I tweeted a LOT about this band last week when my friend introduced them to me. I have to admit that I’m obsessed with King Charles and their first full-length album. They’ve released two EPs in the last couple of years, but this was the first I’ve heard of them and I’m glad I did!

Loveblood

Every track on this album is amazing. The instrumentation is perfect, the lyrics are very original and catchy, and it’s an overall fun album.

And he already has six music videos that are stunning.

Listen once on Spotify, then go buy this album on iTunes and put it on repeat. When you get home, play it as loud as you possibly can.

Got Jesus?

Source: Flickr

This Sunday I had the opportunity to have lunch with some folks after church who had never attended my church before. I go to the main campus of North Point Community Church and it’s big. I’ve been in churches that would fit inside the main worship center at North Point.

So in typical host fashion, I asked “What did you think?” My parents are the only “outsiders” I’ve taken to NPCC, so I don’t really get the chance to explore this question often. The answers weren’t what I expected.

The message felt like a keynote.

There wasn’t a sense of connection.

I don’t really like the whole mega-church concept.

The last one doesn’t surprise me. A church the size of North Point is not for everyone. It wasn’t for me when I first moved here two years ago which is why I started attending a smaller church. I eventually came around to the concept of a huge church and it was no longer all that different than going to a much smaller church.

I can also understand the second one. I’ve attended two different non-Sunday morning events at North Point in an attempt to connect with other people. Both attempts failed. I tried Fusion which is a singles gathering. I’m an introvert in a large, unfamiliar crowd. Forced social interaction is not for me and I have never felt more uncomfortable and overwhelmed than I did during the first night of Fusion. I survived the initial launch night and attended the first Fusion gathering a week later. I enjoyed parts of it, but didn’t feel like it was going to work out (yes, after one try), so I stopped attending that as well. I’ve also tried community groups but quit that before the first night every rolled around. “It wasn’t for me” and “I had nothing in common with those guys”. My typical excuses.

But the first response surprised me. In addition to that statement, another one was added:

There wasn’t enough Jesus in the message.

Hmm. I’ve had that same thought before, back before I attended North Point regularly. I’ve attended church my entire life and the service usually has about a 45 minute message and lots of Bible and Jesus. But the messages at North Point aren’t always like that. I’m still really challenged by the messages from Andy and the other pastors, but am I just being challenged by them like I would a really good keynote? Guess I need to pay more attention to this.

It’s clear that North Point makes a huge impact in Atlanta and around the world. No one questions that (at least not over lunch this weekend). But is there enough Jesus on Sunday mornings?

SundaySummary

This was a good week for my #finishyear goals. I’ve already finished one goal and knocked off part of another one this week. At this point, it looks like I’ll be finishing all my goals this year with no trouble at all.

Complete 500 miles on foot

I’m 30% of the way through this goal. I’ve completed 149 miles out of 500.

Complete 2 more 5ks, my first 10k and first half marathon

I ran my first 10k race this weekend. 10k is 6.2 miles for those of your uninitiated to running terms. My last 3 runs of a similar length all took: 1:15:30 (6.09 miles), 1:12:48 (6.2 mark of 7.56 mile run), 59:41 (5.54 miles).

I completed the race in 1:01:10! Faster than I’ve ever run the distance. That was the official clock time, at least. RunKeeper puts my time between 59 minutes and an hour. This was a fast, flat course on the greenway that I’m used to running on. However, the last half mile or so was a dramatic increase in elevation and sucked. Who puts a stupid hill at the end of a 10k?!

I need to find a couple 5ks for fun runs and PRs. I’ve started researching half marathons. I think I want to do one that is fairly flat for my first time out.

Read 15 books

Haven’t done much reading in the last week.

Hand write all of Proverbs

Slacked off again. Only a few chapters left and plenty of year left on the calendar.

Become debt free

DONE. I’m also glad I already have my emergency fund in place because, unfortunately, I need it this month.

SundaySummary

Complete 500 miles on foot.

Added another 10.87 miles to my total this week bringing me to a total of just under 90 miles for the month. That puts me at 27% of my total distance for the year. Quarter of the year done, quarter of the goal done.

Hand write all of Proverbs

I got back to this one this week and wrote out a few full chapters this week.

Become debt free

Done.

LastPayment

As promised the other day on Twitter, I have two big announcements today.

The first one is….

I’M DEBT FREE!!!

The image at the top is my final loan payment. I graduated on May 16, 2009 and in less than 3 years I’ve paid off around $19,400 in student loan debt.

 

And the second is…

I’ll be on the Dave Ramsey show on Monday around 2pm CST (3pm EST) to do my debt free call from the lobby and sign the debt free wall while I’m in Nashville this weekend.

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