Church Anniversary

I have had the pleasure of participating in some great events this weekend, and its not even over yet.
My Church, First Baptist of Salem, is Celebrating 150 Years of being "A Faithful Witness". On December 29, 1859 eight people joined together on the corner of Marion and Liberty streets and started the First Baptist Church. One Hundred Fifty Years Later, we are still alive and kickin' at the same place.

We celebrate this weekend the birthday of FBC Salem with many great events, some of which have already happened. On Friday night there was a service that had the opening of the Time Capsule that was created and placed in 1952. I had the opportunity on Thursday to help with some video creation for that Friday night service. I was at the church at around 1:15pm to help with the video capture of getting to the Time Capsule which was on the corner of the church building. I was stupidly expecting the job to be about an hour or less. NO WAY! This job was a multihour job. We were there from 1ish to about 7ish just doing the video taping. Then I came back on Friday morning to do the editing for the time capsule to shrink the Over-4-Hours-of-footage down to 4 Minutes. It took some doing. I had some use of speeding up the footage, and not using other parts, ect, but thats not the story.
On Friday night, they had a service with a History of the Church and surrounding area, some songs of the past, and of course, the Time Capsule opening. In the capsule was a bible, the church constitution, a letter from the pastor, the Statesmen newspaper from that year (1952), a list of the Church Directory, and a few other items.
Then, Today, there were many things going on. There were exibits in many rooms, Old Fashioned Craft making, a Butter Churning demo, Flax Spinning, a Barbershop Quartet, and Dance team, and lots of talks from members of the church from way back. There was one gentleman that is still at the church who was in the church in 1925. WOW. That is amazing.
Tomorrow, there will be a celebration service with the Churches first Youth Pastor. Throughout the weekend, they are ringing the Church Bell that used to be atop the steeple. Now it is in an enclosure. that can be moved around. The original bell. Amazing huh!?

I would hope to be a part of an Anniversary Celebration from my previous church. I don't know if anything is planned yet, but I did some digging, and the 100th Celebration for First Baptist Church of Redmond (now named Redmond Community Church) is coming up fairly soon. (1912). This was the church that I grew up in and I have some great memories of that church, as a boy.

Oh, BTW, if you would like to take a look at some pictures from this event today that I took, you can head on over to my Picasa site.
http://picasaweb.google.com/timothykirkman/SalemFBC150thAnny?feat=directlink

Could it be...?

It has been a long time since I was looking So forward to Thanksgiving. Usually, I am happy for Thanksgiving, and enjoy that wonderful food and the opportunity to see family and whatnot- but I am usually in Christmas mode by that time and so Thanksgiving not that big of a deal for me. But this year that is mostly different. I say MOSTLY because I do not relent the status of being in Christmas mode, I am, but I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving in a little bit more than a week.

Could some of it be that I am away from all family this year? That I have not seen them since MidOctober? Could it be that I just wanna get away from everything? Could it be because of the fact that I have never been to my Sister and Bro in Laws place in Bremerton and want to see it? Could it be the fact that I miss seeing the way my Niece is growing? Could it be that my whole family will be together for a few days? Could it be that I have been looking into Black Friday ads early? Could it be that I want to have a good Thanks dinner? Could it be that I am looking forward to those Amazing Dinner Rolls? the Pumpkin Pie? the Turkey? the Green Bean Casserole? The Homemade Apple Crumble Pie? Could it be that I get to go a few days early to spend with my sister and Bro in Law? (and stay a few days late) Could it be that I am also heading up to the Apple Store on the way up to get my Mac Fixed? (hopefully!) Could it be that I am hoping to stop by my Grandparents' house on the way up there also?
It certainly is ALL of those things. I am looking forward to all those things, but mostly the chance to catch up with family.

New Facade for the Blog

New Facade for the Blog. Gotta get rid of those Halloween/Harvest Colors and input the Christmas Colors.

It's nice to be wanted!

It is nice to be wanted. I had been yearning to be on the worship team at my new church ever since I got there in September. I took a few weeks to make sure that this was the Church I wanted to plant at for my year here in Salem area, but after that I contacted Pastor Nate, the worship pastor, to see what steps I needed to take to be involved in the Worship at FBC Salem. I got together with him and sang (auditioned) and shortly after he got me involved. I started off just singing in a service, but then was asked a while later if I would want to play bass guitar. I was okay with this but really wanted to sing. I figured it would only be a week of Bass and then get back to singing. Well, it seems that he has liked me playing bass because I have an open invitation until I leave for home for Christmas Break. This week I get to Sing AND play Bass. That will be fun. It takes some work to be able to play and play bass at the same time, kinda difficult. I find that I play less difficult bass lines so I can focus on the singing part. I don't know how the Bass Player/Singer of Skillet does it ALL THE TIME.

But, like I said, it is nice to know that I am wanted in the worship ministry. When he offered the playing bass from now until I leave for break, I said "Did you loose all your Bass players?" He said No, but I like your spirit and you play well. Nice compliment.

I am looking forward to playing Bass again.

Pixar is AMAZING!

UP comes out today. If you have not watched this- it is a must-watch. It is amazing the way the story is put together; the opening scenes with hardly any dialogue and still telling a rich story that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. It is to put it mildly, UP to the Pixar Standards.

Pixar, for their entire Feature Film life, has for me had a High Standard of Excellence. Every film that is created by Pixar is a 5 star show. They have all-star casts, and even nobody's that live up the the same standards. They have some actors who are not even actors but just fill-ins (Such as Roz from Monster Inc.) that you would not even know they are not professional actors, but just someone on the crew who filled-in.
The storylines from all pixar movies are great. They appeal to all ages from tiny children all the way to adults and beyond. There is humor for all ages in these productions. The stories are original and very entertaining.

One day, I would love to visit their Headquarters in Emeryville, CA (near San Fran) to see where the magic happens and hopefully take a tour (if they even offer them?) It would be amazing to see the studios, the hardware, the artists, everything.

Once again, If you have not seen UP, you need to. And all the other Pixar movies for that matter, they are all good.

What I learned this Weekend!

This weekend was good. If you read my previous blog about my Prayer to God that I shared, I did have some great quality time with God.
The weekend's message was by Pastor Jeff, our Associate Pastor at Salem FBC. He taught on Silence and Solitude and the practice of that. Starting with the Theories and Theology of it, and then moving on to how to do it and some great steps to help out with it.
We talked about the Greatest Commandment, to Love the Lord Your God with all you Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength. We talked about the dangers of using just one of those ideas and neglecting the others. For example if you just love God with your Mind, you know everything about the bible but do not use the Heart/Soul or Strength, they you could get arrogant or legalistic. So we were taught to Love God wholly, with all our Heart/Body/Mind.
We also talked about the practice of being in Solitude and Silence. This was great. We actually had an hour and a half after a discussion to go be by ourselves, find a quiet place away from everyone else, and just spend that 1 1/2 with God. I was kinda worried about that because, although I like being alone, I was thinking I would do the stuff I was to do and then still have a hour left, but I did it and was surprised to find that it went very quickly. I was not worried to find things to pray/talk with God about and it came naturally to me. I loved being by myself on the Beach and just talking with God and thinking about things.

On a personal side, the weekend was good for me, but I did not get to know everyone as much as I would have liked. I didn't really connect with anyone that much. Sure, I had fun talking deeper with many, but I still did not feel that connected. There was a group of guys there that i was not really accepted into, (they were kinda young, first year of College, ect) and I got to talk with some, but it was the people I already knew from Sunday morning College SS, and other things like that.
(And I know that some of you are thinking that I did not feel as connected to one person specifically, but actually I found that that person is not who I am attracted to, you know what I mean, this is code, I know)
I could not sleep the first night, I was up playing a great game of Phase 10, good stuff, but then I got tired and retired to the sleeping quarters, but even with earplugs in and whatnot, I still could not sleep. Got very little sleep Friday night. Then Saturday night, I actually moved to a more comfy bed to try to sleep, but even after that I was still up at 11, so I just decided to drive back to Salem way late at night. (I was planning to leave early anyways so I could get back for Church and then head to PTown for Bethany's Bon Voyage Party, which I did)
So, I just got into Salem at around 1AM and hit the sack.

One other thing that I learned at this Retreat is that I am a Hurried person. In a Grocery Store checkout if there are two lines open I will chose one and then watch someone who got in the other line about the same time as me and see if I made the right choice. And Driving of course. When i was on my way there, I rush rush rushed, but I learned at the retreat that I need to be aware of that. So I decided to drive the speed limit and just settle to be patient while driving there, and it has made all the difference. I was amazed at my calmness while driving to and in Portland. I was not tense or waiting for anyone or anything. It was a good thing, and so I am going to be mindful of that and try to drive more patiently.

A Written Prayer from This Weekend Retreat

"The Heavens declare Your Greatness, 

The Oceans cry out to You, 

The Mountains they bow down before You, 

so I'll join with they earth and I'll give You my Priase."

Lord, I cannot even fathom the greatness of You. The smartest person in the whole universe could not even comprehend all of who you are, or even a portion of who you are. It makes me feel like these little grains of sand. I cannot even pick up one becaus eit is so tiny. Listening to the mighty, powerful roar of the Ocean and watching the waves crash majestically against the Rock reminds me of your glory and also of how you are like that Rock that never changes. The waves may crash relentlessly against you, but you always were, always are, and you will always be that Rock that is firm.
Sitting alone reminds me of the vastness of the work that you created. The birds that are chirping, the surrounding trees, the complexity of the human body, all created by You and You Alone. How AWESOME!
Help me to be like You, a rock that never budges. An unwhithering disciple for You, Proclaiming Your Word and Works so all may hear.
Thinking about the talk last night, help me to be wholistic in my Content, Character, and Conduct. I don't want to be only a servant, or only a know-it-all in terms of the bible, or only a spirit-led person. I want to be ALL. I want to be a biblically-knowledged-spirit-filled-servant for you. Help me to grow in those areas that are lacking.
Help me to feel you as I did this morning on Sweetly Broken. Those words are so powerful, describing what you went through on the cross and our ability to look toward Your suffering and reflect on that. Thank You that You bring me gently to my knees to the cross so I can cling to Your act of Mercy. I want to be SWEETLY BROKEN, WHOLLY SURRENDER.