For the Nerd in your Life

Jimmy Maks

Three nights a week Portland Jazz club Jimmy Maks plays host to phenomenal jazz drummer, Mel Brown. Brown drummed on staff at Motown, and played records and the road with the likes of the Temptations, the Supremes, and Smokey Robinson. He leads a septet on Tuesdays, a quartet on Wednesdays, and a quintet on Thursdays. It is to this last group that I should like to draw your attention.

Last fall I was introduced to Jimmy Maks and the Mel Brown Hammond B-3 Organ Group by Steve Delarmarter, a professor of Old Testament and a personal hero. Dr. Delamarter led the worship band I fronted for a couple years in seminary. He is fiercely curious about music in many of the ways I am, and I trust his instincts as it pertains to tuneful things.

What makes Thursday night so interesting to me is the instrument line up: guitar, saxophone, drummer, auxiliary percussionist, and organist. You may not notice that there is no bass instrument listed there, and if you were to hear a recording of their performance you would very likely never think of it. This is because Louis Pain, resident J.M. organist pulls double duty on the mighty Hammond B-3, playing smooth, timely bass with the left, and making both rhythmic and solo magic with the right. Listen, all the players on the stage are as good as you will hear on their instrument. Louis Pain’s left hand is the best kept secret Portland has to offer on Thursday nights.

I sat organ-side my first night at Jimmy Maks and was blown away by the collection of skills displayed by the group. I’ve been back many Thursdays since (with many of my friends in tow), and have easily recaptured the same astonished delight. It is a spiritual experience for me.

If we’re friends in some other place in the world-wide thing, you may have caught a glimpse of this: a dark phone photo mostly of blur, backed by a red velvet curtain. This is Thursday night church at Jimmy Maks. It is really a sound worth hearing.

Pictures

As both of you know, I have been growing my hair out for the last couple of years to donate to Locks of Love. This afternoon, I mentioned on Facebook that Shearing Day had finally come, and a few people were interested in pictures of the results. Mental that I am, I'm actually flattered by your call for photographs of the carnage. You probably slow down to look at traffic accidents too, don't you? Here are some images worth your time.

I was first inspired to grow my hair when Jessica Bolt (a member of our church) asked some of the ladies to donate their hair to a wig for her sister Mary. Mary had been diagnosed with cancer. Jessica, remarkable young woman that she is, gave up a year of her life (and a full-ride, Summit scholarship) to move to Seattle, and walk with her sister through a long journey of intense treatment. I realized in conversation with Jessica that for all of the things I couldn't do in the cause of fighting cancer, growing hair was one thing I could do. Lord knows I wasn't using the hair at the time, so why shouldn't someone else? Two years later and very soon from now, someone else will, thanks to Jessica.

In October of the same year, our church was shocked by the news that the VDK's youngest daughter Caitlin had leukemia. The first days were filled with tests and prayer, and wonder at Caitlin's courage. Over the last 18 months, the VDK's have adjusted to medical regimens and regular hospital visits. Caitlin continues to show about the best reaction to the treatment that anyone can hope for, and we are all grateful for God's answer to our constant prayers. Caitlin herself is the genuine miracle. Taking all of this invasive therapy (and all of the not-so-thrilling side effects) in stride, nothing seems to deter her much from just being her own-kid self; she is a pretty inspiring young lady.

Friends, these are the pictures for which you are looking: pictures of people who refuse to allow the worst of circumstances get the best of them. I'm sure you have some of your own as well. Thank God for them, and let them inspire you to action!

Grade School Homiletics

I spend half a day at the school every week volunteering in a couple of classrooms and playing with the kids during lunch. This year, I have the pleasure of serving in Isaiah's classroom with Ms. Scottel, and on my first day she asked me if I would make a presentation on sermon writing.

I was a little surprised.

This is a public school. A fourth grade class. And it is today. And you want me to make a presentation on sermon preparation? I could tell by the look on her face that she was serious, so after grading a number of the students' math quizzes, I grabbed marker, and got everyone's attention. And then it hit me.

What I do every week is write and present a book report.

Every week, I focus on some section, aspect, or theme of the Bible, and I report on it. Book reports are things that fourth graders know all about. In fact, it didn't take long before we were in it up to our elbows. I decided (for the purposes of honoring the First Amendment) that we would write a sermon on the book Green Eggs & Ham. We discussed the premise and main point of the book; we developed major supporting points, and we drew examples from personal experience. When we were finished, we had a well-rounded persuasive sermon on the importance of trying things that are potentially good. When we were done, any one of those kids could have had you coming up the aisle for breakfast.

It amazes me what God is up to sometimes.

Our House

1619 NE Holman Street

In December of 1999, when Kaelea and I moved into the Woodlawn neighborhood, we rented this small house on Holman Street. We brought Isaiah home from the hospital to this house in June. After 8th months on the corner of 17th and Holman, we moved into our own first house.

6837 NE Claremont Avenue

Our first house was not a house per se, but a condominium in Woodlawn Park. We heard a lot of gun shots in this house. We brought Malachi and Michal home from the hospital and hosted a lot of life groups in this house. Isaiah started kindergarten in this house. We Learned a little about loving our neighbors, and a lot about money management in this house. When we came home from our Africa sabbatical in January of 2006, we decided to sell our condo in order to live simply and learn to be more generous givers.

6322 NE 8th Avenue

After selling our condo, we moved into this apartment across the yard from the PUMP house. The girls started school in this house. We learned how to maximize space and think globally in this house. We learned that hospitality has nothing to do with where you live, and everything to do with who you are in this house. We learned to be more generous with what we had in this house. We learned how better to manage and give our money in this house.

7032 NE 10th Ave

We are moving again. I wonder what will happen in this house?

Luke 16 - A Podcasting Test

Revival

Hello to both of you who read this blog! It's been nearly a year since I left this blog in order to write on PUMPTrek. Little did I know what this year would hold. I thought by this time PUMPTrek would have been a memory, and I would have been long settled back into this corner of the web.

Is est quis is est.

I'm back. I've only got a few days of remembering left on PUMP Trek, and I've really missed reflecting in this place. As I'm sure is the case with you, lots of life has happened this year so let's get on with it, shall we?

This summer Isaiah and I read all of the Harry Potter books. It turns out Sai is book monster, he eats them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No joke, they tremble on the shelf as he walks by. So we raced our way through the series (watching the movies as we finished each book), and then went to see The Half-Blood Prince in the theater this summer. It was a lot of fun. I must say that I think J.K. Rowling has done a fine job writing an excellent moral tale that was as engaging for me as it was for my son. For those with the reservation about having your children read about magic, I would encourage you to consider reading the first book as a pilot test. What I found was that the magic was not presented in any sort of seductive way, that the problems in the book are solved with good character, not with incantations to evil spirits. The School of Magic that Harry Potter attends takes Christmas and Easter break for heaven's sake. Anyway, it's certainly not my normal genre but it was a great experience to share with Sai, and it made my summer better, for what it's worth.

Sorry about the delay, I post-dated this post to show up at midnight on the first, but apparently choosing the date doesn't do that. My bad.