Happy New Year

I hope everyone has a happy, healthy and safe New Years Eve.

2009 is going to be an amazing year...

God bless and see ya on the flip side...

Peace

Tony

one week to go.. oh boy oh boy

7 days till Christmas.. just wanted to drop a note saying i am still alive and rolling on. Survived the ice storm last week and now we have snow in the forecast for tomorrow thru the weekend and even next week. Snow on Christmas. I love snow if i don't have to drive in it. Get those sleds READY!!!!

God bless. And remember to keep Christ in Christmas!!!!!

Peace

Tony

Happy Birthday to my best friend!!!

Happy Birthday Dianna.. my wife and my best friend. I hope your day is amazing.

We had to celebrate last night since we are going to be out tonight, but Di got nachos for dinner and a chocolate cake made by yours truly.. and she got some cool gifts from the kids, a poem and a story. I made her a rock nativity. I found some cool rocks and painted them up. She dug it. I love birthdays.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas season. Last night we watched Christmas Vacation and then after that some of the 1979 John Denver and the Muppets A Christmas Together. What a corny Christmas special. Brought back memories tho. John Denver should never have been allowed to tap dance.. yikes. hahahahaha. Let the season roll on.

God bless

Tony

why you been gone so long..

Well, here i am.. its been awhile, but as always life is busy busy.. Thanksgiving was wonderful!!! Now the focus is on Christmas. Christmas is coming and Tony's getting fat.. hahahaha.. thats just cuz of Thanksgiving last week and Dianna's amazing pies.. mmm, pecan pie! So, there's lots to do.. Dianna and I are done our shopping so my focus will be on getting the Christmas Eve service ready, wrapping, Christmas cards, decorating, getting the tree up. Good stuff. I love Christmas. Our savior was born. What a great birthday to celebrate. I hope you can take a minute and remember that. We give gifts in remembrance of Jesus' birth. The focus should be on Him firstly. We can all get crazy with shopping and running around, but why are we celebrating Christmas... CHRIST! Thanks for reading and hopefully with the countdown to Christmas coming, i can make a few posts between now and then.. If not, you know I will be enjoying the Christmas season to the fullest..

God bless

Peace

Tony

Sorry, i have been gone so long...

I have been so busy.. work, school, church, family stuff.. just wanted to drop a quick note to let everyone know i am alive and well... hoping for some down time soon. But the holidays are coming. 2 weeks till Thanksgiving and then into Christmas. This year as a family, we are going to take a step back and really focus on Christmas this year and what it is really all about, the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

peace

Tony

oh.. by the way, there is nothing i hate more then raking..

a busy time of year...

well, this weekend proves to be a busy one..

First off.. this saturday is me and di's 11th wedding anniversary. my lady rocks! I love you di and thanks for being my wife, all you do and all you put up with.. 11 great years! God has really blessed me and my marriage. God is good.

Also, this saturday, the 25th, we have our church's Harvest Fest at the Southbridge Common. We are hoping and praying for about 200 kids. we have games, puppet shows, music, snacks and candy, candy, CANDY! We just want to get out in the community as a church body and share some of God's love with these kids and their families.

Then Sunday is church service and we are hoping some of the families that come to the Harvest Fest come to the church Sunday morning. that is very exciting. So, i ask that you pray for the Harvest Fest that God would bless both the kids and their families who come but also that God would bless the workers. God is doing some amazing things. we need to remember that everyone needs Jesus! we all do and we need to all do our part to spread that good news!

God bless and have a great weekend. Go Pats!!!

Peace

Tony

brrrr. the chilly wind did blow

ahh, fall has finally arrived so I have fired up the pellet stove.. ahhh, warmth! I know i haven't posted in awhile, but life continues to keep me busy. time and motion wait for no man.

Last weekend we visited the Quabbin Resevoir and I took this picture of Cassidy.. I really love and all I could think of was JRR Tolkien's quote,

"All who wander are not lost."

Have a great week. stay warm!

Peace and God bless
Tony

the weekend is here

Finally Friday.. thank goodness! This weekend will be a busy one for the Hamilton brood.

Just wanted to share a scripture...

Psalm 103
1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

God loves all of us and wants to take away our sins and heal us. And look at that.. satisfy us with good things so that we will be renewed like an eagle. I love these verses. Have a great weekend everybody..

Peace and God bless

Tony

there is a season turn turn turn turn

Howdy all. I am back. i have been super busy, but so is life. life is GOOD!

Just wanted to make a post concerning all the talk of politics and the money woes in America. God never said every second of every day will be fun and great. God test us, puts us thru trials to help us, to help us rely more on Him and less on ourselves, to build our faith in Him and Him alone. I think this is an important time in America. Things are tough for people. People losing their jobs, people scared about money, healthcare, just surviving.

Matthew 6:25-34 has some words we can lean on in these hard times..

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

God wants to provide for us. He loves us. God wants to bless us. So no need to worry. Look to Jesus, look to God in these tough times. If you accept Jesus as your savior, you are guaranteed riches beyond anything we can imagine in heaven. This is so encouraging. So, just read that scripture again. Really think about it. God loves YOU!!! You can have that reassurance today. God will take care of you. Its not always the way we want. God never says above that he will give us big homes and tons of cars and toys and dunkin donuts coffee everyday. He said He would provide. So, take a moment and really think about that. every good thing comes from the Father.

In these tough times, maybe its time to get back to church. a bible believing church that can really encourage you, build you up spiritually and help ease that worry that comes from the devil. God loves YOU and wants to bless you!!! remember that. Amen!!!!!

peace all!

Tony

Ecclesiastes 3
A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

the weekend and a TGIF vid

Well, its Labor Day weekend. a nice 3 day weekend, but it is a reminder that summer is over.. Summer 2008 is over. It was a wet one. Crazy rain all summer. We did have some fun too.

We should be buying our minivan this weekend and on Sunday, their are a few people getting baptized after church. That is always exciting, so this weekend should be a good one.

Next Sunday, I will be preaching at my church. I will be sharing about evangelism and try to help people not freak out when they hear that word. Hopefully it will be good. we will see.

So, have a great weekend.. ahh, 3 day weekend. Enjoy it. have that last hoorah of summer. Get to a county fair, get out and do something fun and get to church on Sunday. Get out and celebrate the Lord.

a TGIF video to get you ready for your Sunday service


Be good and God bless
Tony

the campout...

di was away on women's retreat, so me and the girls had a little campout in the backyard.. i set up the tent next to the pool and right beside the shed, so i could have an outlet nearby. We had a blast. we stayed up eating klondike bars and playing board games inside the tent. I lost both Candyland and Life.. Corrina won at Candyland like she always does. I think she has won 500 straight games of Candyland.. i was denied my victory by being sent back to Grandma Nutt!!! bah.. And then Cassidy beat us at Life.. so, old Tony went 0 for 2 Friday night.. Next, some stories and then off to bed under the stars with some Tiki music playing softly. ahhhh.





Next morning with the sunrise came Poptarts in the tent.. yippee!!! Good stuff.

Have a great week everyone.
God bless
Tony

a TGIF video and more...

Well, its Friday.. yippee.. the weekend! what a great week. The weather has been great past few days and it looks like it will carry thru the weekend. the wife goes on women's retreat tonight into tomorrow down to Newport, RI. I hope all the ladies have a great time doing the cliff walk and the mansions and shopping and hopefully a little spiritual refreshment as well. Retreat is great! Have fun.

I am thinking of doing a backyard campout tonight with the girls. I will see how game they are. we will light a camp fire and maybe take a midnight dip if its not too cold and then crash in the tent. should be fun. gotta do something special with mom away.

We had a great rehearsal tuesday night and we worked up some new songs for Sunday. Can't wait. should be a great service.

well, here is your TGIF video for the week. This is what music means to me. Pure joy. watching the people dance and just enjoying the music. It is not technically the greatest music ever played, but the people around are connecting with it and enjoying it and just expressing themselves. No fear. We need less fear in our lives. we are only on this planet for so long and then you go either way.. up or down.. hopefully you are all headed up! So, enjoy this video like the guy dancing around...



God is great!
God bless and get out to church this weekend. Remember, church should never be boring or dull.. you should feel like the guy in the video.. get out and make that joyful noise!

peace
Tony

here we are....

Here we are at the start of another week. I must say that it has been a real blessing being able to work from home 2 days a week. I am working from home every Monday and Thursday. It is mint!

Saturday was my company's cookout. It was an A+ spread as usual. The girls had a blast.

then on Sunday after church, me and a couple other guys from church went out and handed out free sodas and some information about our church in Southbridge. It was a success in my book. We had fun and we were able to outreach to the community and the people that we talked to were really awesome. We got to pray with some of them. It was just an awesome experience and we need to do more of it. The community needs to hear about Jesus and we need to go out and tell them. We need to show them that Jesus loves them by our actions. Hopefully we will see some fruit from it, but we need to remember that we are just being obedient to what God has said and that is to GO and tell the nations about Jesus! There is only one thing that we can do on earth taht we will not be able to do in heaven and that is share the gospel, the good news about Jesus with other people. So, why are we here.. hmm, maybe to tell otehrs about Jesus.. to obedient to God and tell others. So, if you really are a believer.. tell somebody about Jesus.

Just good stuff.. Good weekend!

Now, it looks like the weather is going to be really nice so hopefully you can get out and enjoy. Summer is almost over.. make the most of it.

God bless and take care

Life is Good

Tony

TGIF Video Vol. ??

Howdy all.. its FRIDAY!!! weekend is almost here. yippee. Tomorrow is my work cookout... lobsters and steamers and burgers and prizes for the girls, carnival rides.. should be A+ good.

here is your video for the day.. patty with Del and the boys.. working for the LORD!


have a great weekend
God bless
Tony

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

oh man.. i have been digging the olympics and last night was girls gymnastics final and 2 more phelps races. but, why do they put the olympics on at 8 pm.. gymnastics ended close to midnight. i know they are editing and delaying stuff, so put it on so kids can watch and so i don't have to stay up until midnight. jeez.

the girls got silver and that is pretty good considering 2 girls went down with injuries. Phelps is freakin Aquaman. just amazing. he wins by entire body lengths. he is out of the water and watching the other swimmers come in. truly a gifted athlete. zzzzzzzzzzz, what..

ok, back to nap time.. i mean work. zzzzzzzzzzzzz

peace

tony

some cool things ahappenin'

howdy everyone. I seem to only get to one blog a week now, but thats better then none.

well, its been raining and raining.. atleast Saturday was nice and we got to the ocean with some family and friends. it was a wonderful day..

me and di led our first marriage workshop last week and it was wonderful. people opened up and shared and discussed stuff and we had some fun too. God wants us to have wonderful healthy marriages. he created marriage, its His idea. So He wants it to succeed. We are the ones that mess it up. hahahaha. Tomorrow is our second workshop and the topic is communication. men from mars or something and women from venus, well, God never said that. we should be able to communicate with our mates. My tip here is that wives need to tell husbands everything and spell it out. We are not that bright. we need you tell us exactly what we need to do, what is expected and what you want. Then things can run alot smoother on both sides. so, this should be informative and fun.

On Sunday, the worship band played one of my original compositions. i was a little anxious about it. hoping that people would catch on to the words quickly and that they would be able to sing along and participate and it seemed to go really well. i guess i should write more. It was cool and fun to play something i wrote. I think that if I can focus on areas that our congregation struggles with that I can write songs specifically for the needs of the church. God is also a great co-author. Great stuff happening.

also, this coming Sunday, the men's group is going to hit the streets and pass out free cans of soda. Hopefully we will meet some people that need to know Jesus while we are reaching out to the community. Should be exciting and fun.

yes, another busy week...

more will be revealed

In Him

Tony

me and di's marriage course...

Tonight, me and di start our 4 week class on marriage. We will be leading about 6 couples. It will be Bible based and it will be fun. Looking forward to the discussion part of the night. I will be heading up the husband's discussion. Should be good. Tonight is the role of a husband and a wife.

I know God will bless this night and make our church's marriages stronger!

If people want to put in the effort, God will bless that effort.

have a good one

peace

tony

TGIF Video Vol. 7

Well, i am on a huge banjo kick again... so.. here's some insane fast bluegrass for ya to kick start the weekend. The first Red Sox weekend in a long time without Manny.. adios Manny, have fun in LA.

yeehaw!!!



be good
Tony

Just wanted to check in...

I am still alive and well. Very busy week.. girls off at camp, re-arranging some rooms of the house.. just tons of stuff. At work, i had a deadline that i met last night, so that is all set now. Church stuff, always busy... tonight is our Prayer and Praise meeting, so i had to get the music all together for that and on Sunday , we have our men's breakfast where i am giving a talk about accountability and accountability partners. All that is ready to go. So, now, i can take a deep breath and chill for 5 minutes. tomorrow we have a family cookout which will be fun and i will be able to just relax, play some volleyball, eat some food and cruise around dianna's cousin's lake on his boat. life is good, but just hectic and crazy sometimes..

enjoy the weekend and hopefully you can get out to your neighborhood church and enjoy some fellowship with other Christ followers and just worship the Lord because HE IS WORTHY!

Peace

Tony

what a weekend...

Howdy all!!! my weekend was just fabulous! Saturday we had Di's whole family over for a cookout. badmitton, horseshoes (where Jen got a ringer on her first throw ever), pool volleyball, swimming, grilling, just fun!!! it was great. very relaxed. i had a nice fire going for some s'more action. i hope everyone had a nice time. it was like 90 degrees, so the pool was the perfect place to be.

Sunday.. church was so amazing and uplifting. The worship band was just plain rockin'. we are getting to a nice place where the rehearsals are paying off where we are getting tighter musically which opens things up to be more free. people are just flowing with the Holy Spirit and where He is taking the music. Can't say enough good things about the church service. Christ's love and the freedom that comes from being a Christ follower was truly alive in the music portion of service. Then Pastor continued his teaching on vision and what we need to do now to get the vision of our church in motion. It was very encouraging. we need to get busy and now start doing! People need Jesus, in our community, everywhere. We need to get out there.

Then after church, we decided to all kick back and relax. perfect. i watched the end of the British Open, then some skateboarding and bmx tournaments, had some ice cream, got some pizza for dinner and then watched some mary-kate and ashley movie with the girls. it was the perfect mindless nonsense for a sunday afternoon. hahaha. so, all in all a very nice weekend.

now, back to work. ahhh, work. tonight the girls start their Vacation Bible School from 6:00-8:30 so me and di have some free time to hike, chill and hang out together. she is the best wife and i love our alone time. well, have a great week.

peace and God bless

Tony

happy friday.. TGIF Video Vol 6

Well, i haven't posted in awhile.. been enjoying the summer.. this week has been so nice

we are preparing for a cookout tomorrow.. should be nice and hot.. a good day for swimming and grillin'.. enjoy it and on Sunday, remember the Lord who has blessed us with the sunshine and the beautiful summertime.. go and check out your local church..

here's some summertime sounds for ya..


God bless and have a GREAT weekend
Tony

this morning..

this morning i awoke at 5:30 and got some paddlin in before work.. a truly beautiful morning..

as i always say.. Life is Good...

last night at Alpha... amazing!

So, on wednesday nights, I help lead the Alpha course at my church.. its like Christianity 101.. its just wonderful. In this session, we have 2 ladies and last night 1 of the ladies accepted Jesus as her personal savior. It was amazing.. God is so good! This lady had grown up with lots of different misconceptions of how you really get into heaven. All we need to do is to know we are sinners and that we can never be good enough to get into heaven on our own, so we need to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and that his dying on the cross paid our price for all the sins we have ever done and are going to do. Jesus allows us to be seen as perfect in God's eyes since he took all of our sins on that cross with him and paid our penalty for us. Truly amazing and wonderful. that is why Gospel translates to GOOD NEWS. Its a free gift for everyone as long as they put their trust and faith in Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Jesus said I am the Way the Truth and the Life.. he is the only way to heaven. If you have never accepted Jesus, please pray about it and ask God to show you the truth. God wants none of us to perish, he is LOVE, but since he is also a just God, we must be punished for our sins, but we as Christians have Jesus to thank for paying our price, paying off our debt for our sins on that cross. Jesus is just amazing.

This lady will now begin her new journey as a Christ follower and will now reap all the blessings and rewards that God wants to give us. Amen!!!!

Life is good and God is good

all the time!

God bless you all

Peace

Tony

wow.. its HOT!!!!!!!!!!

Howdy.. been awhile again, but summer is here and i have been so busy blasting polynesian music and floating around my pool.. aahhhh. Today is hot.. i need a dip in the pool! need to cool down!

This week is winding down and looking forward to the weekend. Nothing like spending time with the family.. just good stuff.
But 1st, i am definately taking a kayak ride tomorrow before work.. i need to get out on the water.. remember life is good and good things come from the Lord.. Amen!!!

Lord, thank you for my awesome wife and wonderful kids. Thank you for my friends and family. Thank you for my church family. Thank you for all the blessings you have given to me and help me to use them for Your glory..


have a great rest of the week..



God bless
Tony

great rehearsal last night..

oh man, last night's rehearsal was good.. we got rolling on time and was able to do most the set for Sunday and got to run thru and check out 3 new tunes.. love new tunes.. Now, we have the keys for the new songs..

tomorrow is going to be 90.. awesome. i love summer, love the heat.

if you are into praying, pray for me and my wife about an amazing decision we are considering. Just pray for wisdom for us. God knows what it is. hahaha. God bless you all.

Peace

Tony

i'm back....

long time no ramble. Life took over for a few weeks and i needed to catch up. work, cookouts, vacuuming the pool, dance recitals, life in general.. but now i am back.

Yesterday's service was great and then afterwards we had my friends Dave and Melissa and their awesome kids over for some swimming and dinner. It was major fun. nice and relaxing. much needed.

Today I started working Mondays from home, so now i get to work 2 days from home, Mondays and Thursdays. This is truly from God. With gas prices thru the roof and not stopping, we needed God to step in and help us financially. I had been asking to work 2 days from home for 3 years now, but my boss came to me and initiated the conversation. I will be saving on gas, wear and tear on the car and some wear and tear on me. God is so good. He continues to bless us. We find that when we are obedient with our money and in our giving, God always provides and take good care of us. We don't give to receive, we give cuz that is what God wants us to do, be a cheerful giver, but he is always *ALWAYS* faithful in blessing us. And working 2 days from home is a true blessing. Thanks God!!!!

This coming weekend is 4th of July.. We have a cookout at a lake Friday, then we are hosting a cookout for my family Saturday, then church and hopefully some down time Sunday afternoon. ahhhh. Should be a busy week of preparation. Summer is in full swing.

I hope everyone has a great week..

God bless
Tony

Boston Celtics win #17.. woohoo

I am so tired.. oh man...

I am glad the NBA championship is over, now i can sleep.. 5 nights in the past week staying up past midnight is a killer. but Celts win and what a win.. wow.. a good old fashioned blowout.. ok.. 1 more month still the Pats start practice.. let GO!

have a great rest of the week.. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

TGIF Video Vol. 5

Oh yeah!!!! summer is here.. lets get it cookin.. Campbell Brothers style.. this is the real deal.. get out to your local church and praise the Lord this Sunday.. AMEN!!!





Have a great weekend!
In Him
Tony

a quick monday note...

boy.. its a hot one already.. scorchin'

well, 1st off, hope everyone had a great weekend. it was hot, but good friends and our pool was a great combination. Saturday was Cassidy and Corrina home school talent show.. A+ all around.. me and Di backed up Corrina on guitar and drums on Jesus You're me Super Hero, she did awesome.. Cassidy did her comedy act and was just amazing as well. great stuff from 2 great kids..

Sunday, church was great.. our setlist was
Blessed Be Your Name
Indescribable
Holy Holy Holy *totally rockin version, just wailed!
Your Love Oh Lord
I Heard the Sound of Voices
and the altar song was Jesus, All for Jesus

then after church, we had a bunch of people over for some burger, dogs, bocce and SWIMMING!!!!

it was great fun.. kids, adults, i think everyone had fun. i did...

rock on!! have a great week and stay cool..
In His Service
Tony

TGIF Video.. Vol. 4

2 old school vids for ya this friday.. hope you enjoy



and some of this



Have a wonderful weekend and stay cool.. 95 degrees tomorrow.. wo!
This Sunday, hopefully you will attend your local church and lift up the name of the Lord! Amen

God bless
Tony

Jammin' for the Lord

ok.. i am back, i survived. got back saturday evening from the retreat, then church and my nephew's graduation party on Sunday. back to work yesterday and now i am back in the groove..

so, the worship band is really coming together. rehearsal tonight and it should be a good one. So far everything i have thrown at these ladies they have handled. we played a tune, Ancient of Days last Sunday and boy, they nailed it. It has very quick chord changes, but they were on top of it. we are finding our groove. I am going to throw some curve balls at em tonight.. oh yeah.

sometimes i think it must be hard to play with me. i learned to play guitar by listening to alot of Grateful Dead. Their music always changed, never playing a song the same way twice. Music stays fresh that way, but if you don't listen to the Grateful Dead, i guess you can get lost or confused by how i look at a song. I try to only sketch out parts and then, on Sunday, we play the song by the leading of the Holy Spirit. I guess its almost like on Sunday morning we are just jamming for the Lord. Can't box in a song. A song can say so many different things. Maybe today the song wants to be an all out praise song, but tomorrow wants to be more of a reflective/surrendering to God type song. Jerry Garcia used to say, "let the song breath", which i always took to mean, let it have its own life. Let the Holy Spirit get involved and really take the song where God wants it to go. Where I want it to go might be the wrong direction for the people in the seats on Sunday morning. God knows what they need, I don't. So, music should be allowed to change and move and breath and say what it needs to say each time. I think the worship team needs to get locked in a room for a weekend and be made to listen to the Dead the whole time. Swirling sounds, changing time signatures, shifting tempos, loud, then soft, forceful, then reserved.. then they will know where i am coming from. hahahaha. Being a deadhead is coming into good use as the worship leader. God is using all my past musical experiences for His glory. As long as the people can follow along and sing along and worship God with the song, then why box in the Spirit.

Tonight will be great, i can feel it.

Peace

Tony

time to retreat...

in a few hours, i will be heading up to NH with the guys for a few days of fun and hopefully some spiritual growth... I am bring my 3 Stooges box set fir us to watch. hahahaha

Agenda:

Thursday - on road and get up there around 7-8, and then chill out.

Friday - morning, hang out and play some frisbee or basketball.. maybe swim if i am brave..

afternoon, start of sessions - 7 seasons of a man, some dinner, another session and then some down time

Saturday - morning, breakfast, a few sessions, lunch, some free time and then some sessions and then dinner and then home.

then home saturday night around 11...

so, i will be offline and far away from computers for the weekend. bye bye real world!!!

God bless you all and have a great weekend.

Tony

recovering from long weekend..

Memorial Day weekend.. ok.. kickoff to summer.. it was good. beautiful weather, awesome family and friends.. just great. Corrina had a HUGE case of posion ivy, but it was settling down yesterday so she could have some fun at my sister in law's cookout. We played some volleyball and some basketball where Di was a scoring machine.. awesome!

I have been slaving by the pool, trying to get it open.. hopefully it will be good to go by this weekend. Got my new grill built and me and Cassidy test drove it with some hot dogs stuffed with cheddar cheeze.. A+.. love the new grill! Busy busy.. but all good stuff!

also, this weekend coming up is the Calvary Men's Group retreat at Singing Hills in New Hampshire. Should be good. We stay in a nice cabin and get just relax and swim and play some frisbee golf and eat Little Debbies.. ahhh, should be good. We do some spiritual stuff as well. hahahaha.

Setlist from Sunday.. lets see...

Beautiful One

Light the Fire Again *broke a string, had to switch from Ibanez to Martin acoustic

Take My Life

Come, Now is the Time to Worship->

Holy Spirit jam->

You Are Worthy of my Praise

I Walk by Faith

altar song was When Its All Been Said and Done

The string breaking in the second song threw me. I had trouble getting focus. The devil was playing his tricks.. bah.. those weeks happen. So, right back at it. Rehearsal tonight... should be fun!

Hope you all had an awesome weekend

God bless

Tony

TGIF video Vol. 3

ahhhh, another classic.. This one is from the Gaither Bluegrass show... Its the Del McCoury Band, the best bluegrass band going today, in my opinion...ENJOY...



Have a wonderful LOOOOONNNNGGGG weekend. Memorial Day.. the kickoff to summer

God bless!
Tony

just a quick thursday entry...

First off.. Go Celts!!!! Game 2 TONIGHT!!!

Also, I don't think I have ever posted my church's website..

http://www.calvarydudley.net/

God Bless!!!

Tony

wednesday worship talk

Howdy everyone. I have kind of drifted away from worship talk for awhile, but i did warn you i will ramble. So, i rambled off worship for a bit. Lets get back to it. I saw a funny online poll yesterday which asked if the church's music can keep you coming to church or drive you away. hmmm. The guy who started the poll had something against church organs... i wonder how he feels about banjos. well, it got me thinking. I think the most important thing is that you remember that this is for God, not you. Worship time in church is to worship God and please Him, not please you. When I visit churches or conferences that have times of worship, i pray that the Holy Spirit will work in my heart that I will focus on God, no matter what! If your heart is right and open, you will be able to worship anywhere.. but it is nice to be able to worship God and feel comfortable enough to express yourself and be free to be yourself. so, we continue...

God created all music. Music can't be evil.. some lyrics can be, but music (chord structure, melody, rhythm, etc) can't be. So, I believe it is important that each individual can find a church that has music that they can relate to and feel comfortable to worship God with. If you find the music being played at a church is really getting in the way of worshipping God then go find another church. There are so many Bible believing churches out there to pick from with a wide variety of music styles from contemporary to old hymns. There is a church out there that is playing music that you can connect with and worship God with. Each week at Calvary, I really pray about the music that we play each week and I truly believe that God has a hand in picking the songs we do. So, we mix it up. I like hymns (they can get wordy, but the messages are awesome), but I will usually rearrange them. I like to have a little bit for everyone, a couple rockin tunes, a hymn, a slower more reflective tune. The most important thing is that you worship God. The worship of God is what pleases Him. He hears your heart, weather it be to a rock and roll beat or a traditional organ driven hymn. Just worship Him. Go find a church that you feel comfortable with the music. But remember, it needs to be a Bible believing church. Never substitute the Word of God for some cool style of music. Church's first priority is preaching the truth straight from the Bible. If that is in order, then deal with the music. right on!

To close, here's a wonderful worship oriented Psalm.. Psalm 150.

Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,

praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

God loves you all and loves to hear you worship Him. So, Sunday.. get out there and find a church and worship the Lord!

Bless you all

Tony

The Roman Road

The Roman Road to Salvation....
It is a group of Bible verses from the book of Romans in the New Testament. If you walk down this road you will end up understanding how to be saved.

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
We all have sin in our hearts. We all were born with sin. We were born under the power of sin's control.

- Admit that you are a sinner.

Romans 6:23a "...The wages of sin is death..."
Sin has an ending. It results in death. We all face physical death, which is a result of sin. But a worse death is spiritual death that alienates us from God, and will last for all eternity. The Bible teaches that there is a place called the Lake of Fire where lost people will be in torment forever. It is the place where people who are spiritually dead will remain.
- Understand that you deserve death for your sin.

Romans 6:23b "...But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Salvation is a free gift from God to you! You can't earn this gift, but you must reach out and receive it.
- Ask God to forgive you and save you.

Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!"
When Jesus died on the cross He paid sin's penalty. He paid the price for all sin, and when He took all the sins of the world on Himself on the cross, He bought us out of slavery to sin and death! The only condition is that we believe in Him and what He has done for us, understanding that we are now joined with Him, and that He is our life. He did all this because He loved us and gave Himself for us!
- Give your life to God... His love poured out in Jesus on the cross is your only hope to have forgiveness and change. His love bought you out of being a slave to sin. His love is what saves you -- not religion, or church membership. God loves you!

Romans 10:13 "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!"
- Call out to God in the name of Jesus!

Romans 10:9,10 "...If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
- If you know that God is knocking on your heart's door, ask Him to come into your heart.

Jesus said,
Revelation 3:20a "Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him..."
- Is Jesus knocking on your heart's door?

wow.. good stuff! No church can save you, no ceremony or ritual, no human.. This is the way to Heaven! It seems so simple but so hard to grasp. God loves you and died for YOU!

I pray that everyone reading this will find a local bible preaching church and hear God's word being preached for themselves. Church is a place that believers can go and be encouraged, be held accountable and be unified for God and His purposes.

Lord, I am a sinner and thank you for dying on that cross for me.

Jesus is knocking.. let Him in!!!!

Peace

Tony

Sunday service and more...

Cock a doodle doo.. monday morning.. rise and shine!!!!

Wow!!!! well, first the setlist from yesterday
History Maker
Blessed Be Your Name
Your Love Oh Lord
How Great is Your Name
Victory in Jesus
Great and Mighty is He
and for the altar call, Jesus All for Jesus

very powerful time of worship. I felt led to call the congregation forward to worship together in the front of the sanctuary. Since I always keep my eyes closed, I didn't see it, but I felt it. A bunch of people came down and held hands and waved flags and really had a wonderful time of worship. Gettin' unified. good stuff. had some technical gremlins during the pre service rehearsal. nothing a changed chord and a new battery in my equalizer pedal didn't cure. The key was I didn't let it ruffle my feathers.

Last night I practiced my guitar for little over an hour. It was great. Trying to work up some new songs and just connecting with my guitar. I really want to dig in more with my guitar. really practice and work on stuff. The worship band is really sounding great and I know I have to keep up on my game. I need to get practicing. It was easier when it was just me strumming my acoustic guitar, but now with drums and keyboards and bass, I need to be on my A game all the time. its great. I need to write some songs tho. I feel like I have stuff I want to say, just need to get to it. My wife is trying to watch less TV. I will try and encourage her by staying away from the TV as well (until right before bed) and I will take that time to play my guitars and hopefully write some songs. well, that was a good monday morning ramble. ahh, i need my oatmeal.

May God bless you all with a great week

In Him

Tony

TGIF Video Vol. 2

TGIF is right.. oh man. come on weekend!!!!

here's a couple little videos to go with yoru morning coffeee..




These are so powerful in its rawness!!!!

Have a great weekend and God bless ya!
Tony

vision...

So, I have been praying alot about a vision statement for the worship team... what does God want us to do and all that good stuff... so, after lots of prayer and writing about 100 of these, here is the current vision statement for the Calvary Assembly of God Worship Team.

The Calvary worship team desires to lead the congregation, by example, into a Spirit filled and biblically truthful time of worship to God. We will be a prayerful group that wishes to please God first, providing a relevant, contemporary worship service with an atmosphere of freedom to express our devotion to the living God thru the individual gifts He has given to us.

nice to see it written out... also.. I wanted a theme for this coming season. Try to fire up the troops... so, I am issuing a declaration that the Summer of 2008 will be the Summer of the Spirit. The worship team will focus on the Holy Spirit, pray for the Spirit to fill us, work thru us, touch the congregation, just have total freedom in our worship and in our church. Hopefully this focus on the Holy Spirit this Summer will be just a starting point. The worship team wants the Holy Spirit to be involved in everything we do from here on out. We want the entire congregation to be seeking the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is a new day, a new beginning, a fresh annointing of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in all believers and is a free gift from God to empower us, to help us, to guide us.. Are we really tapping into that. We need to. We cannot do anything without God.

Not by Might, Not by Power, but by My Spirit sayeth the Lord..

Amen!!!!

So, if you are the praying type, which I hope you are, please include us in your daily prayers..

- pray everyday for the Calvary worship team

- pray for the worship team to be annointed in the Holy Spirit at all times

- pray that the entire congregation of Calvary AG in Dudley, MA will be filled with the Holy Spirit

- pray everyday for the Holy Spirit to fill you and empower you and work with you

awesome! have a great day..

God bless

Tony

SNED Missions Dinner...

Well, last night I had the opportunity to go to the Southern New England District Assemblies of God Missions dinner. I went with Di and Pastor Patrick and some other leaders from Calvary. It was held at the Crown Plaza in Worcester, MA. It was great to see a ton of people from all the Assemblies of God churches in southern New England. I saw alot of my teachers from my Berean Ministry classes. It was cool to see how our churches are really giving and supporting the spread of the Gospel to the world. We are all called to missions, either by going or by supporting their work with money or prayers or hopefully both. The Worship Team from Zion Bible institute was there and they were great. I was feeling kinda blah from my allergies. My head was weighing in at 120 lbs. ugh. But the guest speaker was from Missouri and he brought a great message saying "If Coke Can, We Can!", showing us that Coca-Cola is EVERYWHERE. All around the world and we need to get the gospel to all the world. The one quote that really stuck with me was from an executive at Coke in the 1920's. He said "Before everyone dies, I want every person in the world to have atleast tasted Coke." Amazing. A simple but very profound dream. We need to have that same passion and that same dream that every single person gets to hear the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus before he/she dies. We need to get out there and start sharing that Good News!!!! With friends, neighbors, people in the grocery store, everywhere. We all can do our part. Not everyone has to jet off to China or India.. just when you go out and do your day to day things, pray that God will open doors and give you the right words to say to help people come to know the love of Jesus. One last quote from last night.. on the night years back when Michael Jordan scored 69 points in 1 game, a rookie player was on his team and scored 1 point, his first ever NBA point. They asked him how it feels to score 1 point while Jordan scored 69.. and the kid said, "I will always remember this night as the night me and Michael combined for 70 points!!!" We need to do our part, even if it is just that 1 point and God will do the rest, God will score the other 69. Give God a little and he can do so much. Give God nothing to work with and that is what you get.. NOTHING.

Rock on... not an easy task but we can do it together!!!!

be good.. and now for something completely different.. John Hartford on the banjo...


God bless everyone!!!
Tony

On fire? hmmmmm

Good Monday morning to y'all...

Something amazing is happening. The service yesterday was so amazing for me that its hard to put into words. I truly felt transported into God's throne room and I was right there worshipping the Lord. I was on another plane. I felt so filled with the Holy Spirit. It was beautiful. I prayed that I could remain in that state.. some day.. some day..

Before the music started yesterday, I spoke to the congregation about Revelation 3:16
So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

I challenged the congregation, are YOU lukewarm for God. God will spit you right out of His mouth. He wants our best, He wants our first fruits... He does NOT want the half hearted, the leftovers. He does not want mediocrity! God created you and knows your abilities and what you are capable of. He never asks you to do more then He knows you can. So, it is our choice whether we are mediocre towards God. Instead of being lukewarm, He wants you to be on fire for Him. He wants you to be passionate for Him. And when you are passionate about something, you put it first. Your favorite sport team, your favorite hobby. These things take priority in your life.. God wants to be our priority. He wants to be first in our lives. Don't be lukewarm!!!! Don't be the one God spits out of His mouth in disgust!!!

So lets get on fire this week...

God bless you all

Tony

TGIF Video Vol. 1

I was thinking.. ahhh Fridays.. Tony, share some cool videos..

This one is so good... hope you enjoy..


Have a great weekend
God bless
Tony

A healthy fear...

top of the morning to y'all....

so, my beautiful wife was preparing her small group study on the first part of the Book of Revelation.. powerful stuff. Got me to thinking... we know God is love and cares for us, wants to bless us, wants the very best for us. Thats awesome, BUT... God is also just and that is the thing that upsets people and scares people the most. he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross as a payment for all of our sins. The Bible says that ALL have fallen short of the glory of God. No matter what we do, it can never be good enough for God. So, Jesus came and sacrificed His blood as payment for our wrong doings. So, all we have to do is except Jesus as our personal Lord and savior and the debt is paid for sins. God, the judge sees that our sins are paid for and we have access to paradise for eternity in heaven. I think that is a good deal..

Well, what if you don't except Jesus as your Lord and savior. well.. God the judge will.. yup.. judge you. In Revelation, it says that all who believe in Jesus as their savior as their savior will ascend Heaven and be with Him. That is for living and dead. He has prepared a place for us. But Revelation also speaks about what happens to those who do not believe in Jesus as the savior.. and that will be eternity in the lake of fire. You either follow Jesus or Satan. Those are the choices folks.. Jesus says if you are not for me, then you are against me.. so, if you are not for Jesus, then you are against Him and for Satan.. Once you realize this, hopefully the choice is simple. Lets see, the Jesus side is being completely forgiven for your sins, Jesus having paid for them, having a relationship with God thru Jesus and the power or the Holy Spirit, being blessed in this world and then eternity in Paradise with Jesus and God and all the believers or the Satan side which is to continue living in sin here on earth, with no payment for your sins, so you feel guilty, deep down you do, not having that love, peace, comfort that comes from God and Jesus, then at the end.. the lake of fire.. hmmmm, Heaven or lake of fire, Love and peace or guilt and being afraid.. I will take Jesus , how about you.

I know it seems like doom and gloom, but I love my family and friends and I want them to have all the wonderful things that comes from excepting Jesus. I want to see you all in heaven. And I have heard every excuse in the book.

I believe in Jesus, but I hate church

- well, the Bible says that we should gather together with other believers. If you don't like your church, find a new one, get connected. These are the brothers and sisters that will help you on your walk with the Lord. We cannot do it alone. We all stumble and fall and sin every day. We need other Christians to help us, encourage us, counsel us.. get to church..

Jesus is make believe

- Nope, sorry. Many historical texts make note of the man Jesus. He was a real person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_Jesus

I believe Jesus was a great teacher, but he is not the Son of God so he didn't pay for my sins

- I could talk for days on this one, but lets talk quickly about it.. Well, since we have stated above that Jesus was a real person, we can say 2 things about His teachings. Either He was who He said He was, the Son of God or He was a complete lunatic. So, lets look at each side. Jesus as lunatic and a liar. He went around healing people, teaching about God in heaven and God's good works and blessings, bringing harmony and peace and showing love. Does not sound like a madman to me. Was He lying when He said He was the Son of God. Well, look at the cruxifiction. These events are well documented. He was arrested because He was said to be a liar and said He was the Son of God. He was beaten to almost death, then was nailed to a tree and suffered a slow painful death. On the cross, it is documented that when He spoke, He spoke to God to forgive us for making Him go to the cross. Even to the very end of His life, he stayed true to what he said that He was the Son of God. How far would you take a lie? Do people die for what they believe in or to keep covering up a lie? So, the otehr side is we belive that Jesus is who He said He was, the Son of God.. We have the Bible that we can read the whole story, 4 different accounts, The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This is also where faith comes in. Believing in Jesus requires faith. We never met Jesus, we never heard him teach or speak. We are relying on written texts and FAITH!!!! Faith grows as well by the Holy Spirit inside you when you except the truth of Jesus. They call it a leap of faith.. its true. You need to go against what the world says and believe. So, you can read the proof, you can read the Bible, but faith is the key. Have faith. If you believe in Jesus, look what you can gain. Jesus died on that cross for our sins and then rose on the Third Day, that first Easter, so that we can conquer the grave and death will have no hold on us, we will live forever with Jesus. We need to have faith in those events. Pray to God to show you. He will open your eyes.

I am good enough. I just try to live my life the best I can, being nice to people and blah blah...

- This one is good. You are good enough. By whose standards.. by God's standards or by your own. Did you not sin today, yesterday. Did you talk about others behind their backs, did you gossip, did you lustfully look at another person, did you lie, did you steal, did you get drunk, did you swear, did you.. well, you get the point. we all sin, we all continue to sin. we are not perfect so that is why we need Jesus. Not an option, we NEED Him. You are not good enough. Until we except Jesus, we are separated from God, far off, like the sheep who wandered off. With Jesus we get called home, the lost sheep who is now safely back with the others, protected and cared for. We need to all realize this. We are not good enough for God, that is why blood was shed for us. A sacrifice of blood was needed to bring us back to favor with God. So, get over yourselves. We all fall short. Me, you, your pastor, neighbors, friends, family.. no one is perfect but Jesus.

and so on...

Part of being a Christian is to share the good news, the good news is the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is He came to die for all of us, every single one of us so that we could have total forgiveness of sins and have a relationship with God and have eternal life with Him in Heaven. So, i have now told you the good news. I cannot force you to believe, i can not make you do anything. Now it is between you and God. If you want this, just ask God, tell God. His Holy Spirit will enter into your heart and start to live inside to help you and guide you. A new morning.. This could be the day of new beginnings. weigh your options and really think and pray about it. No one will know when Jesus will return. Jesus says that in the Bible, no one will know the hour or minute of my return. Could be today, tomorrow... no time to lose...

God bless you all

In Him

Tony

setlist for Sunday..

Howdy...

ladies.. the setlist for Sunday will be...

Let Everything that Has Breath

Holy is the Lord

God of Wonders

Open the Eyes of My Heart

Days of Elijah

offering - Its No Longer I that Liveth

altar - Who am I

Thats all I got for now. Worship Team, enjoy your night off.

God bless and have a great day

Tony

Joy!!!!

Yesterday was just an awesome experience of joy for me. It started during the pre-service run thru, carried over into the pre-service prayer and then right on into the service. I was so glad to be in God's house, singing and worshipping Him. It was awesome. Nothing new happened, we didn't really play any new songs. It was my attitude of gratitude. I was just thanking God for everything, my family, my hosue, food i get to eat, my pastor, my church family. Sometimes, we need to kick start the feelings of joy and happiness and then God and the Holy Spirit just take over. While we were playing There is No Other Name, I just started strumming and jamming along what I heard in my heart and the whole church broke into an Amen chorus.. it was quite amazing. It was beautiful. The Holy Spirit was there and in control. Good Stuff!!! Here is our setlist from yesterday:

Awesome God

We Want to See Jesus Lifted High->

I Heard the Sound of Voices->

There is No Other Name * with Amen chorus->

I Saw the Light

Awesome God reprise

and for the altar time, Breathe

Ok, some geeky guitar stuff.. for Breathe, I used my 12 string acoustic and ran it thru my Alesis AcoustiFX Acoustic Guitar Multi-Effects Pedal with a nice swirling speaker sound.. kinda vibey.. I thought it was cool. I also had Leah on piano playing with a voice effect. Mixing it up..

So, no rehearsal tomorrow.. Cassidy will be bridging into Junior Girl Scouts from Brownies.. go to be there for that.. I will post the setlist for Sunday sometime tomorrow or early Wednesday.

and remember Mother's Day is this Sunday.

have a great day.. look at that sun shining.. oh man..

In Him..

Tony

some rehearsal jams...

I am getting tired and want to go to bed, but here are a few jams from our rehearsal tuesday... hope you enjoy..

i heard the sound of voices

there is no other name

i saw the light

peace and God bless!
Tony

Rehearsal tonight and Nat'l Day of Prayer...

Ahh, Tuesday night is rehearsal night.. we need to work up some new tunes. should be good!

Also, Thursday is National Day of Prayer... everyone should find a place to pray. Tons of local churches and other facilities is taking part.

God tells us in the Bible to ask and it shall be given. Well, we need to remember that even tho we ask for stuff, God is still in control and knows what is best for us. Our prayers and petitions need to line up with his will and plan for him to grant it. And sometimes, He does answer our prayer, but not in the way we want or even thos we can immediately see it. God wants to bless His people and wants only the best for us, but sometimes what we think is best for us, is not always the best. We still need to ask and bring things to the Lord in prayer. He hears us. Jesus prayed to His Father, and we are told to follow Jesus example in all things. He even taught us how to prayer to the Father, known as the Lord's Prayer. When we pray, we are communicating with God, our Father. Think about talking to our dad here on Earth.

kid - "Hey Dad, can I borrow the car"

dad - "ahhh, no"

kid - "come on, please"

dad - "ahh, no"

and on and on.. who know how this will end. Maybe dad will say "sure, have fun" or he will say, "no, you're an idiot and you can't handle it"

The same with God our Father. He knows what is always best for us, He has lessons for us to learn, He says yes, He says no, He will always take care of us and help us every way He can, but He still wants to hear our side and He still desires communication with His children..

So, get out there and pray!!!! Thursday May 1st..

God bless

Tony

Worshipping in Spirit...

Well, another Sunday service come and gone. It was a weird one for me for the 1st 2 and a half songs. Here is the setlist:

I Walk By Faith

Better is One Day

Here I Am to Worship

Lord I Lift Your Name on High

Wonder of Your Cross

and Heart of Worship for the altar call.

Why was it weird? Who knows? Maybe it was just me. But while I was in the middle of the third song, I started praying HARD!! Holy Spirit, give me a kick in the butt. I have learned in the past, that I am responsible for only one person worshipping and that is me. We play the songs to create an atmospehere where people can feel free to worship God. It is a one on one experience. I can't make you worship God. It is your choice. So, I realized, I need to start worshipping God myself and not worry if the people in the seats were worshipping. At that point, worship for me became a very encouraging and uplifting experience.

So, lets take a minute and talk about worshipping in Spirit. Some of you may have heard the term from the Bible, Worship in Spirit and in Truth and that is what will please God. Lets take just the worship in Spirit part today. To worship in Spirit means to worship under God's control. To let the Spirit of God take control of your worship. The old Let Go and Let God. Are we doing that? I spoke the other day about boxing in God. Are we choosing how we are to worship God, well, guess what, the ways we want to worship God might be completely unacceptable to Him. God told us in the Bible how we are to worship Him, singing , dancing, clapping, raising our Holy hands, kneeling, bowing, playing musical instruments, making a joyful noise. Then the Holy Spirit helps us to do these things during our corporate worship time. You need to be asking teh Holy Spirit during times of worship to help you and to guide you. And He will. God is looking for obedience. He wants us to obey Him. That please God. He told us what he expects from worship and we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to do those things. They can be uncomfortable and embarassing. Just raising your hands in the middle of singing a song doesn't make any sense. But when we read the Bible and it states its a sign of obedience and it is an outpouring from your heart. If your heart is right with God , you will want to do what he says to do. Lets take an example and look into it.

so, raising hands.. we have all seen this on infomercials for Christian cds, on the INSP channel on TV, hopefully we have seen people do it at our churches... so, why do we do it and what does it mean.. It actually should mean something. Doing something that doesn't mean anything is foolish. so, i found this cool article on why raise your hands.. here is some of what it says about raising your hands during worship and what it means...

1. RECEIVE. (Two-handed; hands raised, palms facing inward). This is the posture your Charismatic friends probably preferred—a posture of receiving—“God, respond to me, touch me, give me, speak to me, fill me.” It is a posture for receiving from God a touch, a work of grace, or a gift.

2. STAND-IN-AWE. (Two-handed hands raised, palms facing outward). The same as the receive posture only with palms reversed—facing outward. It is an ancient custom still practiced in other religions and cultures. The worshipper falls to his or her knees, raises hands with palms facing outward, then bows down forward before the god or king.

3. SURRENDER. (Same as above—two handed hands raised, palms facing outward). Though this posture is the exact posture of the stand-in-awe gesture, holiness camp meeting folk used it for a different reason. The almost-universal expression of surrender is either a white flag or this one: hands raised with palms facing outward. “I give up.”

4. TESTIMONY. (One hand raised, palm facing outward). The culture uses this posture when we “swear in” a witness (i.e. “I swear to tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth…”). The church has used it as a testimony-witness posture. To raise one hand during singing a song says, “I agree” or, “I testify this is true in my life.” In a sense this quiet hand raising is a non-verbal “amen.”

5. COMMITMENT/VOLUNTEER. (Same as above—one hand raised, palm facing outward). The second use of the single hand posture in our culture is “I volunteer” or, “I will.” It is a posture of commitment or volunteering. It emphasizes willingness to do whatever God requires.

so, next Sunday.. give it a try. pray for the Holy Spirit to fill you as you start singing and really focus on God and who He is.. Lord of lords, King of kings.. and see if the Holy Spirit prompts you to raise up those hands to receive from the Lord, to surrender to Him, standing in awe to His greatness, agreeing with the lyrics, with a non verbal amen or committing/recommitting your life to the name of Jesus.


ramblin ramblin ramblin...
Be well and God Bless
Tony

are you putting God in a box...

so, i was praying this morning and i got this bizarre image that sometimes our church and people in general put God in a box. We all want God to do awesome things, but we put restrictions on Him. God, heal me, bless me, do amazing things in my life, but don't make me give money to church or raise my hands in worship (oh no, not that!!!!) or talk to my neighbor and say good morning. How is God supposed to do amazing things when you are telling Him how a Christian should be and what a Christian should do. ahh, He wrote the book on it, i think.. hahahaha. So, I started thinking about all the amazing but pretty wild and crazy things God did in the bible. Telling Peter to step out of a boat onto a lake.. ahhh, would you do that? Moses led the chosen people right to the edge of the Red Sea and parted it.. right down the middle. Joshua marched around Jericho and on the seventh day, the city walls fell. There are so many.. So, Peter, Moses, Joshua.. did they put God in a box? Did they think God was crazy? Did Joshua tell God that marching around a wall for seven days blowing a trumpet was just insane and how in the heck would teh city walls crumble by doing that. They all had faith in what God said. When Peter's faith started wavering walking oin the water, he started to sink. When we put God in a nice neat little box, we also can start to sink. For us to receive all of God's power and blessings, we need to let him out of the box and we need to get out of the boat, letting go of ourselves and letting God do His thing.. Let Go and Let God.

Well, what is this box made out of. This box can be made out of many things.

Pride, selfishness, fear, lukewarmness towards God, and especially the things of this world: greed, lies, deceit, hate, old bad habits you don't want to stop doing...in general, SIN.

This world is ruled by Satan. The Bible says so. Just look around. Most world views go against God and his Bible. even small things like no prayer allowed in school, removing any reference to God in governing documents. Hey, this country was founded by Christians. So, who are you going to let run your life, the devil and this world here or God, the one who wants only the best for you. He wants to bless all of us. In Revelation, we can read that God wins. Its a done deal. Satan loses and him and all him buddies get cast into the eternal fire. ahhh, so which team do you want to be on.. the winning team or the team that gets thrown into the lake of fire forever. ahhh, I know my choice.

Let God out of the box. Let His Spirit flow. The best way to open this box and rip it down is thru reading the Bible and praying. The Bible is a gift from God.. His Holy Word. The more we read it and pray on the things we read, the more we can see how we can get God out of that box. How He wants to be involved in our life and how we are supposed to live. God tells us all about marriage, work, families, relationships, church, worship.. all these things. Find out what God says and get Him out of that box. Do not stifle Him. Do not hold Him back. Let God rule every part of your life and see the blessings and growth that can come.

wow, that is a ramble..

peace and be well

In Him

my rig...

Well, for all you guitar geeks, i thought i would post my guitar rig i now use on Sunday mornings.

I use an Ibanez Artcore AF75 hollowbody electric running into a Pocket POD into a Danelectro Fish and Chip Equalizer pedal into the A input on my A/B switch then into a direct box. For quieter songs such as the altar call, I use a Martin DXME Acoustic-Electric into the B channel of the A/B switch then into the direct box. I have really fallen in love with my new Ibanez. The feel and response by it has been exactly what i always wanted from an eletric. The Pocket POD is such a great toy as well and replaces the need for an amp on the altar. I use the Plexi 45 patch. Nice clean patch. Good stuff. I use DR Tote Fit 10's on the Ibanez. I use D'AQUISTO Tony Rice signature strings on the Martin. They are 13 gauge. For picks, i use a heavy Dunlop pick for electric songs and a DAWG pick for acoustic stuff with the Martin. I could talk guitars all day. But now i need to get to it..

We have rehearsal tonight, so I need to pray and get the music together.

The sun is shining, Spring is in the air, nature is blooming. Its a new day... a day to thank God for all the wonderful things He created for us to enjoy. Its a new day...maybe its a day that you recommit your life to Jesus or maybe its a day that you finally accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.. God bless you all!

In His service

Tony