He just walked right on in.

I am sitting here on my couch with coffee and small puppy (though not quite that small anymore :) ) beside me, and I am an extremely happy camper.

You see, here's the thing, I love being right here.  Ok, I love drinking coffee with the puppy, but more than that, I love writing.  For the last two months or so we were in the barn I had the worst case of writer's block.  I would want to write, but simply had nothing that pulled me into writing.  (That was very strange and frankly awful for me.)

Now we are moved into our first home, and the transformation has been fairly amazing in my life.  I now drive a scant 11 mins and 30 seconds into work instead of 45 minutes on a good day.  HEB, Costco, Freebirds, Five Guys, and Lowe's are all within 5 minutes of the house.  I can see friends any night of the week that we want to without having to drive an hour.  It is so wonderful, such a blessing from the Lord, and my heart is happy here with my small wifey (Who is currently sleeping in the other room still.  She is a super cute sleeper.).  

So lately, I find myself with another sort of conundrum.  I drive to and from work or to run and errand for said small wife, and I keep getting flooded with things to write about.  Good?  Yes, absolutely.  Bad also.  Why?  Because I'm in the car with no "writing" option.  

Summary of this thought: I have got to find a way to record these ideas for future scribbling because Jesus put this writing bug in my heart.  Whether done poorly or well at this point, it is something that I love to do and something that God continues to draw up.

So, without further adue, I have a very firm recommendation for each and every one of you out there who likes good music.

Wes, Sheridan, Jess, and I all went to the Needtobreathe show at House of Blues (great venue btw) the other night expecting to see a great show from them.  Luke Friesen's little bro, Toby, is currently playing keys and a little guitar for them, and they went even harder than we had expected them to.  Expectations surpassed.  Well done, gents, and your heart matches.  Too fun.

What we did not expect:

The Daylights

Opened for NTB.  I was floored.  They were good.  Huge sound for a three piece gig.  

Then all of the sudden they play this song called Weapons (on myspace page).  

I have no explanation for what happened at that point, but all I know is that out of the clear blue I felt God's presence just walk into the room.  It was marked, and it was unmistakable.  (Also rather fantastic.  I mean, how cool is Jesus?  "Yea, sure, let me waltz into this House of Blues bar and show up at a concert that is not branded as 'Christian'.")  For the record, He stayed the rest of the show through NTB. It was so much fun to worship to Something Beautiful with my hands held high.

I know this:  When a band is good, and God's hand is on them like that, they are someone worth getting behind.

Summary of band/concert thoughts: If you trust me or Wesley Charles Whitney at all about bands, buy The Daylights CD on iTunes or Amazon, give it two spins, and you'll be hooked.  Great lyrics and a sound that is plum stuck in my head.

OK, I'm off to my favorite pastime - basketball.  Hope you laughed.

Mr. Hill

An Explosion of All Things Pent Up

OH MY GOSH.

Bad things happen when I get too excited.  Things get broken.  I hit things in cars.  Squirrels spontaneously combust.  It is crazy the amount of excitement energy that God has given me the ability to generate.

Frankly, I sometimes wonder if you could power a small city off of my excitement.  It's pretty ridiculous, just ask my wife.


Well, work has been crazy, and we've been out of town nearly every weekend.  (Saturday morning after my quiet time is my favorite time to blog...coffee still flows in abundance, good music on the stereo, the day is still quiet - it basically rocks.)  The business and traveling have greatly limited me from being able to release all of my silly excitement about random things in life via the blog.

I am about to explode in real life from all the fun, random, silly things that I have been wanting to write about for the last month.  I hope you have fun.



1.  The album Trouble by Ray LaMontagne might be the perfect Spring time cd.  Last weekend, I sat on the front porch listening to this cd.  The Sun was still up (God love you, Daylight Savings time!), the breeze was slight, the pond was pretty, Diamond H steaks were on the grill, the wine was a Punto Final Malbec, and my wife was looking particularly beautiful.  One of the best nights of my life, truthfully.


2.  Online Shopping.  I love it.  I can find nearly anything online for less money.  I get to compare prices, service, etc all from the comfort of my Michael Jordan basketball shorts and iTunes library.  Booya.

I love online shopping, but I have also discovered something about myself through it:

I turn into an impatient and emotional two year-old when I have that tracking number.

Seriously.  I will open my email, open the Online Shopping label in my gmail (I told you, I'm sick) and find the tracking email from Eastbay.  I will check the track of my package 3 times a day at least.  "Oh, I know that the package left Indiana yesterday, surely it will be to Texas today, right?"

For my birthday, this was particularly problematic.  I had several things that I wanted to shop online for.  Armed with my bday cash, I went to freaking town.  (BTW, I heartily endorse the following products.  They are all more than SHFP worthy.  Seriously, you should buy them.)  New 320 GB harddrive for my MacBook?  Cheap and Check.  New, RIDICULOUSLY HOTT Nike Basketball shoes?  Wes and Luke Friesen bought the same ones, Check, and triple Check.

I have never acted more completely ridiculously than while waiting for these two packages to arrive.  It was completely absurd.  I have since apologized to my wife.  Yep, it was bad.

Haha.  While repeatedly tracking my Eastbay shipment for my basketball shoes, I see that they have arrived in Conroe on a Saturday.  This is awesome.  This means that the next business day (Monday), I will see those magical words, "OUT FOR DELIVERY".  The next day, I dutifully, triply check my tracking number only to find that they have been passed off to the Post Office for final delivery.  What kind of awful joke is this, UPS???????  The US POST OFFICE?  They stink so bad they can't even make a profit with a monopoly on our mailboxes and you give my prized basketball shoes to them for final delivery?  What in God's name are you thinking???


I had a minor near meltdown, and the shoes showed up on Tuesday.  Like I said, I apologized to my wife for my frantic and completely pathetic emotional state.

Will I change my online shopping ways?  Absolutely not.  Will it likely provide me with more fodder for random blog posts?  Absolutely.

3.  I rear-ended a woman on Belt-way 8 doing 35 miles an hour.  It was awful.  No one was hurt.  Her truck was totaled an mine ends up with cosmetic damage (I guess we can still say something for good ol' GMC, right?).  Not quite sure how that happened, but apparently two car lengths isn't enough space to check your blindspot with how fast Houstonians can slam on their breaks.  Such is life, and this is how we learn our lessons.  Thank God for comprehensive insurance and for keeping everyone safe.

I sat there on the side of the road with my overactive sense of irresponsibility, trying to keep from getting pissed off at myself, and asked the Lord why He let this happen.  I felt Him gently speak to me and let me know that it was ok, and that He wanted to reveal Himself to me as My Provider in a new and deeper way.  I'm excited to see Him do this and thankful for His comforting voice in times like that.  I'll keep you posted on my poor truck, Duke, and the facelift that he's getting.

4.  Costco has changed our lives.  Jess and her mom joined this month, and it is one of the best things ever.  Not only do they sell tons of incredible organic snack food and fruit, but they also sell Lucky Jeans for $37.  Cue awesomeness and go join Costco.



Explosion is over.  I feel better now.  I am off to watch Clash of the Titans with the all the brothers today.  I cannot wait to see it.  You see, I watched the original one time while sick as a middle-schooler.  I thought it was awesome then.  I cannot wait to see the new one with CGI awesomeness.

Also, the first crawfish boil of the year is today at the Jordan's house.  I love crawfish.




I am going to quit blogging now.  Too many exciting things exploding into cyberspace.  I want to stop before this man blows up too.

With (obvious?) excitement,
Mr. Hill

The Excited List

The top ten things that make Mr. Hill exuberant at the behest of our friend, Travis Bearden...

This is so much harder than making "The Angry List".  A couple of differences are obvious to me as I begin to try and think through this list - These are in order of importance, there are many more things in life that make me excited in life than make me upset, and trying to describe the emotion that rises up at the thought of these things is beyond me.

1) My Jesus.  This is not here as cliche.  I am who I am because of Him.  He is my love.

2) My Wife.  Again, not cliche, simply true.  She is my partner in everything that I do.  My life would be completely awful without her.  Watching her be who she is enthralling.

3) The thought of being a father.  No, we have no kids on the way, nor any plans for them currently, but I have wanted to be a dad since I was little.  The honor and privilege it will be to be a daddy is beyond my words. 

4) Having the opportunity to be a blessing by the direction of the Holy Spirit.  Be it giving, encouraging someone, or teaching.  I am alive for these moments.

5) People.  I love people.  I love being around them, talking to them, watching them.  People.

6)My G Puppy.  Cutest and smartest ever.  No debate.

7)The Diamond H Ranch.  I proposed to my wife, learned how to bass fish, shot my first big deer, bled and sweat, grew in Jesus, learned to build fence, and generally became a man on that piece of land.  It is very dear to me.  

8)Sports.  I love playing sports.  I love watching sports.  I love sports - especially Aggie Sports and playing basketball.  My wife probably questions my sanity with how excited I get at the thought of playing basketball.

9)Nike and Ralph Lauren clothes.  They fit right.  They make me really excited.  Undoubtedly, Nike makes the coolest sport apparel.  Period.  It is the best, and it makes me happy.

10)Music.  I don't even want to be honest about how much memory on this Macbook is taken up by music.  I also do not want to be honest about how much money I have spent in  my life on music.  It is likely disgusting.

11) Ten just wasn't enough for this list...Cowboy Boots.  The way they smell when they come out of the box.  How dependable they are.  How good they look.  How versatile they are.  The world should wear boots.

I love my little wife, her pretty red shoes, and how well she fits in my arms.

SHFP: NeedToBreathe

Yes, it's time for more SHFP.

NeedToBreathe has 3 studio albums: Daylight, The Heat, and The Outsiders.

I had written huge post about why I like these guys so much.  I just deleted it all after watching their YouTube videos.  They don't need me.  Here's 3 of my favorites.  Go buy their freaking cds.

Lay Em Down - "make good on a promise, never hurt again..."



Something Beautiful - "In a day dream I couldn't live like this..."



I am Washed by the Water - "Even when the storm comes..."

Big Sibling Weekend, etc, etc...

Opening thought:

Man.  I really, really like who we are.  I really like who we Hills are.  I like our marriage, I like our relationships with Jesus, and I like where we are in life.  I'll tell you what though, I think most of all I like how much we want to change.  I like how hard we are working to make our marriage better, I like how we wake up everyday and ask Jesus to change us, and I like how we know that where we are in life today is not where we are called to.

So there's my opening thought.  It comes as I drink a Coke Zero and watch my wife cook.  Man she is hot. I don't care if you don't think I should say that.  She is, and I love the ever-living daylights out of her.  The way she talks trash to her onions as she sautés the crap out of them, the way she dances and sings out of key to the new Gavin Degraw cd thats playing in the background, and the way that she drinks her little Diet Dr. Pepper in her A&M koozie.

Yes, I hope you understand a little bit better the place of sheer marital bliss where my opening thought bubbled out of.


So now, onto our weekend last weekend.  We went to A&M and hung with our awesome sibs.  They are super cool.  We had lots of good laughs.  We went to the Aggie game and watched them Beat The Hell Outta utah state.  We ate at all of our favorite places in College Station (including Blue Baker and Wings & More - I swear they put a drug in that wing sauce.), and went to this AWESOME NEW CHURCH IN CS called Antioch - no really, you should go there...Hilton, 10am.


The weekend was a huge success.  We really love Luke and Tige.  They are two incredibly wonderful friends we happen to be related to.  Makes things fun.

Honestly, my favorite night was Friday.  Mikala (Luke's super sweet girl friend) and Luke made us a dinner that was easily 5 star Italian.  Parmesan and Pancetta stuffed chicken with Luke's roasted red pepper pasta, fried zucchini, homemade yeast rolls, red-velvet cupcakes and mini cheese cakes.

Needless to say, I didn't even know what to do with myself.  I ate so much I nearly died.  It was so good.  It was so fun to hang out with them!  The most fun part of the night came via the game Catch Phrase.

Most of you know how to play the game...if not check out the wiki link.  I have to say that between my little sister and I we were pretty awesome.  The Hill family bond is pretty tight to say the least, and sadly Jess and I were on opposite teams, so "The Unimind" was not in action.

Easily the funniest part of the night came at my expense, but I am willing to bring it up b/c it was so freaking hilarious.  We were playing Catch Phrase.  I must say, I was surprised to see how many totally random people, places, and things they manage to get into that game.  Ted Kennedy, buzz cut, "without a paddle", back hair...the list was totally random and a lot of fun.  That is about where the funny part kicks in.  I was sitting to Jess's right.  She gets handed the game and begins to laugh uncontrollably, all the while attempting get out some words and being pointing in between my shoulders but slightly down my shirt neck..."Chris (lots of laughing) has (lots more laughing) (I being to turn red and feel the awful truth creeping in as to what she is trying to say) this!!!"

Perplexed looks around the group while Jess continues laughing uncontrollably and pointing furiously at my back.  Most of them don't know me that well.  The timer is speeding up.  She's nearly crying at this point she's laughing so hard.  Luke, Tige, and Mikala begin to catch on.  Someone says it, and as the song says, "we just fell about the place."

Yes, you guessed it, she was pointing at my small, insignificant, awful, little patch of back hair.  "Back Hair" was the catch phrase.

I mean really.  What are you going to do if you are me but laugh?  It's freaking hilarious.  Totally embarrassing, but really, really funny.

I guess its laser for me someday...until then I'm just another prop in Catch Phrase; oh, and the timer just ran out.


Mr. Hill


"Take that, onions."
"A good onion never reveals it's appearance."
"I'm ruthless!"
"Food gives up in her presence and bows as the mention of her name."

SHFP - "Christo-centric rap electric"

It's time for some more Shameless Hill Family Promotion.

All through college I heard about this guy, Lecrae, and his boys the 116 Clique.  They were those Christian rappers who some of my friends went crazy about.  I had heard a couple of their songs like "Represent, Get Krunk", and honestly I wasn't that impressed.  Admittedly, I hadn't listened to much of the lyrics, but the music and the main "Represent, Get Krunk" mantra had been kind of goofy to me.

Then Rebel by Lacrae came out.  Then it was Identity Crisis by Tedashi.  I was totally hooked.  These guys brought a crazy good beat and the word all at the same time.  It's like listening to a sermon with the subs in my truck.

Below are the lyrics to the latest song by the Flame and Lecrae (a couple of the 116 Clique boys).  This song is easily as good as any rap song playing on the radio right now, and the lyrics are like reading scripture. I freaking love it.


Mr. Hill - Go hard or go home.


Your boy's been a Christian, quite a few years
Victory and faith, but I failed in my fears
I heard a lot of words that have tickled many ears
That's why I praise God for the Word that we adhere
The Word became flesh, lived for thirty years
Died at 33, but after days reappeared
Jesus Christ anointed one ascended in the air
Or you can say the air where the Father made Him heir
Of all things the throne know it's more than a chair
But after our redemption yes He did take a chair
Greater than the angels name superior to theirs
This is Hebrews Chapter 1 if you cared
I'm leaning to the right
The light is where I'm running
I thought I wanted life, drunk, sexed out and blunted
But all I really wanted was the One who really won it
Fought death, beat it gave His life to the public
I love it!


Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place


Man I'm trying to lift Him high
Higher than the stars
I am not of this world like I'm from the planet mars
I love to preach Jesus you can read it in my bars
I'm pretty straight forward when I'm speaking bout my Lord
He paid the sin price being beat by Roman guards
But when He resurrected gave us life free of charge
Now me and my boys need to be in the phych ward
Cause we went crazy for God our lives was scarred
Now in the Book of Life, our names have been written down
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
We're casting our crowns before His feet on the ground
It's such a holy melody and a heavenly sound
Hearing holy holy holy coming out of the mouth
Of the four living creatures by His throne all around
Can you picture the scene this this is how it's going down
You just need a little faith and a new set of eyes and a telescopic lens to look in and see God
I love it!


Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place


One day we gon' be out man, like three strikes
And home son like a homerun CHRIST
IS – KING – LION – LAMB – GOD – MAN – SIN CONQUEROR – GRAVE CONQUEROR – SATAN CONQUERED
Can take a sinner, atheist sinner to God conscience
Can take nothing
Make creation and lives honor
The same God that came through a fetus as Jesus
Limited to breathing
Got believers singing


Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place