Wednesday Morning Starbucks Run....

I stay at my in-laws on Tuesday nights since I have class on Wednesday morning. On the way into Palmer, we (Billy and I) usually stop at Wawa or Starbucks to get some morning fuel (i.e. coffee/caffeine). Since Billy was sick this week and I was traveling alone, I stopped at Starbucks and raised my coffee cup high in honor of my friend Billy.

When I came out of Starbucks to return to my car, this is what I saw on the way.

• Audi
  
• Mercedes
  
• Lexus


• Mercedes


• Ford Escort


• Lotus
  

Which one of these cars does not belong? Any idea which one was mine? And really, who drives a Lotus to work?

Where The Rubber Meets The Road

Several weeks ago, I preached at our church on what it means to really live as Gdo desires us to. Part of my sermon was a list of things that I hope to accomplish before I die. Some of those things included:

• doing ministry on all the continents (except Antarctica)
• Adopting a child
• Visiting all the Major League Ballparks
• Go skydiving for my 30th birthday

Sometimes, you have to be careful what you ask for. Yesterday in the mail, I received a note from one of our congregation members with an encouraging note regarding this sermon. Included in that note was a check to cover the cost of skydiving at a local organization that does that sort of things. Two things went through me head...

• Sweet! I am going skydiving for my 30th birthday!
• Crap! I am going skydiving for my 30th birthday!

I have to admit that I am really excited about doing this. I am also really nervous. I definately plan on having the video/pictures done because that would just be awesome to have. I am speaking at a camp this summer, and maybe I will strive to do it before camp to use the video there.

Finally, Andrea just finished and signed our wills and established a trust for Abbie...so at least I am ready! Geranimo!

Sunday Morning Review

This past Sunday was a busy one. I preached at all three services as well as led worship at the 9:30 worship time. Here's a breakdown.

Sermon: I thought the sermon went well. I messed with the message for two weeks, so I had a good grasp of the text. While I often try to keep a message to one main point, this one had two...but I don't think they worked against the other or was too tough to follow.

Music: The music facet of our worship time went well. We didn't do the 'normal' formula at the beginning. We started with "Wrap Me in Your Arms" moved right into "For These Reasons" and finished with "Forever". Our closing song was "From the Inside Out". There was a great atmosphere in the room as we worshipped.

Video Element: During our series, we've been showing video testimonies of members of our congregation. These testimonies have been great, and Sunday was no different.

Response: The response at the end was very good at 8:00 and 9:30. We had a time for healing and an opportunity to ask God to transform our lives. The 11:00 service is more resistant to response times. I was anticipating a response, but no one came forward at 11:00, which has happened several times before when the early services had a good response.

All in all, it was a good Sunday. An encouraging Sunday for me as I have really been frustrated lately. The only down side was that I got sick Sunday night (2:30 a.m.) and was chucking in the bathroom. Oh well, you can't win them all.

CD/Artist That Impacted My Life (pt. 3)

It's been awhile since I've continued this series on CD's and artist that have been influential in my life. This post- The O.C. Supertones.

I first heard the Supertones at The Mustard Seed Jam House in my hometown of PA. The Jam House was a Christian Coffee House for teens and featured some great music. The Adventures of The O.C. Supertones was like nothing I had heard before. Being from rural PA, I didn't hear any Ska or reggae influenced music until the Supertones. I really liked what I heard.

The thing that was most influential about the Supertones was always their lyrics. They were always Christ-centered and challenged me not to compromise my faith as a teen. Later CD's by the Supertones took on a worshipful feel on many of the songs. The Supertones were always in rotation on the CD player and continue to be on the iPod.

I cannot remember the first time I heard the Supertones live. I know I saw them at DC/LA 2000. In all, I probably saw them 6-7 times in concert. Their shows were pure feel good energy with lots of dancing. I had the priveledge of attending their farewell tour when it came to the Baltimore area with four good friends. It was a great evening! The picture below is one I took from the frontrow at DC/LA 2000 in Washington DC.

Saturday Musings

It's Saturday afternoon. Andrea is at a confirmation retreat and Abbie is taking a nap. I just finished a project for seminary and now am listening to the Pirates lose big time to the Cubbies. Sigh.

• I am preaching tomorrow at Avenue. I am using Luke 17:11-19 as my text. It's when Jesus heals the ten lepers and only one returns to thank Jesus and give God glory. It was interesting as I prepared for the sermon that in the verses surrounding this passage- the people you expect to repsond to Jesus do not do so, and the people one might think would be opposed to Jesus respond. The Rich Young Ruler vs. Zacchaeus is a great example of this dichotemy. You can check out the sermon at www.avenue-umc.org/listen later next week.
• I've come to the conclusion that we (the United States) should boycott the Olympics in China because of human rights issues.
• I am ready for seminary to be over for the semester. Bring on summer and laid back evenings.
• Ugghh, the Pirates are frustrating.
• My good friend from college, BJ Whitaker, came to Avenue on Wednesday night to share with us about his (and Rachel's ) call to do ministry in Spain. I am really excited for them. He did a great job sharing his passion and call for the people of Spain. You can check out his blog here. Check out his blog and consider supporting his work!

Until next time, have a great Sabbath tomorrow.

Fun With Abbie

Last night, Abbie woke up around 3:00 a.m. which I immediately heard. She kinda fell back asleep only to wake up crying. So, being the wonderful father and husband I am, I went and got Abbie to try and get her back asleep. An hour and a half later, Abbie was still awake in my arms and now she was crying. Loudly. It was 4:40 a.m. Then all of a sudden, Andrea whips into the room, snatches Abbie from my hands and takes her to bed. Never a peep from Abbie until the alarm went off. Go figure.

So we found out that she is getting two top teeth at the same time. No wonder she woke up.

So tonight, as I was giving Abbie a bath, she pooped in her little bath tub. The joys of parenthood. I do find it amazing that Abbie is 9 1/2 months old and this is the first time she has pooped in the bath tub.

I'm tired and I had to clean poop out of the bathtub, but I still love that girl!

Some Quick Hit News

Several things I wanted to blog about, none of which I thought I should give a whole blog to. So I am going to give you a bullet point blog.

• We stayed home this weekend. We watch Blood Diamonds on Saturday. It features Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. It was a really good movie- a moving story. Maybe one of the best I've seen in over a year. It tells a tale of conflict diamonds...diamonds that are mined in conflict zones using forced labor. The diamonds are sold to buy weapons which kill more people. At the end of the movie, people were encouraged to inquire as to whether the jewelers they use are sure there diamonds are not conflict diamonds. Another part of the movie that was gripping was the realistic portrayal of the horror of child soldiers. Children who are kidnapped, brainwashed, and taught to kill. One could watch Invisble Children and follow it up with Blood Diamonds to get an image of the child soldier problem.


• Has anyone been following the "man" who is pregnant. You can read the story here, here, and here. The story goes that the 'man' is a woman who had a sex reassigment surgery, yet kept his female reproductive organs. "His" wife has been unable to conceive. Rather than find a suragate...He became pregnant to carry the baby. Alright folks...'he' is still a she biologically. This is not a biological man having a baby. This is a woman who had a surgery to identify herself as a male having a baby. It makes for a strange story with a crazy headline, but there is no biological man having a baby.


• On a lighter note, Abbie began to walk with the assistance of a walker. It was exciting to see her stand up on her own and walk across the floor (With a little help)


• Seminary has been a little disappointing this semester. Neither of my classes have been particularly challenging.

That is all for now. I will be posting no later than tomorrow on a sermon I am working on. Many blessings.

More Recording News

This past Wednesday, we started working on vocals for our songs. We made it through three songs during our session. We have a bunch of vocalist and trying to preserve the team concept of getting everyone involved. We laid down vocals for Love Song, God of Wonders, and How Great is Our God. It was a good night, but our next session (in May) should move faster. (You learn a lot in process!) Here are some pics from the session.

Erin playing flute on God of Wonders

Ken adding some vocals

Steve adding some violin to Love Song

We are shooting for 12 songs on the CD...and we'll come away with a minimum of 10. We have one more song to record the instrumentation for yet. But the project is coming along. Hearing the songs with some vocals was really exciting.

Here is a track listing of the songs that we're planning on putting on the disc. (Authors listed when as I can remember)

1. Love Song- Jason Morant
2. How Great is Our God- Laura Story
3. God of Wonders- Marc Byrd/Mac Powell
4. You Are Holy (Prince of Peace)
5. Surrender- Dave Lubben
6. Grace Like Rain- Todd Agnew
7. Your Love is Extravagent- Darrell Evans
8. I Am Free- Jon Egan
9. Friend of God- Israel Houghton
10. Amazing Grace(My Chains Are Gone)- Chris Tomlin
11. Amazed- Jared Anderson
12. Love the Lord- Lincoln Brewster

So that is the track listing. I have no idea what order they are going to be in. We get a rough mixed CD this week to practice vocals with. I may drop that in iTunes and mess with different song orders to see what flows well.

Until next time...have a great day!

Back From Spring Break- Back To The Grind

I spent all of Spring Break home with Andrea and Abbie, other than a few hours spent at the Church. We did a lot of relaxing. It was a great week. This past weekend, we went to Lancaster, PA for a weekend away. We ate really well, slept a lot, and got to see our friends BJ and Rachel Whitaker. All in all, it was a great spring break.

Now I have to get in gear as I finish up six more weeks of school. I am caught up for this weeks class, but I am pretty uninterested in the semester. I am ready to be done and on to other things.

One of the things we are working on is a remodel-addition to our house. We hope to have plans drawn up this week for to add a garage and a room. We're not looking to do a huge addition, just enough to add storage and create one more room to expand to as we have kids, guest, etc. We went to Lowe's and had our kitchen redesigned. We are happy how it turned out and cannot wait to do it.

Tomorrow night, we go back to the recording studio to work on vocals for our songs. As promised, here is a pictures. It's hard to take pictures of yourself while recording, so there is just one of me. That is Erin C. on the right. She plays bass with our worship team.

Until next time, have a great week!