Adam Haddick

Every now and then one comes across something, a song, or a movie, or a restaurant, etc., that just seems like it was created for a specific person. I do not mean a specific group of people. I mean a specific person. For example, a Belgian girls' choir cover of a Radiohead song set to a creepy stop-motion video was obviously created for Phil Sapp. Specifically. A zombie movie spoof starring Woody Harrelson, featuring a cameo appearance by Bill Murray, backed by a surprisingly indie soundtrack, was created for me and me alone. There is no disputing that. In that same vein, the video featured below is that of someone constructing a Lego ship in a bottle set to a Donovan song. Clearly, this video exists for Adam Haddick. Adam, if you're out there, please enjoy this little treat.

Nothing to Speak Of

Silence is golden.

TWO

"If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever."

-Thomas Aquinas

It seems terribly cliche to make some statement about "living every day like it's your last" or "carpe diem." So I will not make either of those statements. However, if you are in a position where security and/or comfort is keeping you from getting off your ass and doing something, anything, then it may be time to heed some advice from a young man with an old man's regrets. Go live your life. Go live your life for the one who gave it to you. Twice. If knowing that a Father so loving as to give you both birth into this life and birth into new life through Jesus Christ is not enough for you to wake up in the morning and want to just eat the pants off of your breakfast, then I pray for your soul. Here's a cool video from The Antlers. Depressing as their music can be, I still find it beautiful. It no longer makes me want to wallow in my own depression. Instead it makes me appreciate the beauty found in the dark sides of life.

Classically Trained

The Vivaldi section comes in right around the 2 minute mark. It tastes pretty good. Hold on to something.

It's A Pleasure

Sometimes there's just a band that makes sense. When I first stumbled across Sea Wolf, an Alex Brown Church project, I did not find it to be a band that would fall under that category. I have since been proven the fickle nature of first-impressions. The tunes are catchy without being kitschy pop. The lyrics are deep without being pretentious. And the vocals are uniquely warbled without being Conor "I'm perpetually misunderstood" Oberst. It also doesn't hurt that Alex looks like the lovechild of Patrick Fugit and Beck. Sea Wolf brings great elements of folk and singer/songwriter but uses them more for constructing a skeletal structure for a movement of beautifully composed songs backed by driving drums. Personally, I find Sea Wolf's music to be both inspiring and reassuring. Here is a cool video for the song "Wicked Blood." And yes, that is Shannon Sossamon. Devour and enjoy.

"The love of Christ in its sweetness, its fulness, its greatness, its faithfulness, passeth all human comprehension. Where shall language be found which shall describe His matchless, His unparalleled love towards the children of men? It is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the water, and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath."

-Spurgeon

The unenlightened man can read this and assume that he stands as the exception. The man touched by the Spirit can read this and know that the word 'immeasurable' seems inadequate. No man can understand the complexities of a God who reigns in the realms of infinite. No man can look to the heavens and say that he has explained the mysteries of a Lord existing outside of time, space, or containment. Any man who dares to challenge the supremacy of God by claiming that he can even begin to fathom all the wonder that is God must be met with rebuke. He must be met with Scripture. He must be met with the heart and mind of Christ. The only understanding we achieve is a blessing of discernment from the Spirit. Any comprehension we obtain is by no means of our own. Furthermore, reducing God into a simple being so that we can understand Him is heretical idolatry and demands repentance.

Sweet Baby James

In the 4th chapter of the book James, the author explains in the most coherent detail what is actually wrong with many members of Christ's church and what one can do to fix it. It doesn't get any better than that. Here's what's wrong and here's how to make it better. Boom. Boom. According to James, we are self-absorbed children with false senses of entitlement and until we acknowledge that the Lord is all we need and knows more than we, our immature, adulterous (that's right, you're cheating on Christ. hard) behavior will continue. James calls us to submit to the Lord and then he challenges us to commit to the Lord. The early church (and us as well) is given a two step formula to receive the blessings of the Lord. 2 steps. Granted, they are the two hardest steps a man may have to take but also, they are the easiest once we understand the implications and rewards. You are given a choice. Either (A) be a rebellious child who complains about what he doesn't have but insists that he will get it on his own somehow and therefore gets nothing [insert clever remark about 22 catches] or (B) humble yourself before the Lord and receive the desires of your heart when you truly ask for them in the name of Christ [insert clever remark about how human beings are the biggest piles of self-absorbed crap the universe has ever known]. The choice is obvious. Yet it comes with a challenge. So you've made the choice to humble yourselves before the Lord because, as James' quote from Proverbs reminds us, the Lord opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Great. You got that one right. However, there is a challenge that follows. You have to submit to the Lord and you have to commit to the Lord. Up. Down. Left. Right. A. B. Start. Select. For the win.

Here's something for your eyes and ears.