GLENN'S PODCASTS!

Just Another Year?

Perhaps. And perhaps not. None of us knows what awaits us and the truth is that many get caught up in a continuum of time-wasting pursuits that have little to do with... truth. Or Jesus. Or caring for the poor, minorities or really, much of anything beyond mere survival.

I am approaching my 37th spiritual birthday. January 3, 1971 around 3 a.m. Milwaukee time found me sitting on our kitchen floor crying- and crying out to God. Jesus made Himself and His Good News so extremely plain to me I was just overwhelmed! Nearly eighteen years of living a decidedly selfish life, and a solid three years of drugs, drink and sex any way and any time I could get them had brought me to three overdoses and a suicide attempt.

But I finally realized not only that I wasn't God... but that the One and Only God had sent His Son to die and resurrect for -me-. It was a shock I've never recovered from!

I have no idea how much time I have- nor do the majority of you know regarding your own life. What are doing with it? What or who is worth living, much less dying for? Think of the time, energy and money, the concern and burdens you carry. Do they ultimately honor God or simply reflect your own lostness, or mere survival instincts?

What IS the point of living? Many of us have decided that Jesus Christ IS our life and that loving obedience to Him for HIS honor and the benefit of others is THE deal, THE reason, the only rational, sane, eternally beneficial thing we can do.

I'm not always happy, not always "flowing in the Spirit" of God, but there is a measure of stability and a clear sense of direction that just keeps happening for me. I'm certain it's God Himself interacting in my life, and I'm just as certain that in this New Year He has people for me to meet, things for me to do and of course continued spiritual maturity to bring into my life.

I'm deeply grateful for the Lord has given me the best wife, children, sons-in-law and grand kids as well as pastors, band mates and other friends in His service. He truly has given me far more than I could ever ask or think. Well- forgiveness of sins, eternal life, calling, purpose, fruitfulness and the joy of making music with meaning far beyond mere art, ego or utility.

I'm blessed- and my hope is that you'll be equally blessed as you seek, find and follow Jesus Christ- whether this is your first, thirty-seventh or ninety-ninth year! Whether you've only recently come home to Jesus after straying away. No matter- the same Lord is Lord to all who call upon His name, and the mercy of Jesus is present for you even when you don't find it as you'd wish. How do I know that? HA. But God is present with His people. The question is how mindfully present we are willing to be with Him. May this new year bring you closer!

Because of Jesus, -Glenn

Re. the Worship of Jesus at Christmas and the rest of the year...
(Glenn's personal "book of the year"!)

[Note: nobody put me up to this, it's not an infomercial and I get nothing from it- I simply love the book and it's help in my own connectedness with God]

Many of you know I've long been captivated by Celtic worship. There are many forms/ways/approaches/worship styles that some will love and others find uninspiring when it comes to seeking and arriving at transcendence and intimate fellowship with the Lord. There are of course various approaches even within those ways/forms associated with Celtic Christian worship.

The past couple years I've often turned to a book by Ray Simpson called "Celtic Worship Through the Year" and been superbly blessed. So I pass this bit of info. on to you who may wish to give it a go. Just searching I found the following:

http://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Worship-Through-Year-Simpson/dp/0340686677

Merry CHRISTmas and BLESSED Worship of the Christ-child!
-Glenn

Tonight beautiful soft snow falls all over Chicago.

This afternoon I sat by my office window and watched for a bit, and it was and continues to be just wonderful, especially as we approach Christmas here in the mid-western U.S..

Then again, recent ice and snowstorms have actually taken lives in this part of the country... so for some the snow is unwelcome.

Tonight, it also falls blanketing Cornerstone Farm where we do our annual Cornerstone Festival.

It's amazing how in the summer, thousands of people and hundreds of bands just go nuts, making the volume and intensity of the atmosphere so fun and incredible- while in other times of the year it's still, peaceful and overflowing with wildlife and the beauty of a rural Illinois paradise complete with lake, ponds, creek beds, ridges, ravines, fields and thick woodland.

The snow that falls tonight will in a few days be dirty. It will have been driven over, stomped and played on and of course hit with salt, sand and mingled with bus and train and truck sludge.

There are times when Cstone Farm is so cold- or hot -that it's almost unbearable...

Tonight I sit backstage awaiting my turn to perform at a benefit for a wonderful couple of parents who lost their little daughter. Not even reaching one's teens isn't very long for a life to be lived. There was pain, suffering, hope and desire for lung transplants that didn't happen, prayers unfulfilled... this is hard to take. It's especially tough at Christmas.

Regardless of how one feels about the U.S. military in Iraq, there are many who will not see another holiday with their loved ones. There are those who are suffering in many places, some will soon die due to poverty, illness, addiction or simply old age. This too is reality regardless of the season.

And so life is indeed bittersweet.

We must not give up hoping, praying, seeking, knocking. We must face the pain of living and believing regardless of what may come to us or to those we love.

Tonight in the midst of the beauty and wonder of God's love coming to us in Jesus, there are couples with unmarried pregnant daughters. They pray and hope she will embrace the true Love of God in Christ.

Another couple wish for their adult daughter to surrender to Him and reject her ongoing addiction to chaos. Others desire their son to repent of drug or alcohol abuse... and on it goes on this beautiful but cold Chicago night.

Yesterday my wife and I drove on back streets, seeking and finding a myriad of beautifully decorated homes and yards, lights, cute ersatz deer, "stars of wonder" and pines everywhere shimmering in gorgeous light, all shouting JOY in this season.

This morning I loaded a fresh black and white photo onto the desktop of my SUSE Linux work computer. It's a pic a friend took of a snow covered pine right outside their trailer window at Cstone Farm. It sits in it's glory between their wonderful place of rest and the lake with the wooded hillside across the water as a background.

Such peace, stillness, beauty and a reminder that seasons come and go, they change, they bring bright shining joy and at times deep despair.

Don't miss the hope that only comes from Jesus Christ! Don't give up to raw emotion in loss, or fear due to change, hardship or distress! It will come- but it will also pass.

Christmas is coming- and in it all are reminded of something and Someone. ALL.

Those who are even now saying goodbye to elderly parents or grandparents, to the young who died "before their time", to those facing personal injury, major unsettling change, deep loss- the LIGHT of Christ cannot and will never be extinguished.

We must face the truth that for many, Christmas and even the beautiful snow falling tonight is unseen and unappreciated due to the burdens they carry. Thank GOD, Father, Son and Spirit (Who is called The Comforter) that the Christ-child came and will come again to bring us to a family that lives on in eternity where the only season will consist of fellowship with our loving heavenly Father, sisters and brothers who will never again suffer nor die- never!

Star of wonder, star of light. Yes. The snow softly falls tonight, on playgrounds, graves, on the woodland and on city streets and back alleys. In each place regardless of circumstance the same blessed hope lives and can no longer die. "For in Him we live and move...".

Yes. In Jesus Christ we have Eternal LIFE!