by Andrew Beard | Aug 19, 2024 | Words from Pastor Andrew
When I was a kid we had the media cabinet in our living room with a record player, a cassette player, and sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s, a CD player.
Records were obviously the mode of sharing recorded music for over 100 years, hitting the scene in the late 1800’s and held that position confidently. But as all know, dealing with vinyl records is time consuming, they are delicate, things need to be handled with care, and you need a good record player to truly appreciate them.
When cassette tapes were invented in the 60’s it would still take a decade or so before they would come close to toppling the preferred listening mode. In 1984, they finally did it. Cassette tapes were how you made mix tapes, how you recorded stuff with your friends, how you could copy and redistribute music and recordings easily from your home.
What we gave up for this convenience…was audio quality.
by Andrew Beard | Jun 4, 2024 | Words from Pastor Andrew
“Ummm…Brian…I kicked a hole in your door.”
“What? No way. You’re just trying to get me to open up.”
“Nope. I’m serious.”
I then laid down, because I was starting to crash coming down from the rush of adrenalin and sobering up to the reality of the trouble I was going to be in when my parents got home. So I closed my eyes and hoped that when I woke up, it would have all been a dream.
When I was a kid, I was described as “having lots of energy”. I was energetic, emotional, gregarious, and on occasion, known to be angry. Now let me state, I was the instigator of most of the chaos and typical scuffles between me and my brothers. I liked to poke the bear and get attention. Also, my older brother, who is much more cool, calm, and collected than I ever was or will ever be seemed to like to watch me spiral out.
You know. Brothers.
by Andrew Beard | Apr 23, 2024 | Words from Pastor Andrew
For years I described myself as a coffee lover. I would put it in my bio, I would talk about it when I met people, I would ask people about great local coffee shops, and I would buy lots of different coffee accessories for my at home coffee setup.
And by coffee accessories, I mean syrups and stir sticks, a milk frother and collectible coffee cups.
As time went on, I kept on consuming copious amounts of coffee, but when I would start to visit with others who also said they loved coffee…I realized they knew way more than I did.
They could identify flavors and notes.
They would go to great lengths to buy fancy beans from exotic locations.
They would pick up subtleties in the unique coffee that I just couldn’t identify.
I thought I loved coffee…but I just really liked coffee and caffeine. I was a young dad, working full time, and in seminary. Coffee was more about survival than enjoyment.
by Andrew Beard | Aug 14, 2023 | Words from Pastor Andrew
a few thoughts on HomeGroups and announcements about Bible studies and upcoming events with The Chapel
The other day I woke up early, like really early, grabbed my glasses on the night stand, stumbled into the bathroom, and turned on the light. A few of the bulbs seemed to be out because it was surprisingly dark. As I turned on another light I could feel how out of it I was.
I went to bed late, didn’t sleep well, tossed and turned and woke up earlier than normal. I could not seem to focus, I could not seem to see well, and I felt entirely out of sorts.
As I clumsily got what I needed out of the bathroom and started to throw on clothes, I looked in the mirror and I realized the problem.
by Andrew Beard | Dec 20, 2022 | Christmas, Words from Pastor Andrew
Did you know winter doesn’t begin on November 1st. Or on Black Friday. Or on December 1st. The first day of winter begins on a day called the winter solstice or midwinter. This date is either December 21st or 22nd. That day, right before Christmas is the day winter technically begins.
