Neon Cowgirl

Aww Mondays

Make America Great Again

 

Monday’s Music Moves Me

This week at 4M the theme is Native American music and artists. Growing up in Oklahoma, everyone in Oklahoma believed that they had some Native American ancestral connection. Between 1830 and 1850 Oklahoma was the resettlement destination of what was known as the Five Civilized Tribes from the southeastern United States. Time does not permit me to tell the entire story here, but let’s just say it was a series of resettlements (forced marches) that resulted in the confiscation of Indian lands and the  deaths of thousands of Native Americans. Oklahoma was designated as the new Indian Territory.  These five tribes, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee Creek and Seminole still maintain separate governing bodies within the state. Musically, Native American artists have been involved in virtually every genre of music, so today I will feature a few, both popular and lesser known.

The first artist is Johnny Curtis. Curtis is of Apache descent and is primarily a gospel artist. In October 2008 Chief Curtis received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native American Music Association in Niagara Falls, New York. He is also two time Native American Music Awards winner.

In October 2008 Chief Curtis received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native American Music Association in Niagara Falls, New York. He is also two time Native American Music Awards winner.

Martha Redbone is an American blues and soul singer of part Cherokee, Choctaw, European and African-American descent. She has won awards for her contemporary Native American music. Her music is a mix of rhythm and blues, and soul music influences, fused with elements of traditional Native American music.

One of the most popular artists of Natiave American Descent (Cherokee) is Rita Coolidge.

The final entry in this Native American artist collection is Marty Robins (Cherokee) and his most popular song of all was El Paso. Have a blessed week.

Happy Fall Y’all!

 

Aww Monday’s

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep…

Linking to Sandee at Comedy-Plus

Blog4Peace 2019

Linking to Blog4peace.com

In 2006 fellow blogger Mimi Lennox began blogging for peace and invited the world to join her. Her thought was that if words are powerful, then this matters and if the world would spend one day thinking about peace, it might make a difference. This year the theme is climate change.

The debate over climate change has been going on for a couple of decades now. Is it real? Is it a natural phenomenon or caused by humans? If this generation lived through an ice age, would they consider it the fault of mankind or simply a natural lifecycle event in the history of the universe?

Whether one believes in climate change or not is of little consequence. The fact is that God created this universe and presented it as a gift to mankind. It is our responsibility to be good stewards of that gift and we have failed miserably. We have polluted our waters and spent trillions of dollars cleaning them up. We have hunted certain animals into extinction and removed the natural habitat of untold species for the sake of development and progress. Mankind seems to live in a constant state of crisis management. We wait until an issue becomes a crisis before we attempt to manage it. Can the effects of climate change be reversed or have we passed the tipping point and are doomed to live in a world with much more volatile weather patterns. Only time will tell, but it doesn’t alter our responsibility to take care of this planet that is God’s gift to His most precious creation, mankind.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

This week is a “Free Choice” week at 4M so in keeping with the peace theme I am going to post a couple of tunes that speak to the idea of peace. The Bible tells us that there will always be wars and rumors of wars in this world. As a result mankind has always dreamed of peace and it has been reflected in his music. The first peace song I can remember was from a folk group in in late fifties and early sixties. Blowin’ In The Wind was one of the original peace anthems of my generation.

In 1969 a music event changed music forever. It changed a generation forever. Woodstock Music Festival was billed as three days of peace, love, and music. Much of that music was protesting the Vietnam war. One of the songs that came out of that era was The Weight.

One of my favorite artists reminds us that regardless of the cause, war is war and every war looks much like the previous conflicts. Young men and women go to war and not all of them come home. None of them come home the same person as when they left.

Before peace can be universal, it must be personal and internal and that peace can only be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a peace that can be felt in every life situation but cannot be fully explained.

Finally, let there be peace. One day Christ will return and gather His church. That will be the beginning of eternal peace. Peace, out.

Happy Fall Y’all!

Aww…Mondays

Happy Fall Y’all!

The theme this week at Monday’s Music Moves Me is Autumn. I don’t know that my music will feature Autumn as the main topic so I am going to post a few images that I captured recently. The peak fall colors here in Northwest Arkansas typically arrive in late October or early November. The best colors can last from one to three weeks, then the wind blows and all the leaves fall off the trees and winter begins. We had a l-o-n-g summer and I was still mowing the lawn the first week in October. In one week we went from a high temperature of 85 degrees to a low of 33. The next night we experienced the first light freeze of the year and that stopped the growing season for the lawn while setting the stage for the commencement of autumn color. A few trees began to make the transition, so I grabbed the camera and headed out to capture a few images.

Okay, that’s enough fall photos for now. Stop back by on Wordless Wednesday and I may have a few more.

The crisp, short days, the final blaze of color, and the thought of a warm fire in the fall put me in a mellow mood. A little over a year ago our oldest grand daughter intorduced her dinosaur of a grand father to John Mayer. ‘Nuf said.

I’m going to close this set out with an inspirational song by a Christian artist that reminds me of John Mayher. Jason Gray’s music has a lot of Mayher influence. I have met Jason and he is a great young man with a message of hope. This is a song of praise for the life that we have been given by our creator and we should not waste it. We are reminded that we are not promised tomorrow, therefore, we are indeed living on borrowed time. Scripture tells us that before we were placed in our mother’s womb, God knew everything about us (Jeremiah 1:5). The Good Book also states that it is appointed to man to die once and then face judgment (Hebrews 9:27). We do not enter heaven based on our works. Our place in eternity is determined by what we do with Jesus Christ. Have a blessed week.

Game On!

Aww Mondays

Wake Me Up When There’s Food

Monday’s Music Moves Me

Last week the theme at 4M was a trip or journey. In our fair city there was a gathering of cycle trail enthusiasts. I didn’t capture any images of the actual races but I did manage a few photos around the vendor area. Trail cycling has become a big deal on our town and several races are held here each year. There are miles and miles of trails that range from paved to off-road for people to use. In fact one can ride from the town square in Fayetteville, AR to the town square in Bentonville, AR, a distance of over 20 miles without getting on a city street. One thing I have noticed about competitive cycling is that the bikes and the wardrobes are very colorful.

Well that was fun, but I’m pretty sure my bike riding days are limited to the stationary variety for now. For music I will continue a bit of the travel theme and maybe feature a few lesser known artists from the past. The 90’s female country music scene was dominated by Reba McIntire, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, and Shania Twain, but there were other good female vocalists around,  just not A-list performers. One of my favorites was Terri Clark. Terri proved that cowgirls could wear hats too and all you needed to start a new life was “A Little Gasoline”.

Mary Chapin Carpenter was a songwriter turned performer. While she was primarily country you can hear a little folk rock in her music. She would be quite comfortable in the company of a Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, or Jim Croce. We all have good days and bad days or as Mary describes it, some days you’re the windshield and some days you’re the bug.

Perhaps one of the most under rated singer songwriters of the day was/and is Sara Evans. For me, her sound is an almost perfect blend of country and rock ‘n roll.

The 90’s saw a resurgence of the classic country sound. After the “Outlaw” sound of the 70’s country music thrived. But the sound was still a long way from it’s roots and a group of new performers sought to change that situation, and change it they did. Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, and Alan Jackson brought back the roots of country to their songs. On the ladies side nobody did it better than Patti Loveless. She took a classic country song and preformed it in a classic style, proving that classic still has it’s place in country music.

I would like to hear a little more of the classic sound in today’s country music. Maybe it’s time for another new round of artists to remind us that a great country song just needs three chords and a story.

High End Ride

Aww Monday

MOM! Mom! mom!…

Monday’s Music Moves Me

The theme this week at 4M is in honor of Columbus Day and the journey to discover America. So, the music is to be about a journey or trip, physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. I suppose my journey will include a bit of each. Life itself is a journey and it is filled with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual trips and certainly a few surprises along the way.

As a teenager and into our early twenties our physical condition is usually at it’s peak but our mental and emotional conditions haven’t matured enough to handle much of the journey that is ahead of us. For me personally, it is the spiritual journey that has given me the most joy, peace and satisfaction. I accepted Christ as my Savior at the age of 9 and like the rest of the journeys mentioned here I have matured over the years. Things that I now understand about God and His word were not even on my radar as a younger man. How my relationship with Christ impacts the other aspects of my life were not a part of my understanding as a youth. At nine years old, I only knew one thing, I was in need of a Savior and Jesus Christ was that Savior. It is impossible to understand everything about Christ prior to salvation and some things about the Son of God will not be revealed to us until we meet Him face to face. One thing that has always helped me in this understanding of God is music. The hymns of the church and gospel music speak to me in ways that often shed light on and give additional understanding to Scripture. This is especially true as we grow older and this physical body begins to break down and we encounter aches, pains and diseases that we once thought were only for old people, not noticing that we have become one of those senior citizens in this world. I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future and I have reached that point in life that I can understand what the apostle Paul meant when he said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

Paul found his joy, purpose in life, and complete fulfillment in knowing Christ. Since the believer will spend eternity in heaven, even leaving this world through the process of death is an upgrade because Scripture teaches us that there will be no tears, no suffering, no dying, no pain in that place prepared us (Revelation 21:4). For the believer there is Victory in Jesus and it all begins with repentance.

Salvation is open to whosoever believes in the name of Christ. Scripture tells us that it is not God’s desire that any should perish but that all would be saved. The sad news is that many will reject the call of God and walk away from eternal life.

Christians are not immune to the problems of this world because we live in this world and it is a world that fell from grace when Adam and Eve disobeyed the Creator and decided that Satan in the image of a serpent was right and that God would not punish them for their decision. They were wrong. So we must live in a world of pain and sorrow, sickness, and natural disaster. Again the Bible tells us that God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, so life happens to all of us and bad things happen to good people. The question is, where do we place our hope? I have placed mine In Christ Alone. My prayer is in the lyrics, “In Christ alone I place my trust, And find my glory in the power of the cross, In every victory let it be said of me, My source of strength, my source of hope, is Christ Alone.”

When life does deal us a difficult situation I have come to realize that things may not always turn out the way we wish. We may pray for the physical healing of a loved one or that a broken marriage will be restored and things just don’t work out to our satisfaction. Again, my prayer is in the lyrics, “I know You’re able, And I know You can, Save through the fire, With Your mighty hand, But even if You don’t, My hope is You alone”

I rest in the assurance that one day I will close my eyes for the last time and step into eternity. My Savior will have finished preparing my place in His kingdom and He will call my name…and when He does, “I will rise”. Have a blessed week.