This song is about the redemptive power of Christ. The words are below.

Wake up Wake up My God
This is not a test and it’s not too late to come clean
Get it off your chest
So steady your hand before your face and concentrate
There’s got to be some stable ground left to walk on

So tear another page from the book
Are you asleep or just alone
Clear this room from your lungs
And pull yourself together man

On your back, you’re sleeping in a bed of shame
Let the light breathe some new life into this room
It’s what keeps you coming back
Made up of insatiable taste
Bury your head in your hands and sink into yourself

Just what are you afraid of
You’re staring truth in the face, so come on down

You’re busy living now, are you?
You’re busy making vows
You’re coming undone
Time is shorter than you know now
I know the light is blinding to the naked eye, so why don’t you take
Steps away from being alone I swear it’s not too late for you

It’s all worth reaching for the hand to pull you out
Wake up and step outside your box
Wake up


Check out the symbolism in the video:

The girl in the video is stuck in a dark room, no way out. There's a door with the numbers 777 on it (symbolizing a door to God). In the end of the video, she finds the three 7's that fit into the 7's on the door (she finds that the key to getting out of her dark room or situation is God). She and all of her friends run from the dark room into the light, because they found that God is the way out.

I have been given the opportunity to travel to Nigeria with a group of people from the Jesus Film Project to show a recent translation of the film! We will show the Jesus Film at night, and in the day, we will speak with government officials, in schools, and with people in their towns. It's an amazing opportunity to be able to share the love of Christ with people half way around the world.

I love traveling and I'm stoked to be able to rough it for a while, and get dirty for Jesus! I'm so cheesy! I'll be gone a total of 15 days, from August 22-September 5. It will suck to be gone from Courtney for that long, but I'm really excited about the trip!

More on that soon...

I thought this was an insightful quote from an interview that I read on the Lowercase People website. It's an interview with Mute Math frontman, paul meany, and drummer, darren king, talking with Mae drummer, jacob marshall.





"And sometimes, honestly, it takes seeing something that’s broken to know how to fix it and know how to take steps towards fixing it. Especially within the church. You see how the politics and the finances and the buildings and structure just eats away at the fundamental purpose of what people initially got together for. And you kind of begin to see it like a cancer and that’s funny because the essence of Christianity is Jesus. It comes back to this character, the stories about this person and he kind of set the template. When he spoke to the masses he usually told stories. And he was like the film director of his era you know? He’d get a huge group of people together and tell a story and explain things in metaphors, and basically that’s our job, nowadays. It’s to be the story tellers, the moment makers that allow for this place where people can experience a moment of time that is special, it’s sacred. There is a spiritual element to music that we’re all drawn to." -Jacob Marshall

I am ashamed to admit that I somehow forget way too often the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I just finished reading The Irresistible Revolution for the second time, and it got me thinking about the gospel.

There is so much power in the Bible. The reason that I feel ashamed to admit that I forget about it's power is this (Bear with me for a second as I dream): If Christ were making a surprise visit to Waterford Town Center, and we all got a MySpace invite to come see Him speak, who wouldn't show up?! The place would be PACKED OUT. Christians and Pagans alike would line the streets to see Jesus in person. I'm convinced of it.

So how is it any different, that in our own houses, we have a book, with Jesus' words, straight from his mouth, spoken thousands of years ago to masses of people just like us, highlighted in red(as if to say, hey, pay attention to this!!), but we don't take advantage of it. We don't feed off of it. We don't get ideas of how to love our neighbor from it. We just let it sit on the shelf and think, I wish God would speak to me today. And we may even pray,"God, please speak. I'm begging you! I want to be closer to you. Let me hear you speak." HE HAS SPOKEN!! IT'S ON YOUR SHELF!! Get the dust off of the book and listen to God's tender, powerful, loving voice.

Please don't read that last paragraph and think, geez, he's being really self righteous, he has no right to digitally raise his voice at me! I'm yelling at myself!
And I know, there are more religious people than me, who read their Bible every day. And that's great, so don't get the wrong impression from what I am saying. The issue is, I have been praying to hear God's voice on certain issues for a couple months now and the whole time, I haven't been seeking an answer in His word, I've been waiting for some divine appointment with Him(which I still believe is possible, I just need to do my part too). So here is some scrumptious, red lettered brain food that helped me today to converse with my creator, and even after being read 50 times is still just as amazing to me.


"Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: To say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But so that you may know that the son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic,"Get up, take your mat and go home." And the man got up and went home."

-Matthew 9:1-7

If you don't know about The Simple Way , you should check it out. It's a community in Philidelphia headed up by a man named Shane Claiborne, the author of the book The Irresistible Revolution There is an audio book also, that is read by Shane himself. I just got it, it's great.

In the Simple Way community about a month ago, there was a fire that destroyed many of the houses and the community center. Check out this video.


I just wanted to shine light on the situation, If you haven't read Shane's book, please go pick it up. It's the best book I have ever read! He has been the front man for this community in Philidelphia to try and end poverty. If you want to give donations to the simple way, you can do so at their website The Simple Way

"Another World is Possible" -Shane Claiborne

Pretty sweet, huh? I found this site, http://psyc.horm.org/ where you can create your own template and it generates the html code for you. It's so simple.

I forgot to mention my conversation with Erik. He wants us to go pick up hookers, buy them dinner and maybe any essentials they need. Then take them back to where we picked them up. Just do something to try and share the love of Christ with them.

He's so crazy, I love it. He knows a cop that trains other cops for OPD, and he's going to see if it's at all possible. The cop he knows said,"I wouldn't recommend paying hookers to share the gospel with them!"

I'm not sure if it's the greatest idea in the world, but I love his heart. This world would be a much better place if we didn't see ourselves as so much better than the hookers on OBT. And I'm quite certain that if Jesus were alive now, he would spend much of his time on the trail hanging out with the hookers and pimps. And he may even make his way down to the Parliament house! If we could all just admit how rotten we are, but choose to love each other anyways, what a place this would be.

Anyways, I could get on a soapbox about that, but I won't cause I'm tired.

Until Next Time...

It's 12:27am on Friday morning. Danny just left a few minutes ago, and we just wrote an amazing song! I'm so happy about it because he came over yesterday from about 5pm - 11pm and we worked the whole time on writing music, then he came back today, and we threw everything away from the day before...it all sucked so bad.

But tonight, the creative juices were flowing! I'm thankful for that, I love writing music. I love getting a final product that sounds good and it gives me a since of accomplishment.

I'm extremely tired, and once again, I'm going to bed alone. I don't know what I did when I was single! Courtney comes home about 48 hours from now!

So since we've been married, I've never spent more than 3 nights away from Courtney, which is how many nights she will be gone on this trip. But it's totally different when I'm the one at home and she's the one traveling. I come home from work, and is Courtney there....nope! I go to bed at night and is Courtney there.....you guessed it.....no Courtney. :( :( She left me her squishy pillow (which I always try to take during the night), I thought that was really sweet of her. Anyways, I'm just missing Courtney.

Have you ever felt stagnant?
Complacent?
Even as I sit to write this, my mind feels like it's going into hibernation. I just realized over the past few days spent in Tennessee that for some time now, I haven't been experiencing the freedom and simple joys of life that God intended for all of us. I get focused so much on the future and things that I need to (or I think I need to) accomplish, that I forget all that I love about my life in this moment. I have so much to be thankful for and to enjoy about life. So I'm making strides to stop living like a 60 year old man, and have more fun.


I'm thankful for Courtney, who always tries her best to make me feel loved, respected, and of worth. She shows me love in unique, new ways because she knows how much I like change and new places and things, and I'm sure I wear her out because of that!

I'm thankful that I have certain family members and friends that are there for me whenever I need them, and would give me the shirt off their back.

I'm thankful for my job. Starting Full Sail was one of the few times in my life I KNOW that God said, do this, and I obeyed. And it gives me a sense of wonder and amazement that I got a job the day I graduated in the field of work I studied.

I'm thankful for my new house with Courtney. It has given us much needed time alone together and given us a place to unwind and relax.

I'm thankful for my niece, Emily, who makes me laugh every time I see her (or even think about her). She is a physical representation of the innocence and joy that every human being longs for. I can't imagine when it's my child. OMG!


All that said, I'm beginning a new journey. No longer am I going to let my joy be stolen from me.

I read a quote from Quincy Jones this weekend that really stuck with me. He said, "Live every day as if it were your last." I know, you've heard that thousands of times, but the second part is what I like... "And approach every task like it's your first." That's the part that got me. When you start a new project or task, you have passion. You have drive. You start out strong. I want to approach every day as a new task.

I miss my passion
I miss my joy
I'm taking it back