I will be the first to admit that I am not the world’s greatest guitar player.  I get teased a lot around here because my capo is my best friend most of the time, though I contend that it is a legitimate tool and because of the quality of musicians around me, I don’t need to do much more than support a driving rhythm section.

That’s often times a little funky on the acoustic.  It’s hard to really lend any support to the low end with a relatively thin acoustic sound, so I’m looking into getting a new axe.  I like some of the hybrids that are available (that would allow me to go back and forth between electric and acoustic and would allow me to blend those sounds together a little bit).  Here are my top two choices.

Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II - It’s cheaper than the Gibson Les Paul, but is the same guitar and is a hybrid.

Taylor T-5 - Much more expensive, but a quality guitar that would more than do that job, and potentially sounds better on the acoustic setting.

Anyone have any thoughts?

The blog’s been a little slow this week.  We’re preparing for Easter, Good Friday, Recording a song, getting ready for the next couple of weeks, trying to get ready to play at a different church next Sunday and Jenn’s been sick.  Those are my excuses.  Sorry.

 Things should be pickin’ up though now, as I’m hammering through the last of this Easter/Good Friday stuff today. 

On another note, getting ready for the Race for the Cure in October is coming along nicely.  We weren’t able to get out running at all this week because Jenn’s been sick, but last week I dropped 5 pounds and this week (as of my unofficial weigh-in this morning; I was curious) I’ve dropped another 2.  So we’re cruising right along. 

Crazy busy this time of year and still so much I’d like to get done.  One thing at a time I suppose.

 In the words of Casahoun, Peace Out Hommies!

A church in Tampa, FL is getting a lot of attention for a new series they’re doing.

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My pastor just challenges me to pray more. bummer.

I got an email from Dana last week asking if I wanted to run in the Race for the Cure with him in October. I said yes.

Yesterday, Jenn and I started training. For many of you, you read the word “training” and you are immediately taken to a music montage from any of the 30 or so Rocky movies, where Sylvester Stallone is getting his rippled muscles into even better shape to fight an opponent who is always a better fighter and athlete, but who’s always evil so Rocky wins. That’s not what this is.

We went wogging yesterday. You might ask yourself what it means to wog, and I’ll tell you; it’s half walking, half jogging. I’ve got to say, I thought I would look like this:

Turns out, I wasn’t that bad. While my wogging mile time wasn’t great, it’s a start.

The goal is to drop several pounds, run a 5k in under 30 minutes and raise some money for a great cause.

We’re hoping to put a team together from the church too, so if you’re interested, let’s wog! Eventually, we will have to run.

We had a good response to this weekend’s services. Even though, personally I wasn’t feeling all that comfortable with what we were doing musically, I got comments all three services that it really was great for people. Go figure. I suppose not having it “right” allowed us to get out of the way and let God do some cool things. Though don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy when God works through sets that are tight and done well.

Last night we hung out with Micah and Erica, and watched “No Reservations.” I’m not sure why the girls always get to pick the movies, because we always end up watching some romantic comedy, which is usually neither romantic, nor funny. It was fun either way, and now Jenn and I are going out for our quarterly shopping trip. We save monthly and then go and hit the town like we’re loaded.  Every three months is about all I can handle for big shopping trips, but it helps that I need some clothes big time.

I love three day weekends!

I know that at least a few of you got my Notorious B.I.G. reference there.

Tonight, Jenn and I celebrated Valentine’s Day. Our routine is to stay in on the actual day and celebrate the day after to avoid all of the hysteria, though since today is Friday, we got a little hysteria anyway.

We went and saw a Valentine’s movie, and since I’ve already seen the new Rambo movie, we settled on 27 dresses. Privately, I might say that it was enjoyable, cute and pretty funny, but publicly I am renouncing it as a pointless chick-flick and totally stupid (just don’t tell my wife).  After the flick, we went out for a late dinner.

We settled on Chili’s which was fairly weird. I worked at Chili’s in LA for 5 years this was the first time I’ve been (other than eating at one in a Chicago airport) since moving to Fresno.  It was a bit strange, mostly because all Chili’s are designed the same and have the same layout inside, so it felt like I was at my Chili’s in LA.  Also, it was weird because the food wasn’t as good as I remember.  This could be because I had to pay full price for it, which always makes it taste a little less satisfying.

For a moment I was brought back to all my fond memories of waiting tables and hanging out with co-workers, and thought to myself, “I wouldn’t mind working here again.”  Then I remember the long shifts with only 30 bucks to show for it;  The ditsy waitresses who cursed way too much and the inner struggle that comes from wanting to simultaneously be a Christian and punch a customer in the face.  I like my job.  I don’t go home smelling like beer and french fries (at least not every day).

All in all, it was a pretty nice V-Day. I got Jenn some balloons and brought her Starbucks at work yesterday, which I think sufficiently communicated how much she means to me (j/k). Yep, my Valentine is pretty special.  She’s fun to be around and, at the risk of being as mushy as the movie I saw tonight, she’s my best friend.  You can tell her I said that one.

I went to the grocery store a few years ago and bought several bags of grocieries.  Upon arriving to my apartment in San Dimas to unload, I was greeted by a tall, gangly fellow who offered to help.  That short walk to my apartment with bags of groceries sparked a conversation about faith, church and music and a friendship with Ryan Melling.

 Ryan now lives in Minnesota with his wife Corrinne and, aside from introducing Jenn and I to phase 10, he also introduced me to The Robbie Seay Band.  I borrowed some music and listened to this gravelly voiced Texan use words that I didn’t know existed (like resplendent) and rhyme them with words equally difficult to spell.  I was hooked.

In August, The Robbie Seay Band came out with a new album which is awesome.  Fewer big words, but music that just kind of grooves.  We’re doing some of their stuff here in the future, but these guys are definetely worth checking out.

The last couple of months in my life have done a lot to change my perspective on worship.  For the last year and a half I have had the opportunity to regularly lead worship in front of almost 2,ooo people every week.  Somehow, getting to lead for full time missionaries in Africa and in front of 15 people on Monday, though, just felt bigger.

 For our trip to Africa we took three acoustic guitars and a cajon.  We had no sound system, no amps and no confidence monitors, but we got to provide live worship for people that love it and have craved it for so long.  Our friends over there don’t get the chances that we do in the states to turn on radio or go to weekly services where worship is happening.

On Monday, we were asked to lead to close the World Vision Aids Experience; a four day exhibit that gave people an opportunity to see life as a child in Africa, affected by AIDS.  Everyone in the band came from work and got there early.  Jen came in on her day off and set up the entire stage and ran sound for us. We played ten songs (we sounded great by the way) and really worked hard to bring that whole thing together.  After all of that work and effort, 15 people showed up.  The amazing thing is that we still had an unbelievable worship experience! 

It’s so cool to me what happens when we let God strip away all of the stuff of worship; the things that we think are vital to a great set or a great experience that, in the end, are just extra things.  I think the last two months have reminded me that worship isn’t about amps or lights or huge crowds, it’s about humble hearts, and people who desire to draw closer to Jesus.

Praise God for a chance to dive in to worship and to strip away all of the stuff that doesn’t really matter.

After a week of trying to figure out this new camera and importing 10 plus hours of video, I have condensed it into a five minute video. This was our trip (the highlights anyway). What an amazing time!

Here’s my prediction.

Patriots 48 - Giants 10.

 Watch me turn into a prophet.