25 things

So this is from my facebook page...



1. i believe CAPITOL LETTERS… are overrated. three dots (…) and the dash (–) underrated.

2. the best advice for preachers is being written by commercial writers…not other preachers… book to follow.

3. if i could wait tables for 40 hrs a week i’d make 70k a year.

4. my baby is an 1986 ibanez musician bass. of the 12 basses and 7 guitars i’ve owned, the best were my ibanez jem and original steinberger bass… i still own the jem.

5. copywriter english exists to make people rich…not uphold rules.

6. i serve the best church on the planet…with the best worship team. i have helped start 9 churches including this one.

7. i am working on legato leads on the electric, slap and tap combo on acoustic, black gospel on piano and 3 finger double thump on bass.

8. youth pastoring is the most impotant job on the planet…everything else is a demotion. better pay- yes- but a demotion. jack hayford or obama could give me their job tomorrow and i would still strive to be a youth pastor.

9. i travelled half way across the country to dallas to see td jakes. he had just had emergency back surgery and wasn’t there. i was very disappointed….but asked to take over living hope that next week…that helped. coincidence?

10. i sing “addicted to love” at every karaoke,.. i dream of singing the part of roger in “rent” someday…i would move heaven and hell to play piano for idina menzel, christy nockels, robyn feinni (who now has a new last name) or kristen chenowith. or ann wilson. or Aretha. duh. (Aretha gets capitalized.)

11. in my 18 years since college (i graduated at 7) , i have concurrently held at least 2 jobs (or been at 2 churches) for 15 or those years.

12. lynne and i have been married since ‘92. our entire courtship and engagement was long distance…(she stays with me because of my cooking regardless of what you may have heard)… she is the most fascinating person i have ever met and i am constantly amazed by her. our boys are charming and brilliant like their mom.

13. i stink at golf but i love it…i am good at tennis but get an ulcer while doing it.

14.if i say something funny, woody allen said it first. if i say something profound cs lewis, td jakes or tommy tenny said it first. i may plagiarize, but only from creative people.

15. or yolanda adams. or audra mcdonald.

16. if i could have 1 disc (not 10, but 1…this is the big boy game) on an island it would be dream theater live in budakon...1 book: screwtape letters, 1 restaurant: mediterranean kitchen in bellevue, 1 musical: the color rent Jesus les miz Christ company superstar purple.

17. my first dream job was becoming a singing waiter… i’ve also managed a restaurant, pioneered a church, sold skies (i don’t ski) been a telephone solicitor, waiter, financial planner (lost money…savor that irony) , advertising account manager, waiter, copywriter, worship pastor, youth pastor, wrote a book on waiting tables ( waiting on tables, waiting on life…what waiting while waiting teaches...coming to a store near you soon), and now pastoring again. while writing commercials. and occasionally waiting tables…specialization is for insects.

18. my reoccurring nightmare is going to a party in new york that is attended by sting, paul simon, and woody allen. the first problem is i don’t know who to talk to first, and THEN having to confess that i don’t know all of paul simon’s songs when we go jam….you know, during his harmonically challenging days…post art, pre graceland.

20. i don’t count well

21. my high school friends know me as a drummer, my college friends know me as a bass player, my early church-career people know me as a piano player, and my current church-people know me as a guitar playing piano player who doesn’t play the drums.

22. i subscribe to: esquire (7 years), tennis, golf, golf tips, time, gq, golf digest, kiplingers personal finance, bon appétit… and i read all of lynne’s new yorker’s.

23. favorite high school memory: lightning bugs (thanks cheryl and renee wherever you are). favorite college memory: playing bass for a 150 voice black gospel choir in downtown la 3 days before the riots. favorite early career memory: jacob’s ladder prayer times. favorite mid career memory: valley and summit youth groups prayer times. favorite current career memories: living hope prayer nights playing w/ the team. OH! and getting married and seeing my children born. duh.

24. is this good news to anyone but me???

25. the prayers of my mom and grandma are why i am not addicted, and divorced. my youth pastor taught me how to pray for an hour at 16, and becky terribassi taught me how to journal while at apu and the rest is history.

25. i vacillate between thinking steve vai, john petitucci, shawn lane, kerry livgren, stephen soundheim, or jaco are the greatest musical minds of our time. shout out to my musicos…

25. i hate to brag…but i have the best friends on the planet. 2 of my best friends are revitalizing
churches en masse in seattle…my youth students and crew were phenomenal…reconnecting w/ high school and college friends has been fun, invigorating and…dare i say… healing…i would pick my relatives as friends…i have amazing brothers and sister…and all in law’s that go with that…lynne and i have no “couple friends” that have divorced…going back to being a waiter helped save my marriage (w/ my wife’s career of course) as well as energized my commercial writing…i have a worship team that doesn’t need me... 3 great jobs, 2 awesome boys 1 captivating wife and a partridge… God has restored the years.

31. (can i get a calculator?) prof reading is not my strong soot.

27. my biggest sadness is i have 9 nieces that don’t live in spokane.

41. speaking of spokane… i could never live in a city w/ traffic again ( spokane has none) or high house prices ( spokane’s as cheap as it gets)…but it’s not home. home is walking on lake washington in kirkland…pushing strollers…watching the sun go down after church. only 3 or so of you got that…but know…God did something amazing even if we didn’t fully appreciate it. i did…almost… i do now.

44. where’s that calculator???

45. i should be working on sunday’s message.