Presidential Blog.

Okay. So I am not huge on politics, I love a good debate when it comes to anything, but when it comes to this I have a hard time because people are just ignorant to what they are trying to defend. So in essence it comes down to you arguing with a 3 year old who just says 'not ah!'
But here is a little bit of how I feel about the current race. And really the reason I am writing this is because I am really starting to get concerned for true Christ followers.
Okay I may have misled you a little, this really isn't about the entire race its more just about Mit Romney. Even more to the point...is it a good idea for a Christian to vote for a Mormon?
I am not writer who drags on and then at the end give you a vague statement about the entire piece they wrote. To put it simply, I cannot understand how/why someone who believes Jesus is God, was fully man and fully God, who died and defeated death to give us a shot by grace and will be our returning King would ever vote for a man that believes in a religion that so vehemently twists Jesus that its like putting the New Testament into a strainer and keeping everything but the gospel, not to mention adding crazy into the recipe.
Pardon me if I am wrong but a politician is nothing without his/her beliefs, what he/she stands for and what he holds as truth. So when we as Christians say 'no I'm not worried about his religious beliefs cause he has a good fiscal policy,' it makes me want to scream! Do not get me wrong Mormons can be great people. Almost every single one I have met and hung out with are great people, but that doesn't mean that I want someone that believes the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County Missouri, that God changed his mind about black people in 1978 (10 years after Martin Luther King Jr. died, good timing I would say), that some Israelites sailed across the ocean to North America 600 years before Christ...running our country. (the list could go on, I just chose some of the almost laughable things.)
Now I must stress that if you are not a follower of Christ, and you are a conservative, then it is not a big deal for you to vote for this man. He is a conservative, he does have morals and if that’s what you are looking for, but as a believer I think there is/should be a different set of standards we apply.
I don't care if he is so conservative he makes Reagan think ill of himself, if the man believes Jesus and Satan were brothers and can become like Christ and have our own planet I don't want him making decisions on a national level for me and my family. You may say 'Cody, that is awfully closed minded of you' to which I would say, 'You are an idiot.' Then I would pause and say ''How? Because I don't want Mormonism to have any other footholds to mislead lost people in America to believe in some twisted version of Christ? Do you not think that having a Mormon President would make it so much easier to want to join in this cult?'
Before you get angry and let me irritate you so, stop and think who is having a more temporal outlook on life. The believer who will vote for Romney because he is a good conservative or the believer who won't because of the devastating impact it could have on Christian life in the near future by further disintegrating the line between Christ-followers and Mormons. There IS a line and there should be. You cannot strip Christ of his deity and still be cool with God. No matter how many doors you knock on.

The Mean Blog - aka getting it off my chest

Okay, I know I am not the only one that has pet peeves, so I am going to shares some of the ones recently that are irritating me. This has nothing to do with individual people, although I am sure if you do any of these or some combination of them you should probably take it very personally :)

Number 1. Facebook Game Invites.
Come on. Seriously. I have nothing against someone spending there time accruing fake money and buying virtual gems to bedazzle their online ponies, but stop inviting me please. I have facebook to stalk people, not make online mixed drinks for strangers. Here is a list of some of games I currently have been invited to... Pioneer Trail (great game when I was in 4th grade on a Macintosh Classic but not anymore), Farmville, Gardens of Time, Barn Buddy, Cafe World, Cityville (Cityville? really? I guess Citytown or Villagity was taken.)

Number 2. The Word Swag.
You know you hate it too. What is funny to me is that the real definition is 'an ornamental festoon of flowers, fruit and greenery.' Basically the flower thing they put on a horse after winning a race. But we have taken this word and thrown it on anyone that is cocky and made it a good thing. 'He has more swagger then all the swag in swaggerton.' (<- that is not a real quote, but I bet a college football announcer will say something very close to this during this season, probably about a run first quarterback or a defensive back that doesn't get flagged for passer interference.)

Number 3. Mark May
I guess I lied. This one may be about someone specific. :)

Music and Spotify.

So I requested Spotify like back in June and then got an email from them in July, but never opened it. Last week someone started talking about it again and how it was great etc. etc. So I remembered that I might have an email and quickly searched and began using. Holy crap. Awesome. Yes, both of those last two sentences where complete.
If you are a new music junkie and constantly looking for new stuff Spotify will help you immensely. Now if you are a music snob and like someone until they 'sell out' you will have to resort to your old ways of finding unsigned indie harmonica/accordion/spoons rock, because everyone on Spotify is signed (well at least as far as I can tell). Just like in the Myspace heydays, you can click on artists then see other artist, then others (and so on), and listen to almost all of their music. FOR FREE. I am assuming the artists/record labels get paid for plays or something. But this is just great for catching up with artists who you haven't seen for a while, or new up and coming people.
So check it out, if you have a mac you can also control it with your itunes controls on the top of your keypad, if you have a pc then you are lame. (haha just kidding Viktor, sort of).

Music that I am listening to currently...

Young the Giant - The dude has a great voice. I really feel that if the Beach Boys came out now, this is the type of music they would put out, probably helps that they are from southern cal. The other reason I love this band, is because they sound just as good if not better live then on their real recording. Just look...




Jay-Z & Kanye -(edited of course) It's a good record, but not sure if there are any huge hits off this album, but it is solid.

Foster the People - Yes, you have probably hear 'Pumped up Kicks' but their best stuff lies deep inside their album 'Torches.' Check out 'Houdini,' 'Don't Stop, & 'Helena Beat' for a good sense of what this band is about.

Mat Kearney - His new album (Young Love) is sick. Buy it, listen then spread it.

Tons more but I can write again

So much to say, but I'll keep it short.

Over the past few months it has been incredibly difficult to try to sit down and just write, even though there has been so much to write about.

First and foremost, I am having a child. Well, what I mean by 'I' is I drive my beautiful wife to appointments and get her whatever she wants/needs. But we are so excited, and to me it is still so surreal. But December 11th will be here sooner then I think and little Harper will make her grand appearance. If you want to see more/better updates my wife's blog is much better... (http://thenewdavenports.blogspot.com/) the picture of us isn't great, well she looks good, but I look like I am kinda mad at the camera...

Anyways, like I said before there has been so much to write about. The next thing on the list is my first worship album. I traveled down to Charlotte to record at Hunter Productions and I am very very very excited about it. I got to take advantage of some of my very talented friends and put them on the album as well, so thank you to Jacob Moyer and Scott Spruill for throwing down some tracks for me, I can't wait to hear the finished project. I do believe it will be for sale at the very beginning of October! I will keep ya updated and you can watch a quick vid of some of the recording process below...

Don't Care Enough.

Ephesians 3:20&21 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be all glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I only posted a little bit of this passage but feel free to go back and start at verse 14 to get some more context.
We have so much power available to us through the holy spirit. And we hear so many preachers say that and they usually conclude with 'we just don't use it!'. Which is absolutely true, but why don't we?
It's because we don't care. Ouch. Really? You can start formulating your argument on how you are the exception, but before you do...
We don't care...
because we care more about a royal wedding that has absolutely nothing to do with me, and the thought of me becoming Gods adopted son doesn't excite me anymore.
because I care more about the NFL draft and the Browns new offensive scheme then I do about trying to figure out a way to reach my community.
because I love using technology so much, I don't put it down to just be in Gods presence.
Because I fill every nook and cranny of my calendar with stuff (dvr'd stuff, friend stuff, 5k stuff, ect) and whatever minutes I can spare I give to God begrudgingly.
Because I convince myself that doing good things is the same as sharing the gospel,  though my neighbors would say I am very friendly, they haven't even heard me mention, let alone talk at length about my "Lord."
Because we care more about obtaining our version of the American Dream now, than sacrificing time/money/energy to impact eternity for later.
Because we care more about our kids fitting in and having a good education then we do about teaching them to be missionaries, and loving God.

Before the accusations come of me being on a high horse, this is completely applicable to me. Every single line. Well besides the royal wedding, that's just dumb. Obviously this list could have gone on for so long.  This isn't a bash on entertainment either, as a pastor has once said, God created the entire world for us to enjoy, the problem isn't that we are enjoying it to much, but the problem starts when when we start to care more about the creation then the creator.

Christmas Hangover

The aftereffects of Christmas seem to affect everyone differently. Some are so happy and ready for the holidays to be over, some are sad and neglect putting their Christmas decor away till mid May, and the other people are some variance in between. Wherever you find yourself in that scale, the distractions are rapidly approaching.
Before you put the 'Christmas Story' away till next December look at it just one more time.
At the Christmas eve service down here in Fort Myers, the pastor asked the question of why did God chose the shepherds to reveal His angels and proclaim the birth to and not others. I think there are a couple reasons. The first is the difference between the shepherds and wise-men shows Jesus came for all men and not just one select group. But the pastor brought a more obvious thing out, they weren't busy/distracted.
Have you ever been outside at night and looked up at the stars when you were outside of the city, with no lights on? It is absolutely beautiful! If you add one light, maybe a flood light off a porch it diminishes, and the more you add the less and les stunning the night becomes.
The shepherds were easy targets, hanging out, nothing to get in their way just rocks, trees, and a couple of wondering sheep. How easy are we distracted? If you went to church at all between Thanksgiving and Christmas you inevitably heard some one ask you to not forget why Christmas is here and maybe saw a cool video on why presents are second blah blah... And maybe you did take that second to pause and worship Christ, that's terrific. But what about today? Today, tomorrow, next week? Jesus is the same Son of God that came, lived, died and conquered death. This whole blog post is really written to myself, so I can look at it at the end of January when i am throughly busy and remember that God wants me to stop. Get rid of the distractions and worship Him the way He deserves, just me with no distractions.

The B Word.

Wow, I havent written in a while. To much stuff just going on by! Right now I am sitting in the breakfast nook at the In-laws house in Fort Myers Florida. The woman folk are getting ready and we are going to go and do some Christmas errands.
This Blog entry has no huge purpose, just wanted to say I am blessed.
Sometimes, you can preface bragging by saying the words 'I'm blessed.' I hear it all the time, 'Oh man I am so blessed, I bought a ferrari' okay I don't necessarily hear that statement to often. But you know what I mean.
But I am saying I am blessed, cause God has looked out for me so much. I am blessed with a woman that loves me way more then I deserve. I am blessed with her family and they treat me like there own. I am blessed beyond measure with my own family. I am blessed with not only a job that I love, but people I love working with (Tucker not Jeff). I am thankful for a church that cares about the staff and goes above and beyond. And yes I like the material things I have received, but without those, I am still blessed.
I know there are many who are struggling during this time of year, financial problems, family problems, and I am not trying to rub it in their faces, cause I know those days and I know they will come again.
But to sum this year up in one word it is by far the word blessed.