Blog – Page 18 – Joel Bidderman

Simplifying

Elise Boulding said: Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things. I've been simplifying my home. It's different than de-cluttering. I'm not just throwing away clutter, but I've been prayerfully restructuring and organizing in a way to avoid clutter being a part of my life. I've taken a bit of fascination in the many blogs and books on minimalism. I think it points to the desire of an overstimulated, sensationalist culture to [...]

2015-04-07T19:14:01+00:00By Joel|Featured, Simplicity|

Telling Truths and other things that linger

So, haunting my short-term memories has been the second song in my Morning and Night series. Telling Truths is based on the book, Telling the Truth: the Gospel as tragedy, comedy, and fairy tale. This was actually the first Buechner book that I picked up years ago. It's a short book with pretty simple themes - which hold great depth. I read through the book in one sitting while visiting my parents (where I found the book). Then, I sat and pondered what I just experienced. Then I opened the book back up and savored ever word. Buechner does such a masterful job at not only conveying truths, but in drawing you into landscapes and conversations, and familiar [...]

2018-01-17T23:59:20+00:00By Joel|Morning and Night, Music|

Morning and Night: Part 1 (Coffee Song)

I've been writing more music lately and it's been a lot of fun. I decided I need music to drink my coffee to in the morning; music that draws my attention to some of the underlying themes that I often think about: grace, mercy, and what that means to my day. I also need contemplative music for nighttime to drink my tea to, to put the day to rest. So, here you go. This is my first song. It's called "Coffee Song" (clever title, I know). As I wrote this first song, I was contemplating this excerpt from one of my favorite authors, Frederick Buechner (I think most of my morning songs will be based on [...]

2018-01-17T23:57:49+00:00By Joel|Featured, Morning and Night, Music|

Make us One

“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Hebrews 13:3 So, this bring us to the end of our Depravity, Grace, and Reckless Abandon memory lane. One song that is usually overlooked on this project is this one: number 10. Many get to the end of the song and turn it off, not realizing that I did the trendy (at the time) practice of sticking a 'hidden' track on there. This song came out of a season of intercession for the persecuted church. The cover has a door with a backpack by it. This song sort of pulls everything together. The hidden [...]

2018-01-24T22:27:38+00:00By Joel|DGRA, Music|