I´m back in Sweden after a tour in Spain with Joybells gospel choir. We´ve had the best time and it´s been such a blessing to see what God does today....and what God does through music. We pray that God blesses Praise Unit and our new CD and that he will show in the music, the lyrics and in our lives.
I have just heard the first song that´s entirely finished (or very close) and it really sounds great if I may say so. I can´t wait to hear the rest of the songs.
After a few days in Sweden I´m actually leaving again tomorrow. I´m going for a six weeks trip in the United States with my wife and her sister. I´m soooo excited! I will try to give some reports from our trip on this blog when I can.
blessings
6/23/2009
Survivor
I don't know if you are aware of this, but the american TV-show "Survivor" actually originates from Sweden, and now basically every country in the world have their own version. Today I was so happy that we found a cool drum sound for one of our new Praise Unit songs, but just as we were about to make the drums a definite decision Tobias says that it sounds like the intro to "Robinson" (which is the original name of this TV-show). The drums were still cool, but I don't want people who listen to the song to feel like it's time vote somebody off the island. So back to the drawing board. In the end we actually came up with something even better!!!
6/21/2009
White wine at an Irish pub
During the past week I have been alone in Toe-B's studio, working on the last details of a new song that we will make an Internet release of pretty soon. The studio is underground and it's the kind of place that has walls that help you survive a nuclear attack, but it also inspires you to go insane Jack Nicholson-style unless you get out of there every now and then.
So last night I needed to eat, and I went to the Irish pub, which is on top of the studio. The moment I went into the pub I realized that I entered a room full of big city minglers, dressed for a night out, and I was the freak from the basement who had forgotten what day I had my last shower, if I wore a shirt that matched whatever I had on the rest of me, and if my hair looked like my teeth or if it was the other way around. I decided to not care about it, so I sat down and ordered my meal.
So last night I needed to eat, and I went to the Irish pub, which is on top of the studio. The moment I went into the pub I realized that I entered a room full of big city minglers, dressed for a night out, and I was the freak from the basement who had forgotten what day I had my last shower, if I wore a shirt that matched whatever I had on the rest of me, and if my hair looked like my teeth or if it was the other way around. I decided to not care about it, so I sat down and ordered my meal.
Because it was so crowded there were soon two ladies that joined me at the table. Their initial reaction to this pub was that it was so great because a glass of wine was actually eight kronors cheaper (about one US dollar), than any other place they had been to. So they ordered one glass each. But one of the ladies (let's call her the brunette) talk one zip from the glass and immediately showed that she did not like the wine. She made a we-should-have-paid-eight-kronors-more face before the other lady (let's call her the blonde) even got a chance to have her own opinion about the wine. I noticed that the blonde actually liked it, but it was not big city mingling appropriate to like a wine that cost eight kronors less, so she went along with her friend. After a long time of conversation around the wine, which involved lots of quotes from "Sex and the city" and "Desperate housewives", they decided to ask for new wine. But once they got the new wine the blonde recalled that the waiter did not ask if they wanted a new wine, but he asked if they wanted a new bottle. Hmmm, there's a little difference in there (new wine or new bottle?), which meant that they could have gotten the same wine, but from a different bottle, but also meant that if the last wine was actually good, but from a bad bottle, they might have been drinking good wine, while it was actually... well, by the the time they had stopped talking about this I had finished my meal and they still had not tasted the new wine that came in. I waited around to see their reaction when they tasted the new wine. The blonde immediatley said "mmm, this was better", but the brunette said "no, it's the same crap", and so the blonde changed her mind and agreed that it was crap. By now I had also finished my cup of coffee and paid my bill, but I wanted to see how real life "Sex and the city"-ladies handle a situation like this. Their conversation still never left the wine, but they had obvious problems with combining their will to be upper class wine connoisseurs, with just wanting a nice glass of wine. But of course they came up with a brilliant solution. Just when everything looked as hopeless as it could be they left the wine conversation and ordered tapas. I waited around to see if the tapas were satisfying, which they were. Thank goodness!
After this intriguing experience I left the blonde and the brunette with their tapas and moved on to my own missions in the studio -should the bridge before the third chorus of "No better than you" be six or four measures and should I add more strings to the background? Hmmm, am I focusing on the right thing or should I spend more time defining the quality of wine at irish pubs in Stockholm?
6/20/2009
Why we call it "the Mission Field"
I realize that most people who are new to this blog on read a few of the posts, because it's a lot to read everything. But it seems like the very first thing I posted on this blog could be put back here one more time, because I get a lot of emails from people who want to know why we call the new CD "the Mission Field". So here's a repeat of the very first blog:
As long as I can remember I have been thrilled by looking at maps. My grandparents were missionaries in Africa and I always looked at the globe on my grandfather’s desk wondering what countries I would ever get the chance to explore. Being in their house, which was decorated with tribal items from the depth of ..Africa..’s jungles, added to the excitement. I have carried that feeling of excitement with me ever since.
When I started Praise Unit in 2004 I looked at the musical map of the world and I saw areas yet to be discovered. I also looked at the geographical map and I knew that Prasie Unit would have to consist of people who like to travel. When I looked at the spiritual map I was a little less enthusiastic. Because I knew that going on a mission in the spiritual world would mean facing a lot of battles that can not be predicted, and would I be the right person to go on that mission?
As we are working on the next Praise Unit CD, ”the Mission Field”, we have two theme verses from the bible to guide us through our work.
The first verse is Matthew 28:19
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”....
This is a verse from the bible that I have been criticized for taking seriously by people who don’t share my faith. They say it’s ok that I’m a Christian, but I should keep it to myself like everybody else does. But why? How come you would listen to me and find me interesting if I talk about my love life, my weight problems, my dark secrets or other tabloid stuff, but if I share about my faith you want me to shut up? No, this is not right. The minute I try to manipulate you into believing what I believe, that’s when it’s fair to ask me to shut up. But there is something wrong when it’s more taboo to talk about faith, than anything else. I ask you, whatever you believe in, to join me on a mission to change that!
The second bible verse is Matthew 16:26....
“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”
The way I see it the first verse does not work if I don’t repeatedly remind me of the second verse. I believe that when a Christian forgets Matthew 16:26 is when the Christian starts doing evil things in Jesus name. Like killing people that don’t fit in our frame of Christian moral, manipulating people to make way for our own egos, shutting out people to avoid uncomfortable issues. The list could unfortunately be longer. Again, I am not ashamed to speak about my faith, but I am ashamed of all the things that Christians have done, and do, in the name of Jesus. I can not be the judge of whether I am also using my faith to hurt you in any way. The only one who can tell me is you. So I ask you, whatever you believe in, to help me see that the mission field is not only a geographically distant place full of non-believers, but it’s also my very own soul.
So in the year 2009 Praise Unit enters the mission field again. We continue exploring the musical map like we did in 2006 on ”Whole”, we continue exploring the geographical map as we travel to new places to make new friends, and most of all -on our new CD ”the Mission Field” we invite you to eperience what happens in our lives as we explore the spiritual map of our own souls!
If you want know more, or communicate with us, please subscribe to this blog, check our Myspace, www.myspace.com/praiseunit, join our Mission Field facebook group, check out our youtube clips or visithttp://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmpvYWtpbWFyZW5pdXMuY29t.
As we are working on the next Praise Unit CD, ”the Mission Field”, we have two theme verses from the bible to guide us through our work.
The first verse is Matthew 28:19
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”....
This is a verse from the bible that I have been criticized for taking seriously by people who don’t share my faith. They say it’s ok that I’m a Christian, but I should keep it to myself like everybody else does. But why? How come you would listen to me and find me interesting if I talk about my love life, my weight problems, my dark secrets or other tabloid stuff, but if I share about my faith you want me to shut up? No, this is not right. The minute I try to manipulate you into believing what I believe, that’s when it’s fair to ask me to shut up. But there is something wrong when it’s more taboo to talk about faith, than anything else. I ask you, whatever you believe in, to join me on a mission to change that!
The second bible verse is Matthew 16:26....
“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”
The way I see it the first verse does not work if I don’t repeatedly remind me of the second verse. I believe that when a Christian forgets Matthew 16:26 is when the Christian starts doing evil things in Jesus name. Like killing people that don’t fit in our frame of Christian moral, manipulating people to make way for our own egos, shutting out people to avoid uncomfortable issues. The list could unfortunately be longer. Again, I am not ashamed to speak about my faith, but I am ashamed of all the things that Christians have done, and do, in the name of Jesus. I can not be the judge of whether I am also using my faith to hurt you in any way. The only one who can tell me is you. So I ask you, whatever you believe in, to help me see that the mission field is not only a geographically distant place full of non-believers, but it’s also my very own soul.
So in the year 2009 Praise Unit enters the mission field again. We continue exploring the musical map like we did in 2006 on ”Whole”, we continue exploring the geographical map as we travel to new places to make new friends, and most of all -on our new CD ”the Mission Field” we invite you to eperience what happens in our lives as we explore the spiritual map of our own souls!
If you want know more, or communicate with us, please subscribe to this blog, check our Myspace, www.myspace.com/praiseunit, join our Mission Field facebook group, check out our youtube clips or visithttp://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmpvYWtpbWFyZW5pdXMuY29t.
6/03/2009
Sweden = weird
What´s the matter with this country I´m living in??? How can it be close to 30 degrees centigrade and sunshine from a clear blue sky one day and 8 degrees centigrade and rain the day after? Sweden is a weird place in some ways.... I wonder what God was thinking when he gave us weather like this. Well, maybe it´s a good thing that it´s changing so often. I think I get more greatful the sunny days now than I would have been if it was warm and sunny every day all year around.
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