I love those lyrics. They have been especially true for me lately. I realize that two week ago today I promised an update on how the preaching of my “first sermon” went. I’m glad I didn’t promise a time frame! Well, by all accounts, it went well. I “rehearsed” it in front of the mirror before going to church that night, and I thought my rehearsal was better than the actual delivery.

I was nervous. There was a large crowd. A large group of my family was there, and I had friends travel in. I was surprised to see some – like my friend Grant Merrill who traveled from Russellville – and I was glad they all made it. All in all, I was just glad to get that first time out of the way. I know that as God continues to mold and shape me, I will get used to preaching in front of crowds.

God continues to amaze and surprise me. He moves at a faster pace than what I would have ever attempted on my own. But that goes to the heart of the issue, I’m not alone. He is beside me each step of the way. Right now, He has placed before me what could be my first opportunity to serve on a church staff. Yeah, it’s been three weeks since I surrendered to preach, and He is already giving me this possibility. We are probably a month out from knowing anything at all about whether or not this opportunity will come to fruition. Rest assured, it is only part-time and will allow me to continue my work at SAU for now. As I have already informed by bosses, God has called me to full-time ministry, so at some point in the future, I will be leaving SAU. I don’t know when that time will be. It could be one year from now or 10. Only God knows.

I’ll keep you posted . . .

1. The Talley Trio

Jeremy Langley with Roger, Deborah, and Lauren Talley

Roger, Deborah, and Lauren Talley are amazing people. I’ve admired the work of this extremely talented family for years. (I know. I’m only 24, but I’ve followed Southern Gospel music since before I even knew Reba McEntire existed. That’s pretty major since I’m pretty sure I came out of the womb screaming “I love Reba!”) Until this cruise, I had never had the opportunity to interact with the Talleys. I was not disappointed. Not only did they put on the best performances of the week, but they were more than willing to interact with the “fans” off the stage. We ran into Roger several times around the ship, and he always smiled and spoke. I don’t think we ever ran into Deborah and Lauren on the ship outside of the Abraham Production events, but they were probably shopping or sometime. That’s what most of the women on board seemed to be doing a lot.

Lauren Talley and Jeremy Langley

During the time when we could purchase the artists’ product, I asked Lauren if I could have my picture made with her. She was more than happy to oblige. I had to get Roger to take the picture. After the last concert, I decided that I wanted to have a picture with the entire Talley Trip, but Roger was MIA. Deborah suggested that we form our own little trio, so I had my photo taken with Deborah and Lauren. Then Roger showed up and suggested we form a quartet, so I finally got my picture with the best Southern Gospel group out there. It will definitely go in my office.

Lauren has a new book and CD coming out in the next few days. I’ve heard the title track of the CD. The CD and book are both called “Songs in the Night.” If the rest of the songs are half as good as the title track, we’re in for an amazing treat. I plan to order one just as soon as they are available. Maybe I can get her to autograph it for me…haha. Check out her Web site for more information.

2. The Greenes

Jeremy Langley with Tim and TaRanda Greene

Tim and TaRanda Greene are two amazing people. We first ran in to Tim at the elevators on embarkation day. He stopped and talked to us like he had known us forever. Each time we saw him after that was the same. I had to have my picture made with them, and when I looked at it I laughed. It looks like it could be a cell phone ad. “More bars in more places.”

If you don’t know much about Tim and TaRanda, you should get to know them. They have an amazing ministry, but their personal story will make even the toughest man cry. Shortly after they were married (about 9 years ago, I think), Tim was diagnosed with a terminal illness that would lead to the complete failure of his kidneys. He ended up on dialysis for 8 years, unable to find a donor kidney. Finally, TaRanda decided to go through the testing process, and they found out that Tim and TaRanda were a closer match for the kidney donation than twins. She saved his life. To hear Tim tell that story was a blessing.

3. The Hoppers

Jeremy Langley with Claude and Connie Hopper

I didn’t get the chance to meet all of the Hoppers, but I got to meet my favorite two – Claude and Connie. I have never met a sweeter lady in my life than Connie Hopper. She just radiates, and her joy is contagious. Claude is just flat out hilarious. There is no way you can be in a bad mood with Claude Hopper in the room. He says he gets his jokes from his brother, but he does a pretty good job of delivering them.

Claude got in the habit of coming by our table each evening at dinner. He would tell us to just put it all on his tab (of course, dinner is already paid as part of the cruise package). He kept us entertained. I loaned him one of my extra spoons one night to stir a little bit of sweetner into his tea. I hope I get the chance to visit with these two more in the future.

4. Our dinner table

The people who sat with us at dinner were from all over the country. They shared our love for Southern Gospel music and our love for Christ. We had some of the best conversations getting to know one another. Although I was by far the youngest person at the table, they made me feel right at home. I hope they cruise with us again in the future.

5. Random people

Everywhere we turned, we met new people from all over the world. I had a long talk with the manager of the Orlando Ferrari dealer one day. We met a couple who was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. I am determined that they are Alabama’s finest. They work athletic events for the University of Alabama. Roll Tide! Who knows when and where these connections may help me in the future?

If you ever get the chance to take a Southern Gospel music cruise. Do it. It will give you a whole new appreciation for the music and its fans. We’re planning to go back in November.

Ellie May

Okay, don’t take that headline too seriously. My child is a 12-week-old Australian Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix that I adopted from the Columbia County Animal Protection Society. She is my pride and joy, and I named her “Ellie May.” I have a hang-up on naming my dogs after female characters from 1980-era television shows. My last dog was named “Daisy” after Daisy Duke of the “Dukes of Hazzard.”

Ellie May is a very active and loving dog. She is going to be HUGE when she grows up, and I’m sure she’ll grow faster than I want her to. I expect that she’ll be 100 pounds or more when all is said and done.

I had thought about buying a pure breed dog. I really wanted a chocolate Lab, but I couldn’t find one. I looked at some German Shepherd puppies, but I just didn’t want to spend that kind of money. So I went to CCAPS to see what they had. (Daisy was a CCAPS dog.) When I saw Ellie May and her litter mates, it was love at first sight! I brought her home before I even had any furniture moved in the new house. I’m sure she will grow to love her large fenced-in backyard. As long as she stays out of the pool, we’ll be okay.

Ellie May will be an outside dog when she gets a little bigger. Besides, it’s too cold for her out there right now. For now, she is sleeping in a crate at night. She hardly even complains. I have bought her enough toys to entertain an army of dogs!

I’ll keep you updated on her as she grows up, and I’m sure I’ll be taking lots of photos. I’m sorry for the quality of this picture. I took it with my cell phone. I’ll see about getting a better picture of her later.

My house!

I’ve been a bit overwhelmed lately. I bought a house!

Here’s a picture of it. It’s a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath post-WWII home in a nice neighborhood. There is a space that was previously used as an office, but I plan to turn it into a second full bathroom just as soon as Uncle Sam sends me my first time home buyer tax credit money. I won’t plan to be in a hurry.

I’ve been living in an apartment since moving to Magnolia in May 2008. It will be a major adjustment moving from my little one bedroom economy apartment to a 3 bedroom house, but I don’t think I’ll have any problems. I have just grown tired of paying rent and making my landlord richer when I can be making payments on a house that will build equity for me. I also want a dog really bad, and I can’t have one in an apartment.

Oh, I should mention that the house has a pool! WOOO HOOOO!! Pool party at Jeremy’s house!

One of my favorite things about the house is the fact that it is on two lots. I will love having a HUGE yard. I really enjoy working outside in the summer doing yard work. It’s a big contrast from my office day job. Good thing we only work four days a week in the summer. That will give me Friday and Saturday to work in my yard!

I’m in the process of moving in this week, but it will be a while before everything is the way I want it. The entire house will have to be painted on the inside. I don’t like any of the previous owners’ color choices. One bedroom is hot pink with orange stripes. It goes away first.

I’ll keep you updated on the progress as it goes along.

Until next time …

I’ve gotten a “promotion” of sorts since the last time I blogged. I now have two titles at Southern Arkansas University. I’ll keep my title as Assistant to the President for Special Projects, and I’ve taken on the extra title of University Editor. It’s pretty exciting, but it will keep my as busy as I was in college when I worked a full time job while attending a college full time. I guess I like to work myself to death!

Tonight was our First Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir Christmas party. It was amazingly fun. Our hosts, Max and Debbie Story, were very gracious to have us at their new home. I wouldn’t mind having a few of the amenities they have in my house some day! We’ll keep things in perspective for now.

Seeing has how it’s midnight, I guess I should wait until later to catch up on blogging any more. The alarm clock will go off early!

Merry Christmas!

UPDATE: The CD is everything I ever expected and more. Reba is AWESOME.

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!!!

What a busy couple of weeks it has been. Fresh off of a very busy Founders’ Day week (a week in which we had the biggest party in Southern Arkansas University’s history), I left for my first CASE District IV conference. In case you don’t know, CASE is the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. Our district IV conference was in Oklahoma City. It was an excellent conference. I learned more than about different aspects of higher education advancement than I knew existed, and I was able to pick up some information that will significantly assist me in my job. I hope some of it helps the university as a whole.

I’m blessed that my job gives me the opportunity to travel. I was able to do some things that I really wanted to do. I went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial, the Myrial Botanical Gardens, rode in a limo to dinner, ate at an array of excellent restaurants, saw good friends that I haven’t seen in a while, and waited in the cold wind for a trolley for almost 30 minutes. The trolley never showed up.

I’ll blog about these events separately. I had an amazing time, but I’m glad to be home. I’m glad to be in Magnolia. We have a lot of events coming up. I’ll keep you posted.

I will soon be a true new media mogul.

In a nutshell, here’s the scoop: Southern Arkansas University and the University of Arkansas at Monticello have entered into an agreement with the City of El Dorado to play the inaugural “Boomtown Classic” football game in the city’s Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 7. This is a project that has been in the works for a number of years, but due to circumstances beyond our control, it was put off until now.  This is the perfect opportunity for me to plug our Centennial Celebration. UAM is celebrating 100 years in 2009 as well.

I’m excited about this opportunity. While the Mulerider fans in Magnolia might not be thrilled with the decision, it is an excellent opportunity for the University to showcase itself before one of the most important high school student bodies in the state. Of course I’m speaking of those in El Dorado that receive the El Dorado Promise scholarship (note my headline on this post). I think this is a great opportunity for SAU (and UAM) to make a play for those students and that scholarship money. It also gives us a LOT of “free advertising” in one of the regions most populated areas.

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. The El Dorado A&P Commission has pledged their full support. They are working to secure other entertainment for our students and fans that make the trip to El Dorado for the ballgame.

On an interesting note, the two schools have played in El Dorado before. They were each others’ main rivals beginning in 1914 and usually played on Thanksgiving day in El Dorado. What was the trophy? Here’s a sneak peek at a passage from the soon-to-be-released centennial history of SAU by Dr. James Willis:

Monticello added to the festivities by bringing a white female Angora goat to be awarded to the winning side. Each season for the next seven years this goat—named for the Monticello president, “Frankie Horsfall“, when won by Magnolia and “Charlie Overstreet” by Monticello–became the prize of the Turkey Day game. Knowing that a mule and a goat were featured mascots of the famous Army-Navy football rivalry, the Arkansas Democrat opined that “from the frothing and foaming and sputtering which goes on” the “Mulerider-Boll Weevil game bids to become the Army-Navy battle of Arkansas football.

I’ll keep you updated as we get closer to time.