MORE EDIT ADD:
I can’t believe the end of The Apprentice! Trump was about to hire them both and Randal totally took that away from Rebecca! What a selfish jerk! I can’t believe that happened! It would have been perfect for them both to be hired!!
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EDIT ADD:
I just saw a trailer for LADY IN THE WATER, M. Night Shyamalan’s new film. I am so happy he’s coming out with a new one. I LOVE Shyamalan, and I can’t get enough of his work…can’t wait. Check out the trailer in iTunes or here.
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OK- I just read on Marshall’s blog that John Wallace (President of APU) has cancer. This is devastating. The last president right before him lost his wife to cancer after a long battle, and it was heart wrenching for everyone. John Wallace is a GREAT man of God who has incredible vision and incredible leadership. I would hate to see him go. I am most definitely praying for him. No actual word to what degree or what kind of cancer he has, so I’ll wait to hear more. So sad…be praying…

I took a sick day on Wed. It was much needed. I was going to go in for part of the day and lead worship on Wednesday night, but I just couldn’t. I let Jorge take the reigns for worship that night, and here’s a snippet of an email I got back from Ross about the evening:

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“I just wanted to let you know what a blessing it was to watch God through Jorge tonight. He did awesome. It was obvious many people were touched, myself included.”
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Wow. That’s awesome! I am so glad to hear that God used Jorge, or I guess more accurately, that Jorge surrendered himself to God to be used. It makes my little heart happy! I knew Jorge could handle it, like he has before and will continue to do during the interim after I’m gone (or only at Midway on the weekends), but it’s cool to hear that people were touched. Awesome. Thanks for that email Ross!

Oh yeah, on a side note, Ross is the awesomest person you’ll ever meet. I’ve met a lot of people and served alongside hundreds of individuals, but I’ve never met someone with such servanthood as Ross. He is one of the most capable and talented people you’ll meet, and probably the meekest. What a heart for God he has! I love that guy! Ross-I’m going to miss you so much!

Ok- enough mushy stuff…back to work today. I think one of the reasons I’m not deathly ill and have been able to fight this off is due to my vitamin skills, and my Jamba Juice skills. Not to mention my vegetable skills and blueberry skills. I’ve been really loading up on healthy stuff during this sicky time, and I think it has helped.

Just wanted to say that Chris H got a blog. Yes, he is claiming to not be a blogger, but he actually blogged twice in his first day. IN HIS FIRST DAY!!!!! Yeah, he’s been waiting for this day for so long…he’s just in denial…I love it!!

Apparently that guy from the show ED is now starring in a new show starting in January called “Love Monkey”. Now, the quality of the show aside, I will never watch it, for it is called “Love Monkey”. Whoever came up with that name is just an idiot. Really, and idiot. Who names a show “Love Monkey”??? And who approves of that name?? Geez…I mean, I know King Kong is going to be a big hit and all, but that’s just ridiculous. “Hey, did you watch Love Monkey last night?”. Hey, it just doesn’t work out.

Christy threw up. Yuck. I’ve had a headache but I’ve been bombarding myself with vitamins and antioxidants. I’ve been drinking Jamba Juices (the ones with blueberries and the multi-boosts) and having a multi-vitamin and sucking on the Halls Vitamin C drops. I CAN’T get sick. I’ve got too many good things in my body. I haven’t had coffee in a couple of days, too. That’s gotta help. I think my body is fighting, though. My energy was a little down today and I sure was grumpy! I get grumpy when I’m sick…but I CAN’T get sick.

I finally paid for school today. It turns out that the phone/online way to pay doesn’t accept VISA. Now THAT’S even more retarded that Love Monkey. I mean, VISA is the #1 credit card company in the USA (yep, I researched it) and possibly in the world (just conjecture, now). And I don’t have any other card besides my VISA/Debit Card from Wamu…anywho, I was a little frustrated, but then called my parents and they had a MasterCard. Sweet. I just Paypaled them the $$ and used their card #. Thanks mom and dad! And Thanks to the Choir/Orch for giving us $$ for school! You guys rock! All of you!

Who doesn’t rock:

–Benihana
(oh yeah, we waited outside for 45 mins until they opened at 1PM on Sun for Christy’s b-day lunch and they wouldn’t accept any walk-ins. Yeah, only reservations that day. You suck!)

–CashNetSmartPay
(the company that accepts payments for CalStateLA over the phone or online, but doesn’t accept VISA)

–Pat and Oscars
(my food was cold and I had to wait a long time for it even though I called in an hour earlier-ridiculous)

–Love Monkey
and all who are affiliated with her.

Who does rock:

–My Parents for letting use their credit card

–Christy Rheam for learning the whole Mrs. Newman part in one day ’cause my wife lost her voice

–McDonald’s cause their ice cream cone is the best in the world

–My wife for still directing her kids play even though she was throwing up and other things…

I hope the Christians don’t win Amazing Race. They are SO hypocritical…

Wow!

Words can hardly express how elated I am right now! Our last performance with the Midway Praise Choir and Orchestra was truly magical. It was by far the BEST concert we’ve ever done. THE BEST. I can’t believe how tremendously blessed I am right now. This is the best choir and orchestra I’ve ever had the privilge to lead. There were times when we had only like 3 basses and we were struggling to make it work. Now we have an incredible group. It’s more than I could have dreamed. What a night!
Thank you to everyone who sacrificed to be here and to be a part of the group. It was phenomenal! Praise God!!

Thank you for letting me lead you.
Merry Christmas!

Also: a HUGE thanks to everyone who contributed to my college fund! My first quarter tuition will cost $770, and the choir handed me an envelope with $710 in it! Woah! I said THANKS!!! What a blessing, and told them that was so cool because the cost of school was that much-anyways-later they found some more cash and ended up covering the whole tuition and beyond (like books, too!). I am so unworthy and so incredibly undeserving. Thank you to everyone! It is so far beyond what I ever expected…really. Can’t even explain how thankful I am…too overwhelmed…

I can’t fathom how good God was to us yesterday. So many things could’ve gone wrong, and it was amazingly smooth. Truthfully, a most incredible experience. I have many things to write, and I will, just later….
In the meantime, thanks be to God!!!

Now, Lord, I need some strength to make it through the rest of today…which I know you’ll supply. No doubt the rest of the choir & orchestra need it too…

*Narnia, Newborns, and Navidades*

My wife is right now rocking Baby Iliana to sleep. This is a task I began, but was unable to complete due to my impatience and a blatent attempt to incapacatate me by the aforementioned child. OK, she head-butted me in the mouth, and it freakin hurt! I was like, “That’s it! I’m done!” and put her down on the ground, nicely. I was then instructed to do a task that I could accomplish with fair ease and grace–go to 7-11 to get milk and snapple. And so that’s what I did. I’m also diggin’ this Naked Juice I’m having, and the new Il Divo Christmas album. Those guys are unique, and did you know that there’s a pound of fruit in every bottle of Naked Juice? I didn’t. That’s cool. The only un-cool part of the Blue Machine is the bananas. Why does every smoothie have to have bananas in it? Who made that rule? Well that’s great…alright, let’s crank this thing out, Trump style…

Fa la, fa la, la la la la…HAHAHAAHAHAHA I’m laughing so hard right now…

Ok- no- seriously..

So I did see Narnia today. I loved it. Semsen and Janke give it four thumbs up. Yes, we get two thumbs each…and OK, Mike actually hasn’t seen it yet ’cause he’s lame, but maybe he’ll go tonight…
I thought it was great! So much of it is so blatantly an allagory for Christ’s redeeming love that it is amazing to see it on film and amazing to see that it is likely to be a HUGE blockbuster. HUGE. UUUGE!! (again, more Trump…). But really, it was fantastic! A must-see. I really got choked up when I thought about Christ’s love, even for the worst of us, the most undeserving, like me and Edmund. It was awesome. I REALLY hope for more installments. C.S. Lewis-Tolkein style. It’s great. GO!!!!

Also-rounding out this day’s events, we got a Christmas tree…err..Holiday tree…umm..it was the easiest buy to date. Christy didn’t take forever picking it out, and the lady at the checkout counter said Merry Christmas, leaving me to think that at least the WHOLE world isn’t crazy into the “only-say-Happy-Holidays” thing.

So for all dat:

Merry Christmas.

It’s almost time for “The Great Choir Reversal”. Don’t tell Chris.

So, let’s talk about faith.

Faith = complete trust or confidence in someone or something. (according to my dictionary widget)

At least, that’s the first definition in the dictionary, and although a noun, this definition of the four possible denotes the most action, I think.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (according to the Bible, Hebrews 11:1)

OK, those two are pretty similar. Nice. Let’s just say this, I’m operating at this point on complete faith in the Lord that this weekend will be a success. Not that I haven’t done EVERYTHING I can possibly think of to ensure success, but at this point, it’s all up to the Lord to make it happen.

I feel like this is one of the most complicated things we’ve ever done since I’ve been here, and the most risky. Sure, there have been big elaborate sets at church for plays and stuff that we’ve done, but nothing so inclusive of other people and other people’s events. I mean, if we don’t get a set just right, we can tweak it at the last second, but if we don’t show up at the right time to one of our concerts, then we affect MANY other people…

So here’s the thing-people have said that you should dream big, or have a GOD-sized vision. Something so big that only God could truly take credit for it’s success. Something so big that only God could really pull it off. That’s kinda how I feel right now. Not that I’m Super-Faith-Man or something, I just have to believe that at this point GOD IS IN CONTROL. I’m not giving up, I’m not shirking responsibility for anything, I’m not winding down or peetering out, I’m simply saying that if everything goes well and we have three great concerts this weekend, it’ll be by God’s grace and mighty power.

So what about faith?

You gotta have it. It’s not optional.

–
I believe that God will guide us through this weekend, and by His hand, we will sing for Him and bring Him glory. Please be praying.

Another EDIT ADD:
So there’s a REALLY cool LOST widget…if you don’t have MAC OS X (10.4) then you’re lame and this doesn’t apply to you at all…but for you awesome MAC users, check it out here. It actually has the Dharma countdown…every 108 minutes you have to enter the numbers…it’s SO COOL!!!
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EDIT ADD:
Ok, I have to tell you, that this blog entry from some random guy about the Holiday Pack of Jones Soda is hilarious…you’ve got to read it here. I mean, they’re talking about Turkey flavored soda…how can that not be funny?
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Ok, lots going on. Too much to even post about, really. Christy and the kids are all sick. I’m not, and please pray that I don’t get sick since our huge shows are just two/three days from now and I’m pretty sure I can’t conduct while I’m puking and pooping all at the same time (poor Nathaniel…he’s so cute…).

Christy did a great job on her show last night.

I’m going to meet with someone in La Jolla to clear up details for this weekend’s concert up there. Stage will be much bigger than the IB one, and let me tell you, that concert’s going to go down in history…I can’t wait. It turns out that there is AT MOST, 8 feet of space from ground to ceiling on stage. Our top step of the 3-step risers is exactly 2 feet high, which leaves only 6 feet left…so we’re actually going to reverse our standing order and put the shortest people on the top and the tallest people on the ground…I can’t wait to see it. Chris Holz in the first row, dead-center…HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…

Fa la fa la, la la la la, Christmas Fantasia…

THE APPRENTICE

So planning for these events with the MPC&O has really stretched me and, I think, made me a better leader. Wow. It must be an experience thing. But here’s the deal, I’m an EXTREMELY organized person. Walk into my office (90% of the time) and you’ll see order. Right now there is a little bit of chaos because of my wife’s insanity and the three shows she is directing, and it makes me a little batty, but I ignore it ‘cause I know it’s going away soon. Right dear?
Anyways, back on track- “Lack of organization is lack of leadership”. Yeah, that’s straight from Donald Trump’s mouth. And let me tell you this, I learn a LOT about leadership and business from watching The Apprentice. As funny as that sounds, it’s true. I actually have changed the way I do things because of some mistakes I’ve seen those idiots make on that show. I’ve really learned from it. Seriously. If you’re paying attention, there’s a lot to learn…
So, I’ve actually viewed organizing these concerts like I’m the Project Manager on a task for the Trumpster. Yes, you’re laughing right now. And as dumb as that sounds, it really works. Our concert on Saturday was a success, and all of the glory goes to God for that! I think it would’ve been a little more stressful and rocky, though, had I not been as prepared and organized. And there were times when I seriously said to myself, “I better handle this detail, or double-check this” because of the things I’ve seen fall through the cracks on some of the tasks on Apprentice. Details that got the PM’s fired…I can hear it now
“But this was a SALES task, and you just didn’t sell. In fact, sales actually DECLINED 33% because of you. You’re all fired. ALL FOUR ARE FIRED. Go on, get out of here.” – Trump

Thank you Mr. Trump. Fa la Fa la, la la la la, The Apprentice.

OK:
So SNL last night was probably one of the funniest episodes that I’ve seen in a LOOOOONG time. Cast is amazing, writers are phenomenal, the execution is perfection, and the creativity is inspiring! Hilarious! And the opening song poking fun at all the nonsense around the Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays shinanagans was rolling-on-the-floor funny. I might actually show it at choir, it’s just THAT funny and musical…

About the performance at Organ Pavilion–yes, there were some funny mistakes. Music was flying all over the place, yes Daniel panicked at the beginning of Gloria and threw off the trumpets, and yes there were a couple of you that didn’t know all the words to Spirit of the Season or The First Noel–but guess what, that’s performing! It wasn’t perfect–but nothing EVER is. We strive for excellence, not perfection. I believe that we really did achieve it. I want you to know that I thought it was AWESOME!!!! It was by far the best performance we’ve given-EVER. Is there room for improvement, yes, absolutely, and I’ll push you all some more this week. But be proud of our God who gave us the strength and power to sing. He was the driving force behind our whole concert. I mean, did you see that crowd POUR into the seats once we started singing? Who attracted them to the pavilion? Try THE LORD! So give Him thanks, it was sweet! Incredible job everyone!
Let’s pray for a great weekend to come…

Here’s some things people said to me after the concert:
“I heard people around me saying, ‘Oh, I’m so glad they finally brought out the professionals…’ ” -Noel Palumbo

“Everything with you guys was so smooth and easy. You were so professional and calm, and you did a fantastic job.” – Lady from the Union Tribune who kept forgetting “..and Orchestra” when announcing us. But to be fair, I don’t think it was on the program that way. But let’s be fair, next weekend we’re on in La Jolla as Midway Baptist Church Band…go figure…

Ok, so at this point, that’s all I can remember, but I did get TONS of compliments. In fact, two guys from Del Cerro Baptist Church want to join our choir. I was like, “I don’t want to steal you guys from Paul Plunk’s choir…” and he said, “Oh no, we don’t sing in the choir anymore…” and now at this point in the conversation I’m totally confused, but they went on and on about how they were great basses and I was like, Ok, whatever. Call me! Go for it!

Ok- newsflash. Don’t let any of this go to your head. It’s not you or me that are so successful and wonderful, but you know that already…right?

OH- and take advantage of the 2-month Free Trial of Amazon.com’s Amazon Prime subscription. This is where you get 2-day shipping for free, and overnight for $2.99. Normally you pay $79/year for this and right now you can get a 2-month trial for free! Saweeeet! Go amazon!

Big day. Huge day. Going to perfom at the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park at 4PM with the Midway Praise Choir and Orchestra. It’s like the Hollywood Bowl of San Diego (although, not as large). I checked everything out on Thursday and we only need to bring a couple of chairs, music stands, and stools.
Help us Lord on this concert!

On a side note: Christy and I and the kids went to dinner at Tara’s house last night and it was AWESOME! Boy, that girl can cook! Yum! She and her family lived in Italy for 3 years before they came here and she had this $400 vat of Olive Oil from Italy. That was cool. She used it to make the salad dressing and I was like, “Is that water??”. And she was like, “No, silly! It’s Olive Oil from Italy!”. Wow. In the words of Kramer, “You just blew my mind!”
Dinner was delicious, dessert was awesome, and it was an overall fun time! Thank you, Tara! If she invites you over, you should go!

Another side note: I saw a REAL Delorian the other day. It was awesome! I was so excited. There’s only one other time I’ve ever seen a Delorian up close…it was at Washington Mutual in Chula Vista. This guy actually let me sit in it and touch it…yahoo! I saw one on Thursday while I was driving by a Burger King (turning around) in National City. I was like. WOOOOOOAAH!! A DELORIAN!!!! SWEET!
I love Delorians. Ever since Back to the Future, it has been my favorite car of all time. They were only made for 3 years and are very rare to find. Amazing!