my respect for the musical talents of Stevie Wonder just skyrocketed.

watch Stevie go crazy on the drums.

WARNING> only musical geeks will be able to endure the whole thing. if you're not into music you can go watch TLC or do whatever people who don't appreciate music do. haha. umm that last part was a joke i think...

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It's been a while since i've posted. i've been busy.

this psalm has been really affecting me of late:

63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

9 But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

i listened to a great sermon by matt chandler (get the podcast. its the first message in the "Heart Matters" series) which addressed this Psalm, and his main question was: why do we not have the passion and desire for God that these guys had? it's a heavy question. dig into it.

it's been a fairly long time since there was a new post here. recapping everything that has happened between the last post and this one would be a long and laborious ordeal, so i'll just briefly recap:

-Celebration: highlight of the summer. and mostly everyone knows what goes down at a celebration so i don't really feel like i have to explain the sweetness of it.

-Vacation: golf, sunburn, muddy water, stars, bugs, cows, jumping photo series, scooters, tim hortons, Korea, starbucks, and so on...

maybe i'll do a more detailed post later...

ok... i'm going to keep the blog going. i'm not going to switch to Xanga because there are a few things which i feel i can be justified in hating....er...umm...strongly disliking, a few of them being Windows, Xanga, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

so josh is coming home tonight, ceelebration starts tomorrow, vacation is after that. it's going to be a busy couple of weeks. i'm really excited for celebration, and i can't wait to see what God is going to do...

speaking of celebration (and to make this post a little longer), here are the lyrics to a song that my dad and i wrote for celebration:

(verse one / pre-chorus)

Before time You looked on us with favor
Predestined us in love
To be Your precious ones
Sacrificed Your Son to pay our ransom
Death exchanged for life
Because of Jesus Christ

Bought with a price
We will glorify
Our Savior and Lord

(chorus)
Jesus
This life is for You, All about You
To You be the glory
Jesus
This life is for You, All about You
To You be the glory

(verse two / pre-chorus)

Our desire is to reflect you glory
In everything we do
O Lord it’s all for you
May your name be in all praised the nations
By every tongue and tribe
Exalting Jesus Christ

Bought with a price
We will glorify
Our Savior and Lord


The theme for celebration is "It's All About You" so rather than bringing back and (re)over-hashing that slightly antiquated Paul Oakley gem we decided to write a new (and more upbeat) song with sort of the same theme.

is this blog lame? i was wondering today. is it worthwhile to keep one? i don't know. i've had a blog for a pretty long time. but if it's lame anyways then maybe i'll stop. there are probably better ways to spend my time.

bill murray has called twice today. not the bill murray in the photo above, but some other bill murray who happens to sound just like him. weird.

i didn't really explain in the last post, but the office was (and still is) shaking because of construction across the road. apparently they are building a new "cultural center". now don't get me wrong here, i'm not opposed to remembering the city's cultural roots, i'm just opposed to the sensation of constant shaking and loud hum that we're getting in the office.

i thought about picketing the construction site, but i didn't think that that would be particularly useful, or that it would serve the workers... but it got me thinking.... i really want to start a cause... not really seriously, but a funny cause. for example, i could campaign to save something that doesn't need to be saved because it isn't endangered, but unfortunately the NA folks already used that idea with the wheel.

so i'm not sure what to start a cause for... this is the best idea i've thought of yet: Liberate the Alpacas!

it's probably not practical, but that means that it fits in perfectly with every other environmentalist campaign.

anyways.... give me your thoughts.

Oh... one more thing, last week sean and i recorded a new version of the old hymn My Jesus I Love Thee. feedback is always cool, so if anyone wants to hear it just send me an email and i'll email it to you. if you don't have my email it;s on my profile thing.

just a few minutes ago here in the office everything started shaking. one thought came to mind: what if it is "The Big One"? It wasn't the big one (obviously, because i would probably be dead if it was), but it prompted me to think about what i will do when the big one actually does come. For those of you who don't know about the big one, read this:

There are two scenarios for Greater Vancouver, says the National Earthquake Support Plan (NESP), a study into the region's earthquake preparedness. The first is the most likely: a moderately strong 6 to 7 Richter-scale quake, similar to the ones that hit San Francisco and Los Angeles in the past decade. This would produce significant damage and deaths in Vancouver. Since the 1989 San Francisco quake, a lot of engineering work has been done to upgrade local bridges and dams against seismic hazards. But little has been done about the vulnerability of older, masonry-walled schools, hospital buildings and brick structures like those in Gastown and Yaletown. Some could collapse. Even in a moderate quake, soil liquefaction would likely break the dykes along the Fraser River and the Georgia Strait foreshore, producing widespread flooding. Similar soil liquefaction would also likely affect many structures on reclaimed lands, especially those built on the periphery of False Creek, the Arbutus lowlands, the riverbanks of the Fraser, Sea Island and the Burrard Inlet waterfront all the way to Port Moody. Landslides and underwater slumpages would drop shoreline houses and port facilities. Power, gas and water systems could be affected for days.

The second--and less likely--NESP scenario, based on an 8.5 subduction quake in the Lower Mainland, would produce severe destruction within 100 kilometres of the epicentre. Many buildings would fail. Liquefaction would likely damage the airport, the Fraser Valley dykes, the Massey Tunnel and those bridge supports sunk into loose valley soils. Western sections of the Fraser Valley would flood. Up to 45 per cent of Vancouver's schools would suffer moderate to total collapse. Tsunamis and underwater slumpage would damage shoreline facilities, producing almost inevitable chemical spills, fires and mass evacuations. The death toll would be in the thousands.

The reality is that when it hits, a major earthquake in the Greater Vancouver area would be a disaster. Most wood-framed homes would ride out the shaking with little serious risk to their occupants. Modern structures, including all highrises and office towers, would remain standing. The old and vulnerable water system would inevitably fail. Gas mains would break and fires would follow. Sections of bridges, port facilities and old masonry-walled buildings would collapse. Train lines, roads and electrical distribution systems would fail. Loose objects within offices, factories and homes would be hurled around. Cornices and chimneys would fall. Glass would fly. Many people would die. Earthquakes search out the most vulnerable sections of a structure. And the Vancouver area has many older buildings that have never been tested in a great quake. The longer the shaking lasts, the worse it will be--as small initial structural failures grow exponentially as the vibrations continue. Someday this will happen here. Nothing can protect Vancouver from things that go bump in the night.

-Some random website trying to make people freak out...

yeah, so basically some really large earthquake is scheduled to destroy Vancouver as we all know it within the next couple hundred years, which means it could happen tomorrow.

I decided that I have only one emergency plan: to run screaming out of whatever building I'm in (i don't think getting under the desk like they taught us in school will help if the building collapses.).

I've decided to start a photo series on my blog with sean and the truck... haha. I'm sure he'll enjoy that. Check out his hair in that second picture... after a few days of urban camping (essentially being homeless...) it wasn't doing so good. This is retaliation for him saying that i look "special" in one of the photos that i posted a while back. unfortunately i can't disagree with him, so my only other option (other than saying "your face is special!" but that joke is getting old) is to post some funny pictures of him.

i guess no one was all that enthused about the last post... haha. oh well. if none of you thought that was funny then i guess i have a lame sense of humor, but at least one other person was amazed.

hmm... so... it seems like when i have the time to post i don't have much to post about. i really feel like going golfing. if anyone feels like golfing this week let me know.

i have a soccer game on thursday night (take note of that sean. i know. it figures.((inside info))) which is unfortunate because i had other stuff planned and because my legs are in the most painfully sore condition that i can recall feeling within recent memory.

pic: sean (after being abandoned on the prairies.)

all your base are belong to us!

brilliant. watch it here.

Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name.”

Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept our soul among the living
and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on [1] my tongue. [2]
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!
_psalm 66

be amazed at what God has done.

new header...

everybody should download the NA sermons. they're free.

just got back a little earlier tonight from the studio in kamloops. we finished the final vocals, and now all that remains is editing, mixing and mastering. the dog in the picture is charles. he's not my dog. i don't even really like dogs, but i like charles. he's really dumb and happy.

and on a more serious note...

one of my favorite hymns.

thy way, not mine O Lord
however dark it be
lead me by Thine own hand
choose out the path for me

smooth let it be or rough
it will still be the best
winding or straight it leads
right onward to Thy rest

Lord take my cup and it
with joy or sorrow fill
as best to Thee may seem
Lord choose my good and ill

not mine, not mine the choice
in all things great and small
be Thou my guide, my strength
my wisdom and my all

-horatius bonar

i was thinking about this hymn, and it reminded me of Ecclesiastes 3:11 which says "He has made everything beautiful in it's time," and i was thinking about the way that God leads us, sinners with nothing good or beautiful in us, choosing roads that we wouldn't choose to take, sending trials that we wouldn't choose to face, and through it all shaping us into something that reflects His glory. i want to write a song about that now, but it's a bit too late. i need some sleep.

back in kamloops recording. i've been pretty ill the last few days, but hearing the album start to come together has distracted me from it a bit. it's sounding really good. we're recording all the electric guitar parts today, and a few acoustic guitar parts.
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here are a few random things that i've been thinking about the last day or so:

kamloops is my second favorite place in the world.

the third pirates of the caribbean movie is one that no one should see.

fast food can do nasty things to your stomach.

i want a kayak.

i want it to be the weekend.

when its 84 outside i start looking for water.

when its 87 i pretty much melt.



later>

sam walked downstairs this morning, turning on all lights and then paused in front of me. "joe, your hair is black..... where did you get new hair?"

Steve and I climbed that rock on saturday. My legs are still sore. I was just looking at a website that said that the hike is supposed to be "a brisk 45 minutes to the top" but i'm not sure what kind of caffeinated beverage they were on at the time. it took steve and i about 1.5 hours i think. that is the longest it has ever taken me. i think it has something to do with fast-food and a desk job. it was a good time. pretty much everything that could've gone wrong with my plans did go wrong, but the setbacks eventually caused us to reach the top at sunset which made the view pretty much overwhelmingly beautiful. I was reminded of the psalms where the psalmists talk about creation reflecting the glory of God. Being up there and seeing that instantly caused me to want to worship.

Apart from that escapade, not much has been going on. Mom, Als, and the two buggers are still away, and the house is annoyingly quiet without them all. Guitars are all over the house, there are amps and effects pedals in the living room, the stove hasn't been used in days, the laundry room has lost all purpose apart from being the doorway into the garage, and over all, i'm not too big on the atmosphere, so i hope they'll hurry up and come home.

I was just sitting here trying to write and it isn't working. I've decided that trying to force lyrics out of my head just doesn't work, so I decided to post instead. This afternoon Sean and I went and rode bikes (complete with mostly flat tires and uncomfortable seats) around a lake that is about an hour away from my house. There were no cougers, the fish weren't biting (or at least they weren't for the one unfortunate fellow that I asked), and the great path had been covered up with gravel to make it more city-dweller friendly, but it felt good to get out and breathe the mountain air.

((note: the picture isn't from tonight, but it is from another nice spot about 40 minutes away.))

If I could have a pet>

And his name would be Glen. Just because thats at funny name for an alpaca.

Lots of writing, guitar playing, singing, and so on. It's been a pretty sweet time. A great group of guys, and a great bunch of songs. We're recording a bunch of them tomorrow (just ghetto recording) and then patrick and i are hopping back on a plane and coming back west. I have to say, Maryland is much nicer in the summer than the winter. nice warm weather. it actually feels like summer.