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We woke up last night to some strange sounds.

Driver chased, shot to death in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/10/2009

ST. LOUIS -- Police are looking for the gunman who followed and killed a motorist on Maple Avenue near Kingshighway early today.

Edward Vaughn Wilson, 34, of the 5000 block of Kensington Avenue, was shot to death shortly after 1 a.m. today.

He was speeding west in the 5000 block of Maple, about six blocks from his home, when his car hit a street light, police say. Wilson was behind the wheel, and he'd been shot in the head. He died at the scene.

Witnesses told police they had seen a black Dodge Charger following the victim's car, shooting at him.

Police said they had no suspects.

Our contractor finished the work on our house. We are now officially done with the repairs, so anything else that breaks down, fall apart, or rots will be on me to fix.

Today the weather in St Louis is unseasonably warm. I rode my bike to work for the first time since our move (and the first time since daylight savings ended.) It took my about 10 minutes to get to work on my bike.

I'm getting psyced up about our Black History Celebration on February 21. It will be a fun time for all and I hope that we'll get a lot of strangers. This weekend, I made an announcement in which I emphasized to people the potential for inviting neighbors and co-workers. We had a few full-color invitation cards that got snatched up right after church. We printed 200 more in anticipation of people getting the word out. The whole world loves gospel music, and so it's a great bridge for the good news to be communicated.

Me and the fam are flying to Orlando after Easter to hang out with Sarah's siblings. Apparently, there is an airline called Allegiant Air that only flys to a few tourist destinations from small airports. We got round trip tickets to Orlando from the Springfield/Branson airport for $60 a seat. So we'll have to drive about 3 and a half hours first, but it sure beats trying to drive to Florida or paying to fly out of Lambert Airport. Maybe next time we go to Chattanooga, we'll fly Springfield to Orlando to Chattanooga for $120 a seat.

No more stomach flu. No more staph infection. No more medication reactions. But today, my arthritis is giving me trouble again. My wrists are really bugging me.

I discovered this website for people who like to make to-do lists. I'm trying it out for now, but I am skeptical that it will be better than my good old legal pad and sharpy system.

The recording is progressing. We are hoping to have 5 or 6 tracks completed soon. Maybe, I'll just go ahead and stick them on iTunes to see if my fans (86 on my facebook page) would like to buy them.

I've had a few developments in my life this week:

Our loan commitment happened yesterday, so we will probably close some time between Friday and Monday. After we close, the house will have some major work done that will take (Lord willing) 4-6 weeks. So at the earliest, we might move in sometime in January or February. We will need to purchase a washer and dryer, so let me know if any of you can help.

I was convicted yesterday in staff meeting that I had been frustrated with this house situation because I had an unrealistic sense of entitlement about what I deserved. I realized that God has used our real estate company to graciously bless us. We are receiving financial help from them to cover the closing costs which will easily cover the per diem charges that we've been accruing all this time. Please pray for us during the next phase of this process.

The other news I have relates to my arthritis. I saw my rheumatologist this morning and my condition has progressed to the point that he wants to start a more aggressive treatment. Up till this appointment I always left feeling like my doctor was not doing anything to help me, but today, I was glad that he was concerned because I've been concerned for a while now. More good news is that x-rays of my hands didn't show any permanent bone damage. Please pray that God will use the next step in my treatment will help relieve my pain and protect my hands from any permanent damage.

Last Friday, Jacob and I finished the lead vocals for Jesus My Great High Priest and Before I Knew. I was super sleepy the whole session. It's getting kind of boring watch Jacob edit vocal parts. The novelty has worn off. But, I am thankful for his skill and taste. The final product sounds great. I'm hoping to have a few finished up to the point that I can put something up on my myspace page for everybody to hear.

House Update:
We continue to wait. Everybody is moving very slowly. The loan is taking a long time to approve because it involves approving contractor bids in addition to the house itself. Meanwhile, our contract has expired and so the house is technically back on the market. The seller has kept it off of realtor.com and has taken down the sign, but they would not do a second extension on the contract without a loan commitment. So we are trying to remain optimistic that everything will turn out fine when the loan comes out of underwriting. We are also preparing to walk away for the deal if it gets too crazy. We might lose a lot of money, but we use that as an excuse to lose a lot more money.

Congratulations to President-elect Obama. How cool that the USA was able to finally elect a black man! I am also glad that Barak Obama professes to be a believer. May the Holy Spirit lead him in every decision.

We're in limbo. The appraisal has been ordered (when will it happen?). Once the appraisal is done, the paperwork goes through the bowels of the bank to be processed (will the contractor's bid and all the forms be approved or rejected for some technicality?) Once the loan commitment happens, then a closing can happen. Our contract extension (we were supposed to close last Saturday) puts the closing day on Thursday (no chance) and the seller has been charging us $100 a day as part of the extension. I wonder what will happen when we don't close by Thursday. Once we close, there will be a long wait while the 4-6 weeks of repairs are completed before we can get an occupancy permit in order to move in. In the mean time, we'll be packing, hanging out with Sarah's sister, Meg, electing a president, starting up choir season, and preparing for the Holidays.

For now...we wait.

Please pray!

The title is of course a reference to "Finding Nemo" because I feel like I have a delay fish swimming around with me. Jacob and I go through phases of extreme productivity and then phases of stagnancy. Jacob had to cancel two weeks in a row because of various issues. I'm not frustrated with Jacob; delays and schedule problems are a fact of life that he's dealing with right now. Jacob's day job is with Starbucks and as you might know, they are going through a retooling process that has involved layoffs, store closings, etc. So, I know that Jacob has been preoccupied with a lot of that.

At the same time, I am preoccupied with the house stuff on top of normal family and work responsibilities. Whenever Jacob has to cancel, my first response is usually, "Oh good, now I can hang out with Sarah and the kids." I don't want the recording to get put on the shelf, but maybe that's just going to have to happen over the fall. Being an independent artist means that I have to fit recording time into my 40 hour a week day job as well as take time to give lessons to pay for the additional costs. God has been so good to get the project this far, and as the song says, "He didn't bring me this far to leave me."

Please pray for this recording that Jacob and I will find good times to work. Pray that Sarah and I will be able to have quality time even with this added schedule commitment.

In 2008, my wife and I have added a new child to the family (the Samster), began a recording project, attempted (and failed) to potty train our daughter, and now we've decide to buy a house. Not exactly good long term goal planning.

This house process is quite stressful. If you have never done it before, don't assume that it will be all fun because it is actually a lot of hard work and stress. Driving around looking at ugly, dilapidated homes. Rushing out to last minute meetings with the agent, the bank, the rehab adviser, the contractor, the inspector, the sewer inspector, or the other contractor. Meanwhile, our kids are not all of a sudden transformed into statues when we need them to be quiet and compliant. Joanna and Sam need just as much attention even though we're dragging them to a meeting where all we do is sign our name on a million documents.

On top of all that, there's the emotions of courting a home that might at any turn decide that it's too good for you or you might find out that it has major dysfunctions. Can I commit emotionally to a house without assurance that this relationship will last? Should I pursue this house even though it might end in an emotional let-down? I thought that I was through with courtship after getting married, but it feels just like I'm doing that mess all over again.

Over and over, it is testing my faith in the promises of God. God's promise is that He is my portion and my lot. His promise is that if I seek first the kingdom, then all that I need will be provided for. His promise is that in Christ, I have died to the world and it's fleshly desires, and I am a new creation. His promise is that through the gospel, I can rest in the confidence that nothing can separate me from the love of Christ (not even debt, crime, or foreclosure.) His promise is that He will fight my battles and so I shouldn't despair that I am not smart enough to catch every rip-off, not strong enough to protect my family from every enemy, and not wealthy enough to afford every comfort.

The house that Sarah and I are looking at is pretty amazing. There's no way we could have afforded it, but because it's a foreclosure property, it's within our budget. It's hard not to look at it and say, "this is too good to be true, and therefore, I will walk away from it because it's probably a trap of some kind." But, the promises of God bring me back to the fact that God loves to lavish blessings on his children. He wants to lead us beside still water and green pastures. I have a view of God's grace that says that I have to pay for every blessing with a trial. Why can't I just accept the bread from the hand of my heavenly Father without thinking that He's going to switch it at the last minute with a stone?

Please pray for me and and my family during these next few months. Closing day is October 25. After that there would be a few weeks of repair work and then we'd move in around mid to late November. Insanity!!!