I'm officially on holidays! Off to Princeton, BC, tomorrow to see a beloved friend get married and then off to ENGLAND and SCOTLAND!! I'll blog if I can - I'm back in a couple of weeks.

Stay strong in the Lord - pray for the saints.
Much love and grace to each of you.

Seriously - check it out:















People have been saying she looks like me, but I can't tell - does she? My bro and I look a lot alike, so it kind of makes sense. I wonder if he can see himself in her as much as I do?

It's all rather amazing....

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...." (Jeremiah 1:5a)

Just a quick fix for those of you who haven't seen pictures in a while. It's official - I have the cutest niece in the WORLD. Check it out - 6 six weeks old.

With mommy's hand (artsy fartsy - I like it):















Weird sleeping face (one of many):















Cute sleeping face (not quite as common, unfortunately):















"Are you looking at me?":



















Holy SMOKES she looks like Greg (my brother) - most babies look like their daddies but this is almost uncanny. (We're pleased to say that we have finally broken Greg of sitting in the "I feel pretty" pose):















Beautiful baby:



















And my personal ALL-TIME favourite so far - the "deer caught in headlights" baby (ha ha ha ha ha!):

OK - the new video is definitely NOT working as it should, so it had to go. My apologies for any confusion this blog's first line is then going to cause. It's probably time for a rest from the video thing for a while anyway. If you want to check out the video I talk about in this blog (though it's not particularly the blog subject) you can find it here. No guarantees that it will work any better - I'm afraid it's definitely a video issue not a Baker Blog issue.


New video up today - Phantom of the Opera was last night and was great. It's always great to get dressed up and go to the theatre for a night out. I truly love it. I wish I did it more often.

As I watched this new video I noticed that Mac Powell, who is the lead singer for Third Day, is very much a performer. One of the things that I have disliked about many Christian music videos that I have seen is their tendency to very much follow the world's standards for presentation of their music and in a seeming exaltation of the band itself. This isn't 100% pervasive, of course, but it's something I've seen.

So as I watched this video of this song I really love, I watched what seemed to be a "performance" from Mac Powell, but I have listened to too much of what he writes and says to really believe that he is putting on a show for more than the Audience of One. So it left me thinking of what performers look like when they worship through the medium of their specific art. In other words - for musicians who come from a world of performing to the world of worship through their music, do they still retain much of the performance style in their singing or playing?

As a worshipping musician myself, who very much came from the performing world, I also wonder if I do that. I mean, when I worship, I am lost in worship, so I actually have no clue what I look like. My whole body and spirit and voice are concentrating on offering something to the King of Kings, or in the case of worship leadership, also to listening to leading of the Holy Spirit. But I wonder if I still look like I'm putting on a show?

Wow - I really hope not. Not so much because I am worried that other people will think that (though let's be honest, there is still that place where I hate when people think little of me when I don't deserve it) but actually more so because I would hate to throw people off and have them thinking about or disdaining my "performance" rather than concentrating on the glorification of the King.

I can only pray that no one is looking at me in the first place....

As Your worshippers, Holy God, hide us, and let our expressions to You be protected from distracting each other even as we are side by side seeking to bring You pleasure in everything we do for Your worship. Purify our motives. Perfect our worship.


PS - If the audio on this video starts to skip for you part way through, would you comment and let me know, please? I've been having some troubles getting this one up and running properly. Much as I like the song, it may have to go.... Thanks.

What does it mean to BE worshippers instead of just DOING worship?

I've been pondering that this evening, especially as I've been asking my congregation to BE instead of just DO. God calls us to BE. What does that mean?

I think when we do something, it is a task and then it's done. I think when we are something, it is our entire person - it defines who we are. As a musician, there is a difference in playing the violin and being a violininst. One implies that I can pick up the instrument and scratch off a few notes (believe me, when I started, that's exactly what it sounded like!). The other implies that this is part of my identity.

And I suppose it's a progression of learning and ownership. When I first started to noodle on the guitar, I would say, "I mess around on the guitar." Then I progressed to "I play the guitar." Then after a while of learning and getting better and falling more in love with the instrument, it became, "I'm a guitarist." It became part of my identity - part of who I am, every minute of the day, whether I was actually playing the guitar or not. It was who I am, not just what I do.

As we learn to BE worshippers, I pray that we would all fall more deeply in love with our object of worship - God the Almighty. May bringing Him worship not just be something we mess around with, nor something we just do on occasion. May it be our very identity that we are worshippers of God.

Hey, everybody - I have a question for which I'm searching out a solid answer and could use your help.

It is this: When we pray, and specifically when we intercede, is it absolutely necessary to pray "in the name of Jesus"? And by that question, I actually mean using the words "in the name of Jesus" each and every time.

I understand that we must have Him as our righteousness to be able to pray and seek things from the Father - in fact to be acceptable before Him at all. But I was reading today in Dutch Sheets' The Beginner's Guide to Intercession and he seems to be saying that these words are necessary to be heard by the Father. He gives a few scriptures which I thought were great scriptures about Jesus being the only way to the Father, and Jesus being our righteousness. These scriptures are absolutely true, but I am struggling with the inkling that these speak more of my salvation and ongoing relationship with God, instead of my prayer by prayer requests. I am wary of teaching any practice that seems legalistic without good solid scriptures to back it up. And my brain is kind of whirling on the subject at the moment, as you might be able to guess.

I respect everyone's opinion, but I would like to ask that you only comment on it if you have some scripture or solid understanding about it. Opinions are great, but I have one already and am looking for something more substantial to take back to the cell that's studying the book.

Thanks, all.

Jesus cares about the little things in our lives. And I think that sometimes it's to teach us that He is trustworthy and will care about the bigger things.

Tonight, hanging out downtown with some friends, someone asked me to ask Jesus where a lost cell phone was. So I did, and immediately felt that Jesus was saying it was in the couch cushions. I was told that they had already looked there, but about 20 seconds later a shout was heard, and there was the cell phone, found under the seat cushions in that very couch! Praise the Lord!

As if that weren't enough, they were looking for a movie a short while thereafter, asked me to ask Jesus where it was, and when I told them that I thought He was saying that someone borrowed it, another girl then said that she felt like He was saying a specific person. Where was the movie? In that person's room, where it was recovered immediately.

God answers prayer. He responds to our questions. He wants to converse with us. If He cares enough to answer us when we are seeking lost cell phones and borrowed movies, imagine how much more He will speak to us when we are seeking direction in our lives or comfort or salvation or protection.

I sometimes figure He's letting us practice on the small things so that we are more confident of hearing His voice in the larger things. (I'm not joking, I often ask Jesus when I'm stuck on a Sudoku puzzle. Practice is practice!)

May we be faithful. He certainly will be.

'Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' (Jeremiah 33:3)

Well, I'm so glad that what people choose to read and respond to on my blog are the times that I have made a complete fool of myself! Too funny. I was also more than slightly disturbed at how many people said they could totally see me doing the pencil throwing in the plane. And Robyn is right - I believe I did throw a couple of pencils (in fun) during the 40 Days of Purpose cell group. Throwing office supplies is obviously deep within me. I have had an interesting couple of days where people whom I didn't know regularly read my blog have, in the middle of a conversation, said something like, "Well, whatever you say. I don't want you to get mad and throw a pencil at me or anything."

It's bizarre, like a lot of people are eavesdropping on a conversation you had with a couple of friends. Such a strange sensation.

But a good reminder to continue, between blogging the embarrassing moments, to encourage and exhort the body of Christ to a deeper relationship with Him and a more thorough knowledge of His Word, as I attempt the same things.

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Tonight at cell group we continued our book study on intercession. Here's the highlight of Chapter 2 of The Beginner's Guide to Intercession by Dutch Sheets: God waits for us to ask Him for even the things that are in His will or that He wants to do. It's not that He can't do them without us, but for some reason He has set it up so that His will is released only when we pray for it. And there are certain things that we know we are to pray for because we are instructed in His Word and by His Spirit (and certain things we don't have to - like that the sun will rise every morning).

Does that tempt you to read more about that? Or does it leave you with questions and a desire to know the Biblical back-up for those statements? Hook yourself up with the book - it's an easy read and important information. I'm already (after two chapters) knowing that I am not faithful enough with intercession and praying God's will into every aspect of my life, my family and friends' lives, my church, my city and my country, let alone the rest of the world.

God has given us not only this responsibility but this power. Let us be faithful. Or maybe this should be my prayer of intercession: Lord, help us to be faithful.

If you're located in the Lower Mainland of BC (Greater Vancouver) and want to come and study the book with us, we are working on a chapter a week (heading into Chapter three) and get together at the New Westminster Salvation Army at 7:00pm on Wednesday nights (325 Sixth Street, New West). Grab a book for yourself at a local Christian bookstore and know that you are welcome - we dig into truth for about an hour and then we practice intercession and also rehearse worship music (did I mention it's the worship team having cell together?) - so feel free to stay and worship with us.

I learned an important lesson on the plane to Toronto that I thought would be good advice to share. Pay close attention.

ADVICE: Never playfully throw a pencil at your father across the aisle of a Boeing 767. If you DO choose to playfully throw a pencil across the aisle at your father in a Boeing 767, be sure to stop after your first successful hit. The first time it will probably go well. The second time will likely not.

If you choose to disregard the above advice, be forewarned of the following potential dangers.

It is POSSIBLE that the second pencil throw will not gently hit your dad on the arm as it did the first time, but instead, in the most impossible way, bounce off his watch face (that takes a certain amount of initial skill) and fly two seats past him and across the quiet gentleman reading the newspaper, only to land in his aisle several seats across the plane.

If you are unfortunate enough to have experienced this first disatrous occurrence, let me warn you of what will come next. Firstly, everyone involved in the pencil incident will sit stunned for several seconds, including you (the pencil launcher), your father, your onlooking mother, and the accosted and innocent other passenger (the pencil's final desination). Then you will likely colour very dark pink while the generous newspaper-reading passenger says in a good-humoured way, "Well, I was thinking of doing the crossword puzzle" and your father says, "We tried to leave her at home." You will probably colour a little deeper at this point, and possibly get a swat from your mother, who, incidentally, missed any physical connection with the pencil due to your extraordinary aim with the watch face.

All in all, an incident likely to leave many long-term emotional scars. It probably wasn't worth the second pencil throwing attempt.

The moral of the story?
Pencils should really be used for writing.

I'm heading back east (Ontario) for the long weekend to visit family. Back on Monday night. Be blessed in the meantime if I don't happen to have blogging access. (Be blessed anyway!)

Here's a thought to leave you with: