You Are The One
I just recently ran across the new CD by Lincoln Brewster and have already played it about 100 times through. There are some great songs on there like "Love the Lord Your God" and "Amazed" but my all time favorite right now is "You Are The One". We often get wrapped up in our own lives and schedules and think what's in it for me and look to serve ourselves. Once we break from that mold and focus on others and especially the awesomeness of God it helps put everything back into perspective and bring some relief to the stressful lifestyle. Thats what everyone needs. Focusing on God rather than ourselves. Its not about me and all about YOU. YOU are the one. Check out these lyrics.....

Verse:You're the One Who made the heavensYou're the One Who shaped the earthYou're the One Who formed my heart long before my birth.I believe You'll always lead me . All my days have been ordained,All Your thoughts toward me are holy,full of love and graceChorus:You are the One, You are holy,You are the One, You are worthyYou are the One, You are the One, everlasting(1st ending)Lord, You are the One,Jesus, You're the One(2nd ending)You are the One I will worship,You are the One I will serve all my daysYou are the One, You are the One, everlastingLord, You are the One,Jesus, You're the One......

quite humbling......

Mini Sammy Hagar?

No its just Ethan in a crazy wig but he did get to sing his first song on stage last week at the Kinder Kritters Patriotic program(his kindergarten class) . The music was hard to hear but he did his best and got to sing everyones favorite classic patriotic song, "God Bless the USA".

Click here to check it out . (Top video on the right side)

ITs Snowing!!!! (click here for pictures)
Well it's more than snowing. It's been snowing more than two days and we presently have about 6 inches with about 6 more on the way tonite. It wouldn't be such a big deal if we were in Michigan but the picture above is taken in our backyard this afternoon at our home here in Arizona!! Over 12 inches has falled in the Northern Arizona area this weekend. I would have never believed it but its for real. When you think of Arizona you dont think snow. Most people think its all about desert and cacti (the plural form of cactus). What alot of people dont know is that all Northern Arizona has an elevation of 5,000 feet and up to 8,000 on some mountains. Which is the reason for the precipitation. Pictured above is Corey, (squinting to see through the snowfall and missing a tooth) and Ethan out enjoying the weather. Dont believe it!?? Click Here to see all about it on the weather page and check out the video at the problem! 3-11-06

ITunes and other musical tidbits
Yes its true if you havent heard my music will soon be available on ITunes. Im pretty excited about that as its another way to get the music out. Now I just have to fill out some online info and jump through the hoops to get it up and going. Itunes over the past few months has added TV shows to their downloadable items to purchase so I have been on there alot. Being the big "Lost" fan I am I find myself often downloading episodes since I am not home in time to watch it on Wednesday nights. Another great feature is the ability to download full albums. Sure you can just run to the store and get it but for a few bucks cheaper you can get it on your computer for ususally less than store costs. If you have seen Curious George the movie( yes I admit I wathced it... twice) you probably heard the incredible Music of Jack Johnson a Hawaii native turned folk music star. If your looking for fun, awesome music check out Jack.( Great stuff and cool website). On the other hand, my kids just got hooked on the new Disney TV movie, called High School Musical. Beware. If you havent seen it you are lucky. Ok well for a musical about high school its not all that bad. Really tough even though it comes across as extremely cheesy (a straight up 10 for me on the Velveeta meeter) It has some pretty creative music that I also downloaded on Itunes. If your into musical type songs. (Im not recommending this for anyone else just thought Id share ) Now I have to listen to it in the car and everywhere else my kids can find a cd player. So by now your saying so what Kevin ITunes is old news. Yes it is but daily they come up with new features and its a great tool to find cool new music. Surf around and see what you can find. Hopefully you will soon find my music on there too. Im no Jack Johnson but theres nothing like another great opportunity to share your music with the world.

Its 20 degrees!!
I logged on to my computer this morning and my weather channel info popped up reading 20 degrees! Thats nothing though becaue Ive seen it down to 13 or so on the local bank sign early in the morning. Who knows how low it gets at night. So whats the big deal about it being 20 degrees? Well for one thing we are in Arizona. For anyone reading this who is not familiar with Arizona weather and think AZ is a vast land of sand and hot sun check out www.weather.com and type in Phoenix or Prescott in the box. You will be suprised at the difference. Luckily it warms up during the day and doesnt stay that cold for the whole 24 hour period. Coming from MI or anywhere in the Midwest you would never imagine it would get that cold. I never knoew there were mountains in AZ either but now I live on one (5,300 feet above sea level, which explains the drastic change in temperature. Arizona cold? Check it out for yourself. In the meantime Im bundling up the kids and headed for the bus stop!.

No Church on Christmas?
This was the title MSNBC ran on their article about this "Whether or not to have Church on Christmas day controversy" of December 2005. It was a very unique situation for not only the church where I serve but churches across the country this year as Christmas and New Years both landed on a Sunday. If you do the math the last time that actually hapened was in 1994. (thanks to leap year) So this doesnt happen that often. The big debate for many churches was whether or not to have services on Christmas day due to the lack of attendance or just focus on Christmas Eve. (Click here to read the MSNBC story) Being a Worship Leader/program direcor myself we spent weeks in staff meeting discussing what to do. ( and asking other churches) Now that its all said and done Im glad we stuck with Christmas services on Christmas Eve and day. It might sound crazy since we had to hold 7 services all together on both days and I am still trying to recover but it was a good choice. After all and no matter what, what is Christmas time for anyway?? Several churches said they cancelled since they were expecting low attendance and not expecting the "unchurched" to show (the unchurched being the primary focus of who they are trying to reach.) As for our church I know its safe to say over 70% of our attenders on Christmas Eve AND on Christmas day were those we ARE focusing on and those are the "Unchurched". I hope opportunities like this weren't missed by the many churches across the country who decided to close for different reasons. Whether overall it was the decision to cancel to allow families to stay home and spend time together, or because churches were "bowing to secular culture" as many media opponents criticized, or a lack of staffing due to being a mega church or just for the convenience of it all I don't know. My hope though is that churches of all sizes when it comes to programming and cooperate worship in today's socieity will prayerfully steer away from what seems like a "logical" decision to us and never replace our meeting times together for whatever reason with what could be a divine opportunity for God to do His thing!
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.- Hebrews 10:25

Christmas In Arizona
This year for the first time ever we will be spending Christmas in Arizona. ( Ok we may take a short trip to the west coast and enjoy the ocean for a couple days too) Prescott, AZ is Arizona's Christmas city. What exactly does that mean? Well other than the fact that there are more Christmas celebrations, parades, lights, etc than any other city Ive seen the rumor is it also snows here. Not alot but just enough to cover the ground (and hopefully enough to go sledding) Supposedly there are a couple ski hills north of here a bit that I hope to check out as well. I wouldnt have believed all this if just a month ago it didnt start getting crazy cold (for Arizona anyway) It was 3 degrees at the Grand canyon on the news the other day. From our house and around the area you can see the SanFransico Peaks located in Flagstaff and they have snow all over them. As for here right now its just another bright and sunny day. I would have never imagined snow in Arizona but then again we are 5,3000 feet above sea level here. ( In Phoenix its been around 60 or so!!) Whatever the case may be and no matter where you are Christmas is still Christmas and I pray everyone has a great Christmas and holiday season!