This past week, I had two unique experiences worth sharing:

#1 – Friday, 3pm @ Sylvan Starbucks. Meeting with Amy Rapp, sitting in corner of small “couch-ish” area. After a loud salesman sat down next to us, sold loudly, and even asked to borrow our pen, it got better! This group of 13 year old girls (my guess – about 6 of them) sat down right next to us.

They proceeded to: 1) laugh incessantly 2) text or tweet or facebook one another on their phones 3) giggle and then text some more and 4) pretend as if they were the only customers there… awesome.

Experience #2 – NE 256th and Stark in Gresham – knocking out emails… A gentleman sits down next to me and proceeds to “setup” his computer gear. Out comes a laptop. And an external hard drive. And another hard-drive. And an ethernet drive. And a large orange extension cord and a power-strip. Everything gets plugged in. Numerous thumb drives are plugged in to a large usb hub. More cables and adapters come out, headphones come out. I manage to sneak this picture… and am now blogging this information while he sits 6 feet to my left. I feel sneaky… here’s my pic:

Reminds me of how much I love/hate Starbucks and how amusing life can be. I’m regularly surprised at how interesting, diverse, and regularly annoying the “general public” is to me. I think that probably means I have a bad attitude…

Cheers,

John

The daily routine went something like this: wake up, workout, coffee, breakfast, pool, lunch, nap, dinner, cocktail, bed… repeat!

I learned some very important spanish words like “dos” and “tequilas” also “banyo” and “gracias”. I also found a new tequila (new to me) that I appreciate sipping: Centanario Reposado

That’s about it. Great trip!

John

breakfast...

lobby bar

lobby ceiling

coffee shop

game room

MINI BAR!

Hibachi Grill @ Dinner

View from our Balcony

Dinner, my beverages, and Marissa!

Reading by the pool...

Sun breaking through the clouds!

Stanza 1:

It came upon a midnight clear, that glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth, to touch their harps of gold:
“Peace on the earth, goodwill to men, from heaven’s all-gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing.

Thoughts:

Here, in the most well-known of the stanzas, we see the main theme of the lyric explained, mostly in narrative fashion. The song tells the story of another song – specifically the song that the angels sang when they announced the birth of Jesus. The song they sang was about Peace on earth – a gift from Heaven’s King (God). On the occasion of that first “singing” the world responded by stopping, by becoming still, and by listening to the song.

Stanza 2:

Yet with the woes of sin and strife the world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not the love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife and hear the angels sing.

Thoughts:

Here, we learn that the song (the “angel strain” about Peace on earth) has continued to be sung over that last two thousand years. However, the world has not experienced the peace being sung about, instead it has suffered with the woes of sin and strife. This is because people, busy and preoccupied with their wars against other people, have stopped listening to the angels’ song about peace, in fact they can’t even hear it. This stanza ends with a rebuke of sorts: “Be quiet!” “Hush the noise,” and an invitation: listen once again! Cease your wars and your strife and listen to the song being sung.

Stanza #3:

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow,
Look now! For glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing!

Thoughts:

This stanza addresses the human singers (us) directly. In a sense, we are singing to ourselves. We are imaged (accurately) as those sometimes crushed or bent over by life. Life itself is imaged as a “climbing way” or an uphill battle that inherently involves painful moments and lack of progress. But even now, in the middle of such a life, we are extended a beautiful invitation. We are invited to rest. And as we rest, we are invited to listen, once again to the song the angels are (always) singing: “Peace on the earth, Goodwill to men, from Heaven’s all-gracious King.” We are invited to, perhaps unlike those who have gone before us, regularly stop, cease our striving, and listen to the song. We are invited to be like those who first heard the song, years ago, and stood in solemn stillness. And perhaps even implied, we are invited to be those who finally hear this song and make it our own – those who “catch the tune” and carry that song about peace to the ends of the earth – carrying in the process the very message of God’s goodwill to all people. What a beautiful song and what wonderful imagery. I look forward to singing this song for many years to come.

Click here to watch the video

Was it not enough to call 9-11 a punishment from God on a nation for it’s acceptance of homosexuals and abortion? Did no one explain that it was not helpful to label hurricane Katrina a judgment from God on a sinful city? I find myself wanting to shout from the rooftops, “Those people don’t speak for me!” The problem is, they are. And I’m not sure what I can do about it.

One from the beach itself, where someone built a really cool fort, out of which I’m snapping this pic:

Then a couple from in town, where a certain cafe provided fun with their signage:

Loving it.

John

Apparently the song made waves because of its subject matter and the author’s choice include a swear word. In the end, his label (INO – self-identified as a “christian” label) refused to release the record with this song on it – so the record came out without this song, and derek has made the song available on his website.

DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE: www.derekwebb.com

The reason I share this song with you is because I think it’s good art. For some time now bad art has been successfully sold, consumed, and even lauded within much of “christendom.” This song, along with the record as a whole are not easily understandable nor consumable. But they are surely artistic, provoking thought, reflection and response (of all kinds). I Hope it does that for you as well.

Song Backdrop:

Over the past number of years, prominent christian leaders (in particular James Dobson / focus on the family / focus action) have urged christians to vote based on their “christian vales.” But what they have meant by that term is voting pro-life and anti-gay-marriage and voting for candidates who embrace such stances. Such a statement would suggest these leaders believe that those two issues (abortion and gay marriage) are the most important issues when it comes to a christian’s responsibility as a voter. It would seem that other “issues” such as justice, hunger, poverty, etc. are just not as “important.” The song “What Matters More” asks precisely this question – which “issues” matter more? It also levels a palpable frustration toward those who would speak for christians and declare the aforementioned two issues as “the” issues, using sarcasm to point out both hypocrisy and irony.

Song Lyrics:
You say you always treat people like you like to be
I guess you love being hated for your sexuality
You love when people put words in your mouth
‘Bout what you believe, make you sound like a freak

‘Cause if you really believe what you say you believe
You wouldn’t be so damn reckless with the words you speak
Wouldn’t silently consent when the liars speak
Denyin’ all the dyin’ of the remedy

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?

If I can tell what’s in your heart by what comes out of your mouth
Then it sure looks to me like being straight is all it’s about
It looks like being hated for all the wrong things
Like chasin’ the wind while the pendulum swings

‘Cause we can talk and debate until we’re blue in the face
About the language and tradition that he’s comin’ to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don’t give a shit
About 50,000 people who are dyin’ today

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?

I really did like writing and sharing via this thing, so I’m picking it up again. Spread the word

John

About half-way though, here’s the less-than-thrilled look Marissa was giving me:

But it all turned out ok in the end. Riss said she actually enjoyed it… we may even try again sometime.