Jared
Jared

Jared

Just Like Riding a Bike…

… you may never forget how but your muscles may remind you how out of shape you are.

It is the first evening of vacation. The wind is acceptable and the sun is fading. Part of me wants to find all the parts to the windsurfer and get out on the lake for a ride. The other part of me tries to speak some sense into my brain, “You’re tired, it’s going to be aggravating to scrounging for the parts and then assembling them amongst the biting flies will be torture, why don’t you wait?” Considering all of the pro’s and then the con’s I decide to assemble the board, despite the pile of gear, biting flies, and a couple “ufff, forgot how bulky this was to carry” phrases.

Windsurfing Lake Superior

Enduring the effort and fly bites was worthwhile just to have such a great picture taken to commemorate such a wonderful first evening out on the lake. Perhaps even better is I managed to sail BACK to shore :)

As the blog title goes, I didn’t forget how to windsurf but my body sure reminded me of all the muscles I hadn’t used in the last year. On the bright side, I slept like a rock that night.

NJHSA Choir Performance at Pascack Bible Church

Friday the NJSHA Choir performed at Pascack Bible Church (PBC) in Hillsdale, NJ. They recently returned from a European tour. I heard them give a Christmas performance to raise money for their trip. I remember they were good but I had forgotten how good until I heard them again Friday night.

The performance was excellent, the young men and women were exceptionally talented. To say the performance was priceless would be and understatement. They sang with superb harmony, melody, and all the other musical terms that a critic can use to rate a performance. Most of all they sang with a joy and exuberance that made me smile.

Several of the songs really stood out to me. “Paru parong Bukid” was a song about a young girl in a new dress who was having trouble paying attention in church. The emphasis put into the music made me think about the conflict in her mind as she fought to not think about the dress but to focus on the church service. It brought to mind memories and thoughts that made me smile from ear to ear. Sort of like being at the office at 4PM on beautiful friday afternoon.

“I Sing the Mighty Power of God” is a favorite song of mine and the vigor and technical skill it was sung with added power and meaing to the words. It was a marvelous opening to the line up of songs.

The YouTube videos don’t do the songs justice but they are an excellent reminder of a wonderful performance and the emotions that they stirred up by hearing them. Thanks to jgreendyk for posting them. You can find the rest of the videos of the performance as PBC (Pascack Bible Church) on this YouTube channel

Protected: Life Caught In Time

There are lives caught in time. My life progresses when the life of those who have died are stopped in time. There are no memories to be added to their life and there are only memories to forget.

Friday evening was the performance of the New Jersey Home School Association choir performance at Pascack Bible Church. It wasn’t my plan to go but for some strange reason I put it into my phone calendar the week before after it was announced. Friday arrived and I was surprised to see it on the calendar. Without any better plans, I went.

The performance was excellent, the young men and women were exceptionally talented. To say the performance was priceless would be and understatement. They sang with superb harmony, melody, and all the other musical terms that rate a performance. Most of all they sang with a joy and exuberance that made me smile.

Several of the songs really stood out to me. “Paru parong Bukid” was about a young girl in a new dress who was having trouble paying attention in church. The emphasis put into the music made me think about the conflict in her mind as she fought to not think about the dress but to focus on the church service. It brought to mind memories and thoughts that made me smile from ear to ear. The YouTube video doesn’t do the song justice but it is a good reminder of the thoughts and emotions the song stirred up.

“I Sing the Mighty Power of God” was a favorite song. It was sung with vocal skill and excellence. It was a marvelous opening to the line up of songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=PUE4tWrEscE

What does this have to do with Steve Lauzon? As I sat looking into the smiling faces of the young people performing I remembered how skilled and bright he was. He was about the age as most of those young performers before he cut short his own life. A life that remains in my mind but will never be any longer and will only fade as memories tend to fade.