Monday, September 20, 2010

Can you attach mp3 files to a blog?

Does anyone know how to attach mp3 files to this?  I would like to do that with some things I've recorded on Audacity.  Let me know if you know how!  Thanks so much.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Contrast

I've been wanting to blog but I haven't made the time to write lately.  I have been working a lot (for me) and also, I suppose, playing a lot too.  :)

Well, today as I was driving over highway 55 eastwards I saw the Purina Plant which is being demolished and above all the piles of rubble there was about twenty or thirty dark colored birds (crows, perhaps) sitting on a telephone wire, but what was striking was that in the middle of these was a single white bird of almost exactly the same size.   I was gawking from my car as I drove by and continued to sing with the radio.  I turned my head back a ways to make certain I was seeing it; yes, indeed I was.  Now, I do not know what kind of bird it was (nor what the other birds were actually).  My only guess is that it may have been a dove but even knowing that still doesn't explain things.

As I biked later on I thought of this image in my mind and Jesus (or followers of Jesus) could be like that white bird.  When everything else is falling apart all around and everyone else is darkness, those who follow Jesus can be light.  This also connects with a song I heard in my car by Sara Groves,

"You are the sun/ shining down on everyone
Light of the world/ giving light to everything I see
Beauty so brilliant/ I can hardly take it in
And everywhere you are is warmth and light

And I am the moon with no light of my own
Still you have made me to shine
And as I glow in this cold dark night
I know I can't be a light unless I turn my face to you"

Simple but beautiful.  I want to be like a white bird that makes someone wonder, but I know that I don't have light, I don't have goodness - without Jesus my Savior. 

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Sufjan Stevens: sustenance for the soul

In my college years I discovered a remarkable musician/artist:  Sufjan Stevens.  My husband and I had one of his songs, "Vito's Ordination", play as the recessional at our wedding.  It was very fitting to us.  It's been a number of years since he's released anything resembling an album until just a couple of weeks ago.  I find myself craving his new songs just like I used to his old ones (which I still must listen to every now and then).  They are like sustenance for the soul.  The way he sings, especially on this album, captures a myriad of emotion and depth of heart.  His lyrics are raw yet whimsical yet enigmatic at times.  So, please, I beg you, have a listen.  At first you may find it too strange, just keep listening and I think you will discover why Sufjan is one of the artists I most love. 

The link:
http://sufjanstevens.bandcamp.com/album/all-delighted-people-ep