I want to create art, send a message of hope out into the world, I want to inspire others.
Friday we went to WinterJam, which was a great concert with great bands for only $10. This year the artists were Stephanie Smith, PureNRG, Francesca Battistelli, The Afters, NewSong, Hawk Nelson, and TobyMac. I got some really good pictures and videos, I was especially glad I got to get a video of PureNRG because I LOVE watching them. :) Here are a couple, more to come! Enjoy!
Friday night we went to see Fiction Family (Jon Foreman of Switchfoot and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek) and they were amazing! Seabird opened for them and it was really cool. The venue was small but it was really nice. Big concerts are great, but small one’s are nice because even if you’re in the back you’re still pretty close. :) I took a bunch of pictures and video’s, but I just finally got the video download, converted and uploaded on here and decided to finish uploading pictures later. :P Hopefully sometime tonight or tomorrow, but in the meantime you can watch a little clip of Jon Foreman playing Your Love is Strong. :)
One of my new favourite books. 8-)
A really cool thing from Thomas Nelson Publishing is something called Book Review Bloggers. It’s the reason I keep writing reviews for books. If you agree to read and review the books they send you, they will send them to you free.. And right now they have Kiss as one of the books you can request. So if you like free books and think that you’d be able to write a 200+ review (good or bad), this is a really cool program. :D
These CD’s were absolutely wonderful! From the moment I pressed play I fell in love with the music and the beautiful voices. That they were read in the New King James Version was an extra plus, the NKJV is such a wonderfully beautiful version of the Bible that it made it so nice to listen to. The devotionals were a nice addition as well. I learned so much from reading them and the prayers at the end of each were great. I wondered how I would like listening to so many different people read Psalm but it was actually really nice. You know how there are some people who you could just listen to forever? That’s how I felt listening to all the readers. Michael York does an excellent job reading the devotionals, and it was nice to hear different voices read the actual Psalm. It was also cool to be listening and then I’d perk up and exclaim “It’s Samwise!” or some other readers voice that I recognized. The Gift of Psalms comes in a beautiful book, with the Psalm on one side of the page and the devotional on the other. All on nice shiny paper, with pretty designs and fonts. I cannot wait to listen to them all over again and I will be recommending this to all my friends. Definitely 5 stars. :)
To read more about the Gift of Psalms you can go to the Thomas Nelson product page here.
Not Guilty Anymore
It doesn’t matter what you’ve done; It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from
Doesn’t matter where you’ve been, Hear me tell you I forgiveYou’re not guilty anymore, you’re not filthy anymore,
I love you, mercy is yours
You’re not broken anymore, you’re not captive anymore,
I love you, mercy is yoursCan you believe that this is true, grace abundant I am giving you
Cleansing deeper than you know, all was paid for long agoYou’re not guilty anymore, you’re not filthy anymore,
I love you, mercy is yours
You’re not broken anymore, you’re not captive anymore,
I love you, mercy is yoursThere is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Jesus
You are spotless
You are holy
You are faultless
You are whole
You are righteous
You are blameless
You are pardoned
You are mine
These are the lyrics to a song called Not Guilty Anymore by Aaron Keyes. My brother found him somehow and I’ve really liked listening to his music. I bought the song on iTunes and put it on my phone as my ringtone.. :D If you want to check him out, his website is http://aaronkeyes.com/ . There is also a music player on his site, so you can listen to segments from more of his songs.. :)
“When all that is good falls apart,
what can good people do?”
The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD sits on his throne in heaven.
-Psalm 11:3-4Curiously, David doesn’t answer his question with an answer. He answers it with a declaration: “The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD sits on his throne in heaven.”
The point is unmistakable: God is unaltered by our storms. He is undeterred by our problems. He is in his holy temple. He is on his throne in heaven.
So begins For These Tough Times by Max Lucado. In his book, Mr. Lucado tries to give you answers to questions like “When all that is good falls apart, what can good people do?” and “Where is God in all this?” and “Can good come from evil?” There are chapters on prayer and on perspective (God’s, not ours), on being silent (reverence) and on God’s love. I really liked this part from the chapter on God’s Great Love.
Honestly, now. Did God save you so you would fret? Would he teach you to walk just to watch you fall? Would he be nailed to a cross for your sins and then disregard your prayers? …
Can anything separate us from the love Christ has for us? (Rom. 8:35)
That’s what we want to know. …
God answered our question before we asked it. So we’d see his answer, he lit the sky with a star. So we’d hear it, he filled the night with a choir. And so we’d believe it, he did what no man had ever dreamed; he became flesh and dwelt among us.
I love how Mr. Lucado writes, his writing style is so easy to read and so understandable. I’ve always liked reading his books, You Are Special was one of my favourites. He can write such great truths, but he writes them with such simplicity. I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone. It’s quite small but it’s very good. 4.5 out of 5 stars. :)
