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We finally got approval to go ahead and purchase the new mixer for the sound system in the small theater at the Liberty Center… the Mackie TT24 digial console. I know most people will be like, “yeah, that’s nice” but my inner geek is uber excited right about now. This is an amazing mixer and we’re going to be able to do so much more with it from the old analog Macke 24/4 that we have now. Plus, since this board won’t be moved all over the place every week it will probably hold up a lot better and last much longer.

I’m planning on also buying an iMac to attach to it for playback and recording. Once I do that I won’t have to worry about bringing my laptop to church every week. So much more convenient.

Next up, I have to price and order two projectors for the theater. That has to be done this week as well. If all goes according to plan, all this should be installed and running in a week and a half.

I don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves just yet, but I think we’re in the home stretch… as in the countdown to move in can be calculated in weeks. Let’s just hope the inspection goes well this week.

Oh my goodness. Am I blogging? I think I am. So it’s been a month since the last time I wrote. A lot has happened in that month and I wanted to write sooner throughout all that was happening, but I suppose I was just too busy. Or too lazy. Or maybe…. no I was probably just lazy.

And so, as there is much to say (if I can remember it all) I will break it up into multiple different entries. I think it might be better than having one massive post to sift through.

So, for the month of July and August we have been doing a huge series on Justice at The Sanctuary. The first part of the series was a look at justice itself. I taught twice in that part. Right after we finished the justice part we had our annual week-long service project in Elizabeth, which we call The E-town Mission. Now we are wrapping up the series with a month-long look at Micah 6:8. Exciting.

Anyway, the E-town Mission was July 14 - 18 and it was pretty cool. I took off of work so I could participate in the full trip. Unlike past years, though, I was not a crew leader, and I totally didn’t mind. This year Cathy and Armando led our group and I was just there to look pretty help out. It was cool because Cathy was in my group, I believe two years ago, when I was leading it. I also had the responsibility of taking pictures and video throughout the trip. We managed to capture over 1000 photos and about 3 hours of video. I haven’t gone through the video yet, but the pictures are on Flickr. I tried to diversity the pictures as much as possible, meaning I had multiple cameras there and gave out the extras to other groups to try to capture all the different crew’s work instead of just mine. Still, there was an overabundance of pictures of my crew by default since I take more pictures than anyone. I still have one more set of images to go through that I just got from someone a day or two ago, and so those will be posted in a day or so. You can see the full and expanding gallery at http://www.flickr.com/photos/whartz/sets/72157606390538838/

We did a lot of work around the city in the week of the trip. Our (when I refer to “our” or “we” I am most likely, unless otherwise specified, referring to my crew. Other crews were sent to other jobs in different parts of the city at different times) first stop was the Salvation Army for a VBS kids club thing. We hung out with the kids all morning, doing crafts, singing songs, dancing, telling stories, hanging out, and playing games. Most of the kids were really good. There was one the first day who seemed quite a jilted and disenfranchised little girl. She was downright mean to us and everyone in the room. As the week progressed she got nicer and I think she really liked us in the end (my crew went back the the Salvation Army once more that week). Also, this is where Little Billy was born.

We visited 2nd Home, a day center for the elderly to come and hang out with other people. We were there for a few hours on Monday. Other crews were there throughout the week as well. There was music and singing and dancing and pool playing as well as a riveting game of ring toss that the people there seemed to quite enjoy. 2nd Home is not a place for the sick and dying. It’s not a nursing home. Rather it’s a vibrant community of the elderly who come there on a daily basis for friendship and fun. There was a lady there who was quite adamant about me and Maria dancing and she made it known that this is what she wanted done. There was also an acoustic rendition of La Bamba, or at least that is what we tried to perform, with Manny on the guitar and Armando trying to lead. We’re all in agreement that it was the most un-La Bamba version of La Bamba every attempted by human hands.

Of course there was the “manual labor” aspect of the trip as well. One day we we were sent to the North Elizabeth train station. There is an area of land in dispute there. It’s a path and stairway leading from the train tracks to the street. NJ Transit claims that it is property of the City of Elizabeth. The city claims that it is property of NJ Transit. As a result, neither party takes care of it. And so it has become overgrown with 6′ tall weeds and vegetation. The people who come from the train late at night fear that they may be jumped or assaulted because there is significant area for a would-be-assailant to hide in the overgrowth and surprise them. And since neither of these parties will do anything about it, we did. We went and cut down all the weeds and tried to open the area up as much as possible. There was much machete use. Oh, and I wrestled a tree. You see, in the middle of cleaning out an area I found a branch… or what I thought was a branch. I traced it to its source, yet the branch kept on going further and further and further. Eventually I realized I was dealing with a 30+ foot tall tree. I thought I could leverage it and push it to the back, out of the way. Instead I moved it and it fell over the train tracks (!). And so I called Armando and Clarence over and we muscled it off the tracks and into a small ravine. It was a feat of great manliness and strength.

The next day we went to the Liberty Center to work in the building, cleaning, working in the construction of the main theater, etc. Still sore from the weeding of the train station, Pastor Gary told me to get my machete again cause I was going to the back of the building to make friends with more 6′ tall weeds. And so me, Sarah, Jenn, Jose, JonStevens, and others headed into the forest that was the Liberty’s backyard. And the hacking commenced yet again. We got most of it done in the morning shift. My crew left to head back to the Salvation Army for shift 2 that day, and the remaining crews completed the deforestation so that it was all complete and clean. Other crews at the Liberty cleaned windows and bathrooms. Some went upstairs and worked in the 2nd floor theater. Some worked in the main theater, moving construction material, screwing down and painting the main stage, and moving things into storage.

We finished the work week by running a car wash for a local church. They needed to raise money for an event for their youth program. And so we put together a free car wash and had a place for donations. All donations went to this church, and I believe they were able to raise a few hundred dollars. The car wash was fun. As the day progressed the crews got more efficient with their time and cleaning. As we were closing down for the day there was a line out of the driveway with cars waiting for their bath. As the people had their cars washed they had the opportunity to get out of the car and we had a little chat with them about what we were doing. It was a really beautiful day also, which made it really enjoyable.

There was much more we did that week. We (the group collective) took some kids to the park, went to a nursing home to hang out with the sick elderly, cleaned up different streets and areas in the city, planted flowers and did basic landscaping in public areas, repaired damaged structures in the city, etc.

And then there was the activities. We went to the park, went swimming, went bowling, barbecues, etc. And at the end of the trip we all went to Dorney Park for the day to ride roller coasters and other recreational things. While there we also took one of those old timey cowboy photos.

Overall it was a great trip. It really tied into the discussions we’ve been having on service and justice the past months. People are excited to go out and make a change in their city and world. Some are beginning to make plans on how to make the E-town Mission a year-long project instead of just one week throughout the summer. The happenings of this week and the discussion of The Sanctuary had really influenced me personally and made me rethink a great many things in my own personal life, some of which came to heads in my trip to San Francisco, which I will blog about a bit later on. In addition I was able to make new friends and get closer to pre-existing ones. I’m really glad I was able to be a part of the experience.

To see all the pictures of the things we did, visit our gallery on Flickr. Videos (hopefully) to come soon.

Maria and I, while working at a Kids Club on the E-town Mission were assigned to work the arts and crafts table. The project the kids had to work on for the day was to draw themselves on a pre-cutout shape of a human being. To show them what to do, and also to have some fun, we started working on a picture of me. I am particularly proud of the Firefox logo. It came out really well. (Detailed pictures will be added to Flickr later this week).

I feel so out of the loop. I’ve been so busy these past few weeks that I can say that I’ve been out running around different places more often than I’ve been home. A bit of what I’ve been up to. This will be long, as it covers the past two to three weeks. Don’t feel the need to consume it all in one sitting:

1. The Equip Conference is less than two weeks away and there is still a lot to do. There’s a whole write-up about it here. The past few weeks we’ve been finalizing schedules, planning the different finite details, etc. I had to make a promo card and send it to print rather quickly so that we could get it out in time. I had to get a website up and running just to have a place to put information. I would link to it, but I had to do it in such haste that it really is a hideous eyesore and so I shall refrain. If you think hard enough and put a little effort into it, you should be able to find it on your own. But yeah, those were just some of the tasks that needed completion. It was a lot to do. Still lots more to do.

2. Bachelor party. We had a bachelor party for my brother a few weeks back. We went to New York to Caroline’s on Broadway to see Judah Friedlander perform. We took the PATH to the World Trade Center and walked about 20 blocks north until we finally decided to take public transportation. We split, half taking a cab, the other half - my half - trying to take a cab but failing and ending up in the Houston St subway station. We beat our cab-riding friends to Times Square by a good 20 minutes. Can I just take the time to say that I hate Times Square? I like New York, but Times Square is just too out of control. Way too many people and commotion. It takes forever to get a single block. And there’s way too many tourists. Anyway, the comedy show was good. We sad about 1/2′ from the stage. Literally. AJ and Michael were picked on the whole evening, since they were so close to Judah that they could probably smell his breath. It was a good time. Afterwards we went to the Apple Store (of course) on 5th Ave and browsed for a bit. I bought a pair of headphones. We bought Jimmy an Apple TV for the wedding. Afterwards we went to Wo Hop… pretty much the best Chinese food in the City. They’re open 24 hours a day. You simply must go. It’s the one underground. 17 Mott St. The above-ground one next door, 15 Mott, is a copy and not as good.

3. Softball games. I recently told a friend, who is the assistant coach for Elizabeth High School’s softball team, that I would help her out by taking pictures of her team so she can give them out to the player at the end of the year. We took pictures over a few games and now I have to finish editing them a bit and putting the players names on them so we can print them out. I think I’m past due on them, so I have to get a move on it. What’s nice is that there’s a girl on the team who was a part of our youth program a few years back but I haven’t really seen much of since then. It was great to get to see her play and to catch up a bit with her. I do have to say that I really enjoy going to see the games. There’s not much else quite like sitting on a bleacher on a nice sunny day watching a baseball or softball game. It reminds me that I do have to make my way out to Shea at least one more time this season before they tear it down and move to Citi Field next year.

4. The Wedding. So my brother got married. I was the “best man” as it is called. The ceremony was nice. It was held in the Lakewood Country Club in Lakewood, NJ. Normally a wedding day is hectic and stressful, from what I hear. Not this one. At least not for the guys. Most people stayed at my brother’s house the night before. I had a meeting that ran to midnight and so I did not want to drive 45 minutes to his house that late. Instead I slept at home… until 11:30 in the afternoon. Those at his house did the same. Then woke and went to Famous Dave’s for some barbecue for lunch. I had a sandwich from 7-Eleven and bought some tape for the video recording on my way to his house. I arrived shortly before they came home. Upon their return there was a great amount of Guitar Hero play and relaxation. Around 3 we decided it was time to leave and we headed out, making a quick stop at a CVS for some socks as I forgot to bring some. Inside the store there was a great debate, lasting several minutes, between the clerk and a customer about whether or not Dr Pepper was a Coca-Cola product. And when I say “several minutes” I mean about 10… in which we had to wait. Alas, we finally made it back on the road and arrived at out destination.

It was an outside wedding, and the reception was help in the adjacent building. It was not an overly large nor a small wedding but rather a decently sized one. I took many photographs of the occasion, though I was not the wedding photographer. On a side note, my regular Canon SD900 seems to have broken on transit to the wedding, and that is why the wedding photos are in a full-resolution scale rather then widescreen as I normally take them. I had to use my backup. I took photos, in addition to the fact that I pretend to be a professional photographer, because my grandmother who is in the hospital was not able to come to the celebration and wanted to see pictures right away. The real photographer’s photos will not be ready for some time, and so we needed some instant pics. And so I took, with some help when I actually had to be in the ceremony, 420 shots throughout the evening. Anyway, we got changed (yes, I wore a tuxedo, though I tried as much as I reasonably could to avoid it). The ceremony lasted about a half hour and we moved inside to the reception party. This lasted much longer as the DJ seemed to not want to stop playing music until well after 12:30am. There was much dancing and talking and laughing. A few videos are posted on my Viddler account of the reception.

It seemed people were a bit nervous about me doing the toast. They seem to be uneasy as I never plan, when I have to speak in front of people, the exact details of what I have to say. Instead I plan three or four points, think about them a bit, and talk “off the cuff” on those topics. They said the toast went well. I’m glad for that. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I’m glad the others enjoyed it.

5. Ninja! Romulo’s birthday was this past Friday. Apparently he was of mind to have a weekend-long celebration in his own honor. And so he called and said that Sunday after church and after the class I teach to come to NY and we would go to a Japanese restaurant. The restaurant he chose was Ninja New York. And so, after a full day of church services a group departed for the City. I had to stay behind to teach my computer class at 7:30. I ended promptly at 8:30 (and I really sped through the information) and made my way, by bike, to the Elizabeth train station. I purchased my ticket and boarded the Northeast Corridor to Newark Penn Station. Upon entering the train I had to find a convenient, non-fire-hazard place to stand with my bike, and so I found one. The conductor came by and collected the tickets. She said that I paid too much because I selected Newark Airport (code 101) instead of Newark Penn Station (code 100). Oops. Well, I made it to Penn and made my way (quickly) to the PATH platform, hoisted my bike above my head, and went through the turnstile. I got on the PATH and it quickly filled. A man was there with a folded little scooter telling me to be careful because the PATH conductor had just come by and yelled at a guy who had a bike because it was a particularly busy Sunday night. I told him that the website said I could bring a bike on at this time, so let the conductor be mad if they so please. I had more conversation with the scooterman on the PATH as he was on his way to visit his girlfriend in Journal Square and my stop, (World Trade Center, NY) was beyond this. He works for Princeton University in the Office of Public Affairs. He noticed my “Join Me in the Fight Against Poverty” button from Compassion that I was wearing and asked about it. It seems he hooks up with organizations like that and connects them with students at the University. He said to contact him and gave me a business card. It is sitting in front of me as I type this. Anyway, I got to the World Trade Center and walked to Church St, mounted my bike and made my way to 25 Hudson St.. to Ninja.

It was an incredible atmosphere. There is a very small greeting area and then they call downstairs to prepare for your arrival. They place you alone in an elevator whose lights dim as it descends. A ninja greets you downstairs and asks if you want the shortcut or the secret ninja path. I chose the shortcut as my friends were already waiting for me. As you walk through the maze they have setup, ninja jump from all corners, yelling and startling you. It is decorated as a medieval Japanese ninja castle, with stone walls and torches and little rivers. The dining quarters are private rooms, accommodating the various party sizes. Ninjas take your order, serve you, and spy on you as you eat. I must say that I’ve never been to a restaurant quite like this. It was pretty amazing. The food was very good. We got a steak and crab combo. There was some potato meal with it, and of course I got some rice. I will say that it is very expensive. Very very expensive. More that I was really ready for. Nevertheless, the whole experience was amazing. They do have one other Ninja restaurant in Tokyo. If you have some extra money to burn and want a great experience with great food, definitely check out Ninja New York. Afterwards, we made our way back to the PATH and finally ended up home.

Ninja logo photo by Mil

It has been a long past few weeks. The next two weeks seem like they will be equally busy. Hopefully I will be able to post more frequently in the upcoming days as to not have another massively long post. Until then, peace be with you.

I’ve uploaded several dozens of photos to Flickr from the past few weeks. Be sure to check out all the new galleries.

This past Sunday we hosted Compassion Sunday at church. Technically, the “official” Compassion Sunday took place on April 13, but we could not fit it into the schedule until today.

For those who don’t know, Compassion is an organization that provides sponsorship for children in impoverished nations around the globe. It’s estimated that there are over 1,000,000,000 (one billion) people alive in the world today who survive on less than one dollar per day. Most of the children in the Compassion program would not be able to sufficiently have food and nourishment, have decent clothing, have an education, or have medical treatment without the support of the sponsors. The sponsorship not only provides the needs of the child but does support the family as well. In addition, Compassion ensures that the children and families have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and understand who Jesus is while they experience the Gospel via the sponsor’s donation.

I am personally a sponsor with Compassion, and have had the honor and privilege of supporting a little girl, Melissa, from Honduras since fall 2005. I can say that it has been an amazing experience and one that has been fairly life-changing. It’s been an experience learning who this child is, what she loves to do, what her mother and family are like, how life is in Honduras, etc. Originally I really struggled with whether I would be financially able to afford to sponsor her. The deceitfulness of wealth in America toys with your mind, and our excessive wants cause us to think that we could never afford to help someone because there is always more and more that we “need.” I decided that it was the right thing to do, and went for it, and amazingly found that I can very well afford it. Even that one simple act has shown me that I really don’t need all that I have today and that there is more than enough to go around, if we only had the will.

But I digress… back to Compassion Sunday. We have three gatherings every Sunday, and I was to present it to the people in each. Compassion sent us a table setup, displays, information packets, and 25 children from around the globe for potential sponsorship. We showed a short video before the church in each gathering and I spoke briefly about poverty, Jesus’ response to the poor and downtrodden in Scripture, and our responsibility and ability to make a difference. In total we found sponsors for 19 out of the 25 children. I really wanted to sponsor all of them but were unable to. I have to send the 6 unsponsored children back to Compassion this week. Though, if your heart leads you to sponsor, and you’d like to take responsibility for one of them, please email me ASAP at whartz01@gmail.com with a subject of “Compassion Sunday” or call me at 908-998-2241. I must send them back before Friday, so do not delay.. Sponsorship is $32 per month.

There are two stories from the day that have stuck with me. Here is the first:

There is a man in our church whom I know struggles with money. He has a job, though I know he can’t make all that much. At best, he would fit into the “low income” bracket of American society. Yet, there he was at the Compassion table after one of the gatherings. He said that he felt God wanted him to sponsor one child. I’m not sure if he simply plans to sacrifice more of his own wants and desires or if he simply had a conversation with God and believes that He will provide the necessary monies to cover the sponsorship. Regardless of the process involved beforehand, there he was. He chose a little girl from Rwanda. He chose her because Rwanda, as many know, is one of the poorest economies and roughest areas in the world. This little girl must go through so much struggle and hardship. She was the perfect choice for him. And it doesn’t stop there. He not only agreed to the $32 sponsorship agreement, but he also agreed to the extra $8 per month to provide HIV/AIDS treatment and education as Rwanda is an HIV affected zone. I was quite impressed by his faith and heart to help those in need as most here would see him as being in some need.

And the second:

There is a woman in our church named Ruth. Ruth has been attending for a few years and was recently married one year ago to a man who helps me run the tech booth on Sundays. Ruth came up to me at the Compassion table at one point, telling me how great a program Compassion is. She spoke of how it is really making a difference in the Dominican Republic (she is Dominican herself) and that she was so happy we were partnering with it today. Then she told me something that I had to ask her to repeat. She told me that she, herself, was a sponsor child in the Dominican Republic and that if it wasn’t for her sponsors, there would be no way should would have the life she has now. She told me of all the sponsorship provided and aided her family with and the life that was provided. It’s amazing how small a world it really is and how connected we all really are. Incredible.

Overall, I think Compassion Sunday was a huge success, despite not sponsoring all the children. There were still many others (about a half dozen or so) who wanted to go to the Compassion Web site to sponsor a child from a specific country (usually their own country of origin), and so the effects of this past Sunday may stretch even farther than what Compassion intended for us. It was an encouraging experience to see so many giving of themselves to help another human being across the world that they’ve never even met. We intend to contact Compassion again for another group of kids to have available for Equip in order to get some more sponsors. I’m excited about it, and our new sponsors are excited as well to help out. If you have ability to host a Compassion Sunday in your group, I highly encourage it.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”
- Proverbs 31:8

I found this article while going through my Google Reader feeds this morning, and it really made me laugh… especially the noob and RIAA parts. It was originally posted by Mikebert on Everything2. And so now I present to you the L337 Lord’s Prayer:

0?r $¥$@dM!n, \/\/|-|0 ©|-|!££$ !n |-|34\/3|\|
ph34r3d ?3 7|-|¥ |\|@m3
†|-|ÿ p\/\/n@g3 ©0|\/|3, †|-|ÿ $©r!p7$ b3 d0|\|3 !n /earth @$ i7 !$ i|\| /heaven.
$33|) u$ 7h!5 |)@ÿ o?R d@!£ÿ R0|\/|$.
f0rG!\/3 u$ 0?r n00b 3xP£017$ @$ \/\/3 f0rG!\/3 $©r!P7 |<!dd!3$ 7|-|@7 h@x0r @Ga!|\|$7 u$. R3\/34£ t0 u$ |\|07 ?3R0 |)@ÿ \/u£|\|$, ?u7 $A\/3 u$ fR0|\/| t3h RIAA.
f0r 7|-|!|\|3 i$ t3h |\|37\/\/0R|<, @|\|d t3h rm -rf*, @|\|d @££ 0?R ?@$3 @r3 ?3£0|\|G t0 j00, f0R3\/3R @|\|d 3\/3R.
4|\/|3|\|.

Translated into English:

Our sysadmin, who chills in Heaven,
feared be thy name.
Thy pwnage come, thy scripts be done in /earth as it is in /heaven.
Seed us this day our daily ROMs.
Forgive us our n00b exploits as we forgive script kiddies that hax0r against us.
Reveal to us not 0 day vulns, but save us from RIAA.
For thine is the network, and the rm -rf /, and all our base are belong to you, forever and ever.
Amen.

Here’s a super-fast slideshow of all 800-something pictures we took at the Retreat earlier this month. No pictures were withheld. You get all the good, the bad, and the ugly… and even the blurry. Enjoy!

A picture gallery with about 200 select images can be seen at bridgeyouth.com.

Photos by William Hartz, Janelle Painter, and Carly Painter.
Music by Mike Becker.

If you’re going to be in the Elizabeth area tomorrow (Sunday the 16th), feel free to stop on by The Sanctuary and attend our Retreat(8) After Party. It’s going to be a hoot.

Sunday, March 16, 2008
3pm - 4:30pm

Liberty Center
1121 Elizabeth Ave
Elizabeth, NJ 07201

Here’s a little promo card I came up with for a program we do called Fusion.

I’m not really that big a fan of football, but I must say that last night’s Superbowl was fairly nerve-wracking.

Yesterday started just like every other Sunday… tiring and early. My church does three gatherings every week and I oversee the tech stuff for all of them. It’s actually pretty rough. I’m looking for people to put in charge of the different services so I don’t always have to be everywhere all the time and can take some time to relax every now and then. Overall, though, while it’s hard work and I’m exhausted by the end of the day, I must say that I do enjoy it.

Anyway, we go through the 3 gatherings, the last starting at 5 and ending between 6:30 and 7… right in the middle of the Superbowl. We kind of expected it, but attendance was a bit low due to the game. Afterward all was said and done and the people had gone home, we cleaned up and closed down the building. Normally we go get something to eat directly after as it’s a long day for everyone and it’s not uncommon for a few of us to go the whole day without food due to sheer busyness. This day was no exception. The only rule that was stated in selecting an eatery was that there must be a TV present as some of our party wanted to see what was happening with the game.

We tried a few places before finding our destination. And so, my evening was spent ’round the bar at Friday’s with Carlos, Jenn, and Sarah and several drunk (and some not so drunk) NY Giants fans with a decent amount of New England Patriots fans (Sarah being one of them). On some level I wanted the Patriots to win since they did have the perfect season and there hasn’t been a complete perfect season since the 1972 Dolphins, 36 years ago. I thought it would be nice. On the other hand there is that loyalty you must feel for the home team. I mean, the Giants play about 20 minutes from my house. As stated earlier though, I’m not much of a football fan, so while I didn’t particularly care who won, the back and forth of the 4th quarter was enough to put anyone on edge. There were constant cheers from both Giants fans and Patriots fans. Each team had a “superfan” present at the bar to keep us entertained with their over-excitement and friendly trash talk. Everyone was on edge, though, right up until Tom Brady was sacked in the final seconds of the game and the Giants’ victory was all but sealed.

I was so tired from the day that there was even less excitement on my behalf for the outcome than there normally would be. I don’t even know if I spoke at all during the night. I was that exhausted. I thought the strength I would need to muster to vocalize anything too high a cost. It was bad. I enjoyed the Friday’s bar though. The fans were super in to the game, but no one got stupid or mean about anything. And while there was rivalry back and forth between the fans, it was all in good fun. Patriots fans shook the hands of Giants fans while uttering, “You got that. You deserve it,” and Giants fans ordered rounds of drinks ’round the bar.

I don’t remember much else from the night. I ended up home and in bed pretty quickly. And I slept good, let me tell you….

In other news, I learned last night that there is a group in Boston who subscribe and listen to The Sanctuary podcast on a weekly basis. I didn’t think there were people outside Elizabeth who even cared about it. It’s pretty cool when you discover that there are people you don’t know who enjoy something you do. Learning this did make me feel a little bad, though, as I missed getting the podcast up last week due to being busy. No worries, though, as I got both last week and this week published tonight. How do I know of these New Englanders who share our conversation every week? A few weeks back I received an email about the podcast in reference to an original song they heard on it from Kevin Becker. I replied to their message, helped them find some things they were looking for, and gave them Kevin’s Bridge email address for further information. Apparently they contacted him and told him and Sarah that they really enjoy the podcast and it’s touched their lives and even brought one of their friends closer to God. Who knew?!? They even came down to this area a week or so ago and met with Kevin and Sarah. It’s stories like this that really make me love the Internet.

And that is all I have to say thus far. I take my leave. Good night, all, and may peace be with you.