Adventures in Homeownership

I haven't blogged in a while, but I feel compelled to share the last few weeks' activities. It's exhausting, so take a deep breath and stretch a little before we continue .... Ok.

Two weeks ago, I had VBS all week at the church. Enough said about that. It was exactly as tiring as it sounds. That was all followed by the typical Saturday night gig and Sunday morning churchin'.

Monday and Tuesday of last week were full day rehearsals with the John Sherrill Band. You see, we are recording a live CD next week and need to learn the songs. So, Monday was in the Woodlands, and Tuesday I was up early and drove to Huntsville. Wednesday our plans fell through and I ended up staying home with Bella instead of rehearsing in Huntsville. That part of the story comes into play later. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I had a rehearsal and gig, respectively, in Conroe at the Ark Church.

Thursday morning, the next day, the alarm went off at 3:45am and I was up and on my way to the airport to fly to Omaha, Nebraska, where I would rent a car and drive to Lincoln. I was playing piano for a theater performance by some high schoolers from Houston. They kept advancing to state and national levels, so I got to join them as they performed for 3000 or more people. After the show on Friday, I headed back to the airport in Omaha to catch the 4:45 flight to Denver, then one to Houston. As they were about to board, they announced something about a little plastic exit sign cover that was missing, which they can't fly without. Apparently this is a rare piece of equipment that no other plane anywhere near ours had to spare, so they cancelled our flight.

I joined the stampede back to the ticket counter and waited patiently for 2 hours as everyone in front of me was rebooked on the 7:45pm flight -- everyone until me. They offered to rebook me on a direct flight on Saturday morning, arriving home at 8:30am. Any later and I would've had to fly to Austin, where I had a 4pm wedding to get to. After 45 minutes waiting for the ticket counter lady to finish making my arrangements, I was all set with a hotel voucher and caught the Double Tree shuttle. It was a nice hotel, I just wish I could've slept maybe twice as long. Up again at 4:30 to catch the shuttle back to the airport.

After the short flight to Houston, I made it to my house in time to have breakfast with my wife and daughter, then change clothes and head to Austin for my 1:30pm call time. Everything was great, the wedding turned out nice, and I was back on the road a little after 5. Sunday morning came way too soon, and then the real fun began.

After church we went to grab some lunch at Smashburger, which was awesome. I took the girls home and was about to head to the Heights to grab my music gear from Seth's house (he had taken it home since I missed the last day of rehearsals in Huntsville 4 days earlier). I noticed that there was a little bit of water underneath our water heater. Awesome. Couldn't have happened at a better time. That was sarcasm, although there maybe could've been some worse times.

I left to get my gear, trying to solve the water heater problem, when I remembered we may still have home warranty. I checked the date of when we bought our house, and turns out we still had 3 days on our warranty! So, instead of having to buy and install a new water heater, I turned off the gas and water lines, and called them to set up an appointment. The rest of the afternoon was a whirlwind of getting bills paid and other things done before I left Sunday night for a camp with the Jimmy Needham band.

Bethany dropped me off at Jimmy's house at 9pm Sunday night, an hour late because of all the mess I had to deal with Sunday afternoon. We got the new trailer loaded and headed off to Florida. I had just gotten to sleep around midnight when Chasen, our drummer who was driving, said something about a tire sparking and pulled into a gas station. I really just wanted to sleep through whatever this was, but the smell of burning rubber and metal got me up. One of the trailer tires was not in good shape. There was grease all over the tire, and we could see that the axle was not even lined up with the tire. What do you do at 12:30am in Beaumont, TX, when your trailer is busted?

This is where God's provision came in pretty clearly. As we sat in the gas station parking lot, there were some guys washing the ground. After talking with them a little bit, they said there was a place about a block away that fixed trailers. So, our plan was going to be to rent a Uhaul in the morning, take our trailer to get fixed (and leave it all week if we needed to), and head to Florida on Monday, arriving a day late.

I checked the iPhone map and it turned out we had stopped at an exit that included several hotels, a Uhaul, and this trailer service shop. So, we didn't have to do much more than U-turn under I-10 to find a hotel for the night.

We went ahead and got a Uhaul trailer at 7am Monday, and loaded our stuff into it before taking our trailer to the service shop. Once we got our trailer there, they pulled it around and jacked it up. At that time the guy reached over and just pulled the tire straight off without loosening any lug nuts. He said it was very lucky we even made it there. Tell us about it.

He said it'd take an hour to fix, so we hit Waffle House. After it was fixed, we obviously didn't need the Uhaul, so we retransferred all our gear and took the Uhaul back. They refunded the 1-way rate, and we ended up only paying the in-town rate, since we didn't go anywhere. We got our trailer hitched back up, and not ONE SECOND after we got it hooked on, it started POURING rain. It was so strange. So, we drove to Florida Monday, drenched in sweat and rain. We arrived at 10:45pm, and got set up, soundchecked at 12:15am, and were up ready to play at 9am Tuesday morning.

So by now I'd found out that our water heater needed to be replaced, so I rejoiced because we were getting a new water heater. But what they don't mention is the amount of time it would take to get a new one. I called the warranty company and plumbers every day asking when it would all happen. FINALLY on Friday, after my third attempt, I finally convinced someone that I was not happy that my wife and toddler were at home all week with no hot water. The representative called the plumber, who said they could replace it on Tuesday the 6th, but she convinced them to do it sooner, which means TODAY -- between 9-5. I might have them look at a leaky faucet I noticed this morning, too.

After playing for the Friday morning service at camp, we loaded up and headed to just outside Mobile, AL, where we set up and played a show at 8:30. It was a great show, 15,000 people showed up, and there were fireworks and an 80 year old skydiver. Afterwards, we tore down, and headed back to Houston. I finally made it home at 8:30 this morning, with nominal sleep.

Today, I am sitting here watching new countertops be installed (after them losing our measurements, cracking our first slab, mis-quoting a price on our next slab, and having to wait for me to be in town to install), waiting for the plumber to call and come replace the water heater, oh, and our AT&T Uverse stopped working this morning, too. So AT&T will be here sometime between 9am-11:36pm. Not really, but I have no idea when anything is happening today.

Tomorrow I leave again for one more week of camp with John Sherrill, then off to Wisconsin for a show on Saturday night with Jimmy Needham. Hoping the house stays together till then (and after then, too).

Thanksgiving and Beyond

::deep breath::

Back to normalcy. Whatever that means, I feel like we're back to our real life again. It's been a whirlwind of a week, with alot of activity, alot of people, and ALOT of driving.

Thanksgiving day was great. We got to have dinner with my mom's side of the family. My parents were in Las Vegas, so Bethany and I were the representatives of the Smith family. I was really excited to find out that my grandma was going to be there. She has Alzheimer's and lives in a nursing home. I haven't gotten to see her in several months, and she has never met Bella. It was actually the first time Bella got to meet most of those family members. Here's a few pictures of her meeting some family for the first time. These aren't in any chronological order.

This is my grandfather's mother-in-law. She lives in Mexico and speaks no English. When I was younger, and her visits to my grandpa and his wife lined up with our family visits, I would always make sure I said "hola" and "adios" to her whenever we came and went. That was (and still basically is) my Spanish vocabulary. For whatever reason, she felt a bond with me and would always ask about her "little amigo." So now I'm still her little amigo, and she got to meet my daughter, who is now affectionately her "amigita."

 

Here is a man completely smitten by his great-granddaughter. This is my mom's dad, Pappaw. He absolutely loved seeing her, and out of his 10 great-grands, this is the first he's gotten to see so young, and his first to feed. She was wonderful for him, of course.

My family has a long legacy of music lovers. I think alot of that comes from Pappaw. In this picture he's singing a verse from "Because He Lives."

"How sweet to hold a newborn baby, and feel the pride and joy she gives; 

but greater still the calm assurance, 

this child can face uncertain days because He lives." 

I don't know whether she knew who she was holding or not, but it was overwhelming to get to see my Mammaw holding my daughter. I will cherish these pictures and this day. 

This is Bella and her Great(est) Aunt Willa. Bella smiled so much for her.

Friday after Thanksgiving I had the chance to play some music on the Riverwalk in San Antonio with an artist named Darrell Smith. We kicked off the Parade of Lights that starts the Christmas Season on the river. Bethany and Bella get the award for best gig family. They endured 10 hours outside on the Riverwalk. It was a really long day, and all of us were fighting colds.  

Bella and Pappaw saying good-bye for now. She was obviously heart-broken. 

Saturday evening we drove from San Antonio to my parents' house in Montgomery, and got there just as the rest of the family was leaving. We got to sneak a few pictures in, and spent a little time with just my parents and my brother and his wife. Bella has decided that when Papa (my dad) holds her, she will stick out her bottom lip. We're not sure why she does it, but it's really cute. I was prepared with camera in hand. 

Here's a picture of 4 generations. I'm the only boy. And the only one looking at this particular camera at this particular time.

Sunday afternoon, just as I was waking up from a much needed nap, we got a call saying that Bethany's grandfather was not doing so well. He's been bed-ridden for about a year-and-a-half, and somewhat unresponsive for the last few months. A few hours later we got the call that he had passed away. Monday morning we packed up again and headed to Burleson to be with Bethany's family and attend the funeral on Tuesday. We were very grateful that, not two weeks before he died, he got to see his great-granddaughter. As you can see, she had no idea what was going on, but this is another picture and event that we will all cherish. 

Camp Recap

This one might be long...

You might know, you might not. I'm part of a ministry called Reach Ministries, which supports worship leader John Sherrill, in whose band I play. Lately, I've stopped referring to it as "a band I'm in," because it's much more than that. Part of our ministry includes summers full of leading worship at youth camps all over Texas (and beyond). This was my 5th summer traveling with John, but my 7th year to play for camps. This year found us out for 6 weeks total, which is alot, but not the most ever (we did 10 a few years ago). Here's a pretty brief look into each camp this year and a few things that stood out to me, things I liked and didn't, and I'm sorry if I offend anyone:

Week 1- Alto Frio

Chad Norris, speaker. I like Chad. He's so down-to-earth and preaches truth so plainly that it makes you wonder why you never thought of it that way. He would say things like "I'm preaching better than you're listening," and it was true. God spoke to me pretty clearly that week about something (explanation to come soon), which was unexpected and scary, but obvious and empowering. The camp directors were way too interested in numbers, and even extended the invitations each night to make sure there were more "decisions." It was frustrating to see the work God was doing be squelched somewhat by the warnings that most of us will miss heaven by 13 inches. ... That's the distance between your head and your heart. And it's an awful analogy. Especially after Chad had spoken that once we surrender to God, our spirit is made right with God and He sees us blameless. Then, we start the process of "knowing God," redeeming our minds and experiencing eternity NOW, instead of just waiting until we die to have the fulness of our salvation. He preached better than I listened.

Week 2- Disney, OK

John Randles, speaker. This week was just John, Dave (drums), and me. Disney, OK is forever away, and is a hopeless little town with a really good Mexican restaurant. John Randles is fun to hang out with, and is a great speaker, although I just don't relate as well to sports analogies as some do. Hopefully a few kids got a kick in the butt to get up and start living. Once the kids warmed up to us, they reached new levels in intimacy in their worship. It was neat to see that. We had fun hanging out with camp director Chuck Hill and his wife, Amy. My room was the furthest from the wireless internet, so I could maybe check my email once a day. I rebuked it one night as I searched for hotels for Bethany to stay in because of the giant roach infestation in our apartment. It decided to work for me that night, in the name of Jesus. And, we thought we were going to die during the thunder storm Wednesday night.

Week 3- Palacios, TX

Casey Cease, speaker. This was 220 Student Leadership Week- Preteen style. 220 is part of Reach Ministries. We do four camps a year (two high school camps and a preteen camp in the summer, and a winter retreat). Casey did great, but seemed a bit road weary. Understandable. Palacios is a miserable place. It was the worst camp food all summer. Ok, negative things aside. The band beat the crew in wiffleball. My friend Seth and I had a good time being the "Mail Guys" and handed out letters to the kids each day. I also enjoyed watching the daily rain storms. I'm sorry, I'm really struggling to find positive things to write. Oh, I saw some porpoises.

Week 4- SAGU, Waxahachie, TX

Matt Shepperd, speaker. Great week. It was the first of the two 220 Leadership Weeks. I am thankful for two trips to Waffle House that week. The campus was great for camp. Matt is a great communicator, and tons of fun to hang out with. The theme this year was "Restored," and we saw alot of lives, hearts, and relationships restored. God is welcomed and expected to move at 220 camps (which is not always the case at other camps, sad to say), and He always does. Amazing what happens when His people gather and beg Him to move in more powerful ways than they've seen. Check out Matt's ministry, I Am Change. My eyes were opened to the global issue of clean water. And no matter how trendy it is, Ethos is not doing enough. Please support this ministry. It's a problem that is actually relatively easy to solve, but just takes some selfless support. Clean water can be provided for most of the world for $10 billion a year. In the U.S. (which is only 5% of the world's wealth), we spent almost $480 billion at Christmas time last year.

Week 5- Camp Chaparral, Wichita Falls, TX

Maybe it's better I can't remember the camp pastor's name this week. That way I can speak more honestly. It's frustrating to feel like over the years I've come to learn about a gospel of grace, I've come to find freedom in Christ, instead of a list of rules to follow, and to see a group of teens be taught almost the exact opposite. I don't even know what to say without ranting for pages and pages. I guess it boils down to this: There was a message spoken this week of change - from the outside in. That's not how it works. Remember Week 1? Our spirits are redeemed. There is no secular/sacred, as far as I can tell. If the church continues to separate itself from what's going on in the world by ignoring the music and movies and art of this day, we will never have a voice to bring hope to this world. God can use a "secular" song or movie to speak truth just as much (if not more) than He can through a "Christian" song (and WAY MORE than Christian movies). God's only requirement is that we love Him and love others. If we do that, we will know what is right for us to listen to and watch. Some things affect me differently than they do you. I know I can't see certain movies because of what they make me think. I know some music plants impure thoughts in me. That's because I rely on the Spirit of God in me to show me how I need to live. I can't rely on a list of "can" and "cannot" to know what is right for me, because that's just going to take away my need to trust God, and my ability to think and reason and really explore my world. If that happens, I might miss God somewhere I wouldn't expect Him. And alot of "Christian" music just makes me mad. So, according to some people's theology, I should only listen to that music. Oh, and here's a tip for anyone who is just itching to be a preacher. If you're going to slam the culture, and technology, and music, and movies (and call people "punk kids" and "pre-christians"), don't use movie clips in your sermons. It negates everything you've preached. And I thought good Christians boycotted Disney, anyway. Oh, yeah, and when the worship leader ends worship on Thursday night by allowing the Spirit to speak through Him, basically also negating everything you've spoken in order to emotionally guilt kids into false repentance and "just in case" salvation so you can report more numbers, NEVER EVER use the phrase "How about a hand clap for sensitivity." Never has there been a more oxymoronic statement. I also had the most excruciating neck pain I've ever experienced as a result of weeks of playing, traveling, and loading gear. I got an emergency massage which relieved the knots in my upper body, but spent the next three days nursing the pain and not able to turn my head freely.

Week 6- MSU, Wichita Falls, TX

Matt Shepperd, speaker. This was the second of the 220 leadership weeks. We've experienced spiritual warfare at 220 camps before (it's to be expected when your focus is glorifying God), and this was no exception. It was intense. I'll try to keep it short, email me if you want more details. Basically the place was freaky to begin with. My skin crawled when we walked through the room the week before to check stuff out. The kids were young and most had never been to a 220 camp before, so it was a bit frustrating that they never were quite connected to what was going on. There was never a spirit of reverence, or any night that just really felt like the kids were awed by who God was. There was some, but not what I expected. Thursday night was unforgettable. Matt Shepperd was backstage waiting to preach, and we were leading worship. We started doing a song called "Healer," which says "I believe You're my healer, I believe You are all I need." John was leading and I could tell his mind was on intercession for the kids. As the song progressed, he stopped playing piano and lifted his arms to worship, then just laid his head on the piano and wept (he said later it was like a rushing wind blew over him). I reached over to my stage piano and we finished the song. There was a feeling in our playing that had not been there, and is hard to describe. After we finished, and John was playing again, I bent over my keyboard, head in hands, very short of breath, and wept. I wasn't sad, I wasn't broken over anything, it was unexplainable in human terms. I knew the Holy Spirit was right with us on that stage. Later I found out that Matt had been sitting on the stairs not 15 feet behind me, and felt a presence behind him. Instinctively he reached back and basically threw it in front of him, and put his hands out and started praying and walking towards the door. There were other freaky backstage stories, too, like when one of our staff guys was on the catwalk taking pictures during worship, and he felt like something was trying to push him off. I remember seeing him run down the stairs out of the corner of my eye. The next morning started out like a typical Friday morning at 220 camp. We usually have a 1 1/2 hour service with a short message, communion, prayer over the students, a few joyful songs, and then go home. I don't want to exploit the situation, so I'll just say that there was a girl who is demon-possessed. John was talking to her, and said something that made the demon mad, and she dropped to the ground and tried to hit her head on a brick wall. They constrained her and people joined around to pray. I don't usually feel the need to be in the middle of those situations, but for whatever reason I rushed over to pray. The same feeling from Thursday night came over me as I approached, and I could barely stand. My legs were shaking. I've heard some things about demon possession before, but nothing can prepare you for that. I can honestly say that it was not a human face I was looking at. Sure, it was this poor girl who had been hurt by so much in the past, but her facial features were different. One leader called out the type of demon by name, and she turned to him and sneered. John was begging her to just say the name "Jesus," and it was amazing to watch how she fought and struggled to even speak the name that could bring healing. Part of her bondage was rooted in deep unforgiveness. Once she was faced with that, and could forgive a friend, she snapped out of it and sat up.

I posted this earlier today with a few more details, but then when I checked this evening, the post was cut off in the middle of that story. The enemy has been and will continue to be defeated, and doesn't want these victories to be shared. He hates us. He hates that this girl has begun healing. She's not free completely (there are deep levels of hurt), so keep her in prayer. Keep in mind that these things happen all around us. If we're saved, the only tactic the enemy has is fear. Through the Spirit of God, we have authority over these things. They're so strong, but God is stronger, and He lives in us.

Midsummer Night's Blog

I'm proud to say that I am the official low score holder at, and tied the course record for ... gosh, I can't remember the name of the place. But I played mini golf this evening with my cousins. And I scored a 36. Just to tell you how amazing this is, if nobody else gets a lower score this month, then I will receive a trophy. I only started playing bad once I realized I was about to beat the record. Other than that I was pretty unstoppable.

This week had a pretty crazy few days attached to it. I was in Palacios, TX all week for a pre-teen camp. That was pretty cool, very laid-back, somewhat restful. God really did some work in those kids' hearts, it was fun to see. And, the band beat the crew in wiffleball ... again. Palacios is still one of the grossest places in Texas, and it stormed at least once every day (I liked that part). The camp food was close to awful, so there were alot of Sonic and Dairy Queen meals.

Thursday, camp ended at 12, so I packed up real quick, grabbed some lunch, and headed off to Temple, a short 4 hour drive, where I was going to play with Jared Johnson. We played at Duckhorn Tavern, and I don't think it wins the "Smallest Stage I've Ever Played On" award, but it does win the "Smallest Stage I've Ever Played On With 5 Other Guys." Check it:




Here's a picture of Jared doing his solo set:





And a video of him on "Can You Duet" (on CMT this Spring):





I hadn't seen Bethy since Sunday, so I decided to drive home after we played so I could see her, and not spend an extra night in Temple. That sounded like a great idea back when I thought we were playing 8-12, but once I got there I found out we were playing 10-2! So, that put me on the road pretty late, but our bass player ended up riding back with me, so it worked out. I was tired, but I made it. I got home at 5am, and slept until about 10, cause I had to get up and go to a family reunion.

I can't say I have much to say about the reunion. I didn't know most of the people there, but I did have a good time hanging out with my cousins that came in from Florida, and talking to one of my mom's cousins, who is a guitar player from Louisiana, and plays alot with Percy Sledge. Today we celebrated my Grandma's 86th birthday (I think).

Tomorrow I head off to Waxahachie, TX to join up with the band for camp number 4 this summer. Three more then I'm done.

Here's What's Been's Happenin'

Hello my reader friends.

I'm home this week. That is unlike the past two weeks where I have been gone, and unlike the next four, during which I will be mostly out of town. Ah yes, I'm living the dream, bringing music to the people. Ok, not exactly. I'm playing youth camps in places such as Leakey, TX, and Disney, OK. Spiritually it's been a great summer so far, but the camp locales, living situations, and sound men have been lacking. That's to be expected, and we make the most of what we get, I guess. July should bring some higher quality production teams, which frees us all to play better and lead as we like to.

I saw a concert Sunday night. These guys (Styx):




And these guys (Boston):


I will admit openly that I know very little of these bands. I know who they are, and how important they are in the scheme of music history, but there are certainly other bands I am more familiar with. So, technically I was only going for two reasons. First, I wanted to hear Boston sing "More Than A Feeling," and two, I wanted to see one of my childhood heros, Michael Sweet, of Stryper sing "More Than A Feeling."

It was a great show, even though I spent the whole time acting like I was a fan. I was originally going to buy a last minute lawn seat and just sit back for the evening. But, on my way to the gates, I was stopped by a scalper. Normally I don't get involved in that kind of thing, but I decided to at least see what he had. He said he had really great tickets and would sell them for $60. I'm pretty sure I had $60 on me, but I told him I only had $20 and that I would just get a lawn seat or sit outside the pavilion and listen (where it's free). So he asked me again how much I had, and I said $20, so he sold me a 12th row ticket for $20. I was half-way expecting to get to the gate and be turned away for having a counterfeit ticket, but they let me in, and I made it down to the 12th row. There was another guy next to my seat who asked me how much I had paid. I figured he had also bought a ticket from this guy, but turns out he had sold the tickets to the guy in the first place. He was shocked I got the tickets for so cheap. Eventually another guy showed up and joined our "party." We clapped and yelled and they sang songs as loud as they could. I tried to pick up on the choruses of the songs quickly so I could act like I deserved to be that close to the stage.

Styx was amazing. They didn't do the only two songs I know of theirs, but they were a great stage show. After the intermission, Boston came out and rocked. Two or three songs in to their set, both guys that were with me just left, so I was enjoying the concert alone without these crazies bothering me.

I was content to finish the evening alone, until a few songs later, an older, slightly inebriated woman came and stood next to me. I guess one of the guys had passed off his ticket to her on his way out. She would proceed to grab my shoulder and shake me, saying "AREN'T YOU JUST SO EXCITED!?!?!?!?" Cue the fake smile and "Oh yeah, this is awesome!"

Later she started pouring baby powder on the people in the row behind us. Not sure what that was about, but she got some on my shirt, and then started trying to rub it off. Awkward, but a nice gesture, I guess? A few times, I had to pretend to sing into her fist, which she held up to my mouth like a microphone. Refer, now, to the fact that I knew ONE song that was performed that night.

Eventually I was saved as a similarly intoxicated man joined her (taking my seat, of course), and they began dancing like people should only dance when no one is around. I'm pretty sure they had just met. By their second song together, they were making out, and continued a cycle of making out, awkward drunk dancing, and spinning in the isles until the usher sent them back to their seat.

So, I left after the set was over, and listened to the encore as I walked back to my car. It was a great night, very good concert, and all around interesting experience. I would recommend seeing this tour if it's coming to your area. Ok, I've done enough procrastination, it's time to work. Let's talk again soon.

Celebrity Alert ... Take Heed

We saw this guy on the plane coming home from Las Vegas. It's Mickey Jones. I don't know if he lives in Houston officially, but I know he's from here. He is an actor on tons of sitcoms and movies, and used to play drums with alot of people, including Bob Dylan, Trini Lopez, and Johnny Rivers (Maybelline, Secret Agent Man), and The First Edition, who played with Kenny Rogers. If I would've known that I would've slipped him a demo tape. I just thought he was Pete from K & B construction.

Set my soul on fire

I just woke up a few hours ago. I'm pretty sure I basically slept for 14 hours. We had a pretty busy, draining vacation in Las Vegas this weekend. My older brother got married (again) Saturday evening.

If you don't know my family's background, we lived in Las Vegas for 11 years. I consider it "where I grew up," and "home," even though I haven't lived there in exactly 9 years. I love going back, because there's a great balance for me between being a tourist, and going home. I know enough about downtown to know what I want to see and how to get there, but with everything changing so much, each experience feels new, and there's plenty I've never seen. More than the Strip, though, I enjoy heading into the residential parts of town, where tourists don't go. It's a really great town to live in. This weekend the weather was perfect. It felt like southern California to me, high 80s to mid 90s, LOW HUMIDITY. Here's some of the pictures I took. If you need more, I'm sure they'll all be posted on Facebook in the next few days.

Let's start with our amazing view at our first hotel....


My nieces getting manicures and pedicures (their hands were still drying)



Me and Bethany on The Strip in Jody's Mustang convertible




Go team? I hope the photographer's view of this was somewhat convincing.


Flower girls and ring bearer.


Beautiful house where the wedding was held


All the Smith Sisters-in-law


Forget the lights, this is what I miss about Las Vegas (The mountains, not the guardrails).



Our suite at the Venetian. It's how we roll.


Very similar to a picture from our honeymoon


A perfect 12th






The wedding was really great. It had its typical "Cory" moments, if you know him you know what I mean. The rest of the family spent the time chasing his daughters around, keeping them out of the pool. It was a little strange being at my brother's wedding and not knowing anyone there except my immediate family. But, I'm glad Cory has that kind of support in Las Vegas. Some day I'm going to have a chance to get to know his new wife. The only other time I had met her was the day before my wedding, and I'm not sure we said more than two sentences to each other. This time, it was her wedding, and we talked probably the same amount as before. She seems like a great person, very good for Cory.

The rest of the trip was slightly less stressful. On Sunday, Cory, Hannah, Jody, Victoria, Hope, and Grace all left Las Vegas, leaving my parents and Bethy and me. After sharing our bed with a 5-year-old the night before, we decided to splurge a bit and spent a night at the Venetian hotel. We were completely exhausted, but had a nice dinner at Grand Lux then walked along the "Grand Canal." The next day we had lunch with an old friend of mine, and I came down with something ending the day feeling horrible. We saw "Phantom" with my parents, which was amazing. We had bought tickets in the next to last row, which was what we could afford, but as soon as we sat down the usher asked us to follow him. I was thinking we'd be moved up a few rows, but he kept walking us down closer to the stage. He sat us in the 10th row, middle section. Bethany and I were just a few feet away from the chandelier when it fell. It was the perfect way to end our trip, until I stayed up almost all night with a fever. I survived the flight home and had lunch with my parents. Once Bethy and I finally got back home, I crashed on the couch. And, I must say I LOVE our bed. I haven't slept that well in a while.

That's our trip. Now real life is here, phone calls and emails to return, people to deal with. I hate it. But it must be done.

Honeymoon Pics

Our honeymoon was in Italy. We spent a few days in Rome, then headed north to Florence for a few days, then over to Venice for a few days, then back to Rome again. We were gone for 9 days, and loved every minute.



Visiting the Colosseum



A Square in Florence



Beautiful bride






Sticking our hands in the mouth of the thing




GELATO!




Looooooong train ride




Friendly birds in Venice

Let's Move

I was thinking about this today on a long drive.

Places I Would Want To Live In For a Few Years:
Italy
London
SoCal
Dallas
Houston
Austin
Las Vegas
Virginia

Places I Would Want To Live In For a Year:
New York
L.A.
Boston
Florida
Germany
Austria
Nashville
Seattle
Portland

Places I Need To Visit Still:
Greece
Scotland
New England
South America

Favorite Smaller Towns in America:
Jackson, MS
Eugene, OR
Pasadena, CA
Destin, FL
Lake McConaughey, NB

Maybe these lists are not complete. I like alot of places.

Southern California Tour

(Begun in April, 2006)....


I've been in California the last 3 days on tour with Matt. It's been a pretty good trip so far. The weather of course has been amazing. I don't miss humidity, not one bit.

Friday I got to spend the night at my older brother's place with his girls. He got to have them all weekend so I made sure I got to spend some time with them. I got there about 12:30am and Hope (4) was sleeping on the living room floor on her little sleeping bag. Next to her was another sleeping bag and pillow she had set out for me before she went to sleep. I couldn't just pass that up and sleep on the couch, so I got on the floor and went to sleep. Both girls decided that 6:30 was a good time to get up, so that's what we did. We watched a few Dora the Explorer episodes and had some breakfast. Then Cory and I took the girls to Disneyland. That was great fun. There were so many people there, but it was a beautiful day. The girls were insane and we had quite a time trying to keep them in line. My arms are still sore from carrying Hope most of the day.

Sunday we were at Calvary Chapel Antelope Valley, which was great. Such a cool church, seemed like a great community of believers. Afterwards they took us out to eat. I haven't eaten that much food in a while. Of course it was my first real meal in 24 hours. I was sitting next to a woman who lived right down the street from Erin Brockavich back when her story was going on. She didn't have an immune system. It was interesting. That evening we were in Redlands at Calvary Chapel there. It went pretty well. We got into a great conversation with the music director there. He's an amazing man of God who is serving in a church coming from a life of professional (reeeeeally big time) music.

(Completed August, 2006)...

It's been some time since i first drafted this blog. I kind of lost interest in this blog site, not really sure what the point of it is. But I was reading some friends' blogs and got re-inspired to continue to think out loud on the internet.

To finish my last writings, I will attempt to remember some of what Kim Hutchinson, the music director at Calvary Redlands, said to us that night in April.

This is a man who, in the mid-80's, could turn on a radio in any city, and within 3 songs he could hear himself, either in his band, or songs he had played saxophone on. He was Quincy Jones' go-to guy for horns. He's on Michael Jackson albums. His band was travelling the country playing shows. He was making it.

Over some time, his band fell apart and he started losing gigs ... his purpose seemed hazy (what good is a musician that's not getting to play music?), his career, as it seemed, was over. Now he's "just a worship leader," it would appear from the outside that now he has fallen so low that a church is the only place he can play.

Well, that's how most people might see it. Here's his take on it.

Kim told me that we, especially musicians, tend to find our identity in "what we do" rather than "who we are." I would say this could include most people in any kind of performance- or art-based careers. It can be devastating when what we do is taken from us, because along with it goes our identity, our purpose, our goals.

But it is God's desire for us to know our identity and, even more importantly, to know that our identity is found in Him as His children. Sometimes it works out best for Him to take away what we do. Then, once our false identity is out of the way, we can learn who we are. Once we know who we are, it doesn't really matter as much what we do. So, in Kim's case, God took away what he did (although he still was very good at it, the oppertunities weren't there), and showed him who he was: a Christian, a husband, a father. Then, God gave back what he did, but it was in a different light. It didn't matter if he was playing for Michael Jackson's albums or filling in for the church band. His identity wasn't found in how big the gig was, but in who he was as a person.

Now, Kim directs the music for Calvary Chapel Redlands. He doesn't stand in the front and sing, and he rarely plays sax. He plays keyboards off to the side. If he played sax with that band, he would smoke any of those musicians and all attention would be on him. Instead, as a leader, he humbles himself to play an instrument he's not as comfortable on, and submit to the singer's leadership. He's completely happy, doesn't miss the road or the fame, and is content to serve God in the same place each week with the same people.

I'm still trying to find my identity in Christ. I'll be honest and say I'm not there yet. I feel useless sometimes when I'm not on a stage. I worry that God will take away what I do. More than that, I want to know who I am, because I know what I do will matter less. But I still like what I do. I don't want to lose it. But, ultimately (I think), I trust that if God takes away what I do, I will be able to find out who I am, and He will provide for my needs somehow.

Back Home

I really don't like the drive between Abilene and Houston. There's not much to look at, and today was worse because it was cloudy and just plain dreary. Plus I was pretty upset that I had to miss a concert tonight in Houston. It's not that I get mad over missing out on entertainment, the band is looking for a new keyboard player, and I was supposed to meet the leader and check out the band to see if it's something I would fit in to. But some poor communication led to us having to play this morning in Abilene, which I was assured would not happen. So, we left later than we should've and I missed the concert. Maybe some other time, I guess. I ended up hanging out with my friend, Seth, and we went to his house and watched Arrested Development. It's a pretty funny show. I was expecting to have at least one check sitting at home waiting for me, since I haven't been paid for three gigs. But, there were no checks. Why does my life suck financially right now? I'm in debt, I'm not getting paid on time for the work I'm doing, and I've got so many other things I need to get done, especially medically, and I can't afford them. I trust God with my money, He gives and takes away. I'm not too worried about it, but I just wish I could have lots of money and not worry about it.

Speaking of "giving and taking away," we were playing "Blessed Be Your Name" last night, and the kids were super rowdy. It was almost uncomfortable, but we kept going. Then some kid decides to jump up on stage, do a little dance ("caucasian clap" or something like it), and then crowd surf. The only problem was he jumped into a "crowd" of about four girls, and they all moved out of the way. He landed right on the concrete floor and didn't get up for about half a chorus. But he did eventually get up and looked quite in some pain, but no ambulances were called, I think he'll live. It was a memory, though.

Next up for me this week is a recording day in College Station, then back on the road Thursday for a few days. I just found out there might be a Hopedoor reunion gig, as if there haven't already been enough. I'm the only one not involved at the moment, but that might change.