I don’t like posting after someone else just did, but I just wrote all this out, so here it is. Just make sure you read dismarum’s post from today right underneath this one or I’ll feel really bad. Okay? Okay.

Okay. Weird introspective time.
But first, a few things worth mentioning:
The über-sexy Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters are releasing their next album on September 25th. Expect to see me at the store first thing in the morning to pick it up. Their new single, “The Pretender,” is already out. Keep your ears open for it.
8stops7 has a new website.
The Goo Goo Dolls have a new single out entitled “Before It’s Too Late” from the Transformers soundtrack.

Then the other stuff:
Yesterday, for the first time in longer than I can remember, I went to church. I went to a good church, a real church, a church that feels right like the church I attended back in Pampa. And there, over eight hundred miles from home, surrounded almost entirely by strangers and people I’d only met the day before or five minutes prior to the start of the service, I felt more at home, at ease, and alive than I have in years. I didn’t realize how much I missed my old church until the moment during praise and worship when everything inside me finally shut up and let God do the talking. I know some—or maybe most—of our friends who read this site don’t ascribe to the same beliefs I do. Even other TD members don’t follow the exact same line of belief as I. So how can I explain what happened to me yesterday? How can I explain the overwhelming majesty of God speaking directly to me to someone who’s never heard Him?
It’s the equivalent of sitting alone in a busy cafe, surrounded by the voices of the waitresses gossiping and the cooks shouting orders and the cashier slamming coin change in the cash register and the patrons talking business on their cell phones, sipping coffee loudly over the shuffling of newspapers, and old friends catching up. And then, off to the side of you or behind you or somewhere in the cafe where you can’t see him, someone starts talking. Not shouting, not whispering, just talking. But for some reason only his voice is clear enough to really understand, only his is certain and confident enough to really make sense.
That’s the feeling. If I listen with my ears, I hear the world telling me what is and isn’t real. If I listen with my mind, I hear myself telling me what is and isn’t real. But yesterday I finally listened with my heart and heard Jesus telling me what is real and right and good. I saw myself through His eyes and realized how lost I really am. I need a reevaluation period. I need to refocus, rejuvenate, and regroup. Yesterday I finally got the breath of fresh air I’ve been needing.

So. That’s all for now. More about the rest of this vacation later.

Peace, love, and a single voice in a crowded diner.