Life Mantra

*sigh

I joined Twitter today.
I know, I know. I said I'd never join. But, all the hoopla got me interested and I’ve been hooked all day. There're some interesting tidbits of information all over the place. I get the sports rumours & comedy from the fellas @ TSN (#DarrenDreger, #tsnotoole, #JayOnrait), inside info on my fave musicains (#johncmayer, #crowderband) and catch up on the Nazarene General Assembly via Greg (#kraussdaddy) and Matt (#mattbarbour). Besides, it's a good way to hear what every single person is up to at that exact moment of their lives... if you're into that sort of thing.

Anywho... while I was creating my profile, I was asked to enter a "one line bio". I mean, how do you summarize all of who you are in one line (specifically, 160 characters). I didn't even think about it and my fingers happened to type:

I live for Him.
I love for her.
I'm responsible for him.

I'm not even sure if that makes sense. It did to me. Those are the things in my life that are most important in my life: my God, my wife, and my son.

I live for Him
I love for her
I'm responsible for him

I don’t think I’ve ever had a life mantra before, but if I did I think that would be it. And who would have thought a simple bio for Twitter would have given the inspiration to have one and live by one?

Do you have life mantra?
If not, why?
If so, what is it?

Follow Me on Twitter: #JCambers

A few quick thoughts on anything...

- there's a guy in Nova Scotia selling a Bad Cat Hot Cat 30R and I almost sold my Morris Amps head to purchase it. Anyone wanna lend me $2000?

- The Calgary Flames named their new head coach this afternoon. Brent Sutter just quit his job as the New Jersey Devils coach to work with his big brother Darryl in Calgary. I would have much preferred recently fired Dallas Stars coach Dave Tippett, but Brent will do as he had a great system working for the Devils in New Jersey. The assistant coaches (whom I am very excited about) are former Calgary Hitmen coach Dave Lowry, former Quad City Flames coach Ryan McGill, and the goaltending coach is former Flames back-up and class-act Jamie McLellan.

- I don't follow Twitter at all, but my friend Greg was telling me about some great "tweets" by Casting Crowns singer Mark Hall. Briefly, he talked about how we need to trust that God will bring us through whatever storms we're going through. When plan A doesn't seem to be working, we make up our own plan B and begin to follow that. Instead, we need to trust that God will bring us through plan A; that's what he made it for.

- Catherine and I have been seriously pursuing buying our first home. Though we still have some financial hurdles to jump, we're still praying over it and pursuing it hard. The only other hurdle is whether we feel God calling us to "go" somewhere else. We've been mildy talking about moving to Calgary, but that possibility seems miles away (both figuratively and literally).

- I love playlists. My sister-in-law, Angela, gets married in a few weeks and I'm providing the music... she's chosen some great tunes for her ceremony:
Sail Away - David Gray
Reign in Us - Starfield
Beautiful One - Jonny Lang
The World Spins Madly On - The Weepies

- I now materialism and consumerism isn't a biblical virtue, but I really want the new iPhones. Anyone wanna take over my cell phone contract with Bell? 1 year left @ $45/month. I'll even pay you $20 to take it over!

- Noah is doing well at his new daycare provider. Stephanie is a wonderful baby-sitter and Noah is meshing well with the new kids. No 2-year-olds to beat him up with drumsticks anymore! No but, he's doing well. It's taken him some time to get used to the busy atmosphere, but praise God for providing us with a place he enjoys.

- I was stoked to get back to playing softball tonight, but rain cancelled the game (again) and we'll have to continue our 7-game losing streak later on this week. We're 0-7 with a -75 in points for/points against, but I am batting a sold .344 which is great since I sucked at baseball when I was a kid.

- God has been really good to Catherine and I lately. Just in our relationship, His provision, and guidance. Even though we're struggling to grasp His purpose and will in our lives right now, we do believe that we're right where He wants us to be and will continue to show us "the way" as we move on.

I hope to blog soon

Pedalboard Renovation

Size matters, right? That's what they've always said but I don't buy it. Although, judging from the size of the pedalboards I've had over the past 8 years or so, you could certainly deduct that I believe it to be true. Ever since I started playing guitar about 12 years ago (geesh... I'm getting old) I've been fascinated with gadgets and stomp-boxes of all kinds for making unique, pure, and ambient guitar sounds; not to mention the guitarists constant search for the tone. I've had some gems and some lumps of coal over the years, yet I find I'm really finding my favorite sounds in some of the pedals I'm now using. I recently got a bonus from work and my wife gave me permission to use some of it to replace and upgrade some of my current pedals:

1) Digitech Whammy 4 - this pedal is, of course, most known for its use by players like Tom Morello and Joe Satriani. On its most useful setting, you play a note (or more, if you're brave) and kick the treadle forward to ascend the note one (or two) octaves up. Although it doesn't find much use when I'm playing lead in worship, it can create some unique chorus sounds, pitch-changes, harmony bends, and creative lead sounds. I recently sold my old, squeaky, wobbly, input-frtizy whammy and bought a brand new one. It's shiny and red.

2) Ibanez Ts9 w/ 808 Mod - The onyl pedals that have constantly been chaning on my board are drive pedals. I've missed my modded Ibanez TS9 (a staple in light-overdrives), so I decided to trade an old-school version of the Fulltone Fulldrive II for a modded TS9 to a guy here in town. While my Mosfet Fulltdrive has a great medium-gain rhythm sound with gain/mid-boost on the 2nd channel, I wanted a drive that'd do a slightly overdriven sound/clean boost and a modded TS9 is one of the best in the business (imo). Welcome home Tube Screamer.

3) Catalinbread Ottava Magus - this tiny little pedal is pretty fraggin' sweet. It's tiny, but has got some big volume capabilities. It's a copy of the "octave-up" fuzz that Hendrix, Satriani, and Robin Trower get a lot of use out of. It's always been one of my favorite tones and this one soudns especially good before another overdrive pedal. It gives me that octave tone without beeing too "fuzzy" and tgives a great lead boost as well. And, since the pedal is so tiny, it fits well ib my cramped custom pedalboard.

4) Electro-Harmonix MicroPOG - there was a guy who was selling his EHX POG locally for a great price and I coudln't pass up the offer. I was absolutely impressed with the POG's capabilites and sounds. Essentially, you can make use of it's 1 or 2 octavess down/1 or 2 octaves up sounds and get unique instument sounds. From a 12-string guitar, a 4 or 12 string bass, and even an oscillating church organ and POG's soudns are endless and it tracks chords amazingly. Unfortuneatly, the POG is a giant pedal and it coudl not fit on my board. So, opting out of selling me equally-sized EHX Memory Man to fit the POG, I decided to sell it (and in turn made profit) and bought a MicroPOG which was similar sounds, but isn't nearly as capable of as many soudns. But, it still emulates a bass guiar, 12-string, and (for what I want it for) a church-organ sound. It replaces my seldom-used MicroVibe and should give me some great chord and tone options.

So, those are my new and upgraded pedals. Here is my current pedal lineup and pic of my board:
Line 6 DL4 -> pretty much every worship guitar players delay staple since you can store 3 delays and have tap-tempo capabilities
Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man -> this has become my staple for getting that .1/8("dotted eight") delay that The Edge makes so popular. Not only that, but I also use it for that pure analog "ambient" sound by turning up the repeat feedback and delay volume down
Fulltone Fulldrive II -> see above
Fulltone Fulldrive II (Mosfet) -> see above
Catalinbread Ottava Magus -> see above
MXR Dyncomp -> probably not my first choice of compressor (I'd love to have Keeley's 4-knob compressor), but I find this far better than most other non-boutique comps I've tried and they're at a great price. I use this particularly when playing with single coils, need a squashed sound, or need some really long sustain
pedalboards.com True Bypass Loop (Tuna Melt, Wah, Whammy) ->
Danelectro Tuna Melt -> I have some subtle tremolo in my amp head, but the Tuna Melt has a great "stutter" tremolo sound which casues for some neat sound. I don' use it often, but it's cheap and small
Digitech WHammy IV -> see above
Crybaby 535 Wah -> everyone has a wah in their setup. Not onyl are they graet for sols, but they give you different rhythm options when they're used as frequency gate(see Dire Straights "Money or Nothing" or Wide Mouth Mason's "Alright, Alright", "Once You Got It", or "Fa Na Na")
EHX MicroPOG -> see above
Boss TU2 -> the tuner everyone uses who don't want to pay for a Peterson Strobostomp

I hope to post some audio clips sooner or later. Here's a pic of my current board.

Art vs. Ministry: Part 9 - The Most Dangerous Prayer

I had a great conversation with an old friend last night. When I was living in Calgary during my last two yeas of university, Justin was one of my best friends and I loved spending every moment with him (except when he was hungry in which he became a very mean and grumpy person). Justin and I have more in common than any other person I’ve ever met and we think so much alike it’s scary. He’s also a musical mentor of mine (see this blog from April) even though he’s 2 or 3 years younger than me. Not only is he the best bass player I’ve ever played with (no offence to Ross, Tim, and the others players I’ve had the pleasure to play with), but he’s got a great head for music and simply just loves to play. He’s got more talent in his two, small Asian hands than I do in my whole body. It’s really quite remarkable. Above that, his passion to use his talents and abilities to glorify God is just as remarkable.

After playing catch-up for a while, we started to talk about music and where he was in his life. He’s practically playing full-time as a session guy for numerous musicians in Alberta and though he isn’t rolling in the dough, God is blessing him with the experience, relationships, and provision he needs to move on in his journey. To be honest, I was a little bit envious. As we talked, the conversation moved to where I am in my musical & spiritual journey and he proceeded to challenge me with a tough question: “are you waiting to hear from God what His will is for your life is or are you willing to step out in faith and hope it is His call”.

At first, I stammered at the question and got him to unpack it for me.

“Are you waiting to hear from God what His will is for your life is?”
“Yes”

“Are you at the place where you’re willing to step out in faith?”
“Sure.”

“Even if it meant not knowing where you are going or having no security?”
‘Well…”

I had a tough time with that part. I turn 26 in a few weeks. Even though I still consider myself young, I do have a wife of four years and a 16-month-old child whom I need to care for and put above my own wants and desires. I am in no way saying Cat and Noah are keeping me from any dreams or desires I have. That is certainly not the case. They are along for the ride with me and we follow God’s calling no matter where, when, or why we go. Marriage implies the two become one concept and I don’t believe God calls one and not the other; God’s will is all inclusive and is perfect, right, and good.

I explained to Justin that Catherine and I are in limbo right now. We’re not sure what God wants for us in our lives right now.
Are we content with where we are? I suppose we are, but we know there’s more for us.
Are we willing to drop everything in order to follow where He leads us? Most likely.
Do we believe that God would put us in a situation where we are not happy? No.
Do I believe God would put us in a place where we are not using our gifts, abilities, and relationships to serve Him? No. Luckily he doesn’t work that way.
The trouble is, though, that Christians today have difficulty living the “stepping out in faith” part. Sure, we can say we’re willing to follow Him wherever He leads, but sometimes He asks us to do things we just don’t want to or don’t believe He’d ask us to do. Basically, sometimes God’s will is easier said than done.

This past Sunday, my father-in-law preached a fantastic sermon on “praying the most dangerous prayer”. He talked about praying the phrase “use me, Lord”. That’s dangerous stuff because we don’t know what that entails.

Me: “Use me, Lord”
God: “Ok, then I want your identity, your influence, and your income”
Me: “Mmmm… all of those things?”
God: “Yup”
Me: “You sure?”
God: “Yes”
Me: “How about just…”
God: “All of them”

God wants our identity. He wants who we are. He wants what we stand for. He wants to change us to become more like His son. He wants us to reflect His love.
God wants our influence. He wants to use us and show others what He’s done for us, through us. He wants our words, music, love, and actions to affect others.
God wants our income. No only does God want to be control of our money but he wants us to use our possessions and tools to His glory and purpose.

These are tough things to give up, but following God’s will truly requires a step of faith. A walk into the unknown. A moment where you push all your chips in hoping your hand is better than his. God has pulled Catherine and I out of the miry clay before. He has provided for us when provision was scarce. He has blessed us many times before. I don’t believe these things ever stop but it’s a matter of believing He will keep doing it if you’re willing to lay it all down for Him. It’s a dangerous prayer and I am ready to pray it. I am ready to follow the next step in His will for our lives. Where to, God?

1 John 1:8-9

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."

- 1 John 1:8-10



Pretty self-explanatory, I suppose. I mean, who wants to call God a liar? Not I!

Which reminds me...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm-HJvUkSdQ

If I were in a cover band...

Catherine and I cancelled out cable a few months back and I must say I do miss it. However, in lieu of less TV, we've been able to talk more, pray more, and spend more time together. Although I do feel I've been missing out on things, I guess youtube, blogs, and online-news reels cover most of the important things I've been missing.

I only found out a few weeks ago that Jay Leno was moving to daytime and Conan O'Brien was replacing with on the Tonight Show. Oh, how I miss both Jay and Conan (and Letterman's Top 10 Lists). During Conan's opening week, he had John Mayer Trio on as his musical guests. JM3 did a cover of "The Mamas and the Papas" song California Dreaming. And, wow. It's pretty tight and has a really cool arrangement.





It's not the type of song you can really see someone turn into a blues-rock cover, but it works and maintained that familiar 70's groove. So, I thought to myself, if I was in a band (I wish I was), what songs would I want to revamp and cover? well, a la David Letterman, here's my Top 10 songs to cover

1) O My God by The Police - asks some great spiritual questions and cool double-time groove
2) For Once in my Life by Stevie Wonder - I'd slow it down and put a slower groove to it
3) Something by The Beatles - great version on the "Across the Universe" soundtrack that I'd steal from
4) Recovering the Satellites by Counting Crows - great vocals and lots of room for musical expressions
5) Mind's Eye by dc Talk - awesome riff, U2-esque chorus, and great lyrics
6) Paranoid Android by Radiohead - ok, well, maybe not the whole song because Radiohead are practically musical geniuses, but I'd want use 3:38-6:27 and incorporate it into some kind of worshipful interlude (realizing, of course, that the song IS NOT intended for that).
7) Until the End of the World by U2 - I know that you can't really cover a U2 song, but with some ideas and different groove, I think this could be a really cool cover
8) God's Gonna Cut You Down by Johnny Cash - the weird thing about this song is that it's so simple and so cut-and-dry that it's hard to cover it; any deviation from Johnny's baritone vocals or even the melody may take away from its originality. There's opportunity for cool arrangements, though.
9) If I Ever Lose My Faith In You by Sting - of course you can spiritualize this song, but if you listen to the version from the "All This Time" cd, there's a really cool groove and rendition to build off of to make this a cool cover song
10) You by Marvin Gaye - I heard a version of Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues" done by John Mayer that had a really cool modern vibe to it; I'd love to do a similar spin on this great Gaye tune (lol). Some good spiritual overtones too.

what songs would you like to cover?

1 John 1:5-7 - Light

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

- 1 John 1:5-7





"I want to be in the light/as you are in the light/I want to shine like the stars in the heavens/oh Lord be my light/and be my salvation/because all I want to be is in the light"


When I first became a Christian, one of my favorite Christian bands to listen to was dc Talk. Believe it or not, I wasn't a huge fan of the song "Jesus Freak"; rather, the rest of the "Jesus Freak" album had a big impact on me. One of the songs that I loved to listen to was "In the Light" and the above video is from the dc Talk's "Welcome to the Freakshow" VHS from way back when. "In the Light" was one of those songs that I'd sing amongst friends with acoustic guitars around a camp fire. I have great memories doing that. I'm sure this song stems from the 1 John verses above about being in Christ's light.

There's a reason why horror/thriller/suspense movies are filmed primarily at night. 'Darkness' or any 'absence of light' cast a shadow (figuratively speaking) on all things good and pure. We expect bad, scary, negative, disheartening things to happen when we can't see the full picture or see what is hidden from us. Conversely, in the light we are sure of what we see and know what we're given in front of us. Christ was a light we were open to see. He lead a sinless life; there was no darkness in him. Therefore, there was nothing hidden from us and we were given full access to who he was, who he is, and what he's done. If we say we are a follower of Christ, yet do not reflect his light or wallow in darkness, we are not fully his; we are not followers. Christ's light is so bright, so blinding, that it has become hot enough to burn all sin and shame from our lives. Yet, if we put on our son-glasses (see what I did there with the word sun/son?), we are deliberately shielding ourselves from complete redemption and letting datrkness enter us in some way or another. We need to make sure to be in his light, being open and honest, loving and compassionate, righteous and just. Walking in his light causes us to never stray from his path; we see where we're going at all time.

So, with that being said, I leave you with a more recent favorite song of mine from song-writer/worship-leader Robbie Seay (pronounced "sea", not "say") called "Shine Your Light on Us".



"Oh, my God/Shine Your light on us/That we might live
Shine Your light/Shine it down/Let Your rescue come for us, we long to love
And if you feel lost, sing along"

1 John 1:1-4 - Who He Said He Was

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete."

- 1 John 1:1-3

This morning, my friend Tim had a blog about who Jesus is. Not that I was trying to ride the coattails of what he was blogging about, but it just so happens my portion of 1 John today touches a bit on just that; who Jesus is.

The author, John the Apostle (not to be confused with John the Baptist) starts this book out by explaining the purpose of his writings: to share and express the "Word of Life" to its readers. John makes some suggestions about what the Word of Life is. Or, if you will, who the Word of Life is. Since John likely saw Jesus' ministry first hand, it's easier for him to be able to draw comparisons to person of Jesus and the prophesied Jesus. Apostle John takes the literal "Word" and applies it to the person of Jesus:
Jesus is - "from the beginning" (v. 1)
Jesus is that - "which we have heard (v. 1)
Jesus is that - "which we have seen with our eyes" (v. 1)
Jesus is that - "which we have looked at" (v. 1)
Jesus is the one whom- "our hands have touched" (v. 1)
Jesus - "appeared" (v. 2)
Jesus is - "the eternal life" (v. 2)
Jesus was - "with the Father and has appeared to us" (v. 2)

John's epistle is to "proclaim to you" what we (the apostles) have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us (the apostles)". A call to the sinner, the unsaved, the Jew and the Gentile, to believe that Jesus was the prophesied one and the gift of God in flesh; the truth, the way, and the life. Jesus' story and ministry make "our joy complete" (v. 4).

I was reading (not taking part in) an interesting thread today where people were arguing the existence of God; more precisely, the existence of deities like Jesus, Buddha, or Mohammad. The one Christian in the conversation proceeding to defend Christianity by simply comparing Jesus as superior to Buddha or Mohammad. Instead of using historical fact, scripture, or even the ministry/example of Jesus, he proceeded to just slam other religious figures.

I've quoted this from Bono on a recent blog but I thought it prudent to repeat it. In an interview he did with Bill Hybels where he says, "You either have to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God or believe that he was a complete nutcase. Jesus was either Charles Manson... an absolute nutcase or, in my opinion, who He said He was."

Jesus is the beginning and end who we have seen, heard, touched, and felt. You can either believe who he said he is, or you cannot. I say this to make our joy complete.

1 John 4:1-3 - Spirit vs spirits

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world"

- 1 John 4:1-3


There are two significant things that qualify this verse in Catherine and I’s life right now. First, we are now in the process of trying to find a new care-provider for Noah. His current situation isn’t quite working and we were forced to find another babysitter for him in about 4 weeks time. Although a few different options came up for us, and we were stuck between two particular options which both had their pros & cons. Our first option was with a Christian lady with a good reputation but she lived on the opposite side of the city and it would require 40-45 minutes of extra driving each day. The other is also a lady with a good reputation and even though recommended to us by a Christian friend, she’s not a Christian. However, she lives only 2 minutes away from our house making it an easy drop-off each morning.

While Catherine and I were praying together for guidance on the subject, we were struck with the question of why God would provide us with a non-Christian option. I thought of this verse (which I read last week) and thought it prudent to see if this was in deed from Him. We concluded that God is not a God of confusion. I don’t believe He provides us with “options” or “doors” that are not from Him. I don’t believe he provides us with situations that can hurt us. Yes, he can often provide us with situations that challenge us and test our trust/faith, but none that will cause us harm. Conversely, maybe the “non-Christian” lady is an option where Catherine and I are provided with a “walk across the room” opportunity. While we still have not made any decisions, either way I believe we’ll be making the right decision by covering it in prayer.

The second situation that applies to some friends we have who are desperately seeking some spiritual enlightenment in their lives and in their relationship. First let me say that I’m all for that. I think it’s important. I love to see couples seeking God to spiritually rekindle their lives and have that affect the lives of others around them. However, they seem to have found an avenue to experience this spiritual awakening in a local church that is known to be very charismatic. There is, of course, nothing wrong with most charismatic churches; they’re subjective to the Christian’s beliefs and practices. However, I (personally) believe that some of the beliefs and practices at this church are not necessarily recognized by the Spirit of God. Conversely, I believe that there may be false prophets and practices that would not be blessed by God. That being said, I am not one to say what is and is not blessed and holy. However, I do believe that if they do not reflect or demonstrate that what is written in the Word and comes straight from the life of Christ, it is not and will be not be blessed nor Holy.

While I'm hesitant to step in and make my feelings known to these individuals, I must first seek it in prayer and I use this 1 John verse as a base. I'm also hesitant to call the people leading our friends astray "false prophets" because who am I to judge, but I do believe there are some "false teachings" being used including questionable prayer methods, assumed "spiritual gifts (like prophecy and tongues), and things like "spirit casting" being used without proper biblical structure by unauthorized layman. Scary stuff. Either way, I do not believe it is all the Spirit of God who is working within these people.

These spirits are not Spirit. It is a conflict of God's work and something we should always be aware of in an evil world. So, remember to make sure you recognize the Spirit of God when you are confronted with new spiritual ideas, when making decisions for yourself, and fully realize the power of God when you pray for His good and perfect will. Pray against false teachings, false prophets, and evil spirits that may surround you. Cover yourself in the Word and in prayer and He will defend you, guide you, teach you, and lead you in all ways holy.