New Command

A strange and wonderful evening with New Command.

We received an invite to a concert in a tree house and a pot luck. The invite came from the Browns, a family in our Bible study small group. The concert was held up in the most amazing tree house I've ever seen at the Brown's parents house... the Browns... uppercase B which is up in Stillwater, MN. Wonderful music. Most of the music was from a new album called Damascus Journey performed by a band called New Command featuring my friend, Greg Wollan. They started the show with an old track of his called Glorybound (see this post, this post and this post) which he dedicated to Cara and me. That was a very nice way to start off.

The whole event was a totally free concert performed for special and invited guests. It was informal and very relaxed and right outside up in an elaborate tree fort! Totally wonderful.

When we get the chance, Greg and I share our music obsessions and its surprising how many bands we both are very passionate about. Most of it is progressive rock such as Peter Gabriel and 10cc. He and I went to lunch a couple of weeks ago where he discovered that we were going to be at the this show. It surprised me that he didn't know. Apparently, he wasn't privy to the guest list. So somehow through our big church we happened to cross paths for this.

He was very happy we were able to go and my family and I had a wonderful time.

Jack's Bible Stories

Maggie grew hungry while we were at church this morning. So Cara took her to the nursing room and fed her. There was a technical problem with the video feed in the room causing the moms to miss a majority of the sermon.

At dinner, this evening, Cara asked what the sermon was about and I started to describe it's theme. While I was explaining the message, Jack gets out of his seat and starts asking Cara to read him a Bible story. He wouldn't let up, either, running off to go retrieve one of his Bible story books. Finally Cara had to page through it as she listened to my retelling of Greg Boyd's message.

It seems he picked up on enough of my words to know what I was talking about and associated that with his Bible stories. He is amazing.


(This image is not from the book Jack selected. It's here jsut to add humor).

Woodland Hills Church Usher

Leesha has been serving Woodland Hills Church as an usher for about a month now. She helped collect the offering today at the 11:00 service.They have her in a purple vest and everything and they've given her a name tag. She's doing a great job, too.

Father's Day

My Father's Day was simple. I did lights for the church services last night and today. Got to hang out with Greg Wollan more than usual as he lead worship. He/they performed one of his own songs - Glorybound. That's one of the songs that inspired me to approach him which has lead to a nice friendship. The song reminded me SO MUCH of Paul McCartney way beck in 2003 at the Small Group Leadership Retreat. There was someone shooting a documentary at Woodland Hills today while we were doing the service. That stuff adds a fun energy to church service.

Cara and I came home and put Jack down for his nap. We had a small lunch and watched a fresh episode of Doctor Who! It was a creepy one. One of those good ones. Then Cara took a nap as Jack continued his. Quiet time. About the time everyone was getting up, Leesha came home.

We had our regular routine. Getting stuff done and ready for the week. Jack started to figure out his toy- the toy with four balls that get smacked into their holes by a hammer and proceed down through an obstacle course and exit again. Until today I don't think Jack recognized any purpose to the main piece, the balls, and the hammer. Now he realized the application. It was wonderful to see him working it all out.

After Leesha went to bed I took Jack to the couch and we sat and watched over the neighborhood and he fell asleep on my lap. That was the perfect way to end my father's day.

Leesha, Keesha and the Gallifreyan Doctor

We met Darlene for church. After church we went out with Pfeifer's small group to eat. Eric gave me a great Doctor Who reference today. I'll explain what that means on Tuesday.

Leesha came home in a mess. She really isn't feeling well and this is probably why she's been acting out so much, lately. She had a bite to eat and went strait to bed.

Later, Cara and I watched my favorite episode of Doctor Who yet - The Girl in the Fireplace. The funny thing about this episode is when it was over, we decided to see what was on TV. The channel that was on when we turned was tpt (Twin Cities PBS). A movie starring the same actress was on. Sophia Myles played Reinette in Doctor Who and Lucy Westenra in a BBC production of Dracula. Kind of cool coincidents, don't you think?

Luke 4:40

Oh was it ever cold! Church today. The service was rather convicting. Luke 4:40 through 40-something. Jesus goes away from everyone else to be with his Father in Heaven. Message was that we should really be doing this. And I don't. Not very regularly.

After church we went to Olive Garden with Eric and Keesha and Cara's mom, Darlene. That was a nice time. Lots of laughter and food. Cara went off with her mom after to go shopping. I went home.

Leesha was dropped off with the ladies. I started watching Sarah Jane Adventures. Not too bad so far. Only got about 17 minutes into it before the ladies got home.

I found my book!

How this very cold day went

As usual we went to the 11:00 service at Woodland Hills. It was a very good message entitled Kingdom Healing and was about how Jesus healed vs how Christians today go about healing ministries. Based out of Luke 4:31-40. Best line from the sermon was a quote from St. Francis of Assisi:

"Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words."

I've made this quote my signature on my web forum.

Our small group coach, Mike, wants to have Eric and I over to watch an episode or two of Firefly. We're thinking Thursday if it happens this week.

Apparently, during the service, Eric got called to work for some heater issue. After church Cara and I went out to lunch with Keesha. We were hoping to hook up with Eric after he was done, but his job took too long. Keesha recommended the Grand Buffet down on Robert St. south of St. Paul. It's been a long time since I ate at an asian buffet. It was quite fulfilling. So we took Keesha home since we didn't have Eric. She didn't have keys to get in either, so we left her on her porch to wait for Eric (who was done by then and only a couple of minutes away, so she lived... I hope)

Cara and I headed over to Leesha's dad's house where he was hosting her birthday party. They were in the middle of a movie in the movie room (that room was very cool, by the way). I didn't feel like watching so I made my way back out to the lobby to read my new novel (see last post), which I was clever enough to bring- suspecting something exactly like this. Leesha's party looked like it went pretty well. She had a flock of girls from her class over for that movie and then they played Twister. Her dad's wife, Bri, has twin sisters who were also there. They're twins with each other, not with Bri. Leesha's half brother, Zech, was also there and perhaps a mite overwhelmed with all the girls there.

This evening I came across a website during a Google search for 'Christian D&D gaming'. The site is called Aquela.com and is the site for freelance writer James Wyatt who contributes a lot for the D&D Eberron campaign setting. How about that?! That's what I've been reading lately. Wyatt was a Methodist Pastor for several years.

By the way - Eric came home about 4 minutes after we dropped off Keesha.

Bi-Polar Weekend, Switchers, Wet Hair and the End of a Book

As covered in the last entry, we went to the Bomberg's house on Friday night. Saturday was spent with our former Before-You-Say-I-Might class mates for our first reunion since we've all graduated and married. The nature of the two visits- Friday night vs Saturday- made for a bi-polar weekend.

One foundational factor with Friday night is that the Bombergs are Jewish. Now, don't take any of this the wrong way. But, that is a line between us that will never go away. There will ALWAYS be that difference. Saturday, that line doesn't exist. Friday there was a level of discomfort the whole time (at least for me). It was a biding of time till its over. Saturday was more of a time that you don't want to leave. There was a genuine relaxation. Its very interesting to have both experiences on the same weekend.

This weekend was my monthly service to Woodland Hills. Every third weekend I fulfil the media crew's switcher position for all three church services. There are several people filling various roles for each service and about half are on a monthly rotation. The two camera people are on the same schedule as I am so I will almost always end up with the same team- which really works out nicely.

This week's sermon was by Brenda Salter-McNeal and was about Jacob wrestling with the Angel. I really like that story. Its a brother story.

It also is from Genesis which I think is my favorite book in the Bible. Its in the last 10 years that I realized that a good chunk of my favorite Bible stories are related and sequential. Isaac, the same little boy that was almost sacrificed is the same old man who gave Esa's blessing to Jacob. Jacob becomes Israel, the same old man who was moved to Egypt at the end of his life. Israel's sons are the origin of the 12 tribes. No one pointed these small factoids out to me or I didn't put it together until recently. I love that book.

The one problem with switching at church is that I'm left mentally wiped out. This afternoon Cara had to work so it was just Leesha and me. Soon after Cara left, I crashed. Leesha took as shower and I took a nap. When I woke up she was not in the house. I looked outside and she was finishing up sweeping the entire driveway! I was impressed and thanked her, then scolded her for going outside right after bathing with her hair all wet.

I finished reading a book today. An Eberron novel- City of Towers by Keith Baker. Eberron is a new D&D campaign setting that has gained my interest lately. This novel is written by the guy who gave the setting life. They describe Eberron as Lord of the Rings mixed with Indiana Jones mixed with The Maltese Falcon. So basically its fantasy with elves and dwarves, but with pulp adventure and noir. I liked it and will probably be reading more.