Back from BOA Grand Nationals, and I'll call it a successful trip. The Golden Regiment barely missed out on semifinals, taking 37th in prelims, I believe. Finals were a blast. Tarpon Springs had an incredible show, and Broken Arrow deserved everything they got. A big congrats to Truman alum and Broken Arrow director AAron Bryan. He was utterly speechless after finals. We were so happy to see them win. What a fantastic band.

Now to sleep, then an early morning, two hours of combined eighth grade rehearsal, and a Tuesday night concert.

So I suppose that it is time to share the news a little more widely. Mary and I are expecting our first child. She is about six weeks into the pregnancy.

That said, after our first appointment today, we were told to go to the emergency room and get her treated for dehydration. Before tonight, her last meal (that she was able to keep down) was Sunday night. She couldn't even keep water down when she drank it. It was crazy, but she is better now.

School gets quiet for a couple of days now. I am pumped up to catch up. Lots of stuff to do, to be concerned about, but I am ready to give it over to God and go to sleep. As one woman said, "He's going to be awake anyhow."

Well, we will call the St. Louis trip a success. Out of 58 bands, only 14 made finals. We were one of the 14, and took 11th overall in finals. You can take a look at the scores here.

We got back at around 5:25 a.m., which was a little rough. The trip was well worth it, though. BOA does run a very educational show, one where it really is all about the kids. Our students came away with a very positive experience.

Now it's time for a quiet evening at home.

Currently Reading The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings on Discipleship By Dallas Willard see related

Tomorrow is the St. Louis BOA Super-Regional. We are meeting at 5:00 a.m. in the bandroom. Our performance time is between Carmel H.S. and Lassiter H.S. Yes, they are both previous national champions. It would be nice to make finals. We shall see.

Our church has moved to Main Street. It is wonderful to have a place where we can meet at any time, rather than just 2 hours reserved on a Sunday morning. I think that this place will serve us well for a long time.

Dallas Willard's writing has been a help lately. What has really touched me is the thought that we may live life in the kingdom of heaven now. A life with God, filled with joy, is available to all through Jesus Christ. The challenge for me is carrying that into all of my daily experiences without getting distracted and going astray.

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;

the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall no strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

He will keep your life.

The Lord will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

Wow, things are busy. Lots of great stuff happening:

Our church has moved to a 24/7 location on Main St. just east of Highway 7. We'll actually be adding music this week, it looks like. I will have to prepare some stuff for Sunday now. It looks like we'll hopefully have over 20 people there on Sunday. Crazy!

We went to a wonderful conference in Leewood, KS at Christ Community Church that featured Dr. Dallas Willard as the primary guest speaker. Dr. Willard is a professor of philosophy at USC, and he is also a Christian author. (What? An acclaimed member of academia is a Christian? And a philosopher, no less...) He had some great ideas, and we took a lot away from the conference. Dr. Bill Hull was also a speaker at the conference, and his talk was very encouraging.

School is good. Sunny Vale is a wonderful place to work. I enjoy the students, and I definitely enjoy all of my colleagues. High school marching band is taking up quite a bit of time, but it is rewarding as well.

It has been a spiritual dry time for a while. I am slowly working through the psalms of ascents right now, and I have really been blessed by studying Psalm 91. It seems like the more I dig, the more I find out that I'll never really get to the bottom of that one. Even though it is a difficult time, the Lord has picked me up and pulled me on. I'm still pressing on, with His help.

Life is good. Exciting things are coming up. Now I am off to type up some work for tomorrow's band classes.

The ultimate freedom we have as human beings
is the power to select what we will allow
our minds to dwell upon.
It is in our thoughts that the first movements
toward the renovation of the heart occur.
Thoughts are the place where
we can and must begin to change.
- Dallas Willard