So…August…happened…I’m not sure if I believe it yet. I’m totally amazed at how God has sustained my family. Here are a couple things I learned in the month of August…

1. I am not called to work at Wal-mart. I have applied there and haven’t been called back yet. In extension, I’m also not called to work at Sam’s, a place that I worked for previously.

2. McDonald’s doesn’t think enough of me to hire me either. I’m not sure what it is about me that they don’t like. I’m thinking I don’t have enough tattoos…

3. My mom is not the only person that likes the music that I write. I’m pretty sure that musicians fear that no one will like what they write, and we all know that moms are supposed to like everything that their children do. I took my music to a St. Louis area studio and the producer there liked what he heard. He actually offered to produce a CD for free. I’d say that he likes it.

4. People love my family. God has truly blessed us and some kinda way we had more money come in this past month than we have had in quite a while. God’s definitely working.

5. I love working with music groups. I’ve had so much fun this month working with the ministry groups at MoBap. I hope they have enjoyed working with me because I’m here for awhile.

As for this month, God is already starting to do some MAJOR things in our family. The first day of Chili Dinner ticket sales went rather well. I have people offering to help out with gathering money for the CD project. Actually, our new friends at Waypoint Church helped us greatly yesterday. I feel so loved.

I also want to say a special thanks to our friends at Redeemer Church. They have done so much to help out my family this month. We wouldn’t be where we are right now if it weren’t for them. Thanks SO much, Redeemer!!!

We are still trying to find ways to get funds and musicians together for the CD project. I have a place to go, I just have to put everything together to get there. Again, I’m totally amazed at what God has done during this month of August. No one in the world could have orchestrated what God has done this month. Keep praying for us. Even more than financially (although that is still an issue obviously), pray for direction. God has a plan for this family (Jeremiah 29:11), and my prayer is that we start to figure out some of what that is. Be blessed friends. OH YEAH! Come to the Chili Dinner and Concert on September 18th. If you want more information shoot me an email. Tickets are $9 for adults and $2 for kids 6-12. I have some. Come find me. The end.

I can’t believe how amazing this weekend has been!!! I haven’t felt THIS encouraged about life in a really long time. God is so good and I’m so thankful for everything that has happened this weekend. Quick recap…

Friday- I got to visit my buddy Alisha. She wasn’t doing too well that day. I got to pray for her. I love Alisha. Busch Stadium with the Quest people. What a BLAST!!! Had a great time with my friends Jeremiah and Stephanie. We stinkin’ love them. Or at least I do stinkin’ love them I hope they love us, too. If not that would be COMPLETELY awkward…

Saturday- Went to a workshop to help us keep our house and didn’t really learn anything. Next the family went to visit Alisha. She was doing TONS better than she was on Friday. I’m still praying for her and Jim. Then I was supposed to play for a church in the area, and let’s just say I don’t think that’s going to happen anymore. If you wanna know just ask me about it and I’ll tell you… After that we spent the evening with the Misseys. It was great to reconnect with them.

Sunday- I spent the morning at Waypoint Church in St. Peters, MO. Great time with Lance and the crew there. I can’t wait to go back next week. It’s great to see what God is doing with that church. Then I got to spend some time at Cross Keys Baptist Church and make some new friends. We had some great connections with the pastor and his wife, who are MoBap alums! We had a great service and then hung out at Sonic. It has been a great weekend and I’m glad that God has brought us through this weekend.

I’m sure that I’m missing something, but I can’t remember. I also got to spend good time with my family which is always good. God is really teaching me some really cool things lately. I’m learning that I have to step out and let God be God. More and more I am learning to trust God with my life and my family. I almost forgot that I got to hang out with to AMAZING people, Kim and Gina on Tuesday. I will try to be a lot better at blogging this week. Someone hold me to it!!!

I don’t know about you, but I am amazed at how much I need people in my life. I am so tired right now, but it’s because we’ve had such a good weekend so far. Last night, we got to hang out with some great people from our church as we took a field trip to Busch Stadium. We spent the evening with Jeremiah and Steph the Yarn Wizard (I can explain if you need me to…). Let me say this…this couple is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I love these two and having them in our lives is just flat out great!

We got to go see Alisha this afternoon. I was glad to see that she was looking better. I’m so praying for you, sweetie. I just finished before I started writing this. For more on The Wee Couple, AKA the Amazing Barnards, check out my blogroll and click on Jim Barnard.

After that, I had an interesting meeting with a church in South County. I still don’t know what to think about it yet, so I don’t know exactly how to write about it. Check in tomorrow for that one…

We spent the evening with Matt (Cheetah) and Shannon Missey (blogroll Shannon Missey). This is the PERFECT way to end a late summer evening. This couple is straight up amazing. They are that beautiful couple that we should all be jealous of. If Eva and I weren’t so amazing already, we’d be jealous of them, too. HAHAHA Anyway, they had us down to their house in Crystal City and it was a great time with friends.

We are so blessed by the friends that God has placed in our lives during this extremely tough time. God knows what we need even when we don’t know what we need. Never ever forget that friends. God knows you so much better than you know yourself. Even though this was quite a long day that started really early for us, I wouldn’t trade it for anything because we spent this day and this weekend up until now with people that we confidently know love us and we love them as well.

Now I’m going to sleep because I will be leading worship with my friends at Waypoint Church in St. Peters, MO. If you don’t get this before tomorrow morning, come check me out next week as I will be leading out there next Sunday as well. Actually, check out the Upcoming Dates section as I will be updating it with some new things, including a Chili Dinner and Concert September 18th. I’ll have more information about that in the near future. Be blessed and hopefully I can keep up with the plan of a full weekend update tomorrow evening.

I have been doing music stuff for most of my life, but lately things have really been going in a new direction. I must say, I’m liking the direction things are heading in. I just hope that I can keep up with them and do what I need to do to keep the ball rolling. Case in point…

Yesterday, I spent most of the morning at Shock City Studios in South City getting a chance to meet a producer and having them listen to my music. I was greatly surprised to hear that they really enjoyed what they were listening to and are ready to work with me. I need to find a band to play with me. As we were sitting in the control room (which is beautiful enough to make a grown man drool), the producer says to one of the other guys sitting there that we need to find a drummer who can really play one of my songs. The guy says that he knows a guy and it turns out to be the drummer from the Fundamental Elements. Now, if you read my blog about their concert, you know that I’m a huge fan and would love to have that whole band in my pocket so I can keep them with me at all times. So this was a dream that was coming true. We will see how that works out. In the mean time, I need to find some money so I can get this ball rolling. I think that we may be on the brink of some very cool things happening.

Later that day, I got to go to a rehearsal for one of the ministry groups that I will be working with during the year at Missouri Baptist University. It was great to be doing that and it was great to be working with this group. I think we are going to have a good time. I started working on a plan to help them succeed throughout the year. I am going to be sitting down with the kid who is leading this group one on one to help him develop as a leader. He’s got some raw skills that can really get refined and brought out if someone comes alongside him and draw them out. That’s going to be my goal.

I’m also announcing that there will be some dates coming up where you can come worship with me. I will be posting them in the Upcoming Dates section of the website soon. One of them I will mention right from here though. Because we are struggling so much financially right now, my wife got some people together to create a chili dinner with a concert. It’s going to be fun. You can come for all you can eat chili and hear some music from me and a couple of friends (if I can get them to play some stuff). I don’t know how much it will cost because my wife hasn’t told me yet. I do know that the date is Friday, September 18th at Redeemer Evangelical Church. There will be more details, and when I get them I’ll pass them on to you. Until then, keep praying for us that God will keep sustaining us and putting people around us that can help us keep going. I am now off to the living room to set up the Motif and get to sequencing…

I has been a little while since I’ve blogged and…that’s just not right. I’m sorry. I will not, however, try to update this whole week in one post because that would be long. This has been a good, but tough week. God has been teaching the Walls Family a lot of stuff. Here is some main points from the week.

I have been working on music this week trying to get some things in place for the singers who have agreed to sing with me. What fun I have had going through some of my favorite songs that I have written and thinking about sharing them with friends. That was a big plus for my heart this week.

I heard from Grace Community Church this week that they have decided to go with the current candidate which says that we are officially out of the running for that job. That was sort of tough to hear, but we knew that it was coming. So we had to deal with that as a family. We were okay I guess.

We had been waiting to get our disconnect notice for our electricity. We finally got that this week. So we went to Catholic Charities for help. They told us they would help with part of it. So then we started praying about how to take care of the other half. In steps Jim Barnard. These guys love us and we love them. Jim asked how we were doing and we told them that we were struggling and were working to keep our lights on. So the Barnards help us out immensely by taking care of that other half of our electric bill. Praise God we can see!!!

We had to let our cell phones go this week. We haven’t been able to pay the bill so they were turned off. We are hoping that we can get them back soon, but in the mean time we are without them.

Please keep praying for us that we can continue to stay strong. There are some other really cool things to share, and I’m hoping that I can share them a little later. This may be a 2 post day. Seeing that I haven’t posted in 6 days, I may owe that to my readers. Until then, it’s off to yardwork.

This Sunday was week 2 since the decision to choose a church home that had nothing to do with where I was leading worship. I will say this…there are definitely pluses and minuses. Plus, I didn’t have to get up early to get to church for sound checks and stuff like that. I even got to church a little “after” the service started. Haven’t done that in about 15 years! Anyway, being able to sit back and listen to others lead and see that others have a heart for the same thing was good. Great job, Gina. You rocked this morning!

Minus, I REALLY love doing what I do. There’s a part of me that likes to sit back and listen. There’s an even larger part of me that loves to lead and be on stage. It is not because I need to be in front of people, but I know that’s what God has called me to do and I love being able to use that gift. Minus, I haven’t practiced or listened to any music in the past couple weeks. So there is a little bit of both on either side. But I am learning to enjoy where God has placed me right now. I’m still praying that God would lead us to a place to serve Him, but in the mean time we are serving God the best way we know how where we are. Where are we, you ask? Well currently  we are a part of the Quest Service at E-Free.

Something else that has happened this past week that was really cool. I have been given the opportunity to do something really special this year. I was asked to help out at my Alma Mater (which I just got a couple months ago), Missouri Baptist University. Since I started, the number of ministry groups have grown from 3 to 6. The number of ministry group leaders has grown from 2 to 2. Which means they need some help leading these other groups. That’s where I come in. I get to help a couple groups with their instrumental stuff as well as some vocals. I also get the chance to help develop some worship leaders. I am so pumped. For those of you that have been praying, this is not a paying thing right now, but it’s a great opportunity and I’m so excited about it. I will keep you posted on how things work our over the course of the year.

Lastly, I’m going to stop punking out and get back at working on my own music this week. This is my plan for myself. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes as well. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. and to my friends that start school tomorrow, good luck and let God bless you as you start this year off right!

I’ve been given an awesome opportuinity. I am so happy about it! I can’t believe that I’ve been blessed in this way. It may not seem like a lot to those who read this, but I’m pumped! So here it is…

I am going to be working with a couple of the ministry groups on campus at Missouri Baptist this year. I spent some time with someone who has always been in my corner this afternoon and he presented this opportunity to me. I must say, I’m totally elated that I get to use the abilities that God has given me to help train and teach others.

Before you ask, it’s not a paying thing, but I am gaining some real experience working in a school AND I’m getting some exposure on campus as someone other than a student. Who knows what will come of this? I don’t know… but I do know that I’m going to have some fun and really pour myself into this while I have the chance.

In other news, if I had money I’d go into the studio. If we can figure that out, I’ll start recording. That’s my plea for help. LOL!!!!

If I haven’t said it in awhile, thanks SOOO much for continuing to check in and read this blog. I appreciate you. You keep me going. Be blessed!

I need some help…

I have to make some changes in my thought process. I have a strong desire to make music. I have a strong desire to create a group. This has been a strong desire for a long time and it won’t go away. Last night my wife TOLD me that I needed to just stop being a punk and do it. So I guess that’s what I’m doing. Here’s my problem…

I have a fear of rejection (which oddly enough, God has been helping me deal with lately with all these churches saying no to me…). I also have some insecurities about my own music. I like it, but I fear that others won’t. So I hesitate to share it with others because I don’t think people will think it’s worth it.

With all of that being said, my wife (again) has told me to go for it. I have a new purpose. My new purpose is to create a group from the ground up. I want to find people who have the heart and passion for this like I do. I realize that to some degree I have not because I ask not. This is something that I’ve kept to myself for a really long time. I’m done keeping it to myself. So this is my official call to any of the people out there that know me (or don’t know me yet) that love music.

That’s my new purpose. I need to help to stay the course because this is one of the few things that I can get discouraged about really quickly. So I would ask for some prayer from my friends and family. I will definitely need some prayer to pull this off.

So there you have it. Now, I’m off to mediocrity for a little while longer until my brakes get fixed. Hopefully I’ll be motivated to do some good stuff when I get home this afternoon/evening…

This past weekend I celebrated 7 years of marriage with my wife. We were completely blessed to have been given the whole weekend to ourselves. We were able to reconnect and spend time just being us. Once you have kids, you lose a lot of that and it’s harder to make time for it. Anyway, I learned quite a few things about myself this weekend. Some of them were things I actually rediscovered. Here they are…

1. I love reading mystery novels. I love mysteries and thrillers and didn’t remember. We went to Borders a couple times this weekend (see #2) and I starting reading a book that I couldn’t put down so I ordered it at Amazon.com. I’m so excited to get this book and read. I’ll probably write about it when I’m done.

2. I love Borders. I don’t know if there’s a difference between all the bookstores in the world, but Borders has a more inviting feel to me. I love the colors on the inside and I felt compelled to stay and read. Eva and I love reading books and we love spending time together in that way.

3. There is a lot of good music in St. Louis, MO. I love this town. It’s home for me, but as I grow older I’m finding out things that I didn’t know when I was little. There is good music here that isn’t always on the radio. We went to a GREAT concert Friday night (see Concert Review) and I’m sure that I’m missing so much good music here.

4. I have amazing friends. The more time we get to spend with them the more I realize that God has really blessed us with some great people. I can’t wait to see what God does over the next few months as we get to know them better.

5. I must really be growing up. Eva and I went to a couple movies this weekend and one of the movies we saw was profanity laced. It did nothing for me and sort of took away from the story of the movie. There was a time in my life where I didn’t care and would watch anything. That’s not the case anymore.

6. Jim and Jeremiah may quite possibly be the perfect storm of public embarrassment. They may also be the perfect storm of straight fun in many forms as well. There’s not much else to say about that.

7. I will, always have, always will, love ice cream. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

8. I don’t write new music because I’m lazy and can find many things to do besides sitting and writing.
8a. I really want to start a music group. That has been my dream and it won’t go away. I’ve done all I can to turn away from this idea, but it keeps putting itself in my line of vision.

9. I adore my children. I loved having the time away where I could connect with Eva, but I was quite happy when my kids came home last night.

10. I cannot live without my wife. Period.

11. God is amazing! He continues to bless me in ways that I KNOW I don’t deserve. I’m not sure why He keeps it up, but I’m so glad He does. Thanks be to God for everything I learned this weekend. I also pray that I keep learning things. If I stop learning, I’m dead.

So,
I decided to take a short break in the action from the series to write about some new music that I heard last night and my new favorite band. Also, anything to get Jim and Jeremiah to stop talking about love crevices (see WSM #3). Anyway, I will get back to doing a couple more of those either tonight or the beginning of next week.

Last night Eva and I went to a concert at the 9th Street Abbey in Soulard last night to hear The Fundamental Elements and JR. Let me tell you, this was some downright good stuff. This building is cool and very much Soulard. The high ceilings and the stained glass windows were very cool. The room pretty much asked for some good music. However, it was a tricky room to do sound in as we soon found out with JR hit the stage. JR has quite the rock feel. His performance was very much Andre 3000 with the sound of John Legend in his voice. For those of you who don’t know either of those people, click on the name…

Anyway, a couple friends of mine were playing in his band, so you always want to see your friends succeed. Let me tell you, they succeeded. The beat was thumping and the sound was electric. Unfortunately, there was so much reverb in this room that the words got REALLY muffled and eaten up by the rest of the sound. I believe that what he was saying was good, but you could only catch a couple words. That was a bummer because you could tell he was really working to share his gifts with everyone. It wasn’t lost on me, JR…you did your thing.

After their 7 song set that ended with a Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ outro (which was hot), we waited a couple minutes for the second group. Surprisingly, they didn’t take a long time to set up and get ready to go. They got in and got it started with a little ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ by MJ. I have been loving all the MJ tributes at concerts and stuff lately. They did a great job. Then they went into their set of music. I was instantly hooked. The beats were infectious and the lead singer’s voice is just smooth. Again, it was a little tough to hear all the words, but you don’t have to hear words to hear a good voice. Song after delicious song brought me in more. I’ve never heard 5 white guys bring straight soul to the stage like this. I had been exposed to them by their song ‘That Girl’ that I had recently heard on the radio, so I was waiting to hear that one. Good stuff.

One of the highlights of the night had to be when the bassist and the drummer, brothers, went off on a planned jam session. I think I died for a couple minutes. There’s nothing in this world like family connection when it comes to music. They just fit together and it was amazing. They went back and forth between drum and bass solos. I could still be sitting there listening it was THAT good.

I want to wrap this review up by saying that there is some amazing musical talent in the St. Louis area. If you don’t believe me, grab a newspaper, find out where the live music is going to be and find yourself there. You will be totally surprised. In the mean time, I’m going to sit at home and wait for this group to say that the keyboard player got mad and decided to leave. Then I’m gonna drop whatever I’m doing and play for them. Until then, I’m just their newest groupie. And I’m not afraid to admit that man crush.