death is the debt that we all pay, But it is defeated. The grave, our body's resting place, But it is vacated. Resurrection's impossible, But it is accomplished. Eternal life is out of reach, But It's purchased for us.

We finally made it. Post 40. The end of the daily Lenten challenge. It feels so good to have stuck with this, pushing through to the end. I knew I wasn't wrong when I called this a challenge. I even expressed at times when writing a post didn't come as naturally as I would have liked. But through it all, you stuck it out with me. Your encouragement was my encouragement in many ways. In this season, I have shared many things here - creativity, frustrations, life events, philosophy, theology, emotions, and more. Above all else, though, as I look back over the other 39 posts, I've really been sharing myself. These posts are very much a part of me, and having you along for the journey has helped me to be a better, more confident me. For those who have said that you hope I'll keep writing after Lent, know that I fully intend to. I don't know what the frequency will be, but, as I said in the first post of this challenge, I made this blog to use it. The completion of this ...

Tonight, a split-second decision has me hanging out at the movie theater with the boys. There doesn't seem to be much better to bring men together than a good superhero movie. Coming off of a fantastic Good Friday service, I certainly count this among the best Friday nights ever. So in lieu of a lengthy blog post tonight, I leave you with this awesomely blurry, selfie-style picture of my crew this evening as we wait an hour for our movie. The showing we wanted was sold out, so for our patience, we upgraded to Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 3D. Here's to the good times. You can't tell from this pic, but I'm wearing a Star Wars shirt to a Marvel movie. I figure I can get away with it since they're both Disney now.

Here's a big shocker - I don't necessarily like everybody.  There are some people I like some of the time, some people I like all the time, and some people I just don't like.  It's been that way for as long as I can remember, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone there.  Sometimes my like or dislike of someone is situational, and sometimes it's selfish.  My biggest problem there is, I want to like and be liked by everybody.  It's just a desire that I have.  And of course, I have my own thoughts on how that can and should work. Sometimes in my prayer life, I find myself asking God to change the people and/or situations I don't like.  It's an easy thing to do.  When I get into an argument, it's, "God, change their viewpoint so that they can know that I'm right!"  When I want something, but having it is dependent on someone else's actions, it's, "God, make them do this or that so that what I want can happen for me!"...