SLACKER!!!!

well, yeah, i missed a day... (Tuesdays are TRu's Days, by the way, so yes, it's only one day)... in fact, i didn't even do all that much in terms of productivity in my time off... i was pretty busy doing "actual" things... that sounds kind of silly even as i write it, but it seems more and more that my life is clearly divided into two departments of activity... writing, which most people i know consider frivolous, and work, which is what most people i know think i should "grow up" and focus more seriously on... of course, above both of these is my family and throughout all three runs the vein of my faith...

So, perhaps i'll address that notion a little later, but right now, i need to move on... yesterday we had our office party which was about 3 hours out of the way and 2 hours in length... it was supposed to be for families, but was scheduled for a very inopportune time such that my family could not attend... i'm told that it was a coincidence, but i'm not buying it... anyway... that was fun... we went to Maggiano's and pigged out... there are layoffs looming within our company/organization... so, i suppose it was a nice departure from concerns and whatnot... perhaps distraction is better... whatever... either way, by the time that i got home, i really had no energy to put words together...

Also this week, we've been cleaning up our office space in preparation of a office-wide paint job... i've had to move around some bookshelves and desks and such and basically clean up a ton of my own paper work and such that proves how disorganized i really am... i'll admit it... i have my areas and i slide in many others... last night i finally sat down and watched the Packers game from Sunday and i enjoyed it thoroughly... i can't believe that there's only 3 more weeks left in the NFL season... and now... to the rest of the entry...

WORD OF THE DAY

Back to Joshua... finally... Joshua 2... i think most people who have been through Sunday school are familiar with this passage... it's one of those Old Testament stories that we all cling to because it shows that God can use the worst of us to accomplish His plan... here we have a pretty nice military strategy put into place by the new leader, Joshua... they've got their sights set on Jericho and he sends out some spies to check out the lay of the land... i'm a little confused as to why they end up staying with a hooker, but i've heard some explanations that kind of make sense... mainly that they were trying to blend in and Rahab's home was right at the entrance to the city and she apparently dealt with a lot of out of towners...

Clearly God led them here though, because when they get ratted out, she protects them... and i realize the quandry of this passage... the question always raised is, why is it okay that she lied to protect these guys? well... i'm not going to focus on it too much, but clearly she's not been given the ten commandments since she didn't just come from the desert with them and she's not an Israelite... therefore, she's not operating under their laws and she's going with what she knows to do... whether it's right or not... well, i don't really see it as applicable... we know that it's not right to lie... therefore, i fall back to my favorite saying of Jesus... "What is that to you?" (basically, worry about your own actions and your own life, not what others may or may not be "getting away" with)...

that takes us up to verse 8 and i'll continue with that next time...

IN OTHER WORDS

well, i did my homework this time and i've finished reading Why a Shepherd?... somewhat surprisingly it ended with an altar call and instantly transformed into a bloated tract... perhaps that's what it was all along and i just didn't realize it... i don't necessarily dislike the direction it took and now that i know, it's possibly some sort of sacrilege for me to criticize the book, but... (sigh)... but, i wish that the first 60 pages were written well enough to ensure that readers would make it to the "sales pitch"... i don't think i would have made it if i hadn't have been writing about it... that said, there was a nice summation of the lessons learned right before the altar call... and i really enjoyed it... so all in all the book wasn't exactly a loss...

Starting tomorrow, i'll be working through When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg, though perhaps not at the same pace as Why a Shepherd? and perhaps with an occasional interjection of comments on Un.Orthodox by Tommy Kyllenon and/or Soul Cravings by Erwin McManus...

SMITTY'S SILVER BELLS

Michael W Smith has made some pretty great Christmas albums in his time and this year is apparently no different... his latest Christmas album is called It's a Wonderful Christmas and according to USA Today, it as well as Jars of Clay's Christmas Songs contain potential Christmas CLASSICS... nice...

GO GO GADGET, PLEASE!!!!!

So, over the past week and a half i've slowly become more and more interested, nay, preoccupied with wanting this fancy little Sony device here... i love to read and i'd love to be able to carry around my books on this little device that, hey, i think will fit into my pocket... i think... well, i'm pretty sure... i have pretty big pockets... unfortunately, they're not very deep and they're mostly empty, so it looks like i won't be getting one of these bad boys just yet... and that offer for 100 free classics is really calling me... and the free engraving... oh... i had better move on... ps. if there's anyone out there who wants to be my sugar daddy.... i'd prefer the blue one...

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

okay so tonight is the Broncos and the Texans... it is, in a sense, a playoff game, because both teams probably NEED to win if they expect to show up in the playoffs... after tonight, though, the bell will toll for the Texans and Din-VAH, sans the MHO will be victorious...

BEFORE I GO

i posted an interview with Leeland today at theTRu... it's probably not the best interview i've done and it's from back in April, but it's still a pretty fun thing...

COMING SOON

i'll talk about heroes.... i'll talk about Blake Lewis... i'll talk about MORE FOOTBALL... i might talk a little about politics... and i'll post more interviews, reviews and features at everyone's favorite website called theTRu...

peace... love... bdg..

MONDAY IS "FUN"-DAY

right...? well... perhaps it's not always that fun, but it's kind of a new start and that's usually a good thing for me... not much is worse than to start out on Monday and find out that your to-do list has followed you through the weekend... today is not like that for me though... today is a new day... a pretty fresh start and even though i picked the Steelers to win, i'm glad that the Patriots were victorious... (okay, that's all the football for this entry)...

So, i almost fell asleep in church yesterday... i know that's terrible... but it wasn't the sermon or the Sunday School lesson... it was during the "praise and worship time"... and the real kicker is that we sang a Crowder song that i really like... amazingly though, the worship team managed to emit anti-energy matter while performing the tune... it continued during a mechanical version of a Chris Tomlin song... i hate it when people sing "yeah" as if it were just another word... actually, i hate it when people sing any lyrics as if they were simply reading words... lyrics are so much more than words... and music is so much more than notes... this is an expression of your love for God... to share what He means in your life... this is... so much more...

anyway... i've begun to view the beginning of the church service as the Superbowl pregame show... i love watching the Superbowl and i remember watching the pregame chatter, analysis and such when i was younger... but now it's like 48 hours of pre-game hype for a 4 hour show... it just seems inane on some level... and to some extent the "praise and worship" part of church has gotten that way too... silly little tear-jerker videos, worship leader wanna be rockstar, little divettes hoping that their offertory will make a good American Idol audition tape, etc... etc... etc...

i'm sure that i'm just jaded for the most part... and perhaps just a little too tired... but i'm just getting so annoyed with it all... remember that time when we used to worship God when we sang in church?... moving on...

WORD OF THE DAY

i know that i said i would head back to Joshua this time, but i'm going to stick with Ephesians again... Eph. 1:11-14 talks about how we have been chosen, predestined before time, to receive this inheritance... to be, here we go, this ties in with the first part of this entry, to be for the praise of His glory... that our lives would marked by praising God... in more than words... this whole talk of being chosen reminds me of how Joshua was chosen... and how the Israelites were chosen... all before any of them existed...

The next two verses talk about being sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit... the same Holy Spirit that is the representation of how God is always with us, how He never leaves us, how He'll never forsake us... where have i heard that before?... oh yeah, chapter 1 of Joshua... God promises that several times to Joshua... as He was with Moses... as He was with Joshua... so shall it be with us...

IN OTHER WORDS

well, i didn't finish reading the Shepherd book - instead i read a bunch of Relentless, by Robin Parrish (100 pages to go) - but i have read more and there's about 25 pages left... so here's what i've read so far... chapter 6 talks about the tools of the trade, a rod and a staff, and the unique ways they can be used to protect sheep and support the shepherd... that the foremost job of a shepherd is to protect his flock... it ends with a reminder that Jesus as our shepherd can totally protect us...

chapter seven discusses some of the famous shepherds in the Bible, including David, Moses and ending with the shepherds present at the first Christmas... there's another passage from their novel... i'm not sure that i have any interest in reading the whole book... and ends with a reminder that a good shepherd lays down his life for his flock... okay... so about 25 more pages... probably next time i write this book will be the last time...

THE NEXT BIG THING

"thing" being band and we're down to four bands left, quickly closing in on a finale that is going to be crazy... here's a quick rundown of what i think of the contestants, both gone and still around...
The Hatch and The Likes of You: i've grouped these two together because i can't for the life of me remember who they are really... and i don't really care to...
Rocket: sorry, but i thought this chick rock group was just awful...
The Muggs: i actually really liked the classic hard rock sound that this trio put out... i was a little sad when they left, but i'm sure they'll do fine... they've been through worse...
Franklin Bridge: i think these guys have a nice energy and they have the potential to be something pretty big... however, their egos already are something big and i was actually kind of glad to see them go...
Cliff Wagner and the Old #7: of course i like bluegrass... and they're darn good at it... i do totally understand that they aren't exactly a hip scenester group though...
Tres Bien: this was one of my favorite groups of the lot... it's a sweet throwback, ironic rock band that has a great vibe and a great personality as a band...
Dot Dot Dot: ugh... i couldn't believe that they kept making it through and i was relieved to see them leave... just something about them that really bothered me about them...
Light of Doom: i love that they wear Maylene and the Sons of Disaster tee-shirts, and they do alright... but they're kids... and they may be a good band someday... but the jig is up... they can go back to homeroom now...
Din-vah and Mile High Er-kahstrah: love DMHO, love the big band, love the horns and i'm happy, but surprised at how far they've gotten (see Cliff)
The Clark Brothers: very tight sound and and very talented... i like to see what they put into each song... and they're an example of how a little bit of bluegrass can make the hip scenesters dance...
Sixwire: this was my early pick to win the whole thing... they get better every week and last week, Fat Bottomed Girls was awesome... i didn't care for their slow song, but i still think they'll pull this out...

okay... there you go... i've got lots more to say about this show, but i'll save it for another day...

BEFORE I GO

nothing new posted today, but i did interview Steven Delopoulos the other day and i'll be working on that soon... (it's third in my interview queue)...

COMING SOON

i'll talk about heroes.... i'll talk about Blake Lewis... i'll talk more about the band showsr... and i'll post more interviews, reviews and features at everyone's favorite website called theTRu...

peace... love... bdg..

NO DAY LIKE A SNOW DAY

Well, apparently the result of yesterday's snow was a day off today for little boy... most of the other districts were fine to go in with an hour delay or so, but our district has a constant problem getting plows out to the schools to clear the parking lots... and in all honesty, the roads were perfectly fine as i drove into work... anyway, i used to love snow days, but little boy isn't quite at that age yet... he still loves going to school every day which is great and he was pretty bummed today - especially since he's the "star of the week" this week and now he gets rooked out of one day of starhood... poor little guy... both littles had a BLAST shoveling this morning though, so it's all good...

as for the rest of today, it's below freezing outside, but because our HVAC unit is on the fritz AGAIN, it's well over 80 in here and i'm BURNING UP!... i'll have to head home early i guess... anyway, i managed to fix a big connectivity issue that i was having for work by remembering to connect to the right server... silly me... spent 2 days trying to figure out how to connect to the wrong server...

WORD OF THE DAY

Continuing on, looking at Ephesians today, Chapter 1 verses 1-8...

FROM: Paul, an apostle of Christ according to God's will... TO: the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ...

now, i believe that these are some pretty young Christians, and they've been dealing with some issues and struggling with some things within the church and from outside sources... but Paul calls them "saints" and reminds them of their own faithfulness... and then he offers them grace and peace... seems like a much more tender approach to things than "Be strong and Courageous"...

moving on... verses 3-8 talk about our inheritance in Christ... similar to the inheritance mentioned in Joshua, it was granted to us well before we were around and God has remained steadfast in granting it to us... contrary to the inheritance mentioned in Joshua, it's talking about the spiritual blessings we have and will later receive... God chose us to be holy and blameless... to be His adopted children, according to His will (much like why Paul is an apostle)... we're freely given glorious grace because He loves us... that grace is glorious because it grants us redemption and forgiveness from sins... and it comes with "all wisdom and understanding"... that's pretty amazing, (sorry for the pun)... but wait there's more... and i'll get to it tomorrow... there's actually a whole lot to these opening verses so i'll probably end up taking it very slowly...

IN OTHER WORDS

okay, continuing with that Shepherd book... i'll be honest, it's dragging on for me... and it's really short as is, but i think that it's really just a 200 word essay stretched out over 80 pages... anyway... today's reading started out with an excerpt from the authors' novel called Sixth Covenant that described a little bit about the protection of sheep and discussed the parallel between mankind and sheep... next chapter, "Why Worry?" talks about the grand effect of little things... little bugs and parasites can cause sheep a lot of problems... just like little things can cause us to stumble and drive us crazy... that was a fine four pages... i like that i have a better understanding of the passage of Scripture that talks about God annointing my head with oil as a way to protect me from little worries...

the next chapter, "Why an Enemy?" makes a shift in focus, turning the attention away from sheep and focusing on our enemies, specifically the devil as a roaring lion... i thought this chapter was unnecessary since the parallel has already been drawn out handily... somethings are better said unsaid, if you know what i mean... anyway, i have indeed located the other book and i expect that i'll be starting that one next week... maybe two or three more entries about this book and then we'll move on...

TO GRAMMYS HOUSE WE GO

Well, i was going to dive into some TV shows, specifically Heroes and The Next Great American Band, but then i realized/discovered that the Grammy nominees were announced this morning... thus, i'm bumping that coverage for this, my random comments on the Grammy nods...

The first thing to catch my eye is Carrie Underwood - and it wasn't even a picture of her... her song "Before He Cheats" is up for a few awards including Song of the Year... none of the other songs or albums in the top categories really have my interest... Paramore is up for new artist of the year, that's cool... i'm supposed to interview them sometime... also interesting is to see Kirk Whalum up against The Beastie Boys for instrumental pop album of the year... Daughtry has also put up a good showing this year with quite a few nods and i'm excited to see Lupe Fiasco's "Day Dreamin'" up for urban/alternative performance of the year... that's a sweet song...

And now for the "Gospel" Categories... i don't particularly care who wins, but i find it interesting - interesting? yeah, that works - to see "East to West" from Casting Crowns garnering a nod in both best gospel performance as well as best gospel song... Israel and New Breed have a song up for performance as well and TobyMac's "Made to Love" is up for song... Casting Crowns keeps rolling with a nod for best pop/contemporary album alongside of TobyMac, Mandisa, Israel and New Breed and Michael W Smith... Cross Movement Records got double kudos with "HIStory and "Open Book" (Da' T.R.U.T.H.) competing against Skillet, Pillar and Ashley Cleveland (one of these things is not like the other ones) for Rock or Rap album ... i'm somewhat surprised to see Smokie Norful under the "traditional" gospel category... i'd pick him for "contemporary"... oh well...

A few, final notes of interest... The Fold is up for best recorded packaging (see album cover in this entry)... The White Stripes are up for best special edition packaging for the fancy USB flash drives that i thought were pretty spiffy and Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" is in the running for music video of the year...

The full list of nominees is on Grammy.com...

HUT HUT HIKE!

i'll post my weekend football picks tomorrow, but today i have a few hours to mention that the Redskins are going to bounce back and trounce the Bears tonight, 42-20... why? because it's on NFL Network and NOBODY will be watching...

BEFORE I GO

Today, i posted an interview with Casting Crowns and an album review of All That Is Within Me by MercyMe...

COMING SOON

i'll talk about some TV.... i'll talk about Blake Lewis... i'll talk more about the weather... and i'll post more interviews, reviews and features at everyone's favorite website called theTRu...

peace... love... bdg..

LET IT SNOW, BABY

today, we woke up to watch the sky stretch and yawn and slowly start trickling snow down onto the land around our house and neighborhood... Yes, it's the first official snowing in the beautiful Northern Virginia/DC Metro area... and yes, the trees that were brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow now seem to have given up the ghost along with the majority of their leaves... their now-bare arms reaching out in the posture of permanent praise have a crisp lining of white that catches the little sunlight that dares breaks through the clouds and cast its approval on this necessary state of renewal...

perhaps i'm waxing a little too poetic, but i love the winter... i love cold weather... i love snow... and i love the crazy stares and looks i get when i walk down the slippery sidewalks with a big old smile on my face rejoicing in the glory revealed by the changing of the seasons... today, i actually got a bonus blessing as my little boy explained that it was snowing because his teacher wore her pants inside out, "mommy flushed an ice cube down the potty" and mostly because he had done the snow dance... i'm pretty sure that the first two events didn't really happen, but i was fortunate enough to bear witness to the snow dance... that was priceless...

WORD OF THE DAY

i'm going to take this space and use it as i work through various books and such, but also as i read through and digest (and turn into a digest) the Bible... for starters, i've decided to revisit my study from a few months ago, because it was only towards the very end that i realized some things that i'm sure will change the way i look at the beginning... so, i'll be looking at the books of Joshua and Ephesians and talking about some things that strike me as i read through them... with no further delay, here are some thoughts on Joshua, chapter 1...

Chapter 1 sets the context and reminds those who are just tuning in of what happened in the previoius books... kind of like the introduction of a TV series... Previously on such and such... well, at least the first verse is that way... Previously in the desert... Moses is dead, Joshua is taking over... skip the commercials and we're back... the thing that strikes me the most about this, well, there are two things, really... first is the repetitious use of the command to be strong and courageous... Either Joshua needed a great deal of convincing or God was preparing him for something that he'd have a lot of trouble dealing with... or both... anyway, God says it three times and the Israelites repeat it a fourth time as they officially accept Joshua as their leader...

The second thing that stands out to me, is the emphasis on implimenting the Word of God as a framework for how to live your life... meditate on it, don't stray to the left or the right from it, do all that is commanded within it... that's some serious attention to detail... but the rewards are there too... a prosperous and successful life...

IN OTHER WORDS

i wanted to start talking about the new book from John Ortberg, but i seem to have misplaced my copy... oh, i bet it's in that bag... anyway... in lieu of that book, i'll go ahead and read through this one... an 80-page "Little Book of Why" called, Why a Shepherd?... it should be a quick read and the question itself is interesting enough... alright, the premise is that the author participated in a summer-long internship of sorts to learn how to become a shepherd... (this was back in 1959 apparently)... Like many life experiences, it seems like it will be a fun challenge, but then we end up learning a lot of lessons that we never imagined...

The first chapter (and these chapters are like 4 small pages, so keep that in mind) quotes John 10:11-16 and asks the question "Why is it important that Jesus compared Himself to a shepherd?"... it also ends with "the secrets are waiting to be revealed..." which i think is a bit cheesy, but whatever... Chapter 2 still seems to be laying down introductory material as it describes the anticipation of waiting for shepherd's camp, the dropping off of the children and the memorization of the 23rd Psalm which i'm sure will come into play later on in the book.. Chapter 3, Why Stand Watch describes the first three days of shepherding... without any sheep... it was interesting to read about the preparation involved before the sheep are allowed to graze on the meadows... they called it preparing a table for the sheep, which brings to mind how God prepares a table before us and the wedding banquet and "I go to prepare a place for you. . ."

and with that, we're 17 pages in... as i said, this will likely be a very quick read and hopefully by then, i'll have found the other book...

BEFORE I GO

Another interview has popped up online... this time with Sevenglory... it's available to read at CCMmagazine.com or directly at http://www.ccmmagazine.com/printerfriendly/11561031/... i have more in the works including some album reviews, some talk about Christmas music, some interviews, and more...

peace... love... bdg...