Some of you think that we are crazy. That we are away from home entirely too much. "How do you do it?" is one question we are asked a lot. Well… sometimes it does get wearisome but… most times it’s OK. We don’t mind it, cause we know we are coming home, and there is a bunch of great stuff to do out here while we’re gone. And a bunch of great people to do it with.

Today, I had a brief but intense longing for home. No, not our awesome yellow house in Palmyra… our real home. We were getting ready to start our 1-hour play-worship in our made-from-dirt play house we call a church… and I just thought of how incomparable this is to home. One day we will all be together in the actual presence of God. We will all be without blemish, without faults, without failings… We will be complete. As we were meant to be.

No more failings… no more reminders of them. No more hurt. No more longing. We will be home. No longer travelers.

No more squabbles over music style. No more programs. No more buildings. No more potlucks (well, maybe we’ll keep those…)

Just Jesus. Us, and Jesus.

For a moment, I had a glimpse of that. And I longed for that.

Soon enough. Until then, we travel.

I just realized that I have not done a very good job here of reviewing the days that have been… that has been one of the main functions of our journal page in the past. When we travel on extended tours, we would keep a record of the various things that happened each day. Well, this time, since I have this BLOG already, was just going to do that record here… BUT, that is not what I usually do with the BLOG, so… it’s gonna take some getting used to.

OK, I think I’m used to it.

Review of Week 1:

We have been in FL for one week now (got here last Saturday, 10.11.03). In that span we have done 3 performances… leading worship at Mary Esther UMC (good – looking forward to more in the future. cool how Holy Spirit hooked us up with songs that worked well with what the speaker was talking about) and doing a concert for the homeless in Pensacola again (met a guy named Lance whom we got to talk to at length, and got to give him some warmer clothes to wear) and then we did a concert for Crestview Christian Church (for whom we wrote a song – This Journey, listen below…). All in all, the performances went very well.

In addition, we got to spend some quality time with our family in the area. Two of my cousins live in Navarre… right on the same street as my aunt and uncle! (where we were staying) SO… that was awesome. Got to hear about that chiropractic method (mentioned below) and got to see a football game (Russell, cousin Laura’s husband) is a football coach at Fort Walton Beach HS. They won. Went fishing with Ian a bunch. 🙂 Introduced cousins Ron & Kara to Skyline Chili… mmmm.

AND in the middle of all that…

10.18.01

TODAY was our ANNIVERSARY!!!! We did get to finally go to the beach today. That was nice. And had a good day reliving some fun times in our marriage so far. 6 years is not all that long, but God has blessed us in many ways over those 6 years.

I love Jen Campbell. So much I gave her my name. 🙂 I’m glad she took it. 🙂

Early morning tomorrow – leading worship in Starke, FL in the morning, then a worship concert in Jacksonville, FL tomorrow night. More review later. 🙂

Things that I like to do for fun:

on my own

eBay

Buffalo Bills

Old Computers (TI-99/4a, Apple II, other)

Old Game Systems (Nintendo NES, etc)

Web and graphic design

computer programming

with others

go fishing with ian

watch game shows with jen

get loud with alex

go thrifting (shopping at thrift stores)

cook dinners for folks

do random nice things for friends

hang out with friends

watching ian learn (homeschool)

playing board games with family & friends(see the BLOG archives…)

doing most anything with my awesome wife 🙂

talking to the baby through the belly… 🙂

There’s a lot more probably, but… just thought I’d share…

I have noticed that when I write a song… it often consumes most of my day, even if I don’t take very long to actually "write" the song. It may take me less than an hour to write the song, but then the next 4 are spent playing it, learning it, recording it, charting it, publishing it (as below)… lots involved in new songs 🙂

So… here are the words to the new tune. Short story of the song… we are doing a thematic worship concert tonight arond the journey of our relationship with God… various stages and where our hearts are with Him along the way. Will be very cool I think… but the neatest thing is, I woke up this morning, and as with many of my songs, I had the idea for it in the shower. 🙂 No words or music… just a "feel" for the tune… and the general idea of where it was going. I went outside… grabbed my guitar – and here’s what came out.

(Click here to listen to a RealAudio® version of the song. You’ll need a RealAudio® player to play it…)

This Journey

Sometimes it doesn’t matter where you’re going

And life does not depend on where you’ve been

The only thing that’s really worth the knowing

Is what is happening right here and now

chorus

In this journey…

All along this path of life is where the real treasures are

In this journey…

Take the time to know the journey

How many seconds does it take to smell a flower?

And in a moment that little humming bird is gone

Each day the sun sets and it rises again

And sometimes the moon is hanging in a bright blue sky

bridge

We miss so much along the way

If we would only stop and savor the day

Breathe deep the beauty of the world that God has made

And experience the joy of the journey

---

Words & Music by Greg Campbell.

Copyright © 2003 basic music ministries. All Rights Reserved.

Have you ever been to a Chiropractor? Have you ever said you would NEVER go to a Chiropractor?

I feel kinda weird about chiropracticism… (or, whatever that might be called). I mean… you go in and they crack and twist you… that doesn’t seem nice. I like my back where it is thank you…

BUT, tonight, I think differently about Chirpractors. 🙂 My cousin Kara married a guy (Ron Marshall) who found a cool branch of chiropracticism… the Gonstead method. It’s very specific to like each vertibrate. And the cool thing is, it’s not just about fixing your back if it hurts… our spine is SO cool… it’s like the central control system of our body. And it doesn’t take much to get it out of whack. So Ron can adjust the vertibrates, and has a cool sensor thingie that detects very minor temperature fluctuations that can show exactly where problems might be…

And again, the coolest thing is, he has seen people regain hearing, be “cured” of asthma, acid reflux disease be fixed… tons of stuff you wouldn’t think had anything to do with you “back”. That’s what I learned tonight… it’s not your back… it’s your brain’s pathway to the body. Literally… you’re whole body.

If you have never even considered it, you really need to find a Gonstead chiropractor in your area and talk to them… that’s the other thing… Ron is totally trying to help people. Very sad with the way the pharmaceutical and medical world has duped people into thinking that drugs and treating symptoms is the answer.

It’s cool stuff.

Besides that, we are enjoying time here in FL. Had a good day Sunday with two diff churches, and now tomorrow have a concert with another church in the area.

More later…

Alrighty… for those who are interested… below are some nice photos…





Here are some photos of the vans God has given us. Firstt, you see the last time we got to see Bluester. 🙁 That was a great van! We made some great memories in that place! We spend a lot of time in vans…. 🙂 Under that you see our new rig! We’re calling this van Silvester. (For obvious reasons…) Read Silvester’s story in a blog from a few days ago… and thank God with us for his providing. 🙂

We got to visit our nieces (and Greg’s sister and brother-in-law…) 🙂 on our way through Cincinnati. That was fun. And got some nice photos with Jen’s brother’s digital camera we are borrowing for the trip… so I thought I’d post them here -since they are SO CUTE! 🙂 Sidney (2) is first and Brooke (7mo) is underneath her. Whoohooo! 🙂

Oh my… don’t I love technology…

Actually, I do. It is amazing what we can do these days. I have almost instant access to the world really. Anything and everything I need to know or buy or whatever is available on the internet. At home we have high-speed access for all the big files we upload and/or e-mail… and for all the ways that we use the internet. It is amazing.

Even on the road – I have this little laptop where I can stay in touch with you folks either through e-mails or even just this page you’re reading right here. Wherever there is a phone, I can get stuff to you. LOTS of stuff – like this web page, information, even photos and songs and movies! Wow! Speaking of photos… more to come…

Anyway – we stopped in Bowling Green, KY last night on our way to Florida, and that place threw a wrench in my “anywhere” plan… 🙂 They must have had THE WORST phone lines… could not connect and when I did it would cut me off… so… the blog I wrote yesterday is posted today, underneath this one… be sure to read on…

For now, I am hoping for fewer technical difficulties when we arrive in FL tonight…

I was just thinking… much of life is how you see it. Where you see it from.

I was just thinking about that awesome, amazing way we saw God come through with this van – it is way more than we can afford, and yet it was sold to us right in our price range…. it is way more than I could have done on my own, but I am convinced that God answered our prayers (that He would provide something more than we could do on our own).

That’s where I wondered about perspective.

I don’t want to give credit (or blame?) to God for something that is not from Him. So I am cautious to say what God did or wants or said or does… but I am convinced that Jesus is alive and that God is personally involved in MY life today. His Word says that, and I have seen it. But would everyone agree that what I say is "God working in my life" is indeed divine intervention? Perhaps not.

I say that God made this car deal happen. Someone else might say it’s because our friend from a rival dealership let us drive one of his cars (with dealer plates) in there, and so they really wanted to make the sale. I say God gave us way more than we could do on our own (cause we got the most amazing vehicle for our most humble price), while others may say we are being excessive – that we could have gotten a lesser vehicle for even less money…

You know what it comes down to? Perspective.

Perspective is your PERsonal SPECTIVE on life. It’s where you are looking from. That is the awesome thing about God is that he is SO personal! He knows what would help us to see Him working directly, personally in OUR lives… and He did that. For someone else it may look like something else (not God’s workings)… but to us, it can be nothing but. And, when God works personally in someone else’s life we may do that same thing – dismiss it prematurely as circumstancial or insignificant (or even just not AS significant as the recipient feels it is.)

So, before you go correcting your fellow believer… just remember that God is very very personal. And He may do things for someone that encourages their faith and trust in Him that might do nothing for you… but that’s not the point.

That’s just your perspective.

We are heading out to Florida today (we hope… we still need to actually get our van back from the dealer – they are putting on the hitch and trailer wiring for us!) And that is great. I looked at (and typed) the calendar for the next couple months…. it will be awesome! Very cool. Looking forward to it. But, as I was taking a shower this morning – in my shower – in my bathroom – in my house… I don’t know… just thought… it’s nice to be home. 🙂

People always ask us, "Don’t you get tired of being on the road?" Our response to them is almost always (unless we’re having a bad day…) No. No, because God has called us to this, and God gives us the ability to not only "endure" it, but to really even enjoy it! 🙂 Really. So, I know He will again. But somehow there are lots of things I want to do around home these days. It could be the settling in to our first home thing. Or, it could be that I know after this trip, we don’t have any extended tours planned until the fall of 2004. Whatever it is, I already miss home.

That said… Florida is going to be so great! We get to see family and friends and sing with familiar churches and at new places as well. Please visit our web calendar for more: www.basicmm.com.

And, to stay in touch while we’re on the road – visit this page – which will act as our On The Road Journal… and check out the basic news page… and sign up for the basic mailing list.

AND, if you are the IM type… we’ll try and log on every once in a while. Our AIM screen name is basicmmaim.

That’s all for now! See ya in FL!

Wow. That’s all I am still feeling after a long long 24 hours yesterday.

It started off with lots of car searching. I tried very hard to scour as much of the internet as I knew how. I worked very hard and found some pretty good deals. But that was not really good enough. That was not what we were looking for actually… We wanted to find a vehicle that was so much beyond what we could do that we knew God was behind it.

Well… here’s the story….

From about 1am-3am on Monday night I searched the web for car deals. Found some good ones… printed those up and Jen & I talked about it the next morning (I was up at 8am looking for more). I also began calling insurance and all that – many, many, MANY phone calls. And, found some good honest, helpful, genuine folks who were willing to help us. Good stuff. But nothing stood out as spectacular.

We were looking for a van similar to the one we had – room for lots of kids (and extended room for lots of stuff, too) and able to tow our trailer and also had to have some sort of entertainment system for those 1000 mile days. 🙂 So… we found several options, including buying a more basic vehicle and putting in an after-market system. All of these were coming up to around $15-$16K. And, that’s about what we figured we could do. But again, that was the problem… it was what WE could do… nothing spectacular from God, as we were asking for from Him.

So, we called a couple more local dealers and thought we’d look around a bit before going down to PA for the one we thought we liked most. (A loaded van with TV system for $15000) We got to meet Mike at Heritage Motors… very nice guy – turns out he lives right next to Crosswinds!!! Ha! That was great! Anyway – he was the most genuine dude we had met so far, and he offered us a loaded (better than the PA one – minus the TV) Chevy Venture for $13,800… but by the time we added the TV system and Warranty and Taxes etc… was going to be around $17K. So… we really wanted that one, but it was a stretch…

Still… no amazing deal from God.

Well, we went to one more place – Mike Barnard Chevy/Olds/Cadillac in Newark. Had driven by there many times – that’s how we knew to check there. They said they had some vans one the lot… come check it out! We did.

When we arrived, they began to try to sell us an Astro Van – we did not want that. 🙂 AND, it was $15,000 list. Too much. They had some Ventures and Silhouettes… much to pricy. WAY out of our price range. So we were just trying to leave ASAP. 🙂 BUT, the sales guy wouldn’t let us. He kept trying to "make us a deal tonight". AND, the funny thing was, he was NOT. They were not deals – well, they may have been – but we still could not afford them. So, he kept asking, what can I do to send you home in this vehicle tonight?

Jen said, "Sell it to us for thousands less?" (Which I thought was pretty humourous…)

He looked kinda stumped… but he said, "Wait right here.." and left to go check on that for us. When he returned, they offered to get us a loan for the rest (after what we could pay from insurance) that would have payments very very close to what we wanted to pay! That was amazing. They came down on a vehicle listed for $21,000 to $15,000… this is an Oldsmobile Silhouette Premiere!!!

That was great… but then I said, hey… what would really sell me is if you would put on the trailer hitch and electrical hook up for this same price. They said.. you got it. We’ll even put a new one on for you!

SO… in summary… we got a vehicle listed at $21,000 – with MORE than we had on our last vehicle, with 100,000 LESS miles, with a 100,000 mile warranty, AND trailer hookups… for payments of LESS than what we were paying on the old van!?!?! WOW…

We were willing to settle for way less… but were still hanging on to be amazed by God, and He did it at a car dealer in Newark last night! Awesome!!!

We are amazed. Hope this story helps you be amazed with us. It might be lacking in cohesiveness as I really need to be doing other things right now, but wanted to share. 🙂

God is awesome. Again and Again. Forever and Ever.