Well, another busy season at the day job. Volunteer opportunities aplenty at Lakewood. Blogging time? ... a bit more difficult to come by these days. I know it's bad when I catch an awe-inspiring Carrie & Michael Hodge performance on Saturday and I'm way beyond tired, making sure that I'd miss my chance to catch it on the webcast. I know I'll say this a million times, but those two rock.

I managed to make it out to Celebrate Recovery on Friday and I've been on an inspired high ever since. It may be one of the most exciting ministries out of our four walls to take part of or stand witness to. Joel often described the role of Lakewood as dealing with where the rubber meets the road in people's lives. If that's the case, then Celebrate Recovery is like seeing the brake pads in action.

For the easy sell, there's a praise & worship kickoff to the night. Carrie & Michael put together a full ensemble setup. Lots of recognizable tunes, but with the added plus of seeing Carrie & Michael perform at a bit closer range. I have to admit that, having the chance to meet Carrie for the first time, I now understand a bit more why it is that so many others have left comments here singing her praises as a person. I didn't get a chance to make a fool of myself asking thousands of stupid question of Michael, though. Seems I left work without grabbing a sharpie for an autograph on the CD cover. Besides, I had a task at hand that demanded a little more attention.

Even if you think you might not be in too much of a need for something like Celebrate Recovery, check it out (more words I'm sure I'll say a million times over). I'm fortunate enough to have the task of helping fill some seats so that the work being done by far more talented people reach as many people as need it. I got to see a lot of people firsthand, slamming the brakes on a lot of negative things in their lives. It'll be amazing to hear their testimonies when they've come to a full stop.

Add to that night, the fact that Carrie & Michael did another jaw-dropping weekend service, acoustic performance. Words fail me in trying to describe it. This time around, it should make the video on the web. I've already got a countdown clock in operation for the moment.

One other musical note to sound for the blogpost: Shauna and Kelli played their final Koinonia show Saturday night. Yeah, I got that little bombshell dropped when I joked with them about when the next album was coming out. Stopped me in my tracks and shut me up, that's for sure. The performance definitely looked like it had an extra bit of sentimentality added. Seems Shauna is headed out to the west coast in order to make it a bit lovelier and sweeter sounding. With a little luck, she might grace our television sets by making it onto the gameshow "The Price is Right." One of the many things I'm sure she'll accomplish over time. Sister Kelli remains in Houston and should be picking up the music scene solo sometime soon (try saying that ten times fast!). When she graces the Koinonia stage, I suspect we'll just have to greet her twice as warmly. The duo's CD can still be obtained online. Get it while you can.

Completely off-the-wall addition here, but if you happen to be in the sanctuary and hear the voice-over for the fashion show thing coming up, that's the voice of Tracy (from Compass Class and Lakewood Players fame). Be sure and tell her how cool it is when you catch it.

And it looks like the next big CD thing to come out with the Lakewood stamp is a Christmas CD of last year's Orchestra performance. I'm not big on Christmas tunes, but Cindy's voice is reason enough to concede that point. I'm still crossing my fingers for another praise & worship type CD to come out - one that has a good representation of Michael Hodge on guitar, I hope.

One final addition ... I'm on the road most of the day Sunday with the boss. He's noticing signs all over the place for the big CityFest concert coming up on Saturday & Sunday. No sooner than he'd point out "another billboard," we'd hear a radio ad during the Astros game. I still can't figure out how Wynonna Judd factors into the gig, though. But I guess I can skip that part, can't I? I will be working in some time to catch Chris Tomlin, though. Sadly, the program lists Tomlin as performing the same evening as Wynonna. Win some, lose some, I guess. Marcos Witt goes on for a Spanish set at 2:45pm Saturday.

There was a sermon and a Compass Class, too. Both great. The new Chris Tomlin CD has been permanently etched into my MP3 player's memory. I'll try and get to some of that if time permits. Just easier to prattle off some stream of consciousness thinking for now. For now, consider this post officially "prattled."