http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt46RtGuaz0

if you want to see what my summer looked like, sweet hannah made my favorite video of our 2009 JB world tour....check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt46RtGuaz0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMJtjyfpm8w

Jordin Sparks Charity Event: Black Monday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZnTFD5i7L0

fun times in londontown....

love myspace.....

hey friends and fam...

just wanted to give props where props were due.

the other day, while riding along in the car with good friends steven & mae taylor...i was talking about how i needed some pictures that were really fun...and just made me look like i want my new music to sound.  to which steven replied...'well, let's take a few right now!'  

so we popped out of the car right along the beach....click, click, click, click....and voila.  happy christa black pictures that make christa black happy.  

he has a sick media company that creates amazing art for internet media...videos...layouts...pages....yada yada....

www.madmonstermedia.com

and then makes sure to check out his photography site: 

www.steventaylorphoto.com

i love being around creative people.  it makes me more creative.

(:

xx, christa

hey friends!!!

well, i'm heading out on the jonas brothers/jordin sparks world tour this summer. will post dates later....but you can check the tour dates on www.jonasbrothers.com.

come out for the shows this summer...they're gonna be incredible!!!

(get your tickets fast...the tour is already almost sold out!!!)

xx, christa

hey friends!

people ask where they can see me play...and as i'm not on tour for my stuff YET....right now i'm on the MWS/SCC United tour...and it's definitely history in the making. most shows are sold out...but if not, DEFINITELY come out and have a listen. 3 hours of the hits.....

hit up www.michaelwsmith.com for tour dates!

party on, party people. (:

xx, christa

hey friends...

last year, my beautiful friend jordin sparks won the biggest crown in the music today....she won the title of 'american idol.' i have two shows that i refuse to miss....'lost' & 'american idol'....(and embarrassingly enough...'the bachelor' shhhhhhhh...)....so when jordin's name was called, and the confetti fell and simon cowell stood up in applause....i cried my little green eyes out. to watch someone that young....someone of that talent, but most importantly....someone whose heart is absolutely golden...i couldn't have been more proud.

that was enough for me. my sweet little friend jordin had won and was going to change the world. and then i get...'the' phone call.

i heard she wanted to record 'god loves ugly' through the grapevine and was flooded with waves of emotion. when i wrote that song about my past, i knew it was going to help a lot of people simply because it wasn't just my story, but the story of so many. how many of us have been told that we're ugly...or stupid...that we wouldn't amount to anything....or we've done things that were so shameful we guard those secrets with our lives.

i got married earlier this year...and i can honestly say, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. most of my life, i was petrified of someone getting too close...because what if they saw the things about me that i hated...would the reject me like i'd so many times rejected myself? having someone love the things that i've hated about myself actually started to heal me in those areas...and ended up changing the things about myself that i thought were so 'ugly' into things that i could actually finally see as beautiful.

love changes everything.

'God loves ugly' is a love story. it's a love story about a girl who was so broken, and so beat up, that when she looked in the mirror, all she could see were the scars and bruises. she came to the end of her rope and cried out to God. the definition of God is "love".....so when God...when LOVE started touching those parts of her that she hated, the love actually started to turn the ugly into something she never imagined.....she actually started seeing herself as beautiful for the first time in her life.

it's amazing how love-starved the world is....and how it's what everybody wants more than anything. i've never met a child who desired to be hated....or someone who longed to be despised. sometimes that happens over time when someone believes the lie that it's what they deserve....but the core of man desires one thing: to be loved and accepted.

my love bucket was empty....and i knew in order to start seeing myself as beautiful...or just as a person of worth, i needed something big....i needed a big kind of love.

it's an ridiculously enormous honor to have jordin fight to sing this song to the world...no matter the cost. a lot of people don't want to hear about God...they don't want to hear about love. it conjures up deep wounds that people don't like to revisit....but going back to the wounds is the ONLY way for healing to occur....and for that, i applaud her for her stand to sing about something so profound.

her album comes out tomorrow, November 20.07. go buy it. you won't be disappointed. she's a brilliant artist, and one that will be around for decades to come.
and it's nice to have an artist that you KNOW you can be proud to support...and believe me, this girl is loving and kind and generous and will be a role-model to this generation.

love you all...thanks sooooo much for your support....

xx, christa

WALK ON WATER

guitar case always open
song after song that no one's heard
pages of journals written
with all my unlived dreams
i'm holding a ticket...while i'm sitting in this waiting room
so afraid to try
why am i so afraid to take the ride
through the unpredictable
stepping out where there's no floor
fingernails bit down to the quick...i can't go on like this

CHORUS:
i want to walk on water through the deepest sea
i want to walk into your mystery
and i will walk through fire just to live my life for something greater
my greatest failure...is not to try

i've held my heart too close to be stolen
time after time i've turned away
so scared that if i open up you might just walk away
and i'm sitting alone here
in this fortress that i've made my home
so afraid to love...but even more afraid to be loved
though it seems impossible
stepping out where there's no floor
there's a world that i have missed...
i've got to take the risk

BRIDGE:
i've got to try--i've got to try
before i die...
life's too short to be hiding
love's a risk--a risk worth fighting for
i want to know how far my heart can go
i'll never know until i try

i've got to try--i've got to try--i've got to try


GOD LOVES UGLY

you said that i wasn't pretty--so i just believed you
you said that i wasn't special--so i lived that way
with critical gazes and brutal amazement
at how my reflection could be so imperfect
with all of my blemishes--how could somebody want me

CHORUS:
but god loves ugly--he doesn't see the way i see
oh, god takes ugly--and turns it into something that is beautiful
apparently i'm beautiful
cause you love me

i tried to clean up the outside--all shiny and new
worked overtime to thin up and look right
but inside i knew
that deep in the bottom were secrets i thought i could try to ignore--
old ghosts in my corridors never get tired of haunting the past that's in me

CHORUS

BRIDGE:
help me believe why you love me
when i know you see--you see everything
help me believe why you love me
when i know you see inside and you still say i'm beautiful
you're telling me i'm beautiful
you're screaming out, so beautiful
and i'm finding out i'm beautiful
you're making me so beautiful
and i can see i'm beautiful cause you love me



CALIFORNIA SUNSHINE

i can tell you about the rain after forty days of heavy downpour
i can tell you about the clouds cause they just won't go away
and i think it might be just the time to pack my bags and take a ride with you
baby, we're both needing something new

CHORUS:
cause california sunshine's calling my name
lay me by the ocean, i won't complain
don't call it a vacation--don't think i ever want to leave
there's nothing like a blue sky over the bay
to let you know that everything is ok, oh,
i just love to get away
to californ-i-a

it's feeling good to slow down, take the top down, let's go driving all day long
i'm feeling kind of crazy, i think maybe, i'm in love
and i wanna turn the music up, tip back my cup, and drink it all in deep
cause there's no place on earth i'd rather be

CHORUS

BRIDGE:
take me surfing, cause i've never been
take me driving down the coast again
take me high--take me low--just take me out
let's go dancing down the boulevard
just bring the night--i just might bring my guitar
it's not too hot...it's not too cold when it's just right


STOP

faster faster here we go
i'm not fond of moving slowly--i keep holding on
for dear life, baby
moving at the speed of light--
superman has got to fight to keep up with the way i fly
but i fly so lonely when i'm racing to stay in the game--
i miss everything
i'm oh, so sorry that i didn't see
the most important thing is that i need to

CHORUS:
stop--for just one moment
let me tell you how i feel
we get so busy i forget to say
how much i love you

i say yes and you say no
you say backwards i say forwards--i'm not sure if i can
take the spinning
cause i'm dizzy from the frenzy of playing the game--
not missing a single thing
i'm sorry that i haven't seen
the most important thing is that i need to

CHORUS

BRIDGE:
whoa--i'm slowing down--i'm slowing down to let you
know--i'll always take the time
i'll take the time to stop for just one moment
let me tell you how i feel
we get so busy i forget to say
how much i love you
how much i need you
how much i want you
how much i love you, i love you, i love you



THE VIEW

i just unloaded the last box up two long flights of stairs
and i realize that everything i own is in this room
i don't know how i got here and i'm not sure how to start--
if you asked me to retrace myself, it would probably be too far
but i'm sitting on these wrinkled sheets and thinking to myself
i might be happy

CHORUS:
and i just have to say
the view looks fine from here
everything seems nice this time of year
and even though the future is unclear
i might just stick around a while

my landlord's name is barbara and i sometimes call her mom
her jersey accent reminds me just how far away from home i am
and i love the way the traffic keeps moving down below
seems the people in this city always have some place to go
and there are couples walking everywhere as i sit all alone
but i am happy

CHORUS

BRIDGE:
cause the sun's about to rise
oh, i've never seen it look so bright
i have waited all my life

got a couple hundred dollars and an 8x16 room
most people think i'm crazy...say i took off way too soon
but i can't describe this longing that's pulling me inside
sometimes following your heart can be an interesting ride
but i'm looking over rooftops at the colors
and i know that i am happy


PEACE

there has to be a reason why i'm standing here
the water's getting higher but i'm fighting fear
cause i can be still in the middle of a storm
there had to be a breaking so my heart could change
the winds have blown against me, but i've learned to stay
cause i can be still in the middle of a storm

CHORUS:
you give me peace to rest my soul
inside this hurricane that blows
and i will anchor in the harbor of your love
within my weakness you are strong
to stand against the rain that comes
you give me peace to be still
in the middle of a storm

i'll sail into the gentle waters of your heart
i'll rest within the haven of your open arms
i know where to be still in the middle of a storm
yes, i know where to be still in the middle of a storm



I'M STILL HERE

the storm, the wind, the rain have met me once again
and interrupted blue
the sky turned grey turned cold, turned winter once again
and interrupted blue
but i'm here for now
yes, i'm here for now
though storm, though wind, though rain have met me once again
and interrupted blue
i'm still here


FOREVER

it's not enough to see you a few times a week
it's not enough to find you occasionally
and there's a lonliness i can't begin to hide
until i have you by my side

it's not enough to tell you without any proof
if i don't live to show you the words i say are true
and there's an emptiness i can't get to subside
until i let you come inside

CHORUS:
i'm giving you my heart
i'm giving you my soul
i'm giving you my love
forever
i'm giving you my world
all i have is yours
i'm giving you my love
forever

it's not enough to give you the pieces of me
if i don't find surrender to be my everything
and there's a passion that i can't begin to hide
when you have made me so alive

god created the heavens and the earth... but no heavens are being created here...no enormous mountains or miles and miles of open seas. you can only hope you're creating something magical...something eternally significant...something that will affect people's lives the way that it affects yours...but if you live to create art by that premise....you'll create in fear. so here i am...the beginning of my career...completely amazed by the heavens and the earth...so amazed, in fact, that i'm inspired to create...to write...to share...my life experience. i used to try to create to be liked...to make sure that you would enjoy what i was writing...but not anymore. i can only be who god has created me to be. i can only make the kind of music that naturally comes out of me... and it's pouring forth....finally onto something that others can hear. i hope you all enjoy..but if you don't...that's ok, too. i'm unashamed to say...i listen to my own music. cheers, christa