Go Cubs Go...

"Go Cubs Go, Go Cubs Go - hey Chicago whaddya say? The Cubs are gonna win today!"

Was that amazing today or what?

Cubs 10, Rockies 9.

"Go Cubs Go, Go Cubs Go - hey Chicago whaddya say? The Cubs are gonna win today!"

Baseball, Movies, and Books

The Romeoville Cubs have now won 4 in a row! The last one was a complete blow-out: 19-0. The other team (Romeoville Tigers) was completely over matched. It wasn't really a fun game, to be honest. That team really was not coached well. It showed. I felt kind of bad for the kids - they didn't deserve that. Oh well, we move on. The next team, Woodridge Tigers, are one of the best in the league. I think our kids have confidence now that they can go up against these kids. We will see.

Since the new job was secured I have been taking the week off. I have been spending a lot of time reading, seeing movies, bike riding, etc. It has been rather nice. I saw the Indiana Jones movie on Tuesday. It was really enjoyable. I won't say it was better than the first one but it had it's good moments. I wonder how they are going to continue with the series? You just know that another one will be made. I think that when you see the very last scene you get a hint of a direction that they might take. Hmmmm. I don't want to give any more away to those who haven't seen it yet. But, I think Shia LeBouf's character will be around. He was real good in the movie.

The next day, Mary and I went to see Iron Man. Wow, what a cool movie! I never really knew much about this comic strip character. Robert Downey Jr. plays the part perfectly. I think that it was helped by the fact that we know what his lifestyle was/is in the real world and how it related to the character in the movie. Made it more believable. I was totally engaged throughout. The only problem is that early on in the movie, you get the idea who the main antagonist is going to be. Although they don't say, you will figure it out. I did get a little chuckle when I saw Ricky Bobby's first wife show up. OK, so she wasn't Mrs. Bobby but I will always think of her as that!

I also got Dish Network to lower its rate with us by about $25/mo. In so doing, we get Cinemax for a penny a month. Yes, I do have the late night adult stuff locked out. However, it is cool to catch up on some other movies I haven't seen yet: Pan's Labyrinth, The Departed, United 93, The Last King of Scotland, etc. I am recording them all. I have only seen Pan's Labyrinth so far.

I have also read some great books: "The Life of Pi" and "Into the Wild". They are both short reads. It is interesting when reading them how some of the main characters find ways to deal with nature. "Pi" is a fictional story about a kid who grows up in India. His dad is a zookeeper, so he spends much time at the zoo his dad owns. He also tells of his spiritual life and how he became, all at once, a Hindu, Muslim and a Christian. It was told quite humorously. The story picks up when they are forced to move to Canada via ship with many of their animals. The ship sinks and Pi is forced to live (as a teen) for over 200 days on a well-provisioned lifeboat on his own with a tiger in the middle of the Pacific. It was a story well told. The ending has you guessing what part of the story to "believe".

"Into the Wild" is what the movie is based on. The movie received several Oscar nominations. That is another movie for me to see. The book tells the story, in a documentary style, of the life of a young man who ended up dying in the Alaska wilderness trying to live off the land. I was really engaged in the story. I could sometimes relate to the kid. I remember many times before I was married of wanting to go hiking out in Alaska and "getting away from it all". I know many people don't get why he did what he did. I kind of do. I have always loved hiking out in nature. I just haven't done enough. And, I didn't do anything as extreme as he did by living completely on his own in the wild. I was thinking that any men's small group at church that went over "Wild At Heart" (like mine did), would fine a lot to talk about with this book. There are some parallels. Particularly if you have an "adventurous heart".

Check them all out.

Greg

Greg Eichelberger is a good friend of mine. I think that he is most likely a good friend of many people. He is just that kind of person. Greg is stepping down from the Romeoville Arts Director position to help start a new church in Schaumburg called Waterfront. I'll be honest, I am hoping that I can even come close to how well he served over there. He is so well liked and respected by everyone that I know. That campus is run extremely well with a great team of leaders. In addition to being so likable I have always found him to be very insightful. He always has the knack of being able to see deeply into any situation and interpret and explain it. I think that is a part of what many of us call "wisdom". Yep, he has it.

He does many things so well: play guitar, worship lead; he also has a great ear and knowledge of sound. That is why you can listen to any recordings he has engineered and be easily impressed. Just check out the Reign Man CD, or any of the Vanessa E. recordings; yes, even my former band Water 2 Wine. There are also some good CCC recordings. The list goes on.

However, here is the best part. He is a great family man. I see how he is around them and it is great. Of course, I have been jokingly warning him about when his kids become...TEENAGERS! heh, heh, heh, heh (insert extended evil laugh here). His wife Vanessa has such a warm, loving heart. They make a great pair (18 years and counting - just like Mary and I).

I could go on but I hope you get the point. He will do quite awesome at Waterfront. I know that on my end, as Romeoville Arts Director, I will do all I can to help him and their team (and I know the campus will as well).

I can't thank him enough for being there through my tough times the last three months. He has been there in more ways than I can count. I know that he also is there for others: whether in need or to just have a beer. Wish him well when you see him.

And by the way, please pray for his dad as some difficult times have surfaced in his battle with cancer. God can do miraculous things. Let's pray it up!

I have some other people to talk about. But that is for the next post...

(BTW, I did see the Indiana Jones movie today and liked it a lot! I'll comment later...)

and now a commercial break...

Our beloved Romeoville Cubs are now on a 3 game winning streak after winning our Friday make up game by the score of 14-5 over the Woodridge Red Sox. The game was actually close at 4-4 until we broke it open in the 4th inning and never looked back. It was cold and cloudy but our bats heated up in the 4th and 5th innings. Great pitching (we still have amongst the best) and good defense held on. Next game on Wednesday.

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

Indy's Back...and So Am I

I can't wait to see the next installment of the Indiana Jones movie. Indy is back!


And, so am I. Well, the decision has been made. The offer has been accepted. The last of the t's and a few i's have been taken care of. I will no longer be unemployed as of June 1st. I will be the new Romeoville Campus Arts Director at Community Christian Church. Many of you are saying: Yay!....huh? Ok, here it is in a nutshell, so please just follow along.

First of all, it is awesome to be back. To be honest, I wasn't sure when I first brought it up on Mother's Day. However, things moved very quick and, well, here I am!

Before I talk about all the cool stuff, I want to answer a question that has already come up a couple times (and, I am sure will continue over the next handful of weeks). It is this: "Why would you come back to a place that let you go? After all that has happened..." All that has happened...wow, quite a bit. Here is the simplest way I can explain it. If I still retained bitterness, hard feelings, and lots of other nasty things in my heart then, to be honest, I have no business applying for a ministry job in any church. Take it a step further. Forget the job piece for a moment. How can I serve anywhere with those continued feelings? To say I loved God and not certain people felt hippocritical. One of the things I have learned, and you should know this if you have been reading this blog for any length of time, is to just let it go. Forgive and move on. It will eat you up if you keep that going. Yeah, I had it for a while in those first few weeks. But, after that period, it was time to move on. And wasn't it interesting that, after I did that, opportunites began flooding in? Think that God might have been waiting for me to get over it too?


So, after all that, and the interviews and offers were arriving, along comes this opening at Romeoville. Now, why wouldn't I inquire about it? I mean, I fit the bill regarding what the qualifications are. It is only a mile from our house. We go there for goodness sake. The only reason I wouldn't was if I still had those feelings. Well, they were gone. So, go for it. And I did. And, seeing how things are transpiring now, I know it was the right move.

One part of the job involves oversight of Romeoville School for the Arts. This is a new role for me but it will be quite interesting to see how it works out. It is a first for SFTA. We will be evaluating it over time to see what works, what doesn't, what could be better, what is awesome about it, etc.

So, how did we get here? There was much I had to hold back for some time. However, things ramped up quickly starting on Mother's Day. That was when I first talked to Jon about how it would be a win for all of us if I had an opportunity to come back. I won't go into all the details of everything but suffice it to say, it was an agreed upon win. So after a couple meetings and conversations we got it to work. I have to confess that I had a few other offers on the table that I had to address real soon. Those might have been catalysts for the quick movement. One funny thing was after I got back from Philadelphia, I literally got off the plane, to my car, woofed down lunch, and headed to a meeting about the Arts Director job!

Mary and the kids were definitely in favor of it. Katrina and Alec do have their friends and are very attached to the Student Community at church. Mary is doing well at Whole Foods. It just didn't feel right that we were to move at this time. However, I should say, I do feel that I am more ready if the call ever reaches us in the future.

So, there you have it. Want to know about the journey to this point? Start at the March 3rd post and follow along. Wow. I want to repeat it again: I am so thankful for the journey I was on. Thankful to God for showing me and teaching me lessons along the way. It was a good thing. Call me crazy but that is how I choose to look at it.

I have more to say but, in the tradition of great stories and movies, we need to break it out into other parts. I never liked long blog posts and this won't be one either. I have a couple other posts to follow this one. One concerns the people I met along the way. I want to tell you about them. You also need to know about Greg. See, he is moving on from Romeoville Arts Director to help start a new church in Schaumburg called Waterfront. Without him, I don't know where I would be. Stay tuned...

Magical Mystery Tour

I was never a huge Beatles fan. Now, I am a fan and do like their stuff - just not "fanatical" like some of you reading this! :) We have been converting some of the Beatles records to digital and this morning I uploaded Magical Mystery Tour. It's funny, of the gadzillion songs we know by them, I still come across some that I don't remember ever hearing. On side one for example, I don't recall hearing Blue Jay Way (a Harrison song) or Your Mother Should Know. I think I heard Flying before. Regardless, there actually are Beatles songs that are not played on the radio (unless it is a special Beatles thing on a radio show). I just never owned Beatles records and neither did my mom (although I do recall one record she had when I was little - I can't remember exactly, I just know it was colorful - probably Sgt. Pepper, it wasn't this one). So naturally, I never listened to some of the other songs. All of side two on this album has songs we all know (Penny Lane is my favorite).

Special alert: I have absolutely NOTHING on my calendar for today! I can't recall the last time that happened. I am going to read a little and then go for a 30 mi bike ride early this afternoon. Awesome!

American Idol is OVER! Awesome!

Oh and there should be a job anouncement tomorrow night. See ya...

Hebrews 11:6

Caught this verse on Mary's blog:

Hebrews 11:6
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

How true that has been these recent months!

I really need to go to her blog more often...

Civic Duty

Mary has to appear for jury duty tomorrow. She is basically "on call" the entire week. You have to love how the government operates: take you away from a income producing job to a "civic duty" where they only pay you $10/day. Oh wait, they do add for paying for mileage to get to the courthouse. Whoopee...it really inspires one to want to participate. I remember my civic duty about 20 years ago. I actually served on a trial. It ended up being a lawsuit against a doctor. The jury ended up being a hung jury (i.e., no unanimous decision). The only cool thing about it was that the defense lawyer at the time was this guy called Tim Evans. His call to celebrity at that time was that he ran for mayor of Chicago the year before.

Let's get on with it...

It went great this weekend. There is always something special about leading worship - especially at the home base. It feels great to be connected once again. Not that I was ever unconnected; it was nice to be giving back to the community that we have enjoyed being part of. What a wild ride it has been so far. It continues to this day. There have been a lot of tears, laughter, weirdness, kindness, compassion - you name it, in the last two and a half months. Most importantly, God has been right by my side as He always is. So many times He has spoken loudly to me: always in ways that I would understand of course! That is just the thing: He always knows!

It has been asked of me several times if it feels weird to be back and involved in the church that let me go. My response begins very simply with this: it only feels weird in that it doesn't feel weird. I said this way back, many posts ago: it is the community of the Christ Followers that is bigger than the institution of the church. I am a part of the community of people that are part of CCC. It's family, why would I be like the prodigal son and leave on wrong terms? Another thing: I have forgiven in my heart those things that were done to me. Isn't that one of the things we are taught about? So, let's just get on with it! I have always thought throughout my life that grudges are a complete waste of time and energy. It's always better to reconcile as soon as possible. And, who knows, life might actually end up being better than it ever was before!

Folks, I have learned more than ever before what it means to just plain be obedient to God. I can't state it in any more simple words.

And that is all I have to say about that...

By the way, the Romeoville Cubs are on a two game winning streak! We won on Friday, 15-1 and again on Saturday, 11-2. Maybe we are turning the corner? I hope so.

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In some ways this weekend is the biggest so far for me. I have already returned to the stage; I have already gone back and worship led at River Valley. However, this is the first one where I worship lead at CCC Romeoville Campus. It's a good thing. It means a lot to return. I'll fill you in on how it went.

Baseball has been ragged as of late. We have lost a few. Last Wednesday, one that I wasn't at, we got it handed to us, 10-2. Good thing I wasn't there because I hear it was a horrible performance. Today, we win 15-1 over the Bolingbrook Red Sox. Who were those kids and why were they wearing our uniforms! Everything clicked: hitting, defense, pitching. I heard Coach Lenny let them have it a bit last Wednesday. It must have worked!

Somewhere between Monday and Wednesday I think we will have finally made it to the end of the road. I am hoping for an announcement on where I have a job then. However, since nothing is official in any sense of the word (and I am still evaluating some options), I will keep you in suspense until then.

American Idol is still on?

Germann Road

And before I retire for the night, I have to post this picture that I just received from our Romeoville drummer, Craig Vocak. Remember I was talking about finding a place and street in Arizona with my name? Well, he was just out there and came across the street. He didn't make it to the town but thanks to him anyway for this picture of the road sign!

Back from Philly

Hey there y'all, I just got back this morning from Philly. I will have more to say later but suffice it to say that Branch Creek Church is an awesome place. Really nice area and a great church. I went through the ringer on meetings and interviews all day yesterday and this morning. I even had a couple meetings locally this afternoon then it was four hours of lessons. Needless to say I am a bit exhausted tonight (I was last night at the hotel too!). Here is their website:

http://www.branchcreek.org/

I have a number of offers and opportunities to sort through the next handful of days. Heck, another church just sent me something today regarding interest in my skills. Whew! I am trying to remember when I sent them something! :) It has been an incredible learning experience the last few weeks. I am really finding that I enjoy interacting with many of these places and having ideas to offer - as well as learning from them. I would love to find a way where I can some day be part of teaching and coaching churches to be more successful in the arts. It is really cool. One day...

And the world keeps spinnin' round...

Been busy lately. A few offers to decide upon. Many options to look through and still collecting information. Tomorrow I head to Philadelphia to check out a church that had contacted me a few weeks ago.

Our Romeoville Cubs won a big one last Saturday 21-9. Yeah, good offense but we also had good defense. We lost today to a Bolingbrook team that simply outplayed us, 10-3. Probably the first game we didn't beat ourselves with. However, it was also the first team we encountered with very annoying coaches. That really bothers me sometimes.

For turntable fun, we are starting to convert Mary's Beatles albums. We have already recorded Let It Be, Revolver, and Rubber Soul. It was fun listening to them. Katrina was loving it too. By the way, anyone check out the movie "Across the Universe"? I loved it! The songs and the visuals are worth the price of the DVD alone.

Gamebreak

I took a break today. I walked some trails at Starved Rock on my own. Somehow I find solace out there. Offers, interviews, resumes, meetings, etc....I needed time away. Take some advice y'all: keep your job, don't end up here! I am entering that phase of choosing what to do for my immediate future. Most offers are in. There are still a couple that I wonder if I will hear about. Ah well, life moves on, doesn't it? Probably by the middle to end of next week we should all know what this person will be up to. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, the walk was nice. I didn't really think of any of this stuff. Very cool to be able to clear my head.

BTW, we lost again today, 10-8. There were two defensive meltdown innings, the worst being the fourth where I think we gave the other team something like 7 outs. They scored 5 runs through all that (where it should have been 3 up, 3 down). Now check the score again. We were still in it despite the bad stuff. Minus that bad inning, we win the game. Our kids really battled back in the last couple innings and had the tying run at the plate at the end of the game. Our last two games literally have gone right to the very last out. Instead of 1-4 we could easily be 4-1 with just some better defensive play. Here is hoping that Saturday will be better.

Last few days

Has it been a few days since blogging? Wow, time flies fast! I have much to say about the job search thing but I am going to have to save much of that for later. The reason is I don't want to assume anything. Needless to say this is most likely "offer week" (I have already had one "minor" one). Yep, there should be some coming. Note I said "some" and not "one". I do want to share one thing with you, however. Not sure if I blogged on this way back (I should check). Back in the first week following "Black Monday", thoughout my prayers, one thing from God kept ringing in my ears. It was this: "when the time comes, you will choose from abundance and NOT desperation". It seemed hard to believe. Now, it is coming true! That was at the same time God was also talking to me through scripture (Joshua 1:9 to be precise). Of course it was all connected. Like I said, it was a hard time believing for quite some time. Things were indeed bleak for much of the time period. However, He kept reminding me of those two things: how I will choose and that He is always with me. As I said earlier, worry was never a part of my life (although, a little anxiety was!). God always keeps His promises! So, through this week, I will await some contacts to see where things lie. Next week should be interesting in deciding what direction things go. Stay tuned...

The service at River Valley was great! My style of worship leading worked in quite well with their service. I enjoyed it a lot. I did introduce two new songs for them: Happy Day and Center. Both went over good. They did ask when I can come back. I am sure I will - I need to look at my calendar to see how I can balance my time there with CCC and baseball.

Speaking of baseball, we did lose another game last Saturday to a team that is undefeated (they look like they have a lot of 14 year olds). However, we did tie it up in the top of the 7th. They won with the final run in the bottom of the 7th. It was a very exciting finish. Men on 2nd and 3rd - 1 out. Kid hits a deep fly to center. It is caught by our strong armed center fielder Sean (Alec was pitching). The other team must have forgotten that. The kid tags up and jogs home thinking they won and it's over. Well, Sean guns it home. He actually ended up throwing it just a couple feet over the catcher's head! Had he thrown just a little lower, the runner would have easily been out and inning over - we go to extras. Even our team, despite the loss, was very excited at the end. We played much better defense. Still some lapses but overall better than previous. And see what happens? We play a very competetive game with a good team right up to the last out. I guess the practice we had a couple days before paid off a bit: it was nothing but fielding grounders the entire 2 hours!

Back to Basics

I think that every staff member or volunteer at a larger church should take a few times a year to serve or attend a weekend (or something similar) at a younger, smaller church in their neighborhood. It was refreshing in a way when I was at band practice at River Valley on Tuesday night. It was definitely a smaller venue. However, it was a very educational experience too. Things are done on a much more smaller, simpler scale. Not a lot of the bells and whistles that we sometimes think we "need" at larger churches. Don't get me wrong here, those things definitely can help in communicating God's Word. But, are they can't-live-without-it necessities? No, I think not. You can go to a smaller location and still see everyone worshipping; you can still go to a smaller location and hear a great God-inspired message; you can still go to a smaller venue and meet and talk to people who know and love Jesus. It can be simple yet still effective. It is something to take with me as I continue to serve at CCC. If the projector blows up - God will still show up; if the sound system blows up - God will still show up; if the guitar player breaks a string in the middle of a prominent solo during a Christmas Eve service (ahem) - God will still show up. Our hearts just need to remain in the right place. Our priorities still need to be in the right order. People need to be more valued than gadgets and the almighty dollar. Let God do His work and let us get our junk out of the way. So yeah, we all need to go sometimes to see how it is done at the grass roots level. Get back to basics. Kind of like how it is playing guitar: I can learn all the wackiest, hardest solos over the past 30 years of my playing. However, if I forget the basics, none of that will hold up. My teaching has helped me remember those simpler things and it has made me better.

And now for something completely different...an infomercial:

Speaking of back to basics, on a completely different note, I am really happy about something that I am taking for my allergy to tree pollen. Through the years, for a couple weeks during this season, I get this nasty thing of itchy eyes. Anyone who knows me well enough, for the last few years we have pretty much discarded all medications in the house (except for a very occasional ibuprofen). A lot of the natural healing stuff works well and has made me a believer. Mary got this stuff called Eyebright from Dr. Schultze's (they have all kinds of natural herbs, etc. for treating just about anything). I started using it this season and it has been nothing short of amazing. Taking one dose in the morning (and sometimes at night) and I am fine all day! Imagine that, letting God and his creations (herbs) do the healing!

...and now we return to our regularly scheduled blogging...

Job search update: there are many pieces on the chess board moving now. I have a feeling that something will be decided within a week to a week and a half (+ or - a couple days). With whom you say? There are actually several places in the church and secular worlds. No offers yet but stay tuned...

And American Idol is still on? Apparently Paula isn't from what I hear. Does she know where she is? I'd rather watch the Cubs maul the Brewers 19-5.