I just finished up day one of the Worship Symposium at Calvin Seminary. I am staying in Grand Rapids with by brother Bob and his wife, Maureen. Maureen even spoiled me by putting chocolates on the pillow in my room. She’s the best.
I had a good day at the symposium. Opening worship was a change from what I have been used to over the past few years. Along with the pipe organ was a 60 person orchestra. It’s amazing how different a song like Twila Paris’s “He Is Exalted” can sound.

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Last night my wonderful wife checked my blog here and wondered why I have not written for a while. Lots of reasons. But, it’s time to start again. Part of it for me was figuring out why to blog. [Read more...]

I just returned from a retreat led by Doug Wysockey-Johnson of Faith@Work. Doug had a lot of great things to say about calling, that is about how each of us is called and the nature of that call and the role of pastors in helping others to live out their call. I will probably touch on some of that at a later time, but for now I want to talk about a short film we watched entitled “Laundry and Tosca”. The film is about 30 minutes long and is a documentary of Marcia Whitehead, and her dream of becoming an opera singer. It’s an awesome and moving story – I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place.A 9-5 office worker in California, she has dreams of a life beyond the ordinary. But most days are, as she tells her friend on the phone, the usual – “laundry and Tosca.” Every day after work she drives past her exit to take voice lessons. She listens to opera constantly. Her home is filled with opera albums and scores. At last, someone arranges a chance for her to “audition” with Maestro Franco Iglesias (whose students include Placido Domingo). He sees in her an incredible talent and agrees to work with her. She moves to New York and begins the arduous process of being shaped into a world-class lirico-spinto soprano.

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