Blog.

There are few things in life that really get “under my skin”, but one of those things happens to be something that a large majority of people seem to do. I see it everywhere: in politics, in church, in families, at school, in the movies, sports teams, bible studies, etc. Basically any organization or gathering that involves people. Not everyone exhibits this behavior, but the longer I live and the more I look around, the more my eyes are opened to it. I am even guilty of this at times, but I’m trying to change that.

Wondering where I’m going with this? Ok, here it is. I’m tired of people not knowing who they are and what they believe. I’m tired of people “riding the fence” with issues, sliding back and forth between viewpoints depending on who they’re talking to. I’m tired of people who profess to believe one thing then turn around and act as if they believe the opposite. I’m sick of watching people commit to things and not follow through with them. I’m tired of wondering whether I’m being lied to, brown nosed, put off, ignored, or being talked down to as if I don’t know anything. I’m tired of people not willing to admit that they don’t know the answer to a problem or question. I’m sick of people that aren’t willing to admit that they were wrong.

There’s an epidemic in this country and most likely around the world that has infected the human race, and that epidemic is caused by an insecurity in oneself. As people go through life, they form their individual identities that encompasses everything they believe in. That identity is what drives people to behave the way they do. It is central to the way they think and process information, who they trust, who they talk to and spend time with, who they marry, how they do their job, and basically their whole outlook on life.

I could take this and run with it in many directions, but what bothers me most are people that claim to be followers of Christ, but don’t live as if they are followers of Christ. I’m not just talking about the people that wear a cross around their neck, aren’t a part of the body of Christ and only claim their belief in Christ when it’s convenient, I’m talking about a lot of “religious” people that are in church every time the doors are open, who attend bible studies and classes, who “DO” a lot of things, and yet don’t KNOW CHRIST, or the word of God! They talk the big talk, but when it comes down to it, they don’t know anything about what the Bible really says, they just regurgitate what they’ve heard, and believe everything that “sounds good” or “feels right”. These are people that have been “in church” their whole lives and yet still are missing the big picture.

If a person truly wants to be a follower of Jesus and finds his/her identity in Christ, there will be a hunger and thirst for anything that fosters and enriches their relationship with God and His son Jesus. One of the primary ways to develop that relationship involves personal study with the Word, not just hearing a sermon every week, or reading Christian books, or even going to a bible study. There is a general sense that the Bible is hard to read and understand and that it takes a degree in bible to really “get it”. The only ones who believe that are those who haven’t personally invested the time in the word. It’s not nearly as hard as it’s made out to be. I’ve met a lot of people who have been through “seminary” and still missed the point. I’m not saying these things are bad, or not to read other books, partake in bible studies, or pursue a degree in ministry, I’m just trying to make the point that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in the bible and the life Christ lived on this earth was/is the divine plea of a God who wants a relationship with his children. It’s about the relationship, not a bunch of facts, or a history lesson.

Those people who understand the relationship and are actively engaged with God are the ones who truly find their identity. Those people are the ones who strive to be more Christ-like in every aspect of their life. Those people are the ones that change the way they live when God convicts them of something, instead of ignoring the prodding of the Holy Spirit. They are the people who place a high importance on honesty, truth, and trust. The Spirit of God is apparent in their lives through their “fruit”. (See Galatians 5) Their “yes” is their “yes” and their “no” is their “no”. Their love for others radiates in everything they do.

My desire is that if you claim to be a believer in Christ, actively seek out your own personal relationship with God. Get in the word and let what you read and learn change the way you live. Don’t let the Bible just become a collection of stories and facts stuffed away in your brain. Take pride in your relationship, nurture it like a mother nurtures her baby, and solidify your identity as a child of God.  You don’t have to be perfect, but if you’re not willing to let it interfere with the way you live, please, please, please don’t call yourself a Christian.

Don’t ride the fence.

I want to share some exciting news with you guys… For those of you who haven’t heard yet, as of June 1, 2008 I will be a full time staff member of Christian Fellowship Church where Heather and I worship. My job title will be “Technical Producer” which encompasses all things audio / video / lighting (AVL) in the building complex, which is right up my ally. In addition to that, I’ll still be playing with the band when I can and possibly doing some arrangements, but how extensively will all depend on how much time I have after we get all the AVL issues smoothed out.

This position crept up out of the blue and I’m totally convinced it’s God who created it for me. Without going into a mile long story of all the random stuff I’ve done in my life that has prepared me for this position, let’s just say it fits like a hand in a glove. Heather and I are stepping out on faith here, but we firmly believe in the faithfulness of our God, and we believe He continuously provides for His children. Some people think I’m crazy for leaving my engineering job, but I think I would be crazy if I didn’t follow where God leads…

Go here for the church’s website. There’s also a permanent link in the sidebar to your right…

So The last few weeks have been pretty crazy for Heather and me. We traveled to Texas for a week as many of you know for various reasons and saw most of the major cities while we were there. In addition to visiting my parents and friends in Madisonville / College Station, we buried the ashes of Heather’s grandmother with a small family gathering at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, and finished the week celebrating the marriage of our friends Abby and Justin in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Seeing how we flew into Houston and spent one night in Austin, we almost put 1000 miles on my parents Yukon! (Thanks Mom!) It was amazing how many people we were able to visit in that short amount of time, and it truly reminded us of how blessed we have been in our relationships over the years and how wonderful our friends and family are.

This past weekend we spent Saturday afternoon downtown with some friends of ours with the main attraction being the cherry blossoms around the tidal basin. Unfortunately, a storm rolled through the day before and wiped out the bulk of the blooms from the trees, but we still had a wonderful time. As an added bonus, we stopped in at one of the Art museums and enjoyed a bit of history.

Thanks for all your comments about our dog Truman! He really has become an additional member of the family and is a joy to have around. He definitely qualifies as the most spoiled out of all the dogs I’ve ever owned, lol…

Click here for full gallery.

Without further adieu, allow me to introduce Truman, our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Click here for full gallery.

I’m long overdue for several posts, but I’ll get this out there so you guys have something to look at. Last Saturday Heather and I went with a couple of friends and their daughter to the National Zoo. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. It was also the first time I got to test out our new Sigma 70-200mm lens we bought from a friend. With a couple exceptions, the lens did great, but as my friend that sold me the lens said today, “the biggest problem with my pictures originate from about 12 inches behind the camera”. True to that statement, some of the shots aren’t as good as they could be if I had remembered certain things like bringing the ISO back down from 1600 after I leave the dark indoors, but overall I had a great time attempting to be a photographer.

Click here for full gallery.

I lost my uncle to a car accident today. As hard as that is, I am rejoicing in the fact that he was a believer. He leaves behind a wife and two kids under the age of 10. There really are no words that can be said, only prayers to be offered. My family covets your prayers…

As I grieve, I find comfort in a song by Brad Reynolds called “There is A Friend”. You can listen to it here. Click on “music” at the top of the page and skip to the 5th song.

There is a hope
There is a promise
There is a peace beyond compare
There is a calm amid confusion
There is a friend who’s always there

Prince of Peace, Lamb of God
Take my heart and Draw me Close to where you are
With your spirit fill the corners of my soul
As I offer up my praise unto your throne

If you need hope
If you need comfort
If you want peace beyond compare
Come to the place you’ll find in Jesus
Receive his Grace, and sing this prayer

Prince of Peace, Lamb of God
Take my heart and Draw me Close to where you are
With your spirit fill the corners of my soul
As I offer up my praise unto your throne

For all of you who are dying to learn a little about me, check the “About” page, as I have updated it.

That is all.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, a friend from Texas came to visit and said she checks this blog daily, so I will try to do better for her and my other faithful reader, whoever that my be. (probably my mom) Anyway, the other night I was bouncing from blog to blog, and myspace page to myspace page and found an artist that I am highly impressed with. Also, I have been blessed to get to know another talented independent artist in my area that I would like to share with you. Both are finalists for a couple Momentum awards, which are kind of like the Dove awards for independent artists.

First, my friend Alyce Metallo is a talented pianist, vocalist and woman of God. Her personality is contagious and she’s married to an Italian guy that runs the mafia. Ok, maybe he doesn’t run the mafia, but he’s really cool.  I should probably put a “shout out” (the terminology these days…  ~sigh~) to their daughter too, who is every bit as awesome as her parents.  We’re supposed to get together for dinner soon and I’m excited to continue to get to know her and her family. Her music is hard to describe as it covers a wide variety of styles, but if I had to put a Genre to it, I would call it hip-latin-hop-pop. Check her out here and here. Buy her music, support her, send her messages telling her how much you like her music…

One of my new favorite independent artists, Brad Reynolds, is based in Nashville and instantly captured my interest with the song titled “Anyway”. Here’s the first verse and chorus to that song, just to give you a taste of his writing: (emphasis mine)

He’s been sleeping on the sidewalk
since the money went away.
Can ya love him anyway, really love him anyway.
He lost his mind but finds the time to bum a dollar everyday,
but my Jesus says to love him anyway.

Cause love is the only evidence against us
that tells the world we’re guilty of a change.
There’s not a one who lives among us
who wasn’t lost somewhere along the way.
Judgment turned to mercy and mercy took our blame,
but it all comes down to loving anyway.

You can check him out here and here. Check out his biography here. Buy his music, support him. We need more artists like this.

Also, if you like them, please vote for Brad and Alyce here through the end of February.

I ran across this post and the follow-up post and was deeply moved by her story. Here is a young woman (mid 20’s, I think, with a young child) that lost her husband in a tragic accident when his boat capsized in frigid waters in Oregon.  Looking back on the day when they were still searching for his body, she wrote these words:

my main prayer was, “Lord, help me to be okay with whatever you are giving me right now. Whether he is alive or with You, You are still good.” People were calling me all day long for updated information, and they would say things like, “Nate’s so strong. Strong men like him don’t just drown. He probably swam to shore and passed out or something…” And they would wait for me to agree with them, like I was going to give them the hope that the worst was not true. But instead, God completely flipped my heart to where I was just telling them, “Whether Nate is alive or dead right now, God is still good. God is still good.”

That, my friends, is what a genuine relationship with Christ looks like.

My wife was nice to me and let me buy a new guitar this Christmas, and I thought I would do a small review here…

After much deliberation and playing of every guitar in the place, the Takamine TAN16C won out and made its way home with me. There were only two other guitars in the place that I liked better, one a Martin 000-18 Golden Era (unbelievable tone) and the other a Taylor 914CE, both incredible guitars, but both almost 3 times the price of the Takamine. My first guitar was a (now 18 years old) Takamine EF341 (the link has the cutaway version) that was bought at a pawn shop, and it has held up wonderfully over the years. In my opinion, Takamine has unbelievable quality for incredible prices.

This guitar has a very open warm sound, much richer and fuller than the EF341, and is able to fill up most small rooms with ease acoustically, which is nice when you’re just jamming with friends, or doing a laid back acoustic worship session in a living room. The playability is definitely top notch and very fast, with low enough action to play easily throughout the entire fretboard, but not too low to produce buzzing. It has a split saddle, which really helps with superb intonation throughout the range of the guitar, and a peg-less bridge, which makes restringing the guitar a little bit easier.

The electronics are definitely unique, as it employs Takamine’s CTP-1 Cool Tube pickup system. There is an actual tube (a 12AU7 dual triode) inline with the EQ that can be fed into the mix with the equalizer, which gives it a very nice warmth and openness to the sound when plugged in. I recorded a quick demo to give you an idea of how much ambiance the tube gives to the sound of the guitar. I recorded two takes of these songs, (one with the tube, one without) then mixed them together so that it switches between the two every few measures in the song. Each time it starts without the tube, then alternates until the end of the song. The second song on the last “dust in the wind…” part of the chorus has both tracks mixed together. Check it out here. Takamine has a few more demonstrations on their site, played by guys much better than me if you want to check that out.

Here are the pics: