If I hear one more high pitched scream....I'm going to scream! High school girls drive me nuts!

Worship MUSIC

I just had a conversation with a good friend of mine about music and specifically worship music. I mentioned that I don't like most worship music and that it makes it really hard for me to enter into a proper attitude of worship. She came back with the argument that the music shouldn't matter and that worship comes from my attitude towards God at the time and how I approach it.

Now, I don't totally disagree with my friend. I agree that worship comes from my attitude, BUT, where the music and lyrics become a problem is when they become a distraction. I guess that you could still argue that, if we agree that it IS my attitude that makes the difference, then the bad music shouldn't matter. Maybe it's just me, but isn't it hard to worship when the music is terrible? What if the lyrics are ridiculous or just don't make sense? Maybe those lyrics don't resonate with how you feel. I don't think that I'm awful for being distracted by the very medium that is supposed to facilitate my worshiping God. Maybe I Am....

Thoughts?

Concerts

Last night I went to see The New Pornographers at The Pageant in St. Louis. It was a pretty cool concert except that Neko Case wasn't with them. The sad part is that she was supposed to be there but got hurt at a concert last week and so now is off the tour. Musically the band is awesome, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in their stage presence, or lack of stage presence. I almost got a little bored at one point during their show. I almost enjoyed the opener better. By the way, Okkervil River is very good and puts on a great show.

The big news, however, is that I was given Wilco tickets for my birthday weekend!! That's right, the third of three sold out shows in St. Louis.

BE JEALOUS...BE VERY JEALOUS!

What draws us to church?

We had Living Sacrifice this weekend at Foursquare and the church building is just unbelievable. There is a lobby with big flat screen monitors, a coffee shop, a youth room with a stage and guitar hero, a huge sanctuary/gym that has a sound system that will rival anything a major concert tour can offer, and enough cameras to film the next Die Hard movie...I hope anyway, John McClain is awesome! Oh wait! I forgot...THE ADULT SIZED PLAY PLACE WITH BALL PIT! WHAT THE CRAP!?!?!?!?

I don't have a problem with any of those things individually, especially the adult sized play place (instead of getting kicked out of McDonald's I'll just go over to Foursquare). My issue is this...at what point are we going to church because it is "cool" or "entertaining" instead of Jesus and community? Are we going to church to learn and grow or to get a white mocha latte?

I want to be clear that I'm not crapping on the people that attend this church. I know quite a few and they are amazing people. I'm just not sure how this stuff looks to others. What are we telling those that we are trying to witness to? At what point do these things become a distraction?

This was a little bit of a rant and I have quite a few other things to say on the issue. I held back quite a bit. Maybe I'm just jealous that I can't go to my church on Sunday and play in the ball pit...

The ups and downs of writing songs

I've been experimenting with songwriting lately and it's extremely stressful. When I first write something I have all these thoughts about how great it could be. I like where the song is going and my vision for the song is fairly clear. Then you put it away and sleep on it and it's like it turned to crap overnight. Doubt sets in as you try match the seemingly terrible lyrics to a melody. All of the sudden you're trying to remember what the song is even about!

All this to say...I HATE SONGWRITING! But, I'm extremely hooked. Let's just hope it gets better.

Google Analytics

So....Wick showed me Google Analytics a couple of weeks ago and I have to say that it's pretty awesome. I'm not sure why we have such a desire to know so much about the people who read our blogs but it tells you more than you could ever want to know.

Alright, so I don't really care that much about Google Analytics but it has given me a new hobby. I now visit Wick's blog several times a day from as many computers as necessary so that he'll think he is getting all kinds of unique visitors. Sometimes I even let is sit there for an hour so he thinks someone really likes him.

Don't worry Wick, I'm just kidding. You know it sounds like a blast though!

My first blog

This is my first REAL blog. I've posted things using social networking sites before but never truly blogged. I'm not sure I'm going to like it but I'm intrigued by the blogging community. Anyway, wish me luck!