Greetings!
Well, I thought I'd post about what I've been doing lately. Last week I played violin with my youth group's worship band at church for the first time! At first I wasn't sure how it would work out... we don't normally have a violin player in the band, and it would be my first time playing with a band. But it was great. It felt... right. Like I was supposed to be there. It was kind of hard to be heard above all the electric guitars, but I wasn't completely drowned out. Basically I just had the chord charts to go by, so I was mostly just playing whatever sounded good.
The rehearsal went well. I got to meet the band members, and fellowship with them before service started. Our drummer actually plays the timpani in the orchestra I'm apart of! How cool is that?
Then when the actual service started, it was amazing. I could feel God's presence so strongly. God is so good! The songs we played were "I'm Not Ashamed," "Devotion," "Draw Me Closer," and the bridge of "Ready Now." I'm so thankful for the chance to help lead others in praise to our King!
Yesterday I went to an orchestra concert. They played the Farewell Symphony by Haydn. That has got to be one of my favorite classical pieces. Look up the last movement to see why. The musicians do something very unique in mid-song. *is mysterious* :) It was fun to watch them do it live!
Do any of you have any favorite classical music composers? If so, do you have a favorite song by them? I think my favorite composer would have to be Bach, and then Vivaldi. Dvorak is good too, though. His New World Symphony is awesome!
I hope you all have a blessed week!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Happy Labor Day
Happy (early) Labor Day!
So what's everyone doing on the third day of their three day weekend? Anyone traveling out of town, seeing family, spending time with immediate family? Anybody just relaxing at home, enjoying an extra day off? :)
My family and I are going to drive about an hour and a half away to visit my mom's sister's family. It'll be great to see them again! They live out in the country, so the scenery around their house is beautiful. Sometimes I wished I lived out that way - for my backyard to be woods, and to have a road leading up to my house surrounded by woods. It's so much fun to take walks there with them. I always have an opportunity to take pictures. :)
Speaking of which, I have several pictures from past times we've visited if anyone's interested. I was just going through my photobucket and getting rid of a whole bunch of pictures because they changed their photo limit to 500 mb. *sigh* Oh well. BUT, I am saving the ones that I still like onto my computer, and trying to find another image hosting website to put these on. Anyway, some of the pictures are from around their house, and they're really neat. :)
Well, I hope you have a great Labor Day! God bless!
Violinist4Christ
So what's everyone doing on the third day of their three day weekend? Anyone traveling out of town, seeing family, spending time with immediate family? Anybody just relaxing at home, enjoying an extra day off? :)
My family and I are going to drive about an hour and a half away to visit my mom's sister's family. It'll be great to see them again! They live out in the country, so the scenery around their house is beautiful. Sometimes I wished I lived out that way - for my backyard to be woods, and to have a road leading up to my house surrounded by woods. It's so much fun to take walks there with them. I always have an opportunity to take pictures. :)
Speaking of which, I have several pictures from past times we've visited if anyone's interested. I was just going through my photobucket and getting rid of a whole bunch of pictures because they changed their photo limit to 500 mb. *sigh* Oh well. BUT, I am saving the ones that I still like onto my computer, and trying to find another image hosting website to put these on. Anyway, some of the pictures are from around their house, and they're really neat. :)
Well, I hope you have a great Labor Day! God bless!
Violinist4Christ
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Happy September 1st!
Hi everyone!
First off, many thanks to Araken for making my new banner!! Isn't it awesome? It goes perfect with the layout. :-)
It's hard to grasp that it's already September! Amazing how fast summer went by, isn't it? I'm already into my fourth week of school and am slowly getting used to my new schedule. It's not too bad, though, since I'm home schooled and my schedule is a little more flexible than most. It's been fun so far, as fun as school can be, anyway. :) Physics and Advanced Math are mainly the ones that take up the most time, but Physics has been interesting and Math is... well... math. Lol.
So how is school going for all of you? What kind of school do you go to? (No specific names, please - just public school, private, etc.) Do you like it so far?
Right now, I think i need to start setting some goals for the year - timing all my subjects, getting Physics experiments and English assignments done in a timely manner, setting a time to practice violin every day, etc. This is probably going to be one of the busiest years I've had yet, because I have so many activities I'm involved in! But it's going to be good. God is with me, and I'll make it through. :-)
So how about you? Have you thought of any goals for the school year?
"Proverbs 4:13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life."
First off, many thanks to Araken for making my new banner!! Isn't it awesome? It goes perfect with the layout. :-)
It's hard to grasp that it's already September! Amazing how fast summer went by, isn't it? I'm already into my fourth week of school and am slowly getting used to my new schedule. It's not too bad, though, since I'm home schooled and my schedule is a little more flexible than most. It's been fun so far, as fun as school can be, anyway. :) Physics and Advanced Math are mainly the ones that take up the most time, but Physics has been interesting and Math is... well... math. Lol.
So how is school going for all of you? What kind of school do you go to? (No specific names, please - just public school, private, etc.) Do you like it so far?
Right now, I think i need to start setting some goals for the year - timing all my subjects, getting Physics experiments and English assignments done in a timely manner, setting a time to practice violin every day, etc. This is probably going to be one of the busiest years I've had yet, because I have so many activities I'm involved in! But it's going to be good. God is with me, and I'll make it through. :-)
So how about you? Have you thought of any goals for the school year?
"Proverbs 4:13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life."
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Burger King - Divine Appointment
Greetings, all!
Sorry for not posting for so long!! Has it really been a whole month already? Yikes.
Anyway, if you're checking this blog still, thanks for your patience! What with school starting, me getting a job (Did I fail to mention that earlier? It HAS been too long!), and other activities going on, it's been hard to find time to get online, much less keep up a blog. But I'll try to do better as I get into the swing of things.
Oh, and yes, I did get a job at the library I've been volunteering at, so I'm really excited about that. It's just a part time job, two days a week. It's been really fun so far, getting to check books out to people, answer people's questions, help people find books, shelve, etc. AND, I'm getting paid, so it won't be very long before I have enough money for the new used violin I'm saving up for!!
Okay, well, you're probably wondering what this has to do with the title. I'm getting to that. Lol. Another reason it's been so long since I've posted is because my family and I went on a road trip to the state of Washington a few weeks ago to visit family. Approx. 2,000 miles there, 2,000 miles back. Yeah. Long road trip. But it was fun. God showed us a lot of things on that trip, which was really great especially since our trip was during the church camp I really wanted to go to.
Anyway, back to the subject of this post. Being on a road trip means finding places to eat on the way that the whole family agrees on, which isn't always the easiest thing. One person wants to eat here, another there, and *gasp* was that a Subway sign we just passed? Let's exit here and go to Subway! ;) But one particular evening, we couldn't decide where to eat. One person wanted to go to this restaurant, while another wanted to go to Burger King. Well, after a lot of discussion, some of it rather frustrated, we decided on Burger King. Now, let me say here that one particular member of my family does NOT like fast food restaurants at all, least of all Burger King. So right there it was worth noting that that family member agreed to eat there. Well, we went in, ordered our food, and as Dad was getting our water, he started talking to a man standing nearby. Well, it turns out that the man was blind, AND was a Christian. He, his friend, and my dad talked almost the entire time we were there, and at the end of the meal, he and the friend prayed for us. It was kind of amazing - he prayed for exactly what we needed then. Then we prayed for them - right there in the middle of Burger King. It was really amazing how God worked. I don't think it was by accident that we stopped at Burger King that night, at that exact time those people were there. The steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord. (Psalm 37.) God ordered our steps so that we would meet those people then, so we could both be ministered to. Praise God, who directs the paths of those who trust in Him!
A final note, I'd like to hear some feedback from you all! What would you like to see on this blog in the future? I don't always know what to blog about, so any and all ideas are welcome. :)
Blessings!
Violinist4Christ
Sorry for not posting for so long!! Has it really been a whole month already? Yikes.
Anyway, if you're checking this blog still, thanks for your patience! What with school starting, me getting a job (Did I fail to mention that earlier? It HAS been too long!), and other activities going on, it's been hard to find time to get online, much less keep up a blog. But I'll try to do better as I get into the swing of things.
Oh, and yes, I did get a job at the library I've been volunteering at, so I'm really excited about that. It's just a part time job, two days a week. It's been really fun so far, getting to check books out to people, answer people's questions, help people find books, shelve, etc. AND, I'm getting paid, so it won't be very long before I have enough money for the new used violin I'm saving up for!!
Okay, well, you're probably wondering what this has to do with the title. I'm getting to that. Lol. Another reason it's been so long since I've posted is because my family and I went on a road trip to the state of Washington a few weeks ago to visit family. Approx. 2,000 miles there, 2,000 miles back. Yeah. Long road trip. But it was fun. God showed us a lot of things on that trip, which was really great especially since our trip was during the church camp I really wanted to go to.
Anyway, back to the subject of this post. Being on a road trip means finding places to eat on the way that the whole family agrees on, which isn't always the easiest thing. One person wants to eat here, another there, and *gasp* was that a Subway sign we just passed? Let's exit here and go to Subway! ;) But one particular evening, we couldn't decide where to eat. One person wanted to go to this restaurant, while another wanted to go to Burger King. Well, after a lot of discussion, some of it rather frustrated, we decided on Burger King. Now, let me say here that one particular member of my family does NOT like fast food restaurants at all, least of all Burger King. So right there it was worth noting that that family member agreed to eat there. Well, we went in, ordered our food, and as Dad was getting our water, he started talking to a man standing nearby. Well, it turns out that the man was blind, AND was a Christian. He, his friend, and my dad talked almost the entire time we were there, and at the end of the meal, he and the friend prayed for us. It was kind of amazing - he prayed for exactly what we needed then. Then we prayed for them - right there in the middle of Burger King. It was really amazing how God worked. I don't think it was by accident that we stopped at Burger King that night, at that exact time those people were there. The steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord. (Psalm 37.) God ordered our steps so that we would meet those people then, so we could both be ministered to. Praise God, who directs the paths of those who trust in Him!
A final note, I'd like to hear some feedback from you all! What would you like to see on this blog in the future? I don't always know what to blog about, so any and all ideas are welcome. :)
Blessings!
Violinist4Christ
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus
Yesterday I remembered a time a few years ago when I was listening to a CD of beautiful Christian Folk music. I was with my sister at home while my parents were out. I enjoyed the CD so much, that I wanted my parents to hear it when they got home. So I planned to play it for them as soon as they walked in the door, so they could be blessed by it as well. I wanted to share the music with them.
As I was thinking about that, I thought of how much it seems that children want to please their parents. Then I thought, "Well, God is our eternal Father. Shouldn't we strive to do things with the goal to please Him?" When doing homework, we should do it as if God were our teacher and was going to grade it. We should do it at such a high quality, that God would be pleased with it. Write neatly, study, do all your work. Hand it in on time.
When playing an instruments, play it well and joyfully to the Father! Lift it up to Him as a beautiful offering to Him. If you have an audience, also ask Him to use it to bless others, and bring Him glory.
When doing chores at home, do them at excellent as you would if you saw Jesus standing next to you.
When giving in the offering at church, worship Him with your giving! Do it joyfully, out of a thankful heart.
When your parents ask you to do (or not to do) something, obey them. Honor them. Cheerfully!
No, salvation is not based on works. But we should be so in love with God that we want to do things to please Him. Even in the small, every day things, He wants us to do them to Him. To commit our way to the Lord.
1 Corinthians 10:31
"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Philippians 2:14
"Do all things without complaining and disputing"
Colossians 3:17
"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
(NKJV)
My challenge to you is to follow those commands today. And not just today, but every day of your life. As long as you are alive, those verses still stand.
-Violinist4Christ
As I was thinking about that, I thought of how much it seems that children want to please their parents. Then I thought, "Well, God is our eternal Father. Shouldn't we strive to do things with the goal to please Him?" When doing homework, we should do it as if God were our teacher and was going to grade it. We should do it at such a high quality, that God would be pleased with it. Write neatly, study, do all your work. Hand it in on time.
When playing an instruments, play it well and joyfully to the Father! Lift it up to Him as a beautiful offering to Him. If you have an audience, also ask Him to use it to bless others, and bring Him glory.
When doing chores at home, do them at excellent as you would if you saw Jesus standing next to you.
When giving in the offering at church, worship Him with your giving! Do it joyfully, out of a thankful heart.
When your parents ask you to do (or not to do) something, obey them. Honor them. Cheerfully!
No, salvation is not based on works. But we should be so in love with God that we want to do things to please Him. Even in the small, every day things, He wants us to do them to Him. To commit our way to the Lord.
1 Corinthians 10:31
"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Philippians 2:14
"Do all things without complaining and disputing"
Colossians 3:17
"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
(NKJV)
My challenge to you is to follow those commands today. And not just today, but every day of your life. As long as you are alive, those verses still stand.
-Violinist4Christ
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