that one blog

even though i rarely/never post, i've been reading a number of blogs daily. i was intrigued by the five question game...therefore, i asked the right-good daniel jerund aruncey postma to give me some questions to answer. here goes:

1. Why is music so important in your life?

in short, for a constant joy and inspiration. music affects me in every facet of my life...from simple personal growth, to interpersonal relationships, and even as far as my relationship with God. music is on the tip of my brain and tongue at all times, and that has a major effect on my ability to simply wake up in the morning. if i think on any memory i have, chances are i can tell you what song i was listening to at the time; be that out of speakers, in my brain, or from the voices around me. also, many many songs remind me of good times, or bad, i've had. so, music links me to my past, it follows me in my present, and i don't expect it to forsake me in my future. i stand in constant amazement at the variety and potential for creativity God gave us in music. most of my deepest felt emotions and the times i've felt closest to God were, at least in part, brought on my music.


2. In what ways do you think technology has, in turn, blessed and cursed our generation?

technology has given us the ability to learn and discover more things more quickly than ever before. it has given us new ways to stay connected with each other, regardless of location. we have been granted great power through technology and with it have been able to do things that are unbelievable. this then must be a blessing...
on the other hand, perhaps technology, while allowing us to discover more quickly and accurately many things in Creation, has, at the same time, alienated us from Creation. now, i don't mean to suggest that technology is not an intended part of God's plan and therefore outside of Creation in some way, that would be a completely ridiculous thing to say. i mean that we can quickly lose touch with the earth and it's creatures and it's wonder if we spend all of our time looking through a microscope and studying a computer screen instead of actually interacting with nature. it is indeed easier and more efficient to use technology to understand Creation and to find information, and i certainly am wont to favour that route. also, it would be naive to claim that we should use technology as a backup resource and instead attempt to search out our answers in the physical world alone; it's not like i can just jump over to japan and exchange $100 and see how many yen i get back. it certainly makes more sense for me to find some website that will tell me the precise exchange. however, if (to steal a phrase from my boy bvo) "google is the arbiter of all reality", i think we might be a little disconnected from the reality being arbitrated.


3. What are your greatest joys and your greatest struggles as a Canadian Reformed Christian?

i am a very cerebral sort of christian. for good or bad, i tend to think my faith more than feel it. therefore, in a worship service, the part the affects my faith most and strengthens me most is the preaching of the Gospel. the canadian reformed church, theologically/doctrinally, believes also that the preaching of the Gospel is to be the focal point of all worship services because it is through the Word that we are strengthened and uplifted, and it is through the Word that God speaks to us. this is of great joy to me because when i really started listening to the preaching in my church, i immediately experienced growth in my faith and understanding. i also find great joy in my church community. in general, canref people are very good, solid, welcoming people. if they know you, they will help you. this is partly the dutch way, of course, but it is a sense of community that i do not take lightly. some people claim that canref'ers are particularly exclusive in their acceptance of people outside the canref church. well...not more so than any other tight community i've ever seen, especially if there are dutch folk involved. canref'ers like to support the people they know, just like any group of people. that's how come any canref'er can get a job landscaping in hammertown just by saying their last name. but that's not any different than any other dutch community. we've all played dutch-bingo...it's a connection and an immediate acceptance. and, what's more, you can get a job landscaping in hammertown too, if not by your last name then by association with me. it's not exclusivist, rather it seeks to help and support it's own just like any other community does.
as far as struggles, i have a hard time being at peace with the music in my church. certainly the chunes are firmly based in the psalms and other bits of Scripture, but the archaic genevan tunes we use are a bit more than lacking. i definitly respect the music for it's history and i would never say that the tunes aren't musically intriguing, but i have a hard time singing about my joy in Christ in a minor key at the pace of a dead whale. great reform needs to come about in my church's songbook. also, i find it difficult when i am consistently forced to defend my church for the actions and thoughts of a generation ago. but i don't think i'll rant about that here.


4. Respond to Romans 5: 1-5: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” How has this passage been made concrete in your life?

this passage gives me great comfort and hope. wretched sinner though i am, i am also called a child of God through Christ's triumph and am assured that my sin, repeated and grievous, is forgiven and i will be welcomed into eternal life. therefore, i can endure whatever suffering i experience and can live in the joy of the comfort of the Spirit. since i am now at peace with God, i am free to live my life in thankful obedience to his law, but without fear of the consequence of my failure, since the law has been kept for me by Christ and my faith grafts me into his blamelessness before the eyes of God. since, also, i am free from the curse of sin, i am free to spread God's love as a living witness to the saving work of Christ. so, i take comfort in my blamelessness before God through Christ and i am assured in my hope of salvation.


5. You have all the money and resources you could ever need. How will you spend your time? What do you consider most important in how you live and work?

i think i would spend a great deal of my time travelling the world and interacting with as many cultures as i could (ideally with all of them, though that might be difficult as a white, western, north american, christian). as for what i consider most important, well...i would have to say the spreading of the Gospel. i know that's "the right answer", and i'm sure many people are rolling their eyes reading that, but i honestly think that that is the most important cause in life. i am, however, not very good at actually living out that cause. perhaps, if i were to be more truthful about my life, i value interpersonal connection above that. i spend the majority of my time trying to strengthen the bonds i have with the people i love. i do think that relationships are of very high importance in life, but perhaps this is an opportunity for me to examine my priorities.


well then...that about does it for my answers to danboy's questions. i'm not sure if anyone is actually going to make it to the bottom of this post. i have a feeling that many will fall away in boredom somewhere near the middle, or just take one glance at the post and close the tab. for those of you who didn't fall away, thanks, and i hoped you enjoyed what i had to say.

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Anyone else interested? Send me a note or leave a comment. Here're the rules.

1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me." The first five commentators will be the participants.

2. I will respond by asking you five questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (Write your own questions or borrow some.)