Here’s how we ended our series, “In God We Trust.”

We taught tithing with a twist.

Here are two of my favorite moments from Easter

We put together 3 stories and interwove them with the song “Come Awake” by David Crowder Band

Pardon the mix on this video. One background vocalist is sticking out; it didn’t sound like that in the house, I promise.

This is “Whatever I Can’t Erase” featuring some amazing violin and cello.

I’ve worked at Clovis Hills for nearly 4 years now.  My time here has been amazing as I have grown as a leader, minister and musician in huge ways and have gotten to do things most people my age don’t.  I got hired as a 26 year old kid who knew nothing and yet, my opinions have been valued and my point of view listened to.  I’ve got no complaints.

Except maybe one.

You see, I care about my appearance, as most of us do.  I want to look good and so I pay attention to what I wear and how I style my hair, etc.  You’ve got to if you’re going to be on stage in front of 1500 people every weekend.  I don’t think it’s crazy for someone to be concerned about the way they look on stage like that.  What I do think is a little crazy is that so many other people are concerned with what I look like.

Here’s the history:

When I first got here my look was t-shirts, jeans and flip flops.  Many people thought that me showing my bare toes was great because it meant I was free and easy and comfortable in my own skin.  Others thought that I should put some shoes and socks on out of respect for Jesus (though I’m pretty sure he wore sandals).  Either way, people were looking at my feet and not at Him so I put on some shoes.

Over the next couple of years I tried a lot of different things including, but not limited to, a faux-hawk, t-shirts, dress shirts, polo shirts, no shirt (just kidding), khakis, jeans, jeans with holes, cords, etc.  No matter what I wore, people like to make comments; some good, some bad.  I even had one guy offer to take me to a store and buy me some slacks (I declined).

Over the last few months I’ve been wearing what I think looks good and is comfortable to me which often times includes a tie, a vest and jeans with or without holes.

This weekend, I had multiple people comment about my “new look” which is not new at all!  I don’t get it!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not spending my days being a people-pleaser.  I’ve learned that there will always be people who have opinions about what I should say, do or wear, and that’s fine.

I just think it’s comical, really.  I’m glad people like the way that I dress and while I’m bummed that others don’t think I look good at times, I don’t cry myself to sleep at night.

I’m not sure what the point of all of this is, just wanted to let you into my world a little bit.

If you see me and think I look great, by all means, let me know.

If you want to buy me pants, I will probably decline.  Lovingly, of course.

A couple of years ago this happened:

That was enough to tell stories about for years to come.

Then a couple of days later this happened:

Making Easter 2008 better than we could have ever dreamed.

Thanks to Micah for reposting these videos as, I must confess, I almost forgot about this completely.

I am not a hugger.

I would love to be a hugger, but I’m just not.

I don’t know the rules.  Not that there’s a big mystery to the whole thing, but hugging is a greeting that indicates some sort of close-ish relationship and my problem is not so much with the act of hugging itself, but with defining that relationship I suppose.

Let me give you some examples:

A few weeks ago I was in a meeting with a couple in our church and Kimberly MacNeill.  Now, Kimberly knew this couple much better than I, but I’ve had several conversations with each, although I am not on a hugging basis with them.

After the meeting, which was in regards to some significant things and ended well, Kimberly gave each of them a hug.  I was walking out of the room and vaguely heard the husband say, “don’t want to make Paul feel left out…” and so he extended his arm as if to hug me and I extended mine to shake his hand.  It was, needless to say, pretty awkward.

Two of our closest friends, Micah and Erica came into town a couple of days ago and we hadn’t seen them in a while.  They were going to arrive in a few minutes and I asked Jenn, “do I hug Erica.”  See what I mean?  These hugs are difficult because you have to remember who you’re on a hug relationship with.  When they walked in I did not hug Erica, but thought for sure I was on a hug level with Micah when I realized that we are handshake-huggers.  We shake hands and then pull in for what, I’m sure, constitutes a legitimate hug, but we are still long in the hand shake so as to prevent the full embrace.

A few years ago there was a member of our staff team who may have been the nicest guy in the world.  He was quite tall and always walked around with a big smile on his face.  Even though I saw him nearly every day, he would still give me a hug, but kind of an awkward, full-embrace type of hug.  After a while I started to try and duck the hugs so as I was standing at the copier and he came in I maintained my position and only looked at him to the side so as to avoid the hug.  It didn’t work.  He had to get the hug and so he would come from behind and sort of pat my stomach.  This, my friends was not cool.  I later found out that there were others that were having their stomachs patted so we developed a little support group.

It’s not just hugging anymore either.  Recently, I saw one of our elders and reached out for a hand shake and he refused, holding his hand up in the air for a high five.

Front hugs, half hugs, side hugs, high fives, fist bumps, chest bumps, it’s out of control.

I am lost in a sea of greetings!

All I want is a simple, straight-forward, handshake.  Go in at a good pace so you don’t grab only half my hand; don’t give me the dead fish or the finger shake, but shake my hand.  That’s it.  That’s all I want.

I can’t take wondering who I’m supposed to hug or not hug.  I no longer want to live in the land of the unknown.

Here are a few of the situations in which a hug is acceptable behavior:

1) if you and I are related (unless, apparently, you’re one of my uncles).  I hug my wife and my parents, my brother and sister, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, my nieces, my in-laws, aunts, etc.  If we’re connected by blood or by marriage feel free to hug me.  If we have not seen each other in a while, though, please approach with open arms as a clear indicator of your intent.

2) If I am crying, you may hug me.  This rule, did lead to an awkward moment once, however, when I was crying and a good friend tried to console me without taking into account that I am much taller than him, so it ended up that I was crying and he was wrapped around my waist a bit.  This leads me to an amendment: If I am crying and you are at or near the same height as I am, you may hug me.

3) We must know each other’s last names.

4) If you and I are instructed to hug one another (don’t ask me why this would happen), you may do so.

5) If you or I ever win a major award and the other is within a few chairs.  If you win an oscar and I’m in your posse, but am separated from you by several people and seats, just give me a head nod and we can hug later.

This is my confession: I am not a hugger.

New Series!

We have been chipping away at this new album now for a week and things are really starting to come together.

We are still in the early stages of this process, which can be a bit grueling, but we are really having a blast.  Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Friday -

Chris and I went into the studio and tracked “scratch” tracks of acoustic and vocals.  Essentially, I sat down and recorded a basic, acoustic guitar track and then got up and sang it.  I did this for all 10 songs (11 actually as one was supposed to be on the cut list) and with that done, Dana and Chris will be able to record drums and bass with something to go by other than just a metronome.  We spent 4 or 5 hours in the studio laying these down and having Chris there was a big help.  He was able to remind me of things I was forgetting and so I think we laid a solid foundation for the next pieces.

Monday -

Dana, Chris, Tim and I went into the studio and worked out drum parts.  It was a fairly lengthy process in the sense that we went from 10 to 7, but it was way quick considering that tracking 10 drums (actually we did 11 before I realized that 1 was on the cut list) usually takes a couple of days.  We went in with an understanding of how the songs all work, but without specific drum parts laid out.  The process could not have been easier!  Joel (our producer/engineer) had some great ideas and with all of us in the room kicking things around we were able to get some very cool, distinct parts.  Dana deserves most of the credit, however, as he was really able to sit down and make these parts come to life.  Before tracking drums we all had a fear that all of the songs sounded the same and were pretty generic.  That is no longer a worry.  The drums sound great and feel great and lay a really solid foundation for all of the other parts.

Wednesday -

We did bass.  Chris, Tim and I went in and did the bass work.  Chris is flat-out brilliant!  He just has a great ear and understands how to give songs a pulse while staying out of the way for parts that aren’t there yet.  We went in at 6:30 and finished by midnight, which again, makes for a long night, but in comparison is really quick.

The foundation has been laid and now we should really start to see these songs come to life.  After a much needed break (5 days off while Joel does some shows down south and we do services here), we’ll go back in on Tuesday and start doing keys and guitars.  This process will take a few days and then we’ll do vocals.

I’m getting more and more excited about the final product and can’t wait to start sharing some songs with you guys!

Check back here for more updates soon!

Last night Tim, Jill and I went over to Dana’s to hash out more of these songs for our recording project.  We head into the studio on the 10th and with that date rapidly approaching, we want to make sure that we all know the basic structure of the songs.  It’s a fun process, but it is missing a key component; guitars!

Joel Piper will be engineering and producing this little project and will be doing a bulk of the guitar work.  Since he’s not in on these early sessions the songs are not exactly zesty.

It will be really interesting, and I think, refreshing to hear what the guitar lines add to these songs.  I’m excited for the final product and am now just getting antsy to begin.

We’ve got some trimming to do (13 songs to 10) and a lot of production to add to this stuff, but it is getting more and more fun as we go!

stay tuned…