Vacation

Got back last night from a ten day trip around the U.S. Jean and I drove out east and visited friends and family during the Thanksgiving holiday. I will sum up our trip in bullet form.

• Drove from Vegas to Rockford, Il on Friday Nov 23rd.
• Played Bass guitar for my buddy Ryan at his church on Saturday night the 24th.
• Ate some awesome deep dish pizza from Sam's
• Got to record a demo of "Lie In Our Graves" at Jaben Pennell's studio in Rockford.
• We drove to Rivedale, Mi on Sunday night. Awesome to see the Chicago skyline at night.
• Had Thanksgiving dinner on Monday night with my entire family. Big Woj couldn't make it, but we didn't have room enough for him anyway.
• Got to eat some real Kielbasa (Polish Sausage), not that store bought crap.
• Ate too much Kielbasa
• My family can cook
• My brothers and I can make people laugh until they pee their pants.
• Pretended I was mentally challenged when I met my niece, Holly's, boyfriend
• Jean and I cut some fire wood for my brother Pat. I cut, Jean stacked. We had a great time.
• Saw "Quantum of Solace" with my Mom on Thanksgiving.
• Visited my 98 year old Grandma. She is an awesome woman.
• My 88 year old Grandpa, can't keep up with his 98 year old wife...lol!
• Got to hang with my youngest brother, John along with his wife and three daughters. I refer to my nieces as "the Locusts". I'll let you imagine what your house would look like after they left, and you will understand why I call them that.
• Left Riverdale on Friday the 28th and drove to Taylorsville, Ky. Why? To visit Bud Neal that's why.
• Met up with our Family Ministry Pastor Ty Neal at his in laws house on Friday night.
• Ate something called a sweet potato dumpling...it was amazing.
• Met Angie Neal's family
• Met Ty Neal's family
• Met Amanda Parrot's family
• Jean went to White Castles for the first time
  
• Ate too much good food.
• Left Taylorsville for Vegas on Sunday the 30th.
• Stopped in Nashville, Tn for Starbucks and got a mug
• Stopped in Memphis for some real Memphis BBQ. Let's just say "Corky's" is the place.
• Stopped by Graceland to take some pictures. It was cool to see it decorated for Christmas.
• Jean had Chick Fil A for the first time in Albuquerque, Nm.
  
• Arrived in Vegas at 10pm Dec 1st.

So that is pretty much it. We had a blast.

• Al
  

Gone Country...

Well, it looks like I'm gonna sell out for a bit. I'm going to be in a country band for awhile. Yes, I know, I said "Country". I look at it like this, I'm a musician. I play acoustic guitar. I used to be a Garth Brooks impersonator. So it is only a business decision that I am joining a country band..ha ha. I'm in it for the money. Like Cuba Gooding Jr's character in Jerry McGuire said, "Show me the money!" I'm also looking at it as an economic stimulus as well. I will get paid more, so I will spend more, which will mean more products are sold etc, etc. I am helping the economy as well. It is amazing how I'm justifying the whole thing. I am still going to do the Dave Matthews thing, but this will be an added bonus. Plus, I love playing music, period. More to come.

Haunted Hotels

I got to spend yesterday morning with Devin, Ty and Jeremy filming on location in Death Valley Junction at the infamous Armagosa Hotel. This hotel is rumored to be haunted by numerous ghosts. The Mindfreak himself, Chris Angel, did an episode in the hotel a while back and brought the legends to the masses. We did our own filming and will show what we discovered about the Armagosa at Grace Point Sunday morning as we kick off the Urban Legends series. I'm capturing the footage now, and I'll let you guys know if I get anything "weird" during the editing. I feel like Vincent Price.

Coke or Pepsi?

I've got to tell you, I'm not a big soda drinker, but Coke Zero Cherry is the best thing to come along since crunchy peanut butter. It just tastes good, and that is a lot to say about a diet drink.

Stuff

It's time to start doing this again. I actually like having an online journal so to speak, because it takes up less space on the book shelf. Also I don't have 6 journals with one entry in each. Most of my adult life has been a pattern of me getting excited about the latest and greatest, then quiting when things got tough. I'm sure has some medical term for this kind of behavior, I call it "Chicken". During my formative years, I developed some kind of twisted though process, and concluded that life should be easy. Relationships should never have to be burdens. People should always like you. If something went wrong, it meant I didn't do something right. I missed a step somewhere and blew it. Or worse, I blamed it on other people or circumstances. Change those people and/or circumstances and "Ta-da", everything would be okay again.

As a Christ follower of 10 years now, I still have that little bent to feel that way about life. What I have learned as a Christian, is that no one gets an easy out. Life is tough and we can't control the stuff that happens to us, we can only control our roll in life. I can remember running out on my first wife and blaming her for all the problems we were having , while I was preparing to move on to wife number two. What kinda crap was that? Looking back, all I needed was to look at myself and realize, "hey dummy life is tough, relationships have problems, work on it!" I didn't have a support system of people I trusted to give me good counsel. I know that the first time I knew God had put a call on my life to be a Worship Leader I thought ministry was cake. I thought you just got in front of people and sang to Jesus. How hard can that be. I guess I liked the "worship" part and not the "leader" part of the ministry. I almost quit. Then God kinda let me know that I was His, not my own anymore. I really felt like I was in the Holy Ghost Maffia. Ya know, I "knew too much", to just be let go. I learned that you can't quit God. He never quits on us, and once you have tasted His goodness, dude, you just have no other options but grab that plow and keep going.

It's hard to believe sometimes that I've been used in ministry this long. I'm not educated in the halls of higher learning. There are no initials following my name other than Sr. A shout out my son, Big Woj, who has Jr. after his name!! I have stayed on the journey and done what my master has asked. I have enjoyed blessings and hardships along the way. I am glad to say that I have not quit. I have wanted to, but in the end, I always remember my life patterns before Christ. My mentor and dear friend Mike Richardson, used to and still does, tell me "Finish strong.". We used to talk about Paul and Joshua who finished strong. Then we would look at those that didn't finish strong, but made some choices that haunted them until the died.

I guess I'm just saying that quiting because things look bad, or maybe because the grass is greener is mentally challenged...okay retarded thinking. I have some close friends who are blowing it with their wives for stupid reasons. It reminds me of me back in the day. I just won't let them screw it up without a fight from me. That's what I needed back then, someone to kick me in the teeth. Bam!

Okay, I've been out for awhile

I'm back. I have missed talking to cyberspace, but I've had to redirect my focus some. As some of you know we at Grace Point have been in a series called "Lifeboat". This storyline is very video driven, so I've spent most of my energies working with Trevor, Devin and Karen, on making sure we are good to go each Sunday. The series was a huge success.

The other reason is I started a Dave Matthews Band tribute band call Dangerous Hours. If you know anything about Dave Matthews, you know that this is a huge challenge. The fans of DMB deserve the best, so we are really busting our butts to deliver to those fans a quality show.

So I'll be in and out of here now and then. Small groups are starting up next week...I'm very excited about that. Nothing better that people getting together and learning about what it means to be a Christ follower.

Peace.

Whatever it takes

This was on my mind today, and has been a topic that I am very passionate about. Do whatever it takes to get it done. I am talking in the context of leading and serving in the local church. I will probably get some flak for my thoughts, but oh well, they are mine.

I rescued from myself in 98, ten years ago, it seems like yesterday. The first thing I felt was freedom. Freedom for guilt, pain, sin, you name it, I was free. I was new, fresh, clean and forgiven. From that point on I abandoned the notion of self and went into service mode. Of course my flesh was still in it's old habits of selfishness and has continued to this very day to thwart my mission. How do I keep killing it? I do what ever it takes to make the kingdom grow. I do what ever it takes to find ways to serve. I do what ever it takes to put first things first. I have let down my family, taken pay cuts, ventured away from the "norm", all in the name of doing whatever it takes.

I will never be, or at least can't imagine it, a person who stands on the sideline and watches things going on. I want to be smack dab in the middle of it. This is why I don't get into watching sports, I want to play not watch. I don't like going to concerts and watch bands. I would rather play music than watch it. Of course I do enjoy seeing live shows, but mostly I get DVD's so I can watch a band over and over, and maybe even steal some licks.

I will always be on the crew at Grace Point, I will always be setting up and tearing down audio and video equipment. I feel a bond with those folks in the trenches. I know that I can't do everything, but I train up people and then try like crazy to serve them. When I'm 75, I will still be doing something with the crew (No wise cracks on how that is only a few years away). My wife thinks I'm crazy, I am for the most part, but I'm crazy for Jesus. I'm crazy to the point of ridiculous.

The negative side in my craziness is that I have a tendency to judge people who don't have the same "whatever it takes" mentality. When you are going at 100 miles and hour, you see others who are traveling at the same speed as you. When you get behind a slow person, not literally, you tend to judge them as not as committed as you. Maybe they aren't. Maybe they are committed in a different way.

At the end of the day, you do whatever it takes until you find the right person to do what you have been doing. Maybe you have to do whatever it takes to find that person. How about that?