Prayers from me

First of all, I'm so thankful that God created music! Birds sing, the handbell choir gave me a beautiful poster that says, "Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." And every week when I start playing the piano at Mayo Hospital I begin with music from "Sound of Music" that includes pieces about all kinds of music and blessings that God has given us. Many scriptures have had music added to them - The Hallelujah Chorus and lots of others. And I really enjoy singing those Bible verses. But I looked and looked and didn't find any music for Proverbs 3:5 and 6. And those verses are very important to me -

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." And Pastor Leah Bergstrom, our assistant pastor, had given me a beautiful stone figure with a cross and the first verse of that as a gift when I had my pacemaker implant. So after looking for quite a while, I decided to compose for myself music to go with those verses.

It's only eight measures long, and I transposed it so that you can sing it in a higher or lower key, but I sing it often, every day as a reminder that God will direct my paths - if I ask and allow Him. And His mind is so much greater than mine!

One of the gentlemen from my church, David McBride, came to help me with recording these videos after my son moved to Germany. Sadly he has recently passed away, and I am sending many prayers out to him and his family for what a blessing he has been.

"Gesù Bambino" is Italian and it translates to baby Jesus. This is an Italian Christmas carol composed back in 1917. It shares a melody with an English Christmas carol "When Blossoms Flowered 'mid the Snows" and is similar to "O Come All Ye Faithful". Hopefully you are enjoying the holiday season.

It is now coming close to the end of the year. The Holidays are upon us, and many of us who celebrate Christmas are communing and gathering together as best we can, in worship. This is a hymn that speaks not only of the Lord’s birth, but of the responsibility of telling others about the message we hold dear in our hearts of salvation that is free to all. It can be considered a wake up call and a reminder to stay focused on helping everyone towards salvation.

This is a popular Christmas song that was introduced in the 1944 musical "Meet Me in St. Louis", and also recorded by Frank Sinatra. I hope you are all enjoying the holidays and spending quality time with your loved ones.

The father-in-law of my son has recently passed away, and this song was requested, since it was the song I played at his wedding. This is to honor the father of the bride, Rodolfo. He captured the hearts of many with his charisma and playful heart. This song was a favorite of his. He will be missed. Many prayers and much love to all the family and friends.

This is part of the "Nutcracker Suite" that Tschaikowsky composed for Christmas. It is a ballet based on the German Christmas story by ETA Hoffmann The Nutcracker and The Mouse King. At the time he wrote this, Tchaikovsky was experiencing some emotional turmoil after the death of his sister. While at sea, Tchaikovsky penned much of the music for "The Nutcracker", and often struggled for inspiration. He used the love he had for his sister to create the iconic melodies from Waltz of the Flowers. This is the final dance of the ballet, where all the Sugar Plum Fairy’s sweets celebrate Clara and the prince.

After playing Away in a Manger, and being reminded that Jesus didn't even have a roof over his head, I thought that Silent Night would be a good reminder of what Jesus and his family went through. The lyrics encourage that.

Many of us struggle with tough situations, but can you imagine having your baby lying in a manger? And that wasn't even in a barn! The stars were looking down on him. Some of our struggles are because we didn't follow Jesus, but Jesus is with us always, and he had many struggles, including this!

Proverbs 3:5 and 6 are still two of my favorite verses - no matter what.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

Jesus struggled many times! But pleading with God to help us honor Him, the most we can, is so worth it!

This is a combination of the piece "Liebestraum" by Franz Liszt and "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" by William M. Runyan, arranged by Dino Kartsonakis. It's a combination of a love dream from a Hungarian composer and a hymn based on the old testament that merges quite well. I'm actually playing this piece for our church offertory today. I hope you enjoy it.

This African American spiritual appears in various hymnals with slight melodic and rhythmic variations. I really enjoy the lyrics of this hymn. Some have pointed out that it is interesting how the enslaved people did not speak in this spiritual of the physical abuse that they faced in their bondage, but of a spiritual illness, the “sin-sick soul.” It might be they heard this alliterative phrase in some of the hymns being sung at that time. There are some parallels in this hymn between the enslaved Africans in North America and the exiled Jews from the book of Jeremiah, who were forced to live in a "far country". John Wesley elaborates on the text of this spiritual with this point, "This question, as here proposed by the Prophet, relates only to a particular people, - the children of Israel. But I would here consider it in a general sense, with relation to all mankind. I would seriously inquire, Why has Christianity done so little good in the world? Is it not the balm, the outward means, which the great Physician has given to men, to restore their spiritual health? Why then is it not restored? You say, Because of the deep and universal corruption of human nature". Perhaps this could be considered the cause for the inefficacy of Christianity. Perhaps through prayer comes the revival of the soul.