Posts filed under 'Random Thoughts'
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Christmas time is upon us once again and as I sit here by the fireplace, sipping a glass of hot cocoa, gazing at the Christmas tree lights, surrounded by 400 used Kleenexes, I ponder that winter query that many of us are currently faced with…will I ever get over this cold!!! Right after Thanksgiving, Karen and I got this cold that is one of the longest we’ve ever had. Fortunately, Karen is getting over it, but I still haven’t turned the corner, even with the all-powerful ally of Amoxicillin. Our concert last Sunday morning was cancelled because of snow (rescheduled for Feb. 10th for those of you in western Maryland), and I was able to eek out Sunday evening’s concert, but I’m hoping I can be back to form for this weekend. Please keep me in prayer as we have a really busy December, full of rehearsals and concerts and I need to be back in good health soon to make it through it all.
I want to thank you all for your prayers for our family when we were out on tour in Oklahoma. We made it home safely and our car ran fine after replacing the transmission. There really is no good time for a transmission to go out, but if there was, this was it! We didn’t miss a single concert, and we were able to get our transmission fixed by a reputable place at a really good price. Had we broken down 400 miles earlier, it could have been a real disaster.
Each year, our family watches our stack of Christmas movies throughout December. This year, being so busy, we’ve barely touched the stack, but we did watch my favorite a couple of days ago…It’s a Wonderful Life. I guess I’ve always been moved by the story because it’s the story of my life. Sure, I’ll admit there was a time I hoped to be the next Steven Curtis Chapman, the next big singer/songwriter to explode onto the national scene and take the music business by storm. I had dreams of having a string of number one songs that would stand forever, being cheered by tens of thousands of fans everywhere I sang. God had other plans, though. I had always hoped to do something “Big”, but in a way, we are. We are touching the lives of people every week. I’m able to travel and minister with my family, and write songs that God is using to encourage people in their faith. We are seeing souls come to Christ everywhere we go, and we are blessed to be used of God to further His Kingdom. We truly are leading a “Wonderful Life!” I guess I’ve always felt a kindred spirit in George Bailey, but this year, the movie was particularly relevant. For those of you who know the story, George Bailey, through no fault of his own wound up in serious financial trouble. He had a debt that there was no way he could pay, but in the final scene, the whole town pulled together and came up with what he needed, simply because they had all been touched by his life and his giving spirit through the years. God times these things perfectly because at the very same moment this final scene came on, I was right in the middle of organizing thank-you notes to be sent to the list of people who had come together and supported us financially to help pay for our transmission. It was an incredible moment as our family thanked God for the awesome friends, sufficient God, and wonderful life we truly do have!
December 7th, 2007
Singing Tip Of The Day – Dehydration can be a big problem in the Summer especially during those outdoor concerts in the hot sun, and in the Winter when the heat is on and pulls all the moisture out of the air. Drinking lots of fluids is the key, especially things like hot tea. A lot of people like water, but for me Gatorade Rain or apple juice does the trick much better (Just make sure not to drink too much caffeine as it dries you out or too much sugar as you’ll tend to not fit in you clothes for long!) Another great thing you can do is keeping your sinuses from getting too dried out. One of the best products I’ve found is called sinu-cleanse. The website for more information is http://www.sinucleanse.com/
I know at first glance it seems really gross, but trust me, I use it every day and it is fantastic. You can also buy it at most any drug store.
August 7th, 2007
Recently at a couples retreat in Ocean City, MD, Karen and I were asked to write what we thought would be our 10 Commandments for marriage. Here’s what I came up with:
1. Thou shalt always place God at the center of your marriage.
2. Thou shalt seek to be controlled and led by the Holy Spirit at all times.
3. Thou shalt strive to always meet each other’s spiritual needs by praying, studying God’s Word, and worshipping together.
4. Thou shalt strive to always understand and meet each other’s emotional needs, taking time to talk and listen to each other and by serving each other daily.
5. Thou shalt strive to always meet each other’s physical needs.
6. Thou shalt make every attempt to minimize the things that annoy, irritate or offend your spouse.
7. Thou shalt use your talents and gifts to serve the Lord together.
8. Thou shalt make wise financial choices so as to relieve the stress money can bring, and to be good stewards of the resources God has given you.
9. Thou shalt train up your children to make the right decisions, so when they are on their own they will choose what is right by themselves.
10. Thou shalt speak only words of love, and even in an argument, “fighting a clean fight”.
I know you may be able to come up with an even better list, but hopefully this may be a benefit to some.
Bill
March 15th, 2007
As many of you know, my favorite Christian Rock band, Petra retired after 33 fantastic years on December 31st, 2005. Down through the years, I have listened to several CD’s from other Christian bands, but never found any that I liked as well as “The standard”. In fact, with the exception of quite a few CCM artists, I don’t think I bought one single Christian Rock CD during the entire decade of the 90’s. To be honest, I didn’t buy many CD’s during the 90’s except for an occasional release by one of my 80’s favorites.
Now, after 6 months of mourning the loss of my favorite band, I felt I could go out to the Christian bookstore and see “What’s New”. After about 3 trips of listening to CD’s in the store and clips on iTunes, what I found was that in the last year there has been an explosion of new artists that are absolutely fantastic! The best part about buying these CD’s is that Jessica has money of her own now and loves the same music I do…so we split the cost. Actually, it’s pretty cool that as a dad, music is something I can share with my kids. It’s pretty sad when something as wonderful as Christian music can be a wedge between parents and children.
Anyway…here are my top 10 favorite new Christian bands and CD’s that I have found so far:
Honorable Mention: Ian Eskelin (Save The Humans) , Casting Crowns (Lifesong, Self-Titled) – I love their CDs, but these are less rock and more on the CCM/Pop side of the musical aisle. Lyrically, these are some of the best out there today.
10. Red (End of Silence) – Breathe Into Me is a fantastic song, great hook and the singer has an awesome voice. This band is almost symphonic in their sound. Reminds me of Evanescence.
9. Thousand Foot Krutch (Art of Breaking) – Absolute and Hand Grenade are my favorites. Killer guitar work on this CD. Probably the best on any of the CDs I bought.
8. Disciple (Self-Titled) – The Wait Is Over and Rise Up are my favorites. I was really impressed by the lyrics page of their website. After almost every phrase is a scripture reference. It shows that a lot of study went into their song lyrics.
7. Day of Fire (Cut & Move) – Love, Run & Regret are my favorites. These guys have a “better than most” ability to write catchy songs that stick with you.
6. Cross Culture (Proof Positive) – This Moment in Time, Swing, & Fly are my picks. This CD was produced by one of my favorites, John Elefante who also produced Petra for so many years. Sonically, this band is so different than all the others I’ve heard. They incorporate many different musical elements but always seem to come up with great hooks for their songs.
5. Falling Up (Dawn Escapes) – Very poetic in their writing. It’s hard to pick a favorite because almost every song on this CD is so catchy. In fact, these songs are easily the ones that I find myself singing throughout the day. You can’t get them out of your mind…and that’s a good thing!
4. Pillar (Fireproof, Where Do We Go From Here) – Probably the best production values of the bunch. Also, probably the hardest rockin’ of the lot. Fireproof has a lot of rap on it and WDWGFH has almost none. I like it better when he sings, but even though I don’t like rap, They make me LOVE it. Great guitar riffs!
3. Kutless (Hearts of the Innocent) – To be honest, I have heard a lot of their earlier CDs and never really liked much of what I heard. Boy, all that changed with this CD. The writing is absolutely phenomenal and I like the vocals much better than the previous CDs. Unlike several of the bands, they are very clear in their writing. Great, practical Christian content!
2. Jonah 33 (Self-titled, The Strangest Day) – I absolutely LOVE this band. They have a fantastic testimony and are so ministry minded…plus they rock! The Difference and Tell Me are my favorites.
1. Decemberadio (Self-titled) – This band has been around for several years, but this is their first national release so I can’t say they are the next Petra (You’ve got to prove yourself for more than a few years to do that)…BUT…they are off to an unbelievable start. This CD is the best new Christian CD I’ve bought since, well, Petra’s Jekyll & Hyde which is the best CD I had bought in the last 10 years. This CD is absolutely perfect. It is catchy, doctrinally relevant, guitar riff driven, ministry minded, and vocally impressive. It recalls a lot of the fun guitar driven bands of the 80’s yet is musically relevant for today. A perfect blend. I predict that this will be the hottest band in the next few years!
Well, that’s my list. It will probably change as new artists hit the scene, but I have found that Christian Rock is alive and well and, stronger than ever!
July 26th, 2006
Sorry, but right now, most of my random thoughts are on our new project in the works. Check out “Creation of an Album” for more info…although I must say, it was really cool that we finally got Al-Zarqawi in Iraq. Boy, a guy like that sure gives all of us guys named Al a bad name! (Name: William Albert Itzel) Seriously though, I am so proud of our troops for ignoring the liberal press back home and just getting the job done!
June 9th, 2006
This is where I will post some random thoughts.
April 19th, 2006