The New Divide

It all begins… Again.

I’m sitting at a Starbucks in my hometown of Vancouver Washington.  I arrived here at 6:15am after giving my wife a ride to work.  Its a typical morning when I’m home… Coffee, Emails, Reading, Writing, and the never ending attempt to be productive.

This morning however is not like the rest.

It officially feels like fall.  There is a light rain falling.  It seems darker outside than normal, and I am wearing a houndstooth cardigan.  But what really pushes it over the top is the fact that on this particular morning - this coffee shop is swarming with high schoolers.  The excitement is evident.  At long last, after months of being apart from their peers, never-ending family vacations with annoying siblings, & months of sleeping in - It has finally arrived.

They have done their shopping; loading up on only the most recent of trends.  
They have updated their lives, wardrobes, and social media status’s to reflect school pride.
They are about to arrive at school holding a Venti Triple Carmel White Mocha with extra Carmel.
They are ready.  And the excitement is evident.

They are ready to embrace the new year… ready to attend every football game, and to reconnect with those long lost after another busy summer has come to a close.  Some of them approach it with confidence, and others with a deep seated nervousness, hidden behind the new clothes and weighed down under a pack full of Algebra books.

In a month however, this early morning excitement will be gone.  Homework will be piled high.  And coming to Starbucks won’t be a reunion with long lost friends, but rather a time to copy answers, to load up on caffeine, and to complain about Mrs Jones, who makes fourth period feel like nothing short of a death sentence.

How often in our lives do we allow what we are so excited about one day, to become the norm the very next?  I know that time after time when God does something - and a new page begins to turn in my life; The excitement mounts, fresh vision abounds, and long lost passion is renewed.  Months, days, and sometimes even hours later though - the realism of life hits, and I’m consumed with thoughts of practical things.  Things like finances, time management, assumed expectations, and an ever pressing need to fulfill obligations.

The struggle to keep on focus, to stay excited, and to continue the pursuit of what your excited about and called to is one that repeats itself time and time again in our lives.  We work towards what we expect is the finale, we aim at what we want to see accomplished, and more oft than not, its comes in reflecting nothing close to our original vision or expectation.  Still other times; it far exceeds them!  

Last night I heard it shared that its not about the How, the Where, or the What… but rather the Who in your pursuits that makes a difference.  I think that more than applies here.

What your excited about today, will undoubtedly change tomorrow.  The passion will wear off in the hum-drum of daily activity.  If you make it more about the who in your pursuits than anything else, then those things almost certainly will fade, but you will continue on a path that will lead to far greater results than you could have imagined.  

If God has called you to something new, and your excited about it today - stay buried deep in the word, and make your relationship with Jesus Christ (the Who…) the single most important part of your life and pursuits.  Your joy and excitement will last exceedingly longer, and you will have an even greater desire to continue moving forward.  Your life will be better off.

Phillipians 4:12-13
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things though him who strengthens me.

HeavenFest & the SouthWest

This last week we spent going down through California, playing in Redding, Sacramento, Fresno, Anaheim, and finally San Diego with some of the coolest people around!  Thanks Redding Nazarene for involving us in your week!  After that week of doing Worship, we started an 18 hour drive across the Rocky Mountains to get to the Denver area!

We then shot up to Loveland Colorado for HeavenFest… if you weren’t there, you missed out! I think the final numbers were up above 30,000 people.  We were super blessed to have hung out and been helped out by the guys in the band Sheridan. Check them out… They helped us all weekend long, and we ended up playing worship Sunday morning with them at a church in Denver!

Finally, this week we are hanging the Assemblies of God General Council in Phoenix Arizona. Its not supposed to get below 110 degrees all week long. We will be hanging out in the Exhibits Center, and other parts of the Phoenix Convention Center till Friday!  Come say hello to us if you are here!

This weekend its off to the Metro LA area to lead worship for some of our favorite places - you can find our tour dates on our facebook!

Thanks for everything!
~Andy / The New Divide 

The Great North West

Its so great to live in the North West.
While we get to travel, and make our way around the Country, and even the World… There is nothing like coming home to the land of Starbucks and Evergreen Trees!

We get the amazing privilege of playing multiple summer camps this year again.  Some of them have already finished, and others are approaching fast. This next one is actually an outdoor camp… I’m gonna be honest, I’m not much of an outdoor kind of guy.  If you have met me, or know me at all, you are probably are aware of my love of concrete, and indoor activities.  If it can happen in a coffee shop, its probably something I want to be a part of.  I am very much looking forward however to this next week!  Sleeping outdoors - where misquotes & bugs of all sizes can devour our flesh.  ha!

In all seriousness though - I absolutely love getting to be a part of these camps.  They are often life changing events… and we get to witness people coming alive in their relationships with Christ.  This last week we hung out with about 200 Junior High Students for 5 whole days.  We got the pleasure of worshiping with them every night, and engaging in activities all week long that pushed us past our physical norm’s…

As we sit and recoup this weekend, enjoying the Holiday with our families, and rotating between the heat and Ice packs… I just want to thank you for letting us be a part of your lives.  We have been blessed to do this for years now, and look forward to whatever the future brings.

We are excited to be at home in the Great North West - I sit in a coffee shop as I type this… looking out at the sunshine, and getting ready for the next week…

On a side note - If you live in Denver Colorado, or the surrounding area - we have been added to Heavenfest, in Loveland Colorado on July 30th… put that on your calendars!  And if you live in Portland Oregon, or Vancouver Washington - Come out tonight to Calvary Chapel on 9100 SW Wilshire!  Its gonna be a great show tonight, and your not gonna want to miss it.  We will be playing some songs we have not done locally in a while - and we are excited to be playing a show close to home for once!

~Andy

June in Florida!

Hey Guys!

We are really glad to be back on the road after a couple months of seeing family, and enjoying our hometowns!  And what better way to get back into a full time schedule than to be in one of our favorite places to play!

We had a day of travel, flying from Portland to Houston, and then on to West Palm Beach Florida… Were we have spent the last couple days preparing for our upcoming shows! We did play already once at a church in Tampa area for an amazing group of people!

I am writing this from the kitchen table of some really great friends that have put us up for the night in Tampa Florida!  Yesterday we were blessed with a day off, in which we went to a beach on the Gulf of Mexico, just outside of Tampa on Ana Maria Island.  It was 91 degrees, and the water was perfect.  If you ask Cyrus, he will tell you that he was almost attacked by one of the many sharks we saw… 

Tomorrow night we head to Jacksonville Florida, to play at one of our top 5 favorite venues in America - Murray Hill Theater.  It will be worth the drive if you make your way there for the 7 o’clock show!

Sunday we play at 2 churches in Port Saint Lucie, Florida - One of our favorite cities to spend time in…. We play in the morning leading worship at Anytime Church, and then in the evening we play a concert and worship night at Calvary Chapel PSL, starting at 6pm.  Do not miss this one!  We get asked all the time when we are going to be back in the area… this is the perfect night for you to show up!

We then head down to Loxahatchee Florida to lead worship all week long for a Student Camp… one of our favorite ways to spend an entire week!

The following week we have more shows, details will be up on our facebook, on the TourDates Tab!  

We are also working on a number of shows for those of you on the West Coast as soon as we return from this side of the country!  We are going to be doing a short tour that will take us through Washington, California, & Oregon with good friends of ours from Bremerton Washington Called The Exchange!  Check them out!

Doug is posting videos all the time to show you were we are, and what we have been doing!  Subscribe to our youtube channel to see what we have been up to!

Florida says hello… I can see the palm trees waving from here…

~Andy / The New Divide 

Acoustic Show in Centralia WA on Friday!