Saturday In The Dark

Hey, everybody. I am sitting in the dark, in the corner of my hotel room in Houston, TX this morning. Angela is asleep, and I am trying not to wake her. We are in Houston for Melissa Moore's wedding...and we are without kids...so this is Angela's big chance to sleep the day away. And I hope she is able to. My sister Kathy drove in from North Carolina to keep the kids while we are here. They were so excited to be with Aunt Kathy. They had the counter lined with one homemade valentine after another...complete with bags of little hearts and a huge Hershey Kiss. They will spend the morning going from one basketball game to another, until mid-afternoon, when I predict they will come home and spend the rest of the day playing Wii.

I have missed blogging these past two weeks...but it has been such a busy time, I have been preoccupied with a ton of other things. And when I finally do get to my computer, I end up either working on praise team stuff, or reading about the blogging Compassion International trip. I think I just woke Angela up, crying over a video where
Shannon met the child that her family sponsors. Very moving. I have been praying for Brian and Shaun and Sophie and everyone on this trip. I am pumped to be a part of bringing hope to as many of these sweet kids as I can.

I knew that my blogging absence was noticed when I got a note from Mel basically saying GET THAT SUPER BOWL ENTRY OFF THE TOP OF YOUR BLOG. And speaking of Bigmama, I was inspired by her list of 80's songs. Being an 80's music junkie AND expert, I am going to list for you my 80's playlist on my iPod. But not now. I'm afraid listing it now would cause me to break into much loud singing and busting of grooves (emphasis on BUSTING) and wake my bride. So I will do that on my next post.

Just know that it is a long, extensive and joy-inducing list.

Last weekend I had the privilege of serving with Max Lucado at a 3:16 event. 3:16 is the name of his latest book. It's an amazing work...go get it and read it. I had the privilege of creating a worship musical as a companion piece to the book. And we did an event together last weekend in San Antonio...along with Michael W, Mandisa, Sandi Patty, Anthony Evans, and others. It was a great time.

Then, I stayed over and led worship at Max's church on Saturday and Sunday, and had an amazing time. Their worship leader, Jeff Nelson, was a blast to work with, as was their whole worship team. One of my very best friends in the whole wide world - a friend from college - married Max's niece. And they (Larry and Allison Blake) came in for the weekend. So we all stayed at Max's house. Yes you heard me right. I spent the night at Max's house. I know it is so uncool and gooberish of me to tell this. But I was so geeked to be there. And we had a GREAT time. And he read "You Are Special" to all of us at bedtime.

OK. That's not true. But He and his wife Denalyn were gracious and warm and generous hosts. The Lucado's used to be missionaries in Brazil. And Denalyn cooked us some kind of Brazilian beans and rice meal that caused me to embarrass myself I ate so much. Yum.



Jenna Lucado, one of max and Denalyn's daughters, sang with me on the praise team at their church. She has a BEAUTIFUL voice, and was a joy to hang with. She is currently teaching on the Revovle tour for young girls. Expect the Lord to continue to use her mightily in her generation.

And as if the weekend could get any better...I got to meet my all-time favorite athlete....David Robinson, formerly of the San Antonio Spurs.




I knew that he went to church there, and even serves on staff. So I had my 10 or so David Robinson trading cards with me for him to sign. I felt slightly stalkerish when I pulled them out...but he was gracious and kind. We had 15 or 20 minutes to visit. I spent the whole time trying to put my brain into record mode...wanting to remember everything we talked about.

I have missed a few events that I wanted to blog about...like my birthday celebration with the family. We took some great pictures, and I will share them with you soon...if you don't mind that it's old news.

OK...for real, she could sleep until 3pm. I'm not lying. And SHE DESERVES IT. She is one amazing, home-schoolin', home-cookin', house-keepin', taxi-drivin', kid-raisin', carrot-juicin', bargain-shoppin', song-writin', bible-teachin', girl-mentorin', cool jean-wearin', choir-singin', ever-prayin' ever-lovin' hottie.

And she's mine.

Happy weekend to you...

TC

Super Bowl XLII

One of my favorite days of the year.

I've been up for hours perfecting the color on my TV.

Go Giants!

All Of A Sudden

Hey, everybody. I hope you are having a good weekend. I have some fun things to blog about, but I am running low on brain cells tonight. And they are dying off exponentially as I am watching the presidential debate.

OK...you gotta go listen to the new Boocast, at Boomama or Bigmama. We had a FUN time. And I am looking forward to doing it again. These are some funny gals, and we did some serious laughing...much of which was left on the editing room floor.

If it sounds like Boo and Big are a little crazy and somewhat unstable, it's only because THEY ARE. Kidding. JUST KIDDING! They are great...and I am already pondering some things to talk about on the next podcast.

Happy weekend to you!

Meetin' With The Mamas

I have big news.

I am about to get behind a microphone with Boomama and Bigmama for a special song.

Just kidding. For a PODCAST.

Yesssssssssssss. You heard me right. I am going to be a special guest on the next Boocast. And as excited as I have been writing songs this week...I gotta say I have been pretty dadgum excited about hangin' with the Mamas. The Mamas crack me and Angela up. We think they are one hollywood producer away from being their own sitcom. Either that, or one bad hair day away from doing hard time.

Oh, I kid because I love. (See - that's a Mama phrase.)

For real...we have grown slightly addicted to the Mamas, and love their posts. So I am looking forward to talking it up with some American Idol stuff, as well as whatever they want to talk about. I can't wait.

I am behind on my Idol-watching this week, because of our busy week...so I will be checking it out this week, and studying up for the Boocast. It's my goal to overwhelm them with my vast knowledge of all things Idol.

Not really. My real goal is to be the least southern-sounding person speaking.

I think they are taking questions over on their blog, should anyone have questions for me. I already warned them that it's not like I'm Steven Curtis Chapman or something...and all 5 people who might have a question for me can probably get their answers from my blog. But, oh well...I will play along.

We have some other fun stuff to talk about, too...should we run out of question(s).

I think I need my own nickname for this event. Boomama...Bigmama...and...Bodaddy. Or Bodiddy. Or Frydaddy.

Any suggestions?

Puddles

I am writing today, but I had to take a quick break to tell you a cute Levi story.

I was driving him to school this morning in the rain. I asked him if he likes the rain. He said yes. I told him I liked the rain because it makes things grow...like the flowers, and the grass, and the trees. To which Levi said, "You forgot something."

"What?" I replied.

"Puddles. You forgot puddles. Jumping in puddles."

Hey, everybody...don't forget the puddles today. Go jump in the puddles. If you have kids, take them out and jump in the puddles with them. I have a feeling they will never forget it.

And your shoes will dry.

Survival

Hey, everybody! Thanks SO MUCH for your kind words and prayers for me this week. I felt them. I knew the Lord was carrying me through those tough hours of pretty stressful work. I survived. Thank you, Lord.

I am going to explain what it was I was doing those days, and how it fits into my life and calling...in a post in the next few days.

We had a great weekend. Three basketball games on Saturday. So much fun. This is Levi's first season of "organized" sports. And, as far as "organized" goes for 4 year-olds playing basketball, it's pretty great. Of course, Levi has three main concerns in his basketball experience: his uniform, the snack after the game, and the trophy at the end of the season. His brother has a shelf full of them, and he is salivating at the thought of his first.

He was so cute when he first got his uniform. He could hardly play for looking down at it.

Last night our Sunday School class had game night. We have it once a month. I love it. We played Pit and Nertz. Two of my ALL-TIME FAVORITES. I will take you down in both of those. I am not kidding. Of course, it would be prideful and gloating of me to tell you that I took them down last night. So I won't. I won't tell you I TOOK THEM DOWN. And I won't tell you I doubled Sharon Cates' score in Nertz. I won't tell you that.

Today was a great Sunday, although I had a 100% chance of being disappointed with the AFC representation at the Super Bowl. Please forgive me, Chargers and Patriots fans. We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord. But I don't want to see your team in the Super Bowl. No Titans. No Colts. No happy.

I am happy with the NFC game, though. Packers-Giants is good. I like both teams. I am watching the 4th quarter right now, and my stomach is nervous. Either that or the 6 Panchos fajitas I ate tonight were a little over-the-top. Portions, Travis, portions. Watch your portions.

I think that's all I have to tell tonight. Oh yeah, except for the fact that I think I got tennis elbow playing tennis with my nephew today.

Wii tennis. It's killing me. : >)

One more thing...

This is a conversation I had with Lily Kate on the way home from church tonight:

LK: Dad, this life...
Me: Yes, Lily?
LK: Well, God. You, know...God...never began. Oh my. I don't get it.
Me: Yeah...I know. It's hard to understand. Even for adults like me.
LK: Like, you know...before Adam and Eve were alive...God was WAAAAAY before that. I just don't get it.

I know, baby. It's hard for me to get my mind around, too. But that's God...He's so big. So mysterious and so wonderful at the same time.

Let's keep on entering the mystery.

I Missed It

Hey everybody! Don't tell me anything about last night's American idol. I had to sing last night (I'm in Atlanta) and I had to Tivo it. Can't wait to watch it.

I would appreciate your prayers for me today. I have a HUGE amount of work to get done today for a project. I am working on a worship musical, and we are recording the tracks tomorrow and Friday. I will spend all day today writing charts. Pray that I will be creative. And diligent.

And pray that I can stay away from A.I. until I am finished.

Have a great day!

Happy Dance

American Idol begins in less than 48 hours.

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Finally! In A Blogging Mood

Hey, friends!

It's Friday night, and the house is quiet. I just tucked the kids in bed. They went down so easily and sweetly tonight. I won't say that that is a rare thing. But let's just say that it is a blessing when they go straight to their nightly tasks with little resistance. All of them have their music playing and a book in hand. Sweet Jack - he rarely listens to anything but his daddy on his stereo when he goes to sleep. Poor kid...he may be in therapy for that one day. I try to persuade him to listen to somebody - anybody - else. He's pretty determined. The other night I wrestled him down to listening to Mandisa for a change.

Angela is having a night out with a couple of girlfriends...such a RARE event. I am so happy that she went out. They went to a church function at another church in our town. She is going to come home filled up...I'm sure of it.

I had to work a little late, so a couple of friends who are Belmont students came over and stayed with the kids until I got home. They had a great time. They were so at peace, and had their little love tanks filled all night. Pizza, Wii, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody can do the trick!

I must confess that I have been a little distant and detached from my blogging for a while now. I have loved posting some pictures every now and then. But my brain has been too...I don't know...unmoved by anything my own self has had to say. Ouch. If I am bored with myself, imagine the rest of the internets (to coin a Boomama phrase).

I did think of some funny posts. Like once after Beth did the post about her new Payless shoes and got, like a billion comments, I thought about posting a picture of my new New Balance running shoes to see if I could get the same reaction. : >) Then, I thought about auctioning off our old, used vacuum cleaner after Boomama's freak of nature Oreck give-away response ( : >) again).

Truthfully, I credit my lack of posting to a couple of things. After a really busy fall filled with lots of traveling, I spent most of the holiday at home doing nothing but enjoying being at home. Talk about VEGGING. I became permanently attached to my pajamas over the holidays. I was even going to (the) Kroger in them. Not cool. Needless to say, I was resting, recuperating, and enjoying almost every minute of it.

I have also become mildly obsessed with reading stuff about the election. I know it's early. But I am in that obsessive phase in my relationship with the candidates. I know I will eventually take a chill pill. But these days I have forgone the blogosphere for the "You Decide - osphere." I plan on getting a grip soon.

The only obsession that has trumped my candidate obsession is my love of the NFL. And this post-season has not disappointed. I will spare you my breakdowns, heartaches, victories, and other mindless and pointless details.

GO COLTS.

Now that January has hit, I have begun what will probably the most intense season of working hard that I have ever had. I am working on three projects. I am working on a worship musical for choirs. That will not be time intensive, with the exception of 3 or 4 days. It is pretty easy work for me...and I love doing it. The other two projects are taking over my brain daily and intensely. I am beginning the process of recording two solo records - a Christmas one and a "regular" one. I have had lots of meetings to listen to songs. Lots of meetings trying to write songs. Lots of meetings figuring out the where's, who's, and how much concerning all of the details of recording these projects at the same time. I have to say that it has been exhilarating and I have loved every minute of it. I have been able to write some songs with some of my favorite songwriters of all time.

I will be immersed in these projects for the next couple of months. I would be so blessed if you would pray for us as you think about it. We are excited about these creative days. But we also know that we need the hand of the Lord to guide us as we work, and the hand of the Lord to cover us while we are stretched.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to our Living Proof year to begin the last weekend of February. The praise team and I are picking out a bunch of new songs to do this year. It's time for an overhaul in our worship song repertoire (any suggestions?). I am pumped to get going with that. I love ministering at those events so much.

Enough for now. I hope you all have a great weekend. Three basketball games for us tomorrow. Talk to you soon...

TC

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

We went to see the premiere of the new VeggieTales movie that will be out in theaters this Friday - "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." It was really great! Everybody take your families to the movie this weekend if you can...and let's support this great Christian and family-friendly flick.