This morning I had my Saturday all planned out and had a to do list a mile long. I started to get to work on my list and I noticed my neighbor across the street was setting up his big grill in the driveway. I walked over to see what was up and he said that the neighborhood was having a get together because a neighbor down the street was leaving for a special assignment for an extended period leaving his wife and two daughters. He asked if our family could come and hang out. So we pulled some steaks out of the freezer and got a pot of Missy's leftover world famous white chili and popped over. Yes, I was happy to forget my to do list but more importantly I felt this is a great connection with my neighbors and I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to do this. We swapped stories about our kids and shared experiences that we all have had over the years. We chatted about favorite vacation spots. We had so much fun getting to know one another better.

God spoke to me this week in my Experiencing God study that we listen to the Holy Spirit and simply do what He tells us. We need to act upon what God is speaking to our heart. I felt like this neighborhood barbecue was one of those moments. I did nothing more than say "grace" over the food and prayed for protection for my friend that is shipping off. We are planning on doing more of these barbecues over the summer and they invited me to bring my guitar and sing a few songs next time, so who knows what God has in mind. Today there weren't any salvation messages and no salvation prayers prayed. We simply shared our lives with others.

Living it out. That's what God has called us to do. And, when you feel a nudge by the Holy Spirit act upon it.

14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14)

It's another snowy/icy week this week and the kids were home four out of the five days of school. Did I hear something on the weather channel about more snow on Saturday? Only 30% chance. We'll see...

Worship practice Thursday was fun and we are slowly transforming my basement into a studio. It used to be our kids playroom, but we've moved toys back up into bedrooms so we can get all the amps and music equipment for our practices. Matt Williams and Julia Inabinet are our newest members of the team and they both play keys. They will be rotating in over the next few weeks. God is really drawing together a team that is high energy and musically gifted, but most importantly they have hearts that desire to worship God. Matt's also an acoustic guitar player. Watch for him this Sunday!

We canceled bible study which gave all of us a chance to catch up on any unfinished homework that we have. One thing that has been great about "Experiencing God" is that the study encourages and even forces us to spend time with Him every day. It's been so refreshing for me to hear the testimonies that are coming from the guys.

Lord willing and the snow stays away we'll be resuming bible study next week. Stay tuned for another update...

"I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints." -Psalm 52:9

Today was an awesome day. I woke up this morning to the pitter patter of little feet followed by the cheers that went up when they opened the curtains and saw the snow that had blanketed our yard and street and bought them a day of freedom from school.

I decided that since I have a high speed internet connection and a nice warm fire by my desk that I'd work from home today. I actually got a lot done even though there were five thousand times that my youngest asked me, "what are you doing?" and then after I explained what I was doing he'd ask, "why?" No matter how many times he did it, somehow it didn't annoy me. I enjoyed him wanting to be a part of my world. How many moments do we take to just spend some time answering our kids silly questions. It made me think of some of the times I spend with God and it seems all I do is ask the question, why? And my conclusion is this. Just like me, I think God enjoys us asking the tough questions. He wants us to get into His world. He wants to let us know how He operates.

My prayer for you today is that you will desire to spend time with God and get into His world and start asking Him questions and then quiet yourself and wait for the answers. They will come.

-andy