Life with the Wife

So I was asked today: "Yo Heredes, you've been married over two years now, and still no kids. How come?"

Here's how come...


Somebody talk to her please... :)

PS: On other news.... Thanks for all your prayers, please continue praying... I will have some praise reports soon. God is Great !!!

John Mayer

Nothing like a good concert to get your weekend started. John Mayer has just put on one of the best performances ever; and I don't say that lightly.. he truly is our generation's Eric Clapton. It was one great song after another, with 5 minute guitar leads in between. Just delicious. It is Mayer's first headline tour, and he did it right. Full lighting system with pixel projection blocks, an amazing 7 piece band backing him up (2 guitars, bass, keys, drums, sax, & trumpet) with state of the art sound reinforcement. On top of that, we got to see Jessica Simpson too. She was in the sound booth the entire concert cheering for her new love. It was great... best concert of the year so far (it's only January .. so we've got 11 months to go). Here's a clip of "Gravity" done for an extensive 10 minutes ... yet amazing!!

Happy Birthday Marcy

My beautiful wife turns 24 today ... aside from the wonderful breakfast in bed we already had this morning , we'll be enjoying dinner with the family tonight and then dinner with John Mayer after his gig in Miami tomorrow ;) I love you baby! I'd give you the world, because you mean the world to me! Muah.. Happy Birthday !

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." Proverbs 31:10

I found one !! Thank you Lord !

Please Pray

Hey gang, just a quick post to ask ya'll to pray for us. There is power when the people of God unite in prayer. So I invite you to please pray for Marcy and I .... we're praying for God's will to be done and our hearts to be conformed in the following:

1) Immigration Court Date (1.30.07) - for our case to be resolved
2) Heredes in Surgery (removal of swollen lymph-nodes) please pray that it's nothing more
3) Pray for Godly wisdom & direction in the decisions we need to make this upcoming year

Thank-you guys, we'll keep you posted ....

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer - Romans 12:12

Weekend Worship Marathon

Playing & Praising has to be the best job in the world!! We've got a jam packed weekend ahead of us and I Love it!! We'll be so ready for heaven it's not even funny. Here's whats going down ... Friday Night Movement, Saturday Morning (Women's Monthly Breakfast), Sunday Morning 9, 11 & 1 PM, and finally our ZEAL (college service). When it's all said and done - thats 6 services, 22 songs, and tons of blessings Thanks Team!! Here are the songs the team and I will be playing this weekend:

MOVEMENT
Here it Goes Again - OkGo
Let God Arise - C. Tomlin
Prepare the Way - C. Hall
From God Above - United
Endlessly - Desperation
Always - United
Like No one else - Supertones

WOMEN
I'm Yours - original
Now is the Time - Doerkson
How Great is Our God - Tomlin
Holy, Holy, Holy - Hymn
All Hail - Hymn

SUNDAY MORNING
I'm not Ashamed - Walker
To God be the Glory - Hymn
Shout to the Lord - Hillsong
Breathe - Scott
Mighty to Save - Hillsong

ZEAL
40 - U2
Beauitful Lord - Leeland
Hungry - Scott
All Because of You - Steve Fee
Dancing Generation - Redman
We can be Heroes - Bowie

22 songs !! Some even repeated over the identical services! Its gonna be great !
I'm also excited about the canvas art we'll be doing Sunday Night.... Artist David Uribe will be strategically painting throughout the whole service .. I wont give the surpirse away ... you have to be there!
Thanks for making it all happen team, it's an honor to worship and serve with you !!

Be blessed

H

Guitar Tips From The Master

Here's my bud Ian "Shredzilla" Skaggs aka JR Lovins - giving some essential guitar tips. Enjoy ...

::tick tick tick::

I'm happy to say that we are finally caught up with all the seasons of 24. We had to catch up before the Season six premiere, and so we did! We pulled an amazing "24" marathon on the MLK holiday watching the entire 5th season back to back for 17 hrs straight! Our friends Ivan & Lizbet (24 fanatics) came over and brought millions of calories worth of food. We started at midnight and ended monday afternoon at around 7 PM - some took minor naps and all had at least 2 liters worth of cuban coffee , but WE DID IT!! Our kids will be proud one day.... To end the night .. our friends Mike & Connie stopped by and we watched the season premiere while eating some great Chinese Food.

The show offers a great chunk of thrills and action packed counter terrorist drama. I am a fairly new fan and initially thought the show would suck! I asked myself " What could happen in a day? There's no way this could be exciting or engaging. I was wrong! Tons can happen in a day, tons can happen in your day ... so hear me out.

In our lives, every second counts. God gives us daily opportunities to connect with Him and to connect with others. Let me encourage you to start your day with God - get up 30 minutes earlier if you have to and make the effort. Just like we tune our instruments before we play them - we should "tune" our lives before we get going. As you get going, stay connected to God and let it rub off on others. At Starbucks, in the Gym, at school - anywhere and everywhere. We have such freedom to talk about God and we don't take advantage of it. Don't worry about yesterday and don't worry about tomorrow. LIve fully present TODAY and make every second count. You have 24 hours, 1,440 minutes and 86,400 seconds in every day. No more, no less!! Make them count - Please take the time to read the following:

Today is the most important day of my life.
Yesterday with its successes and victories, struggles and failures
is gone forever.
The past is past.
Done.
Finished.
I cannot relive it. I cannot go back and change it.
But I will learn from it and improve my Today.
Today. This moment. NOW.
It is God’s gift to me and it is all that I have.
Tomorrow with all its joys and sorrows, triumphs and troubles isn’t here yet.
Indeed, tomorrow may never come.
Therefore, I will not worry about tomorrow.
Today is what God has entrusted to me.
It is all that I have. I will do my best in it.
I will demonstrate the best of me in it—
my character, giftedness, and abilities—
to my family and friends, clients and associates.
I will identify those things that are most important to do Today,
and those things I will do until they are done.
And when this day is done
I will look back with satisfaction at that which I have accomplished.
Then, and only then, will I plan my tomorrow,
Looking to improve upon Today, with God’s help.
Then I shall go to sleep in peace

Excerpt poem from John C Maxwell's "Today Matters"

Wonder Wife

Not only can she cook, clean and cry - she's now on guitar!! Scary !! Marcy is so talented it's not even funny; I better watch out or she'll take my job.
Keep it up baby - practice, practice,practice! You'll get the F#m7 eventually.... Muah
Ps.. Shane & Shane watch out!

Innovation vs. Tradition

There is much to be said of the progress being made in the proper use of the arts in the church. Everything from film, photography to music, drama and much more. I have seen many trends in the last year and am currently researching some taking place here in South Florida. The worship wars are over, but many have left their heritage behind in the process. I admire leaders who have innovated and revamped yet have kept their heritage and tradition in place. Don't get me wrong, I strongly believe in creating culture and connecting with people using their language, their music and their humor and their art ... however, Winston Churchill says it the best:

“Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.” - WInston Churchill

Artists must continue to innovate and not let the church die, but must also be guided by their traditions and the richness found in their heritage. In other words - give grandpa some jeans, an iPod and some hair gel and we're good! :)

The Spark

I've been reading a wonderful book called "The Spark" by the creative directors of Cirque du Soleil. Here are some nuggets of information I have found useful for both my personal growth and creative team building.


1) It is important to share the same vision of your organization/church - even if a team disagrees on how to achieve the vision. One could argue about anything, what song, what light, what costume, what prop, what color, what topic etc.. but that's the point: Everything is talked about! At the end, the first idea is never the last, they evolve and become more creative and you really can't say whose idea it was; it doesn't matter.

2) Cross Pollination of information and art is necessary for creative juices to flow. Crossing every field: film, music, painting etc..
It is key to freshness and vitality. Nothing is truly original.

3) Too many rules and regulations; paperwork & politics deaden the magic - the creativity. It cuts of the electricity of inspiration. We stop thinking of what we can do, and begin thinking on what we cannot do. Picasso did not ask for permission from the legal department before painting Guernica

Cirque du Soleil has been successful in combining old circus themes and acts with other artistic fields such as film, live music, comedy, story plots, and much much more. Its a mix of Broadway, Blueman Group and the Ringling Brothers (w/o the animals). They have inspired me to continue creating with excellence. As Christians, we have the greatest story to tell - greater than any Cirque plot, it's a life-changing story! My prayer is that we could one day present God's love story with such passion, creativity and effectiveness.

The Best is yet to come....

Church, Cirque, & Countdown

Vacation has been awesome so far... and there's still a week left!
Our road crew is the best! The road trip alone would've been enough!
We just finished attending our last worship service of the year after arriving in Atlanta.
We visited Midway Community Church - where Gerone, Rebecca and kids (friends of ours) attend.
It was great - reminded me of WKBC 4 years ago. It was a simple yet passionate church with a focused message and sincere heart for the lost. We later went to see Cirque du Soleil's "Corteo" - awesome! Cirque continues to impress and combine the arts like no one else! It's our fourth Cirque: La Nouba, Varekai, Delirium, Corteo. Vegas here we come!
After Cirque, we headed downtown to see the Atlanta "Peach Fall" - it was very lame. Rainy and packed - the peach looked like a cutout from a juice carton and the live entertainment was "LoneStar". Nothing against them - but i just wasn't in the mood. Specially after such awesome live music at Cirque. So we headed to countdown the new year at Hard Rock - talked to the family around the world, text messaged friends in Miami and toasted to a wonderful 2007!

To all of you reading:
I wish you a wonderful 2007 full of blessings from our great God!
Remember that obedience brings blessing, and disobedience brings judgement!
Let 07' be a year of obedience.

Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. - Isaiah 26:8