Sangin’

Wow, I had a chance to observe Praise and Worship Practice for the first time in……..who knows? I knew our vocalists were very talented but…..I had no idea!

I ‘m with them all the time and perform with them all the time (for the lack of a better word), but I NEVER hear them…..EVER. When I play, I have all of the background vocals turned off. Too much going on is distracting to me in my mix. The little packs that the musicians wear with the headphones allow us to mix the music the way WE want to hear it. But out front tonight,….man they were so smooth. The harmony and pitch was awesome! Ann Stover and Laura Tapp have trained them well to say the least.

Also the Mix from the new sound equipment that we have out front is clear and punchier than ever. Most people raved about this months and months ago but…..now’s my turn.

Just do it already!

Have you ever had an aspiration to do something and let your negative head talk you out of it?…of course you have. Ok, have you ever grabbed yourself by the hair and said. “I’m doing this, its good for me and my future!”
Well I have been doing this lately and I can tell you that the little negative voice (and its source) is a punk! It has to obey you! So whatever God has put in you to do….Just Do It already!

just in case the Nike people trip over something and fall face-first into this blog…send your legal comments to,
WhoCares@toomuchtimeonmyhands.com

Dancin’ with Stu

I had an opportunity to visit and work with one of my favorite guitar players tonight.

Stu Alexander

He’s better than ever and back on the LWFC schedule starting in in April. I went over some songs with him catching him up to date. I didn’t really know how much I missed his tone until tonight. Before I left we talked about our differences in style and influences. We have a lot more similarities that you may think. My style is maybe a bit more flashier. He would probably say that I’m the better guitarist but in all honesty……well I put it to him this way.

” Just because a woman can do all those gymnastic flips and acrobatics in the Olympics doesn’t mean she can dance.” Stu is a very very good dancer! most of the stuff that I learned in the world was all exercise. When I moved to Raleigh it was Stu who taught me to dance.

Remote Control

I am convinced that the text messaging feature on my cellphone changes every traffic light from red to green. (this doesn’t work at all the other way around).

your safety disclamer here: ……….

Saturday Night

After Praise and Worship tonight, my lovely wife and I, along with Joe and Tabitha Suo had dinner with St. Rose.
Rose Heinrich is such a joy to all the people at LWFC, not to mention a wonderful cook. Her chicken parmesan is sensational! She is an awesome mother and you can tell that her kids love her very much.
As we ate, we laughed and shared stories of where God brought us from, and the great things he has done and is doing in our lives.
Joe kept the fireplace hot and we watched the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
We took turns irritating the daylights out of Scarlet Rayne and she finaIIy fell asleep on me for about an hour.
I thank God for the awesome people that He has surrounded me with. I also am reminded of “The Church I see” vision of LWFC…..
“IN THE CHURCH WE SEE we love to share food together. Sometimes at restaurants, but more often in our homes and on picnics. We’re not so wrapped up in how fancy our home is, or how well we can cook, as we are how much we enjoy being together and helping each other……..”.
The preceeding came to pass in our lives tonight.
Thanks for reading

Family Weekend

I have returned from Lenoir and I am so glad to be home.
Don’t get me wrong, I love visiting family in my hometown of Lenoir, NC. But my home is Raleigh!
I don’t like missing the first message of the “Authority” series. Sure, I’ll download it, but it’s not the same.
When I visit the Church I grew up in (Miracle Church), I get to hear my dad teach the Word. He really is a man of integrity and wisdom. I can hear as he teaches that true revelation is flowing in his life. The revelation of the goodness of God truly is reaching into all of the earth.
Here are a few notes that l took as he taught this morning, they are a bit scattered as I become more familiar with taking notes on my palm but……

1Cor12
•The word “All” is used in the scripture, it means All!
•The only one who knows if you’ve done Your best is you.
•If we don’t have Love, our spiritual gifts are useless
•A lot of times a prophecy is for someone who won’t ReaD!
•Satan uses the word. “I” and has no hope. (self centered)
•The voice of your emotions is almost never right.
•you can hurt Jesus’ feelings but his emotions don’t rule him.
•be careful to maintain good works.
•the strength of love is Joy
•worry is paying interest on a debt you don’t owe!
•faith calls things that be not as though they were.
•pride is what makes you spend money that you don’t have…..to impress peopIe you don’t even like!
•your life will never improve until the true light comes on.
•its easy to say ”my emotions don’t rule me” until you have to live it.
•Who or what you laugh at, and are entertained by, is a sign of your character,… who you are.
•if we tell the enemy our hot button, he’ll try and have everyone come push it.
•when we complain, we’re saying that we don’t trust God.
•we know in part.
•we need to see Him say things, not just hear him say things. If we can see him say it we’ll never forget it or let it slip.
•putting on Love, when being patient with someone isn’t “faking it” even if your emotions say otherwise. It is obedience!
•the only person that we have dominion over is ourselves. (we must yield it to the Holy Spirit)
•faith, hope, love, the greatest is love.

thanks for reading!

And thanks to Joe Suo for covering me on lead guitar this weekend! You are an awesome musician, performer, brother, and friend!

Dasswhassup!

Well it’s been a while since my last blog entry. Since the holiday season, I’ve been pretty busy. Balancing the Music Ministry at L.W.F.C. and taking on more responsibility at work has been challenging but very rewarding.
Next weekend my lovely wife Millissa and I are going to visit family in Lenoir. Her Mother’s birthday is that weekend and she misses her very much.

One of our resolutions for this year is to visit family more often than just holidays.
I am so thankful to have an awesome church family and leaders in my life that challenge and appreciate me.
Also my boss, Edward Smith at A.F.R. resigned in December. He was replaced with the lovely Toni Rose, my new manager. I’ve been helping her transition into this new position as best as I can. This has meant longer hours and training two new people to lighten the load.

thanks for reading, God Blessya!

“IN” the name…

While meditating on the words of Jesus today, I was impressed upon to study the words “In my name”. He said whatever you ask the father “in my name” He will give it to you. I’ve always been taught, as you have I’m sure, the “power of attorney” we have been given. The authority to use Jesus’ name in prayer is implied. But if you want to really go a step deeper…..study the Greek words translated “in”. Look at where they are used. The implication of “IN my name” as it relates to “on my behalf” or the “power of attorney” is there in the scriptures… but not necessarily like we thought. Stay with me here….The word translated “IN” when Jesus said ask the father IN my name was a different word altogether. It is the same word used when the New Testament says “In Bethlehem” or “In Jordan”………..it is a literal place….time to open e-sword (download it here) and search the word “in” then “in my name” “in Christ”……..if you don’t check this out for at least 10 minutes, your letting a GIANT piece of revelation pass ya by!

The key is to look where these words are used.

Then go back and look at the prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father in the last chapters of John’s Gospel just before the crucifixion…

Then, when you pray for me, speak HIS name into the atmosphere of your room. Then stand “IN it” it as you pray “IN” His name….see ya!

Last Christmas

Here’s the YouTube Video for “Christmas Jam” from Last Year’s Concert.

Faith Comes by Hearing….(Romans 10:17)

Teaching! Teaching! Teaching! I live for it. If I don’t have anything else, I’d be content. Aside from the most awesome teaching at LWFC from Pastor Steve, Pastor Micah and others, I listen to an average of 6 to 8 hours of teaching a day! Weekdays, normally all day long, I have a bluetooth in one ear and an earbud in the other. I’m the musician who almost never listens to music. My MP3 player is loaded with teaching and the songs I’m learning for the Praise and worship team. This is GOOD! I can honestly say that my mind is almost continually chewing on the Word! I’m adding a page to my blog with the links to where I get all this teaching. It’s listed on the right or click here. My morning is usually spent downloading and uploading the teaching for the day, and then off to work. It has truly changed my life!

My main focus though, is the teaching from Living Word Family Church. The rest is supplemental.