ZOOM H2 Portable Recorder

I just bought this about a week ago.  It is an excellent recorder for the price.  It has great bang for the buck.  I got it for about $140 at Amazon.com.  It came with a 1GB card and that can record up to 6 hours of MP3's.  I have since used it to record my lesson that I have once a week for Hammered Dulcimer and I recorded the worship service at my Church last weekend.  It worked great, I just need to find a better place for it to be.  The accessories that come with made it perfect for me to start recording and transfer straight to my computer.  I think the ZOOM H2 Handy Recorder is an excellent out of the box recorder for going professional right away.  It even does 2 channel and 4 channel stereo, also front and back 90 to 120 degrees.  It does an excellent job and is well worth the money.  The benefits are awesome.

If you want an inexpensive hand held recorder with lots of accessories this is the one for you.  I can't say enough about it.

School assemblies are cool. . .

I am taking Hammered Dulcimer lessons from a student at a college near me.  I travel there once a week and we meet for an hour and practice rudiments, skills and some songs.  I recently played for an assembly yesterday at a school that I work for.  The grade school kids just loved it.  They were grades K-5 and it was in two different settings.  I did not play anything special.  I played My Country 'Tis of Thee, Twinkle, Twinkle and a few odds and ends from a Breton song and some of my own doodling or tinkering.  I had a good time and it went well. 

The really cool thing was that I knew I made some mistakes.  I know that some of what I was playing was nothing special.  I know that to me it was not the best I could have done.  But the important thing to me and to the kids and parents and teachers, was that I played.  I played well to them.  I played peacefully, according to them.  I did a wonderful job.  I have been asked to come back to play for the school's 85th birthday.  So I may not be the best player, but to them I did a wonderful job.

And the most important part is I had a good time and the assembly enjoyed the performance.  That is what I can take away from it and that is what I will take away from it.  I will strive to just play better and have a good time, instead of trying to be perfect in my playing.  I will endeavor to play my Dulcimer and enjoy it.

Because School Assemblies are cool !

Snow this Morning....

I have an official sighting of snow.  It was about 6:30 this morning and right up to around 7 that I saw snow on my drive into work.  Now I live in central / upstate New York.  Which means I live far from NYC and about half way between Albany and Buffalo.  We have had a nice warming trend up until this past weekend and to top it all off they not only predicted snow for today, but I saw it.  The weather people were right this time.  It would have been more interesting if it was a full blown snow, but the few flakes I did see was very interesting.  I wonder if we will have a good snow fall this April or May.  We will just have to wait and see.

The more you focus on progress the less you progress.


The less you focus on progress the more you progress.

I learned that yesterday and today I am just living, not worrying about tomorrow or this summer or anything.  Just going to live in today and enjoy what comes my way and what happens.

Enjoy the day that God has given you.  It is all we have.

Coals of Shame

 Romans 12:9-21 Read it, it is good. It tells us to not return evil for evil. Bless those who hate you. Don't be like them. I like the last verses from here Romans 12:19-21 (NLT)

¹⁹ Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.
²⁰ Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”
²¹ Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

 

I like it because it gets me out of trouble. I can try to just be a blessing to those that hurt me. Not be mean back or hold a grudge. Not holding a grudge is harder than walking away and not saying anything to anyone. I don't want to forgive everyone that hurts me or someone I care about. But I can try to be more understanding and be more Christ like.

That does not mean I can not confront someone and let them know that they hurt me or someone I care about. It does not mean that I let them walk all over me and get away with every hurtful word or action. I means that I can tell them they are wrong and what they did hurt. Whether or not they apologize. I can stand up for myself and others. There is nothing wrong with that. If it is within your power to stand up when something is happening and you can help, then it is the right thing to do, to help and be of assistance. It is wrong to just sit back and watch.

The verses also say that we should take care of our enemies, feed them, give them drink, do what you can for them in spite of the their actions toward you or others. In this you shame them. You make it so they will feel ashamed for what they did to you or others. In the end God knows the count, God will take care of those people in His own way. It is up to us to just respond with compassion and understanding.

Do what is right by your enemy and God will do what is right in His eyes for you and your enemy. He will take care of the situation. All you can do it bless them and take care of them.

Dulcimers and Family

I have the best family in the world.  I am practicing My Country Tis of Thee for a school assembly for music month.  I am also practicing Lamb of God for an Easter service.  My wife made me practice for half and hour with out talking to me or allowing me to talk to her.  That was so nice.  I am using my new Warbler with the extended bass bridge it makes thing more interesting and more challenging.  The sound is so full and it is such a beautiful instrument.  I thank my wife and my God.  My wife for the instrument and my God for the skill to learn to play it.  Now if I can only learn faster.  :-)

To top it all off.  My wife helps with my playing by telling me I am playing too hard or too fast.  She lets me know what sounds good and when I am sounding better.  She is wonderful to me.  I can say that I could not do what I do without her support.

The Prodigal Brother

Luke 15:11-32 Was my Lenten devotional today.  I thought it was very interesting how the prodigal's brother reacted to the scene.  Let me see if I can set it up for you....I will at least try.

Working all his life on his dad's farm.  Tending to the cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, etc.  Tending to the land.  taking care of the wheat fields, and many other crops.  Day in, day out, year in, year out, making sure that everything got done.  Directing the servants, being the second in command right under dear old dad.  If dad said to do this, he did that, if dad said do that, he did that.  Each year bringing the harvest, selling the excess, slaughtering the animals as needed and selling others off.

You know, what he is doing, right?  He is being the obedient son.  Doing everything that his father asks.   He is taking care of the farm and doing all the stuff that needs to be done.  Can you picture it?  He is a hard working son.  I mean that this man has muscles all over.  He has respect from the hired servants too.  He does what needs to be done.  He gets dirty and does the work.  He does not just manage, he does and keeps doing.

Now his brother, we know nothing about, other than that he wants his inheritance and to take off.  So we can postulate that he is a bit lazy, cares only about himself and just wants to go out and have a good time.  He is also impatient, since he does not want to wait for his father to die.  Also had no respect for his father to ask that he receive his portion now.

So we have the younger son and the older son.  One who wants to take off and have a good time and the other who wants to keep working, knowing full well he will be rewarded later on.  Or at least he is planning on it.  Now enters the Prodigal son.  He has been away squandering the money and just doing whatever he wants to.  The money is gone and famine enters the picture.  Now he is heading home, knowing full well what is waiting for him if he can grovel to his father and say take me back as a servant.  The whole time he was gone the other "good" son was still working.  Still tending the farm.

So what  would you do?  Would you be forgiving and welcome your brother or sister back?  Wouldn't you act the same way?  I am sure that I would.  I would be upset and a bit outraged maybe, or at least a bit put out.  How would you handle it?  I would say the same things.  I would say "Hey, what about me Dad?", "What about all the work I have done for you?  What about all the time I spent here not complaining, just doing my job.  Why does he get special treatment, when he did wrong and wasted your money?  Here I am not asking for anything, just doing my job.  And what do I get out of it?  A pat on the back, No!  A dinner in my honor, No!  Nothing that says thanks son for all the hard work."

Does that sound familiar?  I know it does to me.  I am an only child, but that does not mean that I do not have the same thoughts in regards to other people that I see getting away with things and being rewarded for doing wrong.  That is where forgiveness comes in.  The father forgave the prodigal son and then tried to reconcile with the older brother to see what was the matter.  The father had compassion and mercy all around.  And did the brother say, what I did?  Of course he did.  He was so bent out of shape you could have used him as a pretzel.  He even refused to have a good time with the family and enter the house.

The father had to track him down and find out what was bothering him.  He showed compassion, mercy and forgiveness to both sons.  He welcomed back the prodigal son and tried to reconcile with the brother.  The father did everything right.  Everything he should have done.  He forgave both sons one for his actions and the other for his attitude.  Would we have done the same?  Do we ever forgive those who come back to the flock?  Without suspicion?  Do we treat them like a possible wolf in sheep's clothing?  I think we do.  I think we don't trust people that fall away and come back.  I think we have a hard time when someone we know had been doing wrong most of their life and then turn around.  We are more forgiving of gradual changes then we are of sudden changes.  We are also less suspicious.  It is part of human nature.  Why?  Because we are not GOD.  We don't know the thoughts and intents of the heart.  We are a suspicious breed, because we have been deceived and trust is something you earn now, instead of freely given.

We ask people to prove to us we are not going to do wrong.  If we could see like GOD sees then we could easily trust people and forgive them more quickly.  We would not be so suspicious.  I believe we can strive toward that goal.  We can be a little more trusting and definitely more forgiving.  It may not be an easy step, but we need to continually give people the benefit of the doubt.  It is up the GOD if they deserve forgiveness.  We can only offer our forgiveness and move on, without a grudge.  Knowing that they might do wrong again.  But so do we.  Each and everyday we do something we shouldn't.

So do we react like the brother and hold a grudge, pout and have a pity party, or do we react like the father and say "Welcome home, we missed you."  How you react is up to you.  How I react is up to me.  Let us strive to make the right decision.  Let us react with compassion, mercy and forgiveness.

Living By The Spirit's Power or Doing What's Right

The Lent Reading for today came from Galatians 5:16-26.  It talked about how we can let the Holy Spirit guide our actions and how we can learn to listen to GOD and HIS voice.  That way we can do the right things the things of GOD instead of the things of the world.  Everyone wants to follow their own way and do what they want to do.  It is none other than what we call human nature.  But do you know what GOD's nature is? HIS nature is written there clear as day in verses 22-23.
Let me quote: "  ²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) "  That is pretty clear to me.  If we listen to GOD and follow HIS word and obey what HE directs us to instead of listening to our selves and take the time to distinguish the two voices and follow after GOD's then we are Alive in the Spirit of GOD.

Being in the Spirit means doing what is right and that has many implications.  I know that there are times in my life alone that I don't always want to do what is right.  I can fall down and not want to get up.  Or choose to do what I want despite knowing that what I want to do is wrong.  I am far from prefect, yet I keep trying to do what is right each and every day.  I go to work, I try to be polite and patient with people.  I try to get my work done and do the best I can.  But I do not always feel like doing that.  Sometimes it is a bit of struggle.  Sometimes I have to take a walk just to keep my patience.  We should all try to do what is right for GOD, for ourselves and for others.

It's a basic principal that goes back to Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, being your Brother's Keeper.  And Rich Mullins put it well in his song with the same title.  To do what is right is to look after your brother and your sister, your neighbors.  Jesus said it well when he requoted the first two of the Ten Commandments.  Love the LORD your GOD and Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.

I understand that some people have a hard time loving themselves, let alone others.  And still others can love their neighbor and not love themselves.  The world is made up of all types of people and it is not and easy job to love others and sometimes it is not an easy job to love yourself.  GOD's Holy Spirit is there to help us listen to HIS voice so we can do what is right.  So we can love ourselves and our neighbors.  We have the gift of HIS Spirit to do what is right if we can only find time to listen.

So here I am still trying to listen and do the right things.  Even if I sometimes fall down and have to pick myself up and try again.  I am a Work In Progress and GOD is still working on me.  Try to do what is right and listen to GOD.  GOD has all the answers.