“China’s one-child policy created a generation of only children that numbers ninety million. One hundred nineteen baby boys born for every one hundred girls.

The number of unmarried young men - called bare branches - is predicted to be thirty million by 2020.

Forty-five percent of Chinese women surveyed say they do not want to give up their careers to get married.

Three in ten Chinese families have grandparents living in the same household.

China has the worlds highest number of annual deaths triggered by air pollution.

Sixty-seven percent of millionaires surveyed say they are sacrificing health for money.

China is expected to overtake the U.S. as the worlds largest economy in ten years.”

-National Geographic

Thoughts?

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Well, here it is the end of April. Some of you may not remember, but I wanted to remind everyone about the Blood Water Mission well fund raiser we are doing here on this blog. Here are all the posts related to donating money to help build wells for people in need of clean water.  So far we are not even close to the original goal of “Two Wells in Three Months”, in fact I think we should change the name to “One Well In Three Months” and shoot for that instead.

There are a couple different ways you can give.  One is by clicking that giant orange box to the right of this post.  That will take you to a PayPal account where you can donate.  The other way is to head over to JesusGreaterThan.org and buy a Thirst Shirt.  Whatever money is made from the shirts will also be donated to Blood Water Mission as well.  

The plan is still to send BWM a check on the first of June.  Hopefully it will be enough to get them a well, but we’ve got a long way to go.  Seriously, thanks for all of you who have donated.  Tell as many people as you can today about this, and let’s get some people some clean water.  There’s really no reason this community here on this blog can’t spread the word like crazy about this.  

Let’s get a well this month.   What do you say?

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I know I have already done a “Positive Post Tuesday” about Kristin, but you know what?  There’s a lot to brag on her about and I felt like it.  Plus it’s my blog and I get to do that if I want.  

Kristin is the most loving, genuine person I know.  She has dealt with my weird ideas for almost eight years now, and from what I can tell, still likes me enough to hang around me.  I remember a handful of people telling us, when we got married so young that it wasn’t going to last and there was no way we were mature enough to start our lives together.  Maybe we weren’t mature enough, but we were determined enough to prove them wrong.  Now it’s been eight years, we have lived in six different houses, had three kids, and are still figuring things out, but it’s been an exciting adventure so far.

This year has been rough for us.  Literally starting at the first of the year, things seemed to have been attacking us from all sides.  It hasn’t stopped, and at times has only felt like it has only gotten worse.  Kristin and I have had so many long talks that result with only one thing for certain.  That we are in this together and that is the only thing that makes us feel like we can make it through.  I know for a fact, that there is no way that I could be doing anything without her right next to me, and I hope she feels the same.

Kristin is the hardest worker, most loving mother, caring friend, and creative artist that I know.  I know that most men will say that they don’t deserve their wives and they are mostly all right.  I too, join in that list of men that truly, honestly don’t deserve to have such an amazing woman in my life.  However, I am ambitious today.  I am ambitious to treat my wife in a way that she deserves.  I don’t know how, but I want to show her how much she means to me and just how much I couldn’t live without her.  I could never completely show her how much I need her and love her, but today I want to show her more than I have.

This “Positive Post Tuesday” thing has gone so well and I have been blown away by all the people participating in it.  I hope that through this the people writing the posts are being as encouraged as the people that are being written about.  I know sometimes it’s hard to come up with something nice to say every week, and it has been for me too, but I think it’s an amazing exercise for us to practice.  Let’s see how many posts we can get today.  If you are new you can go here and read how this whole thing started.  Then the rest is easy.  Just write something nice about someone, come back here and add your name and address to the list below.  Tell your friends. Let’s make this massive. Sound good?
 

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Go Here….

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According to an article in Wired Magazine:

“Apple is under pressure from the four major labels to change its pricing model to a tiered pricing structure,” said Susan Kevorkian, an IDC audio analyst. “The way the labels are pressuring Apple is by withholding DRM-free downloads from the service … [while] cultivating other online music services, most notably Amazon’s MP3 downloads store.”

“If Apple tires of butting heads with the labels, it could eventually cut them out of at least part of the equation by forming its own record label to keep a portion of the estimated 65 cents it currently pays out to the labels for each song sold.”

And here’s the kicker of this whole shebang.

By 2012, digital music is projected to account for 40 percent of music sold, according to InStat. If Apple holds onto its current market share, it will account for more than one-quarter of all music sales by its ninth birthday. Not bad for freeware.

Are record labels in trouble if they mess with the beast that is Apple? Sounds to me like it’s time for artists to have a solid online presence more than ever. What do you think?

Read More

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Kristin and I are slowly moving along watching LOST.  We made it through the first season, and now are into the second.  It’s still good but the Ana Lucia character may be ruining the show for me.  Maybe not even the character so much as the actress playing the character.  There are only two actresses that I can’t stand to watch do anything.  Cameron Diaz and this one.  I don’t even know her name, but I hate every character she decides to do.  

It bothers me so much that she has completely taken over the show with her “drunken with inner rage, I’m the toughest girl ever but can’t keep my eyes completely open because I am so angry” acting ability.  Then to find out last night, that in the show, before the plane crash, she was an “angry, tough, 102 pound” cop.  Sound familiar?  I just think she is a horrid actress that can only play one role and does a pretty bad job even at that.  Maybe she should look into a romantic comedy or something.

It’s also a little odd to me that this giant muscly Mr. Echo guy, or even Jin who beat the hell out of Michael at one point can’t stand up to her and take her gun away.  It’s just plain annoying and has completely changed my mindset while watching the show.  I just cant stop thinking about how annoying the combination of this actress and the character she is playing is.  

I’m assuming she dies eventually because people are still putting up with the show and there is no way people would continue to watch with her.  Does she bug anyone else?  Or did she? 

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This is my nasty, “Courtney Love” cat. Her name is LaChonda Turner. She’s gross, but thinks she is glamourous. She has a limp.

This is how what my porch looked like when we got home from church today.

Caption Please.

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(HT:WG)

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It’s working! And let me tell you why.

I have had the opportunity to work with some amazingly talented people that are totally believing in what I am doing, and jumping in with both feet.  Today was a day that proved to me that what we are doing is working, and I am totally excited about it.

A couple things I would like to point out that I am really excited about is first, see the yellow writing on that picture over there?  Phil made an amazing video the other day while we were sitting in his hotel room talking about blog ideas.  So far in the past two and a half days the video has been viewed almost two thousand times, and was ranked number ninety of the most viewed musicians on YouTube.  What the crap?!  In all of Youtube! You know… in the entire world and stuff. I love it. Also, Phil made an announcement on his blog tonight that will, I believe, will revolutionize and solidify his “presence” in the Christian music industry, and I love that I get to be a part of it.

Secondly, Natalie who took home the Dove Award for “Female Vocalist Of The Year”, reached a new high on her blog today, totaling over four-thousand people.  Four-Thousand.  Amazing talent and I love that I am allowed to be involved in a small part of her career this way.  It’s amazing to see this stuff working.

And third, my father-in-law called me on the way home from Blue’s baseball game and told me that MercyMe’s blog was being featured and talked about on Total Axxess.  Now for those of you that don’t know, Total Axxess, from what I understand, isn’t just a Nashville thing.  It’s broadcast from here, but is all over the country and that’s a big deal I think.  I’m not sure all that was said but I would have loved to have heard it.  Any of you hear it?  And what’s cool to see is even all the industry folks coming to their blog including other artists.  Today Aaron Shust even commented.

So anyway, I just love to see things working and I love to be a part of helping these amazingly talented people get out into the world wide internets a little better.  It’s been a good day and now I am off to bed.  

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I didn’t plan on going to the Gospel Music Awards last night. Honestly it didn’t really cross my mind. I assumed I wouldn’t go and just hear about it later.  As it turned out I ended up going obviously and was pretty impressed.  In years past I had heard a bunch of negative stuff surrounding the Doves.  I had heard that it was long and boring and self-absorbed and all that.  Maybe it has been, but this year was pretty impressive.  I got to the Grand Ole Opry House a little early because Phil was performing during the pre-show.  We hung out backstage with a the guys from Switchfoot, and a bunch of folks that were running in and out like maniacs.  Phil performed “True Love” and blew the place up.  I have seen him perform this song probably fifty times and this time was easily one of the best times I had heard it.  If there was ever a time to nail the sing like he did it was then.  He did a great job and had a great response.

Once the show started Phil, Evan and I made our way to our seats for the part of the show that was actually televised.  We were upstairs in the balcony next to the Tenth Avenue North guys, which by the way have an amazing record coming out May 20th.  Great guys and a brilliant record.  But I will talk about that later.

Once of the first awards given out was Female Vocalist Of The Year and Natalie won that right after she performed with Wynonna to open the show.  Natalie did a great job and it was cool to see her and her husband, Bernie, collectively win three Doves.  It was also cool to each of their responses when the other one won.

A little later the guys in the Crowder Band played.  They had a pretty cool stage set up with fake grass and growing flowers.  Very Sufjan. They did a great job, and it was cool to run into them at dinner before the show.  I don’t remember what awards David and the guys took home, but it was cool to see them play again.

Later in the show Switchfoot performed a new song of theirs that was written for the new Narnia movie.  They had a small string section with them and nailed an amazing song.  I was pretty blown away by it.  I don’t know how they do it but they come up with so many great songs, and this one is no exception.  It’s one I almost wish I could have heard as it was being broadcast on TV simply so I could hear a really good mix and hear all the parts.  Either way I was really impressed and it was cool to see them again.  

Another highlight of the night was the closing song where Mac performed with Charlie Daniels.  It was pretty unbelievable and everyone on stage looked like they were having a great time.  

Once the show ended we hung out a bit on the floor talking to people and figuring out who was going and how we were all getting to the after show party.  Then we all drove to some hotel where there was food, music and lots of tired artists.  I had no intention of staying late but ended up leaving about midnight.  

All in all it was a really cool night.  It was fun to hang out with everyone in a completely different environment.  Not to mention it was a cool experience for me to be able to be a part of.  I have grown up hearing about and watching these types of award show things, so it was cool to be a part of one.  And say what you want about the industry, self-glorification, and all that.  I say last night was a fun party and a celebration for a bunch of crazy talented people.  I don’t know much about the politics of it, but I know I personally had a great time.  I just hope Kristin can go with me next year. 

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