Today is the day that Christian celebrate the day of Christ’s victory over sin and death. We set this day aside to rejoice in what he did for us on the cross. (Not to say we should not do that everyday.) Anyway, my day began with me feverishly typing up all the songs and message notes into Powerpoint and then trying to hook up the VCR into the projector system so we could play a video through. Then we had this huge carry in breakfast at 8:30am and wow… you can even believe the food. It was so good. And I am not even that much of a breakfast person. Scott Griffey’s morning message was awesome – interspersed with worship songs and mainly focused on Jesus’ last week. Man, everytime I start thinking about what He endured for me [all of us] I can’t even help but crying because He loves me so much.

After church, we all hung out for a while and I ended up talking to this guy named JT who is a biker/truck driver/artist. He’s a really awesome guy. He sculpts stone. In fact he did the big rock in the courtyard at Grace as well as the entry sign here at Voice. To see him you might be afraid at first because he’s a tough looking guy, but man, he has such a heart for Jesus. It’s cool to really be able to hang out with so many different people.

Then a bunch of us stayed to have a family-style cookout. Bob did his famous “Bobby D’s Barbeque Chicken” on the grille and, holy cow, there was so much food! It was so good. There was probably 15 or so people there. Bob has a 8 year old son named Robert and he had been up in my room admiring my old wooden sword, so i made a copy of it and gave it to him today. He really liked it. I had another one that was a rough junk copy and so we went out and beat the heck out of each other with swords. In the end he vanquished me because my blade kept breaking off – smaller and smaller. It was like a movie. Anyway, I admit, I got beaten by an 8 almost 9 year old kid with a sword. Then after that, I ended up playing basketball with this other kid [also named Robert]. Now as most of you know, sports and I are not good friends, so I am not sure who this person is that was out there … but he was actually making baskets from far distances … yeah… It was just a nice day to be out and relaxing with [new] family.

Today is the day that Christians have chosen to celebrate the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was an awesome day too. After worship and a message, Dave, Liz and I headed out to the property. Voice Ministries just purchased a wonderful place, adjacent to the current 160 acres. This place is so cool though. It is a huge house, built in the 70’s on17 acres. It has a full-size indoor pool with a big sunroom over it. There are at least 4 baths, and 5 or so bedrooms with a three car garage. A stream and pond is in front of the house with a playground and baseball field. There is also another barn nearby. Basically the facility is going to be converted into offices, recording studio, and a counseling and prayer center. It is really exciting what is happening there.

Anyway, after we walked around the house and property and admired the wonderful 70’s decor [in the process of being updated] and rushing stream, we stopped back over to the Deering’s beautiful home to drop off the keys and Bob asked us to stay for lunch. Needless to say, it was awesome. There were quite a few people, and the fellowship and encouragement was wonderful. After lunch, Dave and Mike Johnson started playing guitars, and that [impromptu worship session] lasted from about 2:30 on until 6 or so. Bob came in an out periodically with his jimbae. All in all, an awesome time. I really needed it. Thank you Lord for blessing me and for giving me rest.

Tomorrow night I will be meeting with the Voice team and Don Potter, [formerly of Morningstar Ministries] who is here for the Tuesday evening Meeting Place. I am pretty excited about that since Don is one of my favorite warfare songwriters. I am looking forward to an exciting time of worship and the outpouring of the spirit of God.