Evan's posterous
 

All of creation

Those of you who know me, should know I am not a fan of the band Mercy Me. They just aren't my kind of music. In fact a couple weeks ago when we went to the Roadshow I went with the mindset of just having to put up with them. That being said. Funny how sometimes you find greatness in things you don't want to. They put on a good time. Early in the set they played a new song "All of Creation" I was like that's a pretty decent song. Then later as they were wrapping up they came back to the ending of that song again. Ever since that song has been engrained in my brain. I don't know why, and I didn't want it there to be honest. I ended up buying it on iTunes. Maybe there's a reason it's stuck? Could be it's a catchy song? Or maybe there's another reason. I wanted to post the song on here, but since I am now writing this from somewhere other than my computer I can't. I will post the words. 

All of Creation by Mercy Me

Separated until the veil was torn 
The moment that hope was born 
and guilt was pardoned once and for all 

Captivated but no longer bound by chains 
left at an empty grave 
the sinner and the sacred resolved 

[chorus:] 
and all of creation sing with me now 
lift up your voice and lay your burden down 
and all of creation sing with me now 
fill up the heavens let his glory resound 

Time has faded and we see him face to face 
every doubt erased forever we will worhip the king 

[repeat chorus] 

ohh ah ohhh...ohh ah ohhh 

the reason we breathe is to sing of his glory 
and for all he has done praise the father praise the son and the spirit in one 

[repeat chorus 2x] 

and every knee will bow oh and every tongue praise the father praise the son and the spirit in one

Posted April 22, 2010
 

Grace, such a thing to give away!

Wow. It has been a while since I last wrote here. I have been a little er......lot busy over the past few weeks. I have to say I've been loving it though. After this coming up week though I am going to need to relax and take a day where I do nothing. Who am I kidding, that probably won't happen. 

So what am I going to write about here. I'm on the second paragraph, and I still have no clue except that this will end up as a double post. On both of my sites that is. So........oh how about this? There is a song by a band, fascinating isn't it, anyway a band that I like very much. Maybe even say my favorite band. This band has an album Church Music. That's what it's called. (side note: I have a vinyl copy of the album! Now you're jealous) while it is a great album, not my favorite by them (which happens to be A Collision or 3+4=7, actual title) Church Music has probably my favorite song. Maybe even my alltime favorite song, but we'll see about that. It's called Oh Happiness. 

It starts like this:
"Oh Happiness 
There's grace enough for us and the whole human race. "

Which isn't that a great message? I think so cause without grace what would we have to live for? For it's by grace that we have been saved! 

The end of the first verse says "such a thing to give away" talking about grace. If you haven't heard this song and you see me and want to hear it have me play it for you, cause I know just by hearing the first few notes of the song I can feel myself getting happier and anytime I sing it I feel this joy because it's true. 

Oh Happiness by The David Crowder*Band

Oh Happiness

Theres grace
Enough for us
And the whole human race

Friend or foe,
Stranger or kin,
All who come,
Begin again.

Hard or frail,
Rich or poor,
All who need,
May fear no more.

Such a thing to give away.

Oh Happiness
There is grace,
Enough for us,
And the whole human race.

All regrets,
Let go, forget
There’s something that
Mends all of that.

Such a thing to give away.

Oh Happiness
There is grace,
Enough for us,
And the whole human race.

Sound the church bells,
Let ‘em ring,
Let ‘em ring,
For everything
Can redeemed,
We can be redeemed
Oh all of us.

Posted April 11, 2010
 

Sitting here

So right now I am sitting here in overdrive sort of waiting for the high school band to start practicing. I mean a couple of them are just playing around with their instruments. I guess the drummer just got here as well. So far I have only voice coming through the system so in a way I am glad cause this way it's not my mix. On the other hand the drums can be so loud they overpower everything else which makes me want it in the system. Overall it doesn't really matter cause it'll sound ok.

This morning I kind of gave up on Through Painted Deserts. I got 5 chapters in and found myself asking, do I care? The answer was not really and it had taken 3 weeks to get that far so I put it aside. I started reading Soul Cravings by Erwin McManus. It had been on my bookshelf since last June. I had kept saying I'll get to it later. I guess that means now. I already have gottne further in this one than Deserts.

So now they started practicing.

Hoping that there will be no computer problems tonight for the music. That seems to be a theme for the past couple weeks. Now I just had to fix their lights. It gets pretty hot up there and they wanted to be cooler. I guess I could also turn on the air conditioner. Ok I am about to go through the rounds of opening rooms for tonight. Late.

Posted March 24, 2010
 

Throw aways

I find that I throw away close to 50% of the posts I write. I don't know why. I get to the end of the post and instead of publishing it I delete. Now in some instances I reread what I wrote and decided I didn't like my writing(mostly). Other times I write a response to something that is going on and before I publish I run through what my publishing really means. Sometimes no response is better than response that is spur of the moment. Other times I may table responses until steam has settled and I can thoughtfully enter into the conversation. To me there is nothing worse than just adding to the noise. Same thing with comments. I don't always respond to comments. I try to as much as I can, but since I don't believe in moderating every comment sometimes I let comments sit.

Ironically this post has been written and deleted a few times.

Posted March 15, 2010
 

Stuff I'm doing

Ok so. I haven't written much here lately. I thought maybe an update on how things are going. I gave up on the skipping the lunch meal about a week into lent. I don't usually eat breakfast because I have a hard time eating before 8am. So I was finding myself with very little energy after noon. Also I will admit I haven't been perfect sticking to only water. The other day I thought I might be working at night so I had a coke to get dome caffeine. What I have found is that I don't have to have a coke or coffee. That water is enjoyable itself. I know this may sound weird but I've found that hot water is amazing. I have been drinking that during times I would normally drink coffee. I don't really like cold water though. Room temperature or hotter is best. Even on a hot day. Also I've found that I've fallen more behind on my reading and reading.

I just recently finished a book by David Crowder and Mike Hogan titled Everyone Wants To Go To Heaven But Nobody Wants To Die. It was fascinating. I picked it up because of David Crowder and it looked like it would be a good read. The subject matter kind of surprised me a little though. Death, the soul, and the history of bluegrass. Death was the more overarching subject. The style was cool as well. They includes IM's as part of the book and during those in italics they told bigger more personal stories. Like throughout those David told the story of his friend Kyle Lake's death and how he dealt with it. I don't know if you remember but a few years ago a pastor was electrocuted during a baptism and died, that was Kyle Lake. Also in the book is what they call columns. Which are just three stories that span the book and without spoiling it has a fantastic ending. I find I understand the album A Collision better now after reading the book.

Now I am reading Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller. I am just three chapters in so I don't have any sort of comments yet.

I have started a new blog as of now. Have just short informational posts right now. Looking to do some more substantial writing there. Will probably get a Twitter account dedicated for that site. Maybe even other social media for it. I don't know yet. Still trying to figure out why people will read what I write and why they will care. Maybe they won't but I'm giving them the chance.

Posted March 11, 2010
 

Check this out

So I found the most amazingly awesome site today. Ok that may be a little over the top. Mostly because it is my site that I found. It is realevanmcelrath.com . Right now it is a blog type site and I don't know what the ratio of posting here or there will be. You can read what all will be posted about there in the about page. That site will have a more focused mission as in type of post/subject matter. Thanks for reading.

Hey guess what. I'm sending thisfrom my iPhone. So it may be short and misprlled.

Posted March 2, 2010
 

A Serious Post

Wednesday starts the period of time leading up to Easter called Lent. I have been thinking, really since last year, of participating in this time. Why, you may ask. Isn't it a Catholic thing? Honestly, I have no idea. I know they partake, but to my knowledge many others do as well. Now I don't know what all is involved in this other than fasting from something. So here goes. For the Lenten season leading up to Easter I am going to abstain (impressed by my use of a big word) from any drinks that have flavor, basically aqua only, and from my middle of the day meal. Since the start of the year I have been on a Bible reading plan and right now I am four days behind, which is weird because I enjoy doing the reading but oftentimes I keep putting it off in favor of less productive things, so I will use the lunchtime to do my reading and reading. On Sundays I will eat at lunchtime because that is usually the only meal of the day. Now why am I writing this in a public forum? I dunno, thought I would share what I was thinking about. Also going in I know this is going to be extremely difficult because I like my coffee, but ultimately this will be more beneficial. Maybe. I'm not completely sold on it, but want to do it nonetheless. 

Posted February 15, 2010
 

The Myth Of A Christian Nation?

I just finished reading a book by Gregory A. Boyd titled The Myth Of A Christian Nation: How The Quest For Political Power Is Killing The Church. It was a very interesting read, and you know what? I agree with his assessment that there is not nor has there ever been a "Christian Nation." To begin with the word Christian means to be Christ like.

To be Christ like that means that we are supposed to love unconditionally. I could stop there because there has never been a nation that has loved unconditionally. I will however quote one of my favorite paragraphs from the book.

"Love is patient and kind; enslaving and torturing is neither. Love is never rude; burning people alive is. Love does not insist on it's own way and is not irritable or resentful when others disagree; compelling people to agree with you by using force is the direct antithesis. Love doesn't rejoice in wrongdoing, even if (especially if) those rejoicing credit God, who supposedly gave them the power to do it. love bears all things while believing the best in others and hoping the best for others; imprisoning, enslaving, and killing others in the name of your religious views is not bearing their burdens, believing the best about them, or hoping for the best for them. It's that simple." -Gregory A. Boyd, The Myth Of A Christian Nation.

In it's quest for power the church is guilty of all these things. The author frequently talks about the kingdom of the world versus the Kingdom of God. All nations have a kingdom of the world "power over" frame of mind, which is that they use their power and influence to try to control you. While Kingdom of God people are supposed to have a "power under" mindset meaning that you are to serve and show love without condition. This includes homosexuals, people who get and/or perform abortion, terrorists, serial killers, gang members, your neighbor next door. That is the way of Christ. Not to use power over to try to force them to conform to your moral standards. We are not called to be their moral guidance, we are called to love them unconditionally.

This includes the use of violence and wars. Even in a "just" war. (I'm not sure there is a such thing as a just war, cause doesn't everybody on every side think that their cause is "just"). Jesus never said to use violence, in fact he spoke against the use of violence (Matt 26:52). He spoke of turning the other cheek and loving your enemy.

Now some of you may disagree with this, in fact I will guarantee some of you won't agree with this. You know what, I'm okay with that. Why you may say, because this is what I have been convicted of. I will say that even if you disagree, read the book. I will gladly lend it out to anyone who would want to read it. If nothing else it will get you thinking. Is this really what Jesus had in mind when he spoke of the Kingdom of God.

Posted February 11, 2010
 

things you find googling your name, it's a video watch it.

via vimeo.com

Sorry. I googled my name today and my vimeo channel came up and this video was there so I had to post it again because I didn't even have to watch it and I started laughing. I think the truly most frightening moment happens at about the 41 second mark. This was one of my first editing jobs. Probably the one I laugh the most with. We went with the total cheesefest.

Posted February 2, 2010