What changed with the roosters?

I wanted to write up an extremely insightful post about the deep spiritual message about Peter in the last few days of Jesus’s life on earth. Something about the time between when the rooster crowed and when he ran to the tomb to see if what he’d heard was true, that Jesus wasn’t there.

You see, Peter was a disciple, a devout follower of Jesus, and was willing to die for Him, as recorded in Luke 22:33. So I am trying to put myself in Peter’s position, with such a confidence in my relationship with Jesus.

Then you get to the part where a rooster crows and everything changes. Fast forward to a few days later and women who had gone to visit Jesus’s dead body in the tomb report that HIs body is no longer there. Those women tell the disciples and who was it running to the tomb? Peter.

So my questions for you are these:

  1. What happened in Peter’s mind and heart between the rooster crowing and the empty tomb?
  2. How can this part of Jesus’s life and story, relating to Peter and his own personal journey, be applied to our lives today, in 2018?

I’d truly love to get a conversation going in the comments and I will definitely be anxiously awaiting your take!

-Out of the Wilderness

Music that lasts forever and ever, amen

Quick note: All the links in this post are to other posts I’ve written, take a look!

This past weekend I went to an Elvis festival in Nashville. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved his music. Being among all those Elvis fans reminded me of my nieces. The oldest is 16 and the youngest is 5 or 6. But when they were younger and Elvis came on the radio, most of them wanted us to change the station fast! For whatever reason they didn’t like Elvis music. Well, come to find out they didn’t like any music that wasn’t Justin Bieber or whatever played on Radio Disney.

I never really thought about it much but their constant disdain for what is widely considered good music (Elvis is just one example), I began to appreciate the music I was “forced” to listen to when I was growing up. This isn’t a condemnation of how my nieces and nephew are being raised at all (I would never tell someone how to parent! Actually, I take that back, I wouldn’t tell my siblings how to parent!), but while my parents were kind and would leave the radio on a certain song we liked only sometimes, most of the time we listened to music they liked.

As I grew into an adult, I became more and more thankful for the music I had already heard before. Because of this, I really, really want the kids in our family to be exposed to that kind of music. Elvis, the Beach Boys, U2, Led Zepelin, Billy Joel, this singer (who was my first crush), Bob Marley, Alan Jackson, wait wait… I can’t do this. The post would be 5 days long. To be fair, there are a lot of current bands that are making good music, too… that list would also be 5 days long but bands like The Head and The Heart (I wrote about their show in Nashville here), OneRepublic, Zac Brown Band, Josh Ritter, Jack White, Lumineers, and again, I won’t keep going.

I keep thinking about the youngsters my family, “They have no idea what they’re missing. There is SO. MUCH. MORE.”

Well, last week something huge happened. Something monumental. I was hanging out with a few of the kids and I’d almost successfully drowned out the music that was playing when a Randy Travis song came on. My ears perked up and I asked, “Who picked this song?” My oldest niece (the 16 yr old) said she did because she likes it.

There is a God in Heaven.

-Out of the Wilderness

The one and only Elvis!!

I’ve been full of hunka hunka burnin’ love all day because this morning I went to the Nashville Elvis Festival! Lots of events going on all weekend but I went to the second round of the Elvis Tribute Artist competition; Twenty performers trying to finish as the best tribute artist and earn a spot in the national competition later this year in Memphis.

So what was it like? Well, imagine hearing 20 “entertainers” who all somehow sound exactly like Elvis! I still can’t wrap my head around it.

How does anyone sound like anyone else?

Impersonators are a unique group to begin with, but to sound like the iconic and one-of-a-kind Elvis Presley? Well, now you’re just shooting for the stars, arn’cha?

Throughout the event, I tried pretending it was the 1950s or 60s. How would’ve it felt to been at an Elvis show? Could I even feel a sliver of what it must’ve been like back then? I don’t know. But these artists were AMAZING. I’d confidently say that if you were to shut your eyes and just listen, you’d swear Elvis was there. It was incredible.

I’m so glad I went! Here’s a gallery of the performers in full Elvis wardrobe, from the peacock jumpsuit, to the Aloha from Hawaii clothing, and everything in between.

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-Out of the Wilderness

Dreading the way back

I’m not sure what this says about my personality, but when I take my dogs on a walk, we have a joyous time. We have a fun time. We run, we laugh, we play, we sniff things. Life is just rosy. At least for the first half.

But then we turn around and it’s as if the amount of fun we just had is dealt back equally to us but in opposite form. We’re stubborn, moody, hasty, and yet moving slow. No matter if it’s a 1 mile walk, or 2 mile walk, when we make the turn or circle around for the second half, my dogs seem to think, “Now we’ll be poky little puppies.”

It’s not all their fault, though. They are just doing what they do by sniffing and exploring. But I turn into an impatient bully!

-Out of the Wilderness

Barack Obama is not the first black president

I know this post is basically 9 years too late, but still, every time I hear it said that Barack Obama was the first black president of the United States, I perk up a little. I think it’s just a matter of language, really. Because he was our first African-American president, sure, since his dad was from Africa and his mom was from the U.S., but he is not black, in the literal sense of the term. So if someone is going to say he was our first black president, someone else could easily counter by saying he was our 44th white president.

I also thought he might be the first biracial president, but that may not even be true either. There are lists out there that show a handful of other presidents who are considered to have been “mixed race.” Just think about the early years of the United States… wouldn’t the chance of a white person and a Native American falling in love and making babies be pretty high?

I agree with the first part of what Morgan Freeman said here in 2012: “America’s first black president hasn’t arisen yet. He’s not America’s first black president, he’s America’s first mixed-race president.”

Let me be clear here, my issue is not with Obama at all. He achieved one of the most sacred and honorable positions in the U.S., so kudos to him for that. But I am excited for the day we have our first actually black president (as long as he or she is elected because he or she seems to be the most fit person to lead the country, of course). That person can be Native American, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, doesn’t matter to me. My issue is with how we’re defining Mr. Obama’s race and/or legacy. Even if it’s just in a social way (meaning history books and documents will get it right, but conversationally we’ll always get it wrong), I think he’ll be remembered as being the first black president.

Do you often here Barack Obama referred to as the first black president? What are your thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment below!

-Out of the Wilderness