Yesterday I received an email from another guy in ministry asking for some ideas for new music. Looking for something for the 18-30 year old crowd. I had some suggestions of my own, but I wanna hear yours!
What bands/groups/singers are you digging for church music outside of the normal Hillsong, Fee, Crowder, Tomlin, etc.?
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Spill it!
A while back I set a goal for myself. As a relatively frequent blogger (4 or 5 times a week usually) there were plenty of weeks that went by that I struggled with whether or not I wanted to keep spending time here or if it was just a phase. So I thought I would put myself to the test to see if I had it in me or if I was just forcing it. I set a goal to post every day for 30 days.
I reached that goal no problem. But it was too easy. I wasn’t really pushing myself. Just setting my mind to it. So I decided to set a real goal. Instead of 30 days, the aim was for 365. Well, that was 359 days ago. The final countdown has started. This is post is the first of the remaining 7. 51 weeks down. One to go. I’m pretty sure I can make it. It has definitely been a struggle at times, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is absolutely a marathon.
But now I have to decide what to do once I cross the finish line. There are plenty of options and I think have some good ones, but I’m not sure which I want to go with yet. So I need your help here.
Which option is your pick?
You know they say that babies change your life. Well, they are right. Babies definitely change your life. I was asked the other day what we did before Jessi came along. Now that our daughter is just about 6 months old, I had to stop and think about it.
Now that we have a baby, I get home from work and we sit on the floor and play for a couple hours with a walk thrown in there every other day or so. But before, what did we do? We still did the beach and walks. We also watched a bunch of shows and went places. We pretty much did whatever we wanted. Well, it’s a bit different now. So different in fact that some where between the end of 24 or the World Cup and the start of college football our HD disappeared.
But now we are into a rhythm with our sleeping habits and bedtimes. Plus all the new seasons and new shows are coming on. So for all you people out there who aren’t against TV and haven’t sworn it off, what should we watch? We like comedy, action, thriller, suspense. We will likely be attempting to keep up with The Office, Community, Family Guy, Chuck and Fringe. That may be more than enough. We may have to get a babysitter just to have a show marathon.
But what say you? What are we missing out on (after the baby is in bed of course)? What is the fall 2010 Must See TV?
Yesterday was a frustrating day. All my ideas were bumming me out because they were so bad (and you know an idea is bad when you think it and you get bummed because it was already so bad you didn’t need anyone else to tell you it’s bad). But, the over all idea is still there and I believe still a good one. I’m not willing to let that one go. All the little supporting stuff…that stuff I’m ok with tossing and starting over.
But at the moment I’m in that valley between trashing everything and actually restarting it. I need some inspiration! I need some creative juices! I need that light bulb to turn on. Even if I don’t get the best ideas or the ones I end up sticking with, I need some to start flowing.
So. What do you do to get your creative juices pumping? (Don’t tell me you put your thinking cap or creative cap on. That’s just dumb.) When you need some inspiration where do you look?
That’s how I feel right now…of course without the fancy clothes.
I’m working on something that I am pretty excited about. That’s a good thing, right? Well, at the moment I am frustrated. I have all these ideas, but I am struggling to get them out. I am struggling to make things look like I see them. I feel like I’m walking around a wall that surrounds my end goal but I can’t figure out how to get through. Kinda frustrating.
So I ask you. What do you do when you are frustrated?
Do you drop it and come back?
Do you just keep going and try to force your way through?
Do you seek help?
Give up?
Help a brotha out here. How do I pull a Disney and make my dreams come true?!
(See! That’s how frustrated I am at the moment! Terrible jokes!)
As I am headed back to work today and thinking about how great it was to be with all my family on vacation I’m wondering how to get my mind reengaged with life, how to kickstart my heart again if you will. If you take a vacation well, I believe you should disconnect yourself from work as much as you possibly can. If I am on vacation but constantly worried about work and things that I have already gotten covered, I’m not getting much of a break from one of the main things that vacation is.
So that’s what I did. I haven’t read any emails or answered phone calls or made setlists. I haven’t worked on the Web site or played with a single graphic. I haven’t even picked up my guitar. But now I am back and vacation is over. Now I have to get my mind going again on all things normal life.
What do you do? How do you reengage? Or do you find yourself not actually taking a break?
So last week I started telling you about some changes that I have been planning on for a while. For those of you that may have missed it, there has been some things that I have had on my heart for a long time. I have been chewing on it for a long time but just always put it off as something to maybe do later. Well, I finally decided that it was time to go for it and I am hoping that God will bless it and use it.
The other side of it was that the domain that I had decided on and was centering everything around was taken. Someone in New York had taken one of the two best options and someone in Florida had the other. Huge bummer! Well, now for the update! I have emailed back and forth with the guy in Florida and he has decided to let us have the domain! That is huge! I don’t have to come up with a whole new idea!
So now I wanna ask a favor from you all. I know I haven’t told you much about what is to come, but I am really excited about it. I know you don’t have details and I know that we don’t know this guy with the domain, but I wanna ask all of you to join in with me in praying for what is to come and that God will use it in ways that make my dreams for it look weak! Also, pray that the guy in Florida would be blessed for being so gracious and willing! Thank you all so much! I can’t wait to unveil the thoughts and ideas for it all!
Plans are in the works for a major renovation here at brookjames.com. I have been thinking and praying about this for a while now and I’m tired of just not doing it. So over the next couple months (hopefully not longer than that) I will be working on a brand new look to this site. I hope and pray that it will be something that God will use in all kinds of ways. I don’t know what the finished product is yet, but I have some pretty good ideas of what I’m shooting for and I am very excited about it all!
So, here is where you come in. I have come up with some plans and concepts, but the domain name that I want to get to add to it has been taken. It was claimed back in 2008 and has not been used. Unfortunately the owner has it until 2012. Boo. While there are other options, this one is my absolute favorite so far. So if you would join in with me in praying that this lady in New York doesn’t ignore my emails, has a heart, no plans for it, and is willing to pass it on to me I would really appreciate it! It won’t stop the plans from moving forward if she says no or ignores me, but it definitely will be a big bummer!
Thank you all for your support, prayers and love. I seriously can’t thank you all enough! Stay tuned for some awesome new stuff coming soon!
I had something else planned to post today, but I had this dream again and so I changed my mind. I don’t know if this happens to you, but when I remember my dreams, which isn’t very often, I have a few reoccurring ones. When I was little, I used to have the same dream every time I would get sick. Everything in my dream world moved much slower than me and it was all controlled by a big machine that looked like a large propane tank. Crazy. I have had a few more over the years but I never really found a connection to when I had them like the sickness when I was younger.
But this most recent one was really weird to me. Each time I have the dream the storyline is the same but the details and situations change. I am trying to adopt Jessi (my real life daughter) from this lady. The lady has some schizophrenic issues. One minute she is a sane coherent woman and the next she is more or less demon possessed. She is married to someone I seem to think is the devil.
Now before I move on, I just want to clarify, the crazy demon lady is NOT Kara-Kae (my amazing wife). Kara-Kae doesn’t appear in the dream.
Through the process of adopting Jessi, she is already staying at my rather large house with a pool and actually sleeping peacefully and restfully in my bed, which she doesn’t do at the crazy lady’s house. The situation of this dream is during one of those nights. The crazy lady shows up in the middle of the night and we are arguing about Jessi. While she is sane she is supportive of the adoption, but when she switches she is violently opposed. Her devil husband is against it as well.
That’s it. Then I wake up all battle ready. I know my daughter is not the spawn of the devil. She is an amazing little gift from God that gets prayed over every night (crazy dream or not). I know my wife is not a crazy person, too, so don’t try to put words in my mouth and get me in trouble! Maybe it’s just a weird dream that I have. At least I’m always fighting to save my daughter!
So, you go. You got an interpretation?
Wow. I sound like the crazy person.
