As usual it has been a while. Fortunately, however, I have some actual news to report for once! The past 3 days have been a marathon of sorts to get this cd finished, and I am pleased to say after an all nighter last night it is all done! I finished mixing everything last night and then finished up the cover. It just so happens that this is the day I am leaving for Ireland, actually typing this up during an extra long layover in Atlanta, Georgia before our direct flight to Dublin, Ireland. This trip is for John Brown's Cathedral Choir. We will be doing concerts and things of that nature to kick off the longer mission trips that will take place throughout the summer. Anyways, with Ireland being 6 hours ahead I am sure I will be tired by the time I arrive, however the cd is done!

It really is the Lord's provision that this was able to be completed in such a short time. I suppose the theme of my life as of late is that God so often seems at least to me as a God of the last minute. However, this is not the case by any means. To me He may seem so, however He has everything planned out way in advance to provide. Perhaps it is this very last minute feeling that brings us into a closer relationship and trust with Him.

I will arrive back in the states two weeks from today, and will proceed to St. Louis to play in the Sunday morning service at Efree in Manchester, and hopefully a few other places during the week. I will have the cds with me, so if you attend there or are in St. Louis, make sure to find me. Shortly I will have more dates up of where I am playing this summer as well. Well, that is all for now. I am being constantly reminded just how much better the Lord is than the world or anything in it. He provides just what we need exactly when we need it, even when it can be frustrating at times. It all leads me back to 1 Peter 1:6-7, which states that for a little while trials may be necessary to teach us what we need to learn. That being said, keep on pressing towards the goal!

So I am back from Ireland and back in Arkansas. It was absolutely beautiful and I hope to post some pictures soon. When I got back I drove right to St. Louis with the cds. The sales are going well so far, and I am staying busy playing at coffee shops, churches, and festivals. In fact, today I am playing a benefit concert for Son Ministries. They do mission trips to Haiti. Today KLRC, a local radio station here in Arkansas will be broadcasting my show from about 5-6 PM. You can listen to the stream live on their site here:
Here

I am also playing there tomorrow as well at 7 PM. It is in Rogers Arkansas at the Christian Booksellers. Feel free to stop by! After the show tomorrow I am driving to St. Louis to visit my old youth group and then traveling to Chicago to see my family. (And my girlfriend is flying in from LA!)

It has been a real blessing these last few weeks to actually have some time to think and to pray. I have been so busy with the end of school and Ireland and travel it has been hard to make time for that. I am continually being reminded how goot he Lord is. I can't wrap my mind around the fact that God blesses me so much even though I consistently mess up. Anyways, I plan on posting some more updates soon, thanks for stopping by!

Before I say anything else, let me say that I hope this is the first of many frequent updates. So as many of you have probably noticed, I have been doing a bit of work on the site. I had hoped to have a photo gallery up by now as well as some other little things, but I am having to work a few things out with the web host. Those things aside, I have been extremely busy making flyers, finsihing promo material, booking, burning promo cds, and whatever else you can think of.

This last weekend on Friday I headed down to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I had a show at the Poet's loft on Saturday. In my calling on Thursday I stumbled across the AWALI conference website. AWALI is a conference for music ministers in the Baptist church. Roger (my manager) suggested that I call and find out which vendors they were expecting, even though it was less than a day away. I got in touch with a wonderful woman named Peggy who was in charge of the conference, and she agreed to let me come in as a vendor and hand out promotional material. I promptly headed to Wal-Mart and bought 100 cds and 100 cd sleeves, and began burning them around 5:00. I didn't finish until 4:30 the next morning. We (Roger and I) had to leave at 6:30 to make it to Hot Springs on time. (He wanted to go diving with a buddy of his). So yeah, after 2 hours of sleep we left and made it to Hot Springs. I took a nap while he went diving, then he got back and we rushed to the AWALI conference in Conway, Arkansas.

There I had the opportunity to meet many great people, and handed out nearly 100 cds and one sheets. What a blessing this was, as it should connect me with many of the area Baptist Churches.

The show in Hot Springs went well, considering we had a turn out of 6 people. Turns out Jars Of Clay just happened to have a show in stinkin' Hot Springs, Arkansas the weekend I was playing there out of all the places they could be... Oh well, it was still fun and I met some really cool people.

The other thing I did during the weekend was visit my buddy Derek Collier. It was a refreshing and encouraging time to take a break from the daily routine of calling and doing all of the things I mentioned earlier in this post. There really is nothing like the country. There may be nothing in it, but there is nothing like it.

The Sunday message at Derek's church focused on prayer. I think so often that I pray a prayer to God and then forget to continue to pray. Sometimes I wonder why finances are so tight or why it seems prayers are not being answered, then I start to realize I am not spending any time doing this. What a good reminder this was.

Lately I think the biggest lesson I have been learning is God's provision and not just in monetary things. He has allowed me to experience certain things at certain times and given me what I have needed instead of wanted. I have been dating Hannah now for almost 5 months, and that is something that was so far from coincidence, and so perfect in its timing. It just so happened that she was leaving for the semester from school here at JBU right when I met her, so we have had all this time to really get to know each other. I have needed it emotionally to get over things in the past and get used to things to come for sure. A year ago I could never have anticipated that God knew what He was doing this well. Hannah has been such a blessing and such a support while I have begun pursuing this music career, and I truly don't think I would have been open to it had I not met her.

On the note of provision, this last Monday I got into a small car accident. Rear ended a youth pastor in Springdale, about a half hour from the apartment I have been living in. It was pretty funny because when the police officer arrived, I was talking with the guy I hit about the ministry at their church. I suppose if you want to get in an accident, this is the best way it can happen. Unfortunately I got a pretty sizable ticket. At that time I did not have the money in the bank to pay it. God has provided for that and more in just the last week.

So after this car accident and a really busy week and weekend I needed to get away. My roomate, Andy from last year has a lake house about an hour from here, so I went and took a couple days off to visit him and his family. Once again it was exactly what I needed. Not to mention it has fulfilled my life long dream to drive a jet ski. Was quite a treat.

This was really a bit longer than I intended for it to be, but I wanted to let ya'll know what is going on right now. Going to make it a priority to keep up with the site better, so feel free to check it out more often. Working on posting some of the upcoming shows, so keep your eyes open for that. Right now I am talking with my good friend Austin about working together, and am excited about the possibilities, especially for this coming summer. I can certainly use your prayer as I continue to seek the Lord's will on what directions to take. Thank you so much for all of the prayer and support thus far. Keep seeking Him above all things!

So get this. Today I get to Taco Bell and order up my Crunch Wrap Supreme, no tomatoes. There is a brief pause and the voice says, "We no longer have that." WHAT? No more Crunch Wrap Supreme? This thing has been my life's blood. Well, if you say that having 3 in the last month is my life blood, then yes. And I do. I had to ask for a minute to figure out what I wanted. What I didn't tell her is that I was crying, trying to sort out my emotions. Okay, so it wasn't that bad. Anyways, I asked her at the window if this was a chain wide decision. After getting back and eating my steak chaloopa and soft taco, I did my research. It appears according to TacoBell.com that it no longer exists! What a fateful day!

On a happier note, school is starting next week. That's right, that means I am picking up Hannah from the airport tomorrow. Will be the first time I get to see her and know that I don't have to say goodbye in a week.

Along with school starting, I am excited about beginning to sing with my good friend, Austin. If all goes well we will be going into the studio to record a radio single, so continue to check out the site for more details. It is unlikely we will be seen live this year, but hopefully the beginning of next year will be the beginning of it. For all of my fellow college students, welcome back to school, and best of luck!

Well, this is not nearly as long as the last dry spell from me I suppose. Didn't I say something last month like, "This is the last time it will be a long time between updates!"? There are good reason for this that I may explain at a later time. But things are awesome! God is good!

On the note of music, (get it, note!?) quite a bit is happening. I have started singing with my buddy Austin, and we are in talks of releaseing a cd either in February or at the end of the summer. The timing will depend mostly on the financial situation. It is quite hard to do an expensive studio project without any funds to back it. It is hard to get into enough places to play without a professionally produced album, at least psychologically. And most of all it is hard to do all of this while being in school.

Don't get me wrong, I love being in school and learning. However, sometimes I wonder if knowing that the supply curve shifts downward when old Mrs. Hankberry's ferrets eat all of the tulips from her garden that she planned to sell so that little Johnny can eat cookies when he comes over to visit grandma really will help me in everyday life. It is awesome to have Hannah here, however, and she is such a support on a day to day basis, especially in this whole music thing. Hannah, when you read this, just want you to see me say that I love you to death. (But no, please don't die).

You may have noticed that there aren't too many upcoming shows. Rest assured that there will be quite a few more on my pretty little list in the weeks to come. I am actually hoping to have a few out in Los Angeles shortly after Christmas. (And maybe a couple before that in Chicago). Should have some more stuff to talk about in November and early December as well.

As of late I have done quite a bit of listening to Seal, and have fallen in love with his voice and his music. It is quite obvious to me where DC Talk got many of its ideas. So as can be expected, this has been influencing my writing as of late. Perhaps much more musically than lyrically. Been wanting to break out of the major chords and major key that I feel so comfortable in, so it is exciting to see everything evolve; lyrically as well. I am looking forward to posting some recordings of said writings shortly. If things go well, I will have Austin doing backup vocals for them as well.

Phew, that was a lot to say. Perhaps I should have said that later in this writing, as I want to also post the lyrics to my newest song, Finished.

Finished
started 09/01/2005
completed 09/08/2005

I went into this state of panic knowing fully well that You would provide
Foolishly I watched in worry as these times, they slid right by
Perhaps I know, no I know for sure it was my worry that made these times hard
When worry turns to desperation, intellect is chosen over You
It is just as sure as Your faithfulness that my doubt will reign again

***Chorus***
And You always come through
Even in these times of uncertainty
To You they are already done, finished by Your hands
For You exist in all times, the past, the present, and the future

These plans were laid out ahead of time about how life should go
Has the will caused forgetfulness of who holds the control?
You say not to worry about what tomorrow holds
But when strategic plans operate this world how can this not be impossible?
Only You can rearrange the mindset of the heart

It's funny how once you think you have life all planned out it changes drastically. Well, as it turns out, I got engaged on November 5th of 2005. That's right, I will be marrying my lovely fiancee, Hannah Peters, on July 1st, 2006, less than three months from now! Been pretty busy with wedding plans and all that fun stuff. I will finish my schooling here at JBU along with Hannah.

All this excitement has caused the music to be a little lower on the priority list, but rest assured it is by no means abandoned. I am in the early planning stages of recording a full studio album, and am preparing to line up some more concerts, mainly in the Arkansas area. Also working on a revamped web page that should be ready in the next couple of months. Check back soon for some more info as things progress.