Wednesday, August 18, 2004

big apple

we're here in New York, staying with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Nick. awesome place, 87th & 2nd Ave. got a parking space directly in front of the entrance. Uncle Nick made a delicious chicken parmesan last night - could've been a gourmet chef. walked to central park. saw a lady walking two dogs, pushing her baby in a stroller, and talking on a cell phone. made me feel very laid back.



Judy came over this morning. Colin, Ronni, and i spent the day with her: Staten Island ferry, ground zero, time square, wall street, battery park. met cousin Holly for lunch in the Chase Manhattan plaza. security asked me for i.d. after Ronni took a picture of us by a fountain. feel very secure knowing that all the suspicious types are under scrutiny this thorough. despite my fears that he would be afraid, Colin loves the subway. and the bus. and the ferry. and the eligator, too.



we're at Judy's new pad right now. spacious, hip, homey. hard to be all three, i know, but it is.



been to Starbucks twice today. getting Vietnamese for dinner tonight. feel very cosmopolitan.

Thursday, August 12, 2004

email from Bert

Bert Waggoner is the national director for the Vineyard USA, the community of churches with whom we are serving Jesus. what a remarkable man. i'm so impressed with him on many levels: wisdom, heart, passion, care, vision, etc. not to mention the fact that he continues to pastor his church in Sugarland, Texas while leading a growing movement of 600+ churches in the U.S.



thought some of you may find his most recent letter to Vineyard pastors interesting, so i've uploaded it to the web here if you'd like to download and read it. for those of you that don't read it , one thing of note that he mentions is that the Dwell worship CD won the award for best new album from worshipmusic.com. i think i've mentioned this before, but i really like the new direction Casey Corum is taking Vineyard Music.



a couple of other notes, unrelated to Bert's letter...



worship was awesome at home group a couple of nights ago. just made a playlist on my ipod, printed out song sheets, and brought some portable speakers into the living room. Ronni and i really experienced Christ as we worshipped. maybe it's because we weren't focused on leading, maybe it's because the music was excellent. not sure, need to check with the others in the group to see what they thought.



oh, and my goatee is gone, so my mom and sister Grace should be happier now :)

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

matt redman

Matt Redman's new worship CD arrived today. love his music. nothing better than songs that emerge from a life captured by Jesus.



on a vaguely related note, going to try worship from Vineyard's new Home Again series at home group tonight. never worshipped with a CD (rather than a guitar player, for example) before, but i'm interested in how it works. the songs in this particular series are supposed to be recorded with a living room in mind; might be really cool. especially if it lets us enter into worship more deeply than we've been able to with my stumbling guitar playing. not that i won't keep trying to improve, but just that Jesus might be able to have his way with us more fully while i'm learning.

Friday, August 6, 2004

daughter?

had an ultrasound yesterday with Ronni to check up on our growing child. amazing. wonderful. breathtaking at times. here's a picture:







we think the baby is a girl, owing to absence of evidence to the contrary. nothing conclusive due to the position of the umbilical cord, though. excited for a daughter. praise God.