Where does the time go and what do I occupy it with

Good afternoon,

It's a cold, grey, wet Friday afternoon. Friday's we are done at lunchtime to make time for private guitar lessons (I'll get on to that later). I didn't have one today so I decided to come straight home and catch up on some much needed rest and work.

The last few weeks have been a complete blur, I love it here it feels like home already and I really don't miss the UK at all (sorry guys). The weather here is like British summertime - about 10 degrees C and wet wet wet, I feel it in my fingers and feel it in my toes my shoes are full of holes in which the water flows...time for new shoes (they don't have the ones I like here though).

School has been a real challenge recently which makes me excited as I hate it when things just canter along and you just sit back and take it as it comes. We are in to the proper schedule now, this means ear training, music theory, songwriting, bible review and worship teams have taken hold. I love 95% of the classes (not so much ear training; the singing is good, the melodic dictation is not so good). I have to keep telling myself that music theory is brand new and I don't have to understand it all right away. Ah pride and expectation, when you two get together there is trouble. Pride is like that bad girl your parents warned you about as it leads expectation astray. Bad girl, no. Get behind me Satan McPride. (I am watching supersize me as I write this (I know I should have used captial letters but I don't want to go back and change it).

So what has God been doing with me on the School and what has he been doing with other people? Two themes have been comig out, God wanting us to go deeper and being more specific when we praise and thank him. God is good, true. Why is he good though? Wow, ok so now I have to think and it alarmed me that at first I couldn't go for five minutes listing why God is good and what I am thankful for. Try it, it's more stretching than it sounds if you have never done it before. Thankfully now God has been revealing to me so much of his character and his goodness, mostly through the word!

Ok so lets take a day in the life here on the school, my days have been getting a lot longer thanks to my new early morning schedule of workout...

Here goes.

5am - Get up, throw on some clothes and go to the basement. Work out for 45 minutes to one hour. Hard work but I am really enjoying it (this week has been a bit lax though)
6 am - shower and quiet time/homework
7 am - Get ready to leave for school
7:30 am get picked up for school.
8:00 am - school starts with 40 mins to 1 hour of worship. At first this was really exciting but some days have been really hard. One of the amazing things about God is that he doesn't change, no matter how I am feeling God does not change. He is still worthy, he is still Holy. The same God who spoke to Moses through the Burning Bush, the same God who met Isaiah when he was in despair following the death of the King, the same God as the God of David, the same God who gave revelation to Martin Luther, the same God who gave David Griffiths the song There Is. The same God who will provide and speak to my grandchildren and their grandchildren (provided He doesn't return before then) the same God...well you get the idea!
8:50 - classes start, my favourite day is Tuesday. Our first class is Exploring Worship where we are working through one of the most indepth and informative books on the subject of worship. More on that in a later blog.
At 9:40 we get a break. I might grab a cup of tea/coffee or maybe go for a swift number two if I so feel the need.
9:50 - Worship ensemble teams. Basically this is an arrangement class. We learn a new song each week, one we have never heard before. We have to arrange it, discussing parts, what instruments play when and where, what they lyrical content of the song is and how that affects the arrangement. I love this class, it's one of my favourites.
11:40 - lunch, nom nom nom, people in the church cook for us on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Delicious times indeed.
12:25 - two hours of songwriting class - this is more theory based with a view to equipping us with the tools to develop our songwriting. I have set myself the task of writing two songs a week which is going pretty well.
2:30 worship teams - this is where we get split into teams and work on our arrangements or spend time worshipping together. I miss the Bosh boys back home, 5-6 years of playing together has developed a real musical and spiritual understanding so playing with some of the guys on the school is tough, they aren't you Dave, Mike, Grant and James (and Felix) It is really stretching but I am sure it will be a place of real growth and I have to be careful to actually be teachable as opposed to proud and think I know the answer. I can learn a lot from my fellow students, one heck of a lot.

Other days have more bible focused classes, already we have read through Luke, Acts, Leviticus, Genesis, Exodus and most of Hebrews. We are working through Romans at the moment. It took us 2 hours to get throught the first chapter the other day (some of the students are sloooow readers [jokes])

In other news I saw Mutemath in Chicago last week, oh my freakin' word it was possibly the best show I have ever been too. Great band, great city and great people to go with.

If I had to say three of the most singularly defining words on the school this year I would say

MORE
RECEIVE (said in French accent)
BUTTCRACK

Until next time.


Kiss?

No?

Good!