Hey hey! Good morning. I hope you’re having a great week. This weekend we’ll be celebrating the fourth birthday of our dear Magnolia Grace! We’re excited to have a bunch of family and friends over to celebrate our spunky girl.
Below are some things I’ve come across in the last few weeks that I figured I’d pass along to you. Enjoy!
-Chris
#1) Cheerleader by Porter Robinson
I discovered the music of Porter Robinson about 10 years ago, sometime in 2014. I remember the moment pretty vividly. I was working in my first job, in my first cubicle, and I came across a video on Twitter that people were calling, “The most amazing sports video game trailer I’ve ever seen.” I was intrigued, so I clicked and watched the trailer for EA’s NHL 15 video game.
I was struck by the beauty of the music and how incredible it was to use such a song for a rough-and-tumble hockey video game. I would definitely include it among the best video game trailers I’ve ever seen. The song, “Sea of Voices,” also happens to feature the vocals of Breanne Düren, a longtime collaborator with Owl City.
Anyway, that was my introduction to Porter Robinson, and he has since become one of my favorite artists, period. His most recent album, Nuture, is incredible. He has a new album coming out this year, and this is the first single from it. I love it so much, and for so many reasons—the sound, the theme of parasocial relationships, the early 2000s vibe, etc.
#2) Spider-Man 2 but in Thomas and Friends Style
One of my friends sent this in a group text last week, and it’s delightful. This is what the internet is for, in my view. Truly, this is the internet at its best. It feels like something that would have gone viral on Digg in 2005. Anyway, enjoy.
#3) The Bible and History—A 2015 Sermon by Tim Keller
When I was in college, I listened to sermons from pastors around the country pretty regularly. In fact, one of my summer jobs had me going door-to-door leaving marketing materials at doorsteps, and I rode around on my Razer scooter listening to Matt Chandler sermons virtually all summer long.
Anyway, I haven’t regularly listened to sermons outside of my church since then. But a couple of weeks ago, I decided to start listening to Tim Keller sermons while I’m at the gym, mowing the grass, etc. I began with a series of sermons from 2015 called What We Believe: Foundations. The first one is called “The Bible and History,” and I was encouraged by it. So here I am recommending it to you! Here’s an overview of it from the website:
There’s nothing more foundational to who you are as a Christian than how you regard the Bible itself. How do you approach the Bible? How do you understand the Bible? These are fundamental questions to everything else you do as a Christian.
Today we’re looking at the bookends of the book of Luke, which is one of the four gospels in the New Testament. At the very beginning and the very end, there are important statements that help us understand what the Bible is and what it’s about. We’re going to learn that 1) the Bible is truth, 2) it’s truth about a man, and 3) it’s truth not just for the mind but for the heart.