Musings Big and Small

• Sorry it's been a while since I've posted - Easter week rocked my world.
• Speaking of Easter - this weekend's Services at Grace were awesome. We had over 1100 people out. The spirit at all three services was great - and a good number of people at each service came down at the end and did some serious spiritual business at the foot of the cross. I love our church.
• Pastor Brian absolutely crushed a couple of tunes that he wrote for this weekend. He Is Our God was an awesome start to the service and definitely an album-worthy worship song. He also wrote a new chorus to the old song Were You There that has been stuck in my head since Saturday night.
• My heart was melted seeing my 3 year old Ayden in her Easter dress this year. So cute.
• I haven't been as exhausted as I was this weekend in a long time. I'm not a nap guy. Never have been. If I do take a nap I can pretty much count on not sleeping at all that night. But I came home Sunday after services and took an hour-long nap. Then while everyone was watching extreme home makeover I nodded off for another 20 minutes, and still went to sleep at about 11 PM and slept all night. I was dead.
• Good Friday was amazing. It reminded me again what a privilege it is that I get to work with the most creative people I know. Danielle and Dave, Brian and Rachel, Michelle, Bill and Kathy, AJ, Roberto, and Angelique. The Journey to the Cross experience was breathtaking guys, it made God proud. Hopefully Danielle or Rachel will post some pics sometime soon :)
• Best estimates are that we had over 400 people come through the Journey to the Cross. Some spent 20 minutes going through all the way up to the one person that spent 2 1/2 hours. It was incredibly meaningful. Most were moved to tears at some point.
• Louie Giglio ripped our faces off with the talk at the Good Friday service. We bought a bunch of copies of the DVD and they'll be available at the bookstore - hopefully this weekend.
• I'm getting pumped for my Essential Jesus sermon series that starts this weekend. It's been a while since I've had a three week run at a series. This weekend is called
  Jesus on Rebellion, Forgiveness, and Jealousy (Luke 15:11-32)
• My kids experienced two easter egg hunts this year - at each grandparent's house. The plastic eggs are filled with either candy or coin. I walked in on Caleb selling his chocolate eggs to his cousins for more of the coin. It is obvious which has more value to him. He was getting a quarter per egg. I tried to get him to give it back but the cousins insisted that he keep it because they valued the candy far more. Ahhh - capitalism at it's finest.
• I'm looking forward to seeing Brian (my friend who's dying of cancer) some more this week - the business of last week made my contact with him sporadic at best. I'm praying that God has worked in his heart during the long and quiet moments of last week.
• I'm working with 4 individuals - each of whom is launching a new ministry at Grace in the coming weeks. I'll dedicate an entire post to those ministry launches when the time is right.
• We cancelled our cable TV completely this week. We were getting the most basic of channels anyway. We decided to just be done with it. We still get the channels that we cancelled - but we're awaiting the day that they all shut off and we're back to reading more and watching our faves online.
• Chase is scary- the kid quotes whatever he sees on the tube the first time he sees it. He watched some movie the other day - then just yesterday came into the living room and announced "I'm the kid with the sweatshirt...and all the obvious questions..." I don't even know what that means - and I'm not sure I want to know. What I do know is that's not a line he would come up with on his own.
• We're having our big ServErie think tank meeting this Saturday -I absolutely cannot wait. Our pre-launch team has been working for months to prepare for this moment. I was overwhelmed by the response last weekend. I made one verbal appeal on one weekend - we were hoping for between 20-25 participants. 62 people signed up!!! This is going to get good.
• We're introducing the worship song "God of this City" to the congregation this weekend. I'm pumped about it. That song wrecked me for a week when I first heard it. It's really simple but it inspires me to do big things for God. You can listen to sample here.
• Al is out of town for two weeks... when the cat's away...

Well - there is all kinds of other stuff going on right now - but I'll spare you ALL the details. I'm psyched for another week of service to the Almighty One.

Peace.