Ok, so load time for us to leave to go to our choir service this morning was 7:30am. Yeah, kinda early, but not too bad. So, I set my alarm and blissfully crept off into the land of the surreal. However, I was awoken this morning by...nothing. I simply woke up, looked over at my clock, and read 7:35am. Ughh... The most awful feeling ever! I literally lept out of bed and was already getting ready by the time I hit the other side of my room. I made it just in time for the busœ to pull out. Thank the Lord for waking me up this morning! It had to be Him because there's no other way I would have Lesson learned, always set two alarms!

A very frazzled,
- Ryan

Tags: Choir

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Choir Tour '08. It would take too much time out of a busy college student's life (with a huge Life of Christ test Monday, I might add) to narrate each of these pictures. So I simply post them for your viewing enjoyment. However, if you wish, you might try narrating them yourself, I'm sure that could be quite amusing

Ryan

Tags: Photography, fun, Choir, Friends, Concert, Crazy

Choir Tour 2008 is officially over. We returned Sunday night from our last service. It was hard, especially for the ones graduating or not returning. Everyone went around to each other and said their final goodbyes. Lot's of tears, lot's of hugs, lot's of unity. But, now it's back to the grindstone. I admit, it's probably going to take a small atomic bomb to get me moving again. I just feel like sleeping, and doing nothing for the next 2 months. Ah well, for God and country.

Ryan

Tags: GBS, Back, Choir, Break, End

It has been an action packed beginning for the '08 GBS Choir Tour. We left at 7:40 am Thursday morning under very cold conditions. I eventually fell asleep and woke up a few hours later to see the front window of the bus covered in a solid sheet of ice. So, the bus crept along at a the rate of a sloth before all traffic eventually came to a dead halt. The entire road was a solid sheet of ice! Ahead was a hill that under normal conditions was small, but, covered in ice, proved insurmountable. There was a semi in the ditch, a car in the other ditch, and traffic as far as the eye could see. A group of us actually got out and "ice-skated" down the I65 freeway in Kentucky.




We were stuck there for about 3-4 hours before we eventually turned around and headed back to a truck stop to eat. It was packed! There were all kinds of people. In fact, there was a group of people from Campus Crusades for Christ there. We got to talking to the representative, and he told me that he was traveling with Andre Cole, the Christian illusiionist, and that he was sitting in the back booth. I found this so ironic as I had went to one of his shows about 10 years ago at the Christian Family Center. He is the one circled in the picture below.



We barely got to the service in time. We actually didn't even have time to change or set up risers or PA equipment. And so we sang, just as we were. But, the Lord came, and we had a tremendous service. After getting all packed up after the service we got on the bus and headed out. Unfortunately, we never made it out of the parking lot. After cutting a corner too sharp the back passenger tire ended up in a ravine, suspended off the ground. So, out go all the students and the guys get on the back of the bus and tried (in vain) to push it out. Alas, we returned to the church, hopelessly defeated. It was fun though just sitting around playing games, and talking.


A wrecker was called in and eventually the bus was loosed and we were on the road again. We got into Pell City, AL about 2 am Friday morning. The good thing was we got to sleep in the next day. What a blessing! We left at 7 am this morning from Pell City, and we are headed to Ocala, Florida. We have very nice weather so far, and you certainly don't need a coat! In the words of Mr. Davison, "We're suffering for Jesus!" Well, we stop in 11 miles to eat at (what else...) McDonalds. It seems that's all we ever do on tour, eat, eat, eat. I will try and post more later. See yah.

Ryan

Tags: GBS, Personal, Photography, Relax, Choir, fun

We had two choir performances yesterday, drawing to a close choir for the 06/07 school year. We have one more performance at camp meeting in a couple weeks, but that's it. We basically no longer have choir practice the rest of the year. The first event was for the National Day of Prayer, in which we sang on the steps of the court house. They had various people gives prayers on a plethora of topics. It was a really neat experience. That evening we had our most important performance yet, oratorio. We performed Handle's Messiah at a large church downtown. We were backed up by the orchestra, in which several professional musicians were hired to play as well. It was a really neat experience!

Ryan

Tags: Choir, GBS, Music

Sorry for the recent lack of updates, but I was on choir tour as of 2/22. It has been very enjoyable, and God has really been helping. Having said that, I think we are all very, very tired, and looking forward to getting back on campus. We traveled through many different states. Namely Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Indiana, and Ohio. We have traveled a lot of miles with our knees on our chest in the "Big Bus." But it has truly been a great experience, and I am glad I went. We have one more service tonight around 30 min. from the school and then the tour is officially over. Again, sorry for those dwindling few of you who may have checked my blog expecting it to be updated.

Ryan

Tags: Choir, GBS, Music

Here are a few random pictures that I like from Choir Tour. I will post more later. Enjoy.

Ryan

Tags: Choir, GBS, fun

We got back from choir tour at 11:30 Sunday (11/5) night. What a blast! We traveled down to Pennsylvania and went to three God’s Missionary churches, Lebanon, Beavertown, and New Columbia. It is always interesting when you get over 50 college students on a bus for 20+ hours! There are a lot of interesting little stories that came out of it. One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to Hershey’s Chocolate World. While the theme park was closed for the season, we were able to ride through an artificial tour of the chocolate making process. A good time was had by all. I put a new batch of photos from the trip in the Photography main page . Well, I guess that’s it for now. Will post more soon.

Ryan

Tags: Choir, Music, fun, Friends, Relax