gosh, that looks boring!

i really love the power of this image, especially in the day and time that we live. you know, in the early 1900's, they didn't have hardly any electronic based entertainment. the best it got was a radio or a record player. many households at certain times of the day or afternoon, would gather around listen to the news or radio shows. entertainment was human based. plays, movies, music, dance, radio, social clubs, sports, - etc. was the entertainment of the day. this is how people passed their time if they were not working. it gave a sense of community because humans relied directly on each other for almost every part of their lives. now-a-days youth rely on things like fake animated characters, or ipods, or the like so as to tune the world out. faceless names on a computer screen seperated by the internet, lying to one another about how cool they really are, or at best let's take our most flattering somewhat sexy digital snapshot of ourselves so that we can upload it on myspace. it's the mp3 and video game generation. it's sensationalism, and we cant get enough. special effects 10 years ago are cheesy now. we need more and more and more .... dulling our minds until we can't feel anymore. it's got to taste sweeter, sound fuller; more eye candy, more more more. most people live only in the world of their five senses, shutting themselves off- and the whole time the idea of community is dying. most people never reach beyond this world of their senses, and the whole time, the temple is empty, waiting for His presence; while most are somewhere out there beyond the outer courts.... Paul said, "dont you know that you are a temple of the Holy Spirit?" God forbid that we should be ever so distracted.... i can feel it some times trying to creep in. let's sit down for a long while and "listen....."

THIS IS AWESOME!!!

i dont have anything deep to say today, but it is a "somewhat" daily blog...so you know that i had to write something. i guess ill leave you with this really inspiring picture.

Don't Just Do Something, Stand There!

i was listening to a sermon on the radio yesterday, and i was really impressed by this guy. i have heard him before on several occasions, still not sure what his name was though.

anyway, he was talking about how Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross for our sins was and is good enough permanently. we don't have to add anything to it, and as a matter of fact...when we try to earn his salvation, or when we feel like we are not good enough for it, we are essentially saying that what he achieved on the cross, is not good enough, nor is it powerful enough to reach us in our mess. this of course is by far, not the case. what Jesus did for us that day has made us COMPLETELY whole and without sin. hard to grasp huh? it is for me too, but i do believe it. i believe not with my mind, but through faith. romans chapter 7 and 8 are great. check out 7:17.

i think after the realization of this, we need to not take this for granted, nor sin more so that grace can abound...but let this realization compel us to make right decisions. even when you do what you don't want to do, Jesus' blood is good enough and powerful enough. the realization of this is the start of our abundant life. it's in this fullness of life that we really start to see sin for what it is. it's terrible, it's ugly, and it's powerless. as we get to know Him, and hang out with him more, we'll start looking more like Him - this is what sanctification means. what a joy! what great news! Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection has conquered sin and death! it's good enough.

mullet man...and no im not talking about the fish...

whoa, yesterday i saw an awesome mullet, but i didnt have time to take a picture...


i am reminded of a time when i was a micro-legendary rock star traveling in a band to san antonio, Texas on one of our tours. we decided we would do some outreach concerts for a guy over there (who we will call "mark" - who happened to be kevin prosch's ex-road manager), who ran a really cool street level ministry. well, everyone had heard about this guy's mullet. it was one of those really long kentucky waterfall types that would make even the bravest livingston parish soul shudder in fear. yeah...one of those kind.

well anyway, we were to meet at our lead singer's house to get in the van so that we could go over there and play some gigs... our soundman and road manager neil was really late. we weren't for sure what was taking so long...but we knew it must have been really important because neil was NEVER late.

right when it was reaching to the point of frustration about his tardiness, here comes neil with the fattest dukes of hazard mullet i've seen in a good long time. business in the front, party in the back. he steps out of his truck with a cape on and a large "M" on his shirt....yelling, " i am mullett man!"

Oh no....

well, we finally convinced him to not be mullett man around "mark" because we were afraid of hurting his feelings.

when we got there, we met "mark," and yep, there it was. it was the real deal...

the next several hours was really tough. neil (mullet man) would wait until "mark" would leave the room and then neil in a superman type of transformation would enter the van as neil the soundman and exit as mullet man. he'd run around the room with his arms outstretched holding out his flowing red cape yelling "i am mullet man!!!" then we'd all get upset and humored at the same time...telling him to leave before "mark" came back....

well, luckily "mark" never saw mullet man, uh, i mean neil do this, but to our surprise a few weeks after the gig, we received notice that "mark" had indeed shaved his mullet, complete with before and after pictures!!!!

we are thinking that perhaps he caught wind of mullet man.....



(this story is slightly embellished - but not much!!!)

2 for 1 Friday part II

My mail has been stacking up... I wonder what He's got in there for me?

2 For 1 Friday...

I feel like this dude lately. Got too much going on.

all together now! i love this picture....this picture is from the early 1900's. for some reason it reminds me of the church. what do you think? what does it speak to you?
I think it could be a really great album cover for a punk record.