Orange Dad
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Category Archives: songs

And the Winners Are…

September 9, 2012

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Pre-School CD Giveaway

June 30, 2012

Me: “Are you ready to pick some winners?”
Evie: “Yes, Daddy. Let’s do this! I can’t be the only little kid who gets to hear these awesome songs!”

Paralysis of analysis.  Yup, that’s what i suffer from.  I think I’ve been overthinking how to do this CD giveaway (for the fantastic “Whoooo Loves You?” by Amber Sky Records and the Orange “First Look” peeps).  One, I promise you that this CD is A-MAY-ZING (obscure First Look reference).  Two, you’ll want to share this opportunity with all your friends.

So…here’s what you can do.  I will throw your names into a hat.  I will let Evie choose the names.  Simple enough.  She’s eight months old, so this will at least make for a fun video.  Here are things that you can do to get your name in the hat (the more things you do, the more times your name appears):

1. Like Orange Dad’s Facebook page. [If you're already a fan (or even new) just post something on the wall saying you want in!

2. Share the contest on Facebook.  Here are samples that you can cut and paste:

Win a fantastic preschool worship CD!  Like Orange Dad!  Join the discussion about how the church can partner with the family!

Hey, who doesn't like free stuff!  Win "Whoooo Loves You?," a great pre-school worship CD from Orange.  Like Orange Dad for more details!

3. Follow @OrangeDads on Twitter (and DM me your actual name). [If you already follow me, just DM me anyway.  It'll be easier to keep track that way.]

4. Share the contest on Twitter.  Here are some samples that you can cut and paste:

Win a fun preschool worship (“Whoooo Loves You?”) CD from @firstlookcurr. Check out @OrangeDads to find out how! http://tinyurl.com/7eh5agp

5. Tweet, post, or share a picture with me (on Twitter, FB, or here) of your little one with an owl!  [Ollie the owl is a big part of the CD, so I figured I could keep it thematic.]

6. Comment on this post about how you intend to make this CD a part of the rhythm of your life with your little one(s).

7. (Worth Two) Make a video of you and your little one(s) singing your favorite children’s song TOGETHER!

My goals are:

a) to get someone these awesome cd’s that Orange was gracious enough to offer

b) to get more people to be aware of Orange Dad

c) to get you guys interacting more and see the faces of the families that this community is reaching

So…took me long enough, huh?  This contest will run from now until Sunday, July 8th at 9 PM PST (that’s Fresno time).  You can get your name in the hat eight times max!  Then Evie is going to grab a tiny fistfull of names– and then TWO winners will be announced via video.  Whoooo-ray!

Posted by in orange leaders, orange parents, paul, songs Tags: , , , , , , ,

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“Whoooo Loves You?” CD Reevyoooo… [And Giveaway] @FirstLookCurr

June 1, 2012

This post has been a long time coming.  Then when the First Look Twitter-master asked if I wanted to sponsor a giveaway of two cd’s on OrangeDad, I knew the time was perfect.  I love this cd.  I bought it at the Orange Conference; and, for where Evie is right now (7 months old), the gentleness of the singers is ideal for her.  She giggles a lot when this cd is playing, and it’s a lot more meaningful than “Party in My Tummy” or “Five Little Ducks.”

So…I’m going to listen through the cd and comment as I go, stream of consciousness style…

1. Wonderful Clubhouse Theme

Evie looooves the gentleness of the singer.  She giggles when she hears this music.  Personally, I like that it has kind of a Owl City feel to it (and that I can harmonize with his key)…

2. Ollie’s First Clue

Ollie is an owl, and he presents clues throughout the cd.  Each clue centers around the three truths that we want to instill on our little ones to INCITE WONDER in their hearts.  This one says, “I made you.”  And the kids are supposed to guess who that is…

3. God Made It All

Kind of folksy children’s song.  But I LIKE it.  It’s sweet, and it’s all about how God made everything.  This is a key truth for capturing the heart of a preschooler.  I love the line, “From the shortest short to the tallest tall, God made it; and He made it all.”  Cute.  It goes from creation (like nature) to humans.  This is a fundamental truth in a cool form.  There’s a call and response time too where the guy asks the kids “Who made the _____?” and kids actually answer back.  This is one of my favs.

4. God Made Me– WONDERFUL!

This one is kind of like a funky Southern rock song.  Not my style, but I can see where this one will be fun with Evie as she gets older pointing out all the body parts that they mention in the song (and how God made them).  I would love to hear her singing that chorus– “God made me so wonderful.”  Such an important truth!

5. Ollie’s Second Clue

Ollie explains that God made us (which is hard to miss if you paid attention to the previous two songs!)  Next clue, “I love you.”  Who could that be?

6. No Matter What

This is another sweet worship song with a female lead with a great, clear point.  ”No matter what God loves me.  No matter what He cares for me.  No matter what God loves me.  He wants the best for me.”  What a great bridge to explaining not only how loved your little one is but also that the reason why we obey the Bible is because He wants the best for us.  I love this one.  It’s upbeat and kind of has a K-Love feel.

7. God Said So

A male lead.  Another folksy, worshipy sounding song.  ”Oh, oh, oh, God said so, oh oh.  God said so, oh oh.  He said that He loves me.”  Catchy and really great for us adults to remember too!  I love it because we talk about authentic faith in high school ministry, and that’s really, “God is who He says He is, and He will do all He has promised to do.”  This song hammers that home from an early age.  I like the breakdown at the end.  Another call and answer.  ”What do you believe?”  ”God loves me.”  ”How do you know?”  ”God said so.”  Very cool.

8. Ollie Wants You to Guess Who

Again, I don’t think it’s hard to get these things.  Then Ollie tells us about how we can trust God…

9. How Do I Know?

Piano driven.  Silly.  Almost like a Veggie Tales song (or the fun part of Bohemian Rhapsody… “I see a little silhoutte, oh, of a man…”).  This is EVIE’S FAVORITE.  She loves when I sing this one to her.  ”Listen listen listen.  Look look look.  Open up my eyes and read Your Book.”  It goes from piano driven to polka.  It’s hilarious, and gets increasingly chaotic.  But it’s all about the importance of the Bible.  How cool is that?

10. Who Knows Best?

This one has a sweet 80′s punkish girl sound.  I almost imagine Debbie Gibson or the Go-Go’s singing this one– in a good way.  It’s fun because it has clear body motions that kids get to do: jumping, wiggling, freezing, etc.  It’s all about how whatever God says, we should do it because “He knows what’s best for me.”  This is a fun one.  Love the musical variety.

11. I Can Do All Things

This is what us old guys call a “slow jam.”  A sweet male lead singing to a slow beat about all the things that we can do with God’s help.  Very practical: “obeying my dad,” “hugging my friends,” “saying thank-you,” “sharing my toys.”  I love the line, “I may be small, but God is so powerful.”  This one is really a beautiful song.  I think I’ll cry whenever Evie can sing this one.  I can imagine her struggling to do something one day (whether it’s falling asleep when she’s scared or having a hard time picking up her toys), and we can talk about this song.

12. I Can Do (What)?

This one is a rockin’, rhythmic song that’s another call and response.  ”I can do.  I can do.”  ”What?”  And the answerers are cute sounding little kids.  It’s fun.  And it’s all about how we can do THE RIGHT THING.  A cool song about being obedient.  I love the “I can do.  I can do.”  ”Oh yeah!”  And the little kids are saying “Oh yeah!”  They’re little, and it’s pretty cute.

13. Ollie’s Final Clue

Ollie asks us if we figured out that God knows what is best for us.  He reviews the answers and talks about God sending Jesus.  Cool stuff…

14. Look, Look Everyone

This one is sweet.  It’s all about Jesus coming to earth.  It really sounds like 98 Degrees.  Sweet beat, beautiful harmony.  The lyrics are so great, though, “He is a present from heaven. God gave us His Son.  Baby Jesus.  He is so precious.  Look look everyone.  God gave us His Son.”  I know that a preschooler may struggle with understanding the fullness of the Gospel, but this is an amazing first step into that conversation.  Jesus truly is a “present from heaven.”  I tear up thinking about the day that Evie would accept that present.  OK…I may electrocute myself on my keyboard…  Beautiful song.

15. Ollie Calls for a Party

He gives the kids a chance to shout out that Jesus is the one who wants to be our friend forever.  Then he calls for a celebration!

16. This Is How

This one’s very Owl City (ironically)–sweet and heavily based on electronic beats.  It’s another body part song of how we can love God with all that we are.  Cute and fun.

17. I’m So Glad He Loves Me

This one’s a soft rock song.  It’s just all about how Jesus loves everyone.  ”I’m so glad He loves me.  I’m so glad He cares.”  It goes into how much Jesus loves and cares for us.

18. Oh So Happy Day

This one’s got a fun celebratory beat, like a Caribbean carnival.  It calls for us to celebrate because Jesus is alive.  A great Easter song.  It calls for us to clap our hands and beat a drum (hmm…I’m going to have to buy some instruments…).

19. My Friend Forever

Another soulful Southern rock style.  Not my style, but it’s repetitive about the right things, “Jesus wants to be my friend forever.”  That’s literally word-for-word what we want our little ones to understand in preschool.  Solid.  I wouldn’t mind hearing Evie humming this one around the house!

20. Ollie’s Farewell

Ollie reviews and peaces out.  Apparently, Ollie has business in Seattle.

So…you interested in this one?  I’m going to hold a contest for the two free cd’s.  I’m going to give people a week or so to follow me on Twitter, subscribe via email on the right, or follow the Facebook page.  Then I’ll let you know what you’ve got to do to get your hands on this wonderful cd.

So, in my best Ollie voice, I say, “Stay toooooooooooooooned…”

[Until then, share my blog with your friends!]

Posted by in orange parents, paul, songs, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Eminem and Fatherhood

January 14, 2012

I’ve been on a strange Eminem kick recently. I watched “8 Mile” with Mary Kate (because she had never seen it); and, just yesterday watched a documentary on Hulu called “Eminem, AKA.” It got me thinking…

From all accounts Marshall Mathers III was a pretty troubled kid. He moved around 20 times when he was a small child, was always around alcoholism (at least four generations), was picked on mercilessly (and beaten) for being the only white kid in his schools, and even endured the suicide of his closest friend when a teenager.

What did he do with all of this pain and dysfunction? He channeled all of his hurts and anger into an alter ego that he created called “Slim Shady.” This character is brash, picks fights, and basically stands up to the world for Marshall. The scary thing is that he almost has a split personality now. Songs like “Stan,” upon further reflection, make me realize that there is probably a lot of guilt for the fact that people actually hero-worship his defense mechanism.

He recently went through rehab and came out sober. In “Not Afraid” he raps:

I think I’m still trying to figure this crap out.
Thought I had it mapped out, but I guess I didn’t.
This ****ing black cloud still follows me around.
But it’s time to exercise these demons.
These mother****ers are doing jumping jacks now.

With so much pain in his life (probably a lot of it self-induced at this point), I really feel for this guy. I know that his movie, his songs, and even the documentary of his life could all be spin; but you want to pull for this guy. But how can you really “exercise…demons” without Jesus?

A unique characteristic of Eminem is that he is this tough guy who has consistently communicated a genuine love for his daughter. Many of his lyrics claim that he does what he does so that he could be successful for her.

I hope the best for him. In that same song, he raps the following:

No more drama.
From now on I promise to only focus on my responsibilities as a father.

So…here’s the question that’s been ringing in my ears:

Do we have “Slim Shady” personas that we’ve created?

One of things I fear is that Eminem is just not going to be able to really give his daughter all he wants for her because he insists on continuing to be “Eminem” or “Slim Shady,” not Marshall, Haley’s dad.

I think that to varying degrees we all have created alter egos to protect us from the harmful effects of imperfect parenting ourselves, but how do we safeguard ourselves against projecting that onto our own kids?

As a kid, I created an alter ego. I even wrote about it for English class in the 9th grade. I called the essay, “The Animal.” It’s basically a paper about how I always have to be “the life of the party” or the “class clown” because I don’t feel like people wouldn’t care about me otherwise.

Now, almost 20 years later, I still struggle with the same things. I want people to know me, yet I still push them away when I’m being my own kind of Slim Shady.

I don’t want to wear that mask around Evie. I don’t want to wear that mask around Mary Kate. I want to be authentic. I want to trust in the Apostle Paul’s words when he says:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

This comforts me when I’m freaking over my “demons” doing “jumping jacks” inside me (figuratively). I don’t have to be that boy who feels rejected, belittled, or insecure. I can be whole.

This is a work in progress, but I know that I’ve got to make my healing a priority in order to be healthy for my wife and my child. My hope is in Jesus. I pray that we can all find that hope, even Eminem.

So…is there something that you’ve been trying to be that’s not really from God? I welcome you to join me in laying that at the feet of the Cross and really trusting that Jesus has got us.

In the words of Lecrae (a Christian rapper) in “Our God”:

If You get me, I know that You got me.
I’m so insecure I can’t believe that You want me.
But then I heard You went out of Your way to adopt me.
Well You can have my all. Don’t drop me.
I love you!

Posted by in movies, paul, songs Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Focus the Family…On What?

January 6, 2012

This is part two of a series of posts that starts here.

Earlier this week, I was really wrestling with this idea of how, if we’re not careful, we can really make parenting something it is not. Abraham, in the book of Genesis, is given a vision from God for what his family was supposed to be all about.

“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you.
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

God, before Abraham even has a kid, tells him that his kid (and all those kids after that) are going to be “a blessing” and that “all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through [them].” When it comes down to it, a “nation” is people. In this case, it is Abraham’s family– and they were made for a reason.

I’m not Jewish. Technically, Abraham is not my father in this sense. But, he is my father in another way. He has often been called the a “father of the faith.” He believed God. He didn’t just believe the trueness of His statements. He believed in God.

God gave Abraham a vision. I believe that the God who Abraham served is the same God who I serve. I want Evie to encounter and fall in love with Him. I look at Evie sometimes; and, yeah, I pray that she doesn’t get things all wrong like I did when I was younger. I pray that having a mom and a dad who love Jesus and believe Him for who He says He is will focus her.

I wrestle with a strong inner desire for my daughter to be “daddy’s little girl” and think I’m the best dad ever. It would be scary, though, if I was everything for her. Nothing can rival God’s love for her. I want Jesus to be everything to Evie and for her to embrace all the implications that go along with that.

Shane and Shane sing about this issue in their song, “The One You Need.” I love what they wrote on their blog about it.

“As new parents, there is ONE thing we want our little girls to know. One Man. The only One Who can satisfy her every need. The only one who can provide a happily ever after. Jesus. Seeing the world through the eyes of a father changes our focus. The broken things become clear and even our own fallible natures are seen in a new light. Sobering truths like this should lead us into a deeper Faith in the only one who is not broken, but was broken for us, the children of God. This is the reality we long for our daughters and sons to live in. That Jesus, is the the one you need. Whom do I have in heaven but You? There is NOTHING on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail (and mine sure have), but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. *Psalm 73: 25-26″

Watch the video here if you haven’t seen it. But check out some of the lyrics:

You know I’ve loved you from the start
So come in close, take my hand
While daddy shares his heart

I wish that I could be your everything
Be the one to give you all the things you need
Sometimes I’m gonna let you down

There’s someone and if you just believe
He’ll be your hero like He’s always been for me
Darling, Jesus is the One you need

No matter what you walk through
He will always love you
Just the way you are

For there’s nothing in this world
That I want for my baby girl
Than to be happy ever after

The story of your life is still untold
I pray the king of all the universe
Would make your heart His home

At an early age, I want to point Evie (focus her) towards this God of Abraham, Moses, the disciples, and her mommy and daddy. I want her to be in wonder of who He is.

And as she grows, I want to bring into focus who she really is– not who boys tell her she is, not who the other girls in school tell her she is– but to discover who God says she is.

And even at a young age, I would love to see her start to see that the world isn’t about her– we are called to have passion for others.

I would love for her to be a blessed girl who is a blessing to others. And I think that all starts with focus now.

Posted by in paul, songs Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The One You Need

November 4, 2011

Tip of the hat to Brigitte Aton, one of the great youth group moms I’ve had over the years. I don’t know how long this song has been out, but I wouldn’t have heard it if you hadn’t have shared it with me. Also, thank you Mr. Everett and Mr. Barnard. I love the lyric, “Sometimes I’m gonna let you down. But there’s someone if you just believe who would be Your Hero like He’s always been for me. Darlin’ Jesus is the One you need.”

Imagine the end.

Posted by in songs Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Orange Inspiration Song #1: “You Are the One”

October 1, 2011

Here’s an idea I had. I want to collect songs that make me think of my role (and God’s role) in the life of my kid (besides “Butterfly Kisses,” thank you very much).

Here is one that has a new meaning to me as I sit on the doorstep of our little Evie coming into the world. It’s all about how much God loves and knows us, “You Are the One” by Lincoln Brewster:

You’re the One Who made the Heavens
You’re the One Who shaped the Earth
You’re the One Who formed my heart
Long before my birth
I believe You’ll always lead me
All my days have been ordained
All Your thoughts toward me are holy
Full of love and grace

CHORUS:
You are the One You are holy
You are the One You are worthy
You are the One
You are the One everlasting
You are the One I will worship
You are the One I will serve all my days
You are the One
You are the One everlasting
You are the One
Jesus You’re the One

I love that line “You’re the One who formed my heart long before my birth.” Psalm 139 backs that up when it claims God’s knowledge of who we are even from the womb. And God even fills John the Baptist with the Holy Spirit from the womb! One of our responsibilities as “Orange Dads” is to remind our kid(s) that God in fact CREATED them. I think about the girls working in the baby ministry at our church, and I love knowing that they will be praying and singing that into Evie’s little heart from the second we have the guts to drop her off in there.

I also find comfort in knowing that all the days of Evie have been ordained beforehand. As it is unveiled to me, her mom, and even her, it will be comforting to remember that CREATOR knows what’s going on. Nothing is a surprise to Him.

If God created us, He alone gets to define us. So, to me, when Brewster writes “all your thoughts toward me are holy, full of love and grace” it reminds me that I’ve got to remind Evie of that– that she’s perfectly loved by her Father in heaven. She is loved. And she is offered grace. She is offered that relationship. Wow. That’s good for us all to remember.

I can’t even imagine what it would be like for that chorus to be the cry of my daughter’s heart. It was the cry of my heart when I was sixteen at a camp in Colorado. It has been her mom’s cry. I pray that it will be hers. In the end, that cry is the most important thing a person can do, to respond to God’s grace with a “You are the One I will worship; You are the One I will serve all my days.”

Good one, Lincoln Brewster. I worthy first song in this category of “Orange Inspiration.”

Posted by in paul, songs Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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