Can't Wait to Celebrate!

Only five days until we celebrate being women at Cedar Creek! Saturday is our Mother/Daughter Celebration and it's going to be great! Our resident actresses have written a cool program that's a take-off of the popular "Extreme Home Makeover" show. It's going to be called "Extreme Makeover-God's Edition". I've heard some of it already, and it's going to show us how to deal with sin patterns in our life by using the Word of God. It will go right along with our decorations, which are centered around the theme of "The Secret Garden". Just as forgotten, dormant gardens can be brought back to life and made beautiful again, so can our lives be transformed and made beautiful if we will let God work in us, pulling out the weeds of sin and bad attitudes and planting the fruit of the Spirit in us.
To really make the point visually, there's going to be an actual GARDEN in the room, big enough for the women to walk through, with live flowers and the whole bit. I can't wait to see it all come together!
I pray that this Saturday won't just be a nice women's event that makes us all feel happy, but that it will have spiritual impact on all of us. I pray that the Holy Spirit will be at work, changing us and prompting us to be more like Jesus. That will be the real sign of the success of this event. May God use this celebration and those involved in making it happen to stir the hearts of those attending so that they will want to be more like Him.
Now that will be cause for celebration!

What a weekend!

This was a weekend to remember. It started Friday with a moving Good Friday service at Cedar Creek. The room was packed with people singing and praising God for what He did at Calvary. Mike shared about what Jesus went through because He loves us so much. The evening ended with a powerful video called "It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'!"
Then Sunday came! Today, that is. Cedar Creek had a great time celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. It was one of those services that you wanted to last and last; the kind that makes me long for heaven.
I'm so glad I serve a living Savior. He is so many wonderful things, but the best thing is that He's alive. We didn't sing this particular song today, but the words are fresh in my mind:

We serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today.
I KNOW that He is living, whatever men might say.
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer.
And just the time I need Him, He's always near.

Praise God, He lives!!!

Home Again

I'm thankful. Thankful to be at a place of contentment in life so that coming home from vacation is not a drudgery, but a joy. There have been times in my life when I didn't want to get back home and into the swing of things. That's a depressing feeling and I am thankful to not be feeling that way. I love life. I love my life. I love being back home with my family in our own house. I love being back with my church family. It was so sweet to worship at Cedar Creek this morning, and be among my brothers and sisters who love me and help me grow. The worship team was really on today and the preacher was "in the zone", preaching a great sermon reminding us of what Christ did for us at Calvary. I love it when he gets fired up like he did today. I think he's awesome. But then I'm kinda partial.
God is good. I am blessed. Sometimes I feel guilty because I see so many others who are unhappy. But then I remember that joy is a choice that we make. The Apostle Paul had joy. He wrote about it in Philippians. While he was in prison. Hmm.
What would the world be like if we all had joy no matter our circumstances? What would the church be like? Attractive, I would suppose.

"...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace..."(Galatians 5:22)
"Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, Rejoice."(Philippians 4:4)

Our Last Day

I've been hearing about "Puckett's Grocery" for years now. Tonja has talked about this place where she sings on occasion, and that also has the best food around. It's in Franklin, TN and today I experienced it. I had an awesome burger on a wheat hoagie bun, and some scrumptious onion rings. Mike had some incredible pulled pork. We had a great time, although nobody famous came in. Tonja used to work there and has waited on some celebrities, including Brad and Kimberly Williams-Paisley!
After Puckett's, we went through the Opryland Hotel. It's absolutely beautiful and HUGE! Then we walked to Opry Mills, a huge mall that had a big Gibson guitar store. Luke especially loved that.
It was a long day and we walked a lot, so we enjoyed coming home and chilling out and watching American Idol.
Enjoy the pictures of our fun day with the Roses!

Songwriters and Cupcakes!

Here's the two highlights from our vacation yesterday: first, I went with Tonja to her writing appointment in downtown Nashville. She writes for Identical Entertainment. There were two guys there to write with her, and both of them have already had success in songwriting. Very nice gentlemen. Anyway, I got to listen in while they began writing a song called "Think I Met An Angel". Very cool experience.
On the way home, we stopped by "Gigi's Cupcakes", and brought some home for dessert. Oh my word. These weren't just cupcakes. They were colossal, gourmet treats from heaven! And with a cup of fresh coffee....mmmmmmm. 'Twas a good day.

God, Friends and Music!

Wow, I enjoyed today! It started with some good coffee and leisure time with Tonja, then we got ready and went to worship at Franklin Christian Church. Then we went to some friends of Ward and Tonja's for a cookout and some other people came to hang out too. Rob Harris, the music minister at FCC was there and he is also a songwriter here in Nashville. A group called "Fletcher" was there, which is three brothers who are phenomenal musicians. Check them out at www.fletchermusic.net. They all sat around playing and singing, mostly original stuff. It was very cool. God was so generous when He gave us music!
Tomorrow Lindsey, Tonja & I are going to a local tea room for lunch, then Tonja is taking me to one of her writing appointments. Maybe l'll witness the writing of a future country hit! Whether or not that happens, I'm just grateful for the opportunity to hang out with such creative and talented people for a few minutes!
Oh! One other cool thing...the gal whose house we were at today is the niece of Linda Hunt, the academy award-winning actress! Linda Hunt's sister was there too, and she resembled the actress. It's such a small world.
It was a very enjoyable day, and I've had a lot of coffee...I hope I can sleep tonight!

Vacation!

We're heading to Nashville, Tennessee in the morning and I am excited! We'll be visiting some friends that we knew when we lived in Virginia, Ward and Tonja Rose. They moved to Nashville a few years ago so Tonja could pursue her dream of becoming a recording artist. She works/writes for a publishing company, and she's is going to take me with her to one of her writing appointments with Mark Naramore, a guy who has already had some of his songs recorded! I am looking forward to seeing them collaborate.
We're going to see some sights around Nashville, hit some good eating joints, and we're looking forward to worshipping with Ward and Tonja at Franklin Christian Church on Sunday.
Then Wednesday, it's north to Clinton, Iowa to spend a few days with Mike's family. They're supposed to be getting 5 inches of snow tomorrow! Hope it's melted by Wednesday...
I hope to blog all about our trip when we return! Or maybe I'll check in while we're there!