Year: 2012

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Random Notes October 2012

 

Pictured Rocks National Shoreline, Lake Superior, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Repost of Random Notes October 2012 | In July, we were asked to return to the Lighthouse Coffee House in Clarksville, TN.

By early August we headed to Minnesota by way of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. What a beautiful part of the country, We came thru that little stretch of Wisconsin and made our way to Two Harbors, MN and ministered for a few events at Living Waters Church. Check out this parody of “Hotel California” called “Thawed Out Frozen Tundra” James and I wrote.

Back in Nashvegas I was back at the Hope Center for Women. I love these ladies. They have so much courage. In September I was back at Summertown but speaking this time instead of singing. Well I did a little of that as well. I preached a message on Forgiveness. When I was don’t the Holy Spirit took over and the altars were full. It always blesses me to see God work when I get out of the way.

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National Quartet Convention 2012

It is truly a wonderful opportunity but I am most excited about seeing some old friends…and of coarse singing. Sometimes I feel like God opens strange doors for me, because I am not really a Southern Gospel Artist, I just love the music, it get’s down to business with lyrics that still use the words “cross’ and ‘blood.” When God opens doors I love to see what He has in store. It is always a blessing! If you are coming to NQC – I am singing at 2:15 PM in the Jubilee Music Artist Showcase – room C1 on the main floor. Sunday – I am also leading Worship at my home church which I LOVE!

Pinch me am I singing with Karen Peck & New River

After NQC thanks to a contact from Clarksville I was scheduled to be at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. We had a wonderful time in the Lord! I closed out the year with a surprise impromptu sing-a-long on “We Shall Wear A Robe and Crown,” with Karen Peck and New River in Murfreesboro, TN. I love Karen and her sister Susan. I love even more that at the end of this concert in a restaurant she gave a call to Salvation!

 

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I Wanna Stay On Vacation

We had such an amazing vacation this year. You know what it’s like when your screaming “I Wanna Stay om Vacation.” We are done adulting here.

It started with a family visit in Indianapolis where our niece ran James into a bookcase and he gave her a bloody nose when he accidentally flipped the hammock. They are now “Battle Buddies” and Brooklyn adores her “Unka James”

Then a milestone year High School Reunion which was so uplifting and fun! I saw friends I had not seen since High School. We listened to each other’s stories, sang karaoke, danced, chatted, celebrated that we are still around – alive and kicking at least for now.

Climbing Up the Mountain

Then James and I were off headed to NW Michigan. My sister and her boys joined us for the first 2 days. We climbed this sand dune in Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Park, located on Lake Michigan not far from Traverse City. Well this dune was a mega-dune that was 1,024 feet high and about an 80-85% grade it was no joke to say the least. My sister and my youngest nephew Levi who is only 3 years old climbed this with James and I. When we were about halfway up, climbing on our hands and feet, sand blowing in our face, exfoliating some parts of our exposed skin to sheer rawness, this little guy, my nephew says “Mom, next time pick a smaller mountain.” He had the right idea and we laughed out loud.

On this vacation we learned about shipwrecks on Lake Superior, saw lighthouses, rode bikes around Mackinaw Island, went to a mystery spot where gravity has a mind of it’s own, slid down a zip line, saw waterfalls, beautiful giant Great Lakes, visited historic military sites, saw family, friends and made new friends as I busted a note for Jesus in Two Harbors, MN.

Then we toured two beautiful mansions and tooled around Minneapolis and St Paul taking in the beautiful MN state capitol along with the Cathedral of St Paul and poking our head briefly into the overwhelming Mall of America. This year I wanna stay on vacation.

Spam and YES I Wanna Stay om Vacation

On the leg home we visited the Spam museum and in Eldon, Iowa, we stumbled upon the home that inspired the “American Gothic” Painting. We had to do our own reenactment. Back off we go over the Des Moines river through St. Louis, MO over the Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee rivers. Then it was over, 2 fun-filled, jam packed, whirlwind weeks gone and we were back home, back to responsibilities, back to life and reality – but I wanna stay on vacation.

Can We Find a Smaller Mountain – I Wanna Stay om Vacation

After I got home from this amazing trip reality set in and I need to find a job, again. There is always some need, more finances, unexpected expenses, illness to conquer, another friend battling cancer, a husband deployed, a child that is dumped in a relationship….can I just go back on vacation? I found myself thinking just like my nephew and saying can I pick a smaller mountain.

I heard this sermon on the radio which gave me a renewed perspective. Life throws so much at us but what does God really want from us? Three things, obedience, faith and patience. Just like climbing that giant sand dune, if I want to get back to the top I got to climb! No one else is going to do it for me. I had to have the faith in myself that I could physically climb to the top. I had to have the patience to scale the giant dune for over 1 hour to get to the top. When I got to the top the exhilaration of Victory was incredible.

Obedience, Faith and Patience

So If I apply this to myself right now, Obedience…be obedient to God that should be pretty obvious but what areas of my life am I still hanging on to that I am not surrendering to His will but…I am trying to fix it my way? Is that really being obedient? What about my obedience beyond the obvious? Can I swallow my pride and walk away from what I want versus what I need? Can I be a servant instead of a leader?

Faith…I know all about faith. That has been a strong area for me. Ah-ha…but faith that believes in God and faith that surrenders to God are two different things. My faith has to expand beyond my basic belief that yes, God is God to – yes, God has my life in His control and I don’t have to keep trying to control every detail.

Patience… for me this is the hardest one. Both of my children would agree with me there. Like Paul, I ask why do I do the things I don’t want to do and why do I neglect to do the things I need to do? Why do some people seem to be where I want to be and why am I not there? But maybe the better question is what did they give up that I am not willing to give up? If their grass is greener is it because they take better care of their lawn?

Not My Home

While I wanna stay on vacation. I have hope when I remember this place is not my home. All God really wants is for me to let Him show me what He can do and I have to be patient in the process. So God grant me patience but hurry up!

I will trust in Him still to grant me the patience to get me up the mountain and have me come out on top. Just like on that sand dune, if I have to eat the dust, have the sand rub my toes raw and claw my way up the journey on my hands and knees, I will get to the top and stand in victory and when I do I will give Him the glory!

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Driving Through the Jet Stream

Earlier in July 2012, I was driving from Nashville up to Michigan for concerts and family time and I literally found myself driving through the jet stream.

The Experience of Driving Through the Jet Stream

You know how you watch the weather forecast on the news or the Weather Channel and you can see it in a curvy line streaking from West to East across the United States. I was somewhere between Louisville, KY and Indianapolis, IN and it was 106 degrees in the shade. Up ahead in the distance I could see this ribbon of wind flowing from my left to right and since I was heading north I figured out very quickly it must be the jet stream. It was dusty and looked very much like sand storms I remember from living in the Southwest. I have had the adventure of flying through the Jet stream in an airplane and that was to say at best “unnerving.”

White Knuckle Mode

Fully aware that I needed to go into “white knuckle mode” I braced for the wind to slam into my van as I entered the unknown and the formidable jet stream. I was out of it as quickly as I entered it and all I could thick was “wow what a rush!” I stopped at a rest area and the temperature was 20 degrees cooler. The Jet Stream is normally in the atmosphere so in a weird way I felt like God shared a little secret with me. Jet streams are boundaries that separate adjacent air masses with significant differences in temperature. So they keep hot air in the south and cool air in the north among other things.

When I really started thinking about this it made me think about the boundaries God has around us that we don’t even see. It also made me think of the turbulence we go through to get from one area of life, growth and even trouble into an area of comfort. Now I love hot weather but anything over 100 is even uncomfortable for me. To go through that sand filled, turbulent flow of air made me think of the troubles we face here when things we can’t control are dropped in our lap.

Driving Through the Jet Stream – Getting Comfortable

It was uncomfortable getting to that point and even more uncomfortable getting through that point. Sometimes we ignore the signs around us that we need to prepare ourselves because the road is about to get a little bumpy …and just when you wonder can you take one more step, can you stand one more sentence of bad news…if we, if I can just keep moving forward I will get to the other side,- the side that is 20 degrees cooler and much more comfortable!
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Random Notes July 2012

Events Highlights

Repost of Random Notes July 2012 | Our year started out with a speaking engagement for the Fort Gordon, GA PWOC Ladies Group. Then in February I rubbed elbows with musicians that played with Elvis Presley.

A concert at Bell Road and some volunteer work with Soul Choir also highlighted the events in February. At Trevecca, my current employer I enjoy singing the National Anthem for sporting events. In March I met Benjamin Schultz who played with Led Zeppelin and Duane Hitchings who wrote songs for Rod Stewart. God sure has a sense of humor and they two seasoned pros had some really good advise for me. In March, I was invited to Indie on the Brink at the lovely and talented Lara Landon’s home.

Speaking at Blackman High School

In March I was amazed to find myself singing and speaking at Blackman High School in Murfreeboro, TN to a group of teenagers. I then had the difficult task along with two others to judge a talent competition. It was difficult because they all had gifts and mad skills! The pointers I shared with them really apply to all of us so I thought I would share them with you. Our lives are our “One Moment in Time,” – for we have but this one moment to be all God has created us to be. Here are the points I shared with about 300 high school students.

1. Do something every day – Proverbs 10:4 “Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring
wealth.”

2. Learn and be teachable – Proverbs 1:5 “let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the
discerning get guidance”

3. Define what makes you different, what makes you – you – Romans 12:6 “…Having gifts that differ
according to the grace given to us, let us use them”

4. Invest in and continue to improve your talent – Matthew 25:15-28 – Parable of the Talents you have
homework – go read this one – click on the reference link

5. Pay it forward – give back – Luke 12:48 “…. to whom much has been given, much will be required; and
from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded” Do you realize Abraham
Lincoln said this and then in the 1st Spiderman movie, Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben said it but Jesus said it
first.

That’s it, nothing new but it helps me to have it in a 5 step reminder as I am on this journey. I pray it is a
blessing to you too. 🙂

Award Winning Photo by Aaron Thompson

In May of 2012, James and  I wrote A Soldier’s Child for a charity event. You can read the story behind the song here. As a songwriter it can be challenging to understand if you have a good song, a great song or a song that well, is best left alone – lol.

Our songs can be our babies and we think they are all perfect and we want to do our utmost to protect them. Then hopefully, like me you get over that. When I sang “A Soldiers Child” for the banquet. I butchered the song and had to make up words on the fly during the chorus but hey, it’s mu song. No one has heard it so they don’t know what it is supposed to sound like. Well when I was done, thinking this tough Nashville crowd would laugh me out of the room, I was pleasantly surprised and humbled by a standing ovation.

I learned through some songwriting connections that Tim McGraw was looking for songs. So I submitted “A Soldiers Child” to a publishing company. The song was not selected but the feedback was so encouraging I had to share it so here it is.

“Your song was not selected for the following reason(s)

WRT: “A Soldier’s Child” James and Judith Baker, Well, it is very easy to understand why you submitted this song in our “Tim McGraw” dropbox. It is very well written and clearly demonstrates your understanding of commercially viable music. As a commercial publisher, we,
here at Sweet Rosie Music, very much appreciate that. The lyrics are outstandingly emotional and the demo has an excellent vocal track as well. Your song was advanced through several levels of approval but unfortunately, our final decision board felt that the hook of the chorus may not be strong enough to support the weight of a single in today’s highly competitive country marketplace. These types of decisions are so highly subjective that they are hard to articulate. We, of course, realize this is disappointing to you, but please do not get discouraged as writers. We can offer only one opinion in a world of many, and we can assure you that we have been wrong just as often as we have been right. That is the nature of the business that we are in. If anything, we would want to ENCOURAGE you and let you know that many professionals listened to, and discussed your work this week, and without exception, they were all impressed. The “bar” for Mr. McGraw is VERY VERY high. Thank you again for a quality submission. Sincerely,

The A&R Staff Sweet Rosie Music
Good candidate but regretfully it doesn’t make the final cut”

Once again I am humbled and blessed. I got a few skills after all. Now to keep trying.

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In June, Nashville First Church of the Nazarene, our largest in Tennessee invited me to come and minister. I was also able to share music with their homeless ministry as they were fed. Nothing better than helping feed people physically and spiritually.  In July we were back in Marcellus, MI for concerts at Marcellus United Methodist, Waklee United Methodist and a Patriotic themed event at the Drive-in Bible Church. This time without my mother. She left us for Glory in 2010. It has take me the past two years to start traveling and doing events with out her. She is loved, missed and I know I will see her again when it’s my turn to leave this planet. I wrapped up July with a concert at the Lighthouse Coffee House in Clarksville, TN.