July 29th (Day 76)

Well today was my last full day as a resident of Cleveland and a Creative Arts intern at Momentum. It was really strange to think about all day. Today I got to the office around 7:35 am. Talk about crazy, haha. After arriving, I hooked up my external hard drive and began transferring files from my hard drive to the Creative Team's Mac Pro and vise versa. I then read a little bit in 1 Corinthians and then some of the book that I'm currently on, "Organic Community". After the guys got there and we spent a few minutes of quiet time, we put on a song and sang a worship song and then said a prayer at the end to start the day off right. For the rest of the day, I pretty much finished the rest of the things on my to-do list for the week. I compiled a beginning sound schedule list for the next two months. After I did that I worked on getting a clock fixed that had broken. I ran to Walmart and picked up some super glue and some AA batteries for the office. While I was there I found 2 Indians jerseys that were pretty awesome too, so I got those as souvenirs I guess you could say. Haha. I stopped by Arby's to grab some lunch and then headed back to the office. Rachel came in and she got started on the next worship video, this time doing it on her own. I helped take off the front door of the office to get in a chair that we bought so that we could use for interviews. For the rest of the afternoon I worked a little bit on figuring out a few more things on the 3D generation software and helped out the other guys with a few things that they are working on. Mo Group tonight was a lot of fun! James, a guy whom I met at the new-comers meeting 2 weeks ago on a Sunday was there to check it out. He's an awesome guy and it was a lot of fun to be able to hang out with him and chat with him. After our lesson/conversation, we headed over to the Big Dipper where I we got ice cream. I said goodbye to people and then headed home to pack up my car. After packing up my car, I took a shower and then went and hung out with Dave in the den while he worked on songs for the worship set this week. Tomorrow is my last day in Cleveland. I have to meet James at 7 am for breakfast, so that means I have to treat tomorrow as I would a Sunday and get up at 6 am, haha, but whatever. I'm going to be heading to Grayson tomorrow afternoon. I'll probably update this thing at least one more time before it's all done and over. Thanks for reading and for sharing in my internship experience! =)

Pat

July 28th (Day 75)

Today was a very productive/busy day. I got up on time and then got into work around 7:55 am and read a chapter from Philippians. After I finished that, I began work on my list of things to get done. Overall today, I was able to complete all but 2 or so of my tasks to have done by the time I leave. My main goal is to be done with everything that I have on my list, and be able to leave after lunch on Thursday so that I can beat traffic in Canton and Charleston, WV. I worked on a new click-track video well into lunch time and completed it. Then I went over to the theater to work on some stuff there, labeling monitor bags and such and then looking for other items that may have been there. After doing that, I headed back to the office and ate a cold slice of pizza that was left over from Saturday for lunch. Then I got right back to work. Michael and I began setting up to do an interview shoot for the three of us interns who are leaving sometime this week. After setting up, we had our interview and got that out of the way. Once the interview was completed, I got back on the computer and contacted Gator Cases in Florida to setup another case repair order for two broken cases that we found. After sending that email, I wrote up a manual for volunteers and staff to read to assist in the creation of a worship click-track video. When 4 o'clock hit, I headed home and worked on fixing a few things in the new click-track video. I ate a little bit of something for dinner then headed downstairs and worked out for a little bit. When I got done there, I took a shower. After my shower, I headed into the dining room where Dave ate some stuff for dinner and I worked on one of the other remaining tasks in creating a sound tech rotation for the months of August and September. We talked about our days and about various other things while he ate and I worked. After doing as much as I could in the calendar rotation, I went and replaced the strings on my acoustic and electric guitars in preparation for this coming weekend. After replacing strings, I worked with Dave on some of the upcoming worship songs that he is learning. As the evening progressed, Dave's girlfriend came over and they went and hung out while I decided to start cleaning up some and packing my stuff so that I don't have as much to do tomorrow night after Mo-Group. It was a busy day, but a good one nonetheless. I'm hoping tomorrow is just as productive and I hope that I'll be able to achieve my goal of leaving and avoiding all of the rush hour traffic in either/both of the two bigger areas that I'll have to drive through on Thursday. I'm really going to miss people up here, yet at the same time I'm ready to meet and help out some of my friends with this youth retreat this weekend and then be home. It's been a long summer that has seemed short at the same time, haha. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat though. (= That's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 27th (Day 74)

Today was a blast. I had to get up and get to work a little earlier than normal, because we were going to meet Joyce at L.A. Petes for breakfast. I had strawberry french toast and it was amazing. At the breakfast the rest of the staff went around and said something about each of the three summer interns that are leaving this week. It was an awesome time, even though at times accepting compliments was hard for me to do, haha. After breakfast we headed back to the office where we worked on a few things, and then had a Creative Arts team meeting. During the meeting, tasks for the week were handed out and we figured out how we could make the transition from 6 C.A. staff member to 3 easier for the guys who are staying. After the meeting we heated up some of the leftover food from the cookout that was yesterday. Then Micah and I went to drop off the Mediashout computer at a place to get it serviced/repaired and then stopped by the movie theater to do a few things and pick some things up. Then 3:30 pm finally came. Today was the day that James Fruits had scheduled to face off against me in a wrestling match. However James wanted our match to be saved for the main event. So Tyler and Micah went at it. It was a pretty good match, but Tyler ended up pulling out a very close victory against Micah. However tomorrow, Micah has already stated that he would like a rematch because he doesn't think he was pinned. Then the main event started. James and I went at it. Our match lasted the longest of any previous match between any of the Creative Arts team. It lasted approximately 10 min with neither of us pinning the other or causing the other to tap out. We had 3 rounds and we restarted at a standing grapple at the beginning of each round. Takedown wise, I landed a very nice one on James, and possibly dented the air vent grate, while he landed two on me. The thing about his take downs however, is that I was able to reverse them and as soon as I hit the ground and he got on me, I reversed it and he ended up on the bottom. We both had a few escapes as well. The match continued and we both were exhausted, but the match was finally called when James and I were battling between a couch and a door, and I ended up hitting the door pretty hard with my head. I powered out of his grapple and stood up, CRAZY dizzy. I almost fell a couple of times. We took a few minutes to see if I'd be ok, but eventually just called the match a draw since I wasn't getting any better. After the match, we had a Creative Arts meeting where be began to discuss creative ideas and new videos that we would like to get done soon. After work, I came home and folded the last of my laundry. Then Dave got home and Tyler came over, and we all grilled outside and chilled. We ran to the store and picked up some ice cream treats for desert and then watched "Frost/Nixon" downstairs. Micah showed up about 1/2 way or so through it and joined us. It was a wonderful day. I'm going to be working my butt off for the next 2 days, maybe even working in the evening so that I can hopefully get everything done and be able to leave after lunch on Thursday so I can beat rush hour in Cleveland, Canton, and Charleston, WV areas along my trip. Well I guess that's all that I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 26th (Day 73)

Well today was my final Sunday at Momentum. It was strange, but certainly A LOT of fun. It's weird to think that I don't have to get up at 6 am and drive across Cleveland to get to the movie theater early and set up for service. Kind of refreshing/relaxing to realize that, haha. The service went well today. Matt Caton filled in for the guest speaker that was supposed to be speaking but had an emergency arise. The music side of things sounded good as far as I could tell too. After service was over, Andrew and Michael helped me tear down stuff and then joined us for the prayer outside of the theater. We went to eat at Red Robin since Michael had to leave by a certain time. After lunch, Andrew and I headed to the Creative Arts appreciation cookout to hangout for a little bit. Once that was done, Andrew and I came back to my house and we watched a movie. After the movie, Andrew took off and I started working on some prep stuff for my final sermon/lesson/devo evaluation that I'm doing tomorrow. Matt Caton is actually the one that is going to fill out the form this time, so that I'll have someone different from the other two that I've done. I took a break from that and went downstairs to train/work out some. Tomorrow is also a big day, in that James Fruits has challenged me to a wrestling match. The other interns are especially excited for it and are looking forward to seeing if I can beat him, especially since he has beaten the other two summer interns already. Nothing like pressure huh? Haha. Tomorrow morning there is an appreciation breakfast for us summer interns so I'm actually going to make sure I'm at the office earlier than usual. I'm currently reading of my lesson and doing laundry and relaxing. It was a great last Sunday for this internship. Well I guess that's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 25th (Day 72)

Sorry this is up a little late, again, haha. Today was a productive and wonderful day. It started up with me meeting James at his house to work on guitar with him. After about an hour I went into the office to help troubleshoot some of the things that we needed to get fixed. For lunch, I went out and bought 3 pizzas for the guys and we all had some pizza for lunch as we worked. After lunch, I got the opportunity to talk with Jake Miller. We chatted for a long while, catching up and sharing stories and experiences with each other. It was very enjoyable. After doing a few more things around the office, I headed home and helped Dave get last minute things done/together. Once guests started arriving we sat outside, chatted, and waited for others to get there so we could start grilling. After hanging out outside for a little bit, I went inside and put away a few of my things that I remembered was out and about in the house. As I was cleaning up, Andrew arrived along with Michael Johnson. I was shocked to see him and extremely glad. For the rest of the evening we hung out, ate food, and chatted. Around 9 pm or so we headed over to The Harp to get one of the guinness ice cream sundaes and see/hear live Irish music. It was a lot of fun. When we got back we ended up watching a movie until I fell asleep around 2 or so. It was a great day and was definitely one to remember. Well until tomorrow's post!

Pat

July 24th (Day 71)

Today was a pretty busy day and I'm exhausted, haha. I got into the office just before 8 am and started the day off with a devo by reading some passages and then reading from "The Jesus Creed". Once James and the other guys got in, we had a short time of worship, prayed, and then got busy on the day's agenda. For the most of the morning, I got the video for this week's worship song put together and ready to export. I had to wait to finalize and export it because Rachel was coming in so I could finish teaching her how to do this. I fixed a few things in other videos and did some research on in-ear monitors for James. After lunch I worked a little more on getting some things done and then Rachel came in and I worked with her for a little while. I wrote out all of the settings and general steps to creating a video so that she could have a reference manual incase something became a blur to her. I also helped Jeff with the videos, while he got started on next week's song. James and I were actually set to wrestle today (we have interns/staff wrestling matches), however it got pushed back because they were filming a video well past our scheduled time. I left the office around 5 to go grab some dinner and then I headed over to James house for practice. It was a great practice! Lots of fun and lots of people were passing by, observing, because a carnival had just started down the street. After practice I headed home and watched episodes of Alf and finished "The Jesus Creed". It was a very good book actually and it helped me think about a lot of things that I had been taking for granted. The next book on my list is "Organic Community". I'm hoping that this will help me as a leader for Evensong at KCU and in future ministries. It was weird to think that today was my last Friday at Momentum. Well I guess that's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 23rd (Day 70)

Today was my day off. I got to sleep in and it was great! Haha. I got up at 11:30 am and then started cleaning the house and stuff for Dave's party this Saturday. I got a lot of reading done today as well. I'm only one chapter away from completing "The Jesus Creed". I switched my next book to be "Organic Community" because I've been feeling lately a passion to continue to help grow Evensong and begin a type of small groups that meet together aside from the Wednesday night service. I talked about it the other night with a friend, and she loved the idea. I honestly think that if we allow God to move and use this on our campus, then KCU could explode. Anyway, I'm hoping that as I develop and write out the proposal for the rest of the team, this book will give me further insight in addition the large amount of stuff I have learned from working here at Momentum the summer. Later in the evening I went with Dave to get groceries and then helped him cut up some veggies for some of the side dishes that he is making for the cookout. We had great conversations, as we always do. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I'm meeting with Rachel again so I have to finish most of the video so it'll be ready for her, then I have band practice tomorrow night, which I still need to learn 2 songs, haha. Oh well, it'll all get done. =) Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 22nd (Day 69)

Today was a little more busy than yesterday, haha. I got into the office and for most of the day troubleshooted the laptop that we use for Sunday services. To make a really long story short, it is set to be taken into the shop tomorrow, hopefully to get a new sound card. I'm hoping that will fix the problem that we have been having with the click track videos. The laptop is putting out hiss that is not present/as loud on my computer or other computers in the office. Around 10 am, I headed over to James' house and worked with him on some guitar stuff for this Sunday. It was pretty fun. For the rest of the day, I got a few other things done, got a little further in understanding how to use this free 3D software (still a LONG ways off from mastering it though), and even found time to goof off with the guys. Tomorrow is my day off, so I'll probably be cleaning most of the day, then probably reading and trying to further my abilities with this program. Mo Group tonight was a lot of fun as well. We had a wonderful dinner, a wonderful game of nerts, and an enlightening conversation about Jesus being the Good Shepherd. Well I guess that's really all that I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 21st (Day 68)

Today was an awesome day. Mainly due to the fact that I had the entire office to myself for most of the day. The only time I didn't was when Rachel Fisk was in, and I was teaching her some how-to stuff on some video programs. I troubleshooted some mediashout/click track problems for most of the morning, but didn't resolve any of them. I'm hoping tomorrow will prove to hold more success for me in that department, haha. I came home a little early and worked out and then went on a walk. After that I took a shower, ate some dinner, and watched episodes of "Alf". =) After Dave got home, I practiced a few things on bass for Sunday but shortly thereafter gave that up. Dave ran and picked up some tables and chairs for this Saturday because he is having a party at our house. When he got back I went outside with him and helped him clean out his garage and clean up the tables and chairs and such, just so there wouldn't be as much work to do later on. We are trying to do a little bit each day so it's not so overwhelming. I'm off Thursday so I'll probably clean some more around the house. We made the cleaning session fun and laughed a lot. I even over-undered the garden hose. For those of you who may not know what that is, it's a way that music-related people wrap their chords so that they don't get tangled. We joked around about that the most, and we concluded that I'm going to have to make a t-shirt about it. I told him I'd make one and mail it to him for Christmas, haha. Well that's about all that went on today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 20th (Day 67)

Today was awesome! I got to work a little late because of traffic but was there for the ending prayer time of the weekly staff meeting. After they finished up that staff meeting, the Creative Arts team met for a creative arts meeting in which we went over the things that went well and the things that didn't go well for the previous week. After going over those items of business, we divvied up the responsibilities for the week to each of us. This meeting ended up lasting right up to lunch time, so after we were done with our meeting, and made phone calls to people about an appreciation cookout that is this Sunday. The team went to Chipotle for lunch and then afterward came back to the office. Once I got back to the office, I did a few more small tasks and then began working on trying to figure out how to use this new 3D graphics/animation program that I found. I seems to be able to do a lot of things, and I'm hoping to figure out how to use it so that I can create more videos and graphics for Evensong and for future ministry stuff in general. I left work and stopped by the theater to pick up the audio adapter used between the sound board and computer on Sundays, so that tomorrow I can try to find the reason why all of the clicks from the videos that I have been making are saturated with extreme hiss. I got home and worked out and then went for a walk. After that I practiced some guitar for a little bit and then took a shower and ate dinner. Since then I have been trying to figure out how to work this program and haven't gotten very far yet. It's kind of discouraging but I'm hoping that if I stick with it, I'll become pretty efficient at it and be able to create some awesome stuff! Well I guess that's all I have for you today! Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 19th (Day 66)

Today was awesome! Despite some of the unfortunate things that happened tech wise during the service and such, today was awesome. I got up and headed into church to start setting up. We ended up having to cut the click track videos because we continually got ahead of them because something is causing a massive amount of static interference from the computer to the drummer's in-ear monitors. In my opinion, as soon as we took out the click tracks, things just seemed a WHOLE lot better. There wasn't as much stress in the air, and I was able to actually give my all in worship instead of worrying about whether or not we were on the click or not. After church Andrew and I ate some fast food and then headed over to my house. We messed around on the computer for a little bit and then found a local famous establishment (it's actually an Irish Pub) that is well known for its Guinness ice cream sundae. It was even feature in the Wall Street Journal. Andrew and I had that for dessert and let me tell you, it was pretty good! Haha. We headed back to my house and we did a few more things on the computer and then went downstairs and watched "Project ALF" the old movie following the TV show "Alf". After he took off to go home, I worked on guitar for about an hour, tabbing out songs and practicing some some songs that I hope to lead in Evensong this coming semester at school. I'm currently doing some more research on click tracks and trying to get more ideas for future videos and the such. I'll probably finish watching these videos, read some, and then go to bed. Well I guess that's all I have for you today! Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 18th (Day 65)

Sorry I missed last night. That conference has thrown me off my game, haha. Yesterday was just a normal day at work. I got to work at around 8:15 am and then worked till 6 pm, when I left to go to band practice. Today wasn't anything too special either. I got to sleep in and go to work around 10 am or so. I was there till about 4 pm, and then packed up everything to come home. Once I got home I lifted some weights and went on a walk while trying to call a few people, but the only person that was able to talk was my mother, haha. I'm not saying any-thing's wrong with that though, ;-). I got done with that, took a shower and ate some dinner. After dinner I practiced some guitar and went over a few worship songs to work on leading and playing guitar at the same time, that way when Evensong rolls around this next semester, I'll be better prepared for it, haha. Right now I'm currently just messing around trying to fix my GPS and then I'll probably go read and fall asleep or something. Maybe listen to a sermon or something, haha. Tomorrow is my 2nd to last Sunday as a staff member of Momentum. 12 more days! Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 16th (Day 63)

Hello all! Sorry for not posting much/anything at all for the past few days. I was at a Guru's Tech Conference in Louisville, KY and didn't get home until 1:45 this morning. It was an awesome trip. Momentum won the video competition and we got an expensive program for free. I won a free mini-maglite to use while I run sound and operate the sound board, haha. There were many sessions that I attended and took notes to get a better understanding of different areas of technology and ministry. I also was very excited at the fact that I was able to hang out with Shawn Maurer, Mike Bennett, and Chase Lackey from back home for various times throughout the conference. I had a lot of fun hanging out with the rest of the Creative Arts team as well. We stayed up till the wee-hours of morning playing games and laughing. For the most part, that was what I've been doing the past few days. I had today off, which is a good thing. I ended up sleeping until 1:15 this afternoon. Then I got up did a little bit of laundry and started to watch a movie and do a few things. I got an email from the Cleveland Indians' organization about them selling tickets to tonight's game to students for 1/2 price. So I called around and got a couple of people to go to the game with me. I ended up ordering 3 tickets. However shortly there after, one of my friends couldn't go anymore, so I tried to find someone else to take the ticket. Tyler and I went on to the game and when I got the to ballpark, just as I was about to enter the gates, I noticed a guy who was standing around and I just had a funny feeling that maybe he was trying to find a ticket. I walked over to him and gave him the ticket and a card for Momentum. He was shocked and couldn't believe that I was giving him a ticket to some pretty good seats for free. I told him to enjoy the game and headed on into the ballpark. It was a pretty good game, filled with a lot of sweet plays and some amazing catches. One of which was a Sizemore catch into the wall, and then Cabrera threw a behind-the-backer to Carroll to start a double play getting an out at 2nd and at 1st. It was AMAZING! The Indians ended up winning the game 4-1, and Lee pitched the complete game. It was an impressive feat. I had no idea that my outing tonight would turn into an outreach opportunity, but it did, and it was awesome. God still works in funny ways, haha. Right now I'm probably going to go read for a little while, pack up all of my stuff for tomorrow, and then head to bed. I have a pretty busy day tomorrow so I'll need my rest. I hope you all are having a wonderful week! That's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 14th (Day 61)

Today was an AWESOME day here in Louisville. The tech conference was a lot of fun, although there were some times when some people were asking some questions that were taking up the time of the workshop leader and prevented us from going over other information that I had wanted to learn from being talked about. The Momentum gang pretty much stayed up till 3 am just playing Phase 10 and hanging out. It was A LOT of fun and we all laughed more than we probably should have that late at night/early in the morning. I got to attend "The Post", which is Southeast's college service on Tuesday nights, which was awesome! Right now we are all waiting for the video festival to begin. We submitted 6 videos, of which 3 are being played. I'm sure this evening will be filled with loads of laughter just like last night was. Well I had better get going because we are about to get started. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 13th (Day 60)

So I'm in Louisville now. It sure was an interesting. It was a lot of fun. I rode in the third row of a dodge caravan the whole way from Cleveland to Garfield Heights. It was filled with lots of laughter. I'm actually writing a blog from my iPod touch, so if there are some mistakes or it seems short and different, that is why, haha. I'm currently at buffalo wild wings with the guys. I got to see mike bennett, shawn maurer, and chase lackey today too so it was awesome. Well my food is here so I'd better go. Have a wonderful evening!

July 12th (Day 59)

Today's verse is 1 John 1:9-10, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." Well everyone bailed on me for the all-nighter last night. They ended up crashing about 3 am, and I was up till almost 4 am. So I guess I had about 2 hours of sleep total. We got a good amount of sanding done though. However there is still more to do. This morning's service went alright. There were many mess-ups, some on my part once again, but oh well I guess. One of the KCU camp teams came this morning and it was awesome to get to see them today. Andrew came again and he and I went to eat at Red Robin once again after church and then went to my house for a little bit. We then went and met up with Micah and Tyler and followed them out to the baptism of a new friend that I've made here at Momentum and who I have been working with on the worship videos. We hung out for a little while there, and then we headed over to Dick's Sporting Goods where he and I found some heavy duty indoor/back of the door basketball goals that we bought to have in our dorm rooms this year. I'm pretty excited about it too. After finishing up there, we headed back to my house and watched a movie with Dave. After Andrew left, I pretty much just work on laundry, some acoustic guitar, and have been reading. Tomorrow we are leaving for Louisville for the tech conference at Southeast Christian Church. It should be a fun time. I'm more looking forward to seeing some friends from home and school more than anything. There's also a film festival competition that we entered into, so I'm pretty excited to see that too. Well I guess that's all I have for you today! Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 11th (Day 58)

Today's verse is Psalm 32:5, "Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "—and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah." Today was a lot busier than it was supposed to be. I got to the office around 10 am and worked on worship videos until 5 pm. The gang went out to lunch at Chilpotle so that was a nice break. I got to talk to a really good friend on the phone this afternoon as well, so that was a welcome break too. However the most eventful news of the day wasn't even any of those. In fact many of you will think we are crazy, but the Creative Arts team is pulling an all-nighter over at James' house and helping him sand and paint cabinets and door-frames for he remodeling. We decided to pull this all-nighter because 1) James needs to get it done a.s.a.p. and 2) it's an awesome opportunity for us all to hang out and bond together as a team and as friends before the time comes for us all to head our separate ways. James is also DJ-ing at an establishment from 9 pm to 1 am, so we are working at his house for a little longer, and then we are going to go join him and hang out there. Should be a fun-filled evening. Tomorrow one of KCU's camp-teams and one of my best friends from school/former roommate are attending Momentum. I'm running sound as well, so that should be pretty fun. Hopefully I won't screw up too bad, haha. Other good news for the day, is that I went the whole day without having to use my brace. So I think I'm in the clear! Yay!! Haha. Well I guess that's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 10th (Day 57)

The verse for today is Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Today was another awesome day. I got to work early, around 7:45 am and got right to work. I completed mixing down the new recording for the mo-version of "Here I Am To Worship". The morning was filled with a lot of goofing off and joking as well. At lunch, the whole gang walked down to Arby's to use the free roast burger coupon that is on Arby's website. So for those of you who want a free sandwich when purchasing any size drink, check out Arby's website. You can print off and use as many as you want. It expires on Sunday though. Anyway, after lunch I was able to finish exporting the final video, updating the chord sheets, and updating the web files. After that I was able to relax and just chill for the rest of the afternoon. One really bright spot of my day was that I got to talk with Chase Lackey, one of my best friends who is interning back at Pinedale for the year. It was really great to get to talk to him. Later, Micah, Tyler, and I went to Wendy's for dinner and then headed over to my house. We hung out for a little while and then went with Dave to meet up with four other people at a Cleveland pub. We spent about two hours there and I had some great conversations with people. Tyler and I took off and headed back home to watch "Vantage Point". Tomorrow should be a fun day, and pretty laid back. There isn't much of anything that I need to do other than transfer the video over to the mediashout computer. I might be helping James with some work on his house afterward tomorrow. Well I guess that's all I have for you today. 20 more days! That's insane for me to think about. Well, until tomorrow!

Pat

July 9th (Day 56)

Today's verse is Isaiah 64:6, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Today was an awesome day. I got to work a little later than normal because it was the worse day for traffic I've ever experienced. It was ridiculous. Once I got to the office, I worked on getting the recording for "Here I Am To Worship" down. Jeff and I worked on if for a while, then James got to the office. I got him to record the acoustic and the vocals. When James and Jeff left to go to a meeting, I worked on a little bit of other things, but other than that it was a relaxing day. I have to wait to do the MoWorship video tomorrow. When I got home, I worked out and went for a walk for about an hour total. Since then I've been catching up with people online, practicing a little bit on bass (my arm was acting up a little today), and ate some leftovers for dinner, yum. =) Only 3 more weeks here in Cleveland. It's crazy. Well I guess that's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 8th (Day 55)

Today's verse is Proverbs 27:17, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Today was a wonderful day. I got to work and was able to finish the new MoWorship video for this week. I called just about everyone who was on my list to invite to the Creative Arts Appreciation cookout. I met with James and Jeff and worked out a new arrangement for "Here I Am To Worship" and I think it'll turn out even better than before. Tomorrow my job is to work with Jeff and record as much as possible and get it up on the drop-site for everyone else. I got taken off of the playing rotation for this Sunday. Mainly because I have a brace on my left arm and I'm trying to keep it on as much as possible because I'm thinking I have a little bit of carpal tunnel in it. That was kind of sad, but it'll work out for the best. No one was able to run sound, so now I'll be able to. Also it allows me to get one of my last few assignments done for my internship school grade. Tonight at Mo Group we had lots of people. We met outside and made smores around a camp fire, although I didn't eat any because I was busy talking to Michael Bartlett until we left. Today was an AMAZING day that was a relief compared to all of the previous ones at work. It was filled with laughter and good stuff, haha. =) Well I guess that's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 7th (Day 54)

Today's verse is Proverbs 17:17, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Today was a pretty good day. It was my day off so I did a lot of thinking and hung out with Tyler. I did seem to stumble across something that makes some sense to me. Ever since I first started showing interest in going into the ministry and started learning the ins and outs of it, I have been given the constant warning about burnout and its effects. From these beginnings I have constantly tried to take measures that would help me avoid that, however have been unsuccessful on numerous occasions. I began to wonder today, that what if the things that I am doing to avoid burnout are the very things that are causing it. If in fact that is the case, my life is an example of a living paradox, haha. Anyway, today was a movie marathon day. I watched "Behind Enemy Lines" and then when Tyler came over and we watched "Eagle Eye" and "Nacho Libre". During one of the movies I found a sale on some more books, two of which were published in '08 and '09 and deal directly with burnout and stuff. Fitting huh? So I went ahead and ordered those. I'm hoping that I'll be able to continue on my reading kick and when I get to these books, learn something from them. I feel a lot more revitalized and ready to take on the week. I also went by Target to get a new Phase 10 game. Tyler and I then ran around to a few more places too and then grabbed dinner and headed back home and played Phase 10. Next week I'm going with the rest of the guys to a tech conference in Louisville at Southeast. I wasn't looking forward to it for the past couple of weeks, but I think it was pretty much because of all the stress and stuff going through my head for past few weeks. I got chance to look at the schedule for the conference and there are actually some workshops that I'm wanted to check out. Here in a little bit I'm taking Dave and Tyler to see Transformers 2, in their first DLP movie. Well I guess that's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 6th (Day 53)

Today's verse is Ephesians 4:2, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." There seems to be a constant theme here huh? Haha. It's funny because it seems that when I was making out this chart weeks ago, God knew what I would need to be trying to apply and reading later on in my internship. Well in typical Pat fashion, I burnt out again. It began to reach that point 2 weeks ago when I had that "Week from Hell" according to some of my co-workers and friends up here, haha. I was worried and was trying hard to avoid getting this way at all costs, because I've been here before. But unfortunately it came out into today's Creative Arts meeting. I kind of blew up on some guys and just had to vent. I felt (and still do) and apologized the two that took the brunt of it. Funny thing is, they seemed more worried about me than angry or hurt. I guess that's how you can tell you have true friends in the ministry world. There's a statistic out there that states ministry is one of the most health-hazardous occupation one can enter into. I second that, haha. It was a pretty rough day going through the meeting, however once I was able just to let go of some of my built-up frustration and talk about it with the rest of the team, I felt much better. The most humorous thing about all of this is that it's nothing that anyone else did, it's all my doing. Ever since studying Ephesians and Colossians, I felt convicted by Eph. 6:7 and Col. 3:23 because I wasn't doing my very best on everything (or hardly anything for that matter). I guess you could say that I was on the bottom end of the spectrum. After making those a part of my life, I jumped exponentially to the other side of the spectrum and put forth lots of effort to do my best on EVERYTHING that I'm involved with. Normally that's not a problem, however when you're Pat, it is, because I am usually involved in A LOT. All I can do right now is just laugh about the whole situation because the place where I never wanted to visit again is the same place that I now find myself standing in. I have learned SO much in this internship this summer and wouldn't trade it for anything if I had the opportunity to go back and pick again what I was going to do this summer. But I know there are many more areas in ministry that I need to learn the ropes of. The main one being how to effectively do ministry, put forth 100% or more constantly, yet avoid becoming burnt out and having a wrench thrown in your gears. Tomorrow is my day off and shockingly, not a moment too soon even though the week just started, haha. I'm confident that as the week progresses I'll be able to analyze where I'm at, figure out where the transition from healthy productivity to overload happened, and then begin making adjustments in my life to accommodate for that. This internship has already helped me somewhat in that area, largely in the way of implementing volunteers and training them to help with the workload and daily wear in ministry. I guess you could say that I'm a mixture of emotions right now. Sad and disappointed in myself for not learning from my past experiences and falling prone to burn out once again. Yet at the same time, rejuvenated, excited, and happy because I'm surrounded by creative arts teammates that are willing to step in and help me out by taking some of the workload off and assisting in areas that desperately need it. Haha, wow. This blog was pretty deep compared to all of my other ones, haha. Sorry about that. =) Well I guess that's all I'll dump on ya for today, haha. =) Until tomorrow! 24 more days!

Pat

July 5th (Day 52)

Today's verse is Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." This is really a tough verse for me to put into practice, especially today which is sad. Today was a pretty rough day. I got up and got to church and started to set up everything. We were done WELL ahead of our previous fastest setup time. However that was one of the few bright spots of the morning. Once again I had created click track, iWorship videos for the entire worship set and we were going to use them. The first song went over well, as far as I knew. However during many of the sets, one of the theater workers turned on the theater projector and started projecting the pre-movie announcements that play before movies, overtop of our worship slides. From there, aside from the sermon, it was pretty much a downhill nightmare. I totally blew it with the next worship song, which ruined the final two songs. Last week I had to make a version of "Strong Tower" with an extra two measure intro, because Shannon was leading and needed to get a feel for the key in contrast to the song before. I totally forgot about it until we were starting the song, and no one else in the theater knew except for me of what disaster had just started. Dave came in exactly where he was supposed to, however there were no lyrics because they were still set on the extended intro version. The Micah changed from the video to regular Mediashout for the remainder of the song. Tyler Carpenter (the drummer) thought that his battery pack on the in-ear had gone out because the click had stopped (however it was because the video was stopped). Because of that, he took his headphones out and tried "fixing" his pack when Micah started the next song's click. Tyler ended up starting a few measures late, so that video was a failure. Tyler finally just scrapped the click and started the final song on his own. I was pretty upset with myself fort he rest of the service/day. On top of that, my O.C.D.-ness pretty much killed me. I could hear mistakes in what I was playing, Ben was playing, and what Jeff was playing. You could say that on-top of the stress that I had to that point, this other stress didn't help. After service Andrew, Tyler, and I went to Red Robin for lunch. After that Tyler and I came back to my house and we watched a movie and then took a nap. I ended up waking up with a stabbing-like, sharp pain going down my left forearm. While sleeping I had been jerking a few times and shaking and then finally just woke up with the pain. I don't know if I've been sleeping on it wrong or what, but it was not very pleasant. Later this evening Dave, Tyler, and I got stuff from Giant Eagle (the grocery store up here) and made a huge meal. We had hamburgers, bratwurst, corn on the cob, and some flavored rice. For desert we had an M&M cookie ice cream sandwich and a miniature frozen snickers bar. The three of us went downstairs after dinner and watched the movie "300" because Dave had never seen it before. During the movie, I got a GREATLY appreciated and welcomed phone call from Ariel Hanna (one of my best friends from KCU), and we chatted for about 45 min before she had to go back to work. The ending to the day has been A LOT better than its beginning. Hopefully this week will go by with a breeze and won't be anymore hectic/stressful for me. I'm hoping also that I can work re-implementing this verse into my life and be more patient and kind towards people like I used to be, even when I'm totally stressed out. This will be a huge asset in the ministry, I already know, haha. Well I guess that's all I have for you today! 25 more days left before I'm done with my internship! Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 4th (Day 51)

Today's verse is Luke 6:31, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope that it was awesome for you all and that you all were able to relax and enjoy the day. Today was awesome for me. I had a wonderful night sleep, and got up around 9:30 am. Tyler and I headed to Canton to meet up with my friend Andrew and his brother Ephraim. We hung out with them for the whole day pretty much. We went to Walmart to get stuff for a cookout, then watched a movie at their house and relaxed until it was time to go to Andrew's friend's house for the cookout. I got to meet some awesome people including a guy who is apparently the older version of me. I love wearing awesome, crazy suits and outfits, and this guy loves wearing crazy hats. So I think I'm going to start trying to find some crazy hats to supplement my crazy suits/outfits! =) After the cookout we played Phase 10 for a while and then moved on to Rock Band. We headed back to Andrew's house and played some Texas Hold 'em and then Tyler and I ventured back to Cleveland. Overall it was a pretty amazing day and I enjoyed it very much. Hopefully will be as good as today was, but I guess I'll find out in about 6 1/2 hours, haha. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 3rd (Day 50)

Today's verse is 1 John 4:19, "We love because he first loved us." Today was basically a day off for me. I got into the office and had nothing really to do all day. I basically read books and watched videos on youtube all day. It was a day where I was able to sit back and not worry about anything really. The day went by pretty smooth, and then brand practice came. It was overall a rough practice. Jeff and Ben didn't read the email and online notice that we were playing some songs in the original key this week, so we had to take time and I showed them what the chords would be for them. I was pretty tired too, so that didn't help the stressfulness of the situation. I came home after practice and threw in some laundry. There was a party that I was invited to go to tonight, but I don't think I'm going to be able to go. Tyler is staying over here with us because his host family is having family in for the weekend, and I'm waiting on him to get here. Plus I'm going to Canton tomorrow to hang out with some friends, go to 2 cookouts, and getaway/relax, haha. I'm pretty excited about it too! Well I guess that's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

27 days left in Cleveland


Pat

July 2nd (Day 49)

Today's verse is 2 Peter 3:18, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." Today I officially completed everything on my to-do list. Who would have though? The boss goes out of town for 10 days and you get MORE work done and have LESS stress, haha. Anyway this morning I ended up waking up a little late, but that was ok because I was going into the office later anyway because I had to run to the post office. Once at work, I finished up the videos for the day. As a creative arts team, we went through the video and touched up some areas. Then afterward we each went back to individual tasks. I sent some emails and read. I ended up finishing off the last 5 pages of "Death by Love" and starting "The Jesus Creed". I worked with Jeff, teaching him the remaining basics on how to make one of the videos. I researched basses online today and started dreaming again, haha. Then after lunch I started watching episodes of Nightline's face off on Youtube. Apparently they had Mark Driscoll, and three other individuals on there to discuss whether or not Satan is real. It was an interesting discussion/debate that was filled with many parts that I found quite humorous. After finishing that, I practiced guitar and then just relaxed until it was time for me to head home. As fate would have it, it rained while I was driving and while I was walking into the house, but after I got in the house, it stopped. I laughed. Tonight I get to just relax a little. I'll probably practice some bass, talk with some friends, and then read. Tomorrow looks to be a really relaxing day so I'm excited. Well I guess that's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat

July 1st (Day 48)

Today's verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray continually." Simply huh? Haha. Today was a pretty good day. I got into the office and was very productive and completely finished 4 things out of the 6 that were on my to-do list for the week. For lunch, me and the guys went out to CC's Pizza for lunch. On the way I actually almost died, haha. On I-480, an 18-wheeler decided to pull into my lane while i was at his rear-wheel axle and while there was a GMC Yukon (or comparable-sized vehicle) on the other side of me. Luckily I was able to slam on brakes quick enough, but it was a little nerve wrecking to say the least. After lunch I went back to the office and worked on a few more things and then read until it was time to go to Mo Groups. For Mo Groups we had some great food, heard Tyler Sanders give his "my-story" and then we all headed out to Honey-Hut for some ice cream. My family is probably jealous after reading that, but for those of you who have never heard of it, it is an ice cream place that makes their ice cream with honey instead of sugar. IT'S SO GOOD!! We hung out for a little while and then I headed back home where I'm at now, haha. I'm probably going to play guitar for a little while and then finish reading "Death by Love". I might start another book tonight too, not quite sure though. Well I guess that's all I have for you today. Until tomorrow!

Pat