Thursday, February 26, 2009

Treasure...

Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe [which is] instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man [that is] an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure [things] new and old. Matt. 13:52

Treasure is a really cool word to study in the Bible...my Grandfather was an avid "treasure hunter"...he would work his vacation around his research regarding lost treasures from the old west days...he even invented his own gold finding machine, they say it worked...

I guess thats where I get it...I am constantly looking for things that might escape less trained eyes...

Recently i was in an old electronics store in San Diego and came across this old broadcast mixing desk...

I looked it over and on the back saw the make on a little tag..."UREI"...Universal Recording Equipment Incorporated...otherwise known these days as "Universal Audio"...

Do a little ebay search sometime for "Universal Audio Vintage"...

this desk was sitting by the back door very close to getting rained on in the dirt.

I bought it.

It will become part of my studio after I clean it up and "renew it"...

I was also doing some research on the Texas Instrument website and came across a new prototype evaluation board for converting analog sounds to digital files...it was a limited time offer to get a module for next to nothing that is state of the state of the art...its not even on the market in any devices yet...

So on one hand I find a very "old" kind of treasure, and on the other a very "new" kind of treasure...

I guess as an "audio scribe" I am doing just what Jesus recommended...

On my way home from the electronics salvage store I stopped and sat down for a hot dog and chili (it was raining and a perfect day for a chili-dog) as I waited for my food I glanced over at an elderly woman sitting by the window just staring out the glass and eating her french fries...she was nothing to look at sort of an older style pants suit that was way out of style, but I noticed this, she had dressed herself and decorated her appearance to come and eat a hot dog by herself...and as I sat there, I began to think about the incredible machine that this elderly woman was, just the sheer biological machine that contained her soul was greater than any achievement of mankind...it could drive a car, and order food and had its own sense of style and value...there's nothing like this in the modern world and robotics is light years behind even the frailest elder in our society...I suddenly saw treasure both old and new...

I think this is what God see's...treasure in earthen vessels...regardless of the cultural value placed on her this woman had incredible value in Gods eyes...she left before I did, but I was completely awestruck at the incredible machine that God had designed to house our souls...

So I'm learning to treasure the "old" (I am getting that way every day), and I am grabbing the "new" as opportunities and streams of revelation pour into me...hopefully I will be able to bring them both out as a faithful householder.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Transformers Part 2

So you can read my fascination with transformers and the law of "inductance"...it reminds me of something that I began to consider after hearing Lance Wallnau (I buy mp3's from Morningstar whenever something really jumps out at me), where he talked about the duality of "sheep" and "warriors"(7 Mountain Mandate), how that we need people who want intimacy with Jesus and a "pure" lifestyle untainted by the world, but we also need people who are warriors who get down and dirty and change the world around them.

Well here's the cool thing about the law of inductance...

You can completely reverse/increase/decrease/ the flow of current in a transformer and NEVER have the "transformed" current touch the original...

Let me see if I can "Un-tech" this a little...

Electricity goes into a loop of wire that is wrapped around one side of a U shaped piece of metal...on the other side of the U is a completely different loop of wire...and the law of inductance makes it so that the electricity going into loop 1 makes electricity come out of loop 2...but it is reversed...and if you change loop 2 to different sizes then the electricity that comes out can be of a higher voltage, or lower voltage or lots of things...the point is the electricity coming out of loop 2 NEVER touches the electricity in loop 1...

So if you have "dirty power"...send it thru a transformer and it comes out clean on the other side...its kind of the electrical version of distillation...

So this means that it is possible to transform "bad power" to "good power" by the law of inductance...once you were darkness, now ye are light...kinda thing...

So what are the things we should be "inducting" into the kingdom?

Well entertainment comes up as a pretty big thing...currently the best Hollywood can offer is to kill people like Heath Ledger with all the bad power they offer.

We need to induct the entire entertainment industry...starting in your town...that means I gotta "induct" all the cowboy singers in my town and try to "induct" the rockers as well (be they so few)...so I am planning on opening a recording studio as part of the process...to that end I have some ideas...

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Transformers...no not the science fiction kind...

Part of my education as a worship leader is in the realm of audio equipment...why you ask?

Well in the Tabernacle of David (the only Tabernacle that God said he would restore) they had twenty four seven worship and in order for that to happen they had a lot of worshipers (somewhere in the neighborhood of 8000) and in those worship leaders/teams there was a mandate that you had to make your own instrument and part of my instrument (besides the guitar and other instruments I play) is technology...so I've been studying up on audio gear for the last 5-6 years.

There's some pretty cool new stuff, but a lot of the really great old equipment was designed by a Missionaries son named Rupert Neve.

Neve gear sells on ebay at incredible premiums, and there are a lot of gear guys that are trying to copy his designs, there's just something really great about the gear he designed. (I do not know if he is a believer but he is a highly successful businessman and much sought after for his designs)

One of the things that Rupert Neve discovered and really developed was the use of "transformers" in his audio gear.

Transformers are everywhere, because of the nature of electricity most of your stuff actually runs on DC voltage, the computer you are using converts the AC from the wall into DC through the use of the power supply, which is really nothing much more than a specific kind of transformer that does this job very well.

Here's whats cool about transformers...electricity goes into one side of a transformer and back out the electric cord completing a circle or "circuit"...but transformers use a law that God has built into nature called "inductance" and while the original electrical current might not be useful, the transformer is able to create a completely new electrical current because the original current "induced" the electrons on the other side to react...the new current is completely independent of the original current, it happens on an isolated side all by itself (it does need the original current to induce the electrons).

Pretty cool huh?

Well I think its cool, and Rupert Neve must have thought it was cool because he designed some very wonderful audio gear that uses transformers on the microphone signal and on the output signal...he used them all over the place.

So whats the point?

Well if you look around the kingdom you see this law at work quite a bit...

"Where sin abounded grace abounds more..." how is that even possible?

Think about it, you got a lot of sin, and here God is saying there will be even more grace...kinda like transformers...you can actually create a higher voltage by the way they are wound...so God uses the law of inductance to invade where sin seems to be a problem...

Its not simply about opposite's its also about something being transformerd from one thing to another...you were darkness....now you are light...you were aliens now you are of the Household of faith, you were sinners now you are saints...I could go on, but I won't.

"I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service of worship, and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you may be able to prove what is the acceptable, perfect, and good will of God" Romans 12: 1

The Economy and the Kingdom

Most if not all of us have been impacted in some way by the recent economic turmoil, the immediate reaction is to withdraw, store up, save and maybe freak out a little.

Emotionally I found myself withdrawing, you know, you try to maintain some semblance of hope on the outside but inside you're all panic and worry, I have found my sleep being affected and when I went to the Lord to pray about it He told me I was not trusting Him.

Wow!

What he said was "If you trusted me you would be able to sleep thru this storm"...

But there I was in the boat saying (actually whining) "Don't you care that we perish?"

Thats not a very good way to approach the Lord (especially considering that if He wanted he could wipe out poverty with a word).

But I'm just being honest.

My response has been less than hopeful and really sort of depressing...it has caught up to me in my sleep cycle in not being able to go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

So my new new years resolution is to be positive in what I say about my personal finances and then to be an example of giving to the flock I am part of.

Interesting enough the current trend in Churches across the country shows a marked decline in giving, nearly 20% down from last year across the board...this is not good.

You will never enter Kingdom Finances as a stingy person.

God LOVES a cheerful giver.

God...

LOVES...


A...

CHEERFUL....


Giver.

So I am giving more.

Gave away my best guitar.

Gave away my favorite sweater.

Have decided to make my worship songs available for free once I figure out how to host them online...

Gave away an expensive compressor (a piece of audio gear)...

Gave away my digital camera, gave away my time rebuilding a computer, give gave going to do more...

Will it change anything?

I don't really care, and I don't list this stuff as some sort of "pat me on the back" it has been a process where I reluctantly trust by giving up...man I did not want to give Bob that guitar, I loved the way it sounded, but I know in my heart that this was Gods will, and it will mean more to Bob than it will to me, it is a seed of creativity and a demonstration of Gods belief that Bob is called as a creative worship leader and he should have the best...and based on that...man I can get behind that sort of giving.

I've taught my kids that we serve because we are servants, not because we are trying to get position or get anything out of it...we serve based on our identity as servants to the ultimate One, and likewise we give because we are givers...not to get something back, or to "save our own finances" or any other reason...the Kingdom is about what people are not about what they do.

We are new creatures, part of another Government that rules over all...and the Nature of our King is this:

"For God so loved the world that He GAVE...."

Who cares what happens to the economy, when you are part of something bigger?

Our primary concern over the economy should be on how to help people who are freaking out, not to freak out ourselves.

I've needed to repent...Jesus reminded me awhile back that it is impossible to be a believer in Him without faith...if you are a believer then faith mus be part of your daily existence, man I'm not sure I like that but its the truth.

As believers we need to not only be givers but find ways to develop kingdom products/attitudes and business practices...ultimately only one solution will bail out the economy and that's not more spending...its more kingdom.