my mom loves astronomy (not astrology, that stuff is wierd… astronomy is the study of the stars and planets).  i have to say, she’s starting to get me hooked.  it’s so cool to think outside our little earth… and all we have to do is look up.

so last night (top to bottom) venus, the moon, jupiter and mercury took center stage at twighlight.  is was so pretty.  now, i didn’t have a tripod… so this picture was taken up against a split rail fence at ISO 1800 … so, it’s a little grainy.  but at least it’s sharp.  pretty cool.  this was taken from doe hill on the blue ridge parkway overlooking spruce pine.  it’s amazing how much you can see up here in the mountains without all the city lights.

ok, i have absolutley no business blogging at this moment.  i have about a month’s worth of work to get done in 1 week.  but i can’t not say this.

this is gabriel… he is 13.

he started spending wednesday afternoons with me learning how to run the lights about a month ago.  yesterday he ran them all by himself during service.  the only purpose i served for him was to confirm what was coming next.  he did such an awesome job.

at some point during service i looked over at the video switcher expecting to see kyle.  instead i saw anthony flore, another teenager… no kyle anywhere.  my immediate reaction…. i didn’t train him… someone else on my team trained him. at this point i’m so proud i could about bust.  i ran into kyle out in the lobby when i went out to watch what was going on with the video.  he was on his way to “the bathroom”.  but he stopped too to watch how his team was doing without him in the room.  we talked briefly about how far we had come in such a short time.  we’ve had our challenges and growing moments… but progress has been made.  so much more exciting things to come.  about that time anthony’s dad came by to have kyle pass a message along to anthony and thank him for allowing him to be involved.

this is michael furlong…

michael is also a teeanger and has been running video for a few months now.  he is excited and faithful.

with all these teeanagers serving, the sound booth has been swirling with teenagers before and after service. i love it, i love it, i love it, i love it.

this is the new remix (formerly 2xtreme) room….

last week this room was half this size.  that was until a team of volunteers came and ripped down a wall.  then matthew spent countless hours painting the new logo and images on the wall.  remix is our 10-12 year group.  they had no idea, it was a total surprise.  i heard they were really excited.  my son will be moving up to this room next year [!!!!].  i am already planning on teaching him how to run sound on the sound system they don’t have yet.  (all they need is $700 – so if you are looking for something worth while to sew into, this is a great place).

this is the kid’s rock hall…

jen and her team have been tirelessly working on this hall for months.  it’s tough painting cinder block wall.  but phase one is done.  the paint is up… it looks fabulous.

wow, wow, wow…. i can hardly contain my excitement about what is going on with our young people.  it’s not just paint and technology either.  this is a post gabriel put up on his blog yesterday.  i’m going to post it here… but ya’ll be sure to go over and comment on his blog.  warning adults – be prepared for a heart check.

it’s all about the young people!
it’s all about the young people!!
it’s all about the young people!!!

i believe to decide and to choose are humanity’s two greatest super powers.

this statement is the long and short of what has been tumbling around in my spirit lately.  every moment of every day we are faced with situations that require a decision and result in a choice.  some are big and some are small.  but the cumulative effect of all of these decisions and choices determine who we are, how we respond to life’s challenges and how great our influence will be…

no pressure.

i think my greatest decision and choice of recent is to be more responsible for my verbal and non-verbal responses to the situation of the moment.  no one chooses how i communicate but me.  and how i communicate should be determined by my choice to love god and my neighbors rather than the circumstances that may be pressing me at the moment.

ok. you go.
what decisions and choices have you been faced with lately?
what is your take on how our decisions and choices shape us?

mom called me at about 6:00.  she wanted me to go out and look at the moon.  evidently what happened tonight only happens once every 44 years.  those two “stars” next to the moon are actually jupiter and venus.  it was cloudy where mom was, so she didn’t get to see it.  she’s been waiting for weeks, i’m sure.  so, i told her i would try to get a shot of it.

i got it… just barely.  it was gone shortly after i grabbed this shot from the top of the 2nd street parking deck.  it was beautiful.  amazingly enough, these were the only 3 lights in the sky until they went away.  then all the other stars came out.

here you go mom.  i love you.  i miss you.  sorry you couldn’t see it… you were right.  it was spectacular.

i see the moon
and the moon sees me
and the moon sees somebody i want to see,

so, god bless the moon
and god bless me
and god bless my mom who i really want to see.