LukeDooley.com

So I’m obviously up way too late, but let’s ignore that for now. I’m sitting in my basement tearing up a Pages document for a deadline I have tomorrow, when I realize that I’m no longer writing… I’m worshiping!

This Hillsong tune shuffled through the iTunes that I love. This caused me to escape the randomness of shuffle, and listen to a few of my favorite Hillsong tracks.

DANG! I’m worshiping for real now… at 12:30 am… and now I’m blogging about it at 12:50 am. I’m not sure exactly why, but a couple of these songs took me back to a time when I was in college. Every Wednesday night we used to attend this college event called Crossroads at the big Baptist church in town. I vividly remember worshiping in a big way in this really cool environment (very cool “Mini Taft Theater” type room) with a bunch of my peers.

Anyway, I’m actually not a big fan of Hillsong’s entire catalog, but I feel confident in saying that if you don’t have the following songs in your playlist, you are missing out!

Came to the Rescue
Mighty to Save
From the Inside Out
Salvation is Here

Sitting here watching American Idol with my beautiful wife Jenessa. She loves the show… I watch it for the first few weeks to see the car crashes (terrible auditions), and then become ambivalent.

Tonight though something awesome happened, and I’m not sure anyone noticed.

It happened just before one of the auditions, while the hosts were asking the performer some questions about their lives. This time usually goes by rather innocently, but not this time….

Mid contestant answer, Paula Abudl lets out a giant sneeze and Simon without missing a beat calls her a “Disgusting Little Pig”.

Basically he went Alec Baldwin on her on national TV and it was hilarious… I laughed… I hope you did too!

I think we forget sometimes the celebrities are real people, who deal with crap, just like you and me.

Then something like what happened this week with Heath Ledger happens and we remember that their lives are just as big of a mess (or bigger) than ours.

I have some thoughts about Heath Ledger’s death… just some ponderings.

It’s really sad. I don’t understand how anyone can get to the place of suicide (assuming that’s what’s happened, although it’s not yet official)… let alone someone like Mr. Ledger. Someone who seemingly has the world at their fingertips: Young, Beautiful, Talented, Wealthy, Successful, Respected, etc… Plus the fact that apparently he was a loving father to his daughter Matilda.

This is a guy who was an Academy Award nominee, someone who was beginning to break out of playing the typical teen heartthrob role (10 Things I Hate About You, A Knights Tale), and was beginning to play more mature and eclectic roles (i.e… Brokeback Mountain, Monsters Ball, The Dark Knight).

It’s really just very sad. He was already receiving outstanding reviews for his upcoming role as The Joker in the 2nd installment of the Christian Bale as Batman remakes.

You have to wonder if somehow he became so immersed in the role of The Joker that it somehow affected who he was at the core. There’s no doubt that The Joker is an intense character which requires the actor to fully devote himself to being this self described “freak”. This may be a long shot, but you have to wonder if it played a role in his sad fate.

Regardless, I’m looking forward to seeing him portray The Joker in what for me is the most anticipated movie of 2008. It will be interesting to see how/if his death impacts the marketing, and box office success of the film. Check the trailer out here:

Nothing in the entire world could better sum up everything that you need to know about me. Just watch… this is truly a piece of art! (YouTube video embedded for all you RSS readers).

Here goes utter randomness…

1.) I re-watched the episode with John Mayer for the 5th time or so tonight. I love High Definition DVR! Seriouhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifsly… 11:00 at night, I turn my surround sound up to 52 (loud), throw my feet up, and stare at the screen while John Mayer does what he does. There should be more shows like ACLimits… it’s a great show. I have the encore of Coldplay’s 2005 performance set to record tomorrow night. Can’t wait to enjoy that in a similar fashion!

2.) Watched a terrible movie with Jenessa tonight. We went to the $1 video machine at Kroger. I love this machine… it’s enabled me to watch more movies than ever before. Well, as occasionally happens, tonight there were none of the films that we had on our list to view. So, already being there, we compromised and rented some movie called “Eastern Promises” with Viggo Mortenson. Not a good flick… not recommended.

3.) John Mayer stuck up for Ashlee Simpson’s sister… read his blog here.

4.) I really want to go see Cloverfield tomorrow night. I’ve read multiple reviews along the lines of: “A movie that actually lived up to the hype… go see it in a crowded theater”. .

5.) Pitchers and Catchers Report on February 16th. Ahh… the fresh optimism that spring training brings.

Two years ago today a group of people stood in the lobby of a high school unsure of what would happen next. All the prep work was done, all the gear was set up, all the signs were out, the band had sound checked, and all systems were “GO”! So we waited…

Waited to see who would show up. Waited to see how many would show up. Waited to see if anyone would show up!

I’ll never forget that feeling as the clocked slid towards 10:30. The first few began to trickle in the lobby, everyone had their best smiling face and firm handshake ready for action. If I recall correctly the clock got somewhere near 10:15 when I began walking towards the front doors to check out the scene… It was awesome! Cars were pouring in the parking lot, people walking up the sidewalk, and piling into the doors of the high school.

The crowd was bigger than anyone could have expected (after all, we’d read all the books, heard & lived all the horror stories…). It was a great day, everything went off without a hitch (except for the part about the entire band being muted as they began the first song). But still… what would happen after that? After all, it was the first day.

Well, 730 days later, it’s pretty obvious what happened. God happened… Faith happened… People happened… Church happened!

And it’s still happening today… all of it!

Countless stories to tell!

Stories of redemption, connection, grace, community, sacrifice, servanthood and teamwork.

Stories of lives restored. Stories of hope discovered. Stories of marriages healed. Stories of families made whole.

Stories of salvation. Stories of baptism.

Countless stories. Stories of a church that was born. A church that is making an impact in West Chester & Liberty Township. A church that is bringing God’s redemptive story right where it’s needed: HERE… where the lost and broken are.

These are just the first two years of the story. I’m happy to say that I’ll be here doing my part to make sure the story continues. I’m not naive, I know it’s bigger than me… but I have my part in the story, and I plan on playing my part for a long time. How about you?

Wow… I’m really not sure what to say. I’m not sure that you will either.

As if posting a picture of me and my “Malti-Poo”, Sadie, on this blog wasn’t enough, I’m about to go a step further.

It’s a term often tossed around… and I am not afraid to use it: Man Crush.

Urban-Dictionary.com (not officially endorsed by LukeDooley.com) defines a “Man Crush” as follows:

A man having extreme admiration for another man, as though he wants to be him.

All of that to say that I have two, and I am not ashamed to admit it: Justin and John.

Thanks to the internet, and the ingenuity of the later, I can enjoy the tones of both in one beautiful 2 minute 25 second video clip. Enjoy, and thanks to Los for the initial link. BTW… I’ve watched (listened) to this like 10 times in the past 30 minutes. It would be really cool if my friend Mike would just rip the audio off for me so I could enjoy sans YouTube.

I can just see John listening to the JT album one day in what is sure to be his super trendy loft in NYC, or his Malibu home. When he thinks: “I know! I’ll stand in front of the iMac and record myself doing super-human guitar things to the song I love”.

How do I know he loves this portion of the song… because I read his blog.

Lovestoned/I Think She Knows (Interlude) – Justin Timberlake – Not so much for the “Lovestoned” part, but for the 45 seconds of ultimate sonic bliss that is “I Think She Knows. It’s JT’s breakthrough moment as an artist; a novel mix of Coldplay guitar lines, hip hop beats and a vocal approach somewhere in between. When that track comes on I spend the first 3:30 preparing for the awesomeness to come. Then I yell at the speakers, “Make this 4 minutes long and put it on the next disc!”

Some may say that setting a goal to blog for 7 straight days and then missing 3 straight days after only blogging for 2 straight days would qualify as “failure”. I say that it would only be failure if I gave up, and didn’t jump back on the horse.

Truth is, the weekends are always crazy. This weekend was especially crazy. Family gatherings, parents left for Florida for 3 months, all day planning meeting on Saturday, church on Sunday, etc… etc…

Today is my day off. I’ve been completely lazy. This picture with me un-showered, on my couch, watching football with my dog pretty much sums up my activities.

I do have some random thoughts and confessions to share.

- The Golden Globe ceremony last night was extremely lame. Jen and I watched a few minutes of it. It was painful.

- I think Rob & Big is one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s because they are so juvenile. I simply think those guys are hilarious together. Last night we watched an episode about a mysterious “pooper” leaving a present in their swimming pool. I laughed a lot.

- I’m glad that Eli and the Giants beat the Cowboys. Eli takes a lot of heat for not being as good as Peyton. Yesterday went a long way towards hushing a lot of that talk. That drive by the Giants at the end of the 1st half was sweet.

- How did the Colts lose that game? That was lame on their part. How do you throw the ball deep on 2nd and 3rd down when you only need 7 yards?

- Macworld begins tomorrow. It almost feels like a holiday. My lunch break will be spent in front of my computer screen watching people who are even geekier than I am blogging every move, word, gesture, and announcement that Steve makes. I might wear jeans and a black mock turtleneck tomorrow just for fun.

In an effort to continue the 7 straight days of blogging (something… anything… just blog)… I’m back with Day 2.


Have you ever switched cell phone numbers? It’s quite stressful isn’t it? I recently made the switch to the world’s greatest mobile device … at first it wasn’t a big deal because I was carrying both phones, so people could reach me on either number. It was actually kind of nice because certain people didn’t have the new number… I could hide from them (I know shocking… pastors hide from people… you should see what I can do with the new invisible feature of iChat).

So, today we made the decision to end the contract we had with our old provider and go exclusively with AT&T. I’m very excited I no longer have to carry two phones… that was annoying.

Anyway, it’s just stressful to change numbers. I hate it… I’ve had my old cell phone number since my freshman year of college at the CHOG’s finest institution of higher learning . So many people had that number… people from Florida, Ohio, Camps, Church, School, Family, Friends, Colleagues, World Leaders… the list goes on.

Now I must face the realization that at this very moment someone may be dialing 513.594.0667 and hearing a computerized person on the other end telling them that I have officially changed my number without giving them adequate notice. I could be offending someone right now. I can’t handle that pressure. Hopefully my e-mails, facebook announcements and text messages to my contacts are adequate means of spreading the message of my new cell phone number.

If only I (we) was so adamant about spreading the Gospel of Jesus as I was my new cell phone number. Now that would be something….

I like music. Really, I love music. I’m shocked that God didn’t bless me with some sort of ability… I think that was clearly a joke he played on me: “This will be great… this guy is going to love music, but embarrass himself when he tries to sing in public, or play the drums on Rockband”.

All of that said, I have some musical confessions I’d like to make. You see, I pride myself on being a fan of “Good Music” (I know… novel idea). So, admitting that I am a fan of anything that is too “poppy” is kind of pain-staking for me.

However, I have come across a couple of songs/artists that I am really enjoying, and they definitely fall into the “pop” category.

1.) Dreaming Out Loud: OneRepublic – These guys came out of nowhere with their mega-hit “Apologize”. Don’t be fooled, this would not have happened if they did not have the one and only Timbaland on board with the remix of that track. I’ve liked that song since the day I heard it on the radio… to say it is not infectious is to speak a lie. However, today I was doing a little musical recon and decided to pull down their entire album. I listened all the way through, and while there are couple boredom tracks that are over produced, I really enjoyed it for the most part. The song titled: “Mercy” is awesome… we’ll be doing that at Journey Church in the near future I’m sure.

2.) As I Am: Alicia Keys - Now this is borderline pop. You see, she is actually an incredibly talented artist who writes, plays and sings her own music. I have a hard time calling her pop… although she would typically be defined as such. With her, it’s not so much the whole album as it is the song: “No One”. I’m addicted to it! I turn it up loud, and pump my fist… it’s an anthem! There are some other solid songs on the album too, including: “The Thing About Love”, “Wreckless Love”, and “Lessons Learned” (featuring John Mayer). If you don’t believe me, just read what John Mayer had to say about her (and the album) on a recent blog post:

I’ve been busy in the studio, both with my own music and working with Alicia. We wrote a song called “Lesson Learned” and it was one of the best creative experiences I’ve ever had. Oh, and her lead-off single “No One” is the track of the year. That’s all there is to it. It’ll blow you away when you hear it. She’s evolved so much as an artist, it’s crazy. She’s made one beautiful and BRAVE album. Okay! Okay. That’s enough slobbering over Alicia. She really is that good tho-OKAY