2:18pm: Depends on what the meaning of "is" is
A few years ago when I was a student at Cornerstone University, one of our teachers shared a very simple and powerful observation with us:

Those who control the language, control the debate.

Think about how the media refers to certain things compared to how we used to discuss them. You're no longer "pro-life" or "pro-choice." You either fight for "abortion rights," or are an "anti-abortion activist."

We don't really hear much about "legalizing" pot anymore either. Instead, various places are voting to "decriminalize" it.

I really don't know where I'm going with this. DEFINITELY not trying to be political. In fact, with the recent public failings of Senator Ensign and Governor Sanford, it seems like the best thing Christians could do for any of their causes is simply shut up. I contend that this is actually Biblical advice (1. Thessalonians 4:11-12), but that's a whole separate thing I don't wanna get into right now.

I guess my points are A). If you're really gunning to make a point, understand the language and the context you're in. Also, B). Blue Bunny Neapolitan ice cream beats all other chocolate/strawberry/vanilla combos because of the real strawberry chunks they use.

12:29pm: It's Monday. You need to smile, maybe do a little dance...generally get down tonight.

10:36am: Yes, I've lived in this town....nowhere near these guys, I think
Sure makes me glad there are no cameras on me at MY job!

12:42pm: One Little Thing
Maybe like you, I've felt for a while that I need to shake things up to drop some weight, be more healthy, etc. Call it "stuck in a rut." The thing is, I enjoy much of the rut that has lead to my glut.

I kept swearing that "next week," or after certain milestones (like a birthday or holiday), that I would undertake some MAJOR shake up of life. Bike 20 miles a day, hit the gym, lay of ice cream, yada yada yada. Those things haven't materialized because, sadly, some part of my lazy self thinks they're too big or complicated for my comfortable rut.

So now I am trying a NEW approach: Change just one simple thing each week, no matter how small. Make it a habit, and keep doing it, while adding another tiny (or not tiny) thing to it, week after week. My hope is that one good choice will breed another.

THIS WEEK: I am now purposely parking as far away from the door at stores, work, etc. as I possibly can. I used to do that in Michigan, but let the 5 month long winters (plus my lack of foot insulation) interrupt. It's only day number 2, but so far so good. I have already found myself thinking ahead to my next small changes, and am even eager to get a head start on a couple (like limiting my daily soda intake).

Sooner or later, I'll run low on little things to change though. I'm hoping you'll be so kind as to share with me just one small tweak that's made a positive difference for you...

11:04am: Got plans 3 years from now?
Lots of buzz these days about the end of the world being a calamity that will soon visit Believers and non-believers alike.  You may have heard that people from ALL KINDS of Faiths, and no faith at all, suspect 2012 will be our undoing.

And Hollywood's gonna cash in on it...



To be completely honest with you, I'm terribly excited to see that movie (assuming it's good :-).

What's YOUR take on the end of Earth?

12:54pm: When you gotta go, you gotta go...
Talk about FREAKY....

JOHANNA GANTHALER and her husband, KURT, from Italy, were lucky enough to miss Air France Flight 447 that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean last month.

The following day, they caught another flight home, rented a car, and lost control of it.  Johanna and Kurt strayed over the median and into an oncoming truck.  Johanna passed away on the spot; Kurt was hospitalized with serious injuries.

....................

I don't know what to make of that.  When your time is up, it's up?  There's no way you can cheat death?

Sure has me thinking about the deep and eternal stuff this afternoon, if nothing else.

9:00am: 10 Commandments, TEXT MESSAGE Style

GOD TEXTS THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, by jamie quatro

1. no1 b4 me. srsly.

2. dnt wrshp pix/idols

3. no omg's

4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)

5. pos ok - ur m&d r cool

6. dnt kill ppl

7. :-X only w/ m8

8. dnt steal

9. dnt lie re: bf

10. dnt ogle ur bf's m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob.

M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl.

ttyl, JHWH.

ps. wwjd

8:51pm: So long, R&R
(Lots of inside baseball here...with apologies to those not in the media!  I've been asked by those in it to share this in public, hence what's below.)

Like many in radio (and records :-), the weekly R&R magazine was an integral part of my career. I couldn't imagine not reading it and learning from it, as it's been THE key resource for music radio professionals my entire life (and then some). Missing an issue led to minor bouts of depression! Not having time to read them weekly often meant a weekend full of catching up once a quarter.

I feel deeply sorry for my friends and colleagues who today learned they won't be working for R&R anymore (http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=b11649). It's like we all lost a dear family member, wise mentor, and savvy commentator. This his hitting me as hard as GM's bankruptcy.

Radio with NO R&R is going to be a lot like Detroit with no Big Three. Like L-A with no Hollywood. Like D-C with no politicians. Oh wait, some of us might like that last option.

When R&R added "Christian" music charts in recent years, it gave the formats I've spent half my career in a shot of legitimacy. R&R showed the industry that CCM radio attracts millions of listeners, sells millions of CD's, and is as financially viable as any other format on the dial.

No offense to any other "Christian" chart publisher, but nobody offered the universal credibility that came from being associated with R&R.

The early scuttle-butt is that Billboard magazine will continue tracking what's big in CCM, but with a major difference vs. R&R. Instead of having a few charts for the various Christian music audiences (Adults 25-50...the AC chart, young adults...the CHR chart, the Rock chart, the Inspo), Billboard will have just one chart, reflecting only what monitored CCM stations play.

Most monitored stations are in decently populated markets, and most are Adult Contemporary stations. This means that generally, they aren't interested in attracting audience members younger than 30.

It's the exact complaint that has been leveled at CCM from within and without for decades. The perception could soon be legitimized if all we have to represent us is one chart.

Record labels will have little incentive to sign artists with any kind of meaningful youth to them. Artists younger listeners like will have fewer reasons to seek radio airplay. And a generation of potential CCM fans will suddenly go underground in hopes of finding enough quality music to meet their diverse tastes. That's best case. What's more likely is that CCM will once again mean nothing to them, and they'll get their fix from the very thing CCM was meant to be a higher quality alternative to.

I have good friends who think this scenario could be the best thing that's ever happened to Christian music. They contend that CCM has not ever reached its full potential because we splintered our audience too quickly, before the center of the genre reached critical mass. They point to Country: attempts to make it Young, or Classic, have more or less failed as far as radio goes. They point to Top 40: there never would have been Churban, Rhythmic, or Hot AC had original CHR not first reached such a huge audience that even the small factions were made of huge chunks of the population.

Maybe they're right. I'm not sure if I want them to be though, because it means I'll have to wait even longer for a CCM format that wins the ears of listeners under 30 to be viable. It's been close here and there, but never nationally, and rarely without major compromises to the "money demo." If it ever gets here, I probably won't be young enough to be relevant to it anymore. (But John Ivey kicks butt and takes names with KIIS/LA, so who knows?)

And this one complex issue is just one of many that R&R's demise impacts. That alone is proof about how big this giant was, and how much its presence will be missed by millions of us across every format, ever market, and every religion.

I wish we had a chance to save it somehow. Or at least to give it a proper memorial service. That R&R will simply vanish without a proper goodbye is, well, about as cold as radio's many often and sudden format flips. Now we know what it feels like, if we didn't already.

12:38pm: blowin in the wind
Today, the 2009 Hurricane Season kicks off.

Down in Galveston, Texas, my dad and his wife STILL aren't back in their home, which got torn up by Ike last summer.  Ike even combined with another system, and dumped 10 inches of rain on our old home in Michigan, flooding the basement.  (The house is still for sale FYI :-).

Here are some pictures of my dad's work building, and neighborhood, taken once it was safe to get back on the island (about a month after the storm passed):













This next one is an aerial view of my dad's neighborhood.  It's worth downloading to zoom in and around to get a full sense of the damage....and this side of the island was actually spared from the worst part of the hurricane!























For the first week post-Ike, you could not see ANY grass from above.  Water covered virtually everything, which is why it's illegal to have living quarters on the ground floor in Galveston.  You wouldn't wanna drown while you snoozed. :-/

1:14pm: FREE Chocoate Alert
Clicky!

https://secure.realchocolate.com/default.aspx

11:59am: By popular demand, MATTHEW WEST
Getting a lot of requests for yesterday's live audio from the Matthew West visit to SOS Radio in Vegas.

Here you go!















Part 1: He sings "The Motions," talks about his new baby girl.
Part 2: He makes up a song about Wall Carpet, answers listener questions about his relationship status.
Part 3: He channels Neil Diamond, "Next Thing You Know," and makes a live casserole of his biggest hits.
Part 4: He almost loses his voice, comes back with "You Are Everything," and gets cut off.  My cassette tape (remember those) ran out of room.
The WHOLE THING:  Everything above, in one big file.  Except for the last 2 minutes of his visit, which I lost (see part 4 :-).

BONUS: The surgery video he talked about in Part 4.

12:06pm: "God's country?" NOPE
You may have heard that fewer Americans call themselves "Christian" these days.

When my non-professing friends hear that word (Christian), some of the first things that come to their mind are "anti-gay," "right-wing bigots," "haters," "hyopcrites," and "judgmental."

Gee, no wonder there aren't as many Christians around!  Who wants to be saddled with those labels???

You've also likely heard the debate about whether the U.S.A. was founded as a "Christian nation" or not, and the fear of many that we're drifting from our "Christian" purpose.

My favorite writer, Gregory A. Boyd, recently contended that "the demise of American Christianity" is a GOOD THING!  His blog puts it better than I could:

1. "America, like every other fallen, demonically-oppressed nation (see Lk. 4:5-7; 2 Cor. 4:4; I Jn. 5:19; Rev. 13), is incapable of loving its enemies, doing good to those who mistreat it or blessing those who persecute it (Lk. 6:27-35). By applying the term “Christian” to America, we’ve massively watered down its meaning."

2. "People assume they are already in the Kingdom — they are 'Christian' — simply by virtue of being American or because they prayed a certain prayer or go to Church once a year, or whatever.  If fewer people are identifying themselves as 'Christian,' this is good, for it means there’s one less major illusion that Kingdom people have to confront and work through as they invite these folks into the Kingdom."

3. "If Evangelicals lose all their political clout, we may be less tempted to lust after political power, which means we may have one less distraction from actually doing what God called us to do — namely, manifesting God’s reign by how we humbly live, love and serve." (What non-Christian could object to anyone living a life of humble, loving service and sacrifice?)

4. "Many think that being 'Christian' is focused on preserving the civic religion (e.g. fighting for prayer before sports events, keeping the Ten Commandments on government buildings, holding onto a “Christian” definition of marriage within our government, etc.)....If the civic religion of Christianity were to die, Kingdom people would be less tempted to associate Christianity with symbolic civic functions and would become more aware of how the Kingdom sharply contrasts with foundational aspects of American culture."

5. "If Jesus followers lose all their position and power and become a minority (or better, revealed to have always been a minority) in American culture, this will expose the idol of American individualism we have bought into for far too long..."

As I sit here on Good Friday thinking of the torturous assassination Jesus died (and rose) from 2009 years ago today, part of me can't help but say "bring it on" to the notion that I don't live in a "Christian" country.  The illusion of one that never existed makes His humiliating execution seem much more trivial than it actually was.

Please consider reading the entire post from Dr. Boyd, and tell me what you think.  I personally enjoy being challenged!

12:23pm: Recessive thoughts
Random thoughts that pop through my head when I hear the news of America's recession....

1) It certainly stinks to be a victim, especially when it's not your fault.  But I'm not sure I want to see the U.S. bounce back quickly.  Without going through pain, how will we learn our lessons to prevent the next one?

2)  I go between the extremes of guilty and grateful that my family is blessed to be getting by.

3)  Some Christians say this is all a prelude to Doomsday, the return of Jesus, etc.  And they wring their hands in despair.  If those one-currency/mass riot/conspiracy theories are true, shouldn't we be HAPPY that we'll soon be put out of our misery?

I read recently that 80% feel fear about where the country is, yet 77% of us are good with our own personal situations.  Makes the phrase "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" ring pretty true.

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?" (Or a single dollar to your checking account?)

12:44pm: My bank is out of money???
We got a first hand taste of what the Great Depression must have felt like.

My wife, Jennifer, deposited some money into our account last week.  Naturally, a hold was placed until the bank could make sure the checks were legit.  Fast forward a few days, and they released the hold.  So Jennifer paid bills based on that amount of money.

The next day, after she's written and mailed the checks, the bank put the hold back ON the money!  Jennifer called to ask why. After a lot of word parsing and working her way up the food chain, this was the bank's answer: "The bank won't have enough money to cover your deposit until the 24th."

Oh, and "don't worry though.  We won't charge you any fees if the checks you've already written bounce."

Jennifer thinks it might be time to start stuffing cash in our mattresses.  It's hard to disagree.  (Are we allowed to charge our bank a non-sufficient funds fee??)

Sadly, the bank I'm telling you about is one of the companies that got BILLIONS in tax payer bailout cash a few months ago.  Somebody at HQ must have needed a new trash can or commode this week.

12:37pm: Hypothetical question...
Although, this could be reality easily enough these days.


Would you take a five or 10 percent pay cut to save a co-worker's job?

I don't think there's a "right" answer. On the NO side, you've got your own family to worry about.  On the YES side, love your neighbor as yourself.  Curious to see where you land on the question, if you don't mind sharing.

10:08am: Guilt trip from an atheist...

I was already a Penn & Teller fan before, and now even more so after watching this clip...



I wonder if more atheists feel this way? I always assumed if you feel the way Penn does about God, you want us to leave you alone.

Sorry if I haven't been doing my job in your eyes!

8:43pm: It's a Holy Rollin' entry...

I just got done with "Letters From a Skeptic" by Gregory A. Boyd.  It's basically a series of gloves-off letters between him and his (now dead) father.  Dad = stubborn atheist.  Writer = Christian pastor.

Regardless of whether you believe in God, or nobody, it's a fascinating read.  You'll learn a lot about your faith, or lack of it.  From the atheist point of view, a lot of questions EVERYONE (Christian or not) has were asked.  The guy didn't hold back.

If you've ever wondered...why the world is SO full of evil if God controls it and is supposedly "nothing but good," it's dealt with.  One of the most fascinating chapters (IMO) was the exchange about whether all non-Christians "go to Hell."  The answer was surprising, refreshing, and relieving.  (The answer is "No," but there's more to it than that.)

If you find Christians to be hypocrites, smug, and know-it-alls, you might find this book refreshing.  If there were more Christians like G. Boyd, I wouldn't sometimes cringe to share the label. (Most on the "Conservative Christian Right" loathe this writer, which only endears him more to me.)





This is the second book I've read by Dr. Boyd. I count myself among his fans now, and plan to read "The Myth of a Christian Nation" next. (Interview w/Charlie Rose on PBS about it under this link.)

What are YOU reading lately?  My mind and heart need further stimulation...

9:31pm: I'm keeping a secret from my wife
When I shaved this morning, I decided to leave the man-hair around my mouth and chiny-chin-chin alone.  It could eventually become a gotee.  (Or is it properly spelled goatee?)


(Pictured: A celebrity representation of a gotee, but not an actual photo of my own attempt.)







I didn't tell Jennifer, for she claims to HATE facial hair on men.  I actually have never liked it on my own face, but being in a city where nobody knows what I look like, I'm curious to know if there's a hot looking guy just waiting for his time to shine.

It's been 12 hours, and Jennifer hasn't said a word.  I don't think she's noticed.  To be fair, I'm blond and my whiskers can be thin/fine and not obvious at first glance.

It has made me realize that I probably don't take time to appreciate the unnoticeable little things about the love of my life.  Maybe it will do the same for you?

I wonder how long we'll go for before the jig is up.  Please don't tell her.

4:00pm: Are we friends EVERYWHERE?
Not only do I try to keep this updated, I'm also on Facebook & Twitter.

Please join me if you haven't already?  Linkies below...

http://www.twitter.com/MikeCouchman
http://www.facebook.com/p/Mike_Couchman/795280206

10:27am: What a clutz

I decided it would be a good idea to use my Swiss Army Knife-thumb drive to open a DVD this morning.















I cut my left index finger.  One of these days I'll learn what it's like to use adult tools like an adult.

9:42am: for my hosers in St. Stephen, New Brunswick...

7:05pm: be a book worm with me
* Grab the book closest to you. Now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th sentence.
* Post it.
* Don't go looking for your favorite book, or the coolest one you have - just grab the closest one

"A little assembly line operation began to form."
- From "Stripped" by Jud Wilhite

10:50am: I understand nostalgia now
In my youth, my young punk self would often rant about how I hated the way TV, radio, and the world in general seemed to revolve around crusty adults who were too stubborn to let go of their own youth.  I loathed the fact that the "sweet spot" with radio advertisers was "Women 25 to 54," thus forcing 95% of the radio dial to bend in their direction.  Seemed that every media consumption choice, and many shopping choices, were for my mom's generation.  What was left over for me felt like token bones thrown.

Fast forward to today.  I'm in a new town, surrounded by people and places not at all familiar to me. I like it just fine, but find my mind wandering back to the time of life when I knew everything with absolute certainty. It was when my biggest concern was what CD to buy from Harmony House with my $4.25/hour earnings from McDonald's, or whether I could work up the courage to hold my girlfriend's hand.

Now, when the local radio station spikes in "Ice Ice Baby," I'm suddenly taken back to the care-free days of burger flipping and class skipping.  No double-house payments. No wondering if my discipline methods will turn my children into nightmarish versions of myself. No pondering the existence of God's grace and whether I really do qualify for it. Just days-of-yore, where most of my time was spent plotting with sabatoa and tancave how Lansing would take over Gotham as center of the universe.

I'm in the "money demo" now, and feel silly for actually enjoying half the things that were the bane of my existence 10 short years ago.

12:39pm: I love Christians, really.
I love Christians, I really do.  But I totally get why so many who don't claim that title can't stand us.

At my Facebook page today, I used the word "Xmas" in my status update.  Before long, an irritated listener from Michigan lectured me on the need to "keep Christ in Christmas."  Shortening the word by using the letter X was akin to blasphemy in their mind.

Now, I'm all for using the holiday to talk about Jesus Christ.  But let's get two things straight....

1)  Christmas was originally a filthy, immoral, pagan holiday.  So you won't find me jumping on the "can't spell Christmas without Christ" bandwagon.  (The more you know link #1)

2)  Using "X" to abbreviate the holiday does not erase Jesus AT ALL.  The X is a holy symbol in the ancient Greek language.  (The more you know link #2)

So to my fellow Christians, please get over trivial stuff that does not matter...the stuff that does not contribute to the world change you're called to be part of.

Every time you get annoyed by the watering down of your holiday, find a way to live it out.  Instead of whining about the downward spiral of the world, do something to boost it back up. 

Feed somebody going hungry.
Give to a worthy cause.
Focus on YOUR family.
Defend the defenseless.
Volunteer at a charity, church, or school doing good things in the streets.
Love UNCONDITIONALLY.

Thanks for putting up with my rare soapbox moment.

1:14pm: pay my bills

 
















Caedmon's Call donated an autographed Epiphone acoustic guitar to help generate money for The SOS Sharathon. We're auctioning it off at Ebay. (The Auction ends Friday 11/21!)
Click here to bid! All the proceeds go to the commercial free/nonprofit SOS Radio.
This would be an AWESOME Christmas gift!