Southeastern has placed a “Fall Tree” in the center of the new cafeteria. However, this “fall tree” is, in fact, simply a Christmas tree with fall decorations on it. I am 100% opposed to decorating too early for any holiday, especially Christmas. I love Christmas. I cherish Christmas. Growing up my home was a varitable winter wonderland at Christmas time. That said, it is a season to be celebrated in the right time. Now, Southeastern vehemently denies that this is a Christmas tree, maintaining that the fall decorations make it a “fall tree”. Southeastern says fall tree, I say fall treason.

I have chosen to shun this “fall tree” by averting my gaze until mid-November. Mid-November is the appropriate time to appreciate and unveil Christmas decorations, and I refuse to look at the tree until then. I implore you, Southeastern…Avert your gaze.

PICTURED ABOVE: (L) Fall tree, (R) Me using my hand to shield the tree from sight.

Craig Groeschel is the lead pastor of LifeChurch. He is also becoming quite well known for his blog. Today, Groeschel continues discussing vision in a series of posts based on his book Chazown.Today’s post is also based on Southeastern. Groeschel talks about the growth of the school under the vision and leadership of Dr. Rutland. Check it out here.

Old Testament History
Romans
Artist in the Church
Hymnology
Theology II
Class Piano II
Student Ministry Practicum
Applied Guitar IV

I am relieved. (grades pending)

Growing up, I loved the weekends just like every other kid. The school bell would ring at 2:45, mom would be there to pick me up, and thus began the relaxation. Perhaps I would go to a friend’s house on Friday night and stay up late playing some Mario Cart on the N-64 or have the parents drop me off at the Rave for some sweet PG movie action. Saturday, I would wake up around nine or ten (I used to have a hard time sleeping in during the school year because I had to get up so early during the week). Whenever I woke up I would head down stairs and watch the usual NBC Saturday line up which (then) consisted of Saved by the Bell, City Guys, and Hang Time. After about an hour and a half of TV I may doze off again, only to be awakened by a knock on the door from a local neighborhood friend who just wanted to shoot some hoop or go exploring.

But now, not so much. This weekend looks a little more like this:

FRIDAY
8am – Exam
10am – Exam
2pm – Exam
4:30pm – Leave for Orlando
6pm – Meeting in Orlando
10pm-12am – Leading worship at a prayer meeting in Orlando
1am – Arrive back in Lakeland

SATURDAY
8am-12:30pm – Group lesson at Cleveland School of Music (Two more months!)
3:30pm – Leave for Sarasota
5pm – Sound check / Rehearsal in Sarasota
7pm-9:30pm – Lead worship at Victory @ Sarasota
11:00pm – Arrive in Lakeland

SUNDAY
6:30am – Depart for Orlando
7:30am – Set-up, sound check, rehearsal in Orlando
9:30am-11am – Lead worship at The Well
11am-12pm – Tear down at The Well
1pm – Arrive in Lakeland
2pm-8pm – Cleveland School Recital

Bottom line…I’m very tired and I have been sick for like two weeks. Monday I am going to collapse. This has literally been the busiest / hardest semester of my life…Sorry this post doesn’t have the usual humor and entertainment value as usual. You’ll hear from me Monday and I’ll be in a fantastic mood. School will be out. Life will slow down. Keep checking in, because pretty soon I’m going to post about a DVD player I just bought, and it is going to be a gas.

That’s pretty much the one word that can describe the last ten days or so. Last weekend I led worship Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at out-of-town locations. It made for some really early mornings and late nights in the road (as pictured below). I know all of you regular readers have been on the edge of your seat wondering what could possibly be keeping me from blogging over the last couple of weeks. Life. It’s been busy.

Things are starting to slow down. It’s exam week, so while the stress is not completely gone, the class schedule is decreased. I “triumphed” in my first of several exams today. It was class Piano II and it was crazy hard. Yesterday I practiced for hours upon hours. This whole semester has been a complete whirlwind. Not a whole lot going on right now.

Kristin and I had our first laundry-mat experience. We are in the market for a washer and dryer, but have yet to find one. While we’re on that subject, we’re also (still) in the market for a car…Kristin totaled hers a couple of months ago and we have been a one car family since we’ve been married. It has been very manageable since our schedules are fairly similar and Kristin works at the school. However, that will soon change when school ends this Friday.

Back to the laundry mat…It was good fun. It was very hot. Interesting how the laundry mat is like a community. The lady who ran the place said that she had known many of the children who were there since they had been born. Everybody knew everybody. Except us. That’s okay though. We accomplished our #1 goal which was: do laundry. Kristin had a separate goal which was: hold stranger’s children. She succeeded.
Here’s a bit more information about my Class Piano II exam if you care. If you don’t, stop reading. My class piano teacher is nice-ish. She’s not nice but she’s not mean. She takes piano very seriously. More importantly, she takes class attendance seriously. Even above that, she holds practicing the piano as close to personal holiness as one can. Anyway, she doesn’t believe that I even deserve to have hands because I don’t spend enough time practicing…SO yesterday I literally spent hours and hours and hours practicing only to fall painfully short of her standard of perfection in any of the areas in which I was tested. The good news is that it was my last piano class… …

More updates on life and exams to come. More pictures too. I am a firm believer that a blog without pictures is like a traffic cop with no arms. It’s there, and it’s entertaining, but it just doesn’t quite have what it takes to get the job done.