Rock and Roll

I love music. I practice it, seek it, listen to it, and drink it in. Tonight, my friend Meredith Huff came through town with her band The Winter Sounds again.

Adam Fites, a friend of mine who lives down in Locust Grove, drove all the way up to Doraville to pick me up from my day job, since my car is still in the shop.

It was one of those days at work. I wondered why I ever thought I could do this job well, why I'm still employed here, and how my bosses will respond to the mistakes I make. I sank into the passenger seat of Adam's car feeling tense and exhausted.

Going to hear Meredith play, standing by the stage as the music launched itself across the room, I felt a bit revived. Many of the songs were about pain. I think one thing I love about art is its redemptive power. Artists can take their own pain and weave it into something beautiful that will lift others up.

So this blog entry is a little prayer of thanks. I am thankful that my friends Adam, Meredith, and Aubrey were there to share in the joy of art with me. I am thankful that God wired creativity into us, and that he shows his love to me through others' artistry.

Tomorrow could be the end of my job. I know that. I'm worried about it. But tonight's experience reminded me that I am profoundly thankful for the unpredictable, messy nature of life. It's out of this mess that beauty emerges unexpectedly, creatively, redemptively, and I can't help being thankful to the author of the whole thing.

Pandemonium at Huntington Creek

My friend Jonathan Kotulski and I did a lot of songwriting together in Chicago, and right before I left, we compiled an album called Ghost Town Revival.

We approached Jonathan's brother, Joseph, about helping us develop a blog for the music we were creating. He agreed, and as we planned it out, the vision shifted from a music blog to one that would feature off-kilter-Americana in different media, created by all three of us.

The blog went up today at http://ghosttownrevival.wordpress.com. Joey posted a great picture of a fallen tree, and I wrote a short piece to set the mood for things to come.

Also, on a more ministry-related note, we had quite the event today. My sister Lisa taught a lesson on the good shepherd that captivated the kids for 30 minutes (with this crowd, that's an achievment).

Next, thanks to the creative genius of Jeanne McLarty, our arts and crafts leader from Mt. Zion Baptist Church, things got pretty crazy.

The one rule of our shaving cream free-for-all was not to get it in anyone's face. I can't say that one was too strictly enforced.