Thursday, November 08, 2007

Quiz Time

Ok, I created a quiz, but it is extremely easy, but it was fun coming up with questions.


Click the Title Quiz time and it should take you there. If not here is the URL:

http://www.quizyourfriends.com/quizpage.php?quizname=071108113626-636586&

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Toothless Wonder

Micah lost he first tooth last week. He is so proud. It is one of his bottom middle teeth. He also won 2nd place in the readathon for the 1st grade. This kid loves to read which is a great thing. We highly encourage that.

How about them Cowboys? They are looking great. The big question is can they improve enought over the next 8 weeks to take it all the way to the Superbowl and give the Patriots a run for their money? Also, don't count the Colts out. They gave the Patriots all they could handle and that is with 3-4 guys injured and not playing.

I'm getting back into Greek. I've put my greek stuff down for several years and I decided that if I don't start refreshing now, I will lose any knowlege of Greek altogether.

It is getting cold in Texas. Yipee. It got down to 46 last night and will be potentially in the high 30's tonight. High today is only 64. It feels great.

Gotta go. sorry for the total randomness of this post.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Restful Weekend-Maybe

I'm hopeful that this weekend proves to be a restful weekend. There are things on the agenda such as 2 soccer games and parties afterwards, but nothing that should be too hectic. Summer is taking the day off tomorrow and I have tomorrow off as well. We are going to volunteer in the morning in Micah's class untill aournd 11:00. Then we are kid free until 2:30. I feel a lunch at On the Boarder coming to mind.

I just figured out that my new quartet has a myspace page. It is www.myspace.com/speakeasyquartet.

It has some tracks from our 3rd rehearsal which are not the best, but imagine that we sound good and you'll have an idea of what we have the potential of sounding like. :)

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

3rd Place

I have a quartet I'm in called Speakeasy. We have only had 5 rehearsals and competed in a contest. We ended up in 3rd place and missed out on 2nd by only 3 points out of a total of 3600 points. In 5 rehearsals our average was a 76.5. A 76 is a qualifying score to go to international. Though we don't qualify til March, we should only get better which means we should be heading to the International Convention in July.

this year, the international convention will be in Nashville, TN. I'm excited about it being so close to home because my family will be able to come.

I took a 6:00am flight out of Corpus Christi on Sunday and was able to make it back to church for tech rehearsal and worship. Afterwards we had lunch with the whole praise team. We had a great time.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Advair

It is funny looking at all the things that a new medication might cause. I've been prescribed Advair which is for Asthma. It helps me with that, but it has potential to cause any of these side effects:

Serious side effects include:
bronchospasm (wheezing, chest tightness, trouble breathing);
fast or uneven heart beats, restless feeling, tremor;
fever, chills, cough with yellow or green mucus;
stabbing chest pain, feeling short of breath;
white patches or sores inside your mouth or on your lips; or
worsening asthma symptoms.

Less serious side effects include:
headache, dizziness;
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea;
dryness in your mouth, nose, or throat;
stuffy nose, sinus pain, cough, sore throat; or
hoarseness or deepened voice.

So will this medication really make me better? I guess we will find out soon enough.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Asthma

When I was a kid I had an incendent where I was breathing in and felt a sharp pain that seemed to come from my heart. I did all kinds of testing back then and it was determined that my heart was rubbing against my lung and that I would grow out of it.

Well, I never did. I've had those symptoms since then though only occasionally.

I went to the doctor today to take care of a nasty cough that is in my chest. He did a breathing test and treatment and told me that at the minimum I have allergy induced Asthma. He prescribed me a inhaler that I will be using twice a day for six months and then he will do a workup on my lungs. He did say he is not officially diagnosing me with Asthma, but it very well could be that.

After coming back to work and letting the staff know the results of my appointment, one of our admins said that she had asthma and describe those same symptoms that I described at the top of this post.

So it looks like I have Asthma. I don't know what to think about it, but it looks like I got it. At least there is treatment.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Book Recommendation

The lastest book that I've read is "The Secret Message of Jesus" by Brian D. McLaren. This is an excellent read as he dives into the gospels and looks at the message of Jesus with a fresh perspective. This book focuses on the kingdom message of Jesus that is such a focus of His teaching.

He takes you on a journey of Jesus' times and the religious and political makeup of the culture. As you begin to frame Jesus' message in this context, the message of Jesus comes alive in a way it never has before.

He was also at the Zoe conference as a keynote speaker. He was excellent as usual. He has a new book that was just put out called "Everything Must Change." I'm eager to see what he has in store as he claims this to be his pinnacle work. I'll try to let you know when I read the book.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

2 CD recommendations

As I sit at my desk, I look at my iTunes and see 7500 songs. If I pushed play and played every song running 24 hours a day, it would take 19 days to listen to all of them. On top of that I've got about another 200 CDs I've yet to import into my iTunes. I'm amazed I've gotten this much of my library on there to begin with.

Out of what I have, I definately have some favorites. Two that I would recommend today are Bart Millard (Lead singer for Mercy Me) "Hymned No. 1." He takes his favoirte old hymns and has a jam session. It is very enjoyable. You get to hear new takes at good old hymns.



The second recomendation is Casting Crowns' new CD "The Altar and the Door." This CD has got some incredible songs including my favorites, "East to West" and "Slow Fade." Pick up this CD if you don't have it. It rocks.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Bekah with not so long hair

Bekah with long hair

Recent Family Picture

Cowboys

Well, one who lives in Dallas can't blog today without at least mentioning the game last night. What a game.

I admit that I had almost given up on the Cowboys after the 5th interception, though I can honestly say that there was always that glimmer of hope that they could pull it off.

There were two things that I loved about the game. The first was the kicker. Not only did he execute a great onside kick, but he kicked two 53ft fieldgoals in a row. Did I mention it was in the visiting stadium on Monday night football and he is a Rookie?

The thing that stood out the most was Tony Romo's interview after the game. After being asked about the 4 first-half interceptions, Romo starts to explain them and then stops himself and just says he played poorly. That takes humilty and a lot of class to be able to say that. Way to go Tony Romo.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Sabbath

I went to the Zoe conference this past weekend. One session I really liked was Gary Holloway's on Sabbath. I admit that my habits in the disciplines are not anywhere where I want them to be. One discipline I haven't practiced is Sabbath. I can't count the number of times I've heard people say that it is the only command of the Ten that Jesus doesn't bring into the new covenant. Yet, Jesus talked about it. In Mark 2 he talks about Sabbath being made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

The writer of Hebrews talks about the Sabbath in chapter 4

Heb 4:9-11
9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
NIV

The difficult part of Sabbath is making time for it. We are such a culture of muititasking and busyness. To stop that for a period of time or even a whole day is no easy talk.

Oh, but to have a day when I turn the cell phone off, I don't check email, I don't think about work, and I don't worry. A day filled with family, fun, and worship.

My family will try this. If you have any experience with Sabbath, I'd love to hear your input.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Pepeprdine Session



This is our early morning session in Smother's Theatre.

Pepperdine


This is our Pepperdine group after our last session on Thursday night.

My new office


After 13 months sharing an office with 2 other ministers and once a week with an intern as well, I have my own office. Yeah. I am so happy to have a place of my own again. No hearing 2 people's phone conversations all day long. I can shut my door and listen to my music as I plan whitout bothering anyone. It is wonderful. I've been more productive this week than I've been in a while. I'm lovin it. We get new furniture in about a month and then we will get the PODS that a lot of our stuff has been on for a year.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Happy 10th Anniversary

Today is mine and Summer's 10th wedding anniverary. Wow! It hard to believe that we have been married that long, because it has flown by in a hurry. I can honetly say it has been an unbelievable 10 years.

Of course, a lot has happened in 10 years. I'm in my 3rd ministry position. We've lived in 6 different houses/apts. We have 3 children, one in kindergarten.

Summer, thanks for putting up with me this long. I hope you can make it another 50-60 years with me. It will be a fun 50-60 years to come as long as we have each other.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Pepperdine

Pepperdine was this past week. My praise team was able to lead 3 sessions. We had a well-known artist from our church Ro Diaz to paint during our sessions. He was also the featured artist for the lectures.

The praise team did extremely well. We were well received by those who attended our sessions. All through the week people were coming up to tell us how much they enjoyed it. The praise team came away very encouraged as well.

It was a great week. Of course, Pepperdine is one of the most beautiful places in the country.

On the plane ride home, we got to fly on a 767, which is one of the bigger planes. It has 2 seats, and aisle, 3 seats, an aisle, and then 2 more seats on each row. I was sitting in the center 3 seats and an older couple was sitting next to me. In the middle of the flight, the older gentleman went to the restroom, but when he came out, he collapsed on the floor of the plane. He ended up hurling a dozen times by the time we arrived at DFW and was complaining about his chest. The paramedics came on the plane and escorted him off as soon as we were able to dock with the airport.

Summer's mom and aunt were able to fly in and visit while I was gone.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Tribute to a great man

My vocal coach, Jim Casey, passed away over the weekend. He had cancer that had taken over his body.

Jim was well-known in the barbershop society. He coached many gold medal quartets. There are many of the best singers that have attributed much of their success in singing to Jim.

I was able to work with Jim many times over the past 3 years. He transformed my voice into what it is now. He also coached my quartet and helpped us get to the international competition.

Several months ago, I had him come and work with our praise team. It was an incredible night where everyone there was blessed. I will never forget him talking about the importance of communicating the message of the song from your heart. After talking about it, he sang "It is Well with My Soul." I don't think I will ever here a more heartfelt expression of that song than what he sang to us that night. We also gathered around him and prayed over hiim.

He called me the next day just to let me know what an incredible experience it was to work with us and that it just overwhelmed him when we gathered to pray over hiim.

Two weeks ago, my quartet was able to visit him in ICU and sing a couple of songs for him. As far as I know, our quartet was the last that he coached and the last to sing for him before he passed on.

He will be greatly missed. He knew my dad, so I'm sure he will find him in heaven and sing a few.

Pepperdine was this past week, but I'll save that for tomorrow.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Goooooooooooooal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so it's been over a month since I've posted. I have lots to talk about, but I'm going to try to spread it out so maybe I can post more often.

Today Micah had a soccer game and scored his first official goal. We had promised him that if he scored a goal that we would go to Chucky Cheese. He was open and one of the kids just happened to kick the ball to him. From about 12-15 feet from the goal, he kicked it and it was perfectly on target and nobody in front of him to stop it.

He was so excited after scoring the goal. It was one of proudest I've seen him. We honored our deal and took them to Chucky Cheese. Anna, though not acting scared before we got there, got scared as we went in. When Chucky was out walking around, she hid under the table so she wouldn't see him. Oh, well. I guess we will have to accept the fact that Anna will always have Chuckphobia. (and noisephobia, fireworksphobia, asperagusphobia, and of course darkphobia. I'm sure there are official names for these phobias, but I'm too lazy to look them up.

Bret

Friday, March 16, 2007

Happy Spring Break and St. Patrick's Day!

Well, it is that time of year again. The weather is absolutely beautiful, the yard needs mowing, kids get out of school for a week, and you get pinched for not wearing green. Oh yeah and let’s not forget the NCAA Tournament.
Summer and I took the kids to Sea World with the Clarks. We had a blast. Summer and the kids have never been to Sea World. The shows were awesome. I even got to touch a dolphin. It has actually been around 20 years since I’ve been. It is amazing what they can train those dolphins and whales to do.
In one of the shows a sea lion jumped a little too far and went over the wall in front of the audience. He was ok, but you could tell it wasn’t supposed to happen by looking at the trainer’s reaction.
It’s also a time for spring cleaning. Summer just put a ton of stuff in a consignment sale last weekend. It is a time to weed out old toys, clothes you can’t wear anymore, and decorations that you’ll never use again.
Maybe spring time is a great time to do some spiritual cleaning as well. I challenge each of you to take an inventory of your spiritual temple and clean the cob webs out of that dark corner of your soul. Take out the trash. Open the windows of your heart so that the Son can shine in and you can breath in the fresh wind of the Spirit.
But remember that the only way to clean your temple is to ask God. Remember the words of David:
“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow...Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:7. 10

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Picture of the competition


International Competitors

15 years ago in 1992, I had the honor of competing internationally in a quartet with my dad. It was a dream of my dad to be able to do that. It was special that we were able to do that together. He passed away 6 months after competing in that competition. I've had a dream to be competing again on that level and hopefully one day winning an international quartet gold medal.

The only problem is that the standards and quality of quartets since 1992 have gone up. It is very difficult to make it to an international level. You are scored in 3 different categories, which is music, singing, and presentation. All are closely related, but have different focuses in their judging. You have to get a 76% average to compete at the international level. Most gold medal quartets sing around the 90% level.

This past weekend we scored at 78.7%. That has earned us the right to compete internationally this summer in Denver, CO. Though we have a lot of work to do we are excited about getting to compete against the best 50 quartets in the world. (in our style of music of course)

Thursday, March 01, 2007

3 Years

Today is my 3 year anniversary at Preston Road. It is hard to believe it has already been 3 years. In that time, my family and I have lived in 3 different places. Micah has started school. Rebekah was born. I went out of country for my first time. I've won a gold medal. In the next few months several other things are about to happen. My wife and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage. The worship team will be singing at Pepperdine. My quartet should be competing internationally this summer. Alot can sure happen in 3 years.

I was encouraged and challenged by a passage yesterday. Acts 17:24-28 says:

24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28`For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, `We are his offspring.' NIV

God has put us here for a purpose and where we live and where we are in life was planned by God long before we were concieved in the womb. Read Psalm 139 sometime. Yet He still planned our life with our free will in mind. Will I decide to live for God's purpose where He has planted me?

We should all seek to live out God's purposes where we are now, because God has you now exactly where He intends you to be.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Just about gone

My bronchitis is all but done. I still have a cough here and there, but all the congestion has pretty much broken up. It was the worst case I've ever had.

Sunday night we had our talent show. It was a great success. Two of our youth brought their band and rocked the house. We had about 20 acts and all of them were great.

There was even a funny surprise when two teenage girls did a cannonball into the baptistry. Afterwards their moms had made signs with 9.7 and 10 on them. It totally shocked me. It was funny though.

Anna sang up on stage and was adorable.

Her birthday was yesterday. She lost her voice and it is the cutest thing to hear her talk. She was cute before, but with a raspy voice, I just crack up everytime she talks.

Time for Staff Prayer Time. Blessings.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Bronchitis

I have been struggling through my roughest round of Bronchitis ever. The doctor gave me an antibiotic shot in one hip and a steroid shot in the other. On top of that he prescribed me a Z-pack, steroid medicine, Allegra D, and a cough syrup with codeine. He also said for me to keep taking my Mucinex DM on top of that. As long as I get better, I guess I'll take whatever he says, but it has been a miserable couple of days.

I'm back at work today. I'm a little on the tired and lightheaded side, but I've got work to do, so I'm going after it.

We had our first week with our new wireless microphones. Most everything went well. There may be one frequency I have to fix, but I think we are in good shape.

This Sunday night is our annual talent show. It is going to be great. We have the most participation since I've been here. I can't wait. it will be a blast.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Chris Tomlin Concert

Friday night a few of us from church went to the "How Great Is Our God" Tour. It featured Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and Louie Gigglio. It was a powerful worship experience. It was my first time to see Chris Tomlin or Matt Redman live. It was awesome. I've been listening to his CD's on iTunes today. I think he has a new CD out. I'm going to have to pick it up.

Saturday night, Summer and I had a date night because our church hosted a babysitting night for all the parents. We ate at Mi Cosinos (i think that is how you spell it) It was very good. We had recieved a gift card for there over the holidays. We then went walked around a couple of stores including Rooms to Go. We've been wanting to replace the chairs we have in our living room. I still have my late father's reliner in my living room. It is very comfortable, but it has seen its better days. Our other chair is the same way. We've had it for almost 10 years and it has seen its share of abuse from our kids, former pets, and youth group members. We found only one chair we liked in the whole place, but think that it might work. I'm sure we'll look around some more before we committ to anything.

Sunday was as ususal 100mph. It goes a little something like this:

6:30am- Get ready for church
8:00am- Praise Team tech Rehearsal
9:30am-Help lead worship in Children's Class
10:45am-Worship
12:30-Help babysit kids for a children's ministry meeting
2:30-Karate at church with Micah
4:30- Superbowl party at the Wheelers
9:30-Get home and put the kids to bed.

It was all good though. The party was great. Ed, one of our sound techs said he would dress in a former halloween costume (a woman's dress complete with long blong wig) and sing "I'm a Little Teapot" at our church Talent show if the Colts beat the Bears....

Did I mention that the Colts won? Yipee.

Congrats to Peyton Manning and Coach Dungy on a well deserved victory. I'm also happy about the credit they gave to God. What a classy bunch of guys.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl Rebekah. She is 2 today. We got up this morning and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. We will have a family dinner tonight for her and then we will celebrate on Saturday afternoon.

This past weekend we had a worship team retreat. It was awesome. We even recorded a few songs while we were there. We spent alot of time dwelling in the word together. We focused all weekend on Psalm 29. If you have a few minutes today please read this Psalm and see what God reveals about himself to you. I will include the text below.

Ps 29

Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;the God of glory thunders,the LORD thunders over the mighty waters. 4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;the voice of the LORD is majestic. 5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the LORD strikes with flashes of lightning. 8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare.And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"
10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;the LORD is enthroned as King forever. 11 The LORD gives strength to his people;the LORD blesses his people with peace.
NIV

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Word of God

This Sunday we are focusing on the importance of the Word of God, especially in community. Scott our minister has a powerful lesson planned about how we not only hurt ourselves when we don't spend time in the Word of God, but we also are hurting our community of faith when we don't spend time in the Word of God.

I've been thinking alot about my days in Nashville at Riverwood. We had some kids in some tough places in that youth group. Some of them were in very broken families. Some were deep into drugs and drinking. A few went to one of the scariest schools in Nashville. Yet the Word of God transformed them.

Here are some lyrics that have been running through my head all week.

"Word of God speak, would you pour down like rain washing my eyes to see your majesty? To be still and know that You're in this place, please let me stay and rest in Your holiness"

--
Word of God Speak

Bart Millard


"Your words are life to me
Your Ways are all I seek
Your truth is everything I need
Your words are life to me
For every breath I breath
Your words are life to me...."

"Your words bring life to my being, but now I'm seeing it, singing it, living it, breathing it. You're the way, the truth, the light, the door. The King who grants wisdom, the One you're searching for. I love Him, I praise Him, Yeah, I give Him all the glory, His words are life to me."

--
Your Words are Life to Me
Jeffrey B. Scott/Reggie Joiner

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

It has been a while!

Xmas and the New Year consistantly bring lots of excitement. During Xmas, my wife got sick, I got sick, and my dear Anna got sick. Unfortuately, Anna getting sick left Summer and I cleaning carpet at my sister's house on Xmas eve night.

Last week we got a new dog. We got him from the animal shelter. I've always wanted a chocolate lab. Unfortunately he died on Thursday night of Parvo. It was especially hard on my wife and Micah. Micah cried for 20 minutes straight after telling him about it. Now I have to bleach my house and yard before we can think about another dog because Parvo can hang around for 9 months in a yard. Somehow, I don't think we will get a new dog for a while after this incident.

I'll post some pictures in a little while of recent events.

Today I've been watching the construction crew tearing down the houses next to our church as we are starting our building project. It is cool to see how quickly they can tear them down. I've got a video camera taping it so we can do a play back in fast motion of it going down.

Let me know if anyone still checks this occasionally.