Checking In For a Brief Update. And Some Unbridled Bragging On My Girl.

Hey, friends. Hope you're well. I've missed you. I am just checking in to say hey. My head is still buried in this book. Round one of the manuscript is due tomorrow (Friday). After I get past that, I will feel much better. And once I get completely through edits and the rest of the rounds, I will be back to normal. Normal being semi-regular and marginally acceptable blogging from me.

I haven't even popped in to talk about Idol. It's killed me. The not talking about it, that is. Actually, the actual show itself has nearly done me in this year, too. Bright spots for me: Crystal and Casey. Love both of their voices. I don't see Casey making it to the finals with Crystal (the eventual winner). But if he did, having both of them in the finals would feel like a tiny ray of sunshine in an otherwise abysmal season.

We have two stops in our Jesus Saves Live tour this weekend. Saturday, we will be in Millington, TN (near Memphis) at Crosspointe Baptist Church. And Sunday night we will be in Huntsville, AL at Whitesburg Baptist Church. I can't WAIT to head that way and gear up for some hard core Jesus worship this weekend. If you are close by, I hope you will join us.

I want to close this brief update by bragging on my sweet little princess. Two weekends ago, Lily Kate made it to the state round of bible drill (her first year). And she got State Superior.

Please, somebody. Find a place for me to hide my heart. She steals it every day. Or at least every day that I'm breathing. Sweet girl...I love you so. You keep on studying that Word. Know it. Hide in it. Learn from it. Stand on it. It will be the LIFE of you.

Happy weekend, everybody!

TC

PS - It's May already. Whhhhaaaaaa????

Living Proof Live Tampa

We had a great weekend in Tampa! But before I post the event recap, I have something to tell you.

We had our first looker come to see our house on Saturday. And THEY BOUGHT IT.

Our house is SOLD. (still in shock)

HALLELUJAH! Thank You, Lord! We are so thankful and so humbled by the way God has made our path to Jackson so straight. I was fully buckled down and ready to feel the pains of trying to sell a house in this economy. But for some reason God had a different plan. We are grateful.

I know some of you are feeling those pains of trying to sell your home. I'm so sorry you are. Keep trusting Jesus. He can and will sell your house when the time is right.

If you need us today, just give us a holler. We will be right here, running around the outside of our house non-stop, taking victory laps. Full speed. Over and over. For hours.

On to the recap...

Living Proof Live - Tampa from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Wednesdays, How I Love You

Hey, friends. Long time no blog. I hope you are well. I have stepped away from writing ANYTHING except for the book, for which I have been feverishly writing every spare moment. I have missed you guys! But I have really needed to duck away and be faithful to this project and see it through. I even deleted Twitter and Facebook from my phone for a time...which has not had any affect on me whatsoever (twitch, twitch, headbob, twitch, eyetwitch, eyetwitch, headspin, kneeraise, flailing arms, twitch).

Our first Easter at Englewood was amazing. We had great crowds ready to worship. The choir was on stun. And Pastor Ben was helping Jesus show out. It was a great weekend. A couple of pics...

Happy Swollen Pollen Faces Easter!


You can't imagine the drama that ensued just before this picture. Or maybe you can.


I will pose for this picture as long as we don't have to touch. Ew. Brothers!



We celebrated the dawning of a new day in the Cottrell household. We have a teenager in the house. Good thing we started having children when we were 12.



OK. All I can say about this is that this is a first. Someone with the lat name Cottrell won the Science Fair. Go figure.



Other notes of interest...that aren't very interesting:

- We found a house to rent in Jackson, which puts us in Relief Central. We were sweating it out, since we move in just a little over a month (gulp). We decided to rent for a while, until we can figure out the where's and what's and what not's.

- Our house is on the market. We have sold 3 houses in our marriage. The longest it took for any of our houses to sell was 14 days. Our house this time has been on the market for 14 days. How many people have looked at it, you ask? ZERO. So some prayers for that would be much appreciated. But let me say that WE TRUST GOD. He has been too faithful for us to think He would leave us stranded at this point. He's batting a thousand through the history of time. So that's a pretty good track record on which to rest. Still, we are thankful for prayers.

- Living Proof Live Tampa is this weekend. Yessssssss. Have I mentioned how much I love my job??? :-) Can't wait. Already asking God for a big fat Word for my family and me this weekend. My new teenager Jack is coming with me this weekend. It's a special happy birthday trip. I'm praying for God to open that boy's mind up to God's vastness and greatness. I can't wait to watch his destiny unfold as he continues to learn more about Jesus.

- The team and I are staying over and leading worship at Calvary Baptist in Clearwater, FL on Sunday morning. I love this church. I sang there last year and had such a great time. Their worship pastor, Greg Toney is a great guy and great worship pastor. We are pumped to be there this Sunday. If you are in the area, come join us.

- I loved reading your reactions to my list of 25 Random Things About Me. Yes. I'm a weirdo. Thanks for your confirmation on that. Really, thanks.

I feel the need to answer one question. But not because I'm OCD or anything. Concerning #19: Yes. Black socks are a problem. I don't know what to do. I would tell you that I tried to label them with white-out, but that would be too embarrassing to tell. So I won't tell you that I tried to label them with white-out. I won't tell you that.

I love Wednesdays. Wednesdays mean a lot things to me. What Wednesday means to me this week is that in two days, I get to lead worship. I love it so much.

Happy Wednesday to you!

The Fun's Begun

Before I even knew of God's call on our lives to serve at Englewood, I was booked to lead worship for their Inside Out women's conference.

Watch at your own risk (then get more information here).

Easter at Englewood

I'm so pumped to be worshipping with our new Englewood church family this Easter weekend. 4 services: Saturday at 6:30, Sunday at 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00. We are going to have a great time. It's my first Easter Sunday to lead worship at a church in 6 years...not to mention that I am still on stun with joy for this new call and this new day. AM I EXCITED, YOU ASK? EXCITED? ME EXCITED? WHYEVER WOULD YOU THINK SO???

Can I get a big WOO HOO?!

I hope to see you there. And I hope you have an amazing Easter wherever you are. Time to celebrate that because the tomb is empty, WE AREN'T. That's a Happy Easter.