Two more concerts!

To start with, some bands came to FLINT, MI!

That was awesome.
It was the Face of Love Tour with Sanctus Real, Mainstay, and The Afters.
I like all 3 bands, so the concert was awesome.
Here are a few pics:







And then later last week, I got to see Building 429.
They were awesome!
I felt really bad, though, because the crowd was pretty small.
I mean, we got through the autograph line in 15 minutes.
It was cool to talk to Jason some more though.
He said Michigan doesn't have much market for them, but maybe we can change that!

Here are a couple of my faves:




(sweet shadow!)

Click here for the Face of Love pics.
Click here for more Building 429 pics! (I miss being that close to J!)

April 7, 2006 Jeremy in Troy, MI!

Man, it was a close call there with Jeremy's wife having their baby and whatnot, but the show went on :)

The show was pretty 'normal' with the new added "Give Me Jesus" song at the end.
The funniest part of the show was the beginning... when J said that he didn't know until 5 minutes ago that it was supposed to be unplugged! I thought that was great, but the show "rocked"!

We did get to talk to J after the show, and he said that the night was really refreshing to him, and all the songs were fresh... Oddly enough, that's the way I felt this time, too!
My best friend in the whole world finally came with me!
He was supposed to come with me to show #1, but God's timing is just amazing.
What an incredible night.
My only complaint is that our picture is blurry...



Phil Wickham opened up for J, and I have to say his music is pretty sweet.
Check out a couple of his songs on www.myspace.com/philwickham.
His voice reminds me (oddly enough) of the lead singer of Plus One!
He was an animated singer, which is what I like!

Here are a couple of my fave pics from the show:






See all of my pics from the Troy, MI show here!

Also, the next night I got to see Mainstay (with the Afters and Sanctus Real).
I don't have any pictures, but I see them again in FLINT next Sunday!

Wow, the realness and humblness, and to hear a band say from the stage that they don't believe that Jesus is hip or cool, that you're not going to heaven if you don't have Jesus, and that they are sick of the watered-down gospel was AMAZING!! I have a feeling that I could talk to Justin (lead singer) for hours!

Oh, and the band name refers to a part of a ship that holds the mast up and gives it strength, and I thought that was pretty sweet!

So, check it out in a couple of weeks, and maybe I'll have pics by then! ;)

Michigan Undergraduate Research Forum

On March 22, I presented a poster of my court technology research at the Capitol in Lansing.

It was a pretty neat experience.

The point was to show the importance of research in higher education, and of course to show the importance of funds!

Here is a picture of me and my poster from the conference (thanks Sally!):

Of course, I took some Capitol building picks!
Check them out!

Jeremy Camp Unplugged!! Take 2!

Man, I've been busy! I'm 4 Man, I've been busy! I'm 4 days late on pictures ;)
Last Wednesday, I got to see Jeremy Camp Unplugged again, in Toledo, OH.
It was an awesome show, of course!

I thank God for the opportunity He gave me to see this unplugged show... twice.
Well, actually 3 times because of the one that was in Franklin for the DVD!
Anyway, on to the show!

Randy (pictured above with his tiny guitar) sang with the girls during "Right Here."
I mean, he sang with the girls. He sang very high-pitched during the good-hearted 'competition'.
It was really funny!

There was some intense singing!
J did "Jesus Loves Me" blues style just like at the other show,
only sans his dad on harmonica, but it was sweet! He sang gravely.
As Randy Jackson would say WE HAVE A HOT ONE TONIGHT!
Haha...

There were also funny stories.
J is just so happy that Isabella is calling him "da-da..." or so he thought.
Apparently, she picked up a copy of Napolean Dynamite and said, "Da-da!"
J was flattered of course!

Randy "opened a can of worms" by asking whether the crowd liked OU or OSU. (is there a OU?) Well for a few minutes people shouted Purdue (well that was J), Michigan, Buckeyes, etc. It was great! Justin shouted U of M, so he knows what it's about! Go Blue! After a few minutes of this, Randy said, "OK, now it's time to close that can of worms." It was great! The story doesn't sound very funny when I type it out, but it was hilarious then.

And of course, there was a whole lot of worship.
J said his throat was feeling clogged that night, but even so, he's one of the
best singers I've ever heard.
Somebody shouted "Take My Life" again, and
he said "Maybe," but he never did it, probably
because of his voice.

My "best" shot of the night wasn't of J.
It was of the awesome violinsit, Joey!
Even I get lucky sometimes...


Here are a couple more of my faves:

To see the whole album Click here!

Jeremy Camp Unplugged!!

Wow! I made the decision to go to the Jeremy Camp unplugged show 3 days before the show. Man am I glad I did! This is exactly what I needed at that time... the things J talked about just spoke to me. He talked about when Martha complained that she was doing all the work, while Mary just sat there. There are times when God wants us to just "hang out" with Him. Sometimes, we're too busy with our work to realize this. Jeremy said that, in his paraphrase, "Mary got it right." (Luke 10:38-42). I've just been so busy that I need to just relax and stop worrying so much about the "work..."



I sat pretty far away, but this picture right here is my favorite shot from the show! I just love it!

I just realized how bad J is for the environment I traveled 360 miles by myself.... LOL And my car hit 175,000 miles on the way! God is good to my car!

This show was gig #20, and the first repeat city/venue! 1 1/2 years ago I saw him at the ELCO in Elkhart, IN... and the theatre was full, but not packed entirely... But tonight... let me tell you, it was PACKED! Even the balcany was PACKED! I'm pretty sure it was close to sold out! Woohoo J!

I forgot how funny J and crew were! Oh my gosh, it makes me even sadder to remember how they cut him out of his own DVD. At the Franklin show, he told Mike that the reason he didn't have a mic was because he wasn't funny. Well J did that to him tonight, too Of course, family was there! Dad went on stage to do the haromica with J singing his soul/blues gravely "Jesus Loves Me" version. He said his daughter was in the crowd, and somebody held her up, J looked alarmed and said, "Put her down!" LOL! And then he waves and tells us to clap for her. He says, "My own daughter is clapping for herself." And Randy replies, "Just like daddy." BWAHAHAHA!

Hmm... since when can't I edit my comments? Anyway, I thought of another funny thing. I guess their baby is going to be a girl since J said that he'll soon be outnumbered 3 to 1. Some guy shouted "I feel your pain!" or something to that effect. J got off the stage to give the guy a hug. It was a great J moment


I love how J sings with such intensity!

J's portion of the show lasted 2 hours... the longest set I've ever seen, and I loved it! He said that every night so far has been different... He was about to "end" the show, but someone shouted "Take My Life!" He was like, "are you serious?" and started to jokingly strum a few chords. Well, he called the band back, and did it acoustic style! It was so awesome. Right after that, he went into "Worthy of My Praise," and then ended by himself with piano singing "Give me Jesus." It's so awesome to see a Christian artist not afraid to say Jesus on stage!

I really dug the starry background.

And the cellist was using an Apple, so I took an "artistic" shot of it:

Click here to see the rest of my pics from the show!

Wherever You Are Tour 2006

Okay, I know it's been a while, and I apologize for it. But the last thing I did was go to a Chris Tomlin concert on January 31. That was an incredible time, and something I really needed. But never fear, I have new pictures for you!

The Wherever You Are concert was amazing! I highly recommend it. The staging was sweet too! We sat as far back as you could, so don’t be expecting too much out of my pictures. Still I’m pretty happy with what I ended up with!


I really went to see David Crowder. He did “O Praise Him,” which is probably my favorite song from Illuminate. Unfortunately, he still didn’t do “Wholly Yours” and since it wasn’t a headlining show, I didn’t get to see “Do Not Move.” And of course, how can you say it better than...



But David was his normal quirky self. He was ragging on Ypsilanti, questioning who put that city name together, randomly putting letters together that shouldn’t be together. It was great! He needs some new jokes, though! It’s been two years and he’s still telling people to sing “a little less pretty and a little more loud!”

Behold the keytar!

I absolutely LOVED the keytar that he said he got off of ebay: it was sweet! He did a little diddy of Super Mario Brothers on there and I just about died laughing! It was incredible.

Third Day isn’t my favorite band… it’s not that I don’t like them, I just haven’t gotten their CDs and I don’t know many of their songs. But they did [a portion of] “Show Me Your Glory” so I was happy! As I mentioned before, they had sweet stage settings! Here are a couple of my favorites:

They had a normal 75 minute set. There was also some acoustic stuff, which I enjoyed. Then, the callback was a half hour! J, if you’re reading this, take some tips! They did a song I don’t know, the awesome “Cry out to Jesus,” and their rendition of one of my favorite Chris Tomlin songs, “God of wonders.”

Mac also talked quite a bit during this session. He was telling the story about how his 6 year old said that she accepted Jesus into her heart. He said his pessimistic side was like, “Does she really know what that means? Does she understand the sacrifice?” God said to him, “Mac, you don’t even fully know what that means!” That was a really humbling and awesome comment!




(It was a terrific all around concert, but I still can’t get over the fact that Mac is left-handed!)





Click here to see all of my pics!

Happy New Year!

Well, it's 2006 on the East Coast! Yay!

It's hard to believe at this time a year ago, I was at Knott's Berry Farm, hanging with my bro AmandaT, Jamie and almost J ;)

What a great year 2005 was (even including being stuck in Virginia from January to March).

It makes me wonder... each year gets better and better... what does God have in store this year?
Whatever it is, I'm excited for it!

Happy New Year everybody! I hope to have pics and a post when I go see Chris Tomlin later this month... and hopefully earlier!

"For I know the plans for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you."
-Jeremiah 29:11

The True Meaning of Christmas

The other day, here in Michigan, the State House declared that the tree outside the Capitol building will be called a "Christmas Tree," not a "Holiday Tree." I found this to be rather humorous and ridiculous. But then I thought about it. Is the Christmas tree truly a religous symbol?

So I searched the Web. There are so many sites out there, and I have no idea if any of the information is accurate. But I came across this site and noted that it had several citations of other texts, and it doesn't seem to be rumor based.

According to that website, there is little disagreement that the Christmas tree originated in Germany, around 1521. Those original trees did not have lights, as far as we know. Lights did not appear until about the 17th century in the form of candles. The Christmas tree is thought to be brought to American in about 1700 by Germans who set up in western Pennsylvania.

Here are some symbols that can be taken from the Christmas tree, whether intended or not:

• Evergreens represent rebirth and everlasting life
• The shape of an evergreen always points to heaven
  
• The ornaments represent the gift of Jesus
  
• The lights (candles) can remind us of Jesus, the Light of the world
• The star at the top represents the Star of Bethlehem that resided over the place Jesus lay
• The tree itself reminds us of the tree that Jesus Himself hung on, to bear or sins

Whether any of this is true or not is irrelevent. To us, as Christians, the Christmas tree will remind us of salvation and forgiveness through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! Sometimes we get bent out of shape because everybody is saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." I say, who cares? Personally, I don't want to be associated with the Christmas of the world: the big-selling and money-making bonanza. We must hold on to the true meaning of Christmas and to teach it to our children, friends, neighbors and relatives. That way the true meaning of Christmas will never die.

What is the true meaning of Christmas?

"He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief... Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquites; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed."
Isaiah 43:3-5

That's what Christmas is to me.
It's about the birth of Jesus, the Son of God who would later come to earth and be despised and mocked by us, and yet He would still die for us.
The symbols of this world mean nothing to me, because the true meaning of Christmas is in my heart.

3 times Jeremy Camp in November!

Well, I had the priviledge of seeing Jeremy 3 times in November.
As always, the shows were incredible.
The picture from the left was show #1, Ft. Wayne, IN.
It was truly an awesome night of worship!
I remember last year when Jeremy said, "I want to have lasers next year!" like a little boy trying to get candy. Well, he got his lasers so I was so excited to see him "running with the big dogs," as Jean would say, now!
He played his new song from the Inspired by Narnia Soundtrack, "Open Up Your Eyes." And then instead of a call back, he sang "My Desire" with Bethany Dillon, which was incredible.

The Ft. Wayne show was on a Wednesday, and J-Weekend came up quickly!
Saturday was the Grand Rapids, MI show.
This is a cool shot from that show.

We ended up getting to talk to J for a long time at this show, which was cool.

Sunday was the last of my Restored Tour shows.
We stopped to get some food in Dublin, OH, and thought there was no food on that exit, because all the buildings (including McDonald's) looked like this.

Here is the Team Camper group photo from the Grove City show. (I finally got to meet Jace!)
Jeremy is such a goofball.

This was not only my last show, but it was the last night of the Restored Tour...

meaning "prank night!"

There was so much going on during prank night.
Justin (Jeremy's keyboard player) smashed a toy guitar during Bethany's set; John (sound guy) came out on a wooden horse just before Bethany sang her song from "Dreamer" (she couldn't stop laughing); The Afters were given the title "The Openers"; an inflatable snowman appeared; a Sponge Bob piñata was obliterated...But the funniest thing was when J was supposed to do the acoustic set, and they brought him a tiny little chair.

The best part of it all, though, was J's sense of humor.
As you can tell in the above picture, he is laughing.
At the picture to the left, he even was going to sing and play from that position.
It was great!
Even though it was "prank night," nothing any band did took away from the whole purpose of the show - a night of pure worship. I enjoyed every minute of it, and am grateful for the opportunity and ability to make it to these 3 shows.
God is so good, all the time.

You can check out my pics from all three shows by clicking here!

My Photo Blog Introduction!!

Well, here it is!

This is where everybody can see the exciting (and maybe not so exciting) things that are going on in my life! Well, actually things going on associated with photography. Chances are, if you're reading this, you know that I'm a huge Christian music concert-goer, and that Jeremy Camp is my favorite musician. Again, if you're reading this, you most likely know that I love photography. I also like to travel!

So, this is where I'll be posting my story - photography style!

Since I don't want to go too far back, let's start with this school year.
In September, I went to Seattle, WA for Court Technology Conference 9.
I had a really good time, and enjoyed the fact that the sun was out!
I got to witness a beautiful sunset on Elliot Bay.

And I can't mention Seattle without showing the Space Needle!



I guess that's the main non-concert traveling I did this semester.


I got to see Chris Tomlin's Indescribable Tour, though! And it was just that - indescribable!

And on top of it, I finally got to meet the man behind the music! :) I've listened to him for 3 1/2 years!





















Well this semester is almost over! I might make another post about my 3 Jeremy Camp shows, so stay tuned!