Gospel
Literally, gospel means good news.  Specifically, it's the good news behind the story of Christianity:
  1. Jesus Christ is the son of God (Mark 14:61-62).
  2. He was sent to earth to be crucified on a cross and to rise from the dead (Mark 8:31).
  3. His death was a sacrifice that paid for our sins (Matthew 20:28).
  4. By believing these things and accepting him into your life, you'll go to heaven (Romans 10:9).
#religion

Funkwagon
This is the story of Funkwagon, a somewhat Christian rock/jam band that existed from 1997-2000 and of which I was a member.  The band consisted of Thom Deeney on vocals and guitar, Dave Hosier on guitar and vocals, Matt Hart on bass and vocals, and Bob O'Grady on drums.  The band played various cover songs (The Kingsmen's Louie, Louie, Phish's Sample in a Jar and Down with Disease, Weezer's Buddy Holly and Holiday) and originals (Now I Say To You, Heaven, System Ed, The Game) at churches and talent shows around northern New Jersey before calling it quits so the members could go away to college. 

Background
After experimenting with a few different bands, I accepted Thom Deeney's invitation to play a song with his band at the Kittatinny talent show.  We went with Louie, Louie and decided to wear some weird costumes to help our act.  It didn't help us win, but we had a good time and made some people laugh. 

Before we played in the talent show, we had to think of a name for ourselves.  Thom ingeniously came up with "More than Conquerors" from Romans chapter 8, though the rest of us thought it was stupid.  We went with it for the time being, but I took it upon myself to gather a list of hundreds of potential band names.  It was actually something I had been working on for no particular reason for several years, and I decided to share my findings with the group.  The one that stood out the most was Funkwagon. 

Eventually, Thom used his social connections to get us some gigs, the first of which was playing at Ben Kappler's party.  I borrowed a big Marshall amp from the school (because I only had a tiny one) and we played a few songs for the cool kids.  It was a very odd show, but it got us some live practice and earned us some followers. 

Tourdates
March 20, 1998 - Erase the Hate '98 (Poster)
May, 1998 - Ian's backyard party
June, 1998 - Mike's last-day-of-school party (Poster)
December 31, 1998 - New Year's Eve at Lafayette Federated Church
Winter, 1998-1999 - Watermark Fest at First Baptist Church in Newton
March 20, 1999 - Sockhop at Sonny's Drive-In (Poster)
July 9, 1999 - The Zone in Mt. Olive (Poster, Setlist)
Sometime, 1999 - Stacy's sweet 16 birthday party
November 12, 1999 - Watermark Fest 2 at First Baptist Church in Newton (Poster, Setlist)
Sometime, 1999 - Newton High School talent show
Sometime, 1999 - Kittatinny talent show
Sometime, 1999 - Christ Community Church
April 30, 2000 - Jack Brackney's party (Setlist)
June, 2000 - Project Graduation at Kittatinny (Setlist) #entertainment

Pop, soda, coke
Do you call it pop, soda, or coke?  Here's a picture of generic names of soft drink by county.  The blue (pop) states have an overwhelming majority.  That just proves that an overwhelming majority of our country is wrong.  Second place goes to red (coke).  Based on their geographical location (the south), I'm not surprised.  The yellow (soda) takes up a small part geographically, but keep in mind that these areas are the most populous areas in the country.  What I'd like to know is what the green (other) people call this stuff.  Carbonated coca mix?  Lemon-lime spritz?  High fructose corn syrup drink?  This page has the answers (soft drink, tonic, tarzan slam, etc.). #technology

The man
I used to like watching Family Guy.  But I think it's gotten more and more like South Park since it came back to Fox.  I'm not a fan of shows that exist solely to push buttons.  Fox has a lot of shows I don't like.  Fox is known for being very liberal and amoral.  Fox is owned by News Corp.  News Corp also owns HarperCollins, a book publishing company.  HarperCollins owns Zondervan, a company that publishes Christian books.  Zondervan publishes the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, one of the most widely spread and commonly accepted translations of the good book.  I read the NIV on a daily basis, as does almost every Christian I know. 

So to recap:  News Corp owns my Bible.  The company who puts out Fox News, the Simpsons, MADtv, Trading Spouses, and American Idol is the same company who owns the publishing rights for the Bible I read every day.  Scary. #religion

Modest Homeschooling Christian Clothing
Modest Apparel Christian Clothing Lydia of Purple Dresses Custom Sewing is probably the best internet site I've ever come across.  Not only is it 62 letters long, but it's the place to go for Mennonite and Amish clothing.  The most amazing part about this site is that it's not a joke.  It's completely serious.  Look at the family pictures. #lifestyle

Queen of the universe
There was this church in Orlando, FL called Mary, Queen of the Universe Catholic Shrine.  It's been stuck in my head for about 2 months now.  I've had a strong urge to say something about it, but I just don't know how to say it. 

Let's start with the "shrine" part.  Shrine is one of those words like "meditation" that has somewhat of a bad connotation.  People jump to conclusions when they hear these words.  Actually, a shrine is just a place where devotion is paid to a person or an object.  Like a church.  Pretty simple.  But I'll go ahead and jump to the conclusion that the word shrine brings to mind some sort of unhealthy ritualistic pagan-worship.  It also brings up the thought that "shrine" and "stalker" usually go hand-in-hand.  Either way, good choice of words. 

Ok, now the "Queen of the Universe" part.  Mary was the mother of Jesus Christ who was the son of the living God and savior of the human race.  He was an important dude.  So I can almost see how someone could've thought, "Mary, mother of Jesus, the most important person ever, son of God, God is the king of the universe ... Mary, Queen of the Universe!"  But still, I have to make fun of this.  Who is she?  He-Man's wife?  Don't you think it's a little bit of a stretch to call this woman the queen of the universe?  Sure, she was the mother of the son of God, but queen of the universe?  I mean, c'mon. #religion