My Life. Plain & Simple.

Hope for the Weary

2010-01-01T09:43:00.005-06:00

Life has changed rather drastically for Maegan and I over the past few months. If you followed her progress through any of the up's and down's of the hospital stays and doctor visits, than you know that life turned into one big roller-coaster with no end in sight.

During the ordeal, I began to post updates and thoughts here to not only keep everyone somewhat informed as to what was going on, but to also escape from reality for a few minutes and attempt to process what all was going on around me.

Reading back over the events of the summer, I realized that I sugarcoated every post.

Maybe I was in denial or just didn't want to write down what we had just experienced in too much detail. Whatever the reason, Maegan and I were left dealing with the emotional aftermath of a series of traumatic events. Even when talking to close friends and family we skim over the tough parts simply because we don't want to have to feel those feeling again.

Fact: repressed emotions don't just go away. We feel as if it is time to write out the story as it truly happened. Just the true, stripped-down, bare-bones, as-real-as-it-happened, feelings and experiences that Maegan and I endured in order to leave no stone unturned.

More importantly, we are writing this to show how God brought us through impossible situations so that we could deeply share how he continues to draw us to Him. Every event, every doctor, every hospital visit, led us to exactly were God wanted us (even though it didn't seem like it at the time).

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I'm reminded of a story of a person who decides to take a midnight hike and follow a friend up to the peak of a mountain. They know this friend has hiked many times and knows exactly where every turn in the trail lies and follows them over miles of rough terrain, through thick forests, around black lakes of frozen water, and around treacherous bends. She continues to follow and refuses to take her eyes off of his back until they reach the summit. As they arrived, they were greeted with one of the most beautiful sunrises she had ever seen. The cold, fresh breeze restored her tired lungs and the colors of the sunrise melted away every cold feeling in her heart. Life stood still. After catching her breath she looked down and saw the trail that they had just spent several hours hiking up. There were spots were they were merely inches from the cliff where one stumble or loose rock would have meant certain death.

She states, "If I would have known how dangerous the climb would have been, I would have never decided to follow you on this hike!"

He replies, "I know. But you would also never see what was waiting at the end of the journey..."
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God took us into a series of events and situations that left us no choice but to cling, blindly to his arms and let him lead us. If I would have know exactly what was going to happen with Maegan I would have still married her; I would have still loved her dearly. However, I would have known what to tell the doctors about and stop this thing before it happened. The end result? God wouldn't have received the glory...I would have. The worth that holds versus the eternal worth Christ holds for us is hardly a drop in the ocean when compared.

We are choosing to write our story not to point at what we did to try to make it through, but to show exactly how God never left us, never forsook us and never left our side.

No matter how little strength we had on our own, he always brings Hope for the Weary.

Update (9/17)

2009-09-17T05:42:00.004-05:00

We just got back from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas a couple of days ago and had a good visit with some very knowledgeable specialists. The purpose of the visit was to check out the neuro side of things a little more extensively.

We do know that although the symptoms are still going on, they are much better than before. Maegan is able to get up and around (until her legs swells/turns awesome colors from the clots) and is even going to class this semester! There were times just a couple of months ago when I thought she wasn't going to make it...and yet here she is with more strength and energy than she has had in the past year!! How awesome is our God?

This 3rd EMG was by far the most extensive and thorough to date and was performed by 2 of the neuromuscular specialists. They affirmed that her muscles appeared free of a myopathy (like neuromyotonia) and everything was looking normal. We are still waiting to hear back on some lab work and then we'll be able to ask the doctor more about which direction to head next.

The biggest win of this trip was a referral to see a hematologist at Southwestern next week. We have been concerned lately about the clotting issue in general and have tons of questions that we just can't find answers to around here.

It looks like things are moving in a new direction for us. The stresses that we both encountered over the past few months felt like they added years to my life, but they have been lifted from my shoulders. If you haven't seen Maegan since she was in the hospital, you probably wouldn't recognize her today! She is doing so much better! We know more now than we have so far, but still have many things left to discover. Please keep praying that we can trust in God for out every need and wait for the answers to come in His time.

Thanks for the prayers, hugs, tears, messages, encouragement, thoughts, love and support!
-Philip and Maegan

2009-08-20T18:16:00.002-05:00

Thanks for checking up on Maegan! She is still doing well (all things considered) and is definitely getting her spark back! I am working on an in-depth blog about whats been happening. So stay tuned....

New post coming soon!

Update (8/3)

2009-08-03T19:41:00.004-05:00

Ever since we got home from the hospital, Maegan has been doing much better. Even though she was up and walking as much as possible (we even made a trip to Lufkin!), she started noticing substantial pain, swelling and discoloration in her left foot every time she stood up or even put it on the ground. She knew from the first time it happened that the culprit was blood clots.

Last Thursday afternoon we saw Maegan's cardiovascular specialist to see just how extensive the clotting was. He performed a quick ultrasound of her left leg in his office and instantly saw a 6 inch clot behind the knee. He was going to schedule her for surgery that next day to remove the clot but was unable to get the right equipment ordered in time. He rescheduled Maegan for this morning (8/3).

We arrive around 8am to get all of the paperwork squared away and were immediately sent back to the surgery wing. All of the preparations were taken care of and we waited for the anesthesiologist until around 12:30pm. As they wheeled her away the nurse told me that the procedure should not take much longer than 1-2 hours.

Five and a half hours later Maegan is finally brought in to the ICU for pain management. Dr. D grabbed me and took me over to his computer to show me the x-ray images from the surgery. She had extensive clotting in one of the main veins right around the knee that required special attention. Basically the clot had formed a wall stopping blood flow almost totally. Her body had reacted by forming extra veins around the blockage allowing her leg to still function (and not swell into a tomato).

It took several hours to break up the hardened clots and get the catheter into all of the correct veins but the surgery was successful. Knowing what we do now, it looks like the clots have been there for a while now and have been one of the main reasons for the hospital stays so far. We don't know this for sure but the pain she is having in her leg is just like the pain she had at the beginning of the summer. Time will tell if this theory is correct.

The next step is to get Maegan to a specialist for both the clotting and also not forget about the muscles.

Please continue to pray for her healing!

Update 7/9

2009-07-09T21:42:00.002-05:00

The gallbladder surgery was a total success and confirmed that is was indeed the cause of much of her suffering. Dr. Gene Cagle (the surgeon who performed the laparoscopic cholycystectomy) couldn't believe that it was in as bad of shape as it really was for someone her age with no children or medical problems.

Today has been relatively uneventful. Maegan is still in quite a bit of pain both from the surgery as well as the blood clots in her leg. It is very difficult for her to move around as we have found out from the nurses coming in and trying! She is back on a liquid diet but is having to force herself to drink even a little bit of water.

The biggest obstacle she is facing is the pain. This is keeping her from getting out of bed and the discomfort is keeping her from eating. She knows that she needs food and movement in order to get better, but she is facing a lot of resistance from her own body.

Pray that she find the strength to overcome the pain as well as a hunger for sustenance to give her nutrients. We are getting so close!

Thank you all!
Philip & Maegan

Update 7/8

2009-07-08T12:31:00.002-05:00

The clotting is still present in her lower left leg but Dr. D said that with the blood-thinners, her body would be able to dissolve them easily. They will remove the vein catheter tomorrow morning.

Dr. C just came by and said that she will be going in for the gallbladder surgery within the hour. Pray that there be no complications and that God give her relief from the pain and the anxiety that this all has brought on.

She is also still having a lot of pain in her leg and is feeling totally overwhelmed with the situation. She may also be developing pneumonia again from being stuck laying down for so long.

Please pray that she get relief from everything that she is going through!!

We thank you so much for your continued love and support!
Philip & Maegan

Update 7/7

2009-07-07T13:39:00.004-05:00

I obviously have not been blogging as often since the last hospital stay. I will try to write as often as I can but sometimes do not have the time to write a full post. I do however use twitter almost daily for quick updates about Maegan's progress. You can see my most recent tweets right here on the blog or you can follow me at http://twitter.com/pmelton.

Maegan was placed back in the hospital last Wednesday night to treat blood clots in her legs that had formed while she was on bed rest. Around that time, she was also suffering from severe abdominal pain and nausea. Dr. C came by a couple of days ago and evaluated that Maegan's gallbladder was damaged and needed to come out and the operation was set to happen Monday (7/6) afternoon. Since she has developed extensive clotting in her legs, he consulted with Dr. D (also from Grace) and they decided to put a filter into the inferior vena cava (IVC) to stop any clot that might have broken loose from entering the lungs. During this simple procedure (which went with no problems), he noticed that the blood was moving in the right leg but stopped totally whenever it got to the left. An x-ray image confirmed that the blood had clotted from right above the knee all the way up into her stomach causing severe pain, swelling and discomfort. The doctor explained that although she wasn't at risk for losing her leg if they did not move quickly she might not ever lose the pain and swelling.

In order to correct this extensive clot, the doctor had to insert a catheter into the vein in her left leg and inject clot-reducing medicine (same as used for heart attacks) directly into the clot. It wound up taking over 2 hours but everything went well. She had to spend last night in ICU in order to make sure no complication arose from the surgery. This morning they took her back into the lab to have her leg scanned again. Sure enough, the blood was flowing perfectly in her upper leg! They lowered the location of the catheter and are continuing to pump medicine into the lower calf now.

She will remain in ICU until they check the lower leg around 5:00 this afternoon. Dr. Cagle is still planning on removing the gallbladder tomorrow as long as her body can handle it. These next few days will be long and painful but the results will feel like she has a new body. After she feels better we will continue to look into the neuromusclular issues.

Thank you so much for your prayers!
Philip & Maegan

Update (6/22)

2009-06-22T14:56:00.002-05:00

Sorry that it took so long for another update. I wanted to to say first of all how grateful we are for all of your help and support! We could not have made it through the past 3 weeks without our families, church family and friends.

I wish I has good news to report, but unfortunately God's timing is not our own. After spending 16 days in 3 different hospital rooms and visiting with 2 specialists, we left feeling more discouraged than ever. We found out this past Thursday that Maegan was going to be discharged because insurance wasn't convinced that she needed to stay under the care of a hospital. This was extremely frustrating to hear because she was in the exact same condition she was in when we left Nacogdoches (6/11). With God's strength, physical therapy, and modern medicine, Maegan was able to ride in our car and spend the night in a non-hospital bed.

The next day, we went to see the absolute best neuromuscular specialist in Texas. After about an hour with this doctor, he gives us the news we had been dreading the most. He told us that although something was undoubtedly wrong with her, it was beyond anything he would be able to treat. He ordered one more blood test and said that the results may or may not reveal anything else. We got back into town late that night and have been laying low and resting.

Although Maegan is out of the hospital, she is by no means healed. We are confused and frustrated and have absolutely no answers. In fact, we know less now than we did before seeing the specialist. Every doctor and specialist we have seen so far agrees that something is definitely wrong, however no one can seem to find it. We have been told that it can be anything from an active infection that is attacking her nerves and muscles to an autoimmune disease that is affecting her muscles. Maegan is able to get out of bed and move around but (for now) has to use a walker to get anywhere. I am going to have to go back to work this week and I'm trying to get everything ready so that I can leave Maegan and try not to worry about her too much.

We are still not out of the woods as far as needs, although our small group has been awesome! While we were in our luxury suite in Houston, a few of the wives came over and cleaned our house! The prayers that have been lifted up for Meagan have been heard. God is slowly taking away everything that we are leaning on so that we have no choice but to trust Him completely.

Sometimes if you pray for patience, God gives you tough situations to grow your patience instead of just handing it over. In the same light, we feel as if God is giving us situations to learn to trust Him instead of giving us an easy way out. Please continue to pray that we find the right doctor(s) so that we can find out exactly what is wrong with Maegan.

Keep praying expecting God to do something incredible.
-Philip & Maegan

Matthew 21:22

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Done. For Now.

2009-06-18T15:46:00.002-05:00

Well, we have reached the end. We are sitting around watching TV and waiting on all of the paperwork to fall into place.

We are ready to leave.

I am ready to find out what is wrong with my wife.

We are ready to go home.

We miss our friends and church family in Nacogdoches.

...and I miss my guitars.

Back to Square 1...well, sort of...

2009-06-17T17:04:00.003-05:00

It looks like our fears have come true.

Maegan's doctors cannot justify keeping her in the hospital any longer. They tell us that the insurance 'Nazis' are auditing her charts. Because most of the treatments she is receiving are considered outpatient procedures, they are telling us that we are to be discharged sometime tomorrow.

The specialist helped us a lot, but basically her hands are tied. The only way Maegan can be seen by her is through the hospital. Her clinic is not covered by our insurance and so everything would have to be out of pocket. The good news is that she was able to refer us to and get an appointment with an equally qualified specialist just right down the road. We will be staying in a hotel tomorrow night and the appointment is this Friday at 1.

This is definitely bittersweet. We are sooooo ready to get out of this hospital and get home. But on the other hand we are getting an appointment with the exact same specialist our Nacogdoches neurologist recommended over a month ago. Maegan is still in no shape to try to travel by car, but we no longer have a choice.

Basically this entire week has come full circle and wound up being nothing more than waste of time. She is in the same condition she was in when we left Nacogdoches, she has been started back on almost the exact same medicines, and we are going to the same outpatient specialist we already had an appointment with over a month ago (did I mention that yet?).

The communication has been broken down since we got here. We haven't known what was going on, the doctors haven't been talking to the specialists, the nurses can't get in touch with the doctors...frustrating all the way around.

All in all, we know that God has brought us here for some reason. We don't know that reason yet, but we can trust that God is bringing us through this and as long as we continue to be faithful, the blessings will continue to flow.

Keep praying knowing that God to do something awesome,
-Philip & Maegan

2 Steps Forward...

2009-06-16T22:04:00.002-05:00

This hospital almost put us in cardiac arrest today.

Communication is important. We met with the neuromuscular specialist today and spent about 30 minutes getting her all caught up on Maegan's progress of the past year. She immediately recognized what was going on and plans to order tests. She tells us that we can expect to be out of here in about 5 days.

Rewind 2 days. The attending doctor who has been over Maegan's stay says that the pneumonia is under control and from her end sees us being discharged by this Wednesday. Although this is great news, this doctor does not know nor understand the severity of her muscle disorder. Apparently, this discharge time is the word that gets spread around to all of the resident doctors and nurses.

This afternoon we get word that they are coming to pick Maegan up for an EMG at 2:00. Two hours later we are still waiting and Maegan gets sick to her stomach. While she is indisposed, the hospital staff brings by a stretcher to take her to have the test done. After waiting 5 minutes, they tell me they must leave and send another stretcher. Apparently in a hospital this size, there is a strict scheduling system. No problem. The transport tells me someone else will be by in 10 minutes. Again, no problem. 2 minutes later, Maegan is feeling better and we wait patiently.

The bad news comes about 20 minutes later from our nurse. We are told that since we weren't ready to leave when they first came by, the tech (who is contracted) left and won't return until next Monday. Apparently, word never got to the specialist and by the time the nurse called about coming over, they said it was too late. We have been waiting for this moment for over a year now and we are told that it's not gonna happen.

On top of this our specialist seems to think that Maegan is being discharged tomorrow and we can just hop in the car and head back next week sometime. Even though Maegan is in the EXACT SAME CONDITION that she was when we left Nacogdoches. The only thing that has improved is her pneumonia and that could have easily been treated without spending 5 days in this hospital.

Rest assured that we will be meeting with both doctors tomorrow in an effort to bridge the communication gap.

Happy Early Birthday to Me!

2009-06-15T21:27:00.002-05:00

So my parents are awesome.

A couple of days ago, I dropped my laptop on the cold, hard hospital room floor. Although I could get it to work long enough to get my last post up, it just is giving me too many problems. It was over 4 years old and had definitely served it's purpose.

Upon hearing of the poor lappy's fate, my mom and dad (not wanting to miss a single post) hooked me and Maegan up with a shiny new laptop.

(tech stuff)
Toshiba Satellite, Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo @ 2.00ghz, 3 gigs of ram, 320gb hd, wireless a/g/n, and Vista Home Premium
(end tech stuff)

My parents have been super supportive since the beginning and I know we can count on them to be a solid rock on which we can lean whenever things are too tough to handle.

And that's why my parents are awesome.
-Philip

The Methodist Hospital, Houston TX - 1st Update (long)

2009-06-13T16:04:00.010-05:00

I want to say thank you for checking this blog every day. Ever since Meagan went back to the hospital, this sleepy little blog has been getting over 50 hits a day. That may not sound impressive to you, but that's a 5,000% increase in traffic, thank you very much.

Sorry I couldn't get this together any sooner. It seems as if any time Maegan is not sleeping, then she is undergoing tests or being evaluated by doctors. Whenever she finally does get to sleep, the tapping sounds of me typing in our small, quiet room are not exactly conducive to a restful environment.

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D-Day

The transfer happened much sooner than I thought it would. We were told that everything was official this past Thursday morning (6/11), but we would have to wait until a room came available. Later that afternoon, our good friends Geoff and Katie Gregory came by to hang out and help us get ready. My awesome wife, despite of her condition, had made me a list of everything that we would need and I was able to be packed, with the car gassed up in just a little over 2 hours. By this point, it was already past 5pm and we were not expecting anything to happen until the next day. However, we got the call around 6:30 that the move was happening within the hour. Go time.

AmeriCare paramedics got up to the room and had Maegan loaded a little after 8 and had her in the Ambulance by 9. I left just as they were loading her up to avoid ramming my car into the ambulance to try and get her there sooner. That never works. I arrive around 11:30 and head through the maze of halls to the ER. Maegan rolled in about 10 minutes later and the nurses inform us that we are in the Jones Tower. It just so happens that this tower is on the complete opposite side of the complex. Fantastic. Luckily the paramedics knew where to go because I would have wound up hugging my teddy bear and crying in a corner. This place is stinkin' huge.

We get up to the 10th floor and they wheel Maegan in to this large corner room. The first thing we notice is that there is another patient sleeping just behind a thin curtain. Now Maegan and I aren't selfish people, but when you are sick the last thing you want is someone who is just as sick as you sharing your bathroom. So I get selfish and as it turns out all you have to do is ask, however, the floor is entirely full and we won't get a private room until someone leaves. We decide to tough it out and go through all of the talking with the nurse and doctor that has to happen before they let you sleep.

After about an hour of this, a man arrives with a stretcher and loads up Maegan. All we know is that we are heading down a floor. I'm guessing this is the point at which we are being transferred to our nice quiet, private room.

I could not have been more wrong.

The elevator door opens and we are greeted by the sounds of sick patients, phones ringing, nurses running around, and I'm pretty sure I even saw a marching band. They wheel her around the corner and into a room about half the size of the room from which we had just come. I looked in and noticed a curtain had been drawn in the middle of this room. It looks like a double room but we were told private. Is this too good to be true? I get a real bed tonight? But then reality sat in and sure enough, Maegan got moved from a quiet Presidential Suite on the 10th floor, to a walk-in closet with a roommate on the 9th. It was looking like a long night was ahead of us.

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Day 1

Around 2am (6/12), the nurse comes in and begins asking all of the same questions we have already answered about 7 million times. After the collecting of blood and interrogations had ceased, it was after 4am and we were exhausted. We (or at least I) got to sleep for about 30 minutes at a time until someone else came by to stick a needle or check her blood pressure.

At 7am, they came and wheeled Maegan away to have some x-rays done. Before we had left Nacogdoches, Maegan had been experiencing a lot of chest pain and a little fever. With no sleep and temperatures over 101, she was not in great shape. After the team of doctors came in and evaluated her, she finally got a little rest. Her temperature remained high and she just felt sick every time she woke up.

The neurologist came in a little while later and evaluated Maegan. He asked a lot of questions of how everything got started and how her muscles are doing now. This almost sounds bad, but it was good that he accidentally made Maegan's arm muscle spasm. He got to see first hand a small glimpse into the pain that she has been dealing with. He said that she is scheduled to see a neuro-muscular specialist this Monday. Good news: we are finally getting in! Bad news: 3 days of waiting/pain/discomfort/nausea for Maegan.

Around 3:00pm the nurse came and told us that our private room was ready. Hallelujah! They moved her and we were finally able to breathe easy. A little while later they brought in a speech pathologist to check and make sure she was swallowing ok. Everything checked out and Maegan was finally able to rest for a good long while.

Some more bad news came a little later when the nurse brought in some IV antibiotics. The x-ray from that morning revealed that she has pneumonia. She is now extremely frustrated because she has taken a step backwards, medically. Instead of just having to deal with the muscle weakness and spasms, she has non-stop nausea, chest pain and fever. At least we got to sleep at a descent time and got to rest for most of the night.

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Day 2

This morning (6/13), they carried Maegan down for a CT scan of her chest. The doctors wanted to check and make sure she does not have a pulmonary embolism. *As of this evening (8:30pm) we have not heard any report and can only assume that a PE is not present. Because of her nausea and the size of her small veins, (the injected dye they use to show up on the scan blew her vein) we had to wait in the CT holding room for over 2 hours. Finally, an IV special ops team came and scoped out a descent vein on her arm. She was in and out in about 10 minutes.

Just as she was finally back in bed, 2 physical therapists came by and wanted to get her moving. Because my wife is a trooper, she fought off pain, exhaustion and nausea and did everything they asked. They had her sitting up on the edge of her bed under her own power, but the force of the bed on her thigh caused more cramping and spasms. I made her lay down (or else she would have kept fighting) and they left her with some exercises to do while stuck in bed. It was at that point that I realized that she has more or less been stuck in bed for over 2 weeks. Reality check:

She is 22 years old.

It has become a task for her to role over on her side or even raise her head up to take medicine or drink water. She has been in a wheelchair for a couple of months now but was still able to walk under her own power. Now, she can't even begin to stand on her own much less get around the room.

This is the girl who can ignore pain if it's getting in the way of her goal. This is the girl who was the first in her family to graduate college (she did it in 4 years and graduated magna cum laude). This is the girl who fought fever and fatigue to go and work in the speech and hearing clinic. This is the girl who put up with me through college and still wanted to marry me. This is not the girl who wants to spend the rest of her life bedridden and drugged up.

That's not gonna happen.

By God's grace and healing, she is going to walk out of here under her own strength. She will return home knowing that even though she may not ever be able 100%, she will return to a normal lifestyle. This is not going to stop her from living life to the fullest. God is bringing us through this for a reason and He will bring us out.

Keep on praying knowing that God will answer.
-Philip & Maegan

Update 6/10

2009-06-10T20:29:00.002-05:00

After 2 long and frustrating days, we can finally rest. Although we don't have a specialist scheduled, both doctors have assured Maegan that she will not be sent home unless she gets better. That may not sound like much, but when your life is in the hands of 2 human doctors, frustrations, stress, uncertainty, and tears abound.

I'll type the whole story later. Too tired to think straight.

Keep the prayers going expecting God to do something awesome.
-Philip

Frustated

2009-06-09T10:12:00.002-05:00

Today has already been the longest day and it's not even noon. The neurologist put Maegan on a new muscle relaxer to try and get her muscle pain/tension/spasms under control. She said it help her feel rest when she was laying down, but the moment she tried to stand, her legs went crazy all over again.

She has already had a visit from a urologist, a sonogram done on her kidneys, and is scheduled for a cystoscopy at the doctors earliest convenience (either in the next 5 minutes or the next 5 hours). Not knowing an exact time is really causing some unrest for Maegan.

All in all Maegan just isn't resting as well as she needs to be because she is so worried about what is happening next. Frankly, I am too. The doctors seem to want to help but it seems like we are having to fight just to get them to even consider an inpatient transfer to another hospital. I think the doctors understand where we are coming from but it seems as if they want to get her well enough so that I can drive her to a neuromuscular specialist. She is in no condition to try to make it outside of these 4 walls, much less a 3 hour car ride. At least not yet.

After being discharged, the following 24 hours were the worst I have ever seen Maegan struggle through. The medicine didn't help, I couldn't help, and it seemed as if everything that used to bring her comfort was just not adequate anymore. That discharge led to many, many strong emotions about what our time in the hospital is really about. I was never aggressive enough to tell the doctor how I felt about his judgment. To no surprise, we are now doubtful that any doctor (no matter how great their intentions may be) is actually listening to the whole story. Even though we are talking to the doctors about where Maegan needs to go, it just seems like we are having to fight tooth and nail just to make sure she doesn't end up out in the cold again.

Either that or they could just not be telling us everything.

Whichever, it is enough to raise the blood pressure and counteract the very reason why we are here in the first place.

We want- no we need a solution to the problem.

Sorry for venting.

I feel better already.
-Philip

Sunday Update

2009-06-07T20:09:00.003-05:00

Well today has been relatively uneventful. The nurses have spent the majority of the day trying to keep Maegan comfortable. However, it seems as if the medicine is wearing off long before the next dosage is allowed. She is also nauseous and has hardly eaten much over the past week.

The theme for this trip is finding the root of the problem. The worst thing that could happen would be for the doctors to do nothing but throw a blanket over entire situation and act like everything will be all hunky dory. It looks like her doctor this time has his head on straight, but once you've been burned by one doctor it's difficult to trust that the next one will actually pull through.

So...this is where you come in. I ask that you simply join us in prayer that we can fully rely that God's plan is in action. Also pray that no matter what we may think is right or wrong, we will realize that He is carrying us through this. And upon that realization, we will let go of everything else and cling to Him.

-God Bless
Philip & Maegan

Hospital Trip: Round 2

2009-06-06T20:52:00.004-05:00

Hello from Nacogdoches Memorial.

I have to say that things are looking a little better this time around as far as where we are headed next. Unfortunately, the pain is still uncontrollable and even a little worse for Maegan this go-around.

Maegan got admitted much quicker this time under the care of her Internal Medicine Specialist, Dr. Savage. He has been very understanding and was the first to diagnose her with having a neuromuscular disorder. He admitted her under pain management with the intention of getting her to a specialist in Houston. This is definitely an answered prayer! Instead of going around in circles, we know have a doctor who has a plan and won't send her home with some pills and a hearty "good luck".

It's easy to hear the good news and forget that Maegan is still in terrible pain. When you do pray be sure to thank God for that good news but don't stop there! Pray for pain relief so that she can rest comfortably. Pray that we find a doctor who has the ability to treat the actual disorder and not just cover up the symptoms with pain medication.

Maegan's ER doctor said it best a little earlier this evening: "If someone is standing on your toe, we can give you all the pain meds in the world, but that's not going to get that person off your toe."

Those, my friend, are words that we are living by.

-God Bless
Philip and Maegan

Update on Maegan (Sorry, long post)

2009-06-04T16:19:00.008-05:00

For those of you who may not know, my wife Maegan has some sort of a neuro-muscular disorder. Although we do not have a definite diagnosis, the neurologist believes that she has neuromyotonia (also known as Isaac's Syndrome). This has become part of her every day life and we are learning to lean on God because we are so helpless on our own.

So this past Tuesday started off just like any normal Tuesday should. Around 3:30 that afternoon, Maegan called and asked that I come home and help her. Apparently my wife is so tough that she had a migraine headache for 2 days and hadn't once complained. I had no idea! I called her doctor and got some perscriptions filled for the pain and nausea.

With not even enough time passed for the first doses to kick in, Maegan started feeling an extremely painful electric shock through the muscles in her left leg. She equated the pain to the feeling that one gets when sticking a finger in an electrical outlet. Ouch. She ignored the first one, but the second and third were too much to handle. She tried standing and walking, but nothing she attempted would stop the inevitable shock.

It was now after 6:00pm and the doctors were all away from their offices, but I tried anyway. The answering service assured us that we would receive a call back but we couldn't sit around and wait. We went to the ER and had her in a room by 7. After explaining 1000 times that we had no clue why she hurt, she finally got some relief from IV pain medicine. For the next 7 hours we sat in a cold, hard, sterile room and waited to hear back from the doctor about the lab work they had done.

Finally, around 2am the nurse came and told us that they wanted Maegan to stay the night so they could continue to monitor her progress. By the time all of the details were worked out and we were in our cozy little slice of paradise, the clock said 3:30am. Nurses came in a couple of times over the next 3 hours to draw blood and make sure that Meagan wasn't sleeping. Ok, so that last part may not be true. I know they have a job to do...but seriously...can it wait til morning?....digressing....

After an incredibly restful night (sarcasm intended), Maegan's primary care doctor came in around 7:00am. This whole Isaac's Syndrome ordeal has been handled by a totally different doctor and so the details haven't been shared at all. Every time a new nurse or doctor comes into the room we have to start all over again.

The doctor also expressed concern for the potential risk of addiction from the pain meds that they have Maegan on. Although he is right, his advise came at the absolute worst time. She tried to go an extra hour longer without the morphine and wound up with the same unbearable electric pain she experienced that had brought us here in the first place (a 10 on a scale of 0-10). It took the rest of the day to get her muscles under control. The rest of Wednesday was relatively uneventful. We napped a bit and watched a lot of TV.

That evening, Maegan's neurologist came by to check on her. He is the one who presented Isaac's as a strong possibility and got us going in the right direction. He is also pushing to get us into a stronger program at Houston Medical Center. Maegan gave him a recount of the leg pain (which is now turned into back and neck pain) and he decides to change up some meds and see if any progress will be made. Maegan's friend Hannah Wier came and stayed with her so I could get some rest and go back to work.

Today was a lot like Wednesday. I came back up to the room around noon and Maegan was up but feeling nauseous. This has been coming along with the pain every couple of hours since she got here. The nurses have all been taking great care of Maegan and although they may not understand why she is hurting, they sympathise because they can see that she is in pain.

Around 5:00pm they came up and rolled her away to have an MRI done on her back. Fortunately, the results came back clear. This has been the trend for every test done so far and although it is great news, it is frustrating to not know anything new. Every test over the last year has come back perfectly clean and clear and yet there is something definitely wrong with Maegan.

Another one of the frustrating parts of this whole ordeal is the fact that I can't do anything to make it better. I have to say I have gotten pretty good at "makin' it better" for my wife whenever she doesn't feel good, but when it comes to this, the only thing I can do is watch and pray. I believe this is God's way of teaching me to stop getting in the way and trust Him totally. I don't like it, but I just have to get over it. I just can't carry her on my own.

We are both learning to trust God in a deeper way than we ever have before and it has strengthened our relationship in ways that I didn't expect out of our first year of marriage. I feel small and weak, but I can trust that God will carry us all the way through this. Thank you for your prayers, love, encouragement and support!

-God Bless!
Philip and Maegan

Friday Fail

2009-04-03T14:15:00.001-05:00

Is it time to leave yet?

2009-04-03T14:00:00.002-05:00

If you get bored, check out wordle.

Worship Confessional #5

2009-04-02T09:15:00.003-05:00

Broken and Beautiful

Some background:
Danny (youth pastor) and I have been taking a new approach to Wednesday night preparing. For a couple of months now, we have been meeting together weekly to discuss the plan for the night and spend a good while lifting everything up in prayer. We realized that many Wednesday nights, we were doing the same ol' and missing out on God's plan. It's utterly astounding how often ministry work gets done without seeking God's will during preparation.

A few weeks ago, God started convicting me about our youth band's intentions. Right around the time of our city-wide worship night (Uprising), I started noticing that some issues were arising for reasons that didn't reflect the hearts of true worship leaders. It was at that time I realized that we were in need of a spiritual overhaul. So the next week (3/11) we started a new "stripped down" (not clothing, everyone was fully clothed) approach to worship.

We spent some time talking about having hearts of worship before we ever step foot on the stage. We spent some time in scripture and praying as a team. The biggest change was the instrumentation and layout of our stage. We pulled drums and electric guitars out of the equation and broke it down to the basics: 2 acoustics, bass, djembe, and vocals. We have everybody sitting on stools and took the overall tone from rock-tastic to chill/acoustic/coffee house. This has helped visually and aurally convey to the students the direction we are heading as team and as a youth group.

Worship 4/01/09
So far the response has been great and the group is starting to really respond. Here's a look at last night's set:

----------
-Video of the Week
-Announcements

Our God Above (G) - Andy Melvin
You Are King (G) - Me
Came to My Rescue (C) - Dylan Thomas/Hillsong
From the Inside Out (C) - Joel Houston

Message/Video testimonials

Part of Your Story (G) - Todd Wright
----------

We have been doing a series on changed lives. I Am Second has been an incredible resource and an effective illustration to tie the message together. The Hillsong montage was based on driving this point home.

"I called, You answered and You came to my rescue and I wanna be were you are..."

"My heart and my soul, I give you control, consume me from the inside out..."

I felt that through both songs I was able to introduce the topic, and Danny was able to drive it home. Two of the SFA student video testimonials were from our Crosspoint Celebration Service (last semester) and one from a professional motocross champion. Despite about 30 seconds of audio failure during one of the testimonies, everything went off without any issues.

It's amazing how God has been laying things on my heart and Danny's at the same time. Breaking down the music to minimize distractions has been a huge help to preparing hearts to hear God's truth. When we stop and prepare and actually invite God into our presence, He shows up and incredible stuff happens.

Sorry for the long post. This has been a long time coming and I felt like it needs to be shared. I hope that if you are leading worship, or just barely making it to church on time for the first song, don't skip the step of preparing. Get your heart clean, and make things right. God wants to show up and rock your world. All you have to do is let Him.

Philip

2009-03-31T15:20:00.005-05:00

So you know how google takes information from a site and places ads that "correspond"?

Apparently, I'm a Christian mom who is too busy raising kids to get out of the house. At least they tell me I can make $5k a month....

...sigh....

And I thought my site was cool.

New Site, New Vision...New Me?...not really.

2009-03-31T07:50:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone!
(or 'gang' as some others might commonly use)

I would like to thank you for taking a look at my new site. I had a blast piecing everything together and look forward to continually adding new content and updates. However, I would like to explain the site's purpose a little better.

You know me. I'm not a huge fan of change. I'll accept it and make peace and try to move on, but I may not smile the whole time. I do recognize, however, that change is a necessary step in any shape/form/fashion of growth. Once again, I feel like things are stagnant. It's time to stir things up and get out of the rut before it becomes too deep.

This is why I developed PM-2.0.

God has given me music and the heart to use it to minister to others. Whether I'm writing, arranging, recording, performing, or sitting alone in my living room; I need to get lost in that passion again. I will be posting new material and sending out reminders, humbly seeking your feedback. I also want my site to be an outlet to spread my ministry further than I could myself.

It is time for me to grow and open up for new ministry opportunities while reviving my zeal for the ones I currently have. And I ask for your help!

1. Please keep the comments and suggestions coming!

2. Pray for me (and Maegan)! (That was not at all easy to type. It's crazy that asking for prayer can feel selfish...)

3. Spread the word!

Thanks for everything so far, you guys rock my world!

Welcome. The future is now.

2009-03-27T07:13:00.004-05:00

Philip Melton 2.0 is now live.

and I now have a twitter.

follow me.

like lemmings.

Coming Soon...

2009-03-26T06:57:00.002-05:00

Philip Melton v2.0

Stay tuned for more information.

More Awesomeness

2009-03-19T06:31:00.004-05:00

If you've never seen Star Wars, don't even bother...

Epic Friday Fail!

2009-03-13T07:44:00.007-05:00

In honor of Friday the 13th...

And just to even the score:

Pure Awesomeness.

2009-03-12T09:22:00.003-05:00

I'm a nerd.

And I'm not responsible for the next 12 minutes of your life.

They may be lost forever.

Free File Storage

2009-03-12T07:13:00.003-05:00

I stumbled across an easy to use, unlimited storage (100mb limit per upload), free web storage service called mediafire.com! Great for sharing pictures, videos, and some new tunes, once the demo process is completed....

Also you can have 50gb of free storage from adrive.com ( I believe this site is a little more secure).

Both very cool. And very free.
-Check it.

...Sigh...

2009-03-10T07:56:00.003-05:00

Not 30 seconds after posting, I find these posts from Church Tech Arts:

Nine Reasons I Twitter (Pt. 1)

Nine Reasons I Twitter (Pt. 2)

Nine Reasons I Twitter (Pt. 3)

I'm leaning towards a maybe now.

My page and keeping you updated with every EXCITING detail of my life.

2009-03-10T07:39:00.004-05:00

Ok. I tried some different layouts, but I never liked anything. So I'm black again. I think it follows the "Plain & Simple" line a little mo' betta.

People keep telling me I need a twitter. My first reaction is to slap that person and tell them to mind their own business. I guess I don't get the whole concept of the 'tweat' yet. I'm not bashing here, I simply don't understand it.

But I do fall easily into peer-pressure.

No I don't.

Well, since you asked so nicely...

Wait, no means no.

Well, ok...

My life's biggest dilemma: To Twitter, or not to Twitter?

Why I Would Never Make it as a Script Writer

2009-03-06T07:28:00.000-06:00

Does anybody else hate 'to be continued...' as much as I do?

So maybe hate is coming in a little on the strong side, but seriously, I have to wait 7 whole days to find out what happens next? That's just cruel. There is nothing worse than the feeling I get after finally accepting the fact that I just won't know what happens on Wisteria Lane until next Sunday...

Not that I am seriously hooked on any particular show.

That airs on ABC.

On Sunday nights.

At 9 o'clock.

Stop judging me.

So what are exactly are you getting at, you ask? Quite simply, a follow up on my last post that was supposed to air roughly 3.7 weeks ago. Thanks for getting me back on task.

My original plan was to write about our trip to the hospital and laugh about the crazy amount of sitting around involved. However 'Part 2' quickly transformed into parts 3,4,5,6, & 7. And we still have no diagnosis. Maegan is most definitely in better shape than she was when she first got sick, but things are just not as 'right' as they used to be.

Our current doctor believes that it could be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but we are finding out that it could be a number of other things. The next step is to find a doctor who has had experience working with these lesser known/rare syndromes and diseases and try to figure out exactly whats wrong.

My hat is definitely off to my beautiful wife. She deals with pain better than any person I know and is taking everything in stride. Today, she spoke with the head of the Speech Pathology department today and dropped most of her graduate classes. Thankfully, everyone is pulling for her recovery and gladly helped in any way possible.

This has no doubt been a big decision for us, but we know that she needs the rest, and God has bigger things in store for us....

Thanks for the prayers,
Phil & Meg

Our Day At the Doctor's Office...(Part I)

2009-02-10T06:07:00.000-06:00

...went a little something like this....

As you may or may not know, my wife, Maegan, has been rather sick on and off (more often 'on') over the past few weeks. She has been able to push through it like crazy, but she finally reached her breaking point last week and crashed pretty hard.

After a restful weekend that was helped very little, we moved her doctors appointment back from this coming Thursday to Monday (yesterday). I took off from the church around 1:40 and drove Maegan to the doctors office. We then proceeded to have one of the most freakinawesometacular times of this millennium.

So for your reading pleasure, here is a fun little timeline I have created from the events that made up such a noteworthy day as yesterday:

1:45 - Scheduled time for Maegan's appointment. I park while she checks in.

2:00 - We continue to wait while texting back and forth about a VERY loud 3-year-old and his equally loud grandmother. You know those parents that love it when their little angel is the center of attention even though everybody else in the room wants to punch the kid in the face or sit by quietly while the little twerp puts his finger in an electrical socket? Just me? Well, I guess I'm a sinner.

Or you are a bunch of liars.

2:15 - Still waiting. Kid is still loud. Maegan and I text back and forth trying to make the best of it.

2:30 - People that arrived long after we did are being called in ahead of us. Is it me, or do you have to have a fat wad of cash to get in quick?

(Kid Watch: all is finally quiet on the western front after 45 minutes of showing off. Maybe he fell asleep...)

2:45 - Grandma decides she should wake up the sleeping punk (who is now in the sprawled out on the floor in the corner of the waiting room surely bothering someone else. Granny could care less.) by saying phrases like: "You sure are quiet. Kid? What are you doing? You sleepin'?? You are too quiet! It's too good to be true."

Guess what granny? It WAS true until you woke him up.

Thanks for a bunch of nothing.

2:50 - Kid is now kicking the wall. I swear I see some torches and pitchforks gathering on the other side of the waiting room.

2:55 - Kid sticks fingers in electrical outlet.

3:00 - Waiting room is now packed to capacity. Mom brings in kid with a gameboy with sound blasting at full volume. She doesn't care...why should I? The room is starting to look/feel/sound like an urgent care clinic that's giving free healthcare for the whole family. Receptionist assures me that the others going ahead of us are actually seeing a different doctor. Look, lady, I don't know what you kids are calling it these days, but I refuse to get intimate with the doctor just so I don't have to wait over an hour for a checkup.

Sinners.

3:10 - Finally in the doctors office. Wait. Nurse lady! Where are you going? Your leaving us with no doctor? We still have to wait?? I guess we haven't served our full sentence yet.....

3:30 - Doctor arrives. Q&A begins.

3:40 - Doctor decides to test Maegan from head to toe and try to figure out why she is sick. No going back to work today. It's a good thing I have an understanding boss.

4:30 - Finishing up tests and paperwork. Doc wants to send us over to the hospital now and continue with some even more fun tests and experimentations. Maegan is holding up very well. I'm pretty sure by this point I would have curled up in the corner and cryed myself to sleep.

That's it for part 1. Stay tuned for the rest of the excitement as we travel to the Nacogdoches Medical Center.

Friday Fail!

2009-02-06T15:29:00.001-06:00

New Songs (round 1)

2009-02-04T17:42:00.000-06:00

Well, the first 3 songs have been sent around.

When I first started planning this I had nothing but excitement going for me. I was just gonna grab my guitar and my laptop and record. And that part was easy. I have to admit though, hitting "send" on the email was not very easy.

I am somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to my music (my own toughest critic, if you will) and am hesitant to put my name on anything that is less than my absolute best effort (sometimes that's not even good enough). I think that this is another step in removing that doubting part of myself.

There are a couple of songs in the cooker, as well as some older ones that I need to lay down. Volume 2 of the Philip's New Song Newsletter (I just made that up) will be circulating soon.

Until next time,
-Peace

P.S. Nashville recording artist Charlie Dodrill has agreed to take a listen as well. I can't wait to hear what he thinks......

Schedule Change

2009-02-03T14:11:00.000-06:00

The all worship night has been moved up to March 4th. Stay tuned....

Friday Fail

2009-01-30T15:16:00.001-06:00

Hiadeous, Ninjas, and Worship?

2009-01-30T07:42:00.000-06:00

Holy smokes....my blog has gone from lame to flat-out depressing.

For whatever it's worth, I tried to blog about what I got for Christmas, but the blog-o-ninjas did not approve.

It doesn't matter anyway. What does matter is shaking the dust off this thing and sharing the good stuff.

----

Last weekend, Finn, J-Reeezy, Douglas, and myself had a great time rocking out some worship for our children's preteen camp at Pineywoods. Each set felt really good. It was awesome getting to bond and mesh instrumentally with these guys. The 'theme song' was Everyday by Hillsong and tied in very well with the overall message.

----

We have a Nacogdoches-wide all worship night coming up on March 11th. Our youth pastor, Danny, and a lot of the other churches in town just returned from a successful winter retreat and want to continue to have the multi-church interaction between the students. The set will include anywhere from 8 to 12 songs (depending on what we pick) and will more than likely be streaming. Correction: if Justin is present, video WILL BE streaming.

----

I would really like to start recording again. I have 2 or 3 new tunes that I'm ready to lay down and I could use a little encouragement to get things rolling. It's quite a hassle to do everything (writing, arranging, tracking, mixing, mastering, producing, etc) by yourself, but I know the end product will be something that I will hold great pride in.

More importantly, hopefully YOU would enjoy listening. I am going to start circulating some rough demos/lyrics around to a few folks and would love to hear your opinions/feedback/constructive criticism. Leave me a comment if you would like your name added to the list.

Who knows? Maybe I'll get a call from Joel Houston......

-Peace

Winter in Texas!...oh wait, no...it's gone.

2008-12-11T15:20:00.000-06:00

It soooo almost snowed yesterday.

But then it turned into the typical East Texas chill-yer-bones cold rain and made life kinda miserable.

Oh well, I guess after 22 years I should get used to it.....

(I feel a song coming on...)

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,ring ting tingling too
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you
Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling "yoo hoo",
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap,let's go,
Let's look at the show,
We're riding in a wonderland of snow.
Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap,it's grand,
Just holding your hand,
We're gliding along with a song of a wintry fairy land

Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we
We're snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be
Let's take that road before us and sing a chorus or two
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

There's a birthday party at the home of Farmer Gray
It'll be the perfect ending a of perfect day
We'll be singing the songs we love to sing without a single stop
At the fireplace while we watch the chestnuts pop. pop! pop! pop!
There's a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy
When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie
It'll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives
These wonderful things are the things we remember all through our lives!

They're Here...

2008-12-02T18:11:00.000-06:00

Well, actually they have been here for about a week.

Um.

Yeah...well that kinda killed my opener.

Er...

My molds came back last Tuesday and I have to say that I absolutely LOVE THEM! Like nobodies business. I went with clear although they tried to talk me into pink swirled with red and I was like "Those colors clash" and they said that I probably shouldn't talk like that in public and I was like "well you shouldn't tell me to put swirly colors in my ears".

Because rockstars don't do that. And I'm a rockstar. But you already new that.

I just realized that I wrote 'shouldn't' to be lazy and it has the exact same number of characters and 'should not'. Only without the space. And the 'o'. And I have now typed it 3 times.

I suck at being lazy sometimes.

Where was I?

Maybe I should just quit now.

And................................done.

Did you just put pink stuff in my ear?

2008-11-20T15:14:00.000-06:00

Time flies when you're havin' fun.

And today has moved about as quickly as a 3-toed sloth stuck in a pool of maple syrup. It's ironic that life can kinda suck the life out of you sometimes.

But I don't type on this thing to complain. That just ain't my style.

So watch out. Here come the good stuff.

Good Stuff #1: I went yesterday to the SFA Speech & Hearing Clinic and had my ears filled with cold, pink putty. And the answer is yes, it is as much fun as it sounds. Why would I sit by idle while suffering from such injustice? Because I am getting custom molds made for my Shure SCL2s. So in a couple of weeks, I'm gonna be rockin' the molds. Watch out...uh, other people who use stuff like that. Philip is coming...(that sounded a lot better in my head).

Good Stuff #2: After the pink stuff dried and they removed the foam from somewhere in the middle of my brain, my awesome wife went and tested my hearing. After years of subjecting myself to loud music and other stuff I was a little worried. She was too.

And boy was she mad to see that I do in fact have what you might call perfect hearing.

That's right. 100%. Dead-on. 20/20.

Go back and read that again if you need too.

Good Stuff #3: "The Waiting Chronicles" by my good friend Doug. Go read and enjoy. You know you want to.

-Peace

Interview

2008-11-06T09:30:00.000-06:00

So....it's November now.

Seriously, I know.

Are you excited about the up-and-coming holidays?

Let's just say the tree is going up TODAY.

The tree? What about turkeys and Pilgrims and cornucopias?

Just a waste of time. They slow down my Christmas decorating skills.

But doesn't that mean that it will be Christmas for like 3 months at your house?

Yes.

Do you really have that much holiday spirit?

Yes.

How does your wife feel about this?

Yes.

Did you just answer that question?

Yes.

Are you forgetting about the rule that you aren't supposed to set your tree up until after Thanksgiving?

No. I made a new rule. And stop asking questions.

Wow. You must want to have the most awesomely decorated house, ever.

Yes. Let the games begin.

-Peace

3 Thoughts

2008-10-21T10:16:00.000-05:00

So I figured it was time to dust this thing off and write some more. But only because I feel like you deserve it. Not because I want to be the next internet legend. Which I don't. And you're silly for even thinking I deserve such a title.

I am ready for November to get here. Why, you ask? For 3 big reasons, really:
1. Thanksgiving!
2. We're one month closer to Christmas!
3. The presidential election will finally be over with!!

I am really the most excited about number 2. Since we're homeowners, I get to climb on my OWN roof and put up as many lights as I can find. And believe you me, the tree is going up very soon. As well as the thousands of lights for the tree (TXU is excited about that too). We are going to have the most bestly decorated, mostest Christmasly-awesomeness house in town. And if anybody (cough..cough...angelaromackwhoneedstoblogmorebecauseshehasntbloggedsinceaugust....cough) thinks they can do better, bring it. You will lose. And I will win. And I think I just made up some new words.

But let us not become hasty about the holiday season arriving my children. The hallowed eve of last year's melted candy and Hannah Montana costumes from wal-mart is hurriedly encroaching upon us. Why don't I just call it Halloween? Because Halloween is the devil's play-day. Let's just call it Harvest Fest. Doesn't that sound safe and fun for the whole family? If you change the name, the devil can't play anymore.

Or maybe I just made that up.

-Peace

Midlife Crisis?

2008-10-09T07:23:00.000-05:00

So, here we are at the healthy age of 35.

Post number 35 that is.

And I'm having some midlife blog-identity crisis. Not that it matters since just about everybody uses RSS readers. But it matters to me. I guess you could say that the pmelt blogosphere has gone green? We'll see if it stays.

-Peace

New Look

2008-10-03T10:13:00.001-05:00

So I got tired of the same black design that everybody else has. And I thought this might be a cool change.

Let me know what you thinkin'.

Worship Night!

2008-09-26T13:03:00.000-05:00

September 24, 2008.
Practice/Detour Night of Worship.
7:00pm GBC Sanctuary.

Alright...hold on to your seats.

The set list:
-Our God Reigns (Chorus)
-All Because of Jesus
-Our God Above
-All We Need (Chorus/Bridge)
-Part of Your Story (Todd, this is one of the only tunes that gets requested. Kudos)
Gift of Worship Video from http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/
-Glorify (2 TWB tunes in a row!)
-Center
-My Savior, My God
-Rescue
-We Are Hungry (Acoustic)
-Stand in Awe/The Stand (Chorus)
-Mighty to Save

Keeping it short........God showed up. The youth pastor and I went into this facing the same struggle with distractions and a certain degree of separation from the planning. We spent some time laying it out before God and just lifting the church up in prayer. And God answered.

By the end of the night there were students broken down and we even had a salvation! That is sad that this is a rare occasion. What makes this one night any more special than any other day of the week? It just goes to show you that the Holy Spirit is not hindered by us at all. When you are in the right place doing what God has called you to do, lives will be changed. Even though you may not EVER see any of the results from the seeds you have planted, God still uses us to change lives. In our weaknesses, Christ shines through.

Even though we are broken sinners, He still uses us.
And that rocks.

-Peace

---------
P.S. I think Charlie Dodrill got me thinking the most about this...

Why did You lay down Your kingdom and throne,
Why did You come here to die all alone,
There on the cross were You certain You'd return above?
Why did You give us a will truly free,
Why do You never get tired of me,
Why would a King come to practically beg for my love?

Interesting

2008-09-23T11:05:00.000-05:00

I try not to get too political in whatever I do. That's just sort of a rule I live by. It's not that I have anything against politics and political people, it's just that in all actuality, I don't get it. I appreciate having a mostly-functioning government in place and I understand why we have to have laws and policies and yada, but I guess I don't understand why political "discussions" between parties typically result in Bush-Bashin' and/or all out blood shed (Street-fighter style). Hmmm, kind of reminds me of some biblical debates I've seen as well....

Like I said, in most situations, not all of them. Don't get all flustered. I'm not talking about you. Well, maybe. If you can't hear the words 'Obama', 'Osama', 'Guantanamo', 'Oil', 'Bush', 'Current World Leaders', etc, etc without totally flipping out, then go ahead, get flustered. I am talking about you. But this is my blog so you can cry if I want you to.

Anywho, I ran across an interesting article (thanks to a tip from my dad) comparing Batman's character in the blockbuster film "The Dark Knight", to our commander-in-chief (anybody remember him?). Here is a portion of it...read the whole article here.

Enjoy.

-------------

"There seems to me no question that the Batman film “The Dark Knight,” currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.
And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society — in which people sometimes make the wrong choices — and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.
“The Dark Knight,” then, is a conservative movie about the war on terror. And like another such film, last year’s “300,” “The Dark Knight” is making a fortune depicting the values and necessities that the Bush administration cannot seem to articulate for beans."

Confessional #3

2008-09-19T08:24:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are in the wake of our good friend Ike. I have to say, this guy did not fail to impress. Half of the Nacogdoches Metroplex is still either without power or just now getting it back on. There were power lines down everywhere, trees on top of houses, flying debris, trees on top off other trees, fallen trees blocking roads, and everything. It was awesome. Except for trees that fell on houses. That sucks. Sorry if that happened to you.

So this past Wednesday night showed that our high school students definitely have a desire to come and hang out at the church. Our youth pastor, Danny, was fielding calls and texts from students wondering if we were meeting that night. And they showed up. We have a great turn out and the excitement was there as well. On to the set list:

Promises (Jared Anderson)
-Announcements
My Savior Lives (New Life Worship)
Holy is the Lord (Tomlin)
Stand in Awe (Jeremy Riddle)
The Stand (United)
-Message - Romans 8:28
Hungry (Kathryn Scott)

We had the same crew from last week (minus our keyboard guru, Jason) and we fell right back into the same rockin' groove. Kicking the night off, I have to say that Promises went off great. There was some energy and the students were beginning to show some enthusiasm. This is an area that I really want to get our crew excited about; opening up and letting loose (who knows, we might even get them jumping soon).

This was our second week to do 'My Savior Lives' and I think it is starting to sink in a little. The song's melody is relatively simple which makes for a quick learn. The lyrical content, however, is dead-on doctrinally and simply portrays the truth of Christ's eternal reign. This one is a must for an energetic, yet worshipful tune for almost any occasion.

We then did the standard arrangement of 'Holy is the Lord' and ended on a slow chorus. From there we transitioned into 'Stand in Awe'. I took a moment to profoundly state (ramble?) something about taking a stand in our schools and with friends to rise above the crowd so that everyone may see Christ in us. This is the theme of next week's all-worship night and I thought it would be a great time to preview that topic.

From there, we went straight into the chorus of 'The Stand' (which is quickly becoming one of my favorites). Typically, we only do the chorus/pre-chorus for this one, but we ended up playing the entire song. I'm glad we did too. Not only does it portray the gospel message and exuberantly proclaim our love and submission to give our hearts to Him, it just so happened to tie right in with the message. Yesssss. I LOVE that. As a worship leader I have to say, it's awesome when God lays songs on my heart and helps guide me in preparing them.

Finally, I have to say no matter how many times I play 'Hungry', I just don't get tired of it. Such songs of pleading and desperation (i.e. 'Rescue', 'I Give You My Heart' etc.) give us an opportunity to surrender everything that we are holding onto and I just can't get enough of it.

So that is what went down this past Wednesday. I have to say that I am SUPER excited about next week. Not only am I leading Sunday morning, we have our 3rd all worship night at GBCs sanctuary. If you are gonna be around, drop in from 7:00-8:30 and get your praise on. Maybe we could get a Mogulus broadcast going...

-Peace

Worship Confessional 2

2008-09-11T07:24:00.000-05:00

Alright, so here's my account from last night at Practice (GBC high school service). First and foremost, we finally had the entire band back together! We have been missing a couple of guys over the summer and it is definitely good to have everyone back.

Our current Practice team:
Me - acoustic/vocals,
Kaylyn Van Dunk - BGV,
Katy Draper - BGV,
Skylar Hagler - electric,
Doug Hedstrom - bass,
Jason Morgan - keys,
Jacob Hines - drums,
Courtney Kasper - media
Roman Walley - FOH

I have to say that these guys (and gals) absolutely rocked the house. I mean, it was by far the best we have played since I started working with this group. The set list for the night consisted of My Savior Lives (New Life Worship), Salvation is Here (Hillsong United), Shine (Matt Redman), Part of Your Story (Todd Wright), and we finished up after the message with I Give You My Heart (Reuben Morgan, Hillsong). The original plan also included Stand in Awe (Jeremey Riddle) but we had to cut it do to time.

Throughout the night, I think that the crowd really responded well. We're in kind of a growing time since we lost some of our older students and gained quite a few new ones. With new faces comes new challenges; the biggest of which would be teaching students about worship.

This is something God has laid on my heart over the past few months and I feel as a worship pastor that it is my duty to not only lead worship, but to teach about it as well. Not just to be singing, but truly surrendering our hearts and lives to Christ and being overtaken by his spirit. Not about what we get out of it, but the gift that we offer to Him. Worship is so not about us. I heard someone describe it in a way that I've never really thought of and it got me thinking. They said that worship is kinda like coming home. No matter how far away you may get, there is nothing better than running home and seeing your Father running toward you with open arms. Who knows, maybe one day I'll even write a book about this. Or, more than likely, I'll just talk about writing a book and not ever do it.

Our rehearsal time was cut short due to students arriving early, so we didn't get a chance to finish running the songs. Even so, the songs we didn't get to run were as good if not better than those we did. It's really exciting to get to the place where individual musicians can come together and really be a band. We have cues and can communicate effectively without words, we know arrangements and can change them up at any time, and we can nail songs with little rehearsal time. Now I'm not trying to brag about this, I'm just saying God has gifted these guys and when they use their gifts for the right reasons, many, many blessings follow.

I have now been leading worship at Practice for over 1.5 years and it just keeps getting better. Seriously, I have to remind myself that this is my job! I actually get paid to do stuff I love!

And life is fantastic.

Ike is a comin'. Grab your shotgun and head for the hills.

-Peace

Weekend Outlook

2008-09-05T09:35:00.000-05:00

So here we are. It's Friday again. Since my Fridays generally consist of working all day and hanging out/going out with my wife and maybe some friends, I don't think it would be an interesting read for a My Friday post. Trust me, I'm saving you some boring posts. Some of us don't get weekdays off. But I digest...

I was supposed to be off today because we are heading down to Lake Jackson for Maegan's best friend's wedding. However, I found out yesterday that my co-worker was not scheduled to work today. So I got stuck covering the morning shift. Oh well, this just means that Maegan doesn't have to go to an awkward/boring luncheon with all the ladies. She didn't say thank you, but I'm pretty sure she was thinkin' it.

Speaking of my beautiful wife, today is Maegan's birthday!! Send her some love if you get the chance (in form of call/text/facebook/Curious George monkey paraphenalia/monetary donations only. No other love is accepted.). So we're going to spend her birthday weekend selflessly making sure that her friend's wedding needs are met and that the show goes off without a hitch. Oh well, we can celebrate later.

We'll be back in town on Saturday night ready to rock-&-roll on Sunday morning. Speaking og Sunday, we have already had a couple of folks come and audition for the Crosspoint worship team. This is exciting seeing as how we haven't had much fresh blood in the mix for the past couple of semesters. If it all works out, we may have some relief for the more stretched (3+ services per week) members of the band.

That's it for today, we'll be back in town tomorrow.

-Peace

What's Next?

2008-09-04T06:34:00.001-05:00

Have you been sitting around feeling guilty for loving all of those devil-worshipin' rock-and-roll songs on guitar hero/rockband? If your like me than the answer would be no. But, I guess it bothered some big wigs in the Christian Marketing World (if you want to sound official, just call it the CMW) that too many young people were headin' down the path of death and destruction and they needed to get saved.

What do we do now?

Of course! We have R&D figure out which fad has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years and is well on its way to fizzleing out soon. And then we copy it. This time its only 3 years after the release of the Satan-version. Glad to see we're closing the time gap between us and them.

This is huge.

All I'm saying is you better be sitting down.

I present to you..............

Guitar Praise - Solid Rock - Available in mid-September 2008

You can place your PRE-ORDER NOW - You will be one of the first to get Guitar Praise direct from Digital Praise when it becomes available in September. (Note your credit card will be charged when you place your order.)

Grab the guitar and play along with top Christian bands! Shred those riffs or blast the bass…you add a unique sound to the solid Christian rock. But watch out: if you can't keep up, the artists will take a break and stop the music. Crank it up and try again - you'll soon be rockin' with the best while praising the Lord!

-Features hit songs from popular Christian rock bands
-Includes wireless USB guitar controller.
-Two guitars can be connected at the same time, so two guitarists can play together - either on the same track or one on lead, the other on bass.
-Players press the fret buttons and strum on the strum bar in time to the color-coded notes as they scroll onscreen.
-Offers over 50 songs with 4 levels of play per song - from easy to expert. Beginners start slowly, but soon their fingers will be flying; - just like a real guitarist.
-Onscreen lyrics reflect Christian values. Vocalists can sing their hearts out as their friends play the guitar.
-Record keeping lets players store high scores per song and unlock new songs in sets of six as they progress through the game and post their scores online.
-Players can also earn new guitars with richer sounds and different effects.
-Works on Windows and Mac computers.

Don't believe me? You will now.

Deleted Post

2008-09-02T13:38:00.000-05:00

I just wrote a post about hurricane Gustav and the way that people react and sometimes overeact to disaster. I re-read it somewhere in the neighborhood of 17,000 times and realized that it just didn't sit right. It was just too harsh. Yeah the hurricane wasn't what I thought it was gonna be (e.g. Rita part deux) and so I guess I decided to rant too quickly. Upon doing some research, I found that already 7 people in the US and over 70 from Cuba and Jamaica have lost their lives because of this hurricane.

So instead of making light of the situation (and those that overstock on spam at Wal-Mart during those times), I figured I could do something better with my time. Like pray for those who have lost loved ones. And pray that levees in Louisiana don't break again and leave hundreds homeless.

I am, for the most part, a pretty selfish guy. So here's what I'm going to do. I am REALLY going to try to put that aside for now and spend some time asking God to help others instead of me. This isn't me trying to get all down and out on myself. It's just the truth.

(I'll post something witty and clever about how crazy wal-mart was on a later date.)

-Peace

The Day After the Day After (and how it makes me happy)

2008-08-28T14:41:00.000-05:00

So here we are. It's Thursday again. And that means 2 things:

1. Tomorrow is Friday
2. Tomorrow is Friday

And that makes me happy.

Anyway, like I was rambling about on Tuesday, I got to run sound for Shawn McDonald and Michael Fordinal. All in all I thought it was a great concert. Good response from the crowd, awesome turn-out, and everything tech-wise went without any problems.

And that makes me happy.

Seriously, I was running sound, lights, and projection during the entire show and the only problems that occurred were user-errors (i.e. opening act unhooking pedals, etc. after sound check and then hooking them up wrong upon returning for show time). Mike handled it well and (the best part of all) nobody ever turned and stared at me. I hate it when it happens. And it didn't.

And that makes me happy.

Ok, so Mike plays through his set during sound check and everything is going great. Mike's friend Mike (you heard it right, keep readin') jumped up onto our percussion set up and started playing some djembe. He was joking around at first but in all reality, it sounded kinda cool.

About 30 minutes to show time Mike #2 comes up to me at the sound booth and asks if it would be a big deal to play some percussion during the show. "Oh. Uh, ok...that'll be cool", I said as I began to wonder how cool it really was gonna be. Don't get me wrong, I thought he was ok. He was no Justin Romack or anything like that, but I guess he knew how to slap a djembe. (Was that an awkward statement? Yes. Keep readin'.) So they get up and start jamming and, I'll be darned, the djembe added A LOT to the Mike Fordinal's solo acoustic performance. I had the bottom mic cranked and our subs rumbled.

And that makes me happy.

So, Mike finishes and it is officially "Shawn McDonald time." I pull down all the lights as Shawn and Ryder (lead guitarist) take the stage. The crowd is going crazy. The air is electric. I fade the stage lights back up as they pick up their guitars. Everything is in the moment. And then Shawn steps up to the mic and says, "Hey. What are you guys doin' here?" It was great. They then proceeded to rock it out for the next hour, mixing new songs with old songs, and threw down just some flat-out, down home, jamming.

And that makes me happy.

I was worried about having to deal with the whole rock-star/diva mindset, but these guys were down to earth. Sound check went very smoothly as well. I got to hang with the guys for a little while after the show and kinda see who they really were. No divas here. Just some guys with guitars that had hearts for serving God with their music. I totally dig that. And when I grow up, I think it might be fun to do the same.

And that makes me happy.

Tuesday

2008-08-26T09:26:00.000-05:00

Whats goin' down:

-Sunday morning we had over 700 in worship. We moved our 8:30 service back to 9:30 and the hour change made a HUGE difference.

-Crosspoint had a record-shattering 230 Sunday night.

-My wife is offically a graduate student. And I am not. And that makes me happy.

-Satellite guy came out yesterday. No more one-fuzzy-channel-syndrome. (We also got a free HD DVR just because Dish Network cares)

-I have been trying to finish Batman Begins (I know, that movie is SOOOO 2005) so that I can be caught up for The Dark Knight, but I keep falling asleep before the end. Which stinks because I really like it so far. Stupid 5:30 am job....grumble.....

-Currently listening to John Mayer's "Where the Light Is" album. Used up all my free Rhapsody listens on it. All I can say is...dang. Somebody should buy this for me.

But, alas, all of that fails miserably in comparison to what I get to do tonight...

I get to hang with Shawn McDonald.

Not only do I get to meet him, I get to make sure that the thousands of screaming fans hear everything perfectly.

That's right. Philip Melton is running FOH for Shawn McDonald.

Ok sorry, I'll stop gloating. But only because I'm the most humble person. Ever.

I never really listened to him before, but since this opportunity came up, I have been checking his stuff out and have to say, the guy is good. He's got a real laid-back style and an incredible testimony. This is an awesome oppurtunity for me and I feel super blessed to be a part of making an impact on Nacogdoches.

Peace

2008-08-21T15:24:00.000-05:00

It's almost Friday...

Worship Confessional 1 (in text? how lame.)

2008-08-21T08:07:00.000-05:00

Last night was our final summer Practice (HS youth group). We have had a small but faithful group meeting together for a good portion of the summer. Next week we will have a kick-off party at the Rocco's house and really get the students geared up for the semester. We will (hopefully) have some of the college guys come back in to lend much needed help on some instruments and media.

Anyway, last night we rocked the three-piece band again (waiting on Doug to get back from Mexico and Jason to get a break from summer band) with our 2 girls belting out some soulful BGVs. These guys have done a fantastic job of keeping up and pushing themselves as players. I admit that I move fast through rehearsal and they hold their own.

I had put together what I thought was a very cool 'back-half of the set' that consisted of:

Stand in Awe (Jeremy Riddle)
The Stand (chorus only) (Hillsong United)
Wonderful Maker (Redman/Tomlin)
The Stand (pre-chorus, chorus)

Now, I know what you're thinking. The Stand? Twice?? The answer is...yes. And it totally rocked. The first time we used the chorus to transition between the 2 songs. The second time we really pushed and built into a big chorus to really bring the whole thing home. It really tied the set together and I think that the chorus is an awesome opportunity to throw your hands up and get lost in worship.

The top half of the set was All We Need (Charlie Hall) and Your Grace is Enough (Maher/Tomlin) both in G. Not much variety as far as key selection, but it made for a seamless transitions. Plus, they're high school kids. They don't care. Usually, we play a song to get everybody rounded up and then break for announcements/games/etc. This week, I felt like we should kinda change it up a little. Mainly, I wanted the songs to flow. Students seem to respond better and break down walls the longer we sing. We are in the process of transitioning to a song at the end of the message. We had "From the Inside Out" planned, but ran out of time. I have enjoyed throwing some United in the mix. Really fun tunes to play.

All in all, I felt like we had a good response. I feel like the relationships that I have formed with the students really help me connect with them. I am looking forward to building new relationships with the new school year. It has been awesome watching all the changes that have taken place in the 1.5 years that I have been leading that group. Most importantly, the kids have learned that worship time isn't just a time to hear the band play and mess around with your friends. Worship is becoming more and more what it is supposed to be; a time to let go the everyday junk in our lives, forget about what everyone else might think, and truly praise God because He is worthy. And I feel like they are starting to understand this.

I am really, REALLY excited about the school year starting back up. New students + old students + new issues + old problems + fear/anxiety/pressures = more chances to let God work, start over and truly surrender lives to Christ.

And I get to be a part of it.

There is nothing better than seeing God transform lives.

Peace.

Housing Update #1

2008-08-19T07:32:00.000-05:00

After being threatened, harassed, and abused (verbally and physically) by Justin, I thought it was time to post something.

So here is the best thing I can come up with. Lady and Gentlemen (you know who you are), I present to you...

The Housing Update:

1. The new furniture arrived on Friday and is in place.
2. Our entertainment-center arrives next week. (My plasma looks a little goofy on the cheap TV stand we already had.)
3. Dish Network is setting up service next week.
4. With some help from Geoff, we tried to put up my new Rubbermaid storage shed. Work will resume work on that this afternoon.
5. Most of the blinds are up.
6. Washer and dryer are hooked-up.
7. With much help from Maegan, our bedroom is 90% complete. (the switch from full-size bed to queen has been incredible.)
8. We saved our dying grass.
9. The kitchen is 99%. (just gotta get the extra junk out)
10. Still have boxes in the other rooms. Lots of boxes.
11. The trash man left our old, junky ironing board by the curb. Seriously, he took everything else and left that crappy thing. Who does he think he is? He has no right to decide what is trash and what isn't. Especially, ESPECIALLY if it is trash in the first place. You know what? He WILL take it on Thursday. No questions. If he doesn't, I'm gonna throw it at his ugly truck while he drives by. If he wants a shake down, I'm ready to rumble.
12. We finally have internet (no thanks to Suddenlink's speedy service).
13. Our dogs dug a hole under our backyard fence and escaped while we were at church.
14. I re-read #11 and realized that I might need to see a counselor.
15. Still gotta call the builder and have him fix the shortcuts he tried to get away with. Thank the Lord for work that is guaranteed.

There it is. We are now 3 weeks into the world of home-ownershipohcrapwhatamIdoingidontknowhowtohookthatupwheretheheckaremysockstherearesomanyboxesmyheadhurts and loving every minute.

Peace

Can you stand it?

2008-08-08T07:44:00.001-05:00

This is a post from one of my favorite blogs...Stuff Christians Like (a spin-off of the ever popular Stuff White People Like blog). The first one. Well, both actually are worth reading. I couldn't help but think about every Christian station I have ever heard do a morning show. Most definitely worth looking into if you have a few minutes.

#46. Super, happy shiny Christian radio.
Boy of boy, I get cavities when I listen to Christian radio in the morning it's so sweet and sugary. Not that I'm asking for negativity, but for some reason, we want our morning radio to be like a big hug from a teddy bear. Who is riding a pink unicorn with his friend the fuzzy wuzzy caterpillar, while licking one of those giant frisbie-sized lollipops. I think that Christian radio is the audio equivalent of that poster that has the cat hanging on a rope with the line, "Hang in there." And it doesn't have to be. I think that Christianity is a lot more interesting than we make it out to be. I think it's real and honest and beautiful and ugly. But when in one of our most popular mediums we sugarcoat it, we give the world a really weird reflection of what it means to be Christian. And that's just not cool.

I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy

2008-08-07T06:45:00.000-05:00

So I try to keep things pretty light hearted here, no one wants to spend all day reading sappy stories and heavy, guilt-laden comments about life and such. With that in mind, I'll try to keep this short.

Since we bought our house (we're homeowners in case you didn't know!) and even a few days leading up to it, I had been dealing with a lot of anxiety and stress. If you know me, then you know that I don't get worked up about much. I know that God has given me a level head and a something of a soft heart. I don't worry about much. Even though everything was going great, I would come home and just be overwhelmed by this anxious feeling. I couldn't place a finger on what it was, but I knew that something wasn't right.

During the midst of closing on the house, moving, preparing music for a youth conference, unpacking, rehearsing and cleaning, I really felt like I couldn't keep my head above water. Pulling all the strength that I had left in me, I made it through the weekend and into Monday.

So all that to say...

Maegan and I had an awesome experience leading small groups and teaching students the importance of remaining abstinent until marriage. The whole weekend really brought us closer (even though we hardly saw each other) and we opened up and talked a lot about what we had experienced.

This is when she spoke words to me that I will never forget. She told me she was listening to some preacher on KSWP. (You know how you start listening and you just kinda get into it? Everybody does it. Don't act like you haven't ever got your Dr. Tony Evans on.) He happened to be talking about having joy in God. He went on to say that if we keep placing our joy in things or people or circumstances, then we will lose it every single time. Immediately God grabbed a hold of me and I realized that I kept trying to put my joy in my house, my job, my music and everything else that I could think of. And the result? I was a tired, anxious wreck.

After that, I just asked God to be the TRUE joy in my life no matter what the circumstances may be. And you know what? My life has been transformed. Upside down. The uneasy feelings that I was consumed with are gone. The stress is gone. The exhaustion is gone. And I all I had to do was refocus on where I was placing my hope.

I encourage you to just give it shot today. Put your joy in Christ and see what happens.

Peace.

lol

2008-07-29T13:27:00.000-05:00

This one is for my good friend and bass player for our band...

Mr. Kurt Radnitzer.

Oh look, here's a fun fact...

2008-07-25T08:44:00.000-05:00

Link to the person who tagged you — Ryan. Thanks for giving me something to blog about...at work.
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Write six random things about yourself.
- Tag six people at the end of your post.
- Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
- Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I have been clinically diagnosed with AD..D...anybody want some coffe-ooh, this is shiny. What?
2. I collect guitars - Current collection = 4 acoustics, 2 electrics, bass, nylon string, and a mandelin.
3. I eat peanut butter and jelly almost everyday. But only because I wany to.
4. When I was in high school, I ran into the short bus. With my truck. Yeah. It only bent the bumper on the bus, but it ripped my entire rear quarter panel off. I'm pretty sure there is a hotter place in hell for actions like that.
5. My favorite artist (for now at least) is John Mayer.
6. I led the same youth praise band for 6 years. We never made it big, in case you were wondering.

That's it. I don't have anybody to tag.
-Peace

Free Redbox Rental

2008-07-22T06:10:00.001-05:00

Ok, ok, ok...Thanks for all the traffic you sent this way, Justin. It has been an overwhelming response.

So you can sign for the Redbox e-mails that clutter your inbox with junk and receive a code for a free movie rental. I thought this sounded too good to be true, but alas, it isn't. I was curious to see if I could get a free movie rental from each e-mail account I submitted, so I tried 2. And got the same code twice. All that to say, this code works once for each credit/debit card you have in your inventory. Ready for this? Just press add promo code and type:

BREAKROOM

And happily watch that little $1.08 total role back to a sweet $0! Tell your friends! Free movies on me!!

All Hail The Guitar Riff

2008-07-21T14:39:00.000-05:00

So I had sudden inspiration hit during Thursday rehearsal and I pulled this riff out my...mind. It fit really well (accident) and gave the hymn "All Hail the Power" a cool feel. Here it is from this past Sunday.
(Props to Romack for the encouragement as well as the web hosting!)

All Hail Ending (from 11:00 service)

Let me know what YOU think...

Wherever He Leads I'll Go...

2008-07-18T13:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the cheesy title. I couldn't help it. Here is a quick (maybe?) update:

Maegan and I are going through an awesome/stressful time right now. We bought our first house! We are the proud owners of a 3 bed/2 bath place in south Nac. It's been an awesome oppurtunity to see God continue to guide our steps. It's really amazing how God brought both of us to SFA in the first place. It's even more incredible that we actually met (yay facebook!), got engaged and then married. God has provided me with some kind of income every time that I needed it. A year and half ago, God led me to Grace Bible Church, and I had no clue what I was getting into. And now I don't want out. Even if they ever wanted me out. Too bad for them. Now God has placed a home into our lives (no, really, EVERYTHING fell into place) and we know that this is the next step in following God's plan.

It's been awesome to be able to ask God to open and close doors as He sees fit. Although He is big enough to work through whatever decisions I make, there is nothing better than to be in His Will. I just wonder were I'm going next...

Irony and a little thing called Paranoia

2008-07-01T08:51:00.000-05:00

NOTE: Names and places have been changed to protect my job and dignity.

Ok, so a funny thing happened on my way to work yesterday...

You know how my last post was entitled "...I hope I don't get caught!"? Well, I did. Sort of. A certain VP of the aforementioned place of employment (from hence-forth referred to as i-tek..........just keep reading) was lunching with a certain senior pastor of a bible church somewhere in Nacogdoches and the conversation took a turn toward typical job ranting. This said VP (lets call him John Edood) started talking about how he has google notifier, um, notify him every time that the company's name (remember, i-tek) is posted any where online.

Paranoid? You be the judge.

Well, as it turns out, my last little post included the name of this place of employment and it happened to set off all sorts of buzzing and flashing alarms over there in HQ (ed. Ok, so not really, but it makes it more exciting. Stick with me.) The message showed that someone was blogging about blogging at work and getting paid for it! What nerve! It had to have been one of those computer guys! Can you believe that? Whoever is doing all of that blogging on the clock should be punished!

Needless to say, Mr. Edood has no idea who's blog it was and honestly probably doesn't even care (I just ran into him and we exchanged warm greetings....muahahaha). So we'll just let this one slide by and hope that he hasn't subsribed to my RSS feed.

Blogging at Work...(I hope I don't get caught!)

2008-06-20T06:04:00.000-05:00

Well faithful stalkers/readers, I am posting this from my desk at i-tek. It's a little after 6am and I am the only one here. And I have nothing to do. And I'm getting paid for this. This rocks.

I don't really have any in depth thoughts or humorus stories to share today. Does that make me a lousy blogger? Sooooo, I'm going to break down and try my hand at this '5' thing. (I got tagged by my buddy Justin).

My 5
June 20th, 2008 (PAYDAY!) by Philip

WHAT WERE YOU DOING FIVE YEARS AGO?
1. About to be a big senior in high school.
2. Trying to figure out were I was going to college.
3. Filling out scholarship applications.
4. Playing with my band "Souled Out".
5. Being a band nerd.

WHAT IS ON YOUR TO-DO LIST FOR TODAY?
1. Make it through work without falling asleep. (Or at least not get caught!)
2. Mow the yard.
3. Wash the shoe polish off of the truck. (Yeah, we've been married for almost 1 month and the 'Just Married!' is still stuck all over the truck. Bleh.)
4. Take a nap when I get home.
5. Make pizzas and watch a movie!

WHAT ARE FIVE SNACKS YOU ENJOY?
1. Chips and salsa
2. Reeses
3. Apples (with peanut butter)
4. Anything chocolate
5. Chips and salsa

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WERE A BILLIONAIRE?
1. Buy a billion double cheeseburgers! Seriously, I would pick up some more guitars and stuff. Like a grand piano for the parlor. And a butler. For the parlor? We don't even have one of those.
2. Pay off student loans.
3. Buy a house(with a parlor). And some cars. And another house.
4. Vacation as long and as often as we want. And take lots of friends with us.
5. Finally be able to pay for gas!

WHAT ARE 5 OF YOUR BAD HABITS?
1. Thinking that I'm funny. Even though my humor is pretty much lame. All the time.
2. Hearing but not really listening. This bites me on the butt more than anything else.
3. Taking people for granted. (I promise, I REALLY do appreciate you.)
4. Not encouraging friends enough.
5. Spending money that has already been spent. Or that doesn't need to. Life savings, what? No that's fast food money. My wife is really getting me in check about that.

WHERE ARE FIVE PLACES THAT YOU HAVE LIVED?
1. Longview, TX (18 years)
2. Nacogdoches, TX - Wisely Hall (2 years)
3. Nacogdoches, TX - Univeristy Club Apartments (1 year)
4. Nacogdoches, TX - The White House (1 year)
5. Nacogdoches, TX - My house (1 month)

WHERE HAVE YOU WORKED?
1. Self employed mowing buisness. (Longview/Kilgore)
2. Self employed mobile recording/production buisness - PM Records. (Longview/Nac)
3. Mercer Well Service - Welder's hand. (Kilgore)
4. Grace Bible Church - Assistant Worship Pastor. (Nac)
5. i-tek, Inc - IT Desktop Support. (Nac)

TAGGED…
1. My wife Maegan because she is really funny and needs to share with the blogging community.
2. My 'boss' Ryan because he's gonna to make a big blog comeback. I can feel it coming.
3. My brother Steven. Odd, quirky, yet insightful. Would definitly be an interesting read.
4. Has any body tagged Doug yet? If not, you're it.
5. I don't really have any more friends.

So there it is. If you have been tagged, you must also answer these questions and you must also tag five additional people to keep this survey alive.

NOTE: I actually started this post almost an hour ago. And I STILL have nothing to do.

Pt. 2

2008-05-31T23:38:00.000-05:00

That's right. We're still in Dallas. And we have officially been married for a whole week! Thats longer than most celebrity weddings...we're DESTINED to make it.

Soooo, this has been one of the coolest experiences of my life. We have been so blessed to be able to do everything that we wanted to this trip. We have done so much that I think I can recap...backwards.

Today:
Rangers game(they won and there was a fireworks show afterwards!)
Hurricane Harbor (because we are gluttons for burning in sun)

Friday:
Sleep all day
In-room movie (Horton Hears a Who) *recommend!
Shopping/eating trip at the Collin Creek Mall)
More Sleep

Thursday:
Furniture Shopping at IKEA (it's a lot more fun than it sounds!)
Taco Cabana
Medieval Times!

Wednesday:
Paul Varghese at The Improv
Italian Ice cream and coffee
Addison Circle
Dinner at Los Lupes (cheap AND awesome!)
Early breakfast, then a nap.

Tuesday:
Dallas Aquarium
Checked out downtown dallas
Dave and Busters

Monday:

Kobe Steakhouse in Addison for dinner(after driving around trying to find a place for an hour)

Shopping at the galleria

Check out of Hyatt Place (booooo)

Check in at the Hyatt Regency (yay!)

I know thats not all, but I'll fill you guys in later. We've had a blast and can't wait to get home. See you soon!

Honeymoon Pt. 1

2008-05-26T00:16:00.000-05:00

Hello from the Hyatt Place in North Dallas!

We are wrapping up our first official day of being married and I have to say it has been incredible! Last night we arrived earlier than we thought so we had a chance to find our hotel and check in. We left immediately from there and went and had one of the most incredible dining experiences I have ever had! There is a small restaurant called Bugatti's Ristorante that we had been to before with my family. The staff was great and the filet mignon was un-stinkin-believable. They kept telling us how grateful they were that we chose to come and grace them with our presence on our day of marriage and even gave Maegan a rose! We stayed on the 16th floor of the Hyatt Regency (north Dallas) and had one of the coolest rooms I have ever seen.

Today, we started off with lunch at one of my all time fav's, TACO CABANA! Maegan decided that we should take pictures of everything and create a honeymoon montage. So we did. And still are. We then ventured up to Frisco and toured around IKEA for about 3 hours. It too was awesome. Around 4:00 we decided to go find our next hotel (the one from which I am posting). We arrived and were disappointed in the quality of the rooms. It's kind of like a holiday inn with updated furniture. And our AC keeps rattling like crazy. So we called up the Regency again and booked the rest of the week there. They are charging us a one night's stay penalty here so we decided to stay tonight and just bare it. Bear it? Behr it. We had dinner tonight while watching Indiana Jones at the SMG Theatre just right down the road. The food was great and the movie was...long. So now we are totally exhausted and about to crash for the night.

I'll keep you posted as we continue on!

2008-05-09T00:57:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while, but hey, I'm just proud that I'm still posting.

So much has happened since April 14th. But that's sort of a given. We are now totally done with finals (which means done with undergraduate!) and we are walking across the stage on Saturday. Ryan was also cool about letting me lead Sunday AM so that Maegan's family would be able to see that I actually do stuff. Props to Ryan. We have been cleaning pretty much all day, and tomorrow looks the same. With family coming all the way in from Lubbock, we want everything to be perfect.

After we get through with graduation, it's nothing but wedding cramming. We have slacked SO MUCH on this! But at the same time, we have gotten what we can done. It sucks trying to plan a wedding and earn a degree at the same time. Maegan is defiantly an awesome girl to be able to pull it off this far! I'm gonna be a lucky groom, that's for sure!!

Played a gig with Todd Wright last weekend in Lufkin. 3 things I realized:
-I don't think I like outdoor gigs any more,
-I will never play an outdoor gig without throwing a hoodie in the truck, &
-I really enjoy playing with different musicians.
Seriously, I've got an incredible experience of playing music at least twice a week, every week with some great musicians. Each time I play, it's typically with different guys and it has really helped me grow as an instrumentalist.

The wedding is on the 24th of this month! It is finally happening. We have been together for over 3 years now and have been engaged for almost a year and a half! It is TIME to get married. It is still feels like it isn't really happening, but I know that will change soon.

Now, it is time for bed, but I will try to keep my millions of faithful readers up to date with all of the excitement that the next few weeks hold.

Peace.

Quick Update

2008-04-14T17:47:00.000-05:00

Hey! Sorry for the down time. We have been busy with work/school and were out of town this weekend experiencing our first wedding shower. It was like Christmas/Birthday/Kwanzaa/New Years all rolled into one! We got some great gifts and lots of love from my old church friends and family. We're finishing up invitations (we're now running a little behind, but if you are reading this consider yourself invited) and trying to get our taxes done.

I've been listening to Leeland's new album lately and have to say, it's not bad. I wasn't a fan until I saw them live but now I'm digging "Opposite Way." You may want to check it out if you've got some spare time. And we all know there's plenty of that floating around.

Everybody! YEAH! Rock your body! YEAH!!

2008-04-01T22:45:00.000-05:00

My beautiful (and ever so slightly quirky) fiance has joined the blog world! For humor and entertainment CLICK HERE.

(http://maegan-renee.blogspot.com)

Casting Crowns

2008-04-01T22:24:00.000-05:00

I am excited about seeing these guys on Thursday!

Great Weekend...Even Better Monday

2008-03-31T18:02:00.000-05:00

First off, I went in to this past weekend expecting to spend time doing wedding planning and maybe some house chores. We spent Friday afternoon working on our registration, playing with Sophie, watching TV, napping, as well as other random/lazy afternoon activities. That night, I fired up the grill and threw on my marinated chicken breasts (topped with pepperjack cheese and pico de gallo) and veggie skewers. After the feast, we cuddled on the couch and watched our favorite TV shows....online...because we can't afford cable...and the commercials are only 30 seconds...but I digress.

Saturday, we ventured all the way over to Lufkin to check up/update our registry (Target, Dillards, and Bed, Bath & Beyond) and had a great time adding hundreds of items to our wish list. The best part of the night was getting a free salad from Wendy's. Oh yeah, it was totally free. We finished up with VIP treatment at Bed, Bath & Beyond and a very successful shopping trip (for Maegan, ask her about her new shoes) at Ross.

Sunday night, I had the great privalege of playing with Lufkin's own Todd Wright. The set was great, the guys were fantastic, and we had a good turn out. I do hope that I have the oppurtunity to sit in with him in the future.

Monday, and the pinnacle of this waste of time known as a blog, I recieved a call from a friend asking if we could meet and talk. We had spent some time disussing religious matters and he told me that he was looking for something. We met and went to Starbucks to sit and discuss. He told me he was ready to make a desicion and we prayed right there. It was such a great oppurtunity to be a part of God's HUGE plan. I feel so humble and small, yet He can use me for His glory.

Sorry for such a long post! I just had to get that out. I'll try harder to blog more frequently=shorter posts. Peace.

Rough Start

2008-03-27T10:42:00.000-05:00

So I must first apologize, it's been over a week and I have left you all in suspense.

Everything has been going alright. That is, until 2 nights ago...
I received a phone call from Maegan at 3:36 AM (Tuesday morning) and was slowly awakened from a deep slumber. The first thing I remember her saying was the she had already called the cops. That kind of got my attention. She went on to say that her and Sophie (our black lab) were awakened by someone pounding on the window in the living room. Our guard dog was more scared than Maegan and actually tryed to hide behind her (Sophie weighs over 60 lbs). Anyway, the police arrived (while I was still at my house trying to find which way up was) and swept the perimeter. Maegan called me back and told me that they didn't find anybody. Needless to say, we were both freaked out and there is still a madman roaming the streets of north Nacogdoches. The past 2 nights have been thankfully uneventful and we are in the process of amping up our home security measures (guard dog school is looking like a good investment).

So that's hopefully the end of that story. I will keep all 3 of you readers up to date as things continue to unfold.

Peace.

First Post

2008-03-20T01:49:00.000-05:00

Hey All!

I hope this post finds you well. I have recently been immersing myself in the wonderful land of blogs and decided to give this thing a shot. This is a big step for me and I really hope to keep this blog going. I have a bad habit of starting stuff like this and never finishing. A few things to expect from future blogs:

-Tech projects happening at Grace Bible Church
-Recording projects of my own
-Minutes upon minutes of mind-blowing text!
-And much, much more!

So lets get this business going!

My Life. Plain & Simple.

Hope for the Weary

Update (9/17)

Update (8/3)

Update 7/9

Update 7/8

Update 7/7

Update (6/22)

Done. For Now.

Back to Square 1...well, sort of...

2 Steps Forward...

Happy Early Birthday to Me!

The Methodist Hospital, Houston TX - 1st Update (long)

Update 6/10

Frustated

Sunday Update

Hospital Trip: Round 2

Update on Maegan (Sorry, long post)

Friday Fail

Is it time to leave yet?

Worship Confessional #5

Ads

New Site, New Vision...New Me?...not really.

Welcome. The future is now.

Coming Soon...

More Awesomeness

Epic Friday Fail!

Pure Awesomeness.

Free File Storage

...Sigh...

My page and keeping you updated with every EXCITING detail of my life.

Why I Would Never Make it as a Script Writer

Our Day At the Doctor's Office...(Part I)

Friday Fail!

New Songs (round 1)

Schedule Change

Friday Fail

Hiadeous, Ninjas, and Worship?

Winter in Texas!...oh wait, no...it's gone.

They're Here...

Did you just put pink stuff in my ear?

Interview

3 Thoughts

Midlife Crisis?

New Look

Worship Night!

Interesting

Confessional #3

Worship Confessional 2

Weekend Outlook

What's Next?

Deleted Post

The Day After the Day After (and how it makes me happy)

Tuesday

Worship Confessional 1 (in text? how lame.)

Housing Update #1

Can you stand it?

I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy

lol

Oh look, here's a fun fact...

Free Redbox Rental

All Hail The Guitar Riff

Wherever He Leads I'll Go...

Irony and a little thing called Paranoia

Blogging at Work...(I hope I don't get caught!)

Pt. 2

Honeymoon Pt. 1

Quick Update

Everybody! YEAH! Rock your body! YEAH!!

Casting Crowns

Great Weekend...Even Better Monday

Rough Start

First Post