2013 Year End Review

Well the last time I posted anything was back in February.  So now that it is the end of 2013, I thought why not post something.

This year has been not to much out of anything ordinary.  I have become a more passionate reader and have finished reading the Inheritance Cycle written by Christopher Paolini.  I really enjoyed his story about a boy who is chosen to become a hero.  I am looking forward now to reading much more of my Bible and reading the Game of Thrones stories.  A book truly is a wonderful device that can take you to another place and another time.  It is truly a TARDIS, Time And Relative Dimension In Space.  Whovians will understand this.

My passion for music and all the incredible beauty it offers has never let up.  As time passes, my passion for music will only crescendo and never decrescendo.  I did have the opportunity to perform with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra last Friday at the mall.  I was the only saxophone player there, on my bari sax, and I had to play bassoon parts.  It was a little challenging to play the transposed parts, but nonetheless exciting!

I hope in the coming year of 2014 so much will improve.  I hope to have a better job with more income and benefits.  I hope to have more time to practice my saxophones and become a better musician.  The biggest hope I have is that my family will grow so my only child will become an older sister.  God only knows and only time will tell.

Lucifer fell!!!

Here it is, the passages from the Word of God that clearly show how Lucifer rose up in a mutiny against his Creator.

Isaiah 14:11-13

King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
¹² How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
¹³ For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

Indeed...we have an enemy.  Good thing I'm on the winning side with Jesus!

Breathtaking!

To Tame the Perilous Skies by David Holsinger...another Beautiful work.

Oh just one more Beautiful man

This is Poem composed by Scott Boerma, which the Southshore Concert Band did commission him to do and so I had the pleasure of performing this.  Thank you Scott!

Okay, one more

I just have to include John Williams as one of the Beautiful men in this world.





Now this one below I did have the privilege of performing with the Southshore Concert Band.

Yes...another Beautiful man

This is by Frank Ticheli and is titled Rest, which I also had the privilege of performing with the Southshore Concert Band.  I almost had tears performing this.  Beautiful!

And yet another Beautiful man

I know, these men are composers of music.  What can I say?  I have a passion for music too.



This is Abrams Pursuit by David Holsinger.  I did have the privilege of performing this more than once with the Southshore Concert Band.

And another Beautiful man

This composer is Stephen Melillo.  So Beautiful!!!  Indeed, I hear Heaven in this! :D

Beauty: What is it truly?

To all my dear sisters whom I love, including my beloved wife Rebecka:

Well I can honestly say what Beauty is not.  It is not something you can buy from a store.  It doesn't come in a tube, bottle, or jar.  It doesn't come on a hanger or rack.  It is not something that is applied from the outside.  So what is true, authentic, genuine Beauty???

Again, Beauty is not something that is applied from the outside.  Genuine Beauty is something that is unveiled from deep within.  Yes, Beauty is unveiled!  I spell Beauty with a capital B to differentiate it from the beauty that we all come to know as being only skin deep.  So there is Beauty (unveiled from within, set there by God), and then there is beauty (skin deep/external application).  So then, genuine Beauty is not skin deep.  It is soul deep.  This accounts for such expressions as music, or any of the arts for that matter.  So there is a significant difference between looking beautiful and being Beautiful.

Does Beauty matter to God?  I believe so!  All you have to do is take a good look around this universe and this earth He created.  His masterpiece work of art is full of so much Beauty.  It always saddens me, however, to see so much of this Beauty being vandalized or outright destroyed by people.  I believe this all to simply be an assault on Beauty from satan and his.  Remember, satan was once Lucifer who was perfect in Beauty.  But Lucifer rebelled against his Creator and lost that status.  So when God created the heavens and the earth, and then created woman who is I believe the expression of God's Beauty and mystery on this earth, it's not hard to imagine how much envy satan must have had and the desire he has to assault such Beauty...just to get at Him who created it.  So yes, Beauty matters!  Why?

The author John Eldredge writes in Wild at Heart that there are two things in this world that pierce our hearts.  Affliction is one of them, and we certainly get a heavy dose of that these days.  The news seems to report more affliction than anything else.  The other thing that pierces our hearts is Beauty.  Beauty invites us to come closer.  It also allows our souls to rest and expand.  The genuine Beauty of God certainly sends the message, "Come closer, I won't hurt you."  I believe this is how God draws us closer to Him.  God doesn't scares us through fear and intimidation to obey Him.  No, He unveils His Beauty which says, "Do you delight in Me?  Will you pursue Me?"  This is what I believe to be the cry of the genuine feminine heart.

Is it not true dearest sisters, that from within your heart you desire to be delighted in?..to be pursued?..to be made first ahead of all other things in this universe?  If you can answer 'yes' to all these questions, guess what?  God wants the same thing!  Aaaaaand, you are made in His image!  Yes my dearest sisters, you are His expression of Beauty and mystery.  Not a mystery to be solved, but a mystery to be continuously explored.  A mystery that is in and of itself Beautiful and also asks, "Will you pursue me?"  Beauty is indeed very alluring and captivating...and very powerful.

Proverbs 31:30 states that beauty if fleeting.  This is of course an utterance from a mother to her son, Proverbs 31:1.  So what is mom telling her boy?  Don't choose a wife based only on her looks.  Instead, look for a wife who has a Beautiful character.  Of course anyone, women AND men, who can exercise the Fruit of the Spirit then has a Beautiful character.  The most Beautiful person to ever walk on this earth is, of course, Jesus Christ.

While Eve is very beautiful, alluring, mysterious and captivating, I believe men have some Beauty also.  When I ask myself the questions, I do want to be Beautiful.  Because I have Christ in me, He balances me out.  So for now, I am a Beautiful man.  And ya know what, there are many Beautiful men right now in this world.  Here's one of them:




The composer of this gorgeous music is John Mackey, and it is appropriately titled.  Enjoy.

So my dearest and beloved sisters, I pray that we all can be the most Beautiful and captivating that we can be.

God bless you all.