Mighty River Music - Mighty River Music - News

Rest, where do you find it?

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Seems a little crazy, with all the upheaval going on in the world, our pastor was teaching about rest.... specifically, God's rest or resting in God. For myself, there are different ways I can find rest or a place of rest in the storm. Sometimes, reading will help, sometimes being still with some worship music on, sometimes a bike ride with God focused thoughts.

Let's help each other find this peace. Let me know what you use to find the un-understandable peace in the midst of everyday life. Send me a note!

Hope to see you at Warm Hearts Cafe on March 11th!

Bless!

Our words are broken

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Tonight, many of us will have our eyes and ears on the content of President Obama's State of the Union Address. In what seems the usual response, we have come to expect manipulative, bitter and angry words from other politicians and from the talking heads and various analysts on the news shows. While some politicians are mixing it up and sitting with each other as a show of civility, there will probably be the usual political posturing and shrewdly placed words meant to cause the most damage to the opposing party's agenda, maybe in very personal ways.

In the wake of the shootings in Tucson, a discussion about the effects of hateful and malicious political discourse has arose. Some are calling for the return of civility, at least in some measure, in our politics. Still, there are those who say un-civility, especially in our words, is useful, normal and there is nothing wrong with it.

Jesus had some interesting comments about our words. He taught us about what our words can do and how we are eternally accountable for what we say. He said our words have the power to kill. The hatred and lies contained in our words has the power to kill and maim. Certainly, we see this in our present day with the sad images from Moscow and many other places worldwide. The words of hate seem to be easily spoken by people of all faiths and nations. Words of hatred from the mouths of fundamentalist Muslim clerics are causing young people to destroy themselves and as many innocents as they can. Christian leaders are not so different, maybe the words not so obviously hateful. Whether a minaret or a pulpit, words of hatred, violence shrouded in speak is a problem. Not only our leaders but all peoples speak words full of violence. This my friends is wrong and like C.S Lewis say, we all know it is wrong. Deep inside we know, yet all ignore the call to speak peace and goodness. Jesus said that to hate is the same as murder. If our speech contains hateful words, they contain murder. We should need no social discourse on the wrongness. Our social discourse to rationalize words of hate and anger will not change the rightness or wrongness of it.

The problem is that, just like us, our words are broken. They don't hold what God intended for them to carry. Each of us, God says, is accountable for all the words, good and bad, that we speak during our lives.

The mission of our lives is to heal and restore that which is broken in this world. Our very words can be part of our work. We need God's help to do so but I very much want the fruit of my words to be life and peace rather than hate and death.

So, for all of us tonight, our words and what they are loaded with matter very much to this world, to our families and to all the people around us. Our words should be civil. They should contain peace and truth. Lord Jesus, help us heal and restore our words to what you created them to be. Let our words be full of peace, truth and goodness.

So, some lyrics I am working on:

Give our words freedom from all hate, all lies

Cleanse the murder from our lips.

War and death, our tongues should give you no home

All peoples, you know this is right

O peace, fill our words

Peace, fill our world

Broken words

Be restored

Brokenness, be healed

Be words of peace and truth

How To - Build Effects Pedalboard

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

You can make a nice pedalboard out of a garage organizer system wall mount. Gladiator GearTrack Channels work great for a nice pedalboard with nice channels in place for routing power and audio cords. Get organized for quick setup and tear down! Here is the URL for the How-to PDF.

How to Build Your Own PedalBoard

Song Untitled as of Yet

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Right before leaving for healing prayer soaking worship last night, a revelation started to come to me. Many songs ask God for His glory to fall on us and many imagine that to be this flashy, astounding, moment or event. As is it Wednesday, when I spend time praying the Beatitudes, I felt impressed that maybe God's glory may also be about Jesus Christ and the character of Christ being evident in His disciples (yes, that is us....). Is God's glory humbleness, agape love, mercy, compassion.... all the characteristics of those who are called by His Name and who are His children.

=====================
Touch us Lord, Glory fall on us.
Touch us Lord, Mercy rain on us.
Touch us Lord, God's love in us.

King of Glorious,
Your will is over all.
King of Holiness,
Send your Kingdom Come to us.
=====================

Simple words, God's intent for His children. Character of Christ fall on us. Glory of the Lord come upon us and be expressed through us!

Mercy is the Name

Wed, 12 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Did some tracking on 'Mercy is the Name' tonight. I am very much looking forward to this song becoming. Creating something that has never been before is really a cool experience. We all do this multiple times a day, in almost everything we do. It seems we overlook the event unless we are focused on creating, like creating a song or painting. Even writing this journal is a creative work. This creativity and flowing in it is something deep within us. It comes from us like rivers. Question is, will our rivers pollute and cause sickness or will they be pure and nourishing?

Will keep you all posted on the development of "Mercy is the Name"

Blessings....

Day of new beginnings

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Well, here we are post-Christmas and post-New Year. It is a day of new beginning!

In November, at the Virginia Beach Power and Love conference, I met a little brother named Christopher. I promised his parents some healing music on the website. Sorry it is taking so long but this is the first installment of it! Hopefully, it is ok to share the song dedication with my little sister, Elena, too!

Last week or so, I started on a new song and while it is not settled yet, my understanding is getting stretched a bit by the concept. Central to the song is that Jesus' work reigns over anything and everything. Nothing about us can't be reconciled to God by Jesus' work. His work of the cross and His resurrection subjugate sin and death. Jesus is supreme over all - Col 1:15-23. My foundation in healing prayer is that Jesus is supreme over sickness and infirmity. They are subjugated to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They are subjugated to the Christ in us.

With the second verse purposefully written in the present, this song also hints at the Paschal Mystery. As we remember and ponder the Passion of Christ, we take in the healing and resurrection. We take it into our own bodies. The power of Christ's work in us, revealing the glory of God. From the moment we receive the Gospel, we are given new life - one that starts now and continues into eternity, forever, with God. Hallelujah, Jesus. Your blood reigns over us.

Here are the words, so far.... (will post recording soon!)

I was lost.
My body broken.
I knew no peace,
knew no peace.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Your blood reigns over me.

On the cross,
Your body's broken
From the grave,
You arise,
Arise as King

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Your blood reigns over me.

Essentials Red Final Project

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

I just am finishing up my second course this fall. The class is Essentials Red, from worshiptraining.com. My final project for the class is a video based on my Matthew 5 Project and it can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NE4z5Rb15s

Blessings!

Revealed Final Mix on Fri and Warm Heart Pics

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Thanks to Mark Ettinger for some nice pictures from our July 9th Warm Hearts outing! Check em out on the Photo Gallery page.

This Friday, Jeff and I will be doing a final mix for Revealed that contains the studio drum and vocal tracks. Will be posting it soon!

Enjoy the beautiful summer day in Pennslyvania or wherever you are!

An Exciting Upgrade for Revealed Drums

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

On Saturday, Alan offered to put a real drum track down for Revealed. That is really exciting and will definitely add powerfully to the song and take it to another level. We hope to get the session in this week or next.

Thanks so much to my worship family for adding their voices and instruments to the song! Our friends and family are truly a great gift to us. It is so much better to do things together.

Vocal Studio Session on Friday

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Friday is a big day! We have a session for Erika to record her vocals for Revealed in the studio with the great mic's and Jeff's engineering, at Cape Sound Productions!

Then Friday night, Erika is joining us at Warm Hearts to sing Revealed for you! That's about as fresh as a song gets!

Stay cool everyone. I am hoping for a nice, cool, fruit smoothie on Friday night!

Bless!