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.

Champion of Love

One of my favorite Phil Cross songs done in the inimitable Cathedrals style. This is from the Cathedrals Reunion video. I noticed something odd at the end of the song. See if you catch it, too.

Another Kassady Caper

I have to share this one with you...

Last night, Lori and the kids were at church. Lori oversees the children's program at Grace and she had just finished up the evening class and activities. Three or four boys were chasing the little girls around, which of course the girls loved. They ran screaming and laughing through the gym, into the hallway, and the girls eventually ran into the women's restroom. Lori had to head to the restroom, so she walked in and pushed on the first stall door. It was locked. She went to the next door and pushed. It didn't budge. She tried each stall. Same thing. So, she looked underneath the stall doors and there was no one in any of them. She noticed that the girls were still in the bathroom so she asked Kassady if she knew why the doors were locked. Kassady said, "Yeah. I locked them all and crawled out underneath so the boys can't get us."

Well, then Lori paid closer attention to what the girls were doing. They were tearing off strips of paper towel, soaking them under the faucet, and wadding them up into balls. When Lori asked what they were doing, Kassady said that she was making these to throw at the boys who chased them. This is a 3-year-old.

Lori and I are not looking forward to future Parent Teacher Conferences. But, I'm also proud in a weird sort of way.

Mitchel Jon

Today I've been listening to the rough mix of a solo project that is the best solo Southern Gospel recording I've ever heard up to this point. Actually, it's one of the best solo projects I've ever heard, regardless of genre. I've never met Mitchel Jon before, but I'm here to tell you this guy can flat out sing with the best of them, secular or sacred. He sang with Three Bridges for several years before going solo. He also sings with Phil Cross and Poet Voices one weekend a month. Please understand, this is not some rabid fan's hyperbole. I'm not too fond of Southern Gospel solo music. There are some good soloists out there, but it's never been my preference. However, there's something different about this project. If you crossed Bart Millard with some early-mid '80s Russ Taff and throw in a little Charles Billingsley you get Mitchel Jon. Except, he blows away any solo recording I've heard from those three gentlemen. Which is saying a lot, because they've produced some fantastic material. Be looking for Mitchel Jon's album in the next couple of months.

By the way, he's going to be in Boise at Liberty's Family Fest.08 in September. It's worth coming just to hear this guy sing.

UPDATE: I let Lori listen to the CD and she figured out who he most sounds like: Keith Lancaster, from Acapella. Remember that group? I think she might be right.

Pastors of Politicians

I found a hilarious post from one of my favorite cyberwriters, Keith Drury. It's somewhat of a spoof of the recent Obama dilemma. Read it.

Good Day

We're in the studio all week with Phil Cross, so I'm not going to be very good about posting. Last night, Trey and Kassady started soccer practice. Their practices are at the same time, so Lori dropped Trey off at his field and then ran Kassady over to her practice. I got out of the studio in time to catch the last half hour of Trey's practice. He told me that he's made up his mind to play more aggressive. And, he did. He pretty much dominated the practice. It seemed like he was one of the shortest kids last year, but now he's the biggest kid on the field. Kassady did her thing, too, according to Lori. This includes running around the field laughing with/at the person dribbling the ball, falling on purpose, and occasionally kicking the ball.

I did catch American Idol last night. TiVo is a great invention. Thumbs up go to David Cook. He is the most creative contestant on the show. His musical arrangements are incredible. I'm liking him more every week. I read on Drudge Report this morning that they had to rush him to the hospital following the show due to extremely high blood pressure. Not good. David Archuleta was brilliant, as usual, and Michael Johns, Brooke White, Carly Smithson, and Jason Castro turned in good performances. I have to tell you that the more I hear Castro's voice the more I like it. And Brooke White is just plain likable. She has this folksy lilt to her voice and an engaging personality. This has been a great season, so far.

Waldroup to leave Greater Vision

This is big news for the Southern Gospel world: Jason Waldroup to leave Greater Vision. Jason is planning on pursuing a seminary education this fall according to the Singing News website. Since everyone can't access the SN News, here are a few quotes. First from Jason:

This is a decision I have been struggling with for more than a year, and the time has come for me to follow what I believe to be God's will for my life. I have delayed this decision because of my love for what I've been privileged to do for the past thirteen years as a part of Greater Vision, and my relationships with Gerald and Rodney. They, along with Chad Baker, our Product Manager, are family to me, and they're my closest friends. That has made this decision that much more difficult.

And from Gerald:

Jason is like a son to me, as well as being one of the closest friends I've ever had. None of us want to see him leave, but we have encouraged him to follow God's leading, no matter what, and leave the consequences to Him.

And from Rodney:

I will certainly miss standing beside Jason every night, but he has my full support as he moves into his next phase of ministry.

From the sounds of it, Jason will stick around to help train and mentor his replacement. I'm sorry to see Jason go. He helped carry on the classic Greater Vision sound. It will be interesting to see how the search for a replacement goes. A lot of phenomenal tenors will be clamoring for that position.

Spring break: Primos

The Liberty Family minus Donna and Jordan (Dan's wife and son) and Jeremiah (Royce's son) got together at Primo's on Thursday for a little pizza, lots of laughter, and loud conversation. Kassady and Taylor were running around wrecking havoc but I got everybody else to pause for a picture. From left to right: Justin, Royce, Tammy, Jenna, Dan, Julianne, Lori, Diane, Doran, Courtney, and Trey.

As you can tell, we were all paying rapt attention to Dan's stories. Very interesting.

Lori prays that God would deliver her from Dan's stories.

"Yeah, Donna. They really liked the stories."

When Kassady and Taylor get together it's like mixing combustible materials. There will be quite a bit of screaming, someone will get hurt, and there's a pretty good chance of an explosion.

I've never featured Tammy on the blog, so I thought it was about time to introduce everyone to Royce's better half. Keep her in your prayers. Trying to anticipate Royce's next move isn't easy on the psyche.

This was the perfect way to cap an awesome spring break.

Spring Break: 4-wheelin'

Trey had never been 4-wheeling before. I let him drive a little bit (while I held on the back). He actually didn't do too bad.

Pastor Dave, David, and William brought their two 4 -wheelers out to the trails. We also took a dirt bike that Dan Yancey graciously (and let's be honest, naively) let us borrow. He apparently isn't aware of the mechanical abilities that Dave and I possess. It had been a long time since Dave or I had ridden a dirt bike and we had fun getting the feel of it.

Trey and William, one his best buds, saddle up and get ready to ride.

We went up to the top of a pretty steep hill and Trey and William clambered off to look around.

I kind of look like Dudley off of "Wild Hogs". I'm OK, it's just my face (inside joke to all who have seen the movie). It was a little chilly and I'm paranoid about getting a cold, losing my voice, and all that stuff, so I wore a ski hat underneath my helmet. I like being the cool parent.

Pastor Dave and William shortly before careening down the hill, fishtailing all the way. I know Julia will appreciate that comment.

William had a slight accident involving his face, the handlebars, and a pothole. Oh yeah, and quite a bit of blood. He's OK now, but the poor guy was in pain there for a while. He's a trooper.

Thanks Dave, David, and William for inviting us to go along.

Spring Break: PoJos

My beautiful family.

There were rides, video games, all kinds of activities, and Kassady chooses the kiddie playground as her favorite hangout. We couldn't get her to do anything else. She loved crawling through the tunnels, climbing up the slide backwards, and arguing with the little boys.

She did like the Red Baron ride.

This was my favorite activity, along with the basketball shooting game.

Kassady held her own in our little competition. She tagged me hard!

A fun time was had by all. We'll be back.

Spring Break: Discovery Center

Ready to go explore the Discovery Center, Trey and Kassady pose impatiently in front of the outdoor sign.

Trey decided to try out the bed of 512 nails. He was a little hesitant to climb up there at first.

Kassady scanned items and punched buttons as efficiently as any Walmart cashier. The Kidz Market was one of her favorite exhibits.

Kassady trys out her veterinary skills on a lifeless St. Bernard. That dog is lucky he's stuffed. She put him through the paces. Carrie, I think she has potential.

Trey, on the other hand, begrudgingly pointed for his photo op finding little pleasure in pet x-rays.

The kids had fun. I won't bore you with all the pictures, but Trey and I worked on a motor, we played with bubbles, Trey and Kassady created slime, and so much more. I actually enjoyed it myself.

Terror Firma

Whew! Another whirlwind weekend. This was my first time to travel through Texas. The humidity brought back memories of July afternoons in Ohio. And, I can't figure out what it was, but there was some plant, flower, tree, or weed that smelled like the midwest. I know, I've finally gone over the edge. But...it did. It also hit me last night that it had been a long time since I had heard crickets chirping. They were in full chorus last night and for some reason it triggered one of those nostalgic nerves that brings back a flood of memories. Good memories.

People in Texas not only appreciate Southern Gospel music, they know the songs. We've been doing a couple of rather obscure old tunes and there were a few out there singing along with us. I was impressed. We were at Fort Worth First Nazarene on Sunday morning and come to find out Dave Tharp (the music pastor) and I know a lot of the same people from back east. He's a great guy and we had a wonderful time. We were in Denton, TX at another Nazarene church last night. Following the concert we drove to Oklahoma City and spent the night on the bus. Getting up at 4:10 AM (ID time) in the morning to catch a flight is one of the few things I despise about traveling. We have to be a sorry sight, staggering through security, eyes bloodshot, muttering incoherently. Kind of blows the traveling fantasy doesn't it? Of course, I can't sleep on the plane. It's pathetic, really. I wait until I get home to catch up on the Zzzs. Today, I read 2 Newsweek magazines, 1 Charisma magazine, and finished a Wired magazine. We had a 3 minute layover in Denver (seriously). It was supposed to be longer, but as our wheels touched down on the runway, the pilot suddenly took the plane back up at a steep angle. He informed us that air traffic control had made an error and that there was "traffic congestion" on the runways. Comforting.

All's well that ends well. I'm home.

Life

We're somewhere around Dallas, TX right now. Just rolling down the highway. We just finished a delicious Italian dinner with Bud and Nancy, Dan's inlaws. Yesterday, while Dan was fellowshipping with Bud, Nancy, and Donna (who made it down for the visit), Royce, Doran, and I headed to LA Fitness to play a little racquetball. I've been playing since Christmas and I love it. I'm no good, but I love it. Last night, Royce took 3 games, I took 2 and we ended up playing about 2 hours. We were whipped by the time we got out of there. That's what I like about the sport: it makes cardio fun. Today Doran killed us in bowling. He's good. Who knew?

Last week was one of those family memory-making weeks. Trey was on spring break, so we did all kinds of stuff. We went to the Discovery Center in Boise, saw "Horton Hears a Who", played at PoJos, and went 4-wheeling with Pastor Dave, William, and David. Actually, just Trey accompanied me on that expedition. I have a ton of pictures to upload, but unfortunately my very slow connection is going to force me to postpone that 'til next week. So, I'll get to it. Maybe. We're in the studio all week recording a new album. Phil Cross is flying in to produce this one. That's always fun.

Hope your week went well.

Sweet 16

The countdown is on. Bring on the Sweet Sixteen. I'm currently in fifth place in the standings. I even enjoyed a short stint at number one last weekend. As usual, Talisha Taylor is in first place. She won it all last year and she's making a strong run again. Last week, my donning of the IU jersey did little to help their game. That one hurt. FYI, I hadn't put on the jersey since I was in high school. It still fit. Kind of.

Candid Quote

Part of my lunch conversation today with Kassady:

"Kass, you're awesome, do you know that?"

"Yeah, well I'm a genius, too. I can do magic tricks and stuff. I'm using my imagination. I can be anything I want to be."

Piano Lessons from the Phenom

By the way, Doran Ritchey is now teaching piano lessons. He has about 5 spots left. If you're interested call 860-5135 or email dritchey@clearwire.net. He might have bad breath* but he can sure teach piano!





*OK, I don't think he really does have bad breath due to his immeasurable intake of Orbit gum. Wrigley Field will soon be named after him.

Easter

We had a meaningful Easter. Pastor Dave once again rang the bell with his Easter sermon. And, wow! What a crowd! Our church is growing weekly and that's not an exaggeration. Yesterday was the largest Sunday morning crowd I've ever seen at Grace. Packed! Lori said they had a large group of kids in Children's Worship, too. The cool thing is that we're experience dynamic spiritual growth in our church. We're hearing reports every week of someone new getting saved. I think there were 8 or 9 that accepted Christ Sunday morning. I'm thankful for a vibrant, passionate church that's loving people into the kingdom. I'm seeing more and more people connect to the Grace Bible Church community. They're connecting, growing, serving, and ultimately coming full circle to love the new people God sends our way. (Side note: for an insightful article on the importance of connection, read Mike Avery's article in the March Revivalist)

It was so good to see so many friends again. Several people who I have met through my Liberty touring showed up on Sunday morning. In fact, there are several who have started going to Grace in the last year. I enjoyed spending some time after church with Clark and Shelby Dyess (not to mention their daughter and her family). Clark and Shelby were in from Wyoming and showed up for morning worship. Shelby, I know you read the blog, so let me say thanks for coming.

If Royce ever fires me, I have a back-up group ready to go. The last few times I've been home I've sung with Philip Batten and Matt Ritchey as part of the morning worship. We're all tenors, but we've pulled it off. We sang the Eldridge Fox classic "Gone" yesterday morning. We didn't come close to the Teddy Huffam and the Gems rendition, but I sure enjoyed our interpretation. Those boys can sing!

In the afternoon I was privileged to sing for Robbie and Crystal Rehling's wedding. Julia Keep and I are getting to be quite the wedding singers. The wedding was at 2:00 in the afternoon, so the Waggoner family ran over to the Keep residence to scarf down some sandwiches and practice the music. Well, that was the plan anyway. By the time we got done eating we had just enough time to run through a verse and chorus of one song. The song that we didn't practice came off without a hitch (Nat King Cole's version of L-O-V-E). The other song was "I Will Be Here". We had practiced the song in F (I think), but Julia blanked out and started playing the song in C. When she started the song, I thought something was odd, but I opened my mouth to sing anyway. My first note was one note above where I normally bottom out. My brain immediately went into overdrive trying to think of what I was going to have to do to make it through the song. I started by changing the melody. Steven Curtis Chapman wouldn't have recognized my initial rendition. I was all over the place. After about 4 lines, Julia subtly did a keychange to F and off we went. I'm sure it was noticeable (actually I know it was noticeable) but it sure saved the rest of the song. Another plan should we have continued in C was to pull off a Bill Gaither narration of the song lyrics. I'm glad Julia had the guts to pull off the key change. Alls well that ends well, I guess. The rest of the wedding was beautiful. Amelia Jensen did a fantastic job on the decorations, food, reception, everything. I'm happy for Robbie and Crystal.

Later that evening we went back over to the Keeps to finish our meal and play a competitive game of Rook. Actually, Dave and I got our socks blown off. I think we finished in the red.

We had been reading about Jesus' arrest, trial, and crucifixion in our family devotions. Last night, we finished our reading with the empty tomb and the reappearance of the living Christ. We then had a discussion about the awesome love of God for us. The whole Easter story has been a tough concept for Kassady to grasp. And, you know, sometimes I don't totally get it myself. The miracle of redemption. It was a cool way to bring Easter '08 to an end.

The Madness continues

By the way, I'm in 5th place in my March Madness tournament. Not bad out of 25. Last weekend was kind of like a vacation to Hawaii. You're loving every minute of it and already dreading the inevitable return to normalcy. Davidson, Western Kentucky, and no Duke. Ahhhh...this is wonderful!





***By the way, I've never been to Hawaii which Lori would be quick to point out. But that's the only comparison that came quickly to mind.

Oops

I found this Mike Luckovich cartoon to be hilarious.

I'm in love with madness

For those of you who aren't aware, this is my favorite time of the year outside Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. I love March Madness! I picked a few upsets this year, but my Final Four is pretty safe: North Carolina, Kansas, Texas, and UCLA. I manage the Liberty bracket. This year we have about 25 participants. Doran forgot to fill out his brackets so he's already clinched last place.

I usually finish in the bottom half. Last year I finished something like 8 out of 16. Lori beats me every year. It's pretty embarrassing. This year I set up a separate bracket for our family. Trey is obsessed with this. I'll probably finish last. This is the only time of year I cheer for North Carolina. I can't have them messing up my bracket with a loss.