Cedarville, OH

I woke up this morning at 3:30am. The band and I are flying back to Ohio to play our last show of the Third Day Live tour. Our wives and and kids will be there, so it will be a good day.

Last weekend, the band shot a video for our song "Whatever You're Doing" in downtown Tulsa. We had to carry our gear up four flights of rubble. I posted a few pics so you could see the place. The guy down on the street in the orange shirt owns the building. He also owns a well known club called Capella's across the street. David Cook from American Idol is one of his bar tenders. I don't watch Idol, but it's a good little factoid if you do.

I'm in the Albany airport drinking a hazelnut latte from the Coffee Beanery. We are flying to Sacramento for an Aquire the Fire event. Larry the cleaning guy is rambling about the Yankees.

Turkey at Tropicana

Last night we went bowling with December Radio at Tropicana Lanes St. Louis. The bowling alley made me take off my skullcap and excessively long T-Shirt. At first I was bummed, but I think it it freed me up to bowl a good game. As you can see in the picture I BOWLED A TURKEY!

Losing My Voice, Or Finding It?

Over the past week, I’ve been the road with the band. We are on tour with Third Day and it’s been a great experience. The first few nights of the tour we’re a little challenging for me because I was having problems with my throat. I’m not really sure what the problem is, but it started with a cough. My throat has been tense and it’s hard to get those high notes. I’ve been doing my warm-ups, eating and drinking the right things, and caring for my voice, but it just doesn’t feel free. After two weeks, it’s pretty much back to normal, but not quite. Send up a prayer for me.


As far as being on the road with Third Day, it’s been great. They are such a good live band. I learn a lot from watching those guys. My favorite part, the thing I will look forward to every night, is singing “Handle With Care” by The Traveling Wilburys with Third Day, Josh from Decemberadio, and Dave from Revive. We’ve only done it one night so far, but it went really well.

By the title of this post, you probably thought I was getting to something profound. Sorry if I let you down. I think it’s time to find a coffee shop in St. Louis. If you see me out there, come say hello.

Still Winter

The last few days have been treacherous here in Ohio. I took this picture yesterday morning from my front window. Afterwards, I borrowed my neighbors snow blower and cleared six or more inches of snow from my driveway. And it's not over yet.

Tomorrow is my daughter's second birthday party for our family. We bought her a tricycle and a new play table and chairs. I can't believe she's growing so fast!

May 3rd is when our next little girl is due. Life will be glorious chaos when number two shows up!

I-80

This week, the band and I continued our "We Need Each Other"
promotional tour. On Wednesday night we had to make an unplanned stop
in Coralville, IA due to the aftermath of the midwest blizzards. Thursday
morning our diesel van wouldn't start due to negative
overnight temperatures. So we called for a tow, put our gear into a
rental van and drove on to Des Moine. On the way we saw more of what
looked like scenes from War of the Worlds. You can see in the photo
there is a truck and a van upside down. This was mild compared to what
we saw, I just happened to get a shot of this one. Thank God we made
it safely to and from everywhere we went .

Tony Campolo

I've been watching Tony Campolo on YouTube and his message is reaching deep into my heart. For a long time, I have allowed politically charged faith related issues to overshadow the primary teaching of Jesus in my life. I am NOT saying that I can overlook any of Jesus' teachings, but that I should pay careful attention to the issue with which He was consumed, caring for the poor and oppressed.

Please take some time to download Tony's podcasts on itunes and watch his messages on YouTube. If it doesn't rock your world then I don't know what will.

Lost on Valentine’s Day

It’s been a busy week on the road. We spent the last couple of days in Atlanta. Yesterday we were on the J93 morning show and then performed at Arbor Place Mall in Peach Tree City. In the afternoon, we attended two Valentine’s parties at children’s homes in the Atlanta area. It was an eye opening experience to see so many children who have been forced to live away from their parents. As a result, many of them have serious social and behavioral problems. Please pray for these kids, that God would heal their broken hearts and help their group leaders lead them in the right direction.

It was hard spending Valentine’s Day away from our ladies, but we found a sure distraction from missing out on America’s most celebrated date night…by ordering in Italian and watching this season’s third episode of LOST. We all huddled around the hotel television set and watched in anticipation as Sayid and Kate ventured into the jungle to find Charlotte. As usual, we weren’t disappointed. This show keeps getting better and better. They always leave us wanting more. Chris actually gave me a link to a site that presents a solid LOST theory. It’s www.docarzt.com/lost-theories/theory-vile-vortices.php. If you’re into the show, you’ll love this.

Last, but not least, we appeared this morning live across the country on “Everyday With Marcus and Lisa” on FamilyNet TV. Thank you, Marcus and Lisa, for having us on the show. It was a great ending to our time in Atlanta.

And we’re off to Kansas City.

Virginia

Stanley hangin' with "the locals".

“We Need Each Other” CD Release Week

It’s finally here, Sanctus Real’s “We Need Each Other” CD release week! The band and I kicked things off yesterday morning in our hometown of Toledo, Ohio. After twelve years of being a band, we went back to where it all started…at Chris and I‘s high school alma mater, Toledo Christian School. Joined by WTOL channel 11 news, we performed songs from our new CD and spoke to the students about the message in our songs. Afterwards, we did over fifteen radio interviews nationwide and finished our day with an in-store performance at the Family Christian store in south Toledo.

This morning we picked back up at Radio U in Columbus. We spent time talking with the morning show hosts, Nikki and Obadiah, about all kinds of random stuff. We have a blast with those guys every time!

And, now, we are driving in a van together. The first leg of our eight-hour trip from Columbus, OH to Winston – Salem, NC has been snowy and bleak, but I have a good feeling about what’s in store.

(Picture from Wal-Mart)