We are doing our last day of rehearsals today for the London/Brussels tour. Ray, the band/tech team and I are leaving Saturday and the rest of the team comes each day until Wednesday. Please pray for us for safe travel and for no problems with customs. We are still trying to raise extra money to cover the fee for the trip, if you are able to help please email me and I can get the information to you. Thanks.
Chris
It's my Nanny's birthday today. I love that her birthday is on Halloween, its so funny to me. Well, hope you all have a great day and Nanny, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Chris
I am a little pathetic at times. Ok, a lot of the time. I am a little afraid of everything, wear a mask to look like I am super confident. At the same time I am a little scared that people will see through my thin mask and realize that I am really just faking my way through life most of the time. Fake it till ya make it, right?
I would love to do adventure races, but since I hurt my knee a couple years ago on a frozen lake in Minnesota I am a little scared of the pain in my left leg.
I would love to be a "real" musician and have people hear the music that I write, but I am a little scared that people will find it to be total crap.
I would love to preach more, but I am a little scared that I will run out of stuff to say and that the stuff I do say will be uninspiring. And who wants that?
Why is it this way? Why am I full of doubt about myself these days? I work with a lot of 18 and 19 year olds and their self confidence oozes everywhere. When I was 18 I was so full of confidence in myself that I bordered on being an arrogant bastard. But today I just wear a thin, cracking mask of confidence to shield the fact that I feel utterly clueless.
In the States I would get upset at times when we would work a conference and there were special youth ministers that were treated as VIP's because they had a large youth group. I started thinking how we have become so arrogant in ministry that we have lost touch with the humble servant that we are to be serving. It had become about clothes and lights, stage presence and how much merch we moved. Of course Jesus was the reason we were doing what we were doing, but was it the main reason or did we want to be featured in a magazine or asked to perform with bigger christian celebrities?
I think the "biz" got to me and I wanted nothing more than to run away from that life. However, in my running I think that I ran so far past the world of humble confidence and into a world of self-hatred and insecurity. Brennan Manning writes in Ruthless Trust, "Humble men and women do not have a low opinion of themselves; they have no opinion of themselves.". In my insecurity, I am just as focused on myself that if I wanted everyone one to see how great I was.
I want to be a man that does great things for God and if the things I do aren't great, well at least I gave it a hell of a try. I no longer want to be a scared little boy crying at day care watching his mother drive away. I want to do my best all the time and if people don't like it, oh well, it's not for them anyway. I want to run the race, write the song, and inspire the masses. I want to get off my lazy butt and make the most of this life that I am faking my way through right now. Most of all I want to take this mask off because it's not me and I want to reintroduce myself to me again. We used to great friends. Live your life the best you can and stop wasting time being scared, even if it's just a little. Cheers.
Chris
Guinness is huge. She has put on a lot of weight since getting "fixed". Besides being huge, she is intimidating to people that she wants to scare. However, there is one thing that scared Guinness, a small child. There were these kids hanging out by our house today and Guinness was freaked out. She is used to adults, but talking, walking little people is too much for her. A second little thing about G is that she ate our little garden, the little one that blogged about a few weeks ago. Even the tree, how does a dog eat a small palm tree? I don't know either, but she did. Oh well, we still love her. Cheers.
Chris
On Thursday nights we do a show called Truth or Dare. It's a show about a couple of skater boys and some cheerleaders and the the decisions they make. I play the main guy, Shane, and Ray plays the head cheerleader, Kirstin. Well Thursday night was my last performance of Truth or Dare and it was sad to say adios (however, not many people say that around here). It was also probably the end of my dancing career. There is a scene where Shane (me) has to prove to Kirstin (Ray) that he has "moves", so we do a little hip hop dance battle. It always goes well and ends with a little break dance solo at the end. Well, I proved for the last time that I have "skillz". Good night Shane, it was a great year.
Chris
On Thursday nights we do a show called Truth or Dare. It's a show about a couple of skater boys and some cheerleaders and the the decisions they make. I play the main guy, Shane, and Ray plays the head cheerleader, Kirstin. Well Thursday night was my last performance of Truth or Dare and it was sad to say adios (however, not many people say that around here). It was also probably the end of my dancing career. There is a scene where Shane (me) has to prove to Kirstin (Ray) that he has "moves", so we do a little hip hop dance battle. It always goes well and ends with a little break dance solo at the end. Well, I proved for the last time that I have "skillz". Good night Shane, it was a great year.
Chris
On Thursday nights we do a show called Truth or Dare. It's a show about a couple of skater boys and some cheerleaders and the the decisions they make. I play the main guy, Shane, and Ray plays the head cheerleader, Kirstin. Well Thursday night was my last performance of Truth or Dare and it was sad to say adios (however, not many people say that around here). It was also probably the end of my dancing career. There is a scene where Shane (me) has to prove to Kirstin (Ray) that he has "moves", so we do a little hip hop dance battle. It always goes well and ends with a little break dance solo at the end. Well, I proved for the last time that I have "skillz". Good night Shane, it was a great year.
Chris
On Thursday nights we do a show called Truth or Dare. It's a show about a couple of skater boys and some cheerleaders and the the decisions they make. I play the main guy, Shane, and Ray plays the head cheerleader, Kirstin. Well Thursday night was my last performance of Truth or Dare and it was sad to say adios (however, not many people say that around here). It was also probably the end of my dancing career. There is a scene where Shane (me) has to prove to Kirstin (Ray) that he has "moves", so we do a little hip hop dance battle. It always goes well and ends with a little break dance solo at the end. Well, I proved for the last time that I have "skillz". Good night Shane, it was a great year.
Chris
This is our last week of tour, we are in Ficksburg, a small town on the Northwest Lesotho border. We have had an amazing year on tour so far this year and have met some great people. I really think that the shows reached many people and I believe that we had an impact on all that came to our shows. We will be home on Saturday, then we have meetings next week before leaving the following Saturday for London. Please pray for Rachel and I for energy, its been a long tiring year already and with the Europe tour ahead we need a lot of pray to not get burned out. Thanks.
Chris
We left beautiful Cape Town this past Sunday morning and drove 2 hours inland and then took a left drove and hour towards the border of Nowhere. We are in a farming community this week called Op Die Berg (On the Mountain), There is a church, a farming store and a small grocery store. Thats it. However the farmers in the community are paying for the kids of their workers to come to the shows this week. They are busing them in from all around and last night there were about 400-500 people crammed in this little church hall. It's so much fun, we have chairs in the back for the adults and the students sit on the floor and the floor is packed with people. This is probably the first time any of these kids have seen a show with live music, lights and dancers. You can see the excitement on their faces. Its a beautiful area with great people. I hope the rest of the week goes well.
Chris
We made the long trek to Cape Town and its such a beautiful city. We have a "sport afternoon" every week so we got to go to the beach the Monday afternoon. The water was so so so cold, but it was still fun. The show on Sunday night went really well and we are preparing now for tonight's show, Homecoming. The band is set up and sound checked, all the props are ready, we are just about to have Focus, where we prepare mentally for the show, and then we wait for the show to start. I think the show will go well tonight. Hope your evening goes well. Cheers.
Chris
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
