A Special Day For Music

 Today's a special personal day for music, as it is both Billy Ray Cyrus and Rob Halford's birthday.  Halford was born in 1950 on this day, BRC was born in 1961.  Other important people whose birthday is today include Sean Connery, Regis Philbin, Tim Burton and my late Uncle on my Mother's side.  In honor of the fantastic music of Billy Ray Cyrus and the projects of Rob Halford, this year, I made a 50-song playlist in Spotify:

1.)    Achy Breaky Heart-Billy Ray Cyrus

2.)    Folsom Prison Blues-Billy Ray Cyrus

3.)    Hey Elvis-Billy Ray Cyrus, Bryan Adams, Glenn Hughes

4.)    Ready, Set, Don’t Go-Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus

5.)    Stand-Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus

6.)    Tulsa Time-Billy Ray Cyrus and Joe Perry

7.)    You’ve Got A Friend-Billy Ray Cyrus and Emily Osment

8.)    Brown Eyed Girl-Billy Ray Cyrus

9.)    Over the Rainbow-Billy Ray Cyrus

10.) I Love You This Much-Billy Ray Cyrus

11.) Enough is Enough-Billy Ray Cyrus

12.) The Past-Billy Ray Cyrus

13.) Some Gave All-Billy Ray Cyrus

14.) Never Thought I’d Fall In Love With You-Billy Ray Cyrus

15.) The Freebird Fell-Billy Ray Cyrus

16.) Thrillbilly-Billy Ray Cyrus

17.) Somebody Said A Prayer-Billy Ray Cyrus

18.) Face of God-Billy Ray Cyrus

19.) I’m American-Billy Ray Cyrus

20.) Nineteen-Billy Ray Cyrus

21.) Chevys and Fords-Billy Ray Cyrus and Johnny McGuire

22.) Old Town Road-Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus

23.) Climb to Glory-Billy Ray Cyrus, Eddie Raven, Mark Plummer, Lee Roy Parnell

24.) Killing The Blues-Billy Ray Cyrus and Shooter Jennings

25.) We The People-Billy Ray Cyrus, Montgomery Gentry, Waylon Jennings and Others

26.) Starbreaker-Judas Priest

27.) Diamonds and Rust-Judas Priest

28.) The Green Manalishi with the Two Pronged Crown (Live)-Judas Priest

29.) Living After Midnight-Judas Priest

30.) Never The Heroes-Judas Priest

31.) Breaking the Law (Live)-Judas Priest

32.) Halls of Valhalla (Live)-Judas Priest

33.) Victim of Changes (Live 2015)-Judas Priest

34.) March of the Damned-Judas Priest

35.) Love Bites-Judas Priest

36.) Jawbreaker-Judas Priest

37.) Hell Bent For Leather (Live 1979)-Judas Priest

38.) Victim of Changes (Live 1979)-Judas Priest

39.) Running Wild (Live)-Judas Priest

40.) Breaking the Law-Judas Priest

41.) Hell Bent For Leather (Live 2015)-Judas Priest

42.) Black Wedding-In This Moment, Rob Halford

43.) Man on the Silver Mountain-Rob Halford, Doug Aldrich, Scott Warren, Jeff Pilson and Vinny Appice

44.) Breaking the Law (Live)-Halford

45.) Blackout (Live)-Halford

46.) Straight Up-Phil Campbell, Rob Halford

47.) Protected By The Light-Rob Halford

48.) Joy To The World-Rob Halford

49.) Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing-Rob Halford

50.) Away In A Manger-Rob Halford

I hope you can listen to some enjoyable music today and do some community outreach.  Sunday night sadly saw another senseless Police Brutality Murder, this time in Wisconsin.  I was encouraged by the words of Brewers Manager Craig Counsell (he was a player for the Marlins among other teams when I was a kid) that it was a needless violent act and he would be checking with his players to make sure they were okay.  I'm already doing the best I feel I can do at this point, but if I ever falter, I would like someone to point out my shortcomings.

God's power

Well, I was thinking it was possibly over and slipping into self-doubt and loathing again, until I turned on the radio, trying to turn on my iPod.  The radio played "Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns, and now, I feel like what I've written is good, I may not know if BRC will be in it, but I feel the higher calling for this story and concert once more.

EDIT: During work, an idea came to me that maybe it would just be a documentary of Miley, Demi and Brandi in a band, discussing Faith, music, Advent and Christmas, ending with a concert that may feature Billy Ray Cyrus and Hayley Williams playing in the band.

Christianity

                If this seems paranoid, see the previous post.

Christianity is my religion, my Faith, my light and my way.  I’m an American Jesus Freak and if this gets published, I desire to be placed in the American Christians category on Wikipedia.  These days, it feels incredibly hard to follow Jesus in America.  I was Baptized in the September after my birth at Garden Street Methodist Church in Bellingham, but I remember mostly being raised in Faith Lutheran Church.  While I read my Beginner’s Bible often, I only grasped some basic concepts of the faith, the existence of God, Jesus, various other Biblical people and Heaven.  This helped me when my Uncle Jim and Grandparents died, though I was still sad.  I would definitely consider myself Christian in those days, but I never felt that deep in the Faith, especially when compared to my family.  Due to Mom singing Contemporary Gospel songs in Church and my brother being more involved with the aspects like JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis’ books, the Bible and the community aspect in the High School groups, I felt the least faithful of all the people in my family.  Then came 2005, the year when I went to the Western States Youth Gathering in Seattle.  When I went, it was a very wonderful experience, learning that God made me as I am; every piece.  Contemporary Gospel music and the speeches from nice people helped me realize God was much more than something real I couldn’t process due to the large and odd words used.  God is a friend, a mentor and someone who blesses you with love.  Jesus is the Lord of all creation, a man who chose to die the bloody death of a criminal and help us understand love, Heaven and God.  For several months, God had given me wonderful, beautiful bliss.  Then came the day of pain.  A flippant atheist attacked me in my junior year of High School at the library.  I was working on a film project when a friend from Cub Scouts came over, attacking the Christian religion verbally after agreeing to be in our film.  I tried to avoid confrontation, but he babbled on, denouncing everything I stood for.  It hurt, and it still hurts.  I see many cases of anti-Christian bias here in the United States, especially in film and television like Family Guy, The Da Vinci Code, The Golden Compass and that just scratches the surface.  When I saw Family Guy make fun of us, I felt like a stab wound would have been preferable, especially when throughout High School, people obsessed over the show.  I am not anti-atheist, but I can’t stand atheists who hate Christianity.  Jesus just feels right with me, the community and joyful experience cannot be duplicated.  I have met many Christians and they all have been very nice, non-judgmental, friendly, good normal people, I have only read the words of hateful believers.  Many may argue I can’t prove Jesus is real or is the Savior.  I cannot use evidence through archaeology, world history or science to prove the realities of Jesus, but I can say when Jesus is the Lord of my life, the world falls into place and kindness reigns in my soul.  When I doubt, it hurts, I feel wounded and mortified, despised and unable to control my destructive anxiety which calls me stupid, yelling that I have no proof.  Doubt may be normal, but while this nation feels like a Nero-led Rome, full of atheist-born lies about Jesus, I do not feel comfortable.  Some may argue that I should quit, but this is the coward’s way out for me.  Nothing hurts worse than being rejected because of who you are.  It may not really be this way, but it feels like almost everyone wants to see Christianity go, see us die and be thrown in prison while laughing that it’s what we deserve for things the worst of us have done, though I know it isn’t.