One new musician followers this week. I hope by me sharing your music that you will get more fans to listen to your music. Please feel free to share/purchase the song I wrote with Lily Messer and Ceylon Wise. I have many more songs I would like to get out there but can not financially afford to record them. If interested in teaming up together, feel free to contact me.
Redeemed by Rudy Lewis –
Thanks for all the follows, musicians and non-musicians.
I keep telling myself I have to shorten this post and put less songs on here. I liked a lot of music I heard this week and I use to limit one song per artist per post but I went a little crazy this week. Maybe next week will be less. Hope you enjoy.
Some other music from non-followers I have listened to this week.
Remembering by Ashley Campbell –
Indestructible by Armin Van Buuren (feat DBX) –
Front Row Seat by Josh Abbot Band –
Cling To You (feat. Mark Alan) by Tru Serva –
The Gates by Young Empires –
My Ship Came In by Walter Trout –
Cheater, Million Words by The Vamps –
Move Forward by Troy Sneed –
Lost by Straight No Chaser –
Feet Don’t Touch The Ground by Stony Larue –
Secrets by State Champs –
O Mother by Son Little –
Shock My Heart by A Skylit Drive –
Jesus Hope by S.O.G. –
Song For Another Time by Old Dominion –
One Foot by The Mynabirds –
Rooftops by Moon Taxi –
Let’s Be Honest by Mayday Parade –
Silver Car Crash by Majical Cloudz –
She Said, Larger Than Life by Jon Foreman –
Hate Me, Remember Every Scar by Escape The Fate –
Singing To Me by David Wax Museum –
Only God Can by Danetra Moore –
Maggie I’ve Been Searching For Our Son by Craig Finn –
Mayday by Cam –
Let The Cards Fall, Nights Were Made To Love by Blitzen Trapper –
Scars To Your Beautiful, Seventeen by Alessia Cara –
and our song:
I Question You by Lily Messer –
On Itunes : https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-question-you-single/id1018588943
I haven’t posted in awhile about Temple Fit. I don’t know why. Maybe I was feeling who am I? I am not an expert. I do know how things work, the things I wrote about earlier like getting enough sleep, what you are putting in your bodies- food and medicine-, drinking enough water, portion sizes, etc..
Four weeks into the new year, how are you holding up on your resolutions to be active, lose weight? By this point in time, most people have given up on their resolutions. It’s easier to fall back into old habits instead of establishing new habits. I personally think if your resolution is to be active and lose weight you should start in March when you have better weather. Then once 12 weeks are up and you have new habits, it will be easier to keep them through the summer. If you start in January and are doing awesome then a big snowstorm hits or you get sick and you miss a couple days, boom, you are back into old habits. Remember, you didn’t get this way overnight. You won’t get back to being healthy overnight. It takes time, it is a process, you have to stick with it everyday.
My tip for this week is to just show up everyday. Make small changes to show up everyday. There are days you won’t feel like being active or eating healthy but you have to defeat that voice in your head. This week has been rough for me and my wife and some of our runner friends. We don’t know if it is the full moon or what but when all of us can run half marathons and marathons and we struggle to do a seven mile run something is up. I stopped after two miles. However, I did do push ups, pull ups and sit ups. I just couldn’t get into it and I didn’t want to risk another injury. My wife stopped three times on her seven mile run. Just wasn’t feeling it. However, she did finish it. My point: Even if it wasn’t the best day, we showed up. We did something and we didn’t dwell on it. The next day we went out and ran again and had a better day.
You can’t get anywhere if you don’t start. You won’t get any results if you don’t show up and do something.
We had a weight loss challenge at work and I would like to share with you what the winner said. He lost 30 lbs. in 12 weeks.
You probably know that during our Arctic “Biggest Loser” contest, I lost 30 pounds in 12 weeks. This is how I did it: I decided to. Simple, I decided to. Simple, not to be confused with Easy. But the irrefutable truth is you will not lose excess weight until you decide to.
Everyone has to decide on their own when they are going to get healthier. My circumstances are not your circumstances, but maybe you will see some common ground.
I did not decide to lose weight when I needed to lose 10 pounds. Or 20. Or 25. Around the beginning of July, I weighed the most I had ever weighed. My blood work numbers, while not alarming, were going in the wrong direction. Considering my Family History, this did not bode well. For these chronic conditions, most Doctors want to give you pills. Doctors are busy, and know a couple of simple truths: pills do not make you healthier, they merely slow the decline of your health. But most people will take a pill, while very few people will change their lifestyle. So Doctors give you pills, and move on to their next patient.
Instead, I finally decided to lose weight and make other lifestyle changes. Simple, not easy.
I am NOT telling you to ignore your doctor. I managed to convince mine that I was serious about lifestyle changes. He told me to look into the research of Doctor Dean Ornish. Along the way I also looked into some of the diet ideas of Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Last week I was looking for some recipes, and came across a new book, VB6, by my favorite food author, Mark Bittman. Low and behold, the forward was written by Dr. Ornish, and it nicely encapsulates and expands upon the conversation I had with my doctor. This is the biggest reason I wanted to share this with you; finding that convergence seems very Serendipitous, and I have attached that forward and strongly encourage you to read it.
I am not pretending to be a doctor or know what is best for you. But I know this: You have to decide. My motivations are my own, but everybody has a reason. Do you want to feel better? Have more energy, or less pain? Do you want to be healthier; for your spouse, your kids, your grand-kids? Do you dread the idea of waking up in the hospital and wondering if you waited too long, if it is too late to change?
I’ve lost weight before only to gain it back, so my journey continues. But it didn’t even begin until I decided it was time to start.
No, not the Bon Jovi song. I wrote this one back when I was writing a song or two a day. God was saying write and I was writing. Maybe one day someone would like to put music to it and turn these words into a song. If not, maybe it’s just a poem and I hope you enjoy reading the words.
Living in America, there are many things I take for granted. The freedom to work where I want, live where I want, shop where I want, and to live like I want. The one thing I probably take granted the most is the freedom to worship God. In America, we can be free to be a Jew, a Muslim, a Catholic, a Christian along with many other religions. I can open the Bible anytime I want, anywhere I want. I can read scriptures on my computer or on my phone.
At my church I attend, we are doing a short series on In God(s) We Trust, and this week we had a guest speaker who spoke on Muslims and what they believe in. What they believe, or don’t believe, about the God I believe in. He is constantly amazed of how God is opening doors for him to Muslims who are looking for something more because of the extremists that are using violence and murder in the name of Allah. A friend introduces him to a friend who introduces him to a family who introduces etc etc. He treats them with kindness, compassion- like we are told to do – he shares the gospel, some accept, some don’t but they are amazed that a Christian will sit and just talk to them, just to share with them and to help them.
Then God put it on my heart to read some magazines I get monthly that I put aside to read at a later time. I have come to realize a later time rarely comes. So I sat down and started to read. Wouldn’t you know they went hand in hand with the sermon I just heard.
I opened up The Voice of the Martyr magazines and was deeply touched by how far other people in other countries have to go to be able to be a Christian, to be able to read and/or hear the Bible. In many , many countries if you are caught with a Bible, you will be thrown in jail, persecuted, or even killed if you do not denounce your faith as a Christian and commit to being whatever the “main” religion is of that country. Missionaries and other people actually risk their lives just to smuggle bibles, mp3 players, flash drives and other devices to spread the word of who Jesus is.
Many of the Christian leaders in their communities are outcasts. They are constantly threatened, beaten, persecuted, and some are killed. Many are forced to leave their villages if they continue to spread the gospel. All of this would stop if they would just denounce Christianity and commit to the religion of that area. They stand strong in their faith.
Would I be that strong? If I knew my daughter would be kidnapped, beaten, raped and left for dead because I am a Christian, would I be able to continue to say yes, I am a Christian and I will not denounce my faith. I will stand strong on God’s promises. I would like to think so but luckily, as of now, in this country I don’t have to make that choice.
Then I read how God has protected some of them. How they have gotten through ISIS checkpoints as they fled their homes. How they have survived this terror or that horror. How, even when a family member has been killed, they stand strong. I read where some terrorists escape that life because God called them to change, and now they are Christians fighting against the terrorists groups they were a member of just a short while ago.
It is amazing how God is using the terrorist groups like ISIS, Boko Haram, Taliban, North Korea communists, and many others to push thousands and thousands of people away from them and into the arms of our loving father, God, and Christianity. Many Muslims are horrified of these groups and their proclamation that Allah is having them do this. They say if this is the will of Allah, then we don’t want any part of it. One pastor in northern Iraq says “there are a lot of people turning from Islam. Jesus has a big net and ISIS is pushing people toward this net. What we are seeing now is like the tip of the iceberg.” He continues to say ” ISIS is making people, especially Muslims, think about their faith and question the faith they were born in and don’t understand.” He said they are repulsed by what ISIS is doing and increasingly disagree with Islam’s teachings. His church, which used to have seven to ten people on a Sunday, now is full to overflowing every Sunday because a lot of people are coming to know Jesus.
The Voice of the Martyrs has sent out 16,440 action packs (food, supplies, necessities), assisted 18,889 families and delivered 70,231 Bibles in just the Islamic state alone since June 2014 through October 2015. VOM is just one organization spreading the gospel. There are many others that share the same stories I mentioned above. Even though Christianity is declining in America, it is increasing many times over in parts of the world that denounced Christianity not too long ago.
Will you take a minute today and pray for VOM and other organizations like them? Will you pray for the believers who remain faithful amid persecution from ISIS and other terrorists groups? Will you take a minute and give thanks to God that you are free to read this without fear of persecution, that you are free to worship, free to read the most dangerous book in the world?
A few new musician followers this week. I hope by me sharing your music that you will get more fans to listen to your music. Please feel free to share/purchase the song I wrote with Lily Messer and Ceylon Wise. I have many more songs I would like to get out there but can not financially afford to record them. If interested in teaming up together, feel free to contact me.
Thanks for all the follows.
Awake Now by Caroline Sky –
Take My Life by Wesleigh Rushing –
Light by Jon Henderson –
Some other music from non-followers I have listened to this week. Hope you enjoy.
Another You by Armin Van Buuren (Feat. Mr. Probz) –
Beloved Child by Tru Serva (feat. Jeff Deyo) –
Cold In California, Burning House by Cam –
Here To Mars by Coheed & Cambria –
Amazing Day by Coldplay –
Drivin’ Around Song by Colt Ford (feat. Jason Aldean) –
It’s A Game by El Vy –
Born To Love You by Jussie Smollett –
Breaking Me Down by Escape The Fate –
Give A Little by Family Of The Year –
Easily by Grimes –
Count It All Joy by James Bolton –
Do You Love Me Any Less by Jason Boland & The Stragglers –
Before Our Time by Jon Foreman (feat. Sara Watkins) –
Amnesia by Josh Abbot Band –
Getting Ready To Get Down by Josh Ritter –
Downtown by Majical Cloudz –
All My Heart by The Mynabirds –
Break Up With Him by Old Dominion –
All You Are Is History, Around The World And Back by State Champs –
Heal Our Land by Troy Sneed –
and our song:
I Question You by Lily Messer –
On Itunes : https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-question-you-single/id1018588943
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt me. I laugh at that one. Do they not know the power of me? Do they not know what I can do?
I am words. Only words. The funny thing about me is that I may move you, my reader. But yet another of my readers may not be moved at all. I can make you feel sad one day and you could look at me another day and feel happy. Fickle thing feelings are. It all depends on how you feel when you read me.
Some people are so good at using me that you can remember what they wrote many years later. Other people, even though what they wrote touched you at the moment, you forget the next day. Sometimes the next hour.
Put me to music and it is a whole new ball game. Music from yesteryear can evoke many memories, some good, some bad. I can make you move fast or slow. Well, technically it is the music but I control how the music is played.
Do you remember the song on the radio the first time you were kissed? Your wedding dance song? The day you lost a loved one? I can bring you happy and sad memories, all in the same song. I can make you smile, I can make you cry. Happy the first time you heard it, sad when you hear it now.
Do you see the power I have now? When spoken in truth I can help people live a better life. Sometimes I have to be spoken bluntly in truth. The receiver of me may not like me. When spoken in truth I am all powerful. No one can stand against me or deny me. I can make you feel good about yourself.
When spoken in lies, I can lead people astray. Lead them from where they want to be. Unfortunately, there are many people in this world that use me only to lead people astray, and they are quite good at using me this way. You won’t know until it’s too late that you have been following lies. I can bring you down, make you feel worthless.
How can you know when I am being used for good or for evil ? Am I being used in the same way consistently? Do I stand the test of time? Do I build you up or tear you down ?
Did you know I can not only affect you but I can affect everything around you? Did your mom ever talk to the houseplant? Ever hear of farmers talking to their crops? I can even affect water. Dr. Masaru Emoto did an interesting study (Messages From Water). He would say positive things to some water molecules and negative things to others. He would then instantly freeze them and took high speed pictures of them. Here are the results :
If I can do that to water, imagine what I do to someone you are talking to.
It has also been proven that positive words can actually change your brain structure.
In Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman book, Words Can Change Your Brain, they write: “a single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.”
Positive words, such as “peace” and “love,” can alter the expression of genes, strengthening areas in our frontal lobes and promoting the brain’s cognitive functioning. They propel the motivational centers of the brain into action and build resiliency.
Conversely, hostile language can disrupt specific genes that play a key part in the production of neurochemicals that protect us from stress. Humans are hardwired to worry — part of our primal brains protecting us from threats to our survival — so our thoughts naturally go here first.
However, a single negative word can increase the activity in our amygdala (the fear center of the brain). This releases dozens of stress-producing hormones and neurotransmitters, which in turn interrupts our brains’ functioning. (This is especially with regard to logic, reason, and language.) “Angry words send alarm messages through the brain, and they partially shut down the logic-and-reasoning centers located in the frontal lobes,” write Newberg and Waldman.
According to the authors, using the right words can transform our reality:
By holding a positive and optimistic word in your mind, you stimulate frontal lobe activity. This area includes specific language centers that connect directly to the motor cortex responsible for moving you into action. And as our research has shown, the longer you concentrate on positive words, the more you begin to affect other areas of the brain. Functions in the parietal lobe start to change, which changes your perception of yourself and the people you interact with. A positive view of yourself will bias you toward seeing the good in others, whereas a negative self-image will include you toward suspicion and doubt. Over time the structure of your thalamus will also change in response to your conscious words, thoughts, and feelings, and we believe that the thalamic changes affect the way in which you perceive reality. *
Gives new meaning to to the phrase if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all doesn’t it?
Does anything about me that you have read hit home? Does it make you think more before you use me? If you use me the correct, positive way, I can change your life. I can change your brain, your way of thinking. I can change the environment. Be wise, I am a weapon, I am a healer.
But what do I know, I am only black lines on a piece of paper. I am only words.
No new musician followers this week. Many other followers though so I can only pray God is using His words He gives me to reach others out there that need to read them or hear the songs.
Please feel free to share/purchase the song I wrote with Lily Messer and Ceylon Wise. I have many more songs I would like to get out there but can not financially afford to record them. If interested in teaming up together, feel free to contact me.
Thanks for all the follows.
I know there are a lot on here. Listened to a lot of music lately. Next week should be less.
I am the heart. I provide life to the rest of the body. I pump oxygen and blood to and from other organs. You can not survive without me. I am the wellspring of life. Everything you do comes from me.
I am going on strike.
Yes, you read that correctly. I am tired of how you treat me. I will no longer be helping out your kidneys or right foot. I am thinking about not helping your brain either. You don’t seem to use it much when it comes to me anyway. I saw you last night watching The Biggest Loser while you were eating popcorn and M&M’s and washing it down with a can of Coke.
I break for you. I feel your hurt and your pain. I feel your depression. I feel your frustrations. I feel your joy, your excitement. I feel the rush of endorphins when you exercise. I feel your longing, your wanting to belong. Everything that you do and feel, I feel.
My main enemy is your brain. It is often said that the mind is the devil’s playground. How many times have you not got me pumping harder because your mind said you couldn’t do this or that? Your mind says stop but I can go on. Give me a chance to prove that to you. How many times have I begged you “please stop eating this food, it is making me work harder, it is clogging my highways to take care of the rest of your body” but do you listen? No, because your brain says I will take a double order of fried, greasy food because it will make me feel better. Lies. All lies. The brain is like the devil. It doesn’t care about you and neither does he. Most of the time I think they are planning their attacks on me together.
Most any one can tell you that you don’t need your brain to survive. Look at the decisions you make every day. Some really good ones and some really bad ones. The only thing we have in common is if you don’t use us, we can’t help you. Okay, so you do need the brain to survive. I mean if not, we would all be walking off cliffs or in front of cars all the time. That would put an end to me as well. However, the brain can’t work without me. I only wish I could tell your brain to take better care of you, and therefore me.
Did you know that in the NIV Bible the word heart is used 570 times in the Old and New Testament? I am the fourth most common word behind father, God and Lord, not in that order. Why do you think that is? I would not exist without God. You would not exist without God. I am a uniquely created internal organ made so that you can have physical life. You are a uniquely created person.
If you walk away from things that make me work better you will die. If you walk away from God, you will die and spend an eternity with our enemy, the devil. If you eat right, sleep well, exercise, take care of me, I can make your life here on earth all that it is meant to be. I determine your actions and reflect whether Jesus is at the center of your life. If you give your life to Jesus, He can make your life here on earth all that He meant for it to be. If you put Jesus at the center of your life, you can have a life of abundance, a life of joy, no matter what your circumstances are.
The good news is that it is not too late. You can fix all the damage that has been done to me by your past actions. I can be renewed. You can take away years of neglect by turning around and doing what is right. Take care of me so I can take care of you. You can’t do it alone though. You need Jesus. Ask Him to continually renew me. Ask Him to help you take that first step. Each step after that will get easier. Let Him hold your hand as you start a new, healthier you, and me.
Where am I in your life today? Are you struggling to make me healthy? Are you making the right choices when it comes to food, drink, exercise and sleep to make me work better?
If not, ask yourself this question, where is Jesus in your life today? Are you struggling with sin, with bad habits? Ask Jesus to come into me today. Let Him help us become healthy, physically and spiritually. Ask Jesus to renew me, your heart, and commit that He will remain at the center of me, your heart.
You have only one me, the heart. You have only one body. There is only one God. Align all three of us and ask God into your heart, into your mind, into your life.
Here’s My Heart by Casting Crowns –
Open The Eyes Of My Heart by Paul Baloche –
Feel It In Your Heart by Abandon –
Where My Heart Goes by Colton Dixon –
Heart On Fire by Dan Bremnes –
The Heart Of The Father by Brad and Rebekah –
My Brain Says No But My Heart Says Yes by FM Static –
Here’s My Heart by Crowder –
Busted Heart by For King and Country –
Your Heart by Casey J –
Tell Your Heart To Beat Again by Danny Gokey –
How Could I Withhold My Heart by The Glorious Unseen –
Wtih Every Beat Of My Broken Heart by Hawk Nelson –
“LET HER GO, GIVE HER TO ME”
“You are never alone,” the voice said
My God, My Music, My Life 