Eastern Conference Predictions

What an awesome first week of NBA basketball?! The 2 most (at least it seemed so) blatant "tankers" in recent memory have yet to lose a game, unless the Suns lose tonight against the Thunder. Philli has even beat the 2 favorites to win the eastern conference to go to an unimaginable 3-0. I love sports because they are so hard to predict. It's not just about talent. Of course talent matters; the Miami Heat could sleep walk against the Miami Hurricanes women's team and still probably win by 50 to 100. But once you get to the professional level, sometimes people forget, "ALL these guys can play". It is so hard to make it to the highest level; once they do, talent is no longer the biggest issue. It still matters, but it's much more about chemistry, confidence, will, off-season work ethic, luck, momentum, and match-ups. These things are much harder to predict. With that being said, here's my likely-to-be-wrong predictions for this year -- team by team starting with the Eastern Conference (West to come later).

Before I state my prediction, I'll give a range for each team on what I think a bad year could result in (or their worst case scenario due to bad luck, injuries, tanking, bad chemistry, etc), and what a good year could result in (or their best case scenario where everything goes right). Although this will be in low and high win totals, because 2014's draft will be so loaded, I think the lower win total or "bad" scenario may actually be what's "good" for the non-contending 20 or so teams this year. Mediocrity is not the place to be in the NBA.

Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
Celtics: I feel like their season depends on 2 questions: when does Rondo come back and how does Brad Stevens translate to the NBA? Not sure on Rondo, but I personally think Stevens is worth 5 to 10 wins as a coach. So the Celtics may be looking at more wins than Danny Ainge is hoping for.
Bad: 20 wins, Good: 40 wins, My prediction: 32-50.
Nets: I loved the way they looked in their game against the Heat the other night. But I also think they'll have a few nights that Paul and Kevin will have to take off, which may lower their win total just a bit.
Bad: 47 wins, Good: 60 wins, My prediction: 56-26
Knicks: Along with the Nuggets, they look like the easy choice for regression team this year.
Bad: 40 wins, Good 52 wins, My prediction: 44-38
76ers: I am tempted to change my mind with their 3-0 start and the way Turner, Young, Hawes, and MCW look; but the GM won't stand for this much longer. Plus MCW/Turner have been inconsistent since college, and Hawes always gets burned out after like 20 games.
Bad: 15 wins, Good: 35 wins (this used to be 25 before the season began), My prediction: 19-63
Raptors: I think they're trading Rudy Gay and may join the tankers towards the end.
Bad: 20 wins, Good: 38 wins, My prediction: 26-56

Central Division
Bulls: Rose does not look too good right now, but I think he'll get it back. Plus he, Coach Thibs, and the Bulls are so competitive and seem least likely among the contenders to take nights off. That's why I'm picking them to have the best overall regular season record. Their 1-2 start doesn't help my case much.
Bad: 45 wins (with a possible Rose re-injury), Good: 62 wins, My prediction: 60-22
Cavs: A very hard team to predict because of injury-prone players and guys on the borderline of "big leap" or "bust" years. Should be fun to watch though.
Bad: 29 wins, Good: 44 wins, My prediction: 40-42
Pistons: I love the Josh Smith-Monroe-Drummond frontcourt, and I hope KCP has a good rookie season. The pistons could be back in the playoffs.
Bad: 35 wins, Good: 45 wins, My prediction: 42-40
Pacers: Their bench actually doesn't look as improved to me as everyone says, but maybe it's just because Granger hasn't come back yet. Paul George looks almost like an MVP candidate to start the season though. We'll see if he keeps it up all year.
Bad: 46 wins, Good: 59 wins, My prediction: 57-25
Bucks: A roster full of mediocre NBA players who should all be like your sixth or seventh man. Again, mediocrity is not a good place in the NBA. . . But the Bucks love it.
Bad: 26 wins, Good: 38 wins, My prediction: 30-52

Southeast Division
Hawks: Most people don't like the Hawks this year, but I like Horford so much I'm picking them to still make the playoffs. Sorry Atlanta, no Lottery this year.
Bad: 27 wins, Good: 41 wins, My prediction: 38-44
Bobcats: Nobody "wants to be like" Michael Jordan, the Owner.
Bad: 24 wins, Good: 35 wins, My prediction: 28-54
Heat: I don't think they have the stamina, or the desire, for another 20+ game win streak, but I still think they'll have one of the best records this year. I just hope they don't three-peat.
Bad: 54 wins, Good: 65 wins, My prediction: 59-23
Magic: I like this team a lot for the future if they can pick up a few more good pieces through trades and/or next year's draft. But I don't think this is their year.
Bad: 20 wins, Good: 32 wins, My prediction: 28-54
Wizzards: A lot of people are picking them for a final playoff position, including Washington management as evidenced by that silly trade for Gortat this week. But I just don't think Beal and Wall are quite there yet, nor is the help around them. I see them falling short to the Hawks in the end.
Bad: 28 wins, Good: 45, My prediction: 36-46

Here's my quick East playoff predictions: 
Round 1
Bulls beat Hawks 4-0
Heat beat Cavs 4-1
Pacers beat Pistons 4-2
Nets beat Knicks 4-1
Round 2
Nets upset Bulls 4-2
Heat beat Pacers 4-3
Conference Finals
Nets upset Heat 4-3

I don't feel great about the Nets pick, but I am just praying someone knocks off the Heat. And right now, the Heat do look vulnerable and the Nets feel like the best candidate. Who knows though? So many things could change in the next 7 months. It's sports. It's unpredictable.

NBA 2013-14 Preview / Predictions

When I first began liking basketball, the NBA was full of watchable and marketable stars and teams: it was the end of Larry and Magic, and MJ was unstoppable. You had dynamic duos like Mike and Scottie, Clyde and Hakeem, Stockton and Malone, GP and Rain Man, Shaq and Lil' Penny, or my personal favorite, Chuck and Thunder Dan (I realize Mayor KJ was probably better than Dan Majerle, but c'mon, he's my favorite basketball player of all-time). Then you had other stars like Ewing, Reggie, David Robinson, Mitch Richmond, LJ, an old Dominique, a young Grant Hill, and of course, Shawn Bradley. Throw that in with NBC's awesome coverage and theme song, and mid to late 90's NBA basketball is one of my fondest childhood memories.

But then came an influx of unlikable and overpayed players mixed with NBC losing coverage, Michael leaving and even worse allowing his corpse to come back and play for the Wizzards, social media coming alive and revealing way too much about the lives of these used-to-be revered stars, the arrogant Lakers or monotonous Spurs winning every year, and me always seeming to go to summer camp in the middle of the finals. These all seemed to make my NBA excitement go dormant for nearly a decade and I turned to college basketball for most of my b-ball enjoyment.

Now things seem to be changing again. The one-and-done is ruining college basketball, NCAA corruption is not helping any college sports right now, many of the players I loved watching over the years in March Madness now play in the NBA, salaries have lowered, players I didn't like too much are retiring, the league is getting heavy at the top (many contenders) and not so heavy on the bottom (many tankers)--which makes the playoffs much more unpredictable and entertaining, and NBA stars are likable, or at least extremely watchable, again. Likable = Durant, Paul, Harden, Irving, and Curry; watchable = Lebron, Griffin, Westbrook, Rose; others = Dwight Howard (annoying) and Tony Parker (the ultimate "how is he so good?" guy). So I'm officially leaving college for the NBA this year. It's won my heart back. I'm actually so excited for this year, I was tempted for the first time ever to purchase NBA League Pass, but I like my wife a little too much to put her through that.

So to kick off this year, I've been getting ready looking at rosters and thinking of scenarios. I wanted to put together a post about some of my predictions and see how well I do next June. In a soon to come post, I'll give a brief prediction for each team, but first, with ESPN's #NBARank becoming a big thing now, I thought I would give my top 30 players right now (with their 2013's advanced stats).

1. Lebron (26.8 PPG, 31.6 PER, 19.3 total win shares (WS))
2. Durant (28.1 PPG, 28.3 PER, 18.9 WS)
3. CP3 (16.9 PPG, 26.4 PER, 13.9 WS)
4. D Rose (2012 stats in only 39 games played: 22.3 PPG 23.0 PER, 6 WS)
5. Kobe (27.3 PPG 23.0 PER, 10.9 WS)
6. Tony Parker (20.3 PPG, 23.0 PER, 9.3 WS)
7. Harden (25.9 PPG, 23.0 PER, 12.8 WS, Best Beard Award)
8. Westbrook (23.2 PPG, 23.9 PER, 11.6 WS)
9. D Wade (21.2 PPG, 24.0 PER, 9.6 WS)
10. Steph Curry (22.9 PPG, 21.3 PER, 11.2 WS)
11. Carmelo (28.7 PPG,  24.8 PER, 9.5 WS)
12. Duncan (17.8 PPG, 24.4 PER, 8.3 WS)
13. Dwight (17.1 PPG, 19.4 PER, 7.6 WS)
14. Kevin Love (2012: 24.0 PPG, 25.4 PER, 10 WS)
15. Blake Griffin (18.0 PPG, 22.4 PER, 10.6 WS)
16. Kyrie (22.5 PPG, 21.4 PER, 5.3 WS)
17. Rondo (13.7 PPG, 18.1 PER, 3.2 WS)
18. D Will (18.9 PPG, 20.3 PER, 10.9 WS)
19. Dirk (17.3 PPG, 19.8 PER, 5 WS)
20. Bosh (16.6 PPG, 20.0 PER, 9 WS)
21. Gasol - not Pau (14.1 PPG, 19.5 PER, 11.5 WS)
22. P George (17.4 PPG, 16.8 PER, 9 WS)
23. Horford (17.3 PPG, 19.8 PER, 8.8 WS)
24. John Wall (18.5 PPG, 20.8 PER, 4.5 WS)
25. The Truth (18.6 PPG, 19.1 PER, 7.2 WS)
26. Aldridge (21.1 PPG, 20.4 PER, 7.2 WS)
27. Z-Bo (15.4 PPG, 17.9 PER, 7.9 WS)
28. D Lee (18.5 PPG, 19.2 PER, 9.1 WS)
29. Brook Lopez (19.4 PPG, 24.7 PER, 9.0 WS -- I know, a little low for those efficiency numbers on a 4-seeded playoff team, but you also have to add horrible defense, guard-like rebounding numbers and "the dumbest sounding former Stanford student" award)
30. Roy Hibbert (11.9 PPG, 17.3 PER, 6.1 WS, and Miami kryptonite)  

*A few notes: If you could combine Lopez's offense with Hibbert's defense, I think you get a top 10 player easy. NBArank was really hatin' on Paul Pierce and David Lee with rankings in the 40 and 50's after really good years on playoff teams; I like them much better I guess. I think Dirk is in for another big comeback year this year. And I think Anthony Davis easily makes this list after this season.

Some quick predictions for player awards and all-NBA:

MVP - KD! I think he finally wins it due to some voters getting sick of voting for Lebron year after year and because Durant will have to average like 35 and carry his laughable roster until Russell comes back.
Defensive player of the year - Lebron (voters will make up for no MVP here)
Most Improved - Derrick Favors
Sixth Man - Iggy, but he may start, so really I don't know . . .
Rookie of the year - I wanted to go with Kentavious Caldwell Pope because his name is so cool and I think he'll get quality minutes for Detroit, but I can't. My more educated guess is Oladipo.
 
All NBA
First 
Lebron, KD, Dwight, CP, and DRose
Second
PG, Dirk, Marc Gasol, Curry, Harden
Third
Horford, Carmelo, Anthony Davis, Tony Parker, DWade

Well, we'll see how these pan out. Hope you come back next time for team and playoff predictions.
 

Avett Dennen

With their recent new album releases, here's a look at my top ten favorite Avett Brothers and Brett Dennen songs, not including any from the new albums of course.

Let's start with the Avett Brothers, who released Magpie and the Dandelion on October 15. It's a good album, but not great like some of their others. I'd give it a 7.5/10 overall. Better than most stuff put out by popular musicians these days, but too short and too many slow songs without any tracks that significantly move me (at least yet). I also recently saw them live in San Francisco, and although I wish we could have had better seats and it would have been less cold, they were awesome live. There are few bands that can match their talent, emotion and energy in my opinion. Briefly, here's a list of my favorite tunes of theirs - only 2 of which were played in their approximate 25 song set list at the concert.  They obviously have written and recorded a lot of songs beloved by their fans, so these are just ones most meaningful to me. Go check out all their music and you will be energized and enlightened.

10. Ill With Want, from I And Love And You
9. Murder in the City, from The Second Gleam
8. Shame, from Emotionalism
7. The Weight of Lies, from Emotionalism
6. A Father's First Spring, from The Carpenter
5. The Once and Future Carpenter, from The Carpenter
4. I and Love and You, from I And Love And You
3. Salvation Song, from Mignonette
2. The Perfect Space, from I And Love And You
1. If It's The Beaches, from The Gleam
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Now for Mr. Brett Dennen, who released Smoke and Mirrors on October 22. I'm still waiting on this CD to come in the mail, so can't really review it. From the few songs I've heard, I think it will be similar to his last two albums with more of the upbeat singer-songwriter pop feel and splashes of rock, soul, country, and reggae mixed in to different tracks. His recent sound is still great, but very different from his soft and simple, first self-titled album. But my favorites come from old and new Brett. Here they are!

10. Because You Are a Woman, from So Much More
9. Sydney (I'll Come Running), from Loverboy
8. Wrong About Me, from Hope for the Hopeless
7. Frozen in Slow Motion, from Loverboy
6. Oh the Glorious, from Brett Dennen
5. There Is So Much More, from So Much More
4. So Far From Me, from Hope for the Hopeless
3. San Francisco, from Hope for the Hopeless
2. Ain't No Reason, from So Much More
1. Heaven, from Hope for the Hopeless

The used-to-be-not-so famous Amos

To celebrate the soon-to-be released albums of 3 of my favorite artists the following 3 Tuesdays, I wanted to share my top ten songs by each of them and hopefully better introduce some of the most talented and soulful musicians of our day. This week, we will focus on Amos Lee, whose album, Mountains of Sorrow, Rivers of Song, comes out the soonest on October the 8th. By the way, you should stream it on amazon.com. You only got a few more days to do so. Listen to it 2 or 3 times; it really grows on you. At first, I thought it may be like his 2nd and 3rd albums: good but not great, but after listening to it again (and a 3rd and 4th time), I decided it competes with his 1st and 4th full-length albums, which are nothing short of greatness. Here are my top 10 songs among the first 4 albums from good ol' Ryan Anthony Massaro (aka Amos Lee).

10. Street Corner Preacher, from Last Days at the Lodge - This song has a simple, melodic hook to go along with a story about one of Amos's most complex and best lyrical characters.

9. What's Been Going On, from Last Days at the Lodge - He starts and ends this sad song with a great Amos line, "No one says a word to me. They're concerned with my jealousy. I guess that's how its got to be, from now on."

8. Supply & Demand, from Supply And Demand - Probably the best song from his 2nd album beating out Southern Girl and 2 other good songs about philosophies of life and people, Freedom and Shout Out Loud.

7. Learned a Lot, from Mission Bell - I am sure we all know too well about learning a lot "broken down on our bedroom floor."  

6. Truth, from Last Days at the Lodge - It's not often a song by a non-comedic artist makes you laugh for good reasons, but this song still makes me snicker when I hear it. Very clever song-writing and story.

5. Give It Up, from Amos Lee - A fun song to teach a good lesson: some want so-called freedom, but there are some people/things we should "give it up" for such as love, family, God and truth. Plus, is there a cooler sounding way to say, "We live in a world full of confusion."?

4. Violin, from Mission Bell - Until I actually looked at the song's title after a few listens, I thought it was "Vile Land" instead of violin. I still think it might be a play on words; it makes sense with the song. This seems to be one of Lee's most heart-felt, personal, and sincerely written tunes. It's great at the end of any tough day.

3. Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight, from Amos Lee - Maybe the most classic Amos track and definitely one of his early ones that got me hooked.

2. Flower, from Mission Bell - There are so many things I like about "Flower". Content and sound alone and it may be my favorite of his, but it didn't quite have the significance of number one to me.

1. Arms Of A Woman, from Amos Lee - For most people and especially music lovers, usually our all-time favorite songs can take us right back to a particular moment or period of our lives, and this song does that for me more than any other Amos tune. In my opinion, it is the best long-distance love song ever written. My wife and I dated long distance before we got married, and I fell in love with this song then. I can remember going for a run by myself while listening to it early on in our long distance relationship. When I listen to it now, I can go right back to the exact spot (an overpass in Provo) when I realized the applicability of what I was hearing to how I was feeling. It helped me realize how much I liked and missed Angela at the time. And I'd say things worked out pretty well for us; now I can sing "I am at ease in the arms of a woman, and now most of my days are spent with her." Thank you, Amos, for the help.


Well, you should support Amos and purchase some of his music if you've enjoyed anything you've heard today. You won't regret it. If not, thanks for reading and tune in next week as we celebrate The Avett Brothers.  

Infertility: The Good, The Bad, and The Unnecessary

I’m thinking October is going to be my month! I love early fall weather, we have general conference (LDS church’s semi-annual worldwide broadcast), 3 of my 4 favorite musicians are releasing much anticipated new albums (Amos Lee – Oct 8, Avett Brothers – Oct 15, Brett Dennen – Oct 22), the Red Sox are back in the playoffs, and the NBA begins again on the 29^th.  (*For some reason I have been waiting more anxiously for this season than any I can remember in past years – probably due to there being like 7 or 8  contenders to take down Lebron & Co, which is more than the usual 2 or 3 contenders most seasons. And I am not even counting the up-and-coming Warriors, but of course I am counting my Phoenix Suns . . . just kidding.) However, I am hoping all this good fortune means one additional joyous thing happens to me this October. I find out my wife is pregnant.

Many of you likely read my wife’s post from last week about our struggles with infertility and learned that we will be doing In Vitro Fertilization in a few days. We are very excited, and very nervous. Today we are fasting for and we are always praying for a successful procedure, but this focus on IVF has also got me reflecting on the journey of the past 2 ½ years to this point. Many blogs have been written by women about infertility, but rarely has a man voiced his struggles. So I hope I can express myself sincerely and can adequately convey what many husbands feel during a couple’s battle to have kids. My wife put a warning in her post about the length of it, and if you thought her post was long, you probably won’t want to read this; I struggle with concision. (I’m also sorry if I get too specific with infertility issues, but being in the medical field, I don’t find these things awkward to talk about.)

The Good

I don’t want to be all tears and gloom with my post today, because as I look back on our ongoing trial, I see many good things that have become of it. God often blesses us through our trials, and I didn’t quite fully comprehend this until recently. This understanding of God and knowledge that he never abandons us has been a blessing in itself. I’ve also learned that most trials are not given as punishment, prayers are answered, the Holy Ghost is often leading us in small decisions that we don’t realize until later, we cannot judge others and must be sensitive to their possible internal struggles, patience is a virtue, and we should live like we’ve already been blessed because all blessings do come. But the biggest thing I have learned is what my wife mentioned in her post: God’s ways are not our ways, He is in control, and His timing is His timing. This has been most humbling to me, and don’t we all need to be humbled sometimes?

We have been blessed by more than just knowledge over the past 2 plus years. I know that our church teaches that finances should not govern your decision to have children, and it obviously didn’t for us, but financially, we are loads more ready now to have a baby than we would have been 1 or 2 years ago. Angela has been able to continue working to help support us, especially while I was a student. Insurance-wise, we have also been blessed financially. Thanks to Mr. Obama, we decided to put Angela back on her parents’ insurance after her benefits ended with her teaching job. Then, I was given an offer with and without benefits at my new job and took the no benefits/ higher pay package because “it just felt right”. After seeing what her dad’s insurance has covered for infertility and knowing what others often pay for these procedures, we have experienced nothing short of a miracle with her staying on the parents’ insurance. As I mentioned earlier, the spirit often leads us in decisions we don’t realize at the time. This was also evident in us ending up in Reno. Until about a year ago, Reno would have never even come up in places we’d likely live after graduation. But some things led us here and specifically, to the apartment complex we chose to live in. It just so happened, a few weeks into attending church in our new ward boundaries, we discovered a highly successful and well-respected fertility specialist was a member of our ward. I was prompted to talk to him and a few weeks later, we were in his office devising a plan to get us pregnant. The Lord works in mysterious ways!

In addition to finances, I feel we have grown extremely close as a “kidless” married couple, and we are more patient with each other, more spiritually mature, more physically healthy (well, I guess everything besides our fertility health), and ready to be good parents now. I’ve also heard some parents complain about or belittle their kids, and I believe going through all this to start having them will hopefully help me understand they are God’s gift to us and appreciate them even in their times of terror. One last blessing has been the outpouring of love we have received from those that we have told our struggles to. From family to friends to co-workers to fellow church members, we are truly grateful for the support.

The Bad

Unfortunately, there have been some bad, or difficult, things to accompany the good.  For many couples with infertility issues, it is often just the man or just the woman with a problem needing to be fixed. But for us, we seemed to have gotten a perfect storm of male and female factors affecting our chances to conceive. I think, especially for the husband, there are different feelings that accompany either scenario – the wife or his self as the source of infertility – and I have been privileged to experience both along the way.

As I’m sure you know, men like to fix problems. That’s what we do. So as we began realizing the long road it was going to be for us and focused on Angela’s issues thinking that I was “normal”, I wanted to fix our problems. But the more and more I tried to, the more and more I realized my lack of control over the whole thing. I felt so helpless as Angela would cry and feel horrible every time her period came, as we would set goals to better ourselves spiritually and still no baby came, and as my healthy, granola wife struggled with the one health issue at the top of her “never want to have this issue” list. She told me growing up and throughout college for her, her greatest fear was to not be able to have her own kids someday. And as she faced her greatest fear, I felt there was nothing I could do to save her from it.

However, after moving to Portland about a year ago, we began to investigate my possible problems because the results of a semen analysis reported to us as “reasonably normal” turned out to be not so normal when you actually looked at them. We did another SA in February of this year and the results were even worse than before – much worse. (And real quickly for those that have never experienced it, getting a semen sample is a kind of a trial in itself, especially for a good Mormon boy who has never masturbated in his life.) These results took a few days for them to call me about, and like my own father, I was tragically optimistic that they could only be better than before – heck, I was healthier now. Then the call came on my way to my clinical rotation downtown, the tone in the nurses voice already told me they weren’t going to be better. And then I heard what no man ever wants to hear: motile sperm count = ZERO, or in other words, sterility. I had to pull over and gather myself. I cried with actual tears down my cheeks, for the first time about something that made me sad in as long as I could remember. I called Angela and we cried together. Oh yeah, and then I had to go to 8 hours of work with patients and be happy. It was easily one of the 5 worst days of my life. It was like I lost my manhood, learned there was something seriously wrong with me, and gave my wife the worst let down of our marriage all with just one phone call. But we gathered ourselves and met with a male infertility specialist that gave us some hope (which are rare by the way, but another blessing is there was one right across the street from my work in Portland.)  To end this part of the story, I have done some things that have helped give my sperm some life – at least enough to do IVF with ICSI. Thank goodness for that!

The Unnecessary

Along with the letdowns of our own personal issues, there was another bad that was probably unnecessary for me to put myself through. One of the hardest things about our 2 ½ years wanting desperately to have a baby was having to deal with others comments or questions. I always thought I was thick-skinned, but somehow infertility turned me into a softy and made me ultra sensitive. Just like when I was discouraged about dating and despised all the questions about marriage, I began noticing people would ask what I often considered as insensitive questions such as, “When you gonna have kids?”, “You guys have been married a while, you thought about kids?”, or “Your wife pregnant yet?”. Not that these are really insensitive questions, but to “Mr. Extra-sensitive Infertility man”, they were. I also began noticing how much family and raising children and dealing with kids was a topic in all church meetings. It’s difficult hearing about a family-centered gospel when you can’t seem to start a family. Maybe the worst was noticing other parents complain about their kids or having others say, “Wait as long as you can to have kids; they’ll drive you crazy and take away your freedom” or “You guys are lucky not to have any kids”. The whole time I would be thinking painfully, “Then please take away my luck and give me crazy, give me oppression.”  

So was my offense justified? Were my feelings necessary? Probably not. For 2 reasons. 

1. We were very private with this matter over the whole process. Not even our families knew most of these details. Recently as we have finally opened up, we have been amazed at the flood of sincere comments and support. People are actually very sensitive when they actually know your trial. That’s the kicker. I often have that inner feeling of slight awkwardness for someone else as they bare their soul about a trial in a fast and testimony meeting. But they’re likely doing a good thing. We are supposed to mourn with those that mourn and bear each other’s burdens, but how can we do it if we don’t know what burdens they have or don’t even know they’re mourning? I could have solved part of my issues by overcoming my pride and telling more people that we were struggling, especially when the topic came up.  

2. Although the first principle is true, people could still do a better job of being sensitive to other’s issues. I know we can’t know everyone’s trials, but many have the spirit of discernment. Try to use it and think before you speak. (Don’t worry, I am plenty guilty of putting my foot in my mouth and not great at this either). With family preached so much, those not successfully finding a spouse, those with a struggling marriage, or those not being able to produce offspring might be sensitive to such topics. Maybe we could use more caution in bringing up personal questions or doling out advice. I know I would really get ruffled with comments like, “Here’s the key to getting pregnant, [Insert some off the wall anecdotal advice].” I have a sister who’s 25, still single, and the best catch I know; I’m sure she hates hearing, “Here’s what you gotta do to get a husband.” Seriously, do we not remember how tricky dating is, especially in the shrunken technology world we live in today? Whatever people’s trials are, and we all have them, we can be more sensitive and sympathetic by using our gifts, following the spirit, and being thoughtful and understanding.

Well, I hope somebody got something out of my thoughts on our infertility. I pray with all my heart it ends soon, but will be willing to accept whatever the Lord’s timing is with the things I’ve learned from it.

This is all for now. My wife thinks I’m insane and need to stop writing. She’s probably right.                 

Christian & Gospel Music

Now that I am finally graduated and a licensed Physical Therapist, and we are settled in our new town (Reno), I figured I’d get back to blogging about some of my ideas. I don’t know how much longer I’ll stick with my “Life Lessons” series (I guess that means I’ll have to change my blog title soon) because there are some other things I’ve been thinking about lately. But for now, I’m picking up where I left off over a year ago. Since today is the Sabbath Day, here are some spiritual subjects to discuss from the genre of Christian Music.

First off, a little rant about Christian music and Mormons. I am surprised more LDS members don’t listen to mainstream Christian and/or gospel music. I understand there may be many that do, but I’ve seemed to rarely come across it in any music conversations with members and have never heard it playing in cars of members or at church events (And no, I am not counting Stephen Speaks when I say that). With a lot of crap out there, it’s usually a safe bet to be uplifting and wholesome (which is what we are encouraged to listen to). I realize that many members listen to LDS artists, but let’s be honest, if music lovers restricted ourselves to that, I think we would get a little sick of Cherie Call and Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband. There are endless Christian artists out there. And of course, like LDS artists or popular artists, there will be a lot of duds you listen to, but also some gems. The access to Christian music is easy too, with what seems like at least 5 to 10 Christian music stations on most local radio, not to mention the ability to make our own radio stations now with tools like Pandora. If you haven’t ever researched some good Christian music, I encourage you to do so and see what you find. You don’t have to feel comfortable with it all (screamo worship music still just doesn't seem right to me), but I promise, there will be some artists you’ll probably add to your playlists. It’s good stuff, and no, you are not going to feel like you are straying from the doctrines of the Restoration. These are honest worshipers of Christ like you or me that just want to bring people closer to Him through music. (This fact that we are similar reminds me of one last thing for this rant – I’ve always wanted to see an LDS member with talent make it big in the Christian Music scene instead of going the easy way through Deseret Book. What a great way to show we are Christian and to bridge a gap?!  I know it would be difficult, but it would be sweet if it happened.)

Anyway, here are two of my favorite artists in Christian Music and some lessons they've taught me

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First off, Audrey Assad; she’s crept into my top 20 favorite artists recently with the release of a new worship album funded by kickstarter, Fortunate Fall. She’s of Catholic faith and takes a simple yet artistic approach to Christian music. Her beautiful piano melodies and gentle voice combined with her honest and thoughtful songwriting have touched my soul during many different songs. But the one that gets me every time is the following song:

“O My Soul” – Album: Heart

I think people – outsiders, Christians, and LDS members – sometimes feel that we express faith and belief in Christ on the outside and do many things superficially to follow gospel principles and fit in with other church members, but on the inside, we have doubts and questions and worries and are hiding our true selves. I have felt this way before when pondering my use of the words “I know” or when thinking about my true character and desires, but this song teaches me it is the other way around. The doubts, the questions, the worries, the evil thoughts, the distractions; they are the superficial attributes of me. Deep down in my soul I know who I truly am and the hope that is in me. We give in to the “Father of Lies” when we lie to ourselves by belittling our belief in God and doubting our faith. I am not the best with words, but I think Jeffrey R. Holland  explained this recently way better than I can.

My other favorite Christian artist is Jimmy Needham – the Jason Mraz of Christian music. Not that that is the perfect description of his music (or that I am still in love with Mraz's music), but I’ve heard him called that before. He does have some similar sounds as he mixes singer-songwriting with soul, pop, and hip-hop much like Mr A-Z. Though occasionally playful, most of his songs are serious lessons and expressions of Christian faith. The one that tops my list of his greats is the following:

 Don’t you wish you could just linger and stay in some spiritual moments? How many times have you attended an awesome church meeting/ fireside or heard an amazing lesson/ talk, but then forget about everything you just felt and learned a few hours later when you’re home and choose to fill your time with trivial Grantland articles and other media or are being harassed by your 3 kids under the age of 5? (Of course, these are just random things that could distract us among many. . . I guess we don’t have kids yet – a post for a whole other day – so I don’t know for sure how much of a distraction or patience-tester they can be . . . and I am sure any of you that really know me would never expect me to get consumed by a sports/entertainment site run by Bill Simmons ;) ). Anyway, we often quickly forget our closest moments to the Spirit/ Savior and frequently don’t allow these moments to change us like they should because life is ever on-going with much to stress over. I remember on my mission in Pusan, South Korea having an extremely strong spiritual experience in my first area where I actually thought, “I will never question my faith again because this feeling is so strong I know without a doubt that my message is true, God lives, and He loves me and all these people I teach.” My thoughts may have been a little green and naïve like me in the mission field at that time, but I wish I could have stayed in that moment and kept that feeling a bit longer than it lasted. I also recall a few months later in my mission having a period of drought in the work and a few questions about doctrine where I actually thought back to that earlier experience and wondered how I had come so far from that moment. Later in my mission, I would have, and have had since, many moments like that first one where “my fears have no voice at all and the only sound in my ear is the whisper of His call”. And like we learned from Audrey, these are truly the moments that get us in touch with our soul and our Maker, not the superficial doubts and fears. What 2 great songs?! “Don’t lie to yourself”, you need some good Christian music in your life on occasion.

In closing here are some other good songs by these artists if you’re interested:

Jimmy Needham: In the Middle, Clear the Stage, Part the Clouds, The Reason I Sing, Moving to Zion

Audrey Assad: Humble, Good to Me, Restless, Sparrow, Blessed are the Ones

Until next time . . . 

– Mitchell Jay