Mid-October Misc.

The Zoe conference was nice. Nashville itself was a mixture, however. The hotel we were in was across the street from a railroad yard. It was the loudest sustained hell I have ever heard while staying at a hotel. Then, they bumped it up a notch when a dog checked in to the room next door. The owners apparently left early for breakfast because Sunday morning the dog started barking between 6:30 and 7:00 and was still going when we left for breakfast at 8:00. In honor of BST I am tempted to say “For the love!” but what I felt for that dog was anything but love.

One thing I noticed at the Zoe conference is that there are almost no clean-shaven worship leaders. Further, the facial hair-style of choice by an incredibly overwhelming margin (approximately 8 in 10 according to a very scientific poll) is the soul patch. I am very tempted to switch to that myself just to give myself a little more credibility. Right now I am sporting the goatee sans mustache. I like to switch it up a lot, though as yet I still have not tried the mutton chops. And though I have several friends who can pull this off, I will never go the route of the mustache only. I have seen it, and it just makes me look like some cheesy disco throw-back. Maybe I’ll just go with the standard-issue worship leader uniform and adopt a permanent soul patch. We’ll see.

The other night we watched a movie. To be honest, the decision to watch it was a rather curious one. Based on the previews and a, frankly, misleading title it was one in which I was totally disinterested. Still, we had some sort of free preview of one of those movie channels and I had heard from fairly respectable sources that there was a lot more to this movie than meets the eye. So, I TIVOed and watched with Kendra, Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Though it probably could have had a better ending, it had a fairly real ending in one way. Despite all that, it had great themes of the difficulty that comes along with anger and forgiveness and tough love. Although I am still sorting out why, exactly, I think this is a movie that everyone needs to see. Perhaps it is because matters of faith were strong without being ridiculed. If anyone who happens to read this has seen this movie, I would be interested in knowing your thoughts.

Well, it looks like the kids will be attending Abilene High. The boundary decision has apparently been made and though many will probably cry foul in the coming months or years, it might be more appropriate for our neighborhood to cry “fowl.” First we will be Falcons and the Eagles. There must be some irony in this and the fact that Kendra has a bird phobia and I drive a bird target.

This is a busy weekend in Abilene. ACU has their homecoming festivities. Last year they shared this weekend with the other colleges in town which made for full hotels and packed restaurants. This year may be a little better.

Company is coming this weekend but not staying long. I think the risk of being at Highland while I lead worship is scaring them away. Maybe I shouldn't have said that; you might be scared, too. I'll post the worship order when I get it.