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October 31, 2007
It's a boy!
Posted by Kirk Ward at 1:13 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 30, 2007
If You Go To Church At New City Fellowship You Have To Read This!
This blog post was incredibly encouraging. It's a bunch of observations by a guy who visited my church who is not a Christian. Please read it here and then come back if you want to read my comments...
It makes me realize several things:
- no matter how discouraged I might feel at times about our work at NCF, it's still an amazing place to be. Get behind me Satan!
- sometimes I feel so at home and normal at NCF that I don't see how bizarre we are to outsiders.
- the gospel, when you live it out, really freaks people out.
here's the scariest thing it made me see:
-people are sitting in the folding chairs every weekend, drawing conclusions, making judgments-good or bad-about who we are and what we do.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 3:47 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 29, 2007
Weekend Wrap-Up
I lost my voice this weekend. I picked up a cold during the week and took a sick day to try to nip it in the bud. However, by Saturday my voice was hurting and I barely got through my two rehearsals. The killer was that I went out to a party at our friend's house. Trying to have a conversation over the loud sounds of a party was a bad idea. When I got up Sunday I didn't have much of a voice to speak of (pun). My daughter called me "Bruce the Shark" either from my gnarly teeth or my raspy voice.
I had a lot of details to keep track of this weekend. I had to remember to make the London Bridge Team announcement (Heidi had to do it for me due to my non-voice). I had to remember to test and diagnose the problems with our projector as well as prepare the back-up in case it went out on Sunday morning again. I had to remember to prepare and bring the handout to advertise the start of choir season. I had to remember that the youth choir needed to have the gym unlocked and equipment fired up for their rehearsal on Saturday. I had to remember to bring the Missions booklets to South City and set them out for people to pick up. I had to remember to bring the amp modeler with me to South City.
Somehow, as my brain attempted to keep track of all these details, I forgot to bring my guitar to rehearsal in South City. D'oh! Fortunately, Nathanael had a guitar that I could use at his home close by.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:47 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 4, 2007
In Chattanooga
I'm hanging out with my family this week and preparing for a concert that I will be playing in with my dad. He is a Covenant College grad, and his college class is celebrating 5th Homecoming so he's doing a retrospective concert this Saturday night.
It's always nice to hang out with my dad and to talk shop. How do we faithfully fulfill our roles as church musicians? How do we work with church leadership? How do we serve the community of musicians? What do we do about our own sin? We also get to share music that we're listening to, songs we've written, or working on.
We’ll also spend some time with my wife’s kin up in the back woods of North Carolina. I’m looking forwards to getting back to the woods and spending time with Wil and Amy.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 7:11 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 1, 2007
Thorn In My Side
Here's a song that I wrote this month. It's got a kind of a Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, T-Bone Burnett kind of vibe.
Thorn In My Side
I can’t forget the night
When the light came
A voice spoke into my heart,
And it changed my name.
Years have passed since then,
But it feels like yesterday
And that voice still speaks into my heart
And I can hear it say,
“My son, why don’t you listen
When I’m talkin’ to you?
My son, why don’t you love me
Like you say that you do?
My arms are here to hold you
So please lay down your pride
But my embrace is gonna hurt you
‘Cause you got a thorn in your side”
Chorus
It’s gettin’ hard
To keep my hand on the plow
It’s gettin’ hard
To run in the race
It’s gettin' hard
To stand in the battle
With this thorn in my side
Yeah, this thorn in my side
Sometimes the thorn is subtle
And I forget it’s there
Sometimes it cuts into me,
Feels like more than I can bear.
Sometimes it feels familiar
Just like a good ol’ friend
Sometimes it seems to haunt me
Like a nightmare that won’t end
Will I choose to live or die now?
Sometimes I can’t decide
Times are hard this side of glory
With this thorn in my side
To Chorus
Bridge
Three times I asked my Jesus
To take the thorn from me
He said, “It’s there to show you
That my grace is all you need
When pain overwhelms you
Just remember what I’ve said
And remember that I once wore
A crown of thorns on my head
I know it gets hard
To keep your hand on the plow
I know it gets hard
To run in the race
I know it gets hard
To stand in the battle
With a thorn in your side
Yeah, a thorn in your side
Posted by Kirk Ward at 10:51 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack