As I was reading yesterday's devotional from My Utmost For His Highest, I noticed a portion of the devotional that I highlighted in orange. Obviously, at the time that I had highlighted what he said, it was very pertinent and something I should learn and really hold onto.

Now when did I buy this devotional? Probably back in '98 or '99 while I was still in college. That was 7 to 8 years ago and that quote I highlighted STILL applies to me today.

I just think it's amazing how old lessons can still be applicable to you at almost any time in your life, though you might be in a completely different stage of it.

It's like, I highlighted it because I wanted to get that portion of it into my head so I would learn from that and hopefully change and make forward progress. But I read that quote and thought to myself, "ya know, this quote is just as applicable to me right now as it was back then."

I can't remember exactly what circumstances I was in when I read that passage, but I can see the part of a person's character that he's pointing at and I still struggle with that same character issue.

Man, I'm slow...

Maybe I shouldn't get too down on yourself 'cause I'm always a work in progress and for every two steps forward, sometimes you take one step back. OR, it's just an area of your life that takes a lot longer to change...I'm grieved because I'd have changed a lot more by now.

Anyways, I'll stop killing you with the suspense. The main quote is in bold, but I included the paragraph from which it came from to give you more context. The devotional is about Jesus' transformational gaze.

This is what Oswald Chambers says:

"Then Jesus looking at him, loved him..." (Mark 10:21). This look of Jesus will require breaking your heart away forever from allegiance to any other person or thing. Has Jesus ever looked in this way at you? This look of Jesus transforms, penetrates, and captivates. Where you are soft and pliable with God is where the Lord has looked at you. If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on having your own way, and always certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, then there are whole areas of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.

When I read that statement I just sigh...I thought I'd grown more in this area, and I have, but not as much as I'd thought. If I did, I think that quote would hit me as hard, since it's something I still see in my life; an attitude that is still prevalent in my mind much of the time.

Often I lack the humility to allow Him to gaze upon me and look into His face. I want His hands and His gifts, His blessings. But not often do I seek His face anymore. I'm afraid of the gaze and what His stare will reveal in me...but I know God's heart is good. I need the truth to set me free.

I can write tons more as always, but these are my thoughts for now :) It's late on Friday night and we leave for tour tomorrow morning.


Upcoming Tour

Pray for blue sky nine as we head up to Michigan and then out to Iowa!

We'll be in Michigan this weekend and then we head out to Iowa on Monday morning.

Pray for save travels and awesome times working at the campuses that we'll be playing.

We have one show in Michigan on Saturday night and we have three shows in Iowa on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for reading friends!

Goodnight

Just letting you know I've uploaded my summer newsletter on the website finally!

Just click on the "newsletters" link on the side tab

Enjoy!


And please feel free to e-mail me if you'd like to be on my e-mail list to receive a copy for yourself

Currently listening to:

























My favorite track so far: Belief

We're never gonna win the world
We're never gonna stop the war
We're never gonna beat this
If belief is what we're fighting for

What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand?
Belief can.
Belief can.
What puts the folded flag inside his mother's hand?
Belief can.
Belief can.

Great album

Yes, I'm still up at this hour...

I'm trying to finish my newsletter-gah! I always take forever! And in the process I'm downloading a bunch of pics the students took so I can include them in my newsletter. AND I'm listening to Michael Jackson's Number Ones while doing that. So good! I don't know why I shared that tidbit with you all, but I thought it would be amusing :)


Last night, I finally got to talk with a good brother of mine whom I just recently gotten to know. Friend, you know who you are and I thank you for being there for me, though I originally called to encourage you! But that's what happens when brothers look out for each other-you mutually edify one another, and it's great.

He reminded me that Satan is after my mind. Satan wants to turn it into mush so I'll be dumbed down, unable to hold a thought straight, and unable to to worship the Lord. But scripture calls us to be renewed in our minds daily.

Romans 12:1-2 is a scripture I know well, yet so seldom take to heart, or consistently apply to my daily living. I am to be a living sacrifice. My body is not my own. My life is not my own. I was bought at a price and I need to honor God with my whole being.

Freedom in Christ is being free to do what God calls you to do. It's not doing what you should be doing, and you do do it, though you really desire to do something else, and deny your true desire. It's doing what you want to do. It's the change of heart to actually desire Christ's will. It's not a reluctant obedience or a forced love.

Living to just deny ourselves of the pleasure we really want is not the kind of life Jesus offers us. That's living out of a false self. He wants to redeem those sinful desires I have so that I may hunger and thirst for righteousness. He wants me to live the abundant life. But too often, I trade that life for poor imitations.

Again, I am far too easily pleased. My spiritual hunger is not strong enough. Or, rather, I've fulfilled my physical needs so much (thinking it will fulfill the spiritual as well) that it's numbed me to my sense of spiritual need, which is what brings true fulfillment. Satan wants to do that so I don't live a life full of devotion, self-reflection, and meditation on God's Word. I am to worship the Lord with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, and with all my strength. He requires all-not some or most of these, but all. Not only am I settling for less than what Christ wants to give, but I'm also afraid of letting go of what's tangible, accessible, what's right in front of me.

Recently there have been situations in my life that have exposed my heart. I feel naked and vulnerable 'cause it's like, "hi! I've got lost of issues!" "AH! I don't want you to see that!" I run and hide...because I'm afraid what you'll see will be too ugly to accept.

So I hide...I hide behind the nice smile, the clean facade, and fool everyone. I fool no one but myself and continue to keep myself locked up inside. I use coping mechanisms, comforters, "fig leaves," whatever I can get my hands on to cover me up and escape for a while, so I don't have to deal with the messiness I see inside my heart.

I look inside and sometimes I don't like what I see...

Recently, the hardest part of my Christian walk has been accepting God's grace for me. I can't accept the fact that after I've confessed it before Him that He'll just simply forgive me after all I've done. I think to myself, "I mean, I know you forgive God, but gosh...I do this over and over again. Aren't you sick of me already?"

I have a really hard time forgiving myself. God has forgiven me, but do I forgive me? No...and I often stand in the way of receiving Christ's grace for my sin. But what it really all comes down to is pride. I'ts a form of pride.

I'm afraid and feel so horrible for failing and falling short. And I don't want to come to Him because I'm too ashamed. But what it all really is is that I'm too prideful to let Him forgive me. Or, here it is: I'm too prideful to believe that He can simply forgive me for it. I have to pay. I have to give my penance. I don't want Him to forgive me! I want to have the power to forgive myself. How crazy does that sound?!

But when I do that, all I do is estrange myself from the abounding grace and love of Jesus Christ. It never works! It just breeds more condemnation and a spirit that is ill-willed and ultimately I remain in darkness. I have to let God love me. He even loves me with all this sin and ugliness. His love never changes but I don't want Him to love something that can be so despicable and ugly.

I've got to give it to Him every time and know that His love for me never changes, no matter how many times I fall.

"But where sin increased, grace increased all the more" - Romans 5:20

No matter how much sin I do, His grace is still greater. And

"the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" - 1 John 4:4

I remember going to a men's retreat once way back at the beginning of this year and the speaker said something that just cut to the heart.

He said, "you don't do sin. Sin does you." GAH! Stab me in the heart!

But it's true! I can't think sin is some sort of manageable thing. It's not. I cannot deal with it. It will eventually destroy me. It can "serve" my end for a while, but eventually it will turn and eat me alive. Only the Lord can deal with it, and only the Holy Spirit, who lives in me, can possibly transform my heart and renew my mind. He has put His Spirit in me to be able to fight off sin and temptation.


With all that said, I'm doing a lot better now and it feels good to not hide as much as I was last weekend and to bring these things to light. I was in isolation because I was too ashamed to face up to it and confess it before others. But I can't let myself go down the road of self-condemnation because it's a horrible place. I can't keep things to myself and go it alone. God never wants us to go solo in our Christian walk. We need good friends in the fight. We need the body.

As Ecclesiastes 4 says,

If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!

Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

(Ecclesiastes 4:10,12)

Thank you to my friends who have been praying and interceding for me. I appreciate you so much and thank you for having the courage to reach out and speak into my life. I love you for it.

Have a great weekend everyone.

VICTORY IN CHRIST!

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man..."
1 Corinthians 10:13

The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.

A person's inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.

Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal-it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don't know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.

Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else-what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations-He sustains us in the midst of them (see Hebrews 2:18 and 4:15-16).

Taken from My Utmost for His Highest-Special Updated Edition, edited by James Reimann. September 17th entry

Oswald Chambers always did have a way with words. What exactly he means by "Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal-it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good," I'm not quite sure.

If any of you have insight into what he means by all this, please feel free to leave me comments or e-mail me with your insights. I'd love to hear what you all have to say about this.

This entry could not have come at a more opportune time. It seems that each time I open up the My Utmost for His Highest devotional, I am flabbergasted by how directly the daily entry speaks to my situation.

Lastly, Martin Luther once said that his temptations were his "Masters of Divinity," meaning that, more than anything else that taught him his theology of God, was the handling of his temptations and the ability to resist them. That taught him more about God than anything else. It taught him true character and maturity.

Essentially, to him, the true mark of a person's character and maturity, was how a person handled the temptations in their life.

We pulled in around 7:30ish after we dropped Kevin off at the airport and dumped the tank.

Man, it's good to be home.

I'm looking forward to being off the road for the next two weeks and getting a lot of "life" done. Ya know what I'm sayin'?

I'm having my first drum lesson in a while with Dane Clark again! WOOHOO! THE MAN HIMSELF! I finally found his website online tonight. PLEASE CHECK IT OUT! He just released his new CD too.

DaneClark.com

Anyways, I'm planning to hit the road early tomorrow morning for Chicago Ridge, IL where Midwest Percussion is located. I'm REALLY hoping that they have a showroom where I can actually try some of the inventory of drums that they offer on their online catalog. I am hoping to go there to end my search for the "perfect" snare drum I'm looking for. I know there's no such thing, but I still haven't found the one that I hear and go, "THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE SOUND I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!" As soon as I find that, my search is over.

Cost, as long as it doesn't break the bank, doesn't measure the quality. I can pay a lot of money for something that doesn't sound that great, or I can pay a very small amount of money for a very high quality snare drum, so. We'll see.

I recently bought a used Uehlin snare drum custom built by a Danny Uehlin, I believe his name was. It sounds great, but if the wood hoops weren't so messed up, along with the strainer, sound hole, and such, I would keep it. But I paid $340 for a used snare that's really worth less than that. The craftsmanship really isn't all that great on it at all, but the sound really is probably one of the best sounding snares I've tried so far. But my search has been pretty minimal, so I'm hoping tomorrow will be the venture to end all ventures.

Blessings, my friends and thanks for praying for our tour! We saw God do amazing things! Read below!



University of Wisconsin-Baron County

So, for this show, we were really skeptical that any people were going to show up at all...we advertised the concert pretty well, but it was indoors in the cafeteria, it was scheduled for 7p.m. at night, AND, on top of all that, was a commuter school...

For those who know commuter schools well, students really don't stay that long on campus unless they REALLY have to. And at a campus of only 500, it's gotta be a REALLY compelling reason.

So we really didn't think many people were going to show. I was actually hoping for a lot more, but a decent amount came out. But what was most shocking were the results of the night!
We saw four people indicate decisions for Christ that night!!!! AMAZING!
GO GOD!

AND we also saw three guys from the basketball team say they wanted to be involved in a bible study. And I'm not just talking say and not really mean it, but they were like, "yeah, when is it? I'll be there." SWEET!

Teresa told us later that one of the basketball players actually came up to her after the show and told her that he was going to get involved in a bible study. He was making it a point to tell her that! I guess to show commitment and that her message really touched him and she'd be happy about that! Praise the Lord!

It ends up that we later found out, Sarah, one of the girls that is heavily involved with the Crusade movement on their campus had actually been praying for that group of guys from the basketball team for a year!!!

:O

We couldn't believe it! God answers prayers and totally showed us up! We had little to no faith and He just totally blew our socks off. Man...we are so doubtful.

It reminds me of the verse that says, "if we are faithless, he will remain faithful" - 2 Timothy 2:13. Wow. Though we have no faith, he still full of it and will come through each time and continue to bless us and meet us where we're at, even when we doubt Him! How gracious is our God! What a mighty God we serve! Praise Him!

Alright, about to jump up out of my seat because I'm so excited about that.

Again, it's good to be back in the Midwest...ahhhh...looking forward to some R&R and catching up with some of you soon as well. Blessings to you all, friends!

Goodnight.

I remember I was walking to Korean class. We had our language lab that day and my friend, Sandra, told me about the two towers that had been hit. Her facial expressions tended to not coincide with what she said, so I wasn't sure whether or not to believe her...

I went through the entire Korean class, most of us completely unaware of what had just happen. My T.A. didn't know, neither did my classmates.

But walking to my next class, the word had gotten out quickly and everyone on campus was glued to a TV or scrambling somewhere, probably trying to call home to see if everyone was o.k.

I walked into the music building and saw a bunch of my professors gathered around a small TV screen. I was in shock and can't remember what exactly I said, but my music history professor turned around and said to me, "no, this is real..."

All of us went back to our rooms and I took the shuttle bus to get back to my dorm. On the way back I remember seeing Patty on the bus. She was super concerned about her sister and was in tears when she couldn't get through to her cell phone. Her friend Marta just held her hand said, "it'll be o.k...."

The rest of the day was just super long and I must've watched the news for hours, constantly seeing the planes get hit over and over and over again.

I remember talking to my friends down at NYU who were immediately evacuated and had school cancelled for a while...

Most of all, I remember praying for Stephanie Wong's sister, Jennifer, who worked down there and was missing after the day was out. We continued to pray for her constantly for weeks after.

The Lord decided to take her home that day...

We will always remember you in our prayers and though we cry, we rejoice knowing that you are now with our Father in heaven.


Below is a home video a yahoo! user made of where people were when they first heard about the planes. Note: if you don't have micromedia flash player 8 or above, you will not be able to view the video.




Below are some more pictures from WTC. They include pictures from around the world as well as in NY. Note: these are not photos that I personally took.

WTC photos

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." - 1 Peter 5:8

Have you ever stared sin right in the face and walked right into it, knowing full well what would happen if you went for it? I do this all the time like a moth to a flame, or that mosquito (I think it was a mosquito) who flies right into the bug zapper in "A Bug's Life".

The mosquito knows he's going to die, but he still flies in. "But it's so pretty..." ZAP! That's me!
I stare sin right in the face, allured by it's "prettiness", and I walk right into imminent disaster. It's disillusionment, it's self-sabotage.

When I give in to sin, it's like I'm killing myself slowly. It's like a cancer of the soul. But the thing that kills me the most is that so many times I am in control of my own actions, and fully capable of walking away from sin. It is within my bounds to be holy and exhibit self-control. Yet I still fall in.

I am so hopelessly desperate without the redeeming work of Jesus Christ in my life. Praise God that He never gives up on us. No matter how many times we do the same, stupid things over and over again, He still loves us, still cheers us on, continues to forgive, and is ever-patient with us. How do you do it, God?


I recently watched a video sermon from the pureonline.org site about resisting tempation. Here's a really cool verse they used from The Message:

"Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life." - James 1:12

I really like the way Eugene Peterson puts it at the end of the verse: "For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life."

When I resist temptation, I get life and more life. I start to get life-true life-as it was meant to be lived. When I am giving in to temptation and sin, I lose out on that, and I experience separation and brokenness between God and myself.

If I would only believe! The reason why it's not working for me right now is simply because I am not taking God at His Word. If I resist temptation, I will be blessed and receive the rewards of life. It's that plain and simple. But I reason with myself, thinking that I might be missing out on something if I don't have this...so I give in.

Again, I am reminded of the verse Galatians 2:20 that calls me to die to myself. "I have been crucified with Christ, so that I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." I need to be reminded of this everyday.

But to truly let go of me and lose "my life" for Christ's sake is a really scary thing. Who do I become when I lose myself?

That sounds like a silly question because I know that I will become more of who I am and who He's creatd me to be, when I am more connected with Christ. But I'm still afraid...it's the age old Adam effect...it's original sin. We cover, we hide, we run away...fig leaves.

I'm afraid that He might make me do really freaky things like evangelize to every known living person that I am contact with in my life. Or He might bring me over to Africa for missions. I'm not dissing missions to Africa at all, or the country, but it's scary to me to think of being a missionary over there because I've heard how hard the conditions there are.

Or maybe He'll just completely expose who I am, heart and all, "naked" before others, and people will still be o.k. with that and won't think I'm the most hideous being on the planet when they see that. Maybe I'll finally be able to just trust Him and I'll be secure in Christ instead of in my talents, abilities, "goodness", and good deeds.


I remember hearing a quote that Ravi Zacharias used once in a talk he gave. I think it was from C.S. Lewis and was something to the effect of, the problem with Christianity is not that it's been tried and found wanting, but that it's been found wanting and untried.

It basically means that most people who are disillusioned with Christianity and faith in Jesus Christ aren't disillusioned by it because they've actually lived the life Jesus calls us to live and found it unsatisfying, but they're disillusioned by it because they haven't really lived out the true life Jesus calls us to. And that is why they are unsatisfied.

C.S. Lewis says it best:

"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

How ridiculous my thinking! But I am scared to risk, scared to let go of what I have. I'm fearful that I won't get something better by letting go of something that I know I will get when I do it. I'm satisfied with eating my mud-pies! A better word for it would be DUNG! 'Cause that's what it is compared to the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ!


In all honesty, my fears are simply a masked form of pride. A sophisticated way of saying, "I think I know better than you, God..."


God created us for real relationships, real intimacy with Him and others, and He promises us joy and the full satisfaction of life. But He's not going to force us to "eat it". He's not going to take the mud pie out of my hand and force it down my throat. I've gotta reach up and grab it. Sometimes He'll intercede sovereignly and stop me from destructive, harmful things for me, but He has given me free will and I have the choice to choose Him or my sin.

My prayer is that I would choose Him every time. I hope your prayer is the same.


Prayer

O Lord, may we desire the greater good, eating of the bread of life, instead of the mud pies of this world. May we be on our guard from the enemy who prowl around like a roaring lion, waiting for someone to devour. We have a very real enemy who wants to lead us away from you.

Father, protect us, guard your children. Redeem our hearts, lift our eyes to You, O God. Help us to let go of our sin and ourselves and grab a hold of You and to the life that You have promised us-an abundant life and life to the fullest. In Christ's Name. Amen.

So, recently the creators of "Facebook", the online website that tons of college students around the country are a part of, has recanted its decision to start what they called a "mini news feed" that basically tracks all the different events each of your friends is doing.

The original intent was so that you could see what's been going on with all your friends, but it started to turn stalkerish when you would read things like, "Chris got up to get a ham sandwich and had an argument with the mailman today", or "Chris has a blister on his left big toe" and you're like "What?! How the heck did they find that out?!"

No, I'm kidding...they don't know like EVERY personal detail, but it was a little uncomfortable reading through a person's EVERY detail of action that relates to Facebook. "Your friend just made friends with so-and-so." "Petey just accepted so-and-so as their friend." "John is out to lunch." "Bessie just asked Louie to marry her" or something like that. It just listed way too many details about friends that you cared to read or cared to know, honestly.

Some of that stuff is just better left private and not for the entire network of your known friends to see...

Anyways, with all that said (I know, long explanation), the creator of Facebook actually wrote a personal message to all users of the service an apology letter about the mini-feed and the effect that it was having on its users. He wanted to keep the service free from online predators and for it to be a safe environment where friends would enjoy sharing information with each other and keeping in touch while in college and beyond. But with the mini-feed, people were pretty angry.

So, in response, they fixed all that, AND he started up this group called "Free flow of information on the internet" because that's what he believes in. I clicked on the link to check out the group and read some pretty interesting comments.

Most were just angry about the mini-feed, but one guy agreed that he liked the free flow of information on the web, but that it was a bit scary sometimes because he Googled his name once and found a bunch of information about himself that is floating around out there. Curiosity struck my mind!

And so, I also Googled my own name and found some VERY interesting results. If you are interested, please click below to find out about some multiple me's that out there in the world. hahaha...it's quite entertaining. If you know me and have a few minutes to kill, this is worth it. It's pretty comical.


This guy is actually a professional violinist in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra! !!!!!! It's like my dream come true! He also graduated from the Eastman School of Music! I WANTED TO GO THERE! His bio is...wow...I'm reading it and going, "Go, Chris Wu! Yeah!"
Christopher Wu-Pittsburgh Symphony


Apparently, I'm an artist painter too and have some of my works on display at art.com! They're pretty good if I don't say so myself...thank you, thank you
Art.com exhibit


I found some guy with my name with his own personal wedding page! WOOHOO! I'm married too! SWEEEET!!!! HALLELUJAH! Dreams do come true :) I think it's best not to publish his website link on my blog though. BUT, if you do google my name, you'll find his wedding page link there. hehe


No, I'm in a band called blue sky nine...not red light bandits...I like the part that says, "Destined for greatness." Nice
redlightbandits


On American Scientist Online, it says that,

"Christopher L. Wu is an assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the director of the Acute Pain Service at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He received his M.D. from the Albany Medical College in 1989."

SWEET! I'M SMART TOO!


I'm some kind of pro-democracy activist:

"Chris Wu: Leading democracy activist who was jailed for twelve years for dissident activities. Mr. Wu is President of China Spring Magazine, a leading academic journal of the Chinese exile community. He is also Coordinator of the World of Conference for Chinese Pro-Democracy Organizations. (Mr. Wu speaks English) "

And apparently, I speak english. DUH.


I'm the chairman of the National Association of Counsel for Children! WOW. VERY cool!
NACC


And I took the National Chess Competition by storm for the K-1 division! YEAH BABY! It was my third title and I became the youngest player in US HISTORY to win three national titles by the age of seven. I'm wicked smart.
Dean of Chess Home Page


And in case you need an in with Snapfish photos, I'm your man. 'Cause I'm the VP for the Snapfish mobile team! And I used to be the VP for the Yahoo! Mobile team as well. My resume keeps getting better and better.
Snapfish VP


Then there was that time I was at Yale when I was a movie maker. You can read all about it in the Yale Herald
Wu's 'Ghost' film


Along with being the VP of Snapfish, I'm also the VP of mobile imaging for Hewlett-Packard Co. Just a little aside for you to know.
PMA 2006


If I only solved world hunger...but I am helping it little by little as I can give. But for the most part I'll pray and leave that into Daddy's hands.

Anyways, hope that was as entertaining for you as it was for me! If you were bored to tears and thought it was lame-o...sorry...

Quote of the tour in West Virginia and North Carolina:

"You guys were great. Play some more reggae" - student from West Liberty State College

HAHAHAHA...wow. That says it all. I thought that was the funniest comment we've ever gotten, at least while I've been on tour with blue sky nine


John Mayer Concert

I just got back from the concert at the Verizon Wireless Music Center in Noblesville, IN, which is about 35 minutes from my apartment...

Dude...the guy is just SOOO insanely, sickly talented, it's unbelievable. He's not like the greatest guitar player out there, though he's still ridiculous, but man, he's way up there. And just the feel of his songs and the band that he plays with, MAN!!!! WHAT A BUZZ THEY CREATE!

I am so inspired, I am going to go to the North Warehouse right now and set up my drums and play 'til probably 3 in the morning. If I am not around tomorrow morning, you know why. It's not like many of you see me anyways, but still, just to let you know. I'll be in bed :)

And Sheryl Crow! MY GOODNESS!!!! THAT GIRL IS AWESOME! And her drummer! DUUUUDE! Man...gosh...I wish I could lay a beat down like that. Man, just ROCK SOLID the entire show. I saw him momentarily lose his grip on a stick. But he didn't even miss a beat and was talking to someone while playing, so it was pretty insane. Gosh, so good.

I gotta go and learn to lay down the groove, baby. Just groove...

Good night y'all!

The results are in from the concert last night...(drum roll please)

and...

TWO GIRLS ACCEPTED CHRIST AT OUR CONCERT LAST NIGHT! WOOHOO!

Praise the Lord! I was totally blown away by that because it was completely unexpected to me. I did not think there would be much response because I saw students who were really looking at us with pretty blank stares. But that just goes to show you that you can't judge a book by its cover, or a college student by the face their making.

We had 34 comment cards returned, which is huge! I didn't think that there were that many students watching, but that's probably because they were scattered everywhere across the quad, where we played. Some were on benches, at wooden tables, on the grass, etc.

It was pretty funny for us personally since we hadn't played in about five days. We started into "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" and Teresa forgot the lines to the first verse. haha. She wasn't going to try to keep going, so she just asked us to start over again.

And during the intro to "Somebody More Like You" I was praying that God would help me to remember everything 'cause I was so afraid I was going to blank out or something! Praise God I didn't forget anything and played it alright. But I could definitely tell we were rusty after being off the road for five days.

I wish we had more warm-up time given we hadn't played in a few days but we really didn't. Kinda disappointing...but I am a picky musician and you can't have everything in life.

Anyways, again, what an awesome blessing to know that two girls came into the kingdom last night.

Please keep these two girls in prayer. I want to trust that the decision they made was honest and true, but sometimes after someone makes a decision like that, many things start to happen in their lives to distract them from the spiritual renewal that took place in their hearts.

"When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Pray that the seed fell on good soil last night. I am hoping that they are not choked by the worries of this world. Especially in college, students can so easily be distracted and bogged down by tests and things that worry them and color their entire world and forget about Christ. Pray that that would not happen to them.

We're off to West Virginia-Wesleyan today. Pray for our safe travels and for God to do some awesome stuff down there as well! Have a great day.

blue sky nine is on the campus of West Liberty State College out in Wheeling, West Virginia!

We have a concert tonight out on their main quad at 7p.m. Please pray our concert! Pray that people would come to our show, and that God would plant seeds in people's hearts as they hear the gospel.

So far as I've been told, a lot of the students here are fairly young Christians, so many of them have not had a lot of experience sharing their faith. We're going to have lunch with the students around 1:30p.m. to get to know them and encourage them to share their faith with others. Pray for our time together.

Tomorrow night, at 7p.m., we're playing at West Virginia-Wesleyan University in Buckhannon, West Virginia.

Both concerts should be fully evangelistic so please pray for Teresa as she shares the gospel, and also for boldness in our individual witness as we each go out and share with others as well!

Thanks friends!



Croc Hunter

On a side note, hearing about Steve Irwin's (the "Crocodile Hunter") death was very sad news yesterday...I was definitely grieved by his death. And I was even more grieved by the fact that his daughter was actually with him when he was stung by the sting ray. I can't imagine what that was like for her. He's left behind a wife and kids...what a tragic way to go...he will be sorely missed.

My prayer is that as people around the world watch the news and hear the headlines, that they would think about life and the inevitability of their death that they will face one day as well. I don't pray for this in a morbid sense, but in a sobering sense, to think about their faith in God and where they stand in their relationship with Him.

May we, as believers, also "check our hearts" today and do some soul searching about our own lives and where we will be spending eternity. May we also take time to reflect on those loved ones who we know, as of right now, would not be spending their eternity with God if they were to die today, and to say a prayer for them to come to know Jesus Christ.


If any of you are interested, here's an interesting article with a faith perspective on the death of Steve Irwin from the Answers in Genesis website. I enjoyed most of it, though it was a bit long-winded towards the end. In any case, I thought you might like it. Enjoy!

"Crocodile Hunter" dies

"praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints" - Ephesians 6:18

I heard a great sermon on prayer this morning; sweet and exegetical, which is probably why it was so good.

So often we don't take "praying at all times" very seriously, nor do we take it very literally. I'd imagine it would be exhausting to constantly have to pray over each and every little thing during the day but the preacher this morning didn't quite think that's what Paul meant.

The key, as he said was that you were to pray at all times "in the Spirit," meaning that you agree to put yourself under the authority of the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to be in submission to His will. So maybe not necessarily a time thing as much as a quality thing. Praying in the Spirit qualifies how you should pray, and how you should pray when you pray at all times.

I must admit that I definitely am not praying at all times and often stop myself from doing it. I find excuses and reasons to do it later, and I actually end up never getting around to it, maybe until a day or two later.

The preacher said that spiritual attack is certainly a very real element of a hindrance to our prayers. Satan cannot stop our prayers! He fears that and is the only weapon he cannot come against, he said. It is funny that whenever we want to stop and put in a concerted effort to pray about anyone or anything, a million things start rushing into our mind and we have to "think out" all that stuff, pushing all distractions aside before we can actually get to praying. That in itself, is such spiritual warfare. And I fail to recognize that at times.

He asked if we would seriously commit to praying today and challenged us to pray some of Paul's prayers, affectionately dubbed the "apostolic prayers".

"we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding" - Colossians 1:9

And Paul prays that they would be filled with all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

"so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." - Col. 1:10

Finally, Paul blesses the church at Colosse with this benediction:

"May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." - Col. 1:11-12

The preacher used Paul's prayer as an example of how we can pray for almost anyone we know when we don't even really know much about them, other than their need for prayer.

I've been meaning to put up a prayer board in my room for the longest time and I think it's about time that I stop putting that off. I've made countless excuses about my apartment lease being up soon, the adhesive tape not being strong enough to hold up the prayer board, I don't have the right markers, it takes too much time, etc.

But today, I'm putting that in my mind and that's the first thing I'm gonna do when I get back home. Well, I'll drop my bags first and do some laundry, but I think you get the point.

I hope you will be inspired by this entry to also pray at all times and to pray for others to "be filled with all spiritual wisdom and understanding."

Have a blessed Sabbath day.

Today, a really strange thing happened...I preached the gospel to myself.

"To yourself?" you're wondering? Yes, that's right. I preached the gospel to myself.

I've been so caught up in how others need the gospel that I've forgotten about myself. Jesus doesn't stop working on me and it's not like I have the gospel all figured out. I need the gospel every day just as much as anyone else does on this planet. How boastful of me to think that I know the plan and now I'm here to disseminate this plan to all others who don't know it. Foolishness!

Sure, we have the Four Laws tract that we share with folks that is a great way to get them started in their relationship with God, but in many ways, that's just a starting point. I actually think conversion happens over and over again in our lives and can be looked at like a lifelong process rather than a one time deal.

Now I know you're thinking that is poor theology and sounds more like a description for sanctification, but I think you get what I mean. Christ is never done with us! And we need to believe in the gospel every single day and never forget the life that Jesus Christ has to offer us. And we should also never think at any point in our lives that we have somehow "arrived" and have really "gotten" the gospel after living the Christian life for a while.

I read through Romans 5 through 8 today, which was like reading it for the first time again. I've forgotten so much about God's grace and how it abounds more than sin. And not only that, but we've been called now to no longer be slaves to sin, but to be slaves to righteousness. For we are slaves to the one whom we obey. If we are giving in to our flesh, that is our master. If we are giving in to the Spirit, He is our master. We are living what we choose to obey...I choose the flesh.

I choose the flesh so often! I have not died with Christ! Chris needs to die!!! I cannot live this Christian life alone and expect that my striving and doing better and getting it right the next time will help me achieve the standards of holy uprightness before God! The only way that I can live the Christian life is to be dead. Dead to the flesh, dead to its passions and desires-I need to die.

This is the gospel. This is the gospel...the gospel I so desperately need to hear day in and day out. And you know what? What a relief! The weight isn't on me anymore! It's on Christ! I have just simply let Him live through me! But MAN. Do you know how hard that is?! If you're a Christian, I'm sure you do...

Letting go of yourself, your rights, your pride, your self-protection, your addictions, your habits, your coping mechanisms, your anger, your blaming others, your selfishness, your wants, is all REALLY hard.

The gospel is death and life. It is dying to my own sin, my own flesh and all its passions and desires, crucifying them on the cross, and being alive in Christ Jesus, becoming a slave to righteousness. For HE is whom we should serve. And if we are slaves to righteousness, then truly our Heavenly Father is the one whom we obey. If we give life to the Spirit and His desires, that's who will live in us. If we give way to the flesh and how we want to live, we give birth to death and that is the only fruit we will produce in our lives.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. -Romans 6:12-14

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. -Galatians 2:20

Holy Father, you know my nonsensical strivings to try constantly try to be holier from each day to the next. You know how futile it is. Your purpose for my life has never been to try to "get better" in that sense. It's to set me free and to know that your truth sets me free. It sets me free from sin, my flesh, and living life in a sub-par way. You came to give life and so that we would have life abundantly. We cannot receive that life if we continue holding onto our own. Help us today to lay down our lives, pick up our cross and follow You. Death to ourselves doesn't require much more than simply making the choice at each moment, at each hour of the day, to do things your way.

May we be dead to sin and alive in Christ. For each of us individually, we must make that choice and walk that walk. You don't force it upon us. You give us free choice. But your offer of life the way it was meant to be lived is always there for us. You give it to us with open arms. But I'm scared, God...so often I'm scared. It's scary to let go of the life we once lived to embrace new life in Christ. But I'm ready, God. I want to...I want to stop eating the mudpies of life and take your offer of a holiday by the sea. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

I'm still in North Carolina, staying the night with T. Stone's relatives. Kevin and Teresa are having a wedding shower tomorrow and the rest of the band has time off, so we're just chillin' in her hometown for a few days, then we're off to West Virginia for two concerts on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Her aunt and uncle have two chihuahua's that are super cute-Cocoa and Dusty. Apparently, they were named for the color of their fur. Awwww...I wish I had a camera, then I could take pictures of them and show you!

Tour was great this last week. One name in particular comes to mind when I think of our concerts-Philip. He was a student at one of our shows that indicated an interest in talking to someone about how to have a personal relationship with God. I'm always amazed to hear how God had moved in someone's life to bring them to that point as a result of our concert. Pray for him!

Well, Ernesto came blowing through and we had to cancel our last show that was supposed to happen last night at St. Andrews College in Laurinburg. We also had to wait out this morning until the storm passed through Rocky Mount so we could drive up here! Man...what a storm.

The power was actually went out for 20 minutes last night right around the time I was about to go to bed. And in the morning, our host, Jim, told us there were a few trees knocked down as a result of the storm. Jim actually had a pool in his backyard that Kevin, Corbitt, and I had been swimming in each night after our concerts. Last night Kevin and Corbitt thought it was too cold to go swimming, but I thought different.

Man, it was freezing! I actually tried to swim while there were gusts of wind and cold rain coming down. It was alright for a little bit, but then after about 10 minutes, it started to get to me.

We're safe here now and Ernesto is on it's way up the coast and hopefully will be over and out within the next few days. There has been some major flooding in other areas of the state and in other states further north though. I hope people are safe now and didn't suffer too much damage from the storm.

I'm looking forward to not doing much tomorrow but just hanging out and catching up on some sleep. It'll be nice to just be still in one place and do some reading and reflection time. Life on the road often doesn't naturally lend itself to much of that. Have a great weekend.