Just Thinking Today.

Today Rach and I were at the campus doing rehearsals and somebody came by and did something that was funny or strange, I can't remember exactly what it was, but I just though how great it is to work with so many artists. From my 17 year old keyboard player who loves playing classical music, but is loving to experiment with the synthesizer, to the American girl that joined team after we met her in Brussels where she was hoping to go to college and has just a great mind for visual art and painting, to the guys and girls on team that can dance like angels. I love working with the people I work with and for the ministry can brings all this together to tell people that God loves them. Just a thought. Cheers.

Chris

Hey Guys.

I haven't blogged in a few days, just wanted to say hi. We are in a hectic bit of training right now. We are learning a show called Lil' Me, it was written for 13th Floor, so its the first time we will do it here in SA. The music is great, but tough. Its going to be crazy, but will work it out. I will let you know how it goes. Rachel is at a late rehearsal tonight so she wont get home until about 1130. I hate when she has to work so late. Besides crazy work stuff, we are doing well. Cheers.

Chris

Valentines Ball.

We have a Valentines ball every year with C-Kruis. Tonight we had the dinner/dance at a lodge just down the street from our house which was nice. We were supposed to have a mask to wear, I am not sure who's idea that was, but whatever. Well, Ray and I went looking for masks and I liked this one. It wasn't the traditional feathery mask or Phantom of the Opera mask, but I though it was cool. I liked it because it was kind of a mask of me, red hair, black glasses. The evening was good and I enjoyed my mask, however it made my forehead sweat so I only wore it for about 5 minutes at the beginning. Have a nice weekend. Cheers.

Chris

Ray Ray's Day.

Today is Rachel's Birthday. I must say that I think that every year that rachel gets older the more beautiful she gets. I cant wait till shes 80, ooohhh yeah. Happy Birthday Rach.


Chris

My Name Is......

I was looking at a friend's Myspace page yesterday and he listed in the "people I would like to meet" section that Jack Bauer from 24 is the person he would most like to meet. Then a friend of his left a comment saying he loves 24 so much that he bought a puppy and named it Jack Bauer. Well, Rach and I have recently gotten hooked on 24 like some people get hooked to crack or diet pills and I was so impressed that this guy named his dog Jack Bauer (which is quite bold and Jack-Bauer-Like) that I wanted to name something of mine Jack Bauer. So I looked around the house to consider what to give this great name and my eyes locked on the perfect object. My Starbucks coffee grinder. I mean its sexy in design, like Jack Bauer. It's made of metal so its tough, like Jack Bauer. Its a little loud and over bearing at times, like Jack Bauer. It's always there when I need it, like Jack Bauer. And most importantly, it always, always, always gets the job done, just like freaking Jack Bauer. I feel like a new man now that I too have something that is special to me named after the man I would most like to be (list in order of importance: Jack Bauer, Ben Harper, Abraham Lincoln). I heart life. Cheers.

Chris

Welcome Home.

Rach and I went to pick up Damar yesterday, I am so glad to have her home, she's a great dog. She broke her right back leg so that leg is splinted up and wrapped so it looks like a cast all the way up to her hip. I don't say this much, but its cute. She looks like a pirate with a peg leg. I know that she is happy to be out of the cage that she has been stuck in for a week. We have to bring her to work with us for the next 3 weeks, to keep her away from Guinness so they don't play to hard. It's nice to have the family back together. Cheers.

Chris

Grace.

Today we spoke about God's grace at Reverb (the church we are starting) and at Face to Face (the touring teams church thing). Grace is like when you get rewarded for something and you didn't earn it. So when God loves us it is grace because we are all sinners and because of us being sinners he should have nothing to do with us. But the coolest thing is, he does love us and will always love us. Pieter spoke tonight about how nothing we do makes God love us any more or less and that is such a great thing to know because it takes the pressure off of us. God loves me, its great. Thank you God for loving me even though I don't always love you. Cheers.

Chris

Perspective.

I taught a class the other day on spiritual disciplines and when we spoke about service something cool happened. Usually when I speak with people about serving others there is always a feeling of us serving them. I dont think this is healthy, but in the situations that I have been in it has been like that. Like, my youth group from Tallahassee, FL driving to Mexico to help work in a village. One of the guys of team is named Pule (poo-lay) and he was saying how he used to live in a shelter and have groups like ours come in and bring them food or clothes and how it was nice to get stuff, but once he wanted to know what it was like to give stuff and help people. So he and a couple of his friends took the stuff that was given to them and took it to some kids that were living on the street. He was saying how it blessed him so much to help someone when he was always the one getting help. Its cool to see a guy who doesnt have much at all trying to help others because he understands they need help. I wish I could be more like Pule. Cheers.

Chris

Damar Update.

Damar had her surgery today. I spoke with the surgeon earlier and he said it went really well. He put wires or something in the leg to mend the bone. They though it would be a metal plate so hopefully this makes it a bit cheaper. He said we can bring her home in a few days and she will have to be isolated for 3 weeks from Guinness so it can heal. Thats not going to be a pain in the butt. He said that she should make a full recovery and not have any lasting problems, so thats good. We are aloud to go visit her tomorrow afternoon. Please pray us about the money. We are planning on going home in June (my first time back in the states since moving) and this was most of our savings for that trip. It will work out, it always does. Cheers.

Chris

This is Funny.

Was introduced to this today. Obnoxious at first, but grows on you fast. www.askaninja.com

Chris

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me!!!!!

Ray just got back from the animal hospital and was informed that the surgery for Damar's leg will cost between R4500-R5000 ($625-$694). I don't know what we are going to do. We could technically kill the dog and get several others to replace her for the cost of the leg operation. Crap.

Chris

Oh, That Sucks.

Yesterday one of the greatest things in my life happened yesterday, then got shot to crap. I was working in my office at home on my sermon for last night, my feet were propped up on my desk, I had a cup on nice coffee, I was reading Exodus and the dogs were laying on the floor by my chair. Then they started playing and wrestling, which is norman, and then something went wrong. The next thing I know Damar is crying and screaming like I have never heard before. So we took Damar to the vet and found that Guinness accidently broke Damar's back leg around the knee area. The vet couldn't do anything about it and the animal hospitals were closed because it was Sunday so we had to comfort a puppy with a broken leg all night. Poor girl. She is off to the hospital now with Ray. I hope it turns out well and that it doesn't cost too much money.

Oh, That Sucks.

Yesterday one of the greatest things in my life happened yesterday, then got shot to crap. I was working in my office at home on my sermon for last night, my feet were propped up on my desk, I had a cup on nice coffee, I was reading Exodus and the dogs were laying on the floor by my chair. Then they started playing and wrestling, which is norman, and then something went wrong. The next thing I know Damar is crying and screaming like I have never heard before. So we took Damar to the vet and found that Guinness accidently broke Damar's back leg around the knee area. The vet couldn't do anything about it and the animal hospitals were closed because it was Sunday so we had to comfort a puppy with a broken leg all night. Poor girl. She is off to the hospital now with Ray. I hope it turns out well and that it doesn't cost too much money.

Come on Rio.

This is the map of where people check my blog. As you can see there are people from everywhere except South America. I was asked to check someone's blog so they would get a dot on Africa, so I am asking if you could help me with my lack of South America dot-ness. Thanks for your understanding and help. Cheers.

Chris

Training Update

Rachel and I have a long weekend now which is really nice after a month of training. Training has been going well, we have been really working hard and have one of the shows done for tour. We had our dress rehearsal earlier this week where we spend about 6 hours going through the 1:20 show setting everthing right where it is to be and getting every detail worked out. Then we do a normal run or 2 just to make sure we are able to remember everything. It went well and I am really excited about seeing the team come together to make the show work so well. The band sounded great too so that makes me extra happy. Everyone is gone now for the long weekend, but will be back Sunday night ready to start work on the next show. Hope you are all well. Cheers.

Chris

Great Movie.

Rachel and I watched Blood Diamond the other day and it is a beautiful movie. It's one of those stories where you feel there is no hope in the world, however the acting, filming, setting, etc is all wonderful. I think it is worth watching. Cheers.

Chris

Jesus.

I got to do a teaching called Know Jesus the other day and it really got me thinking more about who Jesus was. I think that so many people who want nothing to do with Jesus really have no idea who he was and there are so many misconceptions about Jesus that its easier just to bugger the whole thing. I honestly think that one of the things that makes people think Jesus was super cheesy was how he has been betrayed so poorly in “christian” art. There is this town near Pretoria that we toured in last year that has a painting in the office of Jesus walking on water. He is wearing a perfectly while robe and has his hands out to the side with his thumbs turned downward. Go ahead, put your arms out and see how silly it looks, see its ridiculous. He also looks like he is floating. Why is Jesus always floating?

In the class we looked at the human side of Jesus along with the divine side of Jesus. We looked at different snapshots from his life and tried to look at Jesus as a real man and not just the arms out, thumbs down, floating Jesus. There is a picture that I love where Jesus goes to a 12 year old girls house who had just died. Jesus walks in the room where the girl is, bends down besides her, takes her hand and says “little girl, get up”. I loved this because it is such a tender moment between Jesus and this little girl. I imagine him taking that small lifeless hand and feeling the warmth come back. I imagine him smiling as she opens her eyes. It was just a beautiful picture of Jesus as a real man, a man with emotions, friends, hunger, thirst, good days, grumpy days, being tired, etc. I think we the church have done a poor job of teaching who Jesus was. If you are a person that doesn't want anything to do with Jesus because of “christians” that you have met, I would like to encourage you to try to get to know Jesus on your own, look beyond the floating Jesus and look at the man. Cheers

Chris

My New Band.

My band got to play the other day for the first time and I think we sound pretty good. Some of the guys have never played on a click track before, but they are so close to being on time that it won't be long. My drummer is this kid who has never owned a drum kit before and has only played on borrow drums or at friends houses and he is really good. We have a drummer instructor that is amazing so I think this kid is going to be a brilliant drummer once he gets a little direction. I am super excited about his potential. Our female vocalist is a girl from Quincy, Ill named Giovanni. She is great. Plus, her voice is beautiful, so that pumps me up. So basically I was nervous about losing my band from last year, but I think we are going to sound great, after lots of rehearsal time. Cheers.

Chris

Afternoon Meltdown.

It has been so hot in the afternoons that I honestly thought I my flesh may melt off and puddle under my skeleton and fry like an egg on the hot african soil. Ok, perhaps not that bad, but its just been nasty hot. There is also no AC at work or at home here so that adds to the heat. I look forward to a nice cool drive home in the the air conditioned Corolla. Oh well, it will cool down soon, April. Cheers.

Chris

I Am So Sorry We Don't Have A Picture

Rachel and I have been discussing the possibility of getting another dog so that Guinness has a friend while we are at work for 16 hours somedays during training. So yesterday we went shopping. We drove out to the farm where we got Guinness, but they had no puppies. Then as we were driving home a friend of ours called and said that the pet store in the mall had great dane pups. So we left the farm and drove to the mall and found a beautiful little great dane puppy. She is harlequin (black and while like a dalmatian) and is so cute. Her and Guinness get along well, even though Guinness knocks her over and slides her around the tile floor. We are still deciding on a name. We started calling her Damar, which was the name of Rachel's dad and grandfathers photo shop in Savannah. Its a combination of her grandpa and grandma' names (David+Marian=Damar). It was said as a joke, but kinda fits. Other possible names are Andi, Hannah, Holstein (for the cows). Let me know what you think. I think I like Damar, however we have not made up our mind. I will get pics asap. Cheers.

Chris