Welcome to Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by! This is Tuesday's Musical Notes, a blog that muses about music!!! We are so excited that you are here!
Each week we explore the background of some of the world's favorite music. We tell the trivia as well as the travails that were experienced in the production and release of a focused song. We tend to link to previous blog posts and occasionally share some insight into the artists that so wonderfully produce the soundtracks to our lives. We usually take the theme of the song, sometimes just the title, and bring it into a bit of a different perspective that we hope will cause you to ponder about life and lyric. While we are obviously biased in our opinion, we hope you will find Tuesday's Musical Notes to be one of your favorite blogs. As you read, it is our hope that you will find much in which we have agreement...
Kitaro, born Masanori Takahashi, is one of the leading artists in a style of music referred to as New Age, or Neo-Classical. Since his debut album, 1978's Tenkai, Kitaro has produced 24 studio releases and 14 soundtrack albums. He has 17 Grammy-nominated albums. He won the Grammy for Best New Age album in 1999 for the record, Thinking of You, and won a Golden Globe in 1993 for his soundtrack to the motion picture Heaven and Earth. His latest release is the Grammy-nominated, compilation album from 2017 entitled, Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai Vol. 5.
The height of Kitaro's recording success came in the late 80s and 90s as many were discovering New Age as a valued form of music for relaxation techniques and meditation. He partnered with The Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Touch of Grey" (The Grateful Dead)) on the 1987 record The Light of the Spirit which saw sales of over two million. He continued his collaborations with Jon Anderson from Yes (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Changes" (Yes)) in 1992 for the also Grammy-nominated album Dreams, which feature's our song of the day "Agreement". With these partnerships highlighting his career, it is easy to see that Kitaro is an artist by which others could find agreement...
This past week, the United States of America experienced the culmination of a tenuous election cycle by casting ballots for officials who will be charged with the task of legislating and leading our nation. There seems to be much difficulty in gaining agreement regarding the results. Tuesday's Musical Notes trusts the process and feels sure that when the dust settles, a President will be elected, a congress will be seated, and we will get on with our lives. We urge those who are elected to abide by #6 of Stephen Covey's Habits of Effective People..."Seek first to understand, then be understood". In other words, find where you can agree and be effective!!!
Agreement is an ancient principle that has been put into practice countless times in the history of man for the benefit of man. When one finds himself agreeing with others, tensions decrease, and much can be accomplished. Just imagine what would happen if agreement occurred between God, the Creator of all things, and man...
Beginning on April 9, 2019, Tuesday's Musical Notes began a journey through the Bible. We are convicted that even those who call upon the name of the Lord and are saved, have missed many of the great stories of the Bible, therefore, missing some incredibly important precepts. You can explore this journey as well as see every other Tuesday's Musical Notes in the archives to the left of your screen. Check some of those out and see if you may have missed something that is earth-shattering!
Today, we find ourselves at the base of Mt. Sinai with the Israelites as they travel. Mt. Sinai is located between Egypt and the Promised Land. And was one of several stops the foundling nation had as they were making their trek across the desert. At Sinai, God had verbally explained the commands for effective living in the Promised Land to them. As one would imagine when hearing the audible voice of God, the Israelites were afraid, they were petrified. So much so, that they begged God to stop speaking to them for fear that their demise would occur in His presence. God agrees and calls Moses up the mountain, but before Moses and the 12 leaders (1 from each tribe) of Israel begin their ascent, we find the Israelites forming an agreement with God based on what they had just heard.
"All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!"
Now, remember, the Israelites were making this statement based on not just the 10 commandments, but the other rules that God had given them in Exodus 21-23 (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Rules for Living" (Blondie)). Their statement in Exodus 24:3 formed the basis of an accord, a covenant, an agreement between the nation of Israel and God. From God's perspective, this was an everlasting agreement. From the Israelites...well, they fudged it a bit from time to time. More on that later.
This seemed like an easy "say" on the Israelites part until they had to put it all into action. Have you ever had a contract, an understanding, an agreement that you have made with someone? Ever make such a statement as "You bet! I'll do everything that we just talked about if you will!" Perhaps you've even heard recently something along these lines..." I promise, if you good folks will give me your vote, I'll end the virus, clean up the climate, eliminate racism, and make sure everyone is paying their fair share in taxes!" or maybe this..." If you vote for me, I'll continue to make the economy zoom, put the screws to China for the virus and their unfair trade practices, strengthen the military, and make America great again!" There's only 1 real problem with either of these agreements...they are made between and by changing, flawed, sinful, unrighteous, people AND God is not part or parcel to any of these promises, except with the occasional mention of His name.
The Israelites soon discovered that their end of the bargain was harder to fulfill than what they thought. They changed. But God never did. His desire was to make them a great nation. Much later on we see that fulfilled in the kingdom of Solomon. Even later in the Bible the prophet Isaiah will speak on God's behalf and implore the nation of Israel with another agreement: "Come now and let us reason together..." Isaiah 1:18-31 NASB/AMP/KJV The ultimate fulfillment of the agreement at Sinai came in the form of a Carpenter who came to seek and to save those who were lost...including you and I.
God never changes. His promises ARE ALWAYS fulfilled. He wants to have an agreement with you today. Tuesday's Musical Notes has a suggestion of what such a conversation regarding this agreement might look like...
God: "Hey there!"
You: "Um...me?"
God: "Yup, you, the one reading that great blog written by one of My children. You know what? I created you to be with Me and I have a heaven where I live that I have made for folks just like you!"
You: "You do?"
God: "You bet! I have it all set. It's waiting for you if you will enter into an agreement with me on something."
You: "Sure thing! That sounds fantastic! I'm in!...um...what's my part of the agreement?"
God: "Turn away from wrong things. Turn towards Me! It is called repenting!"
You: "Really? Ok...so how do I go about this repenting thing?"
God: "Admit that your wrong things keeps you separated from Me. Believe that I sent Jesus, Myself in human form, my Son, to serve as a sacrifice for your sin, your wrong things."
You: "Sacrifice doesn't sound like a good thing...What do you mean by that?"
God: "Because of your wrong things, I should judge you by putting you to death, separating you from Me forever. Jesus took your place. Jesus had to die a torturous death. He paid the price for eternity with Me that you couldn't."
You: "Jesus died?"
God: "Yes, for you! Then after being sealed in a tomb for 3 days, He came back to life and was seen by His disciples!"
You: "Ok, that's great! He did that so I could be with You in Heaven and all I have to do is believe that and turn away from doing wrong things? RIGHT ON! with the belief thing, but that whole turning away from doing wrong sounds hard..."
God: "Not to worry, when Jesus came back to Heaven to sit at my right hand, We sent you Holy Spirit to dwell in you when you believe in Jesus. Holy Spirit is Me dwelling inside of you. He gives you the strength to battle the enemy and the power to overcome the temptation to do the wrong things. What do you think about that?"
You: "That's pretty fantastical! I suppose that whole turning from the wrong things means I need to read the Bible. I've heard about that Bible of Yours! Isn't it a rule book full of "Thou shall not"?"
God: "Yes, my Book has guidelines about the wrong things, but it is also filled with instructions on becoming like Me, the "Thou shalls" if you will. AND, if you are busy doing the "Thou Shalls", you won't have time to do the "Thou shall nots"!!! Regardless, I will be with you all the way. Just believe."
You: "Okay God, while it may be difficult at times, I trust You!!! We have an agreement!"
Well, that might be the way it goes...God is waiting to make an agreement with you today. God knows where you may mess up and He still wants to enter into this agreement with you just like He did with the Israelites in Exodus 24. Will you do like they did and confidently affirm the agreement?
"Watching the world from our window of life
Can we see all there is that is real, that is right?"
Can we see all there is that is real, that is right?"
"All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!"
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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