Post number 430

This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, "Purpose Driven Life" author, and pastor of Saddleback Church in California .
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body--but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal of God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good for which you can thank God. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain."
But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism?
Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better.
God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Steely Dan is Coming!

Truly, the ONLY show I really wanted to see this year is almost here. On Labor Day night, I have the pleasure of broadcasting at the UMB Bank Pavillion for Micheal McDonald and the "magnificent one Mr. Steely Dan". I saw them only once, in 1993 and they were perfect, note for note on every song except "Reeling In The Years" which was turned into a slow blues number.
With that in mind, my top ten Steely Dan tunes...

1. My Old School Not a tighter band in the world at the time, great arrangement, lyrics and that honkin guitar solo.
2. Deacon Blues One for the losers in the world, "Aja" may be the best album in their history.
3. Do It AgainI've heard this song more than you. Never forget the first time I heard it on the radio. Nothing sounded like it. Any song with an electric sitar and a vocorder in it is OK in my book.
4. King of The World This song used to scare the piss out of me. The end of the world as we know it.
5. Kid Charlemagne Larry Carlton plays his ass off here, one of my all time favorite guitar solos.
6. Home At LastAja, again. For everyone whose away from home. Sweet tune, well arranged and tasty.
7. Show Biz KidsA real good time in my life, can you say the word "fuck" on the radio? They did.
8.Pretzel Logic Steely Dan plays the blues, and how they could play.
9. Babylon Sisters And the colored girls go..."here come those santa anna winds again". Perfection on vinyl.
10.Chain Lightning Rock meets jazz=nothing like it in the seventies.

Picking my top ten Steely Dan songs is like saying which one of my children I like the most.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on Steely Dan:

My Breakfast

So, what did you have for breakfast? Me? I had Barium. Yeah, it's tasty and oh so good for you. Yeah, it's derivative is rat poison, but that's OK. I can had hardly wait till this shit goes through my system. My ass ought to light up a geiger counter in the next room. Maybe I'll take a picture of the outcome and post it on the blog.

See how happy this person looks? She didn't have to drink two gallons of the crap.
"Just one more, Mr. Raley, please swallow hard." So, how was your morning?

Random Crap

Why is called the "UMB Bank Pavillion"? Isn't that like saying the United Missouri Bank Bank Pavillion? That is the way they want it said. Ok, then, I will just stop by their ATM machine.
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Why, after I eat asparagus (if there is more than one, is it asparagi?), my urine smells like a tire thats on fire? Does it happen to women too? Yech.
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Why are their fewer broadcasters broadcasting sports on TV anymore? I turned in for a little while to the pregame of Rams football and saw Roland Williams(?)give us his opinion of himself. WTF? And Ricky Proehl, as a broadcaster, you were an awesome receiver. Hey, I am out of work, I'll do it.
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When talking about guys who have had an effect and a legacy on American music, why is Neil Young never mentioned in the same breath as Dylan or Springsteen? Year after year, he releases album after album that should be considered clasic recordings. I just saw a bit of "Heart of Gold" last night and it's a movie of him premiering "Prairie Wind" (a collection of songs he wrote while being diagnosed with a brain anuerism) in front of a sold out house at the Ryman in Nashville. He brings me to tears, he is that good.
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"The Aristocrats" is a profane, crude, rude, socially unacceptable and hilariously funny movie. If you are shocked by words, it's not for you.