Ok, well I know I’ve been updating a lot lately… I hope it hasn’t made you less interested in my posts… well anyways, I’ve been thinking lately… thinking about the darkness of the world we live in. It’s not unlike the part in Lord of the Rings, when despite the fact that you know the good guys have to win, you begin to despair. And why not? You see the sheer size of the enemy army… what with all of the Evil World on their side, and the fierceness of their hatred, It really looks like the bad guys are going to win… It seems that they are going to win because they have the cowardly and consequently far more fear inducing strategy. Those are truly the feelings I felt when I watched The Return of the King. The darkness in the story is exactly the Darkness we are up against today. I think that I’ve become aware of the darkness because, while being here at Berklee, I’ve faced people that don’t believe in God and don’t have much more than a small, semi-appreciative feeling toward the possibilty of His existence. They think, “If that power is out there, that’s really sweet (as in cute and thoughtfull), that’s good for us.” There is llittle or no concept of morals, as they inhibit our progress toward freedom of thought; “They are really a bother.” And then there’s my favorite faux-philosophic statement, “This morality idea keeps me from becoming who I really am. If there were no rules, then my inhibitions wouldn’t keep from becoming me.” This darkness seems as though it is darker than ever. There are terrorists, who kill because they believe it the will of God to kill those who do not believe as they do. Homosexuality is now more accepted than ever even within “Christianity.” [If you will allow me a little side-note... I was in McDonalds the other day, having a bit of dinner, when stroled in about ten black men, maybe 3 years older than myself. Now they were all gay. Furthermore they were reffering to themselves and eachother as "girl." I was perplexed... I thought, surely, a man may be gay, but he does not deny the fact that he is a man. Now what could be more the antithesis of becoming yourself than denying who you are? In other words, how can become more like yourself if you deny precisely who and what you are?] Although it seems that this Darkness is stronger than ever, is it? Communism and racism were huge problems very recently [Granted, they still are to some extent.] Communism and racism have at times have seemed as impossible to beat as the evils we face today. Remember the Cuban missile crisis? How about The asassination of Martin Luther King Jr.? Now you may be thinking, “So, your saying that not only is evil very strong now, but it has always been, and only shows brief moments of relaxing.?” Thats right! Remember Lord of the Rings? Gandalph tells Frodo something like, “There never was much hope [for good], only a fools hope” And remember the Bible, [I had to look it up] 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.”? Now if it seems foolishness that good will prevail, and if the message of the ross is foolishness to human logic, do we not have abundant hope? Now, as Edmund Burke said, “The only thing neccessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” Yes, we will triumph over the Darkness of our day if we simply and daily look to our “foolish” Cross and remember that as “foolish” as good is, God has ensured its triumph.

Here they come… oohh man… I have to shrink my pics…

A statue man… Yay

Street performers… they were fun.

so yay for Boston… a lot of the pics I wanted to show wouldn’t load… but here are some… from someone who’s ready to go to bed, goodnight.

how about ten more minutes?… Oh yeah… I finished the first HP book yesterday… very good… uh 15 more?

I’m watching Legally Blonde 2 with my aunt and uncle and so far it’s one big piece of liberal propaganda… arghh. Freedom of speach though… oh well… So anyways, I’m reading this book called Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance… it’s abut how sometimes the little things in life that we do wrong can make the most tragic things happen. So I went out taking pictures today… and as promised… I’d like to show them to you. Give me half an hour and I’ll have them up!

Whelp… I had my meeting today with the lady thats helping me arrange my song for a band, and she made some really good suggestions… It made my song more concise and we changed the key so that I could sing it well… all’s well that ends well… I’ll leave you with a picture of me with a small body and and picture of me with a large body.

Actual pictures from Boston… coming soon!

A good day to all!… and good news… I was one of ten people that won this competition and we are playing a concert on August 3 in the Berklee Performance Center… yay!!! Thanks for your prayers… Now I’m off to clean my 5-week room… goodnight!

Thank you guys so much for the comments!!! It’s really encouraging to hear such… uhmm… ridiculously encouraging comments. Well the judges seemed to like my song(I thought about saying that they hated it and then saying that I was just joking, but that would have been too mean.). After I finished, one of the guys goes, “Wow, we’re getting a lot of good song writers here at the end, and it’s a good thing too because I was starting to get tired.” Several of the other judges said I did a good job too. It was really fun and cool, and all that stuff!!! Then, as I was waiting outside for my ride about 10 minutes or so after my audition, The same guy that said that really nice thing earlier was walking out and said, “Hey man, good job” (or something like that). So I think it went well and I will find out in the morning, Hey, props to Kris for having seen Milo and Otis. Thanks Maggie and Chelsea for the encouragement, and thanks a lot, Sam, for reminding me to be on the lookout for opportunities to witness to people… Always a good reminder.

Hey there!!! Tomorrow’s a really big day. I get the awesome and exciting and nerve-racking (Oh wait, I’m not allowed to get nervous) opportunity of competing in a songwriting competition at the very wonderful and fun Berklee College of Music. I start school at 11:10 and have a class where they critique our singing, then I have a songwriting class. It’s stinkin’ sweet ’cause we get to be taught how to write songs. Then I have a one hour break. After I use that hour in the consumption of food that is not as good as the food in San Antonio, I have Performance Perspectives class… I don’t really know what that is, but it will be fun. Then I have an other hour long break… Now comes the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the thing that I’m making a really stink about. THE SONGWRITING CONTEST!!! YAY!!! It starts at six and I don’t go on until like 9:45 so geewhizzz it’ll be fun. Pray for me please… Pray that God blesses it, and that people really connect with the song and understand what it’s about. I’ll put the words up here just for you guys… consider it a special sneak peek, or depending on what you think of it… a poopy peek.

Stagnant (not the final name… just what I could come up with real quick.)

Maybe one day we’ll all be inspired
Old, fat wise men with proverbs to write
But as for me, I’ll be the man who
Passes by peace for the golden now

Come on. Find something new
Be through with the way life’s going
You know, you know you’re sick of stagnant
Be through, Be through

I’ve felt this way not once in my life
Of course I’m the “flawless”, the one who is “wise”
But “perfect” me; I’ve learned something new
I pass by peace, for the golden empty ocean

Come on. Find something new
Be through with the way life’s going
You know, you know you’re sick of stagnant
Be through, Be through

We’re infinitesimal
A dot on the largest canvas
Look beyond yourself
Therein the painting lies

So, for whatever it’s worth, there it is… I will talk to you guys later!

Well, hello on this fine Thursday morning. I’m still in Boston (will be until August 12th), and the weather is pretty sweet. The highs are typically in the mid eighties. It’s really rockin. I finished Mere Christianity, so thats good. Ok, for any of you guys that don’t know why I’m in Boston, I’m at a summer music program at Berklee! It’s really fun. There are a bunch of students from other countries (Mexico, New Zealand, Italy and such) and the proffesors are sick musicians. They have these concerts that are free and its the best jazz and soul music I’ve ever heard. I’m entering a songwriting contest that starts on Monday. I go on at 9:45 and get five minutes. Then callbacks are on Tuesday, so I’m hoping I do well. Well, I have to go work on my theory homework, so I guess I’ll talk to you guys later!

hey guys… I’m now in Boston and it’s rockin “like dokkin.” (old church joke… 1999 probably). Anyways… I really need to hit the hay because I have to wake up at 6:00 and I’m an hour faster than you guys… I’ll try to update tomorrow and tell you about my first few days of classes. Love you Chelsea!