it’s been a minute since i last posted a wednesday worship entry on here. so, today’s post has to be good, yo, in order to constitute as a triumphal re-entry into this weekly category.

i hesitate to call this post wednesday worship, and then talk about only music. the book of romans in the bible, chapter 12, verse 1 says this (the message translation):

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

the n.i.v. says, “…this is your spiritual act of worship.” that verse doesn’t say anything about singing… crap! what does all of this mean?! well, music is a big part of my “everyday, ordinary life,” it’s part of my job. so when i think of music and worship together it makes sense to me in terms of romans 12:1.

that being said, here is last week’s set list:

o happy day - tim hughes
holy is the lord - chris tomlin
mighty to save - hillsong united
you are my strength - hillsong
amazing grace - chris tomlin

today’s song is by israel houghton and new breed, from their album alive in south africa. i absolutely love this song, and i’m convinced that israel houghton is a man anointed by god when i hear the way he leads it. enjoy.

**embedded media player, for you feed readers**

sing it.

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2. it was sunny when i got to the church building this morning. just as we were about to start second service, i looked outside and saw that it was pouring. now i’m looking at a beautiful, wispy blue sky, and the sun is uber bright. tis the trend in ohio weather.

3. i didn’t have to lead the music this morning, because transformed came and did the music. they did a fantastic job. their spirit was humble and worshipful, and they were sensitive to the wide variety of ages, styles, musical tastes, etc. of the church.

that girl isn’t in the group any more. i don’t know why.

4. i took transformed to mi jalepeno (the best mexican restaurant in marion…) after the service, and there were so many peeps at the table it was ridiculous. seriously, there are only six dudes in the group, but i think there were twenty-one total eating with us… these people follow them to shows or something. it’ll be interesting to see how our weekly attendance is skewed by today’s spike in visitors. transformed=phish (on a mount vernon nazarene university p.r. group level…)

5. very sleepy, but i have to write a 750-word reflection paper for my online class today.

6. no teen band practice this evening, which would normally mean that i get to relax…but see point number five for a list of tonight’s activities.

7. if you like underrated music, check out cool hand luke’s album the balancing act. my dudes taylor, will, max, and taylor from georgia. verrynass. … anyway, the album is awesome.

8. no muffin top challenge entry today, because i didn’t weigh myself at the normal time and i ate a huge lunch…so…maybe tomorrow morning…

9. gotta get to work.

see you soon.

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happy anniversary gretchen!

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anywho, monday night in the evening service the preacher lady said something along these lines:

whenever you look at a painting, the first thing you look for is the artist’s signature. when you find that artist’s stamp on the painting then you know it’s a work of art. isn’t it great to know that we have god’s signature on us? people can see god’s stamp on on and know that we have something special, that we’re living holy lives…

etc.

…but wait…that’s not how it happens, is it? seriously? at least, that’s not what i do… when i look at a painting, i look at whether i like the colors, composition, use of the medium, creativity, innovation, craft work, etc. if i see something in it that challenges me or inspires me, if the work is good, i’ll check for the artist’s name. if the painting sucks, i don’t care who painted it.

in the same way, people who don’t know christ don’t really care whether or not god’s signature is on your life. they don’t believe how good he is or how much he loves us or how great an impact he can have on our lives. they look at things a person does and how he does them. they judge you by your works. matthew 5:16 tells us to “…let your light shine before men, that they might see your good deeds and worship your father in heaven.” how does he interact with other people? how well does he do his job? how good is he with his money? is his character above reproach? how does he treat his wife? how good of a father is he? etc. it is our responsibility to live in such a way that people look at us and give god credit. if they see the impact that god has made in our lives manifest itself in excellent living, then people may look at the one who put his signature on our lives.

every time i go to one of these, i hear or see something that gets me fired up. see this post from last year’s district assembly in georgia for another example.

what in the world?

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i ran 8 miles on monday…and then i had huge blisters…and then i had an excuse!

i didn’t run the rest of the week. i walked a little bit, but i didn’t really work out. so you can imagine how much i was dreading the sunday-morning weigh-in. last week i was back up to 211, so i feared the worst.

well, i’m pleased (and perplexed) to report that i actually lost… check it out:
original weight: 213
weight goal: 180
last week’s weight: 211

…drumroll please… this morning’s weigh-in: 205, baby.
total weight loss: 8. i mean, i’m not breaking any records or anything, but i feel pretty good about that.

yeah, come on. (for those of you who don’t live in atlanta, that’s a phrase that this redneck radio dj says all the time…and so it’s caught on with a bunch of the rednecks in the greater metro atlanta area…it means, “alright. that’s neato.”)

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what can you do?

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2. my in-laws were in town yesterday, and my sister is still visiting as well. it was good to get to hang out with them yesterday.

3. canceled teen band practice because i thought nobody was going to show up, and one of the girls asked me if they could practice without me…and i said, “rock on”… so she got the whole group together and they all practiced on their own. very cool. good work.

4. broke in a new pair of running shoes today (early birthday gift from the in-laws). my legs, ankles, knees, shins feel better. but my feet have huge blisters on them!

5. i ran eight miles today. i was planning on doing ten, but i was getting bad blisters from my new shoes. (see point 4.)

6. five people (that i know of) in our church have made first-time commitments to follow christ in the past two weeks. that’s incredible!

7. gretchen just got a thermometer that reads to the 100th or a degree for extra accurate temperature detection. now we’re set.

8. i just booked this group from mount vernon nazarene university to lead the music on sunday july 20. i’ve heard that they’re good. so i hope they are…

9. i’m gonna go get in bed with gretchen and fall asleep to a movie. it’s gonna be nice.

go to bed.

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…

so…i look up at him to explain the whole sitch, and i see that it’s a dude that was a little kid in my church when i was also a kid, but a bigger kid… i remember we hung out a little bit as kids, and i was nice to him. now, he’s a respectable, intimidating highway patrolman…who remembers me fondly…and who didn’t even end up looking at my registration.

be nice to little kids.

they might pull you over some day.

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i also ate badly, since thurs, fri, sat were all spent in columbus at cookouts and restaurants… i’ll do better this next week, cause it’s back to the grind.

starting weight: 213
last week’s weigh-in: 208
this morning’s weigh-in: 211
here’s a photo of my bigness.

i gained three from last week, but i’m still down two from the start…whatever. i’m still running, and i feel like i’m getting stronger. the weight is only the quantifiable goal.

how was your week?

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thursday afternoon, about fourteen of us peeps came down to c-bus from marion to watch the fireworks of “red white and boom!” a bunch of people whom i thought were going to come bailed at the last minute, because they were scared of the rain. but dave lashey, my host and weather guru, informed me early that the rain would most certainly pass by the time of the festivities…and pass it did. it was pretty much the opposite of the cook-out on friday the thirteenth. we left marion under sprinkles and dreary gray, and we arrived in the heart of columbus with sunshine on our windshield.

my friends at whose house we cooked out live in the ghetto… but it’s a friendly area, and their house is beautiful and comfortable. next time we go, we’ll def take a couple of corn hole games or something for the back yard.

the fireworks were awesome. we had great seats on the cosi parking lot, with nothing in our way but a little bit of smoke (we were upwind…oops). then one of the other guys in the group offered to drive the van back to marion so that i could just stay in columbus, saving me about 2.5 hours of driving time. great success.

…

fast forward to now. i went running this morning after breakfast. i did three miles on the treadmill and then about three more with my father-in-law in walk-run fashion. i feel great and i’m ready for lunch! the girls are upstairs packing up the room, and i’m down here blogging…so i might catch some heat for that, but y’all hadn’t heard from me in a while, so i wanted to let you know how it was going.

i’ll weigh in again tomorrow morning, so look for the weekly muffin-top challenge post. enjoy your weekend.

d

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