Glorious Saturday

Saturday started with a great bromance convo with Mike Kim in his music room, covering ministry, friendship, and the future as we know it. Then we headed to Starbucks to catch up with Pastor Eric “The Coco Dragon” Peoples, where more talking on life ensued.

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At high noon the band headed for Minado in Natick, Mass where we gorged ourselves on raw fish and various other asian-cuisine-substances. Needless to say, since I was the one to introduce Denis to sushi years ago, I felt it necessary for him to experience the all-you-can-eat context; he was in his glory!

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We also met up with some of our fabulous fam, Joel & Hilary Furrow from Boston. Incredible people!

After another Starbucks run, we drove the hour back to our host church and reset the stage at CLG for today’s 3 morning services. Strings were changed, drums tuned, and yet more coffee was purchased for us, this time by rock guitarist Quinton B. (Wow, I’m going to need detox).

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Then I ate probably some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. Cooked in a 15′-deep coal oven, PePe’s is apparently quite famous, and I can see why. Manager Louis cut our 4th pie for us:

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Afterward, the guys gathered back home in the music room to review 4 new tunes Nate and Mike composed earlier this week, while the girls chatted in the living room and looked through photo albums.

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It was foody-coffeey-friendy-musicy kind of day. ch:

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#heavenmeetsearth

We’re starting a conversation.

About God-encounters.

About the amazing intersections of heaven and earth.

And we want to know yours.

#heavenmeetsearth

ch:

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Friday Night in Manchester

My phone was charging on stage and I totally forgot to grab it, so I didn’t get nearly as many pics last night as I wanted. Maybe someone can post a couple, or send me a few.

We played to a packed house at Church of the Living God in Manchester, CT and what a night it was! My band has never sounded better, and I’m not exaggerating. So proud of their dedication to their music craft.

The flow we had in the Holy Spirit was indescribable; at one point, everyone stopped singing and Denis played the keys for about five minutes. No one moved. It was truly a #heavenmeetsearth moment as God visited us in that room.

If you were there, what was God speaking to you? What was your favorite moment? (Use #heavenmeetsearth on Twitter & Facebook).

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We had lots of great conversations after the concert, and “Michelle the Merch Queen” was selling the new Bald V-Neck t-shirts and #heavenmeetsearth wristbands faster than we could stock them! Yes, the infamous t-shirt design we toyed with a while back is a reality, as pictured by Mike Kim, who’s responsible for designing that crazy bald head icon. (We’ll make them available in our store shortly).

The fellowship that followed was nothing short of chaos. We crashed at my favorite Jewish deli out here, and I snapped a picture. Of course, not thinking, I had everyone say “Yahtzee!”

…which to the rest of the restaurant sounded like we screamed “Nazi!”

Perfect. ch:

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Saddle Up

After almost a month off from traveling, Jennifer and I are headed to Connecticut for a full weekend of ministry with CHB at Church of the Living God in Manchester.

Follow @find_ch & @find_chb on Twitter for moment-by-moment updates, and lock in here for recaps & pics. I promise that whenever I’m around Mike Kim, and the rest of my band, things are guaranteed to get nuts.

Thanks for riding along. ch:

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Viper 0, Buggy 1

200-mph ain’t nothing if it don’t work. This guy was so ticked off on his phone I thought he was going to chew me out as I slowed down to take this shot.

Good thing I didn’t mention the Amish guy could have given him a lift if he needed it.

The small, beautiful ironies of living in northern NY. ch:

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Toothless

If I told you someone was missing teeth, what’s the first thought that comes to your mind?

I know what comes to mine.

That person is a boxer, a hockey player, or a drunk. Or they’re old.

But what if I told you the person was 6?

Sometimes we mistake people’s lack as weakness, or even worse: failure. But I’m pretty convinced God sees it as room for something better to grow in. ch:

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iPad Kid Composer

My two year old was composing with GarageBand on my iPad 2 today for about 20 minutes.

Proof that Apple makes the most powerful yet user friendly platforms on the planet.

At least, that’s what Judah thinks. But what does he know? ch:

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The Impossible Feat

As a pastor, I frequent tragic stories more often than most. It’s part of the job description. So if anyone has pumped their fist at God asking, “Why?” it’s those who walk in church leadership.

But for all our losses as humans–the impetus of which we invited wholesale into our earthly context, mind you–we still serve a powerful God who continually confronts my unbelief with the miraculous. And, I’m happy to say, I seem to be witnessing it more prolifically with every passing year.

Today I encountered one such story.

Alyssa has been coming to our church for 6 weeks. While her husband was (and still is) deployed, flying in Afghanistan, she was expected to give birth to their third child in April.

Until they discovered the baby girl had Edwards Syndrome.

Two intensive sonograms proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt:

“No hands. No feet. Carry-to-term still birth.”

The baby pictured above? Meet Libby Elyse, Alyssa & Sean’s baby girl, born just three months ago.

Perfectly whole.

Jesus still does miracles. ch:

UPDATE: Alyssa reminded me that Libby had multiple brain turmors as well. The tumors disappeared and hands appeared on the 32-week sonogram.

UPDATE: Alyssa Hennessy Hi! I’m Libby’s Mommy! The world has told me many things…

Diagnosis: 1998 Hodkins Disease Lymphoma, Stage 4. Survivable, not curable.

TRUTH: I’m 30 with no evidence of disease.Diagnosis: 2002 Ovarian inactivity. Probably because of chemotherapy. Probablity of being able to concieve is very slim, and if I did concieve, there was a high chance that the baby would have life threatening birth defects.

TRUTH: I have 3 healthy children.

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Bow or Bust

There are people who wave at those embarking on a journey.

There are people who tag along.

And then there are people who sit as far forward as they can. Simply because they are born to.

Move up a seat. ch:

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My Best Friend

So many of my posts are about my kids. Let’s face it: they are a source of endless content.

But the most important person in my life next to Jesus is my wife, Jennifer. My bride. My best friend. My second Holy Spirit. My inspiration when I’m at my lowest, and my checks and balances when I’m aloft. I would be dead without her.

And as I was taking some pictures of her this morning to capture the last few weeks of her pregnancy, I was once again spellbound by her beauty, and awestruck at exactly how and why the Lord gave me such a perfect gift.

I love you, Jenny Lee. ch:


Dads Can Cook Too!

One of my oldest and bestest buddies, Nathan Reimer, is host to one of my all-time favorite blogs: dadscancooktoo.com

As if that’s not enough, he asked me to guest post on it this month. Heck yeah!

So for a little glimpse of what things are like in the Hopper home around dinner time, including a little parenting drama, check my post out. And follow Nathan on Twitter while you’re at it.

To your health! ch:

PS: Leave a comment over there, too, and I’ll respond!

I Love Lamp. I Love Lion.

I downloaded Lion for MacBook Pro yesterday.

•••I love how they’ve implemented more “gestures” on the touchpad: Mission Control, right-swipe to Dashboard, and the up/down reverse (which takes some getting used to, but makes it feel more tactile, like you’re manipulating e-paper).

•••I like how they’ve modernized some of the regular interfaces, like the login-screen (and made it fit my head perfectly).

•••Love how the new Mail follows conversations like iOS does (and they didn’t do that sooner because…?).

•••And little things like changing “Turn AirPort On/Off” to “Turn Wi-Fi On/Off.” While AirPort was original, it was like trying to rename an already established colloquialism.

Expect a wait: 3.6Gb download took under 10-min at my office, but *much* longer for some of my friends abroad. Took about 30-min to install, and Mail took about 5-min to re-archive. But the whole process was simple, and smooth (downloaded straight from AppStore).

Two thumbs up from me, and further proof to all unbelievers that Apple does do it best. ch:

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