derekhughes (student)

New Blog

2007-02-20T00:22:00.000-05:00

I've moved my blog to wordpress! I've loved blogger, but wordpress offers many more options especially for computer-illiterate people as myself. I've moved all of my old posts there, so you won't have to switch back and forth between sites or anything. So, you can go ahead and check out the new blog, roam around abit, add it to your favorites if you'd like. I won't mind.

http://derekhughes.wordpress.com

Take My Life And Let It Be

2007-02-13T19:46:00.000-05:00

I love the complete abandonment that's displayed in this hymn. I pray that someday this can be the true theme of my life, but, let's be honeset- it's hard to give everything to God. As much as we can sing it and pray it, it's a completely different thing to let go of absolutely everything in our lives, and give it to God. Sure, some days are easier than others, and then some days come along where I selfishly horde every last thing in my life that I can get my hands on and proclaim greedily, "Mine! All mine! Look at my treasures! Look at my... my precious!" (sorry for the Lord of the Rings reference, I get a little carried away sometimes). I digress, I invite all of you to make this a prayer as you read this and I encourage you to read it outloud (not that God can hear you better if you say it louder, but it gives the mind a lot less room to wander if you speak these words). Pray this hymn and invite God to take everything in our lives, both good and bad, and make them His.

Take My Life And Let It Be
-Frances R. Havergal (Feb. 1874)

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.

Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing

2007-02-10T22:00:00.000-05:00

I think when it was originally penned, there were some additional lyrics, but this is how it appears in most hymnals today. My third verse is my personal favorite, reminding us all that we can't possibly save ourselves because we owe such a great debt. Our only hope is for God, with His amazing grace, to bind and seal our wandering hearts.

Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing
-Robert Robinson (1758)

Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of God's unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Time for some hymns

2007-02-10T21:53:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in a few days, I haven't spent much time online at all really. Other than typing out chord sheets for an upcoming DNow and church, I've been trying to spend as little time on my computer as possible. I've been doing a lot more reading (see list below, and The Bible) and it's been a nice change. For my next few posts, I am going to post some of my favorite hymns. Sounds lazy?- maybe a little bit. But, with the past few decades of the praise and worship movement, good, solid, biblically-sound lyrics are sometimes hard to find. I'm sure most of you know a lot of these by heart, and I'm sure I'll post some that hardly any of you have ever seen. I pray that God will use these hymns to reveal Himself.

Reading

2007-02-06T10:31:00.000-05:00

My professor for Aural theory isn't here this week (I'm not sure why, I'm sure the sub told us but I showed up a little late so I didn't hear... maybe she's sick) so we got out of class early this week, all sight singing lessons are cancelled, and we may not have class thursday. This gives me a little surprise free time that I will happily use to read a little and to write a short post. I realized that after my new year's resolutions I had not given you guys an update on some reading that I had promised. So here it is, some stuff I've been reading this year.
1) God Is The Gospel (John Piper)- I didn't start it this year, but I did finish it this year. I took a little break in between my start and stop point so I should really go back and read it again but it was still a great book. It deals with the fact that God himself is the greatest gift of the gospel. "None of Christ's gospel deeds and non of our gospel blessings are good news except as means of seeing and savoring the glory of Christ."
2) The Cross Centered Life (C.J. Mahaney)- This short book (83 pages) can be read in a day if you have a little bit of time to devote to it. I reccomend that everyone check this one out- it talks about centering your life around the cross and "how to escape the pitfalls of legalism, condemnation, and feelings-driven faith." I plan on reading this a few times a year to help keep things in perspective.
3) Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi (David Crowder)- Yes, David Crowder of the David Crowder Band has written a few books. He is really a great author and his odd personality and quirkiness ring loud and clear throughout this books about praise. The goes through 21 of the psalms and dedicates a few pages to each one. I loved reading this book because his narrative style was captivating, but I didn't particularly enjoy his translation choice- The Message. Although it is extremely easy to read, The Message puts an interesting spin on scripture and, sadly, changes the meaning of many passages.
4) Praying: Finding Our Way Through Duty to Delight (J.I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom)- I'm in the middle of this book right now, and yes, you guessed it, it's about praying. I have had a terrible prayer life and God has really convicted me of that so I'm striving to learn more about prayer.
5) The Pilgrims Progress (John Bunyan)- I haven't gotten very far in this classic allegory of the Christian life, but I will definitely finish it. The old english just takes a little longer.
6) Times of Refreshing: A Worship Ministry Devional (Tom Kreuter)- This is actually a devotional with many leading worship leaders in the country as contributors. I haven't finished it but I'm trying to read a few chapters a day- this is another one that I will probably read over and over.

Deal O' The Month

2007-02-05T09:36:00.000-05:00

Alright, I know we're only a few days into Feburary but I'm going to go ahead and declare my latest purchase the best deal o' the month. Heck, after you hear about it you'll probably think that it's the greatest deal o' the year and you'll rush out and pick up your own. I was in Wal-Mart the other day and I saw the usual display of Garth Brooks box sets, The Limited Series. Now, these have been out since Christmas two years ago. Garth Brooks signed some new deal with Wal-Mart and they are the exclusive carriers of this 6 disc set which was originally on sale (for pre-order and the day after Thanksgiving special) for $25. I'm not sure what happened, but no one really bought them and they've been stacked on the shelves for a few years now as they continually have marked down the price. Here's where it gets good. The other night I saw that this box set, this 5 cd, 1 promotional dvd box set had been marked down to $9.92. And right above that on the shelf was Garth Brooks, The Entertainer, a 5 DVD set containing 4 different concerts and one disc of music videos- also $9.92. So I walked out of walmart Sevens, Scarecrow, The Lost Sessions, Double Live (a personal favorite), and hours of live footage for about $20. I highly recommend that you go check it out- especially if you're a Garth Brooks fan, a country music fan, or even simply a music fan- either way, you won't be disappointed.

You'll thank me later.

2007-02-02T12:35:00.001-05:00

This is one of my favorite clips from NBC's The Office.

No Fun

2007-02-02T09:56:00.000-05:00

What does it take to get a snow day at UK? Does anyone know if there are certain requirements that must be met before class is cancelled? Let me tell you, it's no fun walking to class in the snow- the ground is covered with about an inch of snow, the sidewalks are covered with about an inch of pure slush, and it's still coming down like crazy. And although it's only 10 o clock, there is a large gathering of sledders at a nice hill on campus- does no one have class? And even if they were going to skip class, why would they go out so early... sleep in, people!
Ok, rant over. It's not really that bad out there in all honesty. It feels warmer today than its felt all week and the snow is actually a nice change from the dry, biting cold.
And, if anyone is interested I just posted my top five JMB songs on the JMB blog. Go check it out.

An Entirely Different Light?

2007-01-31T16:24:00.000-05:00

My Honors class is going through a large part of the New Testament for the next few weeks. The professor has told us to read Acts, most of Romans, I Corinthians 6-7, Ephesians, I Timothy, and Philemon as we study the early church and it's role in the history of Rome. For our text we are using The Unvarnished New Testament translated by Andy Gaus. The description on the back reads: "This new, innovative translation of the New Testament opens the closed doors of preconception and allows the reader to view these important Greek writings in an entirely different light... Most translations of the New Testment are made by committees; they interpret the original text through theological doctrines and dogmas which arose centuries after the books were written... Andy Gaus presents the New Testament as it would have appeared to someone reading the original, unvarnished Greek- as though 2,000 years of Christian history had not occured." So, pretty much, Mr. Gaus taken the original Greek and translated it, just like someone would take the Iliad and translate it into English. He has done this so that years and years of religous thought won't get in the way and persuade the text one way or another. But, even as he has tried to take the religious history away from the bible, God's word still rings loud and clear. It's not the "2,000 years of religious history" that makes the bible true and infallible, it's the author. Although we aren't going to get into any theological debates (yeah, right) and we are reading the text to learn about the history of the early church, I know that God will still use His living word to work in the hearts of those who read it. I'm so thankful that we've been given this assignment... now, if I could only convince my geology teacher to teach us the history of the earth straight from Genesis...

Amateur - Lasse Gjertsen

2007-01-30T14:06:00.001-05:00

This video has intrigued me so I must share it with everyone.

Wednesday Night

2007-01-25T21:26:00.000-05:00

I completely forgot to tell you guys about this week's service! We had something like 33 wednesday night (not counting women and children... that's for you Andrew). No, actually we had about 33 youth, not including adults- the largest youth service I've seen at Master's. I know that numbers don't mean squat if God isn't moving, but numbers do show that these youth are excited about coming to church, so excited that they want their friends to be there with them. And on top of that, God is moving! The girls really made a great showing wednesday night and outnumbed the guys 2:1 and it's really awesome that God brought so many girls to the service- the message was on Deborah and Jael. Marc is doing a series on Judges called "Judge This"... I think that's what it's called... anyway, wednesday we talked about how God used Deborah to bring victory over Jabin's army and Jael to kill Sisera, the general of said army. (Jael drove a tent peg through Sisera's head and into the ground, remember?) Marc did a great job of conveying the message of "God can use you, no matter who you are" and even tied it seemlessly into the gospel at the end. That's one of my favorite things about these services- you will always hear the gospel. No matter what the rest of the message is about, it all boils down to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The simple yet profound truth that "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
God is really moving through these wednesday night services and I'm ecstatic and very humbled to be a part ot it.

Blog Title

2007-01-25T15:50:00.000-05:00

As you may know, I've gone back and forth with different titles ever since the creation of this blog. It started out as musings of a reformed bassist, transformed into chronic congnitions of my consciousness, then I had a few random titles for a few days before settling on Derek's blog... which morphed into derekhughes. After I grew tired of that I added (musings of a reformed bassist) to derekhughes and that's where I've been the past few days. Now, notice the top of the page and you'll see I've changed it once again to read derekhughes (student). When trying to choose a blog title, I wanted something that would accurately describe me and the nature of this blog.
First off, I've decided to change it from musings of a reformed bassist because many, many people use the word musing in blog titles and using it in mine makes me feel like a big ol' copycat. Second, although I do hold to the five solas of reformed theology and the five points of Calvinism, I don't want that to define my blog, or me for that matter. There are many blogs out there devoted to these doctrines of grace, and that isn't the kind of blog that I want to claim as my own. I have absolutley nothing against any of these blogs, in fact, most blogs that I visit deal with reformed theology, I just want to maintain a different kind of blog. Thirdly, sometimes I feel restricted whenever I think of myself as a bassist. I do play bass and it is probably the instrument that I enjoy playing the most, but sometimes I feel as if I shut myself off from the rest of the musical world and try to focus too much on the bass. I forget that I still need to keep up my piano chops and that if I don't practice singing, Dr. Lugo will shoot me. I'm not exaggerating. Ok, maybe slightly, but she would still be very angry. But the point is, I need to stop thinking of myself as purely a bass player, because it has started to hinder my growth as a musician... wow, I'm a huge geek.
So my new title, derekhughes (student) describes my current state. I am a student of theology, not formally (at the moment) but, in my spare time, I try to soak up the word as much as possible. I'm a student of music, currently notating my way through UK's theory department and trying to keep up in my intense voice lessons. And, I'm also a student of whatever else they force me to take at UK, right now it's Psychology and this class called Dinosaurs and Disasters (all about prehistoric times and the extinction of Dinosaurs... Bert, I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions about this one).
So, there you have it- my blog's new title. I hope that I haven't lost any readers in the process, but if so that's quite alright. I don't blog to gain popularity- this is more or less my online journal. If you want to read it, feel free. My mother says it makes it possible for her to keep up with my everyday life. Thanks for all of your dedication and continued faithfulness. Until next time...

Tagged?

2007-01-24T23:20:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged. Now we come to the part of the conversation where you ask, "What the heck does that mean, Derek?" Did you say it outloud or did you just read my dictation? You just read along in your head but didn't really ask me, didn't you? You don't really care that I was tagged and you don't ever care to find out what that means. But, since you're still reading this post that means that you're obviously still remotely interested so I'm going to go on and explain my current situation. Apparently there is some kind of game going on right now in the blogging world where someone gets tagged. That person has to write a post telling... wait, I'm just going to post what someone else wrote about the subject. I had to go back a couple of layers into this game to find this, the author doesn't know me at all.
“People who get tagged need to write a blog post of 6 weird things about them as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.”
I was tagged by Adam Bishop, new music minister at Buck Run. Now normally, I wouldn't respond to anything like this because I hate chain letters of any kind, they annoy the crap out of me. So, why am I playing along? I'm bored and I have nothing better to write about. So here it goes- a few weird things about Derek Hughes.
1) I am an avid air-drummer. Although I've only played drums on a few occasions and definitely don't mention them in my list of instruments, I love to air-drum. (Is that a verb?) It's weird, I hardly ever play air-bass, air-guitar, or air-piano. No no, my area of expertise is restricted to the air-drums, usually in the car. And yes, I get odd looks often.
2) I've never seen the Sound of music. This may not sound too odd, perhaps you've never seen it either. But, I love musicals more than any man should and to have not seen this classic is inconceivable.
3) Oh, I hate the feel/sound of cotton balls. I'm getting goosebumps and chills as I type these words, no lie. When you rub them between your fingers and they produce that small, squeeky noise accompanied by a tiny amount of friction, just enough to grate on my spine. I'm not sure if this one made much sense, but if you feel the same way about cotton balls as I do, you understood oh too well.
4) I'm a teribble speller. Whenever typing anything on this blog, I always have dictionary.com pulled up and check many words- even in this particular post. I've looked up 3 words so far. (Try and guess which ones).
5) Here's another movie one- I've never seen The Goonies. For older readers out there, this may not sound too odd, but apparently this was a movie that defined my generation and my friends never cease to sing it praises. But, I have no desire to see it... so there.
6) I hate the fact that I own greatest hits cds but at the same time I can't get rid of them. I love the concept of the album so much and have a hard time listening to songs out of their original context. So it's odd that I would own so many greatest hits, that are a collection of pupular songs put together by the record company. I feel cheap whenever I listen to them, but I can't stop. Someone help me!
So there you have it. I've been tagged, I've listed 6 weird things about myself, and now I think it's my turn to tag someone else, actually 6 other people. But, I think I'm just going to tag Andrew. So now I've fulfilled my duties and passed off the torch. Andrew, if you're reading this, know that I don't want you to feel obligated to reply. In fact, feel free to ignore this game and end this small branch that I've created- my feelings won't be hurt at all. But, if you're like me, and always looking for stuff to post, go ahead and share your weirdness with the rest of the world.

A Motley Crew

2007-01-22T21:55:00.000-05:00

Here's the youth. Oh, and the bearded one in the back isn't a youth, that's Brad. Brad plays bass with me on wednesday nights. This particular collection of youth (this picture doesn't quite include the entire group) went to the Power of One Conference in Pigeon Forge a couple of weekends ago... I love these guys!

It seems that some clarification is in order

2007-01-22T20:51:00.000-05:00

Due to a small amount of confusion in my recent change of churches, I feel the need to explain myself a little better. I made the move to Master's Church (by the way, Mary Beth and I joined yesterday) not in order to pursure a job, but because it's where I felt God was calling me. I am not the youth minister or music minister, but I felt God calling me to serve in those ministries at Master's Church. God has called Mary Beth and I to be there so that we can work closer with the youth and develop closer relationships with them by simply being around more. And no, I am not getting paid.
I'm sorry for any confusion that my leaving caused. I guess I didn't make it clear enough whenever I explained the situation.
On another note, I'm starting to play piano a lot more... I really missed it.

Free Will Song

2007-01-20T19:12:00.001-05:00

What bible are they reading? If God gave us freedom, we would NEVER choose Him. "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks God." Romans 3:10-11. This literally turns my stomach, especially the preacher at the end.

oops

2007-01-20T18:55:00.000-05:00

Youtube has been acting really funny recently whenever I try to post videos on my blog. A few days ago I blogged about Coldplay's "Fix You" and tried to post the music video so you all could see what I was talking about and experience the great moment with me (complete with fist pumping). When one video didn't work, I went and tried to post another. I tried this for a couple of days and then finally gave up. Much to my surprise, I signed into my blog a few minutes ago and discovered that youtube had finally posted all of the videos- I think 6 in all! I took care of them and left only one for you to enjoy. I guess I'll have to start planning my video posts ahead of time so they show up when I want them too.
Oh, I picked up a few new cds yesterday- Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" and "The Dance" and The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds". I haven't gotten a chance to listen to any Fleetwood Mac yet because I'm so blown away by Pet Sounds. I highly suggest that you give it a shot. It just may be the most perfect album I've ever heard, no exaggeration.

Coldplay Fix You

2007-01-19T21:07:00.001-05:00

Alright, here it is. Listen carefully at around 2:26- that's when the moment begins.

An Epic and Inspiring Musical Moment

2007-01-17T23:48:00.000-05:00

I've got to say that the song "Fix You" by Coldplay has got one of the (if not the) most inspiring musical moments that I've ever heard. About 2:10 into the song, after the 2nd chorus, he sings "I will try to fix you" and on the next downbeat the guitarist comes in with the eighth notes rocking with this 8 bar phrase that repeats over all of the chord changes as the band builds intensity until they comes in with 4 part harmony ("Tears stream..."). Ahh, this gives me goosebumps every single time I listen to the song. I've got to see it live. If you haven't heard the song, I suggest you do yourself a favor and listen to it. If you pump your fist in the air as the band builds at the end it adds to the intensity, I swear it does. I'm working on posting the music video on my blog but, for some reason, youtube isn't cooperating right now. I'll keep trying, though.

First time for everything...

2007-01-17T21:39:00.000-05:00

So tonight was my first time speaking in front of a youth group. Marc asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to preach one night so I took him up on the offer and spoke on the gospel tonight. I was quite nervous since it was my first time. I mean, I spoke in front of FCA pretty much every week my last two years of high school and led some short devotions, but this was my first time with an entire message. Having such an important message to share, I didn't want to be destracting with my own ill-preparation and I definitely didn't want to say anything false. I really just wanted God to completely take over tonight and that's exactly what happened. As soon as I started talking I knew that the Holy Spirit was definitely working in the room and that God was doing some very big things in the hearts of the youth. Although no public decisions were made tonight, it was obvious that they were turning everything over in their heads as they listened. I pray that the message shared tonight will act as another seed that God uses to bring His people to Him.

Who are these people?: Neil Diamond and the lasar guns

2007-01-12T12:29:00.000-05:00

Do you ever have a moment where you suddenly feel utterly and completely out of place? All of a sudden you don't know the person to your right or left, the people you thought you knew from last semester throw you for a loop with some comment and you don't feel like you belong anymore. Welcome to Written theory, January 12, 2007.
The topic for class today was non-chord tones, or notes in a melody that don't fit into the chord which is accompaning them. Sounds fun right? Well, we started out with an example from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and this particular song only had one chord. So just about every other note was a non-chord tone. We moved on to a different aspect of non-chord tones and he put our next example in the cd player: Neil Diamond's Song Sung Blue. Now, to be completely honest- this was a welcome change in my mind. We usually analyze "classical" music written way before this century, so I was thinking that good ol' Neil brought the whole lesson together very nicely. We only listened to about half the song and then the professor took the cd out, and laughingly appologized for exposing us to this inferior music (my paraphrase, not his exact words).
He then said he would make up for it by using Wagner's Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde as his next example. My inner groans were drowned up by the rejoicing emerging from the very souls of my classmates. What? They actually would rather listen to Wagner than Neil Diamond? The man wrote Sweet Caroline! I quickly realized that I am quite different than my peers in the school of music and while they savor their Filet Mignon, I am much happier eating a chili dog and fries. I'm not claiming to be better than them, and I'm not saying that they are better or smarter than me (most of them are smarter), I am just realizing the differences in musical taste and my great appreciation for my musical past and upbringing.
As I sat there and pondered these differences, my stomach began to tell me that it was hungry and proceeded to growl. However, this wasn't your everyday, average, run of the mill growl. No no. I have never heard this sound come from my stomach before (or anyone elses for that matter). It sounded, no lie, like a lasar gun preparing to fire. I'm not even sure I've ever heard a lasar gun preparing to fire, but that is exactly what it sounded like. It scared me a little, to be honest. I know that this last story about my stomach isn't quite as interesting as some other anecdotes, but I was pretty amused so I felt like sharing it. Back to class.

Sleeping-in is the way to go

2007-01-12T10:30:00.000-05:00

Since my 9-10:50 am Psychology lab was cancelled today, I don't have class until 11! The sleep was quite nice. And in other news, I went to the audiologist in Louisville last night with my dad and we tried out our new custom molds for our in-ear monitors. They fit perfectly and I really can't wait to try them out in the JMB setting. They sounded great plugged up to my iPod but I haven't gotten a chance to hear any live music in them yet. Hopefully within the next month or so, JMB will be practicing out at Cedarmore and leaving all of the equipment set up (for the live DVD) which will make it much easier to get a good monitor mix set. Anyway, I'm off to class now. Have a great day and remember, whether you think you can or you can't, you're right.

Proverb of the Day

2007-01-12T10:09:00.000-05:00

"The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked suffers want." Proverbs 13:25

John Piper Is Bad

2007-01-11T08:53:00.001-05:00

I finally figured out how to post videos again. Here's a short one I hope you enjoy.

Class

2007-01-10T09:29:00.000-05:00

I started this post yesterday but then decided to just delete it... not quite sure why. Today is my first day of classes for this semester. I'm not too excited about it really but hey, what else can I do? It's either sit around my dorm and do nothing or go to class and actually learn something. I guess I'll try to learn. My schedule's not too bad really, for a music ed major. I've only got 4 classes a day and then 5 on Monday since I have a night class... "Dinosaurs and Disasters." Sounds like fun right? Dur to MLK Jr. day, I won't even have that class for another week and a half so I'll have to tell you about it then. Oh, mom- sorry that your comment got deleted off of the other post. Had I known that you had already commented, I would've left the post up and just edited it with further information. Have a great day.

New Year's Resolutions

2007-01-09T15:30:00.000-05:00

I normally don't have them simply because I don't like disappointing myself. I know, I know, it's a terrible attitude to have and that's why I've decided to make some new year's resolutions. While I realize that I don't need to tell everyone to give them some sort of validity, I do know that I'll feel a greater sense of accountability if I post them on my blog. So, faithful readers, here are my resolutions for 2007.
1) Study the Old Testament- I read the bible this past year but at many times it became more of a chore, just one more little box to check off everyday, and I sped through much of the Old Testament without much thought. I want to read it again, but this time seeing it as one huge story that perfectly sets up the birth of a savior. I especially want to pay attention to each gospel reference as I read.
2) Journal- This is something I've tried a few times, but it's never really stuck. Hopefully I can make a habit of this.
3) Study more- I didn't do too bad last semester, but I really want to study a lot more so I don't have to cram before the tests.
4) Read more books- I got a lot of books for Christmas.
5) Drive more slowly- It was only a matter of time before I got my first speeding ticket and now that I've joined the club, I don't care to get any more.
6) Blog more- I tended to slack off a lot with this blog and then go through a nice blogging spurt, only to slack off a week later. I want to stay more consistent and allow people to get a closer look into my head, no matter how scary it may be.

Sure, there are a lot more areas that I'd love to improve, but these are just a few that I wanted to share with everyone. And, just for the record, I've already started on all of these so I'm off to a good start.

Proverb of the Day

2007-01-09T15:25:00.000-05:00

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." Proverbs 9:10

For everything there is a season

2007-01-09T13:35:00.000-05:00

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace." Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

God, through His divine and soverign will, has had the entire course of history planned out since before the beginning of time. There is a time for every thing to come to an end and there is a time for new things to begin. Over the course of the last few months, God has revealed to both Mary Beth and I that we are supposed to be at Master's Church and that is where He wants us to serve. We don't really know how we are going to be serving, so this is a giant leap of faith for the both of us. God has been gracious enough to give us the strength and courage to step out from our home churches to start a new ministry. I know that we will continue to work with the youth and become more involved in youth sunday school and we will hopefully start serving in the music ministry at Master's. As God leads us on this new journey, we both greatly appreciate all of your prayers and we pray that God will use us in a very big way to impact Master's Church. I am so thankful for my amazing church family at Buck Run and I hope that there are no ill feelings as I depart. I cherish all of our memories of fellowship, prayer, and worship of our almighty savior and I will surely never forget you.

My Playlist

2007-01-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

Andrew posted his on the JMB blog, and I felt the need to do the same. However, since some of you don't read that blog very often, I figured I might as well post mine on my own blog.

1) This World (Caedmon's Call)- Caedom's Call is my absolute favorite band and this is one of my favorite songs from them, if not my favorite. They have so many great songs that it's near impossible for me to pick just one. Which is why number 2 is...

2) Not The Land (Caedmon's Call)- Hey, it's my list, I can feature as many artists as I want! This is one of the most rocking songs I have ever heard, especially when the chorus kicks in and Derek really adds the growl to his voice. Ahhh, musical bliss.

3) When He Calls (I'll Fly Away) (Gold City)- That looks a little confusing- Gold City is the artist, not I'll Fly Away. I have to have at least one southern gospel song on this list, and chances are it's going to be about heaven. The studio version is pretty good, but it's amazing live. The tenor singer finishes the song with a note that would make a dog's ears bleed.

4) Callin' Baton Rouge (Garth Brooks)- Oh man, oh man. This song pumps me up every single time I hear it. My favorite version is from his Double Live album- when every thing drops out but the drums in the chorus, I can't help but pound my fist in the air and belt out those lyrics at the top of my lungs... "Hurry up won't you put her on the line, I gotta talk to the girl just-a one more time"

5) For The Love Of God (Andrew Peterson)- This happens to be the most played songs in my itunes. Andrew Peterson is one of the greatest songwriters I've ever heard. He uses the lyrics and music to paint masterpieces in the minds of his listeners. This is a great song about his family and love.

6) Washin' & Wonderin' (Stroke 9)- I can't stay away from that catchy, 90's, power-pop rock. (I'm not sure if that's a real genre, or if I just made that up). Sam (ex-JMB drummer) and I used to jam on this song back in 7th grade. Man, those were the days.

7) Dance (Derek Webb)- Although not one of his more deep, theologically challenging songs, Dance is a great tune nonetheless. Derek wrote this song after a conversation with his grandmother as she told him her entire life story.

8) Take It Easy (The Eagles)- I love when the banjo kicks in about half way through.

9) Tiny Dancer (Elton John)- I used to play and sing this song all the time (don't ask me to now, I've already retired it... a few times) so whenever I hear it, it brings back many fond memories. I remember playing this song once at GSP for Mary Beth... it's probably why she digs me so much.

10) Cruel Kindness (Inside Out)- I love a cappella groups and this is the best one I've heard. If I had to pick a favorite song from Inside Out, it would probably be this one for the great background harmonies in the chorus.

11) Friend Like You (Big Daddy Weave)- If I ever get in a good bass playing mood, this is usually the song I want to hear. Each bass line on the album is solid, interesting, and downright fun to play. This song always gets my blood flowing and my fingers itching to groove.

12) God Only Knows (The Beach Boys)- I feel that the Beach Boys are too often unappreciated in the music world and the genius of Brian Wilson was too easily forgotten. I especially love the end of this song when the vocals start layering on top of each other.

13) Piano Man (Billy Joel)- Here's another song I have played many times, but I still never get tired of hearing it. This was the first song that Mary Beth heard me sing and play so it has some special meaning to me. I love the line "And the piano it sounds like a carnival and the microphone smells like a beer." On the word "carnival", he sings it more as a shout and slightly out of tune... I'm not quite sure why I like that part so much, but I do.

I'm back

2006-12-30T10:28:00.000-05:00

Well, as you may have guessed from the title, I'm back in town. Christmas in ETown was nice, a little hectic, but a lot of fun. We got to spend time with both sides of her family and caught a couple of movies in the evenings. Charlotte's Web was a fantastic movie, every bit as good as the classic 1973 animated film, but The Good Shepherd was quite a disappointment. I'm sure it could've been a lot more enjoyable if I understood the plot of the movie but with so much history in it, I felt lost the entire time. I think Dustin enjoyed it, but then again, he actually enjoys history.
Oh, I guess you all may be slightly intested in the presents that I received this week. I got a few new cds (David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Andrew Peterson, Derek Webb) and a lot of new books (I'll have to get a lot of reading done this year so I can get some more next Christmas). I'm sure I'll keep you updated with my current reading selections and my own insight on this literature, no matter how meaningless that insight may be. Later

Traveling

2006-12-25T13:13:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd let you all know that Mary Beth and I are about to leave and spend the week in ETown. We'll be back sometime later on this week- not quite sure which day. We're going to spend Christmas with all of her family so I thought I'd tell you so that you don't expect much blogging this week. I'll let you know how the week went whenever we get back. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and get some much needed peaceful rest.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-25T11:33:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas! May you be blessed today as you celebrate our savior's humble birth and be reminded that He was born to die on a cross so that we may have an atonement for our ugly sin.

Guitar

2006-12-23T01:07:00.000-05:00

Here's the guitar I bought a few weeks ago. I love this thing and it has definitely served me well thus far in my own noodleing around the house and in leading worship. For those of you gearheads who care- here are the specs:
solid mahogany back and sides
solid sitka spruce top
rosewood fretboard
mahogany neck
nickel tuners
dovetail neck joint
bone nut
rosewood bridge
open-back sta-tite tuners with 18:1 ratio

Oh, my dad and I went to an audiologist in Louisville today and got our ears injected with some awesome yellow stuff that hardened in about 8 minutes. These nice molds are being sent to sensaphonics so that some custom sleeves can be made for our in-ear monitors. It should take a few weeks for them to get shipped to us and then we have to go back and make sure they fit correctly. Hooray!

Bummer

2006-12-21T21:24:00.000-05:00

I tried and tried to post a video last night but the new blogger isn't working well with youtube so I wasn't able to post. I'll keep trying and it may just pop up in a day or two so we'll see how it goes. Oh, and David is getting his hair cut by my dad right now in the kitchen. For those of you who know David, this may come as quite a shock since his hair was much like mine before I cut it- only curlier and longer. Dad cut it into a mullet for him at first and David promptly put on some cut-offs, a tight t-shirt, my old combat boots, and my sunglasses. I'll post a picture on here as soon as I can get it downloaded into my computer. Keep checking back.

Finally...

2006-12-20T17:11:00.000-05:00

It took me many hours, but I finally finished my bass pod editing. I'll spare you the boring details (because no one really wants to read those anyway) and I'll just say that it was some very tedious work. However, I did enjoyed it because I rarely get the chance to play bass if it isn't Sunday or a JMB concert. I went through and set all of the levels so they match up, edited about half of the settings for my Rickenbacker, and went through and renamed everything so that I understand it better. I'll be ready to try out some different sounds at the next JMB concert or maybe in church on Sunday- depending on which songs we are playing. I'm about to leave shortly to pick up Mary Beth in E-Town and before that I need to get some food... so I'm going to cut this a little short, post a new video, and head out. I'll see you all later.

Bass Pod

2006-12-19T23:15:00.000-05:00

I sat down for about an hour tonight and did something that I've been meaning to do for quite some time- I made a nice chart of all of the factory bass pod settings. I went through all 48 presets in my bass pod and made a chart with columns for the modeled amp, cab, mic, and effects. This will be a great help in my quest for the right tone for each song. I'll be able to look at all of my choices for sounds right in front of me whenever I'm changing settings instead of going through hours of endless scrolling. Tomorrow I am going to wake up early and hook my bass pod up through my computer recording program and regulate the volumes on all of my presets (or at least the useful ones). I've been having a problem in switching sounds during our shows since the volume differences are so noticeable- at times I have almost dropped completely out of the mix from one song to the next. It's been quite frustrating. I'll let you know how it all goes tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm also going to pick up Mary Beth who's been spending the last few days at home doing some cleaning and shopping with her sister. Yessir, tomorrow is going to be a good day- bass pod and Mary Beth... could I ask for anything more?

Proverb of the Day

2006-12-18T23:25:00.000-05:00

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs to it and is safe. The rich man's wealth is his strong tower, and like a high wall in his imagination." Proverbs 18:10-11

Christmas Program

2006-12-17T21:57:00.000-05:00

Do you ever have a huge moment of reassurance that you're doing exactly what God wants you to do? I had one of those tonight while watching Buck Run's Christmas program. As I listened to the songs and monologues, I felt God telling me that I'm doing just what I'm supposed to be doing. Not in ever aspect of my life, but in the path towards music ministry and becoming a music minister. There have been moments of doubt since God first called me to the music ministry, but He has often used moments just like these to pull me out of the valley of doubts and into His assuring hand. I can't wait to see where God is going to take me in these next few years as I strive to follow His plan and listen to His voice.

Proverb of the Day

2006-12-15T10:52:00.000-05:00

"The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway." Proverbs 15:19

It's a no-go

2006-12-15T10:49:00.000-05:00

Alright, so the ear thing isn't all worked out yet. Apparently, they were confused over the phone, or perhaps when we went to see them and weren't really sure what we were talking about. Once we explained it to them, they weren't even sure if could do anything like that. So, we shall do a little more research and hopefully get the molds made soon. Mary Beth and I are to leave and head to spend some time with the gang from GSP. I got the chance to see everyone over the summer but Mary Beth hasn't seen everybody since summer of 2005! We're both excited- see you all later.

Proverb of the Day

2006-12-14T10:58:00.000-05:00

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." Proverbs 14:12

Going Home

2006-12-14T10:36:00.000-05:00

I just finished my last final a couple hours ago and now I'm finishing up some last minute packing before I head back to the big city of Frankfort. Well, actully, I'm going to go get a mold made of my ears, and then probably do some Christmas shopping, and then go back to Frankfort. I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing, and peaceful break. I was planning on working at my old job, you know, Kroger, but I've decided that a month of no-work will be nice and give me a chance to catch up on some reading and spending time with family and friends. It should be a nice day for loading and unloading all of my stuff due to the unseasonably warm weather we've been having these past couple days. The mornings have been a little chilly, but once the sun comes out it's nice and warm.
Oh, the JMB DVD planning is still in full force and if anyone has any suggestions, we'd love to hear them. You can head over to our message board or you can post comments on this blog. Josh just started a new thread yesterday about band member interviews. If you guys have any questions and you've been dying for us to shed a little light on the truth and set the record straight, tell us! We really want this DVD to, first off, bring glory to our Creator and, secondly, be an enjoyable experience for all parties involved. We always (well, usually) have fun whenever we play and we really want the fans to have just as much fun whenever they come to the show or watch it on their own tv. Let us know what you think.

Proverb of the Day

2006-12-13T13:22:00.000-05:00

"The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death" Proverbs 13:14

Summer Plans

2006-12-13T13:10:00.000-05:00

I got my official call from Cedarmore today about working as a bible study leader at Crossings this summer. God has been so amazing through my entire application process and has continually opened and closed doors in His perfect will. My original plans were to play in the band at Jonathan Creek but God has pretty much shut that door off and shown me that He wants me to be at Cedarmore leading bible study. Although I don't really know what's going to happen this summer, I know that God's hand is over everything and nothing will happen outside of His master plan. I'm so excited to see how God is going to work next summer and to see how He might use me. That sounds like such an odd statement. God is going to use me- God is using me. While God is so incredibly holy, we are so unworthy to praise Him, to serve Him, to have anything to do with Him. But, He still chooses to use us to do His will.
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscutable His ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who Has been His counselor?' 'Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid?' For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." Romans 11:33-36 (ESV)

2 down, 2 to go

2006-12-13T00:20:00.000-05:00

I got my "real" finals out of the way today and also finished both of those papers that are due at the end of this week. Tomarrow I'll turn those in. So, today I had my geology final in the morning and then my math final earlier tonight. I think I did pretty well on both of them- well enough to pass the class. The only things I've got left are my two theory finals and a short matching test that will take 15 minutes in my honors class tomorrow morning. So far finals are going quite well.
Thursday, I'm going to go to a hearing-aide place here in town to get molds made of my ears so that I can get custom fitted ear-pieces for my in-ear monitors. I've got some Christmas money that I must spend so I figured this would be a great way to spend it... ok, actually it wasn't my idea... Mary Beth thought of it, thanks babe. But it's still a great idea and I'm very excited about getting this done. That's about all I've got for tonight, I just realized that I'm very tired. Goodnight.

Blogging Bliss

2006-12-11T13:32:00.000-05:00

As you may be able to tell, my blog is no longer on the fritz and is now working with new Blogger Beta. I don't really understand what all of this new stuff means, but I do know that it is incredibly easy to edit my blog now. I have control over fonts, colors, and even the layout. The old format was all in HTML (which I know nothing about) so I love that I can actually change my blog now with the greatest of ease.
It's finals week here at ol' U of K and today is our day off. I don't think anyone has any finals today so we're all supposed to use this day for reading and studying... so I'm messing with my blog! I'm a terrible student, I know. Actually, I'm going to go right now and write 1 of 2 papers due on Friday of this week. I should be able to write each of them in about a 2-3 hour time span, so if I split them up and do one today and then maybe one tomorrow or wednesday, I shouldn't be stressed too much. Besides the papers, I have a Geology final tomorrow morning and then a math final tomorrow night, then a Aural theory final wednesday morning, and finally, a Written theory final on thursday morning. I'll keep you posted as I go... wish me luck!

Frustrations and the DVD

2006-12-08T10:31:00.000-05:00

I'm a little frustrated right now at blogger because of this format change. They are in the process of switching all of the blogs to a new format that will make publishing posts and editing your blog much easier. However, I suppose they're still getting all of the bugs worked out and I am currently unable to make the switch. I went through all of the steps and set up this new account through google but whenever I go to my dashboard (list of my blogs) my blog doesn't show up. They said once I made the switch, I would be unable to log in the way I usually do and would have to go through the new google account everytime. But, as you can see, I am still very capable of logging in and I can still post through the old format. I hope they get this fixed soon- I was getting excited about the easiness of new blogger beta.
JMB had a meeting last night at Johnny Carinos (thanks for dinner, Cedarmore) to talk about our plans to produce our first live dvd. It will be filmed at Cedarmore on March 31 (as of this moment) and I expect all of you to come. It's going to be a lot of work trying to put everything together and solidifying a set list (which we've never really done before) but I'm really excited about this project. We're hoping that all of our churches will make a good showing (Master's, Buck Run... are you writing this on your calendar? BRING YOUTH GROUPS!) and we're also hoping that the different churches we've played at in this area will come to the show. I'll keep you all posted as more develops.

Awesome Night

2006-12-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

Last night was a great night of worship at Master's Church. Marc spoke about God's holiness so I tried to select songs that would really allow us to focus on God's main attribute. Mary Beth came in to sing with me and it was really great to able to sing the split guy/girl chorus on You Are Holy (Prince of Peace). God was really in control the entire night and took us all out of the picture so that we could see His holiness as we've never seen it before. That is especially true in the life of one of the youth. Upon hearing Marc talk about the holiness of God and our unholiness, or more importantly, when the truth was revealed to this young man by the work of the Holy Spirit, God did an amazing work in his heart and made him a new creation. I'm so excited that this youth was saved last night- not simply saved from hell, but saved from his sin. I absolutely love it when God takes us out of the equation and does His work in and around us- all we have to do is sit back and worship Him.
To God be the glory, great things He hath done.

What A Relief

2006-12-05T12:52:00.000-05:00

The priest's face in the end is the best part of the whole clip.

Hymns

2006-12-02T13:24:00.000-05:00

God has often used hymns to show me more about His amzing omnipotentence and this is a hymn that's been running through my speakers the past week.
Before the Throne of God Above
by Charitie Bancroft (1863)

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Worship

2006-12-02T13:00:00.000-05:00

This morning I met with Marc (youth minister) and Alex (pastor) of Master's Church- where you can find me Wednesday nights- and talked about some different possibilities for the future about the music ministry there and the Wednesday night youth services. I was planning on driving back to Frankfort after that to get my tire replaced (I ran over a nail the other day and I'm on my spare at the moment) but I ended up just going down the road to the nearest S&S. They kept my tire and said it may be fixable but they aren't sure until they can see how deep the nail goes. (I'll have to check back on Monday.) So, not having to travel to Frankfort really opened up my schedule today and has allowed me to spend more time in prayer, especially in the area of my own personal worship.
God has really been convicting me these past few days of focusing so much on the music and forgetting why I play and sing in the first place. He's showing me that my singing and playing isn't worship at all if it's only an end in itself. If His glory isn't the ultimate goal of my music than it's all in vain. It's become so easy for me to get up on the stage and concentrate so much on sounding good, playing the right chords, and singing the right words (in the right order) and completely forget about the God to whom I'm singing. I can't even count the times that we've finished a concert or a worship service and I've messed up some notes or words and that is the only thing I remember about the night. I was so out of tune with the Holy Spirit working that I completely missed everything important that happened. I'm sure that all worship leaders have gone through this problem and I'm sure this isn't the last time this will ever happen- it will be constant battle that I fight for the rest of my life to forget about everything and focus on God. I pray for your support as I repent.

Now I've seen everything

2006-12-01T12:53:00.000-05:00

I finally found it. I've been wanting to write about this for a few months now but I knew I couldn't fully appreciate it or be able to properly inform you of this absurdity until I found it for myself. When I first heard about this new addition to the student center, I thought that there was no way it could be real- surely it was just an urban myth as false as the exploding pop-rocks and coke or Walt Disney being buried under the Pirates of the Carribean ride. But after I saw it, I knew it was true and such things cold really exist. UK has an iPod vending machine. Yes, you heard me right. An iPod vending machine. It sells iPods in all different sizes, chargers, earbuds, and even bluetooth earpieces for cell phones. Being the broke college student that I am, I cannot afford to partake of the wonderous offerings of this machine but I would love to say "Yes, I bought my iPod from a vending machine." You know, I'm sure this says something about society today... I'm just not sure what that statement is.

Mary Beth Mann

2006-11-28T22:43:00.000-05:00

I was just browsing through my pictures and found this gem. Isn't she the most wonderful thing you've ever seen? I don't know why she wants to be with me, but I definitely feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

Two Gigs, One Souncheck

2006-11-28T21:53:00.000-05:00

Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? I know I'm a few days late on the follow-up but it's been pretty stressful these past few days. Mary Beth and I got back from ETown on Friday and then, almost immediately, turned around and traveled to Centerfield for a JMB gig. Yes, yes, the rumors are true the Josh Martin Band is still alive and kicking- we've actually got some pretty big plans in the making right now. I can't say too much sense nothing is set in stone but we are going to have a meeting about it next Thursday and I will say that I don't think you'll be disappointed. But anywho, Friday night we played at Cowboy church in Centerfield. You heard me right... Cowboy church. I could explain it to you but you're just going to have to come see us next year to truly understand. It was a great night. Doug couldn't be there with us but that didn't seem to stop us from playing a fantastic show. I walked off the stage that night feeling more confident about our performance than I ever have before. We pulled out a new one on the crowd- Clumsy Believer, which is sure to become one of our favorite songs. We had practiced it on two separate occasions before Friday night and for the amount of time and energy we put into that song, it turned out to be superb.
Saturday. We sat around at my house for awhile the next day until I called Wilcutt Guitars in Lexington and talked to them about purchasing a new acoustic guitar. The guitar didn't have a pickup in it so they installed one and then I went and bought it. I'll dedicate a whole post to the guitar either tomorrow or the next day when I've had a chance to actually play it on stage. It's an Epiphone Masterbilt and I am absolutely loving it but I don't want to say too much about it in this post. Saturday night we had a concert at another Cowboy church (actually, I think they call it Country Church in Brandenburg) which didn't go quite as well as the previous one. It was just aa hectic night overall. We got there about 2 hours early in order to set up our equipment and get a good sound check... or so we thought. We were all under the impression that Brandenburg was in Central time- right over the border, but apparently they stick with Louisville's time. So, our extra 2 hours magically turned into 1 and we rushed to start 10 minutes late. I never really got in the right mindset to play a concert so both my playing and singing suffered quite a bit. But hey, at least I got the licks in the chorus of Clumsy Believer that night. (Did you hear them Kelly? I'm pretty sure I looked over at you a few times so you would know that I didn't screw them up again). Oh, and for some reason we could never get the bass level settled because I kept messing with my sound and my amp. Pretty soon I'll be saying good bye to my loud on-stage amp, and going with in-ear monitors- as long as I can get everything figured out and my mix right.

Thank you, vandal

2006-11-24T15:24:00.000-05:00

The phrase "Jesus is helping me through my struggle" takes on a whole new meaning when someone carves it into the bathroom stall at Wal-Mart.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T08:03:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Althought it's not my absolute favorite holiday, I do love this day. It's always nice to spend the day with my 3 favorite f's- family, friends, and food. Today is going to be a fun-filled day of traveling for Mary Beth and I as we travel to Somerset in just a few hours to eat lunch with my dad's side of the family and then drive to Campbellsville to eat some dessert with my mom's side of the family. After that we will venture into E-Town to eat with her dad's family and then spend the night out at the farm and eat lunch with Bob and his family tomorrow. As soon as lunch is over we have to head back to Frankfort and then to Centerfield for a JMB concert tomorrow evening. Whew! I got tired just telling you all of this stuff. I can't imagine how I'll feel once all of this traveling is underway.
On another note, Mary Beth is continually improving and we both thank you all for your prayers, phone calls, and support. She is walking a lot more and the pain has subsided oh so slightly- hopefully she's ready for today and tomorrow. I guess we'll see shortly. Well, I hope to see some of you at the concert tomorrow night or, if you're in my family, I hope to see you today at one of the meals.

I'm still alive

2006-11-21T23:39:00.000-05:00

Well, it's certainly been awhile. I don't have much of an excuse for not blogging within the past couple weeks- just a lot of little things seemed to come up. The biggest news from the past few days would be Mary Beth's hospital stay. She started experiencing large amounts of pain at the Lousiville football game on Saturday and was taken to the hospital before half time. I was already on my way to Lousiville to pick her up from the game when I heard she was on her way to the hospital so we arrived at the same time. After many tests and an overnight stay, they decided that the pain was caused by a ruptured ovarian cyst. Sounds painful, right? I'm not really sure what it feels like but I'd imagine that it's pretty terrible. She's staying at my house right now for the week, recuperating on the couch- actually, thanks to the magic of wireless internet, I'm sitting beside her right now. Say "Hi" Mary Beth. She waved. You'll just have to take my word for it.
I'll try to do better this week with this blog. Be patient, people.

I Love These People

2006-11-06T20:19:00.000-05:00

Thy Mercy - Sandra McCracken

Thy Mercy, My God

1. Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

2. Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

3. Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

4. Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

Boo Rain

2006-10-31T13:44:00.000-05:00

No, the "boo" in the title is not a Halloween interjection, it's a cry of anguish and disgust due to the water falling from the sky. It's been raining a lot here lately and today is no different- it just started about an hour ago. I thought that maybe my trip to San Antonio would get me away from the precipitation for a few days but no, it's supposed to rain there as well. I guess I'll take my jacket. On the bright side, the high for the rest of the week in San Antonio is around 70 degrees. Maybe this trip won't be so bad.
Happy Halloween everyone, eat some candy.

Travel Time

2006-10-30T23:10:00.000-05:00

I'm leaving wednesday morning for San Antonio. Yep, that's right. San Antonio, Tx. The UK Men's Choir is flying out of Louisville at an atrocious hour to go to Texas so that we can perfom a concert at the Trinity University Chapel on Thursday and then at the National Collegiate Choral Organization's (NCCO) first national convention. I've got mixed feelings about this trip, to be quite honest. I'm sure it's going to be fun, and I love performing- our songs are all about "The Life of a Man" and the audience will probably enjoy the show, but I don't want to miss class. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a dork who doesn't like missing school. We get back really late Friday night so I've got to miss all of my classes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The make-up work will be the worst part. I just worry that I won't allow myself to have a good time on this trip because I'll be stressed about all of the work I'll have awaiting me on my return. Oh well, it will probably be more fun than I am expecting.

Making a Banana Split

2006-10-23T22:37:00.000-04:00

The Muppet Show-Swedish Chef

Boy, this really takes me back. I laughed so hard as I watched this today... numerous times.

Favorite Picture

2006-10-23T08:33:00.000-04:00

This is definitely my favorite picture that we've taken together thus far. I'm not really sure what it is about this one, but I like it a lot. It really captures the essence of "us".

Heck yeah!

2006-10-19T20:09:00.000-04:00

I just figured out how to add titles to my posts. It was really easy to do, I just never thought about trying to figure it out before now. That's all I've got really. Nothing else. Well, maybe later.

2006-10-18T23:13:00.000-04:00

The current musical mood is country. I'm listening to a lot of country today and really digging and focusing in on the simplicity of the bass. I have a tendency to over-play if I'm not careful so I'm trying to get this concept of simplicity in my head and trying to translate it over into the JMB. The current album is Electric Rodeo from Shooter Jennings and before that was Son Volt (more alt-country, really) and earlier today I listened to some of Shooter Jennings first album, Put The O Back In County. Now, that I think about it, I believe it was the Eagles that first got me on this kick on Monday.
For anyone who cares: I think I'm going to put some flats on my Rickenbacker this weekend.

2006-10-18T00:46:00.000-04:00

I'm out. I'm off of Facebook and Myspace. Why? Time. It's as simple as that. I was getting quite terrible at managing my time correctly and these things were getting in the way of homework, studying, pracatice, and my quiet time and prayer life. It became most obvious in the last two and that is what finally pushed me over the edge. I realized that I was slacking off so much in my bible reading and prayer and I knew that I had to deactivate my accounts if I ever wanted it to change. But, have no fear. The blog will remain- actually I'll probably post a lot more since facebook, myspace, and my blog won't be in competition anymore. And, if you really need to get a hold of me, you can always email or call me. Stay classy readers.

2006-10-13T10:08:00.000-04:00

What happened to fall!?! Did I miss something here? Last week I was walking around in shorts and t-shirts and now I'm here bundled up in a sweater, my nice toasty hat (which Mary Beth made for me), and my winter jacket. It's October! I'm not sure what the weather is supposed to do next week but I surely hope that autumn makes some sort of appearance before Santa shows up. Don' t get me wrong, I LOVE winter and I'm thorougly enjoying this weather and it's figidity, I just feel a little cheated- that's all.

2006-10-09T02:38:00.000-04:00

Back to the dorm after an amazing weekend with Mary Beth. I spent the past few days in E-Town with her and her family. Well, not exactly her family. Actually her youth minister and his family, but they might as well be family. Mary Beth stays with them a lot (they actually look quite a bit alike) and treats them as if they were her family so that is how I will refer to them from now on. I drove there Friday night and just got back about an hour ago so I'm pretty tired and I'm about to go to bed. But, I hadn't posted anything in awhile so I felt this deserved a little bit of coverage. It's actually too late for me to have any sort of well thought-out comments on the weekend so any discussing I did wouldn't do it justice. Sorry if I got your hopes up and then let you down. Go check out Andrew's blog- maybe he's been posting some good stuff.

2006-10-03T11:50:00.000-04:00

Have you ever had a great "this-is-going-on-the-blog" moment? If you don't have a blog then I'm guessing that you haven't- but everyone else out there knows exactly what I'm talking about. You may not find this one as amusing as me, but I've been laughing to myself at this for the past half hour or so.
So, I'm walking to the Funkhouser Building for my Geology class, in which I had a test today. I was walking through the part of campus surrounded by the various classroom buildings and I smelled a delicious aroma. Hamburgers and hotdogs. I looked around and saw a huge line and since I was running late for class, didn't have time to stop and partake of the free food (it's ok, there's always free food around here.) The test took me about 15 minutes to complete (I may not have done very well, but I sure can take a fast test, dangit) and so I started to walk back to my dorm, hoping that the free food would still be out there. As I approached the tables, I saw what the free food was all about: PETA Cookout. Hmm. Weird right? Ok, I thought, maybe it's all fake meat... but it's still free! So I got a burger and started to eat it- definitely real. What the heck huh? So then I started reading their posters and actually, the cookout was an anti-PETA cookout sponsored by the Republican organization on campus. They had a bunch of posters with different facts about PETA and why they disagree with them. And if that wasn't enough to make me laugh, I saw a poster telling me that it's Republican week here! In fact, yesterday was "Fun with Guns Day." I'm serious. Oh man, what a great start to my day!

2006-10-03T00:46:00.000-04:00

I never thought I'd do this... but here you go. I'm on myspace now. Actually, I'm not really sad or anything, it will actually be quite helpful in keeping track of people- especially people that a) aren't on facebook or b) never check their facebook... you know who you are. Myspace is also a great place to find new bands. So, if you're on myspace already- send me a friend invitation, myspace friends= best friends for life! Ok, not really. But we can at least have some sort of connection right?

http://www.myspace.com/derekjohnhughes

2006-10-01T22:39:00.000-04:00

I just got back from my dorm room after an amazing weekend at home in Frankfort with Mary Beth. She drove to Lexington on Friday to hang out and eat and then we went to a cool concert across campus- The British Export (Beatles Tribute band). They were really good and it was a lot of fun. Their first set was the early pop tunes and they wore the matching suits and it was a lot of fun with everyone standing up and dancing. Then we took a short intermission and they came out for the second set with the St. Peppers costumes on (complete with George and Ringo with mustaches). They played their later rock songs to close out the night- all in all, it was a really fun concert. I definitely couldn't stand being in a tribute band of any kind, but these guys were really good and you could tell they had done their homework on the Beatles.
Then Mary Beth and I drove back to Frankfort to stay at my house (Dustin is in Canada for the weekend so she took his bed downstairs). We slept in Saturday and just sat around for awhile and then went over to my friend Sarah's house for a short appearance at her birthday luncheon (she goes to school in Illinois and it was her first time home). Then we went to Louisville to meet up with my friends Joshua and Matt and Joel, one of Joshua's friends, and had way too much pizza and that night, I filled in for the bass player in my dad's southern gospel group at a concert right outside of Louisville. We went to church that next morning and then to a family reunion for the rest of the afternoon. Mary Beth had to be back in Louisville for one of her band concerts and we had to be at church by 5 for practice so had to part ways at that point. Although that may not sound like a great weekend to you- let me tell you, it was. It was so great to spend so much time with Mary Beth, it gets pretty hard not seeing each other very often (not at all during the weeks) so any time we can spend together is just awesome. I can't wait till next weekend when I get to meet her family.

2006-09-29T00:59:00.000-04:00

Here's me and Mary Beth- isn't she great?

2006-09-29T00:48:00.000-04:00

It's getting pretty cold. I'm really ready for fall and winter- I just dislike being hot. I don't particularly enjoy freezing my butt off (figuratively or literally), but I do love cool autumn days and snow in the winter time. I just need to go home and pick up some more sweatshirts and sweaters, and maybe even a jacket. I'm kind of dreading college in the winter. Walking to and from class in the frigid Kentucky winter- not my idea of a good time. But hey, it's definitely going to beat swimming through my own sweat to get to my music theory class. I see the cold as the lesser of two evils- not something I enjoy, but something I will tolerate in order to avoid the heat. I wish it would just stay around 70 degrees all year. That has got to be the greatest temperature ever and if you don't agree, I will fight you. With that kind of weather, if you want to wear shorts- hey, go ahead! If you want to wear jeans and a sweatshirt- you go right on and do it buddy. It's the everyman temperature! If 70 degrees were to run for president I bet he could have a easy coast right into the oval office. I'm going to go ahead and stop before I go off on another odd tangent again- it's too late to be posting these things!

2006-09-26T12:13:00.000-04:00

I want to apologize for yesterday's post. I realize now that it was extremely long- and rather boring if you're not me. You see, I find it quite interesting since it directly applies to my life and it's been on my mind for the past few weeks- but no one else cares. I'm not asking anyone else to care- I just know that no one else cares. But then again, if you're reading my blog then apparently you have some sort of fascination with my life, and the fact that you're reading this post shows that although I may post some pretty boring stuff, you keep coming back for more. Well, whatever the reason you're still here- Thank you. I really mean that. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It means a lot that you take the time out of your busy lives to check up on me and are somewhat concerned with my well-being. I'll try to keep the posts more universal from now on... ok, so I really won't. Because my life isn't exactly universal. A lot of the things that I write about will apply only to me, but I still hope you find them amusing.

2006-09-25T21:27:00.000-04:00

Alright faithful readers. You've asked for it, and here it is... a new post!
This one will be about music, so if that's not your cup of tea then I suggest you stop reading and go watch CNN or something, or just skip to the final paragraph. I really want to try out in-ear monitors. I've used them before, back with Willing Heart and they worked pretty good for me. But, that was with completely different equipment and in a completely different musical setting. Now, I've got 2 onstage amps to deal with and (if we're lucky) acoustic drums and I've been having a lot of trouble hearing myself. I use my amp on stage (500 watt hartke with a 4x10 Carvin) but this is only for monitoring purposes. Since I've gotten the bass pod (still love it), my sound comes straight out of it and I don't use my amp to change my signal to the board, I simply run parallel outs to the amp and the mixer. But, as you may know, a 4 x 10 cab has a bit of a problem getting the sound up to the ears. If you distance yourself enough from it, it sounds pretty good, but I have never had the adequate stage room to pull this off. All of my sound ends up hitting me in the legs, so I feel the bass more than anything. Now, this is quite a problem since I need to hear myself over said amps and drums, but I still need to give control of my overall volume to my dad, he runs sound. If I turn my amp up loud enough where I can hear it onstage, it becomes impossible for him to control the bass and most times he ends up turning me off completely in the house mix. You see, most places we play are rather small rooms, barely large enough to hold us, much less an audience. When you get that much bass going on, it feels up the whole room and ruins the overall sound of the band. So...
I really want to try in-ear monitors. If I could take a monitor signal from the board, run it through my head phone amp, and pump it straight into my head, I could do away with my onstage amp and give dad complete control over the bass in the house mix. With this new board, I could have my own monitor mix, separate from the rest of the band, and I could have as much bass as I want. Since Willing Heart, I've updated my ear buds to a higher model and messed around with many different tips until I've found one that best fits my ear and blocks out the most sound. Next time JMB practices I am definitely going to bring my new set-up and give it a go. And not only would this improve my monitoring of the bass, it would allow me to hear everything with so much more clarity- especially vocals. Yes, I have a great feeling about this. I can't wait to try it out.
For those of you who skipped the majority of the post to read the final paragraph, here ya go. I had hours of free time this afternoon between class letting out and a 7 o clock practice. I had this strange feeling that I was missing something really important and that I should be doing something instead of sitting around. It finally hit me. The thing that I was missing. It was dinner. I forgot to eat. Boy, I scare myself sometimes.

2006-09-18T23:54:00.000-04:00

Update time. As of this past Saturday night (or I guess it was actually really early Sunday morning): I am in a relationship with a wonderful girl named Mary Beth Mann. Yes, I realize that I am dating a "mann" and feel free to laugh about it as much as you want, I get quite a kick out of it actually. Those who frequent the JMB message board- yes, all 6 of you, may know her as Number1Fan. Yup, that's the one. I realize that this relationship has progressed very quickly over the past month or so, but, other than the truth in my salvation, I have never been more sure of anything in my life. I know that this is exactly where God wants me right now. We would both greatly appreciate your prayers for our relationship to stay completely grounded in Him and for us to be extremely sensitive to His voice. Thanks guys.

2006-09-13T21:36:00.000-04:00

I just got back from my first night of leading worship for the youth service at Master's Church in Lexington. I didn't know quite what to expect since I've never really been to any service at the church at all. I went to the park with them last week- they've been going to a nearby park all summer and getting the neighborhood kids involved, many of which were there tonight. There were a few technical difficulties with the sound system but it all got straightened out by the third song so it was alright. There were 12 kids there tonight, and a lot were not "church kids". They didn't really care too much about the music or the message that Marc brought, they just wanted to be in a place where they were loved and accepted. Anyway, Marc presented that gospel tonight and gave an opportunity at the end for people to make decisions and three people were saved tonight! Three! God moved in three peoples lives and they are now in a relationship with Him. I'm so excited right now for Megan, Nicky, and Emily. Nicky and Emily were both ready to go talk to more of their friends about Jesus! And when Marc was talking to Megan and she said that she wanted grow in her relationship with God. You could tell that this definitely wasn't a "get out of hell free card" for her, but a real relationship with God and she understood exactly what it meant.
I can't wait to see what God is going to do next.

2006-09-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

I didn't want to post this at first because it is quite a personal song for me but I'm posting it in hopes that God will use it to influence your life.

Because of Me

They say they feel your presence and I can see you on each face
But the place in me where you should be feels like an empty space
They sing and shout and praise your name and dance all down the aisle
And as to not look out of place I sing along and smile
Their holy hands are lifted high and unashamed their battle cry is
Holy is the Lord, my God, He reigns
But this thorn in my side has caused me pain

Where are you God? Your face I cannot see
All this sin still present in my life shows me that I need you to be
Before time you chose me, so I know you'll never leave
But I can't see you, because of me

I know your word is always true and it's clear about the right
But this sweet sin, she draws me in with colors and bright lights
"Come follow me" she calls each day, I'll surely fit right in
Because I'd rather be a harlot, than go fishing for your men
Oh Lord, I'm tired of living like a righteous man in my own eyes
My Fig leaf suit is rotting away
Oh God, you hear me when I say

Where are you God? Your face I cannot see
All this sin still present in my life shows me that I need you to be
Before time you chose me, so I know you'll never leave
But I can't see you, because of me

2006-09-05T13:20:00.000-04:00

I cooked soup. I ate soup. Soup was good.
After realizing that my meal plan at the moment includes only 7 meals a week I've decided to eat more meals on my own. As it is right now, the meal plan averages out to be between $8-$9 per meal so it would be cheaper to do more meals on my own than it would be to add more money to a meal plan. However, my parents do pay for my meal plan so that makes it cheaper for me, but not for them. Good thing I'm happy eating pretty much anywhere. There are so many places to eat on campus, I've only been to about half of them- not including the restaurants right down the street. The place that I've eaten at the most is this grill in the food court at the students center (right across the street) with really good chicken strips and fries. There burgers are ok, but the buns kept falling apart in my hand, so I've sworn them off forever. Ha, that'll teach 'em a lesson. I've also been to Ovids a few times (downstairs in the library). They have sandwiches (which I've heard are good) and good ol' home cooking. One time they made me a nice meal with turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Oh, so good. I'm still making my way around campus trying to find the best food and I'm really enjoying the journey, much more than I enjoy studying. Maybe I could switch my major to "Restaurant Exploration"... do they have that? If not they really should. Maybe I'll be a pioneer in the field. Anyone wanting to study under me can just call. I've left my number with my mother so call her first.

2006-09-05T00:23:00.000-04:00

I'm back in my dorm room now after a weekend at home- I was really glad to be home but at the same time, I missed my life here. It seems odd that after only a couple of weeks, this place already feels a little like home- enough that I miss it when I'm gone. I didn't miss going to class, or doing work, but I did miss my friends and my dorm (man, I love my dorm a lot). But, even though I'm happy to be here, I miss home... my real home. I miss my mom and dad and David and Daisey (she's a dog) and being close to my church and Andrew's church (that's where we practice). I wouldn't go as far as calling it homesick- but I definitely miss everyone.
Oh, I didn't make the acoUstiKats. I forgot to mention it last time. There ended up being 3 open spots and 2 of those spots went to returning former members so there were 17 guys going for 1 spot. The guy who got it was either a junior or a senior, and I think he's a Bass 2. Since I auditioned for Bass 1, I didn't really have a shot at all, but at least I know the audition process now and they seemed to be pleased with my tryout. Hopefully I'll have a shot in the future. Well, I need to get some sleep because I've got class tomorrow- oh, the college life. See ya

2006-08-29T16:49:00.000-04:00

Goodbye freetime, hello outrageous music major workload! Wow, this semester, not to mention the next 4 years, will be the death of me. Ok, so not actually death... I'm sure that I'll manage, but it will be a huge adjustment having to stay organized and keep track of lessons and recitals and parties and studio time and homework and parties and research and parties and... nah, I'm just kidding about the parties. There will be no time for parties and even if there was, come on! I'm not a partyer! Well, I have more to say but I have to go meet some people for dinner and then JMB is practicing at the Point tonight so I need to start the long haul from my dorm to my car and drive to Frankfort. Random trivia of the day: It takes me just as long to get to my car from my dorm as the drive back to Frankfort. Does that blow your mind? Cause that just happened!

2006-08-24T22:23:00.000-04:00

I was writing a post last night when I went to do a spell check. Something crazy happened and it erased my post. I was pretty irritated and went to bed without reposting it, so here's a new post. UK is pretty awesome. I really love it here. I'm doing A LOT of music- 2 theory classes and 2 choirs at the moment. I tried out for the acoUstiKats today- the mens a cappella group that sings pop music. I'm not really expecting to get in as a Freshman, but I thought, what the hey? Might as well try out so I can know what the audition is next year. I've been looking forward to this group for the past four years and it is one of the big reasons I am here at UK. I'll let you know how it goes, they should post results tomorrow afternoon.
So, I've been hanging out the past week with Eric (a friend from GSP), Amber (Eric's friend from church), and Molly (Amber's friend from GSP and roommate). They are all extremely cool people and I feel very blessed to have already made such great friends. We are about to finish a movie and then I have a great deal of reading to do so... See you later.

2006-08-18T17:26:00.000-04:00

Well, here I am. Sitting in my dormroom at UK. I just moved in this morning and my roommate and his parents are out at Target buying some stuff. I've got all of my stuff situated, which didn't take long, and I've decided that I'll be leading a pretty simple life this year- unless I decide to bring a lot more items from home. I still need to bring a few more clothes and posters- I'm coming home Sunday so I didn't see a point in bringing everything now. I think I might go try to call some people and see if anyone else is ready to stop moving in and start hanging out.

2006-08-12T17:16:00.000-04:00

i repent, i repent of my pursuit of america's dream
i repent, i repent of living like i deserve anything
of my house, my fence, my kids, my wife
in our suburb where we're safe and white
i am wrong and of these things i repent

i repent, i repent of parading my liberty
i repent. i repent of paying for what i get for free
and for the way i believe that i am living right
by trading sins for others that are easier to hide
i am wrong and of these things i repent

i repent judging by a law that even i can't keep
of wearing righteousness like a disguise
to see through the planks in my own eyes

i repent, i repent of trading truth for false unity
i repent, i repent of confusing peace and idolatry
by caring more of what they think than what i know of what we need
by domesticating you until you look just like me
i am wrong and of these things i repent

"I Repent" by Derek Webb

2006-08-12T00:19:00.000-04:00

I didn't get my request to the schedule people in time... one more week of kroger. Blast.

2006-08-11T12:56:00.000-04:00

I'm almost done, just a few more days until I'm out of Kroger... until Christmas break. I'm taking a leave of absense so that I can attend college and still come back and work whenever my Christmas break comes around. It will be nice to not have to go to work... but what will I talk about on my blog? A lot of my ramblings and rants come from my experiences at Kroger so I will have to find something else to write about for a few months. Maybe college will provide me with ample material.
Right now I'm trying to get all of my stuff in order before I have to move out next Friday. I'm in the process of seeing friends before they move away and that's going pretty well so far. I have a party today and tomorrow. Well, party probably isn't the right term here- my friends don't really party too much. It's mostly a get-together with a big group of friends but it's still going to be a lot of fun. I'm also in the process of putting all of my cds (and Dustin's and David's) on my computer into iTunes so that I don't have to mess with all my CD's anymore. The next logical step would be to buy an iPod so that I can carry all of my music with me everywhere I go. This would be especially helpful in my car where I could simply plug the iPod into my CD player and have my entire music library at my fingertips. The only problem here is money. Yes, it may suprise some of you, knowing that I work so diligently at Kroger and assuming that my paychecks are just phenomenal, but I'm a poor college student. I can afford an iPod right now, but I need that money for other things (like food) so I keep putting off this purchase. Don't worry though, I'll probably break down and buy one in a few months, or maybe weeks... who know?

2006-08-08T13:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I think that I have finally got my sleep back from Band camp. Last week was pretty rough but it was a lot of fun. This week should be a lot less busy but then the next week I have to move in at UK. I'm pretty excited about that actually. At first I was not too ready to start classes and start doing work but then I realized... I'm a music major! How much hard work will I have to do? And the work that I will be doing will be doing will be enjoyable and I won't mind doing it at all. Yes, I'm ready to go to college.

2006-08-03T23:58:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the busiest week of my life... maybe. All this week I've been working Kroger from 7 am- noon and then driving over to UK to teach at FCHS band camp. I have gotten very little sleep this week and I think it might catch up with me tomorrow (I only had about 4 hours the night before last so that should probably kick in soon). But regardless of the amount of sleep I'm getting- I am having the time of my life teach these high schoolers how to play tuba and how to march. Some of my favorite high school memories come from band- most of them really- and I'm glad that I can help these kids experience the same feelings. Wow, I'm really tired and my writing is getting somewhat sentimental. I better go before I burn these Ramen Noodles.

2006-07-29T19:09:00.000-04:00

I spent my Friday evening and about half of Saturday at the Honors Program Luau at UK. It was ok I guess, I didn't really know that many people- one girl from western hills, a few gsp people, and one Rexroat who was working at the Cat's Den. I got a lot of new information about the Honors Program which is nice because I knew NOTHING about it. I wasn't even sure if I was in it. Oh, some exciting news! I started someone blogging. Yes, one of my friends read my blog and has now started their own. This has happened a couple of times before but they have already stopped keeping theirs up so I figured maybe if I blogged about Hannah's blog, then she will have to keep on blogging.
I am so excited for Hannah right now- not because she started a blog, but because of what God is doing in her life. She is thinking a lot about God right now and started to seek after Him, realizing that she has kind of strayed away. They most awesome thing about this is the fact that no one really seeks God. Paul quoted from the Psalm's when he said, "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God" (Romans 3:10-11). The only way for a person to be "seeking" after God is for the Holy Spirit to be working in their lives. You see, no one seeks after God because we are born sinners. We can do nothing good on our own apart from God- even the "good" things that we try to do apart from God are fueled by our selfish desires to appear "good" to the outside world. (But that's another story). Anyway, the only way that my friend Hannah could be thinking about God so much, is that the Holy Spirit working in her life. God has specifically chosen to cause Hannah's brain to ponder Him. If you'll allow me to use an illustration: God doesn't fish for people with a net- God uses a pole with very specific bait. He doesn't simply cast a huge net out take whatever He gets. He seeks after people and when that happens there's nothing you can do to resist Him.
Wow, that's a really roundabout way of say that but to sum it all up: I can't wait to see how God is going to work in Hannah.

2006-07-28T10:24:00.000-04:00

Posting, posting, everyone loves some posting. That has a little tune in my head but since you can't hear me singing it you can't really experience that diddy. You could just make up your own tune I guess. I've been working the past few days at Kroger and it's been a pretty typical week. Busy during the same hours, slow during the same hours. I did, however, bag yesterday. I'm not sure if I am really supposed to but I sure did. I came back in from my break and they didn't want to open up another register. John still had another 25 minutes before he took his break so I bagged for awhile- I even helped some woman out to her care (I think she was some elementary school teacher). It was fun I guess, but I don't care to ever do that again.
I'll tell you what I want to do. I want to play some music with JMB. It seems like it's been forever since we last played. We have a concert coming up this weekend I believe so I'm really looking forward to that. My five string hasn't gotten a whole lot of play since I got the Rickenbacker and I am wanting to play that some more. I'll probably only use the Rickenbacker for one or two songs in JMB just because it's not exactly the sound I'm looking for in that context. (It's still pretty sweet though)
Well, I've got to go to work now. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go. That one has a tune too but I'm sure most people know that one- so enjoy singing it to yourself, or aloud to the rest of the house.

2006-07-25T23:44:00.000-04:00

Here's a picture of me with no hair. Deal wit it.

2006-07-25T13:37:00.000-04:00

I'm home as of Sunday night but havne't had a chance to blog due to a studio project in which I was involved. I layed down bass for a song that a friend of my friend Josh wrote for his wife. We recored at Saint Claire Studio in Lexington. Lexington. Can't be that great huh? Well let me tell you- this was the nicest studio that I had ever seen (in person, tv, online, album art). It was insane. The guy who played acoustic guitar used to do a lot of session work and he said that it would be years and years before any of us ever saw anything that nice again- it was definitely the nicest place he had ever played. It was a late night but awesome nonetheless.
Bowling Green. What an awesome weekend! I'm so happy that we were all able to get together and hang out like that. I hadn't seen any of those guys since last summer and it was great to just be around each other again. We went to Mammoth Cave and took a tour of Bowling Green on Saturday (not much to it really) and then went to church at Rich Pond Baptist on Sunday. Rachael had to get back to Louisville for the evening service at her church so we had to leave a little early from Jonathan's house but then I ended up going to church with Rachael. After the service we went over to her boyfriend's house and spent time with some of her friends. I laughed so hard at times that I thought I was going to get sick but then the conversation always came around to spiritual matters. It was so awesome to be around a group of peers that had that sort of mentality- Jesus isn't just an area in their life, he is their life. It was a really great weekend and I hope we can do it again soon.
Facebook. I'm on facebook now- finally gave into all of the peer pressure. Actually, it's a really great way to stay in touch with high school friends throughout college and meet different people who go to your school. So, if you're on facebook, look me up and add me as a friend! That'd be really cool of you.

2006-07-22T01:20:00.000-04:00

I am in Bowling Green right now with some GSP friends- good times... good times... We just finished watching The Bourne Identity (well, they did- I slept through most of it) and I think we are about to go to bed, unless Rachael wants to play some cards. Having just slept a few hours, I'm not that tired and I could either go right to bed and be fine or I could stay up for a few more hours and that be alright too. Tomorrow we are going to go to Mammoth Cave and do one of the tours (Frozen Niagra maybe?). I'm really looking forward to it since I haven't ben in years and these people are really cool.

2006-07-20T22:11:00.000-04:00

I'm in the mood to listen to Broadway musicals right now. So... I'm listening to The Last 5 Years. Ok, actually it's an off-broadway show but it'll do. The cast consist of one man and one woman and the play takes place over a five year period- two and a half of dating and then two and a half of marriage and break up. The man tells the story from forwards to backwards starting with the moment they first met and the woman tells the story backwards, starting from the moment the break up. They sing the middle song together when their stories meet as they get married. The music is really amazing with piano, fretless bass, strings, and a few horns I believe. I hope I'll get to see this play in the future but I'm not sure how much longer it will be touring. Oh well...
Andrew was the first to receive his prize today as he stolled through my lane at Kroger buying some food. I'm not going to reveal what he got, but let's just say that he won't be forgetting it any time soon. Don't you want to come now and receive your reward? Just come through my lane, mention the blog, and get yours. But... I won't be there until next week sometime. Probably tuesday. This weekend I'm going to hang out with some GSP friends in Bowling Green- woohoo! I hope everyone has a great weekend.

2006-07-18T22:19:00.001-04:00

Alright all you faithful blog readers out there: Today marks the beginning at a competition. What game you ask? Well if you would just keep reading and quit pausing to ask such questions you would find out shortly. As you all know, I work at Kroger. I am there a lot and that is why most of my blogs have something to do with Kroger. I am offering a prize to the first person to come through my lane (to buy something) and mention this post. All you have to do is come through (while buying something) and mention that you read the post about the competition. I am giving away some fabulous prizes to the first 5 people to complete this task. The prize may be a cruise... or it may be a handshake and a pat on the back. Considering my current job and salary I'm sure you can imagine what kind of prize this will be. But, it's a prize nonetheless. So next time you're in Kroger, pick up some produce, come stand in my line, say "Hey Derek, I read about your competition on the blog), and receive your fabulous prize. I'll give an extra bonus to whoever beats my mom to my lane. She's in Kroger a lot so be on your toes. I'll be there tomorrow from 8:30- 2:30 and Thursday from 3:15- 8:30 (random hours, I know). Let the games begin!
Oh, some woman left a mop in my lane tonight. She paid for it but just walked off without it. Miss, if you're reading this, go to Kroger and get yourself that mop. You know you can't mop the kitchen floor without that new mop.
See you at Kroger!

2006-07-18T22:19:00.000-04:00

This post is almost blank...

2006-07-18T00:43:00.000-04:00

Apparently if you show up to a movie with only three people in the whole place they will give you a raincheck and tell you to go home and come another day. Who Knew?

2006-07-17T21:09:00.000-04:00

Monday, monday... What a great day of the week! It's right after Sunday but still right before Tuesday. I mean, honestly, could Monday be any greater? I'm not sure if any of that makes sense but you had to read it anyway... so there.
It was a pretty busy day at kroger. From about 4-6 we were SWAMPED! At least it wasn't boring I guess. That's a good way to look at it. If no one comes through my line then I get pretty bored so it's nice to have something to do. I had to work the Express lane today for about 3 hours. It would get pretty slow so I would take a big order through my line (maybe 30 items). And as soon as I would start ringing it all up, a "real" express person would get in line so I'd feel terrible for ruining the purity of the express lane by allowing a large order to sneak into the line. Oh well, I guess they'll get over it.
Ok, here's the rant of the day. This one has been stewing for about a week now and I'm finally rady to bring it to light. If you come through my line and you are paying via EBT (foodstamps)... TELL ME! Nowadays, ebt is on a credit card. It's a lot easier to keep up with and all you have to do is swipe a card in order to pay for your food. People with ebt usually assume that I can look at them and automatically tell that they will be using ebt to pay. If they are using ebt, I have to hit the foodstamp button, then total, then the button that allows you to scan the card. I think it says ESV but I'm not sure... that may just be my bible translation... ANYWAY... If you don't tell me that it's ebt I don't hit the foodstamp button and then I have to cancel it all out and make the person swipe the card again. Sure, it only takes about 15 more seconds if we make this mistake... but it's the principal of the whole thing. Why can't you just tell me that it's foodstamps huh? Before you swipe the care just say "EBT". That's all you have to tell me. Sometimes I get lucky and I get a glimpse of the card before they start to pay- the front looks like an American flag. So that is helpful. But, it's not helpful that some other credit card companies feel the need to put the American flag on the front of their cards. So the moral of this rant is... just tell me if you are using ebt ok? Thank you.
I'm going to see the Pirate movie again tonight with David. There was some stuff in the first viewing that I didn't catch and I was a little lost at times. David's been wanting to see it sense the first time he saw it too, he loved it. It'll be nice to hang out with David- he was at church camp all last week so I'm sure there's some catching up to do.

2006-07-15T09:52:00.000-04:00

Hair For Sale! Hair For Sale! To help put myself through college I have decided to put my hair up for sale. Anyone interested in purchasing a lock or two should contact me. But please, no wierd-o's or stalkers.

2006-07-14T18:54:00.000-04:00

I just cut my hair... short.

2006-07-11T22:55:00.000-04:00

I'm off for the next three days from Kroger. I think they are trying to get rid of me. Perhaps they've discovered my plot to take over the world... one Kroger at a time. It is really a genious plot. Think of the millions of people who shop at Kroger. If I had control of the Krogers I could control all of those people. It's just a shame that Kroger doesn't exist all over the world... or the country for that matter. Oh well. Maybe I should seek employment at McDonalds. Now there is a franchise worth controlling. You all just wait and see- in a matter of a few years you'll all be eating at McDereks and listening to subliminal messages played over the radio inside. I will have the world at my finger tips and there's nothing you can do to stop me... Bwah ha ha ha ha! Bwah ha ha ha ha!
Maybe I should quit posting at night. All of my night posts turn out odd...