The Rabbit Room

Yes – I’ve told this story quite often. A friend of mine was in a band that did lots of Gospel, though not necessarily all believers. A woman came up and gave him a cassette (in the days of cassettes). She said, “The Lord gave me this song.” He said he put it in on the way home, listened to the song, and thought, “Wow. God’s a really sh—y…[Read more]

I loved this, beautifully written, the idea of breath coming through an instrument. The instrument retains all of its created character. Light works on the same principle – it is really seen in its interaction with objects in the environment.
I’ve heard people complain that “Christ in me” means something like losing our personality, our…[Read more]

Bonnie Raitt’s Fundamental record was one I didn’t like on first listen. I decided to listen to it while walking every day. Three days later it was one of my favorite recordings, and still is.

As a teen and in my twenties in California I would buy four records (LPs) from the mail order company County Sales in Virginia that cost me $40-something bucks with shipping, and they took two or three weeks to arrive. I listened to some of those records so many times the grooves were dug out – I still have them all. Scarcity – Joni MItchell sang…[Read more]

I loved this. The true path is often the intertwining of tradition and innovation. I find this to be true in playing bluegrass. People often play what I call “reproduction music,” where they’re trying to exactly replicate old bluegrass, or they completely abandon the roots entirely and just make a bunch of stuff up with banjos that has more to do…[Read more]

Wonderfully done. “You…you mean…it isn’t solely about ‘being forgiven’? We…we can experience…new life? Now?”

That said, there is a time to use force.

All true, and beautifully written.

As AP says during the BTLOG show after reading Scripture, “This is the Word of the Lord.” Thanks be to God.

Luke 9: The Samaritans “did not receive him…And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elij…[Read more]

Wendell Berry’s comment on writing poetry is the same with times of true worship. The moment my focus goes from God to my own feelings, I’ve lost my grip on the worship. The moment I am Instagramming about this or that family scenario, I’m out of the family scene.

This is why it is probably best to take photos quickly (if we take them at all)…[Read more]

Thanks, Jilly!

I used to go to Christ Community, from about 1991 until around 2001. Though I’m sad for us to leave Redeemer, because I have such great memories there, CCC is a great facility, lots of room for Hutchmoot (Our kids went to Jennifer’s writing classes there for awhile).

Plus, on an utterly selfish note, it’s less than 15 minutes from my h…[Read more]

Jennifer, you nailed the heart of the movie. I related to La La Land a lot, having grown up in Southern California wanting to be a bluegrass banjo/guitar player and having many people try to talk me out of it. “No one plays banjo! Why don’t you play something else?” “How will you ever own a home or raise a family?” It has been a life of joys,…[Read more]

This is such a good subject to put “out there.” When I do workshops, I often ask the students, “Do you transcribe Earl Scruggs?” What I often hear is, “Well, yeah, but I just sort of learn the song but do it my own way.” I say, “Well – if you transcribe Earl’s way exactly, and then J.D. Crowe’s way exactly, and Sonny Osborne’s way exactly, then…[Read more]

More thoughts – when Eustace tells Puzzle, “If you’d spent less time saying you weren’t clever and more time trying to be as clever as you could…”

When we believe a false name, “I AM: Not Clever,” we manifest it.

But it’s equally true in most cases that we waste a lot of effort and thought and time trying to disprove the false name.

I…[Read more]

Beautiful post, Jennifer. I especially like that you point out we are named before we ever see the manifestation of the name in our lives.

I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about names I have accepted that aren’t mine – names from childhood and onward – and reversing the curses of those names by meditating on my true names (really we all…[Read more]