One new musician follower this week but she is the next American Idol. At least right now she is in my top 5 to win it. Will see when live shows kick off. 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.
Holy Grail by Tristan McIntosh (Justin Timberlake cover)-
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.
Stone by Alessia Cara –
Today by Blanca –
Village by Cam –
Red Robin by Clark Richard –
Standing Still by Codie Provost –
You Got Spirit Kid by Coheed and Cambria –
Up & Up by Coldplay –
Still Care About Me by Danetra Moore –
We Need Love by Family Of The Year –
What If I’m Right by Get Scared-
Steady Me by Hollyn (feat Aaron Cole) –
Use Me by Joe Douglass –
This Isn’t Easy by Josh Abbott –
A Season by Pillar –
Wake Up by The Vamps –
Pretty Lies by Veridia –
Ordinary Angels by Karyn Williams –
Take Off by Marcus Anthony –
Underneath The Tide by Mayday Parade –
and our song:
I Question You by Lily Messer –
On Itunes : https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-question-you-single/id1018588943
Hey mom and dad, it’s okay if I fail. I tried. I will not succeed at everything but I have to fail at most things to know what I will succeed at. You have to let me fail.
I know it’s hard for you to not just jump in when I am struggling but let me struggle. I have to be able to figure things out on my own. I love when you hold my hand but there will be times when you won’t be there and then what? What will I do if you aren’t there? I will have to figure it out on my own. I am capable. I am strong. I am smart.
I know this is hard for you to hear but sometimes you just have to get out of the way. I know you love me and I know if I can’t get this figured out I can ask for your help. Just like the other day when I asked you about that math problem. I had to have time to think it through and figure out if I could do it on my own before I asked.
Chances are I will not be a professional athlete. No matter how hard you push me, no matter how many nights I spend in the driveway shooting free throws, no matter how many extra sprints I run. No matter how loud you yell at my games. No matter how many times you play catch with me. You know the odds are astronomical right? If I choose to pursue this though you better know I will push myself beyond my limits to do it because I know not very many make it. However, if I don’t want to play soccer this season but want to try to play guitar, let me. I may go back to soccer later. I may be a terrible guitar player, but I won’t know unless I try. Who knows, maybe I am the next Eddie Van Halen.
I will give 100% to everything I try. I learned that from you. I will not quit if I don’t like it at first. I may even end up liking it. You have never quit on our family so I know what it is like to keep trying and not give up. I just may not be good at what I try and that’s okay. I will do the most with the abilities I have. Success for me right now is trying.
I am not afraid to try. Fear of failure is not a part of me. I want to be able to fail, to find out more about me. I am still trying to find out who I am in this world. Not who you want me to be. I will fail. There is no doubt in my mind. I will also succeed at many things. I just need you to give me that opportunity.
I don’t know what God has in store for me but you have given me a great start. For that , I am forever thankful. As I grow older though I want to try new things. I want to see what I am good at. I want to be .. Well like you. You know what you are good at and you know what you are bad at and it’s all because of you trying and succeeding, and failing.
Do not let me make bad choices or go down the wrong road. I fully expect you to put me in place if that happens. There is a difference between making bad choices and failing at something I want to try.
Don’t get me wrong, I want to succeed. But I also want to fail. I want to pick myself up and dust myself off and say wheww I suck at that. I won’t know until I try though. I want to find out what it’s like to be knocked down and get back up. I want to figure out what I did wrong and how I can get better. I want to persevere. It even says in the Bible that perseverance builds character . I want to be someone that people look to and say they want to be like me. I can’t do that if you do everything for me. If you are always helping me succeed. I have to test my limits and my abilities. I know you will be there for me if I need you, but right now I just want to go for it on my own. I want to see what I am made of. I want to laugh at myself if I stink. I want to be proud of myself if I succeed. I won’t be able to do any of these things if you don’t let me try, knowing I may fail.
Please mom and dad, let me fail. I will be okay. I may cry. I may get mad. I will struggle. I will get hurt. I will feel pain. I will get knocked down. I will pick myself up. I will find joy. I will be proud of myself for trying. I will find something I really enjoy doing. I will be thankful for the experience . I will learn how to fight for what I want. I want to say I tried. I will succeed.
I will succeed, but first you have to let me fail.
No Boundaries by Kris Allen –
I Lived by OneRepublic –
Unafraid by Pillar –
Limitless by Colton Dixon –
Born To Try by Delta Goodrem –
Die Trying by Art of Dying –
Champ by Nelly –
Rise Up by Green River Ordinance –
Born To Rise by Redlight King –
Burn Bright ( You Were Made To Shine) by Natalie Grant –
She had mixed emotions as she approached the tree. She wasn’t even sure why she was here after all this time. She continued up the hill to where the tree was and sat in the shade of its branches. With her back to the tree she looked up and asked, “Why am I here?”
Yes, this was the same tree where she met him. She was okay before she met him. She had great friends that made her laugh. She did well in school and was the second best scorer on the basketball team. Her parents loved her even though her dad wasn’t around much. She was an innocent girl. She came to the tree to get a break from the summer heat.
That’s when he walked up to her. It was under this same shade tree that she let her guard down and welcomed him into her life. She immediately took a liking to him and opened up to him. She told him about all her fears, her concerns, her feeling unwanted by her dad. She knew he loved her but he was never around. Too busy working, too busy hanging with anyone but her.
That’s all he needed to hear and he knew she would be his. He was smooth talking and was easy on the eyes. She fell for him hard. It wasn’t long before she was doing things she never thought she would do until she was married. She started drinking. She started fighting with parents. She started sneaking out of the house. She missed more curfews than she can remember.
“Oh God, why am I back here?!!” she yelled.
She thought about the mess he caused of her life. Well, she knew she caused it but it was all because of him. He promised so much but fell so short. She thought back and could only shake her head and laugh. “I gave up so much for him. I was a mess. So why am I back here? Did I just want to see where it all started one more time? Was I wanting to go back to that life? Was I missing the excitement that he gave me? ”
No, that wasn’t it. She was happy where her life had taken her. She was happy with her family. She had the most amazing daughters and she couldn’t even begin to tell you how amazing her husband is. She found herself remembering the day she said yes to Jesus and no to him. She remembers the darkness that left her. She remembers the freedom she felt. It really was astounding to think that someone died for her. That someone gave His life so she can live. After all she had done, He still welcomed her home. Back to the place she was before she met him. Even when she had betrayed Him and went her own ways, He was still there waiting for her. She thought to herself, now that is an amazing story.
She thought about her journey. The good, the bad, the ugly. So why was she back here? Why did she have to come here? What was she missing in her life that she would go back to him? No, that wasn’t it. She wasn’t here to go back to him. As crazy as it sounds she thought she was here for closure. She was here to say good-bye once and for all.
“You tried to break me. You tried to turn me into your toy and it worked for awhile. But I am better off without you. I am better now that you are gone. I have Jesus and I don’t need you. You have no place in my life. I am stronger because of you and for that I thank you. I won’t fall for your tricks again though. Even when I feel you pulling me I know the pleasure isn’t worth the pain. It’s not worth the hangover the next morning. The shame and guilt. I’m past that. I am new now and I will never go back to you. There is one in my life that is stronger than you. One that is better than you. One that doesn’t lie to me. One that will hold me, will love me no matter what I have done. Good-bye to you. I am and always will be better off with you gone. Dead and gone. Like you made me for that period of my life when I fell for you. But I am alive and I am here because of Jesus. You are dead to me.”
“I am a widow to my old self, to my past sins, to him. I am a widow to the death that was inside me.”
“Thank you God for never giving up on me. Thank you God for searching for me when I was lost. Thank you for carrying me when I was too weak to walk. Thank you for holding my hand when I just needed to have you with me. Thank you for listening to me when I need to talk. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for your grace and mercy. Thank you for loving me and thank you for who you are. I promise I will not go back to that life again. Thank you for the power of your love that I can walk away from him, he is truly dead to me and I have you to thank for that. You are all I need.”
With that she got up and walked back down the hill. She never looked back. She did look up and smiled.
Satisfy by Worship Mob – Long video but listen to 5:30 to the end if time is short
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.
My God, My Music, My Life 