1 Corinthians 13 - Christmas Version

My wife emailed this to me earlier and I thought it was worth sharing:

I Corinthians 13 – A Christmas Version
by Sharon Jaynes

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny ornaments, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

Some Holiday Humor for Your Monday

Christmas Carols For the Mentally Disturbed:

1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?

2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are

3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas

4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and.....

6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me

7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire

8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why

9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy oooh look at the froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?

10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --- Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

Ha, Ha!

Have a great day!

--Eric G.

Some Wisdom for Your Monday

Greetings, All!

Since it's Monday, I decided that we all need just a little dose of wisdom to get us through today and this work week. A friend emailed this to me earlier today:

TWENTY TWO THINGS TO REMEMBER

1. Faith is the ability to not panic.

2. If you worry, you didn't pray. If you prayed, don't worry.

3. As a child of God, prayer is kind of like calling home every day.

4. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

5. When we get tangled up in our problems, be still. God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.

6. Do the math. Count your blessings.

7. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.

8. Dear God: I have a problem. It's me.

9. Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.

10. Laugh every day -- it's like inner jogging.

11. The most important things in your home are the people.

12. Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.

13. There is no key to happiness. The door is always open. Come on in.

14. A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.

15. He who dies with the most toys is still dead.

16. Nothing is real to you until you experience it; otherwise it's just hearsay.

17. It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you are done.

18. Surviving and living your life successfully requires courage. The goals and dreams you’re seeking require courage and risk-taking. Learn from the turtle, it only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.

19. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

20. No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

21. Leave gentle fingerprints on the soul of another.

22. I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

May God continue to richly bless you as only He can!

--Eric G.

Fresh Hope: Reflections on the Birth of Jesus

I know that it's been a while since the last time that I posted something here, but I've been incredibly busy.

"Why...Eric, what have you been doing?"

I'm glad you asked. I've been finishing up my latest album (or CD, for those of you too young to know what an album is).

Now, for those of you who are regular readers of my blog, this album is not the one that I began recording back in the Spring. in fact, this album wasn't even planned until very recently.

Back in August, while I was listening back to some of the recording work that I had done throughout the Spring and Summer, I came to the realization that I would not be able to complete that new album before the end of the year as I had planned. That was when I made the decision to put together something simple and totally different in time for Christmas. The result is an album entitled Fresh Hope: Reflections on The Birth of Jesus.

As the title implies, this can be considered a "Christmas" album, as all the songs focus on Jesus and his birth. It is made up of entirely original material that I consider to be more "praise and worship" oriented than my other albums. The album is completely acappella and a much simpler effort than my last couple of CDs.

When I was writing the songs for this CD, I really wanted the songs to be different from your standard "Christmas" songs. Christmas music often focuses on the "manger scene", but rarely moves away from that. What I wanted to do was come up with some songs that praise Jesus and celebrate his birth, but at the same time focus on those who were there to witness his birth and the impact that it made on their lives.

This mindset resulted in songs written from several different perspectives:

• The joy of a Father witnessing the birth of his firstborn son.


• The excitement in the hearts of wise men as they search for the newborn Messiah.


• The hope that is felt by those that just "feel like something is different today."


• The satisfaction felt by a man who knows that his life is complete, now that he's seen God's son.


• The song of praise that comes from a teenage mother-to-be, knowing that God has chosen her to carry his son.

All of this and much more is covered in the 10 tracks that make up the new CD. I am really excited about it and I hope that you are, too!

You can stream and listen to the songs by clicking HERE, and if you're interested in purchasing a copy of the CD, you can find it in my online store:

The Eric Gwin Online Store

God Bless!

--Eric G.

Podcast Frenzy!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was recently blessed with the opportunity to sit down with Gary Moyers, formerly of Acappella, and be interviewed for his Pitch Pipecast, a podcast devoted to Christian acappella music. It was great and I look forward to doing it again.

Well, now it seems that I've been featured on yet another podcast. I was excited to find out earlier today that my music has been featured on the latest episode (Episode #37) of The Acapodcast, a podcast devoted to acappella music of all types, but primarily secular acappella music. Not only did the podcast feature 2 of my songs ("Alive" and "Next Time You Come Around"), but the host, Chad Bergeron, took a few minutes to talk about how much he enjoyed the music. He even was kind enough to point out the "faith" aspect of my music and how it's being used to share the Gospel!

What a great blessing!

Be sure to go over and give the podcast a listen:

http://www.acapodcast.com

While you're there, feel free to drop Chad a note and leave your comments about the show. I'm sure he would appreciate it!

God Bless!

--Eric G.

A Little Therapy

Maybe you've seen this list before. My wife emailed it to me earlier and I laughed out loud. I thought I would share it with you. Maybe some of these suggestions will make your day go better. Enjoy!

To Maintain a Healthy Level of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Smuggling Diamonds".

7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8. Don t use any punctuation.

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat...use a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme.

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance , Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Coworkers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

17. When The Money Comes Out of The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling, "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.......Direct people to this list to make them smile. It's called Therapy.

Have a Great Day!

--Eric G.

Interview on the Pitch Pipecast

If you're a long-time fan of the group Acappella, you probably recognize the guy in this picture. That's Gary Moyers, who was with Acappella for many years and now lives out in Midland, Texas.

Not long ago, Gary was surfing around the Internet and discovered that there are a ton of podcasts out there devoted to acappella music, but none covering Christian acappella music. So, he started one.

Since it began back in May, Gary's Pitch Pipecast has grown quite a following, with listeners tuning in from all over the world. With his podcast, Gary is doing a great service for those of us who enjoy Christian acappella music by interviewing such notable artists as Melissa Lancaster from Durant, Chris Lindsey from Watershed, Gary Miller from The Vocal Union, Jordan House and Robin Brannon from Acappella, Eric Gwin from...

Wait a minute! Eric Gwin?

Yep, you read that right. I recently sat down with Gary for an interview about my music and my ministry. In the interview, we answered such questions as:

• What's it like to be an acappella "solo" artist?
• What were some of the stories behind the songs on your latest CD, The Calling?
• When you were singing in a group, why did you call the group "Q"?

and lots of other riveting tales from the world of Eric G!

You can go and listen to "Episode 10 of the Pitch Pipecast featuring Eric Gwin" by clicking on this link:

www.pitchpipepro.com

Go on over and give it a listen!

God Bless!

--Eric G.