Smell The Roses

I've probably read the Bible 3(ish) times in my life. It may be 4, but I don't want to overestimate.
In that time I've gotten a pretty good idea of what all the books are about (except the minor prophets...) and where each story is going.

Recently I've found myself getting bored in devotions. I still think the content is great, don't get me wrong, but nothing was popping out. No attention grabbing verses. Nothing. Just "oh ya, this story" or "I like this part" or "oh no... this part is really hard to get through (*cough*Songs of Solomon*cough*).

So what do you do? Stop reading? I did for a day, that was enough for me! Missed it too much and realized it was only going to cause problems in the long run, not improvements.
Change translations? Maybe. The words are different, but the content will be the same.

So what do I do? I stop to smell the roses.

Part of my problem was putting so much emphasis on how much I was reading. I tend to power read to begin with, doing that with the same book over and over and over is a recipe for boredom.

Now, I'm taking my time. Sure devotions are taking longer. Sure I'm reading less in that time. But whole books that I thought I knew backwards and forwards are different! I'm seeing stuff I've never saw, understanding things that have puzzled me and even getting confused on things I thought I had figured out.

It's awesome!

tl;dr - If your devotions are getting stale, try taking your time to smell the roses. It worked for me!

Anthem For Today - Walk Away

You may remember a post I made a few months back about Anthem For Today. It was awesome being able to shoot a music video.

You know what's more awesome?

Doing it again!

I have wanted to do a camp fire video for a while, but there are problems with shooting one of those.
Mostly the music. You'd have to record an acoustic version of the song you are filming and then film it, then mix both. It would be a great challenge, just not something I figured I could talk anyone into.

Then I found out Anthem is releasing their song "Walk Away." It's acoustic. Bingo!

The day of the shoot was miserable. Rain, rain... rain... more rain... Then it stopped (thank God). Then it started again! After almost cancelling the shoot, the rain stopped again (after loads of prayer!).
This time it stopped for good.

The shoot only lasted around an hour and a half, maybe 2 hours. It was a blast! After going through an entire bag of marshmallows, firewood and kindling - we were done!

Two weeks later, I'm pleased to present the finished product!



All in all it was a great night! Now, let's shoot another!

Christian Movies

Christian Movies have gotten a really bad reputation over the years. Sometimes deserved, sometimes not so much. And while I tend to not like cheesy stuff, even the cheesy ones can strike a cord with me. Though I'd rather they not be cheesy.... really.

With this in mind, my list of most anticipated Christian films of the next... 8-20 months? Basically -- here's a list!

I'm In Love With A Church Girl
I've always wanted to make a movie where
a. Someone is faking Christianity to get a girl and in the end relizations how messed up they are
or
b. tobyMac is a burnt out breakdancer that needs redemption.
This movie has both... sorta... (If Toby breakdances at any point I'm calling foul!)
Either way... TOBY MAC



God's Not Dead
The story of a philosophy class student challenging his professor's opinion of God? Sounds good. And did I mention Newsboys are in it? NEWSBOYS!!!! The acting doesn't look like it's going to be Oscar worthy, but the premise is something I can get behind. And David White is in it, which makes things even better.



Grace Unplugged
The story of a girl trying to make it big in music... against her parent's wishes and the compromise it brings.
This sounds really promising. The messages that a plot like that can convey are a plenty. Looking forward to it! Ooooooohhhhhh and by the way, Jamie Grace is in it.



And that's what I'm looking forward to this... ah... yearish?
Oh, and Noah, but that doesn't have a trailer yet... yet.

Miley Cyrus

I can't seem to avoid that name. She's all over the web, my FaceBook news feed, the news feed that's always on in the LIFE studio and she's even breached casual conversations. All from a very inappropriate performance on the VMA's (which I didn't even know happened until this whole ordeal).

I tried watching the video. I lasted about 5-6 seconds. I don't recommend you try to best me.

What I do want to recommend - we pray.

Whenever celebrities derail, it's so easy to point fingers! We call them names and even accuse society for causing them to go like this, but that doesn't really help All it does is makes us look/feel better. 

I've done that. A lot. Even with Miley. However, this time, I really want things to be different. 

Instead of coming up with cleaver ways to run her down, let's pray.

Pray that she would be able to see the impact stuff like this has, pray that she gets some solid role models/mentors in her life and pray she remembers her roots. I mean the Christian ones, not the Hanna Montana ones. She is (or was... not sure where she is now...) a confessing Christian. 

I don't want to sound preachy, or "holier than though". Mostly cause, I'm not. But I do want the church to try to be a light in this instead of a lynch mob.

O.K. That's my serious post for the year. Back to Batman, drooling over music and flying cats next week.

Kingdom Bound 2013 - Day 4

And what a day 4 she was! Today seemed to be "get a picture with an artist day" for me. I'm not complaining either! Just warning you that you're going to see a lot of mug shots in this post. Most of them are my mug too.

After going for a round or two... or three... on the bumper cars I happened upon Jekob Washington (from the Washington Projects and his solo project). I had the chance to interview him a few months ago so meeting him was a lot of fun!



After going for another walk... past the bumper cars... I happened upon Jenny Simmons performing. She used to be the lead singer for Addison Road. She's solo now, taking her sweet voice to the road with two acoustic guitars and nothing else. It was a great set. Doing some old Addison Road stuff, new solo stuff and a cover of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" as well as "How He Loves".

Plus - PHOTO OP!


After that, it was time to rock out... or dance out(?) with Capital Kings.

They're an electronic group, which always makes live shows hard. They basically just sang to the tracks. Yet it was a lot of fun... more fun than it should have been at least. There's just something about a driving kick with good synth backing it up!

After that Jason Dunn took the stage. He used to be the front man for Hawk Nelson. Now, he's a solo artist! The show was a mix of new stuff (three songs) and his Hawk Nelson back catalog. Jason did songs like "California," "Everything You Ever Wanted," and "Friend Like That." He also pulled a couple of random kids onto the stage to pretend to play the guitar. Many awes were heard! I did get a picture with Jason, but I'll spare you seeing me in another goofy pose... just kidding.

While Jason was on stage, Colton Dixion showed up at stage left... since I had the camera out anyway...

If only I had gel in my hair... that would have made this so much better... oh well....

Speaking of Colton, he put on an amazing show. I didn't expect it to be nearly as intense as it was. Lots of crunchy guitars and crazy drum solos.

Then came the grand finale to Kingdom Bound -- MercyMe. To be honest, I had really low expectations. Their songs are usually slow, long and about death. Not that that's a bad thing... It's just that it sounds like an awesome concert (sarcasm).

Man, was I wrong! They had a lot of rock to their sound. They weren't the most active (them getting up at 3a.m may have had something to do with it), but can they ever play. Plus, getting to hear "I Can Only Imagine" live was awesome. Bart Millard (lead singer) even gave a 10 minute sermon. It was really good. I may even have to do a blog post about that on it's own. Plus, there were a lot of people there. Like, a lot of people.

And that was my day. The best part was getting back to the hotel, walking past the lobby... and meeting MercyMe. I even got to ride in the elevator with them. I know I sound like a giddy little kid. I probably am too. But, man! What a day.

Kingdom Bound 2013 - Day 3

Talk about a busy day! We got things rockin' and rollin' at 9:30... as in, that's when we left the hotel. DJs, as it turns out, take a lot of time to get their faces done up. 

After hanging out around the rides for a bit with some friends (which included a ride on giant moose... sorry, no pictures) it was time for the music to begin again. 

I only caught the tail end of We Are Leo. What I saw was impressive! They did their new single (listen for it Monday!) as well as another song that had a long dubstep break down. It was awesome! Plus, they had a keytar!

If all that wasn't enough, I even got to chat it up with David Duffield (lead singer). Which, lead to a photo op!

Then it was onto Shine Bright Baby. I am really loving their song "Beautiful Love"... but they're originally a punk band... so what would the live show be like? 

It turned out to be a cross of fluffy pop sounding stuff and punk rock. Was it a bad combo? Not in the least! 

Afterwards, another photo op presented itself. I couldn't say no!

Project 86 was next up. They were the loudest band I have ever heard live. It was pretty crazy. No pictures. Just imagine head banging and mohawks and you have it!

Two years ago at Kingdom Bound, I saw an up and coming band called For King and Country. They were awesome. I've loved 'em ever since. I was really excited to see them this year to see how their live show had changed. It's 10 times better!

4 sets of drums going at once, an accordion thing and a cello. Not to mention the piano and guitars. It sounds like it would be an eclectic train wreck. Instead, it was a musical masterpiece. If you ever have a chance. Check them out!

Thousand Foot Krutch was next. Man, that was intense. They did all their hits like " Let the Sparks Fly", "Be Somebody", "Falls Apart" and "Fire It Up".

Then the moment everyone had been waiting for, Newsboys. They have changed a lot since I last saw them. Now, they have huge video screens projecting the band members onto them with funky lighting effects. It made for a bright show! Plus, we got to hear 3 tracks off their new album Restart... that's not out till September!

And we get to do it all over again tomorrow with Mercy Me! Looking forward to it!

Kingdom Bound 2013 - Day 2

Today was awesome! We got up and rolling with some breakfast from Cracker Barrel (always a personal favorite). Then it was off to the park! We saw Matthew West last night. He was really good. I unfortunately don't have pictures though...

TODAY is the subject though. After catching up and coming acts Everfound (surprisingly good electro-rock) and Kronicals (They claimed to be dubstep rock... it was mostly rock...) it was on to Aaron Gillespie.
He's the lead singer for The Almost. When he's not out with them, he does a "worship" side project. Worship is in quotes cause it's not like any worship you'll ever hear! He sang... and played the drums! It was crazzzzzzzzzzzy! Oh ya, he also had his eyes closed quite a bit...


After Aaron... I kinda went and saw him again at the worship tent... WHAT? I'm a fan. You would have done the same!

One of my must sees this year (aside from Aaron and Mathew West) was Audio Adrenaline. I never saw them when they were in their prime, so this would be the next best thing. And man, is it a solid thing.

Kevin Max (from dc Talk) is the new vocalist. That should be an awkward fit. But it wasn't! It actually sounded really good. Not the same as Mark Stuart's voice, but really good none the less.

Then it was time for tonight's headliners. Hillsong United!
The crowd loved them! I liked them too... it may have had something to do with the Aussie accents though...
The obsurd amount of lights didn't hurt either....

And that was my day at Kingdom Bound!
Tomorrow - For King and Country, Shine Bright Baby, We Are Leo, Thousand Foot Krutch and the headliners... Newsboys! Should be good!