The New iPod Shuffle.

Is it just me or is the new iPod shuffle getting too small?

Buyers Remorse.

The first time I felt buyers remorse was when I was 16 and for the first time had to actually work for the money that I was spending. It was 1983 and I was dying for a pair of the latest black Reebok high-top shoes that everyone who was anyone was wearing. The only problem is they were $78.00 dollars. A lot of money in 1983 to this young man. I begged my parents to buy me some and they informed me that I was free to spend my OWN money and purchase the shoes of my dreams. So at the first opportunity I ran to the nearest Foot Locker, pulled the plug and bought these wonderful shoes. It was as I walked out of the Foot Locker that I started to get that feeling of "What did I just do? $78.00 dollars for a pair of shoes? Am I insane?" I experienced the feeling of getting what I thought I wanted, but then realizing the consequences of what I just did.

Tonight our elected officials are walking out and heading home after approving one of the largest bills ever to pass through congress. And from what I've read many of them haven't even had the chance to view the bill they are voting for. I wonder if they too are having that same feeling that I once felt while leaving Foot Locker.

Throwing Shoes

I'm sure you've all seen the video of President Bush have a shoe thrown at him, well my friend Eric Bramlett found the video to go along with it. You can see it here.

If they guy actually did hit the President, it would have been hilarious if he said, "That really hurt! I'm going to have a lump you idiot! I mean really, who throws a shoe?"

Too funny!

The Missing Piece

Remember in "It's A Wonderful Life," Jimmy Stewart was granted the opportunity to see what life would be like if he never existed. Do you ever wonder what this world would be like if you never existed? No not in the suicidal way that George Bailey was, but in the positive. What kind of impact have you had on those you walk day to day with? Earlier this evening I was looking at some friends family pictures on Facebook. This is a family that in one way or another, direct or indirect, I have played a role in bringing together. Two friends joined together and then they have created entirely new individuals, their children. Do you ever think about stuff like this? I guess it's just nice to think that the world wouldn't be the same, well without...me.

Christmas With Friends

This past weekend was Valley Churches large Christmas event, Christmas With Friends and what a great time as well as a privilege it is to work with such wonderful people. This year consisted of a small , 4 peice, rhythm section, 7 brass players, plus a string quartet. I also got to sing a very moving song, Born On Christmas Day, with just piano and strings, it was very nice and overall a great experience for me. I thought I would post what our service order was for all to see. The service looked like this:

> Jingle Bells - Diana Krall
> Let It Snow - Michael Buble
> Sleigh Ride - Brian Setzer
> Joy To The World - PraiseCharts.com
> Oh Come All Ye Faithful - PraiseCharts.com
> Silent Night - Mercy Me
> How Can I Keep From Singing - SheDaisy
> Born On Christmas Day - Peabo Bryson
> Hark The Herald - PraiseCharts.com

It turned out to be a really nice mix of music and a very moving service. Props to Kevin David and his leadership at Valley! Good job Kevin!

Dry Ground

Earlier this evening I was reading a blog post from a friend and was moved by how insightful his writings were. This got me to think about my own blog and the lack of writing that I've been doing as of late. (Yes I've known, it's almost like I've been avoiding this blog for a while.) Why is that? I thought about it for a while, and discovered the answer I've known within myself for a while now. I am dry.
Writing just like anything else that has potential to inspire others, should come from an overflow from our daily walk. From those times where we have thoughts and wishes welling up within us that we just can't not share with others.
Tonight I realized once again, this has been a hard year and as much as I've tried to hold my head up and confirm that God is in control, it has been a challenge. Confirming this once again, just a few minutes ago I read my journal post from this year. For the first time ever in my life I began to journal my walk with Christ this year. Marking the highs and the lows, the joys and sorrows, (long guitar solos :) the times of assurance as well as utter confusion when trying to follow Christ.
Change of life, job, dealing with pneumonia, making new friends, dealing with pneumonia a second time, as well as the constant struggle to make ends meet and keep our heads above water all the while doing our best to live right and not be judgmental of others.
When I thought about just how dry I am, I saw a mental image much like the picture I've posted here. Growing up in the deserts of Arizona I'm no stranger to dry, cracked ground, and even if you took water and poured it onto that ground, although the water would instantly soak in, it would still show the scars of being dry. It takes time and regular amounts of water for those scars to disappear. So I'm OK now with the dry, if it's something that my family and I needed to go through. Why? I have no idea. But all I can do it trust that God knows what's happening in our life and will continue to guide us and direct us.
There's a song I grew up singing in my home church that has been going through my mind as of late, "He didn't bring us this far to leave us. He didn't teach us to swim to let us drown. He didn't put this hope in us, to move away. He didn't lift us up, to let us down."

Proverbs 16: 20 "It pays to take life seriously; things work out when you trust in God"

If you are reading this and you're dry too, let's pray for rain.

Technology And The Way Jesus Did It.

Sometimes I wonder if we really make this whole "church" thing to complicated. As you know I'm new to Valley Church and one of the things I'm responsible for is maintaining and creating the "loops" used during the Sunday Services. It's something that I really enjoy doing, but sometimes wonder why do we do it? It's actually quite the process. I create the loops, which aren't really loops but full blown sequences, in Logic Audio. I then bump the sequences down into 8 separate tracks and then load them into Ableton Live. From here they are routed out via an M-Audio interface through ADAT to our Yamaha automated sound console, where the "loops" can then be mixed as needed for our live settings. Easy enough?? When it works, but this week I had to go and screw it up.
Earlier this past week I sent out and email and of course it went out as sent from dburggraaf, the previous owner of the laptop I'm now using, and a couple of my friends gave me some crap for not having changed the owner of the laptop yet. So I proceeded to change the name of the computer and the home screen name to tyates. Which was great until I rebooted my MacBook Pro the next day to find an entirely new desktop and screenset. Then when I went to go open the software I use on a weekly basis it began asking for all of the serial numbers and wanted to authenticate all of the software again. Which is fine...if you know where all of that stuff is. Did I mention that I am new here!! So after a fun (not really) week of trying to get this all figured out, I thought I had it. Until I booted up this morning to realize that I hadn't re-figured out the ADAT thing. So for the first time since I've been here at Valley we went the entire morning with no loops, and you know who noticed...the band. Yeah that's it! Everyone else said the worship, "rocked, sounded great, inspiring." So I come back to my initial thought, do we make this harder than it needs to be?? Would Jesus use loops?

Tim