In its most simplistic form, the word “tenor” is simply a word that designates a voice part.

“That guy can sing sort of high,” they say, “so put him in the tenor section.”

But being a Tenor is much more than that. It transcends voice range. It’s a state of being. It’s a way of life.

The first thing you must realize that everyone wants to be a Tenor. Every vocalist wishes they could sing high.

Because of this, Tenors are often the objects of mockery by other singers who, though they would never admit it, secretly wish they were a Tenor. I have so much personal experience in this area, that get me the right psychologist to help me recall some of the painful memories, and I could write books about it.

They will tell you otherwise, but don’t believe them.

“Tenor’s are strange,” they might say, “I’m sure glad I don’t have a Tenor personality.”

Right.

They’re really saying, “Since I can’t sing high and be a Tenor, I’ll focus on his idiosyncrasies and ignore my own.” It’s all a cover up to make themselves feel better. Trust me, there are a whole lot of baritones in the world, but only a few Tenors.

Perhaps this sounds arrogant to you. Perhaps it is. But I am stating the truth. Being a Tenor means realizing and embracing who you are. I mean, you consistently are the butt of cruel jokes, from the “he sings the woman’s part” variety to the ever sophisticated “you can always tell a tenor…but not much.” A weaker individual couldn’t deal with this constant emotional barrage. But a Tenor realizes what I have espoused above. He realizes where this anger and mockery comes from, and he lives above it, realizing that he is what he is, and nothing can change that or detract from his uniqueness.

Seriously though, be who you are, and don't worry if you're not like somebody else. This is something I've struggled with, accepting myself for who God made me to be. But you're unique, I'm unique, it's great.

Pride bites.

Oh, to rehearse! Oh, to sing!


Smile

How far are You?
How close am I?
I know Your words are true when I don’t feel them inside.
Still I believe You’ll never leave
So where are You now?

You’re all I have
You’re all I’ve known.
Your breath is breathing in my soul
Still I am gasping, aching, asking
Where are You now?

‘Cause I just want to be with You
I just want this waiting to be over
I just want to be with You
And it helps to know the Day is getting closer
But every minute takes an hour
Every inch feels like a mile
Till I won’t have to imagine
And I finally get to see You smile.
-Chris Rice

I love songs that take me soaring. And this song takes me way up.

Last night I almost hit a deer at 12:13 a.m. on the way to work. Let me explain why I’m going to work at 12:13 a.m. My brother and I run my father’s pellet mill 20 hours a day this summer. One shift runs from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the other from 3 to 1. We trade shifts from week to week, and I happen to have the evening shift right now. This is a problem, though, if there is stuff happening in the evening that I want/need to be a part of (AHQ rehearsal, AHQ recording session, or some social event), but I came up with a brilliant idea (I thought so). We’ve got four hours that the mill is doing nothing, right? 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Why not just adjust those hours to, say, 8 p.m. to midnight. That way I have four hours to hang out, and all it means is that I have to work through the night. So last night was one of those times. Jewel and Deb were over and we watched a movie and shortly after midnight I was speeding back to work when I had to swerve quickly to miss a deer.

By the way, Randy beat me yesterday. He actually played defense this time. Tough defense, too, I was having trouble penetrating. And he’s beginning to believe that I can knock down the three. He almost pulled away but I scratched and clawed and got it to 49-49, which means next basket wins. He quickly made the next basket.

Importance of context: did you know that Jesus said that he would judge no man? Yep, right there in John 8:15b… “I judge no man.” Sort or reminds me of the classic “Judge not that ye be not judged” passage.

“You’re judging me and the Bible says ‘Judge not that ye be not judged’!” Actually, the Bible tells us TO judge, righteously (John 7:24). Context, context, context. Taken in isolation, the Bible can be made to say most anything.

What's a tenor?

It was an epic battle. The two, seasoned with years of experience, battled like a pair of boxers fighting to the death. First one, then the other, would strike, grab the momentum and look as if, just maybe, he could snatch a victory. But no, the other would summon energy from somewhere and make a move, regaining that ever-important momentum to stay in the game. But the contest was coming to an end, something had to give. And it looked as if something had, for one of the contestants had a lead, a substantial one at that. That’s it, game over. But wait, not so fast, the other isn’t going to let it go without a fight. He charges back, the deficit shrinking until it is almost even. But he can’t finish it, he expends too much energy in the comeback, finally succumbing. It was a epic battle to be sure. One that will be repeated, over and over again.

Randy and I have been playing basketball games against each other. He’s better than me, but I can stick right with him one-on-one. He doesn’t like it when I beat him. And, he doesn’t think I can make threes.

This has got to be a record: 4 days of pizza in a row. Don’t worry, I’m excercising.

I want to emphasize the great difference between dozing and sleeping. I can’t sleep on my job, but I can doze. If I slept I would wake up at some point and realize everything was empty and shut off and it would be very bad. If I doze, though, I am simply drifting in and out of semi-consciousness and am quickly aware of even an insignificant change in the mill’s sound. No harm done.

Man, I felt good jogging last night. It’s not like it’s that far, but it seems it’s taken a long time to feel anything besides torture for much of the 1.8 mile journey. But last night, great, I could’ve gone further without too much problem. But I’ve thought about this, this is just another point that proves I was not blessed with athletic genes. Can’t jump, can’t sprint, and can’t run long distances quickly. Oh well, at least I’ve got the hand-eye coordination down. Except in golf. Man.

Jewel and Deb are here. It was originally supposed to be a surprise for Tom but he found out. He didn’t know that Deb was coming. He thought it was pretty strange that Jewel was insisting that Randy come with him and pick her up. They ended up coming early in the morning so Tom was that only one that picked her up. So it’s about 9 in the morning, I’m in bed trying to get my sleep, and I awaken to laughter. Gotta be Jewel. It’s not too much longer until I hear them coming up the stairs. I really didn’t think they’d come up to my room, but I was thinking of going down anyway. So I had thrown some clothes on and I, with a little satisfaction popped around the corner and yelled. They screamed and it was all good.

Where do people come up with the stuff they believe? How in the world does this trucker whose truck Randy loaded believe the pagan dogma that he’s putting forth? People want something to hold onto, but where’s the basis to believe it? I want stability, I want evidence, I want something my heart and spirit will confirm, I want Someone bigger than me. I want Jesus.

This may be a record: pizza, 3 days in a row.

I love being quirky.

Know what DDT is? It's an insecticide, banned now I think. I had a US History class in college and one of the topics we discussed was Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Lovers of that book basically say that it was God's gift to the environment. Maybe it was, because DDT evidently was pretty nasty. I wonder if, in thinking that, I will be labeled a flaming liberal. AHQ pretty much thinks that--Tom especially--that I've been influenced by evil liberal college instructors, that I haven't had that rock solid foundation of Rush Limbaugh to give me my political ethics. For the record, though, I like to take the side that's getting beat up, and since most of my friends are fairly outspoken on conservative issues like the environment, I just take the opposite side.

AHQ sang at a Gospel Fest of some sort in Sheridan on Saturday, and one of the groups was a really good Christian country band called Soul’d Out. I don’t know how the subject came up, but the lead singer was talking about something her pastor talks about all the time, and that’s DDT: Doubt, Discouragement, Temptation. The devil hits you with that series of nastiness.

It’s true for me that when I’m undergoing times of temptation and am tempted to throw in the towel, it’s almost like I’m not thinking clearly. One thing’s for sure, I totally forget the unspeakable joy there is in serving Christ, in knowing that there’s nothing between you and Him. Oh my goodness, what an incredible feeling. But in the midst of temptation that’s sort of far from your mind.

Hmm, this is my very first entry. What do I want to do with this? I like the idea of having a sounding board for 1. what’s happening in my life and 2. the expression of any stupid, crazy ideas/things that I’ve been thinking about. Whatever. I need to get something to eat then go to work.