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In Him,
Peter Anderson

Coop Pic

This was taken at Kevin and Teri Helton's wedding last weekend. I was a groomsman and Cooper was awesome.


In Him,
Peter Anderson

Transition

Last night I gave the commencement address at Immanuel Jr. High School, I felt important.I sat with the principal, the superintendent, and the Jr. high drama teacher. Essentially the rat pack (without the cigarettes and scotch) of IJHS. I was nervous too, I speak in public all the time, at Youth, in church, sometimes i just start talking when I am in line at Save Mart in hopes people will listen, so far there have been no convert in my Checkout-line ministry, maybe soon though.

Regardless, I was nervous, and I don't get nervous when I speak. I believe it was because of the weird dynamic of the situation. I was speaking to 8th graders, who were being watched by their parent, grandparents, siblings, and friends. I felt like I was a fish talking to other younger fish while a lot of people were watching us from outside the fish tank while waiting for their turn in the Doctor's office (I went to a doctor who had a fish tank once, I stared at it for 2 hours while I was waiting to be seen by him.)

I wanted to make sure I was talking to the graduates, but it is hard to do that when the podium is placed with my back to them so I did a half turn to see them but then I had to lean over so the microphone would pick up my voice still. I felt awkward, which didn't help my nerves at all. Once I settled in I told the graduates I had 4 words I wanted them to remember, "Love God and Love Others." Obviously I missed the Sesame Street where I found out that there is a number greater than 4, it is called 5.

The main thing that struck me though was as I was speaking to this class and looking at all of their faces, I realized I have had a conversation with the majority of them. I realized I knew most of them by name, and had played basketball or gone to Magic Mountain with the majority of them. I essentially helped see this class of students through their Jr. High career. There are a lot of leaders and strong willed people amongst these 8th grade graduates, they will do great things I am sure, but seeing all of their faces just remidns me of how fun and scary transitions can be.

I had an 8th grader talk to me last night and tell me she didn't want to graduate, she wanted to stay in Jr. High, and I thought about how much she would miss if she decided to stay an 8th grader (Not to mention she would be very creepy as a 52 year old dancing with 7th graders at their dances).

I have a couple different friends in the midst of transition, some moving, some getting married, some having a baby. Change is fun and terrifying and it reminds me how we are called to move and to change, we are called to not get comfortable, we are called to pursue God fully and unashamedly. We are called to follow Him witha reckless faith.

I have enjoyed every stage of life I have been a part of, and each time there is a change it is hard at first, I resist as much as I can, but eventually I realize how amazing the new stage of life is once it is embraced. Embrace your new stage of life, embrace the stage of life you are in and when it is time to transition accept it with open arms and thank God for the opportunity to grow.

Monday Morning with Coop

"Hi." That's my son's new favorite word in the morning. You see Cooper has a specific corner of his crib he stands in and cries in to get mine and Sarah's attention when he wakes up, whether from a nap or from sleeping at night. He could be crying and whining with the best of them, and when we walk in the door we hear him say, "Hi." I also say hi, we formally shake hands, exchange business cards and then I change his diaper. It's one of those things that warms your heart when you hear it, it's also a reminder that my son is growing up really fast. Just last week he got some digits from a fly honey for complimenting her on the rims she has on her stroller. Ok that was a stretch but still, kid is getting big.

He does stuff like run, and climb on the fireplace. Granted he falls a lot when he runs and gets stuck on the fireplace because he hasn't yet mastered the art of getting down, and he is way too cautious to jump. He gets that from me a think, I like risk but only when it is safe, which I don't think would be considered risk at all, unless you are playing Risk, in which case it is safe until I wipe you off the fae of the earth by amassing an army in Australia and wreaking havoc on Asia from there. Just remember, the Ukraine is weak.

Regardless of all that, I understand why parents favorite phrase when they are talking to us, "Enjoy it they grow up so fast." It is usually accompanied by a shake of the head and a purse of the lips to which I respond with a head nod and an eyebrow raise. Did you just make those faces as I described them? You did huh? But Coop is a big kid now and he is going to seem huge when baby boy comes in August. That's when the storm hits; we have Coop, a new baby, one less job since Sarah is going to take time off to be with babies, I start seminary, and it is the big Fall push in ministry. No big deal I can handle it, but if you happen to come into my office and I am weeping in the corner, just give any information you have for me to Dobby my office elf and I will get back to you when my tears dry up. Life change is good, it is challenging, and it grows us.

Coop is growing up, and that's awesome he would be boring if he stayed the same for his entire life, plus it would be weird if he was sleeping in a crib at the foot of our bed when he was 37. It's the same with adults, don't get stale, embrace life change, take on a new and interesting activity, go bowling (okay bad example bowling is neither new nor interesting), go on a hike, play cards with your spouse, call up a high school buddy and have lunch. Whatever it is, try something new this week that way you aren't a 37 year old sucking his thumb in your parents room, cause that's just awkward.

Wedding Season

I like weddings. I may be different than most because I like the ceremony more than the reception. And it may be because I dance like my 14 month old, but I just happen to delight in the ceremony. Let me walk you through my thoughts and observations as it goes on:

3:55- Find a seat, look for people I know well enough to sit next to without feeling awkward if I brush elbows with them.
3:56- Watch a slideshow of really cute pictures of the bride and groom while secretly wishing I knew them well enough to be in one of the pictures.
4:00- Okay good, change of music, enter grandparents escorted down the aisle by groom/brother of bride.
4:10- Grandparents still being escorted down the aisle.
4:12- Change of music, her comes the wedding party starting with the friend no one thought would be in the wedding, then future brothers-in law, then close friends and family.
4:14- AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! Did everyone see how cute the flower girl and ring barer were walking down the aisle? They will probably get married, or in a fight at the reception.
4:15- Awkward silence, music is stopped, double doors in the back of the church are closed... Fire drill?
4:16- Organist begins to hammer the keys and everyone stands up, double doors open, everyone is looking at the bride, but I am different, I am looking at the text messages from people I texted earlier to try and find a seat. (Unfortunately 3 weren't invited to the wedding and one was the groom).
4:17- We all continue standing awkwardly, staring at the back of the persons head in front of us, my guy is bald and has a mole.
4:20- And we are sitting, the Pastor talks for awhile.
4:22- Vows, standard, not those hippie vows that people write themselves.
4:30- Unity candle took 15 seconds to light now we have three and a half minutes until the band finishes whatever the current worship song is, probably "Our God is an Awesome God" (This post may have been written in 1989).
4:33.50- Reading of scripture by the friend who was almost close enough to be in the wedding party but the numbers were uneven so she gets to read scripture instead. Weird, I have never heard Revelations 21:8, followed by Genesis 2:25 at a wedding before.
4:35- Pastor Preaches, cell phone starts playing "When the Saints Go Marching In" and everyone checks their phones at the same time even though no one has had the ring tone for 5 years.
4:45- Kiss, loud hooting and hollering, song comes on that should never be played in a church as the wedding party dances out.
4:46- Chapel is empty and a huge mess of rose petals is left for the janitor to clean up.

I love weddings, I am excited I am in one tomorrow, by good friend Kevin Helton is marrying his love Teri Bartel. The officiant is my old youth Pastor Josh Lane, plus it's in Cayucos. Booya, and to everyone else who is attending a wedding tomorrow, enjoy it, and give the bride and groom lots of money during the money dance, not a dime and .63 cents left on a Sonic Burger card (You know who you are.)

Monday Morning with Coop

This Monday was a good one. It was fun, it was exciting, Cooper slept for 3 and a half hours which means I slept for almost 3. Good stuff. The exciting thing about this Monday wasn't Cooper's awesome nap, it was the fact that he got to hang out with his uncle Scotty. For those of you who don't know Scott, this is him (He's the big one).

Scott lives in New York with his wife Dani, she is finishing up her Master's degree in city planning, combined they may be the smartest couple I know (and that isn't sarcasm, really, they are both really smart, really). Needless to say we don't get to see Scott and Dani terribly often, which isn't cool (And not like the I wear skinny jeans cool, but like the I wear old school baseball shirts cool). Selfishly, I want Scott and his wife to live in my garage. It's not very well ventilated and I have my weight set in there but other than that and the fact that we put the dogs in there when they are bad, I think it would be kind of cozy.
I want them to live in my garage because both Sarah and I love these two people, Sarah gets along great with Dani, Scott challenges my theologically and is the only guy I know who has popped a bird. Essentially, we love the community they bring to the table.
Community is something I have come to hold dear to my heart. Sarah and I have always been without a world so to speak. We got married young, we have had kids young, we got full time jobs young and so finding people that we can relate to has been difficult since the get go. I have my bible study I got to every week and Sarah has her friends, but there are very few people we connect with as a couple and Scott and Dani are one of those couples.

For those of you who feel overwhelmed at times by the conceived burden that following Chris can have, I would encourage you to seek community. Find it, live it, love those people around you unashamedly. We miss Scott and Dani when they aren't with us because there is a hole in our community, a missing people, and it isn't like replacing an iPod where you figure out the amount of songs you want it to hold and you purchase it. It takes work to find those kindred spirits that give you a breath of fresh air when you commune with them. This post won't make a lot of sense to many of you, but this was for Scott and Dani because we love you both and i am sorry for stealing that picture of you two off of Dani's Facebook page.

I Decided to Write Today

Jon Acuff, one of the funniest Christian writers I have ever come across, has a blog called Stuff Christians Like. I was reading through it one day and he wrote something that struck me,he said, "I decided to write." It was in response to someone asking him how to get a book published, and all he did was decide to write. It wasn't him being condescending or anything of the sort, it was him honestly saying that when he gets up he decides to write everyday.

It got me thinking about the spiritual side of things when he wrote this, it got me thinking about how so often we read countless books trying to figure out how to get closer to God, we sit in coffee shops trying to figure out how to make God more real in our lives, essentially we pursue the pursuit of God. It would be like asking your cat to find the dog for you, actually it would make more sense to ask the dog to find the cat because cats are snobs who don't care about peoples feelings unless they want to be fed or pet.

Regardless, rather than reading self help books trying to find out how to draw closer to God, why not just draw closer to Him? Why don't we wake up every morning and before we take a step out of bed decide that today we are going to walk closer with God than we did yesterday? The key to getting a book published is deciding to write, the key to walking closer to God is deciding to do it. We mung it up with rules and processes and disciplines, why not just drop whatever it is we are doing and follow Him?

The "Aha" Moment

Last night I had a conversation with a student of mine via text message, and before I proceed from here, I just want everyone to know that I refuse to use texting lingo or emoticons, no rofl's or winking smiley faces for this guy. Now that I have cleared my name from people lol-ing, I have realized that if you want to connect with teenagers, you have to do it on their terms a lot of times. Some of the most real moments that teens open up to me are when they have that "aha" moment. Its comes in that time when they are by themselves, they have some time to think about whats going on in their lives, when they have time to be honest with who they are. For a lot of them that is late at night.

I don't mind a text message at 11 at night, chances are I am watching Lost and about to pull my hair out because after last night I am convinced there is no way I am going to be happy with the explanation they are going to give us. Plus I am a night owl, my wife likes mornings, so she is sleeping, Cooper is sleeping, my dogs are sleeping (and consequently farting, I don't know why they pass gas so often in their sleep, what if I do and I don't know it?), so really a text at night isn't bad. Worse case scenario, I am asleep and I get back to them in the morning.

But I love that moment when everything clicks, and that happened last night for one of my students. It was a moment of optimism for the student, where they could see past circumstances that had surrounded them this past year. It was a moment where they said, "aha!" I actually doubt they said that, I don't think anyone says that unless they are on a bad cop show or on "The Suite Life with Zach and Cody." Even still, in all of our walks with God we have these moments where the funk we have been sitting in for so long suddenly melts away and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Maybe it is a sin you have been battling, maybe a relationship you were stuck in, maybe you were just the product of a bad environment, whatever it may be, the aha moment comes when we have hope, when we cling to the eternal and let the temporal fade away.

Monday Morning with 70 Sweaty Jr Highers

Yesterday I rolled out of bed at 5:30, stubbed my toe on the way to the shower, and realized there was not enough milk in the fridge for my wife and I so I left it for her (I sacrificed myself by going to get 2 donuts rather than having Special K, it was tough but I got over it). Then I drove listening to KNBR 680, Giants Talk Radio until I pulled up to Immanuel to spend my day chaperoning a gaggle of Jr High students on their trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain.

I got on the bus and sat with the Youth Pastor from Dinuba Mennonite Brethren Church, his name was Lee (I guess his name still is Lee, but this was yesterday, so it was Lee and I assume it is today, but I haven't talked to him so it is hard to say.) We talked about the usual stuff, programs, baseball, family, God, the important things (and definitely not in that order). We got off the bus and we were in charge of 18 Jr High Boys for the next seven and a half hours. It was a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Someone told me once the using an exclamation point in your writing is like laughing at your own joke, and since I am hilarious I use multiple exclamation points!!!)
We had a lot of fun, we had a student ride his first roller coaster (Booya, my red-headed friend Carter!!!), someone (J. Zamudio, no thats too obvious, Jonathan Z.) spent 20 dollars trying to win a seven foot banana who had dreadlocks and sunglasses, and we went on every major roller coaster in the park.

I know most of you are thinking, that was nice of Peter to sacrifice his day off to go hang out with students for 16 hours, and to you I say, I didn't I will take Friday off. "What do you mean you will take Friday off? You played on Roller Coasters and tried to throw red rings over bottle caps to win prizes that don't fit through a standard sized door"

I know at times it seems weird that a work day for me is going to Six Flags, it may also seem weird that sometimes for work I walk around WalMart trying to figure out new ways to get our students totally messy. (I figured out how to shoot shaving cream through a squirt gun last year, I am being heavily recruited by Harbro Inc.) The fact of the matter is, I spent 16 hours doing ministry yesterday, actually 15 hours and 55 minutes, I had to go number 1. But I got to establish and reestablish relationships yesterday, I got to talk to 8th graders about moving up to High school, I go to figure out the things the love to do and the people they don't enjoy being around and why. I got to put my finger on the pulse of their world from sun up to sun down.

I was exhausted at the end of the day and it doesn't help that I am off caffeine and we stopped at a Starbucks on the way home, all the Junior Highers looked like 5 foot tall cups of Pikes Place Roast. I kissed my wife goodbye when she was in bed that morning and I kissed her when I came home while she was in bed (I am not entirely convinced she ever got up). I didn't get to see my son at all yesterday, and I didn't get to watch Chuck. I do it for the Lord, but I won't sacrifice my most important ministry, my family, that's why I won't be here on Friday, I won't answer phone calls or text messages, I won't email you. I will be hanging out, eating cheerios and watching Little Einsteins with the most handsome 13 month old in the world.

I love doing ministry, but I love my family more, and for you Jr. Highers who haven't stopped reading because you are bored reading about my family, I love you all and I will see you at Youth tomorrow night!!!

I gave up caffeine

You know that feeling when you wake up and you feel like someone has taken a hammer and hit you over the head about 5 times with it, then you get up and your entire back aches, then you stretch and you feel a huge knot on the right side of your neck? No? Well then you have obviously never quit drinking caffeine, or maybe you have tried to quit but you weren't as dependent on it as I was/am. This is only my second post this week because when I sat down to write the previous 3 days all I can think about was getting my hands on coffee, and when I remembered I had given up caffeine I just wrote a slew of incomprehensible babbling on my page. Needless to say, I am/was hooked.

It's not a fun feeling, realizing you don't have control over your own body, it's like opening the fridge at 10 at night and seeing pizza from dinner time, delicious cold pizza, you have to indulge. Or like going to KFC and seeing an advertisement for a double down, you have to get it. Is it horrible for you, absolutely, should you eat right before you go to bed and after you brush your teeth, no, does the double down have more cholesterol than eating a tub of mayonnaise with a spoon, of course it does. But we do it anyway, we eat it anyway, we drink it anyway. I haven't felt normal for 3 and a half days, I have been cranky and agitated, I actually punched a Jr. higher this week (not really, but my throbbing headache was telling me to.)
We are Americans, we enjoy indulging, and what I have noticed since I gave up caffeine, is I am eating more, it is like my body is swapping one vice for another rather than just saying no.
Proverbs 26:11, a verse that most men enjoy quoting, "As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly." We can't shake our sin a lot of times, and it gives us headaches and we wake up with knots in our backs and we get in fights with our spouses. It is hard to weed sin out of our lives because we love it so much, but in the end it is worth it to have control of our body, to render our lives as not so we can fully glorify God.
I understand how hard it is to remove sin, its like crabgrass in my flowerbeds, it won't go away unless we are diligent in getting rid of it. My crabgrass always comes back right when I think it is conquered and unfortunately my sin does too, but we are called to be diligent none-the-less.

Monday Morning with Coop

For the past two mornings I have walked into my son's room, turned on the light and immediately he looks at me and yells, "MAMA!" And it isn't that he thinks I am his mom, it's that he is mad that Dad came in to get him and not mom. It may have something to do with me forcing him to do push-ups and wind-sprints before I give him a diaper change, but I digress. He just happens to really love his mom, which I can't say I blame him.

The whole reason I get to hang out with Coop on Mondays is because Sarah is bringing home the bacon. She decided to go back and work a second year to make her credential permanent and to help support our family financially. She loves to teach her 1st graders, and she might be the best teacher I've ever met, but regardless, her heart is elsewhere. It's with "big man" at home teaching him to love Jesus, to play, to read, to walk. (I'm best at teaching him to dance. He bends his left arm at the elbow keeps his hand limp and twists his torso to the beat, just like his old man.)

Sarah is a champ with Coop, she work's full time, is almost 6 months pregnant, and to top it off, has to put up with me (Plus she likes watching Giants games, rather than forcing me to watch Oprah or another show that gives to a community and then ensures everyone knows how much they gave so they can make more money off a hurting community, yeah I have beef with Oprah, so what?) Regardless of Oprah, Sarah is a champ.

Thanks for making the perfect son, you are a great wife, and I love you. Happy early Mother's Day Bride.