is my life. Everything in bewteen Rock and Country.
A Day To Remember
A Thousand Times Repent
The Acacia Strain
Aaron Tippin
Alabama
Alan Jackson
Alison Krauss
Amber Pacific
Armor for Sleep
August Burns Red
Before Their Eyes
Beloved
Big & Rich
Billy Currington
Blessed is He
Brad Paisley
Brooks & Dunn
Cartel
Casting Crowns
Catherine
Charlie Hall
Chasing Victory
Chris Cagle
Chris Tomlin
Chris Young
Classic Case
Clint Black
Coldplay
Creed
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Dashboard Confessional
Dave Matthews Band
David Crowder Band
Dead Poetic
Demon Hunter
Dierks Bentley
Dwight Yoakam
Emery
Every Time I Die
Fall Out Boy
Filter
Finch
Flyleaf
Foo Fighters
Forever Changed
Framing Hanley
The Fray
From Autumn to Ashes
Garth Brooks
Gary Allen
George Strait
The Glorious Unseen
Hank Williams Jr.
Haste the Day
Here I Come Falling
Hillsong United
Hoobastank
Impending Doom
In Fear and Faith
Incubus
Jack Johnson
Jake Owen
Jars of Clay
Jason Aldean
Jason Upton
Jeremy Camp
Jimmy Eat World
Joe Diffie
John Mayer
John Michael Montgomery
Josh Turner
Keith Anderson
Keith Urban
Kenny Chesney
Lenny Kravitz
Ligeia
Little Big Town
Lonestar
Luke Bryan
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Mark Chestnut
Mat Kearney
Matt Redman
MercyMe
Montgomery Gentry
New Found Glory
Nickelback
Oh Sleeper
Offspring
Papa Roach
Paramore
Puddle of Mudd
Quietdrive
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Rhett Adkins
Rolling Stones
Saosin
Sawyer Brown
Secondhand Serenade
Senses Fail
Shawn McDonald
Shenandoah
The Showdown
Society's Finest
Steve Holy
Steve Wariner
Still Remains
Story of the Year
Student Rick
Symphony in Peril
Taylor Swift
Throwdown
Texas in July
Tim McGraw
Todd Agnew
Tom Petty
Tracy Byrd
Travis Tritt
Valeyra
Zac Brown Band
Hey I'm mike, first and foremost, I'm a christian and although it may not always be evident, I do my best to live a life that best represents the glory of Christ because I've come to realize over the past and through experiences in my life that nothing else matters. Things of this world lose relevance more and more every day when you submit yourself to God. I'm not perfect, I still do things that a "typical" Christian wouldn't do and I'm not proud of that but the more I give up of myself, the more God gives out to me. I entertain vices and slip up so bad sometimes that I feel like a hypocrit for the very concept of creating a public declaration of the reason for my faith, but thats why my faith is placed in a forgiving God.
I grew up in a Christian household and was taught what was right and wrong. I went to church, Sunday school, and a Christian school. You could say that I was sheltered because thats basically it. My parents did their best to keep me away from anything and everything bad, making every effort to leave no chance for me to learn about life through experiences, or in other words, the hard way. Coming up to about 6th or 7th grade I was growing really curious about what the world had to offer as opposed to God because I wasn't mature enough to be "strong" in my faith. God wasn't that real to me, he was a figure that we prayed to, talked about a lot, based our education on, but never a Savior. Come freshman year i began tampering with smoking, drinking, things I never dreamed I would do, and the word "God" was nearly foreign to me. I was a dick to my parents and any other authority that was over me, always thinking that I was superior and was wiser in any circumstance. I was so vulnerable to satan because I allowed things into my heart that had no place there. I was completely unaware of how low my morals had dropped and how much I continued to try to justify and contemplate sin, basically trying to rewrite the Bible.
I couldn't tell you when it actually happened but I began to realize how pointless everything was that I was doing. I learned a lot about God through Bible studies and church (when I payed attention) and what pleased Him and what displeased Him, and more about what I should and shouldn't do, things I already knew. I started to really get into worship - publically, at church and youth group, and even moreso privately with an early morning, a cup of coffee, and my guitar. I finally understood that obedience brings the blessing, and authority is straight from God. Authority is a key concept in Christianity and overall in life. When you disobey your authoriy, whoever they may be or however corrupt they are or you may think they are, you step out from underneath a wing of security and literally curse yourself (rebellion and witchcraft have the same literal meaning). Once you've done that, you're on your own until you submit yourself once again. God has placed your authorities over you for a reason whether you choose to believe it or not, and it was when and only when i chose to believe it and submit to it that things in my life got a whole lot better. I treated my parents with the respect they deserve and heeded my fathers wisdom and instruction. Before this I never really took my dads knowledge of the spiritual realm seriously, but its all truth, and I wasted alot of time wallowing in ignorance. I missed out on some incredible learning when I was in my rebellious stage because my dad knows so much. I began doing things that he told me for so long to do and the outcomes were unreal. With time, I just began to get real with God and stop playing games.
The summer of 2005 was a large addition to the turning point in my life. I went on a missions trip to Veracruz, Mexico with a group from my church and my best friend at the time. Within the 2 weeks that we were there, our hearts were permanently transformed. We walked in extreme faith, miraculous powers, and individual touches of the Holy Spirit. I spoke in tongues, layed my hands on sick people and they were either slain in the spirit or healed, and witnessed the lame walk. What we would do is perform a few skits, share our testimonies, then make time for ministry and anyone that wanted prayer for anything ranging from improvements in health to salvation. On each bus ride we made to a different ministry site, we cried out in faith to God to work through us and believed for many to turn their lives over to Christ, and it happened. The highlight of the trip was when we all layed hands on a boy who had never walked normal before. He had braces on his legs and feet and canes on each arm. After several minutes had passed, the team leader told the boy to stand up, he did. He told him to walk, he did. He told him to run, and he did. I just so happens that this ministry site was in the middle of a large mall and right next to us was a retail shoe store, no its not ironic, its God. When we got back to where we were staying, the whole group was undescribably overcome with the Holy Spirit and we just all started praying and thanking God for allowing us to be His hands and feet. We were all broken, laying the floor for at least an hour, simply basking in the presence of God.
Both my good and bad experiences and my walk with Christ have paved the way for who I am today and I'm stoked about who I'll be and what He'll have me do tomorrow. I have a good idea about what I want to do with my life, like occupation wise, yet I am still open to be molded differently. I trust Him wholeheartedly with my life because I think I know what I love and like to do, but He is the only One who knows the true passions of my heart and what satisfies me.
I've gone through relationship after relationship that has failed because I haven't trusted God to choose my mate for me. I have a slim amount of patience and don't always like the idea of waiting for an unseen plan, but He has someone perfectly matched for me somewhere out there and she is beautiful. Her love is a devastating fire set for God and someday, me. Her morals do not fall victim to the standards of media and society, but to what the Holy Spirit convicts her of. This generation sickens me and breaks my heart at the same time. Girls are no longer thinking, breathing, human beings with feelings, but objects of lust for men...property, rather. Turn on any rap video or song and it won't take long until you understand what I mean. So many girls are pressured into doing things that they know at first is wrong because they know no better. The television teaches them that they need to please their boyfriends or guys in general in certain ways or they are rendered useless.
I often pray for the current well-being and what not of my future wife, and I believe she does as well.
In life, you have to choose between good and evil, whether to obey God, or spit in His face. This world is full of disappointments and heartache and has tarnished and perverted everything God created as beautiful in more ways imaginable. One of the biggest things is society today is relationships. Everyone has to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend to fulfill them or complete them. Its not a bad thing to have that longing. God created us all to be passionate beings, its just where we place that passion that determines our future and destiny. Looking for love in any place other than the arms of Christ first will almost always result in a broken heart. A person can't quench your every desire because they are as weak as you are. The majority of relationships today that are based on morals milked by society, and are not centered around Godly principles not only will certainly fail, but will destroy other relationships with people, and create enemies. The purpose of dating (or courting) is to find your mate.....ok in all seriousness, i didn't realize how retarded that sounded until I just typed it. You figure, if we have to date around to find our spouse, it shows alot for our trust in God's timing and his provision of a husband and wife for us. He knows more about ourselves than we do.
By now its pointless to state the fact that I love God and contain a passionate fire that I sometimes don't even know what to do with. God has been so good to me and has had his hand in so many of my situations that its impossible to doubt His existence. The cool thing is, is that theres nothing special about me, I'm a person just like you, and I've come a long way from where I was. Theres nothing that you're going through that God can't handle and He won't let you go through anything that you can't handle. If you don't know God as your personal Lord and Savior, He awaits and lives for the day that you come running into His open, loving arms. He loves you! No matter what you do, what you've done, who you are, where you've come from, there is no criteria or prerequisite you must live up to to recieve His love. You don't have to get rid of your sin before you come to God HE ACCEPTS YOU AS YOU ARE. You might say you're already a believer. You do devotions, read the Bible, but how is your fire? Is it dying or raging? Are you filling and subduing the earth? Expanding the kingdom? And you dont necessarily need a big life story to say look where i came from and look where I am today, you could be a sheltered homeschooled kid who never did anything wrong in his life and say, "Christ defines me. I don't need anything else to satisfy me."
If you haven't taken to heart anything I've said, take this: The most incredible rush this world can offer doesn't come close in comparison to the levels of freedom you experience when your life is submitted to God.
madeAVAIL‡ @ MOJOE'S ROCK HOUSE w/ The Fastest Kid Alive, PlayRadioPlay, Just Left, Breathe Electric and Party Like Summer on JULY 10th!! 15750 S Harlem Ave. Orland Park, IL 60462
Come on out for a GREAT party. Its beach themed, so play along, but keep it appropriate!! $10 at the door, but $2 off if you come ready to hit the sand & the waves w/ your suit on. Tell them at the door that you're there to see madeAVAIL! Come support TFKA for their CD release!!
The quickest reminder ever: moJoe's Rock House this coming Sunday June 7th,w/ a good deal of bands. Our friends, We Came As Romans, will be headlining, so come give them a listen, as well. Please, check our calendar and let us know if you're gonna make it! If you make it out, let them know at the door that you're there to see madeAVAIL! Advance tickets available at the theticketrumba.com for $12.
Hey! Hope you've had a great week. Just wanted to swing by and ask if you've had a chance to get our album Test Your Heart from Itunes yet, if not you can get it here. www.Itunes.com/TheGoodnightHorizon. Check the show schedual and let us know what show you might be hangin at! also we'll be on tour soon! Make sure you demand us in your city :] Have a great weekend!
Guys & gals, the shows at home w/ YOU have been absolutely INSANE. We play our tunes and we bring some rock...but YOU have all been bringing some rock of your own. Please, come out and bring it, again. We are so pumped to see what you've to offer. Lets hang May 1st! You know where to find us! Made‡Avail
HOUSE OF BLUES, HOUSE OF BLUES!! Because of an AWESOME Made‡Avail family, the Metro went extremely well on Jan. 3rd. Now, the House of Blues is knocking on our door. Inept is headlining their first show there and they've asked us to take a place in the killer lineup. We've very little time to make sure that everyone possible KNOWS about this show...we need everyone to do their part. First of all, in coming to the show. Second of all, in getting the buzz going & spreading the word. There are MULTITUDES of things you can do to help us inform Chicago about this show. All you need to do is ask. We hope that you do. We'll have a new blog posted w/in the day w/ our ideas and we'll be updating it w/ YOUR ideas as you send them in. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!
Uh...did you say the 80's? We LOVE the 80's...we were all born there. Now, would be a good time to revisit. Come out and finish off the first month of the new year in style. Only the best, right? Dress the part or come and make fun of everyone else who does...you can't go wrong. ;) Come support Made‡Avail at the door!
well im usually home in the mornings bc i graduated early but then again jus check if my cars outside lol jus stop by maybe then will finally get to chill>?
yea well tomorrow i have an orentation at hollister in the A.M then i work the P. M at my other job lol so whenever you want lol so you should just call me lol
Its our first ever opportunity to play on one of the most reputable stages in all of Chicago and we want you to come be a part of it! Come support Made‡Avail on January 3rd as we hit the stage w/ Inept, Lifeline, Janus and A Kidnap in Color. Below, the flyer is a link w/ instructions to obtain $5 advance tickets!! Click and support Made‡Avail @ the Metro!!
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