The Easter Adventure

SCC's song "Busy Man" comes to mind

This is not good. It's 4:03 AM as I type this and I've been up since 2:15 AM. This normally wouldn't be that big of a deal. I'd just sleep in a little or make sure I was in bed earlier tonight. This will not be the case today. Marc and I are going to be heading out to Dayton, OH in about 3 hours. I have an AYC board meeting tomorrow morning and then I'll head over to IHC in the afternoon. Ray and Tony are picking us up at the airport in Indianapolis and we're going to be driving up to Dayton this evening. This will, of course, be after a long-overdue meal at Buffalo Wild Wings (12 wings, medium sauce, potato chips and cheese on the side). There is no way I'm going to be getting to bed early tonight. Hopefully, I can catch some Z's on the plane. I'm one of those 8-hour-a-night guys, so I'm stressing about this.

This is going to be a busy week. I fly back late Wednesday, and then it's off to concerts on Thursday-Monday. So, there probably won't be a lot of updating on the ol' blog until next week. I have a great music video featuring Trey and Kassady that I will try to have on here by Thursday. It turned out pretty good.

As a girl that I used to travel with in choir used to say, "Please remember me in your prayers, that I'll make it to the end." I don't know what she meant, but I'm using it to say, pray that I survive this week!

Congrats!

I want to extend congratulations to one of Grace Teens' greatest, Kayla, on hitting for the cycle this past week in a high school softball game. For those of you that have played competitive sports or at least followed them, you know that this is a rare accomplishment. For those of you who don't follow sports, it has nothing to do with biking or anything like that. If you need it explained just give me a yell (yeah, Mom, I'm talking to you!).

Kayla, I just hope the milkshake was worth it.

Easter morning service

We had a beautiful Easter service at Grace this morning. It was a privilege to be able to celebrate Christ's resurrection at my home church. Grace Praise began the service by singing the Easter classic "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" followed by Scripture. We then transitioned into a lively rendition of "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High". The Easter service music has to include the timeless Gospel song "He Lives" and after singing that our praise team led right into the well-known Gaither song, "Because He Lives." The faith, hope, and joy found in the words of that chorus allowed our congregation to testify to the fact that "life is worth the living, just because He lives." Awesome.

Lori played an arrangement of Anne Herring's "Easter Song" for the offertory. Absolutely beautiful! And I can say that. She's my wife and she plays the flute with the best of them (that's no exaggeration, either)!

Before prayer, Grace Praise led the chorus "He Is Lord". As we finished the chorus, Lori picked up her flute and softly played through "I Love You, Lord". God settled down over our service as the praise team began to sing the words.

After prayer, Doran and Diane joined me on a song that is becoming one of my favorites, "Calvary Answers For Me" (you really need to check out the Perry's performance on their great recording, "This Is the Day"). Man, the words to that song are just powerful!

Pastor Keaton delivered an awesome sermon with an interesting title: Jesus At His Best.

He asked, was Jesus at His best in:
Creation,
Incarnation
Impartation
(I can't remember the exact word he used here, but it had to do with His role in the plan of redemption)
Evacuation
Salvation

He concluded that Christ is at His best when He brings all of the above into play in saving a lost soul. Great delivery. Incredible message.

Doran, Diane, and I then sang "Were You There" and closed with the chorus "Arise, My Love". There is something special about Easter celebrations. This morning was no different.

To know that the tomb is empty gives hope and joy to the Christian's heart! HE LIVES!