BlakeAtwood.com

for saying the things he says:

“There is so much pretense in Christian Music, of people trying to convince people that they are Jesus, because of how well that markets. I am not Jesus. I am not my savior. I am not sinless. I am not perfect. If anything, my heart is a mockery of those things. And I would much rather model brokenness. I think that’s more consistent with the Christian worldview, rather than modeling perfection.

The Christian life is about one of two things: it’s either about being perfect and keeping the law, or it’s about realizing your need for one who can keep the law in your place. And a lot of us genuinely believe that Christianity is the first one. We pay lip service to Jesus being sufficient for our sins, and liberating us from the law, when really we still believe that God loves us more when we keep the law. And that’s a lie.”

And this:

“If art is judged on form and content, the cross is the ultimate artistic example. Jesus was the form of humanity and the content of God. We as artists have to learn how to marry human brokenness and divine mercy together in art. That’s our job.”

I just returned from New York City. I’d never been before. I graduated with 80 people. This is a fact that matters, as you will soon find out.

First, to get it out of the way:
THE CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS.

1. Tony Bennett
(“I Left My Heart in San Fancisco”) He flew first class in the plane that took us from Dallas to NYC. Some of the kids (The trip was with FBC Georgetown and included 11 kids and 5 other adults) had their picture taken with him at the baggage claim at La Guardia. He was very nice to them.

2. Cedric the Entertainer:
One of the other adults and myself happened upon a throng of people outside of the Ritz-Carlton hotel. There was another throng on the other side of the street, also waiting. We asked numerous people who we were waiting for. No one knew, yet we stayed, feeling that this was somehow an authentic New York Experience free for the taking, if only someone relatively more famous than ourselves would emerge. There’s no surprise here; it was Cedric the Entertainer, and the proof is in the picture shown here (look in the center for the white suit:

We later deduced that people may have been waiting for Russell Crowe, as not everyone left after Cedric came out, and this was the day after Russell had gotten into a tussle with some poor guy. Mr. Crowe apparently forgot how to use a phone and reached out and touched (i.e. smashed) this guy on the head.

3. Gary Sinise:
(possibly) I was told by a reliable friend that Gary Sinise was walking in front of us, but I could only see the back of the man’s head. I attempted to walk more quickly to see if it was really him, but then I almost got lost from my group, and it’s a good thing I didn’t or I would have missed Beauty and the Beast, which was a really good show.

More stories later.

Interview with U2:

“After the initial struggle, they used to worry if they were too biblical to be cool.”

“She thought I’d make a priest one day.”
- Larry Mullen, about his mom

“But the band is all I’ve ever wanted, and I get paid for it.”
- Larry Mullen

“We’ve grown up being a political band. We never saw a need to separate religion and politics from everything we write about and care about.”
- The Edge

“Possessions are a way of turning money into problems.”
- The Edge

“So I just looked at the most powerful man in the free world as he waved at the crowd, and I said, ‘So you are pretty popular round here?’ and he goes, ‘It wasn’t always so. See, when I first came here, people used to wave at me with one finger.’”
- Bono about George Bush

“You can exorcise your demons or you can exercise them. I don’t know what I’ve discovered about myself from analysis. The thing to watch for is navel-gazing — and I do have a very nice one — but most of what I’ve learnt about myself you discover in other people.”
- Bono

“No, you can’t love too much. You can’t out-give God.” He pauses. “But you should try, I think. That’s where I’d like to spend the rest of my life.”
-Bono

RollingStone.com
From Bono, remembering Johnny Cash

“Every man could relate to him, but nobody could be him. To be that extraordinary and that ordinary was his real gift. That, and his humor and his bare-boned honesty. When I visited him at home one time, he said the most beautiful, poetic grace. He said, ‘Shall we bow our heads?’ We all bowed our heads. Then, when he was done, he looked at me and Adam Clayton and said, ‘Sure miss the drugs, though.’ It was just to say, ‘I haven’t become a holy Joe.’ He just couldn’t be self-righteous. I think he was a very godly man, but you had the sense that he had spent his time in the desert. And that just made you like him more. It gave his songs some dust. And that voice was definitely locusts and honey. As for ‘Hurt,’ it’s perhaps the best video ever made.”