I Pray for You – Music Story

He was the youngest of seven and the first to die. Two months ago, I got an unexpected phone call saying he was gone. I never thought my baby brother would die first. I’m shaken and dazed.

Jim was a fluid power specialist, an antique motorcycle enthusiast, a miniature railroad hobbyist, a friend of stray cats, a country boy who never married but used his resources to help care for his single sisters. Family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers attended his funeral. Many told me how he had touched their lives. In 2009 Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus became my prayer for him. Someday I hope to learn how God answered that prayer.

From the album “Sing” this video is scrolling playback of a song based on Ephesians 1.

Kathy

Click here for my brother’s obituary.

Print (PDF of Lead Sheet) and/or digital (MusicXML) sheet music is available for I Pray for You.

Click here for PDF.

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.)

The State of the Heart – Music Story

According to the Teacher, the Son of David, King in Jerusalem, life is characterized by

Unceasing oppression
Frustrating work
Out-of-whack priorities
Wrong motivation
Broken dreams
Misplaced hope
Risky speculation
Stifling bureaucracy
Limited resources
Pointless future
Shallow religiosity
Limiting vision and mission

He was dismayed by the misery around him, the power of the oppressors, the jealousy and envy undergirding the drive to succeed. He declared that it was all meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Even so, he decided that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his toilsome labor during the few days God has given him. For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and meaningless days he passes through like a shadow?

According to the Teacher, the Son of David, King in Jerusalem, life can bring joy, but it cannot give meaning.

From the album “Ecclesiastes” this video is scrolling playback of a rap based on Chapters 4 – 6.

Kathy

Click here to read Ecclesiastes Chapter 4

You can get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for The State of the Heart.

Click here for print sheet music.

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.) 

 

 

Time and Circumstance – Music Story

In the 1960s an ancient poem set to music became a number-one pop hit. Can you guess the song?

Some hints:

·         The poem, perhaps three thousand years old, is one of the best-known passages in the Bible.

·         The song proved that Ecclesiastes is a timeless book.

More hints:

·         Songwriter Pete Seeger incorporated the poem verbatim in the song.

·         Released as a single October 1, 1965, The Byrds cover, a folk-rock version, climbed to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts within three months of its release.

Did you guess the song? It’s Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season).

There is more to Ecclesiastes than being a number-one pop hit. Ecclesiastes is Wisdom’s search for meaning in the ordinary things of life. The conclusion?

Chapter 1: Secularism doesn’t deliver.

Chapter 2: Neither do possessions or pleasure.

Chapter 3: But, if you live your life in accord with the times and seasons God has set up, will your life have meaning?

So, Chapter 3 begins with the well-known poem, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” But there is more to Chapter 3 than the poem. Time and Circumstance is a rap, examining the entire chapter, looking for an answer.

From the album “Ecclesiastes” this video is scrolling playback of a percussion ensemble performance.

Kathy

Click here to read Ecclesiastes Chapter 3.

You can get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Time and Circumstance.

Click here for print sheet music.

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.) 

Family Tree - Music Story

It’s one of my treasures. It’s a four-page document hand written by Dad. It begins, “Roots. Who am I? Where did I come from?” It traces my family tree back 360 years.

Friends of mine asked the same questions, “Who are we? Where did we come from?” They compared an ancient document answering these questions with scientific research and wrote a book in 2005 describing their findings. Here’s my review of their book on Amazon.com:

Who are these children who make their way to the nurse's office at school to see me – children whose disruptive behaviors and/or mental illness make it impossible for them to function in a regular classroom and qualify them for my school? And why should I care so deeply about them?

In their book on the origins of man, "Who was Adam?" Hugh Ross and Fazale Rana provide surprising, yet satisfying answers to my questions.

Surprising because of the breadth and wealth of cutting-edge scientific research they cite.

Surprising because the evidence from the fossil record, biochemistry, archaeology, human and parasitic genetic studies, geology, and astronomy is at odds with the evolutionary model of human origins that I was taught.

Surprising because they propose a creation model for human origins that is both biblical and able to stand up under scientific scrutiny. (Mitochondrial-DNA research reveals that humanity originated from one woman, called "mitochondrial Eve", and Y-chromosomal studies reveal that humanity came from a single location!)

Their model posits that while humans share many similarities with animals, humans are qualitatively different from animals. Only humans bear the image of God. If their model is correct, then even the most difficult to manage children have inherent dignity and intrinsic worth.

"Who was Adam?" – An exciting exploration of the evidence.

I recently read the ten-year update of Who Was Adam? It too is “an exciting exploration of the evidence.”

From the musical The Majesty of the Maker! this video is scrolling playback of the song, Family Tree.

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 Family Tree.

Click here for print sheet music.

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.)

Click here for my review of “Who Was Adam?” on Amazon.com.

Click here for Dr. Hugh Ross’s credentials.

Click here for Dr. Fazale Rana’s credentials.

Do the most recent scientific discoveries disprove the creation model proposed in Who Was Adam? Click here for the 10 year update of the book.

Flutterby Farm - Music Story

Hi. I’m Sara Lily. I’m helping Grandma with this blog. Grandma waited until this summer to write my six-year-old song. It’s not a birthday song. It’s a song about my butterflies. Daddy thinks it’s a rap.

God gave us milkweed plants and Grandma and I prayed for butterflies. Then Mommy and I found Monarch butterfly eggs! Grandma went to the Dollar Store and bought containers big enough for milkweed leaves. Grandpa found netting and rubber bands and we made a Flutterby Farm.

Mommy turned my old fish tank into a big Flutterby Farm and I decorated it with stickers.

Now Mommy and I look for butterfly eggs on the bottom of milkweed leaves. We pick the leaves and put them on wet paper towels and put them in my Flutterby Farm.

A few days later the eggs hatch. You need a magnifying glass to see baby caterpillars. They eat and eat and grow.

Milkweed leaves get dry, so we pick new ones for them to eat. Mommy wraps the stem of each leaf in a wet paper towel. The caterpillars eat and eat and get too big for their skin. They wiggle out of it five times. They grow pretty big. And they make an awful mess!

Finally the caterpillars crawl to the top of the Flutterby Farm and make a silk button. Sometimes they attach it to the wall, sometimes to the netting. They hang from the button and wiggle out of their skin again. Now they are a green blob.

A couple weeks later a butterfly pops out! We take butterflies outside and carefully put them on a milkweed plant. We carry them on a stick so they can hang upside down. We don’t want to hurt their wings.

After their wings dry out and they fix their tongue, they fly away. But they love the milkweed plants God gave us and come back and lay eggs. Last summer we raised 23 Monarch butterflies.

Sara Lily

From the album “Silly or Celebratory – Songs for Sara Lily” this video is scrolling playback of the song.

You can get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Flutterby Farm.

Click here for print sheet music.

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.)

Click here for the DVD, Metamorphosis, about the beauty and design of butterflies.