Friday, July 23, 2010

And Your Host Is...ME!


Last night I was given a really great opportunity. I got to be guest-host of the Worship Lounge! I had so much fun with it.The Church Chix are some really talented musicians. They have a heart for serving the Lord and for leading people into an amazing place of worship. Interviewing the Chix was great because their testimony as a band just came out naturally and really added to the experience for me as someone in the audience. Which was exactly what I was hoping for. I believe that people are more apt to hear and believe in Christ when they see how He has changed and worked in the lives of someone else.

When I started preparing for my hosting duties, I started thinking about what type of questions I wanted to ask the bands and about what the audience would want to know about the band and their music. I'm one of those nerds who sits out in the audience wanting to know why the band wrote that song or how they get inspired. I'm more Behind the Music than American Bandstand. Here are the questions that I asked:
1. How did the Church Chix come to be a  band?
2. What musicians or bands have influenced your sound?
3. What is the one thing you want people to take away from hearing your music?

I wanted to keep things simple so that they actually did more of the talking than I did. It's easy for me to get caught up and do LOTS of talking (no it doesn't just happen in my writing). I wanted to make sure that they had the opportunity to share their faith and how it shapes their gifts. I thought simple questions would give the band an opportunity to elaborate without me over-directing the interview.

Not only was this my first opportunity to host the Worship Lounge, it also coincided with my first day of participating in Justin Wise's Big Ask Experiment (yes, it's a k). The experiment is about having the courage to go after the "big ask", but not just going after one "big ask" but 30 - one a day for 30 days. Some asks may be bigger than others. Some may push you out of your comfort zone and some may make your askee a little squirmy, but some of the "big asks" just might take your life in a direction that you never imagined but will love. As with everything, I think this experiment takes some faith, some boldness, and discernment.

For day one of the Big Ask Experiment, my "big ask" was my hosting duties at the Worship Lounge. This was something that was new to me and out of my comfort zone...and it was done in front of a crowd of people. I got a lot of positive feedback from the experience, and it was definitely something I would love a crack at doing again. I don't know where God is leading all these experiences I've been having lately, but I know He's leading and wherever it leads will be greater than I could have ever imagined.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

High Seas Expedition and A Few Other Things


Last week was a busy one around our household. C5 and I participated in our church's VBS and Chas was prepping for a Ten Talents Ministry concert. Initially, I had good intentions to keep up with my blog for the week and had five interesting (ok interesting in my opinion) entries planned to post. Like a lot of good intentions, it just didn't happen that way. VBS took a little more of my time than I had thought it might, which is good. Sometimes you just have to be flexible and roll the with whatever comes your way. It seemed like blogging would be a distraction from what I needed to be doing, so I decided to give it a little break. I love writing. I love blogging, but my blog is meant to be documenting what is happening in my life - not be my life.

Vacation Bible School was wonderful! Me, 35 children, and about 30 volunteers went on a High Seas Expedition for part of the week. It was so fun! For the past four summers, I have volunteered for VBS duty. Usually, I teach crafts in the preschool area. This year I decided to work with the elementary-aged children. In the past, I worked with C5's age group so that I could be there with him and all his friends to keep an eye on them and to be a familiar face for them. I decided that since this was C5's last year as a preschooler, I would work with a different age group so that he could explore and be taught by someone other than mommy. The first night he was not happy that mommy was not on his parrot team, but in the end it worked well because he really had a good time and probably listened and participated more because I wasn't there. 



On the last day of Vacation Bible School, Chas was getting ready for a TTM concert. We had such a great time. Manafest, DJ Drue Mitchell, and Planning Yesterday all had such amazing performances. It's great to get to be apart of the concert planning/ministry process. It's amazing that this has been our reality for the past 4 months. It has been quite a whirlwind, and we have learned so much through it out. It's amazing to see the groups and musicians out there just trying to find a place to play and share their love for Christ through their music. God has blessed us immensely during the process and has opened so many doors. I'm excited to see what direction this ministry is moving.

Speaking of concerts...I am the guest host of the Worship Lounge this week. Our regular host, Rev. Ryno, has decided to step back for a bit and focus on his street ministry. He did a great job hosting, so I have some big shoes to fill. I'm really excited, though, and maybe even a little nervous. Of course I love being on stage, so it will be a new and fun challenge. The Lord has really blessed me these past few months by opening doors for my writing and doing design, and by allowing me to host the concert. I have had to learn a lot and have had to get past some of my insecurities (yes, I actually have a few of those). I just have to be willing to trust that He knows what is best and follow Him through the open doors.

Blessings!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Varied Life, Varied Blog?

This week I'm raising the bar high for me and my blogging. I have five ideas for blog posts that have been rumbling around my brain for the past week or two. Some posts I could rattle off without even breaking a sweat. A couple of posts will require a little more thinking and research on my part, but I'm anxious to write them. Of course, I probably have chosen the craziest week to be ambitious with my writing since I've been off work for a week, I'm teaching VBS this week, and then we have a Ten Talents concert to get ready for on Saturday. It will be a busy week, but I am up for the challenge.

I have been giving a lot of thought to my blog lately. I have been thinking about where Living Life Without a A Net fits in the scheme of the blogging world. There are a lot of bloggers blogging about blogs (say that 3 times fast) and how to get more traffic and subscribers to them. They all seem to agree that too much variation in a blog pretty much relegates your blog to having your mom and your best friend to be your only readers. Basically, these bloggers suggest finding a topic that you can commit to and become an expert on that topic. As much as I understand this concept, I also realize this is not my nature. My interests and my life are so varied, wouldn't it be natural that my blog would mirror that? Don't get me wrong. There is a place for specialty (rocket science, brain surgery...just to name a few). However, my life probably fits more in the category of  'jack of all trades,  master of none'. I'm the kid who decided to chase the butterfly instead of finishing my homework just to see where it would take me. I'm the girl who couldn't choose a college major because I found them all so interesting.

I have always enjoyed writing, but I became interested in blogging when I started reading my friend, Monika's fitness blog - In Training. Her blog encouraged me to start my own blog. At the time, I was about to start a new eating and exercise program, so I jumped on the healthy living blog bandwagon (and have since fallen off that wagon more than a few times over the course of this blog's life). As I've gone back over my blog, I have come to realize that perhaps healthy living isn't actually my niche in the blogosphere. Living Life Without a Net is just that - it's a blog about living my kooky life. Sometimes I eat healthy and exercise, and sometimes I just want a hamburger or a bananasplit. Sometimes I want to write about the exercise I did today, and other times I would much rather write about the goofy things my kid did instead. I'll be honest. I just can't commit to one thing, because I'm so much more than one thing. This is just a blog about me and my varied interests. Sorry to all those blogging professionals out there.

So I'll end this post by writing that there are so many random things that will pop up on this blog from time to time. For instance, this week (if I can get all of these entries written) you will see some aspects of my job, some healthy living stuff, and probably some more stuff about my goofy kid (I just can't resist it). My blog is as varied as my life is. What can I say?

This one's for you, Mom!