Vinyl Records Rule

I'm writing this on the day after Christmas. More that a few times over the course of the day I've seen pictures of new vinyl record turntables up on Facebook that friends have posted, obviously a cool Baby-Boomer gift this season.

I've reconnected with that old turntable/vinyl record love affair recently—a flame that faded years ago after the CD player and digital music made their debut in the late-80s. Like many, I fell for what the experts told us was a better, sexier audio format. I've never quite forgiven myself for parting with many of the vinyl records I'd accumulated over the years—plastic treasures wrought with gift money and hard-earned scratch from my after-school job. I spent most of my paycheck on gas for my '65 Dodge Polara and at a record shop near where I grew up in Fullerton, California.

We called them "records" back then (I still do). Vinyl had limited space, so you were forced to pause and turn the record over after side-one was finished. You'd always be careful to hold the record by its edge to avoid leaving fingerprints and scratches on the shiny surfaces. After carefully lowering the needle, the invisible dust particles would make popping-sounds while finding the groove, then you'd settle in for side-two.

The record jackets were usually filled with plenty of reading material, a hypnotic widow into the fantasy world of the musician's lives. Over the years, I began to recognize the names of the musicians who played on my favorite records, and soon learned to anticipate those players on other records with other artists. I connected the dots between record companies, song writers, artists, producers, players, engineers and recording studios.

Those on-the-floor, between-the-speakers listening sessions were magical, and I still seek the "wonder" those times would bring. Even though most of my favorite records were made in recording studios less than an hour from my home in Orange County, L.A. seemed like a million miles away. Many of the artists I admired lived minutes from the Sunset Strip, and played in places like the Troubadour, the Whisky A Go Go and The Roxy.

For over thirty years I've made my career in music. And although I started out in the mid- to late-70s with analog tape, I have mostly recorded in a pristine, digital world. It's impossible to innocently sit and listen to music like I used to—especially many of the records I grew up with from the 60s and 70s. It's hard to listen without picking everything apart; I'd hear the out-of-tune vocals and the shifting tempos—it's driven me a little crazy sometimes.

But recently, after my buddy Kevin Shaw hooked me up with an old-school turntable, receiver and a couple of speakers, I coaxed what was left of my vinyl record collection out of retirement. Placing the needle on one of those discs, it all came back to me: the wonder, the pops, the warmth, the imperfections, the simplicity of a stereo image on two full-range speakers, and the beauty of analog. I've rediscovered that vinyl records rule!

Justin Timberlake—Teacher and Guide

I was talking to an old friend today who was a student at my first Worship Foundry school. He's now a grown man with a college degree and a new bride, but fondly remembers those two semesters he spent learning about the guitar in a context of worship. He said he'd love to start a Worship Foundry in his current church, where he says there's interest but no opportunity there for future generations of worship leaders to begin their journey as a worship musician—the kind of opportunity he had more than a decade earlier. I loved being a mentor to those students, many of whom are still playing in worship bands all over the country.

While clicking through the cyber edition of our local paper, The Tennessean, I discovered an article featuring Justin Timberlake and his budding ambition as a teacher and a mentor—at the ripe old age of 32. No one is too young to be a mentor, especially if you're Justin Timberlake and have millions of fans. (After seeing his amazing laser-light-laden performance on Saturday Night Live this past weekend, it's not hard for even an old fogey to realize his immense talent).

In the Tennessean article by Cindy Watts, Timberlake said:

“There might be another calling for me out there,” he said. “And it might be being a part of music in this way as a communicator and a teacher and a guide.” 

Might Taylor Swift be a potential student? He questioned what the multi-platinum-selling singer’s career will be “when she crosses over the threshold of adulthood.” 

“She’ll get her day in the sun when she’s ready to move the needle,” he said. “That was something I was very conscious of. I was in a group that was bigger than bubble gum (*NSYNC). Talk about stadiums. We played every stadium in the world, it feels like. It’s almost like, with anything, when you do settle into adulthood is when when people respect you in a different way. But there’s no question in my mind that that’s where she’s going, if she so chooses. For me I am sort of the oracle of the idea, and I’m also the communicator of it.” 

He also wants to break down genre barriers in songwriting. 

“When are we just all going to sit in the same room and go, ‘You know what? The clash of cultures is what it’s about,’ ” he said. “And to be honest, I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, about how I’d like to be a part of it. That’s what I’m looking forward to in the next 10 or 15 years, helping these young kids who are songwriters make a career out of it.”

I am still passionate about being a mentor—so much so that I dedicated a chapter about it in my new book, Worship Foundry. I hope you pick up a copy so that you, too, can learn to create a worship school for your own church. I promise that it will be a blessing for your students, the church, the Kingdom, and incredibly fulfilling for you as a teacher and leader.

Merry Christmas!

The Dash Between the Dates

Having several songs published in hymn books over the years, I'm used to seeing next to my name, in many an author index: Jamie Harvill (1960-    ). It's comforting to know that the blank space remains; it lets me know that I have a future!

Author Kevin Welsh wrote: "There'll be two dates on your tombstone and all your friends will read them. But all that is going to matter is that little dash between them." That dash represents our legacy. Maya Angelou has said: "...Your legacy is what you do everyday; it's every life you've touched; it's every person whose life was either moved or not; it's every person you harmed or helped—that's your legacy!' What does that "dash" say of my life, even now, before my earthly journey is completed?

The older I get as a Christ-follower, the more clear it becomes that during much of that "dash" God is helping me to be conformed to the likeness of Christ. It represents surrender—an ongoing opportunity to be made better as a human and as a child of God. Paul, in Romans 5:4-5, says: "...we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us" (NIV).

Sometimes life is filled with extreme difficulty, but it can also be filled with great joy. And in the span of our lives, the thing that really matters is that we love God and love people. 

Walking past a cemetery, it's obvious that none of those interred there are ambitious, hungry, chasing after riches, or trying to "one-up" the neighbors. None of that matters to them—they've come to the end of their journey. As Christ-followers, God's been trying to get us to die to ourselves, forsaking the temporal for a greater reward in heaven, where we'll hunger, thirst, worry and feel pain no more. While still living within the dash, we can rise to meet God's purpose for us, as the writer David Roper says: "To make us great." 

This goal is not a part of the American Dream that we've been taught since infancy. Many continue to define the "Dream" as: owning a home and having a happy family, with some success often referred to as physical comfort and financial security.

In the T.S. Eliot poem, "Ash Wednesday," Dante's concept of the "low and high dream" is referenced: The "low dream" is to live for oneself, but the "high dream" is to live for the will of God. 

Let's forsake the American Dream, with its "low dream" aspirations of seeking comfort, for a life filled with opportunities to grow as Christ-followers, and to prepare for the glorious presence of God we will experience into eternity—while we still have "dash" left between the dates.

3 Ways to Measure Spiritual Success

2013 is almost gone. Now is the time when most people look back and take stock of how their year went—good or bad. I saw a Tweet written around Thanksgiving from Beth Moore that came from her own tear-filled recap of 2013. She wrote, "...sometimes what you're thankful for is that your family survived a hard year."

It has been a tough year for many, myself included.

What we sign up for as Christians is to be used by God. What often takes us by surprise, however, are the difficult periods of refinement we must go through in the process. Sometimes after an especially tough journey, it feels like I've crawled out of an industrial clothes dryer that was set on high! After my own challenges this year, with several trials—one after the other—I'm thankful to have survived. But what I need at year's end is a standard by which I can measure what God considers true success. Here are three important considerations:

1. Success begins with an offering to God (Worship)

The Bible is filled with stories of regular, everyday people—folks who gave what little they had to God:

—Moses held up a staff:  God told him to throw it down. Moses picked it up and afterward performed miracles with it and helped deliver a nation out of slavery (Exodus 4:1-5)

—David held up five smooth stones:   God used David and those stones in a slingshot to slay a giant (1 Samuel 17:40-48)

—A widow held up empty containers:  God filled them with oil; she went on to sell the oil to make good on her debts, and lived, both she and her sons, on what was left (2 Kings 4:7)

—The disciples held up 5 loaves and 2 fish:  Jesus blessed the meal and fed over 5,000 people (Matthew 14:13-21)

2. Success is loving God's people and doing His will (Service)

Our success as Christ-followers is not measured by the stuff we have, but by loving people, following Him in faith, and trusting in His Word. In John 6:38 Jesus said: "I came down from heaven not to follow my own whim but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me" (MSG). If we have followed after God in 2013—in big and small ways—we have succeeded!

3. Success is being conformed to the image of God's Son (Spiritual Formation)

Living a life of faith is impossible for any man or woman to do; we cannot live the Christian life on our own. Thankfully, Christ redeems and indwells us, and lives the Christ-life through us. This journey may take us through some "lion, tiger and bear" moments in life, where it can be easy to give in to fear rather than trust God and walk in faith. I was reminded this year that God desperately desires that I be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

By using this method of measurement, I can celebrate many successes this year. God took what little I had and turned it into much more than I could have ever imagined. I pray that your personal recap of 2013 brings shouts of praise!

New Jamie Harvill Recording: "Songs for the Harvest" CD Sampler

Press here to purchase the complete CD today: $12 (standard USPS shipping included)

Cyber Monday: Book & CD Offer—Extended Through Christmas!

I've been away for a few weeks filling my batteries and having great family time! It's time to get back to writing and the joy that I always find communicating what's on my heart.

I am so happy to have completed two projects in the past few months which have recently been released; I want to take this opportunity, on Cyber Monday, to make them available together for the special price of $25, with free shipping! The book, Worship Foundry, and my new CD, Songs for the Harvest, are ready to ship and I will sign both if you purchase them directly from me. Please email me and I will let you know how to pay, and will get them out to you lickity split!

I pray that your Thanksgiving was fantastic and filled with generous helpings of gratefulness, family and friends~

Blessings to all,
Jamie

Press here to purchase the book and CD combo today!

Breaking Bad: Reconciling Life's Difficulties

It seem everywhere I read lately there have been several mentions in blogs, articles, etc., of how to reconcile bad things that happen to good people. If we are always looking for "fairness" in life, our expectations will produce a disappointing reality.

In college, while studying to be a pastor, the theological topic of "the problem of evil" would raise its head quite often. As mentioned before, while expecting "fairness" in everything, we are easily disheartened. This week in the news, 10,000 Filipinos lost their lives as a horrible typhoon that swept across their island nation. Think of that—10,000 people perished—moms, dads, kids, grandparents...innocent people who didn't deserve to die. And how can we wrap our heads around the recent school killings, or the brutal gassing of civilians in the Syrian Civil War? There are no easy answers, and perhaps, no immediate answers at all.

C.S. Lewis pondered of the problem of evil in a work called, "The Case for Christianity." He wrote:

“God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but I can't. If a thing is free to be good it's also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata—of creatures that worked like machines—would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they've got to be free. Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently, He thought it worth the risk... If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will—that is, for making a real world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings—then we may take it it is worth paying.”

In another work called "The Problem of Pain," C.S. Lewis helps to bring understanding to the process of God refining the hearts and souls of His dearly beloved children:

“We are, not metaphorically but in very truth, a Divine work of art, something that God is making, and therefore something with which He will not be satisfied until it has a certain character. Here again we come up against what I have called the “intolerable compliment.” Over a sketch made idly to amuse a child, an artist may not take much trouble: he may be content to let it go even though it is not exactly as he meant it to be. But over the great picture of his life—the work which he loves, though in a different fashion, as intensely as a man loves a woman or a mother a child—he will take endless trouble—and would doubtless, thereby give endless trouble to the picture if it were sentient. One can imagine a sentient picture [one which helps the beholder sense, feel, perceive or experience subjectivity], after being rubbed and scraped and re-commenced for the tenth time, wishing that it were only a thumb-nail sketch whose making was over in a minute. In the same way, it is natural for us to wish that God had designed for us a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less.” 

My friend John Stanko, in a recent blog post entitled "Strength and Weakness," wrote of the Apostle Paul's difficulties and how he seemed to be failing when in fact he was actually doing the will of God while struggling through overwhelming circumstances. Stanko said:

"Paul saw that he was in his best position for success when he was in his purpose, but also facing his limitations, trusting the Lord to somehow make a way. And God always did make a way, even when he was in prison or on a sinking ship. Even when the ship was going down, Paul was fulfilling his purpose of taking the gospel to the Gentiles, even the Gentile ship's crew."

Our limitations, trials and difficulties make us stronger. As C.S. Lewis illustrated through the "intolerable compliment," would we trade the character God has formed in us for an easier life? That's up to each individual to decide. In Romans 5:1-5, Paul makes the claim which sheds light on the value of his own struggles:

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (NASB)"

We may never reconcile pain, unfairness, badness, evil and sin in this life like we do with our bank statements, but God will always use our suffering to create His likeness in us. We must be a willing vessel, ready to be formed by the Artist's skilled hands on His pottery wheel.