Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary...to us! It's been 9 wonderful, blessed years. I'm more love with my beautiful wife than ever before. It's been a great adventure (still is). Of course, due to our crazy schedules, Lori with the Grace VBS and my trip to Canada this weekend, we'll have to celebrate our anniversary in a couple of weeks. But, today's the day. WOW!

Thanks, Dave

Pastor Dave celebrated his 200th post the other day. I was hoping to forget this little incident.

Media Moment

Daniel Mount over at Southern Gospel Blog featured an interview with me on his site today. We had a chance to sit down and shoot the breeze for about an hour or so two weeks ago. Daniel was in Boise speaking at the annual Biblical Worldview Conference. I first met Daniel at NQC this past fall. I've enjoyed reading his commentary on Southern Gospel music for the past couple of years. We both seem to share an appreciation for the same Southern Gospel groups. Anyway, I was honored to be interviewed by Daniel.

Check it out and post a comment about how good-looking I am.

Jesus Never Fails

I can relate to this guy. Kind of. Lori and I were asked to sing at one of the GBS centenary celebration services in 2000. The chapel was packed when we got up to sing "Jesus Never Fails". We got to the second verse and I rocked into my solo part on "so what can I do to prove to you...", except those words didn't come out. I didn't have the song memorized and I had lost my place in the music. I started out with "so, hmmmmm-mmm-mmm..." and then in a subtle attempt to cover up the fact that I was totally lost, just quit singing and stared at the sheet of music trying to find that part of the verse. Our good friend Martha Miller was accompanying us and she expertly guided me back into my solo part, but I still didn't have it, so she played a little intro part again (and, then again). Humiliating. I do remember glancing over at Lori and she was looking at me with an expression that spoke of mortification and the fact that I was going to die later. I made it through the rest of the song, sheepishly.

One of my heroes, Dr. Wingrove Taylor, approached me later and in his dry, measured manner, voice colored by a Caribbean lilt said, "Thank you for the excellent lesson this morning, Mr. Waggoner. For indeed, when we fail, Jesus never fails."

Point well taken...and never forgotten.

Me and My Girl

I'm trying to figure out if my left eye is always that large or if it's the distortion from my lens. You'll notice Kassady is in her dress-up clothes again. I do believe she wears her princess garb more than her real clothes. We definitely saved money last year. She is destined to be in one of those cheesy outdoor pavilion shows at Disneyworld. As you can see, I set the bar high for my kids.

Budding Photographers

Trey showing off his photography chops, caught me in an introspective moment.

Kassady, not to be outdone, took this lovely shot of father and son. I'm not real sure where Trey has picked up the Texas Longhorn symbol (I hope) or the Ozzy Ozborne sign (I hope not). I asked him about and he said that he made it up.

Mad Hatter

I found startling similarities between a picture Doran posted of me on his blog and one of him from a concert in Wyoming last month. Fortunately, I grew out of the hat phase. Doran, on the other hand...

Arndts

It was a privilege to see one of my best friends this evening at our concert in Longmont, CO. Chris Arndt, his wife DeAndrea, daughter Chloe, and 8-week-old son Zach came to see Liberty. As you can see Chris's kids are quite enamored with me. Chloe was very impressed with our bus. I gave her the official tour.

Chris is one of the greatest guys in the world. I've known him for years. We went to FCA together for about 8 years when we were kids and had a blast. Oh, the stories I could tell about Chris's days at FCA! Maybe someday, I'll release a memoir and recount all of the trouble he got into. We had more fun back then. Chris and I were also roommates together at GBS for 2 years. He transferred to Purdue University where he graduated #1 in his engineering program. The guy is an electronics whiz kid. He and DeAndrea live in the Denver area. DeAndrea is pure gold! I just wish they lived closer to us. I love those guys!

Hair

Somewhere along the way, I lost my sense of dignity and ability to be embarrassed. Doran and Royce thoroughly enjoy my new look, as does the occasional weird fan at a concert.

Open Up the archives

After being absent for so long, I decided the most appropriate display of shame and humiliation would be the posting of an old picture from the Waggoner photo album. This shot was taken in Cincinnati in May of 1999. Believe it or not, I won some academic honors during my senior year at GBS and as a result had to give an address during our junior/senior banquet.

Notice the small tie knot. I was king of the small knot. The hair style was courtesy of Gerald Wolfe. At this point in my life, I was 22 and weighed, oh, about 155.

I distinctly remember getting lost during my speech (I turned over an extra page) and making up the last half. This also happened to me at my high school graduation. The only speech that included both Moses and Gorbachev.

Messed-up

Have I ever told you about my "geographic tongue" disorder? I really must sometime. Fascinating.