No matter your beliefs… I like you… I’m for you. Together… we can lift each other up. We’re not meant to live this life alone.
Work on trying to let someone in… even if it’s just one.
Ain’t no life outside each other.
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I have two excellent songs for you today
🎵 No Man Is an Island 2o14 🎵 I Have This Hope 2o16
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Be blessed… and don’t forget.
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Hebrews 10:24–25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another
For the past few months, I’ve been doing late-night recordings of songs in my bathroom because the acoustics are good. No fancy recording equipment—just my phone, the Lexis Audio Editor app, my guitar, and me. This one is a cover of You Love Me Anyway by Sidewalk Prophets.
What’s a fear you’ve overcome — and how did you do it?
This is my first ever blog… ¡ started it back in November of last year… one reason was to help make it easier for me when ¡ get ready to write my first ever book… about my life…
¡ know fear
It knows me
¡ve been at war with it since the 90s
And newsflash
¡m winning
¡ always knew ¡ would
¡ do not give up
And ¡ do not give in
There’s been many dim lit days… dark nights… where it appeared though it had me.
But fear’s power is one that is borrowed
Borrowed from me
So ¡ve learned not to fuel it
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All ¡ know… is what it did take to make this
All ¡ am… is what it will take… to break this
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On a lighter note
Let’s talk about something a little more relatable
Spiders.
Big effin’ huge ones.
So ¡ve always been scared of them in the past… like fearful…
And I’m an outdoorsman haha
¡m not scared of much
Like snakes for example
Even poisonous ones ¡ will catch and hold carefully…
They don’t bother me at all
But spiders had my number
Until the summer of 2o1O
That’s when ¡ finally dealt with it
¡ was living and working at a Christian men’s drug rehab in Florida
It was a long-term treatment program
The guys lived there for 18 months
¡ was the resident director and lived in the same house with them
Well… the pastor that ran it wanted me to have my own place separate from everyone
So he purchased a used fifth-wheel camper trailer and we set it up out back on the ten-acre property
Hold up…
Let me back up a lil
The property had a lot of spiders
Florida has a lot of spiders lol
We would find them in the men’s residence all the time
Come to find out… they are called Huntsman spiders
And they are enormous and intimidating… most as big as your hand.
Ok… back to the story…
The camper had some type of hole somewhere underneath the frame
And shortly after ¡ moved in
So did all my long-legged, hairy little roommates
They would crawl on me while ¡ was sleeping
¡d wake up and they would be on… the ceiling… the walls… the floor… just all over
¡ went to put my bedroom shoes on once…
And a big one was in there
¡ could feel it on my bare toes
It was frantically moving around trying to get out haha
So like lightning… ¡ pulled my foot out and out it came… then it ran up my leg
These types of things happened often with my new friends
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¡ didn’t think ¡ could stay
Live here like this
In this place… with them. 😬
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We searched and searched trying to find how they were getting in
But we never found it
As the days passed
¡ had more encounters
Daily…
Nightly…
Then it occurred to me
¡ had never once been bitten by one
So ¡ did much praying
Asking God to help me get over this fear
And He did
Little by little
¡ got to where it didn’t bother me
¡ even stopped trying to kill them
¡ got to where ¡ could lay in bed at night and read
Even if one was resting on the wall beside me
Sometimes there might be three or four in plain sight in the room at the same time
And it didn’t faze me anymore
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¡ stayed in that camper for about a year
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Never once got bit
Not one time
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There was nothing to fear… ever.
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only something to face.
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This is a Huntsman Spider I was told… not a Wolf Spider as me and my friends are calling it in this video…
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For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. — 2 Timothy 1:7
Write the stuff that makes em think you’re the coolness… and sometimes… tell them that they are the coolness too… because truly they are… and truly do both… and truly care about the stuff that truly matters and truly forget the rest… and truly be repetitive with it. Heart Grammar.
So I’m starting a new band this week for my Sunday music post…
Tenth Avenue North started in the early 2oO0s when a group of students met at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. Lead singer Mike Donehey, drummer Jason Jamison, and their friends needed a name for a local show and couldn’t agree on one. They ended up using the name of the street where some of them lived… 10th Avenue North. The name was supposed to be temporary—but it stuck.
Before signing a record deal, they spent years playing churches, colleges, and small venues while releasing independent projects. Their breakthrough came with their major-label debut album Over and Underneath (2oO8), which included songs like Love Is Here and By Your Side.
They announced a farewell in 2o2O, but later reunited after a multi-year hiatus and returned to recording and touring. From what I’m hearing, they’re still going strong today and back out on the road again.
I first heard them in 2oO8… and I remember thinking, “these guys are pretty dang good.”
Funny story though… I actually bought into a rumor back then. Someone told me this band started in his church in Sarasota, Florida, and that they were named after the street the church was on—10th Ave N. So I ran with that for a while 😄
There’s a little truth mixed in there—they are from Florida, and they are named after a street—but yeah… not Sarasota, and not that church. That’s how stories get twisted over time.
So what happened? How do things like that even start? 😄😁
But anyway… we’ll leave that there.
Let’s get into the music.
I hope y’all enjoy 🎶
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Bathroom Recording of Worn
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Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart… and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways… acknowledge Him… and He will make straight your paths.
Two more great ones this week from Matthew West… (not hidden gems… 2 of his more popular ones)
Broken Things 🎶 Hello, My Name Is
Both are among my favorites of his.
I saw this comment on YouTube and thought it was pretty cool…
“Imagine you have two ceramic pots. One is cracked and missing pieces. The other is perfect. Now put a candle inside both and place a lid on them. Which pot do you see more light coming through? The broken one. That’s what God does. Sometimes you have to be broken to let God’s light shine through.”
Hope you enjoy. 🎧
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2 Corinthians 5:17 🎵 Therefore… if anyone is in Christ… he is a new creation. The old has passed away… behold… the new has come.
I recently left a comment on Reddit that got me permanently banned from one community 😁…
For like the past 3 months… I’ve been getting notifications from the Christian Dating page… I think this happened when I was bouncing around different communities promoting my YouTube channel…
But anyway…
Every now and then… I’d click on the posts… and honestly? Some of the topics and comments were fascinating 😂
Reading all the complaints from both sexes was like watching the Discovery Channel… but with Bible verses and emotional damage…
One night the question was…
“Why do you want to get married?”
So I started reading the answers…
And honestly… these bored me even more than the question did.
That’s when I thought to myself…
“This is a perfect opportunity for me to help these poor people become more creative with their words… maybe attract a good mate… and at the same time… work on my Christian stand-up bit.”
So I commented this…
“I just need someone to do work around the house… especially kitchen and yard work… but I’m a nice guy. I plan on getting her some sister wives… you know… to help her out… It’s ok don’t worry… I’m half pentecostal… half baptist… half Irish… so it’s all good 🤷♂️”
Well…
This did NOT go over well with my hopelessly romantic spiritual peers 😂
Within about 30 minutes… I got a message from the moderator saying I was permanently banned.
HAHA.
So I replied…
“Hey I get it… I understand… but it was just a joke… it’s called comedy…”
To which he replied…
“You cannot joke like that!”
Then I said something like…
“I feel you bro… but honestly I didn’t mean anything by it…”
And then………
HE HIT ME WITH A SCRIPTURE BOMB…….💣💥
Bro quoted Luke 6:45 on me…
“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Also in Matthew 12:34 I believe…
But he completely twisted the meaning and used it like…
“SEE?! YOU SAID IT… SO YOU SECRETLY MEAN IT!”
😂😂😂
At that point I wasn’t even gonna debate theology with the guy…
even though I went to college for it… and hermeneutics and proper interpretation are kinda my thing…
it was just too funny of a situation to let it turn serious 😁
So I just said…
“Ok bro I understand… hope you have a blessed night… no hard feelings.”
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What can I say though sistas and brothas?
I’m just a wild and crazy rogue Christian 🤷♂️
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Hallelujahs to the Amenzes!
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Pardon me Deacon Johnson… but can you please pass the fried chicken…
Hey yall… hope everyone is doing good… I’ve been away for a minute… just out here lifing it up… going through some things… no big deal right? We are tough… you and me… we got this… bring on the rain right? Then I can break out my guitar… and we can sing “I’m Still Standing”… make Elton John and Jesus proud of us…
But honestly… sometimes I’m not strong enough…
Still… I find my strength in Him… not Elton… the other One.
Today I have two more Matthew West songs for you…
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Strong Enough… The Story of Your Life 2o1O 🎶
Oh Me Of Little Faith… Live Forever 2o15 🎶
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Also I added two bonus videos…
One is Matthew at a children’s hospital visiting his friend Brooke… he wrote a song for her…
The other is Matthew giving a guitar tutorial for his song Strong Enough 🎸
Hopefully… things in my life have calmed down enough for me to get back to blogging…
Hope yall have a blessed Sunday …t…
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sadly Brooke Mulford passed away on June 12, 2017 after a long battle with neuroblastoma cancer. Matthew wrote and performed the song “Never Ever Give Up” for her during her final months in the hospital.
The Lord is my strength and my shield… in Him… my heart trusts… and I am helped. — Psalm 28:7 (ESV) ♩ ♪ ♫
Heart of Loia `'.,°~ 