Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Walking On Sunshine" (Katrina and The Waves)

Welcome to Tuesday and The Notes!  This is the second in a series of "reprints" from the beginnings of Tuesday's Musical Notes.  We've added and corrected a few things to further enhance your web surfing experience and hope you enjoy today's "Sunny" Notes!

Uncertain - not clearly or precisely determined; indefinite; unknown - dictionary.com

We live in a world of uncertainty. We do not know what the future holds and that causes stress. We tend to question and second guess everything from our job security to the parenting skills that we use on a daily basis. Do we have enough money to make ends meet? Does my vote really make a difference and how does it effect me personally? Do the fluctuations on Wall Street really impact “Main Street”? When is the next terrorist attack? With all of these questions and a myriad more, we go through life robbed of something that God tells us we can have for FREE!!!!

Katrina And The Waves - "Walking  On Sunshine"

“Don't it feel good!!” shouts Katrina Leskanich from the song that made Katrina and the Waves the ultimate in one hit wonderland. “Walking on Sunshine” went to #9 on Billboards Hot 100 in 1985. It was the only top 10 single for Katrina and the Waves, but has endured the test of time by being on 5 different motion picture soundtracks and has been covered by countless teen bands trying to recapture some of the success of the song. It has been so popular in fact that it is estimated that advertisers still pay between $150,000 - $200,000 per year to use the song.  It is also estimated that the song made $1 million per year for the ten years that followed its release.  It is a song that tells about the feeling of confidence from knowing that you are loved. That certainly is a feeling many in our world, including many Christians, need to tap into to face uncertain times.

Psalm 5:11
But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. NKJV

JOY - a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated - dictionary.com

If you search the Psalms of the Bible, you will find every emotion know to mankind expressed in beautiful ways. Sadness and joy are companions as you read through the Psalmists heart felt explorations of who God is and how we are to relate to him during times of pain as well as exuberance.  Psalm 5:11 captures the “Walking on Sunshine” flavor that we as Christians should go about having even on our worst days. (Remember that whole "peculiar people" thing?) Whether you say “Let them ever shout for joy” or “I'm walking on sunshine”, you detail a love that is difficult to explain, yet easily expressed. It is a joy that only Christ can bring through our lives IF WE ALLOW IT. At our salvation, the Holy Spirit of God is released in our lives and while we may have times of sorrow or difficulties we have the calm assurance of a joy that accompanies the peace that passes all understanding.  Jesus wants to be the Lord of our lives, however, He won't force joy or any of His other great blessings on us. These are things He offers freely, but we must accept and then release their power throughout our lives.  This brings about the renewing of the mind and the transformation of the spirit in which the Bible speaks.  

Homework has already been assigned to students as the new school year has begun.  The Notes confesses to many times when we either waited until the last minute or failed to do the homework that was required. What we failed to realize at that time is that homework is intended to prepare us for the test.  This is a great analogy for our lives as well. We can be better equipped for the difficult times in our lives if we have done our spiritual homework....prayer, Bible Study, fellowship with believers, and congregational worship are all tools that God has allowed us to experience as "homework" to better prepare us to face our difficulties with joy.  Too many times we come to a worship service expecting joy to be overflowing, but we haven't done our homework. We haven't accepted the joy we are to have at home, in the car, in Sunday School, or at work the previous week. Why should we expect joy to spontaneously occur when we haven't done our part?

Joy is contagious. Try going up to someone with a warm smile and see if they smile back. Joy grows exponentially. The more it is expressed by you, the more you feel it growing. THAT joy can defeat all of the uncertainties we may face in this world. DO YOUR HOMEWORK and then get ready to go Walking on Sunshine!

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,

Randy

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Teacher, Teacher" (.38 Special)

Tina Edwards (long "i" vowel sound, remember your phonics!). 

Bertie Shimeck, Franklin Roetzel. Jerry Bradley.  Thomas Walker. 

Thurman Smith. Don Duggar. Mr. Edwards. Bettye McGlaughlin. 

Guerry Moorer.  Jerry Gatling.  H.L. Lubaker.  Tommy Wallace. 

Eldon Janzen. Chalon Ragsdale. Jim Robken. 

To many of you this is a list of names that you don't recognize.  But if you think long enough you can come up with a list that is very similar. This is not a comprehensive list...just the ones that I can remember(Age Appropriate Remembering Problems, ya know!).  Your list probably is different, even if you went to Bald Knob High School (Go Bulldogs!!!) or the University of Arkansas (Go Hogs!!!).  This is a list of some pretty  influential people in my life.  They were Elementary, Jr. High, Sr. High School and College teachers. I often times wonder if they realize the impact they have had on my life.  I also wonder if they recognized the responsibility they had in being in a position of influence. 

Welcome to Tuesday's Musical Notes!

In 1984, the movie Teachers  was released.  The movie is rated R and I cannot recommend it in its original version.  However, if you can catch an edited version on tv, there are some stand out performances by its actors, Nick Nolte, JoBeth Williams, Judd Hirsch, and Ralph Macchio.  My personal opinion is Richard Mulligan steals the show as an escaped mental institution patient who is accidentally thought to be a replacement teacher.  

Here is a montage from the movie courtesy of 38 Special with

 "Teacher, Teacher":

"Teacher, Teacher" - 38 Special

The soundtrack from Teachers featured some of the 80's hottest bands including 38 Special.  This was a band whose co founder, Donnie Van Zant, is considered  Southern Rock royalty.... .  His older brother Ronnie would form and lead Lyrnyrd Skynyrd until his death in a plane crash in 1974 (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Simple Man").  His younger brother Johnny would front his own band until he took up the mantle of Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1991.

In 1985 with his band 38 Special, Donnie would hit #4 on the charts with a song co written by Jim Vallance and Bryan Adams, titled "Teacher, Teacher".  It was the perfect song for the movie as it asked the question..."what do we really learn from our teachers?" 

I think the answer to that question is a resounding MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!  However, the things we learn may not always be found in the textbooks... 

It is an incredible thing that parents do when they start children in a school system.  They trust a person they do not know with not only the education of their child but that child's well being and development for 7-8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 9 months a year.   It would be easy for The Notes to be critical of this process, however, we want to point out the outstanding nature of those who are employed by our school districts.  Yes, there are some flies in the ointment and not every school is perfect, yet, there are many who are good Christian folks who accept their responsibilities with the ideology that God has gifted them to serve others by teaching and training these children in the way they should go.  Many of them model the example of Christ every day as they go about their time teaching reading, writing and arithmetic.....and Music!!!  

The Notes would like to be clear on one aspect.  We believe that the children God has blessed us with are ultimately the responsibility of BOTH parents to educate and train.  Teachers can be influential, but never more so than parents.  

All through the Gospels, Jesus is addressed as "Teacher".  To some this is a title of respect and authority.  Jesus disciples were taught, served, and disciplined by the One who created all the things in which they were learning.  He was considered a most excellent teacher as He spoke with authority.  In one example He set the standard of humility by washing His disciples feet.  In this "teachable moment", Jesus gave us the ultimate illustration of a true teacher....that of being a servant.  You can read the entire account here from the New American Standard Bible translation:

John 13 -NASB


  The teachers in the above list are ones who emulated an aspect of Jesus to me in my educational background.  While I don't know about the spiritual leanings of some of them, I do know that in their own unique and gifted way, they assisted my parents in enabling me to become the person I am today.  Some taught educational things, some taught social interactions, some taught discipline, but all of them taught me and my classmates something.

 

As this school year begins for most of us, let us be reminded that many of our teachers are attempting to be what God has called them to be in a place that can sometimes be very dark.  Education is a two way street and teaching is only as effective as those who have a desire to learn.  ALL of our school employees deserve our support, respect, and prayers as we enter this 2013-2014 school year.  Because each day they are faced with the question.....

"Teacher, teacher, can you teach me....can you tell me all I need to know...."

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,

Randy

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Teach Your Children" (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)

Welcome to the best day of the week.....Tuesday!!! Welcome also to this week's edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!  Many are getting ready for school so how about a brief history lesson!  Tuesday's Musical Notes started as a newsletter article for Trinity Baptist Church (tbcsearcy.org).  It then morphed into a weekly email to basically everyone in my address book who would read it.  At the suggestion of one of my friends (thanks Heath!!!), Tuesday's Musical Notes added the blog format you can read today at  

tuesdaysmusicalnotes.blogspot.com.  

Since that time The Notes has be viewed over 1800 times by people all over the world!  Thank you so much for your support!!  In the coming weeks The Notes would like to feature some those original newsletter articles.  The electronic format greatly expands the ability to enhance these articles.  Without further ado....Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!!

The Bible says in Proverbs 22:6 - “Train children to live the right way,  and when they are old, they will not stray from it.  This Proverb emotes the question “What is the right way to live?” and “How do I teach the right way to live?” The answers to both of these questions are never easy, but I think with some prayer, patience, and occasionally some pathological intensity, the right way can be discovered by both child as well as the parent.

          According to a University of Illinois extension service article “Helping Children Succeed in School” (http://urbanext.illinois.edu/succeed/) there are 3 different kinds of learning styles:  Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic/Manipulative (just do it!).  The real trick is that most parents learning styles are different than the children they are to train to live right.  Immediately we have a resistance to learning that develops.

 

          Let's face it, learning never stops.  Even in the most routine processes of our day, we learn things.  Don't wear a white shirt when eating something greasy, do show up to work on time,  painting the living room when the 3 year old is awake doesn't work, insert your own commonplace thing that you have learned recently in the blank________________________________________.

Some have said that learning stops when we die.  The Notes tends to disagree with this statement.   Learning only stops in the context of our earthly existence, however, I think heaven is a place where the learning curve is a straight line up. 

          Let's get back to our questions.  “What is the right way to live?”  The answer is found in the Bible .  Right ways never change with the politics.  They never become unstable in the light of public opinion.  Right ways do not adjust based on the latest polling information.  The right ways are always based on foundations and principles that God teaches us through the Bible. They are rock solid and immovable.

 

          When children learn from parents, they utilize all of the types of learning noted in the above article.  Stay home from church, your children see it.  Yell at your spouse, your children hear it.  Sing in the Worship Team at church, they both see and hear it.  They may not always replicate your right way or wrong way, but they certainly take the time to process and evaluate it for their own lives.  Even at young ages, children can begin seeing trends in their family dynamics and behave accordingly.  This hasn't changed in 43 years....

"Teach Your Children Well" - Crosby, Stills, and Nash

          In 1970, the United States was involved in the unpopular war in Viet Nam and protests around the country were abundant.  Folk music was in and became the sounding board for many of the protestors.  One of the biggest bands supporting Folk music and the protests were Crosby, Stills, & Nash (and occasionally Young).   One of the bands top hits on the Deja Vu album was “Teach Your Children”.  Graham Nash wrote the song while he was with the Hollies, but never recorded it with them.  It was a protest song about how we should be careful with our children because they learn from the things we do. It was inspired by this photograph which is entitled:

"Child With Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park."

The song peaked at #16 in Billboard's Hot 100 upon release.  It helped to propel the Deja Vu album to #14 in the year ending chart.  In 2003, Rolling Stone listed Deja Vu at #148  on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all time.  VH1 would rate the album the 61st greatest album of all time. 

As many schools are on the upswing to begin their new school year, please take a moment to pray for the incredible administrators and "management" team of your school.  Equally important is to take some time to pray for so many of the phenomenal teachers that have the responsibility of partnering with you in teaching your children well.  Last but certainly not least, pray that your students will respect those who are accountable for their education and will strive for excellence with all that they attempt this year.  Pray also for those Christians, administrators, teachers and students, who will be engaging the enemy in a dark place.  Thanks to the School districts, private and public, as well as those home educators in our area who continue to hold our students to high standards of educational aptitude and moral excellence.  We are praying for you all!

Our actions have a causal relationship with our children's future.  That can be a big time responsibility for parents and teachers.  It is much easier to live up to that responsibility and teach them the right way if we both use the Bible as their guide.  But please remember, God gave your children to you.   They are ultimately your responsibility.  So get up and take your family to church, even when you don't feel like it.  Respect and love your spouse, even  when it is difficult.  Resist doing bad things and you will be well on the way to teaching your children well........and know they love you.

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,

Randy

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Only Time Will Tell" (Asia)

Rules of Civility #25 - "Superfluous compliments and all affectation of ceremony are to be avoided, yet where due they are not to be neglected".

Welcome to this weeks adventure into Musicland with Tuesday's Musical Notes!  We are at the intersection of Rhino Records Avenue and the Roman Road.  It's Tuesday....we have a classic rock song.....and scripture.....what happens next?.....Only time will tell......flashback music please.......let's go back to the day where video tried to kill the radio star.....

"Only Time Will Tell" - Asia

1982 was a great year!  Some of you may remember it well.  Some of you weren't even born.  But 1982 is remembered by people exactly my age as a grand adventure in transitions.  You see, in 1982, many of us who are 49 and 50 graduated from high school.  Believe it or not, we just celebrated 31 years being "out of school".  There were many dreams and plans as we celebrated leaving Bald Knob High School.  Some of us went to work.  Some of us went on to more school in the form of college or vo-tech.  Some of us were married or got married.  Quite honestly, some of us did nothing.  Upon graduation we transitioned from being with teachers, friends, and acquaintances every day to being with coworkers, spouses or roommates every day.  We began the first day of our "adult" lives and we found that nothing would ever be the same again.  For many of us, the 1982 release of "Only Time Will Tell" from Asia's eponymous debut album would become a mantra that we still chant today. 

"Only Time Will Tell" joined  "Heat Of The Moment" in the top 40 propelling Asia to the top of the Billboard Top 200 album chart and kept it there for 9 weeks.  The record has an estimated sales of an epic 10 million copies and it was named the best selling album of 1982 by Billboard.  Unfortunately, as popular as Asia was, its 13 follow up albums have not achieved anywhere near the success of the original album.

Asia was one of the 80's biggest super groups.  Featuring John Wetton (King Crimson, Roxy Music, and Uriah Heep), Steve Howe (Yes), Geoff Downes (Yes and The Buggles), and Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake, and Palmer), Asia would continue the defining sound of Prog Rock made popular by Yes and the "Peter Gabriel incarnation" of Genesis. The band would however suffer from constant transitions of musicians.  22 people have recorded or toured in some version of the band since its inception in 1981.  Asia's current lineup consists of 3 original members (Wetton, Downes, and Palmer) and 1 member, guitarist Sam Coulson who joined Asia in 2007.

Time is a very popular theme in the Bible.  If you were to do a word study you would find the word "time" is mentioned as follows:  726 times in the New American Standard Bible
          842 times in the Holman Christian Standard Bible
          703 times in the King James Version
         1256 times in The Message paraphrase
          888 times in the New International Version

As you can see the subject of time is one that God inspired the human authors of the Bible to explore.  Granted the references and context of each use is different, yet, there is an overlying concept that should be examined a bit more thoroughly. 

In Ecclesiastes 3, the subject of time is given a great deal of exposure:

3 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every ^[a]event under heaven—

² A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
³ A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
⁴ A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
⁵ A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
⁶ A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
⁷ A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
⁸ A time to love and a time to hate;A time for war and a time for peace.

This passage speaks of their being a time for everything.  There is a space in your life where each one of these things will more than likely occur.  How will you be prepared to face them?  How do we go about spending the majority of our limited time doing the positive things on this list?  Building up, laughing, dancing, gathering stones, embracing, searching, keeping, sewing together, speaking, (although silence can be a positive thing for some), loving, and making peace are all encouraging and edifying practices that we need more of in our world.  The negatives on this list will occur, however, if we focus on spending our time on the positives, the negatives will be minimized.  The outcomes of our focus on these positive activities may not be immediately clear and must be left up to God and in that case....only time will tell.  With the combination of daily Bible study, encouragement from fellow Christians, and more importantly a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, our time can be better utilized on achieving the good things on this list and our lives will become closer to becoming some of those that Jesus spoke of as He reinforced the Ecclesiates 3 "time for everything" list in the beatitudes:

5 When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. ² He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,

³ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
⁵ “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
¹¹ Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

So friend, how about it?  Can we partner together to do more building up, laughing, dancing, gathering stones, embracing, searching, keeping, sewing together, speaking, loving, and making peace.....only time will tell

'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy