I’ve been rescued, freed, and forgiven by Jesus, God’s
Son whom he dearly loves. Jesus, the
exact image of the invisible God, is Creator and supreme over all creation. He
is worth singing about.
Jesus is God Jesus is Creator Jesus is Supreme
From the musical “The Majesty of the
Maker!” this video is scrolling playback of a song based on Colossians 1:15-17.
Kathy
Click here to
download 50-page PDF of the musical: book, music in lead sheet format, lyrics.
Click here for MusicXML.
(MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check
the help files in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML
files.)
Their enemies were cruel. And on the march. The nation
had a leader, a man who had united them politically. He was a prophet and a
priest and a judge. He taught the people God’s laws and settled civil disputes.
But the nation wanted more. The surrounding nations had kings. And that’s what
they wanted. A king. A man who would lead them into battle against their
enemies.
So, God asked Samuel to anoint Saul as their king. Saul
was successful in war. In the first two and a half years of his reign he led
the nation into victory against almost all their enemies. Then God asked Saul
to wage war and destroy God’s enemy, the Amalekites. Saul assembled the
soldiers for battle. They defeated but did not destroy God’s enemy. They saved
the best of the spoils of war for themselves. They captured king Agag and made
him a prisoner of war. According to one source, by “…
letting the king of Amalek live, his line eventually gave birth to the likes of
Haman and Hitler.”[1]
King Saul was a tragic figure. Instead of leading his
soldiers, he bowed to their wishes. That was the
beginning of his demise. From
the album “This and That – A Little Bit of Everything” this video is music
overlaid on slides.
Digital (MusicXML) and/or print (PDF) sheet music is available for Hangman’s Game.
Click here for MusicXML. (MusicXML™ is
the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check the help files
in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML files.)
According to the BB King classic, “Let the Good Times
Roll,” good times happen when you get together, spend some cash, and have some fun.
The coronavirus smeared King’s picture of a good time.
Sara turned ten on March 17, 2020. Just four days after
her birthday her family began sheltering in place. She could no longer get
together with friends, spend some cash, and have some fun. She missed
important milestones. School functions, including her spring concert, were
cancelled. School moved online with E-Learning assignments. Her daddy was worried how this would impact her life.
She assumed responsibility for doing her own
laundry. She learned how to make pancakes from scratch. How to identify animal
bones she found near her home. She used the Internet and Legos to entertain her
out-of-state nephew. She helped build a monarch butterfly nursery. She curled
up with her parents after dinner to watch Star Trek Discovery. How will she
remember 2020?
I had written a song for each of Sara’s
birthdays, but not her tenth. I was not sure what to write. Then her daddy made
a casual statement during dinner one evening. He said these are the best years
of his life! I incorporated that phrase in her tenth birthday song. From the album “Silly or Celebratory – Songs
for Sara Lily” this video is scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
Click here for
BB King’s “Let the Good Times Roll.”
Print lead sheet music is available for Ten Years (Daddy Daughter Dance).
Do you teach
or play the cello, keyboard, guitar, or bass? Ten Years (Daddy Daughter Dance) is on SmartMusic, the comprehensive music practice app!
Click here to practice the music. Click here for SmartMusic help.
You can change
key and instrumentation with MusicXML – digital sheet music.
Click here for MusicXML.
(MusicXML is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check
the help files in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML
files.)
Our granddaughter turned nine yesterday. Over the years
Grandpa and I have taken lots of pictures and videos of her. Some grandparents
carry around a brag book, a little photo album that fits in a purse or shirt pocket
and holds a dozen or so snapshots of their grandchildren. Our brag books were
on our smart phones. Now they’re in the cloud.
We delight in watching Sara grow up. We want to remember
all of it. So smart phone in hand, we’ve snapped away happily. Last year her
parents asked for copies of our brag books. So, I organized the photos by year,
saved them to a thumb drive, gift wrapped the drive, and put it under the
Christmas tree for my daughter and son-in-law to open on Christmas Eve. I was
shocked to discover that in the last nine years Grandpa and I have taken 2,560
photos and videos of her! What a treasure trove of memories.
This birthday song came about because of those photos and
videos. This music story is a brag book of sorts. So, if you grit your teeth
when a grandmother opens her purse and pulls out her brag book, I’ll understand
why you are skipping this music story. However, it has a surprise ending. You
won’t want to miss that.
From the album
“Silly or Celebratory” this video is scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
PS. Sara
approved of the photos in this song.
You can get
print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Sophisticated Lady.
Click here for digital sheet music.
(MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check
the help files in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML™
files.)
Job was caught
in a storm of pain. He lost it all – his children, wealth, his health, reputation,
his happiness. Job didn’t deserve this. He was a good man, blameless and
upright, a man who worshiped God. So, Job vented angrily, why did God let this happen to him? Wasn’t God perverting
justice by letting him suffer?
Now God was
not put off by Job’s anger, bitterness, and complaints. God was there for him. He
appeared to Job. He spoke to Job’s heart. God didn’t explain why. He asked Job
to explain who and how. Who made it all, Job? You? Do you understand how God
put it all together? Do you understand how God created the earth, the dry land,
the water cycle? Do you understand how God carefully crafted each animal to
thrive where he placed it? Job, are you wise enough to do this?
Job couldn’t
answer God’s creation questions. They exposed his ignorance and God’s wisdom. He
realized there must be hidden circumstances, information about the past or future that Job couldn't know. That God
didn’t share it didn’t matter because God was there for him. Job saw and
heard God and that was enough. Job now realized he had made wrong assumptions
about God’s goodness, love, and justice. He let go of his anger and bitterness.
He withdrew his complaints.
Good people suffer,
crushed by their circumstances. And, like Job, blame God. Where is God when it
hurts? God is not put off by anger, bitterness, and complaints. God is here. He
is with us. We see God and know what Job couldn’t. God bears the scars of appalling
injustice and horrific pain. We hear him say that he bore those scars so we
might live. Instead of explaining why we suffer, God wraps his scars around our
weeping hearts.
Can you
imagine how raw Job felt? From the musical The
Majesty of the Maker! this video is scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
Click here to
download 50-page PDF of the musical: book, music in lead sheet format, lyrics.
Click here and here and here to read God’s creation questions.
You can get
print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for I Cry to God.
Click here for digital sheet music.
(MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check
the help files in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML™
files.)
Was there sufficient
evidence to indict for vehicular manslaughter? If so, the driver would be
brought to trial. Then a Trial Jury would decide if the evidence proved the
guilt of the driver beyond a reasonable doubt. But to indict, the Grand Jury used
a lower standard of proof – probable cause.
The State’s
Attorney presented the case, telling us when and where it happened and that the
cause of death was injuries sustained from the accident. The investigating
officer testified and answered our questions: the driver did not leave the
scene of the accident, was not speeding, and was not under the influence when
it happened. There were no eye witnesses to the collision. Then they and the
court reporter left the room so we could discuss the evidence and vote. It
would take nine yes votes for a Bill of Indictment.
This was only
one of a dozen or so cases we heard each week. Up until today the State’s
Attorney and investigating officers had presented sufficient evidence. Not
today. A youth on a bicycle and a car had collided; the youth, gravely injured,
had subsequently died. We were asked to decide if the driver should be brought
to trial. But it was unclear who had the right of way. No one had witnessed the
accident. We weren’t there when it happened. How could we decide after the
fact? In this kind of accident, we reasoned, the car would be damaged. Was it? We
weren’t told.
The Grand Jury
has the right to subpoena witnesses and documents. We issued a subpoena for
photographs of the accident and the next week examined them closely. Except for
the passenger’s side, the car looked brand new. The passenger’s door had fresh
scratch marks and indentations that corresponded to the damaged bicycle. It was
clear to us. The driver was not at fault. Sadly, the youth had failed to stop
for the car. We voted “No Bill.”
Pictures
provide evidence when eye witnesses cannot be found. For centuries men believed
that the universe was eternal. Not so! said the Bible, the universe had a
beginning. What standard of proof finally convinced scientists that the Bible
got it right?
Probable Cause
1931: Edwin Hubble's pictures of stars in distant galaxies were at odds with Albert Einstein's eternal universe.
Proof beyond a Reasonable Doubt
1992: It’s
‘like looking at God’! (Images taken by the satellite proved that the universe
had a beginning.)
Proof beyond a
Shadow of Doubt?
2012: WMAP all-sky
picture of the infant universe revealed how many years ago the universe was
created.
The heavens
declare the glory of God! From the musical The
Majesty of the Maker! this video is scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
Click here to
download 50-page PDF of the musical: book, music in lead sheet format, lyrics.
Click here to read
how WMAP turned the study of the origin and structure of the universe into a
precision science.
Click here to
read about the duties of a Grand Jury.
You can get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™)
sheet music for A Prayer.
Click here for digital sheet music.
(MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check
the help files in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML™
files.)
Why is a
biblical worldview so disturbing? Disturbing to those who adhere to the Bible.
Disturbing to those who do not. Could it be because, in a biblical worldview, things
that are true match what is real? And reality can be deeply disturbing. We want
truth to be the stories we tell about the world and about ourselves. But what
if our stories contradict what is real? And what if reality makes headlines?
God made headlines!
The paper is a little tattered, but you can clearly see the April 24, 1992
Chicago Tribune headline: NASA satellite discovery is ‘like looking at God’. Measurements
made by COBE confirmed that the universe had a beginning, which kind of
beginning, and that galaxies could form after the beginning.
However, the headline is disturbing because it contradicts two stories we tell about
the world:
·The
story that we don’t need God to explain the universe.
·The
story that God created the universe six to ten thousand years ago.
Space and time itself had a beginning! And the
space-time theorems show that all universes that expand on average (including
the multiverse) must have a beginning. But, whatever has a beginning must have
a cause. Whatever caused the universe to exist must be infinite, powerful, and
lie outside of space and time, or, according to the headline, it’s ‘like
looking at God’. This reads like the first verse in the Bible, “In the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” COBE measurements also helped
to determine that the universe is over 13 billion years old. Then the WMAP
satellite, launched in 2001, gave even greater precision to the age of the
universe, 13.77 ± 0.059 billion years!
The satellites
measured reality. What do we do when reality contradicts our stories?
Kathy
Connections, from the album “Apologia,” was written in honor
of Darwin’s Day 2009. This video is scrolling playback of the song.
You can get print
(PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Connections.
Incidentally,
the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“Everyone has the
right to life, liberty, and security of person.”) has been criticized as a
secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Click here to read why.
There was an
accident near our house involving a pickup and a sedan. The drivers were OK,
the sedan sustained scratches, but the pickup was badly damaged. Traffic patrol
arrived. The driver of the pickup said the sedan ran a red light and hit him.
The sedan driver angrily denied it and said the accident was the pickup
driver’s fault.
Two eye witnesses
came forward. Who were they, where were they, what did they see? The eye witnesses didn’t know each other or the
drivers involved in the accident. They were driving the two cars stopped behind
the pickup. Each saw the light turn green then each saw the pickup enter the
intersection. The sedan driver was ticketed for running a red light.
The Genesis
creation account seems like the scene of a traffic accident, with people giving
different versions of what happened. According to some, plants were created
before the sun. If that is so, others retort, then Genesis ran a red light, damaging
the credibility of the rest of the Bible.
But, wait! Genesis
1 says there was an eye witness to the creation events. Who? The Spirit of God. Where?
He was on the surface of the water that covered a formless and empty earth. What? He saw darkness. Can anything
else confirm this? Yes! Psalms tells us that primordial earth was a water
world. The book of Job tells us that clouds covered primordial earth like a
garment, wrapping it in thick darkness.
"Let there be light"
The earth was
wet. The sky was dark. Sunlight couldn’t penetrate the clouds. The first
creation miracle transformed earth’s atmosphere so that a little bit of sunshine
could reach the surface of the ocean where God’s Spirit was working. When we
ask the eyewitness to creation where he was and what he saw, the order of the
creation miracles in Genesis 1 reads like the history of planet earth. What are
the odds of that happening?
From the musical The Majesty of the Maker! this video is scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
Click here to
download 50-page PDF of the musical: book, music in lead sheet format, lyrics.
You can get print
(PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for The Odds.
A knock on my
front door. I open it to two well-groomed gentlemen wearing ties, holding some
brochures and what could be a Bible. They tell me they are in my neighborhood to
talk about faith. I love to talk about Jesus so I do not shut the door.
They ask some
probing questions about life. I answer their questions. They are respectful and
engaging. And impressively brave to knock on doors in my neighborhood. I listen
for several minutes, agreeing with much of what they say. Then finally, almost as
an aside, they mention Jesus.
“Who is Jesus?”
I ask. “Is he Yahweh, the Creator God of the Old Testament?”
“No,” they
answer.
“Then, who is
he?”
That’s the
pivotal faith question. If Jesus is not Yahweh, then who is he? A good man? A
teacher? A prophet? “Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asked his disciples. “Who
do you say that I am?” Much hinges on the answer to that question.
The gentlemen
at my door tell me that Jesus is a created being, an angel, a small ‘g’ god.
They say he is wisdom, the first of God’s creation.
“That’s
confusing,” I reply. “Are you saying that wisdom didn’t exist until God created
it? That the Creator of the universe somehow wasn’t wise or he lacked wisdom,
but then he created it?”
When I
evaluate their claims against the claims of historic, orthodox Christianity, I
find them wanting. The early church fathers condemned the belief that Jesus was
created, calling it heresy. Their reasons are still valid today. The writer of
the New Testament book of Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus “ain’t no angel.” He
is far greater than any angel. He is Yahweh the Son in human form come to save
us.
From the album
“Westminster” this video is scrolling playback of the song. Feel free to
correct the vernacular of the lyrics, if you must.
Kathy
You can
get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Ain't No Angel.
(MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing
digital sheet music. Check the help files in your music notation app for
directions on importing MusicXML™ files.)
Is Jesus
really the Lord he claimed to be? Former skeptic, Josh McDowell and his son,
Sean McDowell, take a fresh look at questions commonly raised today in this
classic book, More than a Carpenter. Check it out here.
On the first page of his autobiography St. Augustine of
Hippo wrote, “Lord, teach me to … praise Thee.” Then he wrote Confessions in praise of God. I wondered
why, given the eloquence of his praise, he never set his prose to music.
Music played a pivotal role in his spiritual journey. Music
moved him deeply; he was intensely stirred by singing the Psalms. He was
musically literate. His six books on music influenced music in the West for
centuries to come. A history of hymn writing preceded him. His contemporaries
wrote hymns. If Augustine wished to praise God, why did he not set his praises to
music?
I learned that for Augustine:
·Music was an intellectual
pursuit, not an artistic endeavor.
·Studying the structure and
components of music made sense of the world and man’s place in it.
·Music could draw a person
to God, but it gratified the senses.
·Gratifying the senses took
a back seat to intellectual pursuit.
·Meaning was more important
than emotions.
St. Augustine was critical of his emotional response to
music!
God answered Augustine’s opening prayer in Confessions. His autobiography is filled
with praise to God. I wondered, could I take Augustine’s written praises and
turn them into praise music, something that Augustine’s view of music wouldn’t
allow? Plainchant and responsorial singing were the genre of his day. But the
exuberance of his praise suggests a music style that moves. Perhaps I owe St.
Augustine an apology for setting his prose to swing.
From the album
“The HymnBook – Thirty-Four Hundred Years of Praise” this video is scrolling
playback of the song.
Kathy
You can
get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Great Are You Lord.
(MusicXML™ is
the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check the help files
in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML™ files.)
