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January 31, 2008
Um... yeah
So, as a conservative, things aren't looking good. We got nothin'. We need Ronald Reagan. My friend Mike and I have often said that if we exhumed Reagan's body and just propped it up in the white house, it would do more good than anyone running today.
And just because you're all wondering where I'm at:
I'm leaning towards Romney. I know, I know, the healthcare thing in Massachusetts. But he is the clear choice as far as I see it. McCain isn't really a conservative. Romney has a sophisticated understanding of the economy, and to me this is more important than any other issue right now. If we do not have fiscal responsibility, foreign policy won't matter. Alternative energy won't matter. Healthcare won't matter. I'm not saying that the sky is falling. I'm just saying that the cold hard truth is: money is all that matters. The most important issues facing our nation right now are financial ones. The direction our currency is headed, combined with the MASSIVE amount of debt we have (almost 10 trillion) scares the crap out of me. Romney is a self made billionaire. With a b.
And, not to beat a dead horse here, but isn't a Mormon EXACTLY who we want in the white house? Aren't they like the most hard working, conservative, family oriented, wealthy group of people in America? I'm just saying.
Posted by chriscoxmusic at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2008
Literally the complete opposite
This is an exercise in security. I've said it before, and now I'll say it again. This dude is the real thing. Get the ol' headphones out and really listen to his singing here. It's like a masterclass.
Posted by chriscoxmusic at 12:42 AM | Comments (0)
January 28, 2008
Oh, Stevie
So today my friend Ty and I went to ikea. As we walked around looking for a table, we both commented on how something was just wrong. This... this feeling... ehhh.... what is this? We both felt really weird. And then we realized: it was the music that was playing.
Now, I'm a musician, and in the music industry, there is this phenomenon. I think it's technical term actually is "The Stevie Nicks Phenomenon". There are these people, who have literally zero talent. They aren't good looking, can't sing to save their lives, and aren't good entertainers. I'm talking literally zero redeeming qualities. They might as well not be alive. And yet... they make it. On the highway towards stardom, they pass guys like me in a flash. Don't try and intellectualize it. Don't try and understand it. You'll only go crazy. I just have to rest in the fact that there are mysteries in life, and God is in control.
Really listen to her singing on the above song. REALLY listen closely.
Posted by chriscoxmusic at 06:24 PM | Comments (1)
January 23, 2008
AHHH!
So, I guess this is just normal, but life just doesn't feel normal right now. It feels like it's coming off the tracks. Not in a bad way, just in a "gotta really make time for the important things" way.
Posted by chriscoxmusic at 09:36 PM | Comments (1)
January 16, 2008
Broken
Sometimes, you're just broken. You don't really care about anything. I think it's these times that God reveals Himself. Because I think i'm so great. With all my intellect and money and clothes... all I do everyday is try and hide how broken I actually am. But there are times when it all catches up with you.
Kristi's grandfather passed away a few days ago. We're heading out to Phoenix tomorrow for the service. Just saw him a couple weeks ago, and was amazed at how strong the man was. I'm not talking about physically. Just the opposite. His body was completely falling apart. But his spirit was so strong. This type of thing makes everything else seem so trivial. That's because most things are. There are only a few things that really matter in life, and most of the time it takes serious work to have and keep them.
I'm happy for Marvin. I'm happy because he isn't in that death infected body anymore. I'm happy because he doesn't need that damn oxygen mask anymore. Most of all I'm happy that he's no longer looking through the dim glass.
Posted by chriscoxmusic at 11:55 PM | Comments (1)
January 12, 2008
Irony
A while ago a friend and I were talking about violence. We were talking about the irony of our reaction to violence, which is in it self violence. We see person A being mean to person B, and we want to be mean to person A. This is a gut reaction, one that i've had all my life. And for a long time, I thought that it was wrong of me to have this reaction, because in my response I am doing the very thing that I hated in the first place. I am angered by violence, but then just return more violence. I'd like to think that this tension here has, maybe more than anything else, informed my Christianity. Because a while ago, I realized:
It is not violence that is inherently "wrong". It is injustice. It is not the observance of violence that truly angers me on the deepest level, but injustice.
Injustice is what angers us, and justice is what we all search for. Evil, in it's purist form, is injustice.
Posted by chriscoxmusic at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2008
Balance
Sometimes, maybe most of the time, I don't actually believe the gospel. It's all so abstract. And the rest of life is so... not abstract. So I end up getting really excited about all sorts of stuff. Like, having a great family, a great house, cool cars, a big business. None of that stuff is abstract. And I can control, to a certain degree, wether or not I have a great family, house, cars and a business.
But here's the thing: I'm going to die one day.
One day, wether or not I want to, I will breathe my last breath. Ah, this I cannot control. Of the few things i've learned so far in life, the most shocking is how evil works. What a lie is.
This tension I feel within myself is the result of what happened in the garden. The whole lie satan told eve had to do with control. It had to do with power. Control and power are what we're all after. Wether subtle or blatant, I think this is an absolute statement. This is our condition. This is our depravity. It's even manifested itself at the core of our religion, with most of Christianity talking about "sin" almost entirely in the context of actions, rather than a condition. I can, to a certain extent, control my actions! I can give money away, and not cuss, and not lust and not be lazy! I can control all that stuff. But my condition is a different story. That is something I cannot control or change.
The irony here is that my condition is the very thing i'm saved from. Our salvation is not from our actions, it is from who we ARE. Our actions are simply the symptoms of our depravity.
I think satan has a very simple objective: to drive us away from the love of God. And he does this by lying to us. Lying to us by saying that a whole bunch of things will make us happy and fulfilled. Lying to us by saying that if we don't sin we'll be happy and closer to God. We are living out that moment in the garden over and over again every day. We live it out when we believe the lie. We live it out when we subconsciously grapple for control of... just about everything.
But the love of God is different. The love of God existed before the fall. The love of God is the most wonderful thing, and is what has saved us. We all want to feel worth something. We all want significance. And it is in the love of God that we find these things. Sometimes. Usually not, for me at least.
Posted by chriscoxmusic at 02:40 PM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2008
Brilliant
So, I'm a nerd and I listen to lectures from Stanford all the time. Most recently I listened to a lecture from the guy who started Prosper, Chris Larsen. Chris started eloan in 1999 and started Prosper while still working there (they sold to someone a few years ago). Anyway, this is what it's all about. What this guy has done is truly genius and is the best example of the beauty of the free market I've ever seen. Basically the deal is: ebay for money. Normal people like you and I can both borrow and lend money through this site. Check it out.
Posted by chriscoxmusic at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2008
Here's something random
So, no idea why I feel like telling you this right now, but here goes:
I am against the death penalty. This is the cause of tension between some friends of mine and I, as many people of my political mindset are pro-capital punishment. So here's why I feel the way I do:
We don't actually know what "life" IS. What is life? It is undefinable. We can only describe it's symptoms. Life, in it's entirety, is a mystery. So, at the risk of sounding unsophisticated, I think when we take life, we're messing with something we know not of. I'm talkin' 'bout God here folks. WE do not give life. God gives life, and he takes it away. And I just feel a little uncomfortable when we start to act like Him.
Do we need punishments in place for those who break the law? Yes. Do we need to make sure that those punishments fit the crime? Yes. I simply feel that this is the one area that we don't have the right to go. Life in prison? Sure. No possibility of parole? Absolutely. Death? No. Can this altruistic philosophy of mine possibly survive in reality? Not for a second. But you know how I roll. I live in the tension between the ought and the is.
Posted by chriscoxmusic at 12:42 AM | Comments (1)