Hey everyone, this is going to be a quick one.

My band, Tomorrow's 39, is trying to get into Sonshine again this year and this time around there is an online vote to see who will play. So we need your help.

Go to http://debutstage.smallmanmusic.com/ and click on vote. Enter your name and email to register and then scroll down to Tomorrow's 39 and cast your vote.

For those of you not on our email list, when you cast your vote also send your email address to matt@tomorrows39.com and he will take care of getting you a free sticker as well as entering you into a drawing for a free T39 T-shirt of your choice and also a drawing for our new CD which is currently scheduled to come out in April.

Thanks, we can really use your help!

If you remain indifferent in time of adversity, your strength will depart
from you. Rescue those who are being dragged to death, and from those
tottering to execution withdraw not. If you say, 'I know not this man!' does
not He who tests hearts perceive it? He who guards your life knows it, and
He will repay each one according to his deeds.
            ~Proverbs 24:10-12

Indifference.
Therein lies a true enemy of Man, and all mankind is supposed to be. The greatest enemy of Love, of all that we as Christians are supposed to be, of the human heart and all that God is seeking to do in cooperation with us His children. Not hate, which only stabs or slashes at Love and at the human heart and must attack from the outside, indifference and apathy cuts off the life flow of the heart and so begins to choke everything out--love, God, life itself--leaving room for only a meager and cheap substitute for the abundant life and call "to his eternal glory in Christ" (1 Peter 5:10). God tells us that he can use someone who is either hot or cold but to those who are lukewarm "I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (Rev. 3:16). I see this problem everywhere, in myself, in my friends and classmates and in the culture at large. This should not be. To simply not care or seek to prevent hurt by just not caring is to choose a slow and stunted death; this is the living dead. We are called to act, to love, to live. I pray that we begin to learn how.

But he gives us a greater grace. That is why Scripture says:
   "God opposes the proud
      but gives grace to the humble."

    Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

            James 4:6-10

These words seem harsh, and maybe even depressing at first; and yet they are strangely comforting. We hear hard words, commanding us to be clean and pure and grieve and wail. “Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”! But yet, we hear whispers of sweet, loving and incredibly deep promises—whispers seeking to find a ready and listening heart beneath the hustle and bustle of our lives. Listen to our God as He calls, softly and insistently. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” It is no mistake that these two apparent extremes of admonition concerning sin and promise of God’s Love are so intermingled within one passage of Scripture. If we are proud God will oppose us; for how else are we to realize that we are not as perfect or in control as we like to think we are unless God brings to frustration those dreams rooted in pride and our self-centered thinking?

The importance of humility is thus doubly underscored, for it is God who will humble us if we do not seek to humble ourselves. This sounds harsh, but it is the act of a God who loves us so deeply that he refuses to let us deceive ourselves and seek after that which will not bring true Joy. We are made for God and it is His Joy to lift us up. “Our destiny is to run to the edge of the world and beyond, off into the darkness: sure for all our blindness, secure for all our helplessness, strong for all our weakness, gaily in love for all the pressure on our hearts.” This can only come through true humility, and true humility requires such blessed, holy mourning. Joy is not lost, but rather comes as a free, deep, and completely permeating gift found when we open our hands in holy submission to God.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

I just suddenly realized just how very long it has been since I last updated this thing. I apologize to those of you who check these things daily but I also can't say that I feel too bad about it; there are, after all, other things in life that are more likely to take up my time, especially when one's computer seems to often be on the fritz.

Well, first bit of news I shall begin with has to do with my band. As of late we seem to be getting more gigs and trying to make this whole thing work. Definitely good news for someone who would love to make my living playing musical instruments to the glory of my God. The only thing is that my schedule tends to already be pretty busy and I am not the best at keeping it straight (clearly evidenced by the fact that I double booked myself the night of one of our upcoming gigs: the band at UST has a concert the evening of May 7th and even though I had that date on the syllabus from the beginning of the fall semester I didn't think to check. Good grief.). Anyway, I was fortunate enough to have a friend who also plays bass and can fill in for me that night.

In other band news, we now have our own dot com (Tomorrows39.com) the only problem is that we seem to have jumped in a little over our heads here. I taught myself enough about making and managing a website on a free server but once we got the real deal it got a little more complicated. Anyway, so if anyone (Jeremy? ) would be willing to lend me a little help sometime soon to try to work this mess out I would be much obliged.

To be honest, school is starting to get to me some, not terribly just yet (I have been very fortunate to have good profs and classes that I like) but in the amount of schtuff that I still need to be getting done before the year is over.... Well, I guess it is simply that much more to trust God with, as tough as it may be at times.

Well, I had thought that I would have more to write about, and I'm sure that I do, but nothing seems to be striking me at the moment so I am going to return to my homework for the night and leave those other thoughts for another update (hopefully within a more reasonable time frame). Anyway, thank you for reading and God bless.

P.S. - Does anybody have any random questions/issues/thoughts? I feel like I have been slacking the amateur theologian/philosopher area as of late and if I am going to claim such a title for myself I need to work for it. So, please feel free to toss anything my way. Besides, it never hurts to ask and see what other people are thinking about.