SINGLE AT CHRISTMAS W/ SONG STORY | RIVERTOWN CHRISTMAS | ALLEN LEVI & F...

I am preparing the concert in reverse that I talked about in my 100th post. It will feature an Allen Levi concert from earlier this year. This morning I recieved a message from You Tube that Allen had a new video. I Hope that you all are as moved by it as I was.

Allen Levi Interview: Faces of Faith

Allen Levi: Faces of Faith

How to Get Through 2021: Shoulder to Shoulder

Last month I wrote about how to get through 2021 by advocating adherence to the lyrics of  Day by Day from the musical Godspell. I've been in a bit of a musical renaissance lately.  I've been listening to music for 2 to 3 hours each day and much of it has had an encouraging effect on my outlook on life.  

On the way to work, I listen to the same playlist each morning which features a lot of music from Allen Levi.  In a live concert Allen, who lives and has his recording studio on a Georgia farm describes how he saw two purple finches at the bird feeder outside of his studio.  The first was blind in his right eye and the second blind in the left eye.  

Levi wrote a fictional conversation from one bird to the other about teaming up "to make it through this obstacle course called life. "

Levi's finch also tells his prospective traveling partner that 

"If we travel all alone the danger's plenty but side by side were perfect 20/20."

This got me thinking about the obstacle course that was the year 2020 and how that 2020 was far from perfect in seemingly every aspect. 

2021seems to be shaping up like a movie called 2020: The year that wouldn't leave.  Political turmoil, Covid, Tom Brady winning another Super Bowl.  

If the answer to getting through this year is shoulder to shoulder, a new question that emerges is how do we do that 6 feet apart? 

 

I might suggest 3 ways.

1) Stay positive with each other.

Discontentment is a more infectious virus than even Covid. When one person complains a line soon forms so everyone can get in on the act. 

To stay positive with each other, you first need to stay positive yourself so you can pass it on to others.  In the same way, walking in step with positive people will help you combat negative thoughts and behavior patterns.

Consider the ripple effects of Phillippians 4:4- 9 ...

First have a pattern of rejoicing always (vs.4). add to that gentleness (vs. 5) remove anxiety by presenting your needs to God (vs 6 )and God's peace will guard your heart (vs. 7).  Then to cap it all off think and act only in ways that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent,  and 

praiseworthy (verses 8&9)

2. Encourage each other.

The English Standard (ESV) New International (NIV) and New American Standard (NASB) version of the Bible (3 of my favorite versions) all translated the 1st word of Isaiah 35:3 as strengthen.

ESV: Strengthen the weak hands,

         and make firm the feeble knees. 

NIV: Strengthen the feeble hands,

        steady the knees that give way;

NASB: Strengthen the exhausted, and make the feeble strong. 

In 1995 the NASB went through a revision and the verse is now translated ...

Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.

When you think about it, encouragement is a kind of strengthening. And you have to admit that 2021 life is enough to make the strongest among us exhausted and feeble.  Words and acts of encouragement can provide an oasis in a barren wasteland. 

3. Find Common Ground

Acts chapter 17:16-34  is generally considered a passage that gives a blueprint on evangelism.  Paul in Athens is able to study the culture and then use the culture as a way of sharing the message of Jesus.  One ministry I know took this pattern and developed a method called ask, admire and admit as a way of presenting the gospel to others.

I believe that Paul's model can also be used beyond the scope of evangelism to promote unity.  As you may have noticed we live in an increasingly divisive society even among Christ-followers.  I sometimes think I can only use 24 letters on Facebook as I always seem to be minding my p's and q's. The thing about Facebook is that ideally our circle is composed of friends, relatives, and acquaintances with whom we once shared common bonds.  Sometimes it helps me to remember those bonds and post those memories as a way of strengthening those bonds rather than focussing on differences. 

In January I wrote that depending on God is a good way to get through 2021.  Depending on each other seems to be the next logical step as God created us to be in relationship with one another.  Working in concert through this obstacle course called life is much better than being each other's obstacles. 

Keith for 50

Today is my brother Keith's birthday.  He would have turned 50 today. He died in April of 2009 at the age of 38.  Over the years I have written a lot about his life  and death many of those posts can be found by clicking here.

Over the years I have also written about a musician friend of mine Allen Levi.  He also lost a brother and chronicled their story in an excellent memoir called The Last Sweet Mile. I mislaid my copy a few years ago when we moved into our current house.  It is probably in a box in the basement some where.

I found 2 posts I wrote about Keith that I wanted to share.  One was written on 11/11/11 which was a birthday he has been looking forward to as it resonated firmly in his mathematical mind. The other was written a year earlier than that when he would have turned 40.  I will reprint it here as it is also features the aforementioned Allen Levi.

Big 40 minus the birthday boy

My brother Keith would have turned 40 today. He died 18 months ago so he never quite made the milestone. When My Mom turned 40, my Dad put a banner across our garage that read "Jeanne's 40 today. But don't tell anyone!". We lived across from the local library at the time and man people people became aware of the event. When I turned 40, Amy had a surprise party for me and had one of my favorite musicians, Allen Levi, fly in from Alabama and sing at my party. He performed the following song among others...

 

 When Amy turned 40, relatives teamed with me so I could give her 40 rolls of quarters. (Amy loves quarters) Keith died 18 months ago, so he never quite made the milestone. Keith was born on Veteran's day and loved that his birthday was celebrated by many people even though they might not be aware they were doing so. Today as you reflect on the men and women who served our country in the military. Reflect also on the men and women boys and girls who left the party before we had a chance to throw them one.

Meanwhile back in 2020

On occasions like this I really want to say something profound about Keith.  Instead I'll just say this...

There really has never been anyone exactly like him.  .  I find it fitting that Keith's 50th birthday falls on the heels of the death of Alex Trebek.  He loved Jeopardy and even auditioned for the show, easily making it to the 2nd part of the process.   Keith excelled in trivia but there wasn't anything trivial about him. Keith was Bi-polar but his mental illness did not define him.  What defined Keith was a world class mind, a kind and gentle spirit, a quirky and quick sense of humor, a simple but abundant faith, and a love for his family and friends.  

Keith visited me when I was living in Russia, teaching English as a Second Language and working as a Baptist Missionary.  One day Keith and I were on a bus on the way to visit a family I knew.  Keith heard someone speaking Spanish and started talking to them in Spanish.  I didn't realize how much Spanish Keith knew.  He studied it  a little in High School but picked it up mostly working at McDonalds.  The Person Keith was speaking to was a  Brazilian missionary who had only been in the Russia  for about 2 weeks.  He spoke very little Russian no English,  ,some Spanish but mostly Portuguese.   Keith invites him to visit this family with us. We get to the families house they have never met Keith or this guy before. The family consisted of a high school girl that I was tutoring in English, her college aged sister and their mother. Their English ranged between somewhat fluent and none at all. This family loved foreigners and were really interested in getting to know Keith and this Brazilian betters.   The guy from Brazil  would speak in Spanish, Keith would translate it into English and I would try to  translate it into Russian.  Then we would reverse the process.  Keith would get off on these crazy tangents and try to explain an idiom or a pun  and I would have no way to translate it with my limited Russian.  

Everybody had a wonderful time.  When I would see that family or that missionary after that they always commented on how much they enjoyed that evening. This is not surprising.  Keith made life an adventure. When I hear Spanish, I sometimes remember the day Keith turned a bus ride into a party.  He may have left the party early but he certainly made a lasting impression. 

A is for Allen Levi (Person)

Today is the end of Blogging from A to Z 2015 26 posts in 30 days. Wow! I have had so much fun.

APRIL FOOLS!

Today is actually the first day of Blogging A to Z. My theme this year is nouns. So evaryday in April excluding Sundays you will get a blog about a person place or thing.

Today we start with a hero of mine, Allen Levi. I first met Allen in 1995 at a concert at my church in South Carolina. I have only seen him 4 times in the past 21 years. Each time at one of his concerts. The last time he and I met us was in 2004 at my surprise 4oth birthday party. He provided the music. Allen was an attorney and left his practice to become a full-time musician. Here is footage of him in his former habitat a concert.



I say former natural habitat because he recently did another career change and became a judge. Here is a video explaining the job change.





For More A to Z Blogging click here.

I participated in A to Z blogging back in 2012. To see what I wrote April 1st 2012 click here.

Liebster Blog Award

Cristina the author  of Home Spun Juggling, has bestowed upon me  a Liebster Award. 

Liebster  is a German word. 

According to an online translation tool Liebster can be defined as

 - n. sweetheart, beloved person, darling   

adj. dear, darling; beloved, liked very much; affectionate, loving   

adj. favorite, preferred above others; liked or loved above others

 

 

The purpose of this award is to showcase the hidden gems of the blogging world.  Blogs with 300 or less followers can be given the Liebster by a previous winner.    The new winner then finds 3-5 deserving blogs to bestow the award on. 

In a sense it seems like a high honor and I know that Cristina meant my Liebster that way and I receive it in that way.  But in another sense it seems like a blog version of a chain letter.

  Since I like to fill this space with praise of others in the blog-o-sphere.  I don't mind awarding some Liebsters to deserving blogs.  I would like to say that my no means do I expect  my Liebster winners to feel like they need to pay this award forward.  If they feel they know blogs that are deserving of this award.  I say go ahead let the world know.  If they choose not to continue the tradition that's fine too.

Here is the criteria I used for  doling out my Liebsters.

1) 300 or less followers.  In researching the award, I found that most references to it said 200 or more followers.  But Christina said 300 in her post and since she is my sponsor I am going to follow her lead.  Two of the blogs I have given the award to don't broadcast their follower stats.  I am giving those two the benefit of the doubt.

2) Blogs I love. Each of the recipients below are blogs I have mentioned in these pages before.  Many I have dedicated 1 or more post to.  I did not scramble to come up with names, the quality of these blogs scream out to me for recognition

The 5 blogs I have chosen are all written or co written by men.  This is somewhat coincidental.  However, since the blogosphere (at least the corner I live in) is generally filled predominately with blogs written by women.  I thought it might be nice to have a testosterone filled wing in the Liebster Hall of Fame.  Again, the quality of these blogs not the gender of the writers was my main criteria in bestowing the award. 

Here are my 5 Liebster winners in no particular order.

Read-a-loud Dad. 

 I became familiar with this blog by reading his work in the Carnival of Homeschooling.  I felt an instant affinity since we both have the same last name, Dad. We also share an affinity to reading aloud as I have been reading to my children since they were in their mother's womb.  I continue to read to them now, even now that they all love to read to themselves. 

I like his book reviews and his passion for reading a out loud.  Even though he is preaching to the choir, when it comes to me.  I still find much of what he says inspirational.

Allen Levi's Blog

Allen Levi is a hero of mine.  I have written about turned singer here from time to time. He sang at my 40th birthday party.  I love his blog and even wrote a song about how I wished he would blog more. 

On July 23rd Allen's brother was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Allen continues to produce great posts with updates on his brother's progress.  The last installment where he compared his brother's sickness to a trip he took to Afghanistan was especially poignant.

While his writing is deeply personal it is  also very accessible.  I encourage you to go pay him a visit.  It just sometimes takes him a while to come to the door. 

Why Homeschool

I absolutely love this blog.  I have been a frequent follower there, since I became a revolving host of the Carnival of Homeschooling.  The carnival is the brainchild of the Cates.  I could write a whole post about how fantastic the COH is.  Im fact, I have.

Why Homeschool goes well beyond the scope of the Carnival of Homeschooling.  It has some of the best variety in the entire Internet.  It is well written, and thought provoking. I love this blog so much, I was pleasantly surprised to find it does not yet have 300 followers and thus qualifies for the award. 

Out Walking 

Out Walking is the first blog I ever remember reading.  I found it as part of a google search.  Like Allen Levi's blog there is much more quality to this blog then quantity.  He has posted only six times since September 1st of this year, but each one was well worth waiting for.

Today's post, Oh Melancholia really struck a chord with me.  The teasing he gets from his son is very similar to the beating I take because I cry a lot.

Families Again

The author of  Families again is an HSBA rival of mine.  He and I have been nominated in the best Dad category for each of the last 3 years.  The main difference being, is that he has won it two of those years (including this year)  and I am still in Susan Lucci mode.

I am a big fan of Families Again.  The author does a great job of balancing between product reviews, Compassion updates, and other interesting topics.  He used to host A fine meme called Men's Monday Meme.  As a former host of a failed  an erstwhile meme, I know the pain of spending time to prepare a weekly meme and then only having 1 or less blog link on to it.  If you don't find his blog at the link above, he has probably completed his switch to the blogger platform.  I gladly became his first follower at the new location earlier today. 

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I hope you enjoyed my Liebster Awards.  Thanks again to Cristina for giving me mine.  Just so you know, Cristina.  That if anyone else gave me my Liebster, you would have been the first to receive one from me. 

Friday Fragments: Levis, Bunnyisms and Give-a-ways

My clock say Thursday evening but it really must be Half Past Kissing Time, The time of the week for Friday Fragments!


Fragment 1: In October I mentioned how one of my favorite musicians Allen Levi only updates his blog about once a month. In fact, His last post was only written at the excoriation (his word, not mine) and cajoling of faithful readers. The post was a masterpiece. His prose is almost as good as his lyrics. (By the way, IMHO, His music and lyrics are so powerful I would just rename the Grammys to the Levis.) His post about 2 sets of fathers and daughters just oozes poignancy.

Yet with as good as his blog is, he only updates it kicking and screaming, which leaves his readership wanting. Allen, must blog more. So, I have decided to do something about it. I have written a song: Since I can't carry many tunes with or without buckets don't expect any viral videos any time soon. (Some people have said that my singing may cause a virus.) Be that as it may here are the lyrics to my song.

Blog Allen Blog

He likes to sing
He likes to play
He doesn't like to blog
But that's OK

He likes his dog
And he likes his town
He doesn't like to blog
So word gets around

But he's really good at blogging
Eloquent, sincere, and charming
So the fact he doesn't like it
Can be quite disarming

Blog Allen Blog
We think you're quite a guy
Blog Allen Blog,
we need a regular dose of Levi

He hooks us in August with a song a day
And before we're saturated he just goes away
He can go a month or more without a single post
When he does it's great
But then the blog goes comatose

Blog Allen Blog
Come and press some words together
Blog Allen Blog
Your posts keep us on our tether

He's a poet
He's a critic
He can be a clown

The cyber space
is a better place
When he's around

Blog Allen Blog
I'm an Allen Levi geek
How about posting twice a fortnight
Which boils down to once a week



It can be a poem
It can be a song
It can be a recipe
A video of planting a tree
A thought on a sermon
A song about Ethel Merman
A tip about killing vermin

Blog Allen Blog



To hear some good music (Allen's) click here to go to his website.

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Fragment 2: As you know Levi's come in pairs. So I think it's time to give an update of my favorite current t.v. show (Chuck) starring my second favorite Levi (Zachary)

Zachary Levi Autograph
Originally uploaded by TravelShorts

Last year I was very clear in my opinion that Chuck was humming along in season 3 with brilliant episode after brilliant episode. Season 4, in no means a disappointment, has not been as consistently good as season 3. Instead of building from episode to episode, it reminds me of a title of another Chuck's (Swindoll) Book: Three steps forward. Two Steps back.



Despite it's unevenness (one mediocre episode of Chuck is worth a handful of CSI, NCIS, or the rest of the alphabet soup that's out there.), I still love Chuck and hope it staves off cancellation for yet another year.


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Fragment 3: I don't dabble in to too many Bunnyisms here at HSD. My 5 year old puppy tends to get all the good lines. Bunny had a doozy this week. I was reluctant to mention it, since it doesn't really put me in a good light. The fact is that I am very inconsistent in the way I structure the household and discipline the children. This past week I was much more consistent much to the chagrin of a certain 11 year old.



After handling some preteen rebellion, she came up to me and said " I liked you much better before Mom taught you how to parent." Well it is not her earthly Mom teaching me to parent but our Heavenly Father. I just need His grace to get better and better at it.



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Fragment 4: A few weeks ago, I started giving away an mp3 of an on line home school conference. So far, I have had only 1 entry. So it looks like I know who is going to win. Sure you may not home school yourself. But you may know someone who does. You could be a big hero in someones life to win such a useful prize for them. I have decided to lengthen the contest 1 more week until March 7th. Click here to see complete rules and to enter by leaving a comment.

That is all my Fragments for now. Other's are just a click away.

Write a song for someone

A few weeks ago I posted a song here about Allen Levi, one of my favorite musicians/bloggers/people. I e-mailed him the link and received this response:





i'm honored by your creative gift. i've written lots of songs but not been written ABOUT in any before (that i can recall anyway). ... i posted two new blogs this week. i still have to make myself do it, but the writing is a good discipline for me. ... Hope y'all are good. You're a good man. every blessing, allen





I thought it was really cool that I could impress such a prolific song write like Allen just by writing a song about him. I also found it strange that no one had ever written a song about him before. So, my challenge for any of you would be song writers out there. Write a song for someone, it might be the only one they ever get.





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I was working on some phonics work with Spider Droid and we were coding some words together. I wrote a few words down on a dry erase board and asked what he would do with them. His reply: draw a black hole near them and it would suck them all away.





It was funny and poignant thing to say because reading may not be his thing, but he sure has his science down.





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A few weeks ago one of my former pastors who is now pastoring a Church near San Diego, CA had a massive heart attack. It is a miracle that he survived. His heart stopped around 30 times when they were putting a stent in. Each time they had to stop the surgery and start his heart again. After the surgery, he was in a coma like state for almost a week. All of a sudden, He was out of the coma like state and just days later he was at home with his family.





On Sunday my sister told me that a former pastor of ours had died that morning. He was substantially older than the first pastor I mentioned but still younger than all the kids grandparents. I will be at the wake at the same time that many of you checking in from Friday Fragments will be reading this.





Please pray for the families of these two men of God as they deal with the the two different outcomes to illness: recovery and death.





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I was at Old Navy a few months ago and would you believe: They have a mannequin that looks exactly like Princess Puppy? That's just weird!

For more fragments head over to Half Past Kissing Time.

Big 40 minus the birthday boy

My brother Keith would have turned 40 today. He died 18 months ago so he never quite made the milestone.

When My Mom turned 40, my Dad put a banner across our garage that read "Jeanne's 40 today. But don't tell anyone!". We lived across from the local library at the time and man people people became aware of the event.

When I turned 40, Amy had a surprise party for me and had one of my favorite musicians, Alan Levi, fly in from Alabama and sing at my party. He performed the following song among others .

When Amy turned 40, relatives teamed with me so I could give her 40 rolls of quarters. (Amy love quarters)

Keith died 18 months ago, so he never quite made the milestone. Keith was born on veteran's day and loved that his birthday was celebrated by many people even though they might not be aware they were doing so.

Today as you reflect on the men and women who served our country in the military. Reflect also on the men and women boys and girls who left the party before we had a chance to throw them one.

Blog Rolling with the Changes

Blog Insider - A look at the widgets, gadgets and whatnot's of Home School Dad

Tonight's Episode: A Simple way to improve your Blog Roll.

I have been doing a lot of meta-blogging lately. The majority of my posts have been about my blog rather than about stuff that is actually interesting to readers. At least that's my wife's take on it. The other day after reviewing my post about videos, she said in her BMPV (Best Miss Piggy Voice) "I don't understand any of this."

Well, I have good news and bad news for those who agree with her. The good news is that I will soon be posting again about the subjects that made me famous in 3 counties. The bad news is it does not start with this post.

Today, I am going to take up that provocative subject of Blog rolls. A blog roll is a list of blogs that you follow with a link to them. In the past I had always been tweaking my list of blogs on my blog roll. This was due in some part to the fact that I am always finding new blogs I want to share with the world. But it was mainly due to the fact that some of the blogs I follow post so periodically that I wanted to only feature blogs that were more current. It's kind of a publish or perish sort of thing.

This was working out okay, but it meant that every once in a while I had to go back and see if those other blogs had put out anything new lately. Than I happened on a cool way to list only current blogs but not lose touch of the old ones.

On Blogger there is a feature on the blog roll that allows you to limit the amount of blogs that shows on your list. While I now have 50 blogs on my roll, only 25 are listed at any one time. These are the 25 that have posted the most recently. Currently, the 25 listed are all less than a week old.



What I really like about this is when, a someone in the lower 25 posts again it automatically springs up to the top. Some of my favorite blogs post intermittently. Allen Levi's blog essentially went silent after his 7 songs in 7 days this past August. But every couple of months he puts something on and I will be one of the first to know. Out Walking took a bit of a summer sabbatical but is now putting up his usual 1 -2 provocative pieces a week. With my new system, he came back to my attention without my having to search for him. I mentioned the blog, Rocks in My Dryer when talking about Works for Me Wednesday last week. She hasn't posted since July, But if and when she comes back I (and my readers) will know about it.

Now it is essentially true I could do the same thing just by subscribing to these blogs. Yes, and no. I like having what I like available for everyone to see. This method works much better for me. If you go through my blog list and do not see a blog you have seen before. Click on the See All button below the last blog on the list. It is very likely you will find it there.

So now that I have proved once again that Boring is just not a suburb of Portland, I will wrap up this look at the making of the making of this blog.

Next Time: An Unpaid Political Pronouncement.

In Praise of Allen Levi

Two weeks left until school starts.

Summer has many great traditions and events. From outdoor movies (which sadly we did not partake of this year) to weekend getaways, our summers are filled with some great activities. Some are relatively new, like home school baseball on Thursday nights and some have been going on for years, like my sister and her kids' annual visit from D.C. to the old homestead. Last year a new summer tradition started which starts again today. Allen Levi will release a new song on his blog today (http://www.allenlevi.wordpress.com/) and continue to release a new song each day until Sunday. Yep 7 songs in 7 days. You can also link to the blog from his web site http://www.allenlevi.com/.

Now wait just a minute, you might be saying who is Allen Levi and what kind of music does he perform?

This video may begin to answer those questions.

I am not sure if I have posted about Allen before. I know I have periodically put up links to his website and blog before. I met Allen about 15 years ago when I was living in South Carolina. He performed concerts at the church I was attending 2 years in a row. He was in the early years of his transition from full time lawyer to full time singer.

Allen quickly became of my favorite musicians. He is a prolific song writer/story teller who at both of those concerts sang songs he had written only hours earlier. Unlike Bebo Norman who is featured with Allen in the above video, Allen has not become a Contemporary Christian Music star. I am not sure this was his intention.

A good # of Allen's concerts are played at Young Life (A Christian parachurch youth ministry) camps and training events. He also plays churches like the concert I saw him at. He also has performed at many more intimate venues. He told me once he even plays at birthday parties. I found this out first hand in 2004 when Amy flew him from Georgia to Illinois for my surprise 40th birthday party.

I reviewed all of the songs Allen played last August in preparation for this week. I thought I would link one up here to give you an idea of his music. The problem is they were all awesome and I had hard time deciding which one to choose. You can find them all by clicking here.

If I had to choose one I would choose Proposal (A Love Song). I chose this one because a) I like the premise of a proposal song following the advice Elisabeth Elliot's father had for her brothers: Never tell a girl you love her until you are ready to propose. and b) because I once told a girl I loved her in a song and then proposed in the same song. (She said "sure" btw.)

The indecision in picking 1 song is understandable as I vacillate easily when trying to determine which of Allen's songs is my favorite. Yesterday it was A Frazier Fir in Florida from that album I bought 15 years ago. Today it's back to Love to Give Away, a beautiful song about his singleness. I am sure after this week I will (and hopefully you too) will have some new gems to choose from.

I could probably go on and on about Allen, but instead I will let his music speak for himself. Not only is he my featured blog this week, he is also listed in my blog roll. Give him a listen, and a read, as his song explanations are often as poignant as the songs themselves. Who knows? maybe he will play at your surprise birthday party as well.

Next Time: A night at the races.