I still have a list of things I’ve been meaning to write about, but at the moment only the last hour makes the cut. I stumbled on a couple of cool websites, which is rare, but aren’t worth links right now.

The most exciting news of the moment is that I might be a real band type band again soon. Yes, I have a permanent type gig with my Church in the youth praise band, which is awesome, but if you’ve ever done that you know it’s just not the same. Not that it’s not as good. But it’s much less original material and the rush of playing in front of people you will probably never see again. Not to mention that in one instance you’re preparing the ‘crowd’ and their spirit for the upcoming Word, whereas in a band band – you are the word. And then there’s performance versus ministry, and all that bunch of grey area. Gosh, I’ve brought up at least three things already that deserve their own book worth of discussion – so I’ll stop now.

Speaking of grey area though, I thought of something interesting today that never really hit me before. [Begin back-story] – working in a Christian environment, theological and philosophical and other-o-sophical discussions get brought up a lot, sometimes for fun, others for wisdom. Today someone asked “do you believe everything is black and white?” – as in to say “is there always a right OR wrong?”. [End back-story] To which my reply was short – “no!”.

I’ve never really thought of how I back that up, and I’m not even sure it’s scripturally sound. I did think for a few minutes though, and realized something (a reason for believing that there are grey areas, which I will repeat in the least educated way possible…

If God is a three person, trinity thingy, one person, all God, one God, three people, one person thing… I find it hard to believe that everything is always “black and white”.

If you absolutely, positively do not understand that, just think for a minute.
Done? Good. liar.
Now read…

If the creator of everything is something so far beyond comprehension, why on earth would everything He/It (I say ‘it’ only because of previous reference to “the trinity”) created be in a constant black and white? How could that be? And of course it absolutely could be. I mean, if He is above comprehension in the first place, who am I to think that the laws of the universe that He created would be comprehendible? Psh!

Like I said – I’m definitely not going on any Biblical standards or anything here. I just think that there are things, sometimes big things, in a “grey area”. I think that many situations in life should be taken on a ‘case-by-case’ basis. But before you think I’m super-liberal with my beliefs or standards, let me tell you that I do absolutely believe that there are many, many absolutes. Many things are absolutely wrong, or absolutely right. One thing that I do not believe falls into a grey area is abortion. [This is where I would normally say - in a sad but non-apologetic tone - "sorry"].

One thing that I do, however, believe falls into a grey area is what kind of car I drive to work, if I skate, or if I play guitar with an immense amount of skill.

I would end it here but I have to ask that you please do not confuse “grey area” with “it’s okay to do”. Some people might use the term that way, however here it is intended to mean that whatever happens in that area should be considered, weighed, and done in the right timing, place, moderation, or whichever word correctly applies.

But then I guess you could say that that process would be deciding if something fell into a black or white category. And then I would have wasted all this time typing. So quit listening to me, go read a Bible and find out for yourself.

The End.

I can’t stand when I’m surfing blogs, and I run into one that’s full of poetry or lyrics, etc, that have no explanation whatsoever. I mean – I know it’s their space, they can put whatever they want, perhaps the lyrics summed up exactly how they felt and needed no further explanation. But it annoys me.

However, recently I’ve found myself desiring to post some things of that sort. I’ll do my best to explain every one of them. Except this first one, of which I will only say that now that I’m writing this down, I don’t think it sounds right… I don’t think that this is the same line that was in my head the other day. So if I find it to be wrong, I shall correct it, and this statement.

I desire holy kisses from fiery lips.
I want a firecracker.

The End.

Whew! Today the ‘praise band’ hmm… maybe we need a name… did about an hour long set on a float in a nearby town’s Christmas parade. We did a bunch of the praise songs we normally do on Wednesday nights… only we were on a float, in a parade, in (approximately) below freezing weather. If any of you play in school bands, or have ever played an instrument in conditions like that, for extended periods of time… I feel your pain.

It was fine when my hands went numb – I knew what I was strumming because I could still feel and control my right elbow, and I was able to tell that I was playing the chords correctly… but when that frost-bite-sinking-in pain started to shoot through my fingers – it started getting annoying.

Actually, I’m making it sounds worse than it actually was. I’m pretty sure I could feel my hands the whole time. Sort of. But they were getting very numb and painful in the cold.

Other than that, it was a great day.

As far as accomplishments in my life… I’m about to do a really awesome study of Angels for the Junior High Sunday School class that I and Laura run. So I went to BibleGateway.com, typed in “angel” and told it to give me every result. This, of course, also brings back every instance of Angels, and any other word that starts with A-N-G-E-L…

It defaults to the NIV, which wasn’t a big deal – not the translation I use all the time, but I also knew that not every place in the Bible that talks about angels is going to come right out and say “angel”, but it was a start. I’m now proud to say that as far as the New International Version of the Bible is concerned, I have read every verse that contains ‘angel’ and it’s various other forms.

As part of the lesson, I have 3 very large garbage bags full of Bubble Wrap, in many of it’s various sizes, of which I need to count every bubble. That sounds absolutely ridiculous, I know, but…

a) it’s for the kids
2) it’ll be totally awesome

I’ll tell you more after it happens, because I wouldn’t want one of them to be reading this and spoil the effect.

And that’s it.
The End.

Not posting here, as you can see, but finally writing more. Yeah, yeah, I’m artsy fartsy, I’m in a band, I have feelings… so I write things… sometimes. For almost 6 months I haven’t written anything I thought was worth keeping. All I knew is that I wanted to write something. But I hate to write about wanting to write. I’m even sad that I’m writing this post. ARRRRG! [angry, too, I guess].

So the other night I finally wrote something interesting… and I’ve been picking up my guitar more on my time, and not just when I’m practicing with the band. I love it. I feel better. I feel more like myself now.

Aside from that, I went with Laura tonight to see Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance” at the Orpheum Theater here in Memphis. It wasn’t as “Irish” as I thought it would be. But it was definitely awesome. I also enjoyed the Nutcracker, which we saw a few months ago. How metro of me.

[note: ah, the Orpheum has a new-ish, pretty website. Nice, nice, good to see.]

More news, less time. Goodnight.

Whichever the case may be, I have decided to give up the “default template”, as I feel I have left it long enough to give thanks to the people that created it, and because I’m ready to work on something of my own. So here it is. The official announcement that at some time in the future you will come back to this site and it will look different. Probably not as different (or good looking) as this site or this one, sad as that may be, but finally something of my own, that will better suit me.