I Know That Guy...

Famous actors that remind me of Lance Burch.

My Favorite Blogger...

Some say I'm a blogging addict.
Some say I'm totally handsome and cool.
(I wholeheartedly agree with both statements.)

Sure, I love this guy and this gal and this guy and this gal,
but the truth is that my favorite blogs are the ones written by people I know.

That's right, gang - nothing brings me more joy than seeing YOUR post in my blog reader.
And of all of those...one blog stands out as my favorite.

I LOVE my wife's blog. I miss it.
Listen, being a Mom is a hard job. All of us know this.
And blogging is often the last on her list of duties or hobbies.
But if you're like me and you miss my wife's blog, then email her at dorothy_girl74@yahoo.com.

Listen - I don't want her flooded with emails from well-wishers who are just doing what I ask. (Although, I would love to have that kind of power...)
But if you do like the way my wife thinks, writes, laugh or looks (easy, now...) then send her an email.
And be sure to end your email message with
"YOUR BLOG IS BETTER THAN TODD'S." She loves that.

Props...is back!

"PROPS" is really one of my favorite blog themes to work on. It gives me a chance to brag on people I care about and, hopefully, introduce them to some of you out there who just tend to land here occasionally.

Today's PROPS go to Chris Caraway.

I first met Chris while playing a one-night gig at First Methodist Lufkin. The worship deal was for the youth, but the FUMC praise band wandered in like a bunch of worship junkies.

If I remember correctly, Chris was standing at the back of the group and said,

"You play any Rich Mullins?"

And that's when I knew we were gonna' be friends. So here's why Chris is gets PROPS:

1. He's the most generous, helpful, modest sound engineer I've ever met. There for awhile, I thought all sound guys were required to be jerks...but Chris cured me of that. I also think it helps if your sound guy is a former member of the armed forces.

ME: "Hey, Chris...think you can find a way to mount this video camera in the soundroom and run a direct audio line into from the secondary video sound board?"

CHRIS: "I'll figure something out."

And he does.

2. He's a servant. So far, I've asked Chris to play guitar and bass, sing, run sound, burn CDs and manage a whole host of things that are not glamorous at all. And he has done them all with a great attitude.

3. The CD. Not many folks know this, but Chris Caraway is the reason "All The Freed" came to be. He raised money, encouraged people to support it, listened to all my ideas, helped me make important decisions regarding the record and was my cheerleader throughout the whole process. Sure, he got to eat Freebirds as part of the deal, but I think he mostly did it because he's my friend.

4. He's stepped up. When all the stuff at Bethel Bible started happening, Chris knew about it. He knew it would change everything at First Methodist. He knew it would add distance to our friendship and bring about some transition at our home church, but he supported me the whole time. And then, when I decided to take it, he stepped up to fill my worship leader shoes. Knowing that Chris is there leading that congregation in praise is a great comfort to me as I pursue this new adventure in Tyler that God's called me to.

5. He loves the church. Chris Caraway has been a member of First Methodist for a long-time. He's seen good times and...not-so-good times. But he's been faithful. He has served in countless ways with a fantastic attitude.

Skribit Week (#1)

An recurring theme among the Skribit suggestions seemed to be something like "why-are-you-addicted-to blogging?"

It's a great question...and one I get asked a lot, believe it or not.

Yeah, I love blogs...and here's why!

1. Other than my wife and a few others, I rarely see any of the people who manage the blogs I love so much. Folks like Artie, Romack, Clay, and the Cragers even live close to me and I hardly ever see them at all! And others like the Burch, Fullen, Conn, King and Simmons families live far away from me. For me, reading blogs is a great way for me to keep up with their lives - what they're doing, liking, thinking, etc. I count these folks as my friends and it makes me so happy when they blog about their lives.

2. As to why I love writing those blogs so much, what can I say? These thoughts are in my head and I've got to get them out! When I see or hear something that I think my friends would enjoy and I have to share it.

3. I learn a lot about my friends from the way they blog...things they think are funny or interesting. It's like an inside peek into their heads...what they "produce" when they have ultimate creative control.

Call it a sickness, if you want, but I love it! And I'm so thankful for those of you who come here often!

18
Yeah...we're currently sitting at 18 comments on the "favorite band in high school" post (below.)

That's amazing: almost 20 comments and it's not even a controversial post! The Blog Gods are smiling on us all, my friends.

So, if you haven't jumped in there with your favorite band/artist/group in high school, come on! It's fun...everybody's doing it.

It'll make you feel good...

_____
By the way, Skribit Week is gonna' be awesome next week. I'm also getting tons of cool questions/suggestions over at worshipnotes, too. I'm excited about the forthcoming posts, so I may be giving you updates here to go read over there.

Twitter Nation...

I love twitter. It's awesome. Except when it doesn't work. Which is about once a day. (Thanks for that joke, Bloggess!)

I'm currently following over 40 feeds and have almost 60 folks following mine. (Some of those were spam, so they don't count.)

So, here's what I'm doing. I'm giving you a list of all the folks that I want to give twitter a try. If your name is in this list, I'm asking you to give twitter a 2-week trial. Sign up, use it for two weeks and if it doesn't work, I'll never ask you again.

(This is a big list...I ain't linking anybody...)

1. The Bluebirds. Come on, gang.
2. Everybody that gigs with me.
3. David Runnels, who has an account but isn't using it. Lame.
4. Adrienne Acevedo, because she works for David Runnels. Oh, and she's "cool."
5. Clay Walker, because his would read like a pre-teen girl. ("Come eat lunch with me?" "Where are you? Are you here yet?" "I'm at the movies!")
6. Ross King...who undoubtedly has some giant, well-thought out, socially-conscious, Kingdom loving reason for not twittering. But come on...how cool would it be to follow the twitter feed of a dude who produces records?
7. John Simmons, because he's the king of one-liners. And what's funnier than a running string of one-liners on a website?

YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE...

I've thought about this for some time. I've done research. I've asked the hard questions. I've watched those closest to me.

And I'm convinced.

It is impossible for anyone (man or woman) not to love this man.

Adam Fischer, ladies and gentlemen.

If you know him, how 'bout showing him some love down in the comment box?

A FEW NOTES ON MOVING...

1. Always, always, always ask dudes who have extensive Tetris experience to help you move.
2. Even a small family of 4 with a small house can accumulate a ton of useless junk.
3. You may think you need the biggest U-Haul available, but you don't. Seriously, Todd, that thing's like a semi.
4. Don't take a gig during moving week.
5. Even though you're excercising a good deal while moving, be prepared to gain weight. 'Cause when the cupboards are empty, you will be consuming vast amounts of whatever you can get your hands on (i.e., a quick run to the convenience store, burgers for the movers, donuts in the morning, copious amounts of soft drinks, etc.)
6. Moving is a great way to see if your random friends will get along with each other. If they do, you're golden.

For Bluebirds Only...

Remember how we would all hang out for hours, guys? I remember so many nights, standing up and saying,
"We gotta' go home. It's late,"
then sitting back down for another 2 hours.

I remember all of us having those conversations with our spouses:
"Okay, okay. We're leaving in twenty minutes. We've got to get up early in the morning."
1:00am and we're still there, laughing and drinking Dr. Pepper (all of us,) unbelieving that we've found friends this amazing.

Do we all still drink Dr. Pepper?

A Tribute (On A Blog?)

I'll be singing this weekend at Justin and Angela's wedding. I couldn't be more excited for these two folks and I can't wait to see what God has in store for them.

I have two very distinct memories of these two kids and I thought I'd share them as a way of honoring and commemorating the amazing experience of seeing them commit their lives to the Father and each other.

My first real memory is of Justin boldly and pathetically talking at length about Angela. He liked her; he thought he loved her. And she...didn't. More than drums or music or even Christianity, I remember Justin believing that Angela was supposed to be his (long before anybody else did.) Little did I know that I would eventually discover that to be Justin's true gift - hope. He's a guy who believes in something, even when everybody around him tells him it can't be done. He believed that he was meant to be Angela's best friend, and now, he is.

My first real memory of Angela is watching her perform sign language to Lincoln Brewster's version of Shout to the Lord at a youth camp almost five years ago. I remember being transfixed by Angela's ministry. And it was - an absolute offering of worship that caused me to stop thinking about myself and recognize the Father for all His beauty and creativity.

I've got lots of other memories of these two people - some of them make me laugh and some make me somber as I realize what good friends and God-followers they are. But for me, I'll always see these two people as the perfect combination of gifts that this world needs: Hope and Worship.

I am grateful to call Justin and Angela my friends, but more grateful that I had the opportunity to watch God take two people from completely different worlds and make something beautiful and sacred out of their life together.