Letters from Lilongwe

If you have seen my blog for the past month you would have noticed the Ads that appeared on the page.  I was testing out Google AdSense as a way to monetize the site.   All of the proceeds were going to go straight to Grace Midtown for the purchase of our new facilities.  This was to make sure that I did not find a source of pride in the money that my blog earns.  Adsense users can earn money by clicks on the ads and also by overall page views or impressions on the users.  I fell into a trap of being able to click on my own ads from my own account.  I also had a few friends go through my pages clicking the ads just for the revenue.  Google caught up with me and called out my unethical abuse of their advertising system.  They sent this email early today notifying me of my AdSense account being disabled. Use the Right and Left arrow keys to see more of my thoughts. So from here on out everyone can read my blog without the presence of ads. All is Great in the Lord from the C

While doing my chore this afternoon I stumbed upon this extended version of Free from the Zac Brown Band.  Listen and enjoy! So we live out in our old van Travel all across this land Me and you We'll end up hand in hand Somewhere down on the sand Just me and you Just as free Free as we'll ever be Just as free Free as we'll ever be We'll drive until the city lights Dissolve into a country sky Just me and you Lay underneath the harvest moon Do all the things that lovers do Just me and you Just as free Free as we'll ever be Just as free Free as we'll ever be and ever ---- be We were born before the wind Also younger than the sun 'Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic Hark, now hear the sailors cry Smell the sea and feel the sky Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic When that foghorn blows I will be coming home Yeah when that foghorn blows I want to hear

Life still goes on without my iPhone.  In the last few months I have realized that I spend lots of time on my iPhone in an unproductive manner.  Here are some of my thought on the front end of my experiment,  Without my iPhone? Now that I have been able to have time to reflect on the my time without my phone I am now stepping forward with a possible idea to downgrade to my dumbphone.  During the week I reverted back to using my Moleskine, the small notebook that I used all summer.  Over the summer I would keep important Bosnian phrases, names, events, dates, times, and other information that I would have normally entered into my phone.  I did not bring my iPhone on my summer travels for obvious reasons of safety.  My notebook worked very well this past week to keep track of meetings, thoughts, ideas, and just my overall mood. In the notebook I wrote my issues of not have a phone, the pros and cons of the situation, and circumstances that were shaped by its absence.  I kept a syst

Spring 2011 I was introduced to John Mark McMillan and I was initial very hesitant about the sound.  I could hardly understand the lyrics, it was not like any worship music I had ever heard before.  After going to two of his shows I fell in love with his sound.  His lyrics carry so much power and his musicality carries the truth within his words.  John Mark has come out with a new album just a few weeks ago called Economy.  Here is one of my favorite songs off the album...  http://paulshackelford.blogspot.com/2011/11/sins-are-stones-john-mark-mcmillan.html Also I was able to go to David Crowder Band when they were in Atlanta on their 7 tour.  It is the last tour that Crowder will be touring with this group and John Mark and Chris August are accompanying them for this tour.  Here are some of my thoughts from that night...  http://paulshackelford.blogspot.com/2011/11/atlanta-city-of-christian-concerts.html Soon I will be putting out a video from that night at the Crowder c

Google continues to make bounds towards becoming a major player in the music industry.  Over the summer they released on a beta test,  Google Music Beta  which acted as a cloud storage container for your entire music library.  Meaning you upload your music from your computer and it is stored on Google servers until you come calling for your music.  Then on your request you can listen to any song via your browser, Android device, and iOS device. The system implemented by Google had some major improvements that were required before it could be a marketable product.  Mainly it was missing the ability to download your songs, store them on your computer or iOS device offline.   Android can store your music offline for times when you are removed from the internet.  Also pivotal to the music experience was being able to purchase songs and them automatically to your collection. In the past week Google has removed the Beta mark from this service, opened it to the world invite free, and

I can not wait until Passion 2012!  After I missed the deadline for Passion 2011 I made sure that I would be going to Passion 2012.  This opportunity to feast on worship and the word with tens of thousands of other college students from around the world is going to be amazing.  I am actually going through Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru), because this year Cru is doing their winter conference with Passion. Our summer project team is trying to do a little reunion over this event.  Some of our team can not come because they have other plans or traveling all the way to Atlanta just in not feasible.   I am pumped for Passion will I see you at the Dome? All is Great in the Lord Use the Right and Left arrow keys to see more of my thoughts.

After watching Nefarious: Merchants of Souls , I have become so much more aware of far reaching attributes of sex trafficking.  I have been seeing how my actions effect people all over the world.  How my "small failures" fuel a industry of slavery and sexual exploitation.  This breaks my heart and hearing more and more stories sheds so much more light on this problem that is extremely prevalent in our city of Atlanta and all over the world.  http://www.unearthedpictures.org/ This video blew me away and I would highly suggest that you take a few minutes to read over this post from the Resurgence. http://theresurgence.com/2011/11/14/are-you-ready-for-an-eye-opening-gut-wrenching-film All is Great in the Lord What has the Lord been convicting you about recently? Use the Right and Left arrow keys to see more of my thoughts.

This song is a beautiful musical piece!  To be honest I never really listened to the lyrics but the song just blows me away.  Gungor creates amazing music that captures the emotion of the lyrics so well.  As I let them wash over me right now they send chills up my spin.   This song is a story of our relationship with the Lord.  We slept with strangers and we gave them everything, we cheated on our one love, the Lord.  We worshiped another master, we lived of this world, and now he is calling us back to himself.   I thank you Father that you take us back even in our broken and bleeding situation.  We can never fix ourselves to become "ok" in your eyes.  We must rest in the fact that your son paid the price to be able to return to union with you.  Now we must walk by your Spirit and not break that union.  All I know is that I fail to sustain that Union and fall to the temptations of this world all to often.  And once again you take me back with all of my faults and inte

In this upcoming week I will extract my iPhone from my life.  At first I contemplated removing all forms of technology but then I realized that would be very detrimental to my school work and other facets of my life.   Therefore my plan is to turn off my iPhone and place it in a box and not touch it.  The ultimate goal of this experience is to prove to myself that I can function as a normal college student without a smart phone at my hip.  I can still be social interactive, scholastically focused, and connected to my surroundings without a three hundred dollar piece of metal in my pocket. This thought came from our past few weeks at Grace Midtown talking about "Giving'.  They have shown giving in a whole new light for me.  It is much less of the act of giving from my abundance but rather giving from my necessity.  I feel that most people in our modern society and wealthy community would place a cell phone as a necessary part of life.  We need it to call, text, and interac

After going to Nefarious: Merchant of Souls I was in a very broken state.  I wondered back to the house and turned off all of the lights in our second room and just blasted music.  Friday night was our Semi-Formal which I skipped for various  reasons, therefore the house was empty and very quite.  I was able to listen and reflect on the movie about sex trafficking, the effect on the people involved and how the Lord was redeeming this broken situation.   As I was listening to the new album from John Mark McMillan this song jumped out to me.  When I was at his show in the spring this song blew me away.  As a crowd we just repeated the chorus over and over for minutes and it was a great expression of our souls.   All our sins are stones  At the bottom of your oceans And all our filthy stains Have been washed away By the blood of a son I have overcome the grave By the blood of a son I have overcome the grave The grave Recompense is made for The guilty and

Tonight I will be having a great time worshiping the Lord through song in an old Baptist Church now called The Tabernacle .  It is one of the premeir venues in downtown Atlanta and is managed by Live Nation.  David Crowder, Chris August, and John Mark McMillan will be playing tonight and I can not wait to worship.  The only other show I have seen in The Tabernacle was a very lively show by 30 Seconds to Mars .  I had an amazing time but it was a secular time of worship for the music and the artists.  Tonight will be different as we will come together in unity of faith and praise our Lord and Savior through song. David Crowder Band is headlining this event but I think I am going to enjoy John Mark McMillan more.  I had the opportunity to see his show twice in the spring.  I can not wait until tonight when I get to hear his new material again. All is Great in the Lord Use the Right and Left arrow keys to see more of my thoughts.