Jimcude's Blog

If our God is for us..

jimcude — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 03:42:26 +0000

I have learned so many new songs this summer. I learned Healer by Kari Jobe, Soon by Hillsong and Our God by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman as well as, Call to Action and Sometimes by Dutton Band.

My favorite one has to be “Our God” which is such a powerful song straight from scripture. Romans 8:31 says “if God is for us who can be against us?” and in Ephesians 6:10 “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power”. I was able to learn that song with two different groups. I have the wonderful previledge to lead worship in our cabin at Falls Creek with wonderful musicians and with the talented people in our praise team at FBC Whitesboro. God uses these two groups to teach me so much about music and about what God wants to do in and through my life.

I am so thankful that God uses music to help remind us things in scripture. What an amazing thought to carry with us everyday..Romans 8:31 “If God is for us then who could stand against us?” It would give us a different prospective on all the stuff that we face everyday.

What I havent blogged about….

jimcude — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:09:37 +0000

….a couple of major life changes since the last blog. The first of these was the decision to lead worship for our 8:30 worship service. This was a pretty easy decision because I love being a part of what God is doing in our worship team. God is doing some amazing things at FBC Whitesboro and I am excited to be a part of His plan.

The other life change is the fact that I have made the change from my blackberry to the iphone. If I said I made that decision quickly that would be a lie because I did a lot of research about this change. Anybody that spends much time with me knows the phone is attached almost 24/7 at times I think it is with me too much. But I have to say the iphone has made my life a little easier. If any iphone engineers checking out my blog I have a few issues. Here we go with those issues. First of all, I would like to be able to send a group text message that involves more than 10 people at a time. The other thing is the calendar feature does not “nag” you enough about appointments. It reminds you once and then its gone, I need you to bug me a lot until I complete the appointed task. So APPLE people fix this stuff and your phone could be the most amazing ever.

We almost done with our competitive performances for the year, we are performing at the Eisemann Center in Richardson in April. We have had some pretty amazing performances this year and I am very proud and pleased with our band this year. Our WMS band went to a contest this week and was very successful (all first division ratings) Next week my uil adjudication season begins, so here we go…..jimcudeblog I will see you again in June haha

Region Band Students

Thanksgiving Break

jimcude — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:52:54 +0000

We made it to the thanksgiving break..well almost….tomorrow about 12:30 we will have made it to the break. I am thankful for many things in my life and I wont share those with you at this time, however if you are reading this you probably know what many of those things are. I want to share with you George Washingtons Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789. Our country has wandered so far from what the Father of our Country had intended for this time of thanksgiving. I hope that this will inspire you to take a page from George Washington’s book and seek to make it truly a day of thanks and not just a day of eating and football….

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to “recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

tuesday night football….

jimcude — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:00:01 +0000

last night we had another great night of band rehearsal and I was really looking forward to being at home tonight. That however was not to be the case, since Caleb had a scrimmage in collinsville. Our little Bearcats dominated the pirates tonight in a scrimmage. I have always really watched the more skilled players on the field and marveled at their talents on display. Since my son is on the offense line as a center, my attention tonight was on the “O” line. It was truly impressive to see our “O” line tonight. They opened up huge holes and blocked for the QB and running backs in a spectacular way. It is really cool to watch the guys play this game and how everyone has a job. Each is important to the success of the team, even if its not as glamorous as other positions.

I love watching Caleb celebrate as his teammates score. Well they have a game in about two weeks so we will see how the season goes for the 6th grade Bearcats. Let’s the momentum of tonight’s scrimmage will carry over to the season.

caleb

friday night lights

jimcude — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:16:44 +0000

I just finished making our DVD of the Friday pep rally and game performance, and I have to say that I am pleased with our performances yesterday. We definitely have many things to improve upon, but it was pretty good especially for week one. We have half our show on the field and its coming along at a good pace. We have many great kids and parents that support the band at WHS.

We have a quote in the band hall that says “its great to have an end to journey toward; its the journey that matters in the end.” I love that quote because it speaks volumes about what we do in band. You always remember the end result of performances, but the journey toward getting ready for those performances is always memorable. At times the memories are great and other times they are harsh. Both the good times and bad make the “journey”a learning experience that changes our life view. Wow, how deep is that talking about “life view”? I know that this edition of “Friday Night Lights” is just one part of our journey. Its been a sweet ride so far, lets keep it up P.R.I.D.E. makes the difference.

Have a great weekend and I’ll be back next week.

Yea Band!

progressive traditionalist….

jimcude — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:11:17 +0000

that’s me a progressive traditionalist. We had a teacher workshop this summer, by looking at our age and how much or little technology we use, determined our label. I could have been a traditionalist but I’m a pretty serious user of technology, thus progessive traditionalist.

Today however I dont feel very progressive. Technology has not been my friend today. Our laser printer is completely out of toner, so it is not working at this time. During the trumpet class this morning I had to get help from Mr. Gray to get the document camera to work properly. During homeroom today the xerox completely stopped working as well. So printing or copying anything may be a challenge.

I suppose that things like this happen from time to time and I should not be surprised. I am excited that my computer did not crash or anything major. I think technology will be my friend again.

Sometimes life gets in the way….

jimcude — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:26:47 +0000

I am not a huge Stephen Curtis Chapman fan, but he definitely has a place on my ipod. His song “I Danced with Cinderella” is one of my favs. In the song he tells the story of a dad that reflects on the times he danced with his Cinderella through different times in her life. The closer I get to May 28th (lauren’s graduation) the more I realize our life is about to change a great deal. So I’ve decided I’m going to take in all the opportunities to spend time and enjoy the moments we have left. I guess as parents we should always do that; sometimes life just takes over and we cant always see the moment in front of us for all the things we have to do tomorrow.

So tonight we are having a father/daughter date to Frisco. We’re going to Buca di Beppo which is one of Laurens favorites. Dads (moms too) make sure that you take time to enjoy the moment, dont let life get in the way…..

click on the link below for SCC singing “I Danced with Cinderella” and listen to the story behind the song..enjoy the moments. Jim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLYxtuC0oRk

2009-2010 School Year

jimcude — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:36:15 +0000

Well, I’m beginning my 23rd year of teaching and my kids are now both in my band classes. Lauren is beginning her senior year and Caleb is now a sixth grader. Its a cool time for me since I LOVE having my kids in class. Linda is in her 6th year of teaching BCIS at WHS and really enjoys teaching at the high school level. We have definitely been blessed to teach really amazing students. I have gotten reconnected with a great deal of my former students on facebook and that has been pretty cool. Many great memories of students that have passed through the band halls of this and previous schools.

I am excited about the 2009-2010 version of the Whitesboro Bearcat Band. I believe that this group will have many amazing performances. The first of which is this Friday at Bearcat Field at 7:30 p.m. against the Pilot Point Bearcats.

lock-in

jimcude — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 07:56:52 +0000

OK….lets get this straight, I have always thought that lock-ins were of the devil and several years ago (20) I swore I would never do this again! You should never say never because usually you end up doing what you say you will never do. This is true for me since I’m at a lock-in at this very moment blogging away. My students are climbing walls, playing air hockey and doing what kids usually do which is have fun with their Friends. We have done some leader work, but most of the time they have had fun…

Kristyn and Lauren

I wrote a e-mail to our band parents yesterday, and talked about how band is a microcosm of life. The more I do this band thing I realize that its so much more than just playing notes, rhythms and music. We teach life lessons, as well as ,the musical skills in band. We learn to set and reach goals, to know the value of family, and the importance of teamwork. These are just a few of the life lessons that we learn in band. This is our second year to teach the servant leadership concept to our student leaders. I have seen that they have started to make a culture shift in the way that we do our work and in the way they should act as leaders. I learn so much about to deal with people from our student leaders, they are often times wise beyond their years.

2009-2010 Leadership Team

This lock-in has been a lot of fun, we celebrated a great band camp and planned what we need to do in the upcoming weeks and months. I check my watch and only five more hours til we check out and head home.

premier show

jimcude — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:51:58 +0000

well its the day after the premier show and we all survived. Actually we did much better than survive, the band played and marched pretty well. I am extremely proud of our band and their efforts. We have tried some new techniques to help our rehearsals become better organized. We have seen the band more focused and productive in rehearsal. We have one more day left of band camp and then school starts on Monday. I am ready to see the band everyday, I know we will see even more progress…

Premier Show 2009

Another amazing aspect of the band camp this year, is that we learned TWO new stand tunes and a couple of new cadences for the drumline. So I’m almost ready for some friday night FOOTBALL.