Combining my passions

As you may know, my other passion in life is music, especially singing and guitar. So just for fun, here's a little video of me combining my two passions. This song is one that is sung by one of the main characters in The Ransomed Returning, and is important to the plot. Here's a snippet from the book, so you'll understand:

The watcher turned to face the door, but he didn't leave.
 
"Isn't that why you're here?" Hannah asked. "To find out about this freedom I can offer you?"
 
"Of course not. You are a renegade. You don't have anything to offer me."
 
"I see."
 
The watcher did not move. He tipped his head back a little and a shudder ran through him. Hannah wondered if his master was speaking to him. The thought made her shudder as well.
 
A song popped into her head, and the Spirit stirred her heart. She spread her hands flat against the slab and closed her eyes and quietly began to sing. "Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling, from glen to glen and down the mountain side. The summer's gone and all the roses falling—"
 
He struck her, and her head cracked against the wall. "Do not sing in my presence," he said.

Putting Their Heart Into It

One Day More

Last weekend, I went to see my oldest son in the high school's production of Les Miserables. It was incredible! Really, I can't think of enough superlatives for it. I cried through the whole thing. Now, I admit, it's not that hard to make me cry, but there were grown men in the audience in tears too. They got a standing ovation, and they deserved it.

Jean Valjean

I was stunned at how moving a performance a seventeen year old could give as Jean Valjean. Ditto Javert (wish we'd gotten a picture of him). Really, the entire cast did a fantastic job.


They performed with such passion and intensity that I forgot I was sitting in a high school auditorium, forgot these were kids that I know, kids that I go to church with. I felt like I was right there. The put their whole hearts into this play and it paid off. I don't think I could have been more impressed if I had seen a full-scale Broadway production.

Greatness isn't measured by the size of the audience, but by the passion of the performance.

This is my boy (a student at the barricade). "Drink with me..."