TUESDAY TUNES: J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concerto No 2 in F Major

I
love music from the Baroque era, 1600-1750. Especially anything composed by Bach.  Good old Johann Sebastian.  He’s the Man!!!

I
have many memories of this particular concerto. 
My sisters and I made up dances to it when we were young.  I’m not sure why we even had a recording of it,
but we did.  It’s not that my family was
all that cultured. Lawrence Welk and Hee
Haw were about as fancy as we got.  Maybe
my piano teacher gave me the record, I don’t know.  Anyway, the little gray house on Fisk Street
in Pullman, Washington had its walls rattled as we pranced around.  It was a combination of moves from the 1600’s
with a little do-si-do square dance thrown in for fun.  I can still picture us dancing in our
pajamas.  We’d be all serious with, what
we thought were, the official dance moves from the era, and then giggle as we’d
swing our partner at the end of a phrase.

Years
later while in college, my fellow music major friends and I would play it and take
turns directing the pretend ensembles in our dorm rooms.  Ah, music nerds.

If
find it interesting, and quite telling about me, that I love Baroque music so
much.  Dynamically, there are no
crescendos or swells.  It pretty much
goes from loud to soft quite instantly (mostly due to the abilities of the
instruments at the time).  Like with me,
I’m strolling along during my day just fine at a quiet(ish) level, when boom,
something happens and I either burst out with a huge laugh or voice and my volume
goes from pianissimo to forte just like that. 
No warning.  Just, “Here I am!”

And
once the piece begins, it rhythmically keeps driving to the end.  That’s me. 
It’s, “Let’s get ‘er done time folks.” 
That’s why Baroque music is my music of choice when cleaning the
house.  Boom, boom, sweep, dust, scrub
and look at that, we’re done! 

This
is not the piece you want to listen to when you’re tired and need a nap.  This is “go time” music.  So the next time you’ve fallen behind on a
project, need to organize your thoughts, or just wanna get your groove on, take
a listen to something Baroque. 
Preferably this piece by my man Bach.

My lovely friend
Tina and I try to attend the Oregon Bach Festival every year.  This year’s dates are June 26-July 13.  We even get a T-Shirt like true Bach groupies.
 
Question:  What is your favorite era of music?

TUESDAY TUNES: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

https://youtu.be/C0jpHtsSEQo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0jpHtsSEQo  Hillsong Version

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWxb6VvPrkE Michael W. Smith Version

Matthew
6:33 is a Life verse for me:  But seek
first HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well.

These
words of Jesus are from the Sermon on the Mount.  Leading up to this verse He is talking about
worry.  I’m a worrier.  Maybe that’s why I love this verse so
much.  When I daily seek Him first, He
tells me everything else will fall into place.
So don’t worry.

 

If
I know that to be true, and I trust Him, then why do I have stomach issues,
break out into rashes and get fever blisters all stemming from worry?  It’s that head knowledge-heart knowledge
stuff again.

 

Turn your eyes
upon Jesus

Look full in His
wonderful face

And the things
of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of
His glory and grace

Daily…step
by step…one second at a time…start again…listen…trust…remember…pray…be
still…seek Him first…do it all again…

 

God
speaks to me through the “address” of this verse:

 

When
I get home from work and wonder what’s on tap for my evening and realize it’s 6:33, I think, “God wants me to spend some time with
Him.”  6:33 Seek HIM.

 

When
I’ve made a questionable choice and look at the clock and see that it’s 6:33, I
think, “Was that really the best way to handle that situation.”  6:33 Seek HIM

 

At
random times when I see the cost of something is $6.33 or an address is 633 or
my eye catches 633 in the middle of a set of numbers, I stop and remember His
promise.  6:33 Seek HIM

 

Turn
your eyes upon Jesus, seek His wonderful face, and He will provide.  And what you thought was best for you will
grow strangely dim because, in the light of His glory and grace, His plans are
always better than what our earthly minds could come think of.

Question:  Do you have things like my 633 where God catches your attention?

TUESDAY TUNES: Say the Name

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es7GE6seBFc 


I’m
on a Margaret Becker kick.  She was my
girl back in the late 80’s and 90’s.  Now
I’m listening to her again.  I really
hadn’t noticed until this go ‘round how much she sounds like the Wilson sisters
of Heart; a band I also liked in the 80’s. 
But Heart’s “If Looks Could Kill You’d be Lying on the Floor” is a far
cry from Becker’s “Say the Name.”

“If
Looks Could Kill” would have gotten me through a breakup or hard times back in
1988. But words like, “I was a sucker to
believe in you, a sucker for every line,”
or “Love is on the line, I ain’t about to be kind,” have such a
negative ring to them, don’t ya think?? 
But I remember blaring that album, (you know, vinyl record albums) in my
cute little four-plex on Judge Ely Blvd. in Abilene, TX back in the day.

But
thankfully, I’ve progressed past the negativity!  I can sit back and “Say the name that has heard my cry, has seen my tears and wiped them
dry,”
and find a much more productive healing.  Now, “Just
a whisper is enough to set my soul at ease. 
Just thinking of this name brings my heart to peace.”

 

Several years ago, I was standing a few rows
behind an elderly woman while we were singing Natalie Grant’s song “Your Great
Name.”  She was seated, but when we got
to the words, “The enemy, he has to leave, at the sound of Your Great Name,”
she struggled to a standing position.  That
gesture of respect moved me to tears.  “May I never grow so strong that my heart
cannot be moved. May I never grow so weak that I fear to speak the truth. I
will say this holy Name no matter who agrees. For no other name on earth means
so much to me.”

Philippians 2:9-11

Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place


    and
gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue
acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

“From now until
the end of time, I’ll Say the Name.”
 

TUESDAY TUNES: Help Me Find It

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsjZ94K7UQs

This was
my theme song for last summer…

I
became unemployed and homeless all in one weekend in the spring of
2013.  So in June I found myself on a
plane headed for Tennessee to spend the summer with some good friends working
as their nanny.  I also needed to clear
my head and figure out what was next.

 As I
drove around beautiful Franklin, Tennessee with its green cotton-ball trees,
Sidewalk Prophets’ song “Help Me Find It” always seemed to be on the radio
every time I needed it to be. 

It was
my story…

“I don’t know where to go from
here, it all used to seem so clear.”

”If there’s a road I should walk,
help me find it.”

 And the comfort of…

“For every
step, I’ve never been alone.”
 
“Even when it hurts You’ll have Your way, even in the valley I will say, with
every breath You’ve never let me go.”

 If I
was alone in the car I would sing it at the top of my lungs! But one evening
the song came on while I was driving the girls to dance, or to eat, or to a
friend’s house or to something.  I said,
“Oh, I LOVE this song.  It’s my theme
song.”  They asked me why, so I started
singing along with the words like I was telling them my story.  When it got to the words “You’ve never failed
before” I had to turn my head and fight back tears, because He never has.

 Right
before that phrase are the words, “I will wait for You.”  That’s the hard part!!  But I’m learning to “Be Still and Know
(remember) that He is God.”  These are not
new concepts for me.  It’s just when you
find yourself in a difficult situation you learn them all over again.

 Ten
months later I’m still a bit in limbo. 
But, He’s never failed before! 
That’s all I need to know.  So
even though I don’t know where to go from here, I
will wait for Him.  And He won’t fail me
this time either!