The Blog

Recently I have been reading a book called "Crazy Love". This week, the chapter compared God's love to that of a father. In reading the chapter I recalled an observation my younger brother had made about our own father. My brother mentioned that he couldn't recall the last time my father had said "I love you" When he asked me I was stunned because I honestly could not remember the last time I had heard him say it. I didn't really think much about it, because I know he does love us....but I brought this up this week as I met with some friends as I found it odd. I found out that many others could relate.

Tonight my mom called to say hi, she asked me if I wanted to say hi to my dad. She passed over the phone and my dad and I went on to do chit chat....about the usual stuff...the kids, work, and upcoming plans. As we were closing I felt compelled to say I love you...to which he replied "that's good". I felt a bit weird but then I asked him if he loved me...he said of course and deflected the conversation by talking about something else. I brought it back and I said .."so if you love me just say it" And then he said those three words.

As a kid my father was very affectionate with my brother and I, but somewhere along the way something changed. I have many ideas but honestly it is not important. What matters is today. Now that I am 30 years old, things like this really matter to me. I know that he loves me. I felt liberated, fulfilled when he told me this and I hope he did too. My desire is that I never stop saying it to my daughters and wife...and most importantly that I show it.

God is the perfect father whose love is unconditional, His provision is amazing, and He listens and speaks to our hearts. Just in case you haven't heard it lately...God loves you.

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The last couple of month have been pretty intense ...in a good way. My family and I have transitioned smoothly into our new community. Things that I have discovered about myself:

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Hello friends! So this is what's new in my life.

When I moved back to Buffalo a big question that everybody had been asking me was "So what are you going to do here?" I literally counted how many times this question came up....it was 15 times. So now I have a solid answer to this question which is pretty awesome!

As of this Sunday, August 28 I will be joining the staff of The Vine Wesleyan Church in Lancaster, NY and serving as the Worship Arts Pastor and Growth Group Director. The position is part-time right now ....which if you know me good ...this suits my personality. I love change and having the freedom to do various things with my time. I really love the direction The Vine is moving towards, and how relational people seem. The church was founded by my friend, lead Pastor Christopher Baldwin about 5 years ago and like The Journey they were portable, doing services at a local public school. This year however they took a leap of faith and bought a former catholic church building and have been renovating it all summer. My biggest prayer is that our family can truly establish some genuine relationships and that God allows me to be the best leader I can be. I am passionate about growing worship teams and small groups so this made total sense. Check out the church site www.vinewc.org

So you might be asking what else am I going to do with my time?

Well, it turns out that I have been given the opportunity to come on board as a teacher at the voice studio I used to belong to before I moved to NYC. www.bellovoicestudio.com . A great team plus some great students = A lot Of Fun

Touring...yup you heard it! With the time I have open, the road and I will once again be getting to see each other more often. Maybe not as intense as years before but certainly at least once a month. With my friend Justin Brittain we have been able to move forward to record a song I wrote in  NYC called "Don't Wanna Run" plus I finally wrote a new song called "Tell Me Why?"... on a side note I also joined an organization that rents out equipment to record top notch videos www.squeaky.org

Personally speaking now....

I am excited that my eldest daughter is going to middle school...yup grade 5.
Also kind of excited for my birthday....yup I am turning 30. I think the perfect birthday song for this year is "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks.

Conclusion

I believe that my purpose for being in Buffalo is being revealed.

God + People + Arts + Dreams= Happy Johnny

During this transition I have been able to trust God more and teach my soul to be satisfied in Him.

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So many people keep asking why did we move back to Buffalo, out of all the choices we had.. Besides being in the states, and living close to our family in Canada, Buffalo is really a gem. We actually live in an area called East Amherst. It's really a very unique vibe, for example it feels like we are living in the country with all the land that this huge house sits on...filled with bugs, deers, rabbits, and other critters. Yet, I can cross the street and I can chill at Starbucks or Tim Horton's and a bunch of other places.

The main attraction besides the pizza and wings, are the people who live here. Since moving back I have been invited and welcomed by old friends. I am slowly meeting new people everywhere I go. Since moving here I have been blessed with a new car, a new imac, musical instruments and plenty and plenty of space. The pace is realxed, the days are long, and there are so many places to visit that are free or cheap!

Even in the middle of all the great things that are happening there is a sense of loss. I really miss all of our friends in NYC and working with The Journey church. It's been tough to find the momentum I used to have before when doing all the office related stuff to the music ministry. One thing I told Vanessa today was that I have to focus on my strength which is developing people and building a team. I used to be a doer before, which was great at getting short term goals accomplished but I think my mentality changed in NYC to becoming an equipper.

All in all life is great! I haven't seen the girls so active as in this past month playing outside and spending quantity and quality time with Vanessa and I. This week I got a chance to work with a musical genius friend of mine as we recorded some ideas for a song I wrote in NYC titled "I  Don't Want To Run".....I may change the title later ...Great things are coming .... come back and check out the updates on this Blog.

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