Re

Dear friends:
Apple iphone 4s 16gb comes with free gift(ipod nano 8gb) just 527usd, You have not got it wrong ! you can get them on this website( www.hk-creditbusiness.com). it is a trustworthy website as described, i have made purchase from them and have that phone in my hand! if you want to get apple newest creation , if you want to be admired by your friends, please hurry up, they do not have many iphone 4s in stock!
best regards.

Album Preview: HEALED

Back in the summer of 2008, our church was going through a series entitled “The Names of God”. It was also around this time that the powerful (and later controversial) song “Healer” was released on Hillsong’s album ‘This is Our God’. This set the stage for my processing through of my uncle’s quick decline after a 9 year battle with brain cancer. I was also finally at the place in my faith where I felt the freedom to ask some of the more honest questions that were lurking beneath the surface of my heart: What if my uncle didn’t win the battle against his cancer this time? Can we still called God a healer when he doesn’t heal? How do I make sense out of what God allows us to endure and what He spares us from?

It would have been a somewhat easy resolution to the struggle if my uncle had won the battle against his cancer. I would have been able to write a victorious song of thanks to God for all his wondrous acts on our behalf. Instead, I was left with an aunt who had lost her husband too soon with three teenage children trying to make sense of a life without the father that they loved. Trite Christian phrases that I had heard in the context of grief and loss wouldn’t suffice this time, and I knew that there had to be a way to acknowledge the pain of the separation from those we love, while still finding hope in who God is. I was trying to reconcile the faith my uncle had displayed in the face of this disease that God had allowed to ravage his body before eventually taking him.

The answer finally came as I connected all that God had been teaching me about living in the light of eternity with this drastic reminder that life is temporary. Yes we experience pain, loss, sickness and brokenness now, but God can still be called a Healer because He will one day heal and redeem it all. Christ’s death provided the way for us to live an eternity without all of the negative things that were encapsulated in my uncle’s passing and promised a beautiful reunion of us all in Christ. There was a beautiful reminder of this when my uncle passed from this sin soaked world into glory. It had rained earlier in that dry, Texan day and right after he passed on, they looked out his hospital window and saw a double rainbow. This was an extremely rare reminder that God keeps His promises and we will see my uncle Brian again.

I never set out to write a song for his funeral, it was simply an overflow of everything mentioned above. Little did I know how the Lord would use this song since that time. Every time I play it, I hear a new story about someone who has/is wrestling through the issues addressed in this song. People who have battled cancer, people with chronic pain or sickness, injuries that never fully healed … and these are only the physical issues that need healing. It doesn’t even begin to touch the emotional wounds we all need healing from. Redemption and healing are universal longings that connect us all. I feel so blessed to have been made the steward of a song like this and I pray that the Lord continues to use it to remind more people that He truly is the ultimate Healer.

To hear the song, head on over to www.reverbnation.com/gordongregory

It’s hard to find the right words
To express the way I feel
How can God be called a healer
When He chooses not to heal?
And the questions tend to linger
In the recess of my heart
How can I begin to reconcile
The sovereignty of God?
But You remind me that my eyes
Can only see the smallest part
And that the glorious sunrise
Can only come after the dark

CHORUS
We will see a day
When all our suffering will be redeemed
Where finite faith will be replace by sight
Where Your glory is revealed
In each relationship restored
And every sickness finally healed

My faith can be quite fragile
Through the heartache and the pain
So keep sending me Your rainbows
To remind me once again
That although this life is broken
And the earth is stained with sin
You will bring a resurrection
To a life that never ends
So now for those of us who dwell
Between redemption and the pain
Would You heal our broken hearts
With the hope found in Your name

CHORUS

And even though they’re scarred
He still holds the world in His hands
So that those with broken hearts
Have someone who understands
The pain of separation
But the joy of resurrection

CHORUS

Music and Lyrics by Gordon Gregory
Copyright 2011

Album Preview: BETWEEN REDEMPTION AND THE PAIN



This is the first of a series of posts giving you some insight into the heart behind each of the songs on the album. Each post will bring us one step closer to the CD release party (13 March 2011) and the release of the album itself (15 March 2011). Each of these posts will be introduced with the work of art or photograph inspired by that song itself drawn/taken by two South African friends of mine: Christy Tempies (http://www.christytempies.blogspot.com/) and Kyle Ueckermann (http://kyleueckermannphotography.blogspot.com/). You’ll get the full lyrics of each song as well as thoughts, stories and Scripture that laid the foundation for the inspiration of each song. With the posting of each song, you will also be able to hear a 30 second clip of it on www.reverbnation.com/gordongregory.

I figured the best way to start off these ‘Album Preview’ posts is to give you the heart behind the album itself. The title “Between Redemption and the Pain” is a line from the section right before the second chorus of ‘Healed’. But this is more than just a striking line from one of the songs on the album. It really does tie these different songs together and give some insight into where my head and my heart were living during the writing of many of these songs. In some ways, this album also feels a bit like the culmination of a lot of life processing. Each song feels like an “Ebenezer”, an altar that was built to remind oneself of what God had done or revealed himself to be so that you could always look back and remember. These songs are sign posts along this journey that my faith has taken over the last couple of years. I’ll try and break it down using the three prominent words in the album title in a slightly different order:

BETWEEN: As strange as it may seem, this word is very core to the heart of the album. We live between so many different things: Life and death. The temporal and the eternal. Heaven and Earth. As Christians, we are a ‘new man’ that lives somewhere between the old man and our complete, glorified bodies to come. It is this perspective, that is tied very closely to the “Already and the Not Yet” aspect of salvation and the Kingdom of God, that finally helped me understand this Christian faith in a way that made sense in the struggles of this life. The knowledge that I am not who I was, but also not who I will be, was such an encouragement in times of struggle with sin and gave hope of overcoming it. The knowledge that life is not as it should be, but also not as it will be, finally made sense out of so much injustice that I saw in my own life and in the world around me.

We so often try to ignore this tension because it is a messy process and doesn’t look like that neat and tidy Christian life/person we’ve heard we should be. We feel the pressure to show everyone that we have arrived, that we have achieved, which ironically goes against so much of what Christ calls us to. Rather, Christ calls us to live in the grace and dependence of a process of sanctification that will last our entire lives. If we learn to truly live in this grace, it promotes authenticity, freedom and love, rather than hypocrisy, addiction and fear. This is the starting point of the album and of my revived faith. It is the most freeing preposition I know because it allows me to be where I am and honestly meet God there. It is what has allowed me to experience God’s endless love as all-encompassing in any situation, and provides motivation and direction to the pursuit of a faith and hope that actually speak into the realities of this life.

PAIN: Ever since the beginning of time, when life was initially stained and broken by sin, pain has been a reality that cannot be ignored. And yet we try so hard to deny the pain of this life. We busy ourselves with work or pleasure, distract ourselves with addictions and try and surround ourselves with enough comfort to drown out that nagging voice that constantly reminds us that this life is not as it should be. Somehow the ‘prosperity gospel’ has seeped into much of our thinking and we seem to have forgotten Christ’s reminder that “… in the world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.” All it takes is an honest look around us and within us to see the effects of sin, abuse, neglect and to ignore them is to merely live in denial

The irony in it all is that, by ignoring the pain, we rob ourselves of the opportunity of encountering a hope and redemption that are real in the face of life’s struggles. By making happiness and prosperity the ultimate goals of the Christian life, we are actually missing out on intimate aspects of God’s character. We can never experience Him as a healer if we are never wounded. We can never experience the resurrection without the death. Those who experience pain (in the right context) actually get a beautiful insight into eternity. We shouldn’t be seeking out pain, but the more pain one experiences in this life, the more glorious eternity must be to “wipe away every tear.” Ultimately, it is a call to honest, integrity in both the good and the bad, to avoid the denial and enter into the pain of life with our Savior who died to redeem it all.

REDEMPTION: This one word has grown into such a beautiful and significant word to me over the last couple of years. After many years of being so motivated to do ‘the right thing’, I found myself further and further away from the perfection I struggled to attain. At the same time, I found myself getting deeper into the things I was trying to avoid in my search for perfection. It took some very dark moments to finally open my eyes to the reality that there is something so much more beautiful than perfection: redemption. It is what gives purpose to the pain. It is what gives significance to the sorrow. And it is what makes grace so good.

Christ didn’t die and rise again to make us, or this world, perfect. He came to recreate everything into something so much more beautiful than it could ever be through our own doing. We get to taste this redemption in our salvation and sanctification, and if we keep our eyes open for it, there are so many hints of God’s Redemption all throughout this broken world. Even the brokenness itself can be a beautiful hint of redemption, knowing that death brings resurrection. With our minds set on eternity, we can persevere through the pain, knowing that, regardless of how hard it gets in this life, it will all be redeemed and more glorious that we could ever ask or imagine. The temporal is just that, temporal. Through the work of Christ, redemption is going to take everything that the human race has messed up and make it beautiful again. And this beauty will last for all eternity.

Nothing says it better than 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

The Finish Line is in Sight!

“It feels like a part of me is finally being born.”

This was the only way that I could convey to my wife the incredible feeling of watching this album come to fruition. I sit here on a snow drenched Thursday morning, listening to the final, mastered versions of the songs for the album just smiling. Last night I got the completed CD jacket from Michael Smith and, besides a couple of lyrical tweaks, it’s completely done. It’s hard to believe that we’re actually going to meet our deadline of having this all finished by 31 January 2011 to correspond with the end of the fund-raising on www.kickstarter.com. And on the topic of fund-raising, we’ve raised almost $2,400 as of writing this post to pay for all of the actual production of the CD. It’s incredible!

I wanted to take a moment to just get down some of the things that struck me about this whole recording process while my ‘baby’ is in the final stages of its pregnancy:

*Community is a beautiful thing. From the very beginning, this entire process has been surrounded by friends and family. Dave Mathewson was already a friend before we even began talking about recording something together. Everyone who played on the album was a good friend that I played music with in the past/present. The choir for ‘Redemption Song’ was made up of a couple of friends from various corners of the globe. And the Kickstarter campaign has just been one big community party! I’ve loved having friends walking with me along every step of this journey, having their input and getting invested in the project. I think some of them are almost as excited to see this CD be released as I am!

*Dream … Don’t Settle. When I started this album, it was nothing more than a desire to FINALLY get some of my songs recorded in a way that would be able to be shared with others. As the recording sessions started happening, though, I realized that something very special was happening. I think I was still in a bit of that mindset when I started trying to raise the funds for album. I figured $900 would be enough to just get it done. I think there was actually a bit of fear to dream very big, because then I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed. When the first $900 was raised within the first week of the campaign being online, I was finally given the freedom to dream of what this could be. The artistry that has been poured into this album has made me realize that something can only be artistic to the extent that you are willing to give it the wings of dreaming to fly to places you never would have imagined were possible.

*When you are doing what you love, hard work is a joy! I knew this was going to be a lot of work to pull together, but trying to do this with a full time job in the midst of a move and the birth of my first child has been extremely hard work. What’s been so fascinating about it is that it has actually energized me and given me the strength and motivation to push through all of the other things that have been hard in and of themselves. I’ve been able to push through late night recording sessions, but then also been able to push through work the next with the joy that the whole recording experience was. There is something truly profound in finding what God created you to do and actually doing it.

*You never know what is going to happen. This entire album recording has been filled with surprises: The songs that ended up being on the album. The people who were involved. Getting a replacement drummer at the last minute. Discovering www.kickstarter.com and all of the support in that regard. The choir on Redemption Song. Involving old friends from South Africa to work on art/photography inspired by the songs album. Discovering that my photographer was also a graphic designer and could design not only the album but the website. I didn’t plan any of these things from the beginning (many of them I couldn’t have even anticipated) and every single one of them end up being something that made the album special, gave it character and filled it with precious memories for me. It is in these moments that I most deeply feel the sovereignty of God working so intentionally behind the scenes to do what He had planned all along.

It’s this last thought that gets me excited as we prepare to launch “Between Redemption and the Pain” into the world in the next month and a half. I have no idea what is coming in this next year. I have no idea what’s going to happen with the album, who these songs are going to touch and what stories my own story is going to intertwine with as I share what God has entrusted to me. If I’ve learned one thing from this whole experience it’s that not knowing everything up front makes the discovery of this journey so much more exciting. The lyrics from the chorus of “Hindsight” keep coming back to me over and over again:

I would have never made it through if it were not for You.

Last Chance to sing on my album!

We’ve been trying to assemble a choir to sing on the chorus of “Redemption Song” and need just a couple more voices. The catch – we need your mp3 file by tomorrow, Wednesday, 19 January 2011! If you have a way to record yourself (it doesn’t need to be high quality), please follow the below instructions and we’ll put you in the ‘choir’. It’s just the chorus and it’s pretty easy to learn, so don’t let the lack of time be a deterrent.

1. Go to www.reverbnation.com/gordongregory and download the song “Redemption Song – Chorus”. While there you can listen to the first single off the album, “Healed” and sign up for my mailing list to stay up to date with CD progress.

2. Listen to the song and get to know it well enough to sing along (the lyrics are on reverbnation as well).

3. Record yourself singing along to the chorus. When recording, listen to the song on headphones so that you only record your voice, no track. If you want to record both melody and harmony, feel free to record a track of each.

4. Email the mp3 file of you singing along to Redemption Song to dmathewson@gmail.com and cc gordotheweirdo@gmail.com. Put ‘Gordon’ as the subject of the email and be sure to let us know in the body of the email who you are.

5. Anxiously anticipate the release of the album that will have you singing on it! In the mean time, keep up to date with the progress of the album by signing up for my mailing list on reverbnation.com and checking updates on my facebook page.

Thanks so much and I hope to hear you on my album!

Last chance to be a part of my debut album!

Hi Friends and Family,

As most of you know, over the last year, I’ve been working on my debut album, Between Redemption and the Pain, and it’s come together much better than I could have ever hoped for, both musically and artistically. I’ve spent the last month and a half raising the funds for the physical production of the CD, and we’re coming up against the 31 January 2011 deadline. With less than two weeks left, I wanted to bring it to your attention one last time.

For information about how much I have left to raise, a break down of what the money will be used for and to pledge towards this project, check out the below website. You’ll also be able to see the potential album cover as well as hear the first single from the CD.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806022972/between-redemption-and-the-pain/posts

There are a couple of ways that you can get involved in this project:

• Financial support is obviously welcomed and greatly appreciated
• Prayer, though, is what I would appreciate more than anything else. I passionately believe that the songs on this album have the potential to really touch the lives of many people who have experienced loss, pain and brokenness, and bring real hope through Christ’s Redemption. Please pray that God would bring this album to the right people and bring the right people to me to to minister to through these songs.
• Spread the word! I’d love to reach out and connect with anyone you think would be interested in this album.
• Let me know of places to play. I’m always looking for churches, coffeehouses etc. where I could play.

Thanks so much for reading this and for any support you could give.

God Bless!
Gordon

2011: The Year of the Debut CD

Well, we’re already almost half way through the month of January and so much has been going on with the CD that I feel terrible about not keeping up with updates. So what follows are a couple of quick things to check out relating to the album:

• Fund-raising for the album is going phenomenally well. If you would like to support the project, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806022972/between-redemption-and-the-pain. Only a little over two weeks left before the fund-raising is officially done, so please check it out, if you’d like to support the project.
• The end of January also signals what should be the end of the mixing and mastering of the album. The songs are so close to being done and sounding MUCH better than I ever thought they would. I CANNOT wait for you to hear it
• On the note, the CD release date is tentatively set for 13 March 2011. Save the date for the CD release party that is going to be great.
• With the extra funds being raised through the kickstarter website, we’re going to be able make the CD booklet itself a work of art in and of itself. There are three people working on various aspects of it to make it come together. Christy Tempies is working on some artworks inspired by the songs on the album (check her work out at http://www.christytempies.blogspot.com/). Kyle Uekerman is working on some photography inspired by songs on the album (check his work out at http://kyleueckermannphotography.blogspot.com/). Michael and Lindsay Smith are going to be doing a photoshoot for me this weekend for the album and promotional materials (check their photography out at http://www.thesmithspictures.com/).

Needless to say, there’s lots going on with the album and I can’t wait for everyone to hear it. There have been so many things that have come together so well and I feel so blessed by the community of people that have rallied around me to make this something incredible.

Watch this space for more updates as we draw nearer to the release of Between Redemption and the Pain.