OSCAR.com - 77th Annual Academy Awards - Winners:

OSCAR.com - 77th Annual Academy Awards - Winners:<./a>

The best surprise of the night at the Oscars was the winner for best song. It is an amazing song that was performed (in part) by Carlos Santana and Antonio Bandaras, and was the first Spanish language song ever nominated for an Academy award. I'm also glad that Clint won.

Sayings of the Desert Fathers

A brother said to an old man, “I do not know of any warfare in my heart.” The old man said to him, “Then you are a building open on all four sides. Whatever wishes to, goes in and out, and you do not notice. If you had windows and a door, and shut them so as to bar certain thoughts, you would soon realize how many there are outside, waiting to slip in and attack you.”

Time for some bigger news...

I've needed to blog for the last couple of days, but have put it off until now. On Tuesday morning I was let go from my position at Lakeview Church. I didn't see it coming at all, and they said it wasn't because my job performance, which I believe. It's been a surreal, shocking experience, but God has given Sherryl and I a measure of peace through it all. My friend and admin. assistant Cathy Johnson was also let go, and she is handling it gracioiusly. We worked together a lot, and there will be a big hole to fill with her gone. I think I'm mostly sad right now; sad for the church and for the people left behind by this move. I really love the people I worked with; they made it easy to come to work in the morning.
I'll write more later. If you have any questions/comments, I'd love to hear from you.

Who's Driving This Thing?

Who's Driving This Thing? - Everyone is asking who leads the evangelical movement - Christianity Today Magazine Is there a clear leader in evangelicalism? I don't know, but the people mentioned here I don't think I'd want to call my 'leader'. Best-selling author of 'end-times' fiction; Anti-SpongeBob guy; most of the people mentioned are best-selling authors as well, and selling books does ot make you qualified to lead anything. It's all a bit frustrating. Maybe we don't need to have the 'top evangelical' spot filled. Let's just see what happens with that.

"I'm a scribbling, cigar-smoking, wine-drinking, Bible-reading band man. A show off (laughs)...who loves to paint pictures of what I can't see. A husband, father, friend of the poor and sometimes the rich. An activist traveling salesman of ideas... Chess-player, part-time rock star, opera singer, in the loudest folk group in the world..."
--Bono's self-description in Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas.

USATODAY.com - Grammy's hidden gems

Here are a few of the singerts/songs you don't hear much about when it comes to the Grammy's, but the list is worth checking out. I have a CD of Bill Frisell and Youssou N'Dour, and they are both amazing in their genres. It also goes to show that you don't have to sell a ton of albums in order to be recognized.