“Prayer is your weapon.” -Ralph Diehl
Back in Action.
In High School, I was writing songs all the time. Like, every week. A lot of them were pretty good. Once I hit college, all my songwriting ceased. I haven’t written any substantial music in over 5 years.
About a week ago, I felt God lay on my heart to put together a CD of original instrumental music (I play the piano)Â to help people connect with Him; to help during their devotional times. It was confirmed last weekend during our church service. In my heart, I told God that I would certainly obey, but he was going to have to help me get past the musical writer’s block I had been stuck with for over five years.
AND HE DID! I’m getting new substantial music ideas again! Psh, last Tuesday night it was occuring so fast that I couldn’t even write it all down quick enough.
Please pray for me as I write music that can minister to others. Writing music is not easy, I share Billy Joel’s testimony of writing music, “It feels as if you rip your guts open, lay your insides all over a table, and then stick them back in and sow yourself shut.” Pray that I can keep going with discipline as I get these musical ideas, even when I’m tired. Please pray that I make all the right connections with people who can collaberate with me on this project – a producer and other musicians who share my vision. Thanks!
Welcome Youtubers!
Recently I collaborated with Youtuber Kevin Nalts, providing the music for a cute video of his son Charlie and his girlfriend. Go watch it – Charlie is the cutest kid in the world.
If you’re arriving here from the link provided in Nalt’s video, WELCOME! This is my blog, “The Big Diehl.” I write about a lot of stuff, but mostly thoughts to help other Christians — but a lot of them could help anyone. So go ahead and subscribe. Seriously. Subscribe! You know you want to.
I recommend Google Reader if you don’t have a blog reader already.
What Are You Going To Be When You Grow Up?
That question is probably one of the most asked questions to kids between the ages of 3 and 18. Many kids answer, “I want to be a doctor.”
Wow. That’s a huge aspiration. Just think of what it takes to be a doctor: Usually eight years of college — several years after that of interning before actually reaching their desired specialty of medicine. Their education is strenuous, sometimes living on next to nothing and ignoring social lives to study more. They rack up thousands of dollars in student loans. Why? So they can save and improve lives. They also are typically well financially compensated later on for their hard work.
Let me ask you a widely under asked question: Who will you be in eternity?
Eternity is such a long time, I think its reasonable to consider our lifetime to be a “zero” amount of time. Now get this – the way we live our lives in this “zero” amount of time will determine how we live for the rest of eternity. Why else would we be judged according to what we did?
Who will you be in eternity?
That cannot be answered with words. You will answer that question with your life.
Okay, This One is Free.
Mahatma Gandi walked barefoot most of the time – which produced major calluses on his feet. He ate very little, which made him very frail and gave him bad breath.
That makes him a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
A Great Find!
If you’re not interested in live sound, stop reading now — you’ll only bore yourself. I know I know I have a cult following of church sound techs.
Several weeks ago I was in a pickle, needing to take a STEREO signal (2 channels) from a computer’s soundcard, and combine them into one balanced signal to go to the board (mixer channels are limited, I don’t have 2 channels to dedicate for computer audio). I talked with a Sweetwater sales rep and he didn’t think there was any product that could do work as a DI box AND also combine the channels — I poked around until we found the Radial ProAV1. This DI-Box will take stereo inputs of any typical device and combine it into a single balanced XLR line. How awesome is that? I was pretty pumped that I found something the Sweetwater guy didn’t even know existed.
A few weeks before that I was faced with a situation where we needed to replace a line combiner (mic splitter). My Sweetwater guy said that the ART Mic Splitter was the only product that would do the trick. Eat your heart out, Sweetwater guy — this morning I found the Radial JS-2 MicSplitter. Gosh I am such a stud for finding that. Boo-Ya!
Radial engineering also has guitar reamers, laptop DI boxes, any DI box for about any purpose, and even the SGI (Studio Guitar Interface). If you’re still reading this and actually understand what I’m saying, then you probably know that nothing causes more problems on a live stage than loud amps and monitors. This SGI unit will allow you to hook your guitar up to an amp that is up to 500 feet away — practialy no signal loss. This is made especially for a studio setting, but I certainly see use for a live sound setting where the guitar player needs the tone from an amp, but doesn’t want to provide the extra noise on stage. Radial says it best in their own description of this product, “Far Out.”
Seriously — I have imagined different types of boxes — but now I actually see that they have been made by Radial. So cool. Keep in mind that I have not actually used any of these products — but I’ve read about them — and it looks like they are making products that nobody else is making so I wanted to give a plug for Radial so they might be of service to you. Be on the lookout for Radial stuff. Plus their prices are not outrageous — very similar to pricing of Pro-Co DI Boxes (only Radial makes a bunch of stuff ProCo doesn’t).
Dedication.
“It’s hard to beat a man who never gives up.”
Lazy and Stupid?
I get bothered when Christians are lazy. When they’re lazy and stupid its even worse.
Many Christians are big whiners – but they’re “Godly whiners.” They whine about wanting God’s presence, they whine about wanting a revival, they whine about not seeing God move in church or in lives.
Yet they do nothing. That’s where the stupid comes in.
Somehow we have come to the conclusion that the lack of a revival is God’s fault . . . “why must He tarry?” That makes me sick when I think about it. Jesus is coming back for a glorious bride, not a whore! The lack of spiritual renewal is YOUR FAULT, if you do nothing.
If we don’t pray, seek God, or worship Him with our lives – we will not find Him. Do Something.
Trust.
This post is comprised of thoughts I’ve had regarding trust over the past several months (sort of like a journal solely on this subject). If I was able, I would share the situations behind each of these thoughts to help you understand the inspiration of the thought, but because the events were shared with me in confidence, I cannot — so there! So, you just get to hear my after-thoughts on trust — please try to apply them to your own life’s relationships and I believe they will help you in your relationships. There are many aspects of trust. I’m writing these off of some notes, but as I detail these paragraphs I’m nearly in awe at how much trust is at the core of humans. Or maybe its just me — maybe trust is at my core. But I think its everyone — I think trust might be the backbone of all relationships.
Earned Trust
Trust is earned. We all know that — but I think its easily forgotten. When kids critically say, “My parents don’t trust me” I want to smack them — because when I ask the follow up question, “Should your parents trust you?” or “If you were your parents, would you trust yourself?” the answer is always, “No.” This isn’t just a parent-child thing — this works in any relationship. If someone doesn’t trust you, there is probably a reason! In my example, the child needs to give the parents reasons to trust him.
Free Trust
I think we all have an element of “free trust.” I think I made this word up, so let me define it myself: Free trust is the trust that is given without any prior experience. It’s free, not earned. If I buy a stick of gum with a $10 bill, I trust that the candy vendor will give me my change so I hand him my $10 without reservation. That’s free trust. I think free trust is based on your position. I will give you free trust because of your position (i.e. shop clerk or friend, parent or child, pastor or counselor, mentor or protoge’, boss or employee).
Lost Trust
One crazy thing about trust is that it only takes a single action to wipe away all trust. That really baffles me, honestly. Trust is so valuable and integrated into every interpersonal relationship — and one silly decision can wreck a life’s relationships because trust is lost.
Stupid Trusters
There is an appropriate blend of “earned” and “free” trust. You earn my trust because of past experiences. I give you free trust because of your position. These things occur simultaneously — and there must be a blend. Dysfunctional relationships will begin when there is an imbalance between these two trusts. For example, imagine an underage child who repeatedly attempts suicide and gets caught with cigs, beer, and marijuana on multiple occasions. After each incident the parents decide that since the son said, “I’ll change” they should simply give him the free trust and move on, after all – he does hold the position of “son.” That’s stupid. Those parents need to start using some more earned trust and kick the child’s butt. He needs sent to a boarding school or something before he actually succeeds in killing himself. Those parents need to not trust their son because they love him. But evidently they’re stupid, so they trust unconditionally.
Trust Is Awesome
When you’re able to trust other people it just rocks. I’ll never forget my high school band director Terry Fisher. He had this incredible ability to just trust people at the very first moment he met them. He would then continue to trust and respect you until you gave him a reason to not be trusted. But until you gave him a reason to not trust you, he would bend over backwards to help you succeed. I have never had a teacher who cared about me more than Mr. Fisher. I made the comment to him once, “Mr. Fisher, you actually trust people.” He responded, “I have to. I can’t get anything done if I don’t trust other people. Besides – that’s no way to live. You’ve gotta trust people.”
I don’t think Mr. Fisher ever knew how much he taught me that day. It revolutionized the way I looked at relationships. When I actually trusted people, the world started ticking better. Trust is relying on the humanity of another individual. Today I have several people that I whole-heartedly trust with different positions — protoge’s, friends, family, pastors, etc.
The more I trust these people, the more they trust me. And that is a beautiful thing. That’s the backbone of relationships.
Prayer is Where It’s At!
We all remember when Zach, Lisa, Screetch, Jessi, Slater, and everyone else at Bayside High School all hung out at “The Max.” That’s where it was at! I remember when I was in High school, in marching band, everyone went to the after-competition parties at other people’s houses. That’s where it was at!
For the Chrisitan – prayer is where it’s at. God has limited himself to working through us. He easily could have spoken directly to the Israelites with a loud audible voice, but instead He spoke through prophets (still does, but not exclusively). Check this verse out, God said, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me . . . but I found none. So I will [destroy them].”
DID YOU GET THAT? In that verse, God looked for a man but there was no one. The Almighty Creator of the universe was looking for a man — but He found no one.
Prayer is your opportunity to connect with God in a way Angels can only dream about. God allows us to partner with Him in prayer. Do you hear me? –PARTNER with Him. That’s heavy duty stuff. I’m not just the servant of the Almighty God — I’m His partner in fulfilling His will on the earth. This occurs during prayer.
Prayer is where it’s at, man. Prayer is where the action is.