So…my wife Grace and I are running this here music venue (He-Brews Coffee & Music) and we just had one of our favorite bands come up again from Ar-Kansas.  Question:  If Arkansas has the weird emphasis on the “saw” part, then wouldn’t that make Kansas, KanSAW?  Just a thought.  Back to Ilia.  For those of you who don’t know, Ilia is a hard rock band made up entirely of girls or what some call females.  They have been touring pretty extensively for a few years now and have been gaining some notoriety on the summer festival circuit and in venues of all shapes and sizes all over the country.  And we love them not because they melt everyones’ faces off with solos or anything, but because they are REAL.  They are honest, open, and human beings.  It comes across in their music too.  That is, coincidently, how we view their relationships with God–REAL.  We at He-Brews long to portrait a very authentic and honest portrayal of a God who knows us, the good and the bad.  So, Ilia comes in not pulling any rock star punches or playing hypocrites, just giving out love and hope in a very sweet and carefree way.  They trust God for everything.  They don’t make bags of money at shows or in t-shirt sales, but they do get taken care of.  We also believe that where God guides you, He will be capable of providing for you.

Ilia Came in this time for three shows in the UP of Michigan with our new friends in Since October.  Sweet band as well.  Anyway, we got to head out on “tour” together with Ilia being kind and patient enough to allow me, my wife, and two girls to ride along in their bus for a couple days.  We ate a lot together (me more than the girls, NOTE: I am not saying these girls ate tons of food like, say a pig would. No, they are definitely not pigs at all, more like pretty birdies).  Shoe-eeee.  We laughed.  We drank way too much coffee together (Melissa!).  We watched Teen Girl Squad.  Good times.  But, we also shared in what our Lord is doing.  It was super cool.  All I have to say is that this is the reason I am living and breathing on this frozen area of earth, to hopefully encourage a great Christian band like Ilia and share in their lives for a minute.  What an honor.  What a good God we serve.

AMEN.

rocky mountain man

Do you ever go before God and feel as though He is an old man that either can’t hear you or doesn’t want to talk?  Folks in the Bible felt the same way.  David, for one, would ask the Lord to “wake up” and “do something.”  Here, in Habby 1, the prophet takes that usual tone that we take when we feel God isn’t paying attention–”HEY!  DO YOU SEE WHAT”S GOING ON DOWN HERE!”  ”How long shall I cry and You will not hear?”  Well, if we waited until the emotional moment passed by and we settled ourselves on what we know to be true about God, we could then rely on His sovereignty (the fact that He is in control) and omnipotence.  

This is yet another reason why we have to fall back on something solid; something that doesn’t waiver or crumble under duress.  God knows stuff we don’t know–DUH!  Seriously, as a little kid at church camp taught me, GOD IS SMART.  And He is.  

This is funny because God basically responds to Habby with a hey-dude-I-know-something-you-don’t comment.  ”Look among the heathen nations and watch–Be utterly astounded!  For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told you.”  I want to be utterly astounded.  That sounds cool.  God’s outta the box baby!  Habakkuk had no clue that God was planning on using the Chaldeans to rebuke the nation of Israel.  And maybe if he did, he wouldn’t have come to the Lord in such a huff.  Hindsight is 20/20 guess.

So, next time the Lord sounds peculiarly silent, watch out, lift your eyes and expect something surprisingly divine to come through the back door.  Or maybe the side door or trap door or the window.  We need to be on our toes young Jedi.

Amen

FF

original vision, Mt. Sinai--a long dang time ago

So, here’s the thing.  Why am I doing this?  Why do people need to read what I think?  Well, I believe God has given me a vision.  What here follows could, therefore, be called a vision statement.  And boy do I have one!  

THIS WORLD IS GOING TO HELL IS A WICKER BASKET!  I like wicker basket better than hand basket, OK.  Yeah, I said it.  And here are some more theories:  we are moving towards an illiterate society, we are moving more and more towards humanism, consumerism, and fast food lives.  So, no one reads, no one talks–without the aid of media or the Internet, and everyone is losing perspective.  Everyone younger than I am, ie.”kids,” are falling apart due to inactivity of of social, mental, and most importantly SPIRITUAL areas of life.  Ergo, something needs to be done about this epidemic.  And just sitting and complaining about it and blogging all the time (wink!) isn’t going to solve the problem.

VISION.  Vision from God has shown me to equip the downtrodden, to speak truth into tossed salad lives, to be the medic on the battlefield.  And, in an age where the truth is being scoffed at as too “fundamental” and the church is trying to be overly sensitive and compromising, something has got to be done!  Again, we can’t just gripe about it without BEING the solution–standing in the gap.  I want to be like Jesus, and I want people to see that.  I want to sing unto God and let people hear the true song of worship and fellowship with God.  I want to teach the Bible.  Period.  It’s the most accurate, the most ancient, the most supernatural, the most poetic book ever written.  And I have mountains of proof.  Throwing it all together in my “med bag,” I then want to take it to the front lines of warfare.  These front lines are in coffee shops, pubs, music venues, college campuses, and non-traditional churches and Bible studies.  The deceived and confused masses need to hear philosophies that actually play out in the real world, songs that speak more than just to animal lust and emotion, and discover family and community that will assist them in the dregs of life–when academia fails, when theories fail, when religion fails, when people fail–I pray, I (we) can be there holding on to the driven in banner that still waves of victory.  Our God is a banner of victory, Jehovah (Yahweh) “Nissi.”  Be our banner, oh Lord.

AMEN!

So, you ask, who is this Habakkuk guy? Good question; it always helps in studying Scripture to know who in the heaven wrote it (here using “who in the heaven” instead of “who in the hell” for obvious, yet playful reasons). Anyways…Habakkuk had a very unique and particular character in his little book of prophecy that greatly applies to me and my friends in “missionary music ministry.” This is for three reasons. One, because he was a Levite–set apart for the Temple service and selflessness “employment” of the one tribe that wasn’t allotted by God any land or possessions (we’ll discuss more on that later). Two, because he was a “musician.” We know this because the last chapter of the book of Habakkuk is primarily a song with a musical composition note at the beginning of it–a lot like one of the Psalms of David or Solomon. It was meant to be played and sung at Temple service. Third, and this is a no-brainer, he was a prophet. He was a messenger, a conduit, a funnel (if you will) of God’s divine words to His faithful people at this time.

With these characteristics in mind, we also need to notice that Mister Habby (as I sometimes call him) saw one of the most amazing O.T. manifestations of God’s glory on par with Isaiah and Moses. Now he has my whole and undivided attention. He was a Jew of the tribe of Levi serving in the house of the Lord. He had experience with leading, writing and performing music for and to God. AND he was a designated prophet of God speaking forth His words who actually SAW God Almighty, El Shaddai. Awesome.

Lastly, Habakkuk is the ONLY book in the whole of the Old Testament or “Tenach” in Hebrew, in which the entire account consisted of a dialogue between God and a human individual. Job and Jonah and other books have portions in which  we are given a fly-on-the-wall perspective of God talking to them, but Habby talks to God the whole time. This is, then, a spectacular view of the character of God. He does speak to us. His Word is good for today, alive and well. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m all ears to what this 2617 year old prophecy has to say to me and my friends.

Stay Tuned for Habby 1.

FF

THIS IS A RANT.

I meet far too many “Christians” who are, for all tenses and purposes, “Bible-Dumb.” You know, the I’ve-never-read-most-of-the-Old-Testament types. “Its too long.” “Its too boring.” “I don’t understand why Numbers and Obadiah even exist.” Understandable, yet alarming. Why do we give up so quickly? I am just sick of hearing polls quoted by pastors that expose literally 90-95% of Christians and the so called “Bible-believing” lot as basically biblically handicapped.

I don’t really want to harp on the “why” of this issue–the reasons are endless and simple to discern at the same time. WE DON’T KNOW THE WHOLE BIBLE BECAUSE IT IS NOT TAUGHT TO US ANYMORE. This is sad, but so very true. Something that you the reader must learn about me is: at the same time that I am very outspoken and zealous for truth, I hate hearing myself whine and complain about something I myself am not willing to take action in fixing. This is why, in part, we (my wife, church, and I) opened a music venue. I was becoming sick with the state of Christian music and its apparent lack of conviction and wisdom. So, we’re gonna do something about it. When we retain the full counsel of God, ie. Scripture in its entirety, vast landscapes for ministry open up before us.

This is a preemptive strike.

To soften the blow of my velvet brick to your glassy existence, I want to walk with you (if you think you have anything to gain from in-depth devotion to Jesus-The Word (John 1)). I have led several of my newer and younger friends here to simply “up-armor.” This is a verb used by the military when they fortify a vehicle with thicker, firmer armor because they KNOW this body will see fire. I want to strengthen and encourage. And I KNOW that those who see frontline duty, WILL see serious shots fired, action, and casualty. If you seek to take the Gospel to a lost and dying generation, you need as much help as possible. I’m here for that help.

Without further ado, I will now take us on a day-by-day jaunt through the eye-opening book of Habakkuk. Yes, that’s one of those little ones in the middle of the Bible that no one reads.

Stay tuned…this is revolution.

FF

it can’t go out

this burn is painstaking 

like the forerunning metaphor.

waiting–gagged and hogtied 

muzzles and ropes–muffled words, muffled cries

feeling stuck 

stuck feeling–like this is frivolous 

hurry up and wait

slow up and cease movement

try to start–stall

try to start–stall

try to stall–just stall some more

wait, wait, wait…yeah, yeah, yeah

I must of missed something the last time

eyes are heavy–flames are low–fuel is not quite optimum–definitely not what I envisioned–dim–dimmer–tried fire…you won’t last through the night.

or will you?

carve me out of this wooden world

fashion me into a little You

touch me and cause my members to praise a holy and living God.

In spiritual metaphor

I burn down these figurines 

and spill over the statues

(breaking off their heads and hands)

and I utterly demolish any semblance of world-born idols.

I’ve carried the bundle up and up, erecting an altar.

I offer You my entorched flesh.

May it be a sweet savor unto Thee.

I set You up on my high places

Be praised….