Aloha

It rained so hard I thought I was in Thailand. The last week has been storming crazy. I accidently left the vent on my sunroof open during one downpour and I was greeted to a wet interiour when I got back to my car. Lightening that totally lit up the sky, that streaked from sky to horizon and remained lit for 2 seconds, that's how crazy it was. Floods, thunder, the good times continue. The sun peaked through and I saw some blue today for the first time in a week. All i have to say is it could be a lot worse....it could be December.

Cheers,

I'm still here.  Working in the summer scraps big time.  So we're planning a week long camp for our students Sept. 10-14.  It will be a team building, high ropes, etc camp that helps inner city youth get out of their comfort zone and challenges them physically and emotionally and personally.  This is random but if you have an interst in being a part of that camp, and would like to volunteer as an R.A. (females preferred) and could get your trip paid for would you?

So one thing that I like about the midwest is all of the fresh produce this time of year.  Saturday i went and hand picked 11 pounds of blueberries.  I love blueberries and now my freezer is full of them. 

After berry picking we went to a peach orchard to get some fresh peaches, the road sign told us to go "nowhere," so we did and found the peaches.  Notice that you can also buy bison meat.

After going nowhere we went to a little town and searched for a restaurant but couldn't find one.  Then there was a big sign that said, "Eat at Mo's" so we went a little further and found Mo's and had some nice food.

Rural American sure has its oddities but it made for a fun Saturday with new friends.

Thanks for reading.

This is one of my favourite flowers, the hibiscus...the Hawaiian state flower.  The only thing about it is its life.  The hibiscus buds and then opens up and is at its beautiful prime for about a day and half before it starts to wilt and fall off the stem. 

I was thinking about this flower the other day and how it is so much like our lives.  When you consider the world, history and eternity, we are on this Earth for such a short time.  Like the flower we're here for just a blink.  It's easy to get overwhelmed with the things going on around us that we sometimes lose sight of the things that are important.  Suddenly family, friends, or loving someone like Jesus loves them takes second place to things like success or even material things that make us feel successful or on top of the world.  We get caught up in things that will just fade away.

Nothing is eternal except for the Kingdom of God.  Since that's the case I need to take more risks.  I need to love as Jesus loved and feel compassion for the things that Jesus is compassionate about.  If I call myself a Christian I need to be a Christian everywhere I go.  On the freeway, behind slow drivers, at work when interacting with someone with an attitude.

I want to make a difference for the Kingdom.  I have but a blink to do it.

At the end of June I had some time to go on a silent retreat so I went to northern WI, by Green Bay, home of the Packers!  Below are some pictures I took up there.

ok, thanks so much for checking out my site!

Greet'ngs

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I've "updated," perhaps because there isn't much to update about.  Until now.  I just got back from one of my best weekends in a while.  I went to the VIBE conference at NewSong and it was like a big family reunion.  I got to see good friends that were back from all over the world.  Thailand, Mexico City, London, India and of course the good old USA were all represented!  It was a refreshing time that was much needed.

I finished a book by Lorin Cunningham called Is that really you, God? Lorin is the founder of YWAM.  It was an inspiring book about his life and calling and the birth of YWAM ministry.  It was cool to hear stories about how God spoke to him and to others, I think it jump-started my prayer life, I became more expectant in my prayers.  I still am as I try to hear God about what the next move is.  I took the Chicago job as an interim as I figured out what was next.  There are some ideas but nothing concrete.  I really just need to wait for God to speak, then take the step of faith toward where He is directing...He is presently silent.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Here's the gang from Thailand

Old friends, from all over

My good friends, Michelle and Monique, we laughed so much!

I took this on my silent retreat up in Northern Wisconsin a couple weeks ago.

Thanks for reading!

OK, so I just finished the book I was reading on my previous post, very cool book.  I just want to get involved in all of the justice issues around the world, especially if they involve children.  It will be interesting to see what I end up doing a year or two from now.

I just downloaded the new cd from one of my favorite bands...Linkin Park.  I have to say that, though this new endeavor has distinct differences from the previous releases, the band has not let me down.  One difference is it doesn't have as much anger as previous releases, at least on first listen, I'll pay more attention as I continue to listen.  Great CD.  I recommend it.

So I was looking at the "Top 25 Most Played" list on my iTunes library and 20 of the 25 songs are Hillsong United.  If that doesn't say something about my listening preferences I don't know what does!

If you're going to VIBE I will be there, let's hang out.

AHHH, I don't update that often anymore, even when I say I will...I just spent 30 minutes writing a nice update and it wouldn't save and I lost it all!  Why, why whhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

OK, I'll try again.  Got back from so cal this week, had a great time there.  I got to see some good friends...but not all of them.  I'll be out again next month.  I've been really blessed to have the kind of friends I have, I thank God for them...you.

While in so cal I got to go to a camp with the school that I work for, it was a leadership/come out of your comfort zone kind of camp with at risk students from both LA and Orange county.  There were 25 students in all and we had a wonderful time.  Those students were incredible and have so much to offer.  Amazing potential.  Here are some pictures from the camp.

On the way back to chi-town I stopped in Phoenix to see a very good friend that I've known for many years. It was great to see her and I always get encouraged when I spend time with her.  We had an interesting conversation about singleness.  It's pretty jack'd up how our culture has put the pressure on being married.   As you get older there's a stigma that goes with it.  If you've been divorced 5 times you're not necessarily viewed by soceity as an unfit spouse but if you've never been married you must be gay.  What the hell is that all about?  Believe me I'd like to be married someday, but having seen so many unhappy married people it's not something that I'm just going to jump into just because some people seem to think, "the older you get the less chance you have...blah blah blah"  whatever!  They must not know how big my God is...  In the meantime I'm just going to enjoy my baggage-free singleness, and do whatever I want

Back in chi-town the weather is pleasant, it was 90 today.  There is this freak phenomena though, apparantly this is the year of the cicada, of which there are two varieties in the US, one has a 17 year gestation period, the other 13 years.  They are underground feeding on roots then at some magical time they come out, turn into adults, scream and die a few weeks later, the next generation then comes 13 or 17 years later.  They scream so loud that I when I was sitting outside eating my dinner and reading a book the sound made my ears numb.  They were ringing when I went back inside.  

One even hitchhiked on my car this morning on the way to work, I was trying everything to get it off but he just hung on tight!

See ya!

+ =

 

Dang, it's been a long time since I've posted.  OK, i'll try to put something up soon.  In the meantime...just wait.  thanks for checking in.

OH YEAH, I just bought a ticket to visit California over Memorial Day weekend.  I sure do hope to see you then!