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top se7en (or 12): revisited

my buddy josh sent me an email a couple days ago asking me and some friends to send him our top twelve tracks of the past year.  in an effort to bring about more cooperation i thought i'd post the rules here to get more people involved.

the rules:

1. the song had to have been released in 2007

2. one song per artist/band (this will make it more interesting)

while the standard procedure is to rank the songs in order of "best-ness", please make an effort to rank your songs creatively.  think of it as your personal soundtrack of the year.  if you want to and some comments feel free.  out of the thousands of songs that we've heard this year a little perspective on what makes particular song stand out is important.

please email me the list by Friday 1/11 at: nhughes (at) josiahventure (dot) com.

after they are in josh will compile the songs and i'll post them here.

top se7en moments of oh-se7en

|seven: blazers, niners, and giants...oh my!|

oh-se7en marked the first time that i've seen all three of my favorite sports teams play in the same year! living in czech makes it tough to watch sports at all, so to be able to attend these games was such a blessing.  it was extra special considering i got to see barry bonds' final game as a giant (and maybe ever) with my dad.

|six: concerts|

oh-se7en also marked the year of the concert for me.  without sports in czech, music and photography have become that much more important to me.  czech also isn't a hub for the type of music that i like, so i had to travel (chicago, portland, and london respectively) to see some concerts, but it was well worth it.  the new pornographers (name taken from a jimmy swaggart comment: rock and roll is the new pornography) are fabulous live.  it was also great to see some up and coming british bands at nme's indie rock fest as well as new band, grand archives, in portland.

|five: tat|

it means, 'i have redeemed you' in hebrew.  i've wanted to get the word redeemed on my wrist for over two years, so it was quite a great experience to finally get it.  and it totally didn't hurt as bad as everyone said it would...

|four: weddings and engagements|

it is amazing that despite of how i look people continue to ask me to be in their weddings! it was awesome to be the best man in jared, one of my old disciples, and jordan's wedding as well as being second best (!) man in daddio's wedding.

also, a few weeks ago, my best friend proposed to tereza.  joe and i have walked through a lot of life together and have spent endless hours discussing girls.  i am so thrilled for them and am excited to see how God uses them to advance His Kingdom!!

|three: inner city chicago|

one of the highlights of my time to the states was being able to spend two hours at an inner-city christian school in chicago.  i got the opportunity to speak to third-sixth graders about life as a missionary.  it was so much fun to share with them, hear their questions, as well as play games.  one of the kids even rapped for me!

as i drove away praying, i realized what a significant impact my time there could've had. kristen, the teacher, told me before hand that these kids have very few male role models and most of them have no concept of education past high school.  for me to be there and to have fun with them, share about my life could've had a serious impact on the lives of these young boys and girls.  to think that God could've used my time there to inspire some of these kids to go to college or even if God were to use me to get these kids thinking about missions is truly humbling.

|two: passion07|

i opened the new year in hotlanta for passion07.  i had always heard great things and loved the music, but my time there was exceptional.  from hanging out with ondra, representing jv in the mission mobilization area, meeting young men and women passionate about serving Christ, worshipping with 20,000 people, talks from john piper and francis chan, and just participating in the entire global awareness area.

it was a brilliant way to start the year!

|one: 50!|

before the summer started i felt that God was calling me to pray that fifty students would come to know Christ this summer.  that number may not sound like a lot in american terms, but considering we had twelve the summer before, it was a huge step of faith to pray for that big of number.  i guess i knew God could do it, but as camp after camp went by and more and more students began to begin relationships with the living God, i began to realize that it really was possible.

now, upon final count (which is always a difficult task), we had 48 students who we could count.  i really believe that God was calling me to pray for 50, so i am choosing to believe that somewhere in the counting we missed 2 students!

top se7en albums of oh-se7en

*it should be noted that while these are the top of oh-se7en that doesn't mean that they were necessarily released in oh-se7en, just that i discovered them in oh-se7en

|se7en|

genre: rock

formed: greenville, il

top songs: sundays best, boston, bullets

|six|

genre: euro indie rock

formed: stockholm, sweden

top songs: paris 2004, young folks, objects of my affection

|five|

genre: indie folk

formed: portland, or

top songs: hardwood pews, finch on saturday, in our blood

|four|

genre: soundtrack, light rock

formed: ireland and czech republic

top songs: lies, falling slowly, when your mind's made up

|three|

genre: alternative

formed: seattle, wa

top songs: detlef schrempf, is there a ghost, no one's gonna love you

|two|

genre: alternative

formed: long island, ny

top songs: buttoned down, this is the end, i'd be lying

|one|

genre: alternative

formed: vancouver, bc

top songs: myriad harbor, challengers, go places

honorable mentions:

until june - until june

alligator - the national

begin to hope - regina spektor

the atlantic was born today and i'll tell you how

for nearly two years i've lived in the czech. my official two-year term is nearing an end.

inevitably, i am asked the question by family and friends (on both sides of water), "so, are you staying here [coming back]"?

i've put the answer off for a long time.

partly to pray about it, but mostly because i was scared.

scared to commit [go back].
scared to hurt my family [disappoint people here].
scared of drudging through the cultural challenges [readjusting back to us culture].
scared of the ???????????.

but, finally, i've made my decision.

__________

it started in autumn. things had been tough. there were cultural struggles, ministry challenges, the language barrier, loneliness, etc. i was praying one morning about what GOD wanted me to do and the SPIRIT clearly spoke,


"I don't want you to leave czech until I call you somewhere else."


i didn't like that answer. life was hard. it would be easier/better/more fun/insert good feeling here ________ if i went back to the states. i begrudgingly accepted this from GOD, but hoped HE would change HIS mind.

ff >>

it was a sunny january day in az and bobby b and i were kicking it for our regular half-day comic book run/fashion square/good food/hang out and somewhere between spider-man and baseball the conversation turned to ministry. bobby was sharing some thoughts on some recent changes he'd made in ministry location and said, "one thing that has always stuck out to me was something Oswald Chambers wrote. he said,


'never leave the place GOD called you last until HE calls you to somewhere else.'"

GOD didn't change HIS mind. this was confirmation.

i still waited to make my decision though.

ff>>

monday.

czechs celebrate easter monday. it is really a bizarre celebration with some interesting traditions. but, regardless, it is a day off.

i spent my day with the LORD.

i decided that monday was my decision day. i took the day, went to a lake (which was really a resevoir for drinking water with no way to get down to the lake to enjoy nature--i was not happy) spent an hour there, then went and hung out in a cafe for four hours.

i read.

i prayed.

i asked GOD for guidance/direction/what HE wanted from me for the next five years.

HE answered.

it was powerful.

i expected HIM to show me some great vision for the future--some beautifully laid out ministry plan.

what i got was a load of specific verses of !who! GOD was calling me to !be!

maybe some day i'll share those, but i've delayed telling my decision for

l
o
n
g

e
n
o
u
g
h

GOD is calling me to stay.

even as i write this i think of the countless friends and family back in the states that i miss and the sound of disappointment that i've heard in my family's voices this week as i've told them of my decision.

it grieves my heart.

but,

i know that GOD is in this.

i know that HE is providing new friends and family for me here. never to replace those in the states, but to fill up what i am missing.

i know that HE is preparing works for me to do that are specificly tailored to my giftedness and passion.

i know that HE is changing me in ways that I could never be changed back in the states.

i know that HE is calling me to this.

i can step into that with confidence.

mixtape

anyone who knows me, knows that i LOVE music. i wish that i could have a soundtrack made of my life. in fact, if we are ever sharing the same network and you have access to my itunes you can see the soundtracks i've created for different periods of my life. i'd love for music to play in the background of different fun/crucial/romantic/intense/powerful moments of my life...i think it would add a little something

as far as i know that won't be happening anytime soon, so in the mean time i found this cool idea on josh's blog.

so here is what you do:

1. scan through your itunes or cd library. refamiliarize yourself with the nooks and crannies of your musical options.
2. identify five categories — genres, if you will — of music. these should be as obscure and finely-articulated as you’d like. feel free to use modifiers liberally.
3. nominate — select, really — a “perfect song” for each category. include a link for each song to something (the amazon page for the CD, or the artist’s website, or whatever). you may find it easier, as i did, to find “perfect songs”, and craft categories or genres around them.
4. ideally, some of the songs will be nominally obscure, or, at least, not completely mainstream and overplayed. no need to tell us all about songs we all know!

So…let’s get on with it. I give you the perfect song for…

"the walk to your girlfriends house after realizing that you made a mistake and have to go and apologize to her" I Go To The Barn Because I Like The by Band of Horses

"drinking yourself silly (no i don't believe in drunkeness, but I can imagine that this would be a good song for it) after your girl breaks up with you" Light Up The Room by Mumm-Ra

"strutting...preferably through a trendy european city (i.e. Prague) on a friday night in the bar district" We Used To Be Friends by The Dandy Warhols

"stalking someone" Goodnight and Go by imogen heap

"looking out of the window of a train as you ponder life, love, and the world" Orange Sky by Alexi Murdoch

while i wasn't tagged for this by anyone like in the other blogs, i'm still going to tag a couple people:

kyle
aubrey
jessica red

kyle, aubrey, jess: you're it.

this post sponsored by:

London, part two: indie rock concert

the girls and i went to an indie rock concert on friday night.

it was awesome.

basically, before we left, i looked on the web for the best venues in london, then i searched their websites for the concerts for friday night.

i found this concert. NME is some british rock magazine and every year they host an indie concert for up and coming bands. previous bands include coldplay and kaiser chiefs...i figured we couldn't lose and i was right.

these for bands played:

the automatic
the view
the horrors
mumm ra (kudos to mumm ra for not falling prey to the Definite Article Craze sweeping Great Britain)

the venue was awesome!

Here are some pics:


mumm ra (opening act and maybe my favorite of the four)




my face after the horrors played (definitely NOT my favorite band!)


my concert mates (yeah, i'm speaking british english now)


the automatic

songs for when i want to throw myself from a window

yep, i just created that playlist.

it's been one of those nights.

i really can't articulate why (it would take too long). and its basically ministry/logistics related, so you wouldn't feel the impact even if i did explain it.

so, here is what i have on there:

redeemer - nicole c. mullen
just who i am - matt gibson
psalm 143 (revive me) - shane & shane
blessed be your name - passion band
only you - david crowder band
enough - passion band
*it is still a work in progress*

i like worship music. but i don't listen to it all the time. i listen to quite a variety of other things usually. but it seems that when things really hit the fan there is little else that will ground me like worship.

it points me to HIM.

it reminds me of who the CREATOR is.

it reminds me that HE is more than enough.

when all i want to do is complain, worry, disappear...it knocks me to my knees.

my "go to" song is REDEEMER. if i've got time for one. if i have 5 minutes (or 4:56 to be exact) to listen to a song, that's the one.

what do you listen to?

what ben said sarah said

I am a HUGE Death Cab For Cutie fan. Maybe not as big as Seth Cohen (yeah, I watch The O.C.), but, still, a big fan. Sometimes I wonder if I were married if I would like them as much. I mean, Ben Gibbard writes amazing lyrics, but for the most part they are all about relationships...most of which are broken, trying to be fixed, long distance, trying to get back together, etc.

But there is one song that I've been thinking a lot about lately. It's called "What Sarah Said". It's a song about friends at a hospital watching their friend die. And it's what Sarah said that is the crux of the song.

"Love is watching someone die."

I really want to write a book about fellowship with my friend Sarah. I come from an amazing group of friends back in AZ and I've always known that there is something that is unique about our group. While brainstorming about the book, I've often pondered, "What made our group so different? So tight?"

Unfortunately, one of the things that has made us so close is death. We have lost two really close girl friends and one of our friends' dad. When I think of some of the times that really brought us close, I think to those days surrounding death.

Kulia died of cancer.

It was long.

It was painful.

There were many days and nights that we spent with her from when she found out to times in the hospital to the end.

But, it brought us close to her and close to one another.

When I think about what made my friends and I tight, I think about hanging out at Kulia's. I think about helping her move back home. I think about visiting her at the hospital. I think about hanging out with Greg the day his dad died and many nights afterwards.

You know who your friends are by who is there when you are dying...

I discussed this with my friends here (in Czech) the other night. There are some people that I'd live at the hospital for. If they were dying I'd be there all day. There are people who would do that for me. There are people who I wouldn't do that for. There are people who wouldn't do that for me.

"Love is watching someone die."

In the song, Ben asks the next logical question, "Who's gonna watch me die?"

I know this is a Debbie Downer post, but I think it amazing that we can be so affected by life...by death, that it somehow unites our souls. That one life can challenge us, can cause us to grieve, cause us to rejoice, cause us to think, cause us live...

That is something that science can't quantify.

God created us a relational beings. There is something in life. Some invisible force (or spirit, or something) that causes us to long for relationship...

...for belonging

...for love

It's what makes life and death so great and so painful. It's why as you read this you are thinking about loved ones you've lost and your heart grieves. But when you think to their life, you can't help but smile. You can't help but be filled with that bitter-sweet feeling that comes with remembering a good time with someone you've lost.

I remember trying to fix Kulia's broken down car in a monsoon in front of Blue Burrito.

We were soaked.

We were laughing.

Right now, I'm smiling.

We can mark people's lives by the way we love them.

So, I wonder, "Who's gonna watch me die?"