Excellence

My goals for the songs I write are simple: well-crafted, enjoyable and meaningful. I have to believe that if I meet those three goals, the songs will find a way into people's lives. Trying to stand out is a sea of faces is very tough. Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. I read a couple of things this week that make the point well.

South Arkansas native Odie Blackmon is a hit songwriter who is well established in the business. This week, he posted on Facebook that one of his co-writes (with Bill Deasy) called "This Is My Day" has been picked as theme music for a new Melissa Peterman comedy on CMT called "Working Class". Someone commented about how hot Odie was now and Odie's reply shows the reality of the business even for someone with his credential. He replied, "I'm about as hot as tap water! :) The music biz ain't what it used to be. I wrote this song about seven years ago and it is a miracle that it made it through all the gate keepers. I really had nothing to do with it."

Another side of the "getting my 15 minutes" is something that Nashville calls "gherming" -- taking advantage of people to "move up in line". Songwriter and producer Rand Bishop commented about how the advent of social media like Facebook has created a morph call "e-gherming". He wrote an enlightening blog post about it here.

So how does a no-name like me move up in the ranks? How do I get my 15 minutes? One of the most famous songwriters in history was King David. Songwriting was not his day job, ever. But one of my most favorite comments about him comes from Psalm 78 verses 70 and following (written by Asaph -- David was not promoting himself!) It goes like this:

He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;
from tending the sheep he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel his inheritance.
And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
with skillful hands he led them.

The story line in this scene occurs when David was a very young man and his job in the family was to go out and tend the flocks. The prophet Samuel was sent by God to David's daddy's house to anoint Israel's replacement king. Samuel looked at each boy in the home and thought, "this must be him, he is strong" or "this must be him, he is handsome" and God kept saying, "Nope, not the one." He finally ran out of boys and asked if there was anyone else. David's daddy said "well, there is one out in the pasture." Samuel said, "Go get him." and the rest is, as they say, history.

What does this have to do with my topic? This: the reason David was chosen was because of the excellence of his integrity and the excellence of his work. If I will just focus on those things in my life, songwriting included, God will take care of the rest. So, I will write songs that are well-crafted, enjoyable and meaningful. With God's blessing, they will find their place in history.

Cross-posted from my songwriting blog.

Merry Christmas 2010

No need to tell you how quickly time flies… you all know that already! It has been an interesting year for me. Two “highlights” – if you would call them that are:

:: Joining Nashville Songwriters Association International and getting fairly involved in writing – primarily for the country music market. I have made a lot of new friends and learned a lot in the process. If you’re interested you can keep up with that at my website:

www.johnrowlandsongs.com

:: I was promoted to Manager of User Support at Murphy Oil Corporation, where I have worked for a little over twelve years. My new responsibilities involve managing PC support at El Dorado, Houston and remote sites which are connected to Houston, including rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. I am also still responsible for managing the MOC email system worldwide. I have begun making lots of trips to Houston which makes my kitty and doggy sad. Such is life.

God is good – and so, life is good. I am excited about what the future brings and I hope you are as well.

Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Amen.

Best wishes,

John

What is Discipleship? To All Generations

Continuing beyond the incarnation, there was Jesus and the Apostles, Paul and Timothy, Paul and Titus. These continued the discipleship model into our modern age. Let's look at some examples, beginning with Jesus, the Son learning from his Father and carrying that theme into the apostolic work and beyond.

Smack dab in the midst of a long run of prophecies concerning the messianic age, we find Isaiah 50:4-5:

The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples,
That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
The Lord GOD has opened My ear;
And I was not disobedient
Nor did I turn back.

My opinion is that this describes the relationship of the coming Messiah with his Father. Jesus was a disciple of his Father. The Father was his mentor. Continuing the theme in John 5:19-20, Jesus says of this relationship:

"... Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel."

Jesus used the same mentoring relationship with his disciples, who would later become the apostles who became foundational in the building of Jesus' church.

Jesus' parting words to the apostles were the schema by which the apostles would apply all they had learned and establish the church among the nations, from Matthew 28:19 -- "Go and make disciples of all nations...." Discipleship was the paradigm in which evangelism and brining the nations back under his authority would happen.

Some examples of this discipleship paradigm in action. First Paul writing to churches he planted:

He treated them like a father training his children:

1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 -- You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

He encouraged them to be like their heavenly Father (like father, like son):

Eph 5:1 -- Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

Pay attention to my "son" Timothy -- he will be just like me being there."

Philippians 2:19-23 -- But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me.

In his communication to his ministry associates, he communicated the father's mentoring and discipling was the acid test for doing the same work in God's family, the church:

1 Timothy 3:2-5 -- A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober
minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)

Titus 1:5-6 -- For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you— if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.

The point here is that "discipling" is the paradigm, "even to the end of the age." The pastor is a like a father training God's household. The way he becomes that is by how he trains his own household. Discipleship is "baked in". It is a standard feature, not an extra-cost add on. Discipleship, like parenting requires personal interaction. Sadly, we have adopted a classroom paradigm for training the household of God, teacher up front, students in the seats dutifully being lectured to, then going their own way.

Slap Forehead

This is one of those things that is probably obvious to everyone else, but in light of all that is going on politically at the present time, I had one of those "slap the forehead and say 'doh'" moments. Here's the thing:

They always say "we are a nation of laws" and that is true. What occurred to me when reading an article about the power of the Tenth Amendment is -- we are ruled by a Constitution, not by people. The people, the public servants, are servants and stewards of the Constitution. It defines what the can and cannot do. The Founders had the foresight to structure our system this way to protect us from the excesses of "rulers". This is why the Constitution is under such attack by those who want to rule rather than serve.

Remembering A Birthday

Today would be Cindy's 57th birthday. I have had many, many people remember her and appreciate their respect of her memory. I posted on Facebook a statement that Jesus made regarding God and his relationship with Abraham, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Cindy is alive. In the months before she passed, she often commented about 2 Corinthians 4:16 - 5:8 and the hopeful reality that she would be passing from life to LIFE. I have no doubt she has done that.

What is Discipleship? Focusing on Moses as a Model

We are exploring what "discipleship" means and how it relates to a 21st century person. I have asserted that discipleship is a mentoring relationship between God and man (and person-to-person) and that this relationship is the warp and woof of life.

This was evident in God's walk with Adam, and among other, Enoch, Noah, the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), Joseph -- Jacob's son, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Daniel, Nehemiah and Jesus. These are all "high spots" on the landscape. Of course, between each raised point there were countless others in the scriptures or not who had the same sort of thing going on in their experience of life.

Psalm 103:7 states that God "made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the sons of Israel." Exodus 33:7-11 talks about the tent of meeting outside the camp. This is where Moses went to have his "sit-down" face-to-face meetings with God, his friend. When Psalm 103:7 talks about God's "ways" it is talking about the "why's" of life. "How come" this and "how come" that. It is also talking about 'what makes things tick". God was letting his friend Moses in on the "behind the scenes" reasons for what was happening and giving Moses the rational for proper decision-making. The sons of Israel only saw what God did. Moses got to know why he did it.

Packed into this narrative is mention of Moses' future replacement, Joshua. Joshua was Moses' aide. After Moses had his sit-down with God, Joshua would hang around so he could get some of the same. No mystery why he became Moses replacement in the future. Joshua was a disciple, too.

Cindy Rowland - One Year Later

Today is the first anniversary of Cindy's passing. I have thought back this weekend about the events of June 26-28, 2009. I believe the last time she was conscious was Friday, June 26 in the afternoon. I remember her telling me as I bent down to her, "I think this is it."

In church this morning, the song special was "Follow Me" by Ira Stamphill. The last verse ends with:

"If just a cup of water I place within your hand
Then just a cup of water is all that I demand.
But if by death to living they can Thy glory see,
I'll take my cross and follow close to Thee."

Cindy, unpretentious, humble, loving, desiring God's glory. Those words Ira Stamphill took from Matthew 25 were special to Cindy. They reminded me so much of her.