Be Thou My Vision

I wouldn't call myself a hymn guy. Personally, I prefer modern worship songs. That being said, I do have a soft spot for hymns. Especially when you put a modern twist on it.

My favourite hymn is Be Thou My Vision. Originally, it was an Irish folk song. You can hear a bit of that history in the overall sound/ composition.

I know and love this song. However, I feel like I just heard it for the first time recently.

We sang it at church on Sunday. It wrecked me. I don't know how else to describe it.

I'm a big advocate of meaning what you sing in Church. If you don't want to surrender your whole life, singing "I surrender all" probably isn't the most sincere thing you can do!

During practice I was hit with this line - 

Verse 3 

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise; 

Thou mine inheritance, now and always;

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise... is that true?

I hate to admit it, but I don't think it is for me to the level I believed it to be.

Riches and praise are tangible. They can be measured. Success can come through awards, critical acclaim or wealth. None of those things are inherently wrong, but to strive for them is.

To make God your main focus is hard. There's not a goal you can set. There's no tangible standard or evidence for it. Depending, there may not even be any earthly reward. However, as Christians, it's what we're called to do. It's what I am called to do. To daily take up my cross and follow him. That's hard.

I did sing the song on Sunday. However, not as a statement of my frame of mind or how great at being a Christian I am. I sang it as a prayer. A prayer that one day I would be able to say that line without any hesitation. That I could sing it without a shadow of a doubt that that is who I am. Someone who seeks God before praise, wealth or anything else this world has to offer.

Singing

Singing is really really hard. I have huge amounts of respect for people that are able to get up on stage, sing and put on a killer show. I struggle to maintain the right key let alone project and turn on the stage presence.

Then there's this person.

I don't really know what category they fall under... but hopefully you enjoy this video either way.

Colton

As much as I hate to admit it. I like American Idol. It's cool to see the different performers year in and year out. Try to figure out who'll make it, who wont. This year I'm really digging Colton.

He has a different voice, style and doesn't seem to be faking the nice guy thing. That's always refreshing. (not to mention he's got some sweet hair going on)

He is also apparently a Christian. Last week on the show he did one of my favorite songs from Lifehouse called Everything.

It's more of a worship song then a pop tune. Seeing this on national television is super sweet!

Christmas Banquet

It was tricky coming up with something interesting to do at my churches' Christmas Banquet this year. The last few years have been great, but not about the nativity. They've focused on giving, the reason for the season or (last year) a variety night, but no babe in a manger. This year however, the goal was to do The Christmas Story. That's harder then it sounds. Everything has been done. Church Christmas plays can get into the "cliche rut" so easily - we didn't want that to happen.
So instead of a musical or a play... we mixed 'em! A guy was pretending to be Luke writing his Gospel, every time he'd hit an important part in the story (Angels appearing to the shepherds) we'd get someone to do their version of a relevant carol (for the angel example it would be While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night). It worked!
A Buddy of mine and I kicked things off with "O Come O Come Emmanuel." Great song. I've always liked it, though I'm not sure why...

The night continued with "We Three Kings," "Away In A Manger" and an instrumental version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle Men."
Between the lights, music and food (and of course the over aching message) I'm officially read for Christmas!