The fullness thereof...

July was an incredibly full month (attested to by the span between posts). On top of the normal 4th of July family get togethers and Newberg’s Old Fashioned Festival – itself an occasion for family get-togethers – this July I hosted Churchbass.org’s annual Bassapalooza at our church, Newberg Friend’s Church. Approximately 25 bassists who are either part of church worship teams or otherwise involved in Christian-oriented musical ministries, gathered on the hottest weekend of the year to worship, fellowship, play with each others’ toys, commiserate, and generally generate as much low-frequency noise as possible – which we did. During the “All Bass Orchestra Jam” I went into the church sanctuary directly above our gathering, and could feel the floor vibrating under my feet. A successful weekend by all counts.


It was very cool that we had people from all parts of the country in attendance, but the highlight for many there was getting to meet Xeno, our Greek Churchbass pastor, for the first time. Yvonne and I had the pleasure of meeting Xeno and his beautiful wife Anna in Greece in 2003, but the others in attendance had only known him through his pastoral postings on Churchbass.org. Xeno got to hang around and spend an extra day with my family and me, blessing us yet again with his grace, humor, wisdom, and wonderful insights into walking with God.


The weekend after Bassapalooza ended, Old Fashioned Festival began, and this year featured local musicians more than they have in the past and I played three times over the weekend with two different groups, Nate Macy and the QLO and Lori Willcuts.

A few days later my oldest and dearest friend (with whom I share vices: he introduced me to latakia, I introduced him to scotch) was in town for a few hours so we were able to share a taste of Dufftown's finest and get caught up again.


And somewhere in there, my baby girl packed up and went to spend a year at Faith Academy in Manila, just when I was looking forward to having some time to spend with her. With number 2 leaving for college and now number 3 out of the country, it's empty nest time. Wow, it's quiet...