Wednesday, January 30, 2008

What's Been Canceled?

I realize that my posts are somewhat sporadic. The past couple of weeks have been busy for poor Derrick. (Sorry, I don't normally speak in the third.) Last weekend I finished my jet-set life and started my journey home. That's where it hit the fan.

We were trying to leave DFW on a private charter but due to fog, our pilots couldn't get to us. So we waited, thinking any moment they would arrive and we could make our way to Irvine, CA. Finally, after a few hours, we were off....sort of. Due to a strong headwind we weren't moving as fast as planned. When we arrived in Irvine, I was already late for my return flight home to Tulsa. So, I got a flight to Dallas arriving at 12:00am. Chris, my campus pastor didn't want me to drive all night for fear that I'd run off the road. (I fall asleep at the wheel easy..btw.)

Premier
got me a hotel room, and at 5:30am the next day I arrived at DFW to get my 6:50 flight to Tulsa....which was canceled. Whoops...I was supposed to lead worship...good thing Stephen Cole was prepared. The Tulsa campus experienced worship live via satellite and I continued to book another flight...hoping to lead worship. The band was ready, but then my flight was canceled again. Okay, not going to make the 10 o'clock experience.

Then my next flight was delayed every hour, on the hour. Not going to make the 11:30 experience. It seemed that at any moment the fog would lift and we'd be on our way. So, finally we board the plane at 3pm. Around 3:45 the pilot comes on and says that the airline canceled our flight but that he had gotten it re-instated. WHAT? THEY CANCELED THE FLIGHT WE WERE SITTING ON? THE NERVE! So, we left, made it into Tulsa at 4:50pm. I completely missed church.

All of this because of fog. I mean, snow...no problem. Rain...it's okay. Fog.....everything collapses. I guess it was important to see the runway...you know, to stay on it and everything. Okay, now I've told my story....don't feel sorry for me. Well, you can if you want. Moral of the story...hindsight is 20/20, when your flight cancels don't assume the next one will work out....just go rent a freakin car!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

I Promised!


My trip last week was pretty cool. I got to sing for around 6,000 people and will be doing it all over again this week. It was good to re-connect with friends that I don't get to see that often. Each place I went to I was able to hang out with friends that I've made while helping out at the National Rallies in Ft. Worth.

We sang three songs. One was a Gaither song ( I know...I can hear your chuckling.) One was from a 90's contemporary Christian band 4Him, and the last one was from Donald Lawrence and the Tri-city singers. Now, being at Lifechurch.tv, this is not what I'm used to doing...so it was a stretch for me! The Donald Lawrence song was somewhat of a fit...seeing that I'm part Black Dutch.

Anyway, I had a really cool time flying around on a private jet with the founders of Premier Designs. Here are some pictures..enjoy!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

A Private Jet You Say?


My wife is involved in a company called Premier Designs. She sells this brand's jewelry in ladies' homes across NE Oklahoma. She has been doing this for almost 9 years and loves it! Each year the company has a national rally in Dallas. Usually I go there for a week to learn a bunch of music and perform for the crowd with an ensemble. *Before you snicker, this gets us free room, board, and admission to the event!

In January the company has regional rallies across the U.S. The founders of the company asked for a quartet and I was called upon to assist! The cool thing is that I will be traveling to Orlando tomorrow and then hopping on the founder's private jet to go with them to the other sites! HOLY FREAKIN COW!!! Andy and Joan Horner are two of the nicest, most giving, godly people I have ever met...so traveling with them on their private jet is a little bit of a mind blower! I'll blog a little bit about my travels as the weekend unfolds but I really wanted to highlight what a honor it is to get to spend time with the Horners.

Andy and Joan started the Horner-Premier Foundation in 1992 to help protect the company's philosophy, purpose, and plan. A major part of that plan was to finance missionaries around the world. So, now that the Horners are no longer the President of the company, they spend a lot of time traveling to other countries and visiting the people that Premier funds. I will enjoy picking their brains about what God is doing and what they're excited about.

Okay, this was my inspiring post. From now on, just selfish pictures of me on a private jet and basking in "the life" that I will never live! Look out Creflo!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Time For A New Goal

Last year if you would have told me that I would be a runner I would have laughed at you. Although my physique doesn't conjure up images of Jesse Owens or any other athlete besides a rodeo clown...I have seen huge improvements in my energy, stamina, and weight.

So far, I have run a 5K race and a 13.1 mile half-marathon. I went from running a consistent 11-12 minute mile, to a 10 minute mile average. During the 5K I ran a 9.5 minute average! It was rather quick for me! Now I'm off to my next challenge....a full marathon. Yep...it's out there. I said it. I am planning on running the Okc Memorial Marathon in April. This is a full loop 26.2 miles of pure torture! My goal is to do this in 4 hours....

The coolest thing about running for me, is the mind game that goes on while you're running. Your body keeps telling you to stop, that you need to take a break, but you know that you can run as much as you're running. You have to push past the pain and focus on the end goal. If you give in to the "slow down" mental game you'll postpone your goal and it will keep you from getting faster.

I've learned to use those cues to pray and ask God to help me through the pain. I'm reminded of scripture that I quote while I'm in pain...

So there is my new goal. Check in on me and see how the training is going... Do you guys have any goals this year that seem overwhelming?

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Why So Sick?

Last Thursday I picked up some sort of runny nose, itchy throat, coughing, sickness thing. I hate being sick. Even though I had the detached medicine head thing going on...I had to plow on through for the weekend. We have 6 experiences (services, for the non Lifechurch goer) that go from 5pm on Saturday night through 6pm on Sunday night.

I really think it was my praying...bags of plain lays...my drummer Matthias' nasty Honey-Lemon-Ginseng-Green Tea....lots of water, and my friend Kyle Panter's concoction called "Throat-Coat" that helped me through the weekend! We had over 1,400 people at the Tulsa campus this weekend. It was the first weekend for the 2nd Tulsa campus (South Tulsa) which is located in Bixby. They had over 750 people attending today!

It was overall a great weekend. Hopefully the sick thing will go away soon...I gotta get back to running in the mornings...I NEED it!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Aww, That's Sad...

So my family (Rachel and Ezra) went to Little Rock to visit family that they didn't see for Christmas. This left me as a bachelor for a couple of nights.

I was kinda looking forward to these couple of nights because usually my friends ask to hang out but I usually choose hanging out with my family before Ezra goes to sleep. So a couple nights to hang out with friends seemed awesome!
Link
I did manage to hang out with some friends but wound up both nights trying to figure out what to do with myself. So, here I am at Starbucks (photo) charting music for upcoming worship sets. All alone, but being very productive. This is not a pity post, just an acknowledgment of an ironic situation. The family has returned and I got to hang out with my amazing son and eat Totinos pizza with my sweet wife. Back to life...back to reality! (Name that artist!)

Friday, January 11, 2008

Almost A Full Year Old!

We took Ezra to Big Cedar Lodge for Christmas this year. I sat him in a rocking chair on a deck overlooking the lake. He instantly started to rock! I am amazed at how fast things come to him. He is pulling up and starting to move around A LOT more! Now he can sign that he wants "more" and "please." Although he doesn't sign it...he definitely understands the sign for "NO!"

He is sounding out "dad" and "momma." But I'm not sure if this is just regular vocalizing or if he's trying to say something. I can't wait to see how he develops in the coming months. Next month he'll be a year old and I have been amazed with this new life that God has blessed us with. I have learned so much about myself this year. So I can honestly say I'm looking forward to what God will teach me and Rachel through the next year. For now, I'm just caught up in hanging out with my little boy. I mean look at him....he's like the cutest thing you've ever seen right?

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Who's A Happy Camper? Me....THAT'S WHO!

Yes...it is true...I have my MacBook again! It's got a schnazzy new 150GB hard drive! Now all I have to do is spend countless hours toiling over what to put back on it. But here is me....happy, giving the "thumbs up" from my handy dandy ichat camera. Now I can continue the blogging at a more steady pace. Just you wait.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Man...the Dark Ages Are Terrible

Yes, all you PC owners go ahead and scoff. My MacBook died this week. I connected to our church network through the VPN and afterwards my laptop acted like a possessed version of Johnny 5 from Short Circuit. So this has slowed my productivity down immensely.

Our office uses most Windows Office programs like Word and Excel very frequently. My personal MacBook had those programs, but the other Macs in the building don't. So I've had to get creative on how to do my work!

I have sent the beloved Mac off to Apple in hopes that I will have my music and files upon its return....please....oh please!!! Upon its return, I will go into a productivity frenzy...shortly after I spend a couple of days getting it set up again....*tear.

Who knew that so much of my work as a worship pastor relied on a computer. I feel like the office outcast, unable to communicate or participate in budgeting processes! Yes...the dark ages are indeed terrible!