OK, so I made some promises to blog a bit about Saturday - or, as I call it: Greg-fest. Here goes.

The "day" technically began about 9am Friday since there was a bit of a need to work overnight to get some work done. Tis the season. By the time Saturday rolled around, I got to spend several hours doing more work. I hope this is sounding like more fun to you readers than it was to me in real life.

By the time we wrapped up our Saturday morning gig, I did manage to get two consecutive 30-minute naps in before heading to church. Technically, there were several birthday wishes via the assorted social network thingies I'm on as well as in my email inbox (which, thanks to -you guessed it - work, I'm still struggling to catch up on). But the first confirmed physical "Happy Birthday" happened to be the one and only Michael Hodge as I was peacefully soaking up an extended drum solo prior to the band practicing. By the way, Jonathan Camey rocks. Just sayin'.

By this time, I'm tired. Like really, really dog-tired. I do fine as long as I'm moving or standing. But if I'm sitting still, I run the risk of just zonking out. The catnap got me through the much-needed music fix. Heading up to Compass Class, I found myself taking inventory of every method to possibly keep myself awake. I wasn't above just slapping myself. Not that there's a shortage of willing takers for that task, though. But I do ok. No nodding off whatsoever.

To the sanctuary we go. And by "we," I mean my fellow too-tall fellow-traveler Steve. I'm absolutely certain that there are short people who dread seeing us locate seats directly in front of them. But I alert Steve as to my situation and let him know that he's in charge of elbowing me if he sees me nodding off. Surprisingly, I did ok here, too. The only tough part was during Victoria's "baby dedication." Problem is that it's a fairly isolating moment for single folk like me. We get to watch a gaggle of parent-types standing up while we usually take the time to make sure the cell phone is off ... or maybe play a game of tetris if Victoria gets a bit long-winded. The added challenge is that I'm going from the usual clapping & dancing of praise and worship to just sitting there. I might have lost a moment of time during this.

What I was really worried about was the sermon itself. That's 30 minutes of sitting tight. My initial plan was to try and take copious notes - thinking that the mental tactic would keep me alert. Not sure how much to credit that since my notes were only modestly thorough. But I made it through the sermon perfectly fine. Enjoyed it wonderfully and soaked up every ounce of it. I'm just as shocked as you might be. Especially once you calculate that I'd been up for over 34 hours by the time Joel started.

I knew I had a lot to look forward to once I made it up to Koinonia. First off - Carrie & Michael. Secondly - the gig, for me, means I'm jumping around a bit, so the activity was sure to keep me awake.

First things first ... Carrie & Michael brought the entire Celebrate Recovery band with them. The guys take a good deal of pride in the assortment of characters they put around them for that project and the results show. The band abounds with great singers and great musicians. If you make it to Celebrate Recovery when Carrie & Michael are on the road with Joel, it's generally the same band ... and you get an even better demonstration of the heart those guys have for the group they're leading in worship. If you've got a Friday free, it's a good idea to take in the band.

But for us, this was an added treat. I sort out the itinerary and load up the video. I needed to sort the order of tunes for display, so I head to the stage to see if they have an idea of that sort of thing. Carrie offers her trademark "Whatever you want to do, honey" to Michael. And then somehow the opening tune is left for me to decide. I opt for "Everywhere That I Go." A wise choice if I dare say so. After Carrie runs down the rest of the setlist for me, I'm given a standard disclaimer: this may all change depending on how the spirit leads them. Good warning.

The band gets their intro. Michael offers up to the crowd: "Isn't being single great!" Bold move considering that Carrie was right next to him. We didn't have a PowerPoint for the lyrics to ETIG - which strikes me as odd. But it's a popular song and it had everyone on their feet immediately. No lyrics needed for that one. Second tune was "He Reigns" - the Newsboys version. Unfortunately, the only lyrics we had were for another tune by the same title. So no lyrics here, either. Third song, we were good for: "How Great is Our God."

The last song, Carrie called an audible. Setlist be darned. A quick check on the system would indicate that we had no lyrics for that one. But a funny thing happened prior to that.

I jokingly referenced last week that Carrie & Michael's appearance was a birthday gift for yours truly. I offered that with a sense of jest and mocked self-importance. Well, turns out the gig really was set up as a birthday present. Marie, the lovely, hard-working, sheep-tossing admin asst. instructs me that I'm to present a gift to the Two Hearts duo after the third song. Struck me as a little odd that we'd do that sort of thing, but this was Carrie & Michael we were talking about. Besides, I was too frantic in trying to make sure everything was going perfectly from my little corner of the AV booth to question things. I'm offered the story that I'm presenting since I'm such a huge fan of the guys. Fine, whatever. Todd takes over the mic after the third song, I get a queue to hit the stage, and then Carrie tells the crowd that the gift is really for me ... and then proceeds to brag on me a bit to the whole crowd. I collect my 200-or-so-strong version of "Happy Birthday" complete with Michael Hodge acoustic work accompanying the number. And then exit the stage with an autographed copy of Joel's latest, a John Maxwell devotional, and a couple of cards with a mass of signatures wishing me well.

The whole sting operation seems to have been the work of one Todd Hull, our hard-working pastoral staff dude. Job apparently well done. As if I needed any further proof to the power of music - and more importantly, Carrie & Michael's music - I'm feeling absolutely no indication of weariness after their set. We even had a guest speaker at Koinonia doing a little 50 minutes or so talk on relationships. There wasn't even the slightest threat of me nodding off despite the lights being down and the sound being a bit muffled where I was sitting. Even took several hours to wind down once I got home afterwards. Might have to blame my pseudo-theft of a Ryan Bell CD from Todd for that. Great stuff that I'll have more to blog about later. Ryan makes the occasional appearance at Koinonia as well ... and never disappoints.

I was out of commission for about 12 full hours by the time I did check out for the eve ... er, morning. Forty straight hours to celebrate my fortieth birthday. I might not look forward to my 90th if this trend holds up.

In sum, a good time was had by all. Thanks to all involved for a fun night. I might have to go on a "hug fast" for a short while. After what seems like a few hundred Carrie Hodge hugs, I'm just now starting to feel the blood circulating again through my upper body.