LEMONADE FOR UGANDA

Today was our final fund raiser for Uganda. Our team had a silent auction outside where people bought $2300 worth of donated goods and services. That was pretty cool. We're almost done now.

My kids however have been bugging me for months to do a lemonade sale at journey to raise money. I think they are sick of helping me recycle cans. Anyway- so as not to bombard our congregation with this trip and fundraising, I told them we could not do it until auction sunday. Every weekend they asked me, "Is this the weekend Dad?" Finally, this weekend I said yes.

So yesterday I helped them buy the supplies for lemonade and build a table out of 2x2's and cardboard. Then all by themselves they painted it yesterday and made the lemonade and sold it today. It made the "silent" auction not so silent listening to TJ repeat, "Lemonade for Uganda" really loud about a thousand times, but it all paid off.

They felt like they got to do something and they made $441 for their efforts towards Uganda.

Pretty sweet. "3 cheers for the browthewrs" as Jake would say.

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UM... I'M NOT GONNA TITLE THIS POST

Cuz I'm not sure what to title this post.

But a few weeks ago TJ graduated from 5th grade. I mentioned that at Dad's and donuts this woman came in a really short little black dress. I think they are called LBD's and I swear she was showing off her BVD's. Maybe you thought I was overreacting.

Well, she showed up at graduation in a really short white one that she had to keep pulling down. She and her husband (I assume) were walking in as I was walking in and she seemed a little out of place, like a guy in a suit on the beach- only the reverse. So as I stood in the back taking pictures of TJ and this ceremony the whole time. She sat near the back and I kept wondering what this gal was thinking and then when she stood up and stuck her butt out I couldn't help myself.

I snapped a pic. In all my field trips and elementary school events, I swear I've seen more thongs than I did even in the low rise jean fad of the early 2000's with our high school girls.

So word to the wise, an elementary school function is not the best place to show off your thong butt through your see through white little number.


There you go Becky. Now you've seen it too.

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TWITTER AND BLOGLINES

I do not twitter. I do blog (duh) and I read blogs via bloglines.

But lots of my friends do twitter. I can't see adding another technology piece to my world.

However, especially those friends of mine who do not blog but do twitter, I have enjoyed getting their twitter feeds. I was excited to accidentally discover that I could via bloglines.

So, if you want to, just go to twitter. Find the people who are on that you know or would like to read what they publish. Hit subscribe. Walla.... you have instant twitter single sentence blog posts in essence.

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ARE YOU 36 AND OVERWEIGHT?

That's the question that came up on an add while updating facebook.

Right above this picture:






#1. Who is asking?
#2. What's up with this facebook ad reading my age off my profile?
#3. How'd they get my body shot too?
#4. What idiot decided that I was 36 and dumb enough to believe that I got like this by drinking their green tea?

on a similiar note... I walked out of panera bread after meeting with a student yesterday afternoon. We walked through a group of 3 women in their late teens/early twenties. And all I heard were these 2 lines:

Girl 1: Yeah... well that's Matthew McConaughey.
Girl 2: I want to lick his body.

... and our society thinks women are the only ones with body image complexes.

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ALMOST THERE

Our Uganda Team set out to raise 77,000. We all all but $6000 there. PRAISE GOD!! We are still working hard to fill the final gaps.

This sunday we get prayed for in church and we do a final silent auction of goods and services outside. Thanks to all of you who helped my family do our part!! Keep praying.

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SABBATICAL DREAM

I know lots of professions don't get extended time off. But I have a few friends who have been given a 3 month Sabbatical by their churches recently. No one in youth ministry- just those at the teaching or senior pastor level. I'd be lying if I wasn't a tad bit jealous. That sounds really refreshing.

• I'd go camping.
• I'd read.
• I'd sleep.
• I'd play with my kids.
• I'd build a shed.
• I'd wash my car.
• I'd organize my workshop.
• I'd go through my iphoto library, organize it, delete some, and print family event books.
  
• I'd sleep.
• I'd exercise.
• I'd go for a bike ride.
• I'd take my kayak out.
• I'd take a week of surfing lessons.
  
• I'd sleep.

Man that sounds nice.

I'm in my 15th year as a youth pastor. I've taken lots of family vacations, time off work to do projects at home, spent lots of weekends and an occasional week with my wife. But the longest single stint is about 14 days in a row camping over the summer.

Next week is a whole week at summer camp which means this week has been crazy and we have no weekend service the first week in July due to us being gone at that trip.

Then I return to relax for a day.
Then I spend a day packing.
Then I plan for the fall for 2 days in my office.
Then I do yard work for a day.

Then the next day I leave for Uganda for 10 days of missions trip with my family and a team of 15 from our high school ministry. Then the team will come home and I'll be there for additional 10 days with my family- meeting my parents and my sisters family who will already be there. All in all, I'll be gone for 4 sundays for that trip. The end result is that I'm not teaching to high school students in our weekend service for 6 weeks, the longest single stint I've had off of teaching in 14 plus years of ministry.

I wonder if it will feel like a refreshing Sabbatical?

I'm working hard in the coming weeks to be able to truly leave and forget about my home concerns for a solid 21 days. When I get back, I got almost straight into a 2 day leadership conference with out church staff and then right directly into the fall launch of our ministry, coaching soccer, and a new seminary class.

Sabbatical sounds like a dream.

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I TOLD YOU THEY DID IT

I said I didn't have pictures.

But sarah did. So here's how to catch a pigeon.....

1. Pour out copious amounts of Doritos on your friend.


2. Watch pigeons eat everything around you.


3. Once one pigeon is on you, move fast and throw the towel over them.


4. Bammo. You have a pigeon.


Next we're gonna catch a pelican by having a kid hold a fish in his teeth while through a whole in a towel.

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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY #14

Today is my wife and I's official 14 year anniversary. Happy Anniversary Wife!

We celebrated it a few weekends ago when we had free childcare ala the grandma and papa, but today is the official day.

So while we were gone on vacation, my wife bought me a new ring. I wear a lot of rings, but the only gold one I wore was my wedding ring. All the rest were silver. It's also the only one I never changed or took off. But we have talked about changing it out for a silver one every now and again. Anyway, I found these rings I liked made of Titanium on our cruise a while back and then I found them again while in Dana Point.

So I tried one on and my lovely bride said I could have it and then she suggested I wear it as my wedding ring. I thought she was kidding, but evidently not.

It costs $35. Whooo hooo. Maybe I can buy one for my wife for our 20 year. I'll splurge and buy her one for $50.

So... here's my new comfort fit titanium wedding ring for my marriage of steel :)

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HOW TO CATCH A PIGEON

I have no photos. But you'll have to trust me on this. Just do this again but this time use copious amounts of Doritos on Pacific Beach. If I didn't see it, I wouldn't believe it. My students caught a pigeon on Monday. I didn't think they would be successful so I never pulled out my camera. Craziness. Pure craziness. You should have seen all the people watching to see if they could do it. We are a regular circus act.

We should go start some kind of business catching birds.

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KNUCKLE CALENDAR

I took my two oldest sons with me today to a youth group tradition that I inherited several years ago called "Beach Mondays". Initially, they were every Monday. Now it's more like 4 or 5 Mondays during the summer.

Anyway, on our way home my boys were counting the days till we leave for Uganda and I told TJ that June only had 30 days. He then started to check on his hand. I said, "what are you doing?" He said, "I'm checking to see if you're right?" I said, "How do you know? What are you doing on your hand."

He said that if you use close your fist and say the months of they year on your knuckles, all the months that land on the knuckle are 31 days, all the valleys are 30 days or less.

I didn't believe him since July and August both have 31 days, so it's not every other month.

But then I did it, and it works!! Close your fist. Start on your index finger and work your way towards your pinky, calling out one month for each knuckle and one for each valley. When you land on July on your last knuckle, start over on August on your knuckle again.

There you go, if you ever wonder what month has 31 days and what does not, use the knuckle tool. 5th grade is so informative evidently.

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1 CORINTHIANS 16:14

So, this morning while preparing for church I ran across 1 Corinthians 16:14.

You may have read it. But I bet you don't know what it says. It's never jumped off the page at me before. I never hear it quoted. I never see it on banners. I've never seen it held up on a sign. I've never seen someone sign a card or a book with it. No one has ever sent it to me in a text message. I've never memorized it nor do I know someone who has that I'm aware of. I've never seen it in a missions statement or heard someone tell me it was their favorite verse. I've never seen it on a bumper sticker or even heard it quoted in a sermon.

"So what" you say... "that's true of a lot of verses in the bible."

Yeah.. BUT.... FIRST CORINTHIANS 16:14 READS:

"Do everything in love."

I'm not kidding. That's the whole thing. That's not part of the verse or even quoted out of context. It's Paul's commission to the Corinthians in the final paragraphs of his address.

If I was into pitching products to Christians to be sold alongside Testamints, I'd start a new clothing line. "ONE C 1614" is what I'd call it. (If you do it, you owe me royalties cuz I swear millions will buy it.) By the droves I tell you.

I should get a license plate that reads "1C 1614" I already memorized it. Now I'm gonna tat it on my shoulder. I'm gonna print it on my wall. I'm going to start a 1 Corinthians 16:14 revolution.

If you add to it verse 13. Here's what you get.

"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love."

That so SCREAMS of a teaching series and a life mission. The "ONE C 16:14 REVOLUTION" begins today!!

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13 CARS

At least 13 cars were broken into today, while their occupants were at CHURCH!!!

We have limited parking so we have asked some of our key people to park in the more remote places off site. As a result, most of the people who had their cars broken into today are our regulars. At least 4 are our staff or their families that I'm aware of. One girl from our high school program lost her purse and the pearls her mom gave her for graduation. One guy from our high school leadership team lost an ipod and an acoustic guitar he uses for our weekend services. Our middle school director lost her ipod.

Crazy I tell you. If I find the guilty party... I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to invite them to church or punch them on behalf of my friends. I hate it when people steal stuff. Maybe I should punch them and then invite them to church. But I'm guessing that won't work so great.

Loving your enemies is easier said than done.

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HOW TO CATCH A SEA GULL

HAVE YOUR FRIENDS LAY OLD BREAD AND POPCORN AS A TRAIL LEADING UP AND ONTO YOU. HIDE UNDER A TOWEL.

WAIT FOR THE BIRDS TO GET ENOUGH GUTS TO EAT FOOD ON YOU.


WAIT FOR ONE TO STAND ON YOUR CHEST.

MOVE FAST AND TRY AND CATCH ONE.

IF IT DOESN'T WORK. TRY AGAIN WITH A FRIEND THIS TIME.

MOVE REALLY FAST


THEN UNWRAP THE BIRD YOU JUST CAUGHT


GOTTA LOVE BORED HIGH SCHOOL MEN. THEY ARE PURE COMEDY.

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ALL DAY AT THE BEACH

We took our youth group for a summer kick off party of at South Mission beach yesterday. Sucks to live in San Diego, but I guess someone's got to do it. 12 hours. 10am to 10pm. Surfing, volleyball, bocce ball, frisbee, fire pit, laughter, friendship, hot dogs, smores, sunsets. Tough day at the office.

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FATHERS DAY PICS

Last Sunday we celebrated Father's day with a trip to church, followed by a trip to see Kung Fu Panda (super funny- you should see it). I then took a nap of which I awoke from to experience an amazing "Land and Sea" dinner dreamed up by my wife and her mom. We then polished it off with some ice cream cake and a few presents. My family made me a custom coffee mug with pics from my year of field trips. So great.

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IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW #3

• BRIDES ARE SAVING MONEY: by buying cakes that only have a real top layer. The rest is just frosting covered styrofoam and guests are served look-a-like cheap cake. HA! That's great!

• MY TURN ON FAITH: Newsweek has this article every week called "myturn". This months article is from a gay man and is titled, "let me worship as I am". It's a search for faith and meaning in the Christian church while feeling designed by God to be gay. He ends up finding it in the Episcopal tradition. The quote that made me think was this one, "I wish I could be spiritual but not religious thereby bypassing early Sunday rising and the challenges of community". I wonder if escaping community is really a helpful step in affirming ones spirituality. I don't think it is.
  

• WIKI BIBLE: Wikipedia meets the Bible. Ever wanted to write your own translation of a book of the Bible? Well, now's your chance. They are assembling a user generated translation of the Bible. My old boss used to call brainstorming, "pooling our ignorance". I used to hate that phrase. But here it seems oddly appropriate.

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IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW #2

These are from reading a few of the latest TIME magazines:

• This guy named Dave is challenging people to get their material possessions down to 100. He says it's to kick consumerism in the head. Mother Teresa had it down to two. I'm a far cry from both. I want to say I believe in simplicity and I'm trying to fight my own consumerism blood that runs too deep, but maybe I'm just lying to myself..., but this would mean I would have to eat with my hammer and wear nothing but an extension cord. I'm so getting rid of the forks and pants before my tools go.

• It is evidently illegal to use your neighbors unsecured wireless network. I recently rode all the way to LA and back with my kid for a Disneyland trek and sat next to a dad who works for the DMV to catch identity thieves. He says you're an idiot if your wireless network is not password encoded and if someone uses it consistently for illegal stuff, well the feds just might kick down your door and confiscate all your belongings as evidence. So, word to the wise... put a security code on your wireless router.
  

• China is spending 20 billion on Olympic training through 3000 state run boarding schools that have some 400,000 hand picked students based from cities and remote villages. Why? One reason: to beat the US in the Olympics for the most number of Gold medals. How's that for the spirit of competition?
  

• Obama got so annoyed by the rumors about his faith and family and patriotism and stuff that he started his own website to compete against them. www.fightthesmears.com

• If you love almonds. You're supposed to eat 23 at a time. That's evidently the same amount that fits in a shot glass (if you love vodka too) or the amount that covers a classic square yellow sticky note (if you love all things sticky noteish too). This is a website devoted to all things almonds if you want help. Um.. I so just eat them by the handful. Maybe that explains a few things.
  

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SO TRUE

I like to read the "comic strips" that this guy makes. Sometimes they make me think, smile, or even wince. I have them in my daily bloglines, though recently, they feed got all jacked up or something so I have to go directly there to get the latest.

But anyway, I have posted some before, but these ones I had tucked away for a future post and decided today was the day.

• I resonate with this when church goes long occasionally . Sometimes I think I can be this guy. The subtitle really makes me fear that people might actually feel that way after I get done teaching. That's reason enough to stay on my toes and work hard.

• I feel this way every time my church sings this one song with the chorus of "fire fall down" repeated a million times. I keep thinking, um... no thanks. Fire stay there. I just can't get the visual to work for me.
  

• I will forever work to keep this wall from not running my life. I don't think it will ever go away, I just have to daily say "no" to it. Some days I do less climbing than others.

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LISTS

The last 3 days were filled with fun times, good food, relaxation, and good conversations.

I had made a list of questions that I wanted to ask Shannon about- I never pulled it out, it was just stuck there in my head. Periodically, while driving or walking or eating, we'd chat about them. I also brought a small moleskin that I wrote down our thoughts in.

The result of those questions were some lists:

PLACES WE'VE BEEN TO FOR OUR ANNIVERSARY (at least the ones we could remember)

• Disneyland
• Sonoma
• Foxes Bed and Breakfast in Sutter Creek
• San Diego - before we lived here.
• Pelican Bay near Watsonville- several times.
• Applefarm Bed and Breakfast in St. Luis Obispo
• Palm Springs
• Dana Pt - twice now. Once we stayed at Cardiff by the Sea one night too.
• Napa
• Halfmoon Bay

OUR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY HISTORY BY THE NUMBERS:

• 1= years our children have all three been in full time school together, number of marriages we've been a part of, number of horses we have owned
  
• 2= years Shannon worked full time as a teacher, number of churches I've worked at full time, number of trucks I've owned, number of times we've been to Disneyland as a family with the kids
  
• 3= number of children we have, houses we've lived in, dogs we have owned, cars shannon has driven as her daily driver, number of seminaries I've been to in the process of getting my MDiv.
  
• 4= number of college degrees between us either completed or in progress, number of MAJOR home remodel projects I've done
  
• 5= Jakes Age
• 8= Tyler's Age, Number of years we dated (also we noted number of years we waited for sex), and the number of Mac computers we've owned
• 10= TJ's Age
• 11= Number of times we've been to Mexico to do missions as a couple/family
• 12= Number of years we've been camping at Richardson's Grove state park for a week during the summer as a married couple. 16 if you count dating.
  
• 14= years we've been married
  
• 36= our age (uh... my wife says it's my age- she is a youthful 35)
  
• 38507, 37413, 11734= street address numbers of our homes

DREAM LIST OF STUFF WE WISH WE COULD AFFORD TO DO. SOME WE MAY DO, SOME MAY JUST BE A DREAM...

• new kitchen
• new master bed/bathroom remodel
• upstairs bath remodel
• huge family camping road trip for like a month one summer
• pool
• cruise the Eastern Caribbean
  
• go camping with a local family/friend
• buy a Vespa
• get the wife a laptop
• get the wife a new cell phone
• new sectional for the front room
• new patio furniture
• wall unit in the boys room
• house painted
• new doors and windows
• new flooring
• trip to Israel
• trip to New York
• trip to Washington DC
• revamp Shannon's wedding ring
  

3 QUESTIONS WE ASKED THIS WEEKEND AND ARE COMMITTED TO ASKING ALL YEAR.

• How are you?
  
• How are we?
• How is our family?

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IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW

This is going to be a post I'll do every once in a while. I'm not going to give a prediction on how often, because then I'd feel guilty when I dropped the ball and did not do it.

But, for what it's worth, I read/skim Newsweek and Time just to hear what the media is saying about stuff I sometimes care about ... here's what I found by reading the latest issue of Newsweek:

• Friday, June 20 is take your dog to work day. I'm bringing Zeus. Question is will Stina have the guts to bring Darby?


• Craig Venter is making bugs. But not just any bugs. He is making a bacteria that will eat carbon dioxide and poop engine fuel. No joke. He's my hero. If he can get one to eat salt water and poop fresh water, we could change the world. I think I'm going to try and figure out how I can poop something worth money. So far.... I it's just poop though.


• Wanna green up your wedding? Here's an article with links to donate your dress to a charity that will turn it into a prom dress, get a ring made from post consumer gold, and give potted plants to guests instead of cut flowers on tables.
  


• What would you do with 293,000 dollars? If you're brad pitt, you'd buy a marble table for your wife. No worry, your kids pictures will bring a cool 15 mil. I'm selling my kids pics on e-bay soon then I'm gonna buy a silver spoon too.
  

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24 HOURS OF PICTURES

We've been sharing our room


with these two love birds


they like to kiss

here's what happens with too much kissing


last night we went for a walk and found the home they are building for us... it's in the background


this is the view we'd get every night- two beautiful sights:


here is the sunset. God is a good painter.
This is my breakfast the next day. I love bed and breakfast places.



Went for a bike ride. Started at the Ritz just up hwy 1, ended up finding the St. Regis along the way.

Got the bellhop to take our pic since we were the trash that rolled in on our bikes instead of the benz people kept getting the valet to take.


Then I posed and added my name to the statue of my dear friend Mr. Dana


We went back to the room and watched sail boats


Took a nap and dreamed of boats

Woke up and went to dinner through the concierge and ended up having dessert paid for by the Blue Lantern Inn and dinner on my folks. Sweet place for sweet price!

Worked off dinner by walking with my lovely wife to get her starbucks. This is a fabulous new outfit that I bought her.
Then back to the room.

24 hours in pictures.

Good Night.

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BLUE LANTERN GETAWAY

My wife and I are celebrating 14 years of marriage on a 3 day getaway.

Shannon's mom came down to see TJ's graduation and said she'd stay with the boys. Gary landed a job with the state in town so he got to come too. So she and Gary are kicking it for 3 days with them and we bounced.

Last December my wife leaked to Sarah Merk at Christmas that we loved this place we went to once before on a recommendation. As a result, my adult leaders pooled their resources and hooked us up with a sweet gift certificate that has covered almost our full stay for 2 nights. I owe you all!!!

Our day started with lunch at panera and some shopping for an outfit I promised my wife for her Mother's Day gift. Now we're in Dana Point at the Blue Lantern Inn. A sweet place with a sweet view. Here's the one from our balcony.



Below is a collage of the inn.

Click the picture to expand it. Here's what you'll see.

Top Row: our car loaded with bikes to ride, the inn (our room is the top balcony on the left)
Middle Row: the afternoon complimentary wine and food for "tea time"
Bottom Row: the huge tub every room comes with, our room complete with fire place not pictured.

That's all the details I can post. Now we're walking to dinner a few blocks away.

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SPONSORED BY THE COLORS YELLOW AND GREEN

I did not know my palms had a flower. I definitely did not know my grass did. This post is sponsored by the colors of yellow and green. God evidently likes them.

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5TH GRADE PROMOTION

Today was the promotion from 5th grade for our oldest son, TJ. I hate graduation ceremonies and even skipped my own college grad ceremony, but I will say this one was nice. The things that were said were genuine and not drawn out. The teachers and our principal seem to genuinely love these kids and their jobs. It was cool to see our son finish this season of his life well.

During the promotion, TJ was given 3 things that were unique to our son:

1. He received the student of the year award that he received from the Mason's about a month ago, but this time in front of his peers. That was sweet.



2. He received a gold award from the state for getting an A- or better GPA in 4th and 5th grade and scoring at least in the 85th percentile on a state test in either math or reading comprehension. So proud of him. I didn't know this was coming.
   



3. He was given a chance to share with the parents and students that he had made good on his campaign promise to help his school turn their trash into cash as a school treasurer. This year, every day TJ went first to the janitor's closet to take out the recycling cans and put them in the lunch area before going to class. Then every day, before going home he'd return them to the janitor's closet. Then every Friday Shannon brought home the recycling from a week of school with TJ. It then went to the bed of my truck and then to the recycling center with he and I and occasionally the rest of the fam too. In all, TJ recycled $200 out of the trash. He gave the school a new microphone and all 600 kids got a "ice cream push up" for dessert on campus one day. So proud of him.

Afterwards, we were all going to lunch to celebrate and TJ wanted seafood. We eventually decided on Joe's Crab Shack in Pacific Beach. He and I shared a big ol steam pot of shrimp and crab and such.

We then capped the day off by doing the last bit of recycling= another $27 for the school and $108 we had collected through our church for Uganda this summer.

Here's a pic I snapped of our boys at lunch. If you look close you can see that jake's hand is on TJ's shoulder. I love these 3 boys. I love it even more when the "brothers" look out for each other. I hope and pray they grow up to be the good friends they are now.



Here's a collage of TJ's day. (Bottom far right is TJ with the principal, Mrs. Kehoe. Next one in is TJ with his 5th grade teacher, Ms. Yamaguchi) Oh.. and I'm the balding dad- my hair is leaving me rapidly these days. I'm gonna shave it all off soon.

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SPORTS CONFESSION AND KOBE FEVER

When I was in college, Michael Jordan was like Jesus with a basketball. Dude could fly, walk on water, and do no wrong it seemed. Kobe seems to me to be the Jordan of today.

I say this out of a lot of sports ignorance- something that has increased greatly since leaving college. Today, I follow pretty much no sports and have virtually lost all interest in being a sports fan cuz I suck so bad at following them. I know hardly anyone's name and very little about stats. I have a hard enough time memorizing the names and life stats of the students in my ministry, much less those of famous athletes I'll never meet. My brain is just too stupid to keep it all sorted out and I feel guilty trying.

That being confessed, I still love to watch and attend and play most sports. I coach and play soccer. I love football season- especially monday nights. I was super bummed that Big Brown didn't win the triple crown, something I would love to witness a horse do someday. I can't wait for the summer olympics. I enjoy a good baseball game- even if only for an excuse to buy a stupidly expensive hotdog and sit in the stands with friends. I want to go to a nascar race someday. I'd really like to do one of those see how fast you can drive and spin a car around race car driving classes. I think that would be a huge rush.... I could go on.

But the inspiration of this post is Kobe- the crown jewel of the LA Lakers from what I can tell in my brief stint of following loosely the NBA finals.

Well a friend of mine has a college ministry blog and he posted this video of Kobe off of his website. Oh it's crazy and I've watched it like 20 times. I still can't figure out if it's real. I'm officially duped.

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TILLMAN IS MY HERO

My dad sent me a link to a video about a dog. I did some research on this bulldog named Tillman. Dude has his own website.

Here's why:




My dog is officially lame. Tillman is King.

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TESTING RANT

Ok.... so while I'm waiting for my seminary final, here's the pre-test conversation while our prof was out of the room.

This is way too much to memorize.

Yeah, it never actually sticks for me.

I used to be able to memorize stuff when I was young, but not so much anymore.

Well, it ain't working for me. (from a young guy)

I just flip through the test first looking for the questions I just barely know and right down all those answers first. Then the information can fly away and I'm ok.

Yeah me too.

Truth be told, if I took this same test I just took next week without cramming again for an hour, I'd fail it. When is someone going to figure out this system is broken. Regurgitating 4 points that so and so made in a book is stupid. That's why he wrote the book. What do I need it memorized for and isn't there a better way to test for understanding than jeopardy style quizzing?

I really didn't want my seminary degree to represent plug and chug making it through a system so I could say I did it. I hate that I'm giving up one night a week to listen to my profs read their notes or power point to me so that several weeks later, I can rewrite their power point from memory- only to forget it days or weeks from the time I took the test.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I do get more out of seminary than this rant expresses, but I'm tired and hate the testing methods of learnings so tightly tied to my job, my soul, and the God I'm trying to love and serve with my life.

Good thing I don't have to take another class until September.

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SOAK CITY GRADUATION

I have been ridiculously slammed these last few weeks. So I haven't had the time to post several things I've wanted to. Like 8 days ago I took the day and spent it with TJ and all the 5th grade students from his school at soak city.

I love this picture. Pure fun.


I was super glad I went. I drove there in my own car so we could leave whenever we wanted. I tried to find us a starbucks on the way home and got totally lost. I told TJ it was kinda fun. He thought I was nuts. Eventually we got home. Fun day with my oldest. My kids grow up too fast dang it.

Here's a collage I made of our day.

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WRITING ALL NIGHTER

Pulled my first all nighter in a long time last night. Got to church at 8am and didn't leave till 5 am the next day.

I had told Shannon that I would be a bad Dad and a lousy husband for 2 days because I had to fully immerse myself in being a seminary student for 2 days. This wasn't a bad week to say that since we're going away for our anniversary for thursday, friday, and saturday and since I'm taking most- if not all of Wednesday- off to hang do graduation stuff with TJ as he leaves the 5th grade and heads to middle school.

Anyway, I had to stay up all night to finish the first seminary project in 3 years that actually has direct application to my youth ministry. My Evangelism/Discipleship seminary professor is a church planter of a local church in our area and as a result, pastors think different than professors. I'm convinced of that much. So my class project was allowed to be tailored to the audience I work with and allowed to be directly ready to use, not a research project I'd have to assimilate later. WOW... NOVEL THOUGHT!!!

I better stop or I'll go off on a rant here. I have serious opinions about the greco-roman-european-postmodern-learning system I find my self stuck in... but that's another post with a lot of swear words...

So, despite the fact that I'm turning my project in late, it's done. Here's what it is:

A 6 week bible study and work book for students in our ministry. We are launching it in the fall of this next year in our small groups an in a parallel weekend series I'm writing called, "Everybody Matters". Here's how the 6 weeks break down:

• EVANGELISM 101- understanding God's heart for those far from God.
• BECOMING THE REAL DEAL- living an authentic life of a follower of Jesus before a watching world
• IDENTIFYING AND UTILIZING YOUR UNIQUENESS FOR GOD- examining different personality and spiritual gifts in light of the goal of evangelism.
• EMBRACING THE PROCESS- being faithful to the long haul of evangelism
• THE ART OF SHARING YOUR OWN STORY- harnessing the evangelical power of a changed life.
• UNDERSTANDING THE GOSPEL MESSAGE- clearly communicating God's story to those far from God.
  

So, I think I'm going to try and kill 3 birds with this one stone.

1. I'm going to give it to my prof for class credit.
   
2. I'm going to use it for my own ministry in the fall.
   
3. I'm going to see if Simply wants to use it as a small group curriculum.

I really hope all 3 work sweet!!!

Speaking of Simply, I also finished another bible study last week, which is why this seminary project is so late. That fact and graduations and about a million other things. Anyway, last week I tweaked a bible study I wrote for new believers back in my early days of youth ministry. (I think I was like 23) It took me a long time to tweak it, because I lost one of the chapters on my computer and because I've changed. So some of the stuff I wrote before I no longer believe. Ha!!!

Anyway, it was fun to do- minus the time crunch. It's really more of a survey of the Bible on 5 critical components for a follower of Jesus. I'm going to use it in our ministry as a class we're offering for new believers/students who want to reestablish the basics 2x a year over a 2 Sunday afternoon period. I used to call it "Foundations", but I retitled this series, "The Essence".

Here's how it breaks down.

• What is a Christian and why should I be one?
• What is the Bible and why should I read it?
• What is prayer and why should I practice it?
• What is the church and why should I get involved in it?
• What is evangelism and why should I do it?

I'll post here when the series goes live at Simply. But I'm guessing that won't happen for several months.

OK... I now have to go cram for my greco-roman-european-postmodern-learning system regurgitation of memorized trivia for my seminary final in 5 hours.

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3 YEARS. 501 POSTS.

3 years ago I started blogging. Now it's become kind of a mainstay in my life and this is post number 501 since I post a few times a week.

For a while now, I've wanted to print this blog annually to kinda of archive my journey in book form. But I have not found any reasonable way to do this. I know that links I have to other stuff will obviously be dead and sorta pointless in print form along with videos too, but most of my blog is actually words and pictures.

So, I found this place that at one point did it, but is now out of business.

This place won't do it for blogger and says they are fixing the problem soon. Yeah, I've been checking for like a year. They mean soon like Jesus evidently meant soon.

I found this place that I tried to download the program from and I think can do it, but it's like some kinda unix code thing and I'm not this smart. I think it will actually print them to a pdf and then I can use a site like Lulu to get it self-published. But like I said, I'm not that smart.

So, does anyone in my SD readership know unix code and want a side job or has anyone actually done this before?

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NO JOKE

I kid you not.

This dude brought his girlfriend or wife or something to Dad's and Donuts in just her shirt. I cut off their heads to preserve what innocence is still left. This ladies "dress" was so short and her legs so long, that I swear, especially if you saw how much it goes up in the front, that there were some kindergarten kids that saw more than just dads and donuts today. Good thing there was no wind.


Oh, and I hate to pay for the parking at my favorite coffee shop. It doubles the price of my coffee if I do. So instead of paying the meter gods, I hoof it 3 blocks. Well today I parked on a different street than I usually do and on the way, I saw this sign:


I thought about blurring the number, but decided not too just in case you were thinking what I was thinking. Perfect! This is just what I've been waiting for. I can't wait to get my tan painted on this year. I'm seriously thinking about getting a design added to my left buttock as well. Then if I get a shirt dress, I can show it off. Or maybe I'll get one of those cool Sports Illustrated nothing but paint swimsuits put on this year. Then I go to the beach all sly and au natural.

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