Lovin' Louisiana!

Well we are in Monroe, La. today, as the Third Day tour continues. I think this is show #8. Revive is on stage right now warmin' 'em up real good. We've had a couple great days off in St. Louis where we hooked up with the December Radio guys and thoroughly enjoyed some Macaroni Grill together! Good times. We hung out in a couple malls, saw a movie, kicked December Radio's tail in a couple games of bowling. You know, the usual. Ok so we didn't actually beat December Radio at bowling. We split the teams up so it wasn't band against band, but if it had been DR vs. SR, Sanctus would have prevailed for sure.
Alright, due to lack of time before we played I was forced to put my lil' blog on hold and finish it later. So now the show is completely over. It was a great night. Fun crowd to play for here in Louisiana, but the best part came at the end of the night.
You see some of the locals decided they were going boil us up a big ol' tub of cajun crawfish! I've got to be honest, being a white dude from Northern Ohio, I didn't really know what to think about it at first. The sight and smell of those things almost talked me out of trying them, but I'm glad I got past that and gave them a shot because cajun crawfish are officially amazing in my book! Basically you grab the crawfish by it's head and it's tail and you twist it in half. You throw the head away and suck the meat out of the tail. Now in Louisiana they boil the crawfish in these special cajun spices that make it quite spicy but yet really tasty! Definitely good stuff.
Tomorrow we play in Metairie which is right outside of New Orleans, so who knows, maybe we'll get some more cajun goodness tomorrow. I surely hope so.

Risen Drums Rock!

So this morning I'm going to brag a bit. I'm not usually one for tooting my own horn, but this is pretty stinkin' cool! It actually doesn't have anything to do with me, not in the sense of like I did something great to do deserve it or anything. This is actually more me bragging on one of the most generous people/companies I've ever met, I just get to be the blessed recipient, Risen Drums are the ones that are so cool!
I've been endorsing RD for about a year and a half now, have had an amazing drum kit that they gave me at cost that has served me quite well both live and in the studio. In fact I used that kit exclusively to record our latest record, "We Need Each Other", and it sounds great if I do say so myself.
I happen to call Keith Anderson, the owner of Risen Drums a couple of months ago to let him that we just got hooked up with the Third Day tour and that I would maybe want to get another kit for that tour. Keith decided that he wants all the Risen guys to have at least two kits on hand at all times so he agreed that I needed a new kit but then also took it a step further and declared that I was going to be receiving this kit free of charge! Yea, I about pooped my pants when he said that. I couldn't believe it! So here are pic's of my very beautiful new Risen Custom Drums and this is my tribute to the most generous and amazing drum company in the world! Risen Drums Rock!
Mark

p.s.
O' yea, for all you drum nuts out there, the spec's are this:
All 6 ply maple shells, all wood hoops, except the snare which is 8 ply with a wood hoop on the bottom and a triple flanged steel hoop on top.
Kick 18"x24"
1st Tom 9"x12"
2nd Tom 12"x15"
3rd Tom 15"x18"
Snare 7"x14" and features a Trick throw off
Kit custom painted by Risen and front kick head created by Drum Art (www.drumart.com)

Love your neighbor as yourself...

Hello ladies and gentleman! I hope this little blog finds you all doing well. I had a funny experience the other day; I woke up, looked out the window and saw that there was about five inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. Naturally caused it to be a bit of a lazy morning around the Graalman household but eventually I got out there with my new snow blower that I got at The Anderson's. (If you ever come to Toledo for any reason you have to go to The Anderson's because it's a great store!) Anyways, once I got out there I tore that driveway in half! Also, for the record, I cleared my neighbor's driveway for her as well.
Not long ago there was a link posted on one our blogs that took people to an interview I had done where I was asked to give six different examples of ways that we could "love our neighbor". One of the things I put down was, "15 inches of snow just fell, you have a snow blower, your neighbor doesn't. Need I say more?". Well the other morning as I was clearing my driveway and looking over at my neighbor's driveway and thinking about the fact that she's a single mom with two kids I realized that I needed to do it or consider myself a hypocrite. I honestly do desire to show God's love to people in practical ways so I did it. I've got to be honest though, I didn't think she was home, I thought she was at work. Now my neighbor is an excited, loud, outgoing, African American woman. I am a shy, quiet, reserved, white guy. I was right in the middle of clearing her driveway when I hear this voice that was so loud I could hear it over my snow blower! I looked up and my neighbor was standing in her front doorway screaming at the top of her lungs, "O' GOD! O' GOD! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!
I was just glad that the cold outside was making my cheeks red already because she made me blush! I felt a little embarrassed and kind of awkward almost as if I was 12 again. It did apparently bless her though, so hopefully The Lord will be able to use my shy awkwardness for His glory and plant some seeds in her heart.
Her son David, who is a month younger than my son Ben, then proceeded to come outside once he realized that Ben and I were out there and the three of us then built a small snow man. Good times had by all! The End.