Happy New Year Everyone!

This is the first time I’ve blogged since early October 2011.  The thought that my blog has been sidelined for so long is somewhat discouraging; yet, not surprising.  I wear a lot of hats and sometimes I set one aside – for a season, or forever.  I struggled over the impact it would have but realized soon enough that the simple fact that I didn’t receive a question, email, tweet, or comment about my lack of blogging was evidence enough:  I take this space and it’s influence way too seriously sometimes!  Today’s post is a wakeup for the new year and a bit of ramblings.  If you’re looking for a nice coherent post — well, I may disappoint you.

I find myself excited with each New Year because I’m a goal-setter.  I’m also a goal-maker, a goal-surpasser, and yes – a goal-misser.  I surpassed a number of goals last year but ended the year feeling a bit burned out.  A new start is good for that.

As this race called life keeps zooming by I find myself asking this question:  “who am I”?

Yes – I’m a child of God.  That’s one thing that won’t change.  Seasons in this life can drastically change how you answer that question in other areas.

Thankfully, I’m still a Husband.
Thankfully, I’m still a Father.
Thankfully, I’m still a Worship Leader.

My blog header says:
Worship Leader, Pianist, Producer, Blogger

I don’t know that I can really be identified that way anymore.  Life has changed.

I’m not really a blogger.  That’s evident in my lack of posts since October 2011.
Producer?  I still have the ear, the gift — but haven’t acted in the role of a producer in years.  YEARS.  I’m not that guy anymore.

Then, there are words that are missing:
Entrepreneur:  I love the word.  I live it.  It’s part of my DNA.
Composer:  The word isn’t there because I’ve been slack.

I suppose the question, moving forward in 2012 is this:

Who do I want to be?

1.  I want to be more devoted and close to God.  Not just a worship leader.  A worshiper.  On and off the stage.  Deeper.  More authentic.
2.  I want to be a creative artist.  I’m saddened at the lack of art that I created the past few years.   I’ve allowed too many other things to steal away more than it’s share of creative time.
3.  I want to be a much better husband and father.  This is where it really counts.

So, what about you … if you’re still there, if you still subscribe, if you’re reading this …

What do YOU want to be, or better yet, WHO do you want to be in 2012?

Hey Gang,

The blog has been quiet here … VERY QUIET … mainly because I haven’t been posting.  We’ve wrapping up an 8-day whirlwind vacation that stretched the east coast from New York City to Orlando, FL.  I hope to jump back into blogging soon enough but will need a day or so to recover and catch up.  In the meantime, here’s a little recap of our trip for those who may be interested.  (that would be a few friends on Facebook and my family!)

New York City – Andrea Bocelli

I was blessed to receive an opportunity to attend the FREE concert by Andrea Bocelli in Central Park last week in New York City.  I’m a huge fan of Bocelli and thought this would be like a bucket list experience.  One of the world’s greatest singers, with one of the world’s greatest philharmonic orchestras, in one of the world’s greatest cities, in one of the world’s most famous city parks … you know … epic!

Experiencing something like that is even more fun with friends so Joy (my wife) and I flew up to NYC with another couple from St. Simons Island and spent a couple of nights in Times Square.  We left the kids behind and had a few days of “us” time.  Joy had never been to NYC and it was only my second visit.  We did it hard – from Rockefeller Center to the top of the Empire State Building, shopping on 5th Avenue to waving outside the Fox News windows on 6th Ave.  We had Italian one night and some great pizza at Lombardi’s another day.  We did taxis.  We did subways.  We walked a kazillion miles.  The forecast was for rain and the news said that if the concert was rained out, it would be rescheduled for the next night.  This was a big burden for me because we flew out the next morning to meet up with the kids and leave for our family vacation time.

Well, the rain came.  The gates to the Great Lawn at Central Park were to be opened at 3:00 PM.  Because of the rain, people weren’t lining up quite so early so we got there at 3:00 and waited in line for over an hour in the rain.  Thankfully, Joy sported us some $1-store ponchos that we shared with our friends. (Mike/Leisa Dunn)

The rain was nasty and it got pretty chilly with the wind blowing.  The blessing in the rain; however, was that people just didn’t come to get in line.  We were one of the first 50 people in line on the East Side entrance and as a result, when they finally DID open the gates we got the most incredible seats on the Great Lawn possible.  Friends of mine who waited until the rains held off said the lines on both the east and west sides were 30 blocks long and met! We were literally about 30-40 feet away from the stage – and we could’ve gotten even closer but I didn’t want to be so close to the high stage that I couldn’t see the orchestra and choir in the background.

The concert was as magical and epic as I would’ve guessed.  My DroidX camera photos just don’t do it justice.  We were RIGHT THERE center stage.  The people who paid $1,000 for the “VIP” seats didn’t have seats as good as ours.  (Yep, they were there in full force, Donald Trump & Alec Baldwin to name a couple).

Bocelli was joined with the New York Philharmonic and the Westminster Symphonic Choir.  They were amazing.  He was joined with many special guests including Chris Botti (an amazing trumpeter), Bryn Terfel, Andrea Griminelli, Ana Maria Martinez, and Pretty Yende.

Two of my favorite guest moments included Celine Dion singing “The Prayer” and Tony Bennett singing “New York, New York” with Andrea.

(this photo courtesy of BocelliCentralPark.Com)

One incredible moment of worship for me was Andrea’s rendition of “Amazing Grace”.  Lastly, although he did not sing two of my favorite songs I really wanted to hear (“Sogno” and “Besame Mucho”) he did conclude with a finale of my favorite, “Nessun Dorma”.

A quick flight home from NYC and we gathered the kids and took off to Disney World for FIVE days.  Yes, FIVE DAYS.  “The Happiest Place on Earth”.  I will recap that in a separate blog post.

As for Bocelli in Central Park?  It was a whirlwind trip – really crazy to try and fly up there for a concert and back to dump out our suitcase, repack and drive away again for 5 days.  But it was worth it.

As a composer, a  musician, a singer, and a creative person – I was so totally inspired.  It was one of the most awe-inspiring concerts I’ve witnessed and truly was a once-in-a-lifetime event.  I am reminded when I watch some incredible talent and hear such beautiful music how God created us and blessed us with these talents.  Ideally, they are given to us to bring honor and glory to Him.  It inspires me to take my own talents and use them to bring glory to God and inspire others.

Here’s the last few seconds of the grand finale to “Nessun Dorma” – sorry for the jerky camera work, my wife and friends were trying to pack up the blanket we sat on which I was standing on!

For years my parents would warn me sternly, “Fred, you have to be careful.  You can’t be running around doing these pranks.  One day, someone could come out and shoot you or you could get yourself into a lot of trouble”.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Parents always seemed to say something like that.  As usual, I didn’t listen.  Parents come up with things like that all the time – to scare you, to make you obey.  They don’t really mean it.  (Now, as a 40-year old parent of four, I see how crazy we really were and know how sincere my parents really were).

Since our buddy Chad introduced us to the concept of forking yards the whole town had become aware of this tomfoolery.  Many-a-homeowner would wake up on Saturday mornings to peek out their window and breathe a deep, slow, sigh of relief to see a clean lawn instead of a plastic cemetery.  Some were not so lucky.

Our crew successfully forked yards for weeks before our identity started to leak into the town.  What made things worse was the other kids – lower classmen – who wanted to emulate our canny, dextrous works – yet; whose standards were not up to par.  Their escapades would lessen the impact of our beautiful work and worse, constantly jeopardized our plans and secret identities.  As with any prank, it wasn’t long before the infamous R&R circle was in full motion.

R&R Circle?  The never-ending cycle of “revenge and restitution”.

There was this one school of chicks (I used the word school, as it refers to a group of fish … potential explanation to come in a future story) that really had it out for us.  They not only retaliated but would proactively plan ambushes on our camp outs, sleepovers, and parties.  We’d hit them a number of times and they’d successfully penetrated our defenses once or twice.  It was their time.

Word in the halls of grand ole’ Telfair County High School was that the Fish were gathering for a sleep over on Graham Street.  This could be our chance.

Whether it was a Friday or Saturday evening I don’t recall, but the sun was setting and we’d just cleared out the shelves at Piggly Wiggly and Winn Dixie.   Thankfully, the Patriot Act was far from anyone’s imagination.  You know how the F.B.I. is supposed to notified by storeowners if somebody comes in and buys a bunch of fertilizer or bomb-making materials?  Well,  we weren’t too concerned about tipping off anyone except maybe Mr. Purvis and Mr. Yawn, the managers at the W/D.

I suppose the first thing we did wrong was choosing the Hardees parking lot as our meetup point.  Not only did this bring undue attention to the gathering of the crew, it sucked in a few underclassmen who had no business being a part of our exploits.  To make matters worse, our public gathering was like a Billboard of Shenanigans and attracted the presence of McRae’s finest, Officer Jimmy Joines.

For some ludicrous reason, I never really could see Jimmy as a real law officer – he was just Tommy‘s big brother.  That gun couldn’t be real, much less that shiny badge and patrol car.  I’d grown up with Jimmy stomping around mine and TJ’s playground – so, I never could quite get used to him driving around with such authority in his squad car.

Still a catastrophic weakness for me as an adult, my exuberance for the adventure at hand trumped my ability to keep my stupid mouth shut and I started running it loosely, forgetting that Officer Joines was not just TJ’s big brother … he was a sworn-in Officer of the Law.  I’m clueless as to why some of my buddies didn’t stop me from revealing our agenda.  Come to think of it, they were probably hitting the Hardees restroom once more and stocking up on a few “Hot Ham’n Cheese” sandwiches.

Nevertheless, it was done.  We were poised for attack and I’d just left our destination and mission details in the hands of Officer Joines, our Foe … or Friend?

(to be continued)

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“Small Town Stories” is a departure from my typical blog content on worship, faith, and leadership and presents short stories about my memories of growing up in a small town.  As always, memories are that … memories.  Names will be substituted where appropriate, and facts will be blended with fiction, or half-memories.  That’s what makes them fun.  If you enjoy this series, please let me know by commenting.

(Dear Reader:  today’s “Small Town Stories” post was meant to be another humorous story of the mischievous journeys of our crew of boys, yet, I realized I couldn’t possibly begin the story without first introducing you to one of our greatest weapons of choice:  plastic cutlery.  This seemingly innocent box of utensils sets up numerous stories …  legends like “Mrs. G and the Midnight Holdup”, “Don’t Leave the Grand-Am Exposed”, “Where Are My Keys”, and “Deputy Dixon’s D-Day”.  So, before we get into those stories, let’s go back to the origin of the infamous, plastic forks, spoons, and knives).

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Plastic forks, spoons, and knives.  These “Small Town Stories” wouldn’t be complete without their honorable mention.

At any given time, given the moment to slow things down a bit and ease into reminiscing about childhood, these darling cutlery utensils appear.

It all started when this new kid showed up in high school.  His Dad was a doctor of sorts, something most of us kids had never heard of … an “Internist”.  I wasn’t sure if that was somebody who looked inside of you, or if was like a Junior Doctor or something (Intern) trying to catch up and get a real job.

Word spread quickly down the streets about the new family’s arrival.  Word spread even more quickly that there were four kids.  FOUR KIDS.  That’s a score for us.  To top that, one of them was MY AGE.

As if things couldn’t get better, this family bought the mansion.  No, not just any house in McRae, GA — they bought THE MANSION — The Max & Emma Sue McRae House of 1897.

© All rights reserved by Brian Brown (Dirt Road Cowboy)

The Mansion was this massive, white, colonial home with this huge wrap around porch, towering balconies, and stone chimneys that would come to serve as brute force protection from bottle rockets, roman candles, and police car search lights.

Though Presbyterians from Baltimore, this new family somehow found a home on the pews of good ole’ McRae United Methodist Church.  Just about everybody in our crew went there – as far as we concerned, Baptists were as much a cult as any other weird religion.  It was there that we first met our new found pal, Chad.

It didn’t take long for Chad to become a fixture in our crew.  He was funny, smart, the chicks liked him, and he’d come from the city — so he knew things that were a bit foreign to us small towners.

One such thing?  Forking.

Forking (as in, forking a yard) is a stunt where you sneak out in the middle of the night and stick plastic forks in someone’s yard.  They wake up to a mini-graveyard of plastic forks poking out of the earth and the cleanup is a real … well, let’s say “nuisance”, but you thought the word, most likely.

Now I’d heard of some kids “rolling” a house or trees with toilet paper, but forking?  This seemed kind of strange.  Soon, we’d have our first opportunity.

So here’s the catch.  You can’t really just go up to your folks and say “Mom, Dad, could you please pickup several hundred boxes of plastic forks for me at the Piggly Wiggly today?”.  That’s like planning your own funeral.  As a result, we were stuck buying our own cutlery.  The only problem with that is there is limited shelf space in Dickie Rich’s Quick-Stops, so instead of giving us a choice of forks, spoons, or knives, you had to get a big combo box with all three.

I’m still not quite sure what these late-night cashiers thought when a group of hormonal, silly, clumsy guys strolled in grabbing every box of plastic cutlery in the store.  You’d think we were buying some serious contraband they way we checked out.

Soon enough, “forking” became known not just for forks – but for forks, spoons, knives, and whatever else could be had.

Forking wasn’t  a passing fad.  It became part of our ritual.  A calling card of sorts.  Others adopted our evil practices but none were as eloquent as “The Crew”.  Forking would soon give way to some of the funniest (and scariest) stories of our adolescence.

(Stay tuned over the coming Saturdays for more stories, including forking stories like the ones mentioned above).

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Hey Gang,

I’d like to kickoff a new series here on the blog:  “The Calling Series”.

I frequently get asked about how I was called into ministry.  How did I know what I wanted to do with my life?  What influenced my decisions to study music, specifically, Theory/Composition, Piano Performance, and Production?  How did I hear from God when I answered a call to a specific church of ministry position?

I’ve struggled with the concept of this series because I don’t really want it to be about me … I’m pretty sure folks aren’t that interested in my mini-autobiography.  At the same time, because I get asked the questions so often … especially from youth who are thinking about going to colleges, worship leading schools, etc., I hope that the story of my path will help others.

Everyone may hear God’s voice and His call in a different way – for me, it’s not always the same way.

I’ll get into that as we progress into the series.  In the meantime, whether you’re a worship leader, pastor, volunteer in church ministry, or a lay leader … how did you answer your call?  How did you choose the current path that you are on?  (yes, even if it’s not ministry-related).

I hope you’ll comment below and join the discussion.

For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon

Hey Everybody,

I’ve been doing a little work under the hood here on the blog.  The main improvement?  I’ve just switched our email subscriptions to MailChimp.

For those of you who receive an email from me when a new post is published, you should see a huge difference in the layout and design of the email.  I sure hope you like it.  I sure hope you’ll comment below and let me know.

It’s only set to email if there is new content, and then only 1x per day.  So on a day like today, where I’ve posted twice, one article will be featured, and the other will be in “More Reading”, along with previous posts.

For those who are reading who typically use RSS to subscribe, or just surf over from time to time … I’d love to have you as an email subscriber.  It’s really easy, and if you’re interested you can sign up here.

If you’re super-saavy, or reading this on your smartphone, you can sign up by scanning the QR Code below.  Have at it!

“Truth … or Dare”?

As a kid, this phrase could be the embodiment of pure joy or the cupped hands of fear.  This phrase of options was the default go-to when you had a clever crew of guys (or guys and girls) together in a private place.

Playing this game revealed endless confessions that should probably never be revealed on the pages of “Small Town Stories“.  Confessions spewed frequently from the balcony of Fort Montgomery, the many rooms of Ridley Mansion, and from the circles of sleeping bags on tent floors – from small McRae, GA backyards to the vast wilderness of Canada.

Truth wasn’t the only thing that came out with our crew.  Bravery was the other solider that emerged in this battle of choices.  Bravery to tackle some of the craziest, riskiest, most insane dares on the planet … at least, for a young kid.

I’ll never forget this one night that a bunch of us were camping in my backyard.  These campouts were regular occurrences during the Summer months and weekends.  At least a handful of the chapters in “Small Town Stories” come from the mischief that happened on those nights.

It was my buddy, Tommy’s turn.  To our surprise, he manned up and proclaimed to the world his answer:

“Dare”.

My memory doesn’t recall the foggy details of who came up with this intricate plan.  I was still reeling in laughter from Wyatt’s order to go boof a tree.  I’m pretty sure this kid who introduced us to this new urban slang came up with this dare.

The dare was something like this:

1.  Sneak down to the big curve by yourself with no flashlight.
2.  Take this metal bat.
3.  Bang on the stop sign as hard as you can five times
4.  Then, scream at the top of your lungs, “Love That Chicken from Popeyes“.

This was a great dare, but the addition of singing a commercial jingle pushed it into a fantastic dare. I’d guess this was probably early-mid 1980′s.  This new jingle was on TV all the time … with a catchy phrase about Popeye’s Fried Chicken, and we were constantly singing it.  Of course, none of us had ever eaten Popeyes chicken.  You’d have to go to a big city for that.  We had the Dairy Queen and the Tastee’ Freeze, which regularly changed names.  I’m not sure if the Chik-King counted as Popeyes, but it was good enough.

Now the big curve was only a few blocks away, but it was probably 3:00 AM by now.  It was overcast and dark – no stars, no moon, no light.  Pitch blackness engulfed us on every side, pierced only by our single flashlight and the embers of what was left of our campfire.

Tommy stood up with a look of fear, defiance, and a touch of boldness.  He exited the tent and disappeared into the darkness.  And we waited.  Waited.  And waited.

On any other day a kid could make it from my backyard to the big curve in a few minutes.  We waited for what seemed to be hours.  Occasionally a dog would bark and we’d all get quiet and listen … and nothing.  Before long we began to throw out our ideas of what may have happened to our dear friend.  Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.  He’d fallen into one of those big ditches in the dark.  He’d been picked up by the police.  Or worse, he’d never really left and was lingering somewhere off the perimeter waiting for his chance to prank us.

Although reality says it was only 10-15 minutes, what seemed like an eternity passed.  We’d all given up on Tommy and gone back to our game.

Well, “when out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter” does no justice for this 3:30 AM instance.  Out of nowhere, the still black darkness was fractured into a million pieces.  That bat hitting that stop sign several blocks away was louder than any contraband M-80 we’d ever purchased from Livingston’s back room. It dwarfed the sound of any secret firework you could get from the secret closet at Rawlin’s Zmart.  I’d never heard such a loud sound in my entire life.

Perhaps sound travels better in the darkness.  Perhaps everything else is just quiet.  All I can say is that bat hitting that stop sign made every single one of us jump through the roof of that tent.  It echoed across the south side of McRae, GA like a bomb blast.  It was the 1980′s version of “shock and awe”.

Then, as if Danny Treadway himself were directing the vocals, you hear this loud, clear, gleeful melody soaring through the night:
LOVE THAT CHICKEN FROM POPEYES.

Not just once … OVER and OVER.  It was as if the adrenaline pumping through Tommy’s veins somehow got the repeat button stuck on his internal CD player.  LOVE THAT CHICKEN FROM POPEYES.

By now, every dog on the south side of McRae, GA was barking up a storm.  I’m pretty sure the lights came on in the Pierce’s house across the street.  And before the echo of that blast stopped rippling through the Great Woods, Tommy was back in the tent.

Homeboy was gasping for breath.  Sweating bullets.  We were laughing so hard I thought we’d each pass out.

And with that, our game of Truth or Dare came to an end, at least, for that night.  We’d awakened the Canine Choir and half the town.  I can only imagine that most parents stirred awake briefly and said to themselves, “those boys must be camping out tonight at the McKinnon’s”.

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*personal note:  this is another post in a series called “Small Town Stories”.  I alluded to this in my New Years Day post but never followed through.  The content of this category is totally different than the focus of the blog.  It’s not about worship or leadership, it’s fun, life stories and memories of growing up in a small town.  As always, memories are that … memories.  Names will be substituted where appropriate, and facts will be blended with fiction, or half-memories.  That’s what makes them fun.  If you enjoy this series, please let me know by commenting.

The Sea Cloud (see The Sea Cloud’s Maiden Voyage) quickly became a neighborhood hit.  Carrying a manifest of two humans and one golden retriever became standard.  Of course, that was only the passenger manifest.  There was never an official cargo manifest as having the contents of our cargo in written fashion could easily become evidence in the wrong hands.

Our days were full of mischief.  The Great Woods behind the pond held the promise of hidden protection from prying eyes and nosy parents.  Older kids had better things to do and younger kids, though they may try, would seldom make it across our hidden booby traps.

One such trap was a deep hole filled with homemade spears sticking out of the ground.  It was covered with light twigs and leaves so that the trespasser trying to sneak towards our beloved Fort Montgomery would be sure to fall to their doom.  I’m still not quite sure how those Cliett kids kept themselves from being impaled.

On a particular lazy Sunday afternoon our cargo manifest was especially top secret.   My buddy Sim, and I had just discovered one of grandest treasures awaiting kid-exploration:  a big box of primers used as the firing mechanism in reloaded shotgun shells.  My Dad had a corner of the big white barn dedicated to his ammunition and reloading.  Primers.  Gun powder.  Bullets.

Sim was the kid who always unwrapped his Christmas presents under the tree while his parents were away to discover what he’d be receiving on Christmas Day, and then would wrap them back up.  There was no way he was going to allow this treasure to be left undisturbed despite the warnings I’d received from Dad.  We grabbed a few boxes of primers, our trusty Daisy pellet gun (trust me, we’d long since graduated from the “official Red Rider 250-shot air rifle with a compass in the stock and a thing which tells time”) and a role of black electrical tape.

McKinnon Pond was especially smooth and peaceful this Sunday afternoon.  The Sea Cloud whisked across the waters ever so quickly and before you knew it, we were in the safety of Fort Montgomery.  We’d discovered that shotgun shell primers really offered no joy unless they were struck with something.  We may have been kids, but we weren’t so stupid as to try to strike them while holding them in our hands.  That’s what the pellet gun and electrical tape was for.  We discovered that if you centered the primer right on the end of the barrel and taped it on, the BB would shoot down the barrel, striking the primer and making an intense firing, just like shooting a .22.

I suppose we shot primers for hours.  I specifically remember that my grandparents had come over from Cordele, GA that day so Mom and Dad were thoroughly preoccupied with visiting.  It was just the two of us.  We were in kid-bliss, taking turns firing off our new weapon.

On the far back side of the Great Woods was a paved road called “Montgomery Circle”.  A vast drainage ditch separated the road from the Great Woods.  We’d often built rickety bridges across the ditch but any cool kid could simply run and jump over it.  That’s exactly what Sim did when he decided it was about time to wrap things up.  He’d left his bike parked off Montgomery Circle and had originally entered the Fort from the Montgomery Circle/Great Woods entrance.  Since he’d helped create all the booby traps, he knew where to go.

Jumping the expanse of this ditch was an everyday occurrence.  But this day was different.  Just as Sim began his leaping approach over the ditch to retrieve his bike he noticed movement from the bottom of the ditch.

It was dark.

It was big.

And it stood up and with a deep voice and screamed “Hey Kid.  Stop!”

No kid could ever jump the ditch backwards but no sooner than Sim’s feet hit the pavement he jumped backwards over the ditch into the Great Woods and began running like a bat out of hell towards Fort Montgomery.  He yelled one word, and one word only:

“POLICE”.

This word evoked two instincts in our crew:
#1.  Run like Hell.
#2.  DLH.  DLH was an acronym that we created and we still use it today.  It meant, simply:  “Deny Like Hell”.

I suppose we liked the word “hell” a little too much.  It seemed appropriate as it could be the doom awaiting us if we were caught.

Wasting no time, I met Sim at the dock.  We flew across those boards as if our feet never really touched the ground.  As I began flailing the oars in the murky waters of McKinnon Pond I remember saying “Sim, what about your bike”?  His eyes were as big as the moon and he said “forget the bike,

go …

Go …

GO!”

I think we were about a third of the way across the pond when it happened.  There was this horrific jerk – a shove of sorts that nearly toppled us right out of the Sea Cloud.  We’d stopped.  I could tell by the look on Sim’s face that he figured things out as quickly as I did.

WE HAD FORGOTTEN TO UNTIE THE ANCHOR ROPE FROM THE DOCK.

As our eyes followed this dripping rope from the bow of the Sea Cloud to that willow branch by the dock, we saw it.  The huge, black, muscular arm of our adversary, Sargent Jonas Tobler of the McRae Police Department.  It was literally the strong arm of the law.

With a chuckle he dropped to his knees, grabbed the rope, and towed us in.

He’d received a call that “those boys” were at it again – this time shooting a firearm in the woods.  I suppose he’d been observing us from the ditch.  I honestly don’t remember much of the discussion.  I remember saying “yes sir, yes sir”.  Just as we’d convinced him that we weren’t bank robbers or terrorists, we came under fire.

My older brother, Rob, completely oblivious to the fact that we were being interrogated dock side by Sgt. Tobler, decided it would be fun to sneak through the Wooley Swamp, lighting and throwing firecrackers in our general direction.

After considerable yelling and screaming, he knocked it off and disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared.  We concluded the receiving end of our lecture from McRae’s finest, untied our anchor rope, tucked our heads down, and eased back home.

As I turned my head and looked over my shoulder back towards the house, I saw my Mom, standing on the deck.  I suppose she’d witnessed the entire episode.  Her arms were crossed and she had … that look.

That was one of the last voyages on the Sea Cloud and was perhaps one of the most memorable Sunday afternoons of my life.

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*personal note:  this is the first post of what I call “Small Town Stories”.  I alluded to this in my New Years Day post but never followed through.  The content of this category is totally different than the focus of the blog.  It’s not about worship or leadership, it’s fun, life stories and memories of growing up in a small town.  As always, memories are that … memories.  Names will be substituted where appropriate, and facts will be blended with fiction, or half-memories.  That’s what makes them fun.  If you enjoy this series, please let me know by commenting.

I was always the kid entrepreneur.  If it wasn’t Christmas cards, it was All-Occasion cards.  If it wasn’t cards, it was gift wrap or a plea for money to some good cause.  My favorite product to peddle was those decadent chocolate bars in the mouth-watering options of “Krunch”, “Almond”, or “Caramel”.  These were the easiest products to move, as all I really had to do is buy a truck load of them and leave them in our fridge for my Dad to devour.  And he did.  Thankfully, he was good to pay for them.

This time around, it was cards.  But not for the money – no, this kid had a much bigger prize.  It would take my selling more boxes of Christmas cards than there were people in Telfair County, but I was ambitious and had my eyes set on the grandest prize of all:  The blue and yellow Sea Cloud inflatable boat with matching oars and pump.

After weeks of my hands peddling cards to neighbors and my feet pedaling my Huffy Bandit throughout the town, the Sea Cloud arrived.  She was beautiful.  It didn’t take long for all the kids to start arriving … the Sea Cloud became the Saturday talk of Montgomery Circle.

Brandy, my faithful golden retriever, was there, lips-smacking and tail-wagging, when I took the maiden voyage.  A kid like me couldn’t buy a bottle of champagne.  Besides, Wild Turkey or Boone’s Farm was the drink of the elite there in McRae.  Alas, I’m just a kid so I was forced to resort to shaking up a can of Winn Dixie’s “Chek” Cream Soda to anoint the bow of our sea-worthy vessel.  She may not have been ready for the Atlantic Ocean, but this boat was definitely ready to cross over the big pond in our back yard.

Our back yard was a kid’s dream; vast, and surrounded by everything a kid needs for growing up.  The ditch by the road was wide and deep and filled waste high with water after a summer gusher.  The thick green grass ended with a rather large pond surrounded by the vast woods in the back (by vast, I mean, a couple of residential lots) and the Wooley Swamp that Charlie Daniels sung about on the side.  There had once been a metal wire suspended across the pond for us to zip line across but that ended when too many kids dropped off in the middle with their school clothes on.

The pond teemed with life – minnows, fish, turtles, and “Big Mama”, an albino catfish that we all thought was immortal.   There were big willows that wept over the water leaving opportune spots for bream beds …. and snakes and wasp nests.

Without question, the pinnacle of delight on this block of McRae, GA real estate was the secret, yet well-known hideout called “Fort Montgomery”.  This epic fort was built to withstand everything from alien attacks to nosy parents wondering what happened to that pack of Salem Light Ultra 100s on their dashboard.  The addition of the Sea Cloud gave a whole new level of access (and regress) to Fort Montgomery so we began construction on a state-of-the-art pier.

The pier was any flat piece of board we could find from neighboring construction sites.   The board would be nailed in the middle to the biggest branch of one of those willows extending into the water.  It was as good as one of New York Harbor’s piers unless you happened to step on either side of the board.  You had to be careful to never have both feet down at once and always keep one foot in front of the other.

But who cared.  This was the bomb.  Despite the reality that you could simply walk on the path around the pond to enter those dark woods to Fort Montgomery, the new route via Sea Cloud was really the ONLY way to go.  I don’t recall, but I’m pretty sure I came up with a fare of sorts and charged neighbor kids for rides to and from the fort.

The maiden voyage was flawless.  She graced through the water with only the sound of the water drops dripping off the plastic paddles and the occasional slap of water when I’d be forced to shake off that nasty green, slimy mossy stuff off the oar.  I made several laps around the pond and knew I was born for the water.  I was the Captain.  She was my vessel.

I was in kid ecstasy.

Little did I know that the Sea Cloud would soon be involved in crime.
(stay tuned for “The Strong Arm of the Law”)

*personal note:  this is the first post of what I call “Small Town Stories”.  I alluded to this in my New Years Day post but never followed through.  The content of this category is totally different than the focus of the blog.  It’s not about worship or leadership, it’s fun, life stories and memories of growing up in a small town.  As always, memories are that … memories.  Names will be substituted where appropriate, and facts will be blended with fiction, or half-memories.  That’s what makes them fun.  If you enjoy this series, please let me know by commenting.

So as you may have read in Part 1, my wife left early Thursday AM for 4 days of bliss with one of her good friends from back home (in Gainesville, GA).  She’s hanging out w/ her family and her friend Sandy.  When Joy and Sandy are in the same zip code there is a laughter pandemic.  Something about Joy and Sandy in the same area causes a laughing revival of sorts.  It’s not unheard of for the two of them to be laughing uncontrollably, tears streaming down their faces, while everyone else just sort of looks on wondering what the heck is so funny.  To top it off, she’s hitting the night sessions of the “Forward 11″ conference.  She called last night to say that “Planetshakers” is perhaps her new favorite band.

So, I’ve got all 4 kids.  And you know what?  It’s been great.

Thursday night I decided they were old enough now to go to church with me … I didn’t need to hire a sitter for the 2+ hours I’d be rehearsing with the praise team at SSCC.  So, I ordered an extra pizza and brought the kiddos to band practice.  After we all ate our pizza with the band I escorted the kids to “The Breakfast Club”, one of the coolest rooms at SSCC – filled with couches, games, toys, and video games.  I fully expected those kids to interrupt our rehearsal with incessant tattling and reports of injury throughout the night.  They did not interrupt a single time.   Add to that the amazement that the Breakfast Club was fully in tact and not torn apart when I retrieved my kids made for a great night.

Yesterday (Friday) started off with our traditional visit to Sweet Mamas for breakfast.  For those who are reading this that may be considering coming to our “Refuge” conference this October - note the 10:00 AM call time gives ample opportunity for you to try some chocolate danishes and pork pops!

After lunch I took the kids to the 2:15 matinee of “Cars 2″.  Really enjoyed the movie.  I’m a huge “Deadliest Catch” fan so the opening scene was fantastic for me.  It opens with my favorite boat (The Northwestern) on the high seas.  I thought that was cool, but only late last night when I was watching “After the Catch” from last Tuesdays (thanks to DVR) did I realize that not only was that Sig’s boat (in cartoon format), but it was actually Sig’s VOICE on the movie!

After the flick we came home, changed clothes, and invaded the Neptune Pool on St. Simons.  I didn’t get in the water, I was too drawn in with Ian Cron’s new book:  “Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me“.  Thanks to the new iPad2, I could enjoy it digitally right by the pool.  Aaaaha, the lap of luxury.

I whipped up a batch of spaghetti, a tossed salad (of which all 4 kids finished!), and some garlic bread sticks that made for a nice evening.

So, we’re actually surviving!  Today I’ve got yard work to do – so it will be a full day of trying to get some yard work done yet keeping the kids somewhat entertained.

Completion of Day 2, Beginning of Day 3:
0 Kids Hurt/Injured
0 Items Broken beyond repair
1 Instance of me losing my temper (you know, the whole “kids, don’t talk while I’m on the phone in the car” situation?)

9:45 AM:  EST

Time for a family meeting.  It goes something like this.

Me: OK, Kiddos.  As you know, Mom left early this AM.  She’s going on a fun trip where she can hang out with one of her girlfriends, attend a fun conference, hang out with her family, and have zero responsibility for anyone except herself.  She deserves it.

Rebekah:  Mommie has a girlfriend?  But she’s married.

Me: No, a friend, who is a girl, Rebekah – you know, like Kiley or Sierra … a good friend.  You don’t know her, her name is Sandy.

Jon Michael:  Oh, I know Sandy.  (yeah, right).

Me: So, let’s work together to get along, be respectful to one another, and have fun.  I have to work today, so I need you to help me.  When I say it’s time to play outside, I want you to play outside and not talk back.  There is plenty of stuff to do – ride bikes, scooters, shoot baskets, play games.

Jon Michael:  play with Sadie (our dog)

Will:  yes SIR.

Me: I’m upstairs in my office working on church stuff.  Ya’ll be lazy for a bit longer, watch some TV, and we’ll take an outside break around 11:00 before lunch.

Andrew:  Daddy … can I play your iPad?

——————————–

And so begins my long 4-weekend.  Joy is headed off to meet one of her best friends, attend the evening sessions of the Forward Conference in North Georgia, and just have a laid back fun time w/ her friend and family.  She gets Toby Mac & Christine Cain tonight.  I’ll journal the Mr. Mom experience right here, and will tweet along w/ the hashtag #MrMom.

A while back I read a blog post from Randy Elrod where he asked people to define him in “one word”.  My initial reaction was “wow, someone needs some attention” … but I trusted his purpose in asking for people to fill his mind with a page full of 1-word descriptions of who he was.  I later saw his purpose clearly.

He went deeper into this experiment this year at re:create, which was a frightening experience for me, as I’ve blogged about in the past.

There is some value in allowing other people to define what “they see”.  This is not an exercise to fill my head with compliments – as a matter of fact, if you feel the need to use a word that is … well, let’s say “less than admirable”, please be honest.  Comment anonymously if you want.

I’m doing some soul-searching.  This isn’t altogether uncommon for me, but I’m curious to see what answers may pop in.

So … would you be so gracious to indulge me in this experiment?  Define Fred McKinnon in ONE WORD.

Hey Gang,

Today is the last post of the “Survey Says” series.  If you’ve not chimed in with answers on the previous two posts of the series, we’d love to hear your voice:

Survey Says:  What Are the Top 5 Blogs You Read?
Survey Says:  If I Could Change 1 Thing About My Church, It Would Be …

Today, it gets a bit more personal.

If you could change ONE THING about YOURSELF, what would it be?

It’s almost impossible for me to list one thing.  One of the ongoing things that keeps coming to mind, other than a better discipline of taking care of my physical body, is becoming a better listener – talking less, listening more.

How about you?

Hey Folks,

For the next few days, I’m gonna run a little series here on the blog called “Survey Says”.

I’ll ask a question … I may (or may not) share some of my own answers, but the real point is for you, the gang in the community here at FredMcKinnon.Com, to respond.

So today:

Blogs:  what are you reading these days?  What are your top 5 blogs?

I have to admin I struggle to keep up with the blogs in my blogroll – so I’ll just mention a couple of newer, noteworthy ones I’ve stumbled upon in the last few months:

DavidSantistevan.Com – great blog on worship leadership and church, and enjoy following him on Twitter as well @dsantistevan
GoinsWriter.Com – inspiring blog on creativity and writing by Jeff Goins.  I had the privilege of meeting Jeff at re:create this year.  Follow him on Twitter @JeffGoins
RandyElrod.Com – I try to catch every post, but I miss more than I catch.  Randy is a mentor, fellow dreamer, and inspiring guy.  He founded re:create. Follow him on Twitter @RandyElrod
MichaelHyatt.Com – Michael is an inspiring leader, speaker, publisher, and all-around-good-guy.  Met him at re:create as well.  Follow him @MichaelHyatt
TheWorshipCommunity.Com – both a blog and lively forums community, always good content … I’m biased, since I founded and publish the site, but seriously – if you’re into worship/tech/ministry leadership, this is a great resource.   I have to subscribe via RSS to both articles and forums to keep up.  On twitter @theworshipcomm

So what about you?  What’s your Top 5 blogs?

It’s FRIDAY!

For us, it’s not just Friday, but it’s the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL for the kids.

We kicked off the morning with our traditional family breakfast at Sweet Mamas on St. Simons Island.  Hard to beat a morning starting off with coffee, chocolate cheese danish, and pork pops.

Fridays are our “day off” from the church, so I’ll spend my morning doing some business bookkeeping and I’ll make a sincere effort in cleaning my office.

After lunch, we’ll get the kids out of school and after a few hours, head off to the baseball fields for a ballgame tonight.

Joy and I hope to get a babysitter and catch a movie this weekend.  I want to see Thor and Pirates for sure.

So how ’bout you?  What’s your Friday & Weekend plans?

I recently had the honor of working with the production team from Dr. Charles Stanley’s “In Touch” Ministries in their creation of a new promo/commercial.  The commercial is for Dr. Stanley’s upcoming book, “Turning the Tide”.  As a New York Times Best-Selling Author, this book will be sure to be selling like crazy.

My cousin and great friend – a fellow “creative”, John McKinnon, was the Director and asked me to help them secure a beach location here and some kids to be the “extras”.

I watched them race the sunlight and the quickly approaching tides on Jekyll Island’s driftwood beach for 2 days of filming.  The commercial is now produced, and though I’m biased towards my cousin’s work, I think it’s incredible.

See for yourself – and pickup the book, which releases in July.

This was too good not to blog.  Thanks to my 5-yr old, Andrew for this one.

7:38 AM, EST:
Fred: “Andrew, you dropped a little bit of cereal down on the floor under the table”.
Andrew: “Daddy, that’s what little boys do”.

Today is my son’s 9th Birthday.  Will McKinnon, I love you so much.  I can’t believe you are 9 years old!

Since I began blogging a few years ago I’ve tested a few of the commenting platforms.  WordPress (the software that drives my blog) has a great commenting/discussion feature built-in, of course.  I’ve tried IntenseDebate a couple of times but never could get things to sync up properly.

Although I’ve tried the Disqus platform a while back, I never really gave it much of a chance.  Now that I’ve stepped away for a year or so, I really like what I see from Disqus.

So, for now – FredMcKinnon.Com is officially “disqus-ting”.

What better way to try it out than to ask you guys and gals to give it a good workout.  Use the Disqus commenting system below and tell me about your weekend or day.

Me?  Spent the morning doing some computer work while the kids lazed around watching cartoons and playing with pals.  Then we went to Jekyll Island for some Summer Waves fun before coming home to eat dinner, watch a movie, and crash.  I’ve got Rebekah (7) and Andrew (5).  Jon Michael (10) and Will (who turned 9 TODAY – HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!) are enjoying the Star Wars weekend at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!

How ’bout you?  How have you spent YOUR WEEKEND?

This post is inspired by a post that Jamie Brown posted called “Worship Leader Nightmares“.  He talks about this recurring dream where he’s on stage and forgets all this stuff.  I’ve SO HAD that dream.

It got me talking about recurring dreams I’ve always had.  One is where I’m wandering around campus at college because I can’t remember my class schedule, and I can’t find the building that has the staff who can give me that piece of paper that shows who your classes, buildings, and teachers are.  I have another one where in the dream, I realize that I’ve accidentally forgotten to go to a certain class for the entire semester of school!

Then, there’s the infamous dream where you can’t find your locker …or, you find it, but can’t remember your combination.  In my search for “dreams” pictures I even typed “locker dream” and was laughing when I found this pic and this post about some other person having the same dreams.

So, what are your crazy, recurring dreams?  Do you have any?

Well, I did it.  I’m a gadget addict, I confess.  I’ve successfully starved off the craving to own an iPad since those sleek, sexy tablets came out.  It lasted for quite a while.  But now, I’ve caved.

Yes, I ordered an Apple iPad 2 yesterday.  They seem to be out of stock everywhere so I ordered from Apple.Com and it’s supposed to ship in 1-2 weeks.

My purchase was not without a good bit of prayer and research.  Prayer?  Well that’s a nice chunk of change for a gadget that is clearly more of a “want” than a “need”.  Am I being a poor steward of my finances in making the purchase?  Couldn’t those funds be better used by those in need?  Research?  Well, I’ve read numerous reviews both praising the iPad and bashing it.  I have trusted friends who gave theirs away and others who say if they had to do it all over again, they’d still make the purchase.

Here are 6 reasons I took the plunge:

1.  Portability:  I carry my 15″ MacBook Pro around everywhere, and I don’t carry it around without having my backpack.  There are so many times when I prefer a digital workspace but don’t want to lug the bag and laptop around.  I think of how portable and easy it would be to carry this (and only this) into my meetings for notes, sketches, ideas.

2.  Digital Archives:  I try to be as paperless as possible – if we’re handed a few pages of notes or outlines at our church staff meeting, I followup immediately afterwards with a request for the e-document and I throw away the papers.  Using a cloud-service like Dropbox enables me to keep my documents with me and easily accessible.  I am planning on creating an extensive database of lyric/chord charts that I can access on demand when leading more spontaneous, free-flowing worship times.

3.  Worship Production:  Two of the applications that we use daily in creating, planning, and executing corporate worship services are PlanningCenterOnline and ProPresenter.  The iPad allows me to interact with either of these (as a music stand, a lyrics display, etc) from the stage with a minimal footprint.  If only the iPad ran Ableton Live, I could keep my laptop off stage completely.  I also understand that there is an app that may allow me to connect remotely to our Yamaha M7CL mixing console and adjust my monitor mix.  Travis would love nothing more than never having to tweak my picky monitor preferences again.

4.  Product Sourcing & Sales Data:  as I begin to get more involved in product sourcing for my e-biz, I find myself needing online access to verify a product’s sales rank in the marketplace, verify competitive pricing, etc.  With plans to visit some trade shows and expos where I’d need to make fairly quick decisions on bulk purchasing, this information is critical to me.  As I’ve been making arrangements to visit one particular event, I could only imagine negotiating with a manufacturer or vendor and having to say “could you wait for me to find an office somewhere around here where I can pull out my laptop and do some research”.  What I can imagine is having an iPad within reach where I can do quick research via the Wifi and web browser on the spot without having to setup a mobile office space.

In addition, we’ve recently migrated all of our e-biz sales data to FileMaker Pro.  Although we do have web access to our FileMaker databases, some of the functionality of the software is not available unless you connect with the actual software of their iPad app, FileMaker Go.  After previewing the FileMaker Go app on the in-store iPad at Verizon the other day, I was hooked.  FileMaker has a great promotion running where purchasing their iPad app gives you a $150 discount on their desktop app, which I am required to purchase.  This sweetened the deal for me.

5.  Entertainment:  well, c’mon let’s be honest.  Having an iPad will just be fun.  I look forward to de-stressing by playing some pinball, Angry Birds on bigger screen, or watching a movie in the car.  With 4 kids, all who are constantly asking my wife and I if they can “play my phone” … I’m sure it will become a family media device.  I’m OK with that.  Granted, that usage needs to be balanced, but I’m up for the challenge.

6.  Personal Study and Reading:  From everything I have read, the Kindle is simply a better device for reading.  Period.   I’m a gadget guy, absolutely, but I’m not planning on buying a gadget just for reading.  Enter the Kindle App and my ability to read books via the iPad.  I look forward to interacting with YouVersion.Com as well in my daily Bible Study.

I’m sure there are pros and cons to owning an iPad.  I would be the first to say it’s a luxury item.  Perhaps I’ll update you in a few months on how it panned out.

How about you?  Do you own an iPad or tablet?  How do you use it?

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with life?
Do you ever feel that you can’t accomplish anything?
Do you ever feel that you are always behind, and can’t catch up?
Do you struggle with necessary disciplines in life and give up?

Zorro can help.

I’ve been reading a fascinating book by Shawn Achor called “The Happiness Advantage” (and hope to blog about the book when I’m finally finished) and one of the concepts Achor introduces in his book is called the “The Zorro Circle”.  This principle comes from the movie “The Mask of Zorro”.  In the movie, Anthony Hopkins is training Alejandros (Zorro, played by Antonio Banderas), the young hero.

“This is called a training circle, a master’s wheel. This circle will be your world, your whole life. Until I tell you otherwise, there is nothing outside of it.” Alejandros progress depended directly on how well he could learn to master only the things within his circle. At first, it was a large circle with obstacles, ropes and at times, Zorro in it. “As your skill with the sword improves, you will progress to a smaller circle. With each new circle, your world contracts, bringing you ………..that much closer to retribution.”

The concept of a focused circle isn’t a new one.  We’ve all heard the phrase “just take it in bite-size chunks”.  This concept is played out in Dave Ramsey’s financial baby steps when he tells you to pay off your debts from the smallest balance first (as opposed to the traditional argument of paying off the highest interest balances first).

Are you overwhelmed with bills?  Create a “Zorro Circle” around the debt with your smallest balance, and focus all of your attention on it and pay it off.

What about the spiritual disciplines?  Instead of trying to read the Bible in a year, consider a smaller Zorro Circle … like a commitment to read a specific book within a specific time.

What about fitness?  (oh dear)

I tend to lean towards the obsessive compulsive nature.  (that is, if being completely immersed in that nature is leaning!).  So, I’m either going 100%, logging my food and exercise every single day, or none at all.  This is not healthy or productive.  Make a Zorro Circle and master what’s in that circle, and nothing else.

One example in “The Happiness Advantage” was about an executive who absolutely could not keep his office clean.  They took ONE CORNER of his desk, cleaned it off, and his Zorro Circle was to defend that corner of the desk for a week.  After he successfully kept that corner of the desk clear for a week, they enlarged the circle to include two corners, and so forth.

I think you get the idea.  Rather than having me continue to elaborate, let’s discuss this together.

I’d like for you to consider commenting about ONE ZORRO CIRCLE for you to tackle for the rest of this month.

Ready?  Go.

Today I am going to confess.  Today I am going to be vulnerable.  What I have to say may come as no shock at all or it may surprise you a bit.

But first, a bit of the back story.

Shortly after attending the re:create conference this past February I published this post entitled “Woe Is Me“.  Even in this post, I came short of telling the whole story.

I almost revealed on a post by my friend Mandy Thompson in her comments …

But, when my friend and mentor Randy Elrod posed the question, “what one word describes you”, one word jumped to the forefront.  I was too afraid to write it down.  What if someone sees it?

Over the past month I’ve seen story after story – blog after blog – post after post … all sounding the same theme – a need for true, authentic community.

Chris talked about it here.
Randy had a  post about it here and here.
Michael nailed me here and here.

Because, believe it or not … the one word that shouted in my inner-being was:

LONELY.  I – am – lonely.

Phew.  There.  I said it.  (rather, I typed it).

How can I even say this?  I’ve got an awesome wife.  I have four wonderful kids.  I work at an incredible church and truly enjoy the fellowship and company of my co-workers.

Yet … at the end of the day, outside of my relationship with my wife … I can’t say that I’m sure I’ve got those deep, firm relationships that weather the storms.

We live in a season of life where we have tons of friend-acquaintances … from the families we hang with at the ball fields to friends from church.  But not the kind of relationships where you intentionally, frequently, sit and share life on a deeper, more intimate level.

Granted, I’ve got a few buddies on IM/Twitter who probably know more about what’s in my heart than ANYONE who lives here.  And there is huge value in that.  But I am ready to invest in a connection where I can truly be myself – be real, and be that for someone back.  And I’d go so far to say it’s not for lack of trying – I’ve definitely reached out, several times, trying to build those relationships that have potential to be the real David/Jonathan … but either life is too busy or perhaps my personality is too freaking strong.  I have to ask the hard questions – what in my personality and persona would cause someone to want to walk the other way, to shy away from a close bond, or to be pushed away?

I don’t share this for sympathy.  I share it because it needs to be said.  I share it because it’s a public confession and the first step in my resolve to proactively build a better, deeper community.  I share it because I suspect someone else feels the same way.

So yes – I’m a guy who is a known “gatherer”.  I’m on stage in front of 1500+ people every week.  I have a blog that reaches thousands and I can always generate a discussion through social media.  I have a big group of Twitter and Facebook followers.

Yet, I’m lonely.

Hey Gang,

So I’ve been kinda quiet lately … not blogging, not tweeting, not answering email.

That’s because we sailed away last Thursday for a 4-day cruise to the Bahamas for the last part of the kid’s Spring Break.

It was the first time the kids have been on a cruise – and they were awesome.  We had an incredible time.  As with most vacations, you come home exhausted!

For a guy who is constantly “online” it was an adjustment.  I felt myself fiddling for my phone every few minutes the first day or so – by Saturday, the only reason I even kept it was for the camera.  (Here’s a snapshot of us at Atlantis on Paradise Island, Bahamas).  I never used the onboard wifi or opened my laptop.  Woo Hoo.  When we arrived back into port this morning, I had around 200 emails waiting.  What’s crazy is that I could immediately (and safely) delete about 180 of them without even viewing them.  It makes me realize how much useless email I receive.  (and the ones I deleted weren’t really spam either, just unnecessary subscription updates, social networking requests, etc).

I am so blessed to be able to leave and not worry – my staff @ HPP Enterprises handled everything flawlessly.  Our incredible servants and leaders @ SSCC led worship and I’m sure they did an amazing job.

I’m returning with a full plate – “Church in the Park” is happening here on SSI this Sunday.  Then of course, we’re in Holy Week with Easter Sunday.  Beyond that, it’s time for me to start making the dream a reality for 3 days of refuge … more to come, but if you are someone who needs to unplug, unwind, get in a beautiful environment, and enjoy some rest, relaxation, solitude, encouragement, and most of all – time to get still and listen for that “still, small voice” – start saving the date of October 23-26!  More to come ASAP.

So … did everyone leave while I was away?  If not – how ya been?