Pulse Outreach - Day Two Performance

Going into Day Two

On Monday night, we had stayed with a very generous family who owned a Subway as well as a 4,000-acre farm. Yes...4,000. They told me about a combiner, and I didn't know what it was since I'm more urban than the average North Dakotan. I asked if it could harvest souls, and some people actually said yes. We went to Pizza Corner for lunch. It was semi-delicious.

So we crammed into a 15-passenger van half full of luggage and went from Valley City State University to Jamestown College. It was about a 35 minute drive, and we took the next three hours to set up. Set-up was always exhausting throughout the week. The bands had a trailer and a SUV full of stuff. Dang. I had my laptop, DDR pad, and suitcase full of clothes. haha I am so high-maintenance. Here's a random picture of me pointing...

Tuesday Night

After setting up, we did sound-checks, me usually last. I tried to warm up on Tuesday a little bit better, but my legs were still frazzled from Sunday and Monday, so they tightened up pretty badly on the third song. There's nothing like lactic acid build-up. Yikes.

The songs I played were as follows:
(1) Hyperactif (a really technical and gimmicky 11), on which I got all Perfects.
(2) Anthem (109 on Mungyodance 2), which was fun. I like the song and stepchart combo.
(3) BabyBlue, which was an encore song. My legs really tightened up toward the end of the song in the end run, but I still did pretty well.

Hybrid Soul opened with a worship set this time, which was great. SonStruck closed the show with their own music. SonStruck's music is already pretty worship-geared, though. I really liked touring with those guys. They are a set of really solid and serious brothers in Christ.

Nick Hall preached a message about the 'Big Buts' of Christianity --
I'd go to church, but...
I'd tell people about Jesus, but...
I'd serve God fully, but...

Pretty good challenge, eh? What excuses do you have that are keeping you from glorifying God in all things?

My message was about glorifying God in all we do as well as giving glory where glory is due! Much was based in Colossians 3, Matthew 25, Psalm 103, etc. See the video for specifics.

And indeed, better is one day in His courts than thousands elsewhere (cf. Psalm 84:10).

There's absolutely nothing like seeking and serving God. Why settle for less? Jesus loves you.

Pulse Outreach - First Day Recap, Sans-Video (Slow Internet)

The first night of Pulse, we had 2 people accept Christ for the first time and 25 people recommit their lives to Christ.

The Internet is weak everywhere we go, so the video performances will be uploaded whenever I can possibly find an internet connection capable of loading Gmail efficiently!

Tonight we're performing at Jamestown College.

I pretty close to nailed the first performance. Songs were Power! [Expert] (1 non-Perfect) and BabyBlue [Expert] (3 non-Perfects), both by Renard and his aliases (99.69% on a sans-Great SuperNOVA scale -- would probably have been 99.84% on a full SuperNOVA setup). Thanks, Renard, for letting me use stuff from Mungyodance/2 for the tour, that really helps, and there are a lot of songs/stepcharts that I like on the mix.

My brief message/homily last night was about setting your hearts on things above (Colossians 3:2), and not storing up treasures on earth, but rather in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). We need to walk by faith, not by sight, relying on Jesus as opposed to material things (2 Corinthians 5:7).

I'm honestly really depressed right now in my mood, but I know some things. I know that the things of Heaven are worth seeking, and regardless of how I feel, I'm going to press on in seeking God and serving Him wholeheartedly, no matter how much I'm hurting.

Even when I'm in the deepest valley, the Lord is literally my Good Shepherd (cf. Psalm 23 & John 10:10). I'm thankful that whenever I am frustrated or down or grieving, I have a Lord who listens and answers prayer miraculously.

I really wish the sun were out today.

But think of two things --

(1) God is good, despite of who I am
Regardless of my character or past, He is still the same unchangeable, amazing God. From everlasting to everlasting, He is God (Psalm 90:2). From age to age, He is the same. He is a God of Love (1 John 4). He is a mighty God (Psalm 93). He is a God who heals (Isaiah 53, Psalm 103). He is a God who CARES for us and wants us to come to Him (2 Peter 3:9). He is more wonderful than we could ever express, regardless of anyone's opinion of Him.

(2) [In our perspective] God is good, because of who I am
Because I'm a sinner, and I fall short of God's glory, as we all do, He shows His Goodness in His response to us, as well (Romans 3:23). He gave His Son Jesus for us so that we could have eternal life through Him (John 3:16). Because we're imperfect, IN OUR PERSPECTIVE, we see more and more of His wonder as we live life. Happier is he who has been forgiven MUCH than he who has been forgiven little (Luke 7:47).

And regardless of how I feel, I love the Lord with my whole heart, and I will serve Him forever.

So keep praying for Pulse as well as me. God bless you, and if you haven't decided to follow Jesus Christ with your life, please consider. He gave His life for you so that you won't have to take the punishment for your own sins ('missing the mark'/disobedience against God's Commands in thought, intent, or even motive).