Lainey Wilson Living On Tulsa Time – The Dance Goes Live!

Lainey Wilson wins the weekend with a throwback to a song from the late 1970s. But that’s only part of what’s really cool about this new performance video. Starting her tour in Phoenix, Arizona, Lainey brought in dancers to boogie to the old song from Don Williams. Not just any dancers, though. The adorable and talented (and it makes my knees hurt just watching their fun, technical choreography) dancers from Impact Dance in Mesa, Arizona. Here’s the live Lainey video followed by a tutorial from the Christensen family.

Although the video just came out in the last day or so, the actual concert performance was last month. Here’s a news clip of some of the girls talking about the excitement of the moment a few weeks ago…

So cool! I hope those girls remember that moment and have tons of special memories throughout their childhood.

-Out of the Wilderness

Vince Gill Adds A Verse To “Go Rest High On That Mountain” and It’s Incredible

This song, as the popular phrase goes in 2025, is “one of one.” It reminds me of living in New York City, it was 1995 and I remember listening to this song on the Staten Island ferry after finishing basketball tryouts at Curtis High School, which was on Staten Island. Some people listen to rap, hip hop, rock, to get amped up. For me, it was always the deep emotional songs that inspired me before or after a competitive sports matchup. We didn’t stick around New York (my dad retired from the Coast Guard and we were in Florida a few weeks later), but the song has stuck with me all these years.

This week, Vince released what they’re calling an extended version of the wonderful song. In it, they add a new verse which goes like this: You’re safely home in the arms of Jesus. Eternal life, my brother’s found. A day will come, I know I’ll see him in that sacred place, on that Holy ground.

Originally it was written for people Vince Gill was close to (1990s) but since then it’s been performed countless times to memorialize special people in country music and beyond. One such moment is ingrained in my memory as Vince Gill performed at the funeral of George Jones. If you really want to be moved, watch this and notice Patty Loveless carrying the entire thing when Vince was so broken up and also listen to the passionate guitar solo about halfway through. Such a good song.

The verse isn’t new, per se. He has performed it for the last 5 or 6 years in live shows. It’s just that now it’s an official recording and the timing couldn’t be more significant with the passing of Charlie Kirk. Here’s a live version of the verse from a Vince Gill Christmas show a few years back.

-Out of the Wilderness

Softball 4.0 – Does It Even Matter?

I’m trying to gather– or maybe a better word is corral and assign labels to– my thoughts from the last 3 days. Was Monday just a few days ago? If you told me that last week was May, I’d believe you. If you told me yesterday was only 24 hours long, I’d think you should be locked up in a looney bin. Time is, at the same moment, standing still and rushing by like a river. I don’t really want to share details right now about why my heart is heavy, why my mind is racing, what this week will mean as a landmark in my own life so I’ll scoot right along to something more related to the title of the post.

Softball.

If your favorite D-1 college football team loses and you think to yourself, “It’s just a game,” first of all good for you. It’s literally just a game. So with that framework, adult league slow pitch softball is where on that college football scale? So so so so far down and even more of “just a game” than any college sport. That sentiment rang true again this week when I was able to hobble through a softball game against some old-timers (meaning= fantastic batters) in which the old-timers destroyed us by like 57 runs. And I was the pitcher so imagine how it feels to be such a good strike-thrower that EVERYONE gets a hit. That’s sarcasm by the way. The dilemma for a pitcher is this: You have to be accurate enough to toss strikes, but then somehow not let the other team get hits? It’s the conundrum of conundrums.

Because of this other stuff going on in the life of my immediate family (the heavy heart stuff), I walked off the softball field not the slightest bit concerned that I could’ve played better defense or hit the ball harder when I was batting. The phrase that kept coming to mind, and I mean this in a philosophical/ spiritual/ big picture way, not in a lazy, judgmental way… “Who cares?” So what that our team lost (or won or hit good or hit bad or we had errors or we made amazing plays)? There are people out there with real problems, some life and death, so what is a random Thursday night softball game compared to that? It’s nothing. I have a history of being snarky when I’m upset in sports, whether it’s about a bad call from an official or an opposing team verbally jabbing at one another. In the big picture, it’s all fluff. Of course, even in the fluff, my attitude matters. How I treat my teammates and the other team matters. Their journey in life is what matters, not what’s on the scoreboard or if the guy who slid into second was called safe or out.

But I’ll say this, my leg still hurts from last week and it’s weird to not be out there running, biking, swimming like I had been doing all summer. I guess even THAT is something I should just hold off to the side, not a part of life that has deep significance. So I’m hanging on to what I’ve learned in church. God is good. He is in control. Even when I don’t quite see it and definitely don’t understand. And also…

I should go to the batting cage. My softball batting is atrocious!

-Out of the Wilderness

More Drawing Assist From Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

This week’s been a whirlwind for reasons I may write about later, very personal. I’ll sum it up this way: 2025 is a year of peaks and valleys, more valleys than peaks and this week matches that to a tee. With that said, I’ve been distracting myself with an awesome feature of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Have you heard of “Drawing Assist”? The phone comes with a stylus and when you take it out of the phone, “Drawing Assist” pops up and you can draw to your heart’s content. AI will then render your work into art and… it’s incredible. I’ve posted about it before (here) but here are the latest examples from my mediocre talent turned into something that’s unique and, might I say in some cases, adorable. Hope you enjoy!

A pic of my 16-yr old niece who played golf with her friend (the girl hanging out above her 🤪)

Am I turtley enough?

This is my rough attempt to draw a goldendoodle. It’s a lot easier to just “draw a dog” but to do a specific type, a challenge as you can see. I think Ai cleaned it up very well and made my scary picture look a lot less scary.

A quick trip to Orlando meant staying in a hotel. Loved the pillows and hot showers (what can I say, I live in a camper and a long hot shower is a major luxury!).

I’ve never seen a panda bear quite like this… but OK. You do you panda bud!

-Out of the Wilderness

Howl Like It’s Your Birthday

Piper! It’s hard to believe we haven’t been together for almost a month and a half. I think about you every day, my sweet and persistent and feisty and fiery beagle. I hope you always knew that I loved you, that I’d always come back for you, and there wasn’t a day that went by where I didn’t wonder what you were thinking or how we could spend time together. Fifteen years. Like a friend said, a million good days and one bad one… so I’m trying to remember all those great moments we had together.

On this day, which would’ve been your 16th birthday, I’ll be thinking about you yet again. Pawing your way through Heaven’s forests looking for that rabbit. Or chasing whatever scent you found. If you can, howl through the clouds and I’ll make sure to be listening all day.

-Out of the Wilderness