MercyMe's Cover Tune Grab Bag

I've finally gotten a chance to watch MercyMe's cover tunes. I have gained a whole new respect from this band - they are simply AMAZING - hahaha! Here is a selection of my favorite cover tunes by MercyMe.




Bart's facial expression at 1:55 (after Robby drops his drum) is priceless!!!





0:44 "My FAAAAATHER yells . . ." hahahaha!!!
1:52 "SOME FUN!!!" too funny!!!








Talk about community, right?





Bart's kiddies!


I am loving these guys! I really think that they are my favorite band right now.

I've got the sore throat blues.

Hey everyone!

I think the title of this entry is a little dramatic because I'm not really down or feeling blue or anything, but I do have a sore throat. I felt great all day yesterday, but started to feel a headache and a sore throat coming on last night. Today I went to algebra class as usual, and afterwards went to Walgreens to pick up some peppermints for my throat. I was excited because they have them on sale! Yay! Haha . . .

Anyway . . . I'm pretty much on a peppermint, hot tea, chicken noodle soup, and Popsicle diet today. I'm going to Vineyard University to help teach a elementary class / lead worship. I'm hoping, praying, and believing in God that this sore throat won't interfere, nor will it turn into any real sickness because I have a busy weekend ahead. Prom on Friday, and volunteering on both Saturday and Sunday. Looks like it's gonna be a great weekend! :)

That's pretty much all I have to say for the time being. I'll update later on, hopefully with something more exciting.

Investing in relationships

Lately I've noticed myself cherishing my friendships and relationships more than I used to. Not to say that I didn't cherish my friends before, but now after I have the honor of talking to someone, I'll just stop and be thankful for the time spent with them, no matter how short it was. I don't know why this is happening either, but I know that I REALLY want to feel this more, and I want to be able to express the appreciation, you know? I was just (literally 10 minutes ago) trying to think of ways that I could do this, but nothing really came to mind. After a few more minutes of thought, I felt the Lord telling me to invest in my relationship with Him first, and that the others would follow. That makes sense! I mean, He is the first and everything revolves around Him, right?

I remember in church several months ago, we talked about the question of what to do when we get lost or side-tracked in our spiritual journeys, and the answer was, "Come back to the cross!"

Come back to God, come back to the beginning, come back to where it started, allow the Lord to renew you and then get back on the right path. I feel that the same definitely applies to our relationship. If you want to become a better friend, strengthen your current relationships, or whatever, focus on your relationship with the Lord for a while. Learn from the best friend that there could ever be and learn how to appreciate and cherish your relationship with Him a little more. Really invest in your relationship with Him!

I thought I'd share this because it's been at the front of my mind for a while now. I'm super excited for tonight - I'm going to Young Life for the first time in a long time. Really, really great people are there, and I'm excited to see them again.

Adios!

Babysitting, book update, and sweet music!

Hello, reader!

I'm posting from another location. I'm currently babysitting for the Bryant's, though the kids are all fast asleep. Before she left, Robyn and I had a little time to chat and she told me that she hoped CoCo (the baby girl) would warm up to me this time AND SHE DID!!! We (Connor, Tyler, CoCo, and myself) went outside and she actually crawled over to me and reached out for my hands. The past couple of times she's crawled AWAY from me like I was some scary monster! Anyway, she took my hands and we walked around the yard until she got tired. I also got to play basketball and football with the boys, which was fun. They each picked me a flower which was very, very sweet of them.

After the outdoor festivities, we went inside and put CoCo to bed. Then I sat the boys down for a special activity - cards! We got creative and wrote out "Happy Easter" cards. I wrote one for each of the kids, and the boys made some for Pete and Robyn. Tyler made four or five (he was on a crazy roll) and Connor made two. The cards are currently sitting on the kitchen counter and will hopefully bless Mommy and Daddy when they get home.

So that's what I've been up to tonight! I wanted to post about an interesting little "happening" with the book. I was trying to think of a title for a song mentioned in the first chapter, and Kasey (she keeps me in check, making sure I get something done each day, and helps me when I'm stuck in a brainstorm or something) suggested having the song be titled in Spanish. One thing led to another, and now the Sullivan family (main family in the book) have relatives in Honduras. Ryan's mother will be from Honduras, to be exact. I'm actually really excited about this. I've been learning a lot about the country since this developed, and it sounds like a very nice place.

There's the book update for you! One more thing before I go - check out MercyMe's latest album, "All That Is Within Me". It is simply stunning! My (current) favorite tracks are, "Finally Home" and "Time Has Come" so I definitely recommend the album to you.

Okay, this really will be the last thing. If you like Phil Wickham, his album, "Singalong" is available for free download on his website: philwickham.com

Phil is great, has a wonderful voice, and it's so easy to tell that his heart is on fire for God! You might want to check him out, also.

Goodnight!!!

Blogging in the rain.

Hey guys!

Wow, I haven't updated this in a while. I also have been slower updating on Twitter, so it's safe to say I've been an internet slacker as of late, which is nothing terrible. But I'm going to start updating more often again, Yay!

It's storming pretty badly right now. I'm sitting here on the couch looking at the rain and listening to the distant thunder. It's kind of nice! There were tornadoes being reported earlier, so I'm hoping that it doesn't get that bad again.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few things that went on this past weekend. It started on Friday - I was privelaged to lead worship and the Healing Center. I was talking to a friend afterwards and I told her it was like a glimpse of what it might like to be on tour since I was the first worship leader of five, and then she asked me what I would name a band if I ever had the chance. I still haven't come up with an answer . . . Ideas? Yeah, while Jenn Silver led worship later on, a woman named Pam pulled me aside and introduced me to (what was to me, at least) a whole new way of worship. Dance! She had three really nice . . . I guess you could call them shawls, and she gave me one and taught me a dance!

I felt so free while we were dancing. Praising God with mind, voice, soul, and body was simply amazing. Dance worship is most definitely something I would like to learn more about. Also, I met a girl named Ashley. She was one of the worship leaders, and we were paired up during a blindfold excersize. She is absolutely wonderful, and I'm truly, truly inspired by her. Hopefully I'll get to see her again, soon!

So yesterday my grandma took me out to see a movie. We saw "Monsters Vs. Aliens" which is currently the #1 movie in the nation. If I used a school-like grading system, I would give it a D which in my world stands for DON'T SEE IT. It's an interesting idea for a movie I guess - nothing that hasn't been tried before only with a couple of twists, but unless you're 13 years old or younger, you're not going to be too thrilled with it. If you have a son, daughter, little sibling, neice, or nephew, then I would recommend taking them to see it. Otherwise, save your money. I'm not trying to bash the creators or anything, I'm just saying . . .

Stephen Colbert was in the movie! He was the funniest character for sure, and it was definitely funny that he played the president. Too funny!

Anyway, that's pretty much what I've been up to over the past few days. I've been working on the book a lot, too! I'm actually working on a chapter that's way ahead of where I actually am (if that makes sense) but it's going well! I might post a little bit of it later on.

Thanks for reading! I'm off to watch The Rock and Worship Roadshow. It's being streamed live on the internet tonight which is super cool! The show is in Bossier city tonight, with Addison Road, Tenth Avenue North, Hawk Nelson, Jeremy Camp, and MercyMe!

http://www.therockandworshiproadshow.com/ Check it out!

Take care! Thanks again for reading.