Blogelemy

Big Announcement!

This past Wednesday, I was finally able to announce the exciting news that our family is expecting our third child at the end of the year. We have known this for several weeks but wanted to keep the circle of friends and family who knew pretty small in case something happened to the baby.  It was fun to tell the high school students, but it was more fun to sit our own two kids down and tell them the news.  We gathered at the dining room table and told them, "Mommy has a baby in her tummy and it will come out".  Our son promptly asked, "Is it coming out NOW?!"  We told him that it will take several months. 

It is hard for me to keep a secret like this that is so exciting.  In fact, I'm not exactly the best at keeping secrets at all.  Those who know me know that if they want to throw a surprise party for a friend, it is best to surprise me as well. 

We know quite a few families who are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to share similar news and we have been praying for and hoping that we will have numerous pregnancy overlaps with our friends!

You know your loved when...

your car gets gift wrapped by some students.

Garfield minus garfield

I stumbled upon this website the other day.

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

http://www.garfieldminusgarfield.net

Indiana Jones Publicity

I'm pretty sure that I am the last person who hasn't seen the Indiana Jones movie.  My friends who saw it have told me to go in with low expectations and then I will be fine.  I have noticed that Indiana Jones has created a publicity blitz that has surrounded everyone with advertising this movie.  If I had the time, it would be fun to go into a grocery store and count the number of Indiana Jones products.

I did have time to find this link:  Indiana Jones products on Amazon

An email from our Olive Garden server

The following is an email from the Olive Garden waiter who served our party of 23 on our trip to Paradise 2008. I am really proud of our students and leaders for how they conducted themselves. The thing that I'm not so proud of is lying about Travis' birthday so they would bring out a cake.
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Dear Grace Church pastors,

I just wanted to pass on something that happened Saturday night down here in Kansas. It was quite obvious that God had given me the youth group to serve at Olive Garden that evening. We had so many large groups and our hosts had no where else to put them but with us. What a coincidence huh? There's more coincidences at the end. When you see the connections you'll be surprised as I still am! I knew right away they were Christians. For whatever reason God's given me the ability to pick followers of Christ out of crowds. Everyone was on their best behavior and their conversations with us and others were very uplifting. They all were very exited about Sunday and that was almost all the leaders talked about. At this point I didn't know it was for Paradise. However, it was a blessing to see this in brothers and sisters in the Lord. It was also fun because it was someone's birthday too, Travis' I think!

This letter is not just a thank you to your guys for being on your best behavior. It's really to thank you for showing God's love to others because what happened next I did not expect. I honestly believe this is the reason God gave you to me. I say me because the other servers asked me to coordinate the whole thing. That rarely happens. They said later if it wasn't for me keeping things on track they didn't think it would've worked. Another coincidence? Anyway, I finally asked what they were here for and one leader told me Paradise prayer vigil. I asked for directions since I had Sunday off. I've never had Sundays off, but for SOME reason, a manager thought I needed Sunday off. Heather, after giving me a Mapquest print out, then said, "Oh, you'll need this to get in" and handed me one of the green wristbands. THIS was a surprise! I didn't know there was admission. These are $60 at the door. There would be no way my budget could afford that, and it'd be two hours of driving down the shoot. This was an amazing gift! I don't know if God specifically told Heather to give me an admission band, but she did. God knows our needs before we do.

Apparently, I need this enough that God took a youth group from Grace Church in Eden Prairie Minnesota, had them drive down, decide to eat at the Olive Garden, have them sat in the only section that has a Minnesotan born server whose home church is pastored by Randy and Mo. Yes, this is all a coincidence! HAHA :) So to all by brothers and sisters at Grace, thank you and Shabbat Shalom! And please, feel free to pass this throughout the church however you wish. Perhaps this testimony will inspire others within the congregation.

Joe Brueske

A picture of heaven?

I'm on my way to La Cygne, Kansas with a bunch of leaders and students for a gathering called 'Paradise' http://www.paradise08.com . Paradise is a worship gathering in the middle of the country to glorify the name of Jesus Christ. The organizers of this gathering have done everything in their ability to eliminate any distractions from that goal. None of the speakers or worship leaders will be visible. You will not be able to purchase anything there. Everything commercial has been stripped away so that only God will get the glory and the credit. I am thinking that this will be a lot like heaven in that thousands will be gathered without distraction for the single purpose of glorifying the Name of the Lord.

Stay tuned, I'll be sure to post my reaction to 'Paradise' when I return.

Movie Theater = Photo Opportunity

After going to the movies this past weekend I realized that part of the current movie-going experience is taking pictures of movie displays.  This isn't people being goofy, it is encouraged!  At one point this might have been the old-fashioned put your head into the cardboard cutout, now it is sit in the Barber chair.  So next time you go to the movie find a spot to smuggle in your digital camera as well.

Guitar Center

I was recently in a ginormous music store called Guitar Center with some of our staff as we were making some purchases for some stage design.  There are a few stores like Guitar Center that don't do anything for me because my passions and giftings aren't in that area.  There are others who can spend a lot of time (and money) in a store like Guitar Center.  I have taken students into a Guitar Center and asked them to tell me how they might spend a $1000 in the store if they had it to spend.

Stores where I could spend lots of time and money:
Best Buy
Apple
IKEA
Lowes
Home Depot
Volkswagen

Stores that I could care less if I ever walked in again: (not worth looking up the links)
JoAnn Fabrics
Archivers
Baby's 'R Us
Bed, Bath and Beyond
Michael's
RadioShack
Sears
Guitar Center

Hilarious website...

I recently saw a Twitter from Doug Fields that brought me to this website.  I would explain it but I'm guessing it is pretty self-explanatory once you enter the site.  For some reason, I laugh every time I see it or show it to someone else.  Here is one of my favorites:

GET MORE AT ManBabies.com!

 

Answering Criticism

Let’s say you took a poll to find out how many people have faced criticism in some form or another at some time in their lives. Since criticism is faced by nearly everyone, chances are you would find that at least 99.9% have faced criticism of some kind. It is easy to think of times when your family, parents, friends, employers, co-workers or even strangers have criticized you. It is even likely that you have criticized yourself in some way. Though criticism can be positive or negative, criticism is negative the majority of the time and not a thrill to receive. In the midst of criticism, there are times when it is necessary to answer and there are times when it is better to just listen.

How can we effectively answer the criticism that we face from other people? In 1 Samuel 17, David was criticized three times. Each time he did something different to cope with the criticism that he faced. When his brother Eliab (v. 28) criticized him, he considered the person criticizing and questioned his motives. When we are criticized we need to consider the person who is criticizing us. We also need to be willing to talk about it with that person. The second time that David was criticized (v. 33) was when Saul told him that he was not capable of doing what he claimed he could do (defeat Goliath). David explained his case by giving Saul examples of times when he had done what he was claiming that he could do. When we are criticized we need to listen and share our side. And the third time David was criticized (v. 43) took place when Goliath made fun of David and criticized him for the single purpose of making him feel bad. David considered the source and told him what he knew to be true. When we are criticized we need to consider where the criticism is coming from and remember God’s true promises. 

The next time that you are criticized, answer the criticism by following the examples set by David. Consider who it is that is criticizing you, listen to what they are saying, consider what their motives may be, give reasons why you don’t agree with them and tell the person what you know to be true. Allow the confidence that comes from being in the family of God be the source of your self-worth.

Every Step You Take

A few weeks ago I posted about a competition that is going on with our staff to count how many steps we take in a given day.  I'm shocked that I am still counting this.

Here is an update on how I am doing.

Number of Days:  41 days
Number of Steps:  417,920 steps
Number of Miles: 208.96 miles
Average Steps per day: 10,193 steps
Average Miles per day:  5.10 miles
Number of times I shook the pedometer to watch the numbers go up:  too many to count

Something to be proud of... (kind of)

We had some friends over last Friday for a bonfire.  We had a great time and ended up inside playing the Wii.  Here is a video of our son playing Pastor Travis and his wife Stephanie.  Our son held his own and won most of the races!

Mario Kart Fun pt. 1

Mario Kart Fun pt. 2 (Our Son's player is in the top right corner)