Sunday, May 25, 2008

Oh my soul rejoice!!

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of our participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."
~Philippians 1:2-6

Stealing words from Paul to open up there! :-P Man God is good. I don't want to say that he has really been working the last week. cause I feel like he has really been working every day since I got here...but from a human perspective, the work he has been doing in the last couple weeks has been REALLY encouraging! :-) I will share more in a later blog, but I just want to ask that you PRAISE God with me and thank him for his faithfulness to watch over his children, hear their cries, and answer their prayers! Hallelujah! Thank you for your prayers!!! Please know that God is hearing them and answering them!

I want to leave you with the words of the song that inspired the title for my blog!

I love you Lord,
And I lift my voice!
To worship you,
oh my soul REJOICE!

Take joy my king,
in what you hear!
May it be a sweet sweet sound
in your ear!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Music...my home sweet home!

So it is right now 2:31 AM and i just got back from one of the bars in town where Tiffany and I went to go and see a few bands play! It was a really great show! It was at a very small venue, but a great atmosphere to be in! Plus, Tiffany (who speaks French unlike me! :-P) read on the front window that on Wednesday and Thursday nights, this place has an open mike night!! Exactly what I've been thinking about doing! How perfect! So I'm gonna be looking into that in the next few days and see how I can incoporate those open mike nights into my summer plans.

I have decided that musicians are the same all over! I went to a music store near my house...walked in saw all the instruments, the books....and the guy with long hair flowing over his shoulders who worked in...where else...the guitar section of the store! The guys tonight...definitly a child of the 80s...long hair in a ponytail...but MAN can he play guitar! His riffs were SOOO incredibly fast! GEEZ! The Bass players in the bands were Obviously the relaxed goof balls of the group! The first band that played, their bass player was really good, and he rocked back and forth as he played with a big smile on his face! :-) Anyone at the WG want to guess who he reminded me of? (If David Brandon doesn't not read my blog...someone tell him to look it up!)

Anyway, I felt kind of awkward at first, cause there weren't many people there and I wasn't with the band :-), but as the music started and I saw the love that these people had for their art, I felt right at home! Right there in the Dan Racing bar. It was encouraging to see people who could actually play the guitar, but just to hear the music, and relize its not all that different from American music (although I must admit it was a little strange hearing the guy sing...and almost yell the rock song...in French?).

This is the second concert I've been able to go to since I've been here and I really enjoyed it! I am hoping that this summer will be filled with many opportunities to go to concerts and explore the life of the clubs and bars that I haven't been able to explore because or our morning language classes. Doing these music things really makes me feel at home and as if there is actually a place in Marseille where I belong! :-D...despite language barriers.

I dropped the ball on the updating every two days...and both Lisa and my mom reminded me to write..and I still forgot. I believe Katie's most recent quote was "Courtney, do you have the memory of a goldfish?" This might be true!

I know there aren't any big reports in this email...but i just ask that you rejoice with me in the fact that I have found a place to play at open mike nights (and I think they even have a piano!) and that our time at the concert went so well.

Pray that I will find a couple of bands that I can follow, simply to get in with their groupies :-) And pray that I will be able to be disciplined and get together a set of music that I can play at an open mike night.

Thanks guys for all your prayers!

NOTE: Ladies, if you ever come to France, don't make eye contact with a gentleman in the club...cause he just might come over and play an invisible piano for you while dancing....