1. Jesse, [on Music]

I have learned a lot about some of my aquaintences out there just from reading their blogs. I think that unless you know the person for a long time or spend a lot of time with them, there are certain things that you may never know about someone, unless you explicitely talk about it or they volunteer that information on their blog. In light of this, I think that I will try to share more about some of the parts of my life that don't come up as much in conversations (perhaps because it is boring). I like hearing this kind of stuff from people to get to know a little more about what makes them tick. If you are not this kind of person, then you may want to stop reading now as it may be boring for you.

1. Jesse, [on Music]

So, a lot has changed since the last time I bought a CD about 7 years ago. I think that the last CD that I bought for myself was a worship album from University Baptist Chuch in Waco: "All I Can Say" by the then-named "UBC Worship Band." This has been my favorite CD ever since college. Since then, my car cd player has basically been playing the same worship CDs that I had accumulated in college.

[Side note about worship music] That is the beautiful thing about good worship CDs. If they are written properly and resonate well with your heart, they will never get old to you. I am generally not an emotional person, but this music will bring me to tears of joy and encouragement at times, and breaks me down and puts me in my place at others. Outside of this genra of music, there have been only a few songs that have the same effect on me ... i.e. leading me to focus on the true satisfaction of my heart being met in Jesus Christ. I haven't really listened to much anything else. It has been a great blessing that Amy feels the same way about this and this is one of our common points that we have shared since before we met. When I think of the people who have influenced my thinking about worship through music (one of many conduits of worship) it probably started with the influence of a good friend of mine, Paul Patterson. He introduced me in high school to a band named DC Talk. I remember laughing the first time I heard the song "Jesus Freak" in his car. Especially since he was headbanging to the bridge in the song while sitting at a stop light. I had never before associated songs about Jesus with anything other than hymns and hippy "light" acoustic praise songs. That is a good memory. From there, Paul introduced me to more "Christian" artists like "Jars of Clay" and "Third Day" that had great messages and sometime moved my heart to worship. Then, when I went on to college I experienced a more focused worship time using non-hymn or traditional praise music in my college group at church and at concerts given on the Baylor campus. It seems like more and more artists are challenging the notion that worship has to look or sound a certain way. I see more people expressing themselves in worship to God through song, art, conversation, and service to one another. Now it seems like more mainstream worship songs are led by a band for students people in my generation. I know several churches have at least 2 different types of music led services. One for those who prefer traditional forms of worship music including a choir, and another with a band which draws mainly teens and twenty-somethings. Anyway, I digress from my original post. (FYI. some of the artists that I am referring to are: "Third Day", "David Crowder Band", "Chris Tomlin", "Shane Barnard", "Shawn Groves", "Bebo Norman", "Matt Redman", "Jeremy Courtney").

I'm generally not a big music listener so the radio has been enough for me. I hate buying a whole CD for just a couple of songs I like ... I feel like it is such a waste. That is why I like the idea of downloding music, but I don't have an IPOD or other compressed audio player yet, so I generally don't download a bunch of songs.

Finally, I recently broke down and joined one of those music clubs, just to catch up on some 12 or so CDs that we wanted for like 10 bucks, and then I can quit. You know, CDs like "Action Toddler Songs", "Best of Veggie Tales", etc, that keep JG occupied on road trips :) He seems to like that kind of thing. Oh yeah, additionally, I was able to catch up on CDs from my favorite band, the now called "David Crowder Band". I bought, "Illuminate" and "A Collisison". I have to say that I have a new favorite CD ... Illuminate + the first few songs from A Collision (I made a combo CD, so it is okay that this is one CD for me). I find it rare that I like every song on a CD, but so far 2 of David Crowders CDs are like this for me ("All I can Say" and "Illuminate") ... which is very impressive and why I have reaffirmed them as my favorite band. Now I find myself searching the internet to find out when their next CD is going to be released. It looks like they are working on "Remedy" now, so I am saving up for that one. I also found out that they are going to be in concert in October, but I don't see myself going to that ... it looked pretty expensive ... plus we need to find babysitters ... I guess I'm just getting to old for that kind of thing, which is sad since I can remember a time when that used to be fun.

Anyway, that is just what I have been listening to. Just so you know, I consider myself a novice in keeping up with music, so let me know what you are listening to.