randomness

Stoned. That is the word to describe our pastor Steve. In the "kidney stone" kind of way.

Gene stepped up to the plate with very short notice to speak on Sunday morning due to our stoned pastor. Gene, Steve owes you big time!

I love having Journey Team at someone else's house. Thanks to John and Julie for letting twenty crazy people take over your house last night.

Our icebreaker question last night was "Who is the wildest man you've ever known?" It took us an hour to figure it out. Jesus! Duh!

We did something fun yesterday morning. We started a song over! Thanks to Kevin for making that call.

My husband is THE BEST for keeping the kids away while I took a power nap yesterday.

Our daughter Kacie got her acceptance letter to the Promiseland this week. That would be Clemson in case you weren't taught that in Sunday School.

Can you believe that daylight saving time is March 11? Isn't it usually in April???

Bargain of the week...Taco Bell has 39 cent tacos through today.

a great time was had by all

Some thoughts and photos from the CHICKS retreat weekend:

Every picture I take of Mama Chick on stage looks like this one. I think she might be singing "Oklahoma" here.

Annette won the prize for wearing the most animal print on Friday night. 50 something pieces...and some of them we just had to take her word for.

The CHICKS Gone Wild dancers...well I can't tell you what they did because I'm sworn to secrecy.

Our speaker, Lisa Harper, did a great job encouraging women all weekend. She spoke of how God is able to use women, regardless of their past.

Awww, look. It's Amy and Vince. Just kidding. Jill Phillips and her husband, Andy, led worship. It feels like they are part of the TrueNorth family now.

I will never hear "Girls Just Wanna Have Fu-un" and NOT think of Tammy. Ever.

These Chicks finally won a door prize after sitting at the grouchy table last year, when no one at their table won anything. You would have thought Bob Barker had called their name for the Showcase Showdown. So cute.

edward scissorhands

I thought Jessica Simpson was dating John Mayer, not Edward Scissorhands!

Okay, okay...that's my last post about Mr. Mayer. Promise.

guitar faces

That John Mayer knows he can make some crazy guitar faces. The concert in Columbia was awesome!

Kacie has decided what she wants to be when she grows up.

She wants to be the "guitar puter-outer' for John Mayer. You know...the person that brings out the guitars and switches them out. She was practicing her "Here you go, Mr. Mayer".

Mayer, not MYER!!!

Hey! This is Kacie and I’m posting on my mom’s blog. Mainly because she asked me to. We are going to see John Mayer today in Columbia. He is SO pretty! I heard that a sixteen year old girl held a poster up for him that said, “Sweet sixteen and never been kissed” and he came out and kissed her. I wouldn’t be that lucky.

So we are on our way out of NA and jamming to John Mayer in the minivan. She will post pictures tomorrow.

relevant answer

My bandmate, Brent, attempted to post a comment about this entry on my blog. But it is lengthy and worthy of it's own space. Posted on edgefielddaily.com was a letter in which someone was praising a local church...here is the pastor's reply:

"...There are many good things happening here, but good things are also happening in many of the other churches in the area. I strongly encourage anyone who believes they are in a "dead church" to pray fervently about what God would have them do in their own church to help "revive" it before they just move membership somewhere else. It may be that God wants to use you to facilitate change in your own setting whereby blessing others. If, however, you feel God pulling you out of a situation, you must commit that to prayer also. I encourage anyone looking for a first church home or a new one to not go by all the talk around town. Experience those churches for yourself, and most of all pray that God will lead you to the place that He would have you go..."

relevant question

When is it okay to leave a church? This question has been heavy on my heart lately. Not because I would leave my church, but because I know people that have left or have become irregular in their attendance, which oftentimes leads to an exit. When these breakups involve people that I have a relationship with, you better believe I am running after them, asking "What went wrong?". Some problems can be fixed just by listening to a person and some cannot be fixed, like compromising the vision of the church.

Relevantmagazine.com has an excellent article which addresses this question and you can read about it here.

Mike dusted the cobwebs off his blog and also explores the question here.