Day 3: Setting Up

This morning we had no idea what the "schedule" was, so we re-read the welcome letter, and ran some errands before heading over to the Civic Center which is conveniently close to our hotel.  After wandering around the building, being guided by a chef, we found the Production Assistant and Tour Manager, got checked in and went out back to see where our road case would be delivered.

  

Lo and behold, as we walked outside, there was a semi-truck that Tawny recognized as the one that picked up the road case in MN!  We waited for only a few minutes until the driver opened the back and THERE WAS OUR CASE!!  It was so great!

 We setup our booth, as the bands were having sound checks....Peter Furler was checking, and singing some great classic Newsboys songs, and I knew every word.  I started singing along, and Tawny admitted to me that she didn't even know who the Newsboys were!! I was appalled.  Then I realized that Phil Joel was also here, and so I was pumped when two of my favorite artists (Peter & Phil) walked into dinner later and sat at our table (!!!) with us, when........Nick Hall & Jay said it was time to go (!!!).  .....I've got to remind myself we'll be having dinner with the artists plenty of times.  :)

After we had setup, Tawny & I walked downtown for lunch....I thought both these signs were great.

And then Tawny schooled me about sunglasses...

After that we walked down Capital Street, with lots of cool little old shops, met a guy filming for an MTV show, and then had coffee at Taylor Books before heading back.  I had a cool "Emerald Road" which was a latte with Irish Cream & Coconut....with Almond milk! mmmmm

....interesting find on the way back.  Remind me, where is America & Italy? I was pretty sure they weren't in the Middle East!?

 ....found the signatures of some good people!

Here's our great banner & front of our sweet road case!  Wait for another photo of the whole setup soon!

 After all the rehearsals & dinner, Tawny & I walked down to the river to see this sweet bridge that was lit up, and changing colors.  It was superb.  A bit cold, but worth the walk.

I think not knowing what this tour is going to be like, and entering into a new & uncharted territory for me, a verse from 2 Chronicles 20:12 comes to mind...."...we know not what to do, but our eyes are on You."  I love that.  even when you're unsure of the future, if you continue to look to the Lord to direct you, you cannot fail.  Keep relying on the Lord, and He will be your strong guide!

Day 2: West VA bound

A good sleep, great eggs with Tabasco and strong coffee was how we started the day. Thanks to my brother Ted, Tawny and I had a great pit stop in Chicago.

Our long drive was uneventful, but very pastoral in the sense that we spotted many old farms, a few covered bridges and the mountains started to spring up. Along with far too many wildlife.....or rather roadkill. ;)

The highlights of the day were getting to eat at a Sonic :) and finally reaching our destination of Charleston, WV.

Day 1: Chicago Bound

Well yesterday Tawny and I set off from Minneapolis on the first leg of this crazy WinterJam adventure with Pulse!

At the office we finished getting everything packed up into our sweet road case, ...previously used by U2!..., gathered for prayer and we were off.

After a few cold hours in the car though, we realized something was wring and ended up having to stop at a mechanic to get a flush. It seemed to work, but it was spotty the rest of the night.

Somewhere after that, we stopped for gas and coffee at Molly's Rude Awakening. It was definitely an odd hippie type joint, but the coffee was a welcomed awakening, not rude in the least!

Finally we arrived in Chicago where my brother Ted let us warm up and served us real Chicago style pizza. It was delicious, and best of all it was hot! Ted of course entertained us with stories until Tawny and I were practically both asleep. ;) Great end to the first day.

These two verses have really spiken to me over the last week or two, and as we start this adventure, it felt appropriate to share. I hope they bring confidence and strength to you as they are to me.

Psalms 27:1 Of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalms 18:28 For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness.

Almost out

So today I will depart on a new journey of sorts. The WinterJam tour has brought on Nick Hall to share a message with 500k people, at over 47 venues, in 22 states! It's going to be life changing work, with life changing results.

So if he's speaking, what's my job? Well I'll be following the tour for many of those shows, being another face for PULSE as well as handling the merch at our booth. Honestly I'm not so sure what a normal day will look like, but that will come soon enough. :)

For the next two weeks of this first stent, I'll try to keep you updated, sharing prayer requests, tour updates, fun facts and of course I'll post photos as well! It'd be great to know who's following us as we travel, so leave comments or join us at a show!

Ooh, and did I mention...our road case is one U2 used?????? It's a beautiful day!

Check out these links:
www.jamtour.com
www.pulsemovement.com

A Little Out of Sorts

I feel like I've been struck, .....who knows what kind or by what, but it seems I've taken the wheel of a speeding car headed to an unknown destination.  Someone else put me on this course, and there's no way to turn back, even if I really really want to.  I've had no lessons and there are plenty of backseat drivers but no one that is making any sense.  My hands are cold, my heart is numb, I want to close my eyes but I can't.

This time of year can be hard when there are people you love who are not here, and when the ones you love who are here won't hear you.  There's a song I've been listening to a lot, by Sara Groves, called "Obsolete."  You should check it out if you have the chance.  It speaks about feeling dismissed, unseen, obsolete and the rest.  Yet at the end of the song, she comes to the conclusion that even if we are dismissed or disqualified here on earth, our loving and living God will take us close to hold us near.  

Christmas then truly is the greatest time to feel this strangeness then, because we are constantly surrounded by the reminders of His birth, which was the message to all and each of us that He is near, that He heard our cries and that He will deliver us.  He alone is the glorious one, the faithful one, the precious one who held us from before the beginning and then still humbled himself to be born the son of a messed up family and cradled in a manger.

Who is this God, who chose to live amongst us and deliver us from our sins, our failures and our misguided hearts? He is the wonderful God, the only one that can comfort the hurting, sing peace over the sick and dance joy into the disheartened.

Thank you Jesus, for grace when I'm lagging in the race.
Thank you Jesus, for hope when I'm not sure that I can cope.
Thank you Jesus, for your steadfast hand when there seems no place to land.
Thank you Jesus, for peace when the trials don't seem to cease.
Thank you Jesus, the Son, the one and only risen One.

The REASON Tour

Hey friends, just thought I'd write again....tomorrow I'm leaving for a week, traveling from WI-MN-ND, on a tour to tell about the REASON we celebrate Christmas.  What a great thing to be able to do for work... We'll be touring alongside Sara Groves, Leeland, Dave Lubben & Nick Hall will be sharing the message.  Please join us for a show if we're in your town, or join with us in prayer if you're not able to make it!  I'll try to update things from the road, because I like to have you along.

Please pray that while we're all on the road together, that A: We don't kill each other, B: We get adequate rest, but most importantly C: God's message of hope, redemption & purpose is heard & received by many.  Thanks for joining along!  Please look at the img below for all the dates/locations or visit: www.thereasonchristmas.com  Hope to see some of you along the road!

God Size

The last few months here have been crazy.  Literally speaking, they've been such a whirlwind, that every time I've even thought of writing, I'll forget about 10 minutes later because I'm on to something different.  But tonight, I felt like I had to write....there's too much to say all in one post, but this message keeps coming through different ways, and so it must be something that is important.  So here goes.

Have you ever been faced with something where you thought, "how am I supposed to pray for this!?"...you battle within yourself whether you should pray for a miracle, or not, because you "know" that it won't happen probably and that whatever it is in front of you will just turn out the way things "normally" turn out, whether that be good or bad, but either way you pray it's not really going to be different.  Have you been there?  I have, and I'm sure some of you have too.  You're like....you trust in God, but really when the odds look so grim you just don't know if you should pray that God will perform a miracle or if you should just accept the fate & pray for God to give peace.

Well.....here's a question for you: How well do you know God?

Really, how well do you KNOW Him?  The earth is finite, right?  Meaning there's only limited outcomes, options, possibilities, etc.  But God is NOT.  He created the earth, so He doesn't live within the confines of our existence, He lives in the freedom of His!  So when we pray, are we underestimating the power of God by not even asking for something bigger than we could even imagine?

This spring, things were going along just "normal" until one day I went to work & they told me that I was being laid off.  Oddly enough, I wasn't devastated.  Honestly I'd been having a conversation with God about what was next....I wasn't sure that where I was then was where He would always want me to be...so when I heard that I would be leaving in a month, it was a little bit of an "okay God, now what..." moment.  Financially I was okay for a little while, so I decided that since I had so many things planned for the summer, I would wait on God for just the right thing, and not pursue another position until the middle of August.

At the beginning of July, I visited my dad in TX, and finished a book called "Sacred Waiting" by David Timms.  It seemed that book was perfectly timed, by hitting on my period of waiting that had just been semi-imposed upon me by getting laid off.  I went back to MN to prepare for an art show before heading out on another vacation with some friends (which is another story all in itself) and two days before I left I got a strange call.  It was one of my old supervisors, from the job I had just left.  He said that his wife had met a guy at a concert, and that through random conversation, he mentioned they were looking for someone like me and so she mentioned my name and now that guy was trying to get in touch with me about a job.  That morning, I researched the organization, called & left a message and two hours later got a call back. They wanted me to come in for an interview 2 hours later.  Here's the scenario: I'm in my PJ's at 1pm, I don't have a current resume, don't have a printer if I DID have a current resume, wasn't sure that I had any clean business clothes to wear and was then living an hour away from the office....so naturally I said "of course I can make it by 3pm". lol.  I stood in line behind three 10 year old girls at the public library to print off my resume, and barely made it in.

To make the rest of the story short, I was offered the job the next day.  It was outstanding.  I feel so blessed, and I know that this kind of thing does NOT happen that often, but it was like....God was reminding me that He does things in HIS timing and way, not necessarily ours.  So this weekend, we're hosting an event, hoping to draw in 5,500 people! We'll be sharing the gospel and feature some great musicians!  And through the planning, I've been nervous, wondering how it'll all turn out, what will happen, who will come, etc.  And sitting here tonight, being reminded of God's miraculous power through the book of John, I'm finding peace knowing that God's got it.

He's greater than anything we can imagine, and so He's capable of doing more than we can imagine.  We just need to stop underestimating Him and closing doors where He wants to show us His miracles!  Where does God want to do a miracle in your life, or challenge you to trust in Him more?  As you think on that, also remember us this Saturday in prayer.  Pray that people will pack the house, pray that people will respond to the gospel, pray that the Lord would do something that we could have never imagined!  Hallelujah!

(If you want to watch our concert streaming live, tune in Saturday at 7pm Central at: http://livestre.am/16gGw)