Here is a collection of some things that I saw, encountered, experienced last week. None of them are related to each other and they're not all that important.
But they did happen.
While running the other night, I noticed that a guy in our neighborhood has a rack in his garage holding about seven compound bows.
As someone who grew up in a bow hunting household, the presence of hunting equipment wasn't all that surprising, but the volume was.
And let me tell you something - obtaining and maintaining seven of these dudes is no small feat. The cost alone would be quite substantial, as these bows looked to be of a high quality.
I joined Google+. After a day or so, I realized it's super boring and a colossal waste of time. I'm sure it'll become more valid and important and creative and all that jazz eventually, but why can't Google stick with the 2 things they do best - providing me awesome email and knowing everything in the world.
I will give props to the logo, though. It's a nice one.
This past week, I was able to find projector lamps for $300 under normal market price. I'm not much of a bargain shopper, but this was just too good to pass up. I even did that annoying thing where I tell everybody I meet about this great deal I found. (The checkout girl at the grocery store didn't seem all that excited.)
The low price meant that I could by three new ones for almost what one cost. So I did. Worship is gonna' bright and shiny this Sunday morning!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
RECENT THINGS
Monday, July 18, 2011
I Post Way Too Much About Jian Ghomeshi
Here's Jian interviewing Hugh Jackman.
Watch out...the combined cool of these two in the same room might just knock you unconscious.
Great interview.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
7/17/11 @ Bethel Bible Church
I'm sure that folks who read this blog get tired of me starting these posts by saying...
"Wow! Worship was awesome! My team did great!"
Because worship can't always be great, right?
Musicians are that consistently awesome, are they?
Well, I have two answers for that. First off, I love the way Bethel approaches the worship of God. When you lead a group of people who worship out of obedience and not out of some pursuit of an emotional response, then yes, worship is always awesome because God got the praise! You hear that? God got praise today! That's a win, every time!
And secondly, yes. My musicians are awesome. Every week. Here's what we did.
GREATER THAN WE CAN IMAGINE (A)
Second time to do this tune. As I've mentioned many times before, while Sovereign Grace may not seem like obvious "groove" music, the more I listen and use their stuff, the more impressed I am with how solid their rhythm stuff is. Or maybe just my band is extra groovy.
Call To Worship
I read from Jude 1:24-24.
24Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
As I read during the first service, I thought, "Why didn't I go with Ephesians 3:20?" That might have been better, but celebrating that Jesus presents us blameless is pretty good, too!
REDEEMED, RESTORED, FORGIVEN (A)
This one is feeling great. The band is really at home with it and the crowd seems to have embraced it. I noticed today that it seems to prompt some physical responses to worship - hands raised, loud singing, etc. We don't really base worship success on how man people raised their hands, but it is an encouraging sign when folks are engaging in responding to the Gospel so early in the service.
Welcome
Our youth pastor, Mark, was preaching today, so he jumped up to do the welcome. Mark was preaching out of Jude and he gave a little preview of what he'd be preaching and then prayed over us.
MAKER OF MY DAYS (C)
We had a guest drummer today and he did a great job. This tune tends to be a struggle for some drummers. Our drummer, Clay, did a great job on this tune. Tim also did a lot of cool organ stuff that was new that I loved.
Introduction
My friend, Toby Baxley, co-led with us today. He's filling in for me in a couple of weeks and it was a good chance to introduce him to Bethel. He quoted scripture before we went into his song.
GLORIOUS (C)
We've never done this Baloche song and I was excited when he suggested we play it. The song went great. I've always found the intro of the song a little sparse. Toby had a few other instruments fade in early to beef it up a bit when helped. Toby did an awesome job leading this tune. He's gonna' do great on July 31.
Prayer
I prayed as Tim started the low D chord. It was a nice transition and Tim started it perfectly during both services.
ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING (D)
I caught this version from Enfield on YouTube a couple of weeks ago. I love Enfield's take on hymns and this was a fun one today. Smitty did a great job of carrying the guitar riff on this one. Whole tune had a great dynamic.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
RUN TODD RUN, Week 63
TUESDAY, 7/12/11
Hadn't run in a few days, so I spent the day thinking, "Dude, you need to run tonight." It was one of those terrible, baking hot Texas nights, but I fired up a podcast and got out there.
(Side note: I listen to a lot of comedy podcasts and one of my favorite things is to try to guess what sort of 'riff' or 'punchline' is coming up. When I guess one right, I feel like Bill Cosby or something.)
Did a five minute warm up, ran for 30 minutes, then a 10 minute cool down. Dang, I was going slow by the end. Wanted to bail around the 20 minute mark, since that's been my regimen lately. But I've dropped a couple more pounds so I figure amping up the run is the right thing to do.
I haven't blogged about this yet, but my goal is to lose 50 lbs. I'm pretty daunted by it, but I'm trying. I'd like to have it off before the holidays get here, but it's hard!
WEDNESDAY, 7/13/11
Did 5 minute warm-up, 30 minute run an, d 10 minute cool down. Used my pedometer to track distance, which proved what I already know. I am slow.
But the run wasn't terrible and I finished it. That's something, I guess.
FRIDAY, 7/15/11
We were in Lufkin on Friday, which sometimes means no running. However, there was a nice rain Friday afternoon that cooled things down enough for me to take an actual "day run."
It was still hot and a little steamy, but probably 20 degrees cooler than normal. I did five minutes warm up and a 20 minute run. Thirty minutes was my goal and I had to creative to finish it. At 20 minutes, I had to go Galloway Method (run 3, walk 1) to finish it out. I did about a 15 minute cool down. My shirt was soaked!
It was a tough run to finish, but I felt pretty good afterward. (Usually, I'm useless for about thirty minutes after I exercise!)
SATURDAY, 7/16/11
My body never responds well to running two days in a row, but I wanted to get some exercise in. (To fight the effect of all those brownies I ate on Saturday, you know.) I did a 40-minute walk - nothing fast, just trying to put in a little exercise before bed. I try to hit an early bedtime on Saturday nights and a good walk seems to help.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
CONFESSIONS
Time to clear the air.
Time to come clean.
Time to share another set of confessions.
Maybe you'll read this post and feel impressed to share your own. Fire up your own blog, hit Facebook or you know...actually talk to a person. (If you must.)
They say confession is good for the soul. So let's all get honest and see if that's actually true. Here are my confessions.
- I have never seen a zombie movie. Of any kind.
- In the church I grew up in, I was the reason the sound system was messed up. I'd get in there during the week when no one was around and rewire junk to make songs and videos and see how loud I could make it. Don't tell the sound guy, 'kay?
- I'm keeping a list this year of how many movies I see. The number is quite high. This concludes the confession. I will not share how many movies I've seen this year. (Blame Netflix.)
- I love to read scary books, but hate scary movies.
- One of my dreams is to become a YouTube partner.
