Vacation

Our time of praise & worship at church yesterday was good and encouraging. God was present as His Word says He inhabits the praises of His people and His presence was sweet. I believe people were encouraged by a revelation of God's love for them during worship. If we get out of the way and worship Him authentically, not trying to put on a show or manipulate the atmosphere but rather just worship Him as we do when no one is around, then we are worshiping Him in spirit and truth, thus allowing Him to freely move among us and through us.

I'm encouraged by people taking me up on my invitation to join the worship team. There are a couple of people joining the ranks as piano/keyboard players which will be nice, filling in the holes that have been missing and allowing me to return to the guitar and leading from the front. I believe that a few more key musicians and singers will join us in the coming season. The worship team is coming along nicely for the contemporary service. I'm somewhat at a loss, however, for new direction with the traditional service. I believe God wants to do something new with them. I'm just not sure what.

Construction on the new office really hit a high point this week as the radiators and a/c ductwork went in. Today, it is a bustling bit of activity – the sheet metal workers are presently installing the radiator covers; the buildings and grounds crew are there painting the choir room and the radiator panels; the contractors will be installing the interior window trim, closet doors, and storage cabinetry. Tomorrow the carpet and baseboards will be going in, leaving just a few details to complete in the coming days ahead: the window dividing the two rooms of the office, the desk top, and then the acoustic panels in the recording booth. I'm stoked and can't wait to see it all finished – and then get started on projects that have been on hold the past three months.

Our family just took a small vacation trip to the cities. It was only a couple of hours away but it was to get out of town and just focus on the family. The laptop stayed home and I tried to stay out of my email and text messaging as much as possible. In fact, being on "radio silence" (no calls, no emails, no texts) is not only nice, it's necessary for the health of my family as well as my own mental health. We spent a couple of days at the Mall of America, walking the shops, experiencing the food, dreaming, shopping for clothes, and playing minigolf at Moose Mountain. The other day of our trip was spent at Valleyfair Amusement Park from open to close. Maddie, my charming eight-year old, took to the roller coasters like a duck to water and rode everything she could as many times as possible. She had a blast, even on the bigger coasters, though she would spend the first half of the ride ducking and clinging to my arm. At about the half-way mark she would laugh and then look up to enjoy the remainder of the ride. We ate way too much food that was no healthy and spent way too much money but the family is worth it. The trip left us all wanting more – one more day would have been nice but we now are looking forward to our week at Lake Beauty in August, planning our next daniel6pack adventure day in October, anticipating a trip home to Missouri over spring break, and working out details for a California Adventure trip next summer. Nothing can match the treasure of common memories shared together.

This weekend found us at Green Lake enjoying the beautiful water which was a perfect temperature, the beautiful blue skies with their fluffy clouds, the band at Melvin's, and time splashing each other and soaking up the sun. In fact, yesterday we forgot to put on sunscreen and a couple of us are reflecting back some sun in the form of very pink skin. I think I'm learning a lesson this summer about Minnesota – after being trapped indoors all winter long, you need to take advantage of every day you can in the summer to get out and enjoy the 75-80 degree weather with its low humidity and cool breezes. Six weeks of summer are left and we plan on soaking up as much of it as we can.