brent(inWorship)

The last two weeks were an amazing time for Tammy and I. We had the opportunity to vacation in Nashville with some Amazing Friends! Attended the cre:ate conference. And then finished in Southern California, where we had the opportunity to talk about passion in marriage at a valentines event. Thanks to Scott and Shannon for hosting us there.

While we were in Nashville, we got to hang out With Justin and Trish. I fell in love with these two people. Justin is a Campus Pastor for Crosspoint.tv and we had the honor of walking through their future church site. Tammy and I got to hang out with Trish all week at the conference and we laughed till we cried. Justin and Trish have an amazing testimony. It was humbling to listen to them share their story with us and also to see them today, healthy and well.

Tammy and I are honored to guest post on their blog today. This week, Justin wanted to focus on things we wish we had known before we got married. We are in good company and honored to personally know all the guest posters. Please take a moment and head over to Justin’s blog. You can read our post today. Then go back through and read the others. There is some amazing wisdom and proof of God’s grace in all of us.

I’ve been given the privilege of writing for my buddy Tyler’s blog. Tyler has an awesome blog called Man Of Depravity. Tyler is a seminary student here in Oregon at Multnomah and is also a worship leader for Sunset Presbytarian Church in Beaverton. It’s been a blast to get to know him, both through the blog and twitter worlds, as well as in person.

Tyler has been hosting a series of posts on God’s Sovereignty, written by some great people and today I wrote some of my thoughts for the series.

So, head on over!

Many of you know that Joshua has been in town the last week. He came for a job interview and on Tuesday of this week, he and I headed up to portland so that he could have an interview there as well. While we were there, we stayed with Jenni and Brian Clayville and their kids. Love them! Our family has the privilege of heading back to Portland for memorial weekend. Jenny asked us to come up and help lead worship with her a Church at Bethany. We are looking forward to it. The speaker that weekend will be Crystal, Miss Pinkhairedgirl herself. On the way back, we snuck in a quick stop with our friend Mandy Conforth. It was great to see her and her 3 girls again.

On Wednesday, Josh challenged me to take 100 pictures with my iPhone. I accepted. After a little editing, I ended up with 97, that I kept. I did alright. My camera was the iPhone. The subjects in the pictures are Josh, Brian, Jenni, their kids and the beautiful Oregon scenery. Enjoy!

(if for some reason the player does not work for you, you can go direct to them here.)

If you are like me, you procrastinate. Especially with taxes. I am one of those that finds a fun place on the 16th to stand in line, so I can get the mail postmarked

However, if I am to wait till the last minute, I want to do it right. This is where my buddy Chad comes into play.

I met Chad this year at the re:create conference. We also had an incredible breakfast at the Pancake Pantry in Downtown Nashville together. That place was incredible! Chad is doing my taxes this year. He is working his magic and I am so happy to entrust this to him.

So, maybe your a procrastinator like me, or maybe you would love a second opinion. If so, Chad is your guy.

Check him out at Lonetree Services!

When tam and I decided to go to Nashville for re:create, we immediately received an email from Brandi saying, “stay with us!” There was no way we were going to pass that offer up.

For the entire week, we stayed with Pete and Brandi Wilson. We ate together, relaxed together, played games together and had some great discussions.

We fell in love with their kids! Jett, Gage and Brewer. Those boys are happy, creative and fun to be around. There are constant smiles, singing and sports. Love it!

Pete allowed me to be his shadow for the weekend to experience all of Crosspoint. As well as allowing me the opportunity to get to know the staff and volunteers at Crosspoint. What a treat. Pete is in love with God and in love with what he does. He is relaxed and full of wisdom. I was blown away at the interest he took in others and what they were doing. Including me. I loved being able to share and talk with a co-minister from the other side of the country. Thank you.

Brandi is my new little sister, cause unfortunately I am younger than her. She is an amazing Mom, wife and chef! We brought home her Chicken Pot Pie recipe and have had it already. She was always going out of her way to make us feel comfortable. I had to keep telling her to stop She was non-stop and adores her husband and kids. It was awesome for her to share her home with us. Thank you.

Tam and I connected immediately with Pete and Brandi and I am sure that we will share more time together in the future.

We are so grateful for the time spent with you two and look forward to anytime we spend in the future.

I don’t know how to thank you guys enough!

The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind.

We’ve had some amazing blog friends stay with us and they are deeply missed.

But…

Tonight we have the privilege of hosting some more.

There’s this cool dude and a crazy Asian chick.

I am sure we will have a blast