Amazing, Amazing Grace

This is the coolest version of Amazing Grace ever. I saw this performed live by Josh Wilson years ago but I just barley found a good video reference to it. Be sure to watch till the end because that's where he uses the really cool live performance effect called "looping". That is where the guitar player lays down multiple tracks of him playing with himself and becomes a One Man Band in a sence. It is amazing! Enjoy!

Brilliant British!

Two amazing men: C.S. Lewis and Sir Winston Churchill. Though one was a British Prime Minister and the other an author and teacher, they both were gifted with the ability to speak in a way that really voiced the emotions most of us a feel, but few of us can express. I heard a quote by Winston Churchill in church today so I went online to find it, but instead discovered a huge library of other great things he said. So I decided to find a few of my favorites, mesh them with some of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes, and make a post out of it! Enjoy!

C.S. Lewis

“I think one may be quite rid of the old haunting suspicion, which raises its head in every temptation, that there is something else than God, some other country, into which he forbids us to trespass. Some kind of delight which he ‘doesn’t appreciate’ or just chooses to forbid, but would be real delight if only we were allowed to get it. The thing just isn’t there. Whatever we desire is either what God is trying to give us as quickly as He can, or else a false picture of what he is trying to give us, a false picture which would not attract us for a moment if we saw the real thing” – C.S. Lewis

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”- C.S. Lewis

"A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is... A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in."- C. S. Lewis

“Nothing can deceive unless it bears a plausible resemblance to reality. No one can deceive you unless he makes you think he is telling the truth”- C.S. Lewis

Sir Winston Churchill

“This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy”- Sir Winston Churchill

“We have surmounted all the perils and endured all the agonies of the past. We shall provide against and thus prevail over the dangers and problems of the future, withhold no sacrifice, grudge no toil, seek no sordid gain, fear no foe. All will be well. We have, I believe, within us the life-strength and guiding light by which the tormented world around us may find the harbour of safety, after a storm-beaten voyage."- Sir Winston Churchill

"Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: 'Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.'"- Sir Winston Churchill

Aren’t those great!? There are so many more out there! A few good links are:
http://www.quotedb.com/authors/cs-lewis/1
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=388
Check them out and please share what your favorites were!

Dived Vs. Dove

This world wide question has raised eyebrows and violent controversy throughout the centuries. Should it be Dived, or Dove? I personally feel it should be Dived, as to not confuse any readers of my blog. Because no, I had nothing to do with a little white bird that carries an olive branch in its mouth, as a symbol of peace. And likewise, I am not trying to promote a brand of soap and other hygiene condiments. Dived just plain sounds better!

Anyways! My family went on a little camping trip to Trial Lake this last week. We decided fishing Trial Lake was getting bland, so we decided to dive it this year! My Mom, Dad, Nate and I recently got certified this last February and I have been itching to try out my new skills! The cold water did not strike my Mom as a good time however, so my Dad was kind enough to be my dive buddy. He also let my brother Eric dive with me after a quick crash course (don’t worry, we only went to 15 feet so it was very safe).

We tried out a night dive Thursday night. We were excited to see the swarms of fish attracted to our lights and cheese whiz. We were quite disappointed though when we discovered fish like to SLEEP at night! And we were nothing but a nuisance to them! So we would swim around the bottom, find a sleeping fish, and try and shove cheese whiz in their mouth. This is was all in vain. I actually almost got to the point of completely burying a fish in cheese whiz. Because that’s what I do…pull pranks on sleeping fish. But an air bubble came out of the cheese whiz bottle making a “pop!” and waking the fish up, after which it quickly darted off.

I also got to try a few navigation dives. No one knows the meaning of disoriented until you’ve kicked for 10 minutes underwater only being able to see 8 feet around you, and having no view of the ground. Luckily, compasses are standard scuba equipment and we were able to navigate the ¾ Mile across the lake and come up pretty close to our original header! This may not sound fun to most but I had a great time.

Now that I’m done boring you all with my talk, just so you can get a feel for our little adventure, we took some pictures. Some turned out better than others but you’ll get the idea!


Best bread stick known to the human race. Good, old-fashioned, camp fire guitars.

Those tanks look light, But that package weighed about 50 lbs!

That thing looks like a shark! only...12 inches...

Our Strategy...Cheese Whiz in the hand. So hard to get a good picture of a hungry fish!

Be Bold

I had the opportunity to witness something really cool a few weeks ago. As most of you know, I seem to slave my life away at the Murray Outdoor Amphitheater. And in doing so I get to brush shoulders with a lot of different people, mostly of which are actors. During the performance of The Sound of Music I met a truly remarkable lady.

She is a short, plump lady who is very sweet and kind. If she ever bumped into you she would be the first to apologize and would quickly bustle on her way to get ready for her next scene. She didn’t have a major part in the play. She didn’t even have any lines. But she played her part as a nun in the abbey well and had a solid dynamic voice that fit into the nun choir beautifully.

The only thing that set this lady apart from all the others in the cast was she was completely blind. In all of her scenes she would be standing very close and holding loosely onto another nun’s robes or linking arms to insure she was staying in sync with the others, or not wandering to the 7 foot drop into the orchestra pit. She would come out for curtain call by herself with her white cane feeling the floor for objects and would always receive significant applause as the audience realizes she is blind. The directors were always stressing the importance of a brisk curtain call. Because of this, one night this lady was walking too fast and tripped over a set piece and fell very hard onto the stage. A gasp from the audience was clearly heard through the clapping. But even still, this lady picked herself back up and continued walking to her spot on side stage by the other actors.

The more I thought about this the more I was amazed. What a huge amount of courage this lady has. The only knowledge she had on that stage was the knowledge of what she had been told to do. She had learned the songs by heart, she knew who would guide her as she walked on stage, and she knew the voices of the people and music that would cue her to act.

I mow lawns. Mowing lawns does not require much brain activity. So I have had a lot of time to find parallels in my life with this story. But in reality we are all that blind lady on a stage. We came to this earth and were taught the plain and simple truths of life. We know what we believe. We know the voice of the spirit who will guide us in righteousness. And we know what is right and wrong and the ways we should act.

And similar to that blind lady, we cannot see who is watching us. But we must have faith that they are in the seats cheering us on every day as we step onto the stage. Our friends and family for generations in the past and in the future are in the stands watching our every move and cheering for us every step of the way. Occasionally we are thrown a chance to let go of the hand that guides us and be independent of parent’s testimonies or church leader’s recommendations. Though we may bruise our shins and fall at times, the people in the stands understand and are still cheering for us regardless.

Most important of all, our Father is in those stands watching us also. He fully understands how confusing this life is and how easy it is to get lost. But he is the author of the script. And knows how significant our one roll is to the outcome of the main plot. So we must be bold on our stage. And not be afraid to fall. The Father knows of our hardships and knows it’s difficult. But if we hit it with all we’ve got he’s promised we will succeed.

Sorry to get all churchy on all of you! But I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this and I hope you’ve all enjoyed it. And sweet! I’m totally prepared the next time I’m asked to talk in sacrament meeting!

Ready... Set... Blog!

Hello to all! As I glance over all my friends new blogs I am amazed to see how many people Ellen and Lindsay have converted to this blogging cult of theirs. And I am happy to say I am yet another one of their victims. Well this is my first blog (speaking of which, who the crap came up with that name? It sounds like “blob”, only uglier. And there isn’t the best visual that comes to mind with either of those words. But alas, it’s too late to change it now) and I guess a good place to start is to tell a little about myself.

Well first off, my name is Adam. I invest a great deal of time thinking about the future. Some, may argue, too much. And ever since I was very young I’ve enjoyed finding strange little ways to make money. Some may say I’m too “money oriented”, but I like to think I’m “Money MAKING Oriented”. Given the fact that some of my ideas have been better than others, I still have fun doing what I do.

As any good old-fashioned boy may have started out, my first form of income was a lemonade stand. My brother and I would get our cute little Fisher Price cash register, a retro-colored picnic bench, a huge umbrella, and head out to the street corner for a day of hard work, and little pay. The whopping 30 dollars we would make (on a good day) seemed like a fortune! And it was, to an 8-10 year old kid. My ideas grew into what they are today. A moderately successful DJ and lawn care company, which are enough to keep me out of trouble, I guess you could say. If you know anyone know needs a lawn mowed, or a DJ for a church dance or house party, you’re definitely on the right blog!

Now, for the not-too-great-of-ideas, I like to think of it this way. If one out of every ten of my ideas succeeds, that’s a good enough ratio for me. And that’s about what it’s been. A few of my ideas have been: Putting a vending machine on my front porch, (parents weren’t a fan of our porch being high traffic area for loiterers) running an air-soft gun rental business, (yes, I still own 6 air-soft pistols and 2 snipers) and building a rock wall on the back of my house and charging people for climbing there. (May not be a great money making scheme but would still be freaking tight!) Not all of my ideas have been money making however, some of those include: Building a racing Hover-Craft from scratch (I actually bought plans off line, but never started), getting a pet ferret (no comment), and creating my own smoke bomb lab out of 50 pounds of potassium nitrate and a sugar substitute (I went through a little anarchist/pyrotechnics phase). Most of my friends probably don’t know of any of those crazy ideas I had. So I guess this is what a blog is all about huh?