"It's been a crazy week." Yeah, that's what I'll use as my excuse. And due to a lack of creativity, I'll just sum up a little of what has happened in my world.- spring break decimated our youth events...we should be back to normal next week.
- the server at church crashed which means no email, no internet, no printing, no database...you get the picture.
- I'm getting a new computer at work...which is useless until the server is fixed.
- 3 of my high school guys took me mountain biking...I almost died...and I still feel it.
- participated in a five hour board meeting...but it wasn't as painful as it sounds.
- started watching season 3 of Newsradio...I love that show.
- got approved for a mortgage...for the second time since January.
- kids were sick...but one is mostly better.
- open house tomorrow...which means we have to find some way to keep 2 sick kids occupied for 4 hours.
- I'm all caught up on 24 & Prison Break...but I have a stack of other shows still to watch.
- I'm 2 for 21...I've only won 2 coffees.
That's all for now.
I'll be brief and to the point:- We made an offer on a house and then they countered
- We walked away
- We're on the hunt again...but for a different kind of house
- I'm 3 episodes behind on 24
- Our family is playing lots of Settlers of Catan
- I saw gold painted fire hydrants on Saturday
- Church life is getting busier every day
- I'm currently 2 for 12 in Roll Up the Rim
We made an offer on a house this afternoon. We actually looked at two different townhouse complexes and decided to pursue the last one we looked at. We had looked at this place previously but weren't considering it because it was almost a 25-30 minute drive away from the church. What we have come to realize is that we can't afford anything else, unless we want to settle for a run down, two-bedroom place in a rough part of the city. If our offer is accepted, we may be farther away, but the place will be brand new.Now we wait for the phone to ring...
Ok, so now I'm 2 for 9, with both winning rims getting me a free coffee (or hot chocolate in my case)!In other news, I attended a workshop this morning dealing specifically with the sexual exploitation of youth. One speaker was a former prostitute who now does a great deal of work trying to help other sex workers get out of the industry. The second speaker dealt mainly with the topic of internet safety.I'll admit that I wasn't sure what to expect and the only reason I really attended this was because I missed another community awareness event last week. But I will say that it was a very informative morning. And I totally appreciate the fact that they didn't come from a Christian perspective.Then it was off to meet with a couple other youth pastors to watch the movie, Thirteen. Between the morning workshop and that movie, let's just say that it wasn't a light-hearted day. It really is an insightful movie into the lives of teenagers. I'm not completely convinced that the timeline of the movie is accurate as it seems to cram almost every possible major teen issue into a 4-6 month period in one grade seven girl's life.But what do I know? I'm not 13.
So what's a new youth pastor supposed to teach on? What do you do with a group who can't remember the last time they actually finished a teaching series? What do you study when you aren't sure who is going to show up each week? What do you teach when you don't have a clue where the group is at?My conclusion (and well known Sunday School answer): Jesus!Tomorrow we're starting a series called "Covered in Dust" and we're kicking it off by watching a Nooma video appropriately entitled "Dust". Then we're just going to look at a different moment from Jesus' life each following week. What he did and said, how it applied then and now, how people responded...you know, stuff like that.I'm looking forward to it.
Now that I'm feeling a little more settled at SOA Church, I'm realizing that my calendar is filling up like crazy. We had a community info fair in our gym today that I fully intended to attend so I could meet a few more community people, but then real life kicked in. You know, a teaching schedule that needs lots more work, a leadership audit that needed my input, a weekly youth leader email to go out, a church update that I need to give on Sunday morning...and about a dozen other minor things.It's amazing how normal I felt today...and by normal I mean crazy!But hey, at least I made it to my first official payday. And now it's on to the "weekend"!Oh, and I'm now 0 for 3 in Roll Up the Rim to Win.