Good Friends!

I was thinking the other day about how blessed I am with good friends. We can all say that, but I really mean it. I remember my Dad saying to me when I was a kid, "If you wind up with 2 or 3 good friends, close friends in your life, you'll be really blessed." He was right about that. But for some reason, the Lord has blessed me with far more good friends than 2 or 3.

I have friends from High School that I place in that category. Glen and Steve. True blue friends that even though we don't see each other often, we just pick up where we left off. I love them.

I have friends from my days at Baylor that are just as close as the day I met them. Brent and Sherry were the first two people I met on campus as an 18 year old freshman. Sherry talked Diane into going out with me. (actually she chided me into not being a coward and asking her out) Brent and I share the love of music and worship together. Their daughter, Liesl, was Jennifer's roommate at Baylor. She introduced Jen to Stephen. Brent and Sherry are on the ministry board of Worship to the World. We've been in Europe and Asia together on mission trips. Our lives are really divinely intertwined. We love them.

Mike & Beth, Gary & Teri are wonderful friends that the Lord brought into our lives via our church years ago. They are friends who love and encourage us in ways too numerous to name. They give Godly counsel and prayer support. They are friends with whom we can be completely ourselves. We love them all.

I married my very best friend. Funny! Diane and I met in a singing group and have been singing together ever since. We actually became close friends, but did not date because we both were dating other people. When that ended (yeah, we both got dumped) the Lord brought us together. We'd been such good friends and then we fell in love. Now we still get to enjoy our friendship. I can't imagine life without her. I treasure our time together. Almost 31 years married and she's still my best friend. She knows everything about me and still loves me. I love her.

Remind you of anyone? Jesus knows all about me/us and loves anyway. Deep, Strong, Forgiving, Everlasting. He said, "I no longer call you slaves, but I call you friends." Inconceivable! But He does. What a friend we have in Jesus! I love Him, with all my heart!

Be blessed and remember...God Still Moves,

Chris

Birthdays!

I don't like 'em!!! Well, actually, I do! Funny how they are so significant in your life as a child. Less so as you get older. Each year drags slowly when you're young and races as you get older. But, I wouldn't go back. The blessing of getting older is the wonderful memories you build and the wonderful friends you make and the wonderful family you're blessed with. I have all those things. So, really each birthday is a time to reflect on how good God is and how much he's given to you.

You can see in these pictures some of my blessings. A wonderful wife, son, daughter, son in law and granddaughter, not to mention a wonderful extended family. And all who are a part of the family of Christ. I am blessed...and stinkin' old!!! But I'm not bitter!! HA!

Love to you all,

Chris

Cutest Baby In The World!

Okay, I know I'm biased, but we are having so much fun with Elizabeth. She's so cute and really interactive now. She should also not have any social issues. She's being passed around so much that she should be a real people person by the time she's 2 years old.

This picture was taken just before she sat on Santa's lap. I know Jen probably has that pic on here blog, but I'll get it and post it.

If I don't see any of you between now and New Years, have a great one!

Love you all,

Chris

Faithfulness

It's a quiet Sunday morning. Diane and I along with Jen and Ryan are about to sing a late Christmas concert at Parkway Hills Baptist here in Plano. I've been thinking about God's faithfulness this morning. I'm going to talk a little bit in the concert about it. I'm not a great theologian so I can't explain all the nuances and meanings of the words. All I can do is testify to the fact that God has always been faithful to me. When I look back over my life...in good times and bad...God has always been faithful. He's always held true to His word. He promised to provide and to catch me when I fall. He's always been there for me. Therefore (play on words), I can go forward today knowing that as He has been faithful in the past, He will be faitthful today and in the future. He is the same yesterday, today and forever as James said.

The big question is, and always has been, will I be faithful to Him? I certainly want to be. I strive to be. But there are moments of doubt, moments of insecurity, moments of having my eyes fixed on the wrong thing or wrong person or wrong circumstance. I must keep my eyes on Jesus "the author and finisher of our faith." Wow! It all starts and ends with Him.

Love to you all and have a great New Year! Be faithful...He is!

Chris

Too Much Fun!

Wow! I've had people tell me for years how much fun grand babies were. Until you are a grand parent though those words aren't true to you. Jennifer and Elizabeth came in Saturday night. She has grown so much in the 2 months when we saw her last. She's now much more active and communicating. She has an infectious smile. She's totally stolen my heart.

Christmas is going to be a lot of fun this year. I've experience it as a kid myself, as a Dad and now as "Pops" and I can't wait.

Hope you all have a great day. It's icy in Plano and we're staying pretty close to the house. That's fine with me because I also work from here. So no worries for me. Be safe if you live near me.

Blessings on you!

Chris

December Dash

Oh yeah! You know what I'm talking about. December is the best time of the year for the obvious reasons. It's a great family time. It's a great time to be in a church family as well. But, it is always so busy. Too busy. There is so much going on that we kill ourselves with stuff. Getting ready for Christmas, closing down business or school, it all is so hectic.

Here's what I am commanding each of you (and me) to do. Take at least 10 minutes everyday between now and Christmas to sit in front of your Christmas tree, small or large, and stare. Ponder your blessings. Ponder your friends and family. Ponder what happened to you that made you what you are this year. How did you get here? Who made a difference in your life?

Finally, think about the greatest gift of all. (you knew I'd get around to Jesus). Ponder the words of the 3rd verse of Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness
Light and life to all He brings. Risen with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth
Hark the Herald Angels sing, "Glory to the new-born King!

I was struck by this verse last night while Diane and I were leading some carols at a party for E3 Partners, a missions organization we are in partnership with. Look at the third line. "Mild He lays His glory by." Christ chose to leave heaven, chose to give up the glory, chose instead to come to this earth...for me! I'm not worth it! But that's what makes it "Amazing Grace." I'll never understand it. I'll never deserve it. I'll never get over it.

Thank you God that You thought enough of me to leave the wealth of heaven and chose the filth of earth to show me that You love me.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Chris

p.s. Stephen, Jen and Elizabeth are coming for Christmas. YEA!!!!!

Worship to the World

Hello friends,

Well, by now you've probably heard that Diane and I are no longer on staff at Prestonwood. God's got us on another path and a new direction...another day on the roller coaster that is our lives and ministry. I was telling someone the other day, the Lord has never done anything in our lives that we expected. But you know, it's always been amazing and He has always given us wonderful places to sing and serve and always taken care of us.

God brought to Prestonwood's staff June 2006 to assist in the launch of the North Campus in Prosper, TX. Well, we launched October 12th.

Now we're launching something completely different. A couple of months ago the Lord placed an huge idea in our heads. We have done numerous mission trips overseas over the years. We took worship teams to Germany, Mongolia, Korea and other spots. They were successful and blessed. We felt privileged to be a part of these evangelism and outreach ministries. It kind of gets to you.

So here's the deal. God has given us a new vision to partner worship teams from churches and colleges with mission organizations that already do short term mission trips. What we discovered is that in all of the wonderful evangelism that was taking place on these endeavors, worship and music was not really being addressed. When we began talking with these groups, all said basically "worship is the missing link" to our evangelistic efforts. We'll be making several trips each year ourselves, but mostly we'll be recruiting and training other groups to go. Group's will do public concerts, help identify and train worship leaders from among the nationals, place instruments, like guitars and keyboards with the new churches, and support spiritually the mission teams as they go into the field. Whew! We're excited.

That's what's up with us. Pretty soon we're going to have an updated website with much more detailed information and video and music, etc. I'll let you know via this blog.

I'll try to keep up the blog more often. It's been such a hectic time. Pray for us, too as we build a support team who will be making financial contributions to the ongoing of this ministry to help us bring WORSHIP TO THE WORLD.

Love you all,

Chris