Life Get's Busy.

Sorry to keep you all waiting so long. Although I'm still job hunting, life has kept me pretty busy. I do, however ave a number of subjects that I want to eventually write about in the coming months. One I am most excited about is the ministry my wife and I are starting within our church. It's called S.M.I.L.E. It's all geared toward children from birth to age 12. As our launch date gets closer I will be giving more details, so stay tuned.

Sadly, I've attended two funerals in the last two days. One, a former co-worker from my last job. The other, the mother of an old childhood friend. The only positive thing I can say is that I believe they both were saved and are now at home with our Lord.

That's all I have for now. I hope to have my next full blog ready to publish in the next week or two. Until then, may you all be blessed and happy and healthy.

Brothers And Sisters

It was only a few weeks ago that I got to play at a coffee house with my brothers and a friend. That was the first time me and my brothers have ever all played together. There's a big age difference between us. I'm 15 years older than Marr'Lo and 17 years older than Tito. (That's Tito with me in the picture.) We spent almost no time together as they were growing up because most of the time they were on the west coast and I was in Milwaukee. I was married and starting my own family before Tito was out of diapers. (That was a tuff 12 years!)

They invited me to come down and see them. Marr'Lo told me to bring my harps and they would call me up for a few numbers. I think I ended up playing with them about three quarters of the night. Our mom was there. She was so happy to see all three of her sons together. It was really a bonding experience for the three of us.

Just this past Saturday I was able to play again with Marr'Lo and our friend Jodi. Tito had to go to California for Naval training. (He served in Iraq. Now he just goes for his annual training exercises. He'll be back in a couple weeks.) This time I played most of the night. It was the most fun I've had in a long time. And it's great after all these years to really feel like I have a relationship with my brothers. And I know our mom couldn't be happier!

It's really ironic that I am writing about getting close to my brothers at a time when, sadly, my wife is experiencing a rift between her and two of her brothers. It's weird because I was never really part of a close family and her's was always close. It's like things have flip-flopped. Over the last year or so my family has experienced a few deaths which has brought the rest of us closer together. My wife's family, too has had several recent deaths and it seems to be tearing them apart. As believers, Janet and I see all this for what it is: an attack of the enemy to divide and conquer. But we are more than conquerors! We know that we do not battle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:12)

To anyone reading this, i say only this: If you have a sibling or siblings that you can't get along with, that you are estranged from, try to find common ground and begin to heal. Pray for restoration between you. If you can't do that or if they want no part of it then do this: Get alone before God. Proclaim that you forgive them. Release every hurt or offence they've given you. Ask the Lord to forgive you for the same. Do everything in your power to never speak ill of them again. (This may not be so easy. If you fail just whisper a 'Lord, forgive me for that' and move on.)

I myself am estranged from my father. I've released him from all those things and I've moved on. I do my best to never talk bad about him. When I do speak of him I try to find the good things. I keep him in prayer always. But the only way for me to truly honor him right now is to stay out of his life. I trust God to work things out. Me trying to make it happen only causes more problems.

So if things seem hopeless in your family relationships, take it to God. He knows what to do. And surround yourself with your spiritual family. Spend time with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Don't isolate yourself. The enemy wants to take you down. There's strength in numbers. I think you get the point.

God's blessings to you all. Until next time....

The Best Is Yet To Come!

I still have a hard time believing I'm in my 40's. I don't feel that old at all. Yet in less than 3 short years all three of my children will be adults. I may still have more years ahead than behind. But even if so, not that many. And I'm OK with that. But I have been feeling as all middle-aged men have throughout history, that there are things left undone. Things that may have passed me by.

But with age comes wisdom. Or at least one would hope. I believe I've gained some. I credit a lot of that to my Senior Pastor and one other pastor who have been the biggest influences and blessings in my life. They taught me the word of God! They taught me how to study it for myself. Gentlemen, if you're reading this, thank you.

Now that I've reached that age where things are changing and shifting. Aching or getting thicker. I've had to make some serious decisions. For one, I joined the YMCA. I recommend this to anyone who is thinking about it. I joined their "Commit To Be Fit" program about two months ago and I'm already feeling so much better. I may even post some before and after pics someday!

I also decided that some things can't wait anymore. Some things have to come off the shelf. A good friend recently told me that there's only one thing worse than failure and that's to never even try! And for the record, failure is not 'being down', failure is 'staying down'!

So what am I doing? I'm starting to make connections with other musicians. I'm finding reasons to play instead of reasons 'not' to play. About 2 weeks ago I had an opportunity to play at a coffee house with my two brothers. Both are guitar players and singers. They are 15 and 17 years younger than I am. The two of them and a friend of theirs. The three of us have never played together before. Our mom was there. It was fantastic. It left me wanting more! And there will be more!

I have other life plans, too. Plans that do not involve music. And as those evolve I will write about those. But I am so glad I serve a God that wants me to be happy. He wants me to prosper. To have more than I could even imagine. I'm not too old! The best is still to come! Keep watching this space, it's coming...

Harps In Scripture

I know they didn't have harmonicas in old testament times. But they had harps. And in modern day slang, a harp can refer to a harmonica. (Mouth Harp, Juice Harp, etc.) Why do I bring this up? Well, we learn in Job 22:28 "You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways". We have the authority to speak God's word over things and situations and see them fulfilled. Right now I am speaking into my life an outlet to allow my creativity to flow. I can declare that my talent will be seen and someone will give me an opportunity to shine. It's those gifts and talents that can land us before kings and rulers. Just like Joseph. (see Genesis 40)

So what I like to do is find scripture that mentions the harp and apply it to the harmonica. My favorite is 1 Samuel 16:15-17 'And Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. Let our master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. And it shall be that he will play it with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well.” So Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me".'

David's harp playing was brought to the attention of King Saul. 1 Samuel 16:21-23 'So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armorbearer. Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.'

Music can calm your nerves. It can help you relax. It can change your mood. And when you use it to worship, it can usher in the presence of God!

There are those that think blues is the devil's music. They condemn it and won't let it near the church. I strongly disagree! How can music itself be evil? Now, when words are sung, that's a different story. It's the words that determine the meaning of the song. I've heard some really great songs that I refuse to listen to because the lyrics are negative or just plain evil! But in general, blues is about the emotions we all feel at one time or another. I've heard some really fun, positive blues songs. (i.e. 'John The Revelator') I, personally have written a couple dozen blues songs that are aimed at giving God glory. I actually have a very hard time writing a song that doesn't glorify God.

We are made in God's image. (Genesis 1:26) We can do what he can do. What is one of the first things we see God do? Genesis 1:3 '...God spoke...' So what am I doing? Speaking! My playing is going to get noticed by someone. I am going to have a creative outlet for my music that will glorify God and allow me to use my talent to usher in the presence of God.

Now I encourage anyone reading this. If you have a talent that you feel has gone unnoticed, don't give up. God doesn't give you a talent for no reason. Pray about it. Ask God to reveal to you how He wants you to use it. God never does anything for no reason. But if you don't get an answer tomorrow, or next week, or even next year, don't give up! I've been playing for 30 years. My day WILL come! And so will yours.

Hello Everybody!

Hi and thanks for visiting my new homepage. I want to start by introducing myself. I go by the name Billy Blues. I'm a harmonica player from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I've been playing for about 30 years now. I wish I could say that I am currently with a band but I'm not. So if you're in the Milwaukee area and need a good harp player let me know.

I am also a born-again christian. I've been serving God in some capacity or other for the last 10 years. These have been the happiest 10 years of my life for both me and my wife and family. Serving God does not mean giving up on having fun in life, I've had more fun SINCE I gave my heart to Christ.

I fell in love with the blues back in the early 80's when one day I was listening to a Led Zeppelin album and noticed that a couple of the songs were written by Willie Dixon. I wanted to hear how the original songs sounded so I headed down to my local library to see if they had any. They did. That was it. I was hooked. I started buying harmonicas and learned how to play along. My heroes are Sonny Boy Williamson (II) and Howlin' Wolf.

I also have other intersets and desires. I want to start doing voice over work. When I was a kid I had an old reel-to-reel recorder in my room. My friend and I used to play 'radio station'. I listened to local DJ's of the time and tried to mimmic their style and skits. I'm pretty good at doing foreign accents.

I hope to add audio clips in the near future, so look for those. So until later, thanks for stopping by and be blessed!

BB.