DIY: Cajon string replacement

Two years ago, my son's Meinl cajon (box drum) suffered a broken string.  The string in a cajon functions like the springs on a snare drum, so when broken the drum retains its boxy "thud" but the higher-pitched "snap" is lost or, worse, turns into a sloppy rattle.  So I decided to try to replace the string (which is essentially just a wound guitar string) myself.

I removed the face of the cajon easily enough — it is secured by just a handful of wood screws and some adhesive tape. But once inside, I decided I wasn't satisfied with the manufacturer's approach to securing the string.  Guitar strings have a "ball end" that secures that one end, but the other end was secured by putting a half knot in the string.  I wanted something less prone to tension changes and to inconsistencies in the precision of those knots across the two strings.

My solution was to hit the hardware store for a couple of T-nuts, which I installed on the underside of the top bit of framing on the cajon.  These would provide a way to secure the string with the tension of the T-nut's associated screw (much like the way electrical wiring its secured at switches).  I drilled an additional hole on each side for the string to pass through so that it would approach the T-nut from the side instead of from the top.  Then, I loosened the tension bar on the bottom of the drum and rewired it, pulling the strings taut with a single wrap around the T-nut screw before tightening that down.

Once the strings were secured, it was trivial business to screw the drum face back on and then use the drum's tension bar system to further tighten up the strings to my son's preferred tone.  

Why recall this two-year-old tale today?  Because during our church worship service this past week, my son suffered another broken cajon string.  But replacing it this time around was super easy, in part because of the hacks made to the drum the last time.  And who knows — maybe somebody else out there is looking for just this sort of improvement to their own cajon?  If so, consider our approach as one possibility that might work for you.

Number Our Days

My family recently had the pleasure of taking a vacation to the beach with some dear friends.  It was especially meaningful because these days, with both our sons working and doing the college thing, it can be hard to get us all in to the same place for 30 minutes, much more so for several days.  I'm grateful for every such opportunity we have.

Because our trip spanned a Sunday, we did as we've done for years in such situations and planned to have our own Sunday worship session.  Usually one of us Dads will prepare and share a devotion, and we spend a little time in prayer and musical worship.  This time around, I volunteered the lead the devotion, and set about praying and considering what might be of particular relevance to our families in this season.  "This season" is more than just another milestone along the course of our collective aging.  We've recently endured quite a bit of heaviness between our families, including the death of a mother/grandmother and the wildly destructive Hurricane Helene (which is what brought us to the beach in the first place, since the mountain vacation we'd already planned became a non-option).

It's a bit challenging to convey all that went into my consideration of a text to focus on, but there were several key things.  It started, of course, with the weight and near reminder of how close death can be.  But beyond that, I'd had recent conversations about how the more melancholy worship songs (some of which are musically lovely!) always feel out of place in a Sunday morning service, at least in my denominational context.  The book of Psalms has such songs, so songs of sorrow are completely relevant and legitimate for congregational worship.  I recalled that the Church has had for many years a mechanism for touching on all the various valid emotions of the Christian life:  cyclic, planned liturgies.  On a whim, I looked up the Anglican liturgical calendar to see what readings were scheduled for our Sunday away.  Almost unsurprisingly, they were all readings focused on sorrow.

Two other things happened while at the beach that narrowed my search into a decision.  While walking in a beach souvenir shop, the overhead radio program (featuring John Tesh) was musing about midlife crises.  I was only half paying attention, but I heard Tesh saying something about age 40 being the halfway point of the average lifespan.  Then the following day, I took a solo side quest up to Southport, where I spent some time poking around an interesting cemetery.  (In a fun plot twist, I later went off to find a multi-stage geocache that led me around town picking up clues, and the final destination turned out to be none other than that same cemetery.)  There I noted the ages on many of the headstones — people dying at age 60. 40. 21. 18. 7. 1. Even a trio of three-month-old children laid in a row.  My thoughts kept returning to just how fleeting life is for us.  And that was all I needed to secure a text for our Sunday morning devotion.  Without yet knowing where the study would lead, I chose Psalm 90.

I won't attempt to recount the whole devotion here, but as I studied the text over the next half-day, I couldn't avoid seeing phrases and themes that reminded me of the Genesis accounts of Creation and the Fall.  Themes of toiling, day after day; literary hints such as the morning and evening cycle; an eventual return to dust — all point to Genesis 1-3.  A Psalm that at first glance might appear to picture an arbitrarily wrath-filled God is reminding us that because of the first sin, the earth and its inhabitants are under a curse.  God hates sin.  It was sin that introduced death into Creation in the first place.  And the Psalm (with a bit more authority than Mr. Tesh) reminds us that life is roughly 70 years long — 80 if you're lucky.

After reading and commenting a bit on the Psalm that Sunday morning, I employed an unconventional analogy in order to help our families consider what "80 years" looks like.  If life is a pizza with eight slices, our family members' ages fell pretty neatly into clean "slice counts".  My daughter is 10 — one of her slices is already gone.  The older boys' ages hover around 20 — two slices gone.  Jason and Cassandra (the parents in the other family) have consumed half of their pizza.  And Amy and I are down to just three slices left.  This is a sobering thought, and is surely why Psalm 90's final section asks of God, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."

Father in Heaven, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.  Have pity on us.  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  Amen.

Ten Commandments of Dating

Some years ago, as my sons were approaching the age at which words like "girlfriend" and "dating" were being used more often, I began thinking through what a biblical framework for dating might look like. This is not the most obvious enterprise because the Bible was written to a culture wildly different than our modern western society, with patterns and norms for establishing relationships of this sort that look nothing like those we experience today. Still, I was convinced that the Bible carried principles that reflect the character of God and His intention for all people across all of time, so I turned to what I felt was the most obvious place – the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments are of course pretty widely known, and are both respected and recognized for what they are: brief summary statements that encapsulate many deep layers of thought and consideration.  From these ten basic commandments would flow another 600+ more detailed laws given to the Israelites through Moses, which would then give way to countless codified interpretations and applications over the years as the nuance and complexity of society would give rise to such a need.

What follows here is my attempt to apply the basic principles of the Ten Commandment to the realm of pre-marital romance.  The document carries a heavy Christian slant (for which I make absolutely no apology) and is written from a first-person perspective, as if each party in the relationship was speaking his or her commitment to these principles to the other party.

Hammock Camping With Aidan

This past weekend, I was able to bring to completion some plans long held.  Looooong held.

With this being the first weekend after the completion of the Spring soccer season, I found on my hands a rare substance — free time.  Saturday morning I woke early, grabbed my hiking pack, and headed out to the Uwharrie National Forest.  I picked a trailhead that I'd visited once before (for just long enough to eat a granola bar and before making the return hike) but had never started at.  From the Tot Hill Farm Trailhead, I marched south on the Birkhead Mountain Trail toward Hannah's Creek.  But I made a last-minute decision to veer off and take a loop side-trail which was marked only as "Camp 3".  I'd not hiked this segment before.

It was a pleasant hike on a clearly less-traveled trail, but the most interesting bit for me was actually finding the camp site(s, plural, as there were two).  One particular site stood out immediately as the perfect spot for a hammock camping stay.  It featured a nice-sized clearing with an established fire pit just yards away from a natural creek (water means fire safety!) and with several mature trees perfectly spaced for at least six hammocks.  I popped up my own hammock and enjoyed the breezy day for a while before continuing my hike.  When it was all told, I'd hiked over 7 miles and felt like I'd found the hammock camping spot for which I'd been searching since Fall 2021.

And that's (at least in part) what I mean by "plans long held".  Nine months ago, my son Aidan and I started talking about camping somewhere with hammocks.  We bought the gear we needed and started scoping out locations.  But life got super busy with Fall soccer.  Then life got super chilly with Winter.  Then Spring soccer, and now AJ has his first job, and the world is rushing to fill everyone's time as an over-response to a slow pandemic year, and....  So the story of over-committed lives seems to go.  We had the gear and the inclination, but no time.

After Saturday's hike, I came home with a renewed sense of possibility.  Sunday was Father's Day, and I had intended to drive out to Denver, NC to hang out with my own dad after church.  But my girls both tested positive for COVID-19, which meant that it wasn't such a good idea to interact in person with my parents.  I enjoyed a 3-mile light local hike immediately after church with a friend.  But the timing seemed right (my company gave me Monday off in recognition of the Juneteenth holiday) and the weather was great, so I asked Aidan if he'd be okay with trying the hammock camping thing that evening.  And to my surprise, he was all in.

We packed up our gear and by 6pm were parked at the Tot Hill Farm Trailhead.  We repeated the hike I'd made the day prior, except we went clockwise around the camp loop instead of counter-clockwise.  By 7:15pm we'd reached the site (which I was thrilled to find empty) and started setting up camp — hanging the hammocks, gathering firewood, etc.  To my wonder, my fire started effortlessly, and as darkness started to close around us we sat by the fire and talked about a variety of things.  One feature of the site I'd noticed the previous day was that there was zero cellphone signal availability.  So in an age where we are constantly interrupted by technology, we found ourselves truly alone together.

It was about 10:30pm when we doused our fire and climbed into our hammocks.  We learned first-hand how challenging it is to wrestle with sleeping bags when trying to sleep on a curved surface.  (There's probably some trick to it; we just didn't know it!)  We learned how exposed one can feel sleeping in a hammock versus inside a tent — how you can hear absolutely everything yet see almost nothing.  We were super grateful for the built-in bug nets our hammocks offered.  We were amazed at how incredibly bright fireflies appear in the dark woods.  And eventually, we drifted off to sleep despite being hyper-aware and over-stimulated.

We woke early (as tends to happen outdoors), having each stirred multiple times through the night to adjust a sleeping bag or shift positions.  The sun had not yet lighted on our location when we climbed out of our packs, munched on Pop-Tarts and reflected on the evening.  But as we started packing things up again, the daylight intensified and aided visibility.  We hit the trail again around 6:30am, and arrived back at the trailhead around 8am, having successfully completed the mission we'd set for ourselves some nine months prior.

Long held plans.  But longer still for me.  This weekend brought parity that I needed to assuage a bit of parenting guilt.  You see, I'd taken AJ's older brother camping at Pilot Mountain a decade prior, and ever since that time it had bothered me that I wasn't able to offer the same one-on-one experience with Aidan.  This year — on Father's Day even — the combination of a lovely day, available time, a global pandemic, and an adventurous son resulted in some personal achievement, imbalances balanced, and valuable memories made.

"Gracious and Holy"

Over the past month, the Student Pastor at our church (and a dear friend) Evan Smith has been filling the pulpit on Sunday mornings as our senior pastor enjoys some much-deserved vacation time. (You might have noticed, but 2020 was a rather hard year for folks, and perhaps especially pastors.) Evan chose to deliver a cohesive, four-part sermon series, and settled a couple of months ago on the theme of God's presence. Over the four weeks, he planned to illuminate the thread of God's desire to dwell with His people that runs through the whole of Scripture: from Eden (where God walked with Adam and Eve), through the Exodus (where God "tabernacled" with the Israelites), to the Embodiment (or Incarnation, where Jesus — the Word who both was with God and was God — became flesh and dwelt among us), and into the promise of Eternity (where the people of God will enjoy the immediate presence of God forever). And if you were paying close attention, you noticed that those four waypoints were alliterative — such a good Baptist pastor! But between the lines of this story runs the equally deep and powerful truth of God's nature as both perfectly holy — such that imperfection in His presence runs the risk of eradication — and immensely gracious.

These were some of the many thoughts swimming around in my head on July 4, 2021. I was hiking alone the Robbins Branch Loop Trail in the Uwharrie National Forest, and trying to enjoy a calmness of mind. Irritatingly, though, my brain just seemed frantic — jumping from thought to thought across all the various roles I play (husband, parent, employee, worship leader, etc.). At one point, I actually yelled aloud in the forest in frustration, "Why is it so noisy in here?!" And then a strange thing happened. In what seemed like no time at all, the melody and opening words of the chorus of a new song were in my head, coalescing around the themes of Evan's sermon series. I spent the next several hours (and about 8 miles of hiking) developing the skeleton of the song. I was super-grateful to be alone in the woods, not least because it's really embarrassing to be tripping over tree roots whenever I turned my attention to my phone's voice recorder app or tried to type into it some lyric ideas!

Once home, I spent the next week or so putting meat on the song skeleton. Friends I shared the concept with seemed more supportive of this song than usual, so it felt like effort well-invested. And this past Sunday, Amy and I — along with other members of our church's worship team — shared the song with our church family. God be praised for using such an unworthy vessel to encourage His Church in song. Gracious and holy He truly is.

"Gracious and Holy" You made the Earth and the heavens. Spoke words to form them and fill them. So all that we have is by Your hand. Gracious and holy You are. You gave us freedom and purpose. We chose rebellion and curses. But hope lingered under the surface. Gracious and holy You are. Gracious and holy You are. You are here, always with me, Nearer than sacred to naked should be. You speak promises over my shame. I know that I'll never be the same. You came to dwell with Your people; Strengthen the downcast and feeble; And rescue us from every evil. Gracious and holy You are. Humbly you gave Your life for us. Hope is reversing our curses, Restoring our freedom and purpose. Gracious and holy You are. Gracious and holy You are. You are here, always with me. Nearer than righteous to wretched should be. You speak promises over my shame. I know that I'll never be the same. Now you are seated in Heaven, So, by the Spirit You've given, We will proclaim, "Christ is risen!" Gracious and holy You are. Gracious and holy You are. You are here, always with me, Nearer forever than failure could be. You poured righteousness over my shame. Called me Your child and then gave me Your name. You are here, always with me, Nearer forever than failure could be. You poured righteousness over my shame. I know that I'll never be the same. I know that I'll never be the same. ©2021 C. Michael Pilato; License: CC-BY-3.0

Here also is a demo recording that I made as a reference for our worship team (with many thanks to my son Aidan for lending his percussive skills):

C. Michael Pilato · Pilato - Gracious And Holy (demo)

Finally, you can get lead sheets (including the source MuseScore file) for the song from my GitHub repository.

My custom Planning Center Services plan report. You're welcome.

To all my fellow Planning Center Services jockeys out there, I thought I'd share with you a custom Plan report that I created (using one of the built-in reports as a baseline, mind you) and have been using for years now. Now, before you assume that all I've done here is fiddle with colors and fonts and page layout, hear me out. There are some features of this template that I want you to know about.

First—and the primary reason that I love this template so much—is that it handles Plan and Item Note categories dynamically. Unlike the built-in templates, this report template doesn't have to be modified just because you use different Notes categories than the default Planning Center ones. In fact, it doesn't care what specific Notes categories you have at all. Rather, it examines the Plan and its Items and dynamically determines which Note types are actually employed. This means two things: that it doesn't waste any page/screen real estate on unused Note categories, and you can use the same template for entirely different Service Types with entirely different categories defined!

The second, admittedly minor, thing that I like about this template is that it adds a column for icons that appear next to certain Item types. So Songs show up with a music notes icon (♫) next to them; Media items show a "play" triangle (⏵). It's a little thing, but it draws the eye to certain Item types quickly.

Finally, the template itself allows some quick customization of the features it employs via a collection of boolean variables at the top.  This allows you to use the same basic template for multiple custom Reports, but with little easy tweaks to goven the feature set for each one.  So, for example, I have a Report that shows everything that I distribute to my A/V operators and band members.  But I have another one using this same template that I use for our Ushers and Greeters where the variables show_plan_people, show_plan_notes, and show_item_notes have been set to false.

So, without further ado, my template. Please feel free to copy, use, and modify this thing to better suit your church's needs!

<!-- QUICK CUSTOMIZATION: {% assign show_plan_notes = true %} {% assign show_plan_people = true %} {% assign show_item_times = true %} {% assign show_item_length = true %} {% assign show_item_description = true %} {% assign show_item_notes = true %} --> <html> <head> <title>{{ plan.ministry.name }}:: {{ plan.dates }}</title> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Roboto:ital,wght@0,400;0,600;1,400;1,600&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"> <style> body { padding: 0; margin: 5px; color: #222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; } h1 { font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: normal; text-shadow: 0 -1px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); } h2 { font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: normal; padding: 20px 35px; margin: 0; line-height: 1em; text-shadow: 0 1px 0 white; } h3 { font-size: 0.9em; text-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); } pre { margin: 0; padding: 0; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: .9em; } table#plan { width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom: 15px; font-size: 10pt; } table#plan tr { border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; } table#plan thead { display: table-header-group; } table#plan th { color: white; background: #444; font-weight: bold; padding: 0.5em 1em; vertical-align: middle; } table#plan td { text-align: center; padding: 0.5em 1em; } table#plan .icon { padding: 0; } table#plan .preservice .time, table#plan .preservice .length { color: #aaa; } table#plan .time { width: 3em; text-align: center; } table#plan .length { width: 3em; text-align: center; } table#plan .note_column { text-align: left; background: #f8f8f8; border-left: 2px solid white; } table#plan .header { text-align: left; font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #ddd; } table#plan .note { font-weight: bold; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle; min-width: 1in; } table#plan .element { min-width: 3in; text-align: left; } table#plan .element .description { font-size: 0.86em; color: #444; font-style: italic; } table#header { width: 100%; border: none; padding: 0; border-collapse: collapse; } table#header td { padding: 2px; vertical-align: top; } .artwork { float: left; margin-right: 15px; height: 40px; } .note_content { background: yellow; padding: 4px 8px 0; border-radius: 0.3em; } #header { padding: 5px 20px; background: #000; color: white; line-height: .8em; margin: 0; } #header img { float: right; height: 60px; margin-right: -15px; } #titles { color: #333; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: normal; padding: 10px 20px; margin: 0; line-height: 1.1em; text-shadow: 0 1px 0 white; min-height: 45px; } #plan_title { font-style: normal; font-size: 0.8em; display: block; color: #666; margin: 4px 0 0 0; } #plan_notes, #plan_people { background: #f8f8f8; margin: 1em 0; border-left: 4px solid black; padding: 0.5em 0 1em 2em; } #plan_notes { font-size: 0.8em; background: #ffffd0; } #plan_notes .plan_note { margin-top: 1em; } #plan_notes .plan_note_category { font-weight: bold; } #plan_people { font-size: 0.9em; } #plan_people .person { font-size: 0.7em; margin-right: 15px; display: inline-block; } #plan_people .person_status_U { opacity: 0.5; } #plan_people .person_category { clear: both; padding-top: 1em; } #plan_people .person_category p { font-size: 0.8em; margin: 0; } #plan_people .person_position { font-style: italic; } #plan_people .position { font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body> <!-- If showing item notes, first build a list of item note categories in use. --> {% if show_item_notes %} {% assign used_item_note_categories = '' | split: '' %} {% for item in plan.items %} {% for note in item.notes %} {% assign category = note.category.name | split: '|' %} {% assign used_item_note_categories = used_item_note_categories | concat: category %} {% endfor %} {% endfor %} {% assign used_item_note_categories = used_item_note_categories | uniq | sort %} {% endif %} <div id="header"> <h1>{{ plan.ministry.name }} - {{ plan.dates }}</h1> </div> <div id="titles"> <img class="artwork" onerror="this.style.display='none'" src="{{ plan.series_artwork_url }}" /> <div id="series_title">{{ plan.series_title }}</div> <div id="plan_title">{{ plan.plan_title }}</div> </div> <!-- If showing plan notes, first build a list of plan note categories in use, then iterate. --> {% if show_plan_notes %} {% assign used_plan_note_categories = '' | split: '' %} {% for note in plan.notes %} {% assign category = note.category.name | split: '|' %} {% assign used_plan_note_categories = used_plan_note_categories | concat: category %} {% endfor %} {% assign used_plan_note_categories = used_plan_note_categories | uniq | sort %} {% unless used_plan_note_categories == empty %} <div id="plan_notes"> {% for plan_note_category in used_plan_note_categories %} <div class="plan_note"> <div class="plan_note_category">{{plan_note_category}}</div> {% for note in plan.notes %} {% if note.category_name == plan_note_category %} <div>{{note.note}}</div> {% endif %} {% endfor %} </div> {% endfor %} </div> {% endunless %} {% endif %} <table id="plan"> <thead> <tr> {% if show_item_times %} {% for time in plan.plan_times %} <th class="time">@{{ time.starts_at | date: '%I:%M' }}</th> <!-- {% increment colspan %} --> {% endfor %} {% endif %} <th class="icon"></th> <!-- {% increment colspan %} --> <th align="left">Element</th> <!-- {% increment colspan %} --> {% if show_item_notes %} {% for category in used_item_note_categories %} <th class="note">{{ category }}</th> <!-- {% increment colspan %} --> {% endfor %} {% endif %} {% if show_item_length %} <th class="length">Length</th> <!-- {% increment colspan %} --> {% endif %} </tr> </thead> <tbody> {% for item in plan.items %} {% case item.item_type %} {% when 'Header' %} <!-- Header rows --> <tr> <td colspan="{{ colspan }}" class="header">{{ item.title }}</td> </tr> {% else %} <!-- Non-header rows --> {% assign item_class = ''%} {% if item.is_preservice or item.is_postservice %} {% assign item_class = 'preservice ' %} {% endif %} <tr class="{{ item_class }}"> {% if show_item_times %} {% for time in plan.plan_times %} <td class="time item {{ item_class }} {{ item.item_type }}"> {% for item_time in item.times %} {% if item_time.time_id == time.id %} {{ item_time.actual_time | date: '%I:%M' | downcase }} {% endif %} {% endfor %} </td> {% endfor %} {% endif %} <td class="item icon"> {% if item.item_type == "Song" %}&#9835;{% endif %} {% if item.item_type == "Media" %}&#9205;{% endif %} </td> <td class="item element {{ item_class }} {{ item.item_type }}"> {{ item.title }}{% if item.song %} [{{ item.arrangement.music_key }}]{% endif %} {% if show_item_description %}<div class="description">{{ item.description }}</div>{% endif %} </td> {% if show_item_notes %} {% for category in used_item_note_categories %} <td class="item note note_column {{ item_class }} {{ item.item_type }}"> {% for note in item.notes %} {% if note.category_name == category %} {{ note.note }} {% endif %} {% endfor %} </td> {% endfor %} {% endif %} {% if show_item_length %} <td class="item length {{ item_class }} {{ item.item_type }}">{{ item.length }}</td> {% endif %} </tr> {% endcase %} {% endfor %} </tbody> </table> {% if show_plan_people %} <!-- If showing plan people, first build a list of person categories in use, then iterate. --> {% assign used_person_categories = '' | split: '' %} {% for plan_person in plan.plan_people_not_declined %} {% assign category = plan_person.category.name | split: '|' %} {% assign used_person_categories = used_person_categories | concat: category %} {% endfor %} {% assign used_person_categories = used_person_categories | uniq | sort %} {% unless used_person_categories == empty %} <div id="plan_people"> {% for plan_person_category in used_person_categories %} <div class="person_category"> <p><strong>{{ plan_person_category }}</strong></p> {% for plan_person in plan.plan_people_not_declined %} {% if plan_person.person.name != null %}{% if plan_person.category.name == plan_person_category %} <div class="person person_status_{{ plan_person.status }}"> &bull; <span class="person_name">{{ plan_person.person.name }}</span> <span class="person_position">({{ plan_person.position }})</span> </div> {% endif %}{% endif %} {% endfor %} </div> {% endfor %} </div> {% endunless %} {% endif %} </body> </html>

As of a few minutes ago, I've submitted this report template back to the fine folks that develop Planning Center Services so that they may consider integrating its enhancements into the core product itself.

"O For a Thousand Tongues"

Way back in January 2016, I was working to create a modernized arrangement of the Public Domain hymn, "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" by Charles Wesley.  I'd hope to preserve the original melody and lyrics, and maybe just add a bridge or something.  I ended up adding a sort of bridge for each stanza.  Unfortunately, while I was really happy with my additions, they never really paired well with the feel of the original hymn.  So I shelved the idea, revisiting it from time to time over the years in further failed attempts to shoehorn together two incompatible ideas.

On June 30, 2020, however, I gave up trying to make fit what never would, and instead restructured the whole song around my additions.  I heavily edited the original hymn lyric and melody while still trying to preserve the essence of what it said.  After all, to wish that one had a thousand tongues to sing God's praise all the louder is a beautiful sentiment!  So that, as well as the general message of the hymn's stanzas, remain the core of what is now essentially a brand new song.

As I intend to share the song with my local church, I needed to whip up a demo of it.  Last night I spent about an hour tracking acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and bass guitar.  After my son Aidan finished watching a movie with his friends, I asked him to come upstairs and lay down a drum track.  Then this morning, I was able to get my wife Amy in front of a microphone to track the lead vocals, with me laying down some harmonies immediately thereafter.

I've licensed the song under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.  And as part of my commitment to reducing barriers to adoption for music truly written for the church (rather than for a paycheck), I've posted the sheet music for the song to my GitHub repository.

UPDATE(2024/12/31):  It's been almost exactly four years since I first posted about this song.  And for four years I've had some nagging complaints about the melody, key, timing, and lyrics.  So here in the final moments of 2024 I've tried to address those concerns.  I've renamed the song to just "For a Thousand Tongues" (trying to further distance it from the original hymn in order to avoid confusion), and pulled down the original demo recording for the same reason.  The aforementioned sheet music has been updated, too.

Here are the (slightly) updated lyrics: 

"For a Thousand Tongues" All-gracious Master, glorious God, Give me the words to proclaim. Spread through the whole earth — here and abroad — The honor of Your holy name. Father, You give me the choice, But Your grace compels me to lift up my voice. If I was mute, I'd still make joyful noise to the King. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing! Jesus, your name calms the deepest of fears. You bid every sorrow to cease. Your mercy is music in this sinner's ears— Your love is the source of my peace. Savior, You knew all along That you'd trade perfection for all I'd do wrong. Lord, may my life make a beautiful song to the King. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing! Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise! Sing of the glories of my King; the triumph of His grace! Jesus you've broken the power of sin. Your blood sets the prisoners free. Dying you saved us, then rising again Accomplished supreme victory! Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemer's praise! Sing of the glories of our King; the triumph of His grace! Your church in heaven and earth below, this sacrifice we bring! Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing. Spirit of God, fill this place. Write on our hearts songs of mercy and grace. Oh, God, we're desperate to give every praise to the King. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing! Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing! Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing!

And here is the new demo recording, which again features my son Aidan drumming but, sadly, lacks the lovely voice of my wife.

C. Michael Pilato · For A Thousand Tongues (demo)

Ambassadors for Christ?

Ugh. Today, besides feeling physically subpar (hello, tick bite!), I feel spiritually defiled. In a moment of weakness and morbid curiosity, I made the mistake of reading some of the Facebook feeds of a handful of people in my church. I think we might have a problem.

The Word of God tells Christians that they are citizens of a new kind of Kingdom. This Kingdom is not one with physical, geographical boundaries, a two-party political system, checks and balances, and a (merely) 200-year-old governing document. It's God's Kingdom, existing outside the physical Universe and governed by God Himself:

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. [Phillippians 3:20-21 ESV]

One cool thing is that when we become citizens of that Kingdom, God leaves us in place, planted in the physical realm to serve His purposes. Our job? To be His ambassadors:

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. [2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV]

But as I read post after hate-filled post on Facebook, it became crystal clear to me that either the Kingdom has fewer citizens than I'd hoped, or those citizens grossly misunderstand their roles as ambassadors. Were I to judge by what I saw (and have heard), I would calculate that "ambassador for Christ" has come to mean "culture warrior". We Christians line up on political, sociological, idealogical, racial, or any other "-al" line we can find, dig in our heels, crane our necks and bend our ears for the sound of the charge!

What if we revisit the idea of ambassador-ship with a new objective: to make—by our every word, thought, and deed—the Kingdom of heaven and the God who governs it so glorious and attractive that its opponents simply emigrate to it. No need for blood shed. No anger. No insults. Just love and faithful representation—ambassadorship—of the King of Kings.

Oreos and Milk Done Right

For far too long, I've held an absolutely essential piece of knowledge—a life skill that every person should have—and I've failed to share it with the world.  Today I repent of that, beg your forgiveness, and offer reparation by sharing with you now this critical information.  Today, I want to tell you the proper way to eat Oreos with milk.

It goes without saying that in order to accomplish this, you'll need Oreos, milk, and a cup or mug to contain the milk.  But lest we assume too much, let me clarify some things.

• These instructions assume you can eat an entire Oreo in one mouthful.  If you can't, you're clearly not built for eating Oreos and should probably take up Veggie Straws or something else instead.
• Don't use a cup or mug that's too small.  You need at least a depth of milk sufficient to completely submerge the cookie.  And you need enough width in your container to do the same.
• Don't use skim milk.  The higher the fat content of the milk, the better.  I strongly suggest whole milk.  And don't use warm milk.  You want your milk as cold as possible.  If, when you pour your milk, it looks like Elmer's white glue and chills the hand that holds your cup or mug, that's a good sign.
• Don't use fake Oreos.  Seriously.  I'm all for generic brands of most things, but ... no.

Okay, on to the life-changing instructions.

First, grasp an Oreo cookie between your thumb and forefinger, with each making contact on one of the Oreo logos on either side of the cookie.  (If you don't see an Oreo logo, you're using fake Oreos.  And I literally just told you not to do that.)  Put some real pressure on the cookie with your fingers—not enough to crush it, but pretty close to it.  Now, submerge the Oreo completely in the milk while maintaining this pressure.  Yes, your fingers are going to get wet—deal with it.

All this might sound pretty obvious, but as any seasoned Oreo-milk-dunker knows, the trick is figuring out how long to keep the cookie submerged.  And you might be wondering why must we maintain this solid finger pressure on the cookie.  After all, they hardly weigh anything and are unlikely to attempt to escape our grasp on their own.

The answer lies in the sheer importance of getting these two seemingly incompatible foods—one a natural byproduct by which nearly all mammals are initially nursed; the other a completely unnatural, highly processed junk food—to unite properly at or near the molecular level[*].  If your Oreo is in the milk for too short a time, then what was the point?  You're merely eating a damp Oreo.  But to linger for too long will have you watching your disintegrating cookie's disparate parts sinking out of sight into the milky white abyss.

As it turns out, the pressure you're putting on those Oreo logos gives you all the tactile feedback you need to know exactly when to remove the cookie from the milk.  As soon as that logo begins a crush a bit under your firm-but-non-damaging bit of finger pressure, the time is right.  Remove the cookie from the milk, shove it into your awaiting mouth, and rejoice as you've never rejoiced before.

Once again, this is not for those who lack a certain degree of fortitude.  Your thumb and forefinger will get wet with milk.  They will also pick up the debris of the crushed Oreo logos.  You'll have to open your mouth a bit wider than high society might advise.  Sometimes, doing things properly involves some risk-taking.  This is such a time.

Now, there's no need to e-mail me your thanks.  It's my great pleasure to serve my fellow man in this way, sharing the results of my years of experimentation in this field.  My hope is simply that you'll do the same.

Oh!  But I nearly forgot the final step in the instructions:  grab another cookie and repeat!

---

[*] No real scientists were consulted while authoring this article.

Self-publishing my worship songs

I've talked about it forever, but this past weekend I decided to finally act.  I've setup a GitHub repository to which I intend to commit sheet music for the various Christian worship songs that I compose.  You can visit the project at:

https://github.com/cmpilato/worship-music

I've added the music from my recent "Shepherd of My Soul" composition (which my worship team at Providence introduced to our congregation brilliantly this past weekend, I might add!), plus a few other songs.  I also have placeholders for several other tunes that I'm committing to self-publish here, too.

Those who know me well know that I can be pretty outspoken about copyrights and licensing and such, especially as regards music written (at least ostensibly) "for God" or "for the Church".  This is why every worship song I've written carries a Creative Commons license.  But while it's all well and good to say, "My songs I offer without restrictive licensing," it matters little if there are other barriers to sharing and re-use.  This self-publishing effort is a way for me to remove some more of those barriers.  I genuinely want folks to take and use these songs with minimal impediment if they find them worth taking and using, and I'm willing to put in the extra effort to encourage as much.

My goal is to keep for each song MuseScore files with—at a minimum—lead sheets for the songs, plus MusicXML and PDF exports of the same.  I could, of course, just use PDFs, but that would discourage getting corrections submitted by folks who are far better at musical transcription than I am.  It would also prevent easy transposition of the songs into alternate keys.  At the moment, you can load the score into MuseScore, select the whole score (Control-A), and then use the Notes > Transpose... menu to put the song in whatever key you wish.  It's that simple!  Someday I may also include links to recorded demos of the songs, specific hints for individual instruments, etc.

May God bless this tiny little human's effort to make His praise even more widespread.

"Feel Just Fine"

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable musical recording experiences I've ever been a part of began in June 2009, when friend and former bandmate Christopher Bunn emailed me to say that he had an opportunity to contribute a song for an independent film project to which he had personal connections and wanted to rope me into the process.  Naturally, I was all in!

We started with his demo of a song he'd written called "Feel Just Fine", and then iterated lyrically and musically across the miles (me in North Carolina, he in California, and the Internet in between) for about three months, passing around emailed suggestions and audio files and such.  I held the master recordings (as a Cakewalk Sonar project), and tracked all the instruments plus my own and my wife's background vocals.  Christopher was taking drops of the backing stuff from me, tracking his own lead vocals atop them, and then sending me back the vocal tracks.  All in all, the process ran incredibly smoothly, even for a time when "broadband Internet" wasn't anything like the blazing speeds we enjoy today.  We ended up keeping most of Christopher's original song, but dropped a verse that didn't fit as well thematically with the film and introduced a new bridge section that I wrote.

As I review my email history, it looks like it was December 2009 when we learned that the filmmakers were interested in our song, but it wouldn't be until several years later that we finally got to see the finished film, Rise of the Fellowship, and hear our song playing in full during the credit roll.  Some time after the film itself released, the producers released the film's soundtrack, and now you, too, can hear "Feel Just Fine".

Credits:
Christopher Bunn - original song concept, lead vocals
C. Michael Pilato - arrangement, all instruments, background vocals
Amy Pilato - angelic background vocals

Christopher has his original demo of the song posted online, too.  Check it out at http://christopherbunn.com/my-music/feel-just-fine/.

"Shepherd of My Soul"

While on a recent out-of-state trip to visit family, I found myself mentally reflecting on the twenty-third Psalm.  You know the one I'm talking about:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

— Psalm 23 KJV

Yes, I realize that I posted the King James Version above.  I almost never use that translation myself, but I can't deny that as a child every bit of the Holy Bible that I memorized was memorized from that translation.  And that childhood memorization turns out to have been important, because I was reflecting on the psalm while in a musical frame of mind ... and while driving my family's minivan around West Virginia!

So with no instrument in hand (unless the steering wheel counts...) I began morphing Psalm 23 into a singable tune.  By repeating the song in my mind over and over again, I managed to retain the concept until I was able to get back to North Carolina and see how it felt over an instrumental accompaniment.  A few days later, I recorded a demo version (with my son Aidan providing the drum tracks) to capture the idea.  Here's that demo version, imperfections and all:



In an unexpected twist, I plan to introduce the song to my church family this coming Sunday.  This fact pushed me to try my hand at using MuseScore 2 to transcribe the vocal parts for the song so I can get the rest of my worship team up to speed on the song quickly.  Writing sheet music is still not something I claim as a talent of mine, but MuseScore certainly makes it easy enough, especially since it runs flawlessly on the Linux and Windows platforms that occupy all my desktop computing devices.  If you care, you can get my MuseScore musings from my GitHub repository at https://github.com/cmpilato/worship-music/tree/master/Shepherd_of_My_Soul.

Finally, here are the song's lyrics.  Feel free to sing along!

Shepherd of My Soul

You are my Shepherd.  I'll want for nothing.
You make me lie down in pastures of green.
Beside still waters and down paths of righteousness
All for Your name's sake, Shepherd, You lead.

You restore my soul. You restore my soul.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
There with my Shepherd, the Shepherd of my soul.

Even when walking down through the valley,
There in death's shadow no evil I'll fear.
You're always with me.  Your rod and staff comfort me.
Jesus, my Shepherd, You're always near.

You restore my soul. You restore my soul.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
There with my Shepherd, the Shepherd of my soul.

You set a table before me with my enemies all around.
Let your anointing fall on me.  Let my cup overflow with your pow'r.

© 2019 C. Michael Pilato; License: cc-by-3.0

---

UPDATE (2/28/19): We ran the new song at our full worship team practice last night, and thanks to the extra layers of instrumentation and my super-talented fellow singers, it sounded A-MA-ZING!  I'm so excited for Sunday!

UPDATE (1/11/22): Updated sheet music references to point to my GitHub repository.

"Yours Forever, Amen"

It's been nearly two years since a crazy morning of software development drove me leave my house with a head full of chaos and return having written a new song without ever picking up an instrument.

On the morning of March 8, 2016, I was indeed struggling with an excessive amount of mental noise—stress at work and general busy-ness in every facet of life—and wanted to talk a walk in the woods to clear my thoughts.  There on the walking trails at nearby Pharr Mill Park, I was able to walk and enjoy nature and commune with God, and I found myself praying through the prayer that Jesus gave as an example to his disciples, the one most folks refer to as "The Lord's Prayer".  But I was blessed in that moment to have a melody form in my thoughts as well.  So I came home from that little detour feeling much refreshed, and scribbled down the essentially fully-formed song that had been captured in bits and pieces on my phone's voice recorder app while walking the park's trails!

In the two years since, I've been blessed to be able to share the song—which I titled "Yours Forever, Amen"—with various audiences and accompanied by various wonderful musicians.  One of my favorite ways to present the song is to have the text of Jesus' prayer read in chunks over the song's instrumental interludes.

So here's "Yours Forever, Amen", with those biblical readings added in quotes:

Yours Forever, Amen

"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven."

Oh, Abba Father, High King of Heaven,
Holy, holy, is Your Name.
Your kingdom come and Your will be done in
Heaven above and earth the same.

"Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."

Oh, Abba Father, High King of Heaven,
Give us daily all we need.
And please forgive us, as we forgive those,
Who, like us, caused Your Son to bleed.

Yours forever is the kingdom!  Yours forever is the power!
Yours forever is the glory, amen!
Yours forever is the kingdom!  Yours forever is the power!
Yours forever is the glory, amen!  Amen.

"And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."

Oh, Abba Father, High King of Heaven,
Rescue us from the evil one,
And lead us far from every temptation —
This bride keep spotless for Your Son.

Yours forever is the kingdom!  Yours forever is the power!
Yours forever is the glory, amen!
Yours forever is the kingdom!  Yours forever is the power!
Yours forever is the glory, amen!  Amen.
Yours forever, amen.
Yours forever, amen.

"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.  Amen."

I've included here, too, the hastily-recorded demo I assembled back in 2016.  It doesn't have the textual readings because, if I recall correctly, that idea didn't occur to me until after the recording was made.  But either way, I hope you enjoy it.

"Where You Lead (Father, Hear the Prayer We Offer)"

There are a great number of wonderful Christian hymns which are passing into obscurity in large segments of the world's geography.  (When Fanny Crosby writes 8,000+ hymns herself, it's easy to understand how a few of these things could go unnoticed!)  These songs offer solid theology in their lyrics, but are often musically inaccessible to modern worshipers.  I was recently inspired by the folks at Sovereign Grace Music to do my part my preserve the important parts of these songs — their beautiful, poetic words — while enjoying the liberty to set those words to a different (even original) musical arrangement.

So I've taken my first crack at this.  At my church, we are beginning an emphasis on the topic of prayer.  So I searched the collection of public domain songs (those whose copyrights had expired) in the CCLI SongSelect database for songs with a prayer theme.  I found in that list the hymn "Father, Hear the Prayer We Offer".  This song was written around 1859 by Love Maria Whitcomb Willis.  It appears to have gone through some minor edits over time, but I took the version that SongSelect presented to me and set its words to a simple melody.  I then added a short chorus for summary and variety (trying to maintain the authorial voice of the original hymn).

The following lyrics are the ones I used; the italicized bits are my little addition.

Where You Lead (Father, Hear the Prayer We Offer)

Father, hear the prayer we offer.
Not for ease our prayer shall be,
But for strength that we may ever
Live our lives courageously.

Not for ever in green pastures
Do we ask our way to be,
But the steep and rugged pathway
May we tread rejoicingly.

Let not these words ring hollow,
This we plead.
Lord, make us brave to follow
Where you lead.

Not for ever by still waters
Would we idly rest and stay,
But would strike the living fountains
From the rocks along our way.

Be our strength in hours of weakness.
In our wanderings be our guide.
Through endeavour and failure and danger,
Father be there at our side.

Let not these words ring hollow,
This we plead.
Lord, make us brave to follow
Where you lead.

Father, hear the prayer we offer.
Not for ease our prayer shall be,
But for strength that we may ever
Live our lives courageously.

Almost immediately after recording a demo of the song (which you can listen to below), I learned that there was another verse to the original hymn.  So in live settings going forward, I'll use the following verse as the final one instead of repeating the first stanza:

Let our path be bright or dreary,
Storm or sunshine be our share;
May our souls in hope unweary
Make Thy work our ceaseless prayer.

Here's the aforementioned demo recording:

"Pause" t-shirts redux

It's the design that keep on giving!  The t-shirt design I co-created for a youth ministry Disciple Now event back in 2011 and was re-used by another ministry in 2012 seems to have a life of its own.

Back in September of this year, I was approached online by John Copeland, a youth pastor from Georgia, who had stumbled across the blog post I wrote about those "Pause" t-shirts.  As it turns out, his youth group was in need of a similar event tee, so he reached out to request permission to use the design.  As I've demonstrated before, this is perfectly acceptable (and appreciated) request to make!  So, naturally, I was happy to see the design used yet again by someone else.

When it was all said and done, I was even able to connect John with the fine folks at Contagious Graphics, who still had the design artwork on file from the first time they printed up the shirts.  All I asked in return from John was that he send me a photo of his youth group wearing the shirts, and I was so pleased this morning to see that he had made good on his promise!

Custom countdown video generation (the ... complicated way)

At Providence Baptist Church, where I serve on staff as Worship Leader and Technology Coordinator, we occasionally employ countdown videos ahead of our worship service start times.  Now, a countdown video is little more than a video clip that shows a "minutes:seconds" countdown, usually overlaying some subtle motion graphic loop or still image.  You can buy these things from media sites (such as Worship House Media) for a nominal fee, often as part of a collection of videos which bear a common visual theme — a countdown video, a few motion loop videos without any overlaid text, etc.  But sometimes I want a countdown video that I can't purchase, perhaps because I don't like the font, font size, positioning, or background motion loop of what is available for purchase.

Now, I'm sure that expensive video editing software can generate these things willy-nilly with full customization.  But I'm not really an expensive-video-editing-software kind of guy.  I'm familiar with a handful of less-expensive (or free) options, though, and many of these offer the promise of a workaround for my itch to design custom countdown loops.  So tonight, I decided to see what I could work out using my current favorite of these editors, VideoPad.

Like many other timeline-based video editors, VideoPad allows you to create text objects which can overlay another video track.  I figured that if I could create a VideoPad project with a whole track full of 1-second text objects, each of which showed the countdown text I wanted ("4:59", "4:58", "4:57", and so on), I could use this as a template for various specific countdown timers in the future.  I'd simply swap out the still frame or motion loop video that served as the background, and re-render as needed.  But it only took me a few minutes to realize that I really didn't want to manually create and sequence 300 of these frames (5 minutes x 60 seconds per minute).

So I took a slight detour.  What if I could reverse-engineer the VideoPad project file format?  Was that possible?  It only took a few minutes to realize that VideoPad project files are simple text files with Unix line endings and URI-query-encoded lines of data.  Unfortunately, while I could make sense of much of what I saw in my sample project file, I failed to successfully edit it to affect a simple change — the addition of one more countdown text object properly sequenced.

I was about to give up hope, when I remembered that VideoPad also supported the use of PNG image overlays — with full alpha-channel support!  If I could generate 300 PNGs, each one a transparent rectangle with the countdown timer text rendered in the frame, then VideoPad would let me import those as an image sequence (much like the "create a slideshow" feature of other editors) and then I could layer that whole sequence atop the background still/video of my choosing!  Finally, I was in familiar territory.

After about a half-hour of hacking around with Python and Pillow (née the Python Imaging Library), I had something that worked for my purposes!  I quickly generated the 300 image files, successfully imported them into VideoPad, shoved another motion loop video underneath them, and rendered my first custom countdown video!  And since my wife and kids were away from home, I then spent another hour polishing up my script a bit more, allowing it to be driven with various options (controlling the size of the generated frames, the font specifications of the countdown text, and the rough positioning of the text), adding some error-checking and documentation, and published the result to Github as gen-countdown-frames.

To those with oddball interests and similar needs:  you're welcome!

Parenting by the Sixes

I suspect that at some point every Christian parenting seminar, magazine, or discussion eventually finds a way to bring up the opening verses of Ephesians 6:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
[Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV]

And to be sure, this is not a bad thing.  The author and apostle Paul does a good — if concise — job here of addressing both "sides" of the oft-opposed factions within a household.

But I was surprised and enlightened this morning when I found conviction and instruction for the parent as I read the opening of not Ephesians 6, but Galatians 6:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  [Galatians 6:1-3 ESV]

I can't tell you how many times I've admonished my children for some behavioral shortcoming only to find myself succumbing a similar (or identical!) issue shortly thereafter.  So while Paul may not in this second passage be addressing parents and children specifically, I think the prescription applies nonetheless.  As a father, my supreme aim for my children is that they increase in holiness.  But I need to offer guidance to that effect in love, with gentleness, and in all humility as I openly confess my own failures, my insufficiency, and my outright dependency on the grace of God as He works out holiness in me.

WOBO Wallet Review

Prompted by a follow-up email request to review the WOBO wallet I recently purchased for myself, I composed the following review:

I bought the WOBO wallet for three reasons:  (1) I tire of replacing cracked drivers' licenses, banking and loyalty cards, (2) my previous (trifold) wallet was a giant lump in my pocket, stuffed so full with such cards that cash bills had to be literally crammed in, and (3) I know the WOBO wallet's designer personally.   

Now, let's face it -- there are other solutions for reasons #1 and #2, and #3 is not a product-based reason at all.  As such, my expectations were moderately high, but tempered by prior attempts at solving my wallet problems.  It is with pleasure, then, that I can report here that my expectations were met and exceeded. 

This is a solid product, well-conceived and well-constructed.  The 15-17 cards I carry around (including freshly replaced, now-crack-free NCDL and debit cards) are securely held and easy to access.  The whole package is about the same size as a small flipphone (which means I can comfortably and more safely carry it in my front pocket), and it's easy to slip bills in and out of the elastic strap.  And when I run into the WOBO designer around town I can continue to greet him with a smile and the promise of word-of-mouth marketing for his product. 

So my three reasons for giving the WOBO a shot are now three reasons to give it a shout-out.  That's a successful experiment in my book. 

(Though, I confess I was disappointed to learn from the designer that "WOBO" didn't stand for "Working Our Butts Off" as I had supposed...)

 A couple of additional thoughts for the WOBO folks to consider:

• Closing the wallet can be a challenge if the "top-most" card in the stack isn't smooth-faced (for example, if it has raised/embossed letters and numbers).  Consider providing a smooth, clear, plastic card that folks can put on the top of the stack if they really want a "bumpy" card to be the first one they see upon opening the wallet.
• While the video instructions are great, a paper-set of illustrated open/close instructions wouldn't hurt.  (I wonder if the IKEA folks outsource their artists...)

"Home"

One of my favorite smartphone apps is the Voice Recorder.  These days I feel like I can barely remember anything, so I use it whenever a piece of musical inspiration strikes.  Over time, pieces and segments of song ideas get refined into something whole that's perhaps worth keeping, and I'll usually take the time then to record something of higher quality as a memento/demo.  Eventually I'll delete the original Voice Recorder files that no longer serve as songs-in-progress.

Earlier this week while performing just such a cleaning-out, I stumbled across a recording that I made back in January of a single song section.  The theme of the verse (as it later came to be) was about heavenly homesickness.  I recall picking up this theme from C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity.  Here's a relevant section of his text:

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same. 

Of course, the notion of Christians having the citizenship right in heaven rather than in the material world is more directly biblical.  Philippians 3:18-21 reads like so:

For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

I spent some time churning on this notion and on my little song baby, and was motivated to fully mature it into something worthy of a demo recording (lyrics follow):



And here's the lyrical content:

"Home"

On this road I walk along,
Seasons dim and seasons dawn
And the years keep rambling on.
They ramble on.
I know well this world I see,
Shared with friends and family,
But a voice keeps telling me
I'm sick for home.

Jesus, only You can satisfy.
You alone make all things new.
You're the Way, the Truth, the Life and I'm,
Oh I'm, coming home to You.

The rugged cross that Jesus bore
Draws my thoughts towards Heaven's shore
Where the One I'm living for
Prepares my home.
Lord, the beauty of your grace
And the promise of your face
Bid me make this world a better place
Until I'm home.

Jesus, only You can satisfy.
You alone make all things new.
You're the Way, the Truth, the Life and I'm,
Oh I'm, coming home to You.
Lord, I'm coming home to You.

When my final day is done
And this earthly race is run,
I will bow before the One
Who calls me home.
Yes I'll bow before the One
Who calls me home.

© 2016 C. Michael Pilato. Available for use under the cc-by-3.0 license.

I hope you enjoy the listen.  Leave feedback if you feel so motivated.

UPDATE(9/4/2016): Due to the rather personal perspective of this song, I never dreamed it would have a life beyond this crummy little demo recording.  But as it turns out, we had a rare revival-like sermon today on "The Preciousness of Heaven" presented by Rev. Rody Carland at my church, and he allowed me to share the song as a musical special ahead of the sermon.  Thus, a song that nearly fell through the cracks and was unlikely to ever be publicly performed is now being considered by some as the best thing I've even written.  I'm continually surprised by how God works stuff out sometimes...

Bibles, copyright, and restrictive licensing

One Wednesday evening as Pastor John Cashwell wrapped up his sermon, I found myself staring at the binding of a pew Bible. "Holman Christian Standard Bible" … and then that big ol' ® (registered trademark) symbol. Recalling that in the past I'd read the New International Version (NIV) licensing statement, I flipped open the cover of the HCSB to read its own, and found stuff pretty similar to what I remembered the NIV's to be. You can quote the text, but not more than 250 verses, not quoting a whole book, and not using the quotes as more than 20% of the body of work in which you are embedding the verses.

Why do modern Bible translations carry restrictive licenses?

How can a publisher restrict the free distribution of a work that is, by its very definition, just a remix of some other, written-before-there-were-even-copyrights, text?

I Googled around a bit for some answers. My first hit was a FAQ entry on BibleGateway.com, which talks—among other things—about the cost and effort involved in creating an accurate Bible translation. It contains the following wrap-up summary:

To sum up, Bible versions are copyrighted to make sure that translators are fairly reimbursed for their hard work. Most copyrighted Bible versions have relatively lenient quoting rules that should cover most common situations. But if for whatever reason the copyright rules prevent you from using the Bible as you like, you're free to use a non-copyrighted Bible version.

The article also states that "there is nothing stopping you from creating your own Bible translation—there are online projects dedicated to doing just that!" This intrigued me. I'd never considered the idea of crowd-sourcing a Bible translation before, so I Googled again for "crowd-sourced Bible translation". This led me to a project called The Seed Company (theseedcompany.org). Initially, I was excited, but as I read on, I didn't see many obvious differences between the Seed Company and other traditional translation methods such as those employed by its sister company, Wycliffe Bible Translators. Some digging around further led me to a well-written set of blog posts which somewhat echoed much of what I was thinking (plus a bunch of stuff I'd not considered).

Dissatisfied, I tried a different search: "-wikipedia.org wikipedia style Bible translation".

Finally, I landed on something promising! The WikiProject Wiki Bible (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource:WPWB) is the project that I found myself wishing into existence.