On the Death of a King...

One of my favorite Disneyland memories was the 3D show - Captain EO. I was crushed when it was removed. I always thought the cut of "Another Part of Me" at the end was better, even than on the "BAD" album. (It could have just been the amazing sound they had in that theater)

"BAD" was the album I knew Michael Jackson by the most growing up. I loved Thriller, Billie Jean, and Beat It, but I was a little young when they came out, and they were never the same as Smooth Criminal, Another Part of Me, and Bad.

Dangerous also had a special place in my heart, due largely to my Uncle's appearance in the Black or White video, and Slash's guitar solo in Give in to Me.

Musically speaking, I think one of the greatest tragedies of Michael Jackson's career was that his last album, Invincible is one of the greatest and most amazing albums I've ever heard, and due largely to his missing tour dates, flew under the radar for many.

And now the king of pop is dead. Perhaps you've noticed the same thing I have; there are few "middle-of-the-road" people on Michael Jackson. These last few weeks for some have been a life-altering tragedy; a "where were you when JFK was shot?" type of event. To others, MJ's death was as much a joke as his life, and if they're honest, were slightly glad to hear of his passing.

As I've interacted with people, and then after MJ's memorial service today, I have a few things I want to get off my chest: The first is a reaction to the memorial, the second is an exhortation to some of my Christian brothers and sisters:

1) Michael Jackson was a man - an extrodinary man, who left an amazing legacy to music... but did anyone else get the eerie sense that the song "Soon and very soon, we're gonna see the king" was being sung about the wrong king? And as sad as I have been lately about MJ's death (I can hardly listen to any of his songs right now), what made me even sadder watching the service, was the fact that I now doubt not only many "reverend"s' ability to articulate the gospel, but whether they even know the gospel.

And I had a WTF moment when Kobe Bryant, of all people in the universe, decided to get on the stage. Adam Sandler would have made more sense than Kobe Bryant.

2) On the other hand, I have been grately saddened by the reaction of many of my Christian brothers and sisters. Yes, Michael Jackson's life was fairly messed up. But oh how quickly do we forget what Scripture says about how messed up every one of us is, and how without the grace of God in Christ, we're hopeless. Oh how quickly we forget how dead we were in our sin. Oh how quickly we forget that apart from the grace of God, you and I would commit every sin written in the Bible (and there are some grand-slam sins in there!)

I have very little patience for Christians who try to decide who needs the gospel, and who is beyond grace. I have very little patience when Christians act like it's a good thing when an unbeliever dies. I have very little patience when Christians can't appreciate the common grace of God given to us through unbelievers. Seriously - is everything ever made by a non-Christian evil? Was your car made by Christians? How about your clothes? Or your furniture? Is all your music "Christian"? Or is it safe just because they play it on "Christian Radio"? ""Jesus take the wheel has the word Jesus in it, so it must be Christian! In fact, let's play it in church this Sunday!""

So I guess I'm just unhappy regardless. I'm tired of hearing the universalist nonsense that "Michael is surely looking down on us". I'm also tired of hearing those who have been saved by grace, who have themselves known salvation from the pit of hell, not grieve yet another unbeliever's death.

Jesus saves. If you don't know the King of Kings, you gotta' know him! It doesn't matter what you've done or haven't done. If you do know him, then you know your need, and others' need for him. PLEASE try to remember to look at the world as He does. The world is not the devil. The world is the victim of the devil.

On Collections...

I think my wife would agree with me when I say that I've colleceted far too many things in my life... Baseball cards, Comic books, Weapons (the martial arts kind), an absolutely absurd amount of DVDs, and of course the books that line the walls of my office...

As a musician and a lover of music, I have also of course accumulated quite a ridiculous number of CDs as well. Something I've been noticing lately is just how much of my music is actually film scores and soundtracks; particularly from 80's movies.

My latest acquisition is limited edition 2-disk score from "Masters of the Universe". I absolutely love it. Is Dolph Lundgren absolutey terrible in this film? Of course he is - it's one of those "so bad it's good" roles. Is the score a total rip-off of John Williams' "Star Wars" score? Of ccourse it is - which of course was a total rip off of Holst's "Planets"...

Nevertheless, listening to Bill Conti's work brings me a flood of old memories. He's good at that... Rocky, Karate Kid... all Bill Conti's work. What's scaring me now however is how much some of these rare out-of-print soundtracks go for... My wishlist includes the scores to "Ghostbusters" and "The Last Starfighter", which both regularly go for $75-$100 on ebay.

I previosly tried to save some money by downloading iTunes versions of some soundtracks... but all things considered, I'd rather have the physical CDs...

Cleveland

One of the benefits of being in ministry is how eager some people are to show you hospitality. Mike, Gary, Larry and I are staying in an absolutely beautiful home just outside of Cleveland for the 2009 Basics conference. Arriving here today was really the first relief I feel like we've experienced in about 24 hours.

Long story short: We were supposed to depart PDX Saturday night at 11:15pm. Upon arrival we were supprsied to find that the United counter was completely empty. There were no workers anywhere to be found. After some frantic phone calls, we discovered that our flight was cancelled. In February.

We finally contacted a supervisor who proceeded to try to tell us that we were sent emails (which we weren't). We were then told that we received a phone call (which we didn't). It honestly wouldn't be worth arguing except for the fact that they were completely unwilling to help us at all. We could have easily been on a Continental Air flight at 11:45, but United was completely unwilling. No vouchers. No hotel accomodations (remember: 11:15pm). The best they could (would) do was to put us on a flight departing at 6:15 am (by now it was almost midnight).

The inevitable occured as we left for home to all get 2.5 hours of sleep before leaving Beaverton again at 4:15am. I'm a little tired today. Once we arrived however, things started to get better. As i mentioned, we are staying in a beautiful home. We went to church tonight and the service was great. And now I'm about ready to go to bed.

The only remaining complexity is the fact that I seem to have left my cell phone in Portland. More on this to come...

Soli deo gloria