Singing, Filming, Looking Forward to College

Pretty good day today; lots of singing. Our song leader, one of the pillars of our church and a great man of God, has moved to Clarksville. I am filling in for now (and now could last for a long time, which is perfectly OK with me), leading the songs on Sunday mornings and evenings.

Also, we had band practice this afternoon between services. It was a good hour-long session. We're going to mix in some new songs for Fan the Flame to go with some of the ones we've played for (seemingly) forever. I'm excited about the opportunity to teach Chris Tomlin's "Let God Arise" to our FtF audience.

Filming yesterday went pretty well; filming for tomorrow fell through. I'll try to provide a capsule of yesterday's filming at some point tomorrow. The movie's production continues to progress well, but a lot more slowly than any of us want. It has become a real test of my faith to trust God that we will be able to get this all filmed in His time.

It's been good, though. I continue to be amazed at the sacrifices that so many people have made for the film; and we're still adding new people to that "list". It's not only the ones who are actually involved on the film; often their families are forced to sacrifice time with them so they can be part of this project. It's humbling to me, and it also motivates me to try to do as good a job as we can and also get it done as quickly as we can. The latter is difficult, but again, I have to trust God that He'll work it all out.

Two weeks till school starts, at least for those of us who are enrolled in the esteemed University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. I'm kinda looking forward to classes at this point, which is pretty weird for me. I figure I'll enjoy the feeling while I have it, and it'll probably be gone in, oh, about three weeks. It may last through the first week, which is always pretty easy. I say always as if I'm an old pro, though I've only been through two semesters. Still, that's a significant portion of my higher education.

This year, my classes are
Advanced Composition - a writing class that I expect to be no more than the next-gen model of Freshman Comp II
Nonfiction Writing - a writing class that could be fairly fun and interesting, or could be a clone of Advanced Comp
Reasoning Across the Disciplines - a philosophy class which I know nothing about beyond the title
Europe: 20th Century - a history class that I'm taking because I had the professor in another class last semester and he was awesome; plus, the topic will be cool
Introduction to Theater - a, well, theater class that I hope will be a blast

I think I definitely am getting settled in to the whole college experience, though. I've always heard that the first year is the hardest, and I think it's true. Not necessarily in terms of the actual work, but in terms of getting adjusted and all that jazz.

And speaking of jazz: The biggest thing I'll miss about this semester is not having Don Bailey as an instructor. He is one of the many outstanding music professors at UAFS; directs the university jazz band; and taught my Music Appreciation class last semester. My verdict on him: If you go to UAFS, do everything you can to take him. He's an awesome teacher, if more than a bit unconventional, and his class is a ton of fun (and easy to boot!). OK, enough of my Bailey plug -- and this post. I seem to be getting pretty good at those long ramblings; the short ditties have mostly not yet materialized.

Peace out and go God.