I’m back!
I have been on what seems like a very long hiatus (last post was back in August..I would say that’s been a while). During this long absence I have been doing what I seem to do best lately…school work. Something about this semester has just been absolutely crazy! It’s been hard so sit an think let alone come up with something to write. I have considered trying to start back up the blog again but I just didn’t know what to write about. I feel like things are calming down and I might have a bit more to say. I might play around with the blog visually just for the fun of it and see if it will help me get some inspiration to write.
Okay…confession…there is another reason why I return and write this posts. I have lately fallen in love with a new band called The Civil Wars (made up of Joy Williams and John Paul White). I find their music very elegant and powerful and their new song & video “Poison & Wine” is absolutely beautiful (some might recognize it from the background of the latest Grey’s Anatomy episode). I hope you enjoy the video and get to check them out! (You could at least get their live album for however much you wish to pay or maybe even FREE!!! Visit their website from the link above to learn more)
Okay, it’s been long enough. I can go ahead and let out all the wonderful excitement!
If you don’t know I am a big fan of Imogen Heap and her music. I loved her song from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and have been hooked ever since. She has a new album coming out next month (August 25th). Well, if you happen to buy that album (which you surely must!) you will find some of my art in it 
!!!
The picture above (Glimmer from my Genesis Series) was one of eleven chosen in a flickr contest and will be a part of the album artwork for the new album called Ellipse!! I was absolutely, excruciatingly estatic the morning I got the email saying I won!
The Album Front
Here is how the artwork is going down. For images in the album sleeve, Imogen and Jeremy Cowart (one of my favorite photographers) took parts of the winning images and projected them on the wall of Imogen’s house and her to create some cool art. Now don’t ask me how because even I won’t know how they used it until the album comes out.
I got the official announcement close to a month ago and have been wanting to scream it to the world but I wanted to allow her to make the big announcement first. After-all, it was her contest and album. But the finally announce all the winners on here website here a week or so ago and so now I can finally shout it out.
Each winning image correlates with one of her songs off of the new album. She took a line from each song and you could submit one image per song that you thought represented the verse. The verse I submitted Glimmer for was from the song Canvas and the line is the the title of this post (if you were curious about it). I have heard the song and it sounds amazing. Wanna know how I heard it, because she has made an amazing video for it and you can get it for free here. The video is beautiful and I strongly urge you to check it out.
Remember, the new album Ellipse come out in the states August 25th. If you want to, check out her youtube channel here to watch her video blogs (she’s been doing video blogs ever since the beginning stages of the album so you can watch over them all and learn more about it & hear some early musings of most of the songs), a trailer for the new album, and her first single First Train Home.
Filed under: Art, I'm thinking, Music I Listen To, charity, faith, music, the word, traveling, writing
Sorry I haven’t updated much. I made it back safely in the states on Sunday from my Peru trip and have just been running wild trying to get myself back into my normal American system. The Peru trip went absolutely amazing!! I will be forever grateful for getting the chance to go. I hope to update more this weekend with stories and pictures but I can’t right now because I don’t have the pictures with me and I don’t have much time. I just wanted to say hello and draw your attention to this cool thing I found. It’s called Brite Revolution and it’s a group of artist who have come together to bring awareness to a wide array of different issues and organizations. For $5 a month, you get exclusive music from these artist as well as part of all proceeds go to support the organizations listed on the site (and you get to choose which one specifically you want to support and that can be changed at any time). Check it out here.
Filed under: Art, I'm thinking, Music I Listen To, faith, music, the word, traveling, writing
I'm going there!!!
Greetings all the beautiful people of the world (at least those who read my blog). Sorry I’ve been MIA lately. Things have been really crazy in school lately and I really haven’t had time or, I’ll admit it, the gusto to blog. It’s been really funny, I have had hundreds of things I’ve been wanting to blog about but I never had time or never really knew how to write it. I’m hoping that I can make myself share some of it sometime if a) I can remember it and b) actually get on here and write it.
But anyway, to the pressing matter of this blog. I have been wanting to announce this for a while but things have been a little wobbly with it but everything is set & ready to I can shout it to the world now. On my last blog I mentions briefly the word Peru and I am here to say it again. PERU!!!!! Oh my goodness, I am so absolutely, positively, extremely giddy about this. In 18 days (!!!!!!) I will be going with a group of students here to Peru for a week. This will be my first trip out of the country and my first major mission trip. About 5-6 years ago I went to Toronto but even that feels not that big because, even though it was out of the country, it wasn’t as huge an ordeal as going out of the country (didn’t need a passport then).
Here is the general rundown, we are basically going up into the Andes mountains and assisting missionaries already planted in a community for a few days. This trip has been such a wonderful blessing for me. God has shown himself in so many ways even in the preparations of this trip. He has really made me take a step back and really understand what this trip really is.
It’s a mission to show God’s children their father’s love; it’s not a vacation and I am okay with that. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe we are gonna get at least a day to be American Tourist in Lima but their is a divine purpose for this trip and it just feels my heart with so much joy to know that I am a part of this adventure. And, who knows, this might not be the last one (more on that later). Honestly, I think the part I am most excited about this trip is when our leader told us things we might be doing and he mentioned playing football (and when I say football, I mean soccer) with the children. Soccer has always been one of my most favorite sports and the vision of me playing it with the children just makes me stocked. I don’t know why, but it does.
That’s about it on that trip. I am hoping to have plenty of pictures that I will post when I return.
In other news…here are just a few things I quickly wanted to mention.
- There is a new artist called Danyew who has a digital ep released today (Feb. 17th) and it is freakin’ amazing!
- The Grammy’s this year were actually really good. It has been eons since I have been fans of some of the performers let alone people who were actually nominated for anything (Grammy people, you need to open your ears wider). U2 rocked my socks off!! Coldplay was absolutely amazing!! Even though Coldplay should have won every award they were nominated for, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss weren’t bad to lose to. Adele…oh my gosh, I love her! I bought her album a few months ago and something about her performance just made me an even bigger fan. Stevie Wonder (even if it was with the Jonas Brothers)!!! Superstition!!!! Overall I watched the whole things which was amazing.
- Some new artist to check out:
Aaron Beaumont
Missy Higgins
Cara Dillon
oh, and this is Danyew
…there’s also Matthew Mayfield, She & Him, and Canon Blue for you to check out.
- Oh, and MuteMath released a new ep last week with the song they did for ‘Twilight’ and it is amazing! It has another new song on it and what sounds like the original idea for ‘Spolight’, the ‘Twilight’ song.
- Wow, this has been a lot of music news.
- Random art of mine just for the heck of it
Lift Your Voice
Well, I think that will do for now. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things soon. Have a beautiful day!!
Filed under: Art, I'm thinking, Music I Listen To, faith, music, readings, the word, writing
Below is something I wrote back in the late Summer and posted on my blog. Reading over it lately, I noticed how real these words still are in my life and my hope for the future. It puts into perspective what 2008 presented me and what hopes I have for the new year and the days ahead…
Have you ever just felt dead. When the whole world is spinning and everything seems to be moving in sync with it while you feel lifeless and out-of-sync with it all. Well, that basically sums up these past few months for me.
Over a span of three months, a time that felt like an eternity yet flowed quickly before my eyes, I discovered hidden demons inside of me and have fought what appeared to be my foundations. What started as a supposed time of mediation and self discovery took a sharp turn and became a war between me and myself disguised in cloaks of this world. Looking back over the years, this has been a long time coming. I can’t really pinpoint when, but I remember certain changed in my life that took me from a safe and secure environment and slowly corroded those walls until I stood bare in a world around me that was strange and frightening.
As I started my trek of returning back to my “comfort zone”, I began to drift farther away from God’s will for my life and into what I wanted for my life. Growing up I have learned that to be alive, we must surrender all; that in God we are made whole and more ourselves than we could on our own. I have tried at least every excuse I could to think different. That philosophy didn’t go well with my questions and opinions. While trying to discover my faith, what I ended up doing was trying to tweak it to what suits me and my “comfort zone”. Keep in mind this was all going on while in college and trying to plan and figure out my future.
As time moved on, I started to feel dead. Lack of purpose and meaning for anything began to build a new beast in the deepest, darkest parts of my heart; rage. This rage, though it scared the crap out of me, I found a slight comfort in it because it was an instantaneous response and solution to many circumstance; lets just blame someone else. Trying to keep this to myself and let people see me as the way I felt they wanted to see me as, I would feel like just a shadow in this world; always in the way and wandering aimlessly trying to impress people and get them to seem me as I am without breaking the mold. But, as you slowly crawl into a world of confusion and stand near insanity, there comes a time where you can’t hold it any more and beg someone to save you from it…thank you Jesus!!
By the will of God, I have discovered purpose. By the love of God and the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ, I have found the will and power to truly love like they do. By taking my plans, ideas, opinions and tearing them to shreds and throwing them out the window, I have discovered that there are bigger and brighter things than what this world has to offer. In the comfort of my own “comfort zone” I am safe, but in the mysterious world beyond these walls, I am alive & I am me. I am me under the grace of God and no one can change that.
There were times where I felt like when I was crying out to God that I was basically just calling out to myself and my “idols” in this world for comfort and guidance and I knew that. There are sometimes when I feel that he does hear me, but it’s like he is telling me that I’m not done. I still have much to learn. And I know I do. I have tremendous faith in my God. I know that sometimes I may not have the best representation of it, but at the end of the day, He has been the one who gave me life. Each morning I wake up is another blessing from him so that I may learn and grow as a servant, lover, and devoted follower. And when it is all said and done, All I wish is to hear him tell me is “Well done, good and faithful one.”
As I have just read…
“GOD’S message to the family of Israel:
‘Seek me and live. Don’t fool around at those shrines of Bethel. Don’t waste time taking trips to Gilgal, and don’t bother going down to Beer-sheba. Gilgal is here today and gone tomorrow and Bethel is all show, no substance.
‘So seek GOD and live! You don’t want to end up with nothing to show for your life but a pile of ashes, a house burned to the ground. For GOD will send just such a fire, and the firefighters will show up too late.’ “
-Amos 5:4-6 (The Message)
The things of this world are temporary and short, but GOD and his power are eternal. We must seek it before it is too late, because one day the final curtain will be drawn and it will be too late.
“In life or death, God we belong to you!”- Yours (New Verse), by Steven Curtis Chapman. (part of a verse written after the tragic passing of his 5 year old adopted daughter from China this past May. Visit his website to learn more).
Tonight is a new beginning. Tomorrow is the beginning of a new adventure. I will still have my troubles, sorrows, and doubts, but by the wonderful, incredible grace of God (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I have a desire for this world. And I will be journeying through it as…me.
