Month: March 2011

Spring is Here! Summer is Coming… Playtime!

Jimmarkgktats

And kids of all ages are going out to play!

It occurred to me today that some folks as they get old, get brittle.

My sweet wife Wendi has on occasion said “You were -born- old!”
meaning “Glenn you are often SOOO serious… lighten up some…” and
of course she’s correct most of the time!

It’s true, I AM pretty serious. Seemed like life was and is at core, a
very serious matter in that you only get to do it one time through on
this planet.

Those with eternal life via faith in jesus and His work on the cross
inherit eternal life… so that being settled, the everyday questions
are about good stewardship of time.

Yet, as serious and true as all this is, I’m also convinced that
Father, Son and Spirit are NOT fun cops!! He DID come to give us
“life- and life more abundantly”.

The older I get the more I recognize the importance- even how
-essential- it is for adults (as well as kids) to truly play. Yes,
PLAY!

Will you find that in the Bible? Here and there, but again, the Bible
is not primarily about play and fun, therefore some have decided to
bury it.

There is something about jesus being around children. My wife and I
have raised several and we have several grandchildren… and I can
tell you that part of loving them is simply interacting with them in
some manner and level of play.

Adults play, and need playtime too! But we may think of it not only in
terms of sport which is not only exercise but often play on our part.
But via many other hobbies, yard-sale trips, watching or reading
through National Geographic or perhaps some other area of interest
that is not strictly (in the overt sense) “Spiritual”. And there is
nothing wrong with it when done with a view to loving God, family,
neighbor, considering the time and financial investment and of course
keeping other priorities in some sane and biblical sense of order.

The problem is that many adults have given up play. And if we don’t
involve ourselves (for whatever reasons) with children, we perhaps
don’t consider the health and indeed wealth, the benefits of playtime
as older human beings.

Sour, staid, stuck-in-the-mud people are not a pleasure, they bring
greater burdens to an already-burdened world… and yes, church!

Making time to play, realizing the value of rest, of something other
than sabbath rest which is also needful and in fact commanded by the
Lord… this is all worthy of not only consideration but application.

God is NOT a “fun cop”. and neither should you or I be!

Thanks for stopping by 🙂 -Glenn

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Music Gear Update, J.R. McClellan Acoustic Guitar

Howdy,

So much going on. Laundry and more funky music gear building tonight.
A friend’s brother’s funeral Sat. a.m., family birthdays Sat. p.m.!

Some of you know I’ve been building and working on cigar box guitars,
cookie tin guitars, canjos, stomp cases played with the feet, etc.,
toward doing more with found object simple music gear. Fun and so far
so good. You can click on the Cigarbox Nation link on my site for a
TON more on all that. The new cd is slowly coming to completion and
you can hear some of these flavors when the project is released in a
month or more. And you’ll hear more of this in my upcoming solo blues
shows.

People do ask about my gear- and over the years a great amount has
been given me. So today I’m featuring one of the sweetest in my
musical arsenal, and I thought some of you acoustic players would
enjoy more detailed info. on my main acoustic six string guitar. So
here’s the link. A good friend (and one of 3 brilliant guitar makers I
know) built this for me. Amazing and humbling.

http://tinyurl.com/4c66c2z

Thanks for stopping by! -Glenn

Leaders, Image, Mythology

No doubt there are certain pitfalls in leadership- and one of them is
portraying image.

All of us want to be liked, accepted and of course, need to work in
order to pay the bills. The Book itself says unless we take care of
the needs of our own household we’re worse than an infidel. I suppose
that’s not a good thing?!!

I’m in an online leadership forum, and we have chewed all sorts of raw
meat for some 10 years now, often strongly disagreeing but most of the
time quite in agreement on many issues of Christian leadership.
Different folks post stuff form the Web, and a recent post got a
discussion going about leadership and the fact some get fired or
otherwise hammered for being genuine, honest, confessional.

One bro. used the excellent (and I think key word) in his post on the
subject. Here was what I added to the conversation, and as I thought
it through, perhaps worth re-posting here:

“M.J., your one word here- “image” is the thing that we need to bust
up most of all. It’s the tragedy mask of the Church. The mythology of
it all… and myths are not facts- while as all here know, the Word
itself says “the church… the pillar and ground of the truth”…
“speaking the truth one to another”, “truthing one another in love”
and so on.

The church is of course merely and wonderfully the family of God, not
a building or organized structure- nor is it only this or that small
group of Christ-followers. We all ultimately know this. Sadly, image
often wins the day. It’s what we fall back on when integrity is
jettisoned for the sake of getting or keeping the gig.

Ahhh the beauty of bad hair, crooked teeth and honest, even public
confession of struggle, weakness and yes, sin!

When one is not willing to pay the price of integrity, mythology
rises… sort of like scum to the surface I’d say. And again, it is
first of all MY responsibility, not this or that group’s
responsibility to “walk in the light as He is in the light”.

Room for “Alice Cooper”? I think so. As long as we don’t confuse
reality with the act. But in general and before the Throne there is
only reality, no acting as such. This part of the journey here… on
this planet- is about being embraced by it and embracing it.

Lord have mercy!
-Glenn

Glenn’s Cornerstone Festival 2011 Schedule

GK @ Cornerstone Festival 2011

So, just got word- my understanding is (currently:) that I’ll do a:

TUE JUNE 28
largely solo & somewhat “GK & Friends” set featuring the new CCO
Project songs at the Project 12/Grrr Stage on the pre-fest Tues. night

THU JUNE 30
a REZ Band reunion set Mainstage Thurs. night

SAT JULY 2
GKB blues/rock set at the Gallery Stage Sat. night

SUN JULY 3
joining in a blues jam at the Sanctuary Stage Sun. night

Please check the Fest website at http://www.cornerstonefestival.com
for updates on exact time slots on these. When they’re set, they’ll
post ’em there… I don’t know them myself. So a lot of music/singing
again for me this year, so once again I won’t be leading any formal
seminars. Wendi is scheduled to do her dating, sex, relationship
seminar as usual. Again, see the Fest website for details on that.
Thanks for stopping by! -Glenn

CCO Recording Project- Forward Progress

Still kicking around title ideas for the new CCO project release.
Maybe Cardboard Box which is one of the song titles… I’m not sure
yet.

Grrr Records put a little clip up in the News section of their website
where Janet Cameron chats & shows ideas for the art work on the
project. You can hear just a bit of a tune called Urban Hobo in that
clip as well:

http://www.grrrrecords.com/fr_welcome.cfm

Had a nice meeting with Ed (Grrr Director) and Janet this a.m. to see
art, photo and insert ideas, really coming together well! Good chat
with Colleen Davick and Nathan Cameron (our wonderful booking person
and film/webwork dude at Grrr) on some of the details. Great friends
with great hearts and each do great work!

We have 4 of the tunes mixed, really liking ’em! Tom and Roger doing
great work as usual. Hopefully most if not all the rest will be mixed
this next week.

My friend and harp master Joe Filisko has assured me he’d like to play
alongside me in any cd release party as well as various club/cafe
dates in the Chicago Metro re. this project so that’s really exciting.
He’s a true harmonica historian and Tone Monster!

Thanks for stopping by! -Glenn

Quite a Day… Err… Week?!

Really, quite a week!!

Sunday rocked… got up early, set up for worship set with Ed and Roy
(GKB did a blues/worship set) including a new worship song, not really
bluesy number. Ran to grab the acoustic guitar, picked up a friend and
headed to a longtime JPUSA member’s Mom’s memorial service, sang a
couple songs there and was blessed at the story of a well lived life
in Him!

Jumped in the van and headed back to Chicago hospital where my 4th
grandchild was born, 1st for my youngest daughter and her husband…
wonderful news as I got the call while driving over… but a
c-section… so a lot of prayer. A few complications so my daughter
was in ICU for a night, but all seems well now and the little fella is
SO amazing!

In the middle of all this I’ve been praying for good friend Larry
Howard, bluesman and servant of Jesus… he’s had a number of health
issues as he travels sooo much doing prison shows and ministry. But
hep C isn’t a fun disease and it’s hit him pretty hard lately.

I just returned from visiting my daughter, son-in-law and new
grandbaby with Wendi, have the laundry spinning in the dryers and may
need to pick my eldest daughter and wife up from hospital after their
visit… and in any case have jury duty early, possibly all day
tomorrow. Then tomorrow night I am off to share a message along with 2
other ministers at The Bridge, a great south side Chicago ministry to
people coming out of prison and street life who seek to know and grow
in Jesus.

Wednesday I’ll likely try to get an update on art and photo progress
for the new CCO recording project, Thursday may finally get a hearing
test taken care of (nice to hear when you make and play music
constantly, interact with people continuously 🙂 and I have a few
other items on the “to-do list” to take care of.

I think I’ll try to sleep in Wednesday if at all possible 🙂

Sometimes people ask me what an average day is like for me… HA! I
really don’t know what average is 🙂

Death, new life, lots of movement. God knows and I’m so thankful He
keeps His promises to give strength!

Thanks for your prayers and for stopping by! -Glenn