I ran across this via Bobby Gilles a while back and, well…it's agreed: some songs are worse than just 'train wreck'. And I'm really trying to be charitable here. Really, really, really. But as Gilles said, everything you need to know NOT to do (from writing a song to interpreting your Bible) is here in one video. In fact, these guys may want to consider sponsoring my Exploding Head series. But I'll leave it to you to judge. 

Just….wow. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

In a brief moment of clarity, i could see that the best decision I could make was to commit the rest of my life to a girl named Heather. So, with a crowd of witnesses, family and friends, we promised ourselves to each other at Meadows Baptist Church in Plano, TX. 

Eighteen years later, I'm convinced that I'm luckier, happier, and more blessed than I ever imagined I could be. 

For kicks, here is a demo of one of the tracks we'll be doing. It was recorded here at the Art Institute of Austin, by our very own Kevin Northen (guitar). Feel free to sing along…

01 I Will Sing

When he chooses it (over the blue pill), everything changes. The blinders come off. Neo begins to learn the truth about his existence, his potential, and the role for which he was created.

I met with a local worship leader yesterday over coffee. We talked passionately about worship, scripture, and grace. But mostly Scripture. An hour and a half later, I left challenged, refreshed, and free in new ways because of the truth of Scripture and the power of brotherhood.  

Originally, I found this via Bob Kauflin. It's a video from the WorshipGod08 conference where Ryan Ferguson is reciting Psalm 25. It's a 4 minute proof text of the fact that you and I don't know the Bible. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

What would happen if we always heard/read/thought about Scripture like this? With this kind of life-giving thoughtfulness? If we read it with lips that believed its power? If we heard with ears that were hungry for life? 

What are you going to do about it? You can take the blue pill and go back to sleep…or take the red pill and see how far the rabbit hole goes.

I'm sure there's more to come…

I blogged here when we received the news that my mom was diagnosed with Stage IV Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

If you've had ANY experience in this, you know the battle she has had in the last several months. Enduring chemotherapy. nausea. dehydration. and on and on.

We've also had a setback when the doctor decided she 'wasn't the right one' to finish treatment and perform surgery. I'll refrain from telling you who I really feel about that…but you can let your imagination wander. And remember that Jesus got angry..and was outraged at injustice. That's all I've got to say about that.

This morning Mom goes into surgery for a double mastectomy, lots of tissue removal, and such. We'll be at Texas Women's Hospital and I'll try to update as I can here and here and here.

Your prayers are much appreciated.

UPDATE: We just visited with the surgeon. Mom came through surgery great. The doctor’s words were ‘things couldn’t have gone better’. Everything came out clean and very well. They are sending some suspicious lymph nodes to pathology. She is in recovery now and will be able to have visitors later. Praise God!

We appreciate all your prayers for her continued recovery.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks, @BartMillard and the MercyMe guys for the tune.

Get ready to leave the Youniverse. 

A few days ago, I jumped into Len Sweet and Frank Viola’s Jesus Manifesto with both feet. No, I didn’t get a free advanced copy like some of my other, much cooler friends. But no matter. 

What happens when a society (or The Church) is forced to wrestle with Christ’s central question to us regarding Himself: “Who do you say that I am?”. It seems to me that, in a world where real lemonade is made with artificial flavors and furniture polish is made with real lemons, it’s time to put aside our artificial Jesus made in our image. It's time to get a glimpse of what it means to have Christ as the Center, the Circumference, and all the spaces in between. 

When God expresses Himself…it is Christ. As Jesus Manifesto so aptly puts it: “Christ is God’s perfect pitch.” Fully and completely. It is not that Christ has taught us about God. It is that Christ himself is the teaching. 

As a living epistle (a literal ‘Jesus Manifesto’), you and I need to be refocused, reformed and re-formed in our minds and hearts. What has Christ called us to? What has Christ called you to? 

Religion? Politics? Evangelism? Ministry? Worship? Family? Studying and knowledge? Teaching? Moral values? Justification by recycling?!?

None of the above. Christ has called us to Himself. And Jesus bests all things. He clears the table of all others. 

Jesus Manifesto is a passionate call to be seized by the great affection that is Christ. To be shaken from a consumer-driven church coma, and to be awakened to the strange, anti-checklist life in Jesus. 

Are you ready?  Recommendation: 5 out of 5 tacos. Best read while listening to the Chemical Brothers or the Fight Club DVD in the background. Be sure and check out the iPhone app (with nano-manifesto) to get a preview of the book.

My Redeemer Lives

You Are the Holy One (Engle)

Heavens Rejoice (Cofield)

How Great is Our God (Tomlin)

Shout to the Lord

Rise Up (Stephen Miller)

TAG: O Come Let Us Adore Him 

Response: Jesus Paid it All (Kristian Stanfill) 

UPDATE: we already have one house show that needs to be booked! Thanks for the $500 donation to get us started!

Last weekend, I ran in the Chuy’s Hot to Trot 5k with some bandmates (and their spouses) to raise money for Special Olympics. A very small race by serious runners’ standards, but we had a blast. Although none of us had seriously trained for the actual race, I was very much reminded why I love running and, more importantly, why the Apostle Paul uses the analogy for our Christian journey. 

I always run better in a pack. I actually enjoy training and running by myself. It gives me time to unplug. Unwind. Clear out the cobwebs. Reboot my priorities. But, left to my own, I never run a per-minute mile as fast as I do when there are other runners around. They make me faster. They make me push harder. And they make me less tired. The momentum of the crowd is contagious and it always changes the way I run. As a believer, I need other runners alongside me. My spiritual life simply ‘runs’ better. It’s in our DNA to thrive on community and fellowship and relationships. 

The race is reward. Things like stress management, weight control, cardiovascular health, etc., are simply byproducts of the real reward. The real reward is the camaraderie and brotherhood among a crowd of otherwise-strangers. Carbon-based life forms of all shapes, sizes, colors, languages, and skill come together under a single cause. And, if only for a morning, we are one. It sounds outright silly…unless you’re a runner. The reward is the ‘we’ that is found in the race. Like church, what we do on race-day-Sunday is a continuation of what we’ve been doing all week long at home and work and school. The ‘we’ is what makes it different. And how pleasing it is when children of all sizes, shapes, colors, languages, and ‘skill’ levels meet together for worship. 

It reminds me to run MY race. As a novice, it can be easy to be intimidated by experienced runners who may be in better shape. Or have longer legs. Or newer shoes.  Or…whatever. In a world that tries to make us all similar, it’s nice to be reminded that we are all different. The truth is that I am responsible to run my best and to be an encouragement and help to others in the race. If I can do those two things, I’ll be miles ahead of many in the crowd.

As with each race I run, it makes me want to run more. Longer. Harder. Hotter. Sweatier. To those on the sidelines, it may sound crazy. George S. Patton, U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian, once said :

"if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing.

You have to make the mind run the body.

Never let the body tell the mind what to do.

The body will always give up.

It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night.

But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired." 

Paul told the church in Rome to ‘renew your mind’. 

He told the church in Corinth, ‘I beat my body and make it my slave’. 

I’m still learning those things, so I’m still running. And I’ve learned that, if you’re bored, it’s because you’re on the sidelines when you should be running.