Hang in there and thanks for reading (and wanting to comment).

As with many of you, I've been shocked and grieving over the news down in Ft. Hood from yesterday. Now there's news of another shooting in Orlando. More proof we live in a fallen, broken, hurting world in need of the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year, and so far it's going very, very smoothly. I'm pretty excited about the story as it falls into place. You can track my progress over on the right-hand side bar. That NaNoWriMo widget should reflect my progress for the rest of the month. As of now, I'm sitting at 10,609 words, ahead of the pace to stay on track for 50,000 words in 30 days.

I've also been editing my completed first draft on the trilogy. So far I'm less than a quarter of the way through the first round of revision and I've managed to cut over 1,000 unnecessary words. Hopefully I'll be able to cut the thing down from over 155,000 words to a more acceptable 125,000 or so.

There's progress on the worship book too, but much slower since I can't just make it all up. I actually have to read the Scripture and do some research. I've done three full chapters of rough draft so far, and I think I've about got the skeleton of a full outline complete.

I started using Twitter lists this week, and set up a few of my own. Do you tweet? Are you on one of my lists? If you think you should be included just let me know. I'm sure I've overlooked more than one person.

It's pretty wild that I'm on 10 other lists so far, but I'm especially blown away by fellow worship leader/blogger Tyler Braun's inclusion of me on his "best bloggers" list. That's most certainly undeserved, but I appreciate the kudos.

I guess I'd better start blogging again on a regular basis for real. No pressure.

Here's some other random stuff you may or may not find amusing/helpful/interesting:

• If you're in the market for a blog redesign/makeover, you should really check out what my wife is doing.
• Have you checked out your Google Dashboard?
• Here's a fascinating post from an author who grew up under Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution.
• Read this one-letter disproval of global warming from physicist Howard Hayden.
• Tim Steven's great post on how A Crowd is Not a Church.

Have a great weekend everybody. I'll be hunkered down typing like a mad man, or painting the garage door.

As Janet Reid said, "The elegant simplicity of genius."

How's that for a VERY general idea of what the book's about?

Watching this still brings a tear to my eye. Why?

Grace is amazing!

Included too is what I think of in my head as the sound of heaven. Listen to how diverse the musical presentation has been made. Everything from a mainstream melody nearly everybody has heard (Bittersweet Symphony)—even if they can't name it—to multiple versions of one of the most beloved songs in Christendom.

There's a little something here for nearly everyone—styles that would fit into some of the most conservative of churches to flat out rock your face off sonic assaults of sound. This is what I imagine the music of heaven to be like in some part. I think it's going to be both loud and soft, new and old, raucous and reverent when we sing around the throne.

Another thing that grabs me is this. Look at what Christians can pull off when they set their minds to accomplish something.

Together.

No one person pulled this off. It took the time, talent, and treasure of a multitude. Sure, Hillsong has the resources to throw at it, but that's just something the rest of us use as an excuse to not take the risk to do something incredible ourselves.

How do I know? I'm guilty too.

What happens when even a small group, say a church of 100 or less throws everything they've got  into risking something for the Kingdom?

I'd dare to say it would be just as impressive in eternal value—if not more—than the presentation above.

Can you say FAIL? I knew you could.

I actually have some really good excuses. My wife and I decided we've just had enough with being slaves to our creditors, and have taken the plunge to try and sell our house. We love our house, and really don't want to give it up, but it's the right thing to do. It's an asset God has given us, and if it actually sells for what the local market says it's worth, we'll pretty much be debt free.

Did you get that? DEBT FREE!

So, we've spent nearly every free moment over the last 3 plus weeks boxing stuff up, cleaning, painting, repairing and cleaning again to get the house show ready. We put it up on the market last week, and so far we had one tiny nibble, but nothing else. It's early in the game, and our realtor was pretty confident we'd have a good chance of having a sale done before Christmas.

Would you consider praying with us that we'll be able to sell soon, and for what we're asking for? Our debt is our own fault. It's of our own making, but we feel pretty strongly God doesn't want us to live as slaves to others for our own temporary comfort. If we can even get the minimum we'll accept for the house, we'll be debt free other than a car payment, and with the savings we can throw toward it we could have it paid off in a year or two.

In other news, I finally finished the first draft of my novel last night. I'm toying with the idea of an epilogue to help tie it to the other two volumes in the trilogy, but I'll leave that for after the first round of editing/revision. Hopefully, this means I'll have more brain cells I can allocate to blogging and writing on my worship book.

I also intend to participate in NaNoWriMo 2009 if I can find the spare time. What's NaNoWriMo? November of each year is National Novel Writing Month, an event where writers all over attempt to write a novel in 30 days. It doesn't necessarily have to be good or publishable, but it's an exercise to help hone writing skills. You never know what will come out when you participate.

I tried to participate a couple of years ago, but I just couldn't get jump started. This year I already have the germ of an idea in my head, and I'm thinking I'll try running with it and see what comes out.

As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for your prayers about our house.

Here's hoping my desire to blog more often is more than vapor.

Turns out he was a pastor from Paraguay. He shared the story of a time when they were ministering by providing clothes and other essentials to those in need. A little boy came up and said, "Do you have a shirt for my Papa?" I guess there was not one available because the pastor told the boy, "You come back tomorrow and I will have a shirt and pants for your Papa."

The next day, the shirt and pants were handed over, and now a few years later, eight out of ten people in that household have accepted Christ as their Savior.

All because of giving away a used shirt and pair of pants.

Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. Matthew 10:40-42

I've set for myself some goals in my writing. For my fiction trilogy, my goal is five handwritten pages per day. This translates to roughly 10 typeset manuscript pages, which is roughly equal to 2000+ words. I don't have a real set goal for the worship book yet, as I'm still about half in the writing stage and half in the thought stage.

Well, last week's production (which I count from Monday to Sunday by the way) was a measly 15 pages rather than the minimum 35 I've set for my self. I did get about 13 pages of rough draft on the worship book, so I'm wondering if working on one takes away from the other.

Even now, I wonder if writing this blog post is stealing words from one or another of those two books. Does that make since? Do I only have so many words available to me on a daily basis, and if so do I need to be selective where I spend them?

Oh well. Thanks for all of you who've welcomed me back to the blogosphere, and especially those who and will comment on my questions.

What do you think are the most common misconceptions about worship?

Let me tell you ahead of time that, while I many engage in some discussion here, I'm really looking to answer these questions more in the forth-coming book. I appreciate any and all comments you might have.

Hello? Is anybody there? Is this thing on?

Well, I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things around here slowly. Part of my impetus comes from the fact my domain is up for renewal, and I'm unwilling to give it up. But why should I keep it if I'm not going to use it? Therefore, let's get some use out of it.

What's going on? I'm still trying to focus on the things that I mentioned in my first post-hiatus post, so my blogging frequency will not be what it once was. I'm still active on Twitter and other social media, so that's still the best way to interact with me on a daily basis if you so desire.

I have two other things keeping me from blogging as often as I once did. I have decided to dive back into the art of writing again. I have two books in development right now, and it seems I soon run out of words after spending an evening of intensive writing.

One of the books is on the subject of worship. No surprise there. I have obviously had my own things to say on the subject based on my own years of study and experience. Does the world need another book on worship? Am I going to say anything that hasn't already been said? The answer is probably "no" to both questions, but I still feel compelled to write.

If it never publishes, at least I will have thought through the subject more critically than ever before, and it will make for a killer series of blog posts one day. Whatever happens, I'll sometime in the future be asking some you my fellow worship bloggers out there if I can quote you, or if you will contribute to the work. Look for an email coming your way in the next few months.

The second "book" I'm working on is a high fantasy work in the vein of J.R.R. Tolkien, but without his creative genius. I've actually had this story in my head loosely since my teen years, and have been writing it in spurts off and on for the last eight years or so. Recently, I dove back into the work in earnest, revising the 470 some-odd pages I already had typed up, and adding over 150 hand-written pages in the last 30 days.

This work is a trilogy, and I'm hopeful to be done with the first draft of the first volume before the holidays. After that, who knows? I'll start the revision and editing process, look for beta readers, and hopefully be able to track down an agent who'll be willing to shop my work around.

So, that's a little glimpse of what's going on in my life between ministry, family, reading, and wasting time watching TV.

Come back around soon as I start asking questions and give you, my readers, ways you too can contribute to my worship book.

Thanks for reading.