Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas, the story of the assasination of Frank Steunenberg, a former Governer of Idaho, and the struggle between business and labor. It also delves into the lifes and stories surrounding the state of Idaho at the time. It is fascinating.
Author Archive for Brian Baldowski
I continually promise to start posting again but seem to fall through. Probably, no one checks the site anymore. I don’t know. I will make an effort to use the site more. Look for posts on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. I work long hours at night with little to do. Maybe also around vacation times. We will see how successful I will be in the future.
I know music enhances emotion. Is that why, when I listen to Rich Mullins and other powerful artists, I feel a deeper connection to God? Does his music mirror my feelings? When I hear Hold Me Jesus I think of the line “I would rather fight you for something I don’t really want rather than take what you give and I need” and think it is the perfect description of me. Maybe that is why, when I hear that particular song, I begin to cry and sing and praise. I need to tell God how much I love him.
Some, though, will say the music is what causes my reaction and not the lyrics. I don’t know. Is the sacred song so powerful because of the message or because of the composition?
Miss Tick sniffed. “You could say this advice is priceless,” she said. “Are you listening?”
“Yes,” said Tiffany
“Good. Now… if you trust in yourself…”
“Yes?”
”...and believe in your dreams…”
“Yes?”
”...and follow your star…” Miss Tick went on.
“Yes?”
”...You’ll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy. Good-bye.”
-Terry Pratchett
The Wee Free Men
How many times have you heard, “We would have never known about it if not for this…” That is what happened to my mother-in-law. She fell in a parking lot and cracked a rib. The x-ray’s revealed the lump on her lung, otherwise we would not have known about it. Mysterious ways indeed.
I’m not sure why but all the log-in data is at the bottom of the screen instead of the side.
I am going to try to relaunch the blog. I may only post a couple of days a week, unless I get a better computer. I don’t like wrestling with the old one. Now I just need to figure out how to reset everything properly…
One of the greatest songwriters I have ever heard is Rich Mullins. Many people know him as the writer of the song Awesome God. All his music causes me to reflect on God and my life with Him. I think the one song that most reflects my walk is the song Hold Me Jesus. I think why I connect so much to Rich’s music is the fact he is not afraid to let you know he has doubts, weaknesses, and temptations. He writes about the full scope of faith. Too many people are afraid tho let their fans know they are weak at times, but God uses the weaknesses we have to help bring others to Him. If someone sees us struggle but remain faithful, that is a witness. Here is the video for Hold Me Jesus. You might want to mute the U2 streaming video on this page to hear the song. I am also including the link to the video incase the embedding doesn’t work, because half the time it doesn’t for me.
I have been working at a Christian bookstore for a few months now and have had several thoughts. One, the Christian community tries to hard to copy the world. There is a card game called Redemption that is an imitation of Magic and other card games. There movies that are imitations of the comedies like Pineapple Express and action movies like The Bone Collector. There are books that imitate the popular series of Patterson and King. They all seem pale comparisons of these works though. I do not think we should be copying the works of the world, we should be producing our own art based on our own beliefs. When we try to imitate the world and fail the world just looks at us and laughs. These pale imitations tend to drive more people away and marginalize the Christian community rather than win people over to Christ, which should be the goal of all the work Christians produce. This is not to say all the movies and books that have been produced are poor. There are some high quality movies like One Night With the King, that tells the story of Esther. These movies and books are what needs to be continued to be produced.
Two, I am amazed at some of the products we sell. There are religious hand lotions, candies, pens, pencils, the list goes on. These items make me wonder if people are not just slapping Jesus’s name on an item just to sell it. Like the Steve Taylor song says, we have made Jesus a franchise in the food courts.
Three, Christian stores also hasten the isolation of the Christian community from the world. We have developed a completely separate culture. We need to engage the world. Challenge the pre-conceived notions the world has of Christians as being stuck up and holier than though. We are no better or worse than a non-Christian. Acting as if we are confirms the idea in peoples minds that we are hypocrites, which if we are acting like we are better then we are hypocrites.
Four, there are many good Christian music artists that are ignored by mainstream radio. I believe this is a direct result of the isolation the Christian community has cultivated.
I have met many good people through working at the store though. I have had some good conversations with customers ans staff. So, the experience has not been too bad. Also, I have rediscovered some old friends like Oswald Chambers and Third Day that I have not read or listened to in some time. I have also found some new things I like, but would have never heard otherwise, because I don’t go to bookstores often.