Identity

In the 11th grade we were asked to read a book on our own accord and write a paper about it. I looked through the list of books like Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities, etc and saw nothing special. I ended up picking Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. This book ended up affecting me sooo much. To make a long story short, the book can be summarized by this quote from the last few chapters:

"And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone’s way but my own. I have also been called one thing and then another while no one really wished to hear what I called myself. So after years of trying to adopt the opinions of others I finally rebelled. I am an invisible man."

I love this idea of finding peace in your identity. On Sunday, Marvin taught about Romans 12 and how if we as Christians focus on Christ and surrender to Him, He places us to our God given talents to their best. It was a reminder of this thought of identity

Then YESTERDAY, Red released their video for Feed The Machine. Now whether or not you like this style of music, the video is powerful and echoes this thought. Enjoy!

Musings

These musings are the sole property of the brain of Michael Harper. They do reflect how scatterbrained he is. This post is not copied right from wikipedia and may be used without the expressed written consent of the National Football League

• Really excited about my Mavs being in the NBA finals. I'm really scared that we may get destroyed. First game is tonight! lets go Dirk!
• Speaking of Dirk, he is probably the player i model my own Bball game after...off balance shots...except mine don't go in as frequently
• I love the uproar over the OSU scandal....is anyone really surprised that athletes are getting benefits/preferential treatment? This isn't a NCAA problem...its an educational system problem...even in middle school I knew the athletes got specific privileges.
• I feel like a big upheaval is about to happen in my life...i have no clue what it is...but i can feel it coming
  

Passion

As the greatest muse of our time once said

"Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?"

If you don't recognize that,its the beginning to Lose Yourself by Eminem.
So the question I have for you is what is it that you are trying to capture? What is your passion? What drives you to the next thing? Is it accruing more money? Is it accruing more praise? What makes you want to jump out and grasp the moment?

These are questions I can't help but ask myself. As a Christian guy my motivation should be Christ. Period. But too often i get distracted. I do go hard after money/praise/recognition. What can stop me from this?

The Gospel

Concert Wishlist

The other day I was thinking about concerts that I actively want to go to. Here is a rundown of some bands I HAVE NOT seen before that i would love to see in person

1. Disciple
2. House of Heroes
3. Sent by Ravens
4. The letter Black
5. Rev Theory
6. Saliva
7. Breaking Benjamin
8. Flyleaf
9. Anything fronted by Josh Brown(formerly of Full Devil Jacket/Day of Fire
10. Thousand Foot Krutch

musings

These musings are the sole property of the brain of Michael Harper. They do reflect how scatterbrained he is. This post is not copied right from wikipedia and may be used without the expressed written consent of the National Football League

• Now that I've moved to Hampton the first things on my to-do list are to find a good pizza joint and a good mexican joint.
• also buying blinds...you know the old saying "people in glass houses shouldn't run around naked"...or something like that.
• I'm really excited about the Mavs doing well in these playoffs. also really excited about Man U clenching another EPL title.
• Speaking of Man U, they play Barcelona on May 28th for the title of "Best team in the known Universe"
• For some reason I've been blasting Lecrae non-stop this weekend. #thuglife

Craziness

This has been a week full of craziness. I ended up not moving last week bc some last minute stuff fell through with the house. I had to extend the lease on my apartment(which luckily they let me do) and am now hoping to close some time this week.

I got to go to Alter Bridge in concert last night. Those guys are so good on guitar it is unfair. Was a really fun concert and was definitely a night of relaxation that i needed.

Buying a house(why i have not blogged in forever)

Sorry about the lack of blogging on my front...but i've been too busy BUYING A HOUSE. I'm excited/scared/nervous/overwhelmed/happy. A big reason i decided to buy is bc i didn't want to be one of those people who just rents forever. I really feel like renting is a black hole for my money(you get no ROI).

On the other news front...my friend Sean of the fabulous http://acegface.blogspot.com just got married. YAY! Sean is a super cool guy and his wedding was a blast. I believe my favorite portion was watching sean awkwardly dance...it made me feel better about my own dancing.

PSN is down and its been a weird period of no online play..and *GASP* hackers are to blame. Its all good though as its giving me more time to read(Game of Thrones) and play SC2.(GO TERRAN!)

Hopefully once i settle down here in a bit i can get back to regularly blogging