Today is a day that I often glaze over. I do not give it much thought nor do I give it the respect it deservers.

Today is Martin Luther King day. And instead of going about my typical tradition of glazing over an important day I thought I would share a little something I found out about Martin Luther King and the best band in the entire world.

Martin Luther King stood for something very simple and yet profoundly difficult to do and that was the love of your neighbors. In a time of racial tension, anger, and hurt, Martin Luther King stood as a man who led a movement of peace and awareness that has forever changed history.

in 1984 the band U2 (the above band mentioned before as being the greatest band ever) released an album entitled “the Unforgettable Fire” that contained a song that captured what Martin Luther King was all about. The song, Pride, In the Name of Love was originally a song about Ronald Reagen that Bono (lead singer) was working on thinking about the kind that comes before a fall. But it wasn’t working, and he began to get the feeling he was going to have to switch paths.

Here is how the book “the Stories Behind Every U2 Song” talks about it:
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Sunday provides us a day to relax, reflect, and refuel. On Sunday’s I like to sit back and ask a couple of questions. Maybe it sounds a little like those awkward games you play with people you do not know so that you can get to know each other better.

Lets just call it Question(s) for You.

You can answer them all or just one

1) What is one word you struggle to spell?

2) When someone says “be honest with me” you are always honest or tell some of the truth?

3) Are you an old school calendar (paper) user or new school (digital)?

Answer them all or just one….these are questions for you.

*kyle

There is this passage in Revelation that talks about the Wind Words of God. I have never heard that term used before. Quiet honestly I kind of glazed over it as I continued reading chapter 2 and on into 3. But as I later reflected back on the passage I could not grasp what the heck a Wind Word was. That was until I missed one key element of the passage. A word that was hidden that I could not see. Here is the passage to check out:

Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. (the Message)

I missed the word Listen. Wind Words do not make sense unless they are preceded by the word Listen.

I have been doing a lot of thinking the past four weeks about what my One Word (a great series that Alece Ronzino aka @gritandglory did for the New Years) would be. I started to feel like a failure because it took me that long to come up with anything, let alone one word. But as I continued to wrestle with what my word would be the the very answer was in the reason I could not figure out what my word needed to be.

I hear a lot of noise each day. Tons of noise comes through my headphones from talk radio, music, and phone conversations. I hear and have conversations with friends, strangers and family each day. Spend some time with the noise of entertainment, and even listen to my own noise that comes out of my mouth. I am surrounded by noise daily.
The problem with this noise is it caused me to do a lot of hearing but no listening.

There is a huge difference between hearing and listening.

Hearing allows you to be selective
Listening makes you focus

Hearing has no filter
Listening causes you to filter

Hearing is a passive activity
Listening is an active participation

My One Word for 2011 is Listen.
My theme for 2011 is to Listen.

To Listen to my family
To Listen to my friends
To Listen to the hurting
To Listen to the prophets
To Listen to the wise
To Listen to the beauty
To Listen to the passionate

But to ultimately Listen to the Wind Words of God.

Because often times words just becomes something we might hear but never listen to, and wind becomes something we feel but we never see. But when we stop to listen and start to pay attention to the Words of God much like the wind they cause something to be moved.

Do you have One Word for 2011?

*kyle

This video has circulated the internets but I wanted to make sure that you have been given the chance to check it out.

I cannot sing enough praises about TED talks. I absolutely love this idea behind the site, the talks, and the founder. If you are not familiar with TED or you are this video will give you a whole other perspective about TED.

Check it out.

Behind the TEDTalk 2010 from m ss ng p eces on Vimeo.

Follow TED on twitter to be updated about the latest videos here

Tools are meant to be used, but can sometimes be abused.
No one understands this more then Mercy Me.

The very popular CCM (contemporary christian music) artist have recently been receiving some backlash over tweets and facebook messages sent out by the lead singer Bart Millard (twitter link).  The criticism comes from fans and critics alike who are finding fault with the bands lack of using Christ in Mas (saying Xmas instead of Christmas) and recently talking about Auburn Tigers star quarterback Cam Newton.

Here is what he said:

I chuckled a little bit, but it seems that I was the only one who thought it was funny. Multiple people said things like “Wow. I can’t believe a Christian band acts so judgemental to someone that has been cleared!” and “Wow – I USED TO BE a Mercy Me fan!!! That is just classless!!!” You know you have done something wrong when you get a triple exclamation point at the end.

As I read the ridiculousness of people I continued to reflect on this one comment from a girl named Autumn:

Definitely classless. I guess you aren’t who you claim to be. Are these comments a glimpse of your true colors?

True colors huh? I have heard people say that you can see who someone really is when they play sports but I did not know you could see someones character when they are watching sports.

Mercy Me has kind of laughed it off/been annoyed by the “concerned” fans. But I think it brings up a bigger question that I do not hear people talking about and it has to do with peoples “true colors”.

At what point does becoming what everyone wants you to be come into play here? I am not saying Mercy Me has sold out or lost their identity, but obviously people have an image set in their mind as to how Mercy Me should act, what they should sing, and how they should tweet. In so many words…

people have emasculated Mercy Me and turned them into robots of their pleasure

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I remember the first time I saw MuteMath. I was a freshmen in college and helping get ready for the David Crowder Band concert at my home church. These guys pull up in a van and get out to start unloading their gear. The drummer carries in a crappy looking bass drum and a cinder blog, the bass player looked like he was about 12, and the rest of the band looked like the Beatles. I remember saying to myself “these guys are going to suck.” Man was I wrong.

Since that day and seeing them play the song “Reset” live (check out the live version below and then the video as well) I was hooked. I was reminded of why I  love MuteMath so much when I searched them on grooveshark the other day.

Today I give you the live tunes of MuteMath Armistice Live. I think you will enjoy. Click below to listen and watch.
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