Maybe God's In on It

"God doesn't give you anything you can't handle...

Unless God is in on it and doesn't like you either."

--Ellen Degeneres

Fret Time: Grove Church and Quick Before Sinking

A lot of fret time this past weekend. It started Saturday afternoon with a sound check and rehearsal for the Grove Community Church. We practiced until about 4:30 then rocked the 5:00 p.m. service.

I played my Les Paul Classic Gold Top through a ’65 reissue Fender Deluxe. The LP sounded good; easy to play, tons of sustain. I miss not having a trem bar, though.

Later that night I sat in with Quick Before Sinking in downtown Riverside.

I brought along the Fender Stratocaster, and played it through Adam's Mesa Boogie. QBS is an amazingly talented group of guys, so I have no idea why they asked me to sit in.

Quick Before Sinking is: Adam (The Epic Beat) on guitar and vocals...

Dr. Mark on bass and vocals...

Scott on drums and percussion...

Ian--who is also a great drummer--dialed in the sound for the band, and snapped a few photos...

And I did something I rarely do in public: I sang.

My brother D-Rave says I'm not a vocalist, and I have to admit he's right on this one. But no one ran screaming from the venue, so it's all good. There's a video of it floating around on the web, but I'm pretty embarrased and can't post it here...

Most of these photos I stole off of Jon Risinger's web site. Sorry, Jon. But when you look at the picture below that my daughter snapped during the show, I think you'll understand why...

Then early Sunday morning I was back at the Grove to play two more services.

But my brother Gary is always on my mind, still. That's an Infant of Prague mass card from his funeral, there on the left side of my pedal board...

Angels of St. Mary's

Watching over the funeral mass...

Appears to be a Stratocaster...

Jesus Over New Orleans 2007

Skywriting...

Jesus Rocks the Vote

If I read one more line about who Jesus would vote for, I’m gonna snap.

The truth is, he wouldn’t vote for your candidate. I don’t care how much the guy on your bumper sticker reminds you of Bobby Kennedy circa 1967, Jesus still wouldn’t endorse him. Or her. Or whoever.

That goes for both liberals and conservatives. One side thinks abortion is keen; the other solves problems by sending in troops. You really think he’d sign up for either of these? He’d want to redeem the candidates, not stand beside them on a podium.

Jesus rocks the vote.

He calls into question all of our loyalties, our prejudices, our biases and beliefs. All of those dirty little rationalizations we tell ourselves while we’re standing behind the curtain, punching out chads.

Politicians compromise; Jesus does not. They dissemble; Jesus does not. They act in self-interest, they take revenge, they bargain, they backstab, and offer up that which is not theirs to give. Then they get caught in a hotel room with a high-priced hooker.

So go ahead and vote. But don’t slap your campaign sticker on Christ.