These two delightfully illustrated storybooks teach important truths about God and are ideal for parents to read to children aged 3 to 6 (or for older children to read themselves). Parents may also benefit by seeing ways they can teach their children about God in day to day family life. (Notes for parents are included.)
Over the Fence teaches about the God who made us and who knows us. The Rag Doll focuses on how clever God is to make us—our hands, our feet, our eyes—and make us grow—so we can thank him. Written by Stephanie Carmichael and delightfully illustrated in watercolour by Jessica Green, the themes in these two books tie in closely to lessons found in the Teaching Little Ones children’s syllabus (also written by Stephanie).
You can see inside the books and hear them read by the author at the product page in our online store (click on the books to go there now).
I’m excited to spread the word about my friend, Zach Nielsen’s first official jazz release. Zach is a gifted leader and musician. Here’s what he has to say about his first recording:
It’s a five song EP called “Songs in a Minor Key”. This recording took place this past spring in Albuquerque, NM with some of the best musicians the city has to offer. It is far from perfect (what jazz recording is?) but I think you’ll find some rich moments throughout that will peek your interest and engage your ear.
Recording jazz is a very different process than my pop/rock recording experience in the past. In jazz, all the musicians play together and we do a few takes and simply choose the best one of three or fours takes. With a rock recording you usually analyze every square inch of the recording and slave over all the minutiae. Not so with jazz. We attempt to capture a performance that is rich with energy and life but perfection is not the goal. Communication, interaction, and artistic expression are the goals and I think those goals were met in these short recording sessions.
For some, jazz is esoteric and obtuse. To the unacclimated, it can sound like random noise that is challenging to listen to for extended periods of time. For that reason I recorded a couple songs that most people will recognize. The recording kicks off with my arrangement of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” and later on you’ll find The Police’s famous hit, “Message In A Bottle”. In my experience, if people hear a simple melody that they recognize it greatly increases their enjoyment and overall listening experience. I hope that is the case for you as you encounter this recording.
The remaining three tracks are jazz standards from many decades ago. First, “Nardis” is a Miles Davis tune made famous by one of my piano heros, Bill Evans. Second, there is a lesser known Wayne Shorter tune that I learned back in college called, “Black Nile” and finally another jazz standard called, “Beautiful Love”.
I am excited to release this recording today and if you would be willing, please pass this info along to anyone you might think would appreciate it.
It can be purchased exclusively on iTunes and AmazonMP3. Take a moment and click over to either site and listen to some clips. If you would be willing, pass the links along via the various mediums of social media (Facebook, Email, Twitter, Blogs, etc). Here are the links you would need to share:
Recording Credits:
Zach Nielsen – Piano
Michael Glynn – Bass
Ian Byrd – Drums on Come As You Are and Message in a Bottle
Arnoldo Acosta – Drums on Black Nile, Nardis, and Beautiful Love
Chris Saiers – Audio Engineer
Mike Mulliniks – Mixing Engineer
Bryan Lopez – Cover Design
Ben Moore – Photography
Thanks to Fernando Ortega for letting me use his piano!
“His grace purposes to expose and free you from your bondage to you. His grace is meant to bring you to the end of yourself so that you will finally begin to place your identity, your meaning and purpose, and your inner sense of well-being in him. . . . To add to this, he designs circumstances for you that you would have never designed for yourself. All this is meant to bring you to the end of yourself, because that is where true righteousness begins. He wants you to give up. He wants you to abandon your dream. . . . He knows there is no life to be found in these things.”
Did you see Al Michael’s interview with Brett Favre last night? I think it revealed a few things about why he came back another year.
1) Favre hesitated in making a decision to come back because he fears failure and he fears man. He said that he did not want to let people down either by playing or not playing another year.
2) Favre misses the camaraderie of being part of a team … he said there’s nothing like it!
3) Favre knows he will make a lot of money. No brainer.
Whatever the reason … I’m glad he’s playing another year for my favorite team — the Vikes!
Al Mohler recently spoke at the Connecting Church and Home Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. In his message, “Christian Parenting is Combat,” he gives 4 things Christian leaders must do to connect the church and home.
#1 The church must present faithful vision of the family, marriage, and parenting – and equip believers to transfer that vision to the next generation.
#2 The church must overcome the zone of privacy and autonomy that keeps individuals from being accountable to the church community. We need to get into each others face. Our parenting and marriage are not properly ours – but belong to Christ and are the affairs of the whole church. Someone needs to get involved when people struggle in these areas.
#3 The church has got to be a place where brokenness is overcome by the Gospel. We slander the good news when we act like the only people who can glorify God are those who have never experienced brokenness.
#4 The church has to got to be the place where families are rescued and armed for the combat to which we are called. Discipleship is a battle. We come to church because we can’t afford not to come. We need to get together because we need to be equipped by the preaching of the Word of God and the fellowship of the Saints.
I wasn’t able to attend this year’s Connecting Church and Home Conference here in Louisville, Kentucky. But Tony Kummer took some great notes on the conference if you’re interested. The audio messages should be available at the conference website soon. You also might be interested in downloading this free conference program given to the attendees.
This is a great reminder when caring for people’s souls:
“Though we are all Christians together, we are all different, and the problems and the difficulties, the perplexities and the trials that we are likely to meet are in a large measure determined by the difference of temperament and of type. We are all in the same fight, of course, as we share the same common salvation, and have the same common central need. But the manifestations of the trouble vary from case to case and from person to person. There is nothing more futile, when dealing with [a] condition, than to act on the assumption that all Christians are identical in every respect. They are not, and they are not even meant to be.”
There are some parts of the Bible that you would rather just skip over when reading to your kids. It’s just easier than having to explain it to them when you have trouble understanding it yourself! Luke 14:25-33 is one such passage. It speaks about the cost of following Jesus. Verse 26 says, “if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.” Try explaining that one to your kids in simple, age-appropriate terms!
Now normally I might pass over passages like this one with my children. But surprisingly these verses were included in the Mighty Acts of God Family Story Bible we’re reading through together right now. And it prompted a good discussion between me and my two little girls (6 and 8).
As expected, they didn’t understand why Jesus would want us to hate our family to follow him. They reminded me that the Bible says you need to honor your father and mother and obey your parents. I nodded my head in agreement and tried to explain that Jesus wants us to love him more than anything else, even our family members. My oldest daughter replied, “But Daddy, I really really love Jesus and I really really love you. So why would Jesus say this if he’s the Son of God and he’s supposed to say everything right.”
Don’t you love the blunt honesty of kids? It’s refreshing! I didn’t get to go into detail about these verses, but we did talk a little more about how everything Jesus says is true even when it’s hard to understand. And if we don’t understand something, we should ask God to give us wisdom.
As it turns out, I’m the one who needs wisdom on this issue. Lord willing, in my next post I’ll write about the radical reinterpretation of what it means to follow Jesus and “leave one’s own family to join another.” Your thoughts are always welcome.
![seeds_logo_100x79[1]](http://life2getherblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/seeds_logo_100x791.jpg "seeds_logo_100x79[1]"){kind=logo}
