interesting story about a college kid who spent three days living in wallmart as an experiment. weird that the article never once mentions the movie ‘where the heart is’, which, if i remember correctly, was the same thing.

jeannie sent me this email yesterday:

liesl and max and i were cuddling and playing in bed this a.m. max decided to crawl under the covers with liesl and i, so he started crawling on us and under the covers, poking his elbow here and there. it was fairly chaotic, funny and somewhat painful! all of a sudden he yells, “stop, i’m getting sophisticated!”

i don’t care what your politics are: this qualifies as some really awful jesus junk.

(ht to brad)

back at my desk, my rock-and-roll life is over.

i’m really glad i stayed an extra day on the tour, because i got to see university baptist church in waco (the david crowder band’s home church). while with the band for a few days, i continually noted how ‘normal’ they are, considering what they do. i saw why sunday morning: the guys in the band are grounded at ubc. they’re normal there — not celebrities. and they’re smart enough (intuitively or by choice) to know that it’s worth going way out of their way to be home on sunday mornings.

i was also greatly encouraged by the obvious pastoral heart david and toni have for ubc. it’s ever-present for them, in their thinking and hearts. they’re constantly thinking, brainstorming, talking, considering, how to help the church both stay on mission and move toward the future (especially in light of the tragic death of their friend and lead pastor, kyle lake, several months back). it’s difficult to describe why this was so encouraging to me: so let’s just leave it at that.

saturday night, after we arrived in waco at about 1am, i got to sleep in the loft in the studio david and toni built in the barn behind their home. if sleeping in a barn loft sounds like hay bales and drafts, you are not picturing this barn. this thing needs to be in architectural digest. toni has a truly shocking design sense.

ok — back to work.

anyone for a fun little trip to orlando?

way-nifty wheel rims. i gotta get a set of these for my cooper!

everyone is welcome at our church, but we might hog-tie you.

exactly what i was hoping to not have to do on the crowder tour bus last night, due to their “only winkie in the bus bathroom” rule.

i hadn’t realized the band (the david crowder band — see previous posts) are leading worship at their own church tomorrow morning in waco. i’ve always wanted to go to UBC, since i’m friends with these guys and with chris seay (who started it back in the day, but is no longer there). so i found a cheap flight on southwest from austin tomorrow, and am staying one more night. woo-hoo! party on, garth.

had to post this beautiful and helpful photo, taken inside the elevator (the sign was on the elevator door) at the ice-rink they played at last night in kearney, nebraska. now that’s some helpful information!

here’s the bus. now, i know it looks fancy and all — and, to be fair, it ain’t a exactly an AMC pacer (remember those?) — but that little space on the side, just in front of the wheels, about where the vents are: that was where my bunk was (well, on the inside, of course).

and this here is mr. mike hogan, violin and wiki-wiki player, doing what is done approximately 90% of the time backstage. in fact, i’m currently sitting at a table backstage, while third day is playing, and there are six laptops open on the table.

i joined the david crowder band on tour yesterday in kansas city. it’s actually the third day tour, and DC*B is the opening band. so, other than a 40 minute set, and one fun song played with third day in the middle of their set, touring can be summarized in two little words: sitting around. the crowder guys are all — every one of ‘em — great and fun guys (and woman — toni crowder), and being with them is a kick. but there is really just about nothing to do! i would think that this lifestyle could be mind-numbingly boring at times. i think that’s the primary factor in their enjoyment of me being here: anything to break the every-day-is-the-same monotony is highly welcome!

it’s not exactly a plush lifestyle, even though those tour busses, at first entry, do seem nice. but when you figure the crowder bus has eight people in it, there’s NO room. everyone adjusts and moves for each other and makes room. but being on the bus can be a bit like being in an overcrowded tent (abeit, an overcrowded tent with satelite tv and wi-fi). but an overcrowded tent doesn’t roll around all night. even getting into my lower-level bunk requires creative manuevering and plenty of opportunities for plumber-butt. the fact that, when band members spouses join them from time to time, they share their bunk, is just beyond my comprehension. i couldn’t fit my 8-year-old son in there with me!

my sleep could be best described as “less than restful” and “less than roomy”. every time the bus would make a turn, i’d nominally wake up from my almost-sleep, and — trying to keep myself from fully waking up by using my arms or legs to brace myself — would employ various stomach and back muscles to steady myself. they guys all say they get used to it after a few nights and sleep like they’re in a coma; but then have a hard time sleeping when they get back to a regular, non-moving, bed.

we pulled into kearney, nebraska, some time in the wee-hours of the morning. and then, with the bus still vibrating from the generator, i got some good sound sleep, not actually crawling out of my curtained-coffin until about noon. immediately, i was told lunch was being served in the arena (an ice rink!), and it was sloppy joes. uh, no. not “breakfast food”.

warning, TMI approaching: the bus rule about ‘only liquids’ in the bus toilet has me a bit stressed, trying to regulate myself! i almost missed the departure last night, making one last run into the arena bathrooms!

third day has a “road pastor” with them, so the crowder guys have unofficially designated me as their road pastor, and are talking about a grand competition throw-down between me and the third day road pastor.

late tonite, we’ll drive, while almost-sleeping, to norman, oklahoma. earplugs — i need to remember to dig out my earplugs for tonite.

when you hear a knocking on your front door, don’t be too quick to open it (especially if you live in florida).

best sentence from the article: The bull gator, which had wandered up from the pond behind the house, had a bloody lip from banging its head against the door.

(ht to dave barry)

i’ve been working with middle schoolers for about 25 years. i’ve learned over-and-over-and-over again to pre-screen every video i ever use. but last night, in our 6th grade guys small group, we were using some video curriculum i trusted (after all, we published it!). the lesson was on humility. the guys were insanely out of control. we’d played a little game about humility, spent some time defining it, then popped in the DVD that was sure to bring a jewel of discussion-fodder about humility. except, half-way through the video, my co-leader and i looked at each other and started laughing: neither of us had ONE OUNCE of a clue what the video had to do with humility. it was a spacey-odd worship-song video of a song called ‘we come in peace’. geez. not our best night in small group!