What is a Podcast?

"The podcasting movement is actually a spin-off of another communications boom: personal Weblogs, commonly referred to as blogs."


Podcasting allows you to listen to stuff you want to hear, whenever and wherever you want.  Podcasts are transferred via the internet.  In their most simple form, they are a 'radio show' that is available whenever you choose to listen.


To listen to one, you need:

1. A computer
2. A power supply
3. An Internet connection
4. An aggregator/podcatching client to subscribe and automatically download the audio content. (such as iTunes).
5. An mp3 player on the computer for listening at home or a portable MP3 player for the road.

There are 2 ways to listen to my podcast, "Inside Things":


1)  Just click the play button in the media player at the top of this blog to listen.
2) Subscribe to it from iTunes by going to the iTunes store and typing in my name "Frances Drost" in the search box.  Listed under my albums will be the podcast.  If you subscribe through iTunes, you can store the episodes in an iTunes playlist under "podcasts"and listen to it whenever you choose.  

There are many educational and just plain interesting podcasts out there, so take a look around what's available under the podcast menu in iTunes.  


While you're there, please rate my podcast and write a review - this helps to give my podcast more exposure.


Enjoy!

Tips for Wisdom from Proverbs 2:1-12

In my never ending quest for wisdom I soak up these tips from Proverbs 2.

1)  tune your ears to wisdom
2)  concentrate on understanding
3)  cry out for insight
4)  cry out for understanding
5)  search for them as you would for lost money or hidden treasure

Then.......

• you will understand what it means to fear the Lord
• you will gain knowledge of God

How do you get wisdom?

1) (He gives it) The Lord grants wisdom
2) (Read the Word) From his mouth come knowledge and understanding
3) (He grants it) He grants a treasure of good sense to the godly 
4) (Walk with integrity) He is their shield, protecting those who walk with integrity
5) (Walk justly and faithfully) He guards the paths of justice and 
protects those who are faithful to Him. 

Then.....

• you will understand what is right, just and fair
• you will know how to find the right course of action every time
• wisdom will enter your heart
• knowledge will fill you with joy
• wise planning will watch over you
• understanding will keep you safe

What Would You Do?

I was only 7 when we got word from our Pastor that my

oldest brother was killed in a tractor accident on a farm hours

north of our farm.  They didn't know exactly what happened,

but found him pinned underneath the tractor and wagon at the

bottom of a cliff in a riverbed.  He had been unloading

rocks over the cliff.

Something must have gone wrong.

Our family took a small airplane to Northern PA for the funeral,

navigated by my other brother, Adriel.  I faintly remember that trip.

In a few weeks I'll be providing music for 2 sweetheart banquets

about 3 hours from where I live....and yep, you guessed it, I'll be near

that farm where my brother died.

I had an interesting e-mail today in relation to these bookings.

Apparently the secretary of one of the churches lives on the farm

where my brother was killed years ago.

She has extended an invitation to come and see the farm

and see where the accident happened while I'm there ministering

in the area.

I answered her fairly quickly because of course I'd like to see the farm!

Or do I?

I find that as the day goes on I feel nervous about visiting the site.

After all, I was just a little girl and that was such a long time ago,

yet the loss of a loved one never really leaves you.

You feel their absence at family get togethers.  Your heart flutters

with delight when you meet someone who knew them and tells you

more about them that you didn't know.  They are always with you.

You look at their grandchildren and wonder if they look like their grandpa

did at that age.

I am excited and nervous about this.  I'm afraid of my emotions.

Maybe I'll be fine.  Maybe I'll want to cry and be alone.  Maybe I'll learn

more that will give hope and courage in the face of tragedies like the one

right now in Haiti.

I don't handle tragedies very well to be honest.  Maybe that's why I write
a lot of songs about death.  Never realized I wrote so many until my
producer listened to all I was writing when we began working on
"Inside Things"and pointed this out to me.  I guess it helps me process it.

If you had this opportunity, what would you do?  Would you

visit the scene of the accident of a deceased loved one?

Meet Tia.
My brother's oldest grandaughter.

"Fasting is Like Buttoning Your Top Button First"

This past weekend our Pastor challenged us to 10 days of fasting.  My husband and I decided to take the challenge.  What better way to start off a new year.  I found the message to be so helpful and thought I'd share his points on my blog.

Fasting in a nutshell is refraining from eating food for the purpose of spiritual growth and sensitivity.

Why fast?
1)  To declare over our life and body that we are going to do more than merely exist.
2)  Because we want to hear God.
3)  Because we long for breakthrough in our lives.

Ways to fast:
1)  No water, no food - this is a supernatural ability and should only be done with strong leading from God and approval of doctors.
2)  Water only
3)  No food; minimal liquid supplement
4)  Daniel fast (Daniel 1) - no meats or sweets - only vegetables, fruit and water
5)  Omit meals

Results of fasting:
1)  Deeper, more intimate and powerful relationship with the Lord.
2)  Powerful cleansing work

• body - removes toxins
• mind - removes distractions
• spirit - removes strongholds

3)  Humbles us - softens us, makes us pliable and flexible

4)  Releases faith

5)  Increases wisdom

6)  Powerful and lasting breakthroughs

"We were created to be led, not driven"

"Fasting is like buttoning your shirt starting with the top button first.  Somehow the Lord lines up the rest of the buttons in our life and makes sure they get buttoned."

Love Wisdom Like A Sister

I've been trying to read a chapter from proverbs just about every day for years now.  I crave wisdom in such a huge way.

Being a full-time musician has its challenges in ways you might not normally think of.  There's always the thin line of letting people know what you're doing and feeling like you're doing too much 'self-promotion'.  No one in your life can really tell you where that line is.  The Holy Spirit has to guide you and even then, it can feel tricky to discern His voice.

Today I read Proverbs 7 and was struck again by a simple piece of advice.

"Love wisdom like a sister; make insight a beloved member of your family."  Prov. 7:4

I have one older sister whom I dearly love.  We have been friends since I was little.  We shared a bedroom in our big old farm house growing up and I think I caused her distress sometimes because I wasn't too great at keeping our bedroom real neat.

She was real good at saving money and the family used talk about going to 'the bank of Brenda' because if anyone in the family had money - she did.  Even if it was just the little 'see me save' bank in which she collected her money.

She was also a good seamstress and I remember one Easter in particular when she made me the most beautiful long dress I had ever seen.  It was brightly flowered and had a beautiful green ribbon around the waist.  As I recall, she stayed up a good portion of the night to finish that in time for Easter morning.

We would make music together too.  She would play the flute and later the recorder and we would do classical music duets together or sing our favorites from the Honeytree songbook.

When Proverbs says to love wisdom like a sister, I get that kind of relationship.  The hard part is figuring out how to really love something that you can't see.......like wisdom.  But I think it is a gradual quiet kind of attachment, just as it was growing up with my sister.  We spent time together.  We did things together.  Even now we e-mail, call on the phone and try to have 'sister time' when we do get together as a family...even if it's just a walk around the block.

So loving wisdom must be like that.  When I read Proverbs, I'm loving wisdom.  When I pray about decisions and ponder what the Holy Spirit might be saying to me, I'm loving wisdom.  When I make choices based on the inner guidance I sense, I'm loving wisdom.

When I fight the feelings I have inside and don't want to follow through, I'm pulling myself away from that 'sister' relationship and letting something come in between.  When I feel too busy to read and meditate on the Scriptures and let the busyness win,  I'm shutting out that 'family' member.

I want to include wisdom in everything I do so that wisdom is a part of my 'family'.  It's easy to love my sister because she's a part of me and has been a long time.

It must be like that with wisdom.  The more time I give to it and the longer I know it, the more I will make it a part of me and my family.

I'm Like My Cat

This week I made salt dough ornaments for my music students.  I'd love to give them more for Christmas, but funds are really tight right now.  I decided to get creative and make them something for a change.

In the midst of the floury mess, with rolling pin in hand, and socks on my feet, I noticed my cat seemed to be getting a bit playful on the kitchen floor.  Couldn't be that I was making ornaments.  This could only mean one thing:  a mouse!

Sure enough.  She had a dead mouse.  At least I think it was dead.  I didn't want to get too close to confirm it.  I'm not real fond of mice to say the least.

Since I was pretty sure it was dead, I resumed working on my ornaments.  Next thing I knew, that mouse came flying across the floor right into my stocking feet.  I screamed out loud and jumped away. 

So that I could finish working on my ornaments and deal with the mouse later, I put my empty laundry basket upside down on top of the mouse to keep my cat from flinging it at me again.

While talking on the phone with my big sister, (I couldn't get the ornaments to roll out right - so I called for advice) I happened to see my cat playing in another part of the house.  Sure enough, somehow she had managed to remove the mouse from under the basket and was now flinging it around in the living room.

That's it.  I couldn't take the pressure of not knowing where that thing would fly to next. 

I went to the basement and grabbed my husband's big leather gloves, picked up the mouse by his/her tail (how do you know which it is?) and went outside. 

I'm still not sure if the mouse was alive or not, but it bumped against my glove and once again I screamed and flung it across the yard. 

When I came back in, heart pounding out of my chest, I noticed my cat lounging by the window as if she could care less that I had just removed her pride and joy from her.

Everyone says that she was proud of her mouse and wanted me to see it and to notice her.  Whatever.

I got to thinking though.  I'm not much different than her. 

I have a new project coming out soon. It's called "Hand Painted".  It has eleven contemporary worship tunes painted on the piano (and other instruments).  Every time I post my progress about it on facebook or twitter, I wonder if others are feeling turned off by my 'flinging' it around.  But I can't help it.  I'm quite fond of it. 

This is my catch.  My hard work is now finished and soon to be released to the world. 

This project is a canvas of musical colors created out of sheer joy with my hands and heart.

Playing the piano is where my musical journey all began, so doing this was like going home in a sense.  Leading worship has been a part of my musical journey too for many years.  Now the portrait is complete with some of my favorite tunes played on my favorite instrument. 

Thanks for listening, thanks for enjoying and thanks for continuing to support my music. 

And if it feels like a dead mouse to you that you personally have no interest in, that's ok.  That's the beauty of art.  Whether the beholder enjoys the art or not, I've had a great time 'capturing my mouse'. 

Hopefully others will notice and enjoy it too.  Does that mean I'm like my cat?

Relationship Versus Religion

I struggle sometimes.  Caught between religion and relationship.

At church over the weekend, my Pastor shared an amazing message about this very thing.

His points were worth sharing:

*  Religion seeks to replace the work of the Holy Spirit with our performance

*  Religion makes you miserable and mechanical

*  Religion will get you racking up points and keeping score

Religion is:

*  Trying to earn what is already ours

*  Trying to manufacture what only God can produce

*  Striving FOR acceptance instead of living FROM acceptance

Religion =

1)  You become performance focused or performance based

2)  You become competitive with someone else and do a lot of comparison with others in general

3)  You become a fault finder and critical

4)  You become defensive

5)  You live with an unresolved sense of guilt because you base your relationship with God on what you DO instead of   what Jesus did FOR you.

Trade in every 'religious' act for His love.

Trade in criticism for prayer.