February 9, 2010

On A Personal Note

A quick glance at my website shows me it’s been over a month since I’ve written anything substantial on a personal note, so by way of update I give you this.

Since I’ve last written, my personal life has been in a bit of turmoil. On January 5th, one day following my previous update, my girlfriend and I broke up, it was unexpected to say the least, but that’s all I will go into on that front. However, we have been pretty busy on the road, we are starting to have a pretty full calendar which is nice. The more time we are working is the less time I am spending sitting in hotels being bored, so I’m very thankful for that. I had a great chance on Saturday (the 6th of February) to go and visit a few museums in Sacramento California, on account of it being free museum day. The museum that Kory and I spent the most time in was the Automotive Museum, it was really neat to see all the cars from the early 1900’s to late 1900’s as well as some of the first and most recent electric cars. There was also a few sweet motorcycles, however I was upset not to see any Royal Enfields.  I am excited to head to the pacific northwest for the month of march, it is one of the areas I’ve always wanted to travel to. Im excited to enjoy a few days in the Seattle area as well.

So that’s what’s going on, here are a few snapshots.





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February 8, 2010

Less Than Zero

Bret Easton Ellis’ 1985 work “Less than Zero” tells the tale of the rich and elite part scene of the early 1980’s through the eyes of Clay, son of privilege who returns home from his posh life at Camden University in New Hampshire to his life of decadence in Los Angeles’ famed neighborhoods. As Clay first returns he seems struck that his friends continue life at normal, instead subconsciously wishing they would stop what they’re doing and acknowledge the fact that he has moved on in his life and has come back to visit. As the novel progresses the reader finds Clay progressively easing back into the elite social scene of the early 1980’s at all the clubs on Hollywood et al. This continues for a bit, until Clay grows disenfranchised with his friends lack of progress and maturation. One  of his friends turns into a male whore, and another one is into snuff films. Clay is the only one disturbed by the course his friends’ lives are on. Ultimately the decisions his friends have made lead to Clay leaving Los Angeles, and his return is questionable, even doubtful.

The book was pretty uninteresting, and didn’t really seem to make itself accessible. To me it seemed to be one of those books that was just arrogant to say, “If you don’t like it, then you don’t get it.” It was bogged down with boring, even artificial dialouge; and often left me wondering if any of this stuff ever happens, and by the end of it, I couldn’t wait for it to be over. Not one of the better books I’ve ever read, though I should have known when the back of the cover said, “Catcher in the Rye for the MTV generation- Usa Today” It should have said “Catcher in the Rye for the generation that doesn’t really like literature” 2/5 stars at best.

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January 31, 2010

It’s All Yours from Mike Brandes on Vimeo.

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January 30, 2010

The King and Dr. Nick

If you are anything like me, and you weren’t alive when Elvis was at his zenith of popularity, or even have an interest in his life and fame beyond a few snappy phrases, and a collection of songs that can be sung in a karaoke, then this book is not for you. Yes, it is entertaining, and enjoyable to read. However, it is far to dense to serve just to entertain or engage somebody at a casual reading level. Instead, this book serves to in effect, clear the name of Dr. George Nichopoulos, or “Dr. Nick” as the king of Rock N’ Roll affectionately referred to him. Dr. Nick was Elvis’ personal physician, however the two felt they were more apart of each other’s families than merely doctor and patient. Dr. Nick took a beating in the press following the rock star’s unexpected and untimely death in August of 1977. Many still perceive Elvis death to be the cause of overdose of drugs he had been addicted to for quite some time, and Dr. Nick to be the enabling doctor that kept the king pacified and well supplied with his favorite barbiturates. This book is a resounding and in-depth testimony against that fact, and offers perspective of Dr. Nick from the time Elvis first needed his medical attention, to the time following his death, where he continued to provide care for Elvis’ father, and grandmother. It’s a great book for those interested in Elvis, however, if you’re not, it’s an OK book at best.

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January 27, 2010

I have, as of late, been reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, and its been wrecking my mind. I want to share a few quotes from the book, and then explain myself.

“I felt like a race horse in a world without racetracks or a champion college footballer suddenly confronted by Wall Street and a business suit, his days of glory shrunk to a little gold cup on his mantel with a date engraved on it like the date on a tombstone. I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked.
…I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and everyone of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet”
“I saw the years of my life spaced along a road in the form of telephone poles threaded together by wires. I counted one, tow, three… nineteen telephone poles, and the the wires dangled into space and try as i could I couldn’t see a single one beyond the nineteenth”

At this point in my life, I’m very uncertain about the future. In 6 months I have no idea what I’m going to do with my life. There are jobs, there are places to live, there are cars, car insurance, health insurance, life insurance etc, a million decisions. Pray for me, pray for guidance, for opportunities to open, for perseverance, patience, and optimism.

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January 4, 2010

A promise is a promise

The pains of promises

This past new years (4 days ago) I made a list of things that I would like to accomplish by the end of the year. Some things are personal, some things are psychological, some things are physical. A few of these resolutions, or promises are: to lose the remaining amount of weight to get down to 200 lbs; to become more of a patient person; to be optimistic by default instead of pessimistic.

The problems when we make resolutions and promises is somewhere along the way, people are going to want to see results, and to keep us accountable. I could resolve, and promise to lose the last 18 lbs I need to, but in march if I weigh 240 lbs again, it will be painfully evident that I failed to deliver on my promises.

In an effort to make good on my resolutions and shed some weight, I went to the hotel fitness center today and attempted to run a mile. In high-school I used to be quite the athlete, and was in shape, I could run 6 miles at a time, and run one mile in around 5:45. Needless to say, I was reminded that in fact I am 5 years removed from high-school (thats a scary thought) This is the first time I’ve exercised since August, and I was humbled to find out that 12:08 is the fastest I can run a mile.

While it wasn’t easy today, and Im assured it will only get harder today, I’m committed to dropping some weight, and being a more optimistic person, and to be patient with things. I can only hope that three, six, nine months down the road there will be some sort of evidence that this is true, after all I wouldn’t want to break a promise.

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December 19, 2009

Pain is not the Enemy

“Pain is not the enemy,” emphatically stated in the book, Finding Purpose Beyond our Pain by Paul Meier, MD and David L. Henderson, MD. This book fully identifies with the axiom; “everyone can get something from this book.” The problem lies in the fact that while everyone can get something out of the book, there is no real depth explored in each of the issues. In this book the authors explore seven different causes of pain, and how we can “Uncover the hidden potential in life’s most common struggles.” While the book is shallow on psychiatry, it does not lack in the arena of biblical support. This book is replete with scriptural evidence to support the points of the authors. However, I would have appreciated more psychiatry to go along with theology.

When I received this book I was hoping for in depth analysis on overcoming pain, and sound medical and counseling practices on doing so, but I was disappointed to find only anecdotal accounts of people struggling, and then overcoming. I cannot in good faith recommend this book highly to anyone looking to overcome pain, but for those interested in counseling, the anecdotes will provide some help and possibly a fresh perspective.

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November 26, 2009

15 days in November

It’s been 15 days from the last time I wrote. If you’re wondering, I’m sitting in a basement watching some of Kimmie’s family playing backyard baseball on the wii.

Since I last updated we left Nashville, and headed to Westmoreland, TN and headed northward to the wonderful state of Ohio, or as I still refer to it “home” (sorry, mom). It was nice we arrived in Springfield on thursday night, did a friday morning concert, then headed to a different church in springfield to do a sunday morning concert, then to St. Paris Ohio, for those who aren’t Ohio-savvy St. Paris is East of Urbana… Then we couldn’t find anyplace to go, so thankfully scheduling did what worked out best for me and just brought us back to Springfield and then onward to Cedarville… The reason I’m so excited is because I got to spend over a week with Kimmie, it was nice, face to face interaction, not phone conversations… I met part of the Bowen family (Mom, Dad, Sister Laura, Brother In Law Dave, and Niece Ava (who is adorable by the way) at Panera for dinner. I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous, but It went pretty well, I think they like me…

Our sunday morning church was High Street Church of the Nazarene in Springfield… While there I had the opportunity to meet/reminisce with Kevin Mays. For those who went to Lake Carroll Baptist Church you’ll remember this name, his parents Roger and Gloria Mays, sister and family (the lawsons) went there for many years… small world, but it was nice to meet a fellow gator in a state dominated by a love for a lesser football team Ohio State.

We then went to Cedarville University which as most of you know is my Alma Mater, to perform in a chapel service… It was weird being back in any sort of official capacity. Interestingly enough, some things with Cedarville never do change, as they attempted to give me demerits for scanning and scramming, go figure, I couldn’t even take one chapel, what are the odds?

We were in Lynchburg this past weekend. It is nice to see all the people from the office, but at the same time its a little unnerving making sure everything runs completely optimum in front of all the bosses. But it went pretty smooth, and there were right around 2000 boxes donated to christmas for an orphan, so that was excellent… that is an estimated donation of right around $60,000!

I flew monday afternoon from Lynchburg to Ohio, and am spending thanksgiving with Kimmie’s family, its pretty exciting, at this exact moment I am watching Kimmie’s brother in law dave play punchout on the wii.

here are a few pictures of the kids, now that I finally got my camera back.





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November 10, 2009

What’s up yo?

Its been a while since I’ve last updated, and I apologize for that. So here is a rambling account of what all has taken place over the time since I have last written.

Wow it’s been near a month.

Lets see, we were in and out of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona, then a long drive from Arizona to Nashville Tennessee. We had some automobile troubles and had to leave the truck in Amarillo Tx, and then the next day or so in El Paso Tx for a few days. As it turns out whoever installed the external gas tank in the truck did so foolishly. It is a steel tank, and diesel rusts out steel, and therefore our entire fuel system was contaminated, and all 8 of our fuel injectors had to be replaced, and the system completely flushed and then fixed. So not only did it destroy our fuel system, but we also now have to fill up the truck once/twice a day instead of once a week or so, that sorta stinks, but its a little price to pay.

Then we went westward to Glendale Arizona, to a rather large church, at least comparative to the churches we’ve been in thus far. It was nice, they had a good system and a they even had video system. that was a good concert.

Then we left to go to nashville tennessee. It was a long long drive, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1800 miles, quite a bit of driving, but it had to be done. In nashville we had the great opportunity to perform with steven curtis chapman for national orphan weekend. For those who don’t know November is National Orphan month, and Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife started a ministry that helps those who can’t afford to adopt, be financially able to adopt orphans. We performed saturday night at ShowHope (SCC’s ministry’s) fellowship. We performed a few of our songs and then sang the two songs that we sang with steven, and then a worship song to close out the night (Mighty to Save, for those who are interested). Then on sunday we sang a few songs at Christ Community Church where we performed later that evening for the Cry of the orphan webcast, that was a huge production that was webcast all over the world, who knows how many people saw it, it was an incredible thing to be a part of. Hope you guys got a chance to watch it and see the kids!

Looking forward, we are headed to springfield ohio, just a stone’s throw away from Cedarville, so that will be nice. and then the following week, we will be in Cedarville. Needless to say not only am i excited to go back and see old friends and professors, but for those of you that don’t know I have a girlfriend, her name is Kimmie, and she lives in Cedarville, so it will be super nice to see her as well, since we haven’t seen each other since the first week in June. Then I’ll also get to spend the entire week of thanksgiving in Cedarville with Kimmie and her family, it will be nice/incredibly nerve wracking, hopefully  I’ll make a good impression.

Things I’m looking forward to: Getting the next book that I’ll be reviewing for Thomas Nelson, Seeing Kimmie, Being back at cedarville, that’s all I can think of right now… be sure to stay tuned to the website, hopefully I’ll be updating more, or as always you can just come here to look at my twitter.

leave a comment, I would love to hear how YOU are doing, that and the only one that comments on this is my mom, how lame am I? Love you mom.

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November 1, 2009

The Search for God and Guinness

Stephen Mansfield serves up a delicious, frothy, and engaging account of the history of the Guinness family, and how they intertwined faith and beer. By this account, the Guinness family took more pride in the faith, and sense of duty to their workers that was passed down from generation to generation than the recipe for their world famous stout porter. Mansfield takes the reader through an in depth history of the Guinness Company, and how they used their social standing, influence, and wealth to better their company, as well as the lives of every one of their employees. Mansfield takes painstakingly careful detail to account for the ways the Guinness family bettered the lives of their workers, from basic hygiene to academic, and homemaking classes for the wives of employees. In a time where so many corporations have failed both in terms of making a profit, and caring for their employees, its nice to read a story of a company that has flourished in both regards for the past 250 years. In honor of Mansfield’s thorough account, I raise my glass, and say cheers! I recommend you pick up a copy of this book and read it for yourself.

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