Filed under: Ramblings
This video is priceless. This is my mom doing the hula-hoop on the Wii Fit. My mom is awesome. Leave her a comment and let her know that you love her too!
Filed under: Ramblings
So Christmas has come and gone, and New Years Eve is right around the corner. Here’s a quick review of some things that went down.
First of all, I took a 47 mile canoe trip on the Congaree River. Jay, Bailey, Dan, and I went from the landing in Cayce to Highway 601 near St. Matthews. We camped out in Congaree National Park in some thick nasty mud and hung out with some wild pigs. We paddled hard for 2 days, and ate some good food.
Here are some pics:
Sunset the first night
- I’ve watched tons of football on the DVR. I can watch a game in about an hour with my 30 second fast forward button.
- I’ve ate good and ate way too much
- Got a nice new Merrell jacket and Merrell shoes for Christmas along with some cold hard cash
- Spent lots of time with Ashley
- Enjoyed getting to work the day after Christmas (not really)
- Cracked open The Lord of The Rings book for the 3rd time. It’s been awhile and I’m loving it all over again
- Watched the 24 2 hour TV movie, caught up on DVR shows, watched O Brother Where Art Thou, The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Nativity Story, and Regin Over Me.
- Played a cool game called Ticket To Ride with 2 friends of ours, Chad and Kristin. Guess who won.
- Lit about 10 fires in the fireplace even though the average temperature was 70*, but who cares right?
- Didn’t make 1 trip to the gym. But I will be there tomorrow to knock of these pounds added in 2 weeks.
It was great to have 2 weeks off of Midtown and have 2 weekends in a row with not much to do. Ashley and I went to church together, drove together, and tonight went to Carraba’s for a date after church. It was fantastic. I’m ready to get back in to the groove on Sunday nights and have missed being there the last 2 weeks, but the break has been great. I haven’t played a lick of music on piano or guitar, and I’m ready to get going again!
I came across some interesting stuff today on a blog that I usually read. I read it occasionally to keep up with NBA stuff so that I can stay on top of my fantasy basketball league.
The actual story however comes from the NPR show “This American Life.”
In the radio espisode, the host talks to a man who is a professor at the Rotterdam School of Management. He does an experiment where he places some ”bad apples” in a group project. Here is a summary from a writer for Salt Lake Tribune.
He (the professor – Felps) organized four-person teams of college students who were given 45 minutes of management tasks to perform. There was a $100 per person prize for the team that did the best, so there was a healthy incentive for everyone involved.
As part of the experiment, Felps had an actor step into a team with another three unsuspecting members at times. The actor was trained — and I love this — to be a jerk, a slacker or a pessimist.
The jerk would put everyone else down in the group, saying things like, “Have you ever taken a business course before?” The slacker text messaged throughout and started eating in the middle. The pessimist acted as if his cat had died (seriously).
The thinking was that the group would be able to overcome this one individual. The opposite was true. Even with smart and talented people, the groups that included the bad apple performed 30 to 40 percent worse in completing tasks, according to Felps.
I find this extremely interesting. Can 1 person have that much influence over a group of very talented and smart individuals. Unfortunately they can. The articles I read go on to draw parallels to current NBA teams, but you can apply this to whatever line of work you are in.
This can be a scary thing, especially in churches. I truly believe that 1 person has the potential to crush everything. I’m sure that I’ve probably been a bad apple before in certain situations, and I probably will be again.
This article raised a lot of questions in my mind.
- How do you spot a bad apple
- How do you get rid of a bad apple
- How do you deal with one if you can’t get rid of it
- How do I keep from being a bad apple
I thought these links were too good not to share. Hope you enjoyed. Let me know your thoughts!
Filed under: Ramblings
Lord, Please let every day this week be this warm! Our state is warmer than almost 7/8ths of the country. I mean really, is it December or May?
Here were the songs we used in our Christmas Gathering last night at Midtown!
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Mercy Me
Do You Hear What I Hear – 3rd Day
Silent Night – Casting Crowns
Oh Holy Night – Mercy Me (kind of)
O Come Let Us Adore Him – Passion
We won’t be having the Gathering for the next 2 weeks. I’m looking forward to having some time to spend home on Sunday’s with family and football! How about the Panthers? They are looking good. Can’t wait to actually watch next weeks game against the Giants!
Filed under: music | Tags: alison krauss, andrew peterson, bebo norman, damien rice, david wilcox, david gray, edwin mccain, james taylor, john mayer, mindy smith, nickel creek, ryan adams
So, here are the top 5 of my all-time favorite albums. I feel like I’ve left too many good albums off, but hey, at least it was fun for me. Great artists who have albums missing from here are John Mayer, Andrew Peterson, Coldplay, the very first Bebo Norman album (10,000 days), Damien Rice, David Gray, David Wilcox, Edwin McCain, and who knows what else. Maybe I’ll soon do a list of my current favorite albums. It would look completely different than this list, I believe. So without wasting any time, here they are:
5.Nickel Creek – Nickel Creek
This is the first album that got me interested in bluegrass. Some of this is more bluegrass than others, but it opened the door to a brand new horizon of music for me. The rest of Nickel Creek’s albums put together can’t stand up to this one in my opinion. There’s nothing fancy about it – just awesome musicians making music that sounds simple, but yet is impossible for many other people to take the same songs and make them sound that good.
4.Ryan Adams – Love Is Hell
My college roommate listened to Ryan Adams all through college. I got tired of it and never paid it much attention. As soon as I got out of college, I started to listen to Ryan Adams again, and picked up this album. Shadowlands is easily one of my favorite songs ever. There is also an interesting cover of the old Oasis song “Wonderwall.” Once again, this is an album that is amazing from start to finish.
3.Alison Krauss and Union Station – New Favorite
This album came into my life at an interesting time. I spent a whole summer with the North American Mission Board working as a worship leader for World Changers. It wasn’t exactly a time in my life where I’ve had the most fun, but I learned a lot and grew alot during that summer travelling across the state of Florida. I value a lot of alone time, and I had none of it all summer long.
I bought more CD’s that summer than I ever have in my life. Music was my only release. I had a cheap discman and cheap Sony headphones, and I escaped into that world as much as possible. This was the 1st Alison Krauss CD I ever bought, and it was the first CD I bought that summer, and I listened to it non-stop. I was fascinated by the beauty of that music. Everything about it was fascinating. I bought every one of her CD’s that summer.
Alison Krauss is amazing on this album, but the rest of the musicians on the album are just as ridiculously talented. It’s an all-star line-up for sure. The crazy thing is that they sound just as perfect in concert.
2.Mindy Smith – One Moment More
Mindy Smith has a voice that sounds like an angel. Someone gave me a copy of this in college, and I had seen her video of “Jolene” on CMT numerous times, so I figured I’d check out the rest of the CD. Once this went in the CD player, I listened constantly. The music is simple. Once again, nothing flashy, but amazing. Ashley and I went to see her in Atlanta, and it was without a doubt one of the most amazing shows we’ve ever been to together.
1. James Taylor – Greatest Hits
Maybe this is cheating a little bit to have a Greatest Hits album in the top ten, but this just couldn’t be left off. For those of you who don’t know me well, or haven’t known me for long, this may be somewhat surprising. However, I was obsessed with JT in middle school and high school. When I started playing guitar, I wanted to sound like JT. So, for many hours and many days after school, I would put this CD on, and proceed to learn every James Taylor song. James Taylor (along with my buddy Jeff Gregory) literally taught me how to play guitar. JT’s guitar licks aren’t very conducive to use while leading worship, and you aren’t likely to hear anything that sounds remotely close to JT during a worship song, but I promise you that’s always been the way that I want to play.
JT taught me how to fingerpick, how to learn music by just listening to it, how to hammer-on and pull-0ff, and all sorts of other things. Seriously, James Taylor taught me to play guitar, and learning/playing guitar has helped shaped my life, so for that – - JT is #1 on this All Time Favorite Album list.
Let me know what you think. What are your favorite albums?
Filed under: music | Tags: caedmon's call, chris thile, hootie and the blowfish, kathleen edwards, patty griffin
10.Kathleen Edwards – Back To Me
I found out about Kathleen Edwards through the iTunes Free Music Download one month a few years ago. The free song was “Back To Me,” but it’s definitely far from the best song on the album. Not 1 bad song on the album. One summer, this was the album I listened to probably 80% of the time.
9.Caedmon’s Call – 40 Acres
Caedmon’s Call was by far one of my favorite bands ever in High School. I learned tons on the guitar by listening to their songs over and over and over and over again. It’s hard to pick a favorite Caedmon’s album from back then, but this one stands out the most to me. I loved the alternate tunings that were used on a majority of their songs – tunings that you rarely see anybody else use today.
8.Hootie and The Blowfish – Cracked Rear View
How could you argue with this. I was in Middle School when this album came out and was trying to learn as much on the guitar as possible. The first song I ever learned was “Let Her Cry.” Just a simple G, C, D song with some occasional E minors. Learning that song was one of the coolest things in the world at the time. Few albums got listened to as much as this one for a long long time. It’s probably been 4 years since I listened to this album, but you just might hear some Hootie during some sound checks on the gee-tar. I also saw that this album has sold over 16 million copies. Darius Rucker, if you are reading, quit the country stuff – it ain’t working.
7.Chris Thile – Not All Who Wander Are Lost
A fabulous work of art. I don’t know a lot of mandolin, but everything I learned was off of this album. For those who don’t know, he is Nickel Creek’s mandolin player, and is probably one of the best in the world. He was a better musician and writer at the age of 8 most people ever hope to be.
6.Patty Griffin – 1000 Kisses
This album was the first gift my wife ever gave me. And that alone is enough to make this a top 10 album. Patty Griffin has one of the best voices around (next to Ashley of course). Check out the songs Rain, Nobody’s Crying, and Long Road.
Filed under: music | Tags: jars of clay, led zepplin, outkast, peter rowan and tony rice, shane barnard, the weepies
So, in my spare time, I decided to rank all of my top 15 top albums. It started out being my top 5, but quickly turned into my top 15 (plus one more).
I love music and my life has been shaped and formed by melodies, chords, notes, lyrics in songs, and the sound of numerous instruments. So, I’m looking forward to having some fun with this. Feel free to agree or disagree!
**Honorable Mention – Outkast – Aquemini**
Yes, this is the only rap album on the whole list, but it just couldn’t be left out. It didn’t deserve a top 15 spot, but I just couldn’t ignore it. By far, it’s my favorite rap album I’ve ever had, although I’ve only ever had maybe 4 or 5 at the most. I loved every song from start to finish. Rosa Parks anyone?
15. Led Zepplin – IV
Look at all the songs that are still popular today off this album! Black Dog, Rock and Roll, Stairway, Going To California, and When The Levee Breaks! Music isn’t the same these days as it used to be. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page had it right.
14. The Weepies – Say I Am You
I can’t remember when or where Ashley and I heard the Weepies first. Maybe an old Grey’s Anatomy show? Who knows, but it’s awesome. From start to finish all songs are worth listening to. It’s different from the normal stuff out there today, but we love it.
13. Jars of Clay – Jars Of Clay
One of the 1st concerts I ever saw was Jars of Clay. I saw them at some small place in Rock Hill, and I had no idea who they were, but I bought the album there, and it got played for countless hours in the following years. I have no idea where my CD is today, but it was one of the best Christian albums ever made from start to finish. I sat in front of a stereo for hours learning to play every song on there in the crazy guitar tunings that they used at times.
12. Shane Barnard – Psalms
I’m not a huge Shane and Shane fan. I think that what they do is awesome. I listened to this album tons in college. It’s a great worship album. I’ll never strum as fast as Shane Barnard.
11. Peter Rowan and Tony Rice – Quartet
I bought this album after seeing 3 out of the 4 in the Tony Rice Quartet in Greenville. What sucks is that Tony Rice was the one missing. He had a death in the family, and had to miss the show. I was bummed the whole show, because I had seen Tony Rice play once, and I have never been so impressed with any guitar player in my whole life. That is not an understatement. Tony Rice is a machine with an acoustic guitar and some flatpicking. I bought the album when I got home anyway, and it’s a masterpiece of bluegrass music by 2 of the best. You can laugh at this album cover all you want, but this is the sickest display of musicianship you’ll ever hear.
Filed under: Sunday Night Music, music | Tags: midtown fellowship, Sunday Night Music
If you missed it, last night at Midtown was a pretty cool night. We are currently in the middle of our GIV series, and last night a lot of people literally gave away the shoes on their own feet. I know it was hard for a lot of people to give that up (including myself), but the thought of someone less fortunate not having any shoes to wear and the Holy Spirit was more than enough to help me make my decision.
I’ve never really been a “shoe lover,” but I did love my Merrell’s. I don’t think I’ve ever worn a more comfortable pair of shoes in all my life and have done some great hikes in those shoes. However, like Dustin said, it’d be awesome to one day see someone wearing those shoes and getting daily use out of them instead of me just wearing them on the weekends. It really was one of the coolest services and it was awesome to see people giving up things that they loved in order to serve and provide for those in our community. Dustin, thanks for taking that vision you had 3 years ago, sharing that with us, and encouraging us to follow your lead.
Here were the songs we used last night.
Stronger – Hillsong
Lead Me To The Cross – Hillsong
Here With Us – Joy Williams
Mystery – Charlie Hall
Filed under: Sunday Night Music | Tags: charlie hall, hillsong, shane and shane, Sunday Night Music, tim hughes
Yup, we did 7 songs last night! Here they were.
Song of the Redeemed – Charlie Hall
None But Jesus – Hillsong
Till I See You – Hillsong
From The Inside Out – Hillsong
Oh Come Let Us Adore Him
Before The Throne – Shane and Shane
God of Justice – Tim Hughes
