Mysterious Ways – U2 (acoustic)
Acoustic video of “Mysterious Ways” by U2. Love this song.
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Latest Posts
Photo Friday: Smiling Guitar Player
This guy looks like he’s having a good time. Took this shot at the open mic night the other day. Read more →
Creation vs. Evolution: Thoughts from a Christian and a Scientist
I realized this debate has gone on forever and will go on forever, and I also want to say that I’m not going to attempt to solve it or shed brand new light on the subject. I just want to give my perspective.
Let me start this post off by stating a few things about myself:
- First of all, I’m a Christian. I believe the Bible. I believe it is the infallible word of God, and I believe that what is written in it is truth.
- Second, I’m a scientist. I majored in Chemistry and Biology in college, and I’ve worked for several years as a research technician in a biomedical research lab.
If you were expecting two conflicting viewpoints about this issue, sorry – I guess I tricked you. One of the reasons I’m writing this is because I’m tired of people arguing one versus the other – creation vs evolution, and science vs religion. I don’t really think anything good comes from that argument, and ultimately, I think that argument is flawed. I think science and religion – creation and evolution – go hand in hand.
Open Mic Nights Are Fun
Alastair Vance (@alastairvance) and I took part in an open mic night yesterday at Amazing Tone Music in Raleigh. Man, you never know what you’re going to get with an open mic night.
Shot of Alastair:
Shot of me:
Musical style and performance were all over the board, which I think is pretty cool. We heard everything from folk and jazz to rap/rock and metal to country. Even a song about house pets and another about Barney the Purple Dinosaur (the song was titled “Barney is a Purple Dinosaur”). Catch a clip of the Barney song here.
Alastair and I were kind of toward the end. Alastair started off with “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley (and quite a nice interpretation of it, I might add). He finished with a traditional Irish song which was really cool. I hadn’t heard it before. As usual, his performance was right on – sounded great. You should check out his music either on his YouTube page or on his blog. Follow Alastair on Twitter here.
I went up after Alastair and started off with “Seasons”, which is an original of mine. I followed with an Irish tune of my own – “Mysterious Ways” by U2. OK, so maybe U2′s songs can’t be considered “Irish”.
It was a lot of fun. Alastair and I are going to try and hit this open mic night on a semi-regular basis, so stay tuned for the next time we’re there and come hang out with us!
Here are some photos I took during the evening for your enjoyment:
Alastair is the worship leader at Story Church in Durham.
Related show
Open Mic Night – Amazing Tone Music – 3/23/10, 8pm
I’ll be performing a few acoustic numbers at the open mic night at Amazing Tone Music with my friend and fellow worship leader Alastair Vance (@alastairvance on twitter).
Come out and have a good time! They’ve got a coffee bar at the shop in case you get sleepy.
Sunday Morning Recap: March 21, 2010
Set List:
Everything Glorious – David Crowder Band
Fire Fall Down – Hillsong United
Enough – Chris Tomlin
Mighty To Save – Hillsong United
Sweetly Broken – Jeremy Riddle
This was Week 2 of our “Famous Last Words” series. Pastor Bill is speaking about the phrases that Christ said while he was on the cross. This week we looked at the phrase “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
What a powerful sermon. It was one of the best sermons I’ve heard Bill preach (which is saying something – Bill is an awesome speaker). One of the main points was that it is tempting for us to think we relate to Christ when he said these things. We feel pain and loss in our lives, and sometimes it feels as though God has abandoned us in our time of need. But, no matter what we go through – we will never, ever understand what that moment was like for Christ, because it would the only time in history – past present and future – that the relationship between Jesus and God the Father was ever, or will ever be broken. And we can’t understand that. And he did that for us.
Our drummer wasn’t with us this morning – he was playing with another band that has an opportunity to play Christian music in a prison, which is pretty awesome. We did more of an acoustic set with keys, bass, electric guitar, vocals, and acoustic guitar. It’s cool to change it up every once in a while from the straight up rock and roll vibe we usually do.
We started with “Everything Glorious”, Bill welcomed people, and then we did “Fire Fall Down”, “Enough”, and Mighty to Save”. After the message we did “Sweetly Broken”, which fit beautifully with what Bill said during the message. “Sweetly Broken” has one of my favorite phrases in all of modern worship music that goes like this:
To the cross I look
And to the cross I cling
Of its suffering I do drink
Of its work I do singFor on it my Savior
Both bruised and crushed
Showed that God is love
And God is just
Speaking (or singing) those words out loud is a powerful thing.
I’m the worship leader at River Oaks Community Church.