We Go To Coffee
You know what people without “real jobs” do when they want to have a “meeting” with someone? We go to coffee.
It had been too long since I hung out with this guy and we had a bunch of catching up to do, so that’s what we did. We went to coffee. We talked about blogging, music, church, and art. I love connecting with people who’s brains work the same as mine. And even though that may mean that we are slightly “off” it works. Chad and I talked for a couple hours, ideas were bounced, and then pinky swore to make hanging out a more regular thing.
If you haven’t been over to Chad’s blog, make sure to head over there and say hi.
Psychics, Fortune Cookies And Bibles
I’ve never called a psychic hotline. I’ve wanted to several times. I’ve wanted to call and give a fake credit card number, then wonder if they knew I was going to do that. I’ve only seen a few different psychic type things on T.V. on those late night commercials. You know the ones…. with the Jamaican lady that says things on the commercial that relate to you sitting there in the dark at three in the morning. Somehow she knows that I am about to make a “large financial decision” and that an “old friend is coming back into my life”. She knows that “new things are on the horizon” and will tell me what it is if I call and give her my credit card number.
Fortune cookies are the same way. They are just general enough that they leave you feeling like something amazing is about to happen. Something “big is in your future”, all you have to do is “persist”. They tell you that you are about to “embark on something exciting” and get your mind reeling on what that could be. It gets you excited. Psychics know what they are doing. Fortune cookie writers know what they are doing. They are selling you nice feelings. They are telling you things that are general enough to leave you feeling good and then cashing your checks.
I grew up in a grounded Christian home. I went to church every Sunday, sometimes on Wednesdays, and even brought my Bible most times. Even now there is rarely a time where I hear a Bible verse and don’t recognize it as something I have heard before. I have heard all the stories, and even understand several of them. I know what verses to think about to be encouraged and I know what verses to think about when I am acting wrong. And then I stop and wonder if these verses have become like “fortune cookies” to me.
Now before anyone freaks out, this thought just hit me yesterday and I haven’t really thought through it all that much. The thought hit me when I was flipping through the radio stations in the truck yesterday and it landed on the local Christian radio station. Some well-know artist was reading a Bible verse to encourage the listener (me). It was a simple verse and there was no context included. It was only two sentences, and left the listener (me) inspired and ready to tackle any hardship that came my way. This well known musician must know what the listener (I) am going through and knows exactly what the listener (I) needed to hear. Am I being marketed to? Am I being handed neatly packaged good feelings that are sitting on top of the bill for my dinner? And worse of all is the Bible being used in a general enough sense that there’s no way to feel lost and hopeless?
Christian radio stations, and church marketing people know we want to feel good the same as psychics and fortune cookie writers. They know what we want to hear and to keep us coming back to the buffet. They know what’s going to keep us on the phone just five more minutes at $3.99 a minute. But what happens when we see through the fake Jamaican accent? What happens when the good feelings that come from the inspiring thought fades and we are stuck with reality that there is no exciting future prospect? And what happens when the radio is off and we are back to feeling completely abandoned? That concerned me today.
“Be Peaced”
You know those phrases that you hear people say, and they say it or type it often enough that it sort of becomes their “phrase”? Come on, you know the ones. You may not have thought much about those phrases, but they have. They have thought through ending something they have written with it, or ending a conversation with it. They have thought through it because it’s kind of a cool thing.
For the last few months I have thought about it. I know it’s a little weird, and maybe even stupid, but guess what? This is my blog, so I get to decide stuff. I have thought about a “phrase” that I want to be associated with eventually, and decided that it will be “be peaced”. Sure “peaced” isn’t a word, but I love the idea.
“Be Peaced”, as in “I am encouraging you to have peace in whatever you do. Not just ‘don’t fight’, but have peace in your life. ‘Be peaced’ by something greater than you. I hope you find that you find peace from stress, anger, insecurity, fear, hopelessness, and sadness. ‘Be peaced’ from anything that is causing you to not be peaced.” It’s not like I can really make that happen in your life, but I like the idea of it. So that’s my phrase. Sound good?
What’s a phrase that you have heard numerous times that you would love to align yourself with? What phrase would you want to communicate to people consistently enough that it becomes “your phrase”?
-be peaced-
Driving To Knoxville
I’m driving to Knoxville today. It will be about an eight hour, round trip. The other day MercyMe had a show cancel there, but not before their merch manager had over five thousand CD’s shipped to the venue. So I agreed to rent a truck, and drive out there to get them.
The band is flying in tonight so I will meet them and the bus late tonight and give them the CD’s, then head home. Sounds like a pretty exciting day huh? It actually will be kind of cool to have some time to just drive and think. Later this week Winter Jam is in Nashville so that will be fun to take the boys to.
Can you tell I can’t think of anything to talk about?
“Positive Post Tuesday”
Last Tuesday we tried something that seemed to work pretty well, and from what I can tell struck a cord with a lot of people, which I think is awesome. Several of you wrote amazing posts about your spouses, friends, and people in your church. Apparently there even was a youth group that talked about it, and someone was encouraged that way.
So I thought about it this morning and I think we should make this into a “thing”. What do you say? I think every Tuesday we should all write something encouraging about someone that we feel deserves to be “built up”.
This week I want to talk about my wife. She has been working for a week now, waking up to an alarm clock at an un-godly hour, on her feet all day, and still manages to come home and have energy to hang out with me and the boys. She hasn’t been the the “working world” for over five years, and somehow jumped in and taken the whole thing in stride. I know it’s hard, and I know she doesn’t feel like it doing it everyday, but somehow she does it and does it well.
On the other end of that, I have had the ability to mostly work from home, and so when she is gone I am taking care of the kids. Now, I love my kids to death, but there have been times this week where I wish the closet doors locked from the outside. I don’t know how Kristin does it. I don’t know how she gets anything done and still has time to feed these kids, nurture them and also step it up and teach them junk. I don’t get it. It’s all I can do to just get some food on the table and keep them from killing each other. I know this last few weeks has been particularly rough for her, and I think this week she deserves a little extra building up. I don’t know anyone like her and I couldn’t have married a more perfect woman.
So now it’s your turn. I have noticed this crazy Mr. Linky thing on every blog I read so I thought I would give it a try. Turns out there are rules that go along with this Mr. Linky thing, so here they are:
(a) Post on your blog.
(b) Fill out the widget on the bottom of this post linking to your post.
(c) Then link back to this post.
Sounds easy enough. Ready? Go.
A Night With The Irish
Last night Michael and I found ourselves at something that we thought was going to be a concert, but ended up being a reception for the “Sister Cities Of Nashville”. I don’t know what that is either, but we went. There were Irish Dignitaries there, Irish Travel Agents, eight different Irish artists performing and of course lot’s of Guinness.
Foy Vance and I had exchanged a few emails back and forth so he was aware that I was coming, and graciously left my name at the door to this “invite only” reception. Confused and awkward Michael and I walked in and found a seat.
The reception only lasted about an hour and a half and each artist, including Foy, only played two songs. It was a little disappointing to only hear two songs from the guy I went to see, but there were several other amazing artists playing and I got to hear some new stuff.
After it was over I met and talked with Foy a bit, and he mentioned that the group of them were headed to a pub down the street for dinner and asked us to come along. At the pub there was a small stage with some people playing music, we got some food, of course a Guinness, and settled in.
A guy, named Brian Houston, who played at the first place, played a few songs then Foy played for over an hour. Obviously I had never seen him live, so it was a pretty amazing thing to watch. There weren’t that many people still in the pub at eleven when Foy started but every single person in there was captivated. He put on a great show, and was a cool hang. And rumor has it, he’s thinking about coming back in the summer, so that’s good news.
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Check out his stuff if you haven’t.
Heads Up Nashville
I literally, just moments ago, received an email from our favorite Northern Ireland singer-songwriter, Foy Vance. Here is what the email said:
Hey Brody
I’m in Nashville tonight at the 3rd and Lindsley.
I’m very sorry, but I forgot to put the date on my website…!! oops
I hope you can make it.
Foy
I haven’t figured out how I am going to be able to go tonight, but I am going to give it a shot. Here are the details now added to his site:Belfast/Nashville Sister Cities concert. BNC with Foy Vance and Ben Glover, Mary Gauthier, Brian Houston, Eilidh Patterson and Bill Lloyd.
If you haven’t heard Foy’s music yet, you need to. Somehow purchase his album and listen all the way through. Then repeat as needed.
Who’s going?
In Case You Forgot
Just wanted to remind everyone we are still trying to build some wells in Africa through the work of Blood Water Mission. So far the response has been great, but I know there are plenty of other folks out there that wanted to give.
Remember my piss-poor math? Ten bucks a month, or thirty bucks for three months because we are trying to give enough for two wells every three months. With the amount of readers here we should be able to get that done in no time. Obviously there is no penalty for giving more, so do that if you wish.
Click that giant, obvious orange box over there on the right and enter the amount you want to donate, or head over to Jesus>Thirst and get a shirt, where the proceeds will go into the pot. Remember, June 1st is the day that I am sending the check. It’s not too close right now, but I don’t see why it can’t be a lot closer by that date, so let’s get on it. Everyone here has some cash laying around that can go to help save some lives.
Ready? Go.
