Marcus Elzey

I don’t know about those of you who read my blog (But I really would like to!) but every now and then I make a list of goals for myself. This list could be ranging for 6 months or 5 years, even though most of the time I forget about them.  Here’s is the list I just made. I made no deadline to have these completed, therefore I have all the time on the world. I figure I’ll leave it in God’s hands. If these goals are meant to be they will happen, I’m absolutely positive about it.

• Finish college and begin working as a/an accountant for my grandpas accounting firm or as the finance person at a church
• Read and break down the Bible chapter by chapter the Bible. Hopefully this will help me understand how different people interpret scripture differently.
• Move out of my house by the time I’m 21
• Run a 5k race and finish well
• I’ve actually been asked this a few times, and yes, I do eventually want to get married
• Become physically healthy and in shape for my age
• This goes with the last one, but I need to lose 35 pounds
• Travel to some cool places like Memphis, Nashville, Cleveland and Paris.
• Keep bringing people closer to Jesus through music and any other way to be an influence to others.

What are some goals you might have?

I’ve been thinking alot about this whole “black Friday” thing and it’s caused me to wonder. People start shopping at certain stores at midnight for the best deals while the rest of the country decides to sleep in until 3 a.m. Sure it’s fun going out and saving a lot of money on expensive gifts, but in the long run it kind of saddens me to see how everyone gets so hyped up about this unofficial holiday but don’t for a holiday that marks an eternal event that saved my life, your life, your childrens lives etc. It’s unbelievable how people get more excited about black Friday than they do about Good Friday. Nobody wakes up at midnight to read their Bible or just talk to God on Good Friday (or any other day of the week for that matter). How is it that we as Christians can get so caught up in the material things that are here NOW and not the things that will last FOREVER? I’ve been guilty of this too, but how can we fix it? It’s like what michael say, “people ALWAYS find money to fund whats important to them”, and usually and that importance isn’t the church. Good Friday marks the day that Jesus Christ died for us, to be sacrificed only to rise from the dead. Black Friday is a day where we wrestle in a store to get the last Malibu Barbie.

Here’s an update

1. Whitley is an awesome girlfriend, better than yours.
2. I’m really hoping to make giving guitar lessons my only job over the next month or 2. I figured out the numbers and I would only need one or two more students in order to make this happen. If you’re interested, just shoot me an email at marcuselzey@gmail.com, or send me a message on twitter.
3. I’m real excited to be hanging out with a bunch of family this week for Thanksgiving!
4. Christmas is drawing closer and the weather is certainly showing it! I’ve been freezing all week!
5. I’ll be posting a blog soon about the gear that I’ll be getting around or after Christmas. Be ready gear heads!
6. I hope everyone is having an awesome week!

It’s been a long but satisfying week. Right now I’m sitting in my sociology class bored out of my mind while my teacher talks about racism. Here’s a quick little update of whats been going on.

1. Tonight after I get off of work I’m going to Sam Jones to play at a youth lock-in with Matt, Kyle and Roy. IT’s gonna be ROCKIN’!
2. Whitley and I celebrated our year and a half anniversary. She made me a card and a recorded a rap on garage band for her. I recorded all the beats using my voice, guitar case and clapping. I’m thinking about taking up a rapper name. My full name is Marcus Christopher Elzey, so I think MC LZ would be appropriate.
3. Seriously I’m ready for Christmas to be right around the corner.
4. Speaking of Christmas, tomorrow my family, Whitley and myself  will be setting out Christmas light in the yard. If you think that your yard has a lot of light during the holidays, you obviously haven’t seen my house. I think we come pretty close to beating this dude. We’ll be lighting them all up the day after Thanksgiving.
5. I’ve really been wanting to get a new acoustic guitar lately. particularly this one.
6. Since it’s out that I’m going to be the worship leader for FUEL I’ve been asked many times if I won’t be playing electric guitar as much. To those of you wondering, I can’t stop playing electric. Playing electric guitar was my first passion about music so there’s is absolutely no way that pI’ll ever slack up on playing it
7. And I want a new guitar amp, haha! Check it out !
   
8. For all of you gear nerds, Kyle showed me THIS cable that will double the milli-amps to larger pedals that require more power, so you don’t have to go out and buy a larger power supply like the juicebox.
9. I’ve procrastinated so much about getting it, but for Christmas my parents told me that they will buy me a Line6 DL4. You have no idea how pumped I am about this. I plan on getting a JHV3 HiFi mod on it shortly after getting it.
10. Oak Leaf Church is going to be crazy awesome this weekend! It’s the second weekend of the Hope series and there is a special surprise in store for ALL who attend. You don’t want to miss it.

I have a feeling this week will be great. There’s a ton of cool stuff going on and I thought that I’d fill you guys in.

1. At the moment I’m hanging out with my awesome girlfriend watching “13 Going on 30″. Not really my kind of movie, but I love getting to spend time with her especially since we have both been real busy lately. You should follow her twitter HERE!
2. I decided last week that I’m changing my major in school from nursing to accounting. The whole nursing thing just wasn’t my nich, so I think that hopefully working for my grandpa’s accounting firm would be great!
3. Kyle and I are hanging out early on Thursday, and after that I will be hanging out with Whitley for our year and a half anniversary. It’s crazy to think its been that long!
4. I get to work on Friday, but also get to play for a youth group with Matt and Kyle at a lock-in at midnight.
5. I won’t be playing at Oak Leaf this weekend, but I will be spending some much needed time with the girlfriend and family. I’m real stoked!
6. I found out that I get to lead worship in the main service at oak leaf November 28th and 29th. I must admit that I’m kind of nervous though. Can’t say that I’ve ever led worship for a thousand people. haha!
7. Life is gooooood

Last Wednesday Oak Leaf Students held an even called GLOW and it was a huge success! Glow was a glow in the dark party inside the House of Rock where students were able to hang out and have fun with their friends. Here’s the recap of the whole night.

1. The set design was awesome! My dad made a big box with the word GLOW cut out in it where he and Jake put lights inside. Seriously it was sick, especially with all of the neon LED’s moving around every where.
2. Trace Hazen was the DJ for the night and he tore it up! He’s got some great skills on the turn tables and it was real cool having him come out to run the awesome techno music.
3. For the first time in my life I led a full worship set and I had a blast. I got the opportunity to lead with an awesome band. Zak and Kyle played guitar, Matt played bass, and Zach played drums at Oak Leaf for the first time ever and he KILLED IT! It makes me real proud to see my friends using their gifts to glorify our Father.
4. Suzy spoke with an awesome message. Suzy has a real talent for getting real with the students and they all can’t help but here the word God has placed on her Heart. SUZY IS LEGIT!
5. At the end of the night at least 2 kids asked Jesus into their hearts. God is continuing to do awesome things in this city and I can’t wait to see what plans he has in store.
6. Jake also did an amazing job coordinating the even and making everything happen. He has an undeniable love for students and helping them spiritually so that every last one of them can know Jesus. He’s been working a lot with student leaders who also really stepped up on Wednesday. GREAT JOB JAKE!

Glow was incredible. The buzz for Oak Leafs student ministry has kept up even though is been on a break since the summer. I can honestly say that I expect big things to come in the lives of our students.

I’m pretty excited about this week for the main fact that it is my birthday! And in light of this awesome event I’ve decide to make a wish list of birthday presents that are both reasonable and unreasonable. I recently read a similar post like this over at Kyle’s blog. So if you were planning on getting me a gift here are a few ideas you can draw from.

REASONABLE

• CASH MONEY- seriously, I’m pretty much broke. haha!
• Guitar Center gift card- I love this store and I could put this to some real good use
• Lava Cables- I’m hoping to eventually get these to use with my Planet Waves Custom length cables on my board. These cables are very sturdy and also don’t take up much room on a pedal board.
• Any good books.
• Itunes gift card.
• A Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+– This should probably be in the unreasonable list, but I’m hoping to upgrade pedal boards soon and I wont be able to power any more larger pedals with my BBE supa charger, so for now getting this would be a miracle

• Buckle gift card- All of my jeans are wearing out. And I LOVE to buy clothes. Don’t hate.
• Dunlop Strap Locks- My strap locks are crap and are starting to tear up. Boooo.

UNREASONABLE

(most of this will probably be gear)

• Vox AC30H2 guitar combo amp- ah, it’s so awesome. Amp of my dreams. They sound absolutely amazing and would be a lovely upgrade from my chinese AC15 at the moment(though I love it too)
• Line 6 DL4- This is probably the standard delay pedal for worship guitarists. I’ve been meaning to buy one for months but just haven’t had the funds to do so.
• Digitech Whammy- I own a micro Pog at the moment but would like to have a Whammy for the differentsound quality and expression pedal.’
• Gibson J-200 Acoustic Electric guitar- I don’t have an acoustic at the moment, and haven’t for a while so why not get an awesome one!

Yup, the blog title pretty much tells it all. This girl and I have been t0gether for almost a year and a half, but for some reason it feels way less than that. I’ve heard the saying that time flies when you’re having fun but this is just flat out ridiculous! Whitley has been the best girlfriend that a guy could ask for and more. We’ve made so many memories together and I can’t wait to make so many more with her. I think the main thing that keeps us together most of the time is that we’re both willing to talk out our differences when we argue and not just scream and yell until one of us gets our way like so many younger couples our age do. She’s made my life seem so much easier since we began dating on May 12, 2008. She is the one person I can tell absolutely anything to, the one girl who I don’t mind being embarrassed in front of, and the one friend who I can laugh with for hours. I can honestly say with all of my heart that I’m flat out in love with this girl and woul’nt trade her for anything in the world. I love her so much! Here’s to you babe!

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Lately I’ve felt like I need to be better at doing certain task in my life. Perhaps it’s because I feel like it’s something I NEED to do. I can’t be a great model as a Christian unless I take time out of my day EVERY day to read my Bible. I can’t become a better guitar player unless I work on my technique more than a couple hours a week. Jesus knew the Bible inside and out during His time on Earth, and John Mayer played guitar for 8 hours a day every day through high school (not comparing the two, just a reference). In order to be better I have to do more, and if I don’t accomplish this then I not only fail myself, but I also fail the others around me. So due to this recent acknowledgment I have set two rather specific goals for myself…

1. To read my Bible every day for at least an hour (starting with Romans) or more.
2. To practice my guitar technique and knowledge of music theory for at least 10 hours ever week. this does not include the music I have to learn for church on the weekends.

If I can keep up with this routine then I’m positive I will see some results in the way I feel about my life.