DDB is out on the road again

Hey,

We are in Cumming, GA this weekend at First Redeemer Church. We are doing a youth event called U-Turn. It is middle and high school age students. Tonight we did our first session and it went pretty well. We have been using Shure PSM 200s for our in-ears, but tonight was the first time we used our new PSM 600s. They sound worlds better.

The students and speaker make it seem like it is going to be a good weekend. After we are done here we pack up and head to Lafayette, GA Sunday night at Second Baptist Church for an evening of worship with their entire church.

It really is amazing that I find myself facilitating worship as a job. Sometimes it seems weird to be doing it as a job, but to travel and be away from home takes a financial and emotional commitment. I guess that is the trade off. We would not be able to spend so much time traveling if we had regular 9-5 jobs we had to work around. To this point though, I do make sure that I get volunteer time in at my home church as often as I can. I don't want ALL of my time that I am on stage to be "paid" time. It just would feel too dirty. Does that make sense?

The facilities at the church and host home are amazing. I will post pictures probably tomorrow (later today in some time zones).

Peace

Sweet housing

A person at the church has a guest house on a lake. It is beautiful and serene. This is so relaxing. Thanks whoever owns this house.

Peace

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A little maintenance

Derek has the job of being the resident tire checker. Today I got to hold the tire gauge.
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First gig in years

Cassi and I are headed to our first gig together since 2001. We are playing for a CD release party. Sweet. On the road again. This is us on our way.
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The Auction of Hope

Not the Audacity of Hope mind you. Tough economic times make artists pucker everywhere. We all become a little more worried of where the money is going to come from in times like this. We start auctioning off our talents for cheaper. So if you are in the market for some art, talent, or what have you, it is a buyers market. :)

Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life, according to Wikipedia. "The Biblical definition of hope is 'confident expectation'". Check out this article on Biblical Hope.

Peace

America does have talent. I say it is Martin Sexton.

This guy is one of America's great talents. His writing and singing are fantastic. This is not necessarily the best quality or his best song but you need to go see him. Please.

He plays a Godin A6. You ever hear of it? Probably not, but Godin makes some VERY good Guitars. I gotta get one some day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO_IZGbCDv0&feature=related

Peace

From the Ashes

Here are some lyrics of a ballad I have to learn for a CD release party. I like them for some reason. Not sure who the writer is.

My right hand holds matches
My left holds my past
I hope the wind catches
And burns it down fast
I’m gonna step into the fire
With my failures and my shames
And wave goodbye to yesterday
While I dance among the flames

So don’t try to save me now
Let the walls of my world all burn down
Just stand back and wait till the smoke finally passes
And I will rise from the ashes, from the ashes, from the ashes

For all that I’m losing
Much more will I gain
The hard part is choosing
To change what needs changed
Well my step will be much lighter
With these demons off my chest
I’m born a better spirit
Lay the old to rest

So don’t try to save me now
Let the walls of my world all burn down
Just stand back and wait till the smoke finally passes
And I will rise from the ashes, from the ashes, from the ashes

I’ll walk away stronger
I will be flying
Higher and truer than I’ve flown before

My right hand holds matches
My left holds my past
I hope the wind catches
And burns it down fast

Rediscovering the Arts

There are some of us that have an artistic mind. Being in and around music, theatre, motion pictures, paint, sculptures and the like are where our brains are in their natural state. The synapses? Sure they fire more but they seem to fire in a beautiful order. It gives me the feeling of being home. I am at rest. I am at peace with myself and the world. Without art I would be a shell filled with a great abyss of nothing. Only God himself could keep me from literal insanity if I did not have the arts.

Music and art is not what I like. It is what I am. I guess I have always known that but it has never been more prominent than now.

BlackBerry Storm review

I have been using a BlackBerry Storm for over a week now. It is not what I expected.

Everyone has said that it was a poor design and that the guts and software have problems. There are some problems, minor ones, but this is by far the best BlackBerry I have used.

I remember when the iPhone came out it was $600, it took about 48 hours to have it activated. There were some minor problems with it but those have been remedied now. This BlackBerry will get tweaked over time too.

The best thing is the starting price. It was $198 at Walmart and that included a SIM card and 8Gb micro SD card. The media portion of this phone is really what got the upgrade. It has a great 3.2 mega pixel camera that will do still and video shots. The music player syncs with my iTunes. It is also much easier to download songs and ringtones than on previous Blackberries.

The 'clickable' screen is really one of the only areas that is better than the current iPhone. This eliminates accidentally clicking on links while scrolling through emails and pages in a browser. Also, this phone has 3 different typing modes so it is easy and fast to type on once you get the hang of it. In fact a total stranger on a recent flight commented about how fast I was typing.

My recommendation is that if you want a toy that can be a light saber or have a Crash Bandicoot game ready to go, get an iPhone. If you want a tool that edits spreadsheets, documents, and powerpoints out of the box get the Storm.

So remember, toy=iPhone and tool=BlackBerry Storm.

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Hanging out at the Dallas House of Blues

I am doing a one nighter with Tequila Sunrise in Texas tonight. This is the dark green room.
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