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UPDATE CHECK THIS OUT! My favorite part of Toy Story 2, the out-takes! Now I don’t have to buy the movie!

I recently made four CD purchases. I was very happy with all of them, so I wanted to tell you a bit about them.

I bought Our Lady Peace – Gravity because I knew it was a great album. The music is my ideal style, I wish I could be in the band :). The songs have quality lyrical content, and Rock HARD. This album is best listned to straight through at high volumes. Favorite songs: Somewhere Out There, Innocent, Made of Steel, Not Enough.

John Mayer – Heavier Things is an incredible pop album. I bought it on a wild hair, wanting to diversify my music collection, and I was pleasantly surprised. I am told that the “Heavier Things” refers to the fact that this isn’t just accoustic driven music like Room for Squares, but the lyrics definitely have more content as well. (“Is there a God? Why is he waiting? Don’t you think of it odd when he knows my address? And look at the stars. Don’t it remind you just how feeble we are? Well it used to I guess…”). This is great background music. It is very easy to listen to while doing other tasks (like, programming Web pages); but you can also just sit and listen to it and think about. The songwriting actually reminds me a lot of Pat’s; good stuff. Favorite songs: Clarity, Somethings Missing, New Deep. Also, JohnMayer.com is a great Web site.

Delirious has always been a mainstay of The Rock Band’s repretiore. As always Delirious – Mezzamorphosis borrow’s heavily from U2, but in my opinion, that is not a bad thing. This album seems to be less U2-y than a lot of Delirious’s albums, but then again I would say that this is a weaker member of their catalogue as well. The songs on here are fairly mediocre, although the album does contain my favorite Delirious song: Heaven. (This is the reason I bought the album). The album does well as background music however, it is fairly interesting ambient music. If you are going to buy a Delirious album, don’t start with this one. Favorite songs: The Mezzanine Floor, Heaven.

Passion – Hymns: Ancient and Modern is, as you might guess, an album of Hymns (shock!, surprise!). It got its name from a 19th century German hymnal that was an attempt to collect all the (at least mildly popular) hymns of the time, old and new.

I’m really excited about this album actually. I believe it is going to be a nice generational bridge in music. I get asked quite often if we can do hymns. And quite frankly, we can’t. Because that is not the style we have chosen to go with, and I haven’t had time in the past to set hymns to new music (even though I think the effect of that is very cool). The cool thing about old hymns, is that the content is usually so much richer and thicker than “newer” music. The problem with them, is that they are boring. This album will be an excellent tool for churches everywhere. The CD even comes with all the chord charts and lyrics for the songs. That won’t mean much to the average listener, but for a band, it is a very very handy thing. Favorite songs: Doxloogy, Take my Life, All Creatures of our God and King.

A thought on James 1:12-15 (ESV)

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

We often give the devil (or if you are trying to soften it “the enemy”) too much credit. If you stumble into sin, don’t blame him (or them). You have only yourself to blame. According to this passage, sin happens when you give in to your own desire (evil desire, lust, passions (thank you amplified bible)), that is how desire conceives sin. Satan does not cause us sin, he lies to us.

As humans, we act on our desires, that is how we operate. The question then, is what do we desire? If our desires are based on lies (that the devil is constantly telling us), and we act on them, we are going to sin, and die. The death that this verse speaks of isn’t just the eternal kind that we are saved from if we have accepted Christ as our savior, it is also a death to the kind of life we can live when our desires are based on truth.

If our desires are based on truth (God’s word, revealed through scripture, prayer, council (which, incidentally, should all line up…)), that is how we attain the “crown of life” that is spoken of earlier in this passage; which I also happen to think is what Christ is talking about when he tells us that he came to help us to “live abundantly” (John 10:10).

So, what are your desires based on? Who are you believing, yourself or God?

So often I buy into a lie… or maybe more correctly just forget the truth. I struggle often with feeling like God isn’t very close, that he just isn’t around. I begin wonder what I’ve done to offend him. When if I just look at what he’s said to us, I am reminded that he is ALWAYS with us.

No wonder I flip out so much when I have a few days out without reading the bible and/or praying and/or (though THIS rarely happens) being around his people. It is so much easier to believe a lie when you forget what the truth it…

Why is it that we have to keep reminding ourselves of the truth?

One of my favorite bands has always been Metallica. They were one of about three bands that I listened to in High School (the other two being Blues Traveler and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones). Yes, I did listen to other music occasionally, but these were the primary three (Metal, pop-blues/jam, pop-ska).

Far and away I listened to Metallica more than anything else. I have the entire “black album” memorized. And I used to boast that, through Load, I could name any Metallica song just by listening to a few bars of them. This fact is still true a reasonable percentage of the time.

Now, a lot of things have changed in my life since High School, but my love for Metallica’s music has not. I’m still not sure what the draw is, and a lot of you may think this a strange thing… a worship leader having Metallica as one of his favorite bands. I’m pretty sure what I like so much about them is the sheer, felt, intensity in their music. To quote a song they covered once: “out there in the spotlight, you’re a million miles away, every ounce of energy, you try and give away. Sweat pours out your body like the music that you play….” This to me, is the epitome of performing music, and they do this to a degree that I have seen no other band ever do. It is a beautiful thing.

Imagine my delight a few weeks ago, when I learned that Metallica is coming to Ames on Aug. 30 of this year. I decided that I had to find a way to be at that show. However, I knew that tickets were going to be at least $50-$70 each (in fact, they are $55 and $75, depending on your seats), and that this wouldn’t necessarily be the wisest use of Nancy and my resources (especially considering that Nancy isn’t necessarlily Metallica’s biggest fan…).

Well… last Friday, I won two free tickets to the concert. Pat, and Dave are coming with me. I am severly pumped about this. Nancy just laughs :)

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

…maybe even tickets to a Metallica concert.

{begin sarcasm} As you all know, I am about 6 months ahead of the curve on current fashions, trends, and culture in general, so I wanted to alert you all to this hip new trend so you can be on top of things too

Tree Climbing

{/end sarcasm}

(hat tip to Angie Mowrer, my personal culture advisor)