Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Few have excellence thrust upon them. . . . They achieve it. They do not achieve it unwittingly by doing what comes naturally and they don't stumble into it in the course of amusing themselves. All excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose. --John W. Gardner

I love quotes... I use them frequently in writing. I thought this one was especially insightful. One of my professors in college used to say, "The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary!" Though a bit more homespun, I think it conveys a similar idea to the Gardner quote above... Greatness doesn't necessarily equate to excellence. Excellence is more elusive.

That said, I need to ask myself, "In what areas of my life am I being excellent?"

jph

My response to Pandapalooza's latest post put us back in touch. It was fun to hear from her. She asked about our move from Texas to Kansas, which, I think, could make for a great post... only I've already written about most of it on our family website... the opportunity... the decision to go... the new church... the new house... There are scores of photos and stories there. If you're interested in seeing it all, message me and I'll send you a link.

Honestly, as I approach 6 months in this new place, it feels like we arrived yesterday and yet somehow have been here forever. I've learned so many things, at many points in time feeling like the polar opposite of Oz's Dorothy, "Toto, I don't think we're in Texas anymore... " Two, yes 2, degrees farenheit yesterday morning was a stark reminder that we're living in a new world.

And yet, despite the moments in which I miss our old home and our family members who still live in the Lone Star State, I can honestly say that at this point in my life I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here. God is working in an exciting way at BVBC, and for whatever reason, He is allowing me to be a part of it. I'm so grateful. Our new little church is literally exploding with growth, both numerically and spiritually. The people are expectant and joyous to serve in new and exciting ways. God has brought us an ENTIRE staff (all of whom came from larger churches to smaller!) within the last 7 months, and the excitement level is "off the charts" as people watch to see what He'll do next. One of my greatest personal blessings is the opportunity to build a worship and arts ministry from Square One. The photo above is my choir and me, taken in December... It takes on a greater significance when one considers that five months ago this church had NO FUNCTIONING CHOIR... It's like that in every facet of our ministry right now. Three weeks ago we kicked off Preschool, Children's and Student Music/Worship programming and have added roughly a hundred people to our music involvement roster with just those additions. So here we are and here we stay, waiting to see what He holds in store. I know that whatever it is it will be good.

PandaMom asked about a picture of my girls and me. This one was taken December 23... Don't they look pretty!

TiK

Here we go...

I had no real intention of starting a new weblog today. The reality is that I was reading a friend's post and noticed in their list of blogs a site maintained by a mutual friend. I'd been thinking of that friend alot lately and popped over to see what was new with them. From their site I wanted to leave a comment and say, "Hello." ...Couldn't do that without a blogger account... which led to the profile page... which brings me to here...

I have accounts with XANGA (where I read about my friends from Family Music Theater in Dallas), MySpace (where I "follow" the kids from the Student Ministry at my former church as well as keep tabs on the new video productions by another friend), and now, here I am at Blogger... Maybe I'll actually start doing this thing, but don't hold your breath.

TiK