I am currently not shaving my facial hair.  I suppose it’s one of those “manly” things.

We’ll see how long it lasts.

As you know, one of my favorite worship leaders is Kristian Stanfill.  On his blog he has posted a new song:

Wake up

Enjoy.

I took a few of our students from Velocity to Gleaners today.  We went to the Taylor location.  Overall we stuffed 420 bags with crackers, fruit snacks, and any other snack you can think of…all for kids who don’t have the luxury of having a “snack.”

It is always fun reconnecting with old friends that you haven’t seen in a while.  I went to Bahama Breeze tonight and enjoyed some live music and good conversation.

I just booked my train tickets from Ann Arbor to Chicago.  I will usher in the new year in the windy city with some pretty amazing friends.

Today I had band practice.  I am leading worship at this years Grapevine Project.  I am excited to see what God is going to do through the worship music we have planned.  Head on over to my xanga to check out all the songs we’ll be doing that weekend.

I went downtown Detroit today and hung out with some homeless peeps.  The group I was with (shout out to Adam, Steve, Daniel, Ally and Katie!) had built relationships with some people over the past 2 weeks, and it was really cool to see them come back for a 3rd time, and see how the people responded.  They welcomed them with open arms, struck up conversations from the week before…like they were talking to old friends.  The week before the group had brought tents with them, so this week all the tents were set up.

But to go into a situation like that where all around you is people who don’t have a job, don’t have a home, and really don’t have much family to call upon is quite the experience.  As much as I tried, it was virtually impossible to wrap my head around the massive problem that was staring me in the face.  Some of these people wanted to get out of it.  They wanted to believe that life was more than their current experience.  Some people, however, seemed to not mind the lifestyle…beats turning yourself in and going to prison, I guess.

Needless to say, I’ll probably go back.  Jesus called us to love people; to clothe the naked and feed the hungry.  As hard as it is to swallow, there weren’t really any conditions by which we were to do those things…we are just to do them.

NorthRidge Church holds an event every 6-8 weeks called “Discover NorthRidge.”  It is designed for the new person to come and hear the heart, values, purpose, and strategy of NorthRidge Church from the Senior Pastor himself.  Every ministry has a table, and it was my turn to host the student ministry table.

On another note, I have never seen a dog “lie down” like this.  Have you?

This is what my car looked like when I dropped it off at the shop.  With a little time, pixy dust, and a call to AAA Insurance, it looks brand new!  The guy even vacuumed and washed the inside a little.  I half expected him to only wash the outside.

You can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was (at least I think you can…)

It is a rare day when I get to enjoy the company of friends my own age.  Today I hung out with friends at The Bean in downtown Plymouth, then we saw Eagle Eye in theaters.  It was a great movie!  I highly recommend it.  More importantly it was a great time of hanging out.  We talked about politics, relationships, struggles, and everything in between.

On another note, tomorrow I get my car back.  Don’t get me wrong, driving a suburban around has been great, but when you drop $75 and it doesn’t fill up the tank…you got a problem.

chao for now