it’s free music time of year.

mr. munoz & i have 3 songs for you to toss into your christmas playlist.

i hope you enjoy them.

Download Christmas (2011)

yes, the chilean miner rescue is old news.

but, as i was watching the live stream of the guys being pulled up from the belly of the earth from the comfort of my office and macbook 5,400 miles away, i couldn’t help but think about this:

Revelation 11.7-13  >> 7 When [the two witnesses] finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. 11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.

the indication is that the whole world will be able to watch as these men are finally killed and then, 3 days later, they will watch them rise again.

it is amazing to think that up until only a few years ago, we wouldn’t really be able to understand how everyone, everywhere, could watch a live event happening all at the same time.

now, i can watch as many church services as i want on a phone, see concerts or funerals or inaugurations live, or even check out what chilean officials are doing to help some trapped miners. even people climbing mount everest could stream it!

for a short moment when i grabbed the screen shot above i thought to myself, “the whole world is watching this.”

it was exciting because it made me think of heaven and it also reminded me that God’s word is faithful and true.

did you watch?

today’s post has a soundtrack as you read
if you’re in a reader, come on over to the real post

i wasn’t always a Delirious? fan. in fact, like this blog post (if you didn’t know, Delirious? has officially retired), i was pretty late to the party.

i always knew they were around, even went to a show of theirs back in high school. but i think i was only there for whoever was opening for them.

back then the only album of theirs i had was King Of Fools and, to be honest, the only track i found myself listening to was King Or Cripple, a favorite of mine to the present date.

but it wasn’t till after college that i started to really pay attention to their music.

it was their song Jesus’ Blood on the Glo album that first drew me in. there was something striking about the simplicity of the song itself countered with the incredible complexity of the production. i remember listening to that song on repeat driving from fresno to hanford in the final weeks of my senior year, each time finding myself enjoying it more and more.

when i got my hands on The Mission Bell, their 2005 album, it stayed on a continual ipod loop for weeks and weeks. it was in those weeks where i realized how special and unique their song-writing was. even the songs that i didn’t love were meaningful and thought-provoking…all of them were, most of all, worshipful.

as i dug deeper into their catalog i was always impressed at how they could grow in their music while never losing the atmosphere of praise in the songs. each record was so unique it was not always easy to tell which was from 2005 and which was from 1995.

then, in 2008, came Kingdom Of Comfort, their final studio album.

to me, it exemplified everything that inspires me about their music. originality. incredible production. challenging musicality. beautiful arrangements. lyrical variety. show-stopping performance. and a worship that is personal and powerful.

that’s where My Soul Sings comes in.

this song (that is hopefully playing as you read this post) demonstrates who Delirious? is in my listening. the song is perfect. i am hard-pressed to find a more lush and composed piece of music that glorifies the Lord.

i could listen to this song (and several others from this band) forever and ever. it really does make my soul want to sing.

if you happen to be one of the few people out there who hasn’t yet discovered these precious praise songs from across the pond, it’s time to join in.

and if you are a fan already, i would urge you to return this week to a Delirious? playlist.

very seldom do i find music that makes me want to love the Lord more, but these guys do it every time.

what’s YOUR favorite Delirious? song?

so, the Library of Congress has archived every tweet ever twittered.
(commence twitter verb-vernacular debates)

Have you ever sent out a “tweet” on the popular Twitter social media service?  Congratulations: Your 140 characters or less will now be housed in the Library of Congress.

That’s right.  Every public tweet, ever, since Twitter’s inception in March 2006, will be archived digitally at the Library of Congress. That’s a LOT of tweets, by the way: Twitter processes more than 50 million tweets every day, with the total numbering in the billions.

the rate at which knowledge/technology is increasing is amazing. topped only by the rate at which our world is shrinking.

but here’s the question…

not that you know your e-statements are being archived somewhere like the Library of Congress, does that make you think more about what you’ll be broadcasting?

i suppose the greater issue is this: does what we say online matter in light of the fact that anyone & everyone can read what we produce, and, in many cases, it is saved forever on the wide, wide world of web?

i want to know what you think.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-5T2UAZoPU[/youtube]

going to introduce this one to @calvaryhanford this sunday.

what’s your favorite worship song right now?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk9qNOQVqhI[/youtube]

i think they probably have a pretty good practice routine…

ht: mr. brown

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/7236480[/vimeo]

…that’s as clever of a title as i could think of.

sorry.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2bz-UXr4EI[/youtube]

this song is called Everywhere and is part of a new album called Above The Sky coming out soon.

stay tuned on evanwickham.com and buy the album as soon as it’s out!

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/6739956[/vimeo]

phil wickham has a new album out.

if you don’t have it, you should get it.

right now.

been trying to learn more in photoshop. spent a day looking at illustrator a while back, as i have it and so many people use it…but, in all honesty, i just hated it (sorry mike).

so, after doing some reading, finding a few new resources and tutorial sites, coupled with lots and lots of trial and error, i’ve spilt out a couple new informational slides for our sunday/wednesday pre-service rotation.

thanks to the various sites for tips, inspiration and photoshop resources (like the TV in the first picture).

thought i’d share. would love any thoughts or criticism that you may have:

can you tell that i didn’t have any great blogging ideas today?