Bueno Buddy!

This weekend was a blur as several things happened in the church family here.

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First off, Joshua Gorenflo, a former intern with the youth group here, spent the weekend at our house. He came primarily to catch up with us and the teens that he worked with while here. It was a fun time- a little too fast-but fun nonetheless. Joshua is the titular role of Bueno Buddy for me (we spent a lot of time at Taco Bueno together while being camp counselors at Abilene Christian University Kadesh Life Camp 4 this past Summer).

While here, Bueno Buddy and the Mitchell family ate dinner with Jammer on Friday night, opened up the house for about 20 people (youth and family that came to catch up with Josh) on Saturday night and held a combined MS and HS class on Sunday morning. He even stayed for lunch (the ever exquisite China Kitchen) and dinner (Lakeside Pavilion fellowship with Smithwick).

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Secondly, Greg Neill and I were put in charge of opening up the Pavilion and setting up chairs, tables and songbooks. Fortunately, the Wenmohs family, the Stanglin clan and some others were able to help us get it together for the night of prayer and praise. It was a smashing success with a little over 200 people there to worship God and encourage one another.

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Thirdly, the 3CT (the Tenor trio that I blogged about the other day) performed for the whole group last night. We sang 3 songs and were quite flawless, if I do say so myself! lol Anyway, it was a nice performance that was well received by our brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Tonight, we cover chapters 8-11 of Revelation in Meat Eaters at the Mitchell Mansion. If it's anything like last Monday night, everyone will be on the edge of their seats.

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I will be back in the future with more pics of sweet little girl.

Word Of The Day

Mulligatawny

Very Interesting! What do you think it is?!?

Update

If You look at the right hand side of the page, you will see that I have added a few lists just to let you in on what I am learning as I try to grow up. It's kinda hard to do, if you ask me. The first list is books I am reading now, the next list is books I have read this year and the last list is a compilation of songs that I have learned in the exciting new tenor trio composed of Dan Burdett (a major home builder here in town who sings Tenor II), Bryce Gage (the successful Marble Falls High School Choir Director who sings Tenor I) and me (youth guy who sings Alto).

Quote Of The Day

"Paul writes, "The Lord said, 'My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.' So I shall be very happy to make my weakness my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Whatever our failings may be, we need not lower our eyes in the presence of Jesus. Unlike Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame, we need not hide all that is ugly and repulsive in us. Jesus comes not for the super-spiritual but for the wobbly and the weak-kneed who know they don't have it all together, and who are not too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace. As we glance up, we are astonished to find the eyes of Jesus open with wonder, deep with understanding, and gentle with compassion." - Brennan Manning

Arson in Fresno

I solicit your prayers. I just received an alarming Instant Message from one of my closest friends, Jim Gardner, Preaching Minister at the Woodward Park Church of Christ in Fresno, CA. Apparently someone set fire to their building and they are currently suffering from smoke inhalation. Luckily it was caught in time. The arsonist had set fire to the College Church of Christ building in Fresno last night causing $50,000 worth of damage. Jim told me that the damage to the Woodward Park building was minimal but that CSI are investigating the crime scene as I type this blog. Please keep this family in your prayers.

Miscellany

The Word of the Day is:

Scalawag

I have to ask...How many of you out there have been called by this name?

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Well, my mom and dad finally made it to the burgeoning community of Arp, TX. They have moved half of their stuff into the new house and mom has already started to work at the hospital there. I can't wait to see them! I really like the idea of them being only 4 hours away. That way Jenniva will know her Nanagram and Bobba!

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This weekend I will be accompanying the Marble Falls High School Choir on their trip to San Antonio for competition and fun! We depart from the High School parking lot at 5:30 in the morning. El and little Jenniva are going to meet us there at the hotel tomorrow evening. We will be yucking it up at Sea World and Fiesta Texas.

Quote Of The Day

"The institutional church has become a wounder of the healers rather than a healer of the wounded.
Put bluntly, the American church today accepts grace in theory but denies it in practice. We say we believe that the fundamental structure of reality is grace, not works-but our lives refute our faith. By and large, the gospel of grace is neither proclaimed, understood, nor lived. Too many Christians are living in the house of fear and not in the house of love." - Brennan Manning

I Concur

I found this on the Net this afternoon and I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly!

"Firefighters, the clergy and others with professional jobs that involve helping or serving people are more satisfied with their work and overall are happier than those in other professions, according to results from a national survey.

The most satisfying jobs are mostly professions, especially those involving caring for, teaching and protecting others and creative pursuits,” said Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey (GSS) at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago."
- Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Staff Writer
SPACE.com

Rip Roaring Ready

Well, I am now back and rip roaring ready to go. The past 2 weeks have been a doozy as we had Spring Break and LTC to do. I have been busy as a little bee.

Being a newbie to LTC, I was not quite prepared for the sense of being overwhelmed by not only the size of the Hilton Anatole in Dallas (1606 rooms in all) but also the number of student and adult participants that filled the hotel with hustle and bustle. Now, normally this is my kind of scene, being a people person, but I had stuff to do. Stuff I had never done before. And I was extremely nervous. Thanks to the chaperoning parents that had been there, done that I was taken care of and after about 2-3 hours my anxiety dissipated. The following day was a day of fun and I got to sing with our song leaders and judge in the small drama event. Our students did well and no one took home anything under a Silver Award! I am very proud of my teens and tweens here in Marble Falls.

Last night, the evening service was lead by our young men that participated in LTC and our small drama group performed followed by the awards presentation for all involved. The congregation is very pleased with our students! They were a smashing success!!

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For a few days this past week, I subbed for the Choir, Music History and Music Theory classes at the Marble Falls High School. That is always a great time for me.

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Tonight, the Meat Eaters group begins our study of the Revelation of John with Greg Neill at the Mitchell Mansion. We'll be grilling out burgers and dogs in the newly fenced (6 foot cedar privacy) back yard of our home. I can't wait!

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I will post some pics of our little girl soon. She has been pretty fussy lately because she just won't stay asleep and she is tired all the time. The only 2 reasons she ever cries is from hunger or being tired. I know, it is wild that dirty diapers don't bother her. I don't know what to do about this sleep deprivation, though.

I Just Can't Help It

I am so happy as I watch my little girl grow that I just can't help showing these pics of her to you! Some of you may get tired of it but I am unstoppable!! Here are some of her crawling, smiling and sitting, rather wild-eyed I might add, in her new Bumbo! I love the Bumbo. She only stays in it for a little while before her neck gets tired, but I think she's doing pretty well for only 3 months old. She can also stand up a little. What a strong little girl, huh?

By the way, I am sorry for not blogging in a while. It has been getting busier every day here with LTC and Graduation approaching plus the 24 hours of Prayer (what a great time of bonding with the other men in this family!), the men's breakfast and the huge kickoff of the Capital Campaign for our new building project. All of which I haven taken part. A whole bunch of great stuff going on!!!