Graduations and such...

I remember my graduation, as I sat in the back row mourning my lack of gold cord (cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above, mine was 3.48... I hate you math and science) I remember thinking that this was it, my time of fame and popularity, my achievement of the highest required rung of education had been completed. And where do I go from here? Chico State was still three months away, high school was behind me... it was time for me to make memories with my friends. I have a ton of memories with them from summer 2003, some good, some bad, but not very many God-honoring. My memories are ones of me and my friends hanging out around a bonfire, talking of girls, talking of future, not talking of God.

I remember one night in particular when we were out at our friends house having a bonfire and sitting around chatting, and I thought about the incredible people God had blessed me with in this life and the amazing potential we all had. The thought quickly passed and jokes and reminiscence filled the conversation.

To those who have graduated I want to encourage you to make the most of your summer, create memories, hang out with friends, invest in relationships, but above all honor God. As you leave your safe-haven of high school and enter this big world it is easy to fall into the "cool thing" to do. Be aware of pitfalls, watch out for bad influences, but above all, just honor God, bless God with your lives. You have made it 18 years on this planet congratulations, you've just started.

Jr. High Promotion

Hey 6th graders, on June 10th I want you to come hang out with me and Laurie at Reality Youth Ministries at the Youth House. It is that Wednesday from 6:30-8:30 and is going to be boss (is that still hip slang? Is hip still cool?). Anyway, come on out!!!


Happy Youthing

High School Youth

Good times at High School. James chapter 2, dodgeball some finger blasters maybe... I dunno.













Happy Youthing

Sunday Night Sundae Fight

As a way to welcome our 8th Graders to our Sunday Night High School Festivities, on June 7th at 6:30, we will be having our first ever Sunday Night Sundae Fight, and yes it is exactly as it sounds. It is our messy night for the year, so come in old clothes and wear bathing suits underneath as water games are immediately following the fight. This is the last event graduating Seniors can attend and the first event incoming Freshmen can come to. It is going to be a kick in the pants so come on out!

Jr. High

Good times, you always know Jr. High was successful when you play with a rubber chicken, a rubber fish and I tell stories about being a chubby Jr. Higher and getting poked while running windsprints. We talked about why bad things happen to good people and used James 1:12 as a reference as well as Jeremiah 29:11. Here's a few of our girls after youth...




Happy Youthing

Trying

I love my phone, it has enabled me to do my work from almost anywhere and now I can post on my blog from it too. This is just a trial run but we will see how it goes!



Oh yeah, I can add pictures from here too! That's Diana Dobrinin and Michael Isaak.
Happy Youthing

Daddyhood

Being a father is an interesting thing, it makes you appreciate the things that God does for you. I don’t know why but last night I was looking at my son and a small smirk came across his face, now this isn’t the first time he has smiled, nor will it be the last but it was him and me, all alone and he smiled just for his dad. What an exciting thing to have happen, I will see Cooper smile thousands of times in his life but this smile stuck out to me as a gift. Maybe it was the long day I had had before, maybe it was just me admiring my son, but he looked me in the eyes, and grinned.

Now I don’t know about you, but if God loves us to the extent that the bible tells us he does then I would imagine that God gets more joy out of us being content in him than I do from my son. 1 John 4:7-12 says this, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

We need to take a step back froour lives and grin at God, smile at him, love Him, show our appreciation for the goodness he provides in our lives, make your smile a gift to God.

On a totally different note fused with an awkward transition, Summer Calendars will be out next week with all of our really cool activities and dates, so keep an eye out. Happy Youthing.

Sufjan and Manny

I want to start this by saying I am getting the least amount of sleep I have ever gotten in my entire life. I love my child, but I came to the harsh reality this morning that I wont get a good nights sleep for the next 15 years or so. It is a season of life for me where it is easy to think that things can be put on the back burner because I am a new Dad, and to an extent priorities do need to be shuffled, but that doesn’t mean I can drop the ball, nor will I. I sit here listening to Sufjan Steven’s Come On Feel the Illinois with visions of Dodgers fans eating their words for years of scorn aimed at Barry Bonds. Their precious golden ticket to the playoffs relaxing in his mansion for an extended vacation as his team sweats it out while losing to the Nationals. I think to myself, life is good, life is fair, life is just.
Beyond that I just finished reading my brother-in-law’s blog (Isaiah 53:10 in the blogs I follow) and I am continually blown away by his passion and zeal. In a week where I have just come off of two fundraisers and I am tired, it was good to be reminded of the fact that we have only merely tasted, smelled, and grazed shoulders with our Lord God and we need to be continually striving after Him.

I love Men's Recreational Sports

I know, it sounds odd, and according to my father-in-law the only thing I have left to offer the sporting world is my genes, but regardless I will continue to play mens rec league anything until I am 90! We just got done with a rec basketball league, that was fun at times and painful at times (mostly because being the tallest guy on our team, 6'1", I had to play center against guys who are 6-7 inches taller than me.) But that league is over and it is time for me to transition my thoughts to slow pitch softball.

Now I wish this league was in Selma, but it is in Merced every Tuesday night, and the main reason I agreed to this was so my mama could see her Grandson on a regular basis this summer. But, the resurrection of the greatest softball team to ever play is upon us, the Thundercats are under new management, a new banner, and have new pitching (They finally replaced me, I guess I wasn't striking out enough guys... in SLOW PITCH!)

But needless to say, Thundercats... HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!