music

Preparing for the AI Storm

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments 
Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. Joel 2:1-2 ESV

There is a storm coming called artificial intelligence, the likes of which we have never seen. It is hard for us to even imagine the power of this new force that is no longer coming, it is here and growing more powerful daily. Whether on the topic of medicine, or national defense, AI is viewed as a tool to be used, and an uncommon urgency seems to have gripped our society to develop it as fast as possible. It makes me wonder if anyone stopped to ask why, and what will be the outcome of turning those segments of our society over to this brand-new force. We are either at the point now or soon will be that some AI model somewhere will know the names and personal information of virtually every single person on our planet. They will or are in the process of consuming all our works of literature, art, and theater. Every star, every discovery, every medicine will be part of its database. Even every state secret, every weapon system, and the internal structure of every unit in our military is only just beyond its reach but only for now. How should we prepare? How should we as Christians think about how AI will affect us and the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? There has never been an adversary like the one we are facing. Yet, no matter what lies ahead, we need to remember that there is still no one like our God. There will never be any power greater than His. If He is on our side, who can be against us? So, let’s prepare, but not fear, plan but not panic and keep walking by faith because with the strength that only Jesus gives, He has promised that we will not faint! This week we sang, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” The message that Helen Lemmel wrote about trusting God in confusing and difficult circumstances is never more true than now. When we don’t know what to do next, who to trust or where to turn, we must turn our eyes of faith towards Jesus, and then “The things that are of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace!”

Dorothy

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Even to your old age and gray hairs
    I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
    I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Isaiah 46:4 NIV

Dorothy sits with folded hands, staring straight ahead with a peaceful smile singing quietly along with every line of the hymns. Those folded hands, resting on her lap on occasion still pass over the keys of the piano in the corner of the room. Though her eyes can no longer see the keys she still amazingly finds every note. Dorothy reminds me of today’s verse, as I see her calm, unshaken faith. Hers is a faith…. For the rest of today’s story go to Walking With Lambs

Deep Calls to Deep

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments 
Deep calls to deep
    at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
    have gone over me. Psalm 42:7 ESV

My wife and I used to love a T.V. series called, “Numbers”. For those not familiar with it, the story line revolves around two brothers. One is an FBI special agent named Don and his brother Charlie, who is a brilliant mathematician. Don likes to kick in doors and catch the bad guys, while Charlie loves to hang out in his garage and work on equations on a blackboard. In each episode, Don needs Charlie to help solve a crime using that mathematical mind in some interesting ways. Charlie will come in, gather the evidence, then with some neat special effects, we are treated to the inner working of Charlie’s mind as numbers, geometrical shapes and algebraic equations flit across the screen. Though I hate math, I can identify with Charlie, though my thoughts would flit across the screen as notes rather than numbers. And as a lifelong musician and a lover of music, I have become intrigued by the various musical directions given in, many of the Psalms. Phrases such as “to the tune of The Lilies” (Psalms 45 & 80) or with stringed instruments, (4, 54, 61 and others), make me wonder what these passages actually sounded like. Many different instruments are recommended, such as Trumpets, flutes, cymbals, and an eight stringed harp. Other Psalms simply say, “a song” which may mean they were sung a cappella.

Now this all may sound nit-picky, but I believe that what God wants us to know through those tiny details is that He wants to connect with all kinds of people in a million different circumstances with music. You could almost call music the language of Heaven. Job mentions a moment when the morning stars sang together. Isaiah tells us that “the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12) and in Revelation 5:9, John tells us of people in Heaven singing, “a new song”.

Everywhere, in situations of grief as well as victory, in gratitude for blessings as well as when we cry for help, God has music that will cry out to him, from “deep to deep” In those times, God gives us a language, that can carry our words as well as a melody that will express our hearts even when words fail us. Music is not only a wonderful gift; it is a staircase that our prayers go up to speak to our Father. Notes are like the shaft of an arrow that drives us towards God’s target as well as the point that sinks His message into our hearts. Music is the breath of God that fills our sails and drives us across the ocean and an anchor in a storm, when we don’t know if we can hang on another minute. No, we will not learn how the Psalms originally sounded on this side of Heaven, but we can know that the God who gave them music, loves us enough to give us our own melody as we travel the road, He has called us to walk today.