Summertime

This week I opened up my closet, reached to the back, and brought out my Reefs. Why? Because I'm jonesin' for some summer. Seriously. I've been rockin the flips around the office for the past couple days and it just feels so right. Maybe next week I'll bring my board shorts and a sleeveless for my show.

I miss sleeping on the beach. I miss walking around barefoot. I miss dawn patrol. I miss having the bronzed body of a Greek god.

Oh summer, when will you return to me?

Are You In The Way?

I was listening to a message Donald Miller gave at Seattle Pacific University a couple years ago, and he said something that hit me right between the eyes. "Are you getting in the way of people following Jesus?" Let me explain what he meant.

He was talking about the "rules" we put on people as soon as they become Christians. Someone says the sinner's prayer and all of sudden their entire life MUST change on the spot. They need to go smash all their CD's and go out and buy the entire WOW Hits Collection. They need to dispose of their "secular" movies, and replace them with the "sacred" Left Behind Trilogy. They need to stop going to the bar on Thursday and Friday nights, and instead get involved with the pro-life group in their community. They need to ditch their old friends who might lead them back down the dark path, and join a small group of shiny, happy people from the church. That can't be what Jesus intended when he died on the cross can it?

What about helping the poor? What about hanging out with the prostitutes and tax collectors? What about loving your enemies? Not until you've completed steps 1 to 5. Donald Miller argues that we need to get out of the way. The institution of the church needs to get out of the way.

I agree.

This Is Rock N Roll

Thanks to Kahana Kalama for this one.

What Are You Known For?

I received an email today that contained a sample chapter of "Lord Save Us From Your Followers." It seemed interesting so I took a look. It contained transcripts of conversations "bumper-sticker-man" had with random people in Times Square. I found some of the responses interesting. "Name Something Christians Today Are Known For?" Here are some answers:

• Selective Hatred
• Intolerance
• Fanaticism
• Judgementalism
• Hysteria
• Trying To Get Other People To Become Christians
• Politics
• Hyperbole

If you ask me, I don't really want any part of those descriptions. None of those sound like Jesus, and isn't the goal to become more like Jesus? (Either that, or woo him with the erotic love songs we sing in church). If we were to poll those we connect with on a regular basis, whether at work or school, what would they say we are known for? I would hope the response is slightly more positive.

First post ever

Alright, it's confession time. I only checked out the Wonderblog for the first time last night. Soon after checking it out, strange as it is, AJ sent me an email asking me to be a Wonderblog contributer...

...OK, actually, I begged him. But now that I'm here, I thought I'd give you a heads up on exactly what kind of posts you can expect to see from me:

1. Lots of supports for the greatest hockey team in the world, Les Canadiens de Montreal
2. Commentary on any movies I've seen lately (I can be pretty harsh, so don't take it personally if I totally bash your favourite movie)
3. My thoughts on current events (kind of like what you'd hear on "The Wire")
4. My thoughts on AJ or Junky that you would probably never hear from AJ or Junky

I'm also on Facebook, so anyone who wants to be my friend is welcome to. Currently, my goal is to beat AJ's 2 million and something friends by June, so come on out and support the cause.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1172897613&ref=profile

JoJo McKnight

The Long Awaited Return

It's been over 4 years since Mat Kearney put out new material. Sure there was "Nothing Left To Lose" in early 2006, but it was 3/4 material from his first disc, "Bullet." Mat had recently dropped from the #1 spot on my list due to a lack of effort on his part. No new music for 4 years means you can't hold on to top spot. Well Mat will soon be back on top. At 3:01 this morning I got an email from Mat, saying he has updated his website and uploaded a new track from his upcoming CD. SWEET! I couldn't stop playing it. The song is pure gold!

His new CD; "City Of Black And White," releases on May 19. Until then you can enjoy the first single "Closer To Love" on his website.

Insomnia

I've had a long standing problem. If I get excited about something, I cannot sleep. If I'm going golfing the next day, no sleep. If I'm playing in a hockey tournament the next day, no sleep. If I have fun plans with my wife, no sleep. Well last night was another one of those nights. Why? I'm not really sure. Maybe it was because I'm playing in the Teen Ranch Hockey Gala on Friday, but I don't think so. (I'll save that for Thursday night) I think it was because I can feel winter ending. I did fall asleep, but not for long. I remember having numerous dreams about skimboarding, bombing the lake on a seadoo, lying on a boat in the warm sun and wearing flip-flops.

Yes, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of summertime. Unfortunately as I look at the forecast, it's still a couple months away.

The Weekend Of Love

Valentine's Day is tomorrow (Happy Birthday Mom!) and love is in the air. Let's hope your weekend goes better than these did.

Stuff Christians Like

There are a lot of choices when it comes to the blog buffet on the interweb, and one of my daily snacks is a blog called "Stuff Christians Like." As a kid that grew up in the church, I love reading the daily dose of ridiculous stuff we as Christians do.

Here's one for you American Idol fans.

Bookmark it! It's great.

The Best That Isn't Anymore

Crystal and I cleaned up our place a couple weeks ago in an effort to get it ready to go on the market. (Anyone interested in a condo in Barrie?) One of the benefits of this new-found tidyness is the fact I can get to my CD rack now. Well today I re-discovered one of my favorite bands of all-time: Further Seems Forever. (Chris Carrabba's band before he left to form Dashboard Confessional, another sweet band) Listening to the FSF disc I thought back to "the good ol' days." The days when music was good, gas was cheap, and people were nicer. It's too bad FSF is no longer alive and kicking, but they did serve us well and leave us with some killer tunes.

What band do you wish was still making records?

Groundhog Stew

Last week an overgrown squirrel emerged from it's cozy den in Wiarton, Ontario and told us that we can expect another 6 weeks of winter. (Why we believe a rodent over our sophisticated weather-predicting machinery is beyond me) Well it appears our good friend Willy was wrong. This past weekend was nice and mild, with a record high for February 7th, and the mild weather continues. The thermostat in my car read 11 degrees today! I'm LOVING it! Maybe all the snow will be gone by March Break!

New Discovery

I walked in to Junky's office after dinner tonight and found the new disc from the Fiction Family. So freakin good!

Finally Back

After nearly 3 weeks I returned to The Slam tonight. To be honest, I kind of missed it. I missed going to the gym in the morning. I missed playing hockey on Tuesday mornings. I missed being able to leave my bed (I HATE being sick). My return to the airwaves was met with some excitement and a (hopeful) return to normalcy. It will probably take a while to get my body adjusted to the late nights though. I liked going to bed before 10.

Kitten CRAZYNESS!!!

For all cat lovers this is for you. Our producer Tim Van Dyk showed me this, and well, here at the office of Life 100.3 we are beginning to get attached to the little guys. Tim and his little internet friends (the people who find the link) have actually named the fluffy things.

You are warned though, this live camera is obnoxiously adorable and will take hours away from your life. So if you have something to do, make sure to come back to this video later.

....

All done?

Good. Here's the stream.



Junky

Twenty-Five Things

So, there has been a note that is being passed around on Facebook, called Twenty things or Sixteen things, etc, and finally after being tagged into it for like the fourth time, I decided to do it. After an hour of thinking about random facts about myself, here is my list for you

1 I think cooked vegetables are just unnatural

2 There is nothing wrong with the Family Channel, Teletoon, and YTV
being in your list of most watched TV channels

3 I HATE the MSN Message sound

4 It was not until I was 17 that I learned when saying the word "tsunami" you do not actually say the "t"

5 Three times have I mistaken the guys washroom for the ladies washroom.
Only once have I actually used the facilities

6 I am scared to have a webcam. I do not want to have people watch me
while I eat, or get changed... or showering

7 I am not going to deny it. Whenever Plumb does a ballad, I love it

8 I abuse the spellchecker on Firefox WAY to much

9 I have WAY to much fun with the honesty box

10 I am determined to one day sneeze without closing my eyes

11 The shortest shower I can take is over 20 minutes long

12 Whenever I play a game, and have the option as playing as a girl, I
will always take that option. Especially in Sims. All the girls are my
favorites, and I just insert guys into the mix for comedy relief

13 For camping outdoors, I always make sure to take my electric tooth brush.

14. I also abuse the period key and replace the standard "." with "..."

15. I actually LIKE getting texts from Facebook on my cell phone

16. When it comes to guilty pleasures, Aly & AJ's Potential Break Up Song is one of mine

17. With "life changing decisions", I always run it through my official adviser first

18. I have the memory of a gold fish. i.e. not very long

19. On my computer is over 500 wallpapers for my desktop. Luckily, I am not one to get completely overboard with things

20. My favorite hockey player was Cliff Ronning. Mostly because at 5'8, he would be the one looking up to me

21. I have never seen the following movies. Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Titanic, Wizard of Oz, E.T.,Old Yeller, Casablanca, and Gone with the Wind,

22. I have the memory of a gold fish. i.e. most of my memories do not even last as long as Paris Hilton's music career

23. I DEMAND that they put the Tick and Animaniacs back on TV. Seriously?? How can you just remove classics from the air waves like that?

24. If Kim Possible was real, I would ask her out in a HEARTBEAT

25.... and the only reason I go to point 25 is because Krista told me too

Junky