All of the Above

“A New Law” by Derek Webb  For the times I start slipping back into legalism.

I am writing this from my new Apple MacBook.  It is a graduation gift …. a much needed graduation gift.  I had another laptop, but it was horribly slow and old and just plain annoying. Not to mention, it seemed to get up to about 100 degrees.  I’m trying to figure out how everything works, and am still getting used to the no right/left click trackpad button.  There’s a few keyboard changes too, but I’m not complaining.  I’m hoping with the built in webcam I’ll be able to keep in touch with my mom and my friends after I move out to California in less than 3 months (!!!).  I know there are a few MacBook users out there who read my blog … anything I should know about using this thing? 

…. for the Chapman family. 

I cannot Imagine how hard this must be.  Please keep them in your prayers.  Especially Will Franklin.

  I figured this would be good to post after my latest, more serious video. I LOVE John Piper.  This makes me laugh everytime.

  This video has just wrecked me and, even though I watched it a while ago,  I started thinking about it again today.  Sometimes I get to thinking I’m so great and significant.  I take the offense of others and blow it up into something larger than it is.  Even if it is something big my heart doesn’t want to forgive, it only wants to sulk and pity my poor little self. I don’t let God work through things that have happened to me in the past, instead, I question why a loving God would allow bad things to happen. I praise myself for things that I have done or things that I have said… encouragement that I have given.  Too often I’m focused on my inward feelings and thoughts that I forget to look “outward and upward” as CJ Mahaney puts it.  Too often in the morning, if I do start my day thinking about God, I don’t consider the complete awesomeness and holiness of God … and the fact that I shouldn’t be able to speak to Him.  I shouldn’t be able to get out of my bed.  I shouldn’t be able to breathe.  I shouldn’t be alive.  I think sometimes my day would look differently if I started it thinking about the holiness of God.  I wouldn’t lose sight of the cross.  Where else can the holiness of God take you but to the cross?  Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve heard this song before and have passed over it a lot while listening to “Cannons”, but it hit me last night as I was watching Phil’s live concert.

It’s kind of quiet but the lyrics are underneath the video.  Beautiful by Phil Wickham. 

I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say
You’re beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It’s all proclaiming who You are
You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

I see you there hanging on a tree
You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me
Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You’re beautiful, you’re beautiful

When we arrive at eternity’s shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we’ll sing
You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

I see Your face, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

This song is by a fairly new band .. “Addison Road”, so there was no video anywhere to accompany it. This song is definitely worth a lookup on their website. I pray none who read this would be engulfed by this shallow,empty dream.

He sees his life just pass by
Just another number in a suit and tie
No purpose here nothing to give
Is this what it means to really live?
His feet never touch the ground
His days fly by, he can’t slow down

(CHORUS)
Casualties of the American dream
Have we lost our vision
Drifting off and living
Half asleep with a faint heartbeat
Just dying to be revived
I want to be revived

She’s screaming out,”I’ve lost control”
Caught in another undertow
She’s only barely hanging on
Been holding her breath for so long
Her feet never touch the ground
She’s not sure which way is up or down

(CHORUS)
Casualties of the American dream
Have we lost our vision
Drifting off and living
Half asleep with a faint heartbeat
Just dying to be revived

I want to be revived
I want to feel alive
And in a world so numb
Don’t let me become another
Casualty living in a dream

(CHORUS)
Casualties of the American dream
Have we lost our vision
Drifting off and living
Half asleep with a faint heartbeat
Just dying to be revived
I want to be revived

I want to be revived

This is just going to be awesome.  A sweet, sweet time of adoration of Jesus.   I can’t wait!

Keep checking Phil’s blog for more details and mark May 9th on your calendars!!!

What happens/ comes to mind as you watch this?

Radiohead, one of the world’s top bands, has joined the MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign, a partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and MTV to raise awareness about human trafficking. The collaboration takes the Asia MTV EXIT campaign to a global audience, reaching as many as 560 million households worldwide.

“Radiohead is taking MTV EXIT to a new level and expanding the Asia campaign, which is on air, online and on the ground,” said Olivier Carduner, USAID’s Regional Mission Director for Asia.

As part of this effort, Radiohead is releasing a music video on MTV tomorrow (May 1) to the track All I Need, from its album In Rainbows. Filmed by Oscar-winning cinematographer John Seale (”The English Patient”) and award-winning director Steve Rogers, the video depicts a day in the life of both an affluent youngster and a child making shoes in a sweatshop, sending a message that everyone plays a role in trafficking and exploitation.

For more information on USAID and its programs to combat human trafficking around the world, visit http://www.usaid.gov.