Ultrasound #2

Lisa and I had our 20 week ultrasound today (technically we are 20 weeks 6 days). Everything looked fine and the baby's heart rate was 141 bpm, which is right in the middle of the desired range (120-160 bpm). Lisa is still doing well and is starting to show more and is more frequently tired.

The following images didn't scan very well and were much clearer on the screen at the doctor's office.

Baby's hand is either beside the face or the baby is sucking its thumb.
The spot to the left of the head is a foot.


Here you can see the baby with mouth open.
Again, it might be sucking its thumb.


Bab's arm and hand are clearly visible.
You can count the fingers if you want - they are all there!

Something Bigger

The words of a song I've heard numerous times since buying the CD its on touched a nerve with me this morning. The song is "Something Bigger" by John Waller and it can be found on his album "The Blessing". While searching for the lyrics online (because I don't want to type them up on my own), I came across this page, where John explains where he came up with the song:

“Attempt something so big for God that it is sure to fail without Him.” I’m not sure who first spoke these words, but they’ve never left me. I believe the desire to be a part of something greater than ourselves is built into the core of each one of us."

Without much effort, I discovered that the aforementioned quote is attributed to John Haggai and was probably pulled from this page of the book The Jesus Habit by Jay Dennis.

Actually, the correct quote of John Haggai is "Attempt something so impossible that unless God is in it, it's doomed to failure."

Anyway, without going any further down that rabbit trail, here are the lyrics to the song "Something Bigger":

Something Bigger
I wanna see something I've not seen
Something so big
I wanna be a part of something great
Greater than me

It's time to dream big dreams
To see Your vision
Become reality
‘Cause it’s for You, by You, those who
Love You wanna do

Something so big
It’s destined to fail without You, Lord
It’s gonna fail without You, Lord
Something so great
It takes a miracle to do
We, Your children
Wanna do something big for You

We, yes, we are gonna sing a brand new song
Something so strong
We will be the sound that wakes the dawn
Something so loud

It’s time for breaking through
‘Cause there are no limits
For he who holds the truth
When it’s for You, and by You, and those who
Love You wanna do

Something bigger, something greater
For the glory of Your splendor
Something bigger, something greater
Tell the story of Your wondrous love
Your wondrous love
Those who love You wanna do

As long as we live, let us do something so big for You

I like the passion and desire expressed in the lyrics that exclaim how much this person wants to be involved in something that is so far beyond their own involvement or brainchild that it has to be of God or it will fail miserably. I find that kind of attitude about being a Christian refreshing - realizing that without God everything is pointless, but being willing and wanting to do something crazy and huge for His Glory and His Name. (Isaiah 26:8)

I like the sound of that...

Baby Development

Okay, so I changed the little Baby Development widget over on the right hand side for several reasons. The main reason being that I wanted something that would give you more detailed information on the baby's development at the present state, and this one does that. If you want to know what is happening in the baby's life right now, simply click on the image.

A New Chapter

Our church, FBCH, started a new church plant which opened on Easter Sunday this year and chose the name Redeemer Church. They are currently meeting in a middle school gymnasium off of I-64 and Highway DD. Yesterday, Lisa and I attended service there for the first time. You may be asking "Why would they drive all that way to go to a service?" That's a good question with an interesting answer.

Two weeks ago I was approached by the pastor at Redeemer and asked if I would be willing to lead the music portion of their service. Evidently, the man that had been leading was moving and the church was going to be without a music person in a very short amount of time. I talked it over with Lisa and we prayed about it and told them I would do it. At the moment I have agreed to lead the music through the summer (August), with the agreement that we will re-evaluate the situation toward the end of that time and determine if we might do it longer.

So, here we were attending a new church for the first time and I was trying to prepare to lead the music. When we arrived there was still a bunch of unloading to do. The church is entirely portable and packs into these 6 foot high containers on wheels that get packed onto a cargo truck. We tried tohelp where we could but quickly realized that everyone has a very specific thing that they are doing during this time. It became obvious that the practice time I had set for 8:45am was not going to be possible. At around 9:15 I met the pianist (never played in church before that day) and her husband (played every once in a while) and we started working through the songs I had chosen. The other guitarist joined in when he got there and we attempted to rehearse.

It wasn't until about 9:50 that the stage was setup and ready for us to do a sound check. We ran through a quick mic/input check and met behind the stage to pray with the pastor. Nothing like being basically a first time visitor to a church that is months old and having to take the stage without getting to practice on it and get a feel for the acoustics of the room (did I mention it's a gym?). I was a bit nervous.

God in His Faithfulness and Mercy allowed the service to go relatively smoothly and I felt like the members knew most of the songs I had picked (one was definitely brand new to them). Towards the end of the music time I could actually hear them singing along with me which was nice. After the sermon we played "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) during Communion (which they have every week).

Overall, I was pleased with the way things went and I am looking forward to next week already. The people we met were very friendly and I enjoyed the sermon. We need to try and set up a time to practice outside of Sunday morning, but I don't know if that will happen or not this week. It's hard to pick out songs when you don't have any idea what the members know, but I am trying to pick some fairly standard praise songs, while mixing in a newer one every week. It will be nice to get to a point where I know they know certain songs (same goes for the instrumentalists).

It's nice to be able to serve in this way and it is awesome how God just allowed the opportunity for me while providing the solution for a new church's need. While we will miss our friends in our Sunday School class on Sunday morning but we plan on continuing to do the events with them and meet them for lunch after church.

I loko forward to seeing what God has planned for us next week.