The Greatest Cleveland Athlete of All Time...

...nuff said.

Nailed It...

So, last night I experienced a major milestone in my love for things music related. I saw Needtobreathe at the House of Blues in Cleveland, and I must say that it gave a run for the #1 spot on my all-time list! Now if you know me, that is a huge thing to say as I am quite the stingy music snob sometimes. From the very first song ALL the way to the last, the energy (and sometimes worship) never stopped. I believe the one singular thing that might make it #1 was something that (randomly) I predicted...BECAUSE it was so out of the realm of any possibility. As they finished their first set, and we were waiting for the curtains to open back up for their encore...I leaned over to Luke Williams and said, "I so want to see a full acoustic set right now!" Less than a minute later I was treated to something like the video shown above...wow. Because of this silly blog, I can now share the musical things that make me so very, very happy. :)

Our Own Worst Enemy

I just got done reading an article by Jon Acuff on CNN's website. The blog was good, but the comment board is where it got interesting. I read many people of different beliefs hash it out over a simple article, and of course, there was Christianity being represented by a bunch of accusing, finger pointers. As I type this, I am watching a 30 seconds to mars video on VH1 where they claim to be a cult. Where a girl says, "My god is the music, and my prayer is turning on the radio." Not once did I ever question their honesty...because, I know that many of them have never seen anything real. Yes, I'm looking at you...looking at us...looking at myself in the mirror. For once, can we get out of the way and let what God is calling us to change us? I read things, like I did this morning, and it slaps me square in the face. Am I responding to world in a way where I am TRULY reflecting who God is? Or am I purely making him who I want him to be? The world is searching for Him...but they can't find anything because we are standing in front of God blocking their view. Get out of the way!!!


Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.

Acts 17:22-24 (NIV)

Happy Anniversary!!

Happy Anniversary Lost! Can't believe it's been six great years!!!! :p

song 82 - Don't Look Back in Anger

I remember when I bought my first Oasis album. I was working for my dad, dusting parts shelves at Montrose Ford in Fairlawn. I bought it (What's the Story Morning Glory?) at the Acme across the street one day at lunch...and I wore that tape out! I think I listened to it everyday while working, at least twice. So...fast forward to my Senior year of soccer at Barberton, and you could catch the entire Varsity team singing this for pre-game in the locker room. Just thinking about it makes me laugh...fake British accents and all! I have no idea how or why it became a pre-game ritual, but it did, and it still takes me back there every time I hear it.

song 83 - Me and Mrs Jones

If you know me, then you know that I LOVE big band/rat pack music. NO specific personal reason that I really like the song, which is quite weird for me. I normally over analyze just about everything, so for me to just basically "enjoy" something is quite the feat! My favorite part of the song would just be the boombasticness (ohhhh yeah) of all of it...and I will probably enjoy just about anything that Michael Buble records. Enjoy!

Deep Thoughts on O.H.I.O

So, this past weekend was a weekend of highs and lows in the local sports world. As always with the massive swings in fandom, local talk shows light up with people who are so anxious to cut themselves off from any possible future disappointment. Disappointment, of course, is something that any fan of Northeast Ohio team is quite used to...BUT does it go deeper than that? This guys thinks it does, and I want to lay down on a couch and talk about.

Let's start with our beloved Browns. Now, the Browns have always been the team that many were ready to support despite any lack of talent or...scoring. Yet, I believe our inadequacies have finally caught up with us. One single game has run people to the edge of the cliff, but why? Abandonment. To this point in time, our "new" Browns have never been able to live up to what we once had...the "old" Browns. Somewhere deep down, we still have not gotten over the fact that OUR team is running around wearing purple and black, winning games, and sitting annually atop the standings of the AFC North Division.

Up next? The Cleveland Indians. One day, in the not-so-distant past, they were our new hope...Cleveland's Luke Skywalker. They got close, so close, and yet nothing. Then, at the top of our love affair with the Tribe, they began to abandon us one by one. Belle, Manny, Thome, and then our own team starting shipping them off for the "hope" of a brighter tomorrow. Yet, here we sit...still waiting for promises made.

And then...LeBron. This is where we all got snookered...he was supposed to be one of us, someone who understood our pain. However, in the end, he just up and left too...

So...you're probably thinking...what is he getting at? Well, you know who never leaves us? Who can never uproot itself or turn it's back on us? Ohio State! The Scarlet and Gray are firmly planted in our state's capital, and every year some lucky few make the pilgrimage to the good ole Shoe. Our hope and dreams can be realized by watching a few musical coeds spell out our favorite four letters (OHIO) and dot our expectations with a high stepping sousaphonist. Our Buckeyes come and go with each class, but that is okay because we are cheering for the name on the FRONT of the jersey and not the back. No abandonment, no disappointment. THAT is why we love our Buckeyes, THAT is why other people find OSU fans obnoxious! Because of our history, we have only one thing we can count on...and THAT is the Scarlet and Gray. In them we have no fears, in them we have seen that they CAN win.

You see...we all share this common fear. It's not just some "curse" upon one city or another, but instead the very things that worry us deep down. We watch sports to escape the fact that we have something missing on the inside. That hole that can only be filled by one thing...GOD. Thousands of fans spending hundreds of dollars each week to try and feel better by hoping that their team can come through...but in the end it's bigger than that. Bigger than a loss, or a win

Francis Chan = The Man

What's Next for Francis Chan? A Conversation with Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris from Ben Peays on Vimeo.

Okay, so it's not every day that you get to see three men whom you consider to be loud speakers of Truth sit down and talk to one another. If you've never heard of these guys, they are Francis Chan, Marc Driscoll, and Joshua Harris. Three men who through their teaching have helped me grow in the Word, and in my leadership. If you don't know them...google them...and get with it! :p

How Have I Never Thought of This....

Pretty sweet, right?

Just Wired That Way...

Tonight I was sitting here in my living room watching tv and I felt something missing. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something there, in the pit of my stomach. I had felt this before, and it normally happens when I spend time with people...and then don't spend time with people. However, this normally comes out of some period where I am at summer camp, or go to Disney World to see my bff (no...not Mickey), or take a weekend away with our youth group, but today there was nothing special.

It's then that I asked myself, was today special? By normally means not really, no different from any other day when xbox, or surfing the internet, or even LOST can't quite fit the bill for what I am craving. But, what am I craving?

It's the hunger for relationship! It's those times when you can sit down with someone and they just GET you. Not in the "relationship" kind of way, but in the we really get what each other is about way. You see, just like Adam needed Eve (again...not going down the relational road), just like Jesus needed his disciples, just like Paul needed someone to travel with, and exactly like everyone on LOST needed everyone else...we are called to be in community!

I love community (not the tv show...never watched it), and I bet you do too. You might not know that you love it...but some night while you're watching tv and you feel like nothing can keep you from being bored, that's when you realize....

Ahem, ahem...is this thing on?

Okay...so, by now your probably getting pretty tired of me always saying that "I'm starting to do my blog again"! However, this time it's for reals! I have a sticky note (currently sticking to my wall...if you don't believe me, ask Sean or Carina) that is going to prompt me to post something every day. Now, this post might not always be something mind-blowing, but I will at least try to make it entertaining for all of you out there in the "blogospehere". So...here we go again. Check back tomorrow...I WILL be here!

song 84 - save tonight

Eagle Eye Cherry...I always just really liked that name...hahahahaha. I have always loved this song, it's just something about the feeling of importance in the moment. I think that often in our lives, we don't truly take time and thank God for what we are experiencing. We might thank him down the road, but very rarely at that very moment...whatever it is that happens! This is something that I have been trying to focus more and more on in my life...falling to my knees (sometimes literally) and thanking God for what is happening...good or bad. I have also come to realize that it normally means that we pretty much always experience a little bit of both...and God is just trying to grow us. Oh, by the way, enjoy the song!!!

song 85 - got to get you into my life

Okay...what countdown is not complete without a Beatles song? The answer is none...and my favorite is probably not one that many people know, but it's my favorite. Number One...Paul sings it. Number Two...it has horns. Lastly...I just love the passion in the lyrics, something about that just makes me connect to it on a personal level. Sorry for not finding a Beatles video...Wings will just have to do...

song 86 - mrs. jones

Here is another of one of my favorite "mainstream" bands. This song is from my Jr. High days...and it's one of the very first CDs that I ever owned. It was just "one of those songs" that you will always remember from your childhood. Nothing specifically special about it, but it just kinda takes ya back...

song 87 - savannah

Update! Some songs on my top 100 list have shifted a little to include newer songs, and this is the first of these. Off of the latest Relient K album, Forget and Not Slow Down, I grew to love song because of two reasons:
1) It sounds just like RK, but in other ways, it sounds nothing like them at all.
2) I actually listened to this while driving one night through Savannah, GA on my last road trip to the Disney World. Amazing things happen while driving at night, along a lonely dark highway while you car passengers are sleeping...song Lyrics just seems to translate better when it's just you, God, and the open road! Emotional attachments just seem to act naturally when you let that happen...

song 88 - only hope

This is the song that made me fall in love with Switchfoot, and it's funny in a way that this is the song that made everyone fall in love with Switchfoot. The REAL funny thing is that it is a cleverly crafted worship song about letting go of everything and just praising God! It is a deep thoughtful prayer about putting him above everything else in our lives and selling out fully to Him. He is, after all, truly our only hope...

song 89 - hands of the potter

Wow! That was a longer break than even I expected...but with the new years comes resolutions...and mine was to keep this blog updated!

Hands of the Potter...the song that reminds me of what my old band, Common Grounds, was built around musically. LOL...we wanted to be Caedmon's Call! This songs just reminds me of playing special music at the old Northside church building on Rieimer Road. Dan Smith banging away on a floor tom...Shooksie on the trash can...Eric on the guitar...and me trying so hard to keep rhythm with a shaker...hahaha. Good times...good times, and such a great, great song!