Okay, it has been a long, long time and I don't feel good about that, though, as I've stated in the past, it seems that as if time is speeding up as mankind rushes towards the end of the age.  Time also has a way of rushing by when you are busy and I have been busy, especially with my work.

I took on a lot of responsibility this year in order to be able to work at my old workplace.  About 75% of that work has been outside my field (Electrical Engineering) so it has been a learning experience for me and, as a result, takes me  a bit longer to do than the work I am more familiar with.  Some people thought I was crazy to attempt it but I know that God led me there and He would see me through it, as He has done so far.  The only down side at the moment is the fact that the budget for the Corps of Engieers is not looking good for the next year, which starts in October, so I may be back to my Federal Building cubicle doing design work, which is not my preference at all.  That is still in the future though and I'll let God work that one out also.

I took last week off of work and my wife and I removed our old bathtub and shower surround and installed a new one.  Owning an old and decrepite house it of course took longer than planned and the rest of the bathroom is still awaiting my attention, which I should resume sometime soon.  After the drudgery of last week I don't think the rest of it will be too bad so I'm trying to stay upbeat about it.  I just need to get all the scratches healed and the muscles rested before I get too far into it again.

The Saturday Night service has not been doing all that well.  We spend time trying to make it something God wants and something that will grab people's attention but I sometimes have to face the fact that it is still a Methodist Church.  I've been reading so much about the younger generation, their different way of perceiving things, and how the modern church needs to change in order to address their needs but it is pretty hard to get people who are set in their ways to allow the changes, especially when they won't take the time to try and figure out why we need it.  I'm beginning to feel that my time at that church is growing short though I'm not ready to throw in the towel until God leads me to do so. 

Well, that is about all I have for now.  Hope to get back here soon, especially to read some of your blogs.

Be Blessed!

God IS Good!

Go Ahead: Say It! Believe It! Confess It!

You're Invited!!

Okay, I know it seems weird but I'm back here to write already.

I was asked to bring the Saturday Night band to the second Sunday morning service (11:00AM) this weekend.  There is a men's retreat at which most of the men, including the regular Sunday worship leaders, will be attending  (I got burned out on men's groups a few years ago and I never go to them anymore).  Anyways, this is the service to which a lot of the past Saturday Night attendees migrated to because of wanting their children in Sunday School, not liking the way Saturday Night has changed, etc. plus there is a mix of older church attendees who wanted something more than the old traditional service which is offered at 8:30AM.  That said, you might think the transition would be easy but there is a certain "edge" to the Saturday Night music that won't go over well on Sunday so I have been trying to get a compromise set list that I could use both days in order to cut down on the practice times.

My first list included the song "My Glorious" (glory, glory, send Your glory) sandwiched in between "We Lift You Up" (we want to see Your glory) and "Facedown" (I'll fall facedown as Your glory shines around)  but it was decided that "My Glorious", though not too edgy for Sunday, was unfamiliar and might be hard to sing.  Once that was decided, I felt I'd lost the whole center of my "God's glory" theme so I scrapped the whole thing and started over.  I came up with a set of "In The Secret" (starts slow/ends fast) transitioning into a rythymic version of "Forever" (Tomlin's live CD) which modulates from G to A.  Then "How Great Is Our God", leaving the congregation sining the chorus of "How Great Thou Art" as we leave the platform.

For the closing set I'd penciled in "Give Us Clean Hands" and "Everybody Praise The Lord."  The offering is usually taken early on Sunday and late on Saturday so I was going to drop "Give Us..." on Sunday but I just got an email from the Associate Pastor (who does Saturday Night) that said they were going to change the offering to the end.  That means I can leave in the extra song. (God IS good!)

Pray that this slight change in music might attract some addtional people to Saturday Night .  I don't want them to abandon Sunday, but would like for them to experience what goes on at a Saturday service and also, it seems, that if we get more people coming, it attracts those who don't attend church because they want to see what is going on!

So, there is a whole lot of rambling about nothing which probably makes you wonder why you missed me, if you did!

Be Blessed!

God IS Good!

Go Ahead: Say It! Believe It! Confess It!

You're Invited!!

Wow, it has been quite a while since I've been here to write anything.  I keep pretty busy with work and with church but I could, if I had the ambition, take the time to sit down and write once-in-a-while.  It seems I went through a period where I wasn't available to use the computer and ever since then it has been a hit or miss proposition as to whether I take the time to get on xanga (and I'm a lifer!).

Not a whole lot is going on, out of the ordinary.  I'm not sure where I left my last work update but I had been moved from my old job to a new one in downtown Pittsburgh last year.  I tried to manipulate my situation for a while to get out of there but finally just left it up to God and right before Christmas I was assigned to work at my old place again, which is much more convenient for me.  The bonus is that my boss is still at the other location so I am, more or less, on my own with no one to bug me as long as I report on what I'm doing with some kind of regularity.  It's not all electrical engineering work but at this point, I don't really care as it is in the atmosphere I am most comfortable working in.

I am still leading worship on Saturday nights so that takes time to get organized each week.  We also have a "small group" that meets on Tuesdays to discuss where we think God wants the Saturday night service to go.  We're studying a book called "Emerging Worship" by Dan Kimball.  I had read it and suggested it as a way for people to start to get in the mindset of operating outside of the organized church "box" and explore other ways of communicating the gospel.  The Saturday night service is still going through a lot of transition and, I'm sorry to say, there are people who have not only left the SN service but have also migrated away to other churches.  I have no hard feelings for them though as I remember going through the same thing for quite a few years trying to find some real meaning to God.  Funny that after several years I ended up back where I started and have been there for about 6 years now.

Well that is about it for now.

Be Blessed!

God IS Good!

Go Ahead: Say It! Believe It! Confess It!

You're Invited!!

I hope you all had a great time of Thanksgiving and that you are all ready for Christmas!    The time is flying by and it seems it will be here about the day after tomorrow.  I hope to get back on here and update you on my life soon!  Be Blessed!!

Seems there are strange antics going at Xanga and makes me kind of glad that it is not such a large part of my life anymore.  I miss some of my old "friends" here but I don't miss idiots like the ones going around writing scripts to do nothing but harrass people and try and point the finger at someone else.  I'd have to assume they have some kind of computer programming abilties but rather than use them for something good, they'd rather waste their abilities.  There's no honor in being proud of doing nothing.

But, that is not why I'm taking these few moments to write something.  I've been intending on doing it for some time but the days and weeks and months have been going by so fast that it amazes me.  I still think that as history winds down, time is speeding up and because the measurement of time is based on things that also can speed up, how would we know the difference?

Updating from my last post:  I am no longer working overtime and I really ahven't missed the extra money.  It came in handy when I needed extra but I'm quite content that there always seems to be enough to pay my bills and buy a few things.  My daughters have one more semester of school after this one so that expense will be going away too.  As for work, I've been out of the office for about 5 weeks now working with a repair crew at one of our lakes.  I'll be returning to my office for the first time since then on Wednesday but there is a meeting on Thursday which may/should send me back to my old office which I still maintain but rarely use.  It is more convenient for me and has free parking and is just a more relaxed atmosphere, plus it is work that I can get my hands on, not just design work sitting in a cubicle everyday.  God is always good to me and I knew if I just waited this out it would all work itself out.

Kathy and I did take that trip to Columbus but it was so long ago I can't remember what we might have bought as far as used books and CDs go.  I've been listening to the new David Crowder Band CD a lot and did "We Win!" in church a couple of weeks ago.  I bought the "Third Rock From The Sun" DVDs and laughed my way through them.  My daughters got the "Lost" DVDs but I didn't get too far through them.  I still ahven't watched the “Chronicles of Narnia” DVDs we were waiting for in my last post.  I also bought the old BBC "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" DVDs and watched them.  I taped it when it was on PBS years ago but the tape is kind of old now.

The new Assoicate Pastor is doing well with Saturday Night from Kathy and my's stand point but had caused some friction with some of the other "leaders" of that service.  He is so open to changing the service and we are starting a study of "Emerging Worship" by Dan Kimball to try and discern the direction God would have us take for that service.  The old SN service was such an influence on the church that practically it's whole format was moved to the second Sunday service and we now need to redirect Saturday to try and appeal to those who won't attend Sunday.  I'm looking for a more "experiential" service where people participate more and spectate (is that a word?) less but there are some who are upset that their old service has more or less moved to Sunday and rather than see SN move on with God, would rather it be shut down.  They've been told it is not going to happen but they are still "Hell-bent" on pressing their point.  I see them as spiritual teenagers who think they know everything and the rest of us are just morons, even though we've been around and seen the pitfalls churches fall into.  Paryer for our direction would be appreciated.

I've been busy these past few days on my children's computers.  My son's was full of adware/spyware and I cleaned a lot of it up but a lot of it still remains.  He took the computer back and plugged it in and the power supply blew.  I found it was just a little more than the cost of a new power supply to get a new case (bigger) so I took his entire computer apart and rebuilt it in the new case plus added another hard drive.  (He has some programs he uses on the old one that he no longer has the software for or I'd of just bought him a new computer.)  I was working a bit more today to try and clean his old one up but it has serious virus problems.  It does work though.  I've also been trying to clean up a trojan off my daughter's comnputer which took a lot of analyzing and googling before I came up with the answer for removing it.  It seems okay now.  She was fortunate to have only one whereas my son has many.  I also have a spyware thing on my computer but I was able to disable it in Internet Explorer so it didn't keep popping up anti-spyware ads.  Ironic!  I actually cleaned mine up a bit based on what I'd found for cleaning my daughter's but I'm not sure if mine is totally cleaned or not.

Someone mentioned prayer and I'd like to say that I haven't update the Prayer List for a while but I do check to see if there are any new prayer requests, which there haven't been.  I've been thinking of expunging most of the old ones.  I've also thought of giving the site and email address to someone who is interested in keeping it up.

Well, that should be sufficient as an update for now.  Maybe when work and church finally settle out a bit I will have more time to get on here and write and even moreso to read some of your blogs.  I've been mssing you all!

Be Blessed!

God IS Good!

Go Ahead! Say It! Believe It! Confess It!

You're Invited!!

Go to The Prayer List , don't forget the others in need!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

Due to some confusion as to where to send prayer requests I want to clarify that you can use the email link at Isaiah56 (The Prayer List). Please include your xanga address so I know who you are!

Hi!!  I am still around!!

Thanks to all you who still come here looking for something to read!

So, here I am a month later and find it interesting that just as in my last blog, I am off this week.  Maybe that’s the only time I sit down long enough to put a few words thoughts down anymore.  Life seems to be flying by at a rapid pace and those things I put off for a day or two seem to either get forgotten or accomplished months later.

I have still been working overtime but it has been going on for so long it seems normal to me.  When it stops it will seem like I took a pay cut but it has enabled us to at least pay the college tuitions without having to borrow more.  God is good and He provides and I see that more and more in my life when I get my mind off my circumstances and on to Him.

Kathy is working today, 7:30AM to 9:00PM, so she can take the rest of the week off.  Once again we may take an overnighter somewhere or another.  Maybe a trip[ to Columbus to search for treasure in their four Half-Price Books stores? (We are boring people aren’t we?)  We actually could extend it to two nights but I doubt that.  I know she still wants to take some bicycles and computer monitors to the Construction Junction recycling place in Pittsburgh but I’ve been trying to get together with someone who wants a girl’s bike and we haven’t managed to synchronize our schedules for that.

I haven't watched any DVDs lately. I ordered the old PBS “Chronicles of Narnia” set for my youngest (half.com) as she remembers seeing them when they were first broadcast and I guess the hype for the new movie coming out this Christmas has piqued her interest again.  I also ordered a couple of old Woody Allen DVDs.  None of these will be in for a week or two.  On the CD side, I bought the Kutless CD “Strong Tower” which I like a lot.  I may use a song or two off it for worship one of these Saturday Nights.

Our newly hired Associate Pastor started this month and is doing a series on I Peter for the next six weeks or so.  He’s a great guy but I’m having a problem with his appearance.  He came from another Methodist church where he preached to an older crowd and doesn’t seem to be able to shake that “old time evangelist” look for something more modern and youthful looking.  We went to a meeting with him last week where he was dressed in a polo shirt, didn’t have on his glasses, and had his hair standing up with a slight part in the middle and I thought he really looked a lot younger.  Then Saturday night he shows up with suspenders and a dress shirt on, his glasses on, and his hair slicked back.  I teased him a bit but I’m not sure he got the message that he needs to be the same person on Saturday Night as he is during the week, we don’t need any pretenses here!

I can’t remember if I mentioned in the past that I had finally broke down and bought a notebook computer.  I spent more than I wanted but I figured I better buy the most I could afford so it lasts as long as possible.  I actually think it’s as good as my desk top computer.  I bought a wireless router to use with it and spent quite a few evenings over the course of a month or so trying to get the network running properly.  I finally Googled my problems and found the right answers and now have my old cable/router with an extra hub and my wireless router (being used as an access point only) hooked together.  I can even share files between the desk top and notebook (mostly my mp3’s).  I hesitate to allow sharing with my two daughter’s computers and my son’s as they use AIM and God only knows what else and I don’t want any Trojans or viruses downloaded onto my equipment.  Anyways, it is nice to pick up the notebook and go to another room or out onto the deck when I want to without losing my internet ability.  Enough on that.

Well, that is about all I have for now.  I pray you all have a blessed week ahead and that God presents you with an opportunity to share your faith this week!

God IS Good!

Go Ahead! Say It! Believe It! Confess It!

You're Invited!!

Go to The Prayer List , don't forget the others in need!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

Due to some confusion as to where to send prayer requests I want to clarify that you can use the email link at Isaiah56 (The Prayer List). Please include your xanga address so I know who you are!

So, here I am one week later and not much to add.  I posted a little study I did at Excellence in Worship if anyone is interested.  It came out of my preparation for last Saturday Night's worship sets.

I have still been working overtime but took this week off from work.  I had scheduled it off to start remodeling our bathroom but other things came up that we may need the $$ for so that was put on hold for a few weeks.  I think I need to take some time off anyways so while I initially was going to go to work, I decided to go ahead and take the week off.  One benefit I get at work is 26 days vacation so with the holiday I'll only be using 4 of them this week.  If I get bored (fat chance!) I can always go in for a day or two.

Kathy is working this week as I couldn't decide what I was doing so she didn't schedule time off.  Unlike my situation, she has to arrange for others to cover her work when she takes off.  She does have Tuesday off, as this coming Saturday is her weekend to work, and she can probably get Wednesday off, so I may ask her if she wants to take an overnighter somewhere or another.  We usually end up in Cleveland searching for treasure in their four Half-Price Books stores. We actually could extend it to two nights since she doesn't work until 4:00PM on Thursdays.  I know she wants to take some bicycles and computer monitors to the Construction Junction recycling place in Pittsburgh so I may need to be around one of those days to do that as I know it would make her very happy to get rid of some more junk (Thursday morning?).

I haven't made much progress with the Seinfeld DVDs.  I watched the Lemony Snicket DVD and wasn't too impressed. I almost shut it off but managed to hang in there and stay awake until the end. I bought a $5 DVD of "What Dreams May Come" with Robin Williams and watched it on the laptop while watching the NASCAR race last night.  The races seem to get so boring anymore with all the wrecks and all the commercials that I needed something to do to occupy myself during the huge gaps between the actual periods of racing.

Our newly hired Associate Pastor, who starts in July, will be speaking this Saturday Night on worship so getting the set list ready (which I am going to try and do when I finish this) should be a lot of fun and fairly easy.  I have some notes he shared with me and need to get them out and review them, then it should come fairly quickly.  It would be nice to get that out of the way before getting involved with any trips, etc.

Well, that is about all I have for now.  I pray you all have a blessed week ahead and that God presents you with an opportunity to share your faith this week!

Take care and be blessed! - Dale 

God IS Good!

Go Ahead! Say It! Believe It! Confess It!

You're Invited!!

Go to The Prayer List , don't forget the others in need!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

Due to some confusion as to where to send prayer requests I want to clarify that you can use the email link at Isaiah56 (The Prayer List). Please include your xanga address so I know who you are!

So, what’s Dale been up to?  I am amazed that so much time has passed since I last wrote here, especially when I was attempting to, once again, make this a more regular part of my life.  It seems that since last November, when my work life was thrust into a bit of chaos, I haven’t seemed to have the time nor the ambition to keep up with this site, which is a shame because I’ve lost my regular contact with so many of you.   I have also attempted to pay more attention to the worship leading and prayer sites but they too have been neglected.  Maybe I need to get back to just posting all of my thoughts on this, my personal blog, and redirect the other sites to this one?

My life, since I last wrote, has been consumed with spending at least an extra hour, if not more, on the job each day.  I get paid overtime but with getting up at 4:30AM to get to work by 5:45AM and then leaving around 3:45PM to get home by 4:30PM, it doesn’t leave me a lot of time to sit down and collect my thoughts and post here before my wife gets home some time between 5:15PM and 6:00PM.  I was once home around 3:00PM which gave me a couple of hours, at minimum, to blog.  Once we have dinner, if we eat at home, its closing in on 6:30PM – 7:00PM and my thoughts are already leaning towards bed around 9:30PM.  Sitting down at the computer to read email or maybe a bit of TV and the evenings gone.  There is also the occasional meeting at church or a trip to Wal-Mart or somewhere similar and the evenings gone.

I also spend time during the week, mostly in the evenings, putting together the set list/lead sheets for the following Saturday’s evening service.  That was, until recently, usually a fairly quick and easy task for me but with the addition of others to co-lead with me, that chore has also become a more time consuming activity.  The addition of other co-leaders was solely my choice though so I don’t regret having to spend the extra time but it does make kind of rushed some days.  It should settle down one of these days as I get more used to set lists for multiple leaders and get to know their abilities and vocal ranges a bit more.

I finally broke down and bought a laptop computer and set up a wireless router to go with my wired network at home.  Now I sometimes sit on the couch and watch TV while reading email.  Multitasking!

I’ve continued to buy those $1 to $4 used worship CDs at Half Price Books as well as some $1 - $2 books which aren’t getting read.  I got the new Passion CD but haven’t put it into rotation in the CD changer yet.  I’m still listening to the Ardent Worship CD by Skillet a lot as well as “Worship Project P40.3” and “Vertical Momentum: Trading My Sorrows” both of which came with my first installment of Vertical Worship Tools. I’m reading “Reaching Generation Next” by Lewis Drummond ($1) after finally finishing “The Emerging Church.”  I have a few other “emerging church” books to read also.

I got the season four Seinfeld DVDs and have managed to watch the first six episodes so far as well as the additional material on disc one.  I bought a DVD of “Willow” and watched it with my children who saw it in the theaters when they were quite young.  That brought back a lot of memories for them and myself (they’re now 18, 21, and 23).   I bought “National Treasure” and watched it with my wife.  I guess we were under-whelmed by the movie because we kept commenting on various things such as how shiny and round the nails were as the boards pulled off of the wooden elevator when they were in the location of the treasure.  My daughters bought “In Good Company” and I watched that one evening.  I bought “Lemony Snicket” but haven’t taken the time to watch it yet.

So, that should update you on my recent activities.  Today is our (Kathy and I) 25^th wedding anniversary!  We are both working so any celebration, for today at least, will be minimum.  It’s also my Mom’s birthday.

Take care and be blessed! - Dale 

God IS Good!

Go Ahead! Say It! Believe It! Confess It!

You're Invited!!

Go to The Prayer List , don't forget the others in need!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

Due to some confusion as to where to send prayer requests I want to clarify that you can use the email link at Isaiah56 (The Prayer List). Please include your xanga address so I know who you are!

Hi!  I noticed today I got a new subscriber (I get a new one now and then) and I wonder why when I don't seem to blog much anymore.  Thanks to all you who subscribe and I hope that the little bit I do get on here can be an inspiration to you.  It was always my intent here to be an encouragement to others and I was once urged to get away from the strictly teaching blogs to reveal a bit about myself and how the lessons I've learned have impacted my life.  I guess that lately, as my regulars know, I have been in the midst of turmoil in my job.  Not that I'm in danger of losing my job or being demoted but that my duties and location changed away from my "dream job" of being an electrical engineer working on maintenance with electricians out of a field office to moving to the main office to work as an electrical designer, something I feel quite inadequate in doing.  As has been often said though, there is always someone worse off than you and I actually work with another electrical engineer that has always been in project management and never worked as an electric engineer.  He's trying desperately to find a job at another location since he's completely lost.  I thank God he's there though as I don't look so inept!  As I've been saying, I know God is in control and man can change my job and my location but they will never thwart God's plan for my life and I know there is something I need to learn or do before I can move on.  Maybe there is someone there who will never know about God until I get the chance to tell them.  Or maybe God is going to take me another step further into the unknown so I have a lesson to learn during this phase of my life/career.  I just thank Him that about the time I changed jobs, He also prodded me to get back into leading worship which has helped to focus my attention more on worshiping Him and less on feeling sorry for myself.  As my blog usually says, "God IS Good!"

I was to Half-Price Books again the other day (a different location) and got two used $1 CDs: "Open The Eyes Of My Heart (2)" and "exodus."  I haven't a chance to give them both a good listen but I always hope to get at least one "new" song to do at Saturday Night."  I say "new" because they don't really have to be new other than in the sense of a new, fresh arrangement that brings new life to the song and, I hope, the worship of Saturday Night.  That's what happened when I got the Ardent Worship CD by Skillet.  I found a great arrangement of "Your Name Is Holy" and we did last Saturday.  I'll probably do it again this coming week as the people who come on Saturday Night seem to want the upbeat songs with loud guitars, drums, etc.  I once deemed electric guitar solos as irrelevant in worship but God has brought me to the place where I appreciate that everyone has different tastes and talents and we've got to make way for people to express themselves with the talent God has given them.  As much as some will hate it, there are as many who are drawn closer in worship by hearing the things they grew up listening to.  The church has demanded for far to long that to follow Christ we have to give up everything and nothing could be further from the truth.  That's why I am encouraged by the "emerging church" movement which has not only moved beyond the denominational rigidness in religion but has also moved beyond the arrogance of the "full-gospel" movement to seek an encounter with God that is genuinely done in spirit and truth.  There are people out there who have been rejected by the church and have rejected the church but still seek after, not rules and regulations, but a real encounter with God and He is welcoming them with open arms.  Jesus didn't hang out exclusively with church folk, but said He came to save the lost and while we can't reject the fellowshipping together of the saints, neither can we reject friendships with non-believers.  The non-believers know they need something and unless we will be bold enough to establish trusting relationships with them, they may never get the chance to hear, see, and experience the true good news of Jesus Christ.  If you get a chance, grab a copy of the book below and read it.  It has lots of great ideas that they have been using and while I may never use any of those ideas, it gives me insight into the mind set of the emerging church.

That's enough for now.  Be careful who you take your Christian advise from and always ask God to show you the truth of what you hear and confirm it in the scriptures.  Be blessed!!

God IS Good!

Go Ahead! Say It! Believe It! Confess It!

You're Invited!!

Go to The Prayer List , don't forget the others in need!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

Due to some confusion as to where to send prayer requests I want to clarify that you can use the email link at Isaiah56 (The Prayer List). Please include your xanga address so I know who you are!