"God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you're tempted to express the exact opposite quality!"
Wow. This is not something that I've given much thought to. It's true. Temptations are not evil. They also provide a choice to do good. "No temptation has seized you, except what is common to man. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but will provide a way out, so that you may stand up under it." That's some startling and good news. No matter what temptation we face, we always have the ability to take a way out. Sometimes that might involve losing face or being embarrassed, but it is the right choice and produces character in us.
GMA was a delight. I saw some bad and average performances and some good ones. But on Tuesday night I saw some wonderful ones. I felt like I had the fast track and a "showcase from Heaven," as I saw Mute Math, who are amazing. Here's the deal: Sting took over lead vocals in the band Coldplay, and changed the new band's name to Mute Math. Well, not really. And don't think this is a rip-off or heavy-handed copycatting. This is some real-deal authentic stuff. What I saw was amazing.
Then I went over to Blue Sky and saw Neal Morse provide a solo set. Oh my gosh! The joy that radiated from this guy and his music really made me remember standout people, like Rich Mullins, and how they used simplicity to be powerful. No tricks, no hype, no posing. Just excellence in music (talk about quality!) and straight-up lyrics. Awesome. Then I had a chance to see Homeless J. I'd heard a bunch about these guys and I was just waiting to be let down (plus I had a little bit of a "spiritual buzz," so to speak, after praying and worshiping during Morse's set). Well, I wasn't let down. This band is brilliant. The last song of their set, an unrecorded song up to now, is just phenomenal. And then this rapper came out. I was about to leave and go see Staple (who are really cool and really heavy), who were playing at Rocketown. But this lone guy in a dark grey hoodie stood with his back to the audience, and then moved mannequin/robitic/moonwalk style to every new beat and note. When Tonex let loose with his sultry voice, it boomed. This guy is amazing! World class talent. Oh my gosh! I could not believe how stinking good this guy sounded. I am not a fan of Prince, but if he sounds anywhere as good as Tonex, I'm going to have to investigate and listen more, because this stuff is awesome (he sounds somewhere in between Prince and Michael Jackson, but my limited exposure to both of those artists make me think this guy is even better). Wow.
And, I've tried leaving a couple of cool polls on our message board again. Vote!
Alright!
Can I get an amen?
Whoo-ha!!!
Just got back from Nashville (GMA) earlier this morning. Had a great time. Many reasons to smile. Gave away lots of HM iced tea glasses and magazines with samplers. Saw some AMAZING shows. And had the best time with friends. I will rant here and just state how happy and grateful and blessed I am to have so many friends. And the thought of how valuable and cherished they are really hit home. I don't know. Maybe I've seen enough movies lately that have underlined how precious friends are. People that have your back and you theirs. People that you look out for, make sure you reach out to, people that make you feel like you're part of some big family. That is such a wonderful thing.
And, the cool and spiritual part is (if my theology is correct): that we get to take that with us into eternity!!! Forget the palm pilots, iPods (gotta have one now), toys, prestige, money, whatever... That stuff is gonna rust and burn behind. But relationships -- they will remain intact through to the other side. That's cool to think about, but man -- what a treat we have here on earth. I'm glad I was just able to have this thought in my head. I'll attribute that to the hand of God. Just being grateful for the precious people I know. That is so rad.
Will get to PDL asap.
Had a chance given to me to see Stavesacre on Friday... Good stuff. They played a new song, called "Bull Gets Rider," which featured some very unique guitar sounds by Ryan. The band is a quartet again, and Ryan's playing holds the sound together pretty good. The "Whither/Ascend" intro guitar part sounds a lot louder and not so minimalistic, like the original played by Jeff Bellew. Another new one, "Head Full of Words," showcased Mark's voice in a different way -- kind of a low end bed underneath it. They've not written a song like that before.
Played a lot of old hits, like "Threshold," and "At The Moment." They ended with "Minuteman." The crowd was very responsive at Emo's. Oh, and let me say something I've never articulated quite like this before: Stavesacre (like 'em or not) have crafted some very thoughful and penetrating, intelligent art that is beautiful and meaningful in so many ways. Everyone should own the first 3 albums and also have a copy of Mark's Simplicity book.
There's a new American Idol online sorta thing going on right now. Bands, check it out.
Hmmm... That's a good question (posed by PDL today). I can think of a couple recent painful things I've been through. In one I immediately sense that God conformed me a little bit more like Him. In the other I can see His provision of better things and circumstances. While the painful times were not fun, I am thankful for the results both brought.
This is rubber meets the road kind of tough stuff that doesn't look so good printed on refrigerator magnets.
Am packing stuff for my trip to Nashville today. Stavesacre is playing Austin tonight. Might not be able to make it. We'll see. Got up early today. Our neighbor's boys are coming over at 6:15 every morning now as their parents go to work earlier due to a new job. This has me arriving at work at 7am now, since our girls are up early enough to take the bus to school. This has me tired today. I think my body is addicted to caffeine. I sure drag until that first cup of coffee. Lord willing, I'll be seeing a copy of the Rock Stars on God book today. That should be a fun moment. It's nice to have the May/June issue content (+more) up on the website. We also added ("we" being mastermind David Allen) a "where to buy" HM database feature that includes a pull-down menu by state with a list of stores that carry HM. Nice, eh?
Today a bunch of new content is going up.
Online exclusives: SXSW 2004 roundup/report; Little Rock, AR POD concert review; Pillar story (long unedited version written by Lee Haley); Eisley Q&A; Immortal Souls Q&A; XXXChurch Q&A; full, unedited Cannibal Corpse Says Q&A; Apologetix Q&A; JCTV anniversary party; Disciple live review; Bobfest report; and a label profile on Mono vs. Stereo. And then there's the CD and DVD reviews, updated store items, and more. Whew!
Next week is GMA. I'm stoked. We are having a booth, where we're giving away polybagged versions of our May/June issue (with CD sampler inside -- a first for our GMA experience) and some cool HM iced tea glasses. Thanks to Audix we are giving away a nice package of microphones. There'll be some cool showcases and food, too, I'm sure.
A busy day... Just got a call from my publisher (did you catch that? I said "my publisher," like I'm an author or something. ha!) and my book came back from the printer. The person on the phone was looking at it while we spoke. I'm jealous. Perhaps I'll see some copies tomorrow. I'll be selling some at the GMA convention, too. I got a phone call from Jay, the editor over at CCM (notice how I casually said, "over at CCM?" that's publisher-speak for, "these are my peers. I'm cool." ha!), who asked me if I wanted to do a story on Hard Music for them. I accepted that honor and assignment. Even though it's due right in the middle of deadline, it's an article that won't take much analysis on my part, as I kinda live and breathe this music like many of ya'll. Anyway, it'll be good to get back in print in that mag.
On to important things:
In PDL today, it spoke about letting God's Word abide in us. Wow. I really need that. I'm inspired by my grandad, who was used by the Lord to bring my entire family into the kingdom. Such a mighty man of God. Everyone loved him. He always had a couple 3x5 cards in his pocket somewhere, as he memorized certain Scriptures all the time. He'd pull 'em out while waiting in line at the post office (where he was shipping cassette tape copies of sermons to people he bumped into as a 700 Club phone counselor or relatives or people God brought across his path). I look at those little Navigator Scripture memory cards and something about them make me cringe. I don't know if it's the fear of discipline, or the corporate look of those mini (smaller than business cards) cards. Maybe I can customize my own 3x5s ... anything to just get started doing it. I hope I can look back in 3 days and say, 'I've memorized 3 Scriptures (or even 1) in the last 3 days...' and in 3 months look back and say, 'I've memorized Scripture for 90 days now.' There's something powerful about counting off days. Those chips at AA meetings are a powerful testimony/marker/milestone. Being able to say, 'I haven't smoked marijuana in 20 years and 10 months' is a cool thing. It'd be a drag if I slipped up in the middle and had to cut that date in half or something. In the same way with a good habit, like reading to my children... If I can look back in 30 days and say, 'I've read 30 books to my kids,' how meaningful is that? In a word: VERY.
Here's hoping.
My friend, Kelvin Love Sr, apparently has some great reasons to rejoice lately. Seems his son, Kelvin Love Jr, is one of the fastest teens in track and field right now (100 meters). Wow. That's cool.
--#81
Go visit our message boards / forum sometime. I just posted some fun polls (like "Best Stavesacre Song," "Best Led Zep song," and "Best issue of HM (ever)"). Fun stuff.
Mowed the lawn at the office today. Designed some graphics to send out in emails to advertisers whose "frequency contracts" have expired, to see if they'd like to run more ads. Found out that our 1,000 copies of the May/June issue (polybagged with cd samplers) got shipped out to Nashville today for the big GMA convention. I'll be manning a booth there. The Rock Stars on God book comes out next tuesday.
Was able to schedule my entire week at GMA on my palm pilot. I've got an old school model -- Palm IIIe.
Figured out which repeat ads we'll have for next issue. We're at a good starting point. Now I need to go "calling," which I mostly do via email. We've got some good ideas for the next issue.
67.53 in the average Christian bookstore...
64.02% in Family Christian bookstores...
31% in Borders...
31% in Hastings...
37% in Mardel...
55% in Virgin Megastores...
Interesting, eh?
Here's the "sell-thru" #s for several issues lately:
#101 (May/June 2003) FSF 46.21%
#102 Stretch Arm Strong 48.97%
#103 MxPx 52.29%
#104 "Ugly Truth..." 58.94%
#105 P.O.D. 61.25%
(the bottom 3 are still "open," which means stores can still return copies)
Fun stuff to analyze. In the magazine world, most publishers aim for a 50% sell-thru. Wha?! "Aim for 50%? Isn't that mediocrity?" Not exactly. "Stack 'em high and watch 'em fly" is the motto. If a news agent puts 50 copies of Time on the shelf and they sell out, that's not good. If they put 100 copies out there, they'll sell 75 copies (not exact #s, but you get the concept?). The science proven over time is that having more copies on the shelf sells more copies. We average between 55 and 60 for HM, which I personally like (since I'm not a million copy circulation magazine).
Anyway, just thought I'd share some stuff like that.
Watched a wonderful movie over the weekend -- Big Fish. Loved it. Loved it. Made me feel like I was in a special fantasy land for a good two hours. Warmed the cockles of my heart (whatever cockles are)... Big smile on my face in an empty room late at night. Very warming.
Today in PDL... "How We Grow"
I'm convicted. If we purpose to grow, we will. It's that purposing in our hearts/heads that gives us discipline and the result is growth. I don't push myself (physically or spiritually), like I need to. A simple regimine, like doing this PDL study is an example. Little things consistent over time. I love the explanation of "working out your salvation." It's developing what's already there. Changing the way I think determines the patterns I will fit into. My mental note: Daily Scripture reading & prayer is my spiritual exercise, and it's necessary. Wake up each day thinking, 'I need this.'
I've been listening to a lot of Radiohead and Sigur-Ros lately, so when I spun Cool Hand Luke's The Fires Of Life in my car yesterday and this morning, I was probably prepared.
Part of me hates mellow music. I like to rock. But I'm beginning to see a little more clearly the scope and beauty of Cool Hand Luke's music with repeated listens. Comparisons to the previous two bands mentioned will abound with this new release, but that's to be expected in this musical territory. They take droplets of sounds, like methodically played notes on the piano that have room to resonate and breathe, and create both vibe and atmosphere that seem to sizzle and shake like the central nervous system's organized synapse firing. It's almost a biomedical hypnotic feeling, but more organic than sterile or machine-like. Very beautiful. There's one song, "I'm Not Ready," (I think) that most embodies this sound and also carries the strong and stark utterance of "STAND UP AND SPEND YOURSELF FOR JESUS!" Wow. Strong record. We have a writer working on a story of the band in our next (July/Aug) issue, a brilliant writer by the name of Chris Estey. I hope he gets in their heads and we get some inkling as to what they're thinking when they create this stuff.
Working on updating the website and a mass emailing today, as well as trying to put a dent in my "VIP 2 Do" folder in outlook, where I stash important things to do that I put off during busy times like deadline. I've got 629 items left to finish! sigh.
PDL today has shifted gears to "Purpose #3 : You Were Created to Become Like Christ."
I like the reminder that the power of the Holy Spirit released in your life is often in "quiet, unassuming ways that you aren't even aware of or can't feel." This is likely the predominant work of the Spirit, more so than the spectacular and loud miracles, like deliverance and healing.
Wow, the conclusion of the chapter has some strong words: "Jesus did not die on the cross just so we could live comfortable, well-adjusted lives. His purpose is far deeper: He wants to make us like Himself before He takes us to Heaven."
The memory verse for today is from 2 Corinthians 3:18b (a letter Paul sent to a church that was full of sexual carnality, a church that wouldn't dare tell a man who was sleeping with his step-mom to stop...until Paul instructed them to in what many consider the second letter -- 1 Corinthians...):
"As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more."
-#81 (I would've had 7 points to my name in two plays if I just would've covered that back closer on Mojave's Middle Screen play. I was coached to sniff it out perfectly, but I held back from the back a couple yards, thinking, 'The quarterback will never throw it to him if I'm draped all over him.' Then when the ball came all I had time to do was swat it down instead of picking it and running 20 yards into the endzone. I wonder to this day if the coach would've sent in the second string kicker to kick the PAT as I was celebrating the TD and possibly getting back to the PAT huddle in time. I would have handed the ball back and sprinted over to the bench to grab that black kicking tee, cuz I dreamed of "owning" all 7 points -- the 6 and the extra point, too. Now we'll never know. sigh)
I wonder how many people in the world are playing radiohead right now... I bet the # is in the thousands.
I just saw the new issue. I always have the printer overnight me about 15 copies so I can see it hot off the press. This one is amazing! Visually, it's the best issue ever. Textually (is that a word?) it is the best since Sep/Oct 2002. Awesome. Love it. It's always a great feeling to see a new one. I get 3 "tearsheets" delivered with the 15 copies, too. I use these to send tearsheets or samples of the DVD reviews to the publicists who service the review copies; as well as sending one or more to an advertising client that wants to see it. Most magazines send tearsheets to a lot of their clients, who want to have proof that an ad ran, rather than just someone's word. They pass this along with the invoicing that goes through an advertising agency all the way through to the client.
The Rock Stars on God book should come out soon. I am looking forward to picking up some magazines and seeing ads for it and some reviews. April 27 is the street date, I'm told. I spent a couple hours today in that Hutto Coffee shop -- Front Street Cafe -- writing some more of my novel (Desert High). It's fun to get that cranking. A friend of mine from the Northwest wants to write a book called The Heaven's Metal Story, which he will "ghost write" with my name as the author. He's in the military and we keep promising each other that we'll schedule some time to interview, etc for this thing. He can hop on a military plane with some advance notice and visit, which is what I want him to do, so he can hold HM memorabilia in his hands and get an upclose feel for the magazine's history, etc. Lord willing, that'll happen some day.
I got a haircut today. I hate short hair. I just don't think I look too good with closely cropped hair. I dunno. Just vanity, but I always feel this way right after a haircut.
I loved the context of the PDL chapter today. In many ways, it implied, you have to struggle and fight and work to preserve unity in the body of Christ. It's not always easy. Much of the New Testament was written on that subject (much more so than Heaven or Hell). It seems God knew what He was getting into when He established the church as His organism. We bicker and hurt each other. God bless us when we learn to love and help heal each other instead!
Church should be a party (most of the time), celebrating our forgiveness and our beautiful differences and distinctions. It's a joy to be around God's people (or we should at least try to have that perspective much of the time). I love how Jesus was at a lot of parties. He wasn't a stick in the mud. I envision Him laughing a lot and really enjoying the company He was in. I wanna be like that.
-#81
It's been awhile since I posted a PDL entry in the morning. It takes a real determination to keep that thing going first thing in. If I'm trying to get a jump start on writing something, I'll jump on that, then answer emails (+ wade through 200+ spam junk), return calls or see to pressing matters that come in during the day, and wham! It's over.
Chapter 20 is a good one: restoring broken relationships. Wow. Peacemaking is a rough and tough job. It's cool that the author points out that peacemaking is not avoiding conflict.
"...sometimes we need to avoid conflict, sometimes we need to create it, and sometimes we need to resolve it. That's why we must pray for the Holy Spirit's continual guidance."
Oh, amen!
I love the balance offered. "Reconciliation means you bury the hatchet, not necessarily the issue." Sometimes it's best to agree to disagree. I love the phrase, "God expects unity, not uniformity..."
Good stuff.
A robot or program has been launched by someone that searches out blogs and comment fields and adds silly and offensive names or subject headings. Whenever I spot these, I delete them and close up the comment possibility on that document. If you ever notice this, I apologize, but that's why/how it happens and that's my typical response.
Now, if I could just find out who's sending out these robots, I could put this chapter to use!
-#81
...without time there'd be no time to change....
(great line from Charlie Peacock's The Secret Of Time)
Loved the breakdown for successful fellowship in the latest PDL chapter. Some of the prerequisites that I can remember include:
Authenticity
Honesty
Mercy
and Frequency.
(those are the ones that stuck out to me).
Good word.
I wrote 3025 words today at that new coffee shop. Am glad the words came out. Am hoping for more tomorrow.
Love the edification in PDL's chapter 18. It tells of the special atmosphere that is present in small groups (whether it's a Sunday School class, a home fellowship or Bible study). This is where church becomes real. The Sunday morning worship service is usually a service where corporate celebration takes place, not real intimate growing together.
The real interaction, where Sally learns to let go and forgive Fred, or Johnny surrenders his cravings to alchohol, or Carl confesses confusion about God being our Father, since his dad was so bad at showing love... It's the place where one can experiment with and learn how to use spiritual gifts. It's a safe haven where one can fail and not feel like they're finished if they do. It's the family of God. Smaller is better. I love that.
My wife and I lead a marriage group as part of our church fellowship. Usually there's 3 or 4 couples that meet with us and go over some curriculum (books) about different topics within the context of marriage (finances, parenting, growing together in Christ, building your mate's self esteem). This time we are leading a group on "overcoming stress," and 7 couples have signed up! This means we'll have 16 adults sharing, which provides a challenge. In a group of 12 or less, there is ample time for everyone to share, contribute and feel a part. With 16 there will be opportunity for one or two people to fade into the background and not participate. It'll take some special skills in observation and discussion directing to make sure everone gets included. I'll probably lay that as a ground rule in the first meeting, something like: "Since there are so many of us, we need to try our best to condense our sharing so that none of us monopolize the short amount of time we have together, so that each one of us can share." We already have a rule that not everyone has to share; and never to share something private/potentially harmful without the other spouse's permission (no "surprises"). It'll be interesting to see how this works out.
I'm going to try and peel away for a couple hours tomorrow and Thursday to put a dent in the start of a novel I'm planning to write. I'll probably bring my laptop to a coffee shop and (hopefully) madly type away. Here's hoping for the best.
The above phrase was the title of a song that Brian Healey offered to let my old band (LC) use if we wanted. I can't remember the words to the song, but if they didn't turn on the concept of the title and bite it, I wouldn't be interested. While a funny title (and God bless Brian), I think this phrase, this concept, this feeling is in error. It's incomplete in a way. It's good to say those things -- don't get me wrong. A prayer like that is a GREAT prayer, because it might be honest. But moving beyond the feelings of hating the bride or body of Christ is what needs to happen.
The chapter of PDL today (chap 17) talked about this subject. The church is not a man-made institution. If we have a problem with "organized religion," then we should take it up with the Organizer of it -- Jesus. He built the church, establishing it as His body on earth who, in partnership with the Holy Spirit, acts out His work.
Now, while we shouldn't ignore our shortcomings and fess up to our sins as believers -- individually and collectively -- we can't let our frustration take us to the extreme of renouncing the church or cutting ourselves off from it. We need the church and the church needs us.
Good words. Man, this life we live can be messy sometimes. Sometimes we feel hurt and blame it on the church, or we allow our hurt from another person to effect our activity, connection, and perspective on the church. Ouch! Nobody ever said this stuff would be easy...
-#81