Tracks In The Dust

21 Aug 2014

The Countdown-Clock

In sports most of the competitive team sports feature some sort of clock. A timed segment in which to complete a game, take a shot, play a play, complete a period or quarter.

In life we have our own count-down clock, but it doesn’t show up on the bottom of any screen or on any scoreboard. It is our clock that only God knows.

There is no visible way for us track things. No way to take for granted that we have enough time to do the things we want, or to manage a disease to its inevitable end. But still many of us worry about how much time we have, what can we do with it before the end arrives.

I guess for me – now more than ever, occupying every hour with the worry of the future is seems way too consuming. It’s a course that leaves more emptiness than fulfillment. It leads to fear and hopelessness ( since we can influence but not control the final outcome).

There are clocks that we will have to measure daily life we cannot ignore, but we need to understand the bigger life’s meaning and understand the personal clocks we live by. Spiritually we are in need of that center.

So my time on that “personal shot clock” is measured by finding ways to enjoy the passage of time, open my heart to the love around me, look for the positive in things ( the negatives seem so much easier to find us regardless of whether we are looking for it or not- doesn’t it?)

Advice to my kids: Learn to know your internal clock and what is truly valuable time

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, Anger Management, choices, Doubt, Grace, life is precious, mental-health, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Religion and Spirituality, Self-Awareness, Sprituality

15 Aug 2014

Being At Peace

To be at peace with yourself takes the effort. It takes a path you are willing to follow to get there.

It takes a resistance to fear, to the evil that comes from every aspect of life it would seem these days.

But with the latest catastrophic thing in our lives right around the corner, we can easily get preoccupied with the notion of not being at peace. At peace with ourselves, at peace with each other. A level set with life that only God can provide I would think.

But it starts with us. We cannot succumb to fear. To our anger. We must conquer it. Our fear of circumstances. Our fear of the world around us.

People do so many things that make me mad but
Angry isn’t how I want to spend what time I have
Cognitive dissonance they call it
I wonder just how small it
Could be made to be in me?

life in the city is so densely packed
fear of each other is an accepted fact
fear soaks into concrete just like grease
fear is the antithesis of peace – “TIme I Have” by David Crosby

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. – Mathew 6:34

It takes effort finding peace in ourselves with the “time we have” and the world around us. The opposite of that is to surrender to fear, to give in to the darkness around us. It will mean we may need help. It is there in many ways, we can help each other… we can look to Him for the help.

Are you prepared to not surrender to fear? To not let worry consume you? Or have you already allowed other things to take over your peace?

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged David Crosby, Doubt, Fear, Fighting Anger, Finding Peace, God, Grace, life is precious, mental-health, peace of mind, Sprituality, Tomorrow, uncertainty and doubt, Who Am I?, Who Are You, Worry

14 Aug 2014

The Music of Our Children

Thanks to all who were able to join me on the Internet radio show “How I Met Your Music” on Friday August 1st @ 90FM.org.

It was hard to cover over 50 years of music in just 3 hours, but hopefully I was able to tell the story of how I went from the music I first heard on the little radio above my mom’s Hotpoint refrigerator to the music my children have introduced to me these past years.

There is a lot in-between Frank Sinatra and Frank Zappa, between the Ed Sullivan show introduction of the Beatles and You Tube independent music of Foxygen.

But it has been a journey for me and probably for a lot of other parents who grew up on rock and roll, R&B and Jazz influences and their children are still welcome fresh music to fill that need today. Mine will very appreciative of our “old” music, and even to this day keep showing me fantastic and talented new music.

So here are the last few songs I finished my show with. The music my children had a lot to do with when they were finding their own music.

The final song below was the song 3 of them co-wrote together recently. Just coming full circle from my beginnings with the British Invasion to this…..

Dashboard Confessional: Ghost of a Good Thing (Thanks to my son Adam) Maybe we can sing along some day.

Anthony Green: Anytime ( Thanks to my son Greg) Rockin’ music always on the horizon: Circa Survive all the way!

Lydia: The Exit (Thanks to my son Ryan) So many bands, so little time to know them all.

Copeland: You Love to Sing (Thanks to my daughter Jennifer) You sing like an angel, because you love to sing.

And finally, ” I Can Sleep Again”. The song Ryan, Greg and Jennifer ( our children) wrote for my wife and I in December 2013.

CLICK BELOW… its a great song.

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Anthony Green, Arts and Entertainment, Beatles, choices, Circa Survive, Copeland, Dashboard Confessional, Greg Gertenbach, Jennifer Gertenbach, Life's Soundtrack, Lydia, Music, Personal Soundtrack, Reality Check, Rock and Roll, Rock music, Ryan Gertenbach, Self-Awareness

27 Jul 2014

2 Comments

Listen To Me On Internet Radio

An invitation listen for a special 3 hour radio program. This Friday August 1st @4 pm Central Time (US) I will be presenting “How I Met Your Music”. It will map a personal journey of music from the 1960’s to the music my children have introduced to me this year.

If you are a baby boomer with millennial kids who are all about music, you will know that there are a lot of things playing over the air today that sound quite like songs of decades ago.

Time for the 2nd Annual Alumni Radio weekend. The evening of July 30th through Sunday August 3rd, and myself and my college compatriots from late 70’s and early 80’s are coming back to take over the college radio station.

Over the past decades I have grown to like a lot of the music that my kids have introduced to me. Maybe part of it was because I spent seven years joining them at the annual sabbatical of the Van’s Warped Tour. The Warped Tour features over 7 stages lining up live music from 40 musicians and bands that are working hard to make it in the indie/punk/alternative world of music.

Or perhaps it was because there is [and was always was] music playing in our house as they grew up. They heard The Beatles, The Who and Queen and so much more as they started their lives and decided to search for their own music. As they would find their way, they would share it with me. “Hey dad listen to this one“.

So all these years later, I am going to present to my kids and anyone willing to listen ….”How I Met Your Music”.

August 1st for three hours starting with the first song I ever heard on my parents radio over the refrigerator in our kitchen and going through the decades that led up to my children creating their own music.

Does it sound like “How I Met Your Mother” the American TV show? Yeah – yup… sort of like that.