miss teen south carolina

i really feel sorry for this girl. praying for the school systems in the carolinas....

wahba: martin owner

while i'm out in the desert, I get lots of down time. which is good in a way. but bad in a way too. my love (jodi) made a way for me to take one of my other loves (guitar) with me.

ta daaaaa....

it's a martin backpacker guitar. one I can stow safely in the overhead compartment.

yes, i've entered martin territory. just gotta make sure I don't leave marty and taylor alone together. :)

the rocks cry out

jodi and I had an interesting experience this week. we went to pick out our slab (of granite) at a countertop warehouse.

the ultimate in environmental consumption - selecting which hunk of god-made volcanic rock will be most appealing for important tasks such as cutting bagels and making PBJ's.

as we were in the yard deciding among three slabs of granite, we were overwhelmed with the noise coming from inside the warehouse. it was the sound of several slabs of granite being cut simultaneously for various customers. each rock seemed to have its own voice. but when they all sang together, it was eerie. dissonant. i commented that it sounded like banshees (as in "you made out like a banshee", right jodi?).

anyway, i'm still haunted by the sound. it makes me wonder: were the rocks crying out like jesus predicted in luke 19.40? or was this a weeping? a chilling scream? the sound creation makes when it's consumed in mass quantities for everyday human use?

stooping to a new low

these past few weeks, boston has shown me something new. no matter what we do, his favorite time we spend together seems to be when i'm down on the floor playing with him.

he might crawl up to me and pull my leg hairs. i'll pick him up, but he'll still squirm. restless.

it's only when I put him down, sit or lay on the floor with him, and play on his level; only when he gets to crawl all over me or lift himself up to stand so he's taller than I am, that he's at his happiest.

this summer, I've been re-reading all the gospels, Message-style. the craziness of the gospel story is that such a huge God would want to lay on the floor with me. guess he knew I'd squeal with happiness.

better go. don't want a certain someone to think i love this laptop more than I love him.

no rock - remixed

hey everyone check it out. a rapper/minister named Vessel from phoenix did a remix (dare I say a Geeeeee-miiiiiiiiiiiix?) of "no rock".

click here for Vessel's myspace page, then click on "No Rock Remix".

new jams

here are a few artists that have become the soundtrack to my recent journeys:

phil wickham - i know i'm way behind the bandwagon on this one, but his voice and lyrics kill me. i find myself actually worshipping along instead of dissecting each chord change. start with "divine romance" and go from there.

rooney - there new album is less Beach Boys and more 80's new wave. but I likey.

a fine frenzy - we saw this singer chick (think Sarah meets Fiona, but with her own voice and stories) open for Pete Yorn. their full-length CD just came out. download "almost lover" and "hope for the hopeless".

other new ventures include the latest from velvet revolver, jonatha brooke and wilco.

wahba.net... interrupted

so i finally wiped the dust off the ol' website and updated it for this summer's goings-on. here's a quick run-down:

• new navigation bar - nothing fancy - just a little easier to navigate through the menus
• upcoming gigs - true, you only need one hand to count them
• award nomination - somebody nominated me for "Best Contemporary Christian Male Vocalist". okay.... but show some love anyway and vote here.

peace kids.

Mr. Short-term-band-relationship...

i'm finding myself in a little predicament. i've been invited to play a worship/concert gig in north carolina and I can't find bandmates to play with me!

one weird part of the deal is that the 3-4 people I had always hoped would want to jam with me again are, for one reason or another, less than enthusiastic. not that there should be any undue expectation or pressure on them. i shouldn't expect them to drop what they're doing and join forces with me again just because we've played together before. it's just a funny thing I guess.

it's definitely more of a pressure I put on myself. it unearths a lot of little regrets about mistakes I've made in the past.

for example: you know the guy/girl who gets involved in a spitfire, passionate relationship for a brief time, then dumps the other person and moves on? well i'm that guy, except with BANDS. i take these great band situations, write and gig and record and put on shows that impress strangers. then I leave - usually leave the entire state, along with leaving said band. it happened in pittsburgh, then in raleigh, then in arizona.

one good friend put this spin on my lack of band commitment: "at least you're able to find great bands everywhere you go."

so now i'm in a bit of a fog. waiting for clarity. waving my hand around trying to find God's hand so he can lead me along.

i do have this glimmer of hope: that it's His deal, not mine. that if I let him, he can turn my blunders into beauty.

NC = home

for those of you who haven't seen, here are some pics of the new wahba studio... ahem, home... in cary.

i know this sounds corny, but we're really excited about what god has in mind for it. in every room, we can picture what He's been putting on our hearts to do with our home - entertain, host the 'homeless', create, jam, cook, play....

the backyard makes us thankful every time we see it.

bi-coastal

so I'm getting into the swing of this working-across-the-country-from-where-i-live deal. it's a bit taxing on the body (sleep schedule, weird work hours, a bunch of 12-hour work shifts in a row) and on the heart (i miss the heck out of my wife and kid).

so when i'm in phoenix, i'll be doing this wacky work rotation: 2 day shifts, 2 swing shifts, 1-2 night shifts, repeat. and I can't complain, because it's the irregular work schedule that drew me to working the ER in the first place. but I must say, that it has been the single largest barrier to establishing any sense of routine or rhythm to my life.

so despite it all, and at the suggestion of a close pastor/friend, i'm attempting to get some rhythm back. over the past few weeks, I've worked regular devotions into the daily rhythm - it's easily been the most neglected, yet most needed in my life.

and over the next few months, i'll be trying to get back into regularly doing some more stuff.... playing guitar, eating a little better, moving a little more, and yes, hopefully blogging on a more regular basis.

true, in a prior post, I raised a toast to living my life instead of trying to blog every minute detail. now, we're onto a new season....