andrew dodson

As is the case with most decent human beings, I hold myself to a very high standard of excellence. While some categories of my life fall by the wayside of excellence (cleaning, keeping my vehicle in tip-top shape, eating habits, etc.), there are many areas where “getting by” isn’t good enough - being a Christian, relationships, playing the drums, creating websites, recordings, and most importantly, work. These are the areas of my life that are my passions.

Overall, I have a very good temperment (did I spell that right?). I’m generally in a good mood, and I don’t get upset very easily. A sure-fire way you will see my temper is when I haven’t lived up to my own standard of excellence. Nine times out of ten, when I’m upset, it’s with myself.

Today was a day when I didn’t meet my own standard of excellence - at work. If this was The Apprentice, the Donald would’ve fired me. I botched an order and made life difficult for the customer, my boss and our production department. The silver lining is the “botching” happened before the customer received their order. Thanks to my boss stepping in to help, life will be okay. CLS will make money, and the customer will get their order.

As my dad would say, “Chalk this up as a learning experience.” As Annie would say, “The sun’ll come up tomorrow.”

We all know I’m a drummer (most of us, anyway). Several years ago, my mother would always say I should play drums for a Christian group. Me? Play drums in a Christian band? Yeah, right! Fast forward several years, and where can I be found? Playing drums for the Crestwood Baptist Church praise band.

Not only do my parents have an affinity for Christian music, they prefer southern gospel. When suggesting that I should play for a Christian group, I could tell they’d prefer it to be a southern gospel group. Me? Play drums for a southern gospel group? Yeah, right!

God had a different plan. This past week, I accepted the job as drummer for the Josh Martin Band. Not quite southern gospel - I’d call it Christian alt-country. Country music with an edge, and a Christian message.

My first gig with the band? Low and behold, a recording for a live worship album. Better git to practicin’!

Lori F. finally has internet in her apartment. She’s using my family’s old (ancient) computer. Surprisingly, it’s running fairly well, aside from a few bugs here and there. I just ran AdAware and Internet Explorer is acting much better now.

This may become a regular thing for me… hopping on here Sunday nights and giving a synopsis of my weekend.

Friday - I took off work a half-day early in order to get ready for Vertex. I had a lot of nervous/anxious energy, so I decided to go to the gym and hit the treadmill. I ran a few quick errands, grabbed some lunch and headed to Crestwood. The lead team spent the afternoon transforming Crestwood into the home of Vertex. The band (52seven) arrived around 4 p.m. and started setting up. As 8 p.m. approached, I learned that my trip to the gym didn’t work - I was still anxious.

At 8 p.m., Vertex officially started. Well… it was actually around 8:15. Pretty much everything went according to plan, aside from one or two very minor technical issues throughout the night. Dave Edwards gave an excellent sermon/lecture/whatever you want to call it. Afterward, the coffeehouse seemed to be a big hit.

We know of at least one person who made a decision to accept Christ, and three people that want to volunteer at Vertex. Woo hoo!

Saturday: I spent most of the morning and afternoon at work (due to leaving early on Friday). I still didn’t get done as much as I would’ve liked, but I’ll try and hit it hard on Monday. I came home and watched the rest of the UK game (another narrow victory). The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent working on the Vertex website and lounging around. I went over to Lori’s later that night to hang out with some people from church. Watching Forrest Gump ended up being the entertainment.

Sunday: I went to church this morning. This afternoon, I went up to Lexington to record the Central Kentucky Concert Band. They’re becoming a very well-playing group. I stopped by at home for a little while this evening, and now I’m back at the apartment. It’s 10:04 as I type this, and I’m going to try my hardest to be in bed in an hour. We’ll see….