Lord i'm discouraged.........

That is the name of a track on the new Hold Steady album. Great song, but tonight that line is running through my head for all the wrong reasons. In truth, i am discouraged and i probably shouldn't be. In the last week i have been discouraged by two very public 'falls from grace' within 'ministry.' One of them has just came to my attention & is being blogged about a lot right now! I will not go into details, i don't want to judge these two people because it could be me, it could be you. The fact remains that i am discouraged, angry and troubled and if i could open my front door and yell at the sky i might just. The folks across the street might freak!!

BUT, despite my anger & discouragement i need to remember grace, read this

LeRoi Moore

LeRoi Moore, a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, has died aged 46, his publicist has said. The versatile saxophonist died after suffering complications from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident in June on his Virginia farm. Read the full BBC story here. Dave Matthews Band performed on Tuesday night in Los Angeles despite the loss, opening with the song “Bartender” — a song about being near death — with the band visibly upset, some in tears as they played. These guys are a seriously talented band, every member is pure gold. This is sad for the guys.

Rob Bell : The Gods Aren't Angry

Usually it makes more sense to blog about a book/cd/dvd after investigating said product! Usually is not how i ever do things and as i said to someone just the other day, 'I like to do things arse about face.' This morning the latest Rob Bell dvd came up in conversation and i am keen to get watching it sometime soon. I really enjoyed Everything is Spiritual despite not agreeing with every single thing Rob says in it. If you type the title of either of these dvd's or Rob's name into Google you will get enough search results to make your head spin. The net is rife with equal amounts of praise and criticism directed at Rob but one thing that is hard to deny is his amazing ability as a communicator. That is enough of a reason for me to want to watch this, whether i will agree with everything he says is another thing and frankly is not an issue.

Anyone see this? Thoughts?

Jade Goody......

Jade Goody has pulled out of the "Bigg Boss" show in India after a cancer scare, some reports suggest she HAS cervical cancer and some are saying she MAY have it. I am not a fan, i do not follow her career and i was not even aware she had travelled to India to do their version of Big Brother. The thing is, when she speaks the nation usually hears her. The tendency for her to say the stupidest things is incredible, she caused worldwide condemnation 2 years ago when she made racist remarks about a fellow contestant on live tv BUT regardless of all that, this is awful. Our thoughts and prayers go to her in this difficult season

Buy this cd no:3

Which Chili Pepper's album is your favorite? Well, mine is Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which i happen to also think is their best and will never be bettered by the band. I was 14 when i heard this record, it was one of a few, now legendary albums that i listened to endlessly. The impact of bands like Nirvana & Pearl Jam were significant but no other band from around that time has remained as consistent in my mind. The Chili Peppers have just got bigger and bigger since 1991, this album elevated them to a new level. I listened to it tonight when i was relaxing in the bath and it just gets better & better. I am not sure if a band could sound better than these four guys managed to on this set of songs, it just works amazingly.

Get it on iTunes

Memory Lane Monday no.9

I just started my final week in the Ballymena Bookshop after almost 3 years. William is learning fast and will be grand once he settles into the surroundings. I remember those first couple of weeks of trying to find my feet and learn fast, i said a little about it here. I tried to learn as much about the christian book and music world as possible and as quickly, i think i did ok in the end! Its been great over the last few years watching the company change dramatically and the future looks very exciting.

Big shout out Sunday no 10...........

Tall Skinny Kiwi aka Andrew Jones is the man behind one of the very first blogs i found online. I have been reading him ever since, occasionally commenting but always intrigued. The 6.5in blogger is a constant source of interesting thoughts on 'social enterprise, mission, spirituality, new media and the global emerging culture.' He is without a doubt one of the most important blog voices online. Check him out here

freak weather & FUEL.......

The BBC reports on the freak weather here. That was yesterday and this morning it is bright, dry and all in all a lovely sunday morning. Its kind of weird, because part of me wants to believe that it just rained to mess with the biggest outdoor music event that Ballymena has ever seen. Yesterday was not an ordinary day thats for sure


Picture by Shelley Garrett, from the BBC website.

So we will, perhaps, be talking about yesterday for many years to come but so many people faced far worse circumstances than FUEL did. Homes were flooded and people's lives turned upside down. In the end we still had a great day of music and God was glorified by each band that performed.
By the way, did i say these guys rocked?

FUEL08, the aftermath.......

We just got home from FUEL08! The whole day was almost ruined by the terrible weather we have had all week. It rained non-stop all day today and early this morning the health & safety people shut down FUEL! Plan B was created as best as it could be and one outdoor venue changed to two indoor venues. The main stage acts all played this evening at Ballymena Leisure Center in a big echo chamber of a room but the sound guys did a great great job with a poor location.



When we arrived The Psalm Drummers were playing some pretty neat grooves. The [crave]: boys followed with a storming and deafening set, they rocked! Johnny Parks followed and then ONEHUNDREDHOURS rocked the room big time. Tre and his gang are the real deal, you have to check them out. Starfield closed the evening with a great set of their own stuff and some well known worship tunes. A splendid evening was had by all!



Its hard to ignore the fact that we should have had an outdoor festival today but due to bad weather we ended up with two frantically prepared gigs. The vibe was great tonight and it was evident that today was a success despite the awful start to the day so FUEL08 happened against the odds.

FUEL08: update

Fuel08 is still happening despite health & safety shutting down the eventdue to the horrific weather! The local acts will appear at Hill St Baptist from 2.30pm and the main stage acts will be performing at Ballymena leisure Center from 6.30pm. It is not as we expected and this is a hammer blow to the organizers but the event will continue, check out the promo video...

WEB 2.0

Cherith gave me the heads up on this brilliant yet simple description of what 2.0 means!



Source

HOw NOT to pray............

So, Focus on the Family made a mistake when they decided to put this little ditty together. Ok, they may not be Obama supporters and they are quite within their rights to make that known to the public. This, however, sucks and is not funny at all. Is this how we should be publicly seen to encourage the act of prayer, with immature and stupid requests like this?



I have been enjoying this series by Mark Driscoll over the last few weeks, i need to catch up on the series though but as a helper on prayer i would recommend checking them out.

update: the video above has been pulled from youtube, sorry about that!