Friday Link Love

• I love Coldplay and can't wait to see them live one day.
• This is hilarious.
• PW has done it again.
• Genius ideas for common items.
• I want to climb this tree. Not only is it beautiful, but interesting too.
• What a cool idea. The avid reader/bookmark loser/improviser can dig it. And it's so easy!
• In my website-building research, I randomly ran across this one. I just can't get over how unique it is.
  

Starting Out Right

Your Love is Strong
Jon Foreman

Heavenly Father, you always amaze me
Let your kingdom come in my world and in my life
Give me the food I need to live through today
And forgive me as I forgive the people that wrong me
Lead me far from temptation
Deliver me from the evil one

I look out the window the birds are composing
Not a note is out of tune or out of place
I walk to the meadow and stare at the flowers
Better dressed than any girl on her wedding day

So why do I worry?
Why do I freak out?
God knows what I need
You know what I need

Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong
Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong
Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong

The kingdom of the heavens is now advancing
Invade my heart, invade this broken town
The kingdom of the Heavens is buried treasure
Would you sell yourself to buy the one you've found?

Two things you told me
That you are strong
And you love me
Yes, you love me

Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong
Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong
Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong
Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong

Our God in Heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Above all names
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us today our daily bread
Forgive us weary sinners
Keep us far away from our vices
And deliver us from these prisons

Your Love Is Strong - Jon Foreman

Friday Link Love

• This is seriously too cute.
• I want to swim in a vat of this stuff. It's that good.
• With the inauguration just a few days away, this advice could be useful.
  
• Doesn't this look delicious?
• I like Switchfoot. And I think Jon Foreman's a genius. Therefore, Fiction Family is something I am very excited about. Now if only I can wing a visit for us to the Belcourt on the 30th...
  
• And lastly, this is an inspiring article that sums up the reason I decided a couple of days ago to take today off. On that note...
  

Music Builds

Okay, I'll admit it: Cliff and I are both products of late-90's church youth groups. And we both developed a taste (I might say mine was a ravenous appetite) for Christian music as a result. Cliff, it seems, was into it because it was music and it was good. I, well, not to sound super-spiritual about it all or anything, but I credit a lot of my time of spiritual growth as a new Christian to listening to it and learning from it. Cliff practically grew up in the church, but I began going as a teenager so Christian music was my first real introduction into the truths of who God was and what He can do in people's lives. In the end, Christian music pushed me even deeper into the Word and became a catalyst for where I am at in life today, and not just spiritually either, but geographically, too.

Anyways, Sunday night was kind of a big deal for us because we decided last minute to buy tickets to the Music Builds Tour on its stop here in Nashville. Third Day, Switchfoot, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and Jars of Clay were the main acts for the night. I've got a lot of history with Third Day, Jars, and Switchfoot (particularly in that order), most of which possesses both endearing and incriminating qualities (if you come over some time, ask to see my photo albums). But I was just so happy, after years of kind of suppressing the inner-youth group kid in me, to see all of these guys up on stage together doing what they love to do and have affected people's lives doing. And the night lived up to our expectations, that's for sure.

I can't count on both of our pairs of hands how many times I've seen each of those bands (most of which is dominated by Switchfoot in the period of '99-'04 when I saw them 13 times). And while their individual sets at this show were not the best and most diverse I've seen in terms of the music they played, their sets were great at showcasing the artistic and intellectual heart behind what they do. I missed hearing some of the older stuff, simply because that's the stuff I cut my "baby" teeth on, really, but I love the new stuff too. And just seeing all of these guys together who I've watched change and grow so much in the last eleven years (since I became a Christian), guys who've become husbands, dads, non-profit starters, and really really great musicians, was just awesome. Seriously.

Digression

Okay, SO random. Seriously, I opened this post to start talking about my latest obsession with ebay considering I have two tickets to this weekend's Vandy-UF game up for sale that Cliff won for us at a work function a couple of weeks ago. But I can't talk about that yet because I just discovered something wonderful that maybe only I will ever care about.

Do you remember LaRue? Well, I do. Seriously, two of the most talented musicians ever to grace the world that is Christian music - the brother-sister duo Philip and Natalie LaRue were absolutely one of my favorite groups back in the day. My iTunes player randomly selected a song from their album "Reaching" and I was taken back immediately to that place - such clarity and purpose, vision and passion in their music that really transformed my artistic hopes. Seriously. So yeah, the song came on and I realized I hadn't kept up with their seperate lives after quitting the duo deal a couple of years ago (not a bad thing, they both got married, etc. etc.) And what do you know, Philip's got his own deal going on. I was disappointed to not be able to find much on Natalie but I'm sure married life is treating her well. Oh, except that last year both Philip and Natalie made appearances on this here album Yeah, exciting and completely causation for my digression from ebay (which is probably a good thing).

I originally ventured here to expose my greedy tendencies and tell how we lost the first auction because we upbid our own product (smaaaaart) and this time around things are doing much better though we're making almost half of what we almost did the first time around. That's a lesson for you in gambling and ebay addiction. It's amazing how it sucks you in - and it's also amazing how many possible ways there are in this world to sell used items (see craigslist and half.com for further proof). I also discovered, yesterday, a handy-dandy little site for selling goods, which is cause for a little inspiration for selling handmade and crafty-like items I dream of cooking up one day. Ah... how to make money selling things definitely is not my area of expertise.

And now it's time for me to check on the latest bids on our tickets and listen to some more LaRue. Niiiiice.