Mississippi Mud

This was my favorite side of Roby...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJlU7AqwdVM

We've No Less Days...

Here's a video of Roby leading his version of Amazing Grace at a songwriter's workshop. Man, we lost a great one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22e2UMPrQp8

A Sad Day

We learned today that our long-time friend, Roby Duke, went home to Jesus this week. Just to be clear...this is a GREAT day for Roby (and Jesus), but a sad day for those of us who loved to hang out with one of the best musicians around.

He was a good friend, fellow Southerner, an encourager, exhorter, servant, and lover of good food. I missed him when we moved out here to PA. I miss him even more now.


Roby had one #1 hit on Billboards CCM Charts. It was "I Shall See God" from 1990.

The lyrics are especially moving today:

It's almost as if someone is standing there
And I don't know what I'd give to see the face that seems to stare
All my life I'd give to know His ways
But, just how much I know, I'm no fool I dare not say

As I go in the way of the earth
As I step through the door
There where time is no more
I shall see God

Older, much older now, I still believe
That when all else is gone the Rock of Ages cleft for me
Holding something I can't feel or see
I'll tarry 'til the day I hear the music of the free

As I go in the way of the earth
As I step through the door
There where time is no more
I shall see Perfect peace, perfect love

Finally I'll face the beginning
As I go As I go in the way of the earth
As I step through the door
There where time is no more
I shall see God

I shall see Him
I shall see Him

I remember hearing that song when we lived in Miami. I said to Kendra..."Wow, that sounds like James Taylor. Did he become a believer?"

I had the pleasure of knowing Roby during his Renaissance years (basically the past decade). If you haven't heard his music lately, you need to. He has a couple of his newer cuts on his Myspace. I am proud to say that he gave me a bootleg copy of "Relaxed Fits" before it was released...it is simply beautiful.

I also got to hang out with him one day (he was helping me choose a guitar for my son, Derek) when he played for me a project that he was working on to help people who were in hospice care. Another beauty. No surprise...Roby was beautiful.

Now he's stunning.

While at Crossroads Bible Church (where Roby's best friend, Anne, was my co-laborer), I had the privilege of leading one of my favorite Roby Duke songs at least a couple of dozen times. I'll sign off with it tonight.

Good night, Roby. See you in the Morning...

He Shall Reign

Behold the God Who leads us day by day to worship his Son.
Behold the Lion of Judah Who for our salvation battled and won.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah!

He shall reign forever and ever.
The Lord omnipotent praise His name forever, amen.
He shall reign forever and ever.
His kingdom come His will be done forever, amen.

Behold the Balm of Gilead who heals and prays with Heaven's power.
Behold and praise the Son of God who hears us in our darkest hour.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah!

He shall reign forever and ever.
The Lord omnipotent praise His name forever, amen.
He shall reign forever and ever.
His kingdom come His will be done forever, amen.

Oh...and Tami, too

When we wrote our annual Christmas letter, I insisted on listing all of the wonderful friends and family who took the time to come visit us in our first lonely months away from Seattle. Kendra said, "You'd better not list everyone by name because you're going to forget somebody." "Ha!" I said, "Ha! How could I possibly forget somebody?"

I forgot somebody.

Our friend Tami Dale, who drove several hours out of her way to spend an afternoon with us, was left off of the list.

Thanks for visiting us, Tami. It really did mean a lot to us (at the time). "Ha!"

-Rob

Guilted into the blogosphere

"Okay, okay, we'll do it!"

Here we are...blogging. I (Rob) am not particularly into the whole Blog thing (after all, Jayson Turner completely blasted the blogosphere in one of his sermons last year and I might have voiced a hearty "Amen!" here and there). BUT...my good friend Steve Allen keeps bugging us about it. So, seeing that he is in Africa serving God in ways that most of us only nightmare about, I decided that I would do it for him.

So, here it is - A Very Bigley Blog - just for our dear friends the Allens...and, I suppose, anyone else in the whole entire world who wants to check in on the Bigleys every once in a while.

And now...our first photo upload:

No, this is not our family, but when you move to Lancaster, PA, you spend your first several weeks taking photos of every Amish person that you see. After a while you realize that they are going to be here a while, so there's no big rush. Still, it's pretty cool. So cool that Lancaster county's Amish-sighting-based tourist industry is huge. We're talking millions of tourists a year with their noses pressed against the windows of their air-conditioned motor coaches hoping to catch a glimpse of some guy with a beard plowing his fields.

Life here is good - we have begun to build some wonderful friendships, we love our church (http://www.crosswaypa.org/), I (Rob) love my job (http://www.lbc.edu/), and Kendra and the kids are loving the extra time they have together with Kendra not needing to work.

Over Thanksgiving we met up with my Dad and his wife, Karen, in Williamsburg, VA. We had a great time. Here's a photo to prove it:

See...great time. Told you so.

Okay. That's it. The first blog. Now, that wasn't so bad after all.

Time for my root canal.

Rob (for all)