So I’ve been racking my brain the last few days, trying to come up with a graphic to use for our Easter service. It had to be functional for a few different things. First, it had to be able to work as a background for our screens on Easter Sunday. Second, it has to be functional as a banner on our church site. And third, it has to be able to work as a CD label because we are making CD invites instead of postcards.
The more I thought about all of this, the more I realized that it might be best to create a logo that can be incorporated into all of these, while still leaving the option to change each one in it’s own way. The following is a rough draft of what I came up with. It’s nothing fancy at first glance, but if you knew what went into it, you’d appreciate it a lot more.

I can’t even remember what that quote is from, but I can hear it in my head in a Japanese accent, “You lack discipline!”.
Whenever I hear someone begin to speak of discipline, that line runs through my head. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about that. I, like most Americans, when pressed, would have to admit that I lack discipline in many areas. It’s not that I am a lazy slob who never gets anything done, but when it comes to personal discipline, such as exercise, it’s a struggle. Up until now I’ve been able to rely on my young metabolism to get me through life, but now that I’m closer to 30 than 20, I’m beginning to notice age catching up with me. I’ve always been in, what appears to be, reasonably good shape. However, the last couple of years I’ve noticed my pants fitting just a little tighter, and my belly looking a little more rounded than it’s ever been. It’s certainly no surprise; I work a job that has me at a desk in my office most days of the week. Then on Sundays and Wednesdays I’m usually leading worship, but that’s been just about the extent of my physical activity.

Well, that’s all started to change, since about two weeks ago. My wife and I started doing P90x. You know, that workout system that you see on infomercials late at night (and now in the middle of the day, too). I’m not usually one to get suckered into buying anything from an infomercial, and to my credit, I didn’t. I did what any truly clever person would do; I bought it off of eBay. Then, I proceeded to seek out the proper tools to use it. You need to have a decent collection of free-weights, and a chin-up bar (also available on an infomercial). It took me a few months, but I eventually managed to accumulate the tools I needed. Mostly from borrowing them from other people. (Hey, weights aren’t cheap! they’re like a dollar a pound!)

My wife and I, knowing that we would probably start slacking off if it were only the two of us, got some friends to commit to working out with us, too. Now, here we are, almost two weeks later, and feeling great (Actually, the girls are three weeks into it). But I have to tell you, the first week is pretty miserable. Especially if you haven’t done anything to prepare yourself for it. We were all pretty darn sore. I could barely stand up straight. But that’s where discipline began to come into play. I knew that if I could just press through it, the pain would begin to lessen, and I’d start seeing results. Believe it or not, P90x is such a good workout, I can already see results. Instead of being a miracle diet or an exercise equipment gimmick targeted at the lazy, P90x is for those who are serious about getting into shape, even though it’s going to be hard work.

Beyond just getting into physical shape, my wife and I are getting our finances into shape as well. Our church has been hosting Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, and I’ve been the one coordinating the class. We started with about 80 people, and I think we’ve lost a few, but we’re still going strong. We just finished week five. That’s been amazing as well, especially in this time of economic distress that is sweeping the country. We are currently just a few months away from paying off the last of our debt and beginning to save. It makes so much more sense to save your money and let it earn interest, rather than borrowing it from someone at an exorbitant percentage rate. I’m glad we weren’t very far into debt in the first place. It’s made it much easier to get out of debt.

What is better than both of those things, though? Jesus. Jesus makes it worth doing any of that stuff. It would all be pretty meaningless without Him. Maybe that sound strange to you. Jesus is better than all of those things, absolutely! But when you are in fellowship with him, it makes all of those things far more enjoyable, too. Because then I’m not just a guy whose whole purpose in life is to be in shape or to make lots of money, but I’m a guy who loves Jesus and gets to worship Him in all that I do. That includes exercise and managing my finances. I get to use those things as they were created to be; for the purpose of disciplining myself to be a good steward with what God has given me.

Well, Christmas has come and gone. Children everywhere have demoted last year’s toys and gifts in place of this year’s. Many parents have spent money they don’t have to buy gifts that their kids want but don’t really need. Most people avoided burning down their house with the tree that they bought from a guy trying to make a few extra bucks in order to afford gifts for his own family, or maybe just to pay off the gifts from last year so he can repeat the cycle again.

Ah, Christmas!

But in all seriousness, I had a very nice Christmas. My wife’s family came up from Arizona to celebrate with us. It has been a good visit. I have about a week and a half off from work, with the exception of our usual service times. It’s a funny thing; we always say we want to take a little vacation from work, but when we get one, we don’t really know what to do! If one is just hanging out around the house, trying to avoid spending money that one doesn’t have, one begins to realize how much they rely upon money to keep themselves adequately entertained!

One of our small indulgences was to see a movie yesterday. We packed the van that my wife’s family brought and headed out to the movies. Most of us saw “Seven Pounds”, but two of the kids saw “Bolt”. I must say, “Seven Pounds” was quite an emotionally gut-wrenching movie. Without giving it away, I’ll just say that it might challenge the way you think about self-sacrifice for the good of others.

If you have a Christmas story from this past Christmas, we’d love to hear it!

Blessings,
-Stewart

Well, our Christmas service at church has come and gone. I have to say, it was better than last year. You see, last year we hadn’t moved into our new building, and we were having two services, but for Christmas we wanted to have only one service. So, we decided to hold the service at the middle school, where the church used to meet back in the day. Well, we had to haul all of our gear and sound equipment in, and set up everything, and it just wasn’t the greatest service we’ve ever had. There were a few hiccups here and there, to say the least.
BUT, this year was quite enjoyable. Ironically enough, we ended up having two services, and both were pretty full. I’d say between the two services there were probably about 275-300 people. We had three of the children’s classes each sing a song, which of course is always entertaining. As Ryan put it (the pastor), “It’s fun to watch the kids because you can see bits of their parents in them”. How very true that is!

I ended up borrowing a medley from the Relient K Christmas album, “Let it snow baby, let it Reindeer”. I know what you’re probably thinking, “Aren’t they a punk band?”. To which I would answer, “yes”. However, they are actually quite talented when it comes to switching up styles and going for something more mellow. They have harmonies reminiscent of the Beach Boys, and their musical arrangements always have a flavor of jazz influence in them.

For our set list, we did:

Hosanna (by Paul Baloche)

O Holy Night

Silent Night/Away in a Manger

I Celebrate the Day (great original Relient K christmas song)

then at the end we finished up with:

Come Ye Sinners

Musically, I think the additional band members we added just for this service were a nice touch. It filled things up a little more. My wife and another lady in the church did an amazing job leading “O Holy Night” and “Silent Night”. I hope to do more three part harmonies like that in the future. (I was singing the third part, in case you were wondering)

So I curious, for those of you who drop by on occasion and read my blog, how have your holiday services gone so far? We still have two more services; Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. We’re praying that the Lord would use each service to bless people, but especially to bring Him glory.

Let me know how your holiday services have been going.

-Stewart

I have something to confess: every year, right around the end of November, I begin to get just a little anxious about Christmas. Particularly, the Christmas service that we have at our church. And, just to be a little more specific, the worship music. More specific still, the Christmas music.

Yes, I begin to frantically search for Christmas songs that are actually worshipful, familiar, and theologically relevant to Christ’s birth. And so the mad campaign ensues. I begin searching the web for Christmas songs; I search places like iTunes for newer versions of classic Christmas songs. Even with those tools, I still feel like I’m left with just a handful of decent songs, and I wonder if I’ll be able to find some more so I’m not doing the exact same songs I did the year before.

Can anyone else relate to this? Does anyone else out there share my dread of Christmas songs?
Don’t get me wrong, I actually like many of the Christmas songs that are truly relevant to Jesus’ coming. It’s the arrangement process that can drive me mad. Most Christmas songs are quite old, so consequently, their musical arrangements don’t lend themselves to a more modern style, and the accoustic guitar. For Me, trying to perfom Christmas songs in their original form on the guitar is the musical equivalent of slapping yourself just for fun. Sure, you can bring yourself to do it, but it just doesn’t pack the same entertainment value as it would if you were watching someone else do it.

So, all that to say: What are some ideas you might have to share with everyone else to lend them a hand in their Christmas service preparations? Maybe you have some song arrangements that you think just blow the socks off of their originals. I want to know!

-Stewart