prayers for reggie and family

reggie, friend to most that read this, is in houston right now to evaluate how much damage his father might have sufferred during a possible stroke. when i last spoke to him there were only questions, no answers. please be in prayer for his father, reggie, and his family.

may the great physician be at work in houston.

a mirrored ball and a keyboard - yes these are some of my favorite things. pic courtesy of the cynic project.

this shirt is courtesy of the kerrville folk festival. may it fill you with all sorts of warm and fuzzies.

well things didn't go so well last night and we ended up not having words or video for any of the songs and at the last minute one of our key people had a family medical emergency. you know, i'm usually the last one to over spiritualize events when they go sour, but last night will be the exception. many folks had put in long hours in preparation and spent the week in a spirit of prayer for this event and the night was still rocky. yet even with all the headaches it was still powerful and we had tons of new folks. hopefully this will only solidify the calling in each of our lives and help us to be solidly committed to the gospel. may we be history makers in our own towns, thanks delirious for the words.

I'm gonna be a history maker in this land. I'm gonna be a speaker of truth to all mankind.
I'm gonna stand, I'm gonna run into your arms, into your arms again.

Yes it's true today that when people stand, with the fire of God, and the truth in hand
we'll see miracles, we'll see angels sing, we'll see broken hearts, making history
yes it's true and we believe it, we're living for you

been thinking a bunch about the cross this week and the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. it has brought up some weird feelings, the first being that growing up in an SBC church we talked little about the suffering of the cross and the depiction we almost always saw was a bloodless body in a freshly laundered tunic. the most intense of these might have a gaze toward heaven, but even that was a bit radical. this sunday nite at clay street we will try to create some intensity with music and a little video. part of me is excited, the other part knows that some will be offended by the intensity. i guess i feel somewhat sad that we as christians have forgotten how big an offering the cross was, both in suffering and in separation from the Father.

home of the 16 incher

clay street is now the newest home to a 16" mirror ball! yippee! i will refrain from refrerring to it as a disco ball b/c it will not be the star of the show like most venues that use them. at the moment it will be placed in the back where only the wash of the light will be seen across the warehouse. i'm sure it will be moved around to more creative places as the worship dictates, but for this week it stays in the back.

as always i am happy to have one more instrument to use as a worship offering.

gonna spend some money

yippee! i've got the clay street credit card and the afternoon off so i'm going to the music store in SA to buy some stuff. actually nothing major, just replacing some things that were broke. nonetheless Hermes is still my favorite all time indoor amusement park and they have the best souvenirs.

one thing of note, as the father is re-blessing our gathering, the warfare is starting. please be in prayer for the clay street community to react only in love according to the power of the spirit. polish the lens cause the flame in the lighthouse is starting to rekindle.

-amy grant

reason, season, or lifetime

a writing that one of my newest close friends sent to me talks about how the father sends people into your life for either a reason, a season, or a lifetime. when you think about it there is truth to that and it helps make things easier as people come and go in your life or at least in importance within your life. just as we search for organic, real, and meaningful relationship with the father so should we with each other. for me sometimes having these categories helps me to lets folks off the hook when they don't call or email or whatever and hopefully they cut me the same break for distancing myself from them. i am thankful that the father knows what we need and when we need it and he allows people to come into our lives to be him for as long as he purposes.

happy tuesday.

this is how my day has been...anyone know what this means?

We do final GTT for SMS from our STP's to InterOp's SMSC....That means that the MO OPC the SMSC sees is the STP, not the serving MSC.

i spent some time last night walking the monuments in DC. i was really trying to re-connect with everything that 9/11 represented, but really couldn't. there were some folks at the reflecting pool with some candles praying, and some folks just standing in silence looking at the washington monument all lit up in the dark and then there was a 30lb raccoon trying to free himself from his garbage can prison that he no doubt visited frequently for his evening meals. the monuments themselves are powerful, the security folks on detail are powerful to see, being in front of the white house just knowing that dubya might look out and say "hey, thems are folks from texas, let them in" was really kind of neat, but i still don't identify with the enormity of the loss of 9/11. i know there is a lesson in here somewhere, but i'll save that for a later time.

all in all, i love dc. i almost wish that life could be like a video game with multiple lives. if that were possible i'd certainly live one in the dc area and just take it all in. i would love to have continued the conversation i had with my muslim taxi driver this morning where we both said prayers for the other and discussed about how much he loved this country. i would love to learn about the people who believed in something so much that they gave their life in pursuit of it. i'd love to see how you heat a 200 year old house when it's 5 degrees outside. (not that i would live there, i'd have to have central a/c of course).

oh well i'm darn tired so i'm to sleep. before i forget - go get len sweet's new book jesus drives me crazy. it's a quick read and it has some good stuff.

also if you are in the dc area stop off at cosi - it'll make you happy.

i'm going to DC tomorrow to a meeting to discuss wireless number portability - that's where you can switch cell phone providers and keep your same number. it's great for the customer, but a pain in the butt for carriers to figure out. hopefully i'll be able to experience some of the 9/11 remembrance ceremonies. not that anyone would ever forget what happened, but sometimes being so far away it becomes hard to stay connected to such an event. hopefully those feelings will be different this year.

and then sometimes...

ok when is the last time you pieced together some of your high dollar data processing equipment with duct tape, Popsicle sticks and tie wraps? for me it was this weekend after a lightning strike to our facility. not sure what God is preparing me for, but you can be assured that i'll never leave home without Popsicle sticks again. :) K

just got one of len sweet's new books today - Jesus drives me crazy. i always get frustrated when i read his writings 'cause he challenges me to follow the calling in ways that i don't really want to. it's kinda fun to re-do and re-do, just to re-do church once again. after all i've never been quite happy with the bass response of our jbl subs. i think we should purchase twin 18's (really) and some 15's and go to a 4 way Xover setup. then the neighbors would know that we were serious about Christ...how, because we could knock all of their pagan pictures off their walls with our loud christian music. ok, so i'm sure i just pissed someone off by saying that, but when will be stand up, count the cost, and really be messengers of Christ? when will we take the good news to those that need it and not just deliver it to those that show up to our flavor of the day service?

guilty as charged you are! (as yoda would say to me). church is my cocoon, my shelter, my safe place and if anyone comes in that needs Christ, fine, they can ask me and i'll tell them (or send them to an elder, kidding). the point kerry? - i think our family is getting closer to going and telling. not talking about some vacation / mission trip thing, although that may be where it starts - talking bout a sell the house, pack the stuff, hop in a truck and follow God kind of thing. i just don't know where or how or to whom, but the time is approaching.

There was a time when one could almost be afraid to call himself a disciple of Christ because it meant so much. Now one can do it with complete ease because it means nothing at all.
-Soren Kierkegaard

we have been told that we (five star management folks) have a meeting on the 15th to decide some things. please be in prayer that the correct decisions are made. this will probably be the determining factor in whether or not we all stay or begin to look for other jobs. fun!?

less than 4 months til Christmas!!! yippee.