Holy Spirit

This is something that I have noticed my pastor doing recently. When he refers to "the Holy Spirit", he calls him "Holy Spirit" - no "the". For a while, it bothered me - ok, bothered is too strong a word. Then, I began to do it myself every now and again (as we pick up phrases from people we listen to). And I started to examine just exactly what I was saying.

And - I think I have it figured out. I guess that PJ did it on purpose, he's a pretty smart guy. But losing the "the" from Holy Spirit makes Holy Spirit a name and not a title. For me, it was one of those "subtle moments of revelation" ... sure Father, Son, Holy Spirit ... blah, blah, blah ... no ... really - Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Three people - three guys (if you get down to it). We don't call Jesus "the Jesus", Jesus was never that pretensious.
So - after some thought and examination - I'm not only happy with him (PJ) dropping the "the" (not that he looks to me for permission for anything); I'm embracing it myself. Thinking it will help me think of Holy Spirit as a person, an individual (1 of 3) being and someone who I can communicate with (in ways of than - OH God! Help me!).

Just some random thoughts on a very early Sunday morning.

I'm going to bed now so I can go to church in the AM. Andy

I *do not* heart CIV

ok ... several posts ago, i said "i don't like to rant/rave about things that i don't like." and, yet - here i am. very nearly about to do just that.

civilization - my very second ever computer game (bought it right after i beat wing commander 2). it was addictive and fun. later, i picked up civ 2 and 3. civ 4 is now out - and looks very cool. several of my friends play it and like it very much. i'm thinking of buying it. really - that's how dumb i am.

last night - i was feeling the need to play a computer game. i looked at what i had on my shelf and i saw CIV 3. and i thought (as i usually do), i *love* CIV! i'll install that. so - i did. and i started playing it. now - i don't have a clock that's easy to see from my desk (other than my cpu clock - that happens to be obscured when you're playing most games (including CIV)).

i drew the persians for my game. pretty standard set-up. since i hadn't played in a while, i set my difficulty on medium - and started. the game plays great. even with the slow start (ended up on my own continent).

about the time that i got forward bases and my corruption undercontrol. i decided that it was time to quit for the night. i had only been playing for a couple of hours - i had to be up early on friday for a thing. so, i hit save and checked the clock on my cell phone. good googly-moogly! it was 2:30 a.m. ... i had to be up in like 5 hours.

so, i did what any sane person would do. i saved the game and did a bit of empire-building to get ready for my attack on the evil romans and the worthless germans. (that way - see - i could just attack when i got back to this game later.) so - i hit save again; and it's later than it was before (a lot later - or maybe it's eariler; i cannot fathom that kind of question at the moment).

this time - i really did go to bed. but, the game -- the game -- the GAME!!! -- kept playing in my head. the best way to connect my towns; the best way to take the iron that i was so meanly not given any; the best way to make sure that i corner the market on silk and salt-peter.

i know that i fell asleep - sooner or later - because i woke up to my alarm clock and felt like i had spent the night being beaten about the face and neck. i coffee'd up and did my deal. hoping to catch a nap later in the day - assuming that things were as slow today as they were supposed to be.

and they were - but ... my nap. yeah - did you know that you can play CIV during the time you're supposed to be napping - just like you can play it while you're supposed to be asleep? it's true - you can.

THIS is why i deleted off my hard drive last time. THIS is why i'm going to have to delete it again. but not right now, i'm about to place the rest of the planet under my thumb - which is where it belongs.

peace - out - andy

wednesday night worship

note: i need to figure out how to write less here. this is too long - thanks for being patient as i try and curtail self-indulgent writing ways.

tonight’s scripture: isaiah 58: 6-9

it’s over ... and i’m not really sure how it went. that’s weird for me. there are times when i think it went one way and it went the other. there are times when i know exactly how it went ... but tonight, i think it went well. but, i really don’t know.

part of my problem is that when I looked up, i only looked up at the people who i knew where into the worship. more on that in a moment.

i got a word – but i never really got it “processed” (if that’s the right word). it either didn’t want to come out or i was not in tune enough with God to get it out or something else. i don’t have much of an idea about how prophetic flow works. i’m very much learning as i go.

more on that who i’m looking at: it’s sucks to be trying to lead worship and look up into the faces of people who are just not “getting it”. it’s easier to find the people who know are really pressing into God and – when you look up – look at them. but, it’s the people who aren’t pressing in that we most need to bring before His presence. looking at them – with your eyes and with your spiritual “senses” should give you some kind of connection to them. then, it’s time to begin to intercede for them – praying them into the Presence.

other things that happened tonight: we had a new singer – and she pretty much rocked. i will call her Ray – for the purposes of this blog. ray has amazing pipes ... there was more than one time when i wanted to look over to her and tell her to take it. but – as i’m a decent guy and it was her first time up there with me – i didn’t think that would be the loving thing to do to her. but – her voice blew me away: the power, the passion and the beauty of it. wow!

things i learned: (a) newly shaved heads and lots of sweat don’t really mix well. i needed a towel a couple of times to dry off with. i’m not one of those “unsweaty” fat guys – i’m a big, horking sweaty fat guy and tonight – it was pretty gross. but, gross is not as bad as sweat just rolling into your eyes. so, next time, i need to give my hair a couple of days to grow in before i lead (or find one of those “cool” nba style headbands. (b) never take the stage without some water around. my throat went dry about 15 minutes into the service and i just had to ride it out.

it was said to me tonight that we don’t really have enough people here to really change anything about the “water level” of our church. i guess that’s true – it’s certainly true in the natural world. but, i believe that God will honor what we’re doing – or i hope that He will. i’m just tired of “things as they were” and want to push to something new. i’m not saying that what was before was bad – because it wasn’t. i just think that there’s more – new places we can go as a Body than we just can’t access alone. there’s more that God wants to give us as we move in – together. i hope that i said that right – i really don’t want the people who read this to take offense. most of what i know, and most of what i have come to understand was learned at their feet. the members and leadership of the Believers Fellowship Worship team are very among my heroes of the faith; and i feel inadequate to even offer them advice.

a couple of weeks ago – when i led worship on sunday morning - i got a leading from God that i should ask everyone to join hands and sing a song: specifically “break dividing walls”. but, as the service ended, i didn’t have a chance to take it back from the headman that day. i did file that away for another day.

tonight, as we began the last song, i asked everyone to join hands as we sang. i wanted to create a feeling of family and unity – and i think that it worked some. But, as I looked out – people while they moved (physically) some, there were still pockets of hand-holders. There wasn’t ONE group of people – there were four or five. i didn’t press the issue – people were so spread out that i was happy to have as much movement as i got. still, i know that God wants us to become “one”.

the message tonight was about walking by faith instead of sight. as p.j. was giving the message, I began to see two roads: one “real” and one “faith”. along the real road, there was nothing ... no sense of progress and no sense of purpose: just deserts of doubt. on the faith road, i saw promises; i saw signposts and i eventually saw the thing that i have been praying for (whatever that might be). in this case, it was a tearing down of the walls between the believers in our body; and the beginning of real unity among this Body. after the inside walls have been destroyed, it’s time to bring down the walls of our building. they should be no impediment to the spreading of the great commission and the will of the Lord.

there are two great commandments that Jesus gave us. one: to love the Lord our God with all our might. two: to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. i wonder if we spend so much time learning how to love God with all our might that we have skipped the part about loving each other – or even ourselves.

the best news about commandment 2 (and 1 for that matter) is that we’re about to start home groups again. we’re going to spend time learning how to love God properly while we’re learning to love each other. i don’t think that home groups are the entire answer – but i do think that they are the place to start to learn to form good friendships, and Christ-love relationships.

the first home group really starts in mid-august. and i cannot put into words how excited i am to be a part of that group.

ok – that’s enough – good night. andy

worship vacation

so – it’s sunday and we’re out of town. and we’re looking for a place to go to church. everyone back here has recommended that we try Morningstar in rock hill, s.c.. it’s rick joyner’s church and i enjoy his books. it turns out to be located at the old heritage usa (where my grandparents worked back in the day).

we arrived at the old Heritage USA and spent some time just sighting seeing the old place. my grandmother showed us where she used to work and where papa's office was (papa = my grandfather, in case you didn't already know that).

it was about now that we noticed the lack of cars. sure, we were a little early - but we wanted to be early. we finally pulled into the parking lot and there was a very large security guard (he looked a lot like john candy - but I didn't want to say that to him).

he said: "sorry folks! we're closed!"
me: "closed! what kind of church is this? where's suzi?"
guard: "oh! we close every month of july - it's our sabbatical month."
me: "you - you ... sabbatical month! that's ... i've never heard of such a thing.
guard: "Oh, just come back in august and we'll let you right in!"
me: "But ... but ... we just sold my grandmother's house. we don't really have anyplace to stay and ... "

it was about now that i looked back and saw the disappointment on both the wife’s and grandmother's face. 'here they are to worship!' i heard God saying.

i smiled at the guard and said: "well - ok. have a great day." he turned and started to walk back to his guard house. when he did, i made my move:

i grabbed his pistol!

me: "ok - fat man! we've come all the way from lynchburg, virginia and we're here to have a worship service! so - let's get these nice ladies inside and why don't you get some preacher and some worship-type people down here - pronto!"

a short hostage/terrorist session later ... we had rick and suzi and the rest of their worship team down there to give us our very own service. of course, i'm now in jail. but that's not going to stop us from trying to go on another worship vacation! :)

your pal - clark w. grizwold

family

this weekend - we're taking our boys to see their great grandmother (my grandmother). it will be her first time meeting M. i must confess to having been born with the amazing blessing of having all 4 of my grandparents (and several great grandparents) living. my dad's dad (Papa Tim) died in the mid-90s; my mom's dad (Papa) died about a year later. both lived long and wonderful lives; both were great role-models for me; both were more fun to be around than i can put into words.

my dad's mom died shortly after i was married. she didn't get to come to the wedding; but she did meet my wife. we were blessed that my grandmother (my mom's mom) was at our wedding and knows T really well. she's been losing her memory since about 2002 - T's birth is one of the last things she really remembers well. i can't wait to introduce her to her newest great-grandson (she has 5 now with a 6th coming in october) M.

i enjoyed my grandparents - most of the time. i enjoy watching our parents become grandparents. as a child, you strive to find the acceptance of your parents; strive - but rarely seem to actually hit the mark (or maybe that's just me). but, when you pass your child into your parents arms - the acceptance is nearly Christ-like in its purity ... nearly unconditional acceptance. for me, this was something that i wasn't really ready for. my dad and mom - for the first time in years - really proud of me. (and i did so very little of the actual work - it was mostly her.)

i'm not sure if it's really pride or something else. some kind of alchemy of joining the "parent club", the "now you'll understand me more club", the "you just made me a grandparent club". something. but, it was there. my dad and i have had a better relationship in the 4+ years that T has been born than we have had probably anytime since i was older than 10. NOTE: the fault there lies with me and not him - in case you were curious.

and i enjoy that. getting to know him as someone other than my dad; more than my teacher is nice. my dad is probably the most important man in my life - i'll never have another relationship with a man as important as the one i have with him. i know that neither T or M will be as important to who i am as my dad was/is. but, in order to get to know him in this way, i had to become a dad. i don't know if everyone needs to do that - but i certianly did.

as i think about my dad, i am reminded of peter gabriel's song "father and son" ...

remember the breakwaters down by the waves
i first found my courage
knowing daddy could save
i could hold back the tide
with my dad by my side

"i first found my courage ... with my dad by my side." is there anything better that could be said from one man to another?

good night dad. i'll see you tomorrow.

andy

reviews: a movie - a cd - a dvd collection

i tend to only really rant/rave about stuff that i like. so, other than mentioning them in passing, if i didn't like something - i won't write about it. just keep that in mind. i haven't really exposed my inner geek (and he's pretty big). so, i'm writing about comicbook movies and dvds. i've kind of given up on comics - at least for a while. part of it has to do with the price; part of it has to do with the general direction. but, i'm not here to talk about comics. the actual comicbook geek scares people. about the only titles that i'm really missing are ultimate spiderman, teen titans, robin, the outsiders, and captain america. And there's a really good chance that TT, Outsiders and Cap have all been ruined by "summer cross-over" badness. again, i could go on and on about why infinite crisis and civil war are bad - but that part of me scares people.

look! up in the sky ...

i went to see superman last week with some friends in greensboro. before i say anything else, let me assure you that there are no spoilers here.

i loved it! loved it; loved it; loved it. were there some problems: sure. it was a bit slow in the beginning. but, once the action kicked off; it was a thrill ride. but it was more.

it was also a good date movie. it was a great geek movie (with so many call backs to the first reeves' superman movie. i'm surprised that there wasn't someone in the crowd with a "bow before zod!" t-shirt.). it was a great superhero movie (nice to clean the pallet after X3); and it was way funnier than i had expected.

so - go and see it. check your show times and you'll thank me later. or you'll tell me that i'm full of it.

the blind boys of alabama

i bought the blind boys CD higher ground for my wife on a lark a couple of years ago for christmas. she opened it and looked at it as if it were a dead rat. but, she didn't take it back for something that she "liked more". it sat around out old house for probably eight months until i decided to open it and see if was as good as i had heard.

it was! if you don't mind your gospel mixed with some seriously good harmony and funk/r&b. i've been told recently that Jesus likes it funky - and after listening to these guys, i'm pretty sure that he does. they cover stevie wonder's higher ground, prince's the cross, curtis mayfield's people get ready, they play a p-funk riff over a spoken 23rd Psalm (WOW!), and a couple of Ben Harper classics.

i am encouraged that the church has room for all kinds of Christ-centered music. i am also inspired to play the hammond organ setting more while playing for p&w at church. i just need to get a bit better with my organ riffs.

there's something to the chemistry of a group of singers that has sung together for 60+ years. i need to figure out how to cover "i may not can see" sometime - without losing my eye sight. these guys are gold. if you like gospel music (or even just great vocal music), pick up this (or their christmas cd, go tell it on the mountain, or their latest cd atomic bomb).

justice league, season II (dvd collection)

when someone can explain to me why cartoon network cancelled this series (and the teen titans series), i'd like that information. while TT is relatively kid-based; JL is aimed at older fans. it has good stories and - unlike season one - has an over-arching story arc. season two is better than season one (in my opinion). the boards, animation and stories are better. it also has a couple more episodes.

do not give into warner brothers' rip-off release of individual episodes. exercise a little patience and wait for them to give you the entire season. or get the 3-episode dvds from netflix while you wait on the next season.

tim (age 4) and i watch most of these together. there are some that are just too scary or too complex for him (like the justice lords story). it's hard to explain why fascist superman is lobotomizing the criminals (but it was a nice way to send the character doomsday to his end). this show really seems to build well - even when it moves past the starcrossed story and into JL unlimited. the writers seem to know when to pull a character out of a story and which character to pull out.

so - get this if you like the justice league or even superhero comics. it has a great feel. and, if enough people buy the dvd - maybe someone somewhere will care and try and put it back on the air again. that would be a nice christmas present for me.

pax - andy

Worship, part 2

plans. sure – it’s ok to have one; it might even be a really good plan. i like to think that i walked into worship with a very good plan. my key changes were slick – i had no real breaks in the music – i gave God a couple of places to take over with some free praise. i had a good plan. God had other ideas.

what i want out of worship
i am trying to come to the place where i care less about the music (and the performance aspects of leading worship) and more about both the people i am leading and the God that i am leading them to. i am learning that both are equally important; failing to lead the people is as much of a failure as failing to find God. however – finding God is a function of Holy Spirit … leading the people is also a function of Holy Spirit. really – I am just here to be worked through.

“performance” worship … it’s hard to think of worship like that, but, at times, necessary. the truth is that there are some members of your body that want (and maybe need) a show. they don’t regularly go into the Throne Room; worship doesn’t come easily to them. these are exactly the people that God wants so desperately to become intimate with. for the sake of these people, performing worship (appearing to be filled with the joy that you are sing about; playing and singing with some skill, even giving them songs that they like and can sing back to you) needs to be done. please don’t think that i’m looking down on these people. i am not - i used to be one of these people. These are the people that you (worship leaders) need to be leading most carefully into the Throne Room.

i am not talking about compromising here – i am talking about trying to do both. just something to think about.

the apostle’s creed
all week – i have been feeling that we (my church body) needed to make a confession about who God is and what He has done for us. i found such a confession in the form of the apostle’s creed – ancient: yes; traditional: yes; on-the-money: yes.

i asked my body to say the creed with me – and God worked through it (despite my fumbling some of the words (there are subtle differences in different versions of the creed and this threw me a little). my church is not the “canned prayer” kind of body – so this was a bit “high church” for everyone (including me). we hear teachings on the dangers of tradition – and so we often avoid things like this.

we are a modern (or even post-modern) church of an ancient faith – distancing ourselves from the previous moves of God is distancing ourselves from God. we should not be bound up in these moves – but we should be firmly standing on them. if the revelation was of God “back in the day” then it has some relevance to our lives now.

the creed is foundational to my faith; my body’s faith; and to the work of God in the world today.

song service
things went well – much of the credit for this goes to my rhythm section. they were rock solid and followed me (and led me) well. we followed the plan until God stepped in and began to impress Himself onto the service. from where i was standing, i think that Holy Spirit got everyone who was willing to go. He gave several people spiritual songs (and i was happy to be among those). i didn’t sing in the Spirit any today – or rather – i didn’t sing in tongues today. is there a difference between singing inspired songs in english and singing in your prayer language? i have no idea and will have to ask p.j. (p.j. is my pastor; he is also the regular worship leader) to answer that for me.

ending fast
if you read the last bit, you know that i had planned on ending the song service on a fast song – rather than a slow one. well, i didn’t. part of that was b/c of good points against that by j.c. (who was preaching today). part of it was that when we got to that moment – it didn’t feel right. it felt like i was trying to pull attention off of God and onto me.

i will keep that in mind for the next time i lead … i am still interested in the idea of ending in celebration of God’s goodness.

conclusions
any worship service where God shows up is a good worship service even if everything else went horribly. God showed up – the service was great. God honors His people when they press towards Him. kim jong-il could lead worship and if the people he’s leading really want God – God will find them. (note: I have better hair and dress better than kim jong-il … and i don’t have any nukes pointed at anyone (pity))

surprise
because i enjoy doing everything possible on one day (rather than splitting things up over multiple days), i threw (with the help of some wonderful party-elves) my wife a surprise birthday party today after church. we enjoyed the fellowship of several friends and had lunch (burgers, fruit, tater-tots, home-made cheesecake … hmmm). to those of you who came (and have enough time to read this), a hardy thanks! to my friends the part-time, party-elves … i say super thanks! to my beautiful wife – who’s birthday is really tuesday … i love you.

i’m done – finally. next time, a break from all this heavy discussion ... tune in for a review of justice league seasons one and two (both now out on dvd). and the father-son bonding that goes along with knowing who's-who and what's-what. i know – i know – i’m a geek.

pax - andy

worship – the pregame show

it’s saturday night and (i wanna fight? – sorry sir elton) the music line up is set. i’ve run the songs through several times and tested my free praise chords to make sure that everything goes together. now – it’s 'pray and wait for God' time. not always something i’m very good with.

the line up, in case you want to know is: (1) can’t stop praising his name; (2) awake, awake of sleeper; (3) the mighty one of israel; (4) this is my father’s world; (5) how great is our god; and either a reprise (oh – BIG finish time!) of (6) can’t stop praising his name or (6b) amazed – depending on how things are going.

this question was first posed to me by cynthany – why is it that we never end on a fast worship song? why do we always end it in that (wonderful) high, holy quiet? why not try and end it in a moment of celebration? after all – He’s done so much for me (and you too).

as a self-proclaimed (repenting) traditionalist, this question had never crossed my mind – you always end quiet because “that’s the way we end things around here – and God probably likes it that way”.

anyway – she got me thinking that maybe i needed to rethink stuff.

j.c. (not Jesus – but the guy who’s preaching tomorrow in place of p.j. (who is on a much needed vacation)) was a bit concerned about the song selection. generally, i trust j.c. he’s a wealth of information and i took his words to heart. but, i’m still not sure that God always wants to end it “slow”.

the upshot of all this is that I have two ending songs – one back-up and one different. i’m hoping to have the freedom to use the different one and i hope that my church follows and we have a time of high, loud and fast praise. if i’m not feeling the freedom to do it – i have plan. (“a man without a plan – is not a man.” – Nietzsche)

unity

it’s what i want to try and create in my church tomorrow. it’s what God wants from us. the bible is pretty clear about our Lord coming back for his pure, spotless bride (not brides). that means that we have to have unity in the catholic church (catholic meaning universal – not Roman Catholic).

before my motley band of believers can come into unity with other churches – we’re going to need to learn to come into unity between ourselves. that means learned to love each other more perfectly – creating the Christ-bond of selfless love. just as there’s no sin that can separate us from Christ (if we are a believer), there should be no sin or issue that separates us from each other.

recently, God has been teaching me that corporate worship is different than private worship.

in private worship, all that matters is you and God; getting into His presence is up to you.

in corporate worship, what matters is that the church body gets into the presence of God. if we don’t get there together – then we don’t get there. i don’t believe that God is interested in worship leaders who are only interested in getting themselves into His presence. He wants worship leaders to – lead – their church/body into His presence.

what or who is a worship leader? i’ll reference Jesus’ teaching about “who is my neighbor” rather than re-hashing that here. from this we learn that worship leading is not confined to the stage/pulpit area. it’s not even confined to those who can sing or play an instrument. (one day, i’ll tell the story of the greatest worshiper i have ever heard; who can’t sing a lick.)

so – here’s my ‘great idea’. i plan on instructing my church – before p&w starts – to do the following:
1) begin to praise as usual
2) look around the room and begin to lift up their fellow body-members. praising God for His creation of that person; asking God how He feels about them (by the way, God loves them (and you) far more than we can imagine – in case you needed to know that).

now that whole “looking around at other people while worship is going on” is pretty much 180 degrees against most of what i’ve been taught. we’ve taught freedom in our worship by “closing ourselves off” with the Lord; not looking around to see what others are doing. and – while i agree with this to a point – i would propose that times are changing. we’re so caught up in not looking around that maybe we’re missing something. maybe – i’m still not 100% sure.

i am – however – excited to find out.

time for bed – andy

unexploded ordnance

imagine my surprise when my parents called me up today to say “hey! the police have sealed our neighborhood! they say that there’s an unexploded bomb somewhere.”

“cool” i said – “or keep your heads down” – or something useful like that. the bomb – which was a vietnam-era mortar – was buried in a house that was right next to one i used to cut when i was a kid. so – i was never in any real danger (which is good to know this far from the fact).

i’m not sure why a vet would need to abscond the ‘nam with a mortar … but the best part was that it was LIVE – fuse primed and everything (if the police can be trusted). my parents live in a nice little southern town – and i have never (ever) known anyone there to need indirect fire munitions to keep people away from their house … and no one grows pot in the city limits. so, again, i can’t figure out what the motivation was. other than “how cool is this – a mortar round!. let’s impress girls.”

i have been around many girls and none (ok – one, but she was hella spooky) liked guns – much less this kind of thing. so, i’m still confused as to why the dude wanted the thing. but – he was a vet and i’m willing to cut him the benefit of the doubt just based on that.

good news – my mom just called to say that the explosive has been rendered safe by some kind-hearted civil servant (and really – thanks for looking out for my folks!).

that’s my weird story for the day (and i hope my only unexploded bomb story for the month (at least)).

peace – out - andy

Worship, part 1

Last night, my most excellent friend Cynthia, led our Wednesday night song service. Depending on which side of the church you were on – it either went very well or very badly. The musicians were pretty unhappy with the way things went (more on the in a bit). The congregation (or the ones who spoke up) said they felt the presence of God during the service.

So – what’s up and who’s right?

Certainly, the musicians are – says the piano player. We weren’t together. We were often playing to multiple rhythms. We seemed to be fighting each other for most of the service. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not blaming anyone. I’m blaming most everyone (of the musicians); I will step up and take the lion’s share of the blame. Anytime the piano player is fighting the drummer and bass player for the rhythm – the piano player is wrong.

Cynthia clearly had done her praying before time. Her songs lined up with the Word that was opened up for us later in the evening. I should point out that Cynthia doesn’t play an instrument – and (at times) is at the mercy of those of us who do. It would not be unfair to say that we let her down a little.

That being said … I think that those who felt the presence of God were also right. God is not Andy-dependent; or even the Believers Fellowship Worship Team-dependent. God is God-dependent; and when His people start to press into Him, He will be found.

So, what did I learn?

Well, my dad always said you learn more when you fail than when you succeed. And that’s true here.

My first lesson is that I need to listen to my fellow musicians more. If I’m fighting the drummer or the bass player for control of the rhythm, I need to check myself.

My second lesson is that God moves regardless of what the worship team does. I think that the worship team can help; but when His people seek Him, He will be found.

The third lesson is this: Looking back, we (the musicians) should have stopped the worship service – prayed and taken a moment to get on the same page. In basketball, when his team is in trouble – the coach calls a timeout. We need to be more ready to break something that’s not working and re-set it. We need to let the intercessors in the congregation know when it’s time to intercede for us.

Fortunately, I’ll get a chance to put these lessons into action Sunday when I lead worship. If you think of yourself as a praying person (and you should), please begin to intercede for me.

Thanks!

Just the one brownie

So – this is mostly a post to get my face down some on the blog. My face once should be enough for everyone. Yesterday was the fourth of July – America’s birthday and all that. We went to a party with a bunch (really – more than I thought possible) people from my Church. We had grilled food, some wonderful side dishes, and more desserts than I could track. I ended up being pretty good and only having 1 brownie.

Go Team Andy!

There’s something magical about watching kids play together in a big backyard. Jeff & Betty have a backyard that’s just made for kids to play in. They have like ten swings and a tree-house with slides and more swings on a swing set. I enjoyed watching the kids play more than anything. Many thanks to good people of Believers Fellowship and mostly Jeff & Betty for having everyone over.

Tune in next time for: Cynthia leads worship or Hail! Hail! Lion of Judah!

Peace out - Andy

Attempted #4 to get my picture to post - don't read this

This is a photo of me - in a jester's hat. Mostly here so I can see how to add this photo of my profile.

update: 08 July 06 - My own mother didn't recognize me in this picture. Maybe I need a new one ... one that looks less "day 4 of the Grateful Dead show" and more "that's what I really look like". Too bad - this is the first picture I can remember having where I thought that I looked kinda cool.

Peace out - Andy

So - welcome and stuff

I really should be upstairs with the family - the wife is alone with the boys and they outnumber her. Instead, I'm here setting up my blog - because that's good parenting. One day, one of the boys will want to know why I was down here instead of with them - and they can come here and read this.

It's the fourth of July 2006. That means that America is 230 years old today - which means that we're 30 years older than we were in 1976. Anyone remeber how bad the fashion was that year? There should have been some flag police out that day. Where is the ammendment banning the wearing of star-spangled speedos?? And people say that flag burning is offensive!

So - I can here them about to overrun her position in the kitchen and I'm going to save my beloved bride. I'm out.

Andy