The Christian Music Industry: The Grrs and the Greats

Holly: Just in case you didn't get any recent memos, we're pretty into music.  Or, more specifically, Christian music. Duh. I think we first sort of really got into it after attending ICHTHUS for the first time. Kelly will mention it later, but if you don't know what that is, you should educate yourself: it's glorified worshipful insanity at its absolute best. Since getting out on our own, we've also had the great fortune of attending quite a few Christian concerts, and I've noticed several very positive attributes and trends towards them. First off, the ticket prices are very affordable. Example 1: we attended a K-LOVE sponsored Christmas concert (where yours truly finally got to meet the one and only Jeremy Camp, a long sought-after dream of mine since about the tender age of 14), and it was $28 for him and three other artists.  It cost us $25 to see Matt Maher and I Am They last week, and it was $10 for Winter Jam last month.  We saw for KING & COUNTRY in Winchester on the 4th and it didn't cost us a penny!! DID I STUTTER? Plus, everyone else who performed at the Christmas concert stayed afterwards to talk to fans. Which brings me to my next point: Every single concert we've attended, someone has stayed afterwards. Did you hear that? Every. Single. Concert. It's awesome! Do you really see that anywhere else? I'm willing to bet not.

He was really nice, and he gave me a hug :) 

We found out (while attending Winter Jam, actually), that the Eagles were going to be in Lexington in July. We thought it'd be a fun surprise for our folks, so we looked up tickets.  Imagine our surprise when we found it was going to cost us, for the worst possible seats, a pretty $185!!! Say. What?! Actually, while writing this, we checked prices again: anywhere from $188- $426. You have GOT to be kidding me! And with the experiences and moments we've had at our shows...you can't put a price on those, especially to the tune of three flipping figures!

Kelly: I generally find the Christian music industry very appealing. We have been blessed to have attended several concerts over the years which have been super amazing! Case and point, ICHTHUS. If you don't know what that is, you should definitely get into that; it's a weekend of music, speakers and camping! It will change your life. However, it's frustrating when I'm listening to the radio driving to work and I hear one song then turn it back on driving home and hear the exact same song again. One time I was driving to and from Richmond in a span of about 4 hours in between being in and out of the car and I heard one song three times. Really? Is that how it works? Yet I remember hearing a few songs that I only heard once or twice and was like "hey, what happened to that song?" I'm the first to admit that I have no idea how radio stations pick their music, but perhaps maybe a little bit of variety every now and then would be nice. Most of the time I find myself getting bored with the same selections that I hear over and over and over.

I've also found that I'm not alone in my thoughts of this as well. To be fair though, that's why I have a lot of my own saved on Spotify, Pandora or my iPod. Yet sometimes I even find my selections a bit redundant. On the flip side, there is some AWESOME Christian music out there!!!! I find myself sometimes when I'm listening to a certain song, it just gets me at the right time and I just find myself totally immersed in the presence of God. I just have to stop whatever I'm doing and just worship. Still I have songs I hear that give me goosebumps. There's so much power in that, and I can't describe it any other way. And that's all I have to say about that. I love Jesus music, but I think it's important to remember to love Him before the music.

The first time we met Joel :) 

Choosing to choose

Kelly: Sometimes I take mini social media breaks. It's good for my health, hence I threw in the "internet safety" label in this post, the safety being for me. It seems like every day I see more and more negativity posted, and I'm kind of at my breaking point. I've had enough, so I don't feed into it anymore. It just makes me wonder about the choices we make, I make in my day-to-day life. And lately it seems like poor choices are glorified more often than good ones. I think we actually wrote about something similar to this, and the question we posed was why is it bad to be good? Anyway, I'm digressing a bit, but I want to share a small tidbit of something from my nursing school days.

I was working with a nurse and she had been working at her current job for a while. I asked her if she enjoyed it and she said she had always wanted to work with kids but felt "stuck" doing what she was doing. I asked why she not pursue working with kids; she didn't answer. The way I see it is this; we are all victims to stuff happening, good stuff or bad stuff. We can choose to be victims of the bad stuff and we can choose to display all the good stuff every day, multiple times a day. Or we can choose to have a bit of modesty, ask God to help during the bad stuff and praise Him for the good, instead of spraying it all over social media like a hay-wire sprinkler. On our birthday, which was just this past Thursday, I posted a selfie and mentioned I was going to get ready for some fun. 46 likes on Facebook. A while ago I posted something about reading the Bible and how much it meant to me. 2 likes, maybe 3. Choices, there is such power in them. We can choose what grabs our attention, and it can influence us in good ways or not. As for me, I'm more conscientious over what I post on social media and ask myself  "do all my friends/followers really need or want to see this?" or "is this going to encourage them and make them happy?" Am I glorifying my Maker or something else? Choices, like I said, it's a power we have, free will. Choose wisely though.

Holly: "If you're free to choose, then you're free to accept the consequences of your choice. Be wise in making decisions & responsible in owning them." 

The above is a retweet from Tony Nolan's 18-year-old daughter Christy.  Talk about wisdom beyond your years! I think this tweet sums up perfectly general decision making, whether they're good decisions or not-so-good ones.  I do agree with Kelly in that poor decisions do seem to be encouraged and praised more than good ones...here's our thoughts on why it's "bad to be good."  While we're at it, here's our thoughts on selfies and other social media stuff. 

I've recently adopted a philosophy that if you don't like something in your life, then change it.  I read a lot of stuff on Facebook about how person X hates their job, person X hates where they live, person X is just pissed off for no reason, really, person X has a co-worker/roommate/significant other/friend that drives them crazy/makes them mad...I don't really need to go on.  Trust me, I know what it's like to not be happy with your current circumstances.  But I believe life is too short and too much of a gift for it to be spent being miserable or otherwise unhappy, and I don't understand why anyone would want to live that way.  Is it really easier living in your own unhappiness/drama than deciding to take the time to try and change that one thing or things? What makes these situations worse is enablers, or others who just feed into it.  Allow me to give an example (bear in mind this is just an example; Kelly is quite happy and content with life right now): 

Kelly: Angsty status about general life unhappiness/work drama/traffic jams.
me: Oh sis, you must be irate right now.  They all suck anyway! 

All right, I think ya get the idea, because you've probably seen it at some point or another.  I don't have a valuable solution for stopping enablers/negativity, so I just choose to ignore it and do my best to spread my joy in my little social media circle.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  I read somewhere that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it.  How will your circumstances and attitude influence the choices you make? How will YOU choose to choose?  

Jesus and NUMB3RS

Holly: About four and a half years ago (ish) I came across a Facebook note I wrote after I watched one of my favorite episodes of ER.  I tied in the plight of the episode to that of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.  You can read the whole thing here...and if you can't for some reason...well, sorry about your luck :P

Fast forward to last night.  I still binge on ER every now and then, but last night I was watching another one of my favorites, NUMB3RS.  Kelly and I have mentioned it on here a few times.  I was watching one of my favorites, "Friendly Fire", and again, I couldn't help but notice a parallel between my faith and this show that I really enjoy.  I jotted this down not long after.  Every day I'm learning that God really is in all things :) Enjoy, and happy Easter!


Good Friday, 2015.  Sometimes it’s hard for me to see the “good” in it.  This is the day that Christ gave up His life.  To sit and watch Christ die a most terrible death is something I don’t think I’ll ever be able to wrap my head around.  So much heartbreak.  Thank goodness that this particular story has a happy ending!  I am so thankful that because of Jesus, death doesn’t have the last word! 

I think so many of us, myself included, forget that Jesus walked this earth as a human.  He was human! I think there’s such a strong sense of fragility and vulnerability in this.  I was reminded of just that- the fragility of being human- this evening, while watching one of my favorite episodes of Numb3rs.  I think I’ve seen it half a dozen times by now.  A longtime mentor of Don’s, Fox, is under suspicion after a bank robbery that ends up with two federal agent fatalities.  Don backs him and defends him 100%...until the end, when the data Charlie has drawn up becomes too overwhelming to ignore- things are stacking up against Fox, and definitely not for the better.  In a stand-off between Don and Fox, Fox’s true colors come forth and the complete truth behind the robbery is revealed.  For the first time in years, we see Don’s guard drop and his coming to grips with reality- is someone he’s looked up to for so long really capable of such things?  As Fox reloads his firearm, he says that he can’t and won’t go down for this, this that would most assuredly end his career as he knew it, and he would rather take matters into his own hands than allow Don to turn him in.  I won’t reveal what happens next, but let me just say that it destroys Don (And me too!).  The armor finally cracks.  For five seasons we’ve seen Don shouldering the weight of his team stoically and effectively, burying any and all emotion for the sake of justice and doing his job.  But the end of this particular episode, maybe the last 5-10 minutes, it really does something to me.  It’s so powerful, yet there’s a moment subtle enough to miss if you’re not paying attention.  It’s a heart-wrenching reminder that we are human.  We fall.  We break.  We are rattled and moved by events in our lives and sometimes there isn’t anything else to do but let our guard down.  That moment just stops my heart.

The truth is that we are broken people, much like Don at the end of “Friendly Fire”.  We are not immune to tragedies that may occur in our lives, and we are not immune to how we may deal with said tragedies.  However, I’m thankful that I can run to God when life becomes too much.   I’m thankful that He understands the humanity within us.  He knows!  There are plenty of circumstances in this world that warrant apologies, but you should never have to apologize for being human.  Like I said, God understands, and He can handle it.  Newsflash: No one expects you to hold it together all the time.  I need that reminder often.  And that includes you too, Don!  (Anyone else felt like giving him a hug at the end there, or was it just me?) 

 

We Choose Jesus Above Us: Winter Jam 2015

Holly and Kelly: So there we were, barreling through the traffic that is Winter Jam, on our way to meet Tony Nolan (which we did) and out of nowhere we saw THIS AWESOME GAL walkin on by. Kelly grabbed her by the arm and a 30 secondish screaming session began! We have not seen this awesome lady since her wedding day...which we wrote about right here! That was the middle of a pretty awesome night of worshiping Jesus through music, laughter, friends, a bit of testimony and a lot of fun! 

!!!!!!

Ah yes, Winter Jam.  Making its debut here on the H and K Chronicles, our last attendance of this rockfest for Jesus was four years ago, before we were legally old enough to drink, and before H and K was even a thought.  Needless to say, we had been looking forward to this for quite some time. Adding to the excitement of it all was us bringing along our host student, Anna, and two of her friends; Anna had never been before!   We met Anna over the summer and it has been such a blessing getting to know her and letting her into our little craziness called our lives.  We were particularly excited to see for KING & COUNTRY (duh), Jeremy Camp (big duh for Holly), Newsong (Arise My Love, hello?!), and Skillet (hard rock music with a good message...yes please!).

Far and away, the best one we've attended!  Yeah...that's pretty much it.  We got to say hi to Tony Nolan for a few minutes.  If you have not heard his testimony or heard him speak, do yourself a favor! We were pretty far up in the stands, but we certainly didn't let that stop us!  All in all a good night of friends, new friends, laughter, good music, good messages, and most of all a wonderful night of giving it all back to the One who gave it to us in the first place. How great is our God!

Here's us with Tony Nolan :) 

Joel from fK&C bringin' tha word!

Arise My Love!!

Party on stage with Family Force 5

I love his heart for God! :) -H

"Those nights kept me right." -Skillet

And last but most definitely not least, we found ourselves meeting face-to-face with yet another familiar face, Joel from for KING & COUNTRY. He remembered us! Right when we got up there to get our picture, he waved us away for a second and said "hang on. I think I'm going to sneeze." We parted in opposite directions of where we were standing, and....nothing happened. He said "I think you all jinxed it." He even had on a little UK patch on his shirt :) We think Joel is pretty rad!

Until next time! 

\

Bottom line: if a Winter Jam ever rolls into your town (or nearby), GO. Run.

The fact that we woke up with crazy headaches and barely any voice= worth it!

Schtuff twin girls say, volume 7

You know it!!

Kelly: You just gave me a concussion with a Wal-Mart gift card! (Holly threw it at me)

(while eating out at Sonny's)
Kelly: They say that half of your dinner plate is supposed to be vegetables.
Holly: (plate of ribs, chicken, mac and cheese, garlic bread, and green beans) Well, I'm out.  

Holly: Do you mind not masticating so loudly?

Holly: (Kelly handed me a pudding cup). Kelly...why did you give me such a big spoon?

Kelly: (reading email). Oh. Matt Maher just added a new concert.
Holly: Probably in Florida. (finds out he's in Richmond).
Unanimous ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh in 3...2...1...

Holly: Yoda, will you stop destroying me, please? 

Kelly: Probably not a good idea to watch bloopers and have a glass of wine.
Holly: But we only had one...
Kelly: And we're laughing at your wheeze....(and we both bust out laughing and crying)

Holly: Oh look. I spilled wine on my shirt because Martin Freeman didn't win an Emmy.
Kelly: Actually he did....so now we need a new excuse.

(leaving Old Town Grill):
Kelly: It's so nice out!
Holly: Yeah, it is.  Maybe I'll go for a wee stroll later.  Or maybe I'll just clean the bathroom.

(watching Broadchurch):
Holly: He sounds a lot more Scottish today.

Kelly: Is there a such thing as song crack? I'm totally making it a thing.

Holly: Hey Kelly, look, I'm Yoda! (proceeds to run as fast as she can across the room)

(watching ER bloopers):
Kelly: Holly, it's not like this, I promise.

Holly: I had cheesecake when we were in-
Kelly: STOP!

(watching NUMB3RS):
Kelly: Charlie, change your clothes!
Holly: He's distraught, Kelly! Geez, leave him alone.
Kelly: If it were me, I would change my clothes.  

Kelly: I've gotten really good at crumbling up foil with oven mitts on. 
Holly: That's good.  

Holly: I just realized my hashtag "Monday slump" also looks like "Mondays lump".  Which sounds odd. 

Kelly: (notices Wiley laying on her purse) Wiley, do you want to be pretty?   

Kelly: Is your fried rice crunchy?
Holly: No.   

Kelly: Sushi...
Holly: Ooh ah ah, ting tang, walla walla bing bang.   

(watching NUMB3RS):
Holly: You know why I like Don Eppes? Because he doesn't drink black coffee. 

Kelly: I just tripped and fell into some feelings.   

(eating Velveeta shells and cheese):
Holly: High blood pressure, woo hoo!

Kelly: I need a car iPod.

Holly: This parking lot is a hot mess.  Actually, it's a cold mess. 

(season finale of Broadchurch is tomorrow):
Holly: Let's have a moment of silence for our feelings.  

Holly: I'm so bored!
Kelly: Why don't you go for a walk?
Holly: I already did that. I took out the trash.    

Kelly: (at the fridge) So is this all just community pudding?
Holly: Yeah.  Hey, community pudding.  That sounds like a band name. 
Kelly: Yeah it does.  But I'd be hungry every time I went to see them.   

Holly: I never liked the word "curd"...it always reminds me of turd. 

(watching Facing the Giants):
Holly: Bobby Lee Duke is running with a sucker in his mouth! That is NOT good!

(texting convo)
Kelly: Size 10 JCrew jeans for 10 bucks. Sound good?
Holly: YEEEAAAAHH!!! Pic?
Kelly: Hang on give me a few mins. Berea email :D should be there
Holly: ERMAHGERD LUUUUUUUUUURRRRRVVV!!!! Man they were dirt cheap too.
Kelly: Right!!!! I could not pass them up.
Holly: We so savvy and fly!  

Emma Watson is not Hermione Granger

Kelly: And Martin Freeman is not Bilbo Baggins.
Benedict Cumberbatch is not Sherlock Holmes.
Also...Benedict Cumberbatch is off the market and happily married....LADIES.

Get over it!

It had to be said. It just had to. One of my biggest pet peeves is the way some people post things about actors/actresses and they don't even use their real names. Case and point the above of this post. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but in a way it seems disrespectful to me when people do that. Today in church our pastor was talking about the fact that our self-worth is not measured up by how useful we are. So what would happen if Emma Watson never took on the role of Hermione Granger? Would people even recognize her or pass her a second thought? It's uncertain of me to say, but I hope it makes you think. Jesus loves us all so much and thinks that we are priceless; so priceless that He died for us! It doesn't matter if we're famous or just the other every day Average Joe. God doesn't see me as the psych nurse, or Holly as the non-profit worker, or Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug the Dragon. No! He sees each and every one of us as His precious children whom He loves very much and created in His own image.

And I've been guilty of it too; following what the fans say when things pop up on the Internet. But lately I've been known to bite my tongue and remember "ok, they're regular people like us before they're actors." But even above THAT they're children of Christ. We all are. So how about we start showing some respect for everyone in who we really are in Him and not who we are or were in the past. I'm not going to be a psych nurse forever. Holly isn't going to be a VISTA forever. The Harry Potter movie franchise is done, but not forgotten. Try to take the time to see each other as God sees us.

Holly: It's no surprise that Kelly and I are die-hard fans of for KING & COUNTRY (If you've been following us for a while and you haven't managed to listen to them yet, please do yourselves a favor!).  One of the many reasons we're fans of them is because of what they stand up for.  They have a "campaign", if you will; Respect & Honor.  Today during church I was reminded of why I wear my Respect & Honor wristband every day, and the sermon and above thoughts from both Kelly and I really drove the point home for me.  In fact, I held it in my hands during the invitation as a reminder.  And it goes something like this: I love God.  God loves me, and everyone else.  Therefore we ought to remember our worth the way God sees it, and that is that we are PRICELESS to Him!  We were all created in His image, made to be like Him.  Think about that for a second.  If we all adopted that mindset, every single person in the world viewing every other person in the world through God's eyes, it could literally change the world!  

Kelly and I are also regular Pinteresters, and we have a board for Sherlock, and naturally, since it's a popular show we've drawn a lot of followers.  But some of the comments I see with accompanying pictures are, quite frankly, disgusting sometimes.  I'll admit that I find both Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman attractive.  But when we look at them through God's eyes...they are so much more than pretty faces.    So let me add a finale to this:

Emma Watson is not Hermione Granger.
Martin Freeman is not Bilbo Baggins.
Benedict Cumberbatch is not Sherlock Holmes.
They are ALL children of God.  And so are we!

Prayer for Casting Crowns

Holly: I'm writing on behalf of Kelly and I, because she is currently waiting out Snowpocalypse 2.0 up in Lexington, and I'm at home for snow day #3.  

My heart is a little bit heavy today.  I read on my Facebook and Twitter feeds this morning that the lead singer of one of our favorite bands, Casting Crowns, has been diagnosed with cancer. You can read the full story on their Facebook page.  

Kelly and I have been fans of their music for a long time.  Even before we rededicated our lives to Christ six years ago, I can still remember listening to them in high school.  When we were in youth group we saw them at ICHTHUS and I just remember feeling God's presence so strongly and thinking how anointed they were! We were also very fortunate to be able to see them in Lexington last February.  I'm pretty astounded that the story didn't end up on here, but again, God's presence was so strong there.  Honestly in my top five concerts I've ever attended!  I was moved to tears by "Who Am I" (Which, trust me, doesn't happen often).  Y'all...their music is something else.  If you have not listened to them, please do yourself a favor, and please join Kelly and I in praying for Mark.  He is able!  

I'll praise You in this storm
I will lift my hands
You are who You are, no matter where I am
Every tear I've cried, You hold in Your hands
You've never left my side, and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm
I lift my eyes unto the hills, where does my help come from?
My helps comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. 

From last year.  Thrive.