Its Been a Long Time.

When I was in college, especially my first two years at Florida Christian College, I would get horrible heart burn. I had it when I moved to Tennessee in '99 and then it just went away. I get a little bit from time to time, but nothing like it used to be. Well, tonight I made myself an egg sandwich and POW it hit me like a stacks machine. I could barely stand up. So I crawled in the Corolla and headed down to the store and got some antacids. It was so horrible. I noticed that the worse the heartburn is the more you talk to yourself. The whole drive I was trying to burp and kept muttering stuff under my breath. Perhaps its just me, but I have noticed a similar behavior in a friend of mine. Well, that was my evening so far, just waiting for 1:30 so we can leave for Cape Town. Enjoy your evening. Cheers.

Chris

Church.

We had our Thursday church again at Flap's house. It was nice. There were a few less people this week than last week, however many of the people were new, so thats nice. I met a man named Paul. He is 37 and is tough as nails. He does off road Triathlons and all this crazy adventure stuff. We had a great time talking and hanging out. A friend of mine, MX, was there also. He is a youth pastor at a huge church here in Pretoria. It was nice to talk to him because his band practices on Thursday nights so we thought he would never get a chance to come and have church with us. So we all hung out and had wine for a while and then Flaps gave a message about Jesus. It was so nice. Rachel and I left after the message and didn't hang out any more because we leave for tour Saturday morning at 0130. So we are taking advantage of being home. Right now I am in the chair in our bedroom and Rachel is sleeping in the bed with Guinness next to her. Shortly I will kick Guinness out and take my spot back. Enjoy your evening. Cheers.

Chris

Europe Update.

Please pray for our theater in London. The Stratford Circus Theater denied our second application to perform on their stage. They don't allow religious groups to perform there. There are people there that are looking for us a new venue. Its sad because this was a great theater, but something will work out. As soon as I have a schedule I will let you all know. Cheers.

Chris

First "Church" Meeting.

Flaps, the CEO of C-Kruis, has been wanting to start a church for the past few years, but it just wasn't the right time. Well, we had a meeting to discuss it several weeks ago and the time is right now. So last night we had our first "church" meeting. What Flaps was wanting was more of a time where people could get together and meet other people. So for our first meeting we had a cheese and wine night with a short sermon. The night was great. There were probably about 35 people and we all mingled and had bread, cheese and wine and talked and met new people. This went on for about an hour maybe longer, then we all went out side and Flaps gave a message and then we were done. It was so refreshing. I am really excited about our "Church" and who may end up coming and what God may do through His people getting together and spending time together. Please pray for our little "church" that our lives will be changed. Cheers.

Chris

First "Church" Meeting.

Flaps, the CEO of C-Kruis, has been wanting to start a church for the past few years, but it just wasn't the right time. Well, we had a meeting to discuss it several weeks ago and the time is right now. So last night we had our first "church" meeting. What Flaps was wanting was more of a time where people could get together and meet other people. So for our first meeting we had a cheese and wine night with a short sermon. The night was great. There were probably about 35 people and we all mingled and had bread, cheese and wine and talked and met new people. This went on for about an hour maybe longer, then we all went out side and Flaps gave a message and then we were done. It was so refreshing. I am really excited about our "Church" and who may end up coming and what God may do through His people getting together and spending time together. Please pray for our little "church" that our lives will be changed. Cheers.

Chris

First "Church" Meeting.

Flaps, the CEO of C-Kruis, has been wanting to start a church for the past few years, but it just wasn't the right time. Well, we had a meeting to discuss it several weeks ago and the time is right now. So last night we had our first "church" meeting. What Flaps was wanting was more of a time where people could get together and meet other people. So for our first meeting we had a cheese and wine night with a short sermon. The night was great. There were probably about 35 people and we all mingled and had bread, cheese and wine and talked and met new people. This went on for about an hour maybe longer, then we all went out side and Flaps gave a message and then we were done. It was so refreshing. I am really excited about our "Church" and who may end up coming and what God may do through His people getting together and spending time together. Please pray for our little "church" that our lives will be changed. Cheers.

Chris

October Showers Brings November Flowers.

Ray and I have been in our house for almost a year now and we have had nothing in our back yard, except pathetic grass. It's mildly embarrassing. However, we are in business now. We came across a little extra money and decided it was time to start investing in our garden. We bought some little leafy bush things, 2 taller reddish, leafy bush things and a small palm type tree and bordered in our porch today. Then on the way home we fond a pile of bricks on the side of the road where someone had torn down a house. So we took some bricks, painted them and bordered our new flower bed with them. It was a lot of fun working on something to improve the house, on the road we don't get much chance for that. So that was our day. Hope everyone is well. Cheers.

Chris

Europe Orientation.

Yesterday we had our Europe Tour orientation meeting. We had been working so hard on the shows and it was exciting get information that we were all wanting. The band (and Rachel) will be leaving SA on the 4th of November and arriving around 1200 in London on the 5th. We will then rush like crazy people through customs and on a bus that will take us to a church where we are leading worship for the 2 night services. Its a hectic start to the tour, but we are excited. Then the whole team will be doing shows around London for 3 weeks at various venues and on the 25th of November we have our last performance in London. Then we pack up and the next morning we drive to Brussels, Belgium where we are doing worship for the evening service there. The band will be leading worship at least one time every Sunday. From Brussels we go to
Amsterdam for a performance then back to Brussels for another performance before heading back to England for our final week of performances. We end our performing on the 9th of December and Ray and I will be leaving on the 13th and arriving the next day sometime. We are excited because we are used to performing in school halls in small towns and in Europe we will be performing in nice theaters. Please be praying for our tour and for the people that we are going to meet. Also for the Stratford Theater in London where we hope to do several of our shows, they are still approving our application because we are a religious organization, they may not let us show there. We really believe God is going to do an amazing work through our tour in Europe. Please also pray for our finances, Ray and I still are in need of about $900 to cover just the fee of the tour, not including personal money. I will keep you updated with any more information. Cheers.

Chris

Eye Love You.

Rachel and I are in the process of rehearsals for the Europe tour at the end of the year. We spent 2 days rehearsing all day long and now we are doing dress rehearsals with all the dancers and band. The team for the tour looks really good, we are using all front-line dancers so it makes all the productions look tight. Oh the title of this blog, yesterday I was laying with Guinness and I went to give her a little kiss on the head and she moved and I kissed her eye ball. Pretty gross, a little salty, but mostly gross. Talk to you later.

Chris

Pearl Jam.

Today we were doing auditions and one of the guys didn't show up, so we had some time to kill. In that time I listened to an old Pearl Jam album, VS. While I was listening, I was telling a friend of mine that Pearl Jam was the first band that really got me loving music. I had enjoyed music all my life, but I believe it was purchasing Pearl Jam's album Ten that really began the process which made me fall head over heals in love with music. There has been a lot of other music that has inspired me, but buying that album at Turtles Music in Tallahassee, Fl has had a bigger influence in my life than I would have ever imagined. I hope you do something today that inspires you for the rest of your life. Cheers.

Chris

The Rhino.

we are still busy with auditions and it makes for long tiring days, but I am loving meeting and getting to know that people who may be on my team next year. Well, one of the things that makes its worth it is that we make the person act as if they were a baby rhino protecting her young from us, the intruders. It never lasts more that 30 seconds, but it is always so funny. I love it so much. Well thats all from here. Cheers.

Chris

Auditions.

Back in Pretoria everyone. We are in the midst of Auditions for next years teams. Ray and I were both selected to be on the audition committee , which we are excited about. Please pray that we get some really great people for next years teams. Cheers.

1 Year.

This Friday it will be one year living in South Africa. The time has flown by, I can't believe it has been that long. We have one more week of tour before we are working at the office for 2 weeks. It will be nice to be home for that time. We are in a suburb of Jo'burg called Brakpan and it seems like it is going to be a good week. The stage and set up is really nice and I am looking forward to the week. We end this week on Thursday instead of friday and we are going to visit the other team for their Rock Show on Friday. I think that our band is going to go and play some songs at their show for fun. Its fun performing so close to the other team this week. Hope all is well. Cheers.

Guinness Update.

Here is a picture of Guinness on our bed trying to eat Rachel. She was unsuccessful. Hope all is well with you. Cheers.
Chris

Ray Ray.

Rachel has a good friend that is on out touring team called Kerrey. Kerrey is an American girl who is from Atlanta, GA. Well Kerrey and Rachel have given themselves nick names. Rachel is Ray Ray and Kerrey is Kay Kay. I obviously hate these names. So next time you think of Rachel just think of our entire touring team calling her Kay Kay. Cheers.

Chris

Back in the Game.

Sorry for not updating my blog in ages. However, I am happy to say I am back in the game. The South Hemisphere is doing well, we are having a nice mild winter and are looking forward to spring. We just finished a week in Bloemfontein and will be in the Pretoria metro area this week and I am looking forward to being near enough to my home that we can go home on the weekend. Hope all is well with you all. Cheers.

Chris

Off Again?

Hey,

Things are going well, here is an update: Jana is visiting, but leaving tomorrow morning, we are back on tour, I have had dreadlocks for a month and things are going well with them, I was chosen to be Tour Leader next year, Guinness started menstrating (I didn't know dogs do that, but suprise for me), and after dropping Jana at the airport we will return to the touring team in New Castle. Thats about all, talk to you later. Cheers.

Chris

Home Again.

Hey all,
We are home from our week-long mission trip to Sekororo, a township in the Limpopo provence north of Pretoria about 5 hours. We, a team of 8, helped out with a church that was having a week revival/youth meetings. We had a great time and got to meet a lot of great people. Rachel's mom arrieved on Monday and came up to spend that rest of the week with us. We had a great time and as always it's nice to be home. Cheers.

Chris

Mission Trip.

We are on a break from touring for the next few weeks, however, that doesn't mean we aren't busy. I am so excited about this next week, we are going on a mission trip. We were supposed to be going up to Zambia for a "Beat the Drum" outreach. It is an outreach that teaches about AIDs in the schools and small towns, its a really cool program and I am so sad that we can't be a part of it this year. Please pray that they will have a great trip to Zambia this year, they were in Swaziland a couple of years ago and had a very effective ministry. Well, we have broken the big teams up to teams of 8 and we will be splitting up and going to different places for the week. We are not supposed to have a great deal of information to where we are going, it's a suprise. Rachel and I are heading a team that is going 4 hours away from Pretoria and we are working with a church that is having a revival and a vacation bible school. We were told we are doing some music and drama workshops and helping with revival music. Thats about all we know. We will just see what happens when we get there. Please pray that all the teams have a great week in their different locations doing their different jobs. There is no cell service where we are going so we will be unreachable from Monday until Saturday night. Hope you have great week. Cheers.

Chris

Mission Trip.

We are on a break from touring for the next few weeks, however, that doesn't mean we aren't busy. I am so excited about this next week, we are going on a mission trip. We were supposed to be going up to Zambia for a "Beat the Drum" outreach. It is an outreach that teaches about AIDs in the schools and small towns, its a really cool program and I am so sad that we can't be a part of it this year. Please pray that they will have a great trip to Zambia this year, they were in Swaziland a couple of years ago and had a very effective ministry. Well, we have broken the big teams up to teams of 8 and we will be splitting up and going to different places for the week. We are not supposed to have a great deal of information to where we are going, it's a suprise. Rachel and I are heading a team that is going 4 hours away from Pretoria and we are working with a church that is having a revival and a vacation bible school. We were told we are doing some music and drama workshops and helping with revival music. Thats about all we know. We will just see what happens when we get there. Please pray that all the teams have a great week in their different locations doing their different jobs. There is no cell service where we are going so we will be unreachable from Monday until Saturday night. Hope you have great week. Cheers.

Chris