Submerge 08

Here's a shot from service. It was packed with well over 500 students plus leaders, staff and pastors. I think about 650 total.

God rained His love, mercy and compassion down in that place! Worship was intense, the Heavens opened up and freedom was available to all.


I had 10 amazing girls in my room. They are the sweetest girls! I had a great room!! Here's a pic of them. Some tried to stay up all night but never made it, we told scary stories, stayed in the pool until we looked like raisins, laughed until we cried, and ate everything in sight...and what's a trip to camp at the beach without a little bunk surfing?!

Unspeakable grace

"Unspeakable grace for all the nations."

-Mercy Me (one line from 'Sanctified')

Today as I was driving and having my own Mercy Me concert in the Escape, something in this particular song reached out and captured my attention. "unspeakable grace" ... unspeakable. Let that marinate in your heart and mind a moment. Grace so amazing and so deep we don't even have words that remotely express it. It's unspeakable. The best part is that's exactly what Jesus brought us. It's for ALL the nations! Not just us here in the USA or our state or our street or our house. There's an entire world out there experiencing "unspeakable grace".

The song goes on to say "I'll never be the same! I know, I'll never be the same!" That's pretty much me. Touched by UNSPEAKABLE GRACE...Never to be the same ever...

The Book...

Some are asking 'So...what's going on with the book?' Just so you know, last night I officially sent the manuscript off to the editor and will wait to hear the reply. It's exciting and scary when your dreams start to become reality. God has taken me on the adventure of a life time and it's only beginning. I think the hardest part is coming up with a title! Still working on that. I hope to have some more news soon!

Everyone has a twin?

I've heard that everyone has a twin, but do cats? I think Micki & I found Patches twin...in England no less! Sometimes I like to watch House Hunters International (I love to see how other people decorate - especially in other countries). There was this place in England on HHI, and low & behold, there was Patches!! Or at least her twin. Looked exactly like her. What do you think?

Funny story: Mic and I had this brilliant idea to get a close up for the blog, right. Yes, that's what we thought too. Micki completely took one for the blog! Right before I snapped this picture, Patches BIT her on the arm!! Patches is trying to look innocent right after, but she's guilty. Gotta love Patches!

Walkin' In Memphis...

Took a little trip last a couple of weekends ago. We stopped over at Dancing Rabbit for a little golf. The course was very pretty and well manicured. I snapped a jewel of a picture or two on my phone while we were there. Of course, they have nothing to do with golf, but they are on the course. I LOVE nature stuff. Kinda makes me think of the verse about the path to Heaven being narrow...

After golfing, Dr. Tom (we affectionately call our Tom Tom that) lead us on an adventure of back roads through Mississippi that I thought we'd never find our way out of. Dr. Tom came through and led us safely back to I-55 where we drove to Memphis. We've never been there, and started out by going to the wrong hotel. (uhmmm. Doug's fault. uhmmm) Once we got to the correct one, we discovered it was a blessing in disguise. It was right in the middle of a shopping mecca! Every store you could think of and every restaurant too! The area was so clean. We headed to downtown where we spent the evening trying to find parking to check out Bealle Street. After shelling out $20, we went to discover it just wasn't for us. Everyone there seemed extremely drunk and single. Maybe it would have been better had we gone during the day? While we were in the area, we ate at Rendevous BBQ. I heard that's our President's favorite BBQ place...he might want to come try some deep south BBQ. It was pretty good, but my dad is the Master of BBQ! Nobody cooks ribs like him! We walked through the Peabody which was very beautiful. Incredible woodwork! It was past the ducks bedtime though.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed the AMAZING weather at the Memphis Zoo. It wasn't as big as I

thought it would be but it was very nice...very clean! They even had a gorilla exhibit. I love seeing all of the animals. God is so creative! Back to the gorillas...He (or she) was sitting right by the glass watching the people out of the corner of his eye. Judging by the size of him (which the picture does NO justice for), he could easily rip your arms and legs off with his pinkie! Kinda scary. The hippos were sunning right by the fence. They were massive and needed some deodorant or something. I don't think I'd want to get into it with them either. Then, there was this huge lizard thing that kept following Doug down the glass that separated us from him. I think it was love at first sight! The zoo was a lot of fun!

We stopped in to see if Elvis was home, but he wasn't. About 1000+ people were visiting though. I couldn't get over the number of people there. It was kinda neat since it reminded me of my childhood. My aunts (and my mom) were 'in love' with Elvis when I was little. I even recall mom and one of my aunts sitting in the living room with his album playing and crying the day he died. You can buy one of those groovy outfits like his for a mere $1,700 bones! Uh, no thanks! Not my style. The thing that really caught my attention during this tour was how passionate everyone was about seeing where he lived, what he did, his outfits, his gold records, etc. Why is it that people will line up for hours and pay $70 for two to see his stuff? Wouldn't it be great if that same passion was seen in all of our churches of people willing to stand in line to hear about Jesus' life?

Speaking of church, our last stop was at Life Church in Memphis. Pastor John Siebeling has a great church there. It was really cool that it's in a store front! The message was great as well. Worship was great! Lots of young people there. They were very similar to HPC, and we felt right at home!

Overall, the trip was fun and a much needed getaway! Wish it could have been longer.