When Heaven Meets Earth…

Last week during my church’s worship service the words to the song How He Loves were transcribed and projected as, “When heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss” when the lyrics are written as, “When heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss.” It, at first, made me smile/blush~ then giggle. It reminds me of that blog post I did a while back about who is hearing what. It amplifies to me that we can all be hearing the same heavens song yet interpret differently the word, sometimes without altering the meaning of the message. I can only speculate that in that audience on that day someone needed a sloppy wet kiss from God… As for me, I think all of my future kisses are unforeseen!

**See Dan's comments...apparently it was written as sloppy wet kiss!

NeedToBreathe's The Outsiders

We have all felt like the Outsider, either as the only Christian in a group of non-believers, or at a small group meeting having not studied the weekly lesion. Somewhere inside of each of us there is a rejected thread of life leading us to feel the sting of being an outsider.

"I've been wondering if we start sinking could we sand our ground? After everything we've learned we've finally come to terms…we are the outsiders" NeedToBreathe has done what to most would be impossible. They not only avoided the "sophomore slump" with their second CD, The Heat. They have came back with a third CD that will forever solidify them as one of the best bands recording CD's today, in any genre. If CCM were looking for new "darlings" to represent the Christian market in a secular arena NeedToBreathe would be their best bet. According to their fan site, The Breathers, NeedToBreathe will be the supporting band for Kings of Leon on a portion of their fall tour in addition to headlining their own tour. Very busy band for sure.

Every song on The Outsiders is a stand alone radio hit. There is not one that stands out or lags behind the rest, making it hard for a critic to single out highlights for a review. Lay `Em Down is the first radio offering that the band laid on the turn table. Opening with heavy drum/stomp track that reminds you of an 80's fist pumping arena rock song, Lay `Em Down "makes good on a promise" of a great CD.


If you think that you've heard These Hard Times before even though its your fist time hearing the CD, you are probably correct. The song is currently being used as the intro on NBC's fall show Mercy. If the secular market is confused as to whether these guys are truly a Christian band the words to These Hard Times, "Give me something sacred, something worth fighting for. Its clear enough to me the ugliness I see is evidence of who I need… give me the faith to believe in these hard times" should help clarify things.

For those in the Christian market who are confused as to whether these guys are truly a Christian band the words to Garden, "Let the songs I sing bring joy to you. Let the words I say profess my love, let the notes I chose be your favorite tune, Father let my heart be after you" should help to clarify things for them! Rarely, if ever, has there been a band that can write a CD of such diverse offerings that would honestly appeal to both Christian and secular music fans. I believe it is because this CD is full of GREAT music… no matter what genre you support you can appreciate that.

There are a couple of tracks on The Outsiders that I am looking forward to see if they translate well into a live show. One being Let Us Love, again for the arena-anthem- rock style of the song, the other is Stones Under Rushing Water, a slower love song. A couple of fun sing along songs round out the CD, each deserving a spotlight of their own.

This CD is simply "Something Beautiful." If you have the opportunity to play music at work, where not everyone scribes to CCM, The Outsiders is the CD you need to bring along. "I can't figure out just how much air I will need to breathe, when your wave crashes over me." Let NeedToBreathe' s The Outsiders crash over you and become an Outsider. It will soon become a favorite in your play list.

Chance is in a School play

Times have changed since I was in High School. I have to sell $300 in advertising for the production. So I'm putting a shameless plea to any who want to promote Tomball High school's production of Footloose!

On Twitter I had a friend suggest that I take out a "Gomer" ad featuring my friends from the Third Day community. However, I'm not about limiting God or people. If you know Chance, or read this blog and would like to donate to his acting debut feel free to click and donate! As some of you may know, he has teamed up with his best friend to form a company called The Black & White Project. They will be making tee shirts and donating half of the profits to a charity. Right now they are still working with a couple of charities to set up authorization to use them. My prayer is that he does not just sit for the rest of his life and talk about the problems of this world... So if you want to donate to this (school play) or to his future project (The Black and White Project) feel free to click on the button below. Thanks in advance for your support.

For more information on becoming a sponsor of Tomball High School click here to find more information.

For more information on The Black and White project...stay tuned!!

The "Story" behind "Jant"

I recently sent someone the story behind why people call me Jant. He suggested I write a book. LOL It made me think...I wonder if all of my friends have heard the story...



Scene: Sophomore year: Georgia Southern College: 1987 (*Now Georgia Southern University): English Class: Front row student: Late to class.

The instructor is taking up the papers that we wrote. Mine was on the invention of a new and soon to be revolutionary HGTV! No one had heard of it, but me just coming off of two years studying film at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), had been studying how this was going to change everything we've ever seen in TV transmitting. I was so proud of that paper I had told all my friends how much it rocked. I had told the girls in the dorm how wonderful it was. I had bragged in study hall, how they needed to read it when I was done so they could learn something...

Late for class I hastily folded the paper in half long ways as instructed and scribbled my name on the side of the paper and handed it in.

Two days later ( M-W-F class) The instructor hands back all of the papers except mine... He holds it up in the air with a HUGE red F on the side of it written in thick-poster-marker and asks who's paper it was.... I raised my hand with tear filled eyes and whimpered it was mine... He (very loudly I might add) exclaimed, "Well, I had no idea who "Jant" was... so...seeing as how you could not manage to spell your own name right on the outside of the paper...I held out no hope that ANYTHING inside the paper was spelled correctly either..."

I was able to turn in a re-write to receive one letter grade less than what I would have originally received... and I forever became known to all of my college friends as Jant.

True story...

Tell me I'm forgiven and loved...

Jimmy Needham led worship at my church Sunday. He graduated from the same high school that Chance is attending. I didn't even know he was from Tomball! I've mentioned on twitter before how his lyrics to "Forgiven and Loved" struck me in a way, I'm sure he didn't intend. There is a line in that song that says, And my peace is almost past away. I have felt that since daddy died, my peace did pass away with him. I've had an incredibly hard time dealing with his death.

My pastor's series of sermons has been titled "Talking Donkeys" where we're exploring seemingly insignificant passages in the bible. This past Sunday we focused on 2 Kings 6. In a nut shell the sermon focused on how when the worker lost his ax head, he first had to admit that he needed help. There was a great illustration on how we lose our ax head and continue to strike the tree with just the handle, yet insist that there is nothing wrong, even though everyone around us can clearly see that there is.

The second key point is found in verse 6. Elisha asked the worker to show him exactly where the ax head was lost, "And the man of God said, Where fell it? and he shewed him the place." The lesson taught that when we lose something, we have to go back to the place where we first suffered the loss. That is where God is going to restore to us what is gone. It can be a physical place, or a place in our soul/heart/thinking.

Earlier in the week I was listening to the band The Listening. They have a EP called, The Rock&Roll Worship Circus is becoming The Listening. On that CD there is a song that's last line (is something like) "If you don't know where is you're going, you have to go back to where you started growing..."

So twice in one week I'm picking up on the theme of going back to where you started from if you've felt like your no longer growing or you have lost something.

Something I'll still ponder in the days ahead.

Dying social skills

I was listening to KSBJ this morning while they were talking about the amount of texting that people do. I had the opportunity several years ago to attend a gathering with a vibrant online community. There were moments of awkward silence, referred to as the 60 second rule. (At the online community you have to wait 60 seconds between posts.) Even though there were strong friendships made prior to the actual meeting.

All of this got me thinking. Is the online social networking, killing social skills? Have we become so online driven that we are actually loosing face to face communication skills? (Have you ever used LOL or OMG in "Live" conversations?)

I have read other peoples blogs where they feel that blogs/journals are becoming a thing of the past due to the "What are you doing?" status update lines common to Twitter, or Facebook.

I do not have a solution to this. I merely see it as a trend in our social behavior. Any thoughts?

American Airlines (Why I will never fly with them again!)

I should just re-post my letter of complaint against American Airlines but I think that maybe I should give them some time to respond before I do. I know, its not like me to be so nice when dealing with a complaint, however I think that just the fact that I'm never flying with them again may prompt you to at least research airfares with another company prior to selecting AA. I know I say never, yet given the amount of time that I spend in the air, and my dislike of the drive to Houston's Hobby, there is a remote chance that I will consider AA again in the future. BUT when that day comes, as it may, I will have this blog post to refresh my memory.

Check back soon, I may spill my story here after all...