Tuesday's Musical Notes - "One Day" (Matisyahu)

Welcome to Tuesday and another jam packed edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!  It's the last Tuesday of February and coincidentally the last day of February as well!  Wow, that month flew by....  

Thanks for taking a couple minutes from your day to read up on things that make you go hmmm.  We bask in the sunlight of all musical genre's and time periods as we provide thoughts that hopefully cause you to consider life change from the One who is timeless.  So sit back and get in the groove of a reggae beat as we ponder a time for which we all long.  It is a way of life that many say we desire, however, do we really do things to make a world like this come to pass...ahh mon, maybe one day...

"One Day" by Matisyahu from the 2008 album Light 

This is what can happen when someone comes to themselves.  (Think parable of the lost son when he was eating with the pigs, The Gospel of Jesus according to Dr. Luke chapter 15:11-32 English Standard Version of the Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible parallel) Matisyahu, (Hebrew name), his given name is Matthew Paul Miller, lived a life that was experiential by nature as a teenager.  He existed in the drug culture during his formative years and after a time in rehab, began to rediscover his Jewish heritage.  He combined this heritage with the beats of Reggae and Hip Hop and in October of 2004 released his first studio album, Shake Off The Dust...Arise.  

His first album failed to chart, but with constant touring and exposure of the album success of his second album in 2006 entitled Youth was insured.  Youth soared up the Billboard album charts finally peaking at #4 in the US rock charts and all the way to #1 in the US Reggae chart  (who knew there even was a US Reggae chart?) This increased publicity caught the attention of NBC advertising execs as they decided to utilize today's feature song in advertising for the 2010 Olympics (NBC 2010 Olympic promo).  The exposure caused significant interest in the song and it would break into the Hot 100.  However, the Olympics would not be enough for the single of "One Day" to see gold.  It peaked at #85 in the US, but not surprisingly went all the way to #1 at Media Forest, the Israeli version of Billboard Magazine.  

Lyrically, the song speaks to the positive message of a world wear "our children will play".  It is a song that breaks down cultural barriers as it attempts to find avenues of unity which all of the human race can support.  ("Are There Really Different Races?" - by Ken Ham answersingenesis.org November 19, 2007, "One Race" by Dr. Georgia Purdom, answersingenesis.org, April 1, 2010)  

How would the positive embrace of unity affect our world and be the impetus to show a love that was taught to a bunch of folks on a hillside long ago?    The Gospel of Jesus according to the Disciple Matthew chapter 5 Holman Christian Standard Bible  If embraced by this Teacher's followers, this message has the capacity to be the most unifying of declarations.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a "Christian" Rock and Roll Show.  That really is the only way I know how to put it.  The visuals and production alone were worth the price of admission.  It featured 7 diffferent acts.  A couple of the artists took to the stage to attempt cultural reconciliation, however, their lead was, "You know how divided we are as a country..."  While well intentioned, I firmly believe this type of rhetoric plays right into the narrative of the very division to which they refer, as well as into the hands of the enemy of which we despise.  

Think about it for a moment.  When was the last time you heard or read a news story about black folks and white folks living together in peace and love?  While we rarely hear about it, "community" happens every day in cities across our nation.  In churches, in workplaces, in sports teams, professional and amateur, even in our governemnt,  we see examples of folks getting along despite differences in their culture and skin color.   Matisyahu performs with Muslim beatboxer, Kenny Muhammad and recorded a remix of "One Day with Muslim rapper Akon.  And finally the best commercial your humble blogger has personally ever seen went viral on youtube.com (Two Old Friends Meet for Tea and Discover They Share a Problem- Amazon.com ad)  

Unfortunately, our media outlets choose to feature stories tainted with the ever present discourse of negativism and cultural conflict fueling both of these in the process.  Do we have issues?  Absolutely!  However, when all we are fed is a constant barrage of garbage and hate, a self fulfilling prophecy tends to take control.  Wouldn't a self fulfilling prophecy of unity be better?

What would happen if tomorrow we awoke and the very first thing that our eyes beheld were the efforts of white officers in predominantly black neighborhoods building relationships and trust.  What would happen if our newspapers featured stories about how multicultural churches are making a difference in their communities and world wide?  What would happen if folks who disagree were respectful of their differences and did not bloviate on facebook causing hard feelings?  What would happen if celebrities talked more about their own multicultural relationships than fueling their political disagreement while trying to be funny (or not getting the Best Picture Award correct)?

  

What would happen if everyone would listen as the Teacher told this parable:  The Gospel of Jesus according to Dr. Luke chapter 10:25-37 New King James Version of the Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible parallel ?  How would our nation and our world be impacted if we chose to focus on the partnerships and positive relationships among cultures that live in communities all over the nation that get along and indeed flourish every day?  Stop with the violence, stop with the hate.  The Beatles may have had something..."All you need is love, love, love is all you need."  Maybe they were paraphrasing the Teacher...

Repentance is a word that is far too seldom used in our world today.  It means to turn away from something and turn to something.  What would happen to our world if we turned to Jesus and focused on Him and the love He commands us to give to others?  The Gospel of Jesus as written by the Disciple Matthew chapter 22:34-40 NKJV/The Message  Is this too much to ask?  We can defeat the enemy through Holy Spirit's power by focusing on the positive.  As followers of Jesus, "we can make a difference, we can make a change, we can make the world a better place" by exposing the positive examples that are going on all around us and destroying the rhetoric of hate and narrative of the negative.  Yes the negativity abounds, but as believers we don't have to let it get us down.  Because our focus is on One Day...The Revelation of the Disciple John chapter 22:1-5 NKJV/The Message

"Love Broke Through" from the 2015 album, This Is Not A Test by Toby Mac 

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,

Randy

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Little Lies" (Fleetwood Mac)

Good Tuesday to ya friend!!!  I hope this finds the sun shining brightly or the rain falling gently in your corner of the world!  Welcome to Tuesday and  Tuesday's Musical Notes, the place where music melds with The Message, tunes combine with The timeless story, and songs commingle with The Scriptures!  What better place to find yourself on a Tuesday!  Welcome!  Welcome!! Welcome!!!

Let's face it.  If you have been on earth for any length of time, you have been told a lie.  A variety of circumstances contributed to someone feeling like they could not come forward with truthful information so they defaulted to telling you a falsehood.  The fallout from the deceit also varies based on the severity of the lie.  The question arises, is there a "degree" of lying?  Are there levels of dishonesty that are ok as long as no one gets hurt?  Do we listen to the flattery that comes from others about ourselves even when we know what they are saying is not the truth?  Would we rather be told a falsehood than having our feelings hurt when we can't handle the truth?  (insert Jack Nicholson tirade from a Few Good Men)  Regardless of who is the perpetrator and who is the recipient, the truth always comes out...it's something you can't disguise...

"Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac from the 1987 album Tango In The Night

Lead singers in a popular music group usually wind up being the "face" of the group.  Such is the case for many of the bands that were a part of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  But singers come and go.  Do you know the name of the vocalist that replaced Steve Perry in Journey?  How about the guy who replaced Dennis DeYoung in Styx?  Peter Cetera in Chicago?  What these bands have in common is that most folks don't know who the current lead vocalist is in any of these great rock groups, all of which continue to tour (Arnel Pineda is Journey's lead vocalist.  Lawrence Gowan is the replacement for DeYoung in Styx.  Jason Scheff replaced Peter Cetera and was then replaced by Jeff Cofey in Chicago).  We don't even want to start the discussion on David Lee Roth vs. Sammy Hagar in Van Halen...

Fleetwood Mac (named from founding members Mick Fleetwood and John McVie) was founded in the late '60s.  They had some moderate success in their formative years until the early 70's when they changed their lead vocalists.  In 1974, Lindsay Buckingham and his girlfriend Stevie Nicks, joined Fleetwood and Mr. and Mrs. McVie (Christine McVie, John's wife of the time, joined the band in 1970). Fleetwood Mac continues to tour, is a staple of Rock-n-Roll radio and has sold over 100 million records worldwide.  The interaction between band members has been fodder for tabloids and inspired much of the writing that would eventually become Rumours, the band's breakout album.  Rumours stayed at #1 for 31 weeks and has sold over 40 million copies.  

Since 1974 when they came into their current lineup, the band has managed to have 3 principle lead vocalists and maintain their identity as a group.  Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsay Buckingham have all provided the leads on Fleetwood Mac's hits as well as being the principle songwriters.  "Little Lies" was written by McVie (Tuesday's Musical Notes favorite of the 3) and she provides the lead vocals.  It was the last top 10 hit from Fleetwood Mac, peaking at #4.  It continues where Rumours left off in telling the story of the band's relationships. While their partnerships have been lucrative, the bands personal interactions  have at times been incredibly unstable.  "No more broken hearts, better off apart, let's give it a try..."

Deceit, fraud, chicanery, trickery, duplicity, and outright falsehoods have been a part of the Biblical narrative since the creation story.  In fact, deceit plays a huge role in the fall of mankind.  Please do not misunderstand, mankind made the decision to disobey.  While the enemy played a role in this downfall, he never MADE Adam or Eve defy God's mandate.  Hiding from God prolonged the inevitable fact of what the truth was.  The fall began a  scale of lying, if there is such a thing, that went from Abram's fraud regarding his relationship with Sarai (Genesis 12 New King James Version of the Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible parallel, Genesis 20 NKJV/The Message, just stretching the truth)  to Jacob deceiving Issac for Esau's birthright (Genesis 27 NKJV/The Message  a pretty big whopper) to Joseph's brother's untruthful account about Joseph's welfare (Genesis 37 NKJV/The Message out and out lying) to the ultimate treachery of Peter's denials and Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus (The Gospel of Jesus according to Dr. Luke chapter 22 NKJV/The Message).  So where does this leave us?  Is there any hope of truthfulness?

We live in a world of deceit.  From the lie that a baby is something other than a human being from conception, to the lie of the false religion of evolution and a billion year earth creation, to the lie that there is no God, we are surrounded by falsehoods and a meandering of just enough truth to make these "stories" seem palpable.  Navigating the sea of information can sometimes take time and energy to find the truth at the heart of the matter.

It is easy to decry "fake" news or the inconsistencies in the internet, but what about when the mirror is turned to face us?  Do we justify lying in the event that someone might get hurt by our telling of the truth?  Do we wait with "itching ears" ( The 2nd Letter to Timothy from the Apostle Paul chapter 4:1-4 NKJV/The Message) to hear what we want to hear whether it is factual or not?  Do we propagate deception when we repeat something that we haven't investigated fully or seen with our own eyes?  Oh, no, no you can't disguise...

The Word of God provides the standard:  In the Old Testament - Do Not Lie against your neighbor - Exodus 20:1-17 NKJV/The Message and in the New Testament - Be of God - The Gospel of Jesus according to the Disciple John chapter 8:42-47 When it comes to the truth, their is no room for debate.  This is black and white, absolutely no gray.  No other way of interpreting these passages of Scripture.  You are either a child of God, or a child of the enemy.  Children of God will make mistakes.  They will lie.  They will break many if not all of the other commandments just like children of the enemy.  But because of their believing that Jesus was who He said He was, they also have been forgiven.  The first Letter from the Disciple John chapter 1 NKJV/The Message  

Friend, you CAN turn the page, and you CAN rearrange the rest of your life, not just a day or two.  But you can't do either of these if you believe the lies, the sweet little lies...

"Lies" by Keith Green from the 1980 album So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt with an assist from youtube.com and ErgoKing

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,

Randy

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Always Something There To Remind Me" (Dionne Warwick/Naked Eyes)

Welcome to Tuesday and another edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!  Today we celebrate and are extremely humbled as The Notes achieved another milestone! This past weekend, Tuesday's Musical Notes surpassed the 15,000 view threshold!!!  I appreciate each and every time you come back to see what may be occurring in Notes land.  Thank you!  If you like Tuesday's Musical Notes, make sure to tell your friends!  If you don't...you really don't have to say anything.  Thanks for stopping by...

I recently saw a commercial for The Signature Series DVD of Walt Disney's Pinocchio.  (I'm really not sure how this differs from the Gold Classic, the Walt Disney Platinum Edition, or any of the myriad of releases on VHS, but I digress...)  In this humble bloggers opinion, Pinocchio is the scariest of the Disney Classics.  That whole turning into a donkey thing....oh yeah, you got the shivers too!!!  

Regardless of the scary parts (the swallowed by a whale thing wasn't all that peachy keen either) the 2nd animated feature fillm by Disney introduces one of Walt Disney's most endearing, well used, and beloved characters, Jiminy Cricket (the consipiracy theorist in me wants to point out that this insect has the same initials as my Savior...coincidence...I think not!)  Jiiminy Cricket acts as the conscience to Pinocchio as he is finding his way to being a "real live" boy.  With the exception of a few scenes, Jiminy is always with Pinocchio.  No matter where Pinocchio traveled, Jiminy Cricket was advising him in making proper choices.   As Pinocchio let his conscience be his guide he seemed to not worry about anything, for there was always something there to remind him...

"(There's)Always Something There To Remind Me" the 1967 recording by Dionne Warwick from the album Windows of the World 

"Always Something There To Remind Me" from the 1983 album Burning Bridges by Naked Eyes

This song has quite the history:

Originally written by the hit makers Burt Bacharach and Hal David in the early '60s

Recorded as a demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963

Hit #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964 with Lou Johnson's recording

Dionne Warwick covered the song in 1967 on her Windows of the World album and as a b-side of the #65 single, "Who Is Gonna Love Me"

Peaked at #27 with the 1970 recording of "Always Something There to Remind Me" by R.B. Greaves ("Take A Letter Maria")

Covered in 1983 by the band Naked Eyes.  This release would peak at #8 on the Billboard chart and make Naked Eyes an overnight sensation.  

With its 57ish year history, "Always Something There To Remind Me" has show the resiliency of many of the songs birthed from the 60's. (Wonder if today's music will do the same?)   The Naked Eyes version continues to be heard on '80s rock stations. Their last album was 2013's Fuel For The Fire and as late as 2014 Naked Eyes continued to tour with other 80's bands.

The song is the remorseful tome of a person who has lost love, yet is reminded of them by every thing they see.  The singer is reminded of their past romance by the city streets and cafe that they frequented when the couple was together.  The realization that forgetting is going to be very difficult causes them to ponder, "How can I ever be free?  You'll always be a part of me! oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh"

Perhaps this song has caused you to remember things that are a part of what made you who you are.  I hope this has not caused you sadness, for our memories can stir powerful emotions.  Find your happy place already!!!  

What the song reminded me of was the eternality of human beings.   (Yes, I know...my spell check has the word highlighted, but it is MY blog right?)  There will be things in our life that we wish we cold forget, however, there are so many more that we should continually remember!  Each of us is gifted with people, places, and situations that are cause for incredible joy!!!  So let your conscience be your guide and go down the pathway of the good stuff!  All of life's experiences combine to make us who we are.  This "who we are" is all we have to carry into the world that exists after our bodies cease their existence.  What will always be a part of you?

We have mentioned in previous blogs (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Desperado") that the least understood person of the Trinity is Holy Spirit.  It seems that very little teaching is done in churches in regard to this third person of the Trinity.  Some of this could be the fact that it is hard to wrap our minds around the preconceived notions we have of ghosts and spirits.  The connotations of such otherworldly beings is usually malevolent and to place Creator God and Savior Jesus with what our mind conjures up when we see those words complicates the matter.

Holy Spirit is seen from the origin of what we know as our universe.  In Genesis 1:1-2 New American Standard Bible/ The Message paraphrase of the Bible parallel we see the Spirit of God moving as a part of the creation story.  Holy Spirit permeates the entirety of the Bible as we see Him moving through various folks lives in the Old Testament and then see His glorious manifestation in the lives of those who believe in Jesus.  For a more thorough conversation regarding Holy Spirit in the Bible please click here:   "The Study of the Holy Spirit" from bible.org

Our difficulty in understanding Holy Spirit is that so many folks hold to the conclusion that Holy Spirit and our conscience are the same.  I confess to you dear friend that I am not scholarly on the topics of Holy Spirit or what we refer to as our conscience.  However, as I see it, we are born with the awareness that there is a difference between good and bad, and right and wrong.  This awareness, this conscientiousness, if you will, allows us to maneuver through our lives for the most part being "good" people.  Our conscience kicks in with tension and indecision, when we choose to do wrong things.  This moral compass is something we were blessed with at birth and at times can be something with which we struggle.

Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is reserved for God to do His work among people.  He is not your conscience. He is God.  To equate them as the same thing is to malign God and grieve Holy Spirit, which we are instructed never to do.  In fact, the only sin that the Bible says is unforgivable is the rejection of the obvious truth of who Jesus is as revealed by Holy Spirit.  (The Gospel of Jesus according to Mark 3:20-30 NASB/The Message parallel, The Gospel of Jesus according to Matthew 12:22-32 NASB/The Message parallel)  The revelation of this truth occurs as Holy Spirit draws mankind to Himself.  Holy Spirit can reveal Himself through preaching and evangelizing, however, I think He reveals Himself and draws people to Him in innumerable ways.  Regardless of how, every person ever born will encounter Holy Spirit and His call to belief.  If a person rejects the "wooing" of the Spirit, this sin condemns them to an eternity apart from God.   

For the believer, Holy Spirit acts as Comforter, Teacher, Admonisher, Mentor and as someone who is always there to remind you about what God has done in your life.   As we "daily work out our salvation" (The Apostle Paul's letter to the Church of the Phillipians 2 NASB/The Message), we never desire to be free from Holy Spirit's work in our lives and we can rest in the assurance that He will always be a part of us...oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh....

"Holy Spirit" by Francesca Battistelli from the 2014 album If We're Honest

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,

Randy   

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "The Power Of Love" (Huey Lewis and The News)

Welcome to February and the season where "love" is in the air.  According to The Beatles, Tuesday's Musical Notes - "All You Need Is Love".  In fact, Tuesday's Musical Notes dedicated an entire month to the season of love in 2014.  Check it out in the archive at tuesdaysmusicalnotes.blogspot.com. Now that you've probably had your fill of the "lovely" self promotion, let's get on with the show, it is after all Tuesday and time's a' wastin'!

Much has been said in recent months about how we are to love.  Everyone expounds on their particular definition.  It seems that even many folks whose world view is NOT based on the principles of the Bible are using the Word of God or at the very least referring to it with regards to the refugee crisis that is a pandemic around the world.  It seems odd that folks who deny the very existence of God are now using His Word, "love your brother as yourself", "Do unto others...", etc. as a foundation for accepting refugees into the United States.  The Notes, while not wanting to get into the fray of the emotional back and forth between people, would like to point out just a couple of things that perhaps folks haven't considered.  

The Bible commands us to love God first, then love mankind.  In that order.  If we do the first, the second will come as a natural outgrowth.  Secondly, the United States has much less restrictive entry criteria than do most countries around the world. Tried going to India recently?  (I know some folks who are.  I wish hoops are all they had to jump through!) To tighten our procedures serves security as well as places us on a more even playing field.  Finally, the United States has set a precedent of being the most welcoming country to foreigners on the planet.  This practice was based on our founding principles which evolved from standards found in the Bible.  Loving folks is what we do.  We have, however, seen the tragic results when this welcoming gets taken advantage of.  There is a fine line, a balance, between providing for the common defense and promoting the general welfare.  This balance is what we pay for in our representative form of government.  If you don't like what the policy is, call your representative and voice your opinion.  Regardless of what the populace may believe, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are not movers of public policy.  Social Media can be a detriment to accurate, factual information being put into the public forum.  Be sure , you know the facts, not just the emotional arguments that so many make.  And now...the rest of the story.  Page 1!!! 

Today we feature a "love" filled Musical Note from the email archives.  From September of 2011, with a few edits and updates, is our first of the month flashback with Huey Lewis and the News.  Read it..."It might just save your life..."

"Don't take money, don't take fame, don't need no credit card to ride this train...."Huey Lewis wailed these lyrics from the Academy Award nominated song found in the movie Back To The Future.  Riding a wave of popularity that began with their #6 hit "Do You Believe in Love", from 1982's album Picture This and continuing with the release of their 3rd album Sports in 1984, Huey Lewis and the News would score their first #1 hit with this song from 1985:

"The Power Of Love" from the 1985 soundtrack to the Major Motion Picture Back To The Future . 

The song is a recurring underscore throughout Back to the Future.  Huey Lewis even has a cameo in the movie as a judge of bands for the Enchantment Under The Sea dance.  "Sorry fellas,......I'm afraid you're just too darn loud".   You can still catch Huey Lewis and the News in concert with 4 of the original band members and in October of 2010, the band released "Soulsville", their tribute to Staxx Records.  For more News about Huey Lewis check out this: Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Bad Is Bad"  Tuesday's Musical Notes - "We Are The World"

"The Bible is a bunch of don'ts!"  You may have heard this criticism of the Bible on occasion.  I know I have.  The best response I have ever heard  is a challenge that I think we can all accept.  "If we are busy doing all of the do's in the Bible, we won't have time to do the don'ts!!"   As we carefully read the Ten Commandments, we see that it contains both the "do's" (Remember the Sabbath, Honor Your Mother And Father) and the don'ts (No Other Gods, Make No Idols, Do Not Use The Lord's Name In A Disrespectful Way, Do Not: Murder, Commit Adultery, Lie, or Want Something That Belongs To Someone Else).  Even closer examination shows that all of the Ten Commandments have a common thread, LOVE.  The first 4 have to do with the love we have towards God.  The last 6 discuss the love we have with people we interact with every day.  To love both God and others, it is required that we have a relationship with them.  I think that as we grow our relationships with both God and man, our love for God and man grows at an exponential rate.  That's the power of love.....

"The Power Of Love" supposes that love is more than just an emotion and sometimes needs "a little help from above".  I suspect that Huey is correct in this assumption.  Our relationship with God and people often times need help from above.  The song lyrically asserts that love has the ability to change people and situations.  Has that been your experience with love?  How are you different because of Christ's love? Is that something you have experienced in your life?  Jesus explains that we should love others so much that we would be willing to lay down our lives for them.  He demonstrates that love by doing what He taught others they should do.  He died for us.  This ultimate display of Love came when Jesus provided the sacrifice that would eradicate our sins, past, present and future, forever.  You may ask how we can repay that love.  In the parable of the sheep and goats, found in Matthew 25:31-46 English Standard Version of the Bible/ The Message paraphrase of the Bible parallel, Jesus teaches that the only difference between the sheep (those on the right, who enter into the kingdom) and the goats (those on the left, who do not enter the kingdom) was what they did and did not do.  Each expressed their love or lack of it by what they did or did not do for their fellow man.  The outpouring of gratitude and love for Jesus' sacrifice is expressed by outward actions.  Keith Green put it like this:

"The Sheep and the Goats" from the 1981 album The Keith Green Collection

In the busyness of living, do we do everything that we can to benefit our fellow man?  Do we use the resources, skills, gifts, and blessings that God gives us daily to benefit others so that He can receive glory?  Do our lives reflect that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength?  How can we change our shortcomings when we fail?    Only by being renewed daily with and through, "The Power Of Love".

"Love Came Down (I've Found A Love)" from the 2010 album Here Is Love by Bethel Music

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy