It's a very fascinating article from The New York Times, speculating as to why 95% of all blogs "fail" or otherwise cease activity in a rather short period of time.
Sunday started off well. I went to bed pretty early the night before, so when my alarm went off at 7:25, I felt pretty good. I still hit snooze, but I was able to get ready and get to church by 8. For the first service, I just sat around, but during the second service I got to run video stuff. Church was great this weekend. Rich Johnson led worship, and the band was a three-piece: Bill on drums, Dave on bass and Hamilton rockin' the B3/keys/synth. The music had an awesome gospel flair to it, and it rocked. There was also a very moving dance. We're still working through Revelation, which is pretty insightful and neat.
I ate leftover Chinese food after getting home from church. I talked with my parents for a bit, then sat around reading and lightly dozing for several hours. Around 4:30pm, it was back to the church to run sound for CT. It kinda turned into mini-worship with tons of games after, since a lot of kids were at graduation parties. Mostly, I sat around soaking in everything I could from artofmanliness.com. It's my new favorite website, and I really contemplated keeping it a secret. But it's tight. Check it out.
I returned home around 10pm, and decided to take an early evening (knowing it would mean forsaking the blog). I read for a bried while, but fell asleep rather quickly.
This morning, I had set my alarm early, knowing the early evening would still give me enough sleep. Still, I postponed waking an hour after my alarm rang, yet I was mostly awake during that extra hour. I spent most of it in prayer, though, so it was worthwhile. I read Psalms thirteen and fourteen this morning, then packed up the gear I had sold on ebay. I also spent a considerable amount of time grooming myself and cleaning this morning. Sometimes, it's relaxing to be slow. I polished a pair of shoes that had looked rather scuffed, and now they look quite nice. I made a simple sandwich for lunch, and took the boxes to UPS for shipping. I returned home for a short while and decided to read some from the book I had started last evening.
Something that has been tremendously reoccuring in my thoughts has been our need as Christians to represent Christ. In this book, Jesus Wants To Save Christians by Rob Bell, one of the things that captured me the strongest was this:
"God always hears the cry of the oppressed; God cares about human suffering and the conditions that cause it. God is searching for a body, a community of people to care for the things God cares about. God gives power and blessing so that justice and righteousness will be upheld for those who are denied them. This is what God is like. This is what God is about. This is who God is."
First thing I see- God is searching for a body. I am supposed to show people how much God loves them by being his body! I am supposed to represent him in every way (and he made me in his image, so I have no excuses).
Second, maybe more important- God ALWAYS hears the cry of the oppressed! God cares about injustice! He cares about PEOPLE. He LOVES people, and when people are wronged, God gets upset! He hears their cries, your cries, our cries, my cries! And he blesses us (you and me) so that we can go out and bless others and lift others out of oppression! My God cares about everybody, especially the hurting and downcast!
This is just so convicting! I am supposed to, and enabled to, called to represent Christ to the world. I am to be his holy priest. I am supposed to stand up for the unnoticed, the downtrodden. Does injustice anger me? It's starting to. My attitudes are changing...
Around 12:30pm, my sister and I left the house. We met up with some terrific new friends with whom we'll be spending most Wednesday evenings this summer, ministering to the homeless of Columbus. We played a round of putt-putt today, in the rain, and my sister even won a free t-shirt by nailing a hole-in-one on the 18th. Then, the six of us (Brittany, her sister Casey, Bethany, Matt, my sister and myself) went to Java Central in Uptown. (Turns out they have an open mic night every Friday, so I'll begin showing up for that in the future...) We sat around and talked about a large variety of things, but nothing too deep. It was really just a pleasant time of fellowship. We eventually walked around Uptown, stopping in a couple shops. I got this sweet bow-tie in an antique shop, but I had no luck in finding a good-quality straight-razor or safety-razor. (It's strange to know so little of the quaint area in which I live. I'm remedying that problem this week.)
We eventually parted ways, and my sister and I stopped by the library so I could pick up thirteen books. I reserved around thirty that I'll probably never get through, but they're books I ought to read, so it won't hurt to try. I sat around the house for a little over an hour, then left for some recording/mixing with John Wirtz at Music Café Studios. (On the way, I picked up Hillsong United's newest. Brooke Fraser is now Brook Ligertwood. I'll write more about the CD after I've listened more.)
Anyway, John is working on an original project with Jewelee, an awesome gal from our church. They had done some recording earlier that day, and we sat in the studio for four hours total (9pm-1am) mixing and blending the lead vocal part for the song from four earlier takes and any additional attempts during our four hour session. We made it through the first half of her song, which certainly required patience, especially since my inexperienced ear wasn't picking out most of the stuff they were hearing. (I'm getting better already, though!) John showed me some basic stuff he does with these sort of projects, and just getting to observe was awesome. It's going to sound phenomenal when they're finished, by the way.
When we called it a night, I left, stopped for a quick bite to eat, and arrived home. I spent a little time chatting with some folks on facebook, and now I'm writing this. On a side note, my laptop should return to me in a few days, as well as a new screen I've purchased ($100 as opposed to the $450ish they wanted to charge). I can then fix the screen and begin editing Europe photos!!!
The time in the studio this evening really reaffirmed that it's not exactly a job I wish to be doing for a career. Recording and studio stuff is really cool, but give me a live band and loud speakers any day! I love the variety, energy and excitement of mixing live sound. I really, more than anything, figure I'd love to be a sound designer for some huge Broadway show. I mean, it combines my love of live sound stuff, theater, music; the arts in general. I really want to make my own degree: the B.A. in Media Arts, encompassing audio, video, theater, music and graphic design. Maybe a little business in there would help, too? This could also go to very practical use in the church setting, because I'm quite interested and fascinated by the use of multimedia in church.
Anyway, that's my aspirations for now.
If anything I've said at any point stirs your thoughts, feel free to comment.
Currently Listening:
Hillsong United - a_CROSS // the_EARTH : Tear Down the Walls
(so far, another solid worship album from Hillsong United)
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