3 Lessons Learned

I spent a couple hours after work yesterday just hanging outside in the yard with my sons.
During this time I learned a few things...

Picture courtesy of The Lovely Kristi Stinson's facebook. Used without her permission. 

 

 

 

1. Ethan has found his groove throwing a baseball. He's stinging my hand through my glove when I catch it now. I'm glad he can throw better at 8 than I could at 37.*
2. Putting training wheels on a bike is harder than it looks. I accidentally backed over Gavin's bike yesterday, breaking a training wheel in the process. So I put a new set on. Apparently I didn't quite do it right because I got them on, said "Here you go Gavin", then walked away. Before I got very far I heard him yelling "Hey! Hey! What's going on here?" I turned to see the back tire of his bike 1 inch off the ground and him just pedaling as hard as he could without going anywhere. I couldn't help but laugh.
3. It don't matter how long we stay outside, it's not long enough. When I say "Come on guys. Let's head inside." it doesn't matter if we've been out there for 1 hour or 5 hours, they still aren't ready. Honestly, I'm glad. I know there will come a day, sooner than I'd like, when they won't want to play with me. So I'm trying to enjoy every minute.

What do you do with your kids, or friends, or kids friends, to enjoy every minute?


* I am 37 now.

Sunday Setlist: April 22, 2012

Westwood Baptist Church sanctuary as seen from the choir loft.

Sunday morning was...interesting..

Don't get me wrong, everything went well.

There were no musical, technical, or logistical train wrecks that I am aware of.

But things didn't exactly go as I expected.

I'll list below what we did, why I planned it that way, and what was the outcome.

We opened with a moment of silence, and a prayer of remembrance of the1 yr anniversary of April 2011 tornadoes that effected our area last year. I expected it to be a moving time of prayer and thought that would lead well into singing about " the joy of The Lord" being our strength. Instead, I stumbled over every word trying to explain what we were doing. I've definitely been more eloquent before. I know I got the point across. But it didn't go as smooth as planned.I just had trouble finding the right words and stumbled over the few I did find.

Holy Is The Lord (Tomlin)

Expected good middle to upbeat opener that would get everyone engaged in worship.

Song went well. It is nice to see more people lifting their hands in worship, especially when singing the line "We stand and lift up our hands for the joy of the Lord is our strength." Should have planned another song after this one though. It felt like slamming on the brakes to end this song and stop the worship for announcements.

Welcome / Announcements / Fellowship.

A Mighty Fortress (choir arrangement) 

This is a choir arrangement of the great hymn with an added chorus. It is a favorite of our church from approx 10 yrs ago. It is upbeat and powerful, both musically and spiritually.

The song sounded great, but I had forgotten how high it was. I could see people disconnecting from it the further into the song we got. It's a lesson I learned years ago about this song, but had forgotten.

Song Of Moses (Keyes)

We've done this newer song 3 or 4 times in the past 6 months. The first time we did it, I spoke of the history of this "Song of Moses." in Exodus. Everyone really let loose on the chorus "The Lord shall reign forever and ever." It was very moving. This time was a little different. I think the previous song had been so long and high that folks were a little worn out to try this high song as well. My voice was even strained on the higher notes. Plus, I didn't intro it well and again stumbled over my own words. The song went fine. I expect not many even felt about it like I did, but it just didn't feel quite right. (or maybe I didn't?)

Offertory prayer - Deacon

Choir Special - This Is Your House (Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir) 

Choir sounded great as always.

Transitional chorus: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (Hymn, chorus only)

Message

Invitation: Your Name (Baloche)

Closing: Sing To The King (Tomlin)

Worship Leaders, Have you ever stumbled over your words and wrecked what you thought was going to be a great time of worship?

Worshipers? If you were at Westwood, what did you think? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

This post is part of TheWorshipCommunity.com's Sunday Setlist. Check it out to see what other worshipers are doing around the world.

I Am Chasing Rabbits Today

I've heard Oprah Winfrey called "The Queen of all media".
She seems to have the whole “TV host, movie star, and magazine publisher” thing figured out.

I call my friend, Jamie, "The Queen of some media".
She seems to have the whole “blogging, tweeting, and watching TV & movies” thing figured out.

Her blog, Jamie’s Rabbits is sometimes informative, sometimes inspirational, and always funny.
You should check it out.

You should especially check it out today because she invited me to guest post.
I don’t want to give too much away, but in my post I discuss Draw Something, The Nation of Islam, and awesomesauce.
What are you waiting for?
Go check it out.

While you’re at it, you should also follow her on twitter, and like her blog on Facebook.
Since you're doing all those things to follow her, might as well do them for me to.
Follow me on twitter. Like my blog on facebook.


Why are you still here?
Go check it out, now.

The number of links on this page is directly proportional to the amount of enjoyment you'll get from clicking on each one. I guarantee* it.

*"Guarantee" in this case, does not imply any promise or guarantee of any kind whatsoever.

Gavin Likes To Rock It!

I posted this on facebook last week, but thought it was very blog worthy as well.

Most people that know my son Gavin think he is a quiet, shy child.
But they've probably never heard him say....
"Daddy, can we listen to Jesus Fweak? And Daddy can we "Wock it"?
Enjoy...