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James Divine's Blog Musings on music, teaching and life
December 3, 2007 Football vs. Music Congratulations to the Falcon High School. football team. Although they lost their game to Berthoud on December 1, they should still be proud of their accomplishment of making it to the final state championship game. In a football game, half of the people leave feeling dejected and disappointed. One thing I really like about all-state band, orchestra and choir is that the top musicians from the state join forces to create music together. Everybody leaves feeling uplifted by the beautiful music that's created. November 26, 2007 Football The Falcon High School football team made it all the way to state. We are playing our final game this Saturday. I just want to take this opportunity to thank the football team and the cheerleaders for supporting the band at all of our home pep band performances. The field demonstrations and cheers between our songs was awesome! Go Falcons! November 4, 2007 Ahhhh! The pleasure of sleep Many of you received an "extra hour" of sleep tonight. Did you know that the idea for daylight savings time came from a wise Italian man in the 15th century (I can pick on Italians because I am one)? The nights were starting to get cold and this man had only one blanket to keep himself warm. It was three centimeters too short, so he cut three centimeters off the top and sewed it onto the bottom. It’s weird to be 41 years old and still learning things about yourself, what makes you tick, why you are the way you are, etc. Often I find that God made me a certain way. I am unique, special, a child of the King. Sometimes in this journey called life I learn something along the way that is useful to me. Sometimes I either learn something from the students I teach or something I already know is brought out by them...thus today’s blog. In a discussion with some teenagers, they were talking about how little sleep they got because they needed to study this, do that project, etc. When I contemplated their conversation, I realized that as far back as I can remember, I rarely deprived myself of sleep, except in the short term. Okay, I have deprived myself of sleep to complete a long drive, but almost never to finish homework. Nineteen years ago, I was attending an Army Leadership course called PLDC. We had to be up at 4:30 each morning and were expected to study each evening. I can remember crawling into bed at about 9:00 each night. Others were still up studying over their notes. I had studied too, but decided that the extra sleep would make me more alert in class, which would cause me to retain more, which would mean I would need to study less. I would put in earplugs – these were open bay barracks – and pull the blanket over my head to block out the light. My classmates commented that I would do poorly in class if I did not study with them. I went with my instinct and slept soundly for seven and a half hours each night. As I recall, I finished in the top 10% of my class. Maybe college students have this whole studying thing wrong. Yes, get your studying in, but make sure to get a good night’s sleep every night. And while you’re at it, eat well and exercise too. It seemed to work for me. Proverbs 23:4 says, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.” However, don’t take this to mean that one should be lazy. Proverbs also has many admonitions against laziness. In fact, Proverbs 20:13 says, “Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare. What we are being admonished to do is to have a balance in all things. Now go work hard, but make sure to get plenty of sleep! November 3, 2007 The Denver Marathon A few weeks ago my daughter, oldest son and I ran the Denver marathon . What were we thinking to spend an entire day running 26.2 miles? The run was a huge challenge. My son said it was the toughest thing he’s done in his short 17 years. He finished in about 4:40 while my daughter and I finished in slightly over 5 hours. We weren’t in contention for the prize. One runner did receive a substantial amount of money for winning the race. One could say he was running with all his heart. All of us are in this race called life. I Corinthians 9:24 tells us to run the race in such a way as to get the prize. In this race called life we will face many trials – sickness, injury, betrayal, wrongdoing. However, we must run the race as if we are going for the prize because we are all going for it; there's not just one winner like in a footrace. That prize is eternal life spent with God and his son Jesus. In this race, everybody can win the prize if Christ is their King. Now go out and run!
October 8, 2007 Falcon HS Marching Band Starting something new can sometimes be a scary thing. I was a little scared when I decided to start a marching band at Falcon High School. With greater risk there is the potential for a greater reward in all areas of our lives. The band performed recently in the Florence, Colorado, Pioneer Day Parade. Although the marching band is small this year, they did an awesome job. I am looking forward to continued improvement in future years. Download the video by clicking HERE.
July 20, 2007 Favoritism Revisited I was just at the Colorado Bandmaster's Association Conference, a great event that got me thinking about school starting up.
Have you ever been talking to someone - having a good ol' time - when all of a sudden someone more important walks by and the person you are having a conversation with either stops talking to you or stops listening to talk to/listen to this other person? That is one of my biggest pet peeves. This act basically says to the person you were talking to that they are unimportant. When Jesus' disciples tried to shoo the children away so they would not bug Jesus, he gave them a little lesson in what's important. He said to his disciples- and I'm paraphrasing - Bug off guys; God's kingdom is made up of people just like these. In fact, if you can't become like them, you are going to have a hard time getting into heaven.
Treat everybody with the same respect and attention that you would Jesus Christ!
July 16, 2007 Favoritism " My brothers, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism." (James 2:1) Aren't you glad that God doesn't show favoritism and tells us not to? I was supposed to be spending this day in Breckenridge with my sons, part of a "vacation package" that we purchased as part of a fundraiser. As part of this vacation package, you had the option of touring the Breck Inn to see if you might want to purchase a time share. We opted not to do the tour. We opted not to do the tour. Our reservation could not be found. We were told we could change our plans or come anyway and pay the normal, full price, even though the mistake was their fault. We decided not to go and simply asked for our deposit back. Mistake or favoritism...you decide.
July 14, 2007 Setting the prisoner free I just finished a wonderful week of ministry...summer kids' church, men's ministry, and a concert at a youth detention facility. Sometimes we look at people who are incarcerated and feel sorry for them, thinking that somehow we are better. However, many of us are in the grips of sin, we have become slaves to our actions. Jesus Christ came to set us free from the power of sin!
July 8, 2007 Christian Artists...Take Action!
July 3, 2007 Spoiled Americans Have you ever noticed how spoiled we are here in America? I had the chance recently to share in music in Tecate, Mexico, across the border from San Diego, My hosts were Jack (Pops) and Jeannie Fries and their son Erik (missionaries to Tecate).
Why do I say that we are spoiled? The first church I ministered in was only slightly bigger than my two car garage, and the homes were only slightly bigger (many smaller) than the church. The floor was concrete with no covering, but the time of ministry was blessed. There were about 40 kids there and six adults, and they received the music and my testimony of an abusive father very well. These kids seemed to be quite content without the comforts and trappings many of us in the United States have.
How many of us would be content if we had everything taken from us? Paul - of New Testament fame - tells us that godliness with contentment is great gain. You see, there was nothing fancy about this particular church. The neighborhood was definitely a poor neighborhood. Nobody paid for their ticket to attend the concert. No CDs were sold. My sound system consisted of a 25 watt guitar amp, but there was great contentment in that place, contentment in knowing God.
Contentment comes from knowing God as our Abba (Daddy), and knowing that if we follow Him, we can spend eternity with him. Even if we live to be 100 - one of my goals, by the way - it will seem to be just a small blip in time when we compare that with eternity. Having things doesn't mean we can't learn to be content, it just sometimes makes it harder if we grow to love those things more than we love God. Believe me, I am all for people being wealthy. It gives us more opportunity to share what we have with others. God never condemned money...just the love of money.
Why don't you make God your own Daddy today?
July 1, 2007 Eating the right food? What’s the most important thing we can do to grow in our Christian walk? Eat some food! Not pizza, tacos, nachos and such, but spiritual food from God’s word. If you are not doing so already, start reading some from God’s word at least 3-4 times per week. You don’t have to read chapters and chapters. A few verses will do. You will find that your spiritual hunger is filled.
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