Archive for the “Media” CategoryPosts that have audio or video content I’m getting so close.. I had to miss my lesson today, but I went after work, and I got underwater. In fact, I worked until I could stay under with my feet off the ground, holding on to the stair with one arm, and held that for about 20 seconds or so. What I lack is just being able to let go. Feet were up, but one hand still remained. But two weeks ago putting my head in the water pretty much made me want to cry. Now I can do it. I think once I take the plunge, and just go, I’ll probably sink, freak a little, then get back up and go again… and I’ll be ready to swim. But I just didn’t quite have the courage today to give it a shot. Baby steps I guess. I’m excited, I think I’m really going to like it! God most definitely gave me a gift in music. Thank You for that… I really believe songs have the ability to capture a heart. Almost like a camera captures an image, a song can take me back to wonderful times.. or not so wonderful.. but all the same songs capture emotion and I love that about them. For instance, Johnny Cash American Recordings 4 is Destin, Pop-Tarts, my cousin, cartoons, sunrise…. Coldplay X&Y is August, and St. Louis.. Guided By Voices is Auburn, and driving to class, and working And Modest Mouse The Moon and Anarctica is driving over the bridge and seeing Destin with Andy, and high fiving. I could go on and on. But here is my soundtrack as currently planned for this weekend. The Slip – Eisenhower But there’s usually always a surprise too… I hope everyone is well. See you soon!! But for us it was Tecmo Super Bowl III on the Sega Genesis. This is a great idea though!! This is one of the bands we watched last night. I’m not sure this or any of the YouTube videos does them justice, seriously. It was one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen. They were really different, and energetic… and they had Christmas lights and all played 3 or 4 instruments, sometimes all at once. :-) It was a fun show… It still hasn’t been very long since Enterprise High School was hit by a tornado… if you’ve been watching the news, I’m sure you’ve heard of Greensburg, KS. Or what’s left of it… I’m sitting here watching KWCH out of Wichita over the internet… and I saw a report about the rescue and recovery effort in Greensburg. The helicopter view confirms something I’ve been hearing but could hardly believe… that the entire town was wiped out. Not a structure without damage. Check out these pictures. The latest death toll I’ve heard was 7. I read a story here about the radar operator who probably saved many lives with his great warnings and strong warning language… If you’re reading this, please take a moment to pray for all the residents of Kansas and Oklahoma. They’ve been through two destructive and scary days. Many are injured, homeless, bewildered. The entire city of Greensburg was evacuated. Pray for those residents, displaced people, their families… the children who don’t understand. And the tornadoes tonight are still rumbling there… as I watch there are 3 more warnings. And another potential line forming. So pray for the evening cooling to lift these storms and to weaken them. These folks have been through enough… I really did the second half of the race. I actually prayed a lot. I was getting frustrated I think with starting slower… but God really spoke to me about freedom… and enjoying everything and seeing it for the blessing that it is. The sprays of water and the Christian band at mile 10 or so also helped. Anyway, by the time I got to the end I was in a great mood. And… I have the pictorial evidence to prove it. Laugh away friends!!
It was the first thing that came to my mind. Although maybe it would have more stuff on it. But it’s just March… My friend John Wortham took it this weekend. Just beautiful!
Had a great weekend… you can see below about the trip to the Firehouse Shelter Saturday, I’m still floating over that. Also got to spend quality time with my good friend Matt, we went to see Reign Over Me Saturday Night and then ran 14 miles Sunday… I was really pumped about all that. And Sunday was really great. I’m really enjoying being a leader in the college group. The guys and girls are just awesome. I really have high hopes that we will make a difference in our church and in our city. I’m really excited about giving my first message there in a few weeks. Nervous, but excited. I ran a total of 20 miles, 6 with speedwork on Saturday and 14 on Sunday. A special thank you to the group of 4 girls who called Matt and I cute guys as we ran by…. I think the adrenaline took about 45 seconds per mile off my times from that point until the end. :-) And you think I’m joking… That was my first 20 mile weekend in a while. I’m sore, but I’m good. Hoping that I’m coming back and have some good race times coming. School.. back this week. Things are going well, I’m loving it. I’ve been told by one person maybe I took a tough class to start with, and if I still feel so pumped and am so engaged, maybe I really am called. It was cool to hear… I think I’ve said this before but I’ve never been able to just sit down and study anything for 5 hours on a Saturday. But God… I can study Him that way. It really makes me happy… and although I have had a few moments, mostly brought about by fatigue and sickness… it’s been a major blessing. And my grades are even good :-) but that’s not the first aim at all… Been listening to Modest Mouse’s new album. It is just great… I have a whole blog post I want to write about secular music and Christian music, and Issac Brock from Modest Mouse and how he understands spiritual truths and doesn’t even realize it, as an atheist or an agnostic… Maybe that was no different than where I came from. But the album is really good… Movies here at the house, Crash and Glory Road… I hope to have some time to dig into them soon.. Books: Ok, this year.. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Matthew, Mark, Acts… start Judges tomorrow.. The Universe Next Door by James Sire, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Fee and Stuart, reading Living By the Book by Howard Hendricks… coming soon to a pair of eyeballs near me, Sex God, the new book by Rob Bell, and Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus which I’m kind of foaming at the mouth to get in front of me. He is the pioneer of microlending and microfinance… which is another topic I owe a long blog post about. Also there are my text books, Discipleship by Hadidian, and Understanding and Applying the Bible by McQuilkin… also The Lost Art of Discipleship, the Master Plan of Evangelism are on the list for the next few weeks… Oh, and what would a random blog post be without my nieces??? Here are the two photo galleries of Katelyn’s pictures from last week. Megan is also in a couple of them, just adorable both of them!!! I truly am… Today was one of the most amazing days I can remember. God is so amazing. So a few weeks ago, actually when I was sick, I was lamenting the fact that I hadn’t really been out in the community much. Especially at the Firehouse Shelter, where we watched football games in the fall. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to.. just wasn’t making the time and didn’t have a good idea for what to do. Then suddenly, God hit me in the head. I jumped out of bed and started writing emails. What if… what if we had a karaoke party?? So I cleared it with the shelter. The college group was scheduled to serve the meal there March 24… so I figured that would be the perfect day to do it. So I asked my dad, who’s a (great) karaoke DJ if he’d bring his music and equipment. And a God idea was born. So today finally comes… I have to admit, I was a little nervous my idea would go over like a boat anchor. :-) But I figured if God wanted this to go well then it would. I felt like that’s where I got the idea anyway, and I felt like it matched up with one of the C’s I set out at the beginning of the year… crazy. And I just didn’t even know what God was about to do.. So first of all, Mari Beth and the gang knocked the ball out of the ballpark. They made spaghetti (I poured one can of sauce and washed a couple of dishes) and salad and brownies. MB and Blair did most of that work this morning, which made getting to the shelter super stress free.. So we get there really early, and they’re having an AA meeting.. so we got to see a little bit of the life and battle these guys go through all the time. It’s life and death in there… these guys are trying to take a step, out of the cycle of addiction that is killing them. I just hoped our little party might be able to help somehow.. So the meeting ended and we got everything set up. Then it was time to start… the girls started with Respect by Aretha Franklin. It was really fun. The guys started to warm up a little. Then the guys started singing… and it was dynamite
So we sang a bit, and then it was time to serve the meal… as the guys are eating, Mari Beth and Blair and the others started engaging the guys… just looking from where I was, I could see God at work in the guys, and in the volunteers. I kinda started getting chills.. If you’ve read my blog for a while you know about my friend Vince. He lives on the street and raps for God.. that is my boy, seriously. So… and tell me this isn’t a God thing… he hasn’t been to the shelter on Saturday in months, and here he is.. with his CD, just the music, no lyrics. So I’m convincing him to sing. Meanwhile, more guys are jumping in and singing… and a couple of them even did a capella because we didn’t have the song on karaioke. And we’re all singing along with them and clapping. The rest of the crew had to get back to the church… but by this time, my dad… he was just fully engaged with these guys. I couldn’t believe what God was doing. It was the craziest idea.. and God was all in it. There were a couple of guys who were real short with us as we were setting up.. and with my dad about the speakers and things like that. And by this time these guys’ hearts had just softened and they were having fun and interacting and talking with us. Then I got Vince up there, and he got to perform his song live for the shelter. And he had that place going, let me tell you. It was beautiful… People dancing, hands in the air… I never even dreamed when the idea came to me how this could be…
And so I thought that was the top… then a girl who I never got a chance to meet brought up a Mary J Blige CD… and her and another guy and a guy named Raphael grabbed the microphones and my dad cranked it up, and they were singing along. And if this whole shelter didn’t get up, and it was like this big huge dance party! Oh my God!!!
I mean, just watching this.. knowing what the days can be like here for these guys… I had goosebumps all over. I just wanted to cry. Deborah who works at the shelter was getting into it… everyone was having so much fun… I tried to take in every minute… Then it was time to finish up, and we were all high fiving, and everyone was asking my dad when he was coming back. I could see this genuine joy on his face, and I was just…. overwhelmed. The whole thing was amazing. So I helped my dad load up, and then I went back inside. Then I got the opportunity to spend another hour with a couple of guys who were having some problems.. and hear their stories, and encourage them to stay strong and keep fighting, and that we were praying for them, and we cared whether they won or lost these battles, and that more than anything was why we were there. One of them told me that there were at least a couple of guys who did not engage at all, that just slept and ate… and suddenly during this party they came alive… and I looked over and they were engaged with some other guys, smiles on their faces, real joy showing through… and before they just slept with their head against a locker??? And I would have never known that… God is so wonderful, and the people I served with today and my dad… so wonderful.. God gave me this idea, and so many others ran with it, and it’s almost like I watched just in amazement at what He was doing in us, and in these guys. I had some Bibles in my car, and there were a few guys that needed new ones so I brought them in and handed them out. And then it was time to go… I got in the car, and just started thinking back… and I really just wanted to cry. I pray that the effects of today help a guy get through a tough time.. to know that people in Vestavia care whether he lives or dies or makes it through treatment. And we care because Jesus cares whether he lives or dies or makes it through treatment or not. Karaoke and dancing was the expression, the instrument. The love of Jesus Christ is the reason. I don’t think I deserve to be a part of such amazing stuff sometimes. God is so good to me over and over again… It’s been like 7 hours and I’m still a little bit numb about it. In this country, Jesus has a bad rap.. really.. he’s the ‘not fun’ guy… a interesting character lost in a postmodern ‘reality’, a cliche of cliches… But if you really take the time to get to know Him… read his Word… understand why He came and how He did what He did… you’d realize that Jesus was so revolutionary, so dangerous to the status quo. Nothing stayed as it was when Jesus came to town. His mission for us is to change people’s lives, to change the world. To bring them to Him and to make their lives more abundant… I hope it feels that way for the guys, because I know it does for me. I could be wrong but this seems to be what Jesus was all about to me… Thanks to everyone who made this happen today, I couldn’t have done it without all the people cooking and serving and DJing… you are my heroes. And thanks to God for giving me an idea that turned into blessing city! I might not sleep tonight, seriously. :-) |
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