Walk With The (Sean) Wise

I've spent most of my life pretty well sheltered from personal loss.  While I had my fair share of mourning with others who had lost loved ones, I hadn't dealt with a lot of the passing away of anyone who was close to me.  That all changed within the past five months, in which time I lost not only one close friend, but five Salvation Army officers who had a tremendous impact on my life. While I did spend some time in mourning over each of them, it wasn't until the most recent Promotion to Glory that this thought came into my mind - "I don't want to live in a world without Steve in it."  What struck me as strange about that thought was that Steve wasn't any more or less a part of my life than the other four, but for a few reasons, his passing affected me more than the others. My friends Dorothy, George, Bob, and Irene were all in what's expected to be the later stages of life and had dealt for many years with several forms of illness.  Steve, howeve...

Now Peter, with Spirit like flame, Said, "Brothers, please let me explain - These men aren't drunk with wine; The clock's barely struck nine!" Then Joel's prophecy he made plain. - Acts 2:14-21

I've spent this week at music camp, stretching my horizons. I co-directed the top choir successfully, after never directing a solid musical group before. I joined the praise band elective and played bass guitar, an instrument I had very little experience with. I've loved my time here, seeing how much these kids have developed in maturity, attitude, and musicianship in just eight days. This has been a good week, but because of the length of the days, it has been tiring as well. I didn't quite realize how tired I was until the top band was playing in the concert tonight. They played a piece that contained the melody, "Days of Elijah," a song that I'm very familiar with. So, like any good singing bandsman would do, I decided to sing the words over the melody. I had the great majority of the song down perfectly until I got to the last line of the chorus. These are the words that came out of my mouth: "And out of Brian's hill salvation comes!" So,...

This weekend is a celebration surrounding the commissioning and ordination of the Disciples of the Cross session. This is a special group of people to me as I spent a year at the Training College with them. They are small in number, but they are strong in The Lord. This is a message to them. Disciples, I wish I could have been there to celebrate with you this weekend. Unfortunately, I was unable to make that happen. But even though there is a distance between us, I am still celebrating you and the work God has done and is doing in your lives. Though I haven't known most of you very long, I am pleased to call you my friends. I trust that you are excited for tomorrow especially and the coming opportunities you will have to continue on in God's calling for your lives. I may have one year on you in terms of Officership, but I want you to know that each of you inspire me and challenge me to continue to grow in my faith and calling. I am excited to hear which appointments you will be...

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...