So as Haley and I are getting ready for the new baby to come, we’ve been updating our place. Giving everything just a little different flavor. Avery got some bunk-beds, some new wall art, and we’ve been organizing like crazy. Having only two bedrooms for two adults and two kids is very daunting!! Good thing my wife craves organization. 

But while in our “nesting” phase we’ve also wanted to update our own room, make it a place we want to be in. Enter Haley’s desire for a headboard, and Pinterest - that never ending time vacuum, where you lose hours imagining what your house COULD look like if you have tons of time and no job/responsibilities. We got some inspirations and set out into the world

Note: you can click on the pictures for a larger size

We visited Haley’s brother’s house, and picked up some wood he had stored up (thanks Chas!). Turns out some of it was this beautiful knotty pine that was inside the house (when Haley’s greandparents lived there) before the remodel. After hammering a few nails out, and cutting the pieces to size we threw them in the van and set off.

Avery also discovered a “little” something to entertain herself in Uncle’s backyard…

Then came the sanding… oh how much fun that was! No sarcasm intended, it really was relaxing to a certain degree. There was some old golden lacquer/varnish on the pine that needed to be removed. We were looking into what color we wanted but knew that no matter what, the golden hue had to go.

Along with the headboard, we were also refinishing an Amoire into a desk/filing cabinet. More on that in another post.

A not very good picture of the almost finished board. Once sanded, I just lined them up accordingly and bolted them together from the back. Next came the finishing decision. We had wanted a weathered look because that would fit our new amoire, and the overall feel of our room. But figuring out how to do that by ourselves (without a farm in Pennsylvania to help us, since that seemed to be pervading theme on Pinterest) proved a little difficult. With some help from my ever faithful friend Google, I saw that I could combine steel wool, and vinegar to create a gray stain. Who knew normal, standard, straight up steel wool was so hard to find!! Every one I found seemed to have soap, or was scented like a fruit. So we used an SOS pad, rinsed thoroughly, and dropped it in a pint of vinegar for a day. And crossed our fingers… Here’s a shot of my first test coat:

You can see on the 2nd board from the left the difference between my gray stain, and the original pine color. 

A “sort of” success! Here’s a picture of the final product hanging on our wall

So there you have it, our new headboard! Now I have no idea why I felt the need to share this with the world. I don’t even think the 2 people who read this blog (my wife and mom) would really care, namely because one of them was with me the whole time! And by no means should anyone replicate what I did, because I have no idea what I’m doing. But there you have it. I did something with my hands. The end. 

This was a blog from guitarforworship.com that I read a long time ago. Even though it seems like common sense, it is always good to remember, and helped solidify some of my own beliefs and practices. Enjoy!

Leading Worship

These are some of the most beneficial things I have found for leading worship. And this is normally the part where I would try to inject some type of humour, but I’ve seriously got nothing tonight. Edge. Bono. Delay. Tone. Tubes. There ya go.

• Always help your drummer load in at least one piece of equipment.
• Learn your sound system…or at least how to plug in a direct box.
• When services run long, be the first to suggest that your ministry be the one to cut back a few minutes. (Meaning, just don’t build back into the ‘epic’ end of ‘Saviour King’ for a fifth time.)
• Don’t sing lead vocals on every song, every week.
• Only mention mistakes to your team when you hear them a second time; giving people a change to recognize and correct their own mistakes goes a long way. And let’s face it…when you played that G chord in the 1st and 2nd frets instead of the 2nd and 3rd frets? You knew it. You didn’t need anyone to stop the song and point it out.
• Get off the stage and let your team go for it every once in a while.
• If a monitor’s not working, be the first to get up and make an effort towards fixing it…even if you have no idea where to start.
• Arrive before your team, and leave after.
• Say thanks.
• And lastly, remember that you’re probably not the best worship leader even within your own church.

All this can be summed up with simply this: lead by example. I think sometimes we’re so busy trying to lead people, that we don’t have time to even be the Christ-like example to which we’re trying to lead them. And I’ve had this post in my head for so long; but I’ve hesitated to write it down, because I am so bad at doing this stuff, and so bad at being an example. But it kind of hit me this past week that when Jesus could have been going out landing lucrative guest speaker gigs, he was instead washing people’s feet. And maybe that’s the reason people listened to Him.

And even now, I don’t really want to hit ‘Publish’, because then I have to live by this stuff. Blast. 

Splendid.
Karl.

It seems like this blog, or whatever it is, will now have a change in format. No longer will it be an online resume or place for potential employers to see, but rather a place where I can explore, assess, and expound upon my life as a worship leader in a real church. 

As of last week, I have joined forces with some amazing people at Canyon Creek Church (PCA). I’m very excited! I think in so many ways, God has shown me how He does have thoughts and plans for my life. Through various acquaintances, and rekindling of friendships I found an ideal job in a great strong church who wants me for who I am, not for what they want me to be. 

Not only that but we’ve also just moved into a townhouse right near downtown Danville, which has also been a strange coincidence of acquaintances. And as it turned out, most of the people were believers without us knowing! We just enjoyed walking to a bagel shop over the weekend, who knew that having restaurants within walking distance would make me so happy, haha. Like I said, God has shown Himself in our decision to move up north in countless ways. So much has come together, and we can only praise and thank Him. 

So stay tuned for some musings on life as a young (ish) worship leader!

Something I’ve been thinking alot about lately is my guitar tone. I find that quite often many (myself) can become obsessed over the next greatest pedal, or that amp that just sounds perfect. I can go on and on about the pitfalls of this thinking, how you really just need to know your own gear in and out before you add anything. And how above all else, practice, practice, practice. Gear will not make us any better players (really). 

The reality is many others musicians much better than myself have talked about this already. Take a look and read what they have to say on the issue:

James Duke - http://jamesduke.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/its-just-the-way-i-sound/

Andy Toy - http://andytoykeyboards.tumblr.com/post/3835049603/the-great-gear-myths

If you don’t know these guys…get to know them, they are awesome in many ways