Christian Music That Isn't Embarrassing

I grew up in the church, and, in the mid-late 80's, I became obsessed with Christian music.  Bands like Petra and White Heart and artists like Russ Taff and Michael W. Smith were commonplace in my tape deck (that's right, I had a tape deck!).  Heck, I even went to a Stryper concert!  I was a bonafide Christian music junkie.

But at some point Christian music lost it's soul, and it became rehashed top 20 radio with a "Christian" message.  Really, it felt like a cheap imitation of top 20 radio.  At some point I became embarrassed by it. I wasn't embarrassed that it was music about Jesus, but that it was music that, in my opinion, wasn't good art, and therefore didn't make Jesus look good.

Some of my issues were just typical college-age angst, but some of my thoughts were very legitimate.  I still have a tendency to feel that way about much of the Christian music that hits Christian radio.  So, what I try to do is scour iTunes for Christian music that is artistic, original, non-cliche' and grace affirming.  Lately, I've found a few artists who meet my picky criteria, and I'd like to share them with you.  

Now, I am an open music snob, so you have to factor that in.  Some of my criticisms are probably unfair, and I am certain that most of the artists who make music today are extremely talented.  These are just some of the artists and songs that are hitting me these days.  I hope you enjoy this list of Christian Music that Isn't Embarrassing:

Daniel Crawford - Home

I haven't been this excited about a collection of songs by a Christian artist in a long time.  The writing is honest and artful, the music is folksy, but with enough pop influence to make it playable, and the production is fantastic, especially for a self-released record (can you call it a record anymore?).  Listen to Prodigal Son, Brought Me to You, and Changing Lanes.  Really, the whole thing is excellent.  Watch out for this guy, because he's really good.  Oh, and by the way, he's an Aggie (which isn't necessarily a good thing, but might interest some of you who read this.  You know who you are.).

Here's Daniel's song, Prodigal Son:

Vineyard Worship - Discover Roots Worship

This collection of grass roots worship is full of honest songs, the kind you could listen to on a dirt road or around a pool table.  These songs reverently exalt Jesus Christ, but they are unlike the slick, overproduced numbers that pass for most mainstream worship these days.  Not all of this record is great, but it definitely has its moments.  The songs that feature Ryan Delmore are particularly good (Find My Joy and Flood).  This one's worth a listen.

Citizens - Citizens

This band, if I'm not mistaken, is associated with Marc Driscoll and Mars Hill Church.  While I appreciate and respect Driscoll, I'm not a huge fan.  This band, however, has tremendous potential.  The song, Hail The King, is one of the most original Christian rock songs I've heard in a while.  Some people won't like the punk rock flair, but I really like it.  There's a lot of passion in this one.

Need to Breathe

This band has really grown on me.  The lead singer has a Kings of Leon feel, but the music is layered and unique.  They will get some Christian radio air time, but this is not a band that seems overly concerned with the mainstream.  They're sort of Creedence Cleerwater Revival meets Coldplay in the sense that they blend country soul with concept pop, and it really works.  It may take a little while for it to fit, but if you're patient with it, you'll be really happy you gave it a try.  This may be the next Christian super group (Not sure such a thing exists, but you know what I mean), and if it is, that would be real progress.  

Empty as a Bubble

There was a man outside the church yesterday evening who was hovering in and out of consciousness.  I walked out the side door to see if he was ok, and quickly noticed that he was holding a cannister up to his mouth, and appeared to be ingesting something from the cannister.  Upon closer observation, he wasn't ingesting, he was inhaling.  I also noticed an empty cannister on the bench next to him. 

I grabbed the empty cannister and read the label.  It was one of those pressurized air cannisters that you use to dust your computer keyboard.  I'm not sure why, but I realized that this man was engaged in something called "huffing", a practice that is often used to achieve an alcohol or drug-like intoxication, typically accompanied by intense euphoria and hallucinations.  I had heard of this before, but had never seen it in action.  I was horrified by what I witnessed.

The young man was bobbing back and forth like a cork in the water, and seemed incapable of focusing his attention on his surroundings.  His eyes were sad and hollow, and he looked as if he could understand what I was saying to him, but lacked the ability to respond.  He slumped several times into the bench, but would intermittently sit up at attention.  It was a disturbing spectacle. 

I tried to talk to him, but he was a blank stare.  Concerned for his life, I approached him and told him that I was going to take the cannister away from him.  I said, "I am going to take this cannister away from you, but if you try to touch me or fight me in any way, I'm going to punch you in the face."  I'm not sure if I really would have punched him, but he needed to know that I wasn't going to take any chances.  I knew that I was approaching the personal space of a man who was sick, but potentially dangerous.  It was as if I was taking human flesh from a zombie.

The only thing I could think to do was to call the police.  It was clear to me that this man's life was in danger.  In a very real way, he already looked dead.  So I called the cops, and they came and picked the man up.  At least he was off the streets and no longer in a life threatening situation. 

I can't stop thinking about this man.  How heartbroken he must be to stoop to such depths.  How depraved he must be to resort to getting high off of a can of compressed air.  But the thought that has been dominant in my mind is that there is someone out there who loves this young man.  Someone cares deeply for him.  He's somebody's child, or brother, or dad or husband.  He's someone's friend. Even though I only saw him for a few moments, I felt a love for him. God has a plan for him, and he almost certainly doesn't even know it, or can't accept it or is blind to it. 

A life without the hope that Christ brings is so desperately sad, and it seems to me that this young man came to a very logical conclusion: Life without hope isn't life at all... It's walking death.  He was simply living the outward manifestation of an inward hopelessness.  He was taking the despair of a life without Christ to its only logical conclusion. 

Jesus said in John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." It's the part about "you can do nothing" that really gets my attention.  When I saw this young man, I saw those words in human form.  In a heart breaking twist of fate, he was staking his hopes on a can of air.  Literally, a can of nothing. 

Apart from Christ, hope is a vapor, and huffing that vapor will never bring meaning.  But with Christ, hope finds its source and substance. 

I wish I could tell you that this young man came to his senses, or that I was able to meet with him later and lead him to Christ.  That didn't happen.  But sometimes we need to see that people are hopeless.  Sometimes we need to come face to face with the ugly, horrifying truth that life without Jesus is terribly empty.  Like canned air, life is full of wind and fury, but empty as a bubble. If we knew that more profoundly and personally, we might be more prone to actually share the love of God with the people around us.  He has a plan for them, and even if they don't know it, we do.  Perhaps we should tell them.  Maybe it would change everything.   

Your Kingdom Come

I've been preaching through The Lord's Prayer lately, and I'm to the part where Jesus tells his disciples to pray, "Thy Kingdom come."  That's a HUGE prayer.  Most of the time we pray things like, "God, please help me stay calm with my children", or "Help me do the right thing when the annoying person in my life starts to grate on my nerves."  Those situations are certainly prayer worthy, but Jesus, in a strikingly simple phrase, tells his disciples to leave the small stuff at the door and ask for the biggest, hairyest, most audacious request in the universe.  And just think about the way He told them to pray.

He didn't say, "When you pray, say this: 'Our Father in heaven, holy is your name.  Please come and get us and take us to your far away kingdom.'"  Nope, He said, "Our Father in heaven, holy is your name.  Your kingdom come."  We could properly translate it "Come, Your kingdom."  It literally means, "God, I want you to bring your kingdom to me.  I want the purpose, meaning and goal of history to be a reality in the here and now."  We have the tendency of thinking that God wants to establish His kingdom somewhere else, but, according to the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, He wants His kingdom to come... Here.

So what does that look like, and how does it play out in our lives?  Well, I think there are two aspects to this phrase that must be identified.  First of all, I believe this phrase has tremendous future implications.  One day in the future, God will fully establish a kingdom on earth, and it will be awesome!  I can't wait!!  As Frederick Beuchner writes, "The Kingdom of God is where we belong. It is home, and whether we realize it or not, I think we are all of us homesick for it.”  I know I am!  I am longing for the future kingdom of God, where all things will be made new, and the lion and the lamb will peacefully coexist. 

But the second aspect of this phrase pertains to the present, and that's the sense, it seems to me, in which Jesus is instructing his disciples to pray.  If he were instructing them in the future sense of the kingdom, he would have told them to pray, "Take us to Thy kingdom."  Instead, he is teaching them (and us) that the present sense of the kingdom is to become a reality in us.  The kingdom is to "come".  A future kingdom will one day be established, but in the meantime, God is establishing a present kingdom in the hearts of his people.  N.T. Wright summarizes this beautifully when he writes:

“What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether. They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom.” 

So, the next time you pray, "Thy Kingdom come", don't glaze over and lose yourself in pie in the sky dreams of heaven.  Instead, know that when you utter that phrase you are literally asking God to build His kingdom in you.  You are not sitting in a bubble bath exhaustedly proclaiming, "Calgon, take me away!"  You are conversely going on the offensive as a freedom fighter against the vile aspects of the kingdom of darkness.  You are proclaiming, "Come, kingdom of God, in every aspect of my life so that as I live out my kingdom citizenry, the goodness of God might shine bright in a dark world."

Now, that's a BIG prayer!


You can listen to Part 1 of my sermon on "Thy Kingdom Come" by clicking here.
 

One Restless Dude

We looked at a house today (in Corsicana), and I’m not sure why.  We don’t need a new house, and we aren’t looking to move, but we walked through a house today anyway. 

The house was big and interesting, and it was on 5 acres of land.  It had a pond on the back of the land that reminded me of the places that I used to fish at my Pawpaw’s ranch in Louisiana.  We brought the kids to look at the house too, and they ran all over that land like Melissa Gilbert during the opening credits of Little House on the Prairie. 

Who knows what will happen with the house?  Like I said, we’re really not in the market for a new home.  This was more like a field trip than a house hunt, but crazier things have happened, I suppose.  Maybe we had a momentary wild hair that caused us to long for a change of scenery.  Maybe every once in a while we just need to convince ourselves that the grass isn’t greener, and a good house viewing helps us appreciate what we already have.  Or maybe this is the initial breeze that will usher in the winds of change.  I don’t know, and the house really isn’t the point.

The point is that there’s a restlessness inside of me that comes out in some strange ways.  Sometimes it makes me want to look at a new house, and sometimes it makes me want to look at a new car, and sometimes it makes me want to take a road trip like the ones I used to take in college, when life was simpler and there were no responsibilities.  Often I’m so restless that I have trouble sleeping, and there are those occasions when I’m so restless that I get up at 2 a.m. and write stories about how restless I am. 

I ran into a friend at “Meet the Teacher Night” tonight, and told him that I was going to come by his office one day and kidnap him and take him out to this wonderful ranch so that we could fish and enjoy the wildlife.   He told me that it would have to be a “planned kidnapping.”  I thought, “That’s no fun.  What’s the point of going out to the great wide open if you have to plan it?  There’s nothing restless about that!”

So, whether it’s touring a home for the heck of it or sneaking out to a ranch on an unplanned adventure, my heart is restless.  I don’t know whether to be alarmed or excited by this uneasiness within me.  There are times when I wish it would go away, and there are other times when I cling to it like guns or religion.

Grant me peace within, Oh God.  Make me content in all things.

___________________________________________________

Henry Nouwen

Take my tired body, my confused mind, and my restless soul into your arms and give me rest, simple quiet rest.

John of the Cross, 1542-91

O blessed Jesus, give me stillness of soul in thee. Let thy mighty calmness reign in me; Rule me, O King of gentleness, King of peace. Give me control, great power of self-control, Control over my words, thoughts and actions. From all irritability, want of meekness, want of gentleness, dear Lord, deliver me. By thine own deep patience, give me patience. Make me in this and all things more and more like thee.

Legislating Morality

In the wake of president Obama's recent endorsement of gay marriage, I am hearing a lot of folks proclaim an old mantra that too many people on both sides of the political aisle have come to embrace.  The mantra goes something like this: "I don't mind people being religious... I'm religious!  But what I don't like is when people try to legislate morality.  That's just wrong."

My problem with this statement is that it's plain for me to see that all legislation has a moral underpinning.  Let's take a simple example like the law against speeding in a motor vehicle. This seems like a regulation that doesn't have any moral component whatsoever, but that is incorrect.  The foundational principal that upholds this law is that it is important to value the safety of others because life is precious, and because life is precious, it is immoral to legally allow people to drive at speeds that might jeapordize the safety of others.  So, even a simple driving law has moral roots, and is, in a very real way, legislating morality.

So, since pretty much any legal principle or law has at its base a moral component, it's difficult for me to understand why so many people think it's so wrong to "legislate morality".  Whether they realize it or not, when people say "It's wrong to legislate morality", what they're really saying is, "It's wrong to legislate."  I don't think it's wrong to legislate.

Which brings us to the real issue at hand.  It's not that people are against legislating morality, it's just that they are against people legislating a form of morality that isn't their own personal brand.  If you're gay, you don't want anyone legislating a form of morality that assumes that homosexuality is wrong.  If you're a Christian, you don't want anyone legislating a form of morality that tramples on Christian principles.  The question isn't "Should we legislate morality?", It's "Who's morality should we legislate?"

More to come!

New Music and LSU

New Favorite Song

I have a new favorite song, and it has one of the best lines I've ever heard.  The song is by Shaun Groves, and it's on his new release, Third World Symphony.  The entire album is really good, blending a mix of edgy yet rich writing, passionately low key vocals, and lots of interesting instrumental combinations (like the piano, banjo, electric guitar, flute and triangle on All Is Grace).  The song that has me so captivated is called No Better, and it's a strain to those of us who realize that we are truly and wholly saved by grace alone, and that we are absolutely no better than anyone else.  The line that drives this point home so wonderfully says:

There's no justice here
It's just as well, you know
We've all got Hell to pay
And grace pays all we owe.

Man, that's good stuff!

Here's a video of Shaun singing the song.  It's rough, but you get the picture.



No Better (Demo) from Shaun Groves on Vimeo.


LSU Looking Good

I knew LSU was going to be tough this year, but with all the off-field distractions before the season began, I thought they'd be lucky to win 9 games.  That may still be, but this team looks poised to make a run at the National Championship.  LSU has what many teams like to act like they have, but few actually possess: Swagger!  This team is tough, mean, and plays like the other team called their Mama a bad name.

Defensive back, Tyrann Mathieu (aka: Honey Badger, TM7, Tryannasaurus, Mayhem Mathieu, Little Ball of Hate, etc), is one of the most dynamic players I've ever seen.  He's a tiny guy - about 5'9", 175lbs - but he's fearless and nasty, and he's like a magnet for the football.  It's rare that you have that sense of expectation - like anything can happen when he's on the field - when watching a defensive player, but that's exactly the way it is when Mathieu's playing.

Here's a video of Mathieu's body of work.  Heisman candidate?  You bet!!





 Watch out for the Tigers!!

Mark's Jesus is Awesome!!

I started a new sermon series two weeks ago on the book of Mark, and have been struck by the no nonsense, in-your-face style of this Gospel. Matthew, who wrote to a Jewish audience, begins his book with a genealogy, underscoring Jesus' Jewish lineage. Luke focused more on the ministry of the "Son of Man", and highlighted the birth of Christ. His emphasis was on the humanity of Christ, because he knew that his Greek readers would have related to the idea of a perfect Son sent down from the heavens to live a perfect life on earth. John wrote to a very general audience of both Jews and Gentiles, and his message was largely about Jesus' deity, emphasized by the incredible gift of eternal life for all who believed.

But Mark wrote to a different audience altogether. Mark wrote to the busy Romans, a culture know for innovation, progress and greed. Of all the cultures represented in Scripture, perhaps none more closely mimic the values of modern day America more than that of Rome. Though thousands of years of cultural advancement separate us, Rome would be proud of what we've become. Jesus came from the line of David, but we have come from the line of Rome.

In Mark, I have been surprised to see a different Jesus emerge than the one I've grown accustomed to. This Jesus isn't the sanitary and seemingly harmless figure I grew up with. The Jesus of Mark wouldn't dare stick to a flannel board. This guy was on a mission!!  Mark's Jesus probably looked more like Pigpen of Charlie Brown fame than the halo'd peacemaker pictured in Titan's Salvator Mundi.

Mark begins with a bang, and without the labored details of Matthew.  It opens with John the Baptist coming on the scene in a way that was shocking and probably quite unexpected.  This is what I love about the Christian story, and about the Bible in particular.  If you were trying to fabricate a convincing story of the coming of the Messiah - The Savior of the World - would you do it like this?  Would you basically find the craziest looking dude you could imagine – a guy who lives in the woods (cue banjo music) eats giant grasshoppers and fights bees for wild honey - and make him the one who would handle the Messiah’s PR campaign? 

I've always pictured John the Baptist to be a cross between Chewbacca, the Big Foot look alike in the Star Wars films, and Bear Grylls, the go-for-broke survivalist star of Discovery’s Man vs. Wild.  He was a big, hairy woodsman, and he’d eat anything!  This is the guy who ushers in the Savior of the world!  I think that’s pretty incredible.  You just can’t invent this stuff!

      

This man, whom I imagine with a beard that would make ZZ Top jealous, develops quite a following in Jewish circles.  People are coming to him in droves to be baptized, and the picture here, as N.T. Wright aptly describes it, is of a man who is rudely awakening the world by “splashing cold water all over them and telling them to get ready for the greatest moment in Jewish history, in world history.” (Mark for Everyone, p. 3)

Mark’s primary audience is Roman, and the idea of a messenger who would go before the emperor to announce his coming and “prepare the way” would have been a familiar one.  Roman royalty typically sent messengers ahead to repair roads and announce the King’s coming so that those awaiting his presence would have ample time to adequately prepare for such an event.  As the old British joke says, “Wherever the Queen goes she smells fresh paint.”  

In the case of John the Baptist, rather than fixing roads and sprucing up homes, his primary concern was to turn hearts away from the deception of the world and toward the fulfillment of the prophecies.  The One spoken of in Isaiah 40:3-5 and Malachi 3:1 (among other places) was coming, and the waters of baptism served as a tangible expression of both spiritual awakening and spiritual cleansing.  This was the kind of pre-royalty preparation that John was tasked with.  Instead of building roads, he was preparing hearts.

So, what we learn from verses 1-8 is that God is up to something new here.  As Sally Lloyd-Jones writes in her wonderful book, The Jesus Storybook Bible, “Everything bad is coming undone!”  The vast silence since God’s manifest presence left the Old Testament temple was finally breaking.  The restless and feverish slumber of a sin-sick people was rather shockingly coming to an end.  The Messiah was coming, and a mad man was alerting the world to this jarring fact.

I'll keep you posted on the Mark series, and I'll update my blog as I continue to be surprised by Jesus.  Funny how you can be a Christian for most of your life and still stumble on God's surprising truth.  And by "funny", I mean "awesome"!! 

Light Up the Sky, Upward, New Music and Twitter

Light up the Sky

Some storms blew through North Texas last night, and the lightning was pretty intense in certain areas. This video was shot in Fort Worth during a 30 minute period when a whole bunch of transformers exploded, leaving about 5,000 people without power. As I watched this, I was reminded of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Lots of colorful light bursts!

If you can't see the video, click here to view it.

Upward

We're starting a new series at church on May 22nd, and I'm pretty excited about it. It will last the entire Summer, and we're going to look at selected chapters from the book of Psalms. The series is called "Upward", and I'm hoping it will generate a lot of excitement during the Summer months. Here's the promotional video for the series:

If you can't see this video, click here to view it.

New Music

I've kind of grown tired of the over-produced, super slick style of worship music that everyone's playing these days. Some of it's good, but it's everywhere, and it's all starting to feel the same. Well, recently I stumbled onto something called High Street Hymns, and I really like it. Check out the song below. How have I never heard this before?

Twitter

Finally, I am going to make a bold proclamation... I like Twitter better than Facebook. There, I said it. On Twitter, I can follow who I want to follow, and I don't get any annoying friend requests from people I don't know or don't remember. People can follow me too, but I don't have to ever post anything if I don't want to. For some reason, I just like to browse people's tweets, and then I'm done. I can simply be a spectator, with no fear of commitment. I like that. What does that say about me?

Some of my favorite people to follow are:

• Tim Keller - Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan. Dr. Keller's posts always make me thankful for the grace of God.
• Jim Gaffigan - This guy is one of my favorite comedians, and his tweets are pretty hilarious.
• Bill Simmons - He's a writer and analyst for ESPN, and his hot sports opinions are unique and clever.
• The Quotable Les Miles - Mesmerizing quotes from the head coach at LSU. Miles is awesome, but he often makes no sense.
• CS Lewis - Brilliant, bite-sized commentary from one of the smartest Christians in modern history. I know he's dead, but that's the great thing about reading his tweets!!

Worship Like a Rock Star

OK, I don't even know what to say about this. I deeply long to have this man come and perform at my church. Amazing moves... Killer voice... Mystifying stage presence... This guy's the total package. I'm pretty sure he's the secret child of Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson. I found myself breathless while watching this performance. Undoubtedly you will too!

If this video is not displayed correctly, click here to watch.

(HT: Bag of Nothing)

OK, here's another video of the same song. The intro on this one is mind-boggling!!! The moves, man! The moves!!! And I love the oh so subtle way he tells the sound man to turn up the track volume. Two thumbs way up!!!

Again, if you can't see the video (and, trust me, you want to see this!), click here.

iBand - Amazing!!

This is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Two observations: 1) These guys had a lot of time on their hands to figure this out, and 2) This was done by a church. Good to see a church on the cutting edge. Stick around until the 5:02 mark. It's awesome!!



If you can't see the embedded video, click here

I Love My Small Group!

In addition to pastoring Grace Community Church, I also lead a small group (aka Life Group) which meets at our house every Sunday at 5:30pm. Our group is pretty new, but we have some folks who are very committed to meeting every week and going about the business of sharing life together. Last Sunday we gathered for one of the best group times I can remember.

Several people shared freely about the various struggles they faced, and I was struck by just how difficult life is. There were deep and painful struggles with children, heart wrenching stories of illness, and life altering tales of hardship. Simply listening to these accounts was, for lack of a better word, hard. So stunning were some of these stories that we stopped down and paused for prayer three times just so we could make it through the night.

As some shared and others prayed, I was blown away by a unique and exciting thought: We were actually opening up about the gory details of our lives without fear or remorse. There were no shallow bushes to hide behind. All that stood before us were the open, revealing and deep waters of true Christian brother and sisterhood. We didn't gather for a dinner party or an ice breaker or a game night. Instead, we coalesced for the dual purposes of bearing our souls and seeking our Savior. What other venue can offer this? What other setting would dare?

This is why I love my Life Group: It's the only place something like this can happen. It's deep and real and good. It's not even always fun, but there's not a single post-Life Group discussion that doesn't contain this sentiment: "I'm so glad I went to Life Group tonight!"

Even if you have an aversion to sharing your "junk" with a small group, do me a favor and try it anyway. You may discover that there's really no reason to avoid the risky proposition of consistently attending a small group.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

It's been a really long time since I've tried to crank this bad boy up to see if it still runs. Life is busy, I guess, and I just haven't felt inspired to update my blog in a while. I'm not really sure I feel all that inspired to update it today, but I've been sick all week, and the thought of melting into the couch one more day is killing me! So I guess this is what you can expect from my blog from now on: When I'm not sick, I won't post. When I am sick enough to be really tired of being sick, I'll post something. Deal? Deal.

• Joining me in sickness today are my son's Pierce and Quinn. There's not much worse than taking care of sick children when you are also sick. There's going to be trouble if we all have to throw up at the same time. This town's not big enough for the three of us!
• Where's my wife, you ask? Well, she works at Navarro College, and school started this week, so she's pretty out of pocket. I think she's really happy that she doesn't have to be here. I would be!
• I saw this picture at www.bagofnothing.com, and it made me laugh:

• We went to Roanoke, TX on Sunday night and spent the night with our old neighbors, who also happen to be some of our closest friends. They have 4 kids, and we have 5. They also have some other kids who are staying at their house because they are very wonderful people who do that sort of thing. There were 13 kids and 4 adults in their house Sunday night. It was a free-for-all!
• We had a blast with our friends!! We stayed up until 3am and talked and played games and talked some more. You can't do that kind of thing with just anyone. Only special friendships with special people can give you that kind of freedom. Either that, of we're all insane. Not sure which.
• We ate at Cowboy Chow in downtown Roanoke, and if you haven't either been to Cowboy Chow or downtown Roanoke, you're missing out. Cowboy Chow is, as its name suggests, a restaurant which features the type of food you might have eaten on the Old Chisholm Trail, or something like that. I had the "Tater Parfait", which was a layer of mashed potatoes on top of a layer of black beans on top of a layer of brisket... Twice! It was served in a mason jar, and it was absolutely delicious!! Kim had the "Ranch Cigars", which is brisket and cheddar cheese rolled tightly in 4 flour tortillas, and flash fried. It was served with mashed potatoes and a delicious three cheese ranch . Kim's meal was better than mine, and mine was dang good! There's another Cowboy Chow location in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas.
• Downtown Roanoke, TX has become one of my favorite locations in the Metroplex. It's changed a lot since we lived there, when the wonderful Babe's was the only real attraction. Now it's loaded with good restaurants, including Cowboy Chow and Twisted Root (a great place to get an awesome hamburger), and they've redone the roads to give it a quaint, old main street vibe. You should visit sometime!

• There's been a lot of LSU buzz since the Tiger's whipped the Aggie's in the Cotton Bowl. Coach Les Miles turned down the Michigan job in favor of staying in Baton Rouge, and even though Miles is extremely goofy, you can't really argue with his record. Four 11-win seasons in 6 years is pretty impressive, and he's also 5-1 in bowl games. And, oh yeah, there was that National Championship in 2007. I'm happy he stayed. If you don't think he's goofy, check out this web page, which offers a compilation of Miles' quotes. It's oddly addictive.
• There are tons of reports today that Steve Kragthorpe has been hired as LSU's new Offensive Coordinator. Kragthorpe is known for his offenses at Tulsa and Louisville. Seems like a solid hire.
• LSU is also garnering a lot of hype for next season. So far, at least two "experts" have picked the Tigers to win the National Championship (This guy, and this guy). It's good to know there aren't any high expectations for next year! No place to go but down!!

Ok, well, that's all I got! Until the next time I fall deathly ill....

Food, Inc.

I vividly remember sitting down as a young man for dinner at my Grandparent's ranch in DeRidder, LA. I could see the corn fields from the kitchen window as the smell of fresh green beans and grilled chicken filled the room. I can remember seeing the same potatoes my Grandmother and I pulled from the ground earlier that day being pulled from the oven just before dinner. And I remember seeing that glistening grilled chicken and realizing that its head was in my Grandma's hand after she had wrung its neck that very morning. There was no doubt where those wonderful meals came from, and that's kind of what made them so wonderful.

Saturday night after watching the LSU Tigers work over Vanderbilt, Kim and I sat down with some friends and watched a documentary called "Food, Inc." Something about the cover of the film caught my eye, and even though I knew the movie might change the way I looked at food, it still seemed like a worthy pursuit. I was right on both counts, and now I'm not sure what to do about it.

Food, Inc. tells the story of the food industry in America. It does not paint a pretty picture. It lifts the curtain between the bright and organized presentation we see on the grocery store aisle, and the rather dark and destructive process by which those items end up on the shelf. I had never really thought of these things before. How do we get our food? Who brings it to the grocery store, and how do they get it? How does all that nice white chicken meat end up in a shrink wrapped container without bones? These are just some of the questions Food, Inc. seeks to answer.

Here's an excerpt from the Food, Inc. discussion guide provided on the movie's web site:

"When most of us think of a farm, we imagine a place with a red barn, green

pastures, and chickens running around the yard. But the reality of most farms

in the United States today is far from that image. Farming has become so

industrialized and mechanized that many modern farms are like factories.

The poultry industry is an example of this change to factory farms. As depicted in

Food, Inc., chickens today are often raised in huge metal buildings with no access

to light or fresh air, confined together with thousands of birds in one building,

and made to grow so quickly that often their bones cannot keep up and they can

lose their ability to walk."

I didn't really think about that the last time I popped a chicken nugget in my mouth. The movie goes on to tell us that chickens grow to full maturity in about 6 months, but steroids and genetic engineering have altered the way our food grows. The food industry now grows huge chickens with large breasts (because consumers prefer white meat) to full maturity in about 48 days. I'm no expert, but that can't be good for the chicken or the consumer.

We also find out in Food, Inc. that most of what we like to think of as "fresh food", like eggs, vegetables and meat, travels an average of 1,500 miles from the farm to the grocery store. That doesn't seem real fresh! This is the first time in history that we aren't able to trace our food from its origin, and we don't really care.

In one particularly disturbing scene, the makers of Food, Inc. showed how 85% of hamburger beef is cleaned by ammonia before it is packaged. Apparently the scientists who came up with this factory-produced process thought that exposing the meat to ammonia would eliminate the risk of disease. The factory was big and metal and contained a seemingly endless labyrinth of pipes. If you didn't know better, you'd think they were building cars in that factory, not packaging meat!!

Now, I'll be honest with you... I don't know quite what to do about this. I'm far too busy (which is undoubtedly part of the problem) to raise my own livestock and harvest my own vegetables. Plus, I don't have any land on which to pursue such things. Going to McDonald's with 5 kids seems much more do-able for my family than stocking the freezer with grass-fed, free range beef, and cooking a bag of frozen beans in the microwave is much more efficient for a family of 7 than snapping, washing and cooking pees acquired from the farmer's market.

But going to McDonald's is no longer desirable, and the thought of continuing to fill my body with overprocessed, pesticide riddled, genetically engineered, ammonia doused, corn based food disgusts me. I hate it that I don't know where the food I eat comes from, and I'm bothered by the fact that huge, multinational corporations control nearly all the available food in the world. Clearly changes must be made. I'll update you when I figure out how to make them. Until then, I'll remember my Grandparent's farm and see if I can find a way to duplicate its wholesomeness on some small level.

Horn Creek Mountain Top Experience

Last week was my family's annual trek to the mountains of Colorado for Family Camp at Horn Creek. We love it. Our year isn't the same without Horn Creek, so we literally do everything in our power to make the trip happen. This year was particularly tough because we weren't in a position financially to be able to go, but thanks to some very generous folks who work at the camp we were able to migrate northwest for a week in the thin, beautiful air of Horn Creek.

There were many wonderful things that happened at Horn Creek this year, and it was probably my favorite trip since we started coming 4 years ago. Pierce was easier to handle this time around, and even when he did generate some chaos, the other campers seemed better prepared to deal with his quirks. Jillian and the boys went and did as they pleased, and they frolicked and built forts and observed (and sometimes captured) wildlife with more skill and freedom that ever before. Kim and I had more time to sit and talk and enjoy the scenery than in years past, and we began to feel like Horn Creek was more "ours" than not.

The highlight of the trip, by far, happened on Thursday when Kim, Trent, Cale and I hiked to the 13,450 ft summit Horn Peak. We began in a meadow at 6:00 a.m., and as we hiked to the base of the mountain, we realized we were in for a very difficult day. Ten minutes into the hike we were seriously re-thinking our summit attempt. We just couldn't seem to catch our breath. And by "we", I mean Kim and me, because Trent and Cale showed no signs of struggle. I think there's probably something very empowering to a kid when he discovers he's stronger, on some level, than his parents. It was good to see my kids empowered.

By the time we got to the tree line (which is the place where the oxygen levels are so thin that tree's can't grow) we were exhausted. Again, by "we", I mean Kim and me. The boys were still fresh as a mountain stream. Little punks! Our guide informed us at this point that it would take at least three more hours to reach the peak. Three more hours!! How could that be? We had already hiked for 3.5 hours, and it looked from our perspective like the top of the mountain was only a couple of hundred yards away. Our guide was obviously mistaken. We'd be at the top in less than an hour.

The sad truth is that it took us more than three hours to get there. Oh yeah, and by "us", I mean Kim and me. The boys hit the summit a full hour before we waddled to the top. We collapsed there with our two oldest sons, and we took in a panorama of some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable. It was an exhilarating, confidence boosting accomplishment for all involved, and it was the kind of thing that made me long for more of this kind of activity with my family. I made it a goal on the top of that mountain that I would climb this mountain with each of my children before I die.

I want my kids to know that true accomplishment is more than getting to the next level on a video game. I want them to know that they can overcome tremendous obstacles and still achieve great things. I want them to know what beauty looks like. I want them to feel small compared to God's handiwork, and I want them to know that when they do, I'll be right there with them, feeling even smaller. I want them to know that how you descend is just as important as how you ascend, and I want them to understand that risk and danger are sometimes parts of the journey that you must embrace instead of avoid.

When we got to the top of the mountain I looked at Cale and said, "You know what the bad thing about climbing a mountain is?" He answered, "No." "You can never say 'I can't' again", I responded. "I'll know better, because if you can climb a mountain, you can do just about anything." He thought, nodded his head, and said, "Yep." Then I said, "Do you know what the good thing about climbing a mountain is?" "What?" he replied. "You can never say I can't again."

I'm not sure he understood where I was going with that, but I knew that one day he'd realize that having a never quit mentality would become a great asset. That's the kind of thing you can only learn by experiencing something bigger than yourself. Horn Creek gives us those kinds of opportunities, and that's why we love it.

You should probably find a way to get to Horn Creek sometime!

Trash Talking

Last year when LSU lost to Ole Miss in shameful fashion (a loss to Ole Miss is always shameful, but this one was particularly so), Shepherd Smith, an Ole Miss graduate, took a shot at the Tigers at the end of his Fox News show. It was cheap and unnecessary, but, hey... It's Ole Miss.

I thought this was a fun piece of video featuring Les Miles, the LSU head football coach. Miles, not known for his articulate interviews, was surprisingly well spoken, especially in relation to his concern for the Louisiana coast. Good stuff!

Click the link below to watch the video:
Trash Talking

Mega-conferences

The college football landscape is about to change dramatically, and I'm not sure what I think about it. I grew up in SEC country, and for some time now the SEC has been considered the top conference in the land. With 5 of the last 7 BCS National Champions coming from the SEC, it's hard to argue against the conference's dominance. As a fan of the LSU Tigers, an SEC Western division school, I am perfectly happy with the conference, aside from the inclusion of Vanderbilt University, who consistently rests at the bottom of the SEC.

The Big 12, another power conference, and one that has seen nearly as much success as the SEC in recent years, looks to be evaporating. Nebraska has accepted an invitation to join the Big 10, and Colorado has jumped to the PAC 10. That said, it's only a matter of time before Texas makes a move, and then the dominoes will fall, and the Big 12 will be no longer.

In my opinion, the SEC can only gain good things from this turn of events. We either pick up, say, a Texas A&M or an Oklahoma, or we raid the ACC and get Virginia Tech and Fla State. Either way, the rich get richer, and the competitive level of the SEC incredibly goes up a notch.

For fans, this paves the way for 3 major conferences: The SEC, The PAC 16, and The Big 16, and there will probably be one or two more mega-conferences that emerge from all of this (The Mountain West has reportedly already added Boise St). The good thing is that this should pave the way for a playoff system. The bad news is that many of the mid-major schools like Utah and TCU may find it even more difficult to compete for national prominence.

Oh yeah, and how about those sanctions at USC? 30 lost scholarships over three years, with a cap of only 15 a year, plus forfeiting some losses and no postseason for the next few years? Wow!! That 2003 BCS National Championship for LSU is starting to look more and more unanimous with each passing day. Sweet redemption!

I can't wait to see how it all plays out. All I can say is Geaux Tigers and Go SEC!!!

Here's an interesting article by Tony Barhart about how it all might shake out.

Here's another article about Texas A&M to the SEC. Good stuff.

Good Christian Music

The phrase "Good Christian music" used to sound like an oxymoron to me. For a long time I rejected the idea of "Christian" music at all. I don't like it when we categorize our faith, as though there are exclusively Christian moments and non-Christian moments. Is it Christian when a young Sunday-schooler walks an old lady across the street and non-Christian when a gang-banger caps off a drive by? One demonstrates charity and grace and the other reflects grave depravity, but both speak clearly of lynch pin doctrines of the faith. So is sin any less Christian than love? Without sin, after all, there is no need for the sacrificial love of Christ.

Music, in much the same way, can't simply be defined as "Christian" or "non-Christian." It either speaks of the goodness of God or the depravity of man, but themes of faith abound in any form of art. So, the real designator when it comes to the industry known as "Christian music" is the faith status of the singer/performer. The music itself is neither Christian nor non-Christian, but the artist can certainly claim one or the other designation.

Anyway, now that I've cleared that up... Here's my list of good music that happens to be performed by Christian artists. This is not a comprehensive list, but simply a few good things I've listened to lately that seem worth passing along. Enjoy!

• Phil Wickham - I'm not big on the whole "Worship" genre, but Wickham's music is so artfully arranged that I can no longer deny its greatness. His voice is full of believable passion, and the writing aptly captures the mystery and greatness of God. When you listen to his songs, you feel as though you're being swept up into something bigger (Try "Cannons" or "Heaven & Earth")
• Sara Groves - Before her latest release, "Fireflies and Songs", I couldn't have told you a single song by Sarah Groves. I'm sure I've heard her before, but nothing memorable comes to mind. But this most recent album is great. It's smart, dignified and moving, and the music moves as naturally as a mountain stream. There's nothing spectacular on this record, but it's the kind of album you can play several times and hear something new with each listen.
• Glenn Kaiser and Darrell Mansfield - When I was in college, one of my friends bought Kaiser/Mansfield's "Trimmed and Burnin'", and it instantly became one of my favorite records of all time. Imagine two guys sitting on the front porch of a rickety rural farm house with a dobro (a kind of steel guitar) and a harmonica (and maybe a glass of moonshine and a burning cigarette), and you're probably pretty close to envisioning the setting where a lot of these songs were written. This is just gritty, down home blues sung by two gravel throated virtuosos. Every song speaks of the holiness of God, but nothing about this album feels contrived or condescending. I've listened to these guys consistently for nearly 20 years, and they never get old.
  
• Ben Shive - I first heard Ben in December at the Behold the Lamb of God show in Cleburne, TX (This show is a must see, so if it comes your way, you must go see it!). I was blown away by his writing. Rich, deep, truly powerful writing. He can really play the piano too, and his album, "The Ill-Tempered Klavier", is quite magical. You should probably buy it.

That's all I've got for you. I know there's more really good music by Christian artists out there, but these are the one's currently lighting my fire. I hope you like them too.

I knew this day would come!!!

I remember back several years ago when we took the dignity defying plunge into Mini-van ownership. Fantasies of driving a big, manly truck or a hip, slick sports car quickly vaporized into the reality of driving a bulky, egg-shaped family wagon. As The Police so accurately wrote in their song, Synchronicity, driving a mini-van is a "humiliating kick in the crotch."

But no longer!! According to Toyota, owning a Mini-van = Pure Awesomeness. I knew this day would come!!!

Contemporvant

This is a great video that shows how ridiculous church can sometimes be. I love the church in all its many expressions, but I'm starting to feel less and less like the "cool" pastor type. I can't pull off the designer T-shirts, I don't have any tattoo's, I can't grow a gotee, and if I shaved my head I'd look even more goofy. I'm approaching 40, and I'm just not that cool anymore. This video is sweet justice for me because it points out that the uber-cool church environments that are all the rage aren't very cool either. Good stuff.

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

(HT: Denny Burk)

Been a long time, Baby

OK, it's been way too long since I've been here. For whatever reason I decided to open up the laptop and dust off Cajun Roast Beef like an old book that's been sitting on the shelf of an abandoned cabin. I'm not sure why I stopped blogging for so long. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I am just busy these days and don't have the time to spend on contemplating "Life, Religion and Stuff" like I used to. Truth be told, I probably didn't have the time then either, but it seemed more important to vent to my online journal than take care of the business at hand. That is no longer the case.

Another reason I stopped blogging is because, honestly, it felt like I was trying to be self-important. It was kind of like saying, "Look, everyone, I've got something cool to say! You should read my thoughts because they're good." While I'd like to believe that I'm capable of some pretty good thoughts, it was beginning to feel weird to consistently publish them to the web. I really felt like I was looking for some confirmation that I could think well or write well or be clever. I'm a people pleaser, and this sort of became my outlet to feel like someone liked me. Sad, but true.

The other reason I haven't posted in a while is because I'm not as creative as I used to be. I don't know whether it's parenting 5 children or running a church or what, but my brain just doesn't have that same spark anymore. Plus, I spend so much creative energy on sermon preparation that there's nothing left for my blog. Sometimes - and I know some of you won't believe this - I just don't have anything to say (or write).

What I've come to realize lately is that I really like to write. Some people like to hunt or play video games or collect memorabilia, but I like to write. It's an outlet, and it's just something that's in me. So I'm going to keep posting here and there because it's something I like to do. I won't do it as much because I'm busy and I don't want to get caught in a self-important trap, but I will try to post something regularly.

Happy reading!!!!