||||Final Sigma

Just received this in my email inbox. This is how my church ministers to people in the great white north.

Men,

Next time Snowpocalypse decides to unleash its fluffy fury on Minneapolis, let’s be ready. If you’d like to band together with Nick Laparra and me to push, dig, and haul people out of the snow, let me know and I will add you to my list as a Snowman.

When huge snowfalls hit our neighborhood this winter, I will call on the Snowmen to gather at my house – shovels in hand – ready to walk our neighborhood digging people out of the snow. Come dressed and ready with your chosen weapon. I hope you will join us.

Snowman Tong

This week, my friend’s fiancé surprised him by flying into town for his birthday. Tonight, she sang on the worship team while he played drums. Here is her leading the congregation in “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us.” Enjoy.

Download: Live | Less-Live

I’m loving on this song by Abandon Kansas right now, and thought I would share it.

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A while ago, I wrote a short review for the book Practicing Affirmation. That book was written by my church’s executive pastor: Sam Crabtree.

Back in march during a rehearsal, Ryan Thom, one of the church’s worship leaders, improvised a song about our beloved pastor. I recently stumbled upon it and thought the internet deserved to hear it. I really want to play it as he takes the stage to deliver the sermon. At least it would make a great ringtone.

Download It

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I made a pot of coffee today – all on my own. I’m quite proud of myself.

Just one thing: I feel like I’m all dressed up with nowhere to go. Actually, I’m all hyped up with nothing to do.

You see, I’m a lightweight. I only weigh around 140 lbs., and so substances have their effect on me rather quickly. I noticed this when my parents let me have a sip of wine in high school, and I stumbled into a doorpost. Last semester, one cigar knocked me off my feet, after which I lied on the couch for an hour, trying to find the strength to make it up the stairs to my bed. One cup of coffee (or one 5-Hour Energy) can keep me going all day long. I had two cups today. I might not sleep tonight. (more…)

Do I like the piano?

As an instrument? A concept? A sound? An icon?

Depends.

I’m currently employed on the media team of a large church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Part of my responsibilities here includes running the sound for weddings. Weddings, as anyone who has thought about getting married knows, often include pianos.

So, after a summer full of weddings, I should have a pretty good relationship with the piano, right?

Wrong.

My affection fluctuates. Some weekends, I love the piano. The wide range of notes, intricate overtones, and complex chord structures are a joy, instilling an excitement for music that perhaps had faded in recent days. At other times, the piano can drive me insane. The notes don’t quite blend with other instruments; the overtones ring too loudly; and the chords confuse my vocalists, giving them difficulty finding their own notes.

Today, though, I think I like the piano. I’m at a wedding. A fresh rendition of a play I have seen many times before. This time, the pianist gets her money’s worth out of each key, and the vocalist she’s accompanying keeps nailing his notes. Right now, the piano is all right.

But that could change.

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This blog is too serious. Seriously. I think that’s why I never post anything. My social life is only, like, 20% serious. Only .5% of my seriousness ever makes it onto this serious blog because I seriously critique everything I disseminate to the internet through this serious site. No more! Henceforth, I shall post silly things, too.

No, I will not use emoticons.

God gets the glory, and we get the joy. This is a truth that I keep coming back to, seeing the need to pound it into my own life. I can assent to it, but I do not often feel it.

I friend has been on a long journey, trying to sell a house he owns in Minneapolis, MN. He’s had potential buyers come and go as he sought to sever his relationship with his property. The road had potholes and frustration, but the shoulder was always full of prayer.

Finally, God has brought to him a buyer, working things out in a way that is many times better than he had imagined beforehand. Read the God-glorifying conclusion to this story here.

The other day, I got an email from my dad regarding something my 9-year-old brother said.

Devin: How would answer Britton’s question below?

“Dad, how come God just doesn’t kill the devil?”

And, I responded. (more…)

A common theme among those opposed to the Christian gospel seems to be that they don’t want to be “bothered” by biblical truth and morality. I should think that the true Christian wants to be bothered – so much so that he bothers himself, invoking God’s Spirit for help.