WHY FIVE SMOOTH STONES?

Image from folioart.com

I Samuel 17: 40-50 (Today's NIV) courtesy of Biblestudytools.com

40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. 41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!" 45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands." 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

I was deep in thought today, and the LORD brought this to my spirit. When David was in the field, confronting Goliath, he took the time to look deliberately for five smooth stones. This brings me to my first conclusion:

1. I Must Take My Time To Choose My Tools And Plans.

David didn’t just choose any old stone, but FIVE smooth ones out of the brook, not from dry land. I don’t know. Maybe if David chose just any old stones, the same result might have happened, but the Bible deliberately mentions five smooth stones chosen out of the brook. Selection and implementation, maybe? Then I thought David had to protect his sheep many times. This may have been another way that he killed hungry predators. He would had to have previous experience with wet smooth stones as a weapon of choice. A hard stone would break the skull. A stone that was carved smooth by the constant flow of water would then easily slip into the brain. This leads me to my second conclusion:

2. Be Selective and Choose The Best Tools And Plans To Get The Job Done.

The thought occurred to me that I should be just as selective when I select my tools and plans to slay the Goliaths in my life. David knew the seriousness of the situation, but he did not approach the Goliath until he had just the right tools and a plan of action. David had his stick, five smooth stones, a bag to hold the other four, a sling, and the POWER OF GOD. Even in the urgency of the matter, David took his time...for GOD was with him. Our tools or plans may not look like what we’re supposed to have in the eyes of men to slay our Goliaths, and we will surely be belittled and insult our enemy with the tools we choose.

The tools were not really the stones, but the magnificent and powerful Name of the LORD. In HIS Name we slay giants and move mountains, but we still have our part. GOD will utilize our tools and plans to the max when we slow down take our time to choose the tool for the situation, no matter what it is, and regardless of the impending urgency! AND, David only needed one stone out of five to get the job done, which leads me to my third conclusion:

3. Always Have Four Comparable and Accessible Backup Plans! It’s The LORD’s CHOICE To Use The One He Wants!

David knew the awesome power of GOD but he was also humble enough to know that the LORD could have chosen to use any of stones two through five. The LORD decided to allow victory with the first stone. So should we also have the same faith and hope in the LORD to use our first tool/plan. Should the LORD decide to use one of the other tools, they must be just as excellent and able to get the job done as the first one!

So...I will now have a look at my own Giant Killing plans and back up plans. Care to join me?

Fasting with Prayer...

We are not to appear unto men to fast.  That is true.  I thought about writing all of the things that are going on with me as I make this journey...but I think that I will keep my sensitive items simply between me and the LORD.  What I will say is this.  As soon as I set my heart to seek GOD, what happens?  I get a summer cold!  So my first two days were spent nursing myself, seeking GOD and ever hoping to be where HE wants me.  I feel a little like Morgan Freeman's character Red in the Shawshank Redemption when he was on the way to Zihuatanejo.

I Hope...

All Finished!

I am happy to announce that my new track is finished!  It is called Yesterday, and I will provide more details as the track is closer to being released.  I would like to invite you all to pray that the LORD will open doors for this music to reach the WORLD!  His Will be done!  Ella lives on!!

Shades of Al and Ella mixed with thoughts of Japan...

PHOTO: Visited Asia . Com
Been difficult to think of singing dreamily over a driving, focused and determined track, but then I realized the irony of the two. I want to float lazily over the musical equivalent of the Colorado Rapids, but the energy pulls me in...and I resist on purpose. I want to maintain my cool and give smooth vocals to make a sort of yin-yang feel, but the drive...the rip tide...the waves envelop me - and I cannot resist. I go back to the place where everything was so familiar to me, and I find that everything is gone - everything has forever changed and I find myself beginning again. A new landscape. A new horizon. Shards of landmarks. Torn pieces of street signage that told me where I once existed and found comfort in familiarity.

I close my eyes and think back to the old, in Black and White I hear Shades of Ella in perfect diction and intonation wrapped in a vessel of everyday brown clay. I turn in further and hear my own Nautilus the echoes out of sync, out of meter, yet I dare to match wits with Shades, I, dare to...evoke.

I hear my own Yesterdays and recollect photographs in sepia brown. I think of all my past loves and post scripts superimposed to my Yesterday, and emerges another Yesterday - my joyous happy sequesterdays. But. Then. I. Think of the Rising Sun, mourn I and remember I that no thing will separate. Not shuddering Earth or Responding tide.

I will make my Second Pass in my Journey tonight with these images in mind, and a shard of the Rising Sun in my voice.

Journey to Yesterday

Well, It has really been a whirlwind of a year - and it is only March! Let me say that there have been projects that engaged in - musical projects that I have not seen through. To all those, I must apologize. I do plan to continue the projects. Part of it has been a lack of proper equipment. God has provided, and now comes the learning curve. The other part of it has been a creative desert. Have you ever been in one of those? It is a sobering experience to say the least. It is all part of the creative process, though. There must be dry days, and rainy days filled with blessing. But it does not make going through the desert feel any better. Thank the Lord that He makes ways in the wilderness and rivers in the desert!

So now I begin a project that I actually wrote several years ago, and now the Lord has made a way for it to be produced. It is finally time to release it to the world, and I am definitely taking my time to write it. I feel like the music version of Ernest Hemingway's "a movable feast." I want to record and listen and re-record and listen. I am hoping that this track, and the journey to make it, will inspire whomever the Lord gives me to inspire. So now I am listening to three artists that I call "The Greats." Ella, Al, and Sarah. I am listening to Al First for his expertise in vocalese, scatting, and instrumental mimicry. I usually like to keep these fond treasures to myself, but maybe there are others who enjoy taking art and building something new with it.

So, the song is called Yesterday and it is produced by Reuben Kane - an up and coming maestro, in my opinion. It is a very cool stepper song that I want to steep in jazz technique. Back when I was a music major in junior college, I wanted to be a jazz singer. I absolutely love jazz and all of the wonderful colors and feelings that jazz evokes. I love The Greats I have mentioned earlier, and I hope to add a nod to each of them in the song. Oh, about the song...it's me realizing that I love the Lord, and that the Lord loves me too. This kind of love, the human aspect of love toward God, is evolutionary much like a blooming rose. We know God loves us, but the more we trust Him, the more we realize and learn for ourselves the extent of that love. This song catalogues the realization of a love revelation, where the Lord has carried me through yet another hard place, and I awaken to a deeper level of His unconditional, unchanging love for me.

So I start with brother Al Jarreau, where I hear in his voice and vocal stylings the joy of life and love of his craft. I am hopeful that a little of his gift will rub off onto me!