On a break...

I obviously haven't done any serious blogging in a couple of weeks and I'm honestly not sure why. I posted on Twitter/Facebook last night that I can't decide if I have less to say, I'm less narcissistic than I used to be, both, or something else entirely.

So, I'm just posting to say that posting will probably become much more sporadic around these parts for the next little while. If something strikes my fancy, I'll bang it out. At some point, I'll probably be back on my regular posting schedule, but for now, I'm going to take advantage of the blogging writer's block and be on a break for a bit.

Thanks for reading.

Big Week

Accomplishments for Connor this week:

• Successfully transitioned to big boy bed and hasn't fallen out yet.
• Successfully achieved most potty training.
• Successfully signed up for soccer (pics of him in outfit to follow).

It's really been a big week for the kid. He's come a long way this summer, especially in a summer where he's had a broken leg and a tonsillectomy. And if it feels like I talk more about him than Kinsey right now, well, she's pretty static at this point. She's still working on some attitude and behavior issues, but 90-95% of the time, she's just a sweet girl. We're gearing up for the school year here soon and that will be an interesting transition since she's moving to a new one due to rezoning. It's been an interesting summer for the Wilson's and will probably continue so.

Age of Entertainment: "Love"

After the age of Enlightenment, this age will be known as the age of Entertainment.

We spend more in our lives on Entertainment than we do on just about everything else
for our media players, our computers, our TVs, our media collections. We pay our actors and sports players obscene amounts of money to entertain us on a regular basis. As a result that entertainment shapes us we get our ideas about life from our media and entertainment.
And it works. Media influences us. If it didn't why would there be commercials?

Because it shapes us, we believe what it tells us about life. And very prominently, love. We see couples on TV and movies and in our songs who are madly deeply in love, all the time. And that becomes our frame of reference. So we marry for what we think is love/romance/whatever, and when the reality of life doesn't match that expectation, people might try to make it. We might give it our best shot, But in a quick fix society, it's easy to take the quick fix.

It's deeply troubling to me that couples tend to spend much more time preparing for the first day of their marriage and not for the rest of their lives.

The truth of the matter is that love is there. It really is. It just doesn't look like what we see in the media. It can sometimes look like being so frustrated with your spouse that you can't see straight and deciding in that moment to work it out. It looks like being honest, even when the honesty is the worst thing you can do.

We allow ourselves to be shaped by what we choose, and many of us choose to allow the media to shape us.

And in fact, not only can the media be destructive in our mindsets about love, but just as much or more so about sex. That's the absolute worst thing about porn. Well, maybe not as bad as the degredation of the people involved in it, but the thing about porn is that it sets guys (and some girls) to have expectations about what sex is. And porn is the furthest thing from God's idea about sex.

Sex viewed from a pornographic standpoint is basically just mutual masturbation. And for a guy to go into a marriage expecting his wife to do what porn stars do is so incredibly destructive I can hardly put it into words. And regular media depictions of sex to a lesser degree, but still destructive.

We have to be responsible consumers of media. Not all media is bad and not all entertainment is bad. But as followers of Christ, we have to understand how the media affects us and our journey to being like Jesus. Sorry if this was a bit scattershot, but it's trying to get some ideas down...

Turning Corners

Well, it looks like we're starting to turn some corners with Connor. I've talked about some of his issues with eating before. He's refused to eat food that he doesn't want to, going to far as to vomit it up.

As of the last couple of weeks, we've been able to bribe him with ice cream to get him to eat a couple of green beans, and that's a pretty huge deal for him. He still looks like he's swallowing that tastes like feet, but he's chewing them and taking them down, so we're just working through baby steps.

He's also really starting to do some serious potty training. We're getting pretty solid with #1 when he sits on the potty, even though he's not really able to discern the "pee feeling" yet. We bribed him with some "Cars" toys for that one, plus making a big deal about when he does it.

We've also procured a mattress and frame for his "big boy" bed that he'll be moving into very soon, as we take down his crib. It seems like this stage has lasted longer for him than it did for Kinsey, but that's probably just my bad memory. At any rate, big things are happening for Connor. He's adjusting well and really doing well. We're very grateful to have such a great kid, as well as his awesome big sister.

Gone A Lot

Hi all.

Sorry I've been away from the blog for the last little while. With injuries and travels and such it's been a busy summer (as most of them are).

I'm still sitting on a post about how Christians can be more redemptive in our reactions to abortion, as well as with all the "celebrity" deaths recently, how our culture is in an "Age of Entertainment" where celebrities are the role models and the majority of our time is spent in pursuit of entertainment.

Those are both fairly involved and I want to craft them in the best way possible for discussion and thoughts.

Hope you all had a good 4th of July.

Wilson Medical Saga

As I referred to a couple of weeks back, Connor both had his leg broken (by me) and had a tonsillectomy (not by me). And last Monday, I had knee surgery to repair my torn ACL, which I did not tear by going into a burning house and saving a mother and baby. Although if you want to believe that (or tell other people that you do, that's fine by me.)

Here's Connor recuperating from the tonsillectomy. The bucket beside him is what you think it would be for.

Me with my crown, badge, and trophy for being the #1 Dad on Father's Day.

Me with the kids before bed on Father's Day

Two Crips on the Couch together. That's me a couple of days after my surgery

Connor just before his cast came off on Monday.

The side view of his cast.

And now, here's the walking boot he's in.

Thankfully, all the recoveries are going well. Connor's basically over his tonsillectomy. There's still some healing going on. He's got two or three weeks in the walking cast. I've had all the stitches removed from my surgery as well as my brace has been unlocked and I'm officially bending at the knee. I started physical therapy Monday and will continue that for the foreseeable future. I'm eternally grateful for Sheryl suffering the medical drama that has been our lives for the last couple of months, and Kinsey has been an amazing little girl too.

We're thankful for God's provision in our life, both in a job that provides much-needed medical insurances, and for our church family and blood families being so close to pick up so much slack for our daily lives: meals, yard mowing, comfort, etc. We're getting better, thankfully, and hopefully that will continue.

Knee Surgery

For those of you who don't know, I had my knee surgery on Monday to repair my torn ACL. The surgery went well and I'm starting to put a little weight on it. I was fortunate that it was able to be done arthroscopically so my recovery time should be quicker than in other circumstances.

In addition to me, Connor's recovering from his tonsillectomy well and his leg is healing well enough that his cast should be able to come off next week.

Thanks for all the prayers for our family and please continue them for us, as well as Sheryl as she takes care of us.

ƃuıʇʇınb

(-: ˙ǝʞoɾ s,looɟ lıɹdɐ uɐ sı sıɥʇ 'sǝʎ

lıɥd

'ǝɔɐǝd

˙sʇɥƃnoɥʇ ɯopuɐɹ ɹǝɥʇo puɐ sƃuılqɯɐɹ lɐɔıƃoloǝɥʇ puɐ sǝɹnʇɔıd ʎlıɯɐɟ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ɯsıssıɔɹɐu ʎɯ ƃuıƃlnpuı ɹoɟ sʞuɐɥʇ 'uǝɥʇ lıʇun ʇnq 'uʍop ɯǝɥʇ ǝʞɐʇ oʇ ǝpıɔǝp ı lıʇun ǝlıɥʍ ɐ ɹoɟ dn ǝsǝɥʇ ǝʌɐǝl ll,ı

˙ǝnuıʇuoɔ oʇ ʇı ɥʇɹoʍ ɯǝǝs ʇ,usǝop ʇsnɾ ʇı 'ɹɐlndod ǝɹoɯ puɐ ǝɹoɯ ƃuıɯoɔǝq llɐ ǝɹɐ ʎǝɥʇ ɥƃnoɥʇ uǝʌǝ 'uıɐƃɐ ˙ʇıqɐɥuı ı ɐıpǝɯ lɐıɔos ɹǝɥʇo ǝɥʇ puɐ ɹǝʇʇıʍʇ puɐ ʞooqǝɔɐɟ dn ǝʌıƃ oʇ pǝpıɔǝp oslɐ ǝʌ,ı 'ɥƃnoɥʇ ʇɐɥʇ oʇ uoıuɐdɯoɔ ɐ sɐ ˙sɯǝǝs ʇı 'ǝuɐʍ ǝɥʇ uo ɟo puıʞ ƃuıƃƃolq ɥʇıʍ ʇı op oʇ ǝɯıʇ pooƃ ɐ ǝʞıl pǝɯǝǝs ʇı ˙dn ʇı ǝʌıƃ oʇ pǝpıɔǝp ǝʌ,ı 'ƃuıƃƃolq ɹɐlnƃǝɹ ɟo sɹɐǝʎ ㄣ ʇsoɯlɐ ɹǝʇɟɐ os ˙ǝɹoɯ ʎuɐ ʇɥƃıɹ ʇıs ʇ,upıp ʇsnɾ dıɹʇ ıʞs ǝɥʇ ɯoɹɟ sǝɹnʇɔıd ǝsoɥʇ ƃuıʇsod uǝʌǝ 'ʇı ʇnoqɐ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos ʇnq 'ʞɐǝɹq ɐ ɹǝʇɟɐ uıɐƃɐ ƃuıƃƃolq pǝʇɹɐʇs ʇsnɾ ı ʇɐɥʇ ǝzılɐǝɹ ı

Quitting

I realize that I just started blogging again after a break, but something about it, even posting those pictures from the ski trip just didn't sit right any more. So after almost 4 years of regular blogging, I've decided to give it up. It seemed like a good time to do it with blogging kind of on the wane, it seems. As a companion to that though, I've also decided to give up Facebook and Twitter and the other social media I inhabit. Again, even though they are all becoming more and more popular, it just doesn't seem worth it to continue.

I'll leave these up for a while until I decide to take them down, but until then, thanks for indulging my narcissism with my family pictures and theological ramblings and other random thoughts.

Peace,

Phil

Yes, this is an April Fool's Joke. :-)

Back Among the Blogging

Well, I gave all of you a break, but now I'm back. In the two weeks that I've been gone, I did some snowboarding in Colorado and some serious work on some projects at work. So as I ease back into blogging, I'll have some pictures and some thoughts about things in general, as per usual.

Living Like Jesus

One of the interesting things about watching the video I posted yesterday is that I'm also reading The Shack right now. I'm finding it an interesting read on many levels and I can definitely understand some more "orthodox" Christians issues with it.

However, one of the most interesting things about it is one of the things that the author has Jesus say: "Seriously, my life was not meant to be an example to copy, being my follower is not trying to ‘be like Jesus,’ it means for your independence to be killed." - The Jesus character, pg149 One of Young's ideologies that he espouses in this book is that our desire for independence from God is what causes our greatest separation from God when God gives us the independence we desire.

But I disagree with what the Jesus character says there and that's why I admire what Dr. Dobson did. I don't think Dr. Dobson became an itinerant homeless preacher but what it appears he did was try to have the mind of Christ and took some physical steps to help him get into that mindset. I truly believe as followers of Jesus, we are to imitate Jesus what Jesus does, trying to live out the life of Christ in 21st century America. And I think that can look different for different people. Some people may feel called like Shane Claiborne to live in the forgotten corners of the empire. Others might do ministry in the suburbs.

The truth of the matter is that when we give ourselves permission to not imitate Christ that opens the door to many other issues of greed and selfishness and then we become fans of Jesus and not his followers and these days, he needs more followers/imitators, not more fans.

Is Your Refrigerator Running? Better Go Catch It!

You know, it's always the unexpected things that bite you in the behind. For the last month or so, the freezer in our refrigerator has been incrementally not freezing things, to the point where it wasn't making ice or freezing stuff in the door. This was in addition to our dryer spitting oil and/or grease all over our clothes, necessitating weekly trips to the laundromat.

So yesterday we had a repairman come out to look at our ailing machines. And it turns out that both of them are shot. For the frig, it was a condenser and compressor and several other things that would cost as much as a new frig to fix, and the dryer had issues with seals and gaskets and enough other things that would cost as much as a new dryer to fix. They'd both had good long lives. The frig came from my parents' house, which they'd bought when they gave us their other refrigerator when we moved into our house, so it was over 10 years old. The dryer had been purchased at the Sears Outlet (because that's how we roll) at least 7 or 8 years ago, so it was getting older as well.

So at lunch yesterday, Sheryl and I met at the Sears Outlet once again and picked out a new (slightly banged up) refrigerator. We'll stick with the laundromat for the time being or see if someone at church has one they want to sell inexpensively, or we might check Craigslist or even Freecycle.

The nice thing was that we had some money saved up to be able to do the frig without dipping into our savings. The bad thing was that it was Christmas money and money that I'd been saving to get a hi-def TV. However, while being an adult is definitely not always as cool as I thought it would when I was a kid (with all the bills and responsibility and such), this is what I signed up for. And I would much rather have the new frig paid for free and clear, rather than have the money and do payments. Which means that I'll just have to start from scratch to save for the TV again.

So that's the appliance saga. Hopefully we'll be in a long ride with few or no problems with the new frig.

Grateful

While the posts this week have been about Prentice Meador's passing and the mourning of his death and rejoicing of his life, we still have much to be thankful for.

I'm grateful to God for life and my continued enjoyment of it.

I'm grateful for my wife, whom I love more every day and would rather not spend time with anyone else.

I'm grateful for Kinsey and for how much she's growing. She's reading so well now and being a great big sister.

I'm grateful for Connor and how much fun (though frustrating) he is right now.

I'm grateful to be employed and have a job that I enjoy to be able to provide for my family and have Sheryl be at home with the kids.

I'm grateful for Otter Creek Church. It's been a rough 12 months in a lot of ways with the departure of ministers and now Prentice's death, but I'm grateful for a body of believers that I can be a part of and minister with. Even though I question and challenge at times, it's still home and a body that I love in spite of and sometimes because of its flaws.

I'm grateful for our life group and how all of them have become a part of our lives in ways I couldn't have imagined 18 months ago.

I'm grateful for life in Christ, who set the example for how we should pursue the Kingdom of God and suffered and rose again, triumphing over death.

This year, I'm grateful.

Gas

Ever notice that gas never goes down as quickly as it goes up? I'd like to see gas drop 60 cents in 8 hours every now and then.

The Culture of Fear

The other day I read an article in the Christian Chronicle (a Church of Christ publication) which was a discussion between two men, one a McCain supporter and one an Obama supporter. You can read it here.

There were some very interesting points and discussion between the two men about the level of involvement a Christian should have in politics, race, terrorism, and other such subjects. One of the most striking things to me was the final comment that both men had.

What else would you say to our readers?

BOWDRE: I would just say that it’s important for us to pray and pray and pray and then vote prayerfully.

McADAMS: Think about a Supreme Court with two or three Barack Obama appointees on it.

Look, I can understand disagreeing with someone. I can understand disagreeing with principles and perspectives on issues. But when given a chance to give readers a good reason to vote for their chosen candidate and the McCain supporter goes immediately to fear, fear of an Obama administration, I just find that sadly baffling. Maybe it's an aspect of someone not being truly satisfied with McCain, but I've found that resorting to fear to achieve an end might achieve an end, but it's a hollow victory. It was used in 2004 when mailers were sent to voters claiming that the liberals would ban the Bible if elected (link). It was rumored to be used against John McCain in South Carolina by the Bush campain (link). It's not limited to political conservatives either. The whole "McSame" or "More of the Same" talk currently about McCain, could be motivated by some level of fear about Republican policies.

For instance, if someone is converted to Christianity because of a fear of Hell, what happens when the fear is gone? When we raise our children, if we use fear as a primary motivator, what affection is left when the fear is gone?

To me, motivation from fear is empty motivation. Because truly, "...God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." Support whatever candidate you like, but if we have to resort to fear to convince people, maybe we should re-examine our support for that person.

Uninspired

Back, many moons ago, when I started to write consistently on this blog, I started out writing about spiritual things. I started out writing on Fridays only and it started with just spiritual issues I was thinking about. I was reading a ton of theology back then. Almost only theology. I was reading Brian McLaren, Donald Miller, NT Wright, Lee Camp, etc, etc. I was being exposed to a lot of new ideas that were outside of my experience and I used this blog as an outlet for a lot of that and as a result got to meet new friends (both "real life" and Web friends) and engaged in some serious dialogue with people about serious issues.

For some reason though, lately, I've felt singularly uninspired about spiritual things.

I've stopped reading a lot of theology (some manner of burnout, I suppose). Church governance and organization have become less interesting to me, even with the transition that Otter Creek is going through right now. It's almost as though in the last 3 years, this focus in my life on trying to figure out what it means to live as a follower of Jesus has been like trying to drink from a firehose and I've had to recently turn it off to catch my breath.

I've been exposed to a lot of new ideas over the last few years and it's convinced me that even seeing new ways of following Christ, I have a LONG way to go. There are calls on life that Jesus makes that, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I'm a strong enough follower or have enough faith to follow. Perhaps I love this life and the things of this world too much. What I don't want is to be one of those people who sees the way things could be in my own life and then just walks away from it, but perhaps I need to be satisfied with the "baby steps" that God is helping me through and take the ones I can.

Maybe I'm more like the rich young ruler than I want to admit. Maybe I'm more satisfied with the "ease" of Christianity than difficulty of following Jesus completely and wholly.

I don't know how much I'll be writing on Fridays right now. I might stop writing for a while. Taking breaks has often been good for me at times and this might be a good time to fast for a bit.

If you're a regular reader (I'm still not quite sure why someone would be), I appreciate you walking with me in this for however long you have. I would covet anyone's prayers as I ponder these things and take a breath from pondering them.

Pax.

iPhone

Yes, I ended up getting the iPhones last week as belated anniversary presents for me and Sheryl.

And after 5 days of using them here's what I think of it. On the whole, I think it's a great meshing of hardware and software. Is it the single greatest phone I've ever used? Probably, but in the grand scheme of things, it still is just a phone/music player.

Pros:

I love the User Interface (UI). I love how things move and just seem to flow in general. How things open, how things move. It's almost a spatial experience. When a program opens up at you, it gives the impression of a much larger experience.

I really like the iPod interface (even though I miss the click wheel of the my iPod at times). I also like that I have the entire Extended Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Batman Begins, and Casino Royal with 4 GB leftover.

The AppStore is very cool as well, although this is something that's been around on Windows Mobile machines for quite a while. Not so cool are some of Apple's restrictions around them (no apparent widespread beta testing for apps available; also if Apple is the ultimate gatekeeper for apps, I'm sure we'll NEVER see an Amazonmp3.com application). So far the apps I have on mine are Google (not so great), Twitterific (pretty great), Facebook (not bad, but almost has to be used in combination with the Facebook iPhone page), Urbanspoon (looks cool, but I haven't got much use out of it), PhoneSaber (so awesome), Texas Hold'Em (great fun), SportsTap (great score updater), Midomi (song finder, but not great), BoxOffice (movie finder), NYTimes (very problematic), and Shopper (looks cool so far, but I haven't used it much). Wow that's more than I thought I had.

Cons:

Seriously, Apple. No cut and paste? Seriously?

I also wish that they had allowed for some more customization of icons. You'd think a company with as many designers as customers might do that.

It also seems odd that you can't change the notifications for incoming emails. That one just seems like a basic one.

Crashing. I think because there couldn't be widespread betatesting/user testing of the apps, some got through that don't play as well with the iPhone and cause crashing. I think this can be fixed on an ongoing basis, but it makes it a little annoying right now.

So, overall, besides the waiting for them, it's been a good experience. Any of you iPhoners out there have an app recommendation?

Open Grape Juice

Even though I haven't been able to go for the prison ministry for the last three months. I was able to get back last night. And as I have many times, I enjoyed it greatly and had a good time with the men there.

What was not so fun was not getting to take communion to them. We got to the Turney Center and brought in our bread and juice as we have for the last three years that I've been a part of it, in an opened container. And for some reason, this time, this wasn't acceptable.

I guess I can understand why. There could be a danger in someone bringing in a liquid that isn't acceptable, but seriously, we're Church of Christ. It's not like we broke out the good wine from the stone jars or something. We do grape juice. I'm sure we probably throw it away if we've kept it for more than a year.

At any rate, we didn't get to take communion to the men and we didn't raise a stink about it last night, but hopefully we can get some kind of special dispensation to make sure that next month, the guys have an opportunity to participate in the Lord's Supper.

Death and Life After Life After Death

Sheryl and I had plans last night to go out to dinner with some friends and then go and hear one of my favorite theologians, NT Wright, speak here in Nashville. Our friend, Tiffany, had come over to watch the kids for us and as we were getting ready to walk out, the phone rang. I answered and my mom spoke with her voice breaking into sobs that my grandmother had died.

Clora Eileen Brooks was 84 years old and honestly, she'd been going downhill for a long, long time. Her body was failing and so was her mind, so her death wasn't a surprise, but it was unexpected. When someone hangs on as long as Grandma had, in some ways you keep expecting them to hang on. My mom and dad, both being nurses, had committed that they would keep her at their house to make her as comfortable as possible and not put her in a nursing or convalescence home. And I appreciate that. It allowed Kinsey and Connor to see her and to be honest, I know that seeing her three grandkids (my sister has a daughter as well) and being able to watch the Price is Right gave her great amounts of joy. I wouldn't say her whole face lit up, but she got this pleasant little half smile when Kinsey, Katie, and Connor would give her hugs.

Sheryl and I debated on going to dinner and the talk. It was something we both wanted to do, but this was an extraordinary circumstance. So we drove over to Mom and Dad's house where Grandma had died. We went down to the basement where Grandma had lived for the last couple of years. She was happy down there, able to turn the TV up to the level where she could hear it. Mom was on the phone, arranging for hospice and transfer of the body back up to Michigan where the funeral and burial will be. Sheryl and I went into Grandma's room, which looked as normal as the last time I'd seen it. Her hearing aid was on the chest along with all her prescriptions. There was a half-drunk cup of water with a bendy straw in it, and except for the pallor of her skin, she looked for all the world like she was just asleep. I gave her cool cheek a kiss, and stepped back out of the room.

We waited with Mom while the arrangements were made and when she asked us what our plans for the night had been, we told her of going to hear the Bishop and she urged us to go, and so we did. My dad was there with her and she was doing well, considering all.

Hearing Bishop Wright was very odd in light of Grandma's passing. He talked about his new book, Surprised by Hope, and his theology of the resurrection (both Jesus' and ours). He made statements that I've heard in his talks saved online about heaven being important, but it's not the end of the world, and that there is life after death, but what the Bible is really concerned with is Life After Life After Death. I was very glad to see such a full house at West End United Methodist. Wright has kind of become the theologian-in-chief for much of the Emergent/Post-Modern/Third Way Christian, that I didn't really know how many people would be there, but the sanctuary was definitely full. It was also great to see Thomas+ (my favorite Anglican), Gavin, Justin, a big crew from Otter Creek (we probably had 20 people there), some people from Lipscomb, and Joey Reed, a high school buddy of mine who is now a Methodist pastor in Memphis.

I got to ask Bishop Wright a question about how this theology of the resurrection relates to environmentalism and creation care, and he gave a great answer. Someone else asked him about his theology of the church superceding Israel in God's eyes, which was out of the scope of the talk, but Wright answered him anyway. After the talk, I do something I rarely do, but I paid full price for Surprised By Hope and Evil and the Justice of God and had Bishop Wright sign them. I wish I could say that I was able to talk to him for a few minutes, but it was literally, "It's to Phil. And thanks very much."

On our way out, Sheryl and I were holding hands and talking about what we heard, and I said, "I really hope all this is true." And I do. Am I always sure/100% positive? No, because you can't be. You can have faith that what we believe has support behind it, but you can't REALLY know. That's why it's called faith.

Back in the summer of 1983, my brother, sister, and I went up to Flint, Michigan, to spend June with my grandma and grandpa. I knew what the reason was. My mom and dad didn't want us around during the divorce proceedings, but we got to spend time with aunts and uncles and cousins, as well as the grandparents. In 1994, my grandfather died and we traveled up to be there for his service, and so this weekend, we'll travel up again to the dying industrial city of Flint, Michigan. There, where my grandfather traded in farming for manufacturing and brought his wife and 9 children to change from sharecroppers to factory workers, we'll bury Grandma. We'll be there as her legacy, as her memory. And we'll thank God for her life, and await the answers of time when we pray that we will see her and see the Lord.

Singarama (for real)

So two weeks ago, I spent the week as the Tech Director for Lipscomb University's Singarama. Harding and ACU and probably Freed-Hardeman do something similar. It's basically an excuse for Church of Christ kids to get up and dance (planned choreography) when they usually can't. It was held at Otter Creek this year because Lipscomb is renovating their big auditorium and needed a place to hold it. So much like the Anteater's Ball back in November, it was in our building.

There were a lot of challenges from a staging perspective (no curtains for one thing) and moving people on and off stage. Sound was a struggle as well, but fortunately, I wasn't running it. We had a great group of people running things from stage managing and sound and light. I was doing some video work and keeping everything together.

The downside to all of this was that Sunday, March 30th, through, Saturday, April 5th (excluding the Monday) I was there every night until 12:30. Plus working my regular full time job. I had a great time doing it and it was fun to be involved in Singarama since I never did it when I was at Lipscomb, but I was ready to be home and with Sheryl and the kids, to help her out and be able to kiss them good night.