No.

Yes, my dear readers. I’m afraid that my “profound thoughts” are being discussed, hashed, and otherwise digested with a smaller audience, namely, in the presence of older, wiser men and friends.

The Preacher: at this time, I have not succumbed to the aforementioned vice called Facebook. Thanks for your concern. . .

To all: Thanks for your time and concern about the health of this blog. Unless something really “moves me”, I shall consider my time more valuably spent influencing the lives and hearts of my fellow youth-groupers, church members, and family. Your gracious release from my blogging habbit is cordially requested. . .

thesinger

To Continue Blogging?

or not to continue blogging? That’s the question.

I’m Home.

I am tired. It has been a long day. I got up this morning in Bucharest, Romania at 4:15 AM and flew to Dusseldorf, Germany. We left Dusseldorf, Germany at 11:30 AM for Chicago, Illinois, USA. We arrived in Chicago at 1:30 PM, “two hours” after we took-off. . .  As of this writing, I have been awake for 23 hours and 35 minutes. The sun has shone all day. It has been a long day.  I am tired.

Romania Cont. . .

Yup, we’ve been hanging out here at Marvins for the last two weeks. The time has been packed full with work, visiting other church people, packing and distributing seeds with the seed team, and in general, just hanging out with cousins. It has been a really swell time of conecting with my cousins, especially Timothy, in ways that a person is not able to do at a weekend family gathering, for example. That, I think, has been the best part about this trip. God is teaching me again on this trip that relationships are so much more important than anything else. It makes me really glad for the chance to develop relationships with my cousins, as well as makes me sad because of the friends/relationships I left at home. So, to all my friends and relations, allow me to express my sorrow at our separation. It has been revealing to me how much I think about you. . .

Ok, time to cut the sappiness. On to news. We get home on the fifth of Feb. I leave again for third term CBS on the ninth or tenth. (it depends on some scheduling stuff. . .) I’m getting really stoked about CBS!!! Even here, in the cold land of Romania, I already met two guys that will be there, Raf Y. and Tim somebody, who will be the asst. dean. In addition, one of the seed team guys’ brother will be there. (don’t ask me what his name is; I haven’t met him yet. . .) So, all in all, I’m getting stoked!

Peace be da journey,

thesinger

Romania

Dear readership,

My parents, Loyal, Anja, and myself are flying off to the cold land of Romania to visit my Uncle Marvin and family for three weeks. We’re leaving on Tuesday, the 13th of January, and coming home on the 5th of February. The primary reason for this note is to “reassure” you that yes, I will actually not be posting for a good reason this time.

In other news, the mixing for the Anonymous Somebodies album is finished for the most part. At this point, I’m not able to give you a release date, because of too many unknown variables, but you’ll be fine anyway. . .

Much peace, love, and hair grease from a random man,

thesinger

Joke of the day: The Importance of Correct Punctuation

Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are
generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you
admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for
other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever
when we’re apart. I can be forever happy–will you let me be
yours?
Gloria

Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are
generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you.
Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For
other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever.
When we’re apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me
be?
Yours,
Gloria

Soon I Will Be Done

As was long announced here, the Anonymous Somebodies recorded on the 12th, 13, and 19th of December. The first day was a real struggle of becoming accustomed to the studio setting. For lack of time, I won’t go into how and why it’s different; just trust me, it is. Because the first day was such a real struggle, we re-recorded all five songs that we did that day during the next two days. They clicked so much better with a days experience behind us. . .

The 13th went well, after the first two songs of the morning, that is. We ended up with eight songs recorded on that day, leaving seven for the next friday. Here’s a quote from an email that I sent to a cousin that describes the last Friday. . .:

“It was a good time. We finished our final 7 songs in 4.5 hours and then went to eat lunch. Lunch was a real celebration. We were done! and it was time to party!!!!!!!! I basically stuffed myself with food and drank lots of pop and coffee. [i.e. Highly caffeinated drinks] We spent the afternoon doing some preliminary mixing. We got a cd to listen to and make notes with, then we’ll go back down on Jan. 3 for the final mixing. I’m happy to be done, and think it’ll be worth listening to. . .”

Here are several pics. . .

During the boring part of the mixing process that we did on the 19th, the girls fell asleep.

Thank you, friends and relations, for thinking and praying for us as we sang our songs, and worshiped God. It was because you prayed that the recording went as well as it did. As a brief side note, directly after lunch on the last day, my throat began to feel rough. As the afternoon progressed, it became evident that my throat was well on its way to becoming totally shot. I feel confident that your prayers on our behalf kept our spiritual and physical health in good condition and prowess for those three intense days.

May the road rise up to meet you,

may the wind be ever at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face

and the rain fall softly on your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

thesinger

Recording Draws Nigh

Dear friends and relations,

The Anonymous Somebodies will spend tomorrow, (Friday), and the day after tomorrow, (Saturday), plus the next Friday, at Cornerstone Studios in Wichita, KS, recording our album entitled “Wayfaring Stranger”. I am feeling so many things that I don’t know what to say. (insert long pause here) The thought of recording excites me. We know that it’ll be hard work, yet we know that we are ready musically. But then again, any effort on our part is useless without God’s blessing and protection. Without Him, life is a journey through a desert; hot, difficult, and bothersome.

It’s with this realization that we recognize our need of your prayers that God would sing through us and use the album powerfully for his glory. Of a lesser yet important concern, please pray for our physical, emotional, and spiritual health as we spend long days in the studio. Pray that God would recieve any and all glory from this work.

Lest I give you any incorrect impressions, let me close by saying that we have so much fun when we sing together. Singing is a joy. Together we enjoy singing. It is a good time!!!!!!

Many thanks for your thoughts and prayers,

thesinger

I see Shane. . .

A LOT!!!

I see him at all Anonymous Somebodies rehearsals, at Church, at some youth functions, and tonight, I’ll see him at his house, because he (and Dorcas) invited our family for supper.

Seeing Shane is a good thing. Singing with Shane is just as good (or better. . .). 😀 In a month or so, I will not see Shane very often. He is leaving. Too bad for me. . . Good for them. . . It’ll all work out. I will visit them in CO. . . We will sing. . .

thesinger

Feeling fat and happy,

I sit down at my computer to post:

The Sunday morning worship service was moderately uneventful, yet full of meaning and purpose. The Sunday School lesson, which was Matt. 5:1-12/the beattitudes, delighted me particularly. I had often wondered how that these attitudes/states-of-being were to be realized. Our teacher told us we could study the passage two different ways; the first being a study of each attribute individually and how we can be like each one. The second being a sweeping overview and discussion on the first 12 verses grouped in a comprehensive unit. Joel, our teacher, chose the second one.

As aforementioned, I had often wondered how these “states of being” were to be realized. In our class today, I discovered (with the help of Joel, and fellow classmates) that Jesus, by reason of His deity, was sharing the character traits of Himself in these first twelve verses. He did this so we have specific character traits to emulate and become like, given that we are In Christ.

The next powerful thought for me was that these “states of being” are character traits that come from the inside out as a realization of our growth and maturity in Christ. This resonates well with what I have been reading in “Living With Men”, by E. James Wilder. A thought that comes through his writing often is that growth into maturity is a lifelong process that should not be prematurely rushed or slowed down.

I believe this discussion resolves fully when we realize that knowing God and abiding in Him are the important things in life. The “states of being” that we discussed this morning in SS class, come from inside our hearts if/when we are like Jesus.

Feeling virtually as fat and happy as before, I strike the “Publish” button and TADA!!! We have a post!!!!!!!!!

thesinger