a political interlude....

THANK YOU!


Israel President Refuses to Apologize for Gaza War:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519201,00.html

Jacksonville Magazine!!

Yes, it has been a bazillion years since my last blog. I know this. I've been finding it particularly difficult to keep up with the MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Blog. Please forgive me (and add me on twitter if you haven't already: twitter.com/sharonwilbur)! :)

Anyway, I want to let all my Florida friends know to pick up a copy of the May issue of Jacksonville Magazine! :) There's a story in there on me and my good buddy AJ and our experience on American Idol! Here's a little preview:



If you don't live in the FL area, you can go directly to the Jacksonville Magazine website by clicking the following link:
http://jacksonvillemag.epubxpress.com/link/jm/2009/may/90?s=0

yay! :)

i know it's a month and a half away...

but i'm super excited...

*Update*

Okay, so the past month has consisted of:
a week in virginia
a week in nashville
a week in chicago
two days home.
Yeah... I'm pretty tired right about now....

Things have been moving so fast it seems! My time in virginia was awesome - I got to connect with some friends I hadn't seen in a while,including one you may recognize as "the girl who SHOULD HAVE made it to the top 12 on Idol" - Felicia Barton.

Not to worry though - she is already working on putting an album together which will hopefully be out soon! You can visit her on MySpace by going to: www.myspace.com/feliciabarton.

My Nashville trip went even better than I could have expected! I got to record another 4 *brand new* songs, which means that we now have a total of 8 ready for the new project!!!! Just 2 or 3 more to go!!! I can not WAIT to share them with you. I have posted a little preview of one called Mercy Calling up on myspace (www.myspace.com/sharonwilbur), so be sure to check that out if you haven't already!


We were also able to squeeze in a photo shoot while I was there. Michael Gomez (who shot my previous album cover) really blessed us with some incredible shots! I can't share them with you quite yet, BUT I do have a few snippets that my husband Joel took while the shoot was going on.

Okay, well MUCH more to come.... Stay tuned into my twitter: www.twitter.com/sharonwilbur - for more "play by play" updates. :)

a "must read", "must bookmark" blog! :)

Hey Friends!

OK so i'm definitely gonna be posting some updates very soon... but before i do - PLEASE take note of this...

http://joelchernoff.wordpress.com

My dad has finally started a blog and i'm SO excited! He is honestly one of the most prophetically "tuned in" people I have ever known, and I always enjoy reading his updates on Israel, the world, and even our government and the prophetic significance of what's going on here in the US.

I hope you all read it, comment it, bookmark it! -whatever! :)

the funny thing about blogs....

it's strange. sometimes i feel like i could write 5 blogs in one day. other times it's hard for me to even pull out one a week! what's the deal? ...maybe it has to do with being busy.... or not busy. either way, i feel like i've had a bit of writers block lately. i've chosen to stay away from the politics thing for a little while - simply because... well... because it really frustrates/upsets/annoys me and yeah... i don't wanna disrespect. lets just put it that way. :)

my husband and i have been writing songs a lot lately, so maybe all of my creativity is being poured into that area... while my blog is left lacking. hmmmm...

welp...
...
.....
.......

i got nothin. ha.

the bright side?

1) i leave on tuesday for Nashville!!!! I'll be recording vocals for about 5 songs in 5 days so i'm hoping my voice holds up! oy. pray for me!

2) IDOL TONIGHT! :) yayyyyyyy

New Video Blog!

this video made me laugh so hard i cried...

maybe it's just the day i was having...
maybe i was in desperate need of a good laugh...
either way, this video MADE my day... possibly my week.

watch, listen & love

Ryan Edgar
------------
Love Lockdown (by Kanye):


We Become (one of Ryan's amazing originals):


for more, visit: http://www.myspace.com/ryanedgar

Hollywood/NewportBeach/Vegas

Ahhhhh so I just got back from a whirlwind trip out west. I was gone for 10 incredibly busy days... took a ton of pictures, and thought I'd share a few of them on here! :)

First of all... the day we left I had to get up at 2am - NOT FUN... but it was totally worth it because I flew to Cali with my hubby, Joel, and my brother and law and just as we came off the plane, my brother in law dropped to one knee and proposed to his beautiful girlfriend, Malki!



It was quite an exciting morning! So after that, we spent the day in Newport Beach catching up with our friends there. The next day, Joel and I headed up to Hollywood. We had some people to meet there, but also, I wanted to take Joel to the Kodak theater and show him around where I stayed when I was out there for Idol.






Over the next few days we relaxed in Newport... shopped... sat in the sun... and did a whole lotta nothin'. It was great!




After a couple days, my family joined us as well...



THEN... we headed to Vegas for an evening! Our friends took us to see Jersey Boys which was the most incredible show I have EVER seen... I recommend it to ANYONE! AMAZING music, AMAZING acting... just incredible. However, on our drive UP to vegas, we encountered a bit of a traffic jam. For two straight hours we were PARKED on the highway. yep. PARKED. Apparently a truck had caught fire and they had to close everything down while they cleared the roads. It was nuts!


So, two hours late, we arrived in Vegas and had to rush to get ready for dinner and the show. I've got a few more pictures to show ya, but for some reason my internet is being weird and not letting me upload anymore... so that's all for now. I'll edit this post as soon as i'm able to and show you the rest!

Buy yeah, the trip was amazing. It was so great to be out there and to reconnect with friends I hadn't seen in a while.... AND it looks like we'll be headed back there this summer for my brother in law's wedding! :) So exciting! Again, congrats Nathan & Malki! :)

heading home!

Well tomorrow morning Joel and I are heading home! It's been an incredible trip and I have some exciting news to share but I want to wait until I'm able to post some pictures as well, so you will soon see! :)

Hope you're all watching American Idol!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

twitter with me

while i'm gone...

follow sharonwilbur at http://twitter.com

*CALIFORNIA*

Okay, so i leave tomorrow morning {eeeeeeeeearly} for my most favorite place in the US: Orange County California!



I am SO excited! I haven't been out west since my wonderful American Idol experience, so I'm really looking forward to spending some time there. Not to mention I'll be hanging out with some friends that I haven't seen in far too long... so yeah - the next week may be a bit quiet in sharon wilbur blog land... i'm warning you ahead of time! :)

aaaaaaaaand if you live in the orange county area, Irvine to be exact, then you should DEFINITELY come out to the concert I'll be participating in. Friday (2/13 at 7:15pm) & Sunday (2/15, 6:30pm), @ the Hyatt Regency on Jamboree Rd. In Irvine. I'll be there with my father in law, Paul Wilbur, and will be showcasing some of my EP songs, along with possibly some *brand new ones*!!!!! So I hope to see you there! For more information visit:

http://www.mjaa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Spg_Conf_Reg_Southwest

Alrighty, have a great week!

i'm singing

nothin' like a little testimony to brighten your morning! :)

Kari Jobe, I'm Singing - with testimonies

so blessed...

I don't have much time to write at the moment, but i just wanted to say a few words. God is so good.

Seriously, this whole idol experience has been an incredible one. Maybe I didn't get as far as I would have hoped, but honestly, I don't have one complaint about it. I had the opportunity to be a part of my favorite television show, I've made some incredible friends, learned a TON about myself, and even gained a bit of confidence through it all!

It's funny how being told "you have no courage" actually causes that courage to rise up in you. I blogged about this revelation actually just after my trip to Hollywood (of course I wasn't able to talk about where I had just been, or what I was referring to... but if you want to read- it see my post from 11.21.08)

More than anything, I've learned how sometimes, it's stepping out in your fear that brings the most personal growth! Honestly, nothing compares to the nerves I felt throughout this whole process. American Idol was me stepping out in my fears... and looking back over my time there in Hollywood, I feel such a sense of peace and accomplishment. God is good.... and He ultimately is the one directing my path - whether is on Idol, or not! :)

That's all for now folks!

iTunes

In case you hadn't heard...

You can purchase my EP,
You're My Heart
on iTunes (just search "Sharon Wilbur"),

OR

directly from my MySpace site: www.myspace.com/SHARONWILBUR
(see the banner at the top of my page there).

AMERICAN IDOL!!!!

Okay... so i'm still in shock after last night... but if you missed it, i've got a couple links you can visit!

To see my audition, visit:

http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j141/mjsbigblog/Jackson/?action=view¤t=sharon.flv

To see me on E! News visit:

http://vids.eonline.com/services/link/bcpid4037511001/bctid9299327001

To see me & my family on the Jacksonville local news shortly after my audition... visit:

http://www.fox30online.com/content/topstories/story/American-Idol-Auditions/63WVnnqys0KQQ8T-ikRhMA.cspx

(be sure to watch the video over on the right-hand side!!)

here are a few more shots i snapped while watching last night...








Be sure to tune into Hollywood Week!!!! :)

Tues. Night - Jan 26th - 8pm!

Okay, so in case I don't get a chance to blog while out of town... I just wanted to remind everyone to watch American Idol Tuesday night (8pm EST, on FOX) because they will be showing the Jacksonville Auditions! :) Who knows... you may see a familiar face!

what if....?

A thought: When a drunk-driver kills a mother and her unborn baby, the person can get 2 counts of murder or manslaughter. However, when it comes to abortion... that same unborn baby is not considered person??? Can the courts have it both ways? I just don't get it.

someone you SHOULD know...

yes yes i know the tone of my blog has been rather serious for the past week or so... but lets take a music break for a minute.

this is Rebekah LeBeau... and you'll love her:



seriously... visit her myspace... get to know her stuff... you won't be disappointed! :)

www.myspace.com/rebekahlebeaumusic

I Stand With Israel... Rally

It's not every day I have an opportunity to take part in an event like this... so I was pretty excited when I found out that the local Chabad was sponsoring a "Stand with Israel Rally" last Sunday. We had a pretty good turn out... about 250-300 people were there showing their support for Israel's right to defend herself....

yay Israel!




myself leading in a round of Hava Nagila, ha.





me & my home-made shirt... can you tell? :)



Thankfully, America has spent the past 8 years under a President who has served as a great friend to the nation of Israel. It's my prayer that this friendship not only continues with our new President, but grows stronger.
------------
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
May those who love you be secure.
Ps.122:6

inauguration day. 2009.

Today is the big day. Wow. I woke up with such mixed feelings this morning. Anyone who knows me, even in the slightest, knows that I'm quite a conservative... and a proud one. Since the election of Mr. Obama I have been careful to keep my mouth shut for the most part. Not because I am not feeling 94857349587349587 different emotions, but because now that he is in office I believe he deserves my utmost respect, and even more importantly - my prayers.

I came upon this article last night (thanks to a friend posting it) and it immediately caught my attention with this sentence:

"The incoming president is the man of the moment. He deserves good wishes and sincere prayers. But I’ve found myself thinking these last few days more about the man who has shouldered the burdens of office for the past eight years, George W. Bush."

So of course, I read on and was increasingly impressed by William Kristol's take on things. To read the full article, you can visit this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/opinion/19kristol.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20next%20war%20president&st=Search

Here are a few excerpts that really struck me:

(Speaking of Bush)
"He has made mistakes as president... but he has exercised his just and rightful authority in a way — I believe — that deserves recognition and respect. It will probably be a while before he gets much of either."

"I couldn’t help but reflect that a distressingly small number of my fellow Jews seem to have given much thought at all to the fact that President Bush is one of the greatest friends the state of Israel — and, yes, the Jewish people — have had in quite a while. Bush stood with Israel when he had no political incentive to do so and received no political benefit from doing so. He was criticized by much of the world. He did it because he thought it the right thing to do."

"Many of Bush’s defenders have praised him for keeping the country safe since Sept. 11, 2001. He deserves that praise... But I don’t think keeping us safe has been Bush’s most impressive achievement. That was winning the war in Iraq, and in particular, his refusal to accept defeat when so many counseled him to do so in late 2006.... And the outcome in Iraq is a remarkable gift to the incoming president, who now only has to sustain success, rather than trying to deal with the consequences in the region and around the world of a humiliating withdrawal and a devastating defeat."

There's much more to this article, so please... take the time to read it. Mr. Kristol offers some wonderful perspective on a situation that really brings me such mixed feelings...

Our God and God of our ancestors: We ask your blessings for our country — for its government, for its leaders and advisers, and for all who exercise just and rightful authority.

so, anything new?

well not to suddenly change the tone of my blog, but some pretty amazing things have been going on for me personally, and i want to share a bit of them with you.

First of all, i'm continuing to write and compile music for my next album (not sure on a release date for that yet). This is one of my favorite parts of the whole "album making" process. Joel (my husband) and I really enjoy writing together so we've been doing much more of that lately, and we've also been blessed to work with some incredible writers as well. I'm sure I will be blogging like crazy once the project is set to release... but this could be a little while from now as we have to wait to see how some other things line up!

Second, one of my favorite TV shows premiered last night.... American Idol. YES I'm a confessed fan... but this year I've taken particular interest in seeing how things turn out....



...that being why. :)

Please keep me in your prayers over the next few months.

God is good and I know that ultimately His will will be done! I'm just here to be used in whatever way He wants to use me! ... My prayer has always been that God would open the doors He wants opened, and close those He wants closed.... so.... we'll see what happens!

Alrighty, that's it for now!

♥

what's going on in Israel?!?

Ok... so I have received a bunch of emails from people asking me about what is going on in Israel at the moment. Since the news here is barely skimming the issue, and is extremely biased, let me just give my (reasonably short) take on things. The questions I've been asked all revolve around the same three things:

"who is Hamas?" "why are they attacking Israel" and "where is the gaza strip?"

Hamas is a terrorist organization.... an "Islamic resistance movement" and they have risen to power in an area of Israel called the Gaza Strip. This is land that belongs to Israel and is considered a part of Israel but has been sectioned off for the Palestinians to live in. Their "beef" with Israel boils down to the fact that they think it's their land and continue to try and take more and more of it. This conflict really dates back to Bible times when God gave the land to Abraham and his descendants, Israel... BUT for those who would rather me use another example, we can look at history. There have been NUMEROUS times when the boundaries of Israel were outlined. One example is the Balfour Declaration which was established in 1917. Over the course of time the boundaries of Israel have gotten smaller and smaller as she (Israel) has been urged, time and time again, to give up more land. Now... if you look at a map for just one second...



....You'll see little Israel over there on on the left bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Well notice how she is surrounded ON ALL SIDES by Arab nations.... and STILL, she is being told to give up more land. Not only that, but she's being told to give up land to a general people whose main goal is to "drive Israel into the sea." That's pretty scary...

[I want to be clear here, before I go on, that i'm in NO WAY saying that all Palestinians or Arabs are affiliated with this terrorist organization, however Hamas and those involved have not only risen to power in the communities, but actually hold majority in Palestinian government. A lot of people living under their authority want badly to be out from under it. As a quick example, when this recent fighting with Israel erupted up a couple weeks ago, Hamas actually captured many local leaders who they thought might aid Israel and shot them in the legs, chopped off their hands, THEN released them... Hoping that they'd be too scared or unwell enough to offer Israel any help.]

Anyway, back to the current situation. For the past couple years... the Hamas has been launching rockets from Gaza into the Israeli areas. To the small town of Sderot, this has pretty much become a way of life. Israel has done nothing.... under the encouragement from pretty much every other country (and the UN) in the world. This would be like Canada shooting rockets into America every day... killing people on a regular basis, and America just sitting back watching. Pretty crazy to think about, but this has been the growing situation over there.

Well... hundreds of rockets, and ignored "cease fires" later... Israel decides to stand up for herself. NO they are not just dropping bombs all over the Gaza strip trying to kill innocent civilians.... as many of the news stations would make it seem, but they are strategically planning every step. They are in an especially tough situation because the Hamas fighters don't all just "hang out" in the same area. They disperse into neighborhoods among families and children... As a result, it becomes extremely difficult to take them out while avoiding the innocent. One way Israel has tried to prevent as many civilian deaths as possible is by warning those living in these targeted neighborhoods of incoming attacks. They not only called many residents, but they followed those phone calls up with "sound bombs" as a second warning.... something that is pretty commendable in my opinion.

So, that's a semi-brief summary of things going on. I will be the first to admit that I have some pretty strong views on this stuff, but that's because I not only have history, but the Bible to back me up. There are many layers to what is happening in Gaza and the Middle East, and I honestly haven't even skimmed the surface here, but I wanted to share my thoughts. I hope this has been helpful!

Please continue to pray for God's protection on His people... Arab or Israeli. My heart really goes out to all of the Christian Arabs who are caught in the middle of this horrible mess...

♥

Is. 62:1-2a
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet,
till her righteousness shines out like the dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.
The nations will see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory.

this is a MUST SEE.

Escape from Hamas:
The Testimony of Mosab Hassan

****be sure to watch all 6 parts if you can!!!****