Hate the hate

In case you haven't figured it out, I'm a Christian. One of those born-again evangelicals. And if you're not one like me, you're probably immediately thinking up all sorts of assumptions about me. Unfortunately, we too often deserve it. It hasn't been easy for those living on the wrong side of Christians in the past. From the beginning vestiges of the Catholic Church to present day, a huge pall on the image of Christianity is the belief that Christians can be "intolerant", "bigoted", and "hateful." And it's true a lot of times.

It's frustrating because Jesus called Christians to be the opposite of hateful. In fact, he was more respectful and welcoming of people that had a different lifestyle than him than anyone else I have ever known. The word "love" is very common in the Bible for a reason. When will we Christians realize that we're never going to be an influence on others if we're constantly condemning and disrespecting others?

I am filled with disgust for what happened to Tyler Clement at Rutgers University. Tyler was caught on camera kissing another guy.  The two people who recorded then posted it for the world to see. Tyler was so ashamed and embarrassed that he killed himself. I doubt those two students were Christians, I think they were just trying to get attention. Christians are more known for the quiet, avoid the gays, thump the Bible, whisper and gossip kind of people. 

Whether it's popular or not, I am firm in what I believe in. I like to call myself a respectful, caring, and intolerant guy. I will never bash gays, I will never hate them, I will never refuse to talk, hang out, be friends with, fill in the blank here, with gays. It's horribly wrong and stupid. I'm no better than them. I'm not an angel, I'm not perfect, I'll never have all the answers, so why treat them as though I'm better. 

But I will also never support or condone homosexuality. I believe it's against what God has called us to do and to be. And while I don't support homosexuality, I DO support the fight against bigotry and hate. And so, on October 20th, "Wear Purple Day," I come against Christians and non-Christians alike who think that the answer is to ridicule and demean homosexuals. It's not. Jesus called us to do the opposite. Let's step up, push our homophobia aside, and become more like Him.

The Concert of a Lifetime

On Friday (10/8/2010), Shannon and I drove up to Toronto to see David Crowder Band live at Queensway Cathedral. In a nutshell, it was the greatest concert I have ever been to in my life.

David Crowder Band (DCB) has been my favorite band for a few years now, probably the longest stretch I've been with a single band, and this concert will clinch that title for a long time to come. I admire them on and off the stage. They're down to earth, fun guys, and yet extremely talented as musicians and extremely anointed as worshipers.

This concert proved how amazing they are musically and how passionate they are for God - the perfect combination. DCB is not afraid to try out all sorts of styles and genres of music in their songs. From techno, to  heavy metal, to hoe-down, they do it all and they do it awesomely. And being around so many die-hard fans was really cool. During "Everything Glorious", which according to iTunes is their most popular song right now,  I looked around the auditorium and saw everyone singing it at the top of their lungs. It was awesome. I commented to Shannon, "These are my people."

And then after the show is done, and they just nailed every song, the crowd is screaming for one more song, they come back out to screaming fans and David Crowder remarks how it's all for His glory and they lead the crowd into Here I am to Worship. No fancy stuff, no crazy guitar solos, no keytars (yes they used one earlier), just straight up worship. And it was incredible. My respect for them skyrocketed.

This was their setlist:
A Lark Ascending
No One Like You
The Veil
Forever and Ever
Like A Lion
How He Loves
God Almighty, None Compares
You Are My Joy
Glory of It All
Shadows
I Saw the Light/I'll Fly Away
Oh Happiness
Everything Glorious
O Praise Him
Here I Am To Worship

I can't tell you how perfectly the songs fit together. It was genius. The fact they started with A Lark Ascending had me speechless. It was brilliant. I was slightly sad they didn't do Alleluia, Sing or SMS (Shine), but I'm not complaining. They even did "I Saw the Light" and "I'll Fly Away" complete with Jack Parker on banjo & Hogan on the fiddle.

The Hillsong United Youth Band opened for them and that concert was awesome too. A bunch of young people going crazy on stage with reckless abandon and zero shame. I was really encouraged to see a band who is so dominant in the world of worship music put so little emphasis on performance and so much emphasis on worship. It was really cool and it challenged me and my youth band to never let it go to our heads, no matter what.

I would see DCB again tomorrow if I could. It was so amazing. Shannon walked in an admirer of DCB and walked out a huge fan. DCB is so underrated compared to a lot of other worship leaders out there (e.g. Chris Tomlin, Hillsong, Matt Redman) and I wish more people would see how awesome they are, but then again, I kind of like knowing something so many people do not. It's almost as if I get DCB all to myself!

Pride and Prejudice

The single greatest piece of advice I ever received and I will ever give out regarding worship leading is this:

"There will aways be someone better than you."

I know, you were probably expecting something more spiritual or deeper. I'm sorry to disappoint. But this is more important than anything else.

Whether a worship leader admits it or not, the biggest struggle they will ever have in leading worship is pride and jealousy. Just like anyone else in the spotlight, pride can become a serious issue. And because there are so many worship leaders out there, jealousy is inevitable. It's easy to let it go to your head when realizing that people are looking to you to lead them in worship and then seeing those people get into it passionately. You think, "Wow, I'm awesome!"

So then you have this impression that you are one awesome, anointed worship leader but then you go to another worship service. And you see this good looking, young dude jamming out on guitar, belting out a sweet song, with a rockin' band behind him, and your blood begins to boil. You start looking for flaws in the set, you start justifying why you are more anointed. You ignore the presence the God, that's not as important as figuring out how you could do the set better. Jealous much?

That was me. And then one day, I grudgingly came to the realization that whether it's singing, piano, bass, or leading in general, there will always be someone better at it than me. And then I took the next step, I got over it. I got over my little diva stage and started focusing on what's important - worshiping the one true God. And you know the cool thing? I got better as a worship leader and as a musician. Except this time, I won't make the same mistake.

So all you worship leaders and musicians out there? You're not that great at it so get over it. I did.

Accountability in Leadership

One of the most dangerous things in Christian ministry is authority without accountability. Whether we want to believe it or not, there are Christian leaders who are flying solo, with zero covering, zero accountability. And they think they're doing fine. There is a good reason why our nation's founding fathers were so adamant in having a solid form of "checks and balances" between the three forms of government. They wanted to make sure that American leaders could never find themselves bringing down the nation because of their power and inability to be responsible with it.

Why should the leadership at one little church someplace in America be any different? The idea that someone who has influence and control over other people, who trust and look up to this leader, may not be held accountable by his or her words and actions, is terrifying. I look at some people in leadership and wonder, "how on earth did they get there?" And it's no surprise to me to see that they have no one to keep tabs on them. My success as a leader is as much because of the gifts God has given me as it is the people I answer to who teach me and encourage me. 

It doesn't matter if you have authority over one person, 100 people, or 1,000. The effect can be just as devastating (or, ideally, encouraging). A leader can hurt someone just as easily as help them. The goal of any church should be to raise up leaders. Strong, mature believers to help others excel in whatever area needed and to bring them closer to God. As we raise up these leaders, we need to instill in them an understanding of how critical it is to have accountability. No leader can be exempt from this.

What Can We Do About It?
Everyone is clearly affected by this. So everyone should care about this. If you're a leader and there is not at least one person that holds you accountable, FIND SOMEONE. Obviously, you're going to want someone who is mature, older, and has more experience. It's even better if they are also involved in the type of ministry you are. I am a worship leader for a youth group. Two people who hold me accountable are the worship pastor of the church and the director of the youth ministry. Two people in higher authority, who are older, and  have a lot of experience and spiritual maturity.

If you're a leader over other leaders, get after them. Be that covering. Take responsibility. Check up on them, challenge them, encourage them, reprimand them when needed. Just be involved!

If you're worried that one of your leaders is "flying solo." Simply ask them. As a person under them, you have every right to know if they have a covering. Even my senior pastor, the "top dog," has a covering and he makes sure we know it. If they don't, figure out who may be over them and ask them. If you're going to be in a position of being influenced by them (or a loved one), you need to get to the bottom of this. Too often we see examples of Christian leaders falling and hurting many people (e.g. Ted Haggard & Eddie Long). Let's prevent this where we can.

Whether you're the senior pastor of a large congregation or a Sunday School teacher for a class of 5 year olds, you have a lot of influence. The question is, are you influencing those under you in a good way, or a bad way?

nowGen on Friday

This is what makes the nowGen band awesome. We will be doing a cover of this song (below) during our Friday night set this week.



It'll be epic. You should come.

Julian Smith - "Malk"

This goes out to my mom. Mom, I love you. :)

Moderately Conservative or Conservatively Moderate?

Politically, I feel like I'm in a weird spot right now.

In college, I was super right wing on every issue. I was a political science major, I was interning for a Republican NY Assembly member, Bush was in office, they were good times. But after I graduated from college, I find myself going through a change.

One thing is for certain, I'm not leaning left. No way. I am very much conservative on virtually all issues. I still disagree with Obama, Pelosi, Reid, etc. I'm still a fan of Rush (more of a fan of Hannity). Additionally, I'm still staying current with the issues. I still care about politics. I vote in every election and Republican primary (I did not vote for Paladino - what's up with that???).

I think the best word that describes me is...tired. Things are happening in America, both good and bad, and the one trend I have noticed is that is doesn't matter who's in office, what issue was won by which party, whether or not the Tea Party is gaining ground, etc. The economy is improving, but I don't credit Obama for that. I just think America has a way of righting itself. We're pulling out of Iraq - I see the good and bad of that. The U.S. is plodding along, despite the debates and arguments. And the fighting? I just want it to stop. It doesn't matter who I agree with. Quite frankly, I like Obama. I don't agree with his policies but generally, I think he's a good man. I think Bush is a good man too. Rush Limbaugh gets on my nerves sometimes, but so does Bill Maher.

I think that's why this clip from the Daily Show (below) appealed to me so much. I think it fits me to a T.  Watch and enjoy!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rally to Restore Sanity
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Living a life of integrity

If you really think about it, integrity is a really intense word. This is how Dictionary.com defines it:

"1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty."


Whoa. It's hard to find another word that describes that as well as the word "integrity" does. The problem is that it's a $65,000 word. It's not part of the everyday vocabulary. Not everyone truly knows what it means. In fact, I believe very few people do. But they should.


In everything we do, we should have integrity. It should be at the very core of our attitude, our actions, and our words. Integrity goes beyond being real, truth, having morals, etc. It encompasses all of those. It's living a life without reproach. 


The funny thing is, nowhere in that definition does it say anything about perfection. Integrity isn't about being perfect, or even striving for perfection. Having integrity is saying, "Regardless of my faults and my struggles, I am going to live a life that can be used as an example to others." It's saying, "I want to influence people to live with purpose, truth, and diligence."


What makes living with integrity so difficult is the fact that each one of us needs to remain honest with ourselves. We need to check ourselves, hold ourselves accountable. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone screws up, but it's the one with integrity that takes responsibility, owns up to that error, and fixes it. 


This word goes beyond religion. I'm a Christian and believe me, I think Christians need to abide by this more than the rest of the world. Christianity leaves a bad taste in many mouths and it's because so many have lacked integrity. But this is something everyone needs to live by.


This is one of those topics that could be discussed forever, but I'll quit while I'm ahead. Only you can decide how to live your life as one with integrity! 

Back to School

I went back to college yesterday! I even had a new notebook and pens. I was invited to take a class through Elim Bible Institute - Buffalo titled "Worship Leadership" (Why on earth would they ask me????) taught by none other than Bill Lambert.

I have huge expectations for this class. I don't care that I've been on at least one worship team for almost 10 years and I've been worship leading for about 3. I'll be the first to admit that I still have so much to learn. And Bill is perfect to teach it. He's old school which is unfortunately underestimated too often by today's generation. And he's got 30+ years of experience to give us a practical understanding of worship leadership. It's going to be a good class.

I'm personally looking forward to the fact that of the 15 or so attendees, I'm one of two young people. The dichotomy of musical preference between the generations will be funny to see play out. This will definitely be a learning experience!

Once you grow up, it all changes

Gone are the days of carefree youth.

As I grow up, I'm seeing a huge increase in responsibilities and commitments in my life (naturally). And I'll start this post off by saying that it's not a bad thing. So often, people wish they could be a kid again so they don't have to worry about anything, but that's not me. Yes, those days were awesome, but there's a lot of good in being older too.

I feel that in the last year, there has been a major shift in my outlook on life. I'm starting to embrace the realities of life, I'm starting to prioritize commitments, I'm starting to own up to my mistakes, my debts, etc. It's hard sometimes.

Whether it's the prospect of being married someday soon, being financially independent, living my own, or whatever, my thought process is a lot different now than even 12 months ago! The things I dream and care about have changed a lot.

I like it. I love the thought of proposing to my girlfriend. I'm pushing to come to a place where I can pay off my debts fully. I can't wait to have my own place. It's intense but it's good. I know I still have a lot to learn but I know that I have a good career, a great girlfriend, amazing family, and a solid church home. I have the foundation to excel in adulthood. So now it's time to step my game up and follow through.

Worship on iPhone

This is how this band became one of my favorites. But I encourage you to check out their other stuff too, they're pretty awesome!

Worship Leaders - Who's got the right stuff?

There are way too many people who equate talent with leadership. Because they have some sort of skill, they must be qualified to lead others. I disagree with that wholeheartedly.

The worst culprits? Worship leaders. You got some guy who's awesome at playing guitar, a great singer, knows the music, and yet when you put him in charge, it falls apart. Yet people who have the authority to assign leadership remain convinced that they're qualified.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Let's stick with the worship leader example. In case you're not familiar with this industry, let me outline everything that a worship leader needs to think about:

1) Band mates: Who's in the band? What are their skills? Where can they best be utilized? Are they strong Christians or are they weaker? Can you give someone a special part? Are they going through something that you need to encourage them on? Do they have a problem with something that you need to address?

2) Song selection: what set list will accomplish the most? Does it have consistency? Does it fit in the time frame allowed for worship? Is the band capable of playing the song with excellence (including you)? Is there a mixture of fast and slow, worshipful and praise, old and new?

3) Leading the band during a song: What parts sound good where? Who should sing when? Are you giving proper signals to go to some other part? Are you allowing other band members to utilize their gifts?

4) Leading the congregation during a song: Are you making sure the congregation is with it? Are you encouraging the congregation? Can you adapt to a bad reaction from the congregation on a song?

5) Being sensitive to what the pastors expect: Are you staying in your proper time slot? Are you providing songs that coincide with the message? Are you providing a mix of songs that will glorify God yet not creep out any of the newer members of the church?

There's a lot more where that came from, but I think it's a good start! The point I'm trying to make is that leading (specifically, in worship) is not easy and it's not for everyone. There are so many things that go into successfully leading something and a good leader remembers it all. Trust me, I'm still learning and have a long way to go! And I'm sick of people assuming that because someone is good at a specific thing, makes them a good person to lead others in that. Not true. Plus, I haven't even mentioned a whole other side to the ability to lead - attitude and personality. Maybe that will be my next post...

My Summer 2010 Bucket List

Summer's almost over. Not cool. The problem with having a great summer is that they go by faster. And this summer has been awesome. I've made it up to the cottage a few times, went to the Adirondacks for a week, went to KB, went to numerous parties, swam a lot, ate a lot, relaxed a lot. It's been awesome.

Unfortunately, I haven't done everything I wanted to. But there's still time! Technically, summer isn't over until September 20, so I have more than a month left. So this post is officially my SUMMER 2010 BUCKET LIST! ...before this summer kicks the bucket...

The List:
1) Go to the beach. I don't care what beach or if I get to swim or not, I just want to walk on sand and surf.
2) Go see a movie at the drive-in
3) Take a boat ride on Rushford Lake with Nemo. He has yet to be on the boat, he's going to love it!
4) Finish at least one more book. I think I only read 3 books this summer. Yikes!
5) Finish all of my TV shows on the DVR. I have to be ready for all of the fall shows! Unfortunately, most of the shows are both Shannon's and mine which means I need to drag her over to the house to watch them.
Shows to watch: Psych, Leverage, and Burn Notice.

I just stared at the computer screen for 10 minutes and came to the decision that the list is complete. Let's get to work!

The rise and fall of Kingdom Bound

Kingdom Bound is a four day Christian music festival at the Darien Lake Theme Park in Darien, NY (30 min east of Buffalo). Kingdom Bound (or KB) has been going strong for over 20 years and has seen some amazing bands come through. I think my first KB was when I was 16. I was pretty pumped to see bands like The Newsboys and the OC Supertones and Five Iron Frenzy. And of course to KB attenders, the entire theme park is open as well. So tons of great music, plus the rides.

Every year, KB consists of four venues within Darien Lake. There's the Performing Arts Center (PAC), where the big name bands play; the Park Stage, where the smaller, less-known bands play (usually); the Worship Tent, where all of the worship bands play and the less-known speakers talk; and the Marketplace, where tons of Christian businesses peddle their wares and Christian colleges do recruiting. It's a pretty safe set-up.

While I have been able to attend at least one day of the festival every year since I was 16, the only two I missed were last year's and the year before - KB 2008 & KB 2009. I was fortunate enough to go with Shannon to this year's, on Monday. Shannon picked that day because BarlowGirl was playing. I was pretty excited to go. It's been three years since the last time I went and the festival is always fun. But when I got there, I felt let down a bit.

It's not like KB changed since the last time and maybe that was the problem. KB has been doing the same thing, the same set-up for 20+ years now and they don't change because it works and it's safe. But I must say, I was bored. Yeah, I think that best explains how I felt, bored.

It's not like they lacked artists. There were tons of them. But I'm noticing much fewer big name artists than in previous years. Couple that with the fact that the set-up is the same, I worry that KB won't be able to keep up with the times. I would be very interested in seeing yearly attendance numbers...

Obviously, planning this kind of thing is not easy. I can only imagine the hassle of booking artists, working with the theme park officials, advertising, etc, etc. If an artist doesn't want to come, they won't come. And if KB can't afford them, they can't afford them. So sure, there are some things that they can't change.

So I say, change it up on your own terms! Mix it up! Here are some ideas to get the KB folks started:

1) Put some hard rock artists (TFK anyone?) on the big stage
2) Fill up the smaller stages with local bands (maybe even do a Christian Battle of the Bands)
3) Have a crazy worship night on the big stage. KB secured Matt Redman, Paul Baloche, Relevant Worship, and others. Put them all on in one night. I think that would be cool.
4) Don't have Reggie Dabbs speaking 6 times in 4 days
5) Put Relevant Worship in the PAC at a good time. They're a hugely popular local band

The key is to be preemptive and stay ahead of the game. If you keep the festival fresh, the people will want to come more often, more days. Right now, I think a lot of people are like me who pick one day that has one or two artists I like. But if every day looks amazing, I'd find a way to attend the whole thing. Also, I wouldn't worry about having louder bands playing all the time and offending the older generation. Once quick glance and you can see that the young people outnumber the old 10 to 1.

Oh, and bring back David Crowder.

Busy, busy, busy

Sorry for the gap in my postings. It's been pretty crazy the last week. On Saturday we moved in Shauna and then went to my cousin's grad party (Congratulations Danielle!). Sunday we celebrated my Dad's 54th birthday (Happy Birthday Father!). Monday was date night, Tuesday was TV show night, Wednesday was dinner with Shannon's mom  & cell phone shopping. And now here we are. Thursday. And I have some time!

But I have few ideas. Boo.

So I'll stop here and avoid babbling on and on about something. Peace.

Times they are a-changing

Shannon's sister is moving in with her this weekend. It's a big deal for everyone. Shannon is getting a roommate, Shauna (her sister) is on her own for the first time, Shannon's parents have gotten rid of the last kid, and me? I'm affected in a couple of ways, all stemming from the fact that Shauna is moving in with my girlfriend.

1) Another car to dig out of the snow in the winter.
Because Shannon is my girlfriend, I'm the go-to guy to shovel snow off the car, get it out of any snowbanks. etc. Because my sister lives close to Shannon, I help her out too. And now Shauna. I need to get a better shovel.

2) More broken things to fix.
Electronics, furniture, appliances, etc., I get to be the handyman

3) More errands to run.
Often I'll go to Tops or Target and pick something up for Shannon real quick. I can see it now... When I'm out the door for Tops to get something, Shauna will hand me her list too.

I think that about covers it. I'm not complaining. I like doing that stuff. Heck, I'll even kill some bugs too. And there are some serious perks. The biggest one? I'll see a slight increase in the number of opportunities to act like a single college student again. No doubt there will be more days where I am not welcome in the apartment where previously, I'd stay. So what do I do instead? Go home, play video games, eat junk food, and go to bed late. It'll be awesome.

So no worries. Plus, it's going to be a super easy move. One trip. Which I'm incredibly grateful.

But of course, on Shauna's first day in the new place, I'm already being put to work. Shannon said I'm driving them to WalMart for supplies. I didn't even think of that one.

The rules of social networking

I shouldn't have to write a post like this. Everyone should know this stuff. But after months and months of watching people make facebook faux pas after facebook faux pas, I feel like I need to speak up. Although you want to communicate what's going on in your life to your friends and family via your social networking site of choice (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.), you need to avoid looking like an idiot or worse.

I decided to lay down the ground rules for having a profile. I will use Facebook for my examples as it is the most popular one out there. If you are a violator of any of these, please stop it immediately! You will instantly improve your life, trust me.

Faux Pas #1: Posting every little action of yours as your status. 

You're one of those people who need to tell everyone exactly what you're doing ALL the time. For example, "going to the grocery store and then tanning!" Or "Going to bed now."

Are you serious???? Who cares?!?!?!? No one! Not even your mother. Don't waste your time. No one wants to know every little thing you do every day. Especially if it's gross or wayyy too personal. Leave it out, please.

If you have to post what you're doing, spice it up. Instead of saying "Going to the zoo", say, "I'm totally 7 years old all over again and I'm going to pet an elephant." You've inputted some humor and still told the world where you're going or what you're doing, with a little mystery added to it. It's the perfect post.

The one exception is if you are doing something incredibly awesome. Then it's ok to post about it, straight up. Things like hang gliding or bounty hunting.  You can't beat a post that says, "Right now, I am about to rappel down the side of a tallest cliff face this side of the Mississippi." I'd rather read that than, "Picking up some milk."

Faux Pas #2: Posting controversial pictures of yourself or others


Do you want to know how you can work at McDonald's for the rest of your life, stay single forever, and live in your parents' basement until you're 40? Go partying every night, get incredibly wasted, make out with guys (or girls) you've never met, take pictures of the experience, and post it on Facebook.

Do you know how many interviewers are looking at your Facebook page as you're being interviewed? And the cute wholesome girl you met in class who won't call you back? It's because you're stupid. Your could-be employer saw you pounding the shots last Friday night and the pretty girl saw you grinding up against 3 girls on Saturday.

If you have to party and drink, leave the camera at home. Or at least, don't post the pics. It will ruin your life. It's so simple. And if you have pics like this of one of your friends, be a good friend and delete the photo. Don't ruin their lives for them.

Faux Pas #3: Being too mushy


This is one of my favorites. You're perusing your friends' Facebook pages and notice a conversation between two people dating and after reading 3 words, you're already feeling nauseous. Attention daters, engaged couples, and married folk: we don't want to hear about it. It grosses us out. Even us who are also dating, engaged, or married. We know you're love, let's leave it at that. We don't want to hear how hot ("hott") they are or how badly you want to kiss them right now. Especially those of you living together. Are you serious??? If you have to tell them something, turn to them, sitting next to you on the couch, and say it! My gosh! Or did you ever hear of messaging them? That way I don't have to puke all over my keyboard. Thanks.

Faux Pas #4: Desperately seeking sympathy and attention

There are two types of people in the world: those who tell everyone their problems and those that keep them quiet. For those of you who use Facebook to tell everyone how you're lonely all the time, mad at some guy, frustrated that you're overweight, or just depressed because of something or other, you need to know something. For every person who expresses sympathy, there are 999 people who would rather not hear about it.

It's not like they don't care. That's not the case at all. It's that the person who's venting about something is most likely what we call a "chronic venter" and spills their sob story every other day and we're just sick and tired of hearing about it.

People used to be like, "Oh Greg, I wish I had your life. You're so carefree and happy all the time!" Newsflash: My life isn't perfect, I just do two things differently than you. (1) I don't tell everyone about my problems, I save it for my close friends and family who I can always turn to for support and (2) I don't let my worries and burdens drag me down. I won't let my responsibilities ruin my day. It's something called maturity.

So man up (or woman up) and start handling your problems in a mature way. Instead of posting about every little thing that goes wrong, hoping for someone to say how sorry they are, try being proactive and change your situation. And for some of you, please seek professional help immediately.

Faux Pas #5: Posting too frequently


There's nothing more annoying than seeing someone who posts every hour. It screams one thing: "I don't have a life!" Unless you're someone super awesome (e.g. Bono, Stephen Colbert, Taylor Swift), you get the max of one post a day. Two in case of emergencies or extremely exciting days.

One tip for any Facebook post: you can get a good idea if you posted well by the amount of people who commented on it and by the number of people who "liked" it. If you're noticing a pattern of no activity after your posts, you can assume you suck at posting (or you have 15 friends, all of which are celebrities who have never heard of you).

I'm sure I'm missing some, and if you have any additions, feel free to comment below! Otherwise, let's all work together to be smart Facebook posters!

Long Lake Real Estate Review

Last week, my family and I went on vacation in the Adirondacks. Naturally, we found a place right on one of the many lakes. In the past, we've vacationed at Long Lake in the south end of the High Peaks region. We fell in love with the lake and the town that is its namesake, Long Lake, NY.

The lake is gorgeous and clean, with an amazing view of mountains on all sides. It's about an hour into the park from Utica, NY, almost smack dab in the middle of the park. There's plenty of fish, plenty of easy mountains to hike, and plenty of boats to rent.

For the first time, we decided to rent a house on the lake. We went through Long Lake Real Estate. Overall, the experience was good. The staff were helpful and informative. We shopped houses via their website and pics they posted and upon arriving at the location, we were satisfied to see that the pictures were quite accurate. While on the pricier side, we got a lot of bang for our buck.

The house we rented is #182 on their website and it was beautiful. Nestled in the woods on the more remote side of the lake, there was nobody around so it felt like we had the lake to ourselves. And yet the house was a 5 minute drive from the town where we could stock up on supplies, grab something to eat, and even check our email with the numerous WiFi hotspots.

The house was huge. It came with all the amenities - fridge, range, oven, microwave, dishwasher, sink, coffee maker, washer, dryer. The place was well kept and modern. There was even a hot tub, ping pong table, grill, and canoe for our leisure. There was a nice big dock for fishing and swimming and we had ample shoreline to dock the boat, swim, and explore. There were plenty of chairs, big picture windows, and plenty of space for our 7-person group to relax.

Only a couple of issues, all minor. First, the place was advertised as having a sandy beach. In reality, there was no sand and the shoreline was kind of rough. The shoreline was not built for kids. There's really nowhere to wade in. The shore is a mixture of rocks and grass so the best way to access the water is via the dock.

Also, the bedrooms weren't that clean. Very dusty and looked as if they weren't touched in awhile. But not gross in any way, just dusty. Another issue was the TV available in the house. It was smaller than my laptop screen. I mean, this thing was TINY. But we aren't there to watch TV, are we? Finally, this isn't really an "issue" but something you should be prepared for, the house is close to the water but higher up. Be ready to do some walking to get from the house to the water and vice versa. Maybe 30 steps or so.

All in all, I'd go back. There were other houses my family was interested in but if we went back here, I'd be perfectly happy. It was an amazing vacation!

Vacations are for a moment, being in vacation mode lasts forever

So a few things have happened since my last blog post. For one, I went on vacation for a week. It was fantastic. Much needed. The sucky thing about vacations? They end. It's quite sad.

My vacation was with the family in the Adirondacks (Everyone kept making fun of me because I kept saying "Andirondacks" like I'm 5). We stayed at a rented house right on the shores of Long Lake about 2 minutes outside the town of Long Lake. We've stayed on this lake before and for good reason. It's the perfect lake. Just enough glorious wilderness to beloved civilization. Our house was extremely secluded on a quiet section of the lake with nobody around. It was perfect. But like I said, the town was only a couple of minutes away with grocery stores, ice cream stands, restaurants, and my favorite: WiFi! So even if there is a suggestion of trying another lake, I will refuse. Heck, I'll even review the place we went to in a subsequent post.

While on vaca, we slept, ate, read, swam, canoed, kayaked, slept, ate, read, did crosswords, boated, slept, ate, and so on. But the one thing we didn't do? Climb a mountain.

That's right. While in the midst of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountain Range, we neglected the mountains. I won't lie, it was out of pure laziness. My family is moderately physically fit. We are all quite capable of climbing mountains. But we didn't. And I'm not ashamed. I stared at those mountains, took pictures of those mountains, dreamed about those mountains, and shunned those mountains. But the vacation was perfect without the climbing.

So if I can get Shannon to get the pics of our vaca online, I'll post some of them here. Which means I'll probably post them in 6 months.

Meanwhile, we're back to the routine. And now it's Tuesday, I've been home since Friday night, I think I'm finally escaping vacation mode. And yet already planning my next one.

Cheers!

I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure...

As a fairly novice blog writer, I'm still struggling with the whole "finding my niche" thing. Absolutely worship is a passion of mine and I want to continue to express my opinions and give advice where I can.

But sometimes I want to talk about more than just worship. Sometimes I want to talk about something that has nothing to do with my faith.

The fact is, I'm not a celebrity. If you Google me, nothing good comes up (trust me, I looked, and don't lie, I know you Googled yourself too). I can't get away with writing about anything just because I'm famous. The way I'll draw readers (or followers) is by having purpose, direction, focus, etc., etc.

And I thought I had that handled. I technically have two blogs at the time of this posting. And I thought that with this blog, I can write about worship and other Jesus stuff and then with my other blog, I can write about everything else. Except since the conception of this blog, I haven't written one darned thing in the other. I'm too lazy. It's too much upkeep. And it'll split my readers in half.

So I'm officially getting rid of my other blog. And I'm slightly shifting the focus of this blog. I will keep my primary focus on worship, but I will also expand outside of that realm as I see fit. I'm thinking the title of this will be more like "In the eyes of a worship leader" or "Give me a penny..." Ooh! I like that one. We'll see...

yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it. Jesus made the mountains. Go figure.

I'm easily entertained by the people who gush on and on about nature and how God created it. They'll see a sunset or a mountain range or a butterfly and post on facebook how wonderful God is and how after seeing that, they just had to get on their knees and as the tears stream down their face, they thank the good Lord for all His blessings. And these people I'm talking about? They're men.

So let's set the record straight. God rocks. He dominates the whole creativity thing. He definitely made everything and He did with style. It's amazing how intricate everything is.

But guys, MAN UP. For crying out loud, act like a dude. Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by Brendan Frasers from Bedazzled. Trust me, it's quite possible for a man to give God glory for everything he's done without sounding like a wimp. Do you think Joshua was killing all those bad guys while looking at the pretty rainbow? No! But did he make altars to God after victories? Yes!

The only person who can get away with it is David (one word: harp). But that's because he took down a dude twice as big as him with a rock. When you do that, you can cry all you want.

So wipe those tears from your eyes, stop hugging me, and thank God without sounding like a pansy.

Amen.

The art of free worship (that's right, it's on the house)

Can I speak freely?

Free worship is hard. It's very hard. It's especially difficult for the worship leader. Before I explain myself, it might be best if we explained what free worship is first.

Free worship is self-explanatory. It's the part of the worship set where either the vocals or instruments (or both) start improvising on either the words or the music. The idea behind it is that while it's awesome singing a written, published, popular worship song with the congregation, singing a song you spontaneously wrote on the spot can be exponentially more powerful and impacting because it's raw, from the heart, customized just for you.

It's an amazing concept, really. I personally love free worship for all the reasons I mentioned above. Free worship takes your worship to God to the next level.

But like I said, it's hard. This is why it's hard:

1) Songwriting isn't easy
It can be awkward, uncomfortable, and just plain weird to start singing something you just made up. Let's face it, 99.9% of us will never be the next Chris Tomlin. It just won't happen. So here we are, just making up lyrics (most of the time just shamelessly putting the words of the song we were just singing in a different order), trying to not look like an idiot.

Solution:
Don't worry about it! You probably won't come up with something crazy awesome so don't try. A common suggestion I give to people is to sing their prayers. Follow the melody of the song you were just singing and whatever you would normally talk, sing!

2) The worship leader went off the deep end
Hate to break it to you, but worship leaders are crazy. Just like any musician out there, worship leaders are as bad as the rest of them. They'll yell out commands to you ("Sing a new song to Him!"), they'll go off in tongues for a while (AWKWARD), they'll repeat one word over and over again for 10 minutes straight (they're as lost as you), etc, etc.

Solution:
My advice to you is two word: baby steps. Just try a little bit at a time. No one's expecting you to be Matt Redman or Kari Jobe. Just start praying (the talking version), follow the beat of the song, and see if you can't start singing it instead. Tune out the crazy worship leader, close your eyes, and focus on worshiping God. You'll do fine.

3) The free worship has been going on for an hour
This is my favorite one. Once in a while you'll find yourself led in worship by a band that does more free worship than actual songs. The worship will end and you'll realize that the band only did two songs that were 20 minutes long each. For some people, it was awesome and they loved it. For most people, the band lost them after the first 5 minutes.

The hardest part for worship leaders is to balance the amount of free worship in a set. Some truly want to have the perfect balance, others deliberately stay away from free worship, and others deliberately bring as much free worship as they can into the set.

Solution:
For the standard church goer, all I have to say is: I'm sorry. Sometimes it's the luck of the draw. One day you won't get any free worship, the next day, that's all you'll get. Luckily, most crazy free worshipers are only seen at conferences and specials so you can learn to avoid them if you don't like it. And if you love it and don't see it in your own church, talk to your worship pastor about it (be polite).

Balancing the ratio of free worship to regular worship (worship leaders, this is for you):
This is where it's hard for worship leaders. Free worship is becoming increasingly common in worship sets. It's a powerful tool and I encourage any worship leader in any church, in any denomination to start implementing it. But of course you need to display wisdom and tact while doing so. As a side note, this advice applies to standard services, not special services or conferences. The rules go out the window for those, I'm afraid to say.

1) Don't go too long!
The worship is probably only 20 - 30 minutes and most people will initially be more comfortable singing songs they know. If you go too long, you'll start to lose people. Not everyone will be a fan of free worship no matter how hard you try. And while you don't want to be a people pleasing church, you need to be sensitive to the mood of the congregation (more on this later).

2) Don't be afraid to start a time of free worship
If you want to start doing free worship but are afraid or don't know how, start by practicing it outside of church. Get your team comfortable with it. The more you do it, the easier it will get. In what you should say, follow my advice from above. And practice, practice, practice! Soon you'll be a pro.

3) Don't be weird.
Every church is different. But most churches have one common philosophy: don't be awkward and weird.
-If an attempt at free worship bombs, cut your losses and go on to the next song.
-Stay away from speaking in tongues into the mike. I'm no intellect on this, but the standard line is, don't speak in tongues in public unless you dead sure you got an interpretation (and you probably don't).
-Finally, worship God in your free worship. Don't take this time to lecture the congregation or condemn people or preach something that's been on your heart for months. You're not the pastor, you're the worship leader so stick to your job.

Well, with all of this invaluable advice, you'll be the best free worshiper around! Remember, it always comes back to the reason you're there to begin with. Worshiping God. It's not about putting on a show, or looking awesome, or joining the crowd. Free worship is an amazing thing. So do it with sincerity and passion! And worship leaders? Excellence won't hurt either.

Who said Guitar Hero is for wanna-be rock stars?

I don't really have anything to say today except for this: David Crowder Band is the greatest. Check out this clip:

Leadership Equals Servanthood

One of the most profound, important things I have ever learned is that you cannot effectively lead if you don't serve first.

The reasoning behind this comes from the saying, "Lead by example." People don't want to follow someone who hasn't gone there before. They are more apt to trust and listen to someone who has been there, experienced the situation, understands what they are going through, and has the knowledge and wisdom to handle the situation.

Jesus knew this concept perfectly. He was the picture of servant and leader. By the end of his time on earth, he had many followers. And yet he was always the first to comfort people, the first to lay hands on people. He'd wash his disciples' feet, he wouldn't pick and choose between needy people, etc, etc. No matter how famous he got, He never stopped serving those he led.

The problem today is that when people are put in a leadership position, they let it get to their heads. They may have a lot of skill & experience, they may be good at bossing people around, but there's a lot more to being a leader than that. An effective leader has followers who trust and respect him or her. And you build that trust and respect by serving. Being the leader doesn't make you better than everyone else, just in charge.

My challenge for you today is this: Swallow your pride. Do some work. Set an example. If you want people to follow you wherever you go, learn to serve them first. You'll find that they'll follow you without you having to say a word.

Effective worship leading starts at home

A couple of posts ago, I made a smart remark about how if you want to go crazy in worship, try worshiping at home.

This post is for those of you who didn't get it.

I think it's common knowledge that many Christians are merely Sunday Christians. On Sunday mornings, they're all about Jesus. Dusting off the Bible, putting on the Sunday best, driving to church with the family, singing the songs, taking sermon notes, shaking the hands, etc, etc. Then it's Monday, and they're flicking off bad drivers on the morning commute, arguing with their spouses, ignoring their children, making fun of other kids in school, or worse. Maybe they don't necessary sin but they sure aren't acting like a saint.

The assumption is that these Sunday Christians don't apply to the church-goers who are heavily involved at church. Whether they're a Sunday school teacher, an usher, or a worship team member, we automatically believe that these people are "Super Christians" at home, at work, and/or at school.

As a worship leader, I made the mistake of believing that worship team members take their gifts home with them. I love playing guitar, piano, and singing and every chance I get, I play. Sometimes I'm practicing specific songs I want to introduce to the team, sometimes I just want to jam, other times I just want to worship.

Unfortunately, Active church participation does not equate to an active spiritual & genuine lifestyle outside of the church (Heck, it doesn't even equate to an active spiritual & genuine lifestyle inside church, but I'm definitely not broaching that subject). Active church goers are even more susceptible to neglecting their personal devotions and times of worship. They get this mindset that because they're so awesome on Sunday mornings (and Wednesday nights and Friday nights), they're good for the week.

How incredibly wrong that is. Leadership equals servanthood (stay tuned for a post on this). Meaning, the people that serve the church in some form are leaders. They should be spending more time with God on their own than everyone else, not less.

This is doubly important for worship team members. Practicing their gift and worshiping on their own is essential in being effective on the stage. Jeff Deyo, a highly successful worship leader on his own and with a band, speaks to this in a podcast. He emphasizes that a worship leader (which means every single band member on the stage) cannot be authentic if they don't spend time with God alone.

I totally understand that people are busy. Trust me, I'm as busy as any of you. And no one's demanding you spend a couple of hours a day in worship and prayer. Try 15 minutes a day to start. If you don't have 15 minutes to spare, you're lying and it's pathetic. See where even just a few minutes a day can take your walk with God. Soon you'll be desperate to make more room in your schedule for Him.

And this will start to be evident in your leading on the stage as well. Where you may have botched up singing a song, or couldn't think of anything to pray, or fumbled during a free worship, suddenly all of that disappears and you start having smooth worship sets with people getting touched and set free.

And it all starts with 15 minutes a day. Get a worship CD (or iPod, or guitar, or piano), your Bible, and a quiet room and give it a try!

There are 3 types of people in the world...Those that can count and those who can't

When it comes to worship, Christians fall into one (or more) of four categories:
1) The only good worship songs are anything written before 1995. New music is the devil and I refuse to sing along.

2) The only good worship songs are songs that came out in this past decade. Old songs and hymns are lame.

3) It doesn't matter if it's newer songs or old school, I am God's gift to mankind with my operatic soprano voice who sings a million times louder than everyone else.

4) I can appreciate the new and the old, (whether I like one more over the other or not) people can be moved by any genuine worship song.

Let's face it, more often than not, the first three are wayyy more common than the fourth. Most people will claim they fall in the fourth category, but if they were honest, would they really? Truthfully, they want to, but they never will.

For me, more often than not, I find myself picking number 2. I'm in my twenties, I grew up in the nineties and I prefer more contemporary music over traditional. I'm not going to lie. When the adult worship team takes the stage and plays "Draw Me Close to You" and "As the Deer," I inwardly grown. And it used to be bad. Really bad. I would relentlessly make fun of old school music. I couldn't stand it.

But you know what I realized? Some of that music is good! The lyrics are amazing! The music just needs a little touch up. And I'm not the only one who realized that. Jesus Culture figured it out too. They play a lot of stuff from the '90s and it sounds amazing because they tweaked a few things here or there. And what it did was give me a new appreciation for the older stuff. God will move and touch lives no matter what style of music is playing. He doesn't care. So neither should we.

I'm sick of the older generation refusing to learn new stuff and getting offended when the youth band plays something they never heard before that has a faster tempo than they would like. I'm sick of teenagers not worshiping because the music sounds cheesy.

Piece of advice: GET OVER IT. The old people will always love the old music and the young people will always like the new music. 40 years from now I will be wishing for the old music and hating the new, no doubt. And the teens will think music from my day is lame. It'll never change.

So young and old alike, why don't you unfold your arms, stand up, wipe the scowl off your face, and worship God? Thanks.

Leading pragmatically

I love worshiping through music. It is my escape. Everything can fall apart around me, but when I'm in front of a piano, or playing the guitar, or just singing a "Jesus song," everything's ok.

And I'll get into it. Man, do I ever.

But when you're leading worship in front of people, you can't just "get into it." There needs to be a balance of two things: spirituality and practicality.

The number one goal in worship is to bring glory to God. Hands down. No question. I will never, ever contradict that with any post in this blog. But when you're leading others in worship, you need to keep an eye on a few other things. You can't just lose yourself completely in the worship.

I've had bandmates (or seen bands) that do a great job singing/playing but won't keep an eye on the clock to make sure they're not going into the pastor's preaching time. Or to make sure the rest of the band is following them. Or to make sure they didn't lose the crowd. And so on. They nailed the worship part but bombed the practical part. My favorite is the 10 minute long free worship section (which I will undoubtedly address in a future post).

The funny thing about worship is that it isn't about you. Never was, never will be. You put God first. Then you. But as a worship leader, there are not one, not two, but three groups you put first. God, then the congregation, then the band, then you.

More on this later.

P.S. If you're a worship leader and you want to continue to lose yourself in worship, try worshiping at home.

New blog!

Hey everyone! I decided to jump start this new blog with low expectations but big plans! My primary goal with this is to write down any and all thoughts about worship, the worship experience, worship leading, worship following, etc.

As I post, please comment! I hope to learn as much as I teach.

My secondary goal is to be consistent with this. I am not very consistent with my other blog (check it out here), but I believe that was primarily because I didn't have much to say! We'll see if I have more to say here.

Ok, in the words of will.i.am & co., "Let's get it started!"

The toils of a worship leader

Ugh. It's late. My clock says 11:51pm Monday night. Two years ago, while in college, I would probably be just leaving my house to go out somewhere. Now, all I can think about is my bed.

Been spending some time figuring out the playlist for tomorrow night. Apostle John Shiver has been hosting some meetings at LJGC the last couple of days. They've been amazing (so I hear, I have't made one yet). I'll be leading worship for tomorrow night's meeting at 7pm.

I know God is going to move and I want the worship to reflect His plans for tomorrow night. But I also want songs I know really well. I don't want any surprises!

Consequently, I think I found a direction I could take this blog. The title has been "The Pointless Meanderings of a Random Guy." How about a blog focusing on worship, and more specifically, worship music? I may leave this blog open and begin a new one...I like it. Let's do it.

I'll try and pour some insight into readers on what I'm learning about worship and worship leading and I want to put more focus on pragmatic worship leading than I think most people do. In fact, that'll be my first blog post!

U.S. Immigration Policy

What a polarizing title for this blog post. I would rather not start an argument and just have a rational blurb on how I feel about recent events, but unfortunately, there'll always be someone who wants to pick a fight.

There was an article posted to Yahoo! News today about a U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot and killed a Mexican teenager in El Paso, TX. Long story short, the Mexicans (the kid's family & government) are upset because the agent killed him, but the Border Patrol states that the teen and others were attacking the agents with rocks while illegally in the U.S.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100609/ap_on_re_us/us_border_patrol_shooting

A couple of points:

1) The Border Patrol agent may have overreacted by discharging his firearm.

2) If a bunch of teenage boys were pelting you with rocks and you had a gun, would you not draw it to force them to stop? And if they wouldn't stop and were ignoring your demands, what's the next step? Run away? What if these kids were illegally in the U.S. (which they were)? As law enforcement, you don't run away. You have a job to do.

3) The simple fact is the kid (and others) were illegally in the United States. The kid's family is calling for "justice" to be served against the agent who shot him. However, the agent was doing his duty. Protecting the borders, his fellow agents, and himself.

4) Hindsight is 20/20. Sure, when we look at it now, the Border Patrol agent could done a couple of things differently. But going back to point #2, when you have a bunch of teenagers whipping rocks at your head, you don't really have the capacity to think through all your options, especially when you have a gun on your belt.

Conclusion: The agent did not do anything wrong. He was doing his job. The bottom line is the kid shouldn't have been illegally crossing the border and assaulting a federal officer.

Christian Movies = Great

Tonight nowGen will be screening "To Save a Life." No, not the hit song by the Fray as heard on Grey's Anatomy. A Christian movie, a genre that is increasingly improving in their quality and depth.

I remember being a kid at my old church, not mentioning any names (Native American wannbes). They once played a couple of end times movies that were filmed in the seventies. Now, I don't know if you ever seen any of these, but they had only one goal: to scare little kids. I'm freaked out right now just thinking about them.

And the sad thing is that these movies were incredibly cheesy and tasteless (contradiction, I know).

But the Christian film industry has made a comeback (Fireproof anyone?). A little bit better acting (not much), a little bit better filming, and little bit better storylines. So we'll see how this one stands up. Review to follow.

And just to plug tonight's movie - hosted by nowGen, 7pm, at LoveJoy Gospel Church, 5423 Genesee St, Lancaster, NY 14086. Open to all teenagers, 12 - 18 years old.

The movie is about a teenager who stands up for what he believes in, at the risk of losing his popularity at school. Very original.

Spoiler Alert: Kirk Cameron is not in this movie. Boo.

The truth behind my blog

I'll be the first to admit it and I think so many of you other bloggers need to as well (see below).

Healthy Eating

Healthy eating - two words I normally don't put right next to each other like that. Why? Because it's offensive to ruin delicious foods with things like nutrients and vitamins.

Shannon and her family have commenced a healthy eating kick. I think it's the Special K diet or Slim Fast or South Beach or Atkin's or Weight Watchers or Curvers or Tae Bo or Pilates or Jillian Michaels or SOMETHING.

Anyway, they have this deal where you eat healthy all day, exercise 3-4 times a week, and if you mess up once, you pay a dollar into the pot. What happens with the money at the end, I'm not sure. I say they donate it to some obese children's charity.

So Shannon asked if I wanted to join in. Now I am out of shape, I could use some serious toning, and it's almost summer, but what's this I hear about no treats until the weekend? CRAZY. And having to pay money if I want to cheat? Who willingly does that?

I don't know if I can do it. I love food. Shannon says I eat pretty well already, I just eat too much. Even healthier things. I poured myself a nice tall class of Tropicana Orange Juice and she said that I need to cut that in half! Whaaaa??

We went shopping and you would of thought that some alien possessed my body because in my shopping cart was REDUCED FAT Cheez-Its, REDUCED FAT string cheese, healthy cereal (no Cocoa Puffs), and V8 Juice. Yuck.

So wish me luck. I agreed to do this (I'm such a push-over). I'm apparently going to have rock-hard abs and broad shoulders. I think Shannon wants me to do this more than I do.

My picks for the Spring

Ok guys, these are the albums you absolutely need to have this season. I say albums because I don't care if you purchase the CD, download it off iTunes, somehow get it on cassette, WHATEVER. Just get this music!

1) David Crowder*Band - Church Music

Once again proving they're awesome, here's the latest from DCB. Showing they can continue to adapt, we see more rocking, guitar-led songs as well as some more use of synthesizers and mixing. It's an amazing CD. Songs to check out: SMS (Shine), Oh Happiness, and How He Loves.

2) Owl City - Ocean Eyes

This is for all you helpless romantics out there. This album is just plain cool. Track to check out: Fireflies.

3) Hillsong United - Faith + Hope + Love

Proving that they're still amazingly anointed, the crew over in Sydney show up again. Pretty much all new frontmen (and women) in the band (Joel Houston, Marty Samson, Brooke Fraser, etc. - all gone). But they're just as good, if not better. I think I love every track on the album. Songs to listen to: The First and the Last, For Your Name.

A little belated Easter humor

I laughed aloud at this.

The Return

After a 5 month sabbatical, I have decided to make a comeback in the blogging scene. It could of been Julie Powell who inspired me, or the band deciding to create a blog, or something else. But nevertheless, here I am.

Today's post will raise an extremely controversial, polarizing question. But let me first construct the framework from whence this question comes.

You're a young man or woman. You aren't married, you don't have any children, you may or may not still live at home with your parents. You have a car and a job. Easter day comes! And the loving and doting woman who gave birth to you presents you with an Easter basket filled with goodies! How awesome is that!

The next day comes. You go to work (or school) and since the holiday is over, life goes back to normal. With one change: at home there is a basket piled high with candy. So for the next couple of weeks, any chocolate or sugar cravings you have will be satiated by this woven wonder.

On the way home that day, however, you stop at the supermarket. And right smack-dab in front of you is a display case utterly teeming with Easter candy, all 75 - 85% off regular price! You have some spending money, you love chocolate, and there are amazing deals that you will not get for another 365 days sitting right in front of you.

So the question is: WHAT DO YOU DO? Do you walk away without getting any because remember, you have a full basket of candy at home. You won't be deprived. Plus buying even more candy screams "PIG!" But then again, the candy you already have will run out in a couple of weeks and at then you'll be wishing you bought some more. And in two weeks, these deals will be gone. I mean, you certainly can freeze it for later. Dilemma!

I bought another bunny.