Normal is overrated.

I started titling this post 'life is getting back to normal' when I realized that:

a) It was a lie. Life is on >FastForward> for us right now and will be for some time, and
b) Normal is overrated. Normal is what the average person does on the average day. Who would want to admit that, let alone embrace it? Anyway...

We got back to KC on Monday, after a whirlwind five days in Nashville for TheCall. The School over Intercession that we hosted was a huge hit. The first session was 70% full and every session following that was Standing Room Only.

The final night before TheCall Nashville, I was mc'ing the all worship gig at the Renaissance Hotel Grand Ballroom while simultaneously attending a leaders meeting on the 3rd floor. With bi-location not being one of my superhero strengths, I was forced to run down to the ballroom, announce a band, run up to the meeting, run back down to the ballroom, switch out bands (and make announcements while they rearranged the gear), run back up to the meeting, etc.

It was during one of these runs up to the meeting that I dashed through the hotel lobby and cut a tight left, tearing up the escalator at full boogie. I think I was on the 5th step when I realized I was running up the down escalator (but gaining fast, I must add). I stood straight up, rode it to the bottom standing backwards, and got on the right one. A worship leader I know was riding down and watched the whole thing...at least someone got a chuckle out of it.

7.7.7 itself was amazing. Plenty said about it in print elsewhere. Suffice to say it was a great start to the return of TheCall. Anyone who stood on the National Mall in Washington, DC with us seven years ago knows that this gathering carried the spirit of the event very well. Onward to Vegas....and eight or nine other cities....before DC in the fall of 08.

Since getting home, I've been getting our office in order (or trying) before the rest of the team assembles. We've already got more staffers than desks, so we're hoping to rectify that this week. Friday was a cleanup day, tossing a bunch of stuff and organizing what was left.

The last few weeks have meant learning how to run Endis (with mixed results, but I'm getting there) and staring at the rest of the calendar year. I spent a number of hours this week with the 4x8 foot whiteboard, markers and post-its trying to mastermind the perfect way to do high quality, large scale solemn assemblies for peanuts using cheap labor. At last count, the post-its numbered about 170 and I probably have 2 more days work on it before I put it on paper.

It must look pretty impressive and intentional because someone looked at the board and said "Some of the post-its are orange and some are yellow. What does that signify?"

I said "It signifies that I ran out of orange post-its."