It's Just The Normal Noises In Here

Well, Grafted In played this past Saturday night at Swadley's. It was a very good night. The place was hoppin'. The crowd was engaged. It was really fun.

I'm just so pleased with the number of people from our church who come to see us regularly.

For those of you that aren't familiar with Swadley's....... it's a nice size barbque place with a stage etc that features country music entertainers. They have live entertainment most nights there. Our group plays two Saturday's a month. (They'd like to have us more often, but that's about right for us).

So we show up around 4:30 on the Sat nights that we play, set up our equipment, and then play from 5:30 to 8:30. And, we play 99% gospel music, or baptist hymns done in a gospel manner. It was a little interesting when we started. We're in a secular environment, and we crank up with "There Is Power In The Blood". We'd have a few leave now and then. And we'd have a few come up to us and thank us..... saying it had been years since they were in church and heard those songs, and how it ministered to them. I can think of a couple of very tearful moments where during a break people with tears in their eyes were thanking us. We still see some of those, but by-in-large we're seeing Church people who know we're going to be there.

The Swadley's are christian people who love our music as well..... and they treat us like sons and daughters. And they've found that there is a market for christian entertainment (because we tell jokes, and have routines and all that in addition to doing music). Anyway, they've found that there is a market for places where people can go to eat, fellowship, and be entertained.

Last night the crowd sang about half of the songs with us. But the really cool part was when Mr. Swadley asked us to take a break early, because they had people outside wanting to get a seat, and nobody was leaving while we were playing. He needed us to break so he could try to "turn some tables". (That's a nice problem to have!)

It was a fun night. Our "fabulous fiddle girl" was back in form. Only 4 weeks after breaking her finger when the car door was slammed on it. ( I wish I healed that fast!) But Steph was back in form and we were very glad to have her back at it.

You know, years ago I played in a country band that played secular music in secular places. This is so much more fun, and rewarding. It's a real ministry that God has led us to, and we enjoy doing it at the same time. Does it get any better than that?

A good friend of mine read one of the discussions on my blog a while back. He recently gave me a copy of this devotional. (I don't think he types well enough to blog much) I thought what he gave me was really good, and I've read it several times this week.

I wanted to share it with somebody, so I'm adding it here: (carpel tunnel and all) :)

Luke 14: 25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

Some people speak of some problem or pain as bearing their cross. But the cross is something we choose to bear, not something we did not choose. Jesus did not have to die, but He chose to die for the sins of the world. People do not have to bear a cross; it is a voluntary choice. However, it is not separate from our commitment to Christ. Commitment to Christ involves taking up our cross – not only when we first follow Jesus but also daily.

Bearing one’s cross involves a willingness to die for Jesus or to live for Him in an unselfish way. Thus it involves initial commitment and daily practice. Can a person be saved without taking up his cross? This question is debated among evangelical Christians. Some, in an attempt to emphasize salvation by grace, feel that discipleship and crossbearing come as a saved person grows in Christ. Others emphasize verses like those in this lesson in which Jesus seemed to make total commitment necessary for knowing and following Him. Both groups agree that crossbearing is not an optional feature of the Christian life.

Another way to ask the question is, How can Salvation be both free and costly? Salvation from sin and fellowship with the Lord are free of gifts of God’s grace, but making this possible is the cost to God of the death of His Son and the cost to the sinner who must give up his sinful ways. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book entitled The Cost of Discipleship. He distinguished what he called “cheap grace” from “costly grace.” He wrote that cheap grace is only given intellectual assent to Christian truths. It is the justification of sin rather than the justification of the sinner. Grace is costly because it calls us to follow. And it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son; ye were bought at a price” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us” Bonhoeffer practiced what he preached. He was imprisoned by the Nazis and hanged just before the end of World War II.

Jesus did not want anyone to follow Him without counting the cost. His dealings with the three would-be disciples in Luke 9: 57-62 show this. Jesus now used two short parables to reinforce the cost of following Him. He told of a man who planned to build a tower. In that day people built towers to watch their vineyards or the cities. Jesus said that anyone planning such a tower would determine the cost before building it. He needed to have enough to complete the tower. If the builder failed to count the cost, he could fail to finish it. The unfinished tower would become an embarrassment to the builder.

Jesus’ second parable was about a king, going to make war against another king. The first king had ten thousand soldiers, but he learned that the other king had twenty thousand. The first king must count the cost of doing battle when he would be outnumbered two to one. In many such situation, the first king would seek a diplomatic way to have peace rather than war.

Both parables emphasize the need for people to count the cost before following Him. As in Luke 9, Jesus’ goal was not to discourage anyone from following Him; to the contrary, he hoped they would count the cost and be willing to pay it.

Following Christ is costly from a sinners’ point of view. Verse 33 repeats the cost: “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” As you think about the high cost of following Jesus, keep two things in mind. For one thing, we receive far more than we give up. Paul wrote: “Everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.” Second, considering the cost of following Christ, don’t forget the cost of not following him. People who choose not to follow Christ miss the way to abundant and eternal life and reap a harvest of separation from God here and heareafter.

What are the lasting lessons in Luke 14: 25-33
1. Christ’s followers take up their crosses daily to follow Him.
2. Before following Christ, people should count the cost and then pay it.
3. Whatever price we pay to follow Him is less than the reward we will receive
4. People who refuse to follow Jesus also pay a terrible price.

Some stages of our lives are pretty tough. We think high school is tough, and college is tough. Being a young adult and taking on responsibility is tough. But I think those are learning times God gives us to prepare us for the “tough times”.

I’m pretty heavy hearted today as I see a number of my friends being “beaten up” by life in general. Life can really throw a mean left hook. I mean, you take the jabs, you see the straight right coming, but it’s that left hook that you never see that gets you.

When I was 22 years old my best friend and I worked together in the oil field. We had previously worked together in the restaurant business, and I had known him for about 7 years. But the part that made him my best friend was the fact that he was a drummer, and I was a guitar player. He was a really good drummer, and we could really rock the house.

Joe Carlisle grew up in a family that did not know God, and when he was 22 he died in a motorcycle accident. Anyone that knew Joe knew that it was a bad idea when he bought a motorcycle. I mean he had wrecked every car he had ever owned. Joe was a very likeable guy who had many talents and gifts, but driving good wasn’t one of them.

I remember arriving at work one morning and having my boss ask me “well, I guess you heard about Joe?” That was how I found out that the day before he had run his motorcycle off the edge of a small cliff on a winding road in the Arbuckle mountains. I don’t know if he cried out for Jesus to save him or not. I know that me and a couple of other co-workers had been talking to him about Jesus in the days leading up to this. I had talked to him off and on over the years about church and God. And, I know Joe was more receptive to the gospel than he had ever been in the days before he died. But I don’t know if he accepted Jesus in his last moments or not.

I went to the funeral which was held at Bill Merrit funeral home, and I remember the families grief. He had a younger and older brother, and a mother that was inconsolable. And, I remember this really old guy who spoke. I don’t know his name, but I would have guessed his age to be in the 80’s back then. And he talked on and on about youth and life and things. And in the end he looked straight at the family and said “and you want to know why someone so young was taken so soon in life. Someone with so much to give. Someone with so much life to live. YOU’LL NEVER KNOW! AS LONG AS YOU ARE ON THIS EARTH, YOU’LL NEVER KNOW.!! YOU’LL NEVER KNOW!!” You have to picture some guy in his 80’s literally shouting from the platform at the family…. YOU’LL NEVER KNOW! And then he walked out the back, and the service was over. There was no graveside service because his family had him cremated. That was it. Done, Finished.

Well, everyone who attended the funeral talked about the old guy for a while and everyone thought he was a psycho or something. I’ve come to decide that this old guy with the wisdom and experiences that only years can accumulate looked at this family and was trying to say “quit trying to figure out why. Quit beating yourselves up about it. Don’t spend the rest of your lives mourning Joe’s early departure. You have a life to live and Joe would want you to live it happily. YOU’LL NEVER FIND OUT YOUR ANSWERS. Only God knows and he will reveal it to us when we reach the other side.”

The old guy had no tact. But now looking back from the seemingly older age of 46, I’m thinking that by the time he had reached some age in his 80’s, that he had seen to much hurt. He had seen families destroyed. He had seen people beat themselves up over things beyond their control. He had seen hundreds of grieving families. And he had quite possibly been one of those himself. And the bottom line is he didn’t have an answer for them. Because, there is not one.

God tells us “all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purposes”. And the Bible tells us that God moves people, kings, armies, rulers etc for his purposes. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. We are in God’s hands, but WE HAVE A PROMISE. That if we love the Lord and are called according to his purposes, all things will work together for good. We can stand on that promise. And we can know that when our loved ones pass over to the other side, it is God moving them to his next purpose for their lives.

Those of us that are left hurt. We grieve. We don’t understand. We miss them. It often seems more than we can bear, but we have a promise. And we MUST, I say MUST, have the faith to lean on that promise, even when we don’t understand why.

Boy, I’m not much of a counselor, am I? There are two songs that come to mind. One says “GOD IS IN CONTROL”. It shouts it.

The other says “Trials dark on every hand, and we cannot understand, all the ways that God would lead us to that blessed promised land. But he’ll guide us with his eye, and we’ll follow til’ we die. And we will understand it better by and by”.

I want all of my friends to know that Janice and I are praying for them everyday. As we get older we all have a myriad of new challenges that often seem more than we can bear. But God is always there, with his promise.

Well..... I flew to Houston last Sunday evening. Phase 3 of the software evaluation. For a guy who is used to that quality recliner with remote in hand time........ it's always tiring. You're with a group from your company... the company your evaluating has a group. You get up bright and early every morning.... and do something with the group every evening. And you always have to be "on game".

Being on game all the time is tiring in and of its self. But there was a bright shining moment that made it all worth while this trip. Several of us went to the Houston Livestock and Rodeo on Tuesday night. They say it's the largest rodeo in the world.... and we're in Texas so I suppose it has to be that way. But it was a fun evening. It is being held at the Reliant Center. The new dome in town. Fair going on outside, food, games, excitement...... and the rodeo going on inside the dome. We saw the bull riders, barrell riders, clowns, and wagon races etc. Our seats were excellent and it was a very good crowd.

But. the VERY VERY best part was the fact that on Tuesday night the musical entertainment was John Fogerty. You're saying WHO??? Well, he was the singer for Creedence Clearwater Revival. (late 60's).

I remember my mom's younger sister trying to tell my mom and dad about Creedence Clearwater Revival. And that they were going to be on American Bandstand in about 30 minutes. She couldn't get my parents to understand that this was not a religous group. With a name that had Revival in it.... they had to be a gospel group you know. But when they saw Creedence it finally clicked for them. I was about 10 years old... and I just remember thinking "Bad Moon Risin" was the coolest song with the best sound I had ever heard. I didn't understand the politics of the song layed against the Vietnam War and all that.... but the music, and that SOUND was incredible in my mind. I mean it was FINE ART!

I can testify that John Fogerty is as sharp now as he was when he was toping the charts. He played all the lead guitar parts dead on. His vocal was incredible, and the years have not dimished his performance in any way. His energy level would have left many younger men heaving for a breath (including me). He has a super backup band behind him.... and they played a string of hits from the Creedence days that just left me smiling. One right after the other for about an hour and 20 minutes. For an hour and 20 minutes, nothing mattered. I just smiled and sang with the rest of the crowd.

Proud Mary, Bad Moon Risin, Up Around The Bend, Heard It Through The Grapevine, Travelin Band, Who'll Stop The Rain, Have You Ever Seen The Rain, Fotunate Son, Down On The Corner..... just to name a few......

I enjoyed this show as much as any I've seen in many years. Well.... Bob Dylan was pretty hard to top for me, but this was an excellent show. :)

But the best news is..... I'M HEADED HOME TOMORROW EVENING!

I'll try to post in a couple of pictures I took......

I wanna know..... Have You Ever Seen The RAIN

Well..... I found out this past Sunday afternoon that our fabulous fiddle player (Miss Stephanie) got her ring finger on her left hand smashed in the car door last Saturday night. OUCH! Nail is gone, 8 to 10 stitches, and a small fracture of the bone in the very tip of the finger. The good news is that's the only part of the hand or finger that was actually smashed. And..... fortunately she didn't lose that part of the finger :)

So I'm pleased to announce that for our March 11th evening at Swadley's we've secured the incomperable Scott Sanders to sit in on piano. Miss Stephanie will be there singing with Angela..... but she won't be quite ready to fiddle around. Scott has played with us before and we are just really really blessed to know people of his talent level who will sit in with us now and then.

So we look forward to seeing you there on the 11th!!