who's fault?

i don't say this facetiously or sarcastically. i realize most of us don't really have as much of a choice as we would like to regarding the people we feel obliged to communicate with. but honestly, where do some of us get the idea that we have to pursue an active relationship with those who live completely foolish lives if we don't have any kind of positive impact on them. one might say. "well you never know! maybe they will change!". first, hypothesis is not a good grounds for remaining miserable or stressed out. we are not responsible for curtailing the natural consequences that befall people who do whatever they want to do. secondly, we have to examine our own hearts in situations like this. are we really doing what we do for their benefit, or are we doing it to make ourselves feel like the good guy? problem is, if we set ourselves up for some kind of fallout because of what we saw was coming, it totally removes our "goodness" when we bitch and moan about how so and so is screwing up my life, and they don't appreciate anything i do, and they owe me respect or whatever. if you are someone who thinks that way, yer living on the wrong planet. humans suck, regardless of your idealism and optimism. you are only in charge of you. even if you are raising children, you don't have as much effect on their future as you would like to think you do. third, and most important, God's word talks about "fools" or people who are "evil" countless times. what, you think you aren't related to any, or hang around them (hopefully you don't)? Jesus said that if we follow Him, we have to make hard choices about the people we associate with.
Matt. 36 - 39 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. "And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.".
anything or anyone that does not bring you closer to God is an enemy. it doesn't mean we should hate anyone or treat someone badly, and regardless of how screwed up someone's choices are, we should still assist them if they have no food or shelter. but there is a very clear line, and if we don't stay on God's side of that line, we will suffer for no good reason. summing up, i leave you with this awesome verse from proverbs 1.
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

true to thyself

for a very long time, i have wondered to myself, "why am i not pursuing music by the same methods that all these other musicians are?". i can only answer that now. i have to be in full control of my music. my songs are like my children. i don't want ANYONE else raising them the way THEY think is right. it's really only been within the last few years that a musician can record, mix and master at a professional level themselves at a relatively inexpensive cost. it has also not been possible to distribute, market and promote music effectively without outside help until the advent of internet music sites like noisetrade, and self distribution sites like cd baby. i literally am in control of every aspect of all my music through my own actual record label, leik nel. i receive all royalties, and control price and availability. my music will not go "out of print" because a label isn't making enough profit to justify the proliferation of my albums. i don't get input from anyone. i make music that i like, and if i sell albums in that process, i am thrilled. but most importantly, i make music because i love making music, and i write lyrics that point to Jesus as the source of all that is good. i have no pressure from anyone to change one iota musically or lyrically. this would not have been possible on the scale that i am now working even 2 years ago. every dog has his day. God is good.