Aaron Riveroll | Photographer

MSNBC – 30-year, 15-year rates fall over past week

It came today, and now I’m immersed in the sounds of Caedmon’s latest. I have been looking forward to this album for several months…because it is something familiar and yet something totally different. In this project, as I mentioned before, the band visited several different countries to create something that was a reflection of these people. It’s touching, powerful, and inspiring to hear about people who literally have nothing, yet no matter how beaten down they are, worship with everything they have. The band talks about the Dalits, or broken people. These people are literally treated like nothing…like less than nothing. Yet, their passion is so strong. Why can’t I be like that?

An excerpt from the CD reads:

In many towns, Dalits are not allowed to draw water from a well. They must go to the well to beg for a higher caste person to share, and often no one does. Hinduism tells them they are worthless, with no hope for change. and the caste system only reinforces these lies. so, when they hear the truth about God — that He loves them, He made them in His image, and that Jesus came to die so they could be with Him — they are overcome. In John 4, Jesus breaks social taboos and drinks after the Samaritan woman at the well. And then He offers her the living water. “A well of water springing up into everlasting life.” At first, this may seem like a call for social justice, and as followers of Christ, we are commanded to look after hte poor and weak, but in the end, it is a call to evangelism. We are bearers of the well that will never run dry…will we share the well?

I encourage you to give the album a listen. I think you will be touched. When I saw them back in July, they performed Share The Well and Mother India (Danielle really shines in this one)…and that was awesome. I think you will like what you hear.

Well, I didn’t quite do that, although I did wake up at noon (partially clothed, anyway) and I drank water instead of coffee. It was a nice start to my 5-day weekend, which I strategically planned way back when. It will be nice to sit around and do nothing for the next few days.

For a while now, I have been wanting to post some sound clips on here, so tonight I decided to slowly start putting some up and eventually I will create a little space for them. For now, I will post them sporadically. The first clip I thought I’d share is from the 2002 performance of Handel’s Messiah at Point Loma. I was asked to sing one of the tenor solos and ended up singing all three sets since the other guy got sick. Unfortunately, the week before, my own throat was having technical difficulties and eventually, I got sick too. With a sore throat and weak voice, I was popping throat drops like candy and drinking a lot of hot tea. During the concert, the first two songs were a little shaky, but alright. The second two (which I usually always nail) were sort of weird…my voice felt like it was going to give out and I had no vocal strength at all . I went back to my seat praying my voice would come back for the last two songs (the most difficult, I might add). I almost motioned to the conductor to cut them…but in the last second, I decided to go through with them. And they ended up being the two best ones.

So here is a clip of of that set, He That Dwelleth in Heaven/Thou Shalt Break Them…the audio is a little weak because it was copied from a cassette tape (yes, I still have a few of them around).

…and If you know how the rest of that line goes, you know that it’s from the musical The Music Man. That’s me. The Music Man. I don’t think there is a minute in the day that I’m not listening to something, and it’s really quite pathetic. I realized that at work, I’m either listening to KLOVE or MoonTaxi online…but mostly, I have my iPod plugged in.

I love my iPod. I’ve almost walked into the bathroom with it on! When I’m driving home, I’m usually blasting a CD and singing at the top of my lungs. At home, I have iTunes or Media Player going when I’m working or I am playing my guitar or keyboard. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have my tunes. Very often, one will stick out, so I have created a little section on my blog sidebar dedicated to sharing the “song in my head,” if you will. I will update this every so often with a song or album that has inspired me, cheered or pumped me up, made me think of someone, made me feel like crying (even though I don’t cry ’cause I’m a dude), or any other human emotion that music seems to have an effect on. And you may see some repeats as I do tend to listen to the same stuff a lot. So there you have it. Enjoy.

This week is something new…a CD by Watermark called The Purest Place. Great tunes from that one. Ironically, found it from surfing Pixelgrazer (yet again) and heard some of their stuff on KLOVE online. Give them a listen.

Years of dreaming and hard work…and finally my good friend Daniel Harrison is officially a police officer. He’s wanted it for so long; and now it’s a reality. I’m proud of him. Way to go, Danny. Brian and I attended Danny’s graduation from the police academy tonight. It was a nice quick ceremony, and it was nice to schmooze with some of his family and friends afterwards. A real nice ending to the day. And at the end of the day, Danny still has the badge and the gun…he’s earned it.

Congratulations, man.

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