Back in college, I worked for a radio station that played "Beautiful (i.e., elevator) Music". It wasn't so bad - I was able to get a lot of homework done, since the station was mostly automated. The main problem was that the music made me sleepy, and it was hard enough to study Greek without dozing off.

One day I answered the phone and the caller identified himself as Jimmy Stewart (yes, the actor). The guy's impersonation wasn't that bad, I thought, but I knew it had to be a prank call (or some nutcase), so I abruptly put him on hold. Several minutes later I picked up again and said "so what can I do for you, Jimmy?" He told me that he was in town fishing with some friends and he wanted me to know how much he appreciated the "beautiful music" we were playing. I knew this was one of my buddies, but since I couldn't place the voice, I cut him off with something like "Yeah, well thanks. Glad you like it. Gotta go . . . " and hung up.

About five minutes later I noticed the headline in the paper: "Actor Jimmy Stewart in Town Visiting Friends and Fishing."

I had actually spoken to Jimmy ("It's A Wonderful Life") Stewart on the phone - AND I HAD BEEN A JERK!!!!

If I'd realized it was him . . . if I'd known who was really on the phone . . . if I'd read the paper already . . . I would have at least been nice. I would have told him what a fan I was of "Harvey" and all of his Hitchcock movies and of course "It's A Wonderful Life". And I would've recorded the conversation to prove that I really talked with him!

But I wasn't expecting to get a call from Jimmy Stewart, so I didn't recognize that it was really him when he called.

I'm starting to realize that my expectations have a direct impact on what I experience with God.

For example, when I walk through the doors of my church, do I expect an encounter with God as I worship . . . or just entertainment? A life-changing message from the Word . . . or just a few amusing stories and a scripture that affirms what I already believe about God? Do I expect to give (and take) strength and encouragement from fellowship with other believers? Or am I just fulfilling my obligation to attend?

What about when I pray? We all ask for God's guidance from time to time, but do we expect Him to actually direct our paths? If we aren't expecting anything, why do we bother asking?

What do we expect?

I know that there've been times in my life when I've been unprepared to hear from God. I just get so busy working (or entertaining myself) that I have no time - or attention - to spare. The "still small voice" of God has been lost in all of the busyness and noise with which I've surrounded myself.

But I won't recognize God's voice if I'm not expecting Him to speak.

I'm reminded of a song by Out of the Grey: "He is not silent / He is not whispering / We are not quiet / We are not listening".

It's time for all of us to start paying attention. It's time to start listening. To start anticipating the leading of the Spirit.

It's time to change our expectations.

This isn't a typical "here are all of my profound thoughts" kind of blog entry... More of a "getting to know you" kinda thing. Lemme know what you think!

NAME: Scott Riggan
BIRTHPLACE: Redding, CA
NICKNAMES: None that I want to encourage.
FAMILY: Wife (Julie) and 2 kids (Emily, 8 and Josiah, 4)
PETS: 1 dog, 1 cat, 3 goats and 1 horse. The other 5 horses don't count because they belong to my father-in-law. Same with the cows. Coming soon: chickens (it's like living in a Far Side cartoon . . .).

GLASS HALF-EMPTY OR HALF-FULL? Half full. Oops, wait, empty now.
APPENDIX OR TONSILS REMOVED? Tonsils. 3rd grade. They never caught the guy that did it though.
MOST ANNOYING HABIT: Explaining things in great detail. Here, let me show you an outline of my perfectionist tendencies along with some charts and graphs I made . . .

MINISTRY PARTNER: The JESUS Film Project. I went to Tanzania a couple of years ago and saw first hand what an amazing tool the film is for world evangelism. Click HERE to read all about it.
MISSION TRIPS: In 2005 I did a concert tour of China (and returned in April 06 with a CD I produced of worship songs in Mandarin Chinese). Click HERE for details on the China stuff. I've also been to Ghana, West Africa and to Mexico.

ON YOUR CD PLAYER RIGHT NOW: A philodendron. In my CD player (actually, make that my iPod): Derek Webb (Mockingbird); Mindy Smith (Long Island Shores); Switchfoot (Nothing Is Sound); U2 (Atomic Bomb); Andrew Peterson (A Far Country); Sufjan Stevens (Illinois); Shawn Colvin (These Four Walls); Aimee Mann (Forgotten Arm); Aqualung (Strange & Beautiful); Chris Tomlin (See The Morning)
CURRENTLY READING: Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller; Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott; Sergeant Piggy's Lonely Hearts Club Comic (Pearls Before Swine) by Stephen Pastis

WHAT WOULD PEOPLE BE SURPISED TO KNOW? Coffee beans are not really beans - they are fruit pits (really). What, did I misunderstand the question . . . ?
WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE FUTURE? Lunch. I would say dinner, but that's more of a long-term goal.

See y'all next time...
Scott

Okay guys, this is a long one, so fill your coffee mug and settle in . . . (and don't bail out early - it gets good about 1/2 way through).

A friend of mine (I'll call him Eric here) stumbled onto an idea that I think would have a dramatic impact on the world, if we could get everybody to agree to it.

Eric was frustrated by the fact that we Christians don't appear much different than the rest of the world. Not in terms of morality or behavior (that's a blog for another day!). What I mean is that you could be standing in line at Starbucks and nobody around you would guess that you are a follower of Jesus by just looking at you. Would your order of a Grande Soy Mocha clue anyone in to your faith orientation? Well then, how about if you were wearing a Christian T-shirt? Would that do the trick? Or what if people could plainly see a Jesus Fish on your car as you drove away?

Unfortunately, there's little on the outside of us that can truly reveal what we believe about God. Even things like the Jesus Fish or the Christian T-shirt don't really communicate anything meaningful (please don't send me hate mail for this - hear me out!) . . . What I mean is that most of our Christian cultural shorthand has been misused so often that it doesn't always convey what we might hope.

Anyway, back to Eric . . . He was frustrated with this situation so - creative fellow that he is - he came up with a unique solution. Eric decided we should all wear some kind of uniform to help identify ourselves as followers of Jesus.

Specifically, he believed we should all be wearing PENGUIN COSTUMES.

Why penguins? I can honestly say that I have no real idea. But you've got to admit that people would notice if you walked around dressed as a Penguin. Imagine at your office/store/school//restaurant/construction site . . . No question, it would make a statement.

But here's the thing . . . we've already been assigned a "uniform", so to speak: a definitive, obvious characteristic that should let everyone know Whom we serve. Here's what Jesus has to say about it:

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)

Jesus - whose opinion matters, I think - is saying that our actions speak louder than the Jesus fish on our Volvos. How we live - and particularly, how we love - identifies us as His followers. Notice He doesn't say "by your Moral Perfection" or "by the Tidiness of Your Front Yard" or even "by your Correct Theology".

No. They'll know we follow Jesus by our LOVE.

Not obvious enough, you say? Well, I'll agree that the Penguin Suit would definitely get people's attention. But try to imagine this: Christians - real people with different opinions, personalities, political affiliations, racial and cultural backgrounds - actually loving one another (and by that I mean more than "playing nice together"). I really think that would be attention-getting. Even shocking.

"Love one another." And if that isn't going to do the trick, then we'd better get to work sewing those penguin costumes . . .

Grace and peace,
Scott

It has just become clear to me that I have a previously undiagnosed phobia: The Blog.

Yes, I suffer from Blog Phobia - a condition characterized by Frozen Creative Juices, Habitual Procrastination, and the Profound Lack of Interesting Blog Topics (or ideas of any kind, actually).

For me, I think it has its roots in the reading of other people's blogs - people who are able to make an anecdote about going to the convenience store both funny and moving. This has resulted in "Blog Envy", so much so that when I sit at the keyboard, fingers poised to type . . . I got nothin'. No witty observations. No funny stories. Nada. So naturally, I usually just put the whole thing off, figuring "something interesting is bound to happen before long, and then I'll blog about it."

Months have passed . . . and now it's obvious that I have another problem: evidently, I lead a completely uneventful life . . . (big sigh . . . )

Right now I'm in Nashville to do some songwriting, and it appears that my Blog Phobia runs deeper than previously suspected; I'm not coming up with much of anything, song-wise. I know every songwriter has "dry periods", but it's still frustrating to feel like I may have said everything I have to say, and that my creative well is dry.

Anyway, I don't really have a point to this, but for once that's not going to stop me from posting this blog (a Victory for Blog Phobics everywhere!) . . . Maybe an interesting way to wrap this up is to call for some blog referrals. Any favorites that you subscribe to? I'm a big fan of Andrew Peterson's stuff (he's been doing limericks lately and they are hilarious). Please feel free to comment and pass along a favorite blog - I for one will check it out!

Thanks for reading, guys! I'm enjoying getting to know y'all . . .
Scott

Oh yeah, check out: Andrew Peterson: http://www.myspace.com/andrewpetersonmusic

Ni hao (Mandarin for "hello")!

I'm in Yangshuo today, and nearly two weeks into the China trip. We've had a pretty amazing time, with lots of unexpected turns. We visited a remote village a couple of days ago. There were many Thoughts directed to our Leader as our bus weaved its way along an incredibly narrow mountain road (mudslides figure prominantly into this story...).

When we (safely) arrived in the village, we shared a very humble meal at a school where children from the area study. The kids were great - and much better at ping pong than I am... We have a friend here who visits this school regularly to bring clothing to poor families and to love on the kids. Many opportunities to share have arisen from her work there.

Last night, we played on the open patio of a restaurant on a very busy street in Yangshuo. Between John Denver and Karen Carpenter tunes (which are VERY popular here - they sang along!), we shared songs about our Friend. This led to some opportunities to explain in more detail and bring some new members into the company.

We're seeing people from all over the world here, so some in the crowd were from the US, Germany, Canada, Ireland, France, etc. This has also led to some interesting conversations.

Gotta run. Your Thoughts are appreciated more than you know. If you'd like to comment on this message, post your thoughts by clicking "comments" below.

THANK YOU AND G BLESS!

Peace,
Scott

Hey everyone, I've just got a second to pound out a quick email. I'm in China, and we've had an amazing experience so far. We spent most of yesterday at a Buddhist Temple and had the opportunity to make many new Friends.

Just spent some time with a lady this afternoon who is a music teacher at a prestigeous arts college here. She has cancer, and was overwhelmed with emotion as we spoke to the Boss about her needs. After that, she asked us to explain why we cared about her, and we were able to share our business plan with her. She wholeheartedly accepted the idea, and we quickly brought her into the company. This came out of a last minute, unplanned visit to somebody else, but we feel the Boss really had intended for us to encounter her.

We performed today for a very special group of Friends - several Family Groups from the area we are visiting came together to celebrate this particularly significant day in our Corporate History. We were very glad to see about 20 young people that we had met at the Buddhist Temple yesterday. We sang songs in English while they sang in Mandarin Chinese. Many of the songs were familiar already while others were new. It was truly moving and beautiful.

I have to go. I know that many of you are Thinking about the team and discussing our needs with the Boss. Thank you for that. I hope to get to an internet cafe again in a few days to let you all know how things are going.

Peace,
Scott

So I was in Nashville for a music industry conference - meeting radio guys (always a pleasure, actually), signing autographs (always surreal), hearing a lot of interesting new music and pretty much getting zero sleep. . .

Other than totaling my rental car, it was great.

Yeah, I rear-ended a mini-van. The other driver was 16, had no license, and had apparently decided to take the family van on a (short) little joyride. I really should have purchased the additional insurance ...

The other thing (cue violins) is that my flight home was cancelled and I got stuck in Minneapolis overnight. Actually, they kept re-booking me and 3 separate planes were grounded for mechanical failure. Doesn't exactly boost one's confidence in this particular airline ...

My friend Jason tells me that I should hire a team of cameramen to follow me around, considering all of the other bizarre things (it's a long list) that have hit me the last couple of months. Maybe he's right - I might have a shot at a hit reality show . . .