From the Desk 6/29/2008

This morning I slept in until 8:00 and then my alarm saw to it that I didn't sleep any later. I got up and ate some breakfast, then showered and got ready for church. This morning I was meeting Christina at His Hands, a non-denominational contemporary church in Woodstock, GA. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find it, but as it turns out I had driven by it earlier in the week as I mad a wrong turn off of I-575 trying to get to Super Target. I met Christina just inside the doors, and I could tell before even walking in the building that this would be a more comfortable environment for me as there were many more people flowing in through the doors than were at North Star. We were handed glow sticks on our way into the worship hall in honor of the 4th of July. We sat down and were looking around for Anastasia (one of the girls who works in customer service at the Box) and her husband Derek, but were unable to locate them. The band came up at 10:00 and began playing some worship songs. It felt good to just sing and praise God with a group of believers. The pastor came up after several songs and read the scripture focus on freedom for the morning. (Colossians 2:6-7) After that we walked to the rear of the room and picked up some juice and bread and observed the Lord's Supper. We followed that by singing the praise chorus by David Crowder, "Nothing But The Blood". It was truly powerful to feel the music in the room. We got to experience the 2nd Annual Indoor Fireworks show after that. No they didn't set off actual pyrotechnics in the building, but they did have the band playing patriotic songs while we watched a fireworks display on the projection screens. The pastor proceeded to give the morning's message that focused on the difference in being persecuted for things we bring on ourselves vs. being persecuted for being a follower of Christ. It was good and made me think about how fortunate we are to live in this country where persecution still happens, but not to the extent of the rest of the world.

After the service was over we were walking out and finally found Anastasia and Derek so we stopped and said hi to them briefly. Christina had to go immediately to work so I told her next time I'd take her to lunch afterwards. I went home to work on/finish the reception video. I worked on it until 4:00 when I had to take a break to avoid throwing my computer out the window due to editing complications. I went to REI to browse through their clearance stuff they started promoting a couple of days ago. I then stopped by Target and picked up Guitar Hero III for the Nintendo Wii. While I was there I ran into Dave and Chris and their kids Michael and Anna. It caught me off guard to hear someone call my name since I really don't know that many people down here. We caught up on each other's weekends and then went our separate ways. I returned home and worked on fixing the mistakes on the video until around 6:45.

Christina called and she came over around 7:00 to watch a movie. We watched Employee of the Month, starring Dane Cook, Dax Shepherd, and Jessica Simpson. She really liked the movie and I must admit that no matter how many times I watch certain scenes I still laugh. We watched a couple of episodes of Dirty Jobs, and while we were watching that we kept hearing the sounds of fireworks that sounded fairly near by. We ended up walking out to the parking lot where several of my neighbors were also standing around watching the fireworks through the trees. We missed the majority of the show, but we did catch a few of the big ones. We finished watching Dirty Jobs and then I walked her to her car. We said goodbye and I went back inside. I made copies of the DVD and printed the labels. I also put everything in their cases and prepared them to ship out tomorrow. After that I knew it was time to go to sleep.

Meditation for the day: Colossians 2:6-7 "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."