That could be, like, every day for some of you. Lately it's felt that way for me. 

 As some of you know, and many probably don't know (we hadn't really mentioned it much, due to wanting to make sure decisions before announcing them), we are on the road again. Last week, we were in Palmdale, CA. Two days ago, we were in KS for a brief time. Today, we're in Franklin, TN. Back on the road, and back on the Extreme Tour, except for a longer period this year, if it is God's will to keep us on it. 

There's a lot of things to catch up on, a lot of things I COULD tell about, but there's even more that is pressing on me and important to me to mention and describe. I'll start with catching up, then go straight to the pressing stuff. 

After returning from Oregon, to visit my parents, we had many talks and prayers for a decision as to what to do this year, and it came to the decision of joining onto the Extreme Tour again this year. 

Leading up to leaving, we packed, cleaned, organized, everything needed for living on the road again. Colton worked for and has everything he needs for recording and producing music now, shorts for the summer have been stitched up, Stevie got her permit for driving the van across the country, merch-making stuff bought and readied, and the album artwork is finished officially. We spent our last moments with our dearest friends and family there in Palmdale, who we'd like to thank: the Wallaces, for allowing us to live with them the last 6 months and for talking about God with us whenever we had thoughts or questions, and for delighting in Christ with us; Christ Alone church, for allowing us to play worship music for them on Sundays, and for your prayers and support and awesome sermons; Faith Community's youth group and youth pastor, for saying the most encouraging words to spark us to spread the gospel (just as Colossians says to do, you guys did!), and for loving us with Christ's love in writing the sweetest card to us in the world, and most importantly, reminding us that Jesus is the center of everything; The Wein family, for taking the HUGE step of allowing their amazing son (Brendan) to go on the road with us (another thing that's happened is we now have a guitar/electric guitar player in the band, who rocks); and personal friends, Nathaniel, for taking night walks with us, going deep in conversation, and praying for and with us; Scott Stevenson, for helping us pack, and being our friend from beginning to end of our time in CA; Nic, for supporting us, also being our friend from beginning to end of our stay there, and for helping us get to college group to hear more gospel; Maylene and Jeff Hutchinson (if Maylene ever reads this), for helping Colton get the job at Starbucks, and being awesome altogether; and to my friend and sister out there, Michelle, who is an amazing sister-in-Christ to me, and told me like it is, even when, in my sinful nature, I didn't want to hear the truth at times, showing her real love for our family. And again, to all of you, for making us miss you like crazy, and wish you were all with us!!! Can't wait to see you in October!!! 

Down to the important, deep stuff: The matters of Christ, and the gospel. In CA, at Faith Community, a pastor came up from the Phillipines, who himself had one crazy, painful, hard life. He preached on "The Sin of Silence", the sin of not sharing Christ, or the gospel. His own personal goal is to preach the gospel to 12 people every day, reaching to one million people reached in a year, if the rest of his church (300 people) spread the gospel to 9-12 people every day also. 

That was a pretty crazy goal to me, I thought. That's hard, and a lot of people, and SO many excuses swam through my brain of why I shouldn't preach the gospel. 

But at the same time, I recently found out that one of my aunts is not doing well, possibly dying. I don't know her well; I never speak to her. But I KNOW she doesn't know Christ, along with so many others in my life, and therefore, has no lasting or true hope. My heart really hurts for her, and SO many others in my life. 

But would they hear me? Would they hear of the "foolishness" of Christ that our family counts as more gain than all the world?

I have found that we Americans are SO lazy. Not very many of us really know what pain and suffering is, nor do we share the gospel, yet we live our lives in laziness and comfort, sinking in to the deceitfulness of our sin (I say this for our band as well). It's SO easy. How many friends and family do we know who are being persecuted, put into prison, tortured, and killed for the gospel? Not too many. Is there any spark? As Tertullian said, "The blood of the martyrs  is the seed of the church." But I fear and shy away from anything that would cause discomfort and pain, especially sharing the gospel when it could mean rejection of loved ones. 

Our last conversation with our friend, Nathaniel, came from a deep question he asked us, "How are your hearts doing?". The answer came from these thoughts running through our minds lately. We don't want to be lazy anymore. As Piper frequently says, we don't want to waste our lives at all. We don't want to waste any time, any opportunity to share the gospel with this dying world. As we will be heading out on the road, and will see family and friends that we met last year on tour, we don't want to just stay comfy, and not talk about He who is of the only importance in this existance, He who is the only hope, the only Savior of our wicked souls, rebelling souls. 

With that being said, there have been two things that have pushed me to want to share the gospel deeply, and have moved me from the inside-out to share this Christ. The first came from a sermon by Matt Chandler, where he asked the question, "If God is sovereign and in control of everyone and everything, then why do we need to preach the gospel, if He can save them without us and on His own?". The answer he then gave was (and this is my own remembrance of what he said, not perfect quote), "Because even though God doesn't need us, and can (and HAS) saved SO many people without using anyone, what if it's not about their salvation, but about His love and closeness to and for us? What if He is calling to you and saying, 'Hey, Matt. Do you want to come play with me? I'm saving Joe this week; do you want to come be apart of his joyous salvation? Do you want to come see my glory and my sovereignty and my control?"'  And maybe, says Chandler, they won't be saved at all; we can't know God's plan for who He'll save. But maybe it's more about His inviting US to share the gospel, because when we do, we know a joy that can only come from sharing Christ with this dark world, a joy and a closeness and a warmth and an intimacy with Christ that He brings us into by His grace of allowing us to share the truth with our loved ones. 

That was the first story that has pressed me to be honest with the gospel towards my loved ones and unbelievers. The second story came only a few days ago (totally by God's sovereignty): I was having a conversation in KS with our youth pastor's wife, Brenda, who I was telling of my concern for loved family and friends in my hometown, and of the easy excuses I come up with to not share the gospel (especially, "I don't have any credibility or respect in their eyes, so they won't listen to me."). She responded (and this also is not a perfect quotation of her words), "Yeah, it's like a story I heard about a man who was saved, and his brother, who didn't know Christ. The saved brother never told the gospel to his unbelieving brother, but then the unbelieving one heard someone else preach the gospel of Christ. The unbelieving man then came to his brother, and asked him, "You are a Christian; you believe this gospel, correct?".  The Christian said, "Yes, yes I do."  The unbeliever then asked, "If you believe this gospel, you believed, then, that if I didn't accept Christ, I would die and go to hell forever, separated from God?".  "Yes," the Christian responded. "Then why didn't you ever tell me?", the brother asked. "I would rather you had told me about Christ and all you believe, even if I had yelled at you and rejected what you told me, for that would have been true love towards me." 

THAT would have been true love. 

This story has helped me so much, every time I think of excuses. I would rather my unbelieving loved ones know I love them by Christ's love and reject it, then never know at all. 

These stories are not meant to guilt you, but to do as they have done for me: to spur you on "to love and good deeds", to encourage you to do that which is already in you to do, the desire to share Christ with your loved ones, yet is held back by the same fears and excuses we all face.  I pray that these stories, and the Bible, and the gospel (good news) of Jesus will give you the strength, courage, and boldness to share Christ and overcome these fears. 

With that being said, here's also a sermon series by Piper called, "Called to Suffer and Rejoice". We've started listening to this series of 4 parts (I've listened to them all, and am going over them again to sink it in), and it's been super encouraging. We aren't just going to suffer as Christians-- we're CALLED to suffer, expected to suffer, appointed to suffer by God, and this suffering WILL happen to us believers, if we are living out, by God's grace, what we're called to do. Anyways, I recommend these sermons, because they've REALLY helped us with preparing to suffer for the gospel, and looking to Christ. http://www.desiringgod.org/searches/called%20to%20suffer%20and%20rejoice?utf8=%E2%9C%93   (They are in order by the date, so the first one is "For Holiness and Hope")

So, I ask you to please, if you find time and encouragement, to pray for our family/band, as we live in TN for a month, in KS for a month, and then go on the road to the same towns we visited last year. We need prayer more than ever now, and we would SO appreciate your prayers!!! Our request is this: That God would make us bold, courageous, and strong to preach Christ, the gospel, truth, and His word; that He would fill us with humility and compassion; that He would clearly show us our sin daily, and turn us back to Him in every aspect of our lives; that by the mystery of God, His Spirit living in us and moving us to live for Him, we'd be prepared for suffering, that everything would be counted as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ; that we would go, tell, proclaim, and make disciple-making-disciples by God's power within us, and for His glory alone; that we would not waste our time and our lives in "joys" NOW and comforts NOW, but that Christ would be our only joy and hope, and that God would fix our eyes and attention and worship onto Christ; that Jesus would help our unbelief, and would overcome our fears and excuses in us; that we would not fear man, who is less than nothing, but would fear the God who controls and is over everything; that we would eat His word as our daily bread, have confidence in Him and not in ourselves, that we would have opportunities and the open-mouths for them; that we would have close unity and harmony and communion with each other and with the body of Christ, the church; and most of all, that God would be glorified, His will would be done, and our trust and hope and delight would be in Christ alone. 

Last of all, we are praying for you guys. To all the believers and churches we've met, we're praying these things for you, too, that we would be united in Christ in delighting in Him, and in sharing the gospel, and in suffering for Christ. We hope to see you again soon! Thank you for all your love, encouragement, and support. 

 Not long after, Colton and I began packing and preparing for our trip to Salem, OR, to visit my family, who just recently moved there. We weren't sure if we were even going to be able to be accepted onto the flight, due to a mishap of my name being different than the one on my driver's license (which is still Henry, rather than Davy. Waiting to get to KS for that). But according to God's will, we were able to present our marriage license, and were allowed on the plane!

Both the trip there and back were amazing and beautiful (I never cease to be amazed at flight and planes and the humility that comes from seeing the world so big, and the realization that God knows every cell and hair and leaf and animal and rock on it).  

It was really cool to be there. Many of the rumors were true for us-- it rained A LOT; most the people living there are pretty happy and chipper; people were so courteous in their driving that it was almost rude; the trees are CRAZY tall, and moss grows on every branch; there's not many walmarts; and indeed, my family's cat has gotten WAY fatter than the last time we'd seen him. :) I loved the new house. My family just recently moved there last August, and it's definitely a pretty town, a cozy house, and cool neighbors (including my brother's new "brother", Garrett, an excellent speed-pictionary drawer. That's that game where you write a sentence on a notecard, pass it on, and draw your depiction of the sentence you received, and continue to pass it on till you get your beginning one again, which at that point looks NOTHING like what you started with). 

It was amazing being able to see my fam again, and to get to spend two weeks with them. Many of our days included walks at the park, morning cribbage (my FAVORITE game!), frisbee golf (we all suck), deep conversations about God, zombie games (Zombie Fluxx, Zombie Survival board game, and a life-action zombie game in morgue that's now used as a coffee shop and teen hang out with a bunch of cool kids. That one was DEFINITELY the scariest, as the game was held in the pitchblack basement of the morgue, with my brother acting and screaming and moaning like a zombie, who's intent is to tag you and therefore "infect" you to become a zombie, too. The moral of zombie games: nobody wins, except zombies), Napoleon Dynamite, knitting, drawing and artword, longboarding, climbing stuff, awesome steak (my dad's steak is killer), and trips to Winco (the magical store where you watch peanuts be turned into peanut butter. Definitely a highlight of the trip of the millions of highlights). We visted Oceanside, a small town built into the woods and mountains and cliffs overlooking the ocean and giant rocks, along with a cafe called Roseann's (which, on that particularly cold and rainy and windy and cloudy day, was warm and not busy and cozy, a good place to prepare ourselves to go down onto that cold beach). On the beach, there was a tunnel that went through the cliff to the other side of the cliff, which was cool. My crazy brothers attempted to swim, but gave up fast (it was freezing out already, without adding the cold waves to it). But they did find a cove, and had to keep racing the waves to try to peek in and see how far back it went. We also went and saw, "The Vow", which I really liked. But I totally put the popcorn bucket on my lap, left it there, and by the end of the movie, all the butter had seeped OUT of the bucket... and onto my jeans. Fortunately, it washed out easily. 

Besides that, there would be so much to go into detail about the conversations and things we did. Most of all, it was just good to see them again, and to catch up on life. We're definitely looking forward to our next visit! :)As for life back here in Cali, right now we're trying to plot our course for this year, and figure out where we want to go, and what we want to do this year. I finished the album artwork for this third CD; now it just needs to be photoshopped and finished. We're still writing songs. Colton is now working with his Logic program on the macbook, trying to learn how to write songs from that, as opposed to his usual using of the guitar for songwriting. His wrist is better yet; still hurts him a lot, and keeps him from playing almost completely. But he's definitely having to get creative with Logic-- his first few beats and songs are sounding really impressive to me! :) Lastly, we listened to a sermon series by John Piper on "How to Kill Sin" (it was three parts, though it's part of a bigger series on Romans, which I also HIGHLY recommend. It kicks butt, and is flat-out amazing). It's really been helping me to daily wage war on my sin that I often allow to slip in without a fight, and take over (often, it's in the form of selfishness, despondancy, pride, self-righteousness, and bitterness, though it comes in every other form that sin likes to come in). It definitely explained WHY we need to be fighting sin (pretty much, 'cause we'll die eternally if we aren't fighting and killing it conciously every day), and how (by hearing and trusting and believing God's promises and His word in those constant moments of temptation to give in to ourselves). It definitely reminded me of the importance of reading God's word daily-- "Be killing sin, or your sin will be killing you" (John Owen), and "Read this book to keep from sin, or your sin will keep you from this book. " (John Piper's mom, Ruth Piper.) I'm NOT saying it's been easy-- WAY no. It's stinkin' hard to fight sin, and I'm REALLY weak, and definitely would rather give in most times. But thanks be to God, that Christ gives me the strength, and guides me, and keeps me fighting sin, by His grace living within me. What an amazing Saviour!!! :) 

The sermon series:

http://www.desiringgod.org/searches/how%20to%20kill%20sin?utf8=%E2%9C%93

Love, zara 

    Of course, a lot can happen in a month, and often does. And of course, I'm not going to explain all of it in detail. That'd take probably a month. :) So! The basics!

    As far as music goes... our CD is coming along!!! We have ALL of the mixes back, soon to be mastered. It's amazing listening to them-- they sound great! And we were quite surprised-- one of the songs that we'd recorded in the studio hadn't turned out so great, so while we were in the studio, we decided not to put it on the album. But it got accidentally mixed, and sent back to us. And it's AMAZING. Actually, it's probably the best song of them all, and most represents the Colton and Zara Band best. We've only played it in concert once or twice, and thought it was a flop of a song, but after hearing the mix, we've changed our minds. We look forward to sharing it with our fans and friends and family!!!  

  Last month, we went to Anaheim to go to a NAMM convention, much like the one we attended in Nashville, except, like, 30 times bigger, with WAY more vendors, musicians, stuff, and weird people (some of the things the people wore that came to this convention were very odd-- for example, a man that wore a pink onesie with cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat covering his head that had a muppet-like face and beard and 70's glasses. He was probably our favorite). While there, we got to hang out with Walden Guitars and BES Audio (both of whom sponsor us, and both of whom are awesome). We were able to play mini shows (the first time in a LONG time of us playing), and also to listen to Joe Brook's play (he's endorsed with Walden Guitars). And we met a new friend name Robbie that we really enjoyed hanging out with! 

   Within that, we also were recently endorsed by a cable company! SUPER exciting! We're SO looking forward to using their cables!

    Colton and I recently went to a friend of our's concert. We hadn't been to a concert in FOREVER. I can't remember the last time we went to one. We've played concerts on tour last fall, and supported those playing before and after us. But to intentionally go to someone else's concert, we hadn't done that in a long time. Probably because the last 3 years were SO full of touring and playing and concerts, that the last thing we wanted to do was hear more music. I can testify that this winter break here in Palmdale has been amazingly refreshing. At the beginning of the break, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue doing music. But I think we just needed a break, 'cause all of us are very ready to get back to it. 

    With that, Colton's wrist is still up and down. Some days, it doesn't hurt at all, and others, it's tight (and this only from working at Starbucks). But he does have two or three methods of making it feel better pretty quick, which is good. 

    We played a private concert for some of our friends the other day, too. That was really neat. We'd forgotten what that was like. 

    Colton also saved up enough money to purchase the second part of our recording equipment! We just bought Logic, a recording program! Now all we need is the microphone, and we'll be able to record our own good-sounding, good quality CDs. 

    Within that, Colton and I finished the first song of 5 of the concept album we're working on. Four more to go, till we can work 'em with the band, and record them! 

    Now onto life! 

    Pretty much, everyone's been going through bouts of sickness. None of us understand it-- the weather's been awesome, so we've all been outside a lot. But that hasn't stopped viruses from visiting.  Right now, Colton and Stevie are both doing poorly healthwise. No fun, especially when there's things to do (such as work for Colton, and Stevie teaching Aubrey, our young cousin, school).    Before that, though, we've been outside a lot, skateboarding, especially. Darren got his skateboard fixed, and Colton and Dustin both got a new skateboard (Colton) and longboard (Dustin), both of which look awesome. They've been at the skatepark learning new tricks, scraping and bumping their bodies, and coming home with big bruises and scabs. Yuck, and ouch. But they keep at it, even Darren who's really sliced up his fingers. Ew. Next subject.

     We've also been watching a lot of Hayao Miyazaki's movies recently, on the cold nights. It's been fun for us band to gather around the computer, and watch one of his movies, and totally get inspired for music and art. I'm aiming for colored, pasteled art now. I'm really excited to work on my first piece! 

    In the past month's time, my best friend out here (besides my family/band), Michelle, is now pregnant. That was also exciting. 

    Colton and I are going to visit my family in Oregon next month, which we're pumped about. We found some pretty cheap tickets, and are heading up for a couple weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing them-- it's been a while! 

    Also had our long time friend, Beck, come up and visit! That was a pleasant weekend-- she's been friends with the Davys since they were 9 (so, I guess 11 years!). I've only known her for a few years (maybe 3 o 4?), but we really enjoyed having her up! We had a fun time playing Yamodo, and chatting, and catching up! 

    Besides that, God's really been working on all of us, like it seems He always is. Our Uncle Scott's sermons have really helped us a lot, and helped us to see God's grace more and more, and see how amazing God is! I also finished the Sermon on the Mount series from The Village Church in Texas. It was SO amazing to see Christ's words to His disciples, that He showed them how much they COULDN'T keep the law, how much man sins every second in His heart, and how much and how desperately we need Jesus BADLY! What an awesome Saviour!

    Along with that, this last week we heard an awesome sermon by our Uncle that talked about the Trinity. I hadn't realized how much I didn't know ANYTHING about the Trinity, and how amazing, and important, the Trinity is, and how good God in three persons is. Dang. My mind's still blown by Him.  Darren and I also had a conversation last night on atheism and Christianity, and on the mind-boggling thought of eternity, infinity, and time. My mind's still blown by that, too. God's too crazy big for my mind. 

That's all for now. I gotta' go pick up that cute, sick boy from his Starbucks job. Thanks for reading!

zara 

In that one long day, there's been lots of tension, good and bad. But I guess who's life doesn't have tension? The overall tension was risen with the question, What are we supposed to do next? With Colton's wrist hurting in tendonitis, and not seeming to be going anywhere, it's given all of us time to stop and think and wonder and pray about our musical life, and what do we really want to do. We've had many family talks. And many talks between one to another. We have a few paths we could pursue. But I don't have any answers for anyone, really. So more to come on that. 

Journeys kept Darren-- they like him a lot, and he's doing well there. Colton just recently was hired at Starbucks; he starts full-time on Monday, which is exciting. It doesn't mean free coffee for me or friends-- but it does give me the opportunity to go to Starbucks, which is kind of exciting. As for me, Aeropostale finished up the winter season, so I'm done there. It was fun (the two days I worked there, because of starting late with the license thing and all), but they did tell me to come back and apply in April for the next hiring time. So for now, I'm not sure what I'll do job-wise. If I can do something part-time, that would be helpful, but it's a matter of finding something. 

In the meantime, in this one long day, I've been doing the same-old-- writing songs, drawing (I have a new drawing to be put up shortly. I've become a spotify-addict. There's nothing like drawing and listening to songs from Hayao Miyazaki's movies, "Kiki's Delivery Service", "Ponyo", "Spirited Away", etc..), cooking lots (I made one awful batch of german cookies, a good batch of Full Moon Cookies, and a couple yummy cakes, and dinners), cleaning, and jogging (I love jogging-- it gives me opportunity to go over the gospel over and over, and it really encourages me day to day). The weather has been incredible, like 70-75 degrees every day. Yesterday, there were people swimming at the pool nearby. I'm liking this weather; but strangely, I kinda' want it to get miserably cold, so I'll appreciate spring more when it comes. That just shows how discontent and unsatisfiable a sinner like me can be. Never content. (I will say, though, this weather IS nice, and I'm enjoying it day to day.) 

Christmas was fun, and good. Colton gave me a watch necklace that I'd seen, and really wanted (and didn't say anything to him about it-- he knows me well!), and an earring feather. And he opened the black beanie I found for him (I thought for sure he'd take the pom-pom off the top of it, but he likes the pom-pom, which is pretty cute). We spent the day baking, and I got to talk to my family within the next few days, which was really nice. We're hoping to go visit them in March, if we can save up enough to go. 

New Year's was simple and sweet. Friends from church came over, we played Apples to Apples (my fave), and watched the ball drop, and just talked a lot. It was neat to hear the rest of the neighborhood cheering in their houses when we stepped outside at midnight. 

I can say that I also heard some incredible sermons this week. I like to go for walks and listen to them on Miss A's ipod. There was one on Depression-- by far the BEST, most helpful thing I've ever heard on depression ever. No counsiling or therapy or self-help books could measure up; those thing never give enough, or do enough. So for those of you who struggle with despondancy and depression (I think at some point, we all go through it, though some more than others for sure), this sermon really helps a lot. It's called, "The Wounded Spirit"--- http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/timothy-keller-podcast/id352660924 

Also, one by a funny guy named Kevin DeYoung, on the will of God. Super helpful on trying to figure out what God's will is for your life. I know there's SO many things I go back and forth with in my life in trying to "decipher" what God has for me-- like He's some sneaky, unhelpful God or something. Shows my pride. This sermon really helped me to see that God's not like that, and that making decisions and choices is a LOT easier than we think it is. It's called "Just Do Something" --  http://sgm.edgeboss.net/download/sgm/next/2009/next09.m_deyoung.mp3   

Besides this, nothing much. Oh, I did catch my hair on fire this week. But it's still on my head, so that's good. Really good. 

love, zara