BIT OF A CRAZY START TO TRAVEL DAY ONE

Well, finished up a lot of work last night into the wee hours of the morning. Then ran some last minute errands including medicine for my kid who has strep throat, passed the munchkins off to grandpa, and got dropped off at the airport.

After getting our bags adjusted to the right weight and such, I went to check in and discovered I'd left my wallet at home in my truck from the errands. I had my passport, boarding docs, cash... everything but the back up credit cards and my drivers license. I called my friend Sarah and she saved my butt and brought my wallet to me. I can't believe I did that. It's been a long time since I felt that dumb.

The last time on a trip that I can recall was with high school group and I stepped out of a car to help another vehicle in our caravan on the side of the freeway and had an envelope with 2 grand in it fall out of the car. It was in between my legs and I didn't notice it was gone until we stopped for dinner. I had to go back and find the envelope while the rest of our group ate dinner. Oh my was that stressful.

Anyway-- a crazy start followed by a bit of a crazy plane flight followed by a crazy taxi ride to our hotel in Galveston followed by a nice seafood dinner and we're off. We board the boat tomorrow for a great week in the Caribbean. WOOO HOOOO!!.

Hopefully my brain will be more functional with more than 2 hours sleep and the "oops I left it" scenarios are all done.

Thank God for grandparents staying with the dog and kids. Thank God for friends who are willing to help a brother in need. I really can't do life alone. I'm too stupid and needy.

Read more...

HERE WE GO

Last weekend we took our youth group to the roller coasters on Saturday at Magic Mountain and then to Snow Summit in the San Bernardino Mountains to go snow boarding. Tomorrow I'm going to go spend a week with my lovely wife and some old friends in the Caribbean on a Cruise. Rock on. It's a tough life, but someone's gotta live it. This trip has been 2 years in the making. Can't wait. I'll blog daily photo collages when I get back. In the meantime here's one from last weekend.

Read more...

OSTRICH

Here's a joke someone sent me today. Oh I laughed out loud here too. Funny day.

A man walks into a restaurant with a full-grown ostrich behind him.
The waitress asks them for their orders.

The man says, "A hamburger, fries and a coke," and turns to the
ostrich, "What's yours?"

"I'll have the same," says the ostrich.

A short time later the waitress returns with the order "That will be
$9.40 please," and the man reaches into his pocket and pulls out the exact
change for payment.

The next day, the man and the ostrich come again and the man says, "A
hamburger, fries and a coke."The ostrich says, "I'll have the same."

Again the man reaches into his pocket and pays with exact change.
This becomes routine until the two enter again. "The usual?" asks the
waitress.

"No, this is Friday night, so I will have a steak, baked potato and a
salad," says the man. "Same," says the ostrich.

Shortly the waitress brings the order and says, "That will be $32.62."
Once again the man pulls the exact change out of his pocket and places
it on the table.

The waitress cannot hold back her curiosity any longer. "Excuse me sir.
How do you manage to always come up with the exact change in your
pocket every time?"

"Well," says the man, "several years ago I was cleaning the attic and
found an old lamp. When I rubbed it, a Genie appeared and offered me
two wishes.
My first wish was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I would just
put my hand in my pocket and the right amount of money would always
be there."

"That's brilliant!" says the waitress. "Most people would ask for a
million dollars or something, but you'll always be as rich as you want
for as long as you live!"

That's right. Whether it's a gallon of milk or a Rolls Royce, the exact
money is always there," says the man.

The waitress asks, "What's with the ostrich?"

The man sighs, pauses and answers, "My second wish was for a tall
chick with a big butt and long legs who agrees with everything I say."

Read more...

I WOULD MAKE A LOUSY MATH/SCIENCE TEACHER

I just got an e-mail with the pics below in them. Oh my. I cried I laughed so hard. Click on them and expand them so you can read them. But don't drink your coffee while you do it, or you might spit it on your screen. The elephant one is my favorite.

Read more...

BLAST FROM THE PAST

I think I live for the long term friendships in youth ministry. I love them. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my friendships with existing students, but it is my former students who become friends as adults that I think is where the real stuff of youth ministry is made. Anyone can hang around in high school. It's those who stick it out and stay that way over the long haul that keeps me loving my job and reminds me why I do it. In the past month, here's what has come my way via the mail, the phone, and the Internet from former students turned current good friends- some dating back to my very first year as a youth pastor- 13 years ago.

• An invitation to perform a wedding for a former student/intern who I deeply regret was on a weekend I could not perform it.
• An invitation to perform a wedding in September from 2 former students who love Jesus and desire a marriage centered on their faith. I was able to accept this invitation and I can't wait.
  
• An invitation to perform a wedding 2 years from now. Yep, 2 years :) Longest engagement ever. But cool privilege.
• A note thanking me for years of friendship and enclosed 20ish pictures that are from back in the day when this former student was in high school. Now she's married to a youth pastor colleague of mine and is a mom!!!!
• A set of 4 outlines from various years of a former students high school years. They were a sampling she sent to me to remind me that there are some who take the notes and some who actually go on to even live them as their own. It was totally weird to look at those old messages, but a huge blessing to me.
• A call from a former student/intern one morning just as I pulled into work, "Just to check in." 20 minutes later, I was so glad he did.
  
• A note from a gal out of the blue who had a nice note and coffee and candy from Pete's- where she works!!!! It even said there might be more to come. Oh, boy did I feel the love there. I need more former students to get jobs where they get deals on coffee.
• An e-mail with a picture of a former student who is pregnant and telling me praises of how she and a member of her family that were anything but tight in high school have reconciled and how they have become friends some 12+ years later. That made my day.
  
• A call from a former student who gave me over the phone instructions on how to wax my snowboard. Thanks for the help.

To all the former students out there who have become my valued friends- both those who I've heard from recently and those who I have not... you rock. Thanks for loving Jesus and living the faith as your own. Thanks for staying friends. You mean the world to me.

Read more...

IF YOU FOLLOW AMERICAN IDOL...

... and if you are interested in hearing the experience through the eyes of a Christ Follower, then you might enjoy clicking this pic:

Read more...

MAYBE I SHOULD TRY THIS INSTEAD...

I'm supposed to be studying for a midterm. I stopped to check e-mail and the news, only to discover this!

We used to have to take college finals outside on the grass cuz some idiot would call in a bomb threat to the building it was supposed to be in- in an effort to get the test postponed. Future generations will evidently be keeping the bomb sniffing dogs at home so the superhero manhunt can begin- you never know what wonder woman might be up to you know. Maybe this kid is onto something and I should call my seminary and claim that I just saw Jesus leave the building and head to the church next door and that Elijah and Moses were with him. That should be good for a week off school so we can pray and fast and ask them to come back. :)

I think this kid should come to class next week dressed as Robin. I triple dog dare you kid.

Read more...

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Grandma bought new boxers and left them for the boys. Oh the love.

Read more...

t shirt design

Well, I don't have a graphic guy anymore. So I'm stuck doing my own. Here's my t-shirt design for our next trip- this will either encourage Michael that I learned something by watching him work or reiterate how badly I need a graphic designer.

One day to the roller coasters of Magic Mountain and one day to snow summit to go snowboarding. Should be quite the road trip.

Read more...

ONE TO ONE

There is a one to one ratio of blogging to stress in my life.

• I have a paper topic due
• a midterm this week
• we've had family in town the past two weekends
• I had a nasty cold for a week
• my truck broke. then I fixed my truck.
  
• I'm taking 50 high school students and leaders to magic mountain and snow summit this weekend. We have no bus. I'm back to carpools. I hate carpools. Shhh. Don't tell anyone.
  
• I leave for my first cruise with my wife in 10 days
• I volunteered to serve at the National Pastors Conference last week so I could go for free to some of the general sessions I wanted to see (Eugene Peterson and Brian McLaren were both well worth it- My only regret was making the time to go hear one preacher who wung it- something that always amazes me in a national context- and it was a total flop from my perspective- he said that God wanted someone in the audience to hear what he had to say and then he wung it and eventually found his way back to saying what I'd heard him say in 2 national meetings already... makes me scratch my head and wonder how this guy keeps getting the job. I don't get it. Write a hip new book or have a big church and Christians flock to you. It's a weird subculture)
  
• I've been working on family projects: I installed 4 recessed can lights in the ceiling of my downstairs playroom, a light in the closet, and painted my "office area" in the garage and installed a desk and some shelves I built.

So.... stress is high and bloggin is at a standstill. Gonna be that way for a while. I'll post some pics of my ski/rollercoaster trip next week.

Read more...

MY MECHANIC JUST E-MAILED ME

Ha, my mechanic just e-mailed me to ask how my alternator replacement is and to tell me that he's online. They also have his bio and stats online. Look at all he knows. I love this guy.

Read more...

MY MECHANIC IS ONLINE 24-7

Go figure. I'm at a mini retreat for a summer event we do called OGN in a really nice hotel and my alternator goes on in my truck as I'm pulling into the parking lot. So, last night I went out to see how difficult it will be to replace it. The alternator is right in front, right on top, but I can't find the tension adjuster for the belt. So, after looking for 20 minutes I finally gave up and tried to find the answer by googling it. No luck. Then, I ran across this site that I submitted my question to at like 10 pm, and $9, and an hour and a half later, I had a diagram and an explanation of how to do it from a mechanic. You also don't pay until you get your answer and one that you're satisfied with. That's awesome.

I surfed around and they have what they say are "professionals" in many fields (medicine, carpentry, autos, etc) who answer your questions for a small fee. Cheapest mechanic I ever had... and the answer was cheaper than buying the manual myself. Cool.

Read more...

JOURNEY PODCAST

Welp, Journey is now in the 21st century and the messages are live via podcast. Cool. Here's the link.

Read more...