After seeing a really sweet movie I got that nagging feeling about a dream I am pursuing. Part of it is heartache, or what I might call “advance regret.” It’s like the feeling of, “Man, I really want that to happen! Man, I really need to do something! Man, I need to work on that.” So, I got up and followed-up on some leads regarding this dream.
I prayed over the letters I sent out, asking God for … (then I took a long pause to ponder what I should be asking Him for. I don’t want to rattle off words in vain. I don’t want to pray selfish little prayers that are held back by short-sightedness. I want to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. I want to pray wisely. I think God really enjoys it when we pray. I think it makes Him happy. One of the things I get choked up when I think about is that scene in Frank Perretti’s novel, This Present Darkness: At the end of the story or after its resolution the angels are about to leave and one of them stops the others and says something like, “Wait a second. I want to hear this one more time.” Then a person says to another, “Let us pray” or “Dear Father…” Something about that resonates within me and what I believe about prayer. It’s a mysterious thing. I mean the Creator of the universe chooses to limit Himself by working with, through and in response to prayer!?! That’s heavy stuff! I think it really pleases Him when we pray. I love God.)
“…I pray for guidance, wisdom, provision, protection, Your power, Your favor to go with these letters…”
We’ll see what happens.
And now for something completely different.
Or is it?
This is a quote I saved with using it for a future blog in mind. At the start of my day today I decided to make it part of this blog. I didn’t know it would take me 16 hours or more to get around to writing it. And little did I know then that I’d blog about prayer.
Check this out:
He exists, and he hears the prayers of His people. I know I am nothing special. I know that sometimes there are good, prayerful people whose prayers are not answered, and I have no explanation. He is the Lord God and mercy is His to give, and He gave it…
I can’t remember where I pulled that quote from, but I think it was what I heard another person pray. I can’t remember the context at all, but it moved me.
And speaking of dreams, my youngest daughter said “a lot” of her dreams have been coming true and she had a dream this morning that her sister and I would get in a car wreck today and I would die and she would be okay. Boy, did I ever drive with vigilance today! I’m so glad it’s past midnight and I have no more plans to go out driving. I’m smiling, because it’s funny. But nevertheless I don’t totally dismiss thoughts or statements like that when I hear them. I usually categorize them as “unfounded” or “unlikely” but don’t outright dismiss them completely.
And now back to Eric Clayton: The Collective Journals: 1997 – 2009. I’m reading this long and detailed paper supposedly written by the federal government and handed out to law enforcement about cults and potential threats to our country in light of the impending Y2K scare – the turn of the millennium (Remember, part of this book was written prior to the year 2000).
There’s a funny detail I read several pages back about this young but promising band he contemplated working with. In the end he decided it wasn’t in their best interest to pursue them, because he thought the channels he had available to him — the MCM record label and its retail distribution into the Christian Booksellers Association (aka CBA) market. He thought they had a really bright future ahead of them, but confining them inside the smaller niche market he was part of would be a drag. He believed that the female singer really had a charisma that would move an audience. Turns out the little band was Evanescence.
It’s funny how Evanescence has so many haters now. I guess a lot of bands that blow up quick get that kind of backlash. People get sick of hearing it on the radio. Heck, even Metallica got that with their amazing Black album. The critics of that are deaf, in my opinion. Deafened by their own indie rock snobishness and self-righteous anger about popularity, “selling out” and blah blah blah. Evanescence got a lot of backlash for another reason, too. Many in the Christian music scene felt like they sold out their faith to make it in the big-time. Certain members of the band threw out the f-word in print interviews, which they probably knew would more or less seal their fate and keep them out of the CBA market. The Wind-Up record label (home to another band that attracts a lot of hatred) did the nobel thing (in my eyes) and humbled themselves and took full returns from all Christian bookstores that wanted to return the product. It was, arguably, the “right thing to do,” but that doesn’t mean it was easy. 18 million albums sold later, though, and it probably doesn’t hurt anymore.
I was sent a copy of their Origins CD when they were still unsigned. The band was for sure trying to advance in this market in the early stages. I don’t blame them for taking their craft to the mainstream and “the marketplace of ideas.” I can’t see myself making some of the statements they did, because I am pretty sensitive to how I treat God and His people. I think that’s important.
But that’s enough ranting from me for one day. I’m going to retire to a little more reading from the Collective Journals before I fall asleep. I hope I can get through and past this (kinda boring) government document portion soon.
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