by jbwagner on April 22nd, 2010 1 Comment

Music Like Poetry

I wish more music was like poetry.

I’ve been trying to expand my musical library recently. One thing I’ve found is that the best music (for me anyway) is the music that feels like poetry. Music that isn’t so cookie-cutter or systematic. Music that is soulful, authentic, and emotional. Music that forces me to think a bit about what I am hearing.

Call me a Romantic, but that is what moves me.

And isn’t that what we want music to be? Something that moves us to another place, and hopefully moves us toward a better place.

That is the goal I strive for when I make music.

What do you want your music to be?

[ Image by MaltaGirl ]

by jbwagner on January 11th, 2010 1 Comment

This Fragile Life

fragile

As some of you no doubt saw these past few days on my Twitter feed, my grandmother passed away on Friday after a massive stroke. I still don’t know what to think or do, even after her memorial service last night.

The biggest shock for me was the fact that my grandparents visited over Christmas and all was well. Nothing really hinted at the future.

But what I really want to say is how fragile and precious this life is. That we can be fine one minute and gone the next. I think we forget that in our day-to-day stuff.

And also how utterly unfair and cruel death is. I haven’t experienced many family members passing away yet. But I believe God made us to be with one another forever, and every time someone leaves this world I’m angry and upset. I don’t want to say goodbye, even if I know that we will be together again in Heaven, because I shouldn’t have to. People for whom we care about that deeply should be with us, not gone. And the only explanation I can find is that we were not made to say goodbye.

So, I don’t know if there is a point to this post. Today is just an outpouring of my many emotions from this weekend. Just never take for granted this fragile life.

[ Photo by Son of Groucho ]

by jbwagner on December 22nd, 2009 3 Comments

Merry Christmas to You!

christmas

Just wanted to tell everyone merry Christmas from me!

Hope your holidays are merry and bright, as the song says.

Enjoy your (hopefully) off time from work and enjoy your family and friends. And thank God for his blessings and love.

[ Photo from jerry7171 ]

by jbwagner on December 20th, 2009 2 Comments

Long Time, No Post

lazy

For my readers, I’ve been very slack on my posting recently. It’s been 2 months since I posted last. That’s too long.

In any case, I think my blogging hiatus was a little needed for me, if a little abrupt. I’ve been working at a new job, coding new themes on the side, and playing like crazy at my church’s Sunday night service. No excuses, but I’ve felt very busy.

As a New Year’s resolution, I guess, I’m going to try and post at least once a week. Also, I’ll probably be doing a redesign on this blog. I’ve been learning a ton about web design and development and I feel like it’s time for a new look. If you’ve got some things you like or hate about this look, leave a comment; I’m always looking for a little feedback.

‘Till next time.

by jbwagner on October 21st, 2009 191 Comments

Coming to Myself

endlessjourney

One of my favorite parables is the story of the prodigal son.

The story goes like this: A father had two sons. The younger was, well, young and thought he knew better. He wanted his inheritance, and his father gave it to him. He went away, blew all of the money on wine, women, and song, and ended up in the most degrading place he could think of, fighting not to starve.

Then something great happens. The words in the Bible say that “…he came to himself…”.* We’ll be back here in a second.

After this, the son realizes that even his dad’s servants were better off, and that he’d go home and beg to be a servant. When he gets home, his father runs to meet him and welcomes his lost son back into the family, not as a servant, but as a son. (There’s a bit more, so go read it in Luke 15).

As I emphasized before, there’s a huge turning point in this story. The son comes to himself. Meaning he comes back from his rebellious stage to the truth. The words also imply that something happened inside the son. They imply there is some point that we should all be at, and we can get away from, but we must choose to head towards.

This is important. God will let us run away from Him. He will always be there, but He won’t force you to stay. It’s a choice. And you and I choose. When the son “came to himself” he chose to go back. It’s subtle. We control our direction. We can either go away from God, or go toward Him.

So, if we’re away from God, we must make the choice to go back. If we are near Him, we must make the choice to stay.

It’s all about coming to myself.

* The ESV and the KJV say “came to himself” and the NIV says “came to his senses”. Same idea.

[ Image by h.koppdelaney ]

by jbwagner on October 17th, 2009 No Comments

iStat Menus and iStat Pro

islayer

Two great apps that I’ve found recently are iSlayer’s iStat programs.

These little apps are basically a window into your Mac’s inner workings.

The iStat Pro is a dashboard widget that displays all sorts of good information about how your Mac is running. Anything from RAM usage, to Drive stats, to temperature of components, to fan speed are all at your disposal. The units are dragable to any most any order you’d like. Also the skin has a few different colors so you can change to taste.

istat4

The iStat Menus contain the exact same information but in your OS X menubar. The advantage over iStat Pro is the always available visual readouts. (Yes, that one click to open the dashboard makes a difference!) You can customize the individual icons to contain more or less visual info and you can (by the order in which you activate them) dictate their position in the menubar. Also, the colors can be tweaked.

istat2 They work well together too. I use the menus for “critical” – or at least what I call critical – info. RAM, drives, network usage, and CPU usage are all just a glance away. I can then open up the widget for other info – like temps, fan speed, uptime, and power stats – that I don’t need in front of me.

In any case, these apps are small and fairly light, and can help troubleshoot if you need some quick info. (Example: Why is my fan always running! Oh! It’s some malfunctioning program! I’ll fix that!) Hopefully, you can find good uses for these two programs!

Do you have any apps to recommend?

by jbwagner on October 6th, 2009 19 Comments

Do All You Can

scaffolding

So, what happens when you are in the midst of a struggle?

You do all you can. You fight for it.

This can be said of any struggle really. At least any struggle that truly matters. (Figuring out the difference between important ones and unimportant ones is another matter)

When the job is on the line, you do whatever it takes to make it work. When a life is at stake, you do all you can. When you see something that needs to be changed, you do all you can.

As someone once told me, “Just take the next step. Do the next thing.” You may not know where you are going. But you can see where you’ve been and where God looks like He’s taking you. Go that way. Move towards that. Keep getting better at your craft. Keep refining yourself. Even when the road looks like a dead end, there is something you can do. Sometimes that something is to wait, but there is always something.

Go forward with confidence, and go with God. He can tell you where to go, but He doesn’t make you do it.

Time to step up.

[ Image by rbrwr ]

by jbwagner on September 30th, 2009 25 Comments

Awareness is Not Enough

contemplating

One thing I’ve been realizing lately is that awareness by itself is not enough.

It is not sufficient to just be aware of a problem. If I am aware that I have cancer and yet do nothing to kill and destroy it, the cancer will still kill me. Only when I take action against the cancer does it ever go away.

Raising awareness is good. Knowing your enemy is good. These things will prepare you for the battle.

But there is still a battle.

As it says in a song I like, “How can you expect to win this war if you’re too afraid to fight.” And the fight will be hard, but it is better than not fighting at all.

Be aware. But also take right action.

[ Image by mendhak ]

by jbwagner on September 15th, 2009 43 Comments

Who Ministers to the Ministers?

the_shepard

Sad fact: leaders in the church don’t always get fed.

Who leads worship leaders into worship? Who preaches to and teaches the pastors and teachers? Who mentors the mentors?

Burnout is a very bad thing. But we too often do so much for the sake of the kingdom that we forget to rest and be filled. God created the entire universe and He still got a day of rest in there! There’s a reason.

Leaders, don’t be leading so often that you forget to be filled by God or forget to learn from other leaders. No one can do it all by themselves. Look for new perspectives or better methods from other leaders. Take a day to sit and talk with God, or just to enjoy the day with your loved ones.

This isn’t to say that you should neglect responsibilities, but be sure you don’t overdo it.

Balance, my friend. Balance.

[ Image by a4gpa ]

by jbwagner on September 5th, 2009 163 Comments

September Wallpaper

Thought I would share my current desktop image.

I’ve been finding some cool space art online and this one I decided to use for my desktop. I love science fiction scenes, and have ever since Star Wars caught my attention when I was a kid.

Found anything cool for your desktop image?

[ Image can be found here. ]

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