Star Wars...Kinda

Interesting video of actor David Prowse, the British actor who actually "played" Darth Vader in Star Wars. I had never heard Prowse's voice in the original dialogue and it's actuallly pretty funny to hear. Check it out:




Source: Urlesque

Two Cool Worship Events....

Both of these events will get promoted and passed around plenty in other formats, but I wanted to be sure and spread the word here, too.

Two cool worship events scheduled for next week:

• NIGHT OF WORSHIP. I got asked to come and co-lead at a 'night of worship' with Tyler Christian Fellowship here in Tyler for next Wednesday, Feb. 17. Over the past year, I've enjoyed getting to know the guys at TCF and I'm excited to lead some worship over there alongside their team. I'm hoping that a ton of Bethel people will show up and worship with us. The event starts at 7pm and I think it's going to be very cool!
  
  
• CONNECT. This is our big college worship event, scheduled for Friday, Feb. 19. This originally was a small event targeted just at Bethel young adults, but we decided to blow it up and invite every college kid in Tyler! This will be a neat thing for Bethel - it'll be held in our sanctuary and will have a decidedly more 'rockin' feel to the service. I've asked some musician friends of mine to come help me out and I think our young adults will dig it.

It looks to be a very crazy week, but for a worship leader, it's about the best kinda' week you can have.

CHANGES I'D LIKE TO MAKE TO THE WORSHIP MINISTRY AT BETHEL

• Guitar tech. You know...a guy who stands off stage and brings guitars to me when I need a different "tone."
  
  
• An entourage. I really think four to five people flocking me as I approach the stage would make worship a lot better.
  
  
• Wear more rings. Silver would probably be best. It's just the right amount of gaudy.
  
  
• Trucker caps. I'm not saying I need one every Sunday, but I think a well scheduled trucker cap now and again would really set it off.
  
  
• Microphone tricks. I need to do that thing where the front man grabs his mic stand and holds it out over the crowd so they can be "heard." Might even add one of those heavy metal moves where I kick the stand down and then pop it back up. Cool.
  
  
• The Sling. You know about the sling, right? It's that deal where the guy throw his guitar down and back so that it rests on his back like Bruce Springsteen.
  
  
• Less "stress" sweat, more "rock" sweat. There's a big difference.
  
  
• Income. Better CD sales after each service.

Those aren't such big changes, right?

Nothing But Love...for Michael Emerson

As most know, I'm a bit of an "innocent bystander" when it comes to LOST. I still can appreciate the show for it's massive appeal across the world. I don't know that people in my generation have ever seen a television series so captivating and monumental.

In fact, I think the hiring of Michael Emerson was one of the smartest things the show could have ever done. Benjamin Linus has been a catalyst that's taken the show to new and wonderfully weird places and he's sustained the series in its lulls. It's hard to remember LOST before Emerson came on board, and with good reason.

I'm certainly not as excited as my wife when it comes to the final season, but there's a part of me that really, really hopes they can pull it off in a way that's satisfying and worth the time. And I hope Emerson is a big part of it.

SUCKER...

We've all that old saying..."there's a sucker born every minute."

While that saying seems to be more rooted in human naivety than natural, general affection, it also bears consideration that for each us, there are things that 'get us.' Maybe it's that sappy love song or a certain type of movie or a special drink from that restaurant you like. The fact is this: we're all suckers.

Figured I'd list some of the ways I'm a sucker, and then maybe see what you fall for.

I'M A SUCKER FOR:

• Extreme Home Makeover. Every time, I think I'll watch a little of this, but I won't get into it. Forty minutes later, I'm in the kitchen hoping my family doesn't see my wiping tears off my face.
  
  
• Lunch Out. It doesn't matter how busy I am. If somebody rolls by my office and says, "Hey, you wanna' go out to eat for lunch?" I'll go. Any time. Any way. Any place. I'll go.
  
  
• Late Night Junk Food. I can usually pass on donuts and cookies and such during the day if so inclined, but if it's after 10pm and there's something sweet in this house, it's doing DOWN.
  
  
• YouTube. Yeah, I dig YouTube. I'm on it and I watch it. But, man, does it suck me in! I'll start just watching some video while a CD burns or something renders on my computer and then thirty mintues later, I'm still watching stuff!
  
  
• A Movie With My Wife. If my wife even hints at going to see a movie together, I will move heaven and earth to make that happen. Why? Because I love my wife. And I love movies. In that order, of course.
  
  
• Finishing Netflix In One Sitting. I tend to watch Netflix stuff while I'm on the treadmill. The problem is that I'm on there 30 minutes or so, but I won't turn off the dang movie and go to bed. I'll watch a whole movie at midnight!
  
  
• Anything Songwriting. If somebody's talking, writing, discussing, modeling or critiquing songwriting, I'm done. It doesn't even matter if I respect the person talking. I'm a sucker for it.

That's a brief list of mine. Now you...what are you a sucker for?

Thoughts on Tyler...

I love running errands with Kristen. One of the things we love to do is to find interesting conversation starters...we try to find interesting, fresh, off-the-wall stuff to talk about.

Last week, we started talking about how Tyler has surprised us. Basically, the premise was this:

IN WHAT WAYS IS TYLER DIFFERENT THAN YOU IMAGINED?

Here's what we came up with.

• MORE DEVOUT. Sure, Tyler is considered 'East Texas,' but Krist and I come from an even more Eastern version of East Texas. We figured moving to a bigger town would mean a noticeable drop in overall religious interaction. Boy, were we wrong! We've found Tyler to actually be more devout and spiritually sincere than we expected.
  
  
• BIGGER. Certainly, you never get a sense of town's size from simply driving through it a couple of times each year, but Tyler has really shocked us with it's size. We've been impressed with how many small communities, neighborhoods are around Tyler that we had never even heard about.
  
  
• REDNECKS. I expected fewer rednecks in Tyler. Turns out, they're here, too.
  
  
• FRIENDLY. With the exception of a few nasty waitresses or stores around town, we've been really surprised at the friendliness of Tylerites. Not sure what we were expecting...but we like it!

FOUR

Finley turns four today.

When we had Jonah, I thought, "Okay. One kid. That's it."

I still remember when Kristen started talking about another baby. I wasn't so sure. I just kept thinking, "Shouldn't we make sure we don't mess up this first one?"

Getting pregnant Finley was harder. The pregnancy and delivery of Jonah had done a number on Kristen's system. We spent a year meeting with a renowned endocrinologist to sort through all of Kristen's issues and at some point, he began telling us that he could help us get pregnant.

I was scared. Kristen was scared. Could we really go through all the stress again?

We almost didn't have to. Almost.

Kristen's pregnancy went smoothly. Not much drama - few episodes of high BP, but nothing too scary. And we had this little girl.

This sweet, adorable, pudgy little treasure that we had waited and prayed for.

A week after she got here, Fin was back in the hospital, very sick. They didn't know what it was. They checked for every sickness they could think of and never could find it. We cried. We prayed. And we looked at each other and our families with the unspoken question..."Why?"

I remember Kristen sitting on the hospital bed, her makeup smeared and her eyes focused on the incubator where Finley was asleep.

"I just want my baby." She kept saying.

When we finally got her home, we didn't know what to expect. What was this little girl's life going to be?

For four years, we've watched as this little girl has colored our home with sweetness and pure silliness. She came into this crazy house of ours and brought a peace and fun that I believe is truly God ordained. Sure, she's a miracle baby. But the more folks I meet, the more I realize that every baby is a miracle. Finley's more than that to me.

After four years, I see her as a sign. A living, breathing symbol of how God knows what our families need and provides it when we least expect it. Today, we thank God for Finley. For her laugh, for her smile, for her dancing and most of all for her influence on us all.

Happy Birthday, Fin. Daddy loves you.