Oct. + Nov. Lowe Wrap-up
(Note: This is my (Ben) first post on our combined blog. Cheryl has been getting after me to get something on it, so I decided to connect it with my posterous blog and thus share a few things from time to time. Sorry for the delay.) So I thought I would share a bit. The last few months have been a little crazy. The dust is finally starting to settle though, just in time for the busy holidays!

In October, we had a Boy’s Camp-out for Mission: Possible as the second half of our Fall Retreat. The Girl’s Camp-out was earlier in September. Both went pretty well, and it looks like a good option for the future, as it immediately takes away the distraction of the other gender, giving the time a more personal and one-on-one feeling. Cheryl finished her last month of pregnancy (woo-hoo!!) in October as well. Our little girl Hannah came just a few days after the due date on October 26th, and we’re so glad she’s here! We’ve been taking the last four weeks getting to know our little girl, as well as learning to operate on a lot less sleep, how to deal with diapers, visitors, animals, and all those times where everything seems to be a priority and has to get done right away. It’s been tiring but oh so wonderful. It has been so great to share this little one with friends and family, and we look forward to many more people meeting her as time allows.

My little collection of little musical instruments has been growing, as I now own a toy accordion, an inverse ocarina and a stylophone. I also managed to snag a little 4-track cassette recorder off of ebay for $20 so I’m convinced that I’ll be able to pull together my bunch of disparate instruments and sounds together to form some amazing original songs… (Ukulele + stylophone anyone?) It’s primarily a hobby of course, but I’m convinced that Hannah will be able to play some strange instrument by at least two… This month I have tackled NaNoWriMo again. For those of you that don’t know about it, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, and the idea is to write a whole novel in a single month. The “winning” word count is 50,000 words. So far I’m at 36,000 and climbing. A little more behind than I’d like, but I’m really going to try and win this year.

I have been drinking a lot of tea recently. It is good weather to drink tea! (I’ve recently discovered Pu Erh and man it is good. Smells like a barnyard, but for some reason it is really enjoyable to drink.) Our little apartment is really taking shape and feels very much like home. The incoming cooler weather is a welcome change for Cheryl and I as we head into the winter and the holidays. We feel so very blessed to be in a place so close to our friends and family. We are also so thankful for the evident and moving hand of the Lord in our lives. We pray that we would continue to heed his call!

I decided to throw a few pictures into the mix as well. Here they are:

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Vodafone Symphonia - Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture reconstructed from 1000 cellphones, 2000 text alerts

Cellphone symphony… Seems like a cool project to work on in your spare time…

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Lipton Tea (language warning)

Truth.

(Stolen from a post on 3sheik.com)

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Plumbline

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Some iPhone pics

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Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost For His Highest": October 14th.

“All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.” Matthew 28:18-20

The basis of missionary appeals is the authority of Jesus Christ, not the needs of the heathen. We are apt to look upon Our Lord as One Who assists us in our enterprises for God. Our Lord puts Himself as the absolute sovereign supreme Lord over His disciples. He does not say the heathen will be lost if we do not go; He simply says - “Go ye therefore and teach all nations.” Go on the revelation of My sovereignty; teach and preach out of a living experience of Me.

“Then the eleven disciples went . . unto a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.” v. 16. If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him for myself, and how to get alone with Him; I must take time to worship the Being Whose Name I bear. “Come unto Me” - that is the place to meet Jesus. Are you weary and heavy laden? How many missionaries are! We banish those marvellous words of the universal Sovereign of the world to the threshold of an after-meeting; they are the words of Jesus to His disciples.

“Go ye therefore… .” Go simply means live. Acts 1:8 is the description of how to go. Jesus did not say - Go into Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, but, “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me” in all these places. He undertakes to establish the goings.

“If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you… ” - that is the way to keep going in our personal lives. Where we are placed is a matter of indifference; God engineers the goings.

“None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself …” That is how to keep going till we’re gone.

I think this is a really powerful reading. I feel there is much lost today in our “missionary endeavors” by many believers who go out with no power from God. They are too concerned with “saving people” instead of obedience to their Lord.

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What kind of novel should I write?

National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo) is coming up in November. I tried last year and made it to about 25,000 words (out of 50,000 to finish) before I stopped. I’d like to try again this year, which I realize may be a little crazy with this next stage of my life so rapidly approaching, but I’m gonna at least see if its possible. Last year I wrote a rather sad attempt at a fantasy/LordoftheRingsesque story, and it just didn’t work out. I got bogged down in the details and the story really didn’t go anywhere, even after 25,000 words. Now I still have a slight bent toward a fantasy novel, but I’m thinking I might should try something else just to see what happens. I’ve toyed with the idea of doing a collection of short stories, but I’m not sure yet what they would be about. Is that lame? Anyone have any other suggestions for me?

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flesh thang (song and brief thoughts on the Spirit life)
  
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05 Flesh Thang.m4a (5149 KB)

Recently the Lord has been teaching me much of His desire for me to live and walk in the Spirit. The flesh (our worldly thoughts, desires, attitudes, understandings, etc) must be dealt with and done away with. We must die to self, daily. Jesus Christ had this to say about the flesh:

John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

There is much more I’d like to write on this topic, but I can’t seem to put it down…  It is amazing to me how the Lord would teach me and confirm things to me by the simplest of things.
Anyway, here’s a cool song that’s got some good lyrics. Clever and (I believe) true for anyone walking in the Spirit. (It’s Danielson, so it will probably weird out a lot of people, but seriously its great.) He talks about the house (our body/flesh) speaking and that we need only be listening to the “Holiest” of Ghosts (the Holy Spirit.) I think it is true that often many believers would mistake the voice of the soul, flesh, or mind for the Spirit. Also later he talks about the “deep physical pain.” It is your best friend because we should learn obedience through suffering, just as Christ did. (Obedience to whom? God the Father, and the Holy Spirit.) We should rejoice in pain and discipline because it shows our Father loves us and wants us to grow…

Time to talk fleshly talk
Get it off our skin
Gettin’ nervous!
And tense and talk about the bones and nerves
It’s a house of the Lord
It’s a house of the Holy Ghost,
But the house be speakin’ at times
Haunted house is bein’ tricky
You better only be hearin’ the Holiest of Ghosts. Look like a baby, once again
‘cause I’m sheddin’ my withered skin.

The heart is right
The deep physical pain will run for life
The heart is hard
The deep physical pain will be your best friend. I said the heart is right,
please take a bite
It’s out of sight!
The heart is hard,
stone in your yard,
let down your guard!

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Star Wars on the Stylophone
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stylostarwars.m4v (4795 KB)

Here’s some Star Wars on my new stylophone. I hesitate at the high note because I have move this switch at the bottom with my left thumb to change octaves. I don’t think its really made to do this, but it works alright if I can get the motion a little smoother. Now, aren’t you jealous of my awesome sounding retro pocket synth? You know you are…

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Celebrating Hearts Aligned

From lips of children
You’ll be praised
We see the heavens raised
To make room for Your glory

A generation that’s to come
Will make up song and hum
The details of your story

Your years go through all generations
Why do You bother with mankind
Of old the prophets foretold You
In every household
Celebrating hearts aligned

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Themed by: Hunson