Holiday or Holy Day

What is it?

One or the other.....or both?  A reason to be off work, a time to behave and not argue politics, a breather in this hectic rat race, a good reason to not avoid your family, your church, your nearby Walmart, what?

There is a song on my practice CD for the church Praise Team that says "Jesus made Christmas a Holy Day".  As we enter the season of most busy-ness as well as business, it is an opportunity to notice not just the generosity and the selfishness of the people around us, but also the reason for everybody's season:  "Now just why is it we do this again?"

As we see the lights, the displays, the festive decorations, the ugly sweaters, I wonder.....what would this world be like if we all celebrated the Holy Day just as hard as the holiday.  If we got as excited about the Savior as we did the shopping.  Before you say "Hey Jack, you are the worst when it comes to spoiling your Grandkids!", and I am guilty as charged (since they were born, I have always whispered in their ears that I really am Santa Claus) let me throw myself on the mercy of the court and say how easy it is for us to get carried away.

Let me challenge us all, then.  Let's find a balance in these next few days.  Take a minute and celebrate the Savior.  Read Luke 2.  Sing Away in a Manger.  Love on your greatest gifts:  your kids and grandkids, brothers and sisters, your parents, your crazy cousins, your friends.  It's not just the greatest shopping season of the year, but also the season of advent.

My rant is done.  Let me leave you with a song I wrote a few years ago.  I don't know if I will have the opportunity to sing this in public this year so I will share it here.

First Born  

What took place that Christmas Day?
What transpired that Christmas Morn?
What inspired the Angels song, "Unto us a Child is Born"?
Who could love so much that day?
Whose anointing without end?
Who could know enough to say
Peace on Earth, Good will to men?

He's the Morning Star who leads the way
He's the First Born of a brand new day
He's the Reason why we need to sing
He's the Reason for this offering.

His Name is Jesus, Jesus
What more can I say, what more can I give
He is Jesus, Jesus
What more can I say, what more can I give

He is Jesus.

In the flow

Jack

There's No Place Like Home

So, after months and months of wondering and wandering, we find ourselves in a Dorothy frame of mind, "There really is no place like home!"  Before you tell me that this picture doesn't look like Judy Garland, or Kat McPhee, or whoever your favorite Dorothy might be, this is my favorite, my daughter Hannah.

So here we are, back from a tour of OZ, and clicking our heels, and we have a home church again.  Frances and I have chosen FreeLife Church of Winder as our place, and we could not be happier.  Our Pastors, Joel and Regina Talley, and the FreeLife family have taken us in with loving arms and have accepted us.  As two people who are not known to "church hop" the last months have been taxing to say the least.  Understand as I say this, that Walk on Water, our home base for the last 6 years, will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we hope and pray for the best for them and for Pastor Angie Burgess as she leads them into the next phase of their history.  May God Bless Walk on Water Church.

So here we are, getting involved in our new church.  Joel and Regina have set an aggressive vision for FreeLife Church and the programs in place, Music, Children's Church, and Youth have an excellence that most churches this size cannot boast.  Pastor Joel is known nationally as a great evangelist, revivalist, and Bible teacher and now Pastor.  You won't find a harder working man anywhere in ministry.   Frances and I are now leading worship on Wednesday nights and we love the freedom and the flow that we have stepped into at FreeLife.  This is a worshipping church and we are blessed to be a part of it.

So, get to the point, Jack.

Ok.  here it is.  If you have a home church, jump in there with all you have and let's do great exploits for the Kingdom of God.  If you do not have a church home, let me invite you to come to FreeLife Church in Winder Georgia and join us as we build this thing together.  If you are free Wednesday Nights at 7 join us for Power Hour and see what I am talking about.  No flying monkeys, no witches, no yellow brick road (except for the pollen right now), but truly no place like it.

In the Flow again, finally!

Jack

Not Prepared for This.....

Well here I sit, 4 months down the road, my journey of changes, and not one bit clearer about what happened to Healing Flow, the music, the band, the church, and Frances and myself.  Never before in our lives.....literally, have we been in such a predicament.  We have always known not only where we were to fellowship as a church, but also what the Lord was calling us to do.  Now we are dealing with the ultimate elephant in the room, are we getting too old for this.

Contemporary Praise and Worship is a fast evolving genre of music and churches that worship in this style are evolving rapidly as well.  The "new" church is relevant in style and worship and the music we love is central to that end.  Here's the rub (as Shakespeare would say).   The worship leaders in this kind of church look like the fisherman on the left, my son Daniel, who is an immensely talented and anointed young musician and not like the old guy on the right, who though he is a gifted musician and a heck of a fisherman is way down the road age wise for what he loves to do.

God put a call on my life in 1979, and has taken me all over the country to minister to all kinds of people.  We have never had to go looking for our next place of ministry.  It has always come looking for us.  We have served many great churches and Pastors and have met thousands of the Lord's Saints in churches, tent meetings, festivals, schools, parks and homes and have loved almost every minute of it.   We're just not prepared to go quietly into that good night.

Pray for us. Our greatest joy has been making music with my family.  Pray that the Lord would speak clearly what His plan for us might be.

May His Peace be on you this Christmas season.  We love you.

Jack and Frances

Changes

Transitions are always a challenge.  Why is it we are so quick to rebel against change?  Change takes us out of our comfort zone.  Change usually happens in the valley instead of on the mountain top.  Change often causes us to say goodbye to people we care deeply for and to fellowship with people we just don't know.  Change is hard.

Healing Flow is in a season of change.  This is not something we were looking for at this time, nor is it something we particularly enjoy....but here we are.  This is more than a Praise Band,  more than a Contemporary Christian Band, this is a family of people who share joys and sorrows, mountain tops and valleys, good times and not so good times, but most of all we have shared the life changing Presence of the Lord.  We have a motto, "Worship that takes you somewhere".  This is the most important part of our music, and when we miss this, we have missed the point.

Walk on Water World Outreach Church has been a huge part of our lives for many years.  The people of Walk on Water are near and dear to all of us, and the last thing we would want to do is hurt them.  Pastors Perry and Angie Burgess can take a lot of credit for how our music has developed and we will always love them for that.  They will always have an important place in our heart.

That being said, please pray for us as we continue on this Journey.

in the flow,

Jack

Pushing back against the naysayers.....

I'm pushing back against the naysayers.  Yes, you heard me.   Those that might denigrate

the music I do, Contemporary Praise and Worship.  First of all, I have every right and may I say responsibility to be a musical snob, a Bachelors Degree in Music and a Masters Degree in Music Education from The University of Georgia, 30 years experience as a music educator, 5 years experience as a Music rep with a large school music dealer, Performance experiences ranging from Symphony Orchestras to Jazz Bands and everywhere in between,  and 35 years in Ministry, from evangelism to Youth Pastor to Choir Director, to Worship Leader.

That being said

The greatest satisfaction I get is from making music with my Healing Flow band, and leading worship at Walk on Water Church.  There is more energy, more creativity, more influence in what we do than anything this world has to offer.  I'm not saying it's everyone's cup of tea, and if you love your hymn book more than life itself, or insist on legit music at your place of worship, have at it.  But don't put down what we do as uber repetitive, lower class, or "devil music".  

What is the purpose of Worship, anyway?  To point us to Him, right?  I know some of the music that Christian bands put out don't always choose the best styles or lyrics, but I do hope they have the best of intentions.  But after all, doesn't it beat some of the junk that is out there on secular radio?

I know it seems funny to some that at my age I prefer Jesus Culture to Gaithers but it is because hearing Anointed Contemporary Christian music changed my life back in 1978 and I hope in some way I can help someone else someday.

In the flow, 

Jack

At least I know I'm free

I know that Hannah is always scared to death that I will make her sing God Bless the USA any time we have a political holiday.  With all due respect to Lee Greenwood, I want to borrow a line from him today as we celebrate Independence Day.

At least I know I'm free.........

I'm proud for several things this morning:

A loving wife

Two great sons

Two great daughters in love (Hannah becomes official in 7 days)

Two awesome grandkids (Myles has been with us this week!)

A great church family

An awesome job

A beautiful home

but lets get down to the subject for today, freedom.

Most people don't really understand what freedom really means.  That is why we are in the shape that we are in today.  Rules and standards don't take away freedom, they define it.  Let me explain.

Laws are not here to restrict us, they are here to protect us.  Borders are not here to fence us in or others out.  Standards of Holiness that God set forth centuries ago don't make Him the bad guy, it shows us that He loves us enough to set us free to fail.  Before we start to argue Grace, let me also say that we are not to take advantage of His Goodness and continue to hang on to our pet sins and shortcomings, but He gives us "free will"  in our covenant relationship with Him to make right decisions without feeling that He is standing over us with a cattle prod or a giant eraser to zap us when we fail.

The key is ownership.  We have to be citizens of the Kingdom of God to enjoy the true benefits of His Grace.  By the same token, If people want to explore the greatness of America, they should go about it in a lawful manner.  The jailbreak rush over the border is not freedom, it is anarchy.

How can you really know you are free?  Go about it the right way.  Get your citizenship through the right channels.  Take some responsibility and form the right relationships.  When you do you will discover the true wonder that we call freedom.

Marriage and family

Salvation and Grace

Citizenship and Country

There is a price to pay for what we call freedom.  Is it worth it?  I say YES!!!!!!

In the flow,

Jack

Passages

A great philosopher once said "We may never pass this way again".  A lot has transpired in the time since I last blogged here.  In fact I went through several passwords and finally gave up before I confessed to the powers that be (Google of course) that I have no clue what my password is.  I will post a hint in this blog for myself that only I and my sister and brother would get so this wont happen again!

Here we are, almost a year later.  My apologies for not taking care of this blog.  It's not that I don't have anything to say (although you may disagree with me after you read this) or my sometimes poor internet skills (just ask Google or my web server, Fat Cow.com) or my desire to express myself (just ask anybody, no shortage of opinion here), but probably that awful four letter word.....TIME.

As I was cruising facebook one day I saw where a former student of mine was retiring from teaching.  She was admittedly from one of my earliest years of teaching, but still looks like she could be in her 20's or 30's and with the same sparkle in her eye that she had when I taught her.  My response was something like "how can you possibly retire?  Go back in that classroom and do another 20 years!"

It seems like only yesterday when we were all out there on that practice field (parking lot) or at band camp or at a football game and now?????  Some of my students have more grandkids than I do.

not you, Paige, that remark was for some of your classmates.

Which brings me now to current events.  My kids.

Kid #1, Christopher is as we speak finishing a family vacation at Myrtle Beach.  He and his lovely wife, Angie have two beautiful children.  Myles, who is now 5 and a pre-school graduate looks just like his dad (and therefore like me, don't you love the tie in to the beautiful remark?) and Emma, who is 20 months old and still looks at me like a calf at a new gate.  He is a customer service rep and a children's pastor.  I remember the first time he went to church camp and ended up going commando because Lew Nix, his counselor and Christopher couldn't locate everything in his suitcase.

Kid #2, Daniel just finished his Doctorate at Emory University in Physical Therapy.  He completed his education with a 4.0 average (Highest Honors) and is studying for his boards next month.  Also next month He is marrying Hannah Roesch, a beautful redheaded soon to be Elementary School teacher from Toccoa, Georgia.  He is also beginning a job search and together they are looking at houses in the Jefferson area.  It seems like only yesterday, Daniel was getting in trouble with Mary Williamson for disrupting Kindergarden.

Frances and I will be fine, no empty nest syndrome here.  We have plenty to keep us occupied, me with work, my music, my ministry, bowhunting, and my dogs and her with being my snowbunny super hot midlife crisis incredible drummer, gardener, sidekick, accountability partner, and soulmate.  As we prepare for Daniel and Hannah's wedding I remember when she came in the back door of Jefferson United Methodist church on that day in 1979 and took my breath away.

So my journey continues, from that place where the train City of New Orleans pulled out of in that famous song, (there's a hint for you) to a lazy morning on Runt's Private Drive.  Time is flying by and life couldn't get much richer.  To those of you who have played a part in this adventure, I say thanks and I love you, and stay in touch.  I promise to do better......really.....

In the flow, 

Jack