Wrestling...

I know, I know...don't start!
For the one or two of you who occasionally read this blog youhave been amply disappointed to see that I haven't posted since October...Sorry.
Suffice it to say a lot has happenned. More than I can possibly share on this here blog.
I will say this...I have gone "Mac" (MacBook Pro & iPhone) and it is only a matter of time before this blog becomes a subsidiary of a new website in the making...we'll see.

What is it about the mystery of the book of Hebrews that makes it so appealing to me? Perhaps it is the fact that I spent three semester of college studying it in depth with one of the theological world's most respected New Testament scholars...just maybe.

This coming Sunday is the first Sunday in some time that I am up to preach and I really have an option of choosing the text, or rather, the text chooses me and it is not a part of a series that I feel a need to continue.

The text is Hebrews 2:5-18...this is perhaps the text in the sermon we know as the book of Hebrews that becomes the "Thesis Statement" or turning point for what is going to happen in the rest of the book.

The sermon title is "The Greatest Brother of Them All..."
We'll see what happens with the sermon.

2 Years...5 Days

Due to my inconsistency in posting, several things have fallen off of the blog world radar...I'll briefly hilight a few of them.

7.22.2007: North Davis Church, the church I serve, hosted Dr. Fred Craddock to a group of just under 1000 Christians from North Davis and from all over the country, converging in Ft. Worth for the General Assembly of the Disciples of Christ...It was awesome!

9.9.2007: North Davis Church of Christ celebrates is 100th Anniversary with a crown of over 900 members and former members and guests. An exicting, landmark day...and tiring too.

10.3-10.7: ZOE Conference Nashville, renewed, reminded, exhausted...Taught a class on arranging music for worship to a full house in all three sessions. (PS...WE ARE HOSTING A FULL BLOWN ZOE CONFERENCE (Worship & Leadership, EVERYTHING) IN ARLINGTON June 19-22, 2008...MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!!!)

10.14.2007: DJ & Meghan celebrate the 2 year anniversary of their meeting...hard to believe, I know! God is faithful, despite our frailties, inconsistancies and moments of stupidity!

Throw a job, graduate school and the rest of life's junk and we are incredibly busy! And we are both sick...just trying to keep our head's above water.

TPIR Days 3 & 4
Day 3...Drew, don't ever try to do Bob Barker's Range Game bit about not being able to stop the range finder for 37 hours EVER AGAIN...make up your own bit! (Overall grade, B+...he's getting better, still needs more time.)

Day 4...The first contestant's row 4-way overbid, and the buzzer sounds. Drew explains it by saying, in response to the buzzer, "What's that? A Nazi submarine...no, just kidding, thats the sound meaning you all have overbid..." Nazi jokes are not the way to keep your senior-citizen, Barker-loyal fans. (Overall Grade, B-)

For both these days, he has continued, as he has promised to do out of respect to Bob Barker, to keep the spay/neuter plug at the end of the final showcase. Drew, it might be a good idea to rehearse what you are going to say before it is time to say it!

We will see what happens...

TPIR, Day 2 of the Carey Era

I don't have a great deal of time...so I'll make my reflections brief.

Day 2 was a better effort from Drew, et al. Again, the only thing that will allow the show to run even remotely close to what it used to with you know who (sounds like Rob Parker), is time, familiarity and relationships! There seems to be a good sensitivity between Drew and Rich Fields (the ever-so-able, yet sometimes obtrusive announcer). He seems to be learning the games well, but he needs to not be afraid to explain them well and slowly.

Tuesday's Show Rating...B+

A New Era Begins...Day One

Well, I couldn't possibly let a historical day go by today without a little post.
Today, October 15, 2007, marks the beginning of a new era for The Price is Right...the greatest game show of all time, or at least it was at the end of Season 35. Today was Drew Carey's first aired show...he taped several weeks worth of episodes before going to the tv tapes...so, while I realize he is still struggling to find his own identity, and there is some nervousness, I expected today's show (which I just finished watching on tape) to be a little better. From not saying the name of the first game to constantly fidgeting with his coat pockets, to saying over and over "Rich Fields" to not saying the proper name of the game, "It's in the Bag," there is plenty to say that he has lots left to work on. But a glimpse of greatness shined through in a comedic moment when they played the game "Barker's Bargain Bar," when Drew made a very clever quip saying the game was named after TPIR's founder...Ezekiel Barker...brilliant! I think he has a lot to add to the show...I really want him to succeed! We'll see!

Another note...the new "Stereo" theme sounds good (not during the "Come on Down" intros) and the new sets looks great!

Not impressed with the prize selections in the showcase, however, the show was perfect...6 winners and 2 $1 spinners in the showcase showdown...

Overall grade for day one...B-

More to come in the coming days!

Restoring our Roots

This coming Sunday at North Davis, I have the privilege of leading worship before the most storied and well-respected preacher of AMerica in the last 100 years takes the pulpit. As part of a Restoration Heritage Sunday and in conjunction with the Disciples of Christ General Assembly going on in Ft. Worth over the next 5 days, North Davis is proud to host Dr. Fred Craddock, the Dean of American Preachers to fill our pulpit on Sunday! I cannot wait! We are expecting several hundred guests from Disciples' churches around the area, around the country to be with us to worship and to fellowship together and to be encouraged by one of America's greatest preachers! It's gonna be awesome!

This Weekend

I had the privilege of going back to my old stomping grounds in Abilene this weekend, where I was invited to lead worship at the Southern Hills Church. When I went to ACU as a freshman, I wasn't looking for a job necessarily. On the Sunday of the week before orientation was to start, I went to visit Southern Hills to link up with some friends who had moved here from Paris. On this particular Sunday, their Worship intern/worship leader, Jeff Goolsby who I went on to be in club with at ACU resigned. I wondered if it was for me...After all, an arrogant song leader from Podunksville could surely do as good of a job...So, I networked with a music professor at ACU who was on the worship committee and three weeks later, the gig was mine! I spent three years at SH leading worship, planning worship, coming up with the idea for HIP and introducing the concept of Garden of Prayer, both of which are now trademarks for this church, and learned a lot about ministry.
I was really empty heading into this weekend...Just drained from three weeks of extra-difficult daily activities. I questioned whether or not I was going to have the energy to pull it off this weekend. But it was so rejuvenating to be with my team, the team who started HIP with me, most of who aren't even singing now, to sit and talk with them like we haven't missed a beat. When Sunday rolled around, I was filled with energy, and from that point the Spirit took over...It was a very filling weekend.

I'm Sad...just not as sad as I was before Friday afternoon!

Well,
I am still upset...not deserving of a rant just yet, afterall, the Ranger's don't deserve it! But, I am not near as sad today as I was before Friday afternoon.
Some of you know that for a while I have been emailing back and forth with certain production big whigs at CBS for the last few months. Among them are Roger Dobkowitz, the show's producer, and Rich Fields, the show's announcer. Well, in a recent dialog with Mr. Dobkowitz, topics came up how I probably wouldn't get out to LA before Barker retires with his last daytime show airing on Friday, June 15th, how sad that makes me. Well, that was on Wednesday the 16th of May. On Friday, May 25th, after a leisurely day-off morning at the Colonial Golf Tournament, I come in to a package in my office mail box from "The Price Is Right--Production: 7800 Beverly Blvd, LA, 90036." I open it and much to my surprise and emotional overwhelming, there is a personalized autograph from Bob Barker. "TO DJ: THANKS FOR BEING A LOYAL FRIEND AND TRUE...BOB BARKER!!"

AWESOME!!!!!!!

Missional Efforts

Our church (you know who's church it really is), the church where I serve, is undergoing a transformation...It may take more time than some of us would like, and that may be frustrating, but I believe that our church culture is changing. These days, you rarely see a tie on Sunday morning and we are finally re-interest-ing ourselves and re-investing in the community around us (that which is within 2-4 miles round our physical location). The more we seek God's will and the more we release ourselves, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to participate fully in the mission of God, the more our church will be in tune with what God has in store for us...There are days that I really need to remember these things so that I don't get frustrated and tempted. I love where I am...completely!

I am mindful of these words by Keith Getty and Stewart Townend, the same gents who wrote "In Christ Alone," and "The Power of the Cross," in their fairly new hymn "Speak, O Lord."

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2005 Thankyou Music (CCLI #480296)
Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,Holy reverence, true humility;
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see Your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow'r that can never fail—Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds; Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us—
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built And the earth is filled with Your glory.


May these words bless you as they have me.

This Week Sucks

This week sucks...for multiple reasons. I will begin with the lesser reasons for sucking and proceed to that which is greater suckage.

Firstly...
Allow me to quote Dallas Sports Radio personality Randy Galloway. "Well, here we are, wasting away in loserville." Let's reflect a bit. Cowboys: dropped hold in a sure win playoff game...Thank's Tony!...Stars: another first round exit...Thanks Coach Tippett, Marty Turko, and of course, everyone's favorite owner, Tom Hicks...Mavs: where do I begin...First round exit (by the dad gum GS Warriors of all people...) Dirk's tear-laced MVP acceptance speech, followed by an awkward man-hug of a crying Mark Cuban...OUCH: and finally my beloved Rangers: swept by the TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS who can't beat anyone, and thus, the Rangers are now 15-26, yes, that's right, 11 games under .500. I am not sure Ron Washington, new manager who is also on the DL with all of the other Ranger players, will ever see a .500 record as manager...We should just fire him now, let Art Howe take over and clean house.

Secondly, to top it all off, this week begins the downward two-week descent of Bob Barker's 50 Years on Television, 35 of which were spent on HANDS DOWN, the Greatest Game Show, EVER, The Price is Right! This week, two prime time specials, as well as a host of classic non-TPIR re-runs on GSN have made it a bit easier for me to swallow. Over the last year, I have created email relationships with the show's producer, Roger Dobkowitz, a classy guy, and the announcer for the last 3 years, Rich Fields, also a great guy. Never have got to meet the legend himself, perhaps someday, but my dream of seeing him in person is coming crashing to an end like a Russian Spaceship. I can still always dream. And, plus, there are all of those hours upon hours of Barker-laden VHS tapes that I have collected over the years...legally of course. And, unofficially according to a source close to The Price is Right (that I cannot mention here for fear of criminal retribution) tells my sources that perhaps around Christmas time of this year there may be the first installment of TPIR on DVD...we can only pray!

Happy Valentine's Day

Yeah...I know. It's once again been a while. Short post today.
I shall follow in the steps of my friend Mike Cope and recollect on my post from Valentine's Day of last year (2006).

"Happy valentine's day, M! Our first date was 4 months ago tonight! And time has flown! I Love you!Thank the good Lord, I no longer celebrate this day as "Single's Awareness Day!"

Well, this year I celebrate Valentine's day as a happily married man! Meghan, I love you and am glad that I don't have to celebrate this day dreading talking to your parents about getting married, or alone as a single man!

Happy Valentine's Day Freck! Time flies when you are having fun!