Under Contstruction

Last Christmas, my sister-in-law gave me a book about the back story of Chip and Joanna Gaines called The Magnolia Story.   I read with much interest how they merged his interest in real estate investing and construction with her interest in design to create one of the most popular brands in our industry.  They chose not to reveal a "pie in the sky" fairy tale about how perfect they are, but talked intimately about their personal struggles with their business, their relationship and their faith.  They have chosen to make their foundation of faith more public through several interviews and videos.  For a quick (7 min) look at their story, click here, and for a more in depth interview (50 min) with them, check this out.  With most of our media saturated with a "if it feels good, do it" message, I love that Chip and Joanna have chosen to offer something different.

Get Local

I am looking forward to another season of meeting with our Connect Group at The Vine.  We will be reading and studying Paul's letter to the Philippians Wednesday evenings.  We still have a couple of spots available if you would like to join us.  We meet in Braselton at 7:00p.m.   I look forward to sharing things that we learn together.     Connect To The Vine

Camp for Camp

One of my good friends has a 2 year old grand-nephew, Camp Tatum.  I have never met Camp, but I have read a lot about him. He seems to be an amazing boy.  Even more amazing are his parents and extended family that have loved him and cared for him through his fight with cancer.  Camp is now celebrating victory with Jesus in what I imagine to be a great big camp designed just for him.  I am told that the gathering honoring his life was one of the most poignant worship services that many have ever been a part of.  I wish I could have been there.  If you want to know more about Camp and his story, click here.

Meet the composer

If you have followed this blog for a while, you know that Caroline and I play in the Georgia Wind Symphony.  We are debuting a new composition written by Jay Bocook at our GMEA concert in Athens on Friday, January 27th.  We were fortunate to rehearse his new work with him conducting at our rehearsal last Sunday.  It was an honor for us to be able to watch him as he heard something that was conceived in his mind, reviewed on his computer, but never performed live before Sunday.  Jay based the composition on an old gospel spiritual which was made well-know when it was  included in the movie, "O Brother, Where art thou?".  Alison Kraus recorded "Down in the River to Pray" for the movie, but we would love for you to hear Jay's adaptation.

 

New Year's Dissolutions

There is so much focus this time of the year around new year's resolutions -  things we have been meaning to do that we plan to start doing in January.  Much of the talk has to do with the full expectation that a New Year's resolutions is something we do at the beginning of the year, buy then fades quickly, ie the reduced number of cars in the gym parking lot in February.   This year, I have spent some time thinking about new year's dissolutions.  What are the activities/habits from last year that I could change or quit to make life a little better this year.  It didn't take me long to come up with quite a list.  The first thing I thought about was television, and that is a good one, but so far my best one is to stop thinking so much about how people can serve me thereby making room for me doing something for someone else.  What's your top new year's dissolution?

Slipper church

My church closed its doors on 1/1/17 to give the volunteers a break.  Some may wonder if the church leadership might have just been giving themselves a break.  Not at my church.  The Vine took the opportunity to launch our first online service and encouraged everyone to tune in at 11am on New Year's Day.  Caroline and I joined from Lake Hartwell in our bedroom slippers.  As usual, I was impressed by the attention to detail that our staff used in putting together great music and a great message.  There is no doubt the online service was much more difficult to pull off than just showing up on Sunday morning.  That being said, there is nothing like gathering together to praise our great God all in the same room.  Joining together online will always be second best.  If you don't have a church home, we would love to have you join us in person or online.

Resolve

Another year under the belt - literally.  With my weight being at a life-time high, I am resolved to make changes to fix that.  My son and daughter-in-law gave my a fitness tracker watch for Christmas, and the novelty of the gift has helped me with some early wins - my first run in six months, more walking breaks during the day and a realization that the staircase in my house provides 90% of the exercise I need to lose weight - if I use it.  My other resolution this year is to attempt to enjoy the moment I am in as opposed to anticipating (or worrying about) what will come next.  I don't have any electronics to help me with that one, but I will keep you posted.