An Interesting Couple of Months

My wife and I have been going through a bit of a transition for the last 5 weeks relating to our church.

Some background that might be relevant to this story:

• Our church, which we just started attending 2 years ago this month, has had an "Early Service" for just shy of 3 years. Apparently it wasn't easy to get set up. This is a 150-year-old church I'm talking about here where most of the session members in the church grew up together some 60 to 70 years ago.
• Last summer, our pastor left for a calling at a church in North Carolina. An interim was brought in about the first of December 2006.
• This Spring, our former praise team leader KDC announced she was leaving the praise team. Shortly after that, she told us that she and her husband had decided to start looking at other churches. KDC is a 5th generation member of our church.
• A new praise team leader was brought in at the beginning of August.
• While people at the church may say that they feel our "Early Service" is moving forward and is successful, a large percentage are scared of it being called "Contemporary" and for that matter don't want a "Contemporary" service even though they continue to deny this but we continue to hear backhanded comments about it through the grapevine.
• One of the things that attracted us to this church was that the Praise Team at the "Early Service" was singing songs we enjoyed -- because the vast majority of them were contemporary.

Now we're sort of at a crossroads. There have been a lot of hurt feelings in the past few months because of some issues a lot of people at the church have been dealing with for a long time. There have been and still are some hurt feelings because of things that were and weren't said during the hiring process of the new praise team leader.

Around that time we lost another member of the "Praise Team" because she and her husband felt that our church was no longer a good fit for them. So in the process, the Praise Team has lost a very special feel to it that had been key in developing a close bond between the members. And it lost two very special people, who I would go to the wall for any day.

At first my wife and I decided we'd try to tough it out even though we weren't too sure of everything that was going on and how we felt about it. After a few practices with the new praise team leader, it was evident that this was going to be a very bumpy trip down "Music-we-don't-want-to-sing-because-it-just-don't-feel-right Lane" with no evident end in sight. My wife was frustrated with that and other things. I had been running the sound for the Praise Team and the "Early Service." I got frustrated not only with the fact that she was frustrated, but also for other various reasons.

So we decided to take a break. It's been five weeks now.

We went to our "Traditional Service" a few weeks ago. I remembered very quickly why I have always felt somewhat of a disconnect with God in the traditional church setting. It is so regimented; the recitation makes you feel like a robot; and it is just stuffy. There is no inspiration to it. I don't feel like it allows me to be in touch with God as closely and to worship him comfortably, in a way I want to communicate with him. Our "Early Service" started off making me feel so much closer to God than I ever have in church. I loved that experience. I love being able to talk to God and have a worship experience with him that I enjoy. That may sound selfish, but I don't think people should be forced to all worship God with the same songs, the same recitations, and the same monotone methods week in ,week out.

I also enjoy being able to sing songs that are written in a language that makes sense in modern times. I know there are people that love the traditional old hyms. I've never been a big fan of that. I like the contemporary stuff.

That word in itself scares alot of people who grew up in traditional church settings. We're seeing it first hand at our church.

We went back to the "Early Service" this morning. It was weird. The new praise team leader has changed up the Doxology from what we used to call the Funkology because it had a killer bassline to some really singsongy, showtuney version. I couldn't sing it. I just shook my head dumbfounded. None of the songs that were sung this morning had any relation to the message of the Sermon at all -- which was something that we had been working on establishing more and more of until all the recent changes.

Now we're not sure what to do.

We have a terrific,wonderful, close-knit group of friends in our Sunday School class who are some of the greatest people we have ever met. We have great discussions and studies in our class; we have all grown together spiritually and been there to support each other through bad times and share each other's joys in good times. We have each other over to our respective houses for various events like Super Bowl parties or Halloween parties. Several of the couples from our class went on a trip to the mountains a few weekends ago, ourselves included, and had a blast.

We don't want to be disconnected from that element. But we're so frustrated with the worship styles right now at the church and some other people's attitudes toward those.

Our only temporary solution for the time being is to pray for guidance from God and know that he will help lead us down the path that he knows is best for our souls and spirit.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Isaiah 40:31 (NLT) "The Lord is the everlasting God, The creator of all the Earth, He never grows weak or weary, No one can measure the depths of His understanding, He gives power to the weak, and strength to the powerless, Even youth will become weak and tired, And young men will fall in exhaustion, But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength, They will soar high on wings like eagles, They will run and not grow weary, They will walk and not faint"

It kinda seems appropriate to keep that in mind as we go through this transition.

What Skills Do You Know?

I'm a big fan of the Web site Fark. In case you've never read it, it's just a collection of random news or interesting articles from around the globe. I found the following link on it a little bit ago called 25 Skills Every Man Should Know, in which the following list is included. Let's go through this, shall we?

1. Patch a radiator hose
(I had to do this on a road trip to Florida once. I used our universal friend Mr. Duct Tape)

2. Protect your computer
(It's pretty secure. I just hope the ceiling tile above my desk doesn't start leaking anytime soon)

3. Rescue a boater who as capsized
(Eagle Scout here, hello! One of those things I learned in my Lifesaving merit badge class as a Boy Scout)

4. Frame a wall
(A friend of mine is in the construction business and I've helped him out on more jobs that I can count)

5. Retouch digital photos
(Ummm.... like, everyday. One of my job duties is photography)

6. Back up a trailer
(The last time I tried to do this, I bent the hitch connection on the trailer. I try to avoid this task)

7. Build a campfire
(See #3 -- although this wasn't part of Lifesaving class)

8. Fix a dead outlet
(See #4)

9. Navigate with a map and compass (Again, see #3)

10. Use a torque wrench
(Haven't had the need to yet...)

11. Sharpen a knife
(A guy I used to work with who likes to be called Chief is a Native American. He can put a pretty mean edge on a blade --- Again, see #3)

12. Perform CPR
(Thankfully, I've never had the opportunity -- here we get back to #3)

13. Fillet a fish
(Caught, cleaned, filleted, and cooked ---- mmm, mmm campfire cooked catfish is good eatin')

14. Maneuver a car out of a skid
(Following the first snowfall during which I had posession of a driver's license, my father woke me up that morning and said, "Get in the car, we're going driving." Went to a local parking lot, dad jerked the steering wheel, car started to skid, and he says "Now get us out of the skid.")

15. Get a car unstuck
(I had my first experience with this in 12th grade. I got my parents' car, a 4WD Subaru station wagon, stuck in a ditch while leaving a friend's house. Getting it out was a comedy of errors, involving 6 teenage guys trying to push it out, ankle deep in mud while I was trying to gas the car and in turn sprayed mud over everyone. A girl I had a crush on at the time happened to be leaving the gathering at the same time, so she turned her car to face mine with her car's headlights illuminating the scene. She locked her keys in her car. We both ended up having to call our fathers. Her father got there first. He jumps into the fray, with bedroom slippers on mind you, and yells "Alright boys, let's push". He proceeds to get muddy too. My father arrives. Then the father of the friend whose house we were at arrives. He gets his trusty 20 foot long, 6-ton chain, hooks it to his truck and pulls my car out. None of the fathers were amused, all though the crowd of teenagers were)

16. Back up data
(I do this on a regular basis. You never know when your computer might crash. I dropped my external hard drive on the floor a couple weeks ago. Luckily, everything had been backed up recently)

17. Paint a room
(Part of my Boy Scout Life rank service project was to paint the classrooms in my church's educational wing)

18. Mix concrete
(See #4)

19. Clean a bolt-action rifle
(I've never cleaned one, but I've fired several)

20. Change oil and filter
(This can be a very messy job -- but I've done it on a few occassions)

21. Hook up an HDTV
(Can't be that difficult. I've got the stereo, TV, two VCRs, cable box, and ATARI 2600 emulator in our living room all hooked together with relatively little confusion)

22. Bleed brakes
(One of the first car repairs I learned to do on my own was replace rotors and brake pads, along with bleeding the brakes. Jump make sure you pump the brake pedal several times after putting everything back together. I made the mistake of not doing that once. This is where the emergency brake comes into play)

23. Paddle a canoe
(*Sigh* -- see #3)

24. Fix a bike flat
(Do kids nowadays even ride bikes and have to worry about this? Oh yeah, the do they just wear those stupid looking helmets all over the place. When I was a kid, my friends would have laughed at me for wearing a bike helmet. We all EARNED our battle scars from our bravely performed bicycle accidents. I can't count how many bike flats my friends and I fixed)

25. Extend your wireless network
(I've been plugging away at computers since I laid my fingers on my first TRS-80 all the way back in 1982 when I was in 3rd grade. I have a pretty strong wireless connection at home right now with an encryption key that I guarantee will be challenging to pretty much anyone that tries to hack it. I'm not worried about extending the network right now though -- it does what I need it to)

So -- I dare say there are some more manly things that can be added to this. I don't quite think that some of the things on here are necessarily very manly, as opposed to semi-nerdy. But hey, we're all somewhat of a nerd in the various areas that pique our interests.

I think the opposite sex may have differing opinions on what constitutes a manly task also. Hence, the 25 Tasks a Man Should Know in the Bedroom list that we'll leave open for discussion at a later point.

Are you ready for some football?

It's that time of year again.... When only three colors consume the mind (at least my mind): Orange, White, and Purple.

It's Clemson football time.

Now I'm not going to pretend that I have ever really known alot about football itself. I didn't play it as a child. I really have no clue what most of the rules are. And I can't tell you anything about individual players statistics, past or present, let alone know their numbers.

Two of my best friends in the world, Banks and Rob, can tell you Clemson stats until they are blue in the face. And I admire them for that. That's just not my thing though.

The thing I like about Clemson football is the electricity of it. When you're in a stadium with 80,000 screaming fans, all pulling for the same team, there is nothing like it. From the tailgating, to the hanging out with friends, getting crazy, drowning the misery of defeat or revelling the victory, it is one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had.

In college my friends and I would start off every game weekend on Thursday night with a hearty round of drinks. That would lead to another round; and another round. And by the time Saturday morning came around, we'd drag out of bed to go tailgate with Banks' folks. We were all like their surrogate kids. They'd have food for everyone. and man, it was good. Banks' stepmom makes some wicked good food.

And no matter the win or the loss, we would always cap the game off with another round of drinks... and another... and another.

The whole game weekend experience was a series of foolishness, debauchery, and insanity the levels of which I cannot describe. In one particular instance that stands out in my mind thoug, on a Saturday in the pre-dawn hours, my friends and I strung a banner on the front of our dorm that read "God Has a Hard On for Tigers." By the time we rolled out of bed later that morning, it was torn down. Looking back, it was immature and I'm rather embarassed of it from a religious standpoint, but at the time it was ridiculously funny and still makes me chuckle.

Now that I'm older, I still love Clemson football. I love making snide comments about USC football. I love that instantaneous comradery that is established the moment you meet another Clemson fan or alum. We all have a very special bond and it's one of those things that we cherish.

But back on the being older train, the whole ceremony of the Clemson game, at least for me, has changed forms to a much tamer aspect. My wife and I have spent the weekend planning out a menu for a get together we're having at our place with a couple that we are great friends with.

The evening will consist of nibbling at the various appetizers my wife will have put together and not let me cook because she just doesn't like the way I do things in the kitchen and watching the game from the comfort of the sofa, floor, or chair, or whatever horizontal surface we decide to sit on. There will be some adult beverages involved... but nowhere near to the extent of which we used to consume.

The last time I drank too much, I blew out blood vessels in both eyes later that night from puking. I don't plan on doing that anytime soon. My drinking habits and tolerance have definitely changed since I was a foolish, young college student. Not that from time to time, I'm not a foolish, thirty-something, but that will be a topic to discuss in a later post.....

But now it's time to bring on the football -- and kick some Seminole ass. Go Tigers!