Awenydd

Yes, really. I’m alive. I know it’s been a long time since I wrote anything, so …

Quick update. New job, and I am three weeks into it. I am now the “Assistant Manager of Advertising Production” at Tyndale House Publishers. For those of you who don’t know who that is, your assignment is to go to the bookstore at your earliest convenience and browse the Christian fiction section. Then you’ll know.

I am loving the job so far. Plenty of work to challenge me, but not enough to knock me over. At least not yet. And I work with a great bunch of people. So I am very thankful to God for providing me with this opportunity.

My gallery is now up (on the sidebar), for those who had not noticed. Unfortunately I can only upload a certain amount of data every month, so additions may be slow. At this point I have a set of pics up from the Florida Choir tour, and I think that’s about all I’ll post for that.

Stay tuned for Carbondale pics. Maybe.

UPDATE: Some Carbondale pics added. More to come next month, since I’ve already hit my monthly upload limit on Flickr.

Also, if you have a broadband connection, I’d encourage you to listen to the three Epcot Illuminations tracks I’ve added to the flash player on the sidebar. This is original music by Gavin Greenaway, played and synched to the “Illuminations” fireworks display at the Epcot Center. Great stuff.

Now to get on with the Chicago life…

Our time in Carbondale was a great blessing, as it always is.  The conference on Church Music was very good—helpful, informative, thought provoking, and entertaining.  Bill Hoover is wonderful person who loves the Lord and loves music of all kinds.  And that must be why I liked him so much.  We had a whirlwind runthrough of 3,000 years of Church music, from Miriam’s song to the Psalms of David to 20th century contemporary hymn and song.  To condense a two day conference into a very brief and simplistic summary (horridly unforgivable, I know), all Christian music has its place.  Depending on the nature of lyric and musical composition, that place may or may not be in the worship service (liturgy) of the Church.  Some music is better suited for more casual fellowship, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

The ball after the conference was a lot of fun as well, despite the fact that it was only the second time I’d really danced in my life (the chicken dance at German town, Epcot, does not count), and I made plenty of mistakes.  It was a consolation of sorts that I was not the only one making mistakes, and whether or not you did your steps perfectly was really not at issue.  The point was simply to get to know people and have fun.  Which is exactly what we did.  Also, this year I was able to relax and take things at a more leisurely pace.  I did not feel under obligation to join in on every dance.

Every time I visit Carbondale, the real highlight is always the worship on Sunday morning.  Great conferences, fun, and dancing aside(nothing wrong with those, of course), there is nothing more refreshing than the life and vibrance of the service at Cornerstone Reformed Church.  They do their liturgy with gusto, they sing with heart, and they worship God with their whole being.  It is a wonderful thing to be a part of.  And I continue to hope and pray that God will bless his people in the Chicago area with such a church.

Hello, all!

As Sam said, “Well…I’m back” (sans ellipse).  It’s really appropriate, I suppose.  With a good measure of figurative and literal roller coasters thrown in, an incredible performance at Epcot, lots of fun, and a liberal dash of personal angst.  The perfect recipe for an overall wonderful trip, I would say.

Had a huge scare near the end when my computer began displaying the dreaded blue screen of death and refused to boot up.  This was made worse by the fact that all my pictures from last Friday through this Tuesday were on the hard drive.  I won’t bore anyone with the details of how this thing was fixed, but suffice to say that all is finally functioning as it should (I hope).  And if not, at least all my pictures have been backed up.

Well, must run now, but will report back later for a fuller account and perhaps some of the rescued pictures.  Slan!

Well, on Friday I’m off to Florida on choir tour.  We’ll be singing at the West World Stage at the Epcot Center, which I expect to be a lot of fun.  Almost as fun as having free-time in Disney World with park hopper passes.  The choir is staying at the Disney Pop Century Resort, which just looks lovely.  Will be tons of fun, I’m sure.

Shortly after that, I’ll be off down to Cornerstone Reformed Church in Carbondale for a conference on Church music.  Bill Hoover from Providence Presbyterian in St. Louis is the speaker.  There’s a ball afterward, so I am determined not to spill anything on my tux while I am in Florida.

That’s all for updates.  For now.