Smelly

Those of you that know me, or that have listened to more than one of my Cds knows there is a theme of coffee that runs through, well most things to do with me. Well the other night coming home from a gig I buy a tall latte (Starbucks bien sur). You know, keep me awake for the drive home. The Justy doesn't have a cup holder, so I place the drink temporarily on the dash. You guessed it, it spills all over. No need to buy another, the anger seething through my veins kept me awake.

Humid weather we are having don't you think? I have shop vac'd the car, Febreezed the car etc. What a stink.

Well, one of my freinds and readers is about to fall off his chair, because he knows how much:
a) I hate tinkering and doing manual labour and;
b) Working with tools on a job I have no familiarity with.

So I decide I have to get this carpet out. I mean out of the car until I can decide how to clean/get rid of it if need be. The problem with that of course is you have to take the seats out of the car. Kind of scary.

Well the Justy is stripped like an old piece of furniture. Pictures to follow - you wil laugh.

No, that does't mean I am giving up coffee. Cream and lattes in the car, maybe, but let's not get crazy. I usually drink it black anyway. Americano anyone?

Speaking Tonight

I have been asked to speak offsite (not at my home church) a few times this past year, which is a great thrill. Interestingly it has been pretty much a split between speaking specifically on worship, and speaking on any other biblical theme.

Tonight I am speaking on worship (link for when and where). The thing that never ceases to amaze me is how I can never seem to force myself to speak the same talk twice. I attribute that to continued learning for sure. Usually there is enough of a break between engagements that I have learned more, thought of better ways to express the same thought etc. Although much of the material builds on previous thoughts and talks I am excited about the opportunity to explore again with new fresh thoughts (at least to me) the musical side of worship and its implications for the Christian community today.

The Space Between Us - Playing Musically

A friend of mine sent me this link as something I could pass along to my the worship teams I lead. As some of them read this blog regularly I thought I would throw it up here as well.

Unbelievable Storm

So last night I came home from a board meeting and had barely sat own with Stef before I heard some pretty severe rain and wind. I ran to the back deck just in time to see our umbrella from our table a story above the deck, and two above the ground. We also HAD a tent covering thingy, which we struggled in some sideways rain and wind to quickly dissemble but to no avail, it was snapped in a place or two as we tried, and our deck anyway, looks like a disaster.

Overall it seems that we came out really good, just $100 to the bad, I heard that houses relatively close to us got somewhat hammered.

Tomorrow after work I am taking off with the family for a break, a vacation induced long weekend. I do not get many Sundays off (about five a year) so I will be back to do worship on Sunday morning at Valley View, but it will be great to have a couple of days of down time.

Jamn Session

Great night on Saturday, three of four members of the jazz club were at the annual Mike Davies jazz Jamn party right off the Danforth in Toronto. I have been invited a few times before but this is the first time I have made it out. It was really fun doing some standards. There were a couple of vocalists, three drummers, couple upright bass players, guitar, and sax. It was an amazing night connecting with other musicians and old friends. I am thinking I need to start a similar tradition with the jazz club. I will let you know.

I'm On iTunes, really!!

Ok so I am doing my thing, checking up on things and I see that I have finally made it. I am on iTunes for purchase. Ironically I was checking out my online e-distributor because I have been making some humble sales through Emusic and Napster, but now I am with the big boys. Kind of fun.

Pass the word along to everyone please!!

A Great Experience

One thing I did not share yet from last week was the experience that I had Saturday morning leading all those Senior Pastors in worship. I definitely put alot of effort into what was in essence a simple worship set, but the time was amazing. The speaker, David Fitch (link) was very thoughtful as he addressed th issues that face followers of Christ today trying to actually achieve Christ follower status - meaning in my mind - a life worthy in everyone's eyes of being called Christian.

Anyway, after the talk came the response of worship and let me tell you 200 plus men singing like that was amazing. I led simply from piano only and was honoured to be able to lead in such an environment. What a blast.

Anyway, just thought I would close the loop.

What is the church?

I have been a slow painful process of being wrecked about what the church is. I would have to say that years ago I thought that the church was what happened on Sunday mornings. Really, that was church to me. It is not that I didn't think that you needed to behave in a Godly/Christlike manner all week, I just thought the communal expression of church was the Sunday morning service. Even coming into ministry that was my most prevalent thought. The tension has always been that Sunday morning was supposed to lead us a people to be Godly/Christlike and massively influence the community we are in in Christ's name. Oh yeah, massively....Positively.

A speaker last week repeated an expression I have heard several times, I heard it again anew. If I was to leave my community, if my church was to leave my community who would care? Who would miss me/us? That is it. The degree to which we are the cup of water, the jacket, the shoulder to cry on, the rescuer from abuse, the pathway to the Creator is the degree to which we are the church. I tend to think that until that is noticed we might as well shut our cake holes about what we believe, it's rubbish to those who do not see it in action. Yours truly being the worst of all offenders.

I am preaching this Sunday morning....

Heading Home

well it was a very long week. Don't like being away from the family that long. In the end the worship segment I led was very fulfilling (successful) and the peaker I supported in that session was great. I am taking the red-eye home and then leading worship tomorrow morning at church . Am I insane? Talk to you soon.

In Edmonton

So I am in Edmonton for the week at our denomination's national assembly. Today is the really the first day after arriving. I have much to do this week, the most nerve racking of which is leading worship this Saturday morning for 200 plus senior pastors from accross the country.

Looking forward to the experience.