So I am saying hello to 2009.
I noticed that I only made one blog post in December and now we are a week into 2009 and I have yet to blog.
I am still listening to Johnny Cash. My one and only post from December ’08 was on Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” I received a three CD collection of the Essential Johnny Cash for Christmas and the more I listen, the more I am digging Cash’s smooth baritone rockabilly sound. He has a deep spirituality that comes through in a number of songs like “Were You There” and “Daddy Sang Bass.” And he sings the songs of the outlaw in “Folsom Prison Blues” (perhaps Cash at his best), “Man in Black,” and “A Boy Named Sue” (Cash as the story teller). He also does a great cover of Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe” a duet he sang with June Carter.
Speaking of duets, Cash and Dylan sang “Girl from the North Country” on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline (1969), which I also received on Christmas morning. I love Dylan as the country crooner and the duet with Cash has sky-rocked to the top of my list of favorite Dylan’s songs. (This takes my Dylan album total to 20. I am waiting for John Wesley Harding, which is coming this week. Then the album total will be 21!) The Dylan journey continues.
I have been enjoying an unseasonably warm winter here in South Georgia. I do miss building fires in the fire place, but at least I am not buried under the snow like my Canadian friends. (Yeah Santosh, I am talking about you!)
I am currently reading Anne Rice’s spiritual biography, Called Out of Darkness. I am sure I will hammer out a review of Anne’s latest book. I love hearing (or reading) peoples’ stories of faith. I am still in the first half of the book where Anne is describing her childhood. She writes about her mother who read poetry to her, including “Song at Dusk” by Nancy Byrd Turner. Anne includes the following lines from the poem:
The flowers nod, the shadows creep,
A star comes over the hill;
The youngest lamb has gone to sleep,
The smallest bird is still.
The world is full of drowsy things,
And sweet with candlelight;
The nests are full of folded wings—
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
“The world is full of drowsy things” is a great line. Drowsy things. Drowsy truth. Drowsy knowledge. Drowsy politics (including fuzzy math). Drowsy boundaries. Drowsy morals.
I am also reading a good deal on Amos in preparation for a new teaching series on Sunday morning through the Old Testament book of Amos. I prefer to stay in the New Testament where things are safe, but I am venturing into the Old Testament where things are dangerous.
The Vreelands are expecting a great 2009 as we continue to follow the King in this journey of faith.