If life were lived on a cruise ship...

* ...it would be like a REALLY nice youth camp...you know..the bunk beds, small showers, everybody in line to do everything, safety drills, T-shirts that everybody has to buy, big show at night...BUT with a casino and drinking (at least we didn't do that in public at camp.......calm down......I'm just joking!)

 * ...we would wear all those clothes in the back of our closet that we say "it's perfect for a cruise, but I would never wear it at home."

 * ...we would eat 5 meals a days and not care about the calories, or what others thought about our 3rd trip to the dessert bar...'cause they are right behind you!

 * ...we would have less stress in our lives...no one has a job and the roughest thing you have to figure out today is just exactly when you should arrive at dinner so you don't have to wait in line.

 * ...someone would clean our room everyday and make towel animals for us.

 * ... we would never grow tired of shopping on the ship...they roll out new stuff every night!

 * ...we would have to move over to Monopoly money because we would not be able to afford all the things that we would be charging to our Sail and Sign Card. Dave would be so disappointed!

 * ...dinner would be a classy affair that was meant to be enjoyed in courses with conversation and in no hurry.

 * ...I would have to get a job playing with one of the bands...and then I would go insane and throw all the steel drums overboard!...........ok...I'm ok...

 * ...we would live out loud, laugh out loud, and spend time with our friends and family all the time...I'm not so sure that's a bad thing :)

 * Your turn...if your life was lived on a cruise ship _________?

Sunday Recap

We wrapped up our "Old School" series this week with the life of David. Pastor Jeff shared his five landing lights of discovering God's will...CLICK here to read more about it on his blog. Todd and I have used this SO many times in our lives at crossroads. I'm working on Pastor Jeff to put in a booklet...more to come on that:)

 We had an interesting day at the Bluffton Campus. Our lighting system has been giving us fits and we have had no success with any troubleshooting. We think we figured it out and it was just getting too hot in the amp room, but we will see:) It was resetting itself every 5-10 minutes during the first service. We kept the door open and that seemed to stabilize it.  Then the lightning and thunder started...In the second service, I leaned into my mic and got quite a shock on my lip and I started playing in a different key for about 5 seconds! In spite of all of this, it was a great day of worship and teaching.  Here was our setlist:

Call to Worship - Band -  Key of D (we all just played on a D and improved for about 60 seconds...a very cool opening!)

"Come Now is the Time to Worship" - Vineyard

Responsive Reading - Romans 8:1-17

"The Lord Reigns" - Klaus Kuehn

Welcome

VIDEO - LCC NEWS

"Hosanna" - Hillsongs

VIDEO - Message Bumper

MESSAGE

"Restless" - Audrey Assad (My new favorite worship song)

"Take My Life" - Tomlin

The team did an amazing job in spite of all the distractions. I am overwhelmed at the servant hearts of our team and their giftedness. It such a privilege to worship with them!

CLICK HERE to read some more setlists!

Sunday Recap

  We are in Week Four of our Message Series entitled "Old School" and we discussed the life of Jonah this week. We focused our worship on God's mercy, redemption, and that He is the God of second chances. We introduced Carlos Whitaker's new song "God of Second Chances" into our corporate worship repertoire and used it as a song of reflection after the Message.

It was the last week with our third Worship Intern from Liberty, Luke Crouterfield. We only had the opportunity to play and sing together twice this summer as he was usually leading worship on the opposite campus that I was so it was a great way to end the summer together. Here was our setlist:

"Counting on God/Because of Your Love" - New Life Worship/Paul Baloche

(we do this drum solo between the two songs. It helps us transition from the key of F to D.  It's one of our favorite arrangements!)

Welcome/Announcements

"Desert Song" - Brooke Fraser

Responsive Reading - Psalm 19

"We Crown You "- Fee

Video Bumper

Message

"God of Second Chances" - Carlos Whitaker

Closing Remarks/Doxology

It was a great day of worship at the Hilton Head Island Campus!  Join me for more setlists at the Worship Community!

Memories

 
I had the privilege of spending a few days this past week in San Antonio, TX with some of my extended family, my parents, my sister Christie, and her daughter, Sierra.  I grew up spending two weeks every summer  and almost every Thanksgiving and Christmas in San Antonio with my grandparents, aunts, and uncles. We took sometime to visit the grave sites of my grandparents who are all at home in Heaven now. Sydney was with me and it was very emotional being with her and talking about them. She never got to meet them. But, it was wonderful to be able to tell her that they are in Heaven and that she will meet them one day.

I'm discovering lately that memories have a way of really captivating your emotions at times in ways that range from shear joy to heartfelt grief. I experienced that this week. As I rode past my Me Maw and Paw Paw Henefield's 70 acres in Lytle (south of San Antonio) and Ma Ma and Pa Pa Slack's home on the southside of San Antonio, I remembered summers there and I was swept up in sadness that they weren't there anymore. Later that day, as we took Sydney on the riverboats in downtown San Antonio and ate at Casa Rio, I remember how I dreamed as a child about bringing my own kids here one day to do this with me and I was so overwhelmed with happiness.  As I sat with just my sister that night at a restaurant on the river and talked with her, I was at peace in that moment and so enjoyed just talking about our lives and sharing our hearts with each other. These wide swings of emotions are frankly exhausting! But, I'm coming to the realization that looking back is so important to looking forward. Where I have been and what I have experienced should greatly impact the direction I am headed. It should make me course correct or is should encourage me to stay steady.

We all have family. We all have memories that we would like to forget and some that we wish we could live over again. No family is without those experiences.  For me, this visit with my Aunt Joyce, Uncle Jack, and Uncle Ronnie and remembering the sweet and sorrowful of the past has made me stop and think of my future and where I want to be and what memories I want to create with my family. Thanks for the memories, San Antonio...sad and happy. I treasure them all.