My First Good Picture!

I told y'all how I can't upload photos to save my life. So... before I buy myself a good camera for photography, I gotta start from level 1. It's like gymnastics. You gotta get good at it before you move to the more advanced stuff. Unlike with how you have to wait until level 4 to compete in gymnastics, I'm competing in photography next year. So... I gotta get a move on and work on the basics between now and September.

And random news: I might get to go to Worship Camp this summer! It takes place during my last week of school, but I'll only be missing the last two days. It'll be fun, though--- I will be placed in a group to do band and we get to practice with Cedarville University's worship team. I'm gonna try to get some kids from my church to go with me. Still, I wanna say goodbye to my classmates (some aren't coming back for freshman year). Reminds me of how much has changed...

I know, I know, I mention this pretty much at least four times a year, but... Fifth grade. I was in the fifth grade when I started this blog... golee, that seems so long ago. And I was ten. And that was 2009. And I was homeschooled. And I couldn't upload pictures.

Now it will soon be the summer between eighth and ninth grade. I'm thirteen. This is 2012. I'm basically private-schooled. And I still can't upload pictures... ah, some things never change:)

I figured out how to upload from iPads, though! Here's one of my favorites of the fuzzy photography! Again, I am yet to get a higher quality camera. Maybe one day I can make a hobby of photography like Drew or be a pro at editing like Mrs. Jenilee. One day... one day. But until then, I'll have to rely on Charity, my naturally-talented-at-photography-and-photo-editing sister. Maybe she and Drew can take my graduation photos (*cough* in four years *cough*).

But for now, here's mine!

So proud of myself... looks less pixilated on the computer than it did on the iPad! Yay!

Like always...

-H

Asleep at the Wheel

I love this new song by Wesley Blaylock from Deas Vail.

Christianity: No Hymnal Required

I have a few friends that come from more traditional churches, just to start off. My church is having this thing called May Madness and one of my friends' mothers has a slight theological problem with the Assemblies of God, but didn't want to offend me--- which is alright because she has a right to believe what she believes and she's a Christian too, for all I care.

I didn't know what problem she had with AG churches--- we take communion, we believe in the trinity, we believe there is a Hell, we believe Jesus died for our sins. Don't Presbyterians believe that, too?

So, I looked up problems with the Assemblies of God on Google. Knowing me, I got off-task and ended up searching Jehovah's Witness locations and how old Luke Conard is and how fat William Taft was. But after about thirty minutes being off-task, I remembered what I was looking up.

I was lead to an extremely preachy person's website. There's nothing wrong with being preachy, but this person was the rude kind of preachy. Yeah. Many of the problems the author held against the Assemblies of God were things that you can't judge an entire denomination with. One of his main problems? In later posts I will address the other issues, but here's one:

Our worship is "contemporary" and we no longer just use an organ and hymnals.

Now, you would really have to visit the church on that one. As for mine, we have an organ that overpowers many of the other instruments on the worship team but it got struck by lightning, so... it still works, but not really as loud. And we DO have hymnals, we just don't use them. Some people (referring to teenagers who have since left our church for college) have disrespected our hymnals and one has the name "Mikey" written on it.

Dear Mikey,
I was here, too! I don't know who you are but it's nice that everyone knows your name!

And as for pianos, DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED. We have at least ten pianos in our church alone. Like, seriously, and only half of those are actually in use. I'm not even gonna list them. I know we have two keyboards in the youth room, a normal piano in the kids' room, a piano in the sixth-eighth grade room, a baby grand in the elderly people room, a real grand and a synthesizer in the sanctuary, a REALLY out-of-tune piano in the garage that was never sold (you may wonder why...) and there's probably a few hiding up in the belltower--- ooh, I forgot there's one or two in the choir room! But my point is you don't know what instruments might be hiding in my church... where do you think the string bass came from? They've probably got a cello hiding in there! If so, I want it!

My REAL point is why does it matter if you use Hymnals or Hillsong? Let's see some lyrics...

"I see the King of Beauty/Coming up with clouds, with fire/The whole Earth shakes/The whole Earth shakes/Yeah.../I see His love and mercy/Washing over all our sin/The people sing/The people sing/Hosanna/Hosanna/Hosanna in the highest..."

That did not come from a hymnal, that's an alternative song. Many Christians are divided about the concept of Christian rock music, and especially rock worship music. There's nothing wrong with using drums and electric guitars. We don't want to be of this world, correct. But the lyrics are what matter, not the bassline. Agreed?

"You/Are/My/Vision/Oh King/Of/My Heart/Nothing else satisfies/Only You, LORD/You/Are/My best thought by day or by night/Waking or sleeping, Your presence, my light/Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oh/Ooh, ooh ooh ooh ooh/You/Are/My/Wisdom/You are my true Word/I ever with You and You with me LORD/You're my great Father and I'm your true son/You dwell inside me/Together we're one/Oh oh oh oh/Oh... oh oh oh oh..."

That's not from a Hymnal, either. That's from Rend Collective Experiment's new album. But it was originally a hymn. So it kinda was form a hymnal... wait, Rend Collective has another song!

"Whatever I have/Whatever I hold/'Cause nothing compares/To having You close/True intimacy/Is my desire/To catch Your whisper/To carry Your Fire/You're my/Ambition/My destination/More than living/More than breathing/You're the reason/My heart's beating/There's nothing greater/Than knowing You/You wind up my joy/You wake up my osul/Forever I'm Yours/God, forever You're mine, mine/The wonderful truth/That You are my light.../You're my/Ambition/My soul's/True mission/More than living/More than breathing/You're the reason/My heart's beating/So/I'm giving/Freely yielding/You're the reason/My heart's beating, YEAH!..."

That's not from a hymnal. It's a song recorded in someone's living room. Or how about this one...

"At first I am afraid/But not because of fear/But the Holy of holies/Is drawing me near/Your voice like thunder/Shakes the gorund I'm on/To hide my face in the shadow of Your wings, oh LORD/To hide my sin in the beauty here before Your throne/Your throne/Hallelujah for the blood of the Lamb that was slain/Hallelujah for the blood of the Lamb that was slain/And so we/Enter in to see Your face/Yeah/Enter in to see Your face, Oh God..."

That one is almost a direct Bible verse. Again, that's not form a Hymnal. It was recorded in a studio.

My point?

I think you can see the point. You don't need a hymnal to worship God--- you don't even need music. You just need a thankful heart and desire

and that's worship for ya! But when it comes to worship music, all you need is genuine lyrics an da genuine love for God!

Musical Tomboys

Here's to the girls who prefer guitar over piano...

Who prefer metal over alternative...

And alternative over pop...

Here's to the girls who sing basslines...

To the girls who can sing lower than most guys...

AND ALL THE GIRLS OUT THERE MAKING MUSIC!

VOTE FOR MEGAN AND LIZ!!!!!!

iHeartRadio is having a Rising Star competition. This means?

Whoever wins gets to open at the Macy's 2012 iHeartradio music festival. All the biggest stars in music will be there... it will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and dude... 30,000 people in the audience! That makes Fine Arts, talent shows, and occassionally singing in church sound super small! The most people I've performed in front of I'd say would have to be... 250 people, because when I did Christian Band last year and we made Nationals, we performed in front of the entire adult congregation on a Sunday morning, and that's a lot of people. But... compared to this, that might as well be 25 people.

The most people Megan and Liz have performed in front of? 2,000. And THAT doesn't even compare to this opportunity.

These girls are amazingly talented. They may be pop artists, but I still love them despite my negative feelings toward that genre of music. I mean, they sound great recorded

and live

 and everything in between!

These girls truly deserve this. Like, seriously. They moved all the way from Michigan to continue their music career in Nashville, Tennessee. Either way, they live near the state I currently live in.

ABOUT MEGAN
Full name Megan McKinley Mace. She's the oldest twin by one minute, and the brunette of the duo. She has been playing guitar for over five years. Is a pescatarian.

ABOUT LIZ
Full name Elizabeth Morgan Mace. She's the youngest twin by one minute, and the blonde of the duo. She is beginning to play the piano. Is a vegetarian.

ABOUT MEGAN AND LIZ
They were born in South Bend, Indiana and raised in Edwardsburg, Michigan. They graduated from Edwardsburg High School, at which they were also cheerleaders. Both girls have Tumblr blogs and love singing and songwriting and have published 22 original songs.

PLEASE vote for these girls! They are in the lead currently, but they still need your vote. You cna vote for them up to 25 times today and then 25 times tomorrow and 25 more times everyday until the contest ends on May 13th.

Finally, a contest that doesn't require a Facebook account. All you need is an e-mail account. Like, seriously, that's it. Just click this link:

http://macys.iheart.com/macys/

And then go down until you see them and click VOTE. You can even listen to "Are You Happy Now." Come on, let's help two (rival) bloggers out!

P.S. 30,000 people at a concert? That's A LOT of people! And guess how many pageviews this blog has? 20,000! The readers of this blog can fill up two-thirds of that stadium! Thanks for reading!

Simple Summer Day

My mind is cleared of worries
I can put my soul at rest
Only temporarily, of course
But this feeling is the best.
It's a simple summer day
In Ohio,
Today
And it's just me and the river
The forest
The sun
And a few close friends
A time of year when everyone's a bohemian---
Floral dresses, shirts, skirts
Flowers in their hair.
I love the feeling of belonging.
Then there's freedom.
No:
"Remember to check ProgressBook"
"You're gonna be late for your bus"
"I'm too busy"
It's just the life I've wanted to live all year.
I get to do everything I've wanted to:
Out of school,
Violin lessons,
Learn new guitar chords,
Play my piano
Admire my bass
Practice my vocal solo for Nationals
Summer camp
County fair
Legendary funnel cakes
And swimming in my friend's pool.
I don't have to deal with snobs for another whole three months and I finally have time to focus on what really matters to me.
I can't think of a better feeling,
But then again,
That's just me:)

In What I Do, I'm Relentless

In what I do,
I'm relentless
'Cause without You
I am nothing
I'm just a wandering soul here on this lonely earth
A desert in need of an oasis
Dry bones impossible to live again.
So all I ask is for You to fill me again
With Your love,
With Your grace
To be relentless for You
To show the world all the light on all this earth
The power of your love
It's real, it's true
It exists
It's You.
I'm relentless
Because You're relentless
You died
So I could live
And now You're alive
Alive in heaven
Alive in my heart
Because You're relentless to love me.