Christian, Musician, and Bookkeeper

Time Flies!

2009-08-05T12:59:00.003-04:00

Wow, I can't believe it! My son is already 9 months old today. Where has the time gone?

Halfway to my degree!

2009-06-13T21:04:00.001-04:00

Well, only 14 years after embarking on my first college credit, I will officially be half-way to my Bachelor's degree (60 out of 120 credits) at the end of this summer term. I know that may seem like a long time to get that far; but, let me give an overview of why it's taken that long.My future plans at the time I graduated from high school involved being a professional musician of some sort. I

Reading the Signs?

2009-05-19T13:01:00.006-04:00

As I was reading the Letters to the Editor in The Post and Courier today, I saw a letter that made me sad. The writer of the letter was a gay man that talked about being inspired by a billboard he saw on I-26 that reads "Gay Rights are Civil Right." Now, while I certainly believe that being gay is an abomination to God's creation and clearly spoken against in His word, that's not the part that

100 Pounds in 50 Weeks

2009-02-12T13:07:00.003-05:00

I know it's a bit late for "New Year's Resolutions," but maybe by making it a bit later I'll have a better chance of sticking to it. I have resolved to lose 100 lbs. over the next 50 weeks using a healthy living community called SparkPeople. I'm on day 2 and I have to say I'm feeling good about it so far. Just the simple fact of keeping a food journal to document everything I eat is helping to

Why is family so difficult?

2009-02-10T13:06:00.000-05:00

Why is it that we find it more difficult to talk to family about religious matters than we do a complete stranger or other friend? Now, don't get me wrong, my family are all born-again believers that are assured of their salvation and final destination; but, some of their attitudes toward people that they call friends that belong to another Christian faith that doesn't have enough right to be as

Where does the time go?

2009-02-03T08:04:00.003-05:00

Well, already a month of 2009 has come and gone and I still can't seem to find the time to regularly write an update here. In two more days, my son will be three months old and I'm finding that the trick to getting family to drive the 7.5 hours to come visit us was just to have a baby. In the last three months, we have had more visits from our family in Virginia than in the whole rest of the 7

2008-12-05T20:36:00.002-05:00

Well, today LJ is exactly one month old. It's hard to believe I've really been a father for an entire month already.

LJ is Here!

2008-11-05T12:50:00.002-05:00

Well, the day has finally come. Our little gift from God has arrived. His name is James Madison Prevatt, III but we'll be calling him LJ (Little James) for short.Stats:November 5, 2008 @ 12:50 pm6 lbs., 10 oz.20 inches long

Baby Shower for LJ

2008-09-28T22:19:00.001-04:00

Our friends at church threw a baby shower for us and LJ. We were extremely overwhelmed at the generosity of everyone that attended and gave gifts.

LJ (Little James) at 28 weeks

2008-08-19T11:47:00.003-04:00

Here is today's 3-D ultrasound of baby James taken at 28 week. You can see almost his whole face (he's nestled up against Mommy) and both of his hands.

One Semester Down

2008-08-17T20:44:00.002-04:00

Well, I finally completed my first semester toward my Bachelor's degree at Liberty University. I passed the history survey course with an "A" and the English course with a "B." Have I ever said how much I hate poetry and writing about literature? Well, it's overwith and on to the second semester where I'll be taking courses on worldviews / apologetics, biblical literature, and microcomputer

Pregnancy Progressing

2008-07-22T13:00:00.001-04:00

We just had a visit to the doctor and it appears that everything is going just fine in our pregnancy. We are currently at 24 weeks with mom and baby doing just fine. Hopefully, this will be the norm for the remaining 16 weeks and I'll be holding my boy at the beginning of November.

Is My Life So Boring?

2008-07-15T22:00:00.000-04:00

Is my life so boring that I can't find something to write about at least once a week or am I just lazy? The dates on my blog entries go back to May 2007. This is only my 26th entry in over a year and most of the entries are short blurbs about what is going on.So, here's my goal: at least one post (of any length) per week with at least one each month being of a substantial length. Let's see if I

Family-Friendly Entertainment?

2008-06-27T09:33:00.001-04:00

Here is another excerpt from a paper I wrote for my English class:Entertainment media are becoming less and less "family-friendly" and, as parents, we have to be more careful about what our children watch than our parents had to be with us or their parents with them. Even the so-called children's channels and programs can sometimes cross the line to subjects and words

A Return to Holistic Education

2008-06-26T21:06:00.002-04:00

This is an excerpt from a paper I wrote for an English class I am taking:One of the saddest failings in the modern educational environment is the focus on fact-based knowledge. In most schools ranging from elementary all the way through to some post-secondary levels, students are being taught according to whatever test will be administered in each subject. If it is not going to be on the test,

It's a Boy!

2008-06-24T11:14:00.000-04:00

We just found out right this very second that we're having a boy. How exciting! Now we can start deciding how we're going to decorate the nursery. We're going to have him carry on my name and be the "III."

New Child and Job Search Continues

2008-04-14T12:39:00.003-04:00

Well, it's finally happened! After 5+ years of trying, my wife and I are finally expecting our first child. This is most definitely a gift from God as my wife had just about all but given up hope of us having a child naturally, though I always had faith that He would make it happen when he thought it best for us.That was the positive and this is the not-so-positive: my most recent assignment

Procrastination is Key

2008-04-08T23:06:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally got around to update my business's website to reflect the fact that I am now a Certified Bookkeeper. At times I think my procrastination gets out of hand. I started writing this entry on Friday but didn't finish and publish it until now.

I've Been Certified

2008-03-25T17:34:00.003-04:00

No, I haven't been certified crazy. I am now a Certified Bookkeeper! What is a "Certified Bookkeeper" you might ask? Well, according to the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers, through whom I received the certification, I have now proven I have "the level of knowledge and skill needed to carry out all key functions through the adjusted trial balance, including basic payroll, for firms

I've Gone Mainstream

2008-03-22T22:36:00.004-04:00

Well, I've finally decided to go mainstream with my blog rather than continue to use my own website and software package because I'd like to be able to interface with other sites as well as use the mobile blogging feature here. I will be transferring all of the entries from my old blog to here as time permits. This move will also mean that updates should be almost daily but will not be any

Here Comes the Sun

2008-03-17T15:30:00.000-04:00

Well, I was just called today to begin a new assignment. It was an assignment I was offered the day after my last one ended but I had to turn it down at that time due to commitments I had made knowing that I was ending an assignment. The person that had accepted it didn't work out so it was offered to me again. Then, as if working wasn't enough to get excited about, we received a small financial

Still Looking

2008-03-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

Well, as my current assignment winds down (my last day will be Tuesday, March 11), I find myself again relying on God to make sure an opportunity comes my way. Since I knew I didn't want this position on a more permanent basis, I had never stopped looking the whole 2½ months I have been there and have had a couple interviews in that time; but, nothing has resulted in a job offer yet. Well, I know

And Another One Bites the Dust

2008-02-27T11:02:00.000-05:00

Well, another month has come and gone! I just can't figure out where time keeps going. I am going to attempting to make at least one entry each month, most likely at the end of the month, to summarize what has occurred in that month.The main thing that has happened in my life this month is my wife and I moving into a house. While we are still only renting, the house is bigger than the apartment

Things Are Looking Up

2008-01-31T10:13:00.000-05:00

Things in my life are beginning to look positive again. I was laid off from my primary job 3 months ago and while I have not found a “permanent” job yet, I have had steady assignments from a temporary agency for the last 1.5 months. I have also been working toward my Certified Bookkeeper designation ever since I was laid off and should be finished with it by the end of February. Once that is done

Just an Update

2007-10-18T22:01:00.000-04:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything so I figured I'd just take a couple of minutes tonight to do a quick update of what's been going on to keep me from making some posts over the past 30 days. My last post mentioned that I was elected to the deacon board and my 3-year term began with the church year that started on Oct 1. Also, last weekend and this the church is putting on a

Whirlwind Weekend

2007-09-16T19:50:00.000-04:00

This was certainly an exciting weekend in the life of our church. Yesterday, a large group of members went out of help other churches in their outreach and evangelism efforts throughout the Charleston area. At the same time as that was happening, several people were helping with the distribution of food that had been purchased through Angel Food Ministries.Today was High Attendance Day where we

Dating Your Spouse

2007-09-08T10:19:00.000-04:00

One thing I am extremely proud of in my relationship with my wife is that, even though we have been married for coming up on 8 years next month, we have never stopped dating. Just last night, we went to the Highway 21 Drive In in Bluffton, one of two remaining drive-in theatres in South Carolina. We had dinner and watched Shrek the Third and Transformers. We had lots of fun and it was well worth

A Digital Piano Is NOT an Organ

2007-08-30T18:32:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week, I was called and asked to play for a funeral service that was to happen this morning. Both the pastor and the family member that contacted me told me that the funeral home had a organ. So, I prepared my prelude music fully expecting that I would be playing on a organ. However, I got to the funeral home early this morning in order to familiarize myself with their

The Duck and the Devil

2007-08-22T09:58:00.000-04:00

I'll tell you something: things happen strangely in my life. For example, Nicole and I will talk about something one day and the very next day, that exact thing that we were talking about will appear somewhere else. Well, after what I wrote yesterday, I happened upon this today:The Duck & the DevilThere was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot

Confession: Good for ... ?

2007-08-21T05:00:00.000-04:00

People say that confession is good for the soul and the Bible tells us that God will forgive (and forget) our sins if we just confess them to him. Through Sunday morning's sermon, the Lord convicted me of a certain sin in my life that was preventing me from answering the call to a possible opportunity to serve Him and His Kingdom due to the fear of somebody finding out about it should I be chosen

My Weekend Part 3

2007-08-08T20:00:00.000-04:00

Ok, I promise this will be the last installment of this story. At this point it's now Saturday morning, I'm at home in West Ashley, and the Mustang is sitting in an industrial park in Mount Pleasant with a flat tire. Here we go...I call a friend from church that lives near me to see if they will give me a ride back to where my car is so I can call for a tow and get the flat tire replaced. It

My Weekend Part 2

2007-08-07T20:00:00.000-04:00

Sorry I had stop in the middle of my story; but, I was getting tired and the story was only about half over. When we left the story, I had just gotten the Mustang back and was glad to be back in my own car. Don't get me wrong, driving the PT Cruiser was nice, but the color was horrific.So, I've had the Mustang back for a whole day and go to leave the office for the weekend and get out to my car

My Weekend and Why Cars Suck

2007-08-06T20:00:00.000-04:00

Let me start by saying: it sucks to have to own a car! (Of course, it would suck more not to have a car; but, that's not the point of this post, now, is it?)This weekend was the culmination of almost two weeks of dealing with my car. It all began when it started running rough and was having problem shifting gears when it should. So, I took it in to the shop near my apartment; but, they were so

Infrequent Updates No More

2007-07-30T20:00:00.001-04:00

If you actually here reading my site, you'll notice it's been about two months since I last added anything. I guess I just don't feel that I have that much to share with the world. There's just not that much that goes on in my life: I work a full-time office job during the week, participate in the usual church functions on Sunday and Wednesday, and sitting around at home if I'm not at one of

Vacation's Over ... Back to Reality

2007-06-04T11:25:00.000-04:00

Well, vacations are never as long as you would like. I'm back in Charleston and back at my desk at work. The service yesterday at my home church went well, I thought. Although, I'm certainly not used to the length of the song service that the music minister there does.

On Vacation

2007-06-02T09:26:00.000-04:00

As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in a public library on vacation in Virginia for a few days. My wife and I took a couple days off to go see some family and get away from Charleston for a while. We've both had a great time and seen just about all of our family that there is to see here. I'm going to be playing the organ for the worship service at the church I grew up in tomorrow morning and my

Honing My Vocal Prowess

2007-05-28T20:00:00.000-04:00

With the upcoming God and Country presentation that the worship choir will be presenting on July 1, I have been asked to do a solo (or two). While it is not a solo-solo (where I would be the only one singing) since the choir will be backing me up, it will be the first time in many, many years that I have truly sung by myself and not as a part of the larger group.In addition, I have also

Orchestra Debuts in the Evening Service

2007-05-27T20:51:00.000-04:00

The new instrumental ministry / church orchestra debuted tonight in the evening service. As of now, the group consists of a piano, a synthesizer, a flute, a clarinet, a trumpet, and a violin. We played as the accompaniment for the main song service at the beginning of the service.I thought it sounded very good and it seemed to be a welcome addition to our worship experience as the

The Choir is Back

2007-05-06T13:29:00.000-04:00

This morning was the choir's first Sunday back in the choir loft after our break following our Easter passion play production. We sang Still which is what we sang one of the first weeks after we hired our current music minister last year.

Instrumental Ministry Kick-Off

2007-05-03T08:08:00.000-04:00

Last night, we held the first rehearsal of our new instrumental ministry. Other than myself, the group consisted of a flute, a clarinet, a violin, a trumpet, and piano. I played a string reduction part on the synthesizer. The first thing we are working on is to accompany the main song service for an evening worship coming up. The group sounded very good for it being our first time playing