Now THAT's What I'm Talkin' About. . .

On Sunday, Joey announced two evenings of work - Monday and Tuesday. Honestly, I was not looking forward to it because the tasks seemed overwhelming and my faith in numbers and manpower was little. Before Sunday was even over, we had people mowing and trimming the yard. Monday night we had about fifteen (15) people show up to help with the various things that need to be done in order to make the red room and the big room of The Underground "rent-able." It's a good thing since we have two events booked down there this weekend! Wahoo! It's already being used to bless the community and we haven't even begun to market the space yet. Tonight (Tuesday) we had about six people show up to help. What a blessing. Y'all, Amy can paint some trimwork! So keep that in mind if you need stuff done in your house. :) She'll get me for saying that. And Rita and Lydia are just jacks of all trades - cleaning, organizing, and painting. And that was just tonight. Last night was amazing too and the names and jobs are just too many to list.

With all of that said, things are looking good. But we need to a little more help to push us over the hump. The fire marshall is visiting again on Thursday. So if you can help tomorrow night (Wednesday) please come lend a hand. There are so many little things to do and we can use everyone in some way.

God is good! And GREAT is His Faithfulness just like Meredith said on The Smith's blog this week. Morning by morning, new mercies we see. All that we've needed His hand has provided. And He certainly showed me that I need to have more faith in the challenging times. I can't wait to be back downstairs worshiping and fellowshiping with all of our River friends this week. If you were not there this past Sunday, we are having a church potluck dinner and meeting on Sunday night. Please plan to attend. This will be a great time for us to enjoy each other's company and the space that the Lord has been so gracious to provide for us and the community - even through a few floods. Speaking of which, let's think of ways to Flood the community and share with each other on Sunday night.

Have an awesome week! Looking forward to seeing each one of you soon. Until then, as Joey always says, Be the River!

Random Thoughts

I'll go ahead and tell you. . . these are just my late night ramblings. There's no Jesus point to this post.

This Friday and Saturday brings another weekend of cool music at Confluence. If you haven't been in a few weeks or you've never attended, make plans to join us. You'll really enjoy it. Things get going about 8:00pm and run until close at 11:00pm. And you can try out one of the six (6) new freezer drinks. We have Banana Split, Chai, Garcia's Revenge (sort of like Cherry Garcia), Peppermint Patty, Bahama Mama, and Almond Joy. I've tasted all but one. . . and they're all excellent. So be there! Or else! :~P

It's been a strange week - probably becuase of the holiday and having an extra day off. It was great, but you know how that throws off your entire week. Monday was Sunday all day, so I've been behind a day (or is that, ahead a day) all week.

I've been fighting what I originally thought was a cold coming on. But now I think it was just allergy as I feel much better today. Amazing what some good over the counter drugs and sleep will do for you.

We have had some really crazy days at work lately. Our project was stalled (and still is) and so for about 3 weeks we didn't really do that much. But now it's like they're trying to pay us back all at once. The days are jammed packed and I don't think I've ever had so many voicemails in my life. Every time I turn around that $&#%@ little red light is lit up on my phone again. UGH! Today brought some relief though. We have been working on a blended learning project with a professor at San Diego State University. She's wonderful and provides excellent feedback. But I think the presentation hanging over our heads sort of caused some undue stress. Life is good now though. She loved our presentation and I think we are ahead of the other team that presented today for the ultimate "win."

We have been reading a book titled "Tellin' Ain't Training" as part of the process of forming our new larger team. It's an excellent book and I highly recommend it for anyone in the training field, middle/high school education, or even for college professors. The authors bring out some very good points about how we need to approach adult learners and what types of tactics will really help make our intended points without being the proverbial talking head. The thing to remember is that you want training and the corresponding materials to be "learner centered - performance based." Check it out or borrow my copy!

I think that's about all for right now. . . I do have one other piece of news to share. Our friend JOE OWENS, from The River Church, has a blog. Who knew that quiet Joe had so much to say and was so funny!? It's really cool. Check it out by linking from my Friends and Family section of the left side of this page.

Over and out!
J