When I speak of worship, I am speaking in the corporate sense. We are obviously called and designed to worship the Father. People worship all types of things, if you don’t believe me, find a story in the early Old Testament. But I’m talking about the concept of worshiping with other people. Coming together in worship and prayer and song and the Word. All of these things. Is this the thing to come first, or is it the community?

I’m speaking of people choosing to come together for the cause of loving Christ. Churches. Prayer Groups. Bible Studies. Family dinners. Cookouts. You know, living life together. There’s something about worshiping with people that you KNOW. I mean, as a worship leader it’s par for the course to spend some time leading worship for people you don’t know in churches you’ve only driven by or in towns you’ve never heard of. But you can’t beat coming home to worship with friends and family and fellow church members. You have relationships with these people. You have lived life with them. That makes the time a little bit sweeter.

So after laying both of the sides out, which one comes first? Can you do one without the other? How much does one filter into the other for you? The floor is now yours.

Lately, I’ve been wrapped in the emergence of becoming the leader God is really wanting me to be. I’ll be sharing more about it later as I continue this awesome journey. I’ve been seeing God strip some things away that I have held dearly for so long. I can’t believe how much I stood in his way when he was trying to work on and through me. This morning, I was getting ready to go and do something with my girls that I thought for SURE would put me in the Daddy Hall of Fame. But I was knocked down off my horse real quick when I was greeted with a flat tire. So I spent the morning dealing with all the intricacies of mechanics and warranties. UGH! Anyway, my daughters got to see daddy handle life as it comes and not just as he likes to plan it all the time. As I was finally leaving this morning, my youngest daughter Brisa said “Daddy, thanks for fixing our car.” For those of you who know me, you KNOW I’m not the mechanical guy. Granted, changing a tire isn’t a super big deal. But to my girls, they saw daddy handling things in a practical way. Evidently they needed that more than homeschooling in the park. But that was totally something that God did because I didn’t want to spend my morning changing a flat and having my rusted jack snap and almost break my foot when the car fell on it.

Henry Blackaby said it best in his Experiencing God study. Reality 1: God is always at work around you. That is SO true. We don’t know WHAT he’s working on, but we must take comfort in know that he IS working. With all the economic vexation on our country and the political craziness it sometimes seems like God is up there watching the game and eating snacks while we suffer through this perilous times. Never forget that God is working things our for his glory. That means you’ll know soon what he’s doing. He will show you in due time. Step back and watch him work…

I also love Mondays because generally whatever pops in my head we end up doing. In this case, yesterday we braved the throngs of school buses and homeschoolers galore as we traversed the Saint Louis Zoo. For those of you who may not know, our zoo is pretty much the best in the country. Say what you want, but I happen to know it’s true. I’ve been to a couple zoos in my life, including the famed San Diego Zoo. Our zoo is just as big and you don’t have to drop $160 to walk in the door with a family of 5. Just sayin’. But I digress… So we went to the zoo and then we had a picnic. My girls LOVE picnics. Whenever you say the word they turn all mushy and start talking in their Disney princess voice. Why? Heck if I know, but that’s what they do. Silly girls. Anyway, we got the chance to go visit the zoo and it’s quite fun. They are doing lots of construction which made getting out kinda difficult, but we had a great time nonetheless. I found some things quite interesting as I walked through this expansive park. There are tons of animals in this place from all over the world. It’s very cool to watch them try to act as if millions of people don’t come and just stare at them every day and wait for them to move. We spend a TON of money each year trying to create the most natural habitat for these animals that have been put in captivity. But one of the coolest things I noticed was the combinations of animals that would be in the same area. My favorite was probably the Black Rhinoceros and the Sacred Ibis. Now granted, there was nothing particularly special about this exhibit, but I just noticed that these two were purposely put together. It turns out (because I asked) that these birds are commonly found with the rhino. When a rhino sits or lays down, the birds with gather around and shield themselves from the sun and the all live peacefully. That is something that had to be orchestrated by God because that bird seems as if it would be lunch to such a big animal. But then you read that rhinos are herbivores and they don’t even eat meat. Go figure!

It’s always a beautiful thing to see God’s creation work the way He intended it to. It’s screams harmony and proclaims that God is truly in control. Or at least it does for me. It does for my friend Mark Roach as well. He writes in his song ‘Glory Hallelujah’ a chorus that says “This is our song, we sing it to you, we sing glory hallelujah. Creation sings along in spirit and truth, singing glory hallelujah…” We were created to worship our Creator. That’s our job. That’s our purpose. It should be our desire. Sometimes we need to be reminded that our purpose is simple. For me, my reminder came from walking through the zoo holding my 8 month old son and getting the chance to experience him taking in the sights and sounds and smells of the zoo. Everything else seemed quite trivial at that moment. I don’t know what that thing is for you that causes you to stop for a second and open your eyes to what has been created all around you, but I say you should take some time periodically, regularly even, to step into that place rest there for a bit. If you don’t already have a place like that, try the zoo. Because ours is AMAZING.

The thing that struck me as odd and wonderful was that when I was so focused on trying to do what I wanted to do, I ended up doing things that caused me to pay more attention to God and His details in my life. I noticed that my daughters are growing up so fast and even though I’m with them pretty frequently I’m still missing stuff. I noticed that my wife is an extremely gorgeous pregnant woman. This was evident with our first two girls, but it’s been almost 6 years. I noticed that I can focus on things when my brain isn’t so scattered. I noticed that my wife has been working terribly hard to get our house ready for this new baby and it’s coming along quite nicely. I noticed that it’s next to impossible to keep your car clean when your driveway is under a power line. Overall, I noticed that God is truly wonderful and this life is truly a gift. He doesn’t have to give us anything that He gives us on this earth, but He does anyway. That, my friends, is wonderful to me. I didn’t deserve the beautiful day with my family that I had because I spent most of the morning try to get out of it. But I was given the chance anyway. I’m glad I took it.

First things first, I was awakened to the smell of coffee and bacon. Let me say, AMEN!!! I came downstairs to see that my family had turned our dining room into Daddy’s Restaurant. I had a myriad of choices as to what I could have for breakfast. I chose the Omelette with bacon and orange juice. I was given an orange roll for breakfast dessert. Good times. So I was thinking…this is gonna be a pretty cool day. Then my wife told me that I could upgrade my phone for my birthday. So I went and picked up my dad and we went to the AT&T store and I got another iPhone. Welcome to the world of 3G. Why didn’t they do this with the first one? I’ll never understand. Anyway, I spent some time with my dad, a new iPhone owner, helping him learn to use his and setting up my new one. I learned that I don’t like having to set up a new phone. I finally got my first one to look and act like I wanted it to. Now I’m having to start all over again. Not enjoying THAT part. But I guess that’s not that big of a deal.

Next I came back home and realized that there weren’t really any more plans. I got kinda sad and it sort of tapped into some feelings I have about my birthday that I won’t go into right now. But I am trying to get past all that. Then we had dinner (the restaurant was back open), and it was time to eat birthday cake. One of my all time favorite things to do. Well, Brisa decided that she wanted to get it. Against her better judgement, Eva decides to let her bring it in (it’s a small cake). She said, “don’t drop it!” Brisa said, “I won’t!” 4 seconds later…well I’m sure you can guess what happened… So Eva gets up and runs into the kitchen to find a cake on the floor. Btw, I’m only listening at this point. I hear my wife begin to talk to Brisa about dropping the cake. Brisa then blames her mom saying that if she would have helped her like she wanted her to (which she never asked for help) then it would have never dropped. When Eva begins to tell Brisa that she can’t blame other people for what she did wrong, Brisa throws the ’2′ and the ’9′ that was supposed to top the cake. And the ’2′ broke. Now my wife is FURIOUS!!! The cake has been dropped AND the numbers have been broken. Cake disaster. Now, I’m writing my blog on my birthday at 6:32 because this day is pretty much a wrap. And that, my friends, is my 29th birthday.

So here are my goals for this year…

I WILL lose a dramatic amount of weight this year. I’ve decided that I’m gonna be ‘Purrty by 30′. That’s my new motto. I have a personal trainer friend that is going to be my new workout partner starting Tuesday. I’m excited about this opportunity and I see this working really well. I WILL work hard at my music this year. I have a couple concerts coming up this month and I really hope that they turn out well. . Along with that, I plan to GET IN THE STUDIO!!! I’m the biggest reason that I haven’t done it. So that means I need to be the biggest reason that I get in. I also want to take a page from my buddy Jim Barnard and try to do this whole blogging thing everyday. I think it’s something I can start doing and be consistent with.

So there you are…Harry’s birthday update. Take from it what you wish, but that’s what it is. Happy October everyone.

Today, I’m a sharing about enriching the community around me. This has been a bittersweet topic for me lately. The basis of community for me is being somewhere consistently where people can pour into your life and you theirs. As many of you know, I’ve been all over the place this summer, many times playing in a different church every Sunday of the month. This has taken a toll of my “community building”. Even with all that, I have been completely blessed to be living in community with some great people. God truly knew what he was doing when he sent me to First Free Church earlier this summer. I thought I was just going to help a friend out. I ended up gaining friends for life. Had it not been for my amazing friends across the alley, I don’t know where I’d be right now.

I can only hope that I am able to enrich their lives as much as they have enriched mine. Are there any people in your lives recently that have totally enriched your life? Tell me about it…

1. I am not called to work at Wal-mart. I have applied there and haven’t been called back yet. In extension, I’m also not called to work at Sam’s, a place that I worked for previously.

2. McDonald’s doesn’t think enough of me to hire me either. I’m not sure what it is about me that they don’t like. I’m thinking I don’t have enough tattoos…

3. My mom is not the only person that likes the music that I write. I’m pretty sure that musicians fear that no one will like what they write, and we all know that moms are supposed to like everything that their children do. I took my music to a St. Louis area studio and the producer there liked what he heard. He actually offered to produce a CD for free. I’d say that he likes it.

4. People love my family. God has truly blessed us and some kinda way we had more money come in this past month than we have had in quite a while. God’s definitely working.

5. I love working with music groups. I’ve had so much fun this month working with the ministry groups at MoBap. I hope they have enjoyed working with me because I’m here for awhile.

As for this month, God is already starting to do some MAJOR things in our family. The first day of Chili Dinner ticket sales went rather well. I have people offering to help out with gathering money for the CD project. Actually, our new friends at Waypoint Church helped us greatly yesterday. I feel so loved.

I also want to say a special thanks to our friends at Redeemer Church. They have done so much to help out my family this month. We wouldn’t be where we are right now if it weren’t for them. Thanks SO much, Redeemer!!!

We are still trying to find ways to get funds and musicians together for the CD project. I have a place to go, I just have to put everything together to get there. Again, I’m totally amazed at what God has done during this month of August. No one in the world could have orchestrated what God has done this month. Keep praying for us. Even more than financially (although that is still an issue obviously), pray for direction. God has a plan for this family (Jeremiah 29:11), and my prayer is that we start to figure out some of what that is. Be blessed friends. OH YEAH! Come to the Chili Dinner and Concert on September 18th. If you want more information shoot me an email. Tickets are $9 for adults and $2 for kids 6-12. I have some. Come find me. The end.

We got to go see Alisha this afternoon. I was glad to see that she was looking better. I’m so praying for you, sweetie. I just finished before I started writing this. For more on The Wee Couple, AKA the Amazing Barnards, check out my blogroll and click on Jim Barnard.

After that, I had an interesting meeting with a church in South County. I still don’t know what to think about it yet, so I don’t know exactly how to write about it. Check in tomorrow for that one…

We spent the evening with Matt (Cheetah) and Shannon Missey (blogroll Shannon Missey). This is the PERFECT way to end a late summer evening. This couple is straight up amazing. They are that beautiful couple that we should all be jealous of. If Eva and I weren’t so amazing already, we’d be jealous of them, too. HAHAHA Anyway, they had us down to their house in Crystal City and it was a great time with friends.

We are so blessed by the friends that God has placed in our lives during this extremely tough time. God knows what we need even when we don’t know what we need. Never ever forget that friends. God knows you so much better than you know yourself. Even though this was quite a long day that started really early for us, I wouldn’t trade it for anything because we spent this day and this weekend up until now with people that we confidently know love us and we love them as well.

Now I’m going to sleep because I will be leading worship with my friends at Waypoint Church in St. Peters, MO. If you don’t get this before tomorrow morning, come check me out next week as I will be leading out there next Sunday as well. Actually, check out the Upcoming Dates section as I will be updating it with some new things, including a Chili Dinner and Concert September 18th. I’ll have more information about that in the near future. Be blessed and hopefully I can keep up with the plan of a full weekend update tomorrow evening.

Minus, I REALLY love doing what I do. There’s a part of me that likes to sit back and listen. There’s an even larger part of me that loves to lead and be on stage. It is not because I need to be in front of people, but I know that’s what God has called me to do and I love being able to use that gift. Minus, I haven’t practiced or listened to any music in the past couple weeks. So there is a little bit of both on either side. But I am learning to enjoy where God has placed me right now. I’m still praying that God would lead us to a place to serve Him, but in the mean time we are serving God the best way we know how where we are. Where are we, you ask? Well currently  we are a part of the Quest Service at E-Free.

Something else that has happened this past week that was really cool. I have been given the opportunity to do something really special this year. I was asked to help out at my Alma Mater (which I just got a couple months ago), Missouri Baptist University. Since I started, the number of ministry groups have grown from 3 to 6. The number of ministry group leaders has grown from 2 to 2. Which means they need some help leading these other groups. That’s where I come in. I get to help a couple groups with their instrumental stuff as well as some vocals. I also get the chance to help develop some worship leaders. I am so pumped. For those of you that have been praying, this is not a paying thing right now, but it’s a great opportunity and I’m so excited about it. I will keep you posted on how things work our over the course of the year.

Lastly, I’m going to stop punking out and get back at working on my own music this week. This is my plan for myself. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes as well. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. and to my friends that start school tomorrow, good luck and let God bless you as you start this year off right!

1. I love reading mystery novels. I love mysteries and thrillers and didn’t remember. We went to Borders a couple times this weekend (see #2) and I starting reading a book that I couldn’t put down so I ordered it at Amazon.com. I’m so excited to get this book and read. I’ll probably write about it when I’m done.

2. I love Borders. I don’t know if there’s a difference between all the bookstores in the world, but Borders has a more inviting feel to me. I love the colors on the inside and I felt compelled to stay and read. Eva and I love reading books and we love spending time together in that way.

3. There is a lot of good music in St. Louis, MO. I love this town. It’s home for me, but as I grow older I’m finding out things that I didn’t know when I was little. There is good music here that isn’t always on the radio. We went to a GREAT concert Friday night (see Concert Review) and I’m sure that I’m missing so much good music here.

4. I have amazing friends. The more time we get to spend with them the more I realize that God has really blessed us with some great people. I can’t wait to see what God does over the next few months as we get to know them better.

5. I must really be growing up. Eva and I went to a couple movies this weekend and one of the movies we saw was profanity laced. It did nothing for me and sort of took away from the story of the movie. There was a time in my life where I didn’t care and would watch anything. That’s not the case anymore.

6. Jim and Jeremiah may quite possibly be the perfect storm of public embarrassment. They may also be the perfect storm of straight fun in many forms as well. There’s not much else to say about that.

7. I will, always have, always will, love ice cream. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

8. I don’t write new music because I’m lazy and can find many things to do besides sitting and writing.
8a. I really want to start a music group. That has been my dream and it won’t go away. I’ve done all I can to turn away from this idea, but it keeps putting itself in my line of vision.

9. I adore my children. I loved having the time away where I could connect with Eva, but I was quite happy when my kids came home last night.

10. I cannot live without my wife. Period.

11. God is amazing! He continues to bless me in ways that I KNOW I don’t deserve. I’m not sure why He keeps it up, but I’m so glad He does. Thanks be to God for everything I learned this weekend. I also pray that I keep learning things. If I stop learning, I’m dead.