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Wednesday Spotlight

Wednesday Spotlight: Songza

Chris —  January 16, 2013

8c3cb62d511bc073b324075fb199eb86_songza_defaultLike the idea of Pandora, but hate the commercials and the shallow, computer generated playlists? Like Spotify, but wish it had an alarm clock? Or do just want something that will play music for you, and is free?

What you want is Songza.

I tripped on Songza because I really wanted Spotify to have an alarm clock.  I found that, and much more.

Songza is driven by human curated playlists.  These lists are organized by themes such as activities and moods.  A few I’ve used are “Waking up Smiling” (Soul and R&B anthems), and “Ambient Music for Reading” (which is exactly what it sounds like.)  These playlists provide something Spotify does not, great music I don’t have to think about to find.

Songza is helping me develop one of my new habits for 2013, becoming a morning person.  I set a timer to play  some super chill tunes or white noise for 90 minutes as I go to sleep.  Then, it cranks back up with my morning playlist about 10 minutes before I need to get out of bed.

You can listen free online, or download the app.

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Finishing Lent Strong

Chris —  April 18, 2011

With Palm Sunday already come and gone, we’re on the home stretch.  This has been a very long Lenten season.

Personally (and maybe here, too) I’ll spend the next week going through the gospels reading the texts about Jesus’ last week.  For those of you still on Twitter, you’ll appreciate following @passionweek.  For those of you with smart phones, I suggest using the Explore Faith app. Based on Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours, it gives liturgical prayers to pray throughout the day.

Lent has taught me how how I make inconsequential things the center of my life.  I’ve realized how bad I need resurrection.  The there’s the fact that by attempting Lent, I’ve realized how wrongly I’ve approached it.

My goal now is to finish Lent strong.  Dive further into the prayers.  Stay true to the pledges of abstinence.  Meditate on my role in Triumphal Entry, Jesus washing my feet, how I betrayed him.  How my actions led to his death.

We need this season, because without it, we’d be too busy distracting ourselves from think about these things.  But to truly embrace Jesus as our Savior, we must recognize ourself as his murderer.

As depressing as it might sound, let’s finish Lent strong.  Because resurrection is coming.

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