Is it just me, or are the Olympics not mesmerizing? I find myself watching the oddest sports that I would never consider watching the other 3 years between Olympic celebrations….but throw up some curling on TV and have the American team competing for a medal, and I am there. My family and I have watched in amazement as they athletes dig way down deep for strength they never thought they had and perform beyond the commentators and their expectations….which I guess is the big draw and not really the actual sport they are competing in. This is the first year I can ever remember someone losing their life while competing…tragic story of someone living their dream and then ending suddenly without warning. You know last week I talked about “last times” and got a HUGE amount of feedback from folks. It does my heart good to know people are actually reading it…and the stories were awesome. A bunch of you folks out there are super talented story tellers…I need to start having “guest” bloggers sometime down the road. The guys are hoping we can talk Kent (Darrell’s brother) into making a guest appearance here and talk about what it is like on the road with us. Kent (as some might already know) went on our trip to Michigan and it was about all we could take having the equivalent of two Darrell’s around all the time. Truth be told it was too much fun….so much actually that we have invited him to go when he can…so be on the lookout for our bass player when time allows (like this weekend for instance).

Speaking of this weekend….heading up to our dear friend Jim Johnson’s church Fares Avenue on Saturday night. Already heard from some folks in nearby Madisonville, KY who might be coming over…hoping other nearby folks will come and support Pastor Johnson and his monthly singings. You know…I think (and I may be wrong) that he has been hosting these type of events for like 40 years. What a blessing that he gives folks like us a venue to sing our songs and share our testimonies of what the Lord has done for us and is doing today. He’s about as big a supporter as you would ever find…well, his wife Sue and nephew Donnie might give him a run for his money.

Sunday morning will find us at another dear friends church…Bob Pollard and all the dear folks at Marshall Ferry General Baptist (more affectionately known simply as Dogtown). I don’t know if I am more excited for Kent to experience Fares Avenue on Saturday night or Dogtown on Sunday morning…we’ve got a deep history of awesome services at both places….I’ll just call it an even match. Sunday night we’ll be in nearby McLeansboro, IL at New Life Assembly of God so Kent can put a wrap on another weekend with the group…that is if he lasts the full two days.

Not to ramble too much, but going back to the last time stuff…I friend of mine from high school passed away this week after a 10 year battle with cancer. He has a son who is a senior at my daughter’s school and one who is a freshman. He had tried desperately to hang on so he could be there last night (Tuesday February 16th) for his oldest boy Josh’s Senior night. Josh and Peyton (the younger son) both play varsity basketball and last night Tommy and his wife Audrey would have been escorted out on the court before the game so Josh could show his appreciation for all the sacrifices the family made to allow him to play for his entire middle and high school career. Tommy almost made it…one day short, but his family still honored his memory at the game where Tommy’s kids and wife got a standing ovation from both the home crowd and the visitors (Westmoreland High School). Josh and the boys lost, but at the end the Westmoreland players and coaches made a special effort to show their sympathy to Josh and Peyton. Usually you see those handshakes go so fast that most folks never even make eye contact…one team wants to celebrate and the other team wants to get away from the team that won. Last night they each stopped and looked Josh and Peyton in the eye and paid their respects. The coaches hugged them and had some kind words to say. Awesome display of sportsmanship…just when you think everything is going crazy you witness something like that. Did my heart good to see that….can’t even begin to share the number of last times that flooded my mind as I thought of Tommy and his family. Make the best use of your time today…one thing is certain…and it is that things will change.

Have an awesome week and let me be the first one to get an excuse out there for my performance this weekend. Just got back from the doctor…after 3 days of feeling cruddy my wife talked me into going. Well it seems I am blessed with a very mild case of pneumonia. So all the coughing and wheezing I have done has taken a severe toll on my voice. Hoping some rest and lots of fluids (not to mention some awesome meds…my doc has been a group supporter for years) will have me back to normal soon. If not…the Lord will know my heart even if my vocals shot. And anyway…with Kent Collier with us this weekend playing bass, we’ll actually have an over 12 year veteran quartet bass singer waiting in the wings. If it goes south real hard…we’ll just saddle up Kent and let the boys ride him for a while!

Von and all the guys at CO4

Well…it’s been a while since I have been in a mood like this before doing my update. I can hear the collective “oh brother” emanate from across the web now. I used to be more introspective when I first started doing this update thing several years ago. Things are always in flux…sometimes your priorities are dead on, others….well a tweak might be in order I guess. For some reason lately I’ve been stuck on the thought of the last time. I know….if you’re a theologian you’re thinking….Revelations and THE last times…not quite the direction I’m going. I’ve really been pondering the last time I do things…you know what I mean? For everything we do there will be a last time. For the most part I don’t even think we are aware when they happen. Here’s a for instance…I was a pole vaulter in high school and there was a last time I ever pole vaulted. I honestly don’t think I considered the magnitude. Sure it was a small thing….but really….the last time I was ever going to grasp the fiberglass pole and launch myself skyward to clear a metal bar straddling two tall posts, then landing on my back staring intently all the way down hoping against hope that the touch or breeze I made as I passed over wasn’t enough to jar the cross bar from its perch. I wish I had savored the moment more. I’m sure I had someplace to be or someone to see and rushed through it….either in a track meet or a practice for an event that never happened. Whatever the case…I’ve been thinking about stuff like that. How about people we meet? There are lots of folks, and I’m not really talking about “the important ones” (like family and super close friends)….I’m talking about acquaintances. There are folks in your lives that you’ve seen for the last time and didn’t even realize it when you waved bye or casually shook their hand as you headed off to something more important. Isn’t that crazy? This stuff will drive you insane….I have literally thought about hundreds of folks and hundreds of things I’ll likely never do again and can’t remember the “last time”. Bugs me I guess.

My daughter Savannah and Darrell’s daughter Makenzie both competed this past weekend in a humongous cheer event on Atlanta, GA. They both did great with Kenz’s squad finishing 2^nd in their division and Savannah’s squad finishing 3^rd in hers (they did not compete against each other). These trips are awesome and something I’ll cherish for as long as I have my memory…and though I’ve been pondering “lasts” for a while, this weekend it was snapped sharply into focus again as I watched through the eyes of the seniors on each squad as they competed as a high school cheerleader for the last time. They knew it and tried to absorb every moment they could. Wish I had that clarity at times in my life paying attention to some of those lasts. Savannah and Kenz have a few more years until the cheer “lasts” hit them…and as a dad I’ll do my best to help them soak it all in between now and then.

As a quartet we’ve traveled thousands and thousands of miles and sang thousands of times to thousands of people….some of those places we will never be at again and didn’t really realize it was the last time. Some of those people have either left the church, moved away, or moved on to Glory….and we’ve shook their hands for the last time and didn’t even know. We were in the studio last week cutting tracks for our upcoming Christmas CD and I looked around and thought….there will be a day when I’ll be in here for the last time….is this it? Only the Lord knows…we would all go insane if we knew all He knows. I’m thankful He gave is the knowledge and understanding He did…and that He left the other stuff in the unknown column for us. Recently after coming back from the Michigan trip Marty and I were the last ones in the van as all the others had been dropped off and we chatted for a while. I confessed to him that I recently came to the realization that I had been working in the quartet so long (emphasis on working) that I had failed miserably at enjoying many of the blessings God gives us as I was working towards something “bigger”. I hate it when I feel the need to confess, but purging can be a good thing. It is SO easy to get caught up in the industry…got to get to a bigger church, got to get played more on the radio, got to sing at the quartet convention…on the main stage no less. It’s like a carousel you can’t get off…you forget the goals you’ve attained because you are working so hard for something else. Back last summer I woke up and asked myself…why didn’t I enjoy the group more in the previous years? Why didn’t I cherish the times instead of focusing on next week, next month, and next year? I told Marty no more….whatever happens will happen and from now on I am going to enjoy this for whatever time we have left and whatever “level” we attain. Same goes for my personal life….my goal for 2010 is to try and appreciate things more. It’s unrealistic for me to treat each day like the last (literally) or each chore like the last time I’ll do it, but I can soak it in more and absorb all that life is giving me before I move on to something that I feel is more important. I told my wife a few days ago, there was a last time I golfed with her mom and dad…and I don’t really remember it. I always thought there would be one more time, but their health declined and there wasn’t any more times. I’m going to try and not take the pleasures of life for granted. I love going to my daughter’s cheer practice on Monday nights…and lots of parents around the gym complain because it takes up their time. I understand that….life is fast now days and if we stop we sometimes get run over. But I see a day a few years from now when Mondays won’t be about cheer practice…I won’t be watching her try desperately to get a new move down or struggle to have the energy for the end of the workout. I’ll be home watching TV or doing something else…that time will be over. Sometime down the road I’ll be back at my home church every Sunday again…and I won’t be hauling in heavy speakers or typing frantically an address in the GPS again that it says doesn’t exist…nope, all of that stuff will live only in scrapbooks and on CD’s. The quartet will disperse and it will all be a memory…but until then I’ll enjoy and thank God for the opportunity He gave me. I say all this to tell you guys…soak up life, wring it out until the last drop of joy has been drained. It’s all a gift from God and one day it will be dust in the wind (as my boys from Kansas so eloquently put it)…everything is dust in the wind.

I’ll catch up on the quartet stuff soon….there’s plenty to talk about but for some reason today I didn’t have the heart. This thought of lasts has been consuming me lately and I thought maybe a therapy session with you guys might clear me out and let me move on. Have an awesome week and enjoy all that the Lord has given you today…tomorrow will take care of itself tomorrow….

Von and all the guys at CO4