My life so far these past few weeks..

How is everyone? I'm doing very well actually. I am quite tired from a night of pizza making and trying to make customers happy. The restraunt(sp?) business can be very wearing on a person. As much as I love the people I work with, I will be happy when the day comes that I can work in my actual field of study. Since I last spoke with you all, I received the opportunity to DJ a halloween dance party which was awesome. I had a whole lot of fun. The best part was the fact that everyone really enjoyed the music I played. I tried my best to roll with the vibe and feed off of their energy and it was a beautiful thing. I like when you learn through your experiences whether they are good or bad. I have also started "talking" with an old friend of mine. To give all of you guys a glimpse of how all this started, I will start from the beginning. One day, I was driving down the road in Pace and was almost positive that I saw my friend riding in the passenger side of her friends car. I message her on facebook and tell her that I thought that I had seen her in a car and was wondering if she was in town. She messages me back to tell me that she is in Atlanta and not in Pace. She begins to reveal to me that she had a difficult time seeing my message because she had to walk away from her computer to collect her thoughts and tears. She tells me that out of all the guys she has known over the years, I have stuck out to her the most and continues to pour her heart out. I find this to be an awesome thing because she is truly an amazing girl. We have been trying to work towards figuring out what is best in this situation. I admire her for pouring out her heart to me and just getting everything out. I'm hoping that something might come out of it that would be in the direction of relationship but it is difficult to tell at the moment. It's hard when she lives 5 hours away and I can't get up and leave to go be with her and visit her. I think the best thing right now is to take it slow and easy. Let whatever happens happen. These type of situations cannot be forced. She has always been an amazing friend that I can talk to about music or whatever. She makes me laugh which I can't say about a lot of girls I know. She has such a free spirit about her and she doesn't try to be anything except for herself. I admire such genuiness. I will update you all later on that situation. I also had my birthday yesterday which makes me 23 years of age. I am excited but at the same time getting the realization that I am just continuing to grow older. When you were little, you got excited about birthdays because you got cake and presents and a big birthday gift. Now that I am older, I realize it is less about the flashiness but more about realizing you are growing old. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy growing older because I can reflect on where I was and where I am today and who I have grown to be. I also enjoyed getting the opportunity to just hang out with my friends. I really don't like any kind of attention brought to me especially with birthdays but I liked that people recognized it and wanted to spend time with me. I had an awesome birthday get together with the people I love. I guess that is all I have at this time. I will see you guys again when the next chapter of my life shall unfold. Take care!

More of the politics..

The beautiful topic of politics came up tonight around the dinner table with a few of my close friends. I really don't care much for talking politics with people because it is the type of discussion that no one really wins and everyone walks away pissed off generally. I can appreciate the fact that everyone is passionate about the views of their political parties but it bothers me when it gets to the point of thinking that you are more intelligent than the person you disagree with. I am most likely voting republican this year not necessarily because of John McCain or Sarah Palin but because the views of the republican party is what I feel more passionate about than the side of the democrats. I have a very moderate view because of a lot of issues in which I can see both sides of the argument. The issue of gay rights and the legalization of gay marriage is fine with me. I think everyone should have the same rights as everyone else in this country. We are living a lie if we deny someone rights if we are supposed to be a country of "everyone is equal". I feel like a huge part of why I am voting republican this election is the fact that I cannot ignore the sanctity of human life. I believe in most cases that it is wrong except for cases like rape, incest, and situations where the mother could potentially die. I feel that no one has the right to use abortion as birth control. If you are fifteen and choose to have sex with your boyfriend and aren't protecting yourself then you should be responsible enough to take care of a baby. To me, it is similar to drunk driving. If you are going to be irresponsible and drive in a condition where you could potentially take the life of another, I think that you should have to face the consequences of your actions. I simply cannot vote for a party who feels that in most cases abortion is the right thing to do. One area that I feel the republicans need to be more responsible is the environment. We cannot continue letting our planet become more and more polluted and allow the climate changes to create even more problems. This doesn't just pertain to the United States but all countries around the world. We need to find other solutions to oil because I feel like we are trying to use oil until it is gone and then later on we will think about alternative fuel which is very irresponsible. I feel like we should be able to bear arms but we should have extreme laws on background checks and raise the age limit to be able to purchase a weapon. I think everyone is entitled to the views that they have. I only wish that people would be more considerate about the views of others. I feel like there are very intelligent people on both sides of the political spectrum. I detest the feeling of condescension which makes me wish that people would be more considerate of another person's view.

The stance on gay marriage

Something that I have been thinking much about lately is the whole gay marriage debate. A few years ago, had you asked me about what my stance was then I would tell you that it was straight up wrong and that it shouldn't happen. It has been a struggle to find a view on it but I have become more moderate in my political views as time passes by. I know that in the Bible, they see the act of homosexuality being sin and an abomination but I just can't see why it is seen as such a black and white issue. I know many of my brothers and sisters in the Christian community turn their nose up and say that homosexuals "choose" to be that way. I just don't understand this because in my case being straight, I have always been attracted to girls. I haven't had a time in my life when I have woken up and thought "I really want to get all over a guy today". This posing another question, if what I believe is that homosexuals are born the way they are then why is it written through prophets by God that it is an abomination to act this way. I see it being the same principle as someone who is mentally retarded. If the Bible said it was sin to be born mentally retarded, would we stop trying to reach out to the mentally retarded community and stop being Christ-like to them. If you are homosexual and reading this please do not think that I am trying to compare you to a mentally retarded person. All I am saying is that it is a similar principle when you look at the biology as far as the way it affects the way we are. I think that regardless of your beliefs or the way you live your life, I don't think the government should tell you who you can fall in love with or be with legally. People who are gay as well as any other person are just trying to be happy and live a happy life being with the person they love. It is sad in the Christian community when we just judge and make decisions without even thinking about it beneath the surface. We only want to take issues at face value. People have this mindset that since we are different then it means that I can't relate to you which is bullshit. Everyone can relate and love one another but we just keep allowing religion and politics to dictate and cause division. We are all brothers and sisters but we don't act like it a lot of times. All you need is love and God equals love so let's spread some God around(sorry, that was really corny and I am probably going to get ragged by Sam Crum about it being a church marquee(sp?)). In all seriousness, let's stop hating and start loving. Is it really that difficult?

The secular and the sacred

I have been meaning to blog for a while on the subject of Christian versus secular music. The River had a discussion on this a while back which relieved much of my skeptism from the past. At one point in my life, I thought that if I only listened to Christian music then it would ultimately lead me closer to God. I think many Christians get caught up in this idea that if we "behave" ourselves and not do certain things that the "church" frowns upon then we will be alright in God's sight. In the scriptures, this concept is irrelevant because it is not about what we do but it is about our faith and walk with God. It isn't about works. What I find interesting is the fact that many people in the church don't want you to listen to certain styles of music. This simple fact bothers me because you can take inspiration from any type of music and use it for God's glory. The church people want to tell you "Don't listen to Backstreet Boy. Listen to Plus One". I find it entertaining that people in the church do not want you to listen to one group that sounds just like another but the only difference is that one is CCM(Christian Contemporary Music) and the other is "secular". Please don't misunderstand me when I speak down about Christian Contemporary Music. I am a worship leader and I love to play worship music. I get irritated when people tell me I shouldn't/can't listen to a certain genre of music. I am more inspired by music that isn't written in the CCM realm most of the time. If you take the group U2 for example, you will see that they write very spiritual lyrics but many people who are in the charismatic or fundamental realm say that it is secular and shouldn't be listened to. The funny part of it all is that U2 has had the biggest impact on CCM music out of any other group in pop music. If you listen to casting crowns, hillsong united, delirious, and many other groups; you will see direct correlation stylistically in the playing. Something else I find humorous is the people who get mad when Christian artists "sell out". Suddenly if an artist goes from being under the Christian label to a secular label, they supposedly are no longer living for God even if nothing has really changed in the way they write their music. These are simply my frustrations and thoughts on the concept of Christian and secular music.