Over the Horizon

Eddie From Ohio & My Early Birthday

Well, this weekend was certainly exciting! I was treated to an early birthday present by my dear friend, Beth. Two months early to be exact, but this event has been on the calendar for two months now, and it was well worth the wait!

Friday, September 9, I headed north to meet up with her at her condo. Upon arrival, I was let in on the secret of my early birthday surprise: TICKETS TO SEE EDDIE FROM OHIO IN CONCERT!!! Now, this is one of my favorite folk bands, and the only time I've seen them live was once in Fredericksburg during my last year of college when I was still fairly unfamiliar with the majority of their music. Beth on the other hand was introduced to Eddie From Ohio 15 years ago but never really followed them until recently when I discovered this travesty and began to remedy it!! She liked them 15 years ago, and she likes them even more now that she's becoming more aware of their music! So, we had a blast that night!

First, though we headed to Chef Geoff, a great little restaurant in Vienna. I had the most scrumptious dinner of Big Shrimp & Grits. Now, don't ask me why I've never thought of combining shrimp and grits, but it was the most delighfully flavorful meal! The grits were perfect, and we all know how much I love shrimp. My grandmother would have loved this meal, for sure!! Beth enjoyed her meal of Chicken Lemoncello, and we both basked in the glow of great dinner conversation.

 

After dinner we picked up some cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, whose cheesecake I had never tasted before, and then headed over to the Wolf Trap Filene Center to set ourselves up on the lawn for the show. We set up our seats and pulled out the cheesecake and accompanying beverage and began to feast and enjoy the wonderful evening air as the show began!

 

(left) My Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake. Beth dared me to eat the whole thing. Piece of "cake"....I ate all but like 3 bites! (right) Beth's Dulce de Leche Cheesecake!

Chillin' in our lawn seats in the beautiful night air!

The opener act was Martin Sexton. I have never heard of him before now, but I am SO glad that I've heard of him now. He is at the top of my list of albums to purchase. His music was a rich mix of blues, folk, John Meyer, and Louisianna. It just made my soul sway! If you've never heard his music before, make sure you find him online and introduce yourself to his sound because it is truly heavenly, not to mention the creative and striking lyrics! Go ahead and hit play on this song. It's so great

Martin Sexton - 13 Step Boogie

Then, after a short intermission, Robbie Schaeffer (accoustic guitar, vocals), Michael Clem (bass, vocals), Julie Murphey Wells (vocals), and Eddie Hartness (drums, vocals) made their way onto the stage and began doing what they do best: having fun and making great music! I was surprised, however, to see a sixth man on stage....and he was playing a mandolin!! And then in the next song he switched to the fiddle!!! This was new to me, but WOW what a difference the mandolin and fiddle made to the classic EFO sound. It was so much richer and more blue-grass-ey, but it added a new level of sophistication to the music too! Amazing!

I took this pic from our lawn seats. Of course, my camera was all the way zoomed in.

This video is a portion of their song "Number 6 Driver", one of their songs that features Virginia. You can really hear the fiddle in this, though, and it sounds great!

This new addition to the band joined them about three years ago, and his name is Jake Armerding. He is also a solo singer/songwriter, and Beth and I really enjoyed the one song of his that he played during the show. It's from his new album Her, and it's called "Harry/Sally". It's break-up song written from the perspective of the dump-er. It was great! Check it out!

This year EFO celebrates 20 years of making music together, and they've been doing a darn good job of it! One of my favorite songs of theirs is "Old Dominion" written for their home state of VIRGINIA! Of course, I truly believe should be our state anthem! They did this song as the encore at the end of the show, and it was STELLAR! Check it this video from a show they did earlier this year!

About three songs into the EFO portion of the night a couple passed us on the lawn on their way out of the arena. The wife came over and handed us tickets and said, "Hey, would you two like our tickets? We're leaving early. They're fifth row!" We looked at each other and took all of 2 seconds to say, "YES, THANK YOU!" We decided to grab our stuff and make a dump-run to the car (since you can't take food and such into the main seating area), and on our way out the seat rental guy said, "Hey, why don't you two just leave your stuff here. We'll watch it for you and that way you don't miss any of the show." Again, we responded enthusiastically and booked it down to our new fifth row seats. So amazing!!!

Our new fifth row view!!! So amazing!!!

EFO shows are so much fun, and there is always great audience participation. We had a blast, that's for sure! It was truly a night for the memory books! What a great way to kick off my birthday, even if it is two months early! I can't wait for the rest of it to commence in two months!

Thank you, Beth! You truly are the best!

"One King...."

On Sunday morning, December 19, the kids of my church and I did a special music presentation for Christmas. I sang "One King" by Point of Grace, and the kids did a little human video that Amanda and I put together for them. They did such a fantastic job and were so adorable that most times I could barely get through the song! Anyway, one of the dad's took video of the whole thing, so I wanted to posted it here for you to see!

One thing you should know, the three wise men enter from the sides of the sancturay and walk around the seating area individually and then start converging on the stage. Due to the non-wide-angle lense of the camera, you won't see them until they start converging in the second verse. But rest-assured, they are doing something even though you can't see them! ;)

Enjoy!

"Sisters Walking Side By Side..."

This past weekend, I went on the women's retreat through my church, New Life Community Church of Stafford. I have to confess something: I had no plans or desire to go on this retreat. They'd been announcing it for months, and regardless of the financial concerns for me (read: I couldn't afford it), I just didn't want to go. But then one day in July I was approached by one of the Women's Ministry Team Leaders and asked to consider leading worship for the retreat, and she offered that if I found the Lord was leading me to say yes, then they would cover the cost of my attendance. So, I committed to seek the Lord...

But I didn't have to seek very long. I already knew.

When she offered her proposition, I was shocked for about 10 seconds, and then I just heard it in my heart: "You do this! The answer is yes!". Of course, I spent a week making sure I was hearing correctly, but the peace was in the "yes" answer, and my motto is always "go with the peace" based on Isaiah 55:12, "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace.."

So, a week later, I told her yes. And then I embarked on the journey of choosing songs and learning to play them. Of course I had the option to lead worship using CDs or any other method. However, I play guitar, and I wanted freedom for myself and for the women to worship as the Lord led rather than be constrained to a pre-recorded CD. So, I spent months playing and narrowing down and playing some more. By the time the retreat came around, I had the wickedest callouses on my fingers!

Now, you should know. I've never led worship before, and I've never had the incling to do so! However, I've been on worship teams and in worship bands since high school, and I've paid attention to how the leaders have led, and I've attended workshops. So, I just figured I'd listen to the Lord and go with the songs He brought to mind.

In the end I had a list of 16 songs and a theme: ORIENTATION.

The Lord had already been speaking to my own heart for several months about "the gaze of the soul" (from Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer), keeping me fixed in John 15 ("Remain in me, and I will remain in you.") and Hebrews 12:2 ("Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith."). And I knew that the theme for the retreat was about being a mentor to others.

As I prayed over how to focus the song selection for the retreat worship sets, I sensed the Lord impressing upon my heart and mind that worship on that retreat was supposed to be our orienting time. I sensed Him saying,

"Orientation is about getting your center right, getting your bearings, figuring out where you are, where you want to go, and how to get there. Worship is how you do that. It reminds you of who you are, where you are headed, and how you get there. It keeps your soul gazing on Me. It keeps your eyes fixed on My Son, your center, source, and destination. It keeps you abiding in Me, which gives you access to all of Me abiding in you. For this retreat, remind them that worship is their ORIENTATION, and they must stay oriented FIRST before they can orient others through mentorship."

So, there you have it! Worship was called "ORIENTATION", and as nervous as I was, I knew it was what the Lord wanted for me, for them. So, we pressed forwad.

The retreat went really well. It was held in Sandbridge, VA at a huge house right on the beach. It was beautiful! I was in love with the set lists for worship. Just about every single one of these songs are my favorites, and you can enjoy the versions we used by just clicking on the title that are actively linked:

Friday Night

 Be the Centre by Michael Frye
"All In All"
Praise the Name of Jesus as sung by Shane Bernard & Shane Everett
Oh Lord You're Beautiful as sung by Jesus Culture
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) by Chris Tomlin

Saturday Morning

Come Let Us Worship as sung by Chris Tomlin
How Deep the Father's Love for Us as sung by Joy Williams
Amazing Love as sung by Bebo Norman
"Jesus, Name Above All Names"
"Father I Adore You"

Saturday Evening
This set was not in the original plans. I found out about it after I arrived, so it was thrown together with songs from the other three sets. We also sang "Create In Me A Clean Heart" at the request of one of the women in attendance.

Sunday Morning

Come Thou Fount as sung by Sara Groves
Sanctuary as sung by Jaci Velazquez
"In The Presence"
Revelation Song by Kim Walker Smith and sung by Jesus Culture on Consume
In Christ Alone (The Solid Rock) as sung by Travis Cottrell

 

The lessons on mentoring were taking from the book Woman to Woman: Preparing Yourself to Mentor by Edna Ellison. Each of the four ministry team leaders took a lesson and then led small group discussions which were really great times of sharing and exploring. Mentoring isn't anything new to me, though I do not claim to be an expert. I fumble my way through it like the next lady, but it was cool to hear the perspectives of some of the other ladies who have not ever mentored and how the Lord was speaking to them. For me, more than anything else, I was blessed by the fellowship.

I'm looking forward to how the next year will shape up as far as Women's Ministry events. They are going to use this book as the guide for the whole next year, and "Mentoring" will be our theme for the year. So, I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of events get planned and what sorts of nuggets of insights and teaching the Lord pours out of us through it all! Mentoring/discipleship is definitely close to my heart, so I'm pleased that the Lord is bringing this into focus within my own church. YEA GOD!

And thanks, Lord, for a really great weekend and the three months leading up to it!

 

(left) Our driveway for the house..more like a parking lot! (right) Meal times were a ton of fun!

 

Our Minstry Team Leaders: (left) Mary, Joanne, Mugs and (right) Robyn

 

Our views!

 

(left) Me leading worship. (right) Our final activity...the blessings web!

The End.

"Beautiful Tree"

So, I've been following this new show on The CW called "Life Unexpected". Actually, I really enjoy this show a lot! But one thing that I especially love about it is the theme song. I love the sound and I love what it says. So, I looked it up online and found the full-version song with a video, and my love of this song was strengthened! I have never heard of Rain Perry, but she is the author of the song "Beautiful Tree".

So, I'm posting it here for you to enjoy as well!! What an amazing celebration of the reality that none of us are perfect, and none of our families are perfect, but they are OURS, and that makes them perfect for each one of us. Enjoy!!