A question for the girls: Do you feel beautiful today?
If you’ve seen me perform live, you may have heard me talk about how easy it is to be deceived, and one of the ways it happens is how the world attempts to define what true beauty is. Every day you drive by billboards, see ads on TV, and look at pictures as you flip through magazines, and it’s everything inside of you to feel pretty. Does the world and it’s blurred messages of self-image impact how you see yourself in the mirror? READ ALL
Ever seen or heard a Chihuahua sing? Now you can…
Meet Tucker. He’s an overweight, 13 lb. “Applehead” Chihuahua, and travels almost everywhere we do. If you come to one of our lives shows, you won’t see him on stage, but if you stick around long enough after the show, you’ll probably hear him. He likes to bark at people and pretend to be tough, but it’s just a facade. Turn on some music he can sing along to and he’ll jump right in and sing you a love song. As it turns out, it’s the only thing he’ll sing. His favorites are Christina Aguilera, and the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge…really anything that allows him to show off his high notes.
If you’ve never seen or heard a Chihuahua sing, now’s your chance. Enjoy, then pass along to someone else who needs to smile today… READ ALL
I recently blogged about the Dangerous Deception of Taco Bell, and used their newest commercial to illustrate how deceptive advertising can be, and the lasting, life-changing impact it can have on our lives. Out of curiosity, I thought I’d find another ad we might be able to learn from. To be honest, I wondered how long it would take. I thought, “Let’s try a car commercial. How about BMW?” And this is the first one I found.
Total time to find a deceptive ad on YouTube: 60 seconds. 15 seconds to search, and 45 more to watch the commercial. Of course, the ad being deceptive is just my opinion. To me, the promise they make is just an illusion. READ ALL
I passed this sign today in Germantown, (the part of downtown Nashville we live in), and sadly, I couldn’t help but think, “Wow, that sounds like a church flyer.”
So many churches these days are obsessed with comfort. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s easier to grow your church that way, since churches are just groups of people, and people in general are obsessed with comfort, safety, and security. The problem is this: Churches claim to study, believe, and teach the Bible. And my copy of the Bible doesn’t have much to say about promising comfort and security. In fact, a lot of the people who followed Jesus in the Bible got their heads chopped off. And at the least, did some jail time.
I know, this isn’t an ad about a church. But the reality is, many of the churches in America today could just change the name on this sign to the name of their church. ”__________ Church: A community where life is comfortable.” READ ALL
2009. It’s over. Was it a good year? It really depends on how you look at it…
We had some pretty incredible experiences this past year. We performed on a cruise to Mexico, and spent part of our summer touring Canada. We did shows in Alaska, along with some snow-mobiling and extreme sledding. And we wrapped up the year with a one month tour all over the country of Thailand. That doesn’t even include the TONS of events we were a part of right here in the continental United States.
When I think about those parts of the year, it’s hard not to smile at the fun we had, the friends we made, and the memories we created. But at the same time, there were parts of ‘09 that felt like hell was unleashed on earth. Unfortunately, Katie and I got burned a lot this past year, by a lot of different people, and we went through the most difficult season of life I’ve experienced so far. From having our trust betrayed by others, to being cheated, times were hard, and we’re still recovering from a lot of it. READ ALL
As we move closer to the New Year, I’ve been thinking through 2009, and thought I’d take a moment to post a few things. In an effort to make them not evolve around me, and instead, maybe help a few others out there, I’ll start with the top 10 books I read this past year.
One of my college professors, Dr. Jeff Myers, used to say, “You’ll be the same person 5 years from now that you are today, with the exception of 2 things: Who you spend time with, and the books you read.” It turns out, that statement has yet to disprove itself. And as Rick Warren says, “Leaders are readers.” I know. Call it cheezy, but it doesn’t doesn’t make it untrue.
I set out at the beginning of ‘09 to read a book a week. READ ALL
Please enjoy these highlights from the first few weeks of our 2009 Thailand Tour, and consider supporting what God is doing in Asia. Words cannot express the need for YOU to be a part of what is happening here. We are already planning our next tour in June & July 2010.
Watch the video. READ ALL
It’s 6:00 am on Monday morning. Our whirl-wind schedule begins on Tuesday. It’s been so nice to have a couple of days to adjust and recover from travel before our intense show schedule starts.
We spent all day yesterday (Sunday) doing church, then celebrating Thanksgiving with vocational missionaries from all over the world. Ha. Missionary. Don’t let that word fool you. Forget about all the stereotypes of what you think of when you hear that word. These guys are doctors, teachers, community leaders, pastors, and business people. They’re amazing.
Most people need their perceptions of what it means to be a “missionary” totally shattered. And “most people” likely includes you. READ ALL
