8 Things I’m Passionate About

1. God’s forgiveness
2. Loving my wife the way she wants and needs to be loved
3. Being a dad who reflects the heart of my heavenly Father
4. Hymns, especially those of Charles Wesley
5. Classical (naked eye) astronomy, especially observing Venus (morning star) and watching the moonrise over the ocean.
6. Old Testament Messianic prophecies. I wish I could have been there listening to Jesus himself explaining these on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:27)
7. Rescuing children from sex trafficking (Check out Shared Hope International, and International Justice Mission)
8. Garlic and pretty much any food that contains a generous amount of it

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die

1. Record and publish the scriptural children’s lullabies I have written for my daughters
2. Publish or at least write down the many night time stories I have told to my daughters, the details of which they remember many months after I have forgotten.
3. Record and publish my original worship songs (about 15 so far)
4. Be healed physically, feel it and know it
5. Take my family to New York City for Christmas, watch the New York City Ballet perform “The Nutcracker”, go skating in Rockefeller Center, eat roasted chestnuts from a street vendor, stay at a fancy hotel, go to a prayer meeting at the Brooklyn Tabernacle.
6. Travel: one or more of the following: ancestral homelands of Cuba, Spain, France; historical tours of Israel, missionary journeys of Paul; go hiking in the Canadian Rockies. Visit Middle Earth or at least New Zealand.
7. See my grandchildren grow up and be a good influence on them (note: my daughters are currently ages 9 and 7).
8. Speak Spanish well enough that people won’t feel embarrassed for me.

8 Things I Say Often

1. “Bless God” (I prefer it to “God Bless”)
2. “Ay, Yay, Yay!” (eye-yigh-yigh, like a Cuban)
3. “Sing it out!”
4. “Papa Loves You”
5. “Cool.”
6. “Wow!”
7. To me life is like a paella. “Pa’ ella, Pa’ ella, Pa’ella” (for her, for her, for her)
8. “I know you haven’t heard this song before but it’s pretty straight-forward. Just follow me.”

8 TV Shows I Recently Watched

We don’t have a TV or cable but I do get DVD’s from the library. Here are some shows I have watched on DVD over the past year.

1. 24 (seasons 1-5, waiting for 6)
2. The Civil War (Ken Burns documentary)
3. Baseball (Ken Burns documentary)
4. Jazz (Ken Burns documentary)
5. Ulyssees S. Grant (An American Experience documentary)
6. Mark Twain (An American Experience documentary)
7. Frank Lloyd Wright (An American Experience documentary)
8. New York (Ric Burns documentary)

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over

1. The Maker of the Universe – Phil Keaggy (based on a beautiful poem by F.W. Pitt)
2. Broken Things – Julie Miller
3. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross – Kathryn Scott (soft arrangement of the Isaac Watts hymn)
4. Handel – Messiah (in its entirety but favorites are the 4 or 5 pieces based on Isaiah 53)
5. Beethoven – Moonlight Sonata
6. Mozart – Andante from Piano Sonata in C K545
7. Dvorak – Largo from New World Symphony No. 9
8. Kabalevsky – A Short Story (short piano song)

8 Things that Attract Me to My Friends

1. They have a sense of humor
2. They appreciate music
3. They have a passionate love for God that inspires me
4. They are honest and transparent
5. They love the classics (literature, music, history)
6. They care more for people than programs
7. They are quick to listen and slow to speak
8. They are givers and not consumers

8 Things I Have Learned (or been reminded of) This Year

1. The Sabbath was made for man
2. Leadership is caught rather than taught
3. My fictional capacity to do things is about 250% of the non-fiction version
4. My capacity to eat is about 180% of what I should eat
5. I need to dwell with my wife with understanding
6. I need to spend quite time in prayer especially when it seems my schedule will not permit
7. God is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love
8. I am blessed

8 People I Think Should Do “8″

Mary, Paloma, Anna, Dad, Mom, Liana, JP, Robert