EDIT ADD: So Christy just got back from Noah’s 2 year check-up and the Doctor says that there is a POSSIBILITY that Noah is Autistic. Hmph. I don’t think so, but Christy is a little bit freaked out. Please be praying. We love our son SOOOO much, and who cares if he is autistic or not, but I guess it’s a pretty big deal as far as life goes…if you know what I mean. Mostly, though-be praying for Christy–and for Noah to talk more…
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Wow- Mike wrote some really nice things about me in his entry. Thanks man. You’re the best. And only slightly better than me at NERTZ.

btw- for all you that are scratching your head about NERTZ, and wondering what it is that we are all blabbing on and on about, you are welcome to join us at any time. The next game in on Friday, Sept 30th, right after Noah’s birthday party–about 8PM. C’mon over and learn-but beware, I’ll kick your butt!!

So we went to Plaza Bonita mall the other day, and Nathaniel saw “the old Super Mario”, which was one of those all-in-one joystick controllers that has 75 games on it without any control system…it was in a kiosk–you know what I mean? Anyway-he had played it before and wanted me to play it with him AND I DID! It was so fun-the original Super Mario Brothers from the original NES. We played for about 20 minutes and I got pretty far-so we left and I was inspired to try and find my Super NES at home and hook it up to play “the old Super Mario” (Super Mario All Stars). AND I FOUND IT!! Everything but the AC/DC power adapter. Bummer! So I called around and the only place that had it was Radio Shack. $19 bucks later I went home and hooked it up. Nathaniel was literally jumping up and down with excitement. One problem, it didn’t work. I plugged it in and turned it on, but the little red light didn’t go on…there was no power. Nathaniel ran to find mommy, and she told him to pray. So there is Nathaniel praying his little tooshie off about the Nintendo “God we love you so much! Help mario to work, please!” It was precious. But, unfortunately-mario STILL did not work. So Nathaniel asked why God didn’t fix it (didn’t anticipate THAT one). Yikes! Faith crisis! I think we told him maybe God wanted us to play the new mario instead…wow.

But, still. Help! I need a power adapter for the SNES!!!!

I went to see G-Lo-the-Fro (Hakim) in THE CRUCIBLE on Friday night. Excellent play-I hated it! OK, I just hated that people actually acted like that in some point in our history, AND that there are several people that act towards God and Christianity like they did in the play. It was infuriating for me. Judgmental spirits, legalistic, thinking they know exactly what God wants and thinks. It was horrible. For more info, see Mike’s blog…but Hakim was fabulous! Go Hakim! Now you should go to the next level…you’re good enough for the pro’s!!!

We had a string section on Sunday a church again…high school students from Helix High. It was cool! ALL GLORY BE TO GOD w/choir and orchestra was absolutely an experience! Wonderful job to everybody. I got chills every time at the last key change…wahoo! Fabulous job, MPC+O!!

So we made a trip to the OC yesterday. After church we went to an event at Christy’s home church. The children’s choir director has been at their church doing plays for 24 years (that’s 48 musicals). She was the one who inspired Christy to do children’s music. Now Christy is doing exactly what she was doing when Christy was a kid. It’s pretty cool! Anyway-this lady has a brain tumor and isn’t expected to live much longer. I think she’s only 45 or so…but here’s the cool thing. Yesterday, one of the kids choir members of long ago organized a little event—she contacted all the kids choir kids from the past couple of decades and invited them up to review and re-learn a couple of songs and the motions from some of the past plays to go sing for this lady. So about 40 people in their early to late 20′s show up and what transpired over the next 90 minutes was one of the most moving things I have ever seen. These guys/girls learned these kids choir songs and went over to her house to sing them. Everyone was balling by the time it was over. I was touched. It is moving to me to see people do acts of love and kindness for other people out of the goodness of their hearts, and expecting no rewards. It was cool–this lady sat there in her wheelchair while these guys sang “King Jesus is All” and “Beautiful” for her. Pictures were being taken everywhere, and by the end of it there wasn’t a dry eye…it was awesome!
Good trip.

Also- the show THREE WISHES that premiered on Friday night with Amy Grant–yeah, that whole first episode was in my home town. I knew ALL those people. I taught that kid in school while we lived there, and they went to our church (Bobby-the kid who wanted to be adopted). It was cool to watch!

ALSO- I WORE A TIE AND COAT to church on Sunday. Here’s why: I only had one undershirt left-and it was a big one. So I put it on and the collar is really billowy and stuff and that is a pet peeve of mine. I don’t like wearing undershirts that have a stretched out neck hole. I think it looks awful. So I decided to button up my collar and wear a tie. I guess that’s it.

OK- pretty darn good practice last night, MPC. Compared to %90 of the practices in the past, this one was far superior. However, I think the 1st half was better than the last half of THIS practice. We were making some really good music the first part-but once we started getting into the songs that weren’t as familiar, we lost most of that cohesiveness. Don’t get me wrong, it was still great–but it’d be great to sing ALL THE TIME like we did on songs like Christmas Fantasia and Winter Medley as opposed to Night of Miracles, and All Is Well…yes, I understand we know the first ones better, but I guess that’s the point. All the hard work and sacrifice you guys put in outside of practice pays off BIG TIME. So please continue, because the music we are making in our practices now is getting me REALLY excited about our Christmas concerts-more excited than I’ve ever been…

New show HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER was hilarious. Good to have THE OFFICE back. I hope it stays a long time…see Mike’s blog for more detailed reviews.

More NERTZ this Thursday night. I think I’ll make Taco Salad…yummy!

So it thundered and lightninged last night at like 1:30 AM. It really freaked me out and woke me up from a dead sleep. I sat there wondering what in the world was going on for the LONGEST time…I think my fear was hightened by the fact that I had just turned off Jurassic Park at the part where the girl was about to turn back on the power and be attacked by the velocaraptors. I forgot how good that movie was…and with all the times Nathaniel has woken up in the middle of the night scared–I went to check on him–he didn’t budge an inch…he wasn’t phased at all bu the hugely loud sounds of the T-REX walking towards our house to eat us alive…um, I mean, the thunder…

all in all, it was a HORRIBLE night’s sleep. Ugh.

Ahh…the tastes of fall…STARBUCKS Pumkin Spice Latte has been around for a couple of weeks now and it’s delightful!
Oh yeah, and STARBUCKS also gave me two of their old outdoor chairs that they were going to throw away…they now proudly adorn my office.
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Luke 9-12

9″So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11″Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
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So, God answers prayer. I know that-but Jesus is saying it here almost like, “if you guys would just ask…” like “duh”. So let’s ask–but also Jesus says in the passages before that to ASK PERSISTENTLY-not just once…but continue asking. How much more will your Father give you the HOLY SPIRIT? That’s a great promise. Probably one of the reasons worship has been pretty good lately is largely due to the amount of prayer that has been going on in the Worship and Creative Arts ministry…we have been praying before the services each week, before our practices, during our practices (in our Barnabas teams) and others have been praying throughout the week. Thank you Lord for pouring out your Holy Spirit!
BTW-it’s obviously God’s power that has been making our services great-not anything else anyone’s done.

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Luke 11:27-28

27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”
28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
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I love the way Jesus cuts straight to what is important. None of that complimenting stuff–just OBEY GOD. That’s great. Jesus has a way of cutting right to the heart of the issue. Going straight for the JUGULAR (as Baloin would say).

EDIT ADD:
Nathaniel threw up. He has been crying a little in the night lately, so we heard him crying and were like “We loooooove you! Go back to sleeeeeeep!” and he says back in his cute little half-crying voice, “but I throwed up”. OK-we’ll help you…he’s so precious.

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OK- well I finally did it! I reclaimed my NERTZ throne! I feel like Luke Skywalker at the end of Return of the Jedi, or Aragorn at the end of Return of the King. What is rightfully mine and was stolen by the dark side, has now been returned to me, and by a slaughter, no less. Yeah, I REALLY beat Mike, not just by a hair…I think the final scores were something around ME-170, Mike 95-ish (and everyone else…). I think my win was largely determined by a great focus that I maintained throughout the game. People were coming and going, I was focused. The craziest people NERTZed, I stayed focused. My wife complimented me, I stayed focused (which was a mistake…I should’ve broken my focus to say “Thank You”-I now know…).
So, a quick run-down of some of the many players who stopped by tonight for a round or twelve, includes, but is not limited to the following people:

Daniel
Christy
Mike
Shantelle
Brad
Suzie
Kim
Karen & Steve (who didn’t stay, but left to “spend time together”)
Melody
Chris
Arlette
Sara

Sara came late ’cause she got lost, and was driving a mechanic’s van, oddly enough. Shantelle left early, Kim left shortly after that. Melody and Chris took off early, and Brad & Suzie left at 10 to go feed the baby…so we were left with only 5 (Dan, Christy, Mike, Arlette, and Sara). I still prevailed…yay me!

Well, all of you blog-readers who have no idea what NERTZ is, should really learn how to play. Come over to my house sometime and try it out-it’s great fun!

Congrats to everyone who is figuring out the blog-thing. Hooray! And THANKS for checking my blog and leaving comments–you guys rock!

Survivor-seems harder this year. I was a little distracted by trying to figure out my DVR thing…I set it to record, and we waited a few minutes so we could watch w/o commercials, but I couldn’t exactly figure out how to get to the beginning without actually watching it at that moment. So I turn it on and it just comes up in the middle of the show and everyone is like “AAAAHH” and shutting their eyes and closing their ears to prevent anything from being ruined–I’m frantically trying to figure out how to turn it off…oh well, I just rewind through the whole thing with everyone humming and closing their eyes until I got to the beginning. THEN when it turns 9 PM and the recording is scheduled to stop, it also turns off the one we’re watching. So the eyes closing and ears and singing, etc..happens again–I FFWD through most of the episode to get us to the right place, but not before I see the testimony of the guy who got voted off…oops. Oh well-the dude busted his bicep muscle?? Ouch…he was 63 anyway…and their tribe was in shambles…so there’s the first DVR experience…I think I’m going to read my manual…

I’m getting very excited about a recording project that is coming up with the Helix Brass. Finally! They are recording six songs (all of which I arranged for them!) for a short demo-like CD to promote their group. I’m getting the singers together to record vocals on 3 of the songs, and I’m going to get to conduct the brass in the studio. SO fun! I can vividly recall ALL of my studio experiences (other than the times when I was recording with APU UCO). The times when I was producing or the arranger on the project were just some of the most fun and exciting times in my life! I love recording and producing–and the fact that I get to hear some of the music I’ve arranged come to life with incredible players and singers is such a fulfilling experience. Thank you Lord for this opportunity!! I can’t wait!

Looking forward to Sunday! Got some great worship songs, and I’ve really been encouraged at the way God has been working in the lives of many of the people at our church. Worship has been really great lately–thank you Lord!

That was a fantastic choir practice!! Thank you MPC for the hard work. I have to tell you-it’s all God. I’m not doing anything different-I don’t think–well, even if I was, it’s still all God. I also want to acknowledge the hard work and sacrifice that you all are putting in as well! Thank you for being there! Zig Ziglar says that %95 of success is just showing up–so we succeeded tonight! (I think the other %5 percent is attributed to hard work and competence and stuff like that, qualities which you all possess, making us quite “successful”). Thanks for your sacrifice in being there, and for your active service to the Lord. I can tell it is tough. I can see people coming in with heavy burdens, and I know that it is difficult to show up, so thank you. I just want you to know that I’m grateful.

MPC- I encourage you to listen to your Xmas CD’s. They will help you, and that is good.

As many of you may know, Christy is teaching about 95 min/day at Midway. She has a high school class and elementary music (a different grade every day). She is doing great! But we worked out a system where I come home with the kids and take my lunch break and an additional hour off work every day from 1-3 PM so we don’t have to do the childcare thing. (I make up the time on Monday mornings, which I previously had off). Well today I decided that instead of composing or doing something else with the time I had at home after lunch, that I would use the time to pray and seek God’s will for the Worship and Creative Arts Ministry at church. It was quite cool. I’ve never really spent a LOT of time alone in prayer (kids were napping by then). I really think it had a profound impact on tonight’s choir practice, and I feel great about it. So I will continue on!! More praying!

I’m really looking forward to this Sunday. Yahoo!

On a side note, Survivor starts this Thursday. Wow. Fall TV is already here. I already set the DVR to tape it. Yay for technology.

“I love technology, not as much as you, you see…”

Yeah I’m a little bummed right now. I lost again at Nertz last night. But here’s the thing-I was pretty close to winning, actually. The last hand Mike and I were neck-to-neck in score (within ten points), either of us could’ve gotten the victory at that point. We played the hand, and I was doing REALLY well, there was acualy a point where I was really moving some cards around towards the beginning, and I said to myself “OK, if you play this card you can win the game-here it is, right now…” and for some reason I COULD NOT MOVE THAT STINKIN’ CARD. So about 30 seconds later, Mike Nertzed and won. If I had played that card, since it was so early, everyone else would’ve gotten negative points, securing my victory. So I’m a little frustrated at that.

On another note: 9/11 service yesterday at church was pretty cool. I was a little bit focused and intense ’cause there was so much going on-but Thank you LORD that we had the rehearsal at 8:15AM instead of moving it to a later time–we used most of it up. There were quite a few police officers in attendance, along with some FBI folks, misc other law enforcement, and Congressman Bob Filner (with his hilarious, completely stereo-typical personal assisstant–seriously, it was right out of a movie or something…). All-in-all, I think it was a success, but let’s just set the record straight–it most certainly had nothing to do with me or anyone else there BUT THE LORD. I’ve been in similar situations before, (doing a large project like that service) and things have NOT gone well, so I know that when they do-it’s all about GOD. There was actually one point where the click-track was starting for the choir piece and my headphones pooped out (there was a bad connection in the wiring somewhere). I was begging GOd to PLEASE let me get the signal back and it came back right before I was supposed to cue the orchestra to start the piece…it was all GOD.

btw-spent about 2 1/2 hours last night finding album art for all the albums I’ve imported from my CD collection into iTunes. I only discovered I could add album art a few days ago, then discovered a way to do it quickly to the whole album and find the stuff at amazon.com, so away I went. I didn’t mean to stay up to 2AM doing it, but I’m just SUCH a goal-oriented person that I couldn’t stop. I did the whole thing. Every album that was humanly possible to find art for online, I got it. I don’t have any for the APU albums I have, but everything else, pretty much, is there…it’s awesome…I saved the pics in a folder-there’s 174 of them. YES! I rock at album art!

also–Carol Purvis came to play Nertz last night w/her sis Sara…it was SO fun! Good job to the both of you!

I’m feeling a little blah right now. Not sure why. So here’s some random thoughts…

Mike did an incredible job on a 9/11 powerpoint to go along with the Natalie Grant song HELD for this Sunday’s service. It was seriously SO moving. And, of course, we’ll have a live soloist and orchestra (complete with strings w/parts I wrote this week). I’m actually REALLY looking forward to it.

I held the iPod Nano. It is phenomenally small and compact. It’s incredible. Apple has outdone themselves again. The days of the corporate giant Microsoft are over, and Apple is rapidly gaining more and more market share with their corner on the digital music market. There is none like iPod, and Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) continues to outdo himself everytime.

Oh yeah, there is a Harry Potter iPod here…Check it out.

I went on a wonderful date with my wife last night. We usually have a date night every week, but for some reason we haven’t been out in a while, so it was really fun. Ya know, classic dinner and a movie. There’s nothing out right now, but we hadn’t seen Wedding Crashers yet, so we went to see that. Although it was admittedly quite funny, it was also disturbingly dirty. I don’t want to be one of those people that rants and raves about how our world is going down the toilet, etc. etc. but I was a little suprised. It was similar to how I felt about the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which we walked out on because it was so disgusting-yet quite funny in the parts that we saw.

I guess I’m not that shocked at how crass these movies were, what I’m more disturbed by is the fact that this is the stuff that everyone loves right now. Wedding Crashers was the summer’s #1 comedy, grossing quite a bit at the box office. 40-year-old Virgin is not doing so badly either, and the audiences we saw these movies with were cracking up ALL OVER THE PLACE. So I’m feeling a bit removed from the world right now, and I guess I’m more disturbed by THAT FACT than the fact that these movies were gross and inappropriate. I’m more disturbed that I can’t figure out how the church is going to reach these people for Christ, because it seems like to them, we’re SO out-of-date.

Believe me, I’m not saying the church needs to become more like a summer blockbuster-comedy. All I’m saying is that my heart breaks for the people around me, and I’m frustrated that I don’t know how to reach them. It is creating quite the tension in my life right now. I’m trying to reach the lost, and I don’t feel like I’m doing a great job reaching the people in my own congregation.

I guess that’s why I’m feeling a little bit blah. I’m caught in this place where I’m not sure where God is taking me in my Christian walk, and it’s frightening me. I want what’s next for me, but I don’t know what God wants FROM me. So I wait, and listen…