a pic of my knockout wife. taken by none other than the great tadd 

the funny thing about

teaching elementary school is that you often have parents who got a late start on their families. so they may be like 50 and have a 5th grader. sometimes the 5th grader was like the surprize at 40, etc...

so last night i got "hired/invited" to d.j. and play at the 5th grade party (which was at lifetime fitness, pretty awesome). so i'm sticking close to the sound system and talking to parents as they happen to come by. they are telling me how their kids really like my class and everything. now some of these parents are your normal 30 something with 5th graders, and then this lady comes up while i'm talking to my assistant principal and begins asking me like popular music questions. now this lady was probably late 40's early 50's, and i was talking to my ap about amy's school and how amy had brought her friend's guinea pig home and his name was "lil' john" this new lady proceeded to tell me something about lil' john's "crunk" teeth, and how 50 cent was a drug selling "gangsta". i mentioned something about his jewel encrusted goblet, and the conversation went on. if she had said "fo shizzle" i was out of there. that's not to say that older people can't talk like that, but you can't say it if you are true white bread and around people you really don't know. i mean i might say crunk on this board and i may say fo shizzle in a joking way to todd, but i don't walk up in casual conversation and say "YEAH" all lil' johnesque. so please keep your hip hop terminology to yo self.

the party was fun. basically if the girls weren't swimming or dancing, they were chasing the boys. and the boys run. so we had to get on the microphone and say stop running alot. also a first for me last night. seeing kids swim in pants. wearing shorts or swimsuits is against their muslim or hindu religion. i don't know which one, since there are different flavors of both. so that was pretty interesting.

then there was the mom who came up and asked me if i d.j.'d on the side. i said no, that none of this was my gear other than the guitar and amp. she said she had a karaoke rig and wondered how she could get enough cd's to d.j. i asked if she had a laptop. yes. well then go to walmart.com and download the billboard top 100. she said she gets $400 every time she does a karaoke gig so that would be a good investment. then she could add new songs as they came out. i mean isn't that what d.j.ing is now. except for my neighbor who still has records and cd's most guys plug in a computer and go smoke outside the building. i mean you can even put a program on your computer where you can simulate turntables if you are into the "wheels of steel"

then there was the lady from scotland. i was standing right in front of the speakers and couldn't understand much of what she said. i tried to crack my best scottish jokes. ha, ha, ha. not really but truly, "if it's not scottish...it's crrrap".

so there you have it. choral festival was thursday night and one of my students gave me a jimi hendrix t-shirt, so now i am officially cool. it's even the fuzzy kind like from the 70's. everytime i look at it, i think of the commercial with "james hendrix" and the accordian playing "purple haze".

ok eventful week. and i'm sitting home blogging. i'd better do the dishes and start a load of laundry.

have a good one
chuck

go get this one too. 

go get this book. it is awesome 

just a short thought

my program is over, and i am glad. it was stressful, because some 4th graders, and some of their parents are undependable. go figure. so now i have choral festival tomorrow and my choir concert on monday. after that, i'm 4 weeks and a field trip away from the end of school. hallelujah.

we are not going to mt. vernon. the conference got cancelled. there weren't enough people signed up, so we will be home this weekend. it works for me. I think I'm going to take a personal day so I can just vegetate one day in the next couple of weeks.

i leave you with a thought from Life as a Vapor by John Piper
"The reason God seeks our praise is not because He won't be complete until He gets it. He is seeking our praise because we won't be complete until we give it. This is not arrogance. It is love."
i thought that was pretty awesome. make much of Him today.

have a good one
chuck

yet another tadd pic 

tadd is the master photoman 

hey i ran across this blog

when i was looking at people who had the same interests as i do. check it out.
awakeland
the movie on there is really good. well shot.
well a couple more days and my 4th grade program will be over, and then i can just teach and not worry about all the other stuff.

i'm playing at the coffee shop again this saturday. this will make my 3rd time i've played there. last time i got paid. i don't do it for the money, but it sure is nice to actually make something for my time. i've added about 6 or 7 new covers to my set so i'm looking forward to it.

i have another rorheim institute in mt. vernon next weekend. it's a long way up there, and we are having to leave pretty late due to the 5th grade party i have to go to.

oh yeah, we are taking kenedy and karson to the beach on saturday morning. they've never been so it should be super fun. i'm craving the fried pickles at "the spot"

ok enough for this random blog. i have nothing funny or creative to say. the free studio at the met isn't turning out so great as it is not available when i am, and i can't get the worship guy to meet with me or even return a phone call. i did meet a guy at church who owns a hip hop label who said he would let me record in his studio for $30 an hour. he said 2 hours a song and he wouldn't charge me if it went into the 3rd hour. he's a white rapper and has worked with kj52 aka jetter, and with john rubens. so maybe this will work out. he's available on weekends, so it's just a matter of coming up with the moolah.

well that's all
and a happy popedom to benedict the 16th.

love all, serve all
chuck

how is it

and this is not meant to be a stereotypical comment, that everytime i go into a convenience store that is run by people from the middle east, they are on the phone. i mean every time i go to pay for my C2 and Combos, there is some guy on the phone. he doesn't even stop his conversation to help me with my purchase. talk about multi-tasking. imagine the interview...

"can you sell a lottery ticket, watch the gasoline machine, and deep fry a burrito all while having a conversation with your uncle in farsi"

ok maybe that is a broad statement, but i definitely experience that more than not.

so it's friday, and i am home with the girls. we are going to take kenedy's friends to play glow in the dark putt-putt this evening. i've got to go clean out the van, and fold some laundry.

so my voice is coming back after 3 days of writing on a dry erase board and showing videos to my classes. i actually taught 4th and 5th grade. the younger grades are hard to teach as they don't read as well. 3rd and 2nd were alright, but 1st and kinder would have been hard. they actually were better behaved when i gave non-verbal commands. i used sign language too. not the kind you get on the freeway.

many of you don't know but our school in hico was the regional school for the deaf, and i had deaf students in my band classes. they had an interpreter, but i had to learn some signs so that i could communicate more effectively. so i know the signs for burp, fart, vomit, water, silly, bad attitude, no, yes, restroom, mother, father, boy, girl, thank you, lazy, and others. i can also finger spell pretty good. oh yeah i forgot i know the signs for lesson, line, sharp, flat and i can count to 100.

yeah, i can sing again

have a great day
chuck

btw, i tried to post a tagboard, but tagboard won't let me on my account. says it can't find my page. maybe later, and maybe i will find my html code with all of my links. or maybe ross could send me the code so i could tap that stuff in again.

for reals
bye

wow

i can't believe it. first grade is gone on a field trip and they didn't reorganize the day so that 1st grade teachers would get their conference period. when kinder went on their field trip the kindergarten teachers complained to the ap that they needed their conference period so she flipped them and 1st. that is a no no because of special ed and all, but they gloated in the fact that they got a conference period that day. why do you need a break on a field trip day? i mean it's not like you are teaching, and you have parents to help you at the zoo. so my hat is off to the 1st grade team here. you gave me a whole 55 minutes so i could blog.

huge blunder at church sunday. i typed the word "done" (or so i thought) into the media shout, but my computer guys told me that it was spelled "d-o-n-g" how's that for spell-check. so i hope none of our 14 new families who visited were offended. no one was laughing uncontrollably, so i guess they just glossed over it.

the anniversary service went really well. we sang "on the way down" by ryan cabrera which is a really cool song, and closed with "hand of the potter" by caedmon's call. i brought my friend ron in to do the congas and timbales and hand percussion. i wish i could get him to come every week. he is amazing.

man here i have this time to write and nothing to write about. i guess i could list funny things amy and i saw on our trip to galveston.

1. very large couple sitting on the beach. he with crack showing. she wearing a string bikini top and the string was in a fold so it looked like she wasn't wearing a top.

2. lady unloading the contents of her stomach on the floor in a corner booth at the lounge we were at. it kept coming and her friends just sat there. i would have so cleared out.

3. same lady getting into a bentley as we drove by later. i'm sorry, but you puke, you walk.

4. walking by the kon tiki lounge just to see if we were right....we were.

5. homeless guy walking by with a luggage strap in his hand saying, "i've got myself a brand new bag of tricks"

6. walking on the beach saying to ourselves, you know this trip would be complete if we saw a large dude in a speedo, and there he was.

7. little kid playing harmonica continuously, and i think he followed us into every store we went into on the strand.

8. the mardi gras museum. it's a room folks. woo hoo.

9. the bride walking down the sea wall with her much larger bridesmaids as uncle sid videotaped them with his circa 1991 camcorder. i mean come on. uncle sid said he would do us a favor.

10. oh yeah this isn't funny, but the best food on the island is at "the spot" you have to try the fried pickles. what was funny was the two little old people with the new mexico lobos hats on that sat beside us. i guess they were from new mexico.

anyway. i'm sure amy can enlighten me on things i forgot, but hey some of those are pretty funny. i wanted to make a list like i do when i watch an awards show, but i didn't.

have a great day
chuck

bridging the gap

that is the idea of the rorheim institute.

it crosses where we are today to where we are tomorrow using these four pillars

• a nurturing home-family
• an equipping church-church
• a vision for the future-nation
• a shepherding adult-work/education

there is a need to do something. let me hit you with some Barna-facts

• One-third of all teenagers (34%) as born again – unchanged in several years. (2000)
  
• The most common church affiliations among teenagers were Catholic (22%), Baptist (16%), and mainline Protestant (19%). Only 4% usually attend a charismatic or Pentecostal church. (2000)
  
• In 1997, 88% of teens say they are Christian. This number dropped to 82% in 1999.
  
• Of those who call themselves Christians, 26% said they are “absolutely committed” and 57% said that they were “moderately committed" to the Christian faith. (1999)
  
• Almost two-thirds of teens (62%) believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings. (2000)
  
• Almost two-thirds describe themselves as “religious” (64%). (1999)
  
• Three out of every five call themselves “spiritual” (60%). (1999)
  
• Three out of five say they are “committed Christians” (60%). (1999)
  
• One out of every three teens (33%) is born again. (1999)
  
• Only 4% of U.S. teens are evangelicals (1999)
  
• 28% of teens feel a personal responsibility to tell others about their religious beliefs (56% of born again Christian teens feel this way). (1999)
  
• 56% of teens feel that their religious faith is very important in their life. (1999)
  
• Two out of three teens (65%) say that the devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil. (2000)
  
• Three out of five teens (61%) agree that “if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in Heaven. (2000)
  
• Slightly more than half (53%) say that Jesus committed sins while He was on earth. (2000)
  
• 30% of teens believe that all religions are really praying to the same God, they are just using different names for God. (1999)
  
• In total, 83% of teens maintain that moral truth depends on the circumstances, and only 6% believe that moral truth is absolute. (2001)
  
• When it comes to believing in absolute truth, only 9% of born again teens believe in moral absolutes and just 4% of the non-born again teens believe that there are moral absolutes. (2001)

"You can't give people what you don't have. The low percentage of Christians who have a biblical worldview is a direct reflection of the fact that half of our primary religious teachers and leaders do not have one" Barna Research Group January 2004

what exactly is a worldview you may ask.

worldview is the life compass by which each child, youth and adult perceives, processes and practices reality, relationships and responses (life-view, heart-view)

a childs definition: the whole way i see, think about, act on and share beliefs (things that are important to God, me and others)

worldview is a mental and emotional filter that allows us to make choices consistent with what we believe to be true, significant and appropriate...A biblical worldview is a means of experiencing, interpreting and responding to reality in light of biblical perspective George Barna, Think Like Jesus

Saturday

well actually friday, ames and the girls and i drove up to naconowhere texas to lead worship and attend a conference that my buddy, buddy was doing at his church. so we spent the night with the ritters waaaaayyyy out in the country(i still have the red dirt on the back of our van to prove it) then we did the conference the next morning. it is an extension of awana called "the roerheim institute" and it challenges parents to develop a biblical worldview in their children. it has four pillars that build a bridge to the future. it was a long conference, but it was very good. i needed to be there because it truly convicted me to be more urgent in my presentation of the bible and the importance of God's word to my children. buddy likened it to our children being in a burning house. would we risk our lives to go in and get them? then why are we not concerned with their spiritual lives, and what worldview they are developing. i'll write more about that later. i've led worship for the last 2 days with absolutely NO voice. God is so good to at least let me whisper praises to Him. it all goes to show the glory belongs to Him and not me. i can do nothing in my own strength. He is the all powerful one that makes everything possible.

i leave you with 2 things. i may have said one before, but i want to say it again.

a character in "the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe" by c.s. lewis, is describing aslan who is an allegorical figure of Christ and he says "Safe, who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe, but he's good. He's the King, I tell you"
that is an awesome thought.

yesterday a lady asked if we were supposed to make children the center of our lives or make the adults the center, and i was prompted to tell her to make Christ the center. He desires to be the center of attention in our lives. See Him and savor Him. Make Him the foremost of our affections. wow, do i long for that. and fall miserably short on a daily basis, but if i quit then that becomes safe. i would prefer to live life a little dangerously so that i might see how good He really is.

God bless
have a great week
chuck

ps pray that my voice will come back

something about

the pope fascinates me. i always thought that he lived his life with great dignity and courage. i know that often he is worshipped as many of the "saints" are. this is not a knock or discussion of catholic theology, just a comment on a person who passed away today. i believe the pope was a believer. i believe mother teresa was a believer. i believe there are many people who are catholics that are believers and many baptists who aren't. the bible says they will know you by your love. now i don't know the pope, but if you watch him, you can see his compassion and love for people. now i may be taken in easily, but i'm not a cynic. so i pray Godspeed to Karol Wojtyla.

now the true drama begins as the cardinals pick a new pope. looking for white smoke from the sistine chapel. and they lock em up til they make a decision. you wonder how they make the decision. is it political? is it spiritual? do they really pray about it, or do they already have their minds made up? i mean in the history of the church, they don't really have a good track record on some of this stuff.

does anyone remember when the last pope died. i was 7, living in amarillo, and i remember this huge casket on tv and all of these statues of the disciples. i remember asking my dad how big that church was, and he said it was bigger than a whole city, and i'm thinking, "bigger than amarillo, WOW?" i think i remember the last pope only lived a few years after he became pope, and he was really fat.

i'm also saddened by terri schaivo's death this week. tom delay made comments about the legislature trying to pass laws limiting judges power, but anything they pass, the courts will just declare it unconstitutional. the courts are out of control.

in other news the texas legislature can't pull an education funding plan that works out of their butts, but they can vote themselves a pay raise. way to go austin. you guys have your priorities right. i'm glad we can trust you to make the best decisions for the schoolchildren of texas. after all teachers know nothing about how schools should run. i'm glad you trust us with kids.

everyone have a great day
chuck

we had Mickey's memorial last night

it's very different. i've sung at funerals, but usually it was for people that i didn't know very well. i just happened to be the "minister of music" and got called for the favorite hymn. this was way different. dave and i decided that it would be good just to have two guitars and me sing. i have been coughing my head off for the last 4 days, so i was worried that the singing might not be so good, but God always is. i wondered if i would have a hard time singing these songs since Mickey was such a special person, but God allowed me to rise above emotion. i think sometimes as pastors we have to be strong for others. i had already cried for Mickey and John when i prayed with John in the hospital. she's in such a better place.

John picked two very difficult songs to sing. If anyone ever asks you to sing "when God made you" practice a bunch and watch the Amaj7 chord with a Bflat in the bass. Dave played the other song while i sang. "untitled hymn" by chris rice has more chords than "a mighty fortress is our God". both of the songs have 2 key changes. God is so gracious. He allowed us to make it through both of those songs.

so closure for the church anyway. i'm not sure about john. he now attends to the process of raising jabez. who is a handful. last night when i was singing "fly to Jesus" Jabez began to call out "fly, fly, fly" i nearly lost it right there. pray for john and jabez. pray for stephanie, mickey's daughter. hug your family and thank God that you have them and friends who love you.

new books to pick up "life as a vapor" by John Piper, and "seeing and savoring Jesus Christ" also by Piper (he's my favorite author in case you didn't know) i'm also reading "Praise Habit" again. so i'm concurrently reading about 4 books.

jar's of clay's new song really is awesome. it's an old hymn with a U2 vibe. very cool. He WILL lift your head.

blessings to you and yours
i'm trying to blog more
i may even get links and a tagboard someday, but not today

in Him
chuck