Author: dan

monday morning musings [03.28.11]

  • Thankfully I didn’t personally have to pick winners from all the entrants of the Gungor CD Giveaway because random.org did it for me.  Thank you to everyone who entered  and congratulations to Lori Forbis, Jeremy Oehring, & Carol York on winning the free CDs!!
  • Saw Gungor in concert on Saturday night for my wife’s birthday – AMAZING! If you have the chance to attend one of their Beautiful Things events, do it – you won’t regret it!
  • Started reading “Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln” this past week. It is written by James C. Humes, the former Presidential speech writer for Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, & Bush, Sr.  So many thought provoking and behind-the-scenes stories of histories greatest speakers/leaders.
  • Has anyone tried THESE Starbuck’s Petites yet? Looking forward to the next time I have to go to the Quincy Starbucks.
  • I have recently been picking up a few freelance jobs designing/setting up blogs for friends. Plus, I just found a great freelance designer who is going to start helping me with the design elements I cannot do. Anyone want a blog built? I’ll take your order (or answer questions for you) HERE.
  • Because of these freelance jobs, I have been enjoying learning some new design, css, & html tricks from the guys over at Think Vitamin. Great site.
  • I have been cooking like crazy lately, though I recently (accidentally) tried to poison us all with green potatoes.  Do not feed these to your family, I repeat, do not feed these to your family!  However, thanks to E-Mealz, our food budget and meal prep has become so ridiculously easy that I’m doing it.
  • Someday I would love to have my own studio – I keep finding the artwork I will put in it.  This is what I’ve found so far – Matte Stephen’s Art, Society6, & anything by my favorite artist – Makoto Fujimura.  I already have a few cool art pieces from friends, but I’m always on the lookout.
  • Our band, findingBethel, will be playing for Young Christians Weekend this upcoming weekend at Silver Dollar City on the Gazebo Stage. Hoping for great weather & divine connections.
  • One more idea for you today – if you don’t read Michael Hyatt’s blog (he’s the Chairman & CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers) then you should sign up for his Daily or Weekly email HERE.  He has great tips for being more productive and right now he’s giving away a FREE E-book called “Creating Your Personal Life Plan”.  It’s a short read on living intentionally and living with purpose.

10 with Gungor + FREE CD GIVEAWAY

As I mentioned yesterday, we are going to attend a Gungor “Beautiful Things” Event to celebrate my wife’s upcoming birthday. So to celebrate I am having a FREE CD GIVEAWAY along with posting an interview with Michael Gungor that we put together last year. Check out the interview below and read below to find out how to win 1 of 3 FREE CDs. It’s very simple and who doesn’t like free?

10 w/ Gungor by danieljohn

GIVEAWAY:

3 lucky winners will receive a FREE “Beautiful Things” CD

TO ENTER:

  1. All you have to do is leave a comment below. It can be as simple as a “hello” or a comment about the interview. It’s really quite easy!
  2. Tweet this post (hint: you can use the retweet button on the left side of this article. if you don’t see it, then click on the title of the article and it will show right up)
  3. For a bonus entry go to my Daniel John music page on Facebook and “Like” it (yes I hope to begin posting music there very soon).

3 submissions possible per person….and so easy to do!

THE RULES:

This giveaway ends on March 27th, 2011 at 10 pm CDT and is limited to those in the US only. The winner will be selected by random.org and I will notify you by email so get moving!!!

Gungor Giveaway

Later this week I am taking my wife to a Gungor concert to celebrate her birthday.  To kick off the celebration, I thought it would be fun to post an interview I did last year with Michael Gungor regarding the release of his band’s album “Beautiful Things“.

 

 

Also, along with the interview, I will be GIVING AWAY 3 Beautiful Things/Gungor CDs!!  So check back here tomorrow to hear the interview and find out how you can enter to win one of my favorite CDs of 2010.

 

DJ

A Few Ways To Help [part 2]

I realize that Friday’s Post was a little intense but I wanted to truthfully share where I was living and hopefully challenge you too.  Today, as a follow-up to that post,  I wanted to share a few ways that I’ve come across that will allow you to help donate to people affected by the recent natural disasters around the world.

Ever since the earthquake in Japan occurred, I have been receiving daily emails from various friends and groups with possible ways to donate.  I thought I would share a few of them here.  Some involve purchasing a product (whose proceeds go to the Red Cross) while others are purely donation-based.  Please click the pictures below to see more of the details and to visit these various sites.

 

  • from Mighty Wallet –

 

 

  • from The Salvation Army –

 

 

  • from Hillsong (for victims of the flooding) –

 

 

 

  • from Puremagnetik (check this one out if you’re a musician) –

 

 

  • from Amazon.com –

 

 

 

  • from ShelterBox USA –

 

 

  • from the American Red Cross –

 

 

  • or you can Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10

 

I’m sure you know plenty of other ways to donate (and please feel free to list them below in the comments), these are just what I’ve come across so far.  I wanted to make sure and post these for those who are wanting to do something for those who have lost so much. Thank you for looking through these options and stopping by the blog.

DJ

Saturday Fun

We’ve started a new tradition over the past 6 months….

….Saturday Family Brunch!

Like most families, we stay pretty busy during the week, so when a free Saturday rolls around we like to have a leisurely start to the day. We all gather in the kitchen about 10 am to hang out, cook, laugh, and enjoy each other. Sometimes while we eat we play hi-low (describing the best parts of our day/week and the worst parts of your day/week) and other times we just entertain each other with stories while eating delicious food.

This week’s menu is cinnamon raisin french toast, bacon, and fresh strawberries. We’re also being joined by our house guests – Grandma Re and Aunt Sissy – for the festivities. So, before this starts sounding too much more like a talk show (with musical guests, The Oneders!!) I thought I would ask – what weekend traditions, games or rituals does your family do? I’m genuinely interested so share your stories and have a great Saturday!

Gently Forced [part 1]

I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the floods that took place in Australia in December of 2010 through January 2011?

Then you probably also know about the 6.3 earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand in February and which (so far) has caused 182 deaths?

Just a week ago today, on March 11th, 2011, Japan was slammed by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake that caused a devastating tsunami which also took many lives and damaged many cities and towns.

I realize this doesn’t seem like the most “positive” way to start a blog post (by regurgitating natural disaster & loss of life statistics) but something has been bugging me lately. Last week during our Missions Conference I began realizing what it was….

It was most noticeable to me when a friend, Marcondes, from Brazil, got up and spoke to our local church. He showed a simple video slideshow of the dilemmas, triumphs, and life that he sees daily in Brazil. As he finished speaking it happened. We began singing a song that our church has been loving lately. But suddenly, the song lost all of it’s flavor and I wanted to leave the stage. Quit singing. Stop playing. Do more than just sing a song. I felt uncomfortable.

It’s not that singing wasn’t fine….the lyrics and melody of the song sounded nice together….people were enjoying it….but I felt completely disconnected from the song I was supposed to be leading. In one simple talk I had been gently forced to see the amazing life I have, while also being confronted with the not-so-amazing-and-sometimes-wildly-unjust-and-cruel lives that a good portion of the world was waking up to in that same moment. It reminded me of all the times I had turned the channel away from commercials like this.  Or closed the browser on videos like this because I didn’t want to see what was really happening in the world.

On Monday I’ll post a few SIMPLE ways we can help these countries in need. But during this weekend, and this season of Lent, I thought it might be appropriate for us all to be gently forced into “seeing” what is happening in our world, to be thankful for the lives we have been given, and hopefully to want to take action.

 

monday morning musings [02.28.11]

thoughts from the weekend:

  • Enjoyed my time in Fort Wayne last night at Imago Dei. Great to be with everyone on the trip & got to play with my drummer, Jayrod, which is always a great time.
  • The Rutherford’s, who were our pilots last night, are amazing. And THIS was the size of the hail when we landed last night. Golf ball sized.
  • Wrote a cool birthday-ish song 2 weeks ago for my sister Steph ON her birthday.  I wanted to post it for her (and you) Friday but our kids have been fighting the flu and that took precedence. Hoping to have it out by Wednesday.
  • Over Christmas Felic & I saw some great Omaha photography at a local Stabucks.  Went to the photographer’s site this past week & fell in love with his work.
  • Curious to see how this new church presentation software – Proclaim – works.  I could see multiple ways to use this software besides a service setting.
  • Got my newest Toms (Christmas gift) this past week! I need it to warm up because wearing them with socks doesn’t feel right.
  • Received some demo songs from worship leader friends Ruth & Jason this weekend.  Excited to sit down and listen to/work on the songs this week. I am a fan of collaboration and can’t wait to see how they turn out.
  • If you are a creative, you should seriously look into Behance’s ACTION METHOD software (FREE).  It is helping me conquer my less-administrative side and getting my to-do’s checked off daily.
  • This photo rocks me everytime I see it.  Powerful image & grateful for those who protect & serve our country!
  • My friend (and brother-in-law) Ryan Long has two short films that were accepted into the Omaha Film Festival and will be showing this weekend! They are called “Sidewalk Chalk” & “Potluck”.  Both amazing & well produced.  Congratulations and good luck Ry!!
  • Be on the lookout for a music giveaway later in March.  More details as we get closer to the date!