Thursday, February 26, 2009

I Guess You Had to Be There

I'm pretty sure this is a "I guess you had to be there" type story, but I'll write it anyways for memories sake.

Last night after Oasis a few of the students and myself and another leader were hanging out and talking about life when one of the students asked a question regarding how to answer a question that you don't want to answer without resorting to lying. i.e. "Do you have a crush on so-and-so?"

The other leader explained, as part of his response, how that situation can be related to the idea of situational ethics. He mentioned the extreme example of people bravely hiding Jews during the Holocaust and how they might have responded when confronted by the Nazis and asked, "Are you hiding any Jews in your house?"

Evidently, this sparked a thought process in one of the students minds because she said, "Let me think how this relates to the fruit of the Spirit..." which was a fine thought being that we have discussed the fruit of the Spirit at different times during my internship. She went on to list the fruit of the Spirit, "...Love, joy, peace, hiding the Jews" and then she just burst out laughing and then the rest of us just looked at each other and then did the whole laughter that starts slowly and then builds to a disproportionate level in regards to the funniness of what was said simply because everyone else was laughing. Perhaps this Laugh Graph will illustrate my point more poignantly.

The End.

P.S. I wish you all a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow I am going to a City of Roseville Clergy Luncheon (please withhold all "Kevin isn't technically clergy" remarks) and then tomorrow night is the Middle School Gym night. On Saturday, Devin and I will be making the rounds going to Teddy's basketball game and then a couple soccer games at night.

Cheers ya'll.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Time to Kill

I have about 15 minutes before I'm going to head home for dinner so I thought I'd post a "let's see what randomly comes to my head" post.

I have spent the duration of the afternoon today at ... drumroll please ... Starbucks. I awoke at 6:45 this morning and was gym-ing it up by 7:15. I gymed it up until 8:30 and then went home and ate a fabulous bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats. Then I showered up, made my bed, and finished folding the laundry that I did yesterday but lazily neglected to fold and put away. 

Then I went downstairs and ate a couple pieces of French toast because Dan was cooking and offered me a couple slices. Then I talked to Mike on the phone for a while and then ate some left-overs from last night for lunch and then headed to Starbucks. 

I had to laugh when I first sat down because this upper 20's aged couple at a table next to me was sitting across from each other and looking at magazines. The girl was looking at a pretty home decorating type magazine and the guy was looking at a magazine that had pictures of various power tools littering the pages. My guess is that the dude figured if he had to go to a coffee shop and drink overpriced milk and espresso, he might as well attempt to maintain some degree of masculine dignity. 

Now that I mention that, I have kind of talked myself into a corner because I enjoy coffee shops and overpriced milk and espresso and would be as bored as a dad at a Hannah Montana concert if I had to look through a magazine of power tools. Don't get me wrong, there is something about revving up a loud power saw that makes me feel more alive, but I just don't want to have to look at pictures of such things.

As for the weather, it's snowing cats and dogs outside. 

Another current Starbucks customer observation, a dad and his two young daughters are sitting directly in front of me. The girls have their coloring pages and markers out and are giggling and seem to be enjoying their time with dad. Both girls have brightly colored, polka dot winter coats on and one girl has a just as brightly colored striped scarf wrapped around her head. From what I can tell, this dad seems to be doing a good job as a father. He isn't reading, talking on his cellphone, or working on something else, he is completely engaged in what his daughters are doing. He is helping them spell whatever words they are writing and telling his daughters that what they are coloring looks pretty. Good job dad.

Time to go home for dinner. Then I'm going to a hockey game to watch a friend from church play. 

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Senior High Advance Report

Current Listening: The Fray

Currently Digesting: Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Burritos and a Chocolate Protein Shake


Current Upper Body Apparel
: Vintage Underground Cafe Staff Hoodie and a 2007 Shaffer Classic (dodgeball tournament) t-shirt

Currently Anticipating: Lunch at Logan's Steakhouse with Parker and Maclane and then an afternoon Wii party at Parker's house with Parker, Maclane, and Devin
.

This past weekend was the Senior High Winter Advance at Lake Ann Camp. I didn't have any speaking responsibilities so the weekend was more relaxed for me than the previous two student weekends. I simply had to lead a group game before the evening sessions and be a room leader with John Hutek. Additionally, I was able to get to know a number of students that I had previously never met or at least had never really talked to before.*

The students played a lot of euchre, MOW (rhymes with "cow"), catch phrase, pick up sticks, and hacky sack and also spent hours coloring pictures and doing the bead design craft project. We also got in a tenacious game of students vs. leaders tackle football in the snow.

Johnny Norbeck, a former intern, came in from New Jersey to speak and preached four sessions from the book of Daniel. His big theme challenged the students and leaders to look for the sovereignty of God in all situations and to be bold in standing up for Christ.

I forgot to bring my camera so here are a couple pics from the weekend that I stole from Paige's and Courtney's Facebook albums.

[A group of students jubilantly tubing down the hill.
Front to Back: Lindsay, Henrietta, Matt, Arianna, Jocelyn, Jessica, and Karissa]

[The annual tradition of piling as many guys on a bunk as possible.
They crushed the previous record this year.]

[One of two pictures of me that was posted in an album.
(the other one was worse).

Gotta love the classic "picture by the unsuspecting intern's backside."
L to R: Courtney, Michael, Intern's Backside]


[Part of the Sr. High band that led music for the weekend.
L to R: Kathryn, Arianna, Noelle, Ryan.]

[Rachel, Courtney, and Paige eating some late lunch.]

* "Additionally, I was able to get to know a number of students that I had previously never met or at least had never really talked to before."

In an effort to not end a sentence with two consecutive prepositions, I will rewrite the above sentence below in grammatically correct form:

"Additionally, I was able to get to know a number of students that I had either previously never met or with whom I had never previously spoken."

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Fitness Update 2009


I watched part of "The Biggest Loser" last night on the tv and became actually interested in the show. When snagging the picture for my post, I read the following claim on the show's website:

"Most popular reality television show for weight loss."

I can't imagine there being too much competition so I was forced to chuckle.

In related news, it's been about a month and a half since I started working out at the gym. I have yet to miss a day due to laziness, but I have been forced to miss a few days here and there because of church weekend activities. I joined the gym because I felt like a lazy bum and was 25 lbs. heavier than I was after my freshman year of college and because my pants barely fit me anymore.

Today, on the 11th of February 2009, after many days of waking up at 5:45 a.m., after avoiding all pop/soda, after resisting most deserts, I report that I have officially gained 1.6 lbs. However, because muscle weighs more than fat, I have slimmed down quite considerably as can be seen in this photograph I took of myself this morning:


In all fairness, I usually look my best immediately following my trip to the gym so this picture might be a bit deceiving as to my typical appearance.

Regardless of my lack of weight loss, I have had a lot more energy during the day, am much more motivated to go to bed early, and I don't have to take a big breath before buttoning my pants. Therefore, my spirits are high and my smile is wide and I will continue pressing on to be a big loser, but in a good way.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Funny E-mail

I received the following email reply from a student today:
(I quote the email in its entirety)

--

Yea um ill give u a call in a fue weel proly do that yea so PEACE

--

I don't know if it's more disconcerting that the English language undergoes such abuse, or that I was able to read the email and have no problem understanding the meaning of the "sentence."

Thoughts?

Saturday, February 7, 2009

1,300 Miles Later

I just returned home from a quick trip to Clarks Summit, PA where I visited college friends and met with an admissions guy at Baptist Bible Seminary. The trip was about as good and rewarding as I could have hoped for.

I left Wednesday morning at 5:50 a.m. (yes, 5:50 comes twice a day) in order to beat both Detroit and Toledo rush hour traffic. I was successful.

I arrived at The BBC a little after 2:00 and more or less wandered around campus saying hi to various friends. I went to the Draper's home for Wednesday night prayer meeting where I got to see much of the New Life Baptist Church (my former church) crowd.  After prayer meeting I swung over to my old apartment to see my old roommate, Nate, and chat for a few minutes. 

After that I picked up Kari for a late night, tradition-filled excursion to Waffle House. In customary fashion we sat in the far corner booth by the front window and ate breakfast food and talked about life. Shortly before midnight, I brought Kari back to campus and then drove to Greg's apartment where I proceeded to brush my teeth, take out my contacts, take a certain necessary step to ensure that I would not wet the bed, and fall alseep on the couch.

Thursday, I went to BBC chapel at 10:00, Patsel's for lunch with Kari at 12:00, spent time checking my email and reading from Acts in the Underground Cafe from 2:30-4, and then had friends over to Greg's apartment for dinner. I cooked some sweet Fettucini pasta - complete with Alfredo sauce and vodka sauce. We all hung out for awhile and then the friends left because they are college students and, therefore, had homework. This left me and Greg with time to chill, chat, and catch up on life.

Friday, I met with the honorable Ben Hixson at the Underground from 9-10, read Acts for a while, and then swung up to OSD to see if Dean was in his office. He wasn't.  His loss. Next time. Maybe. To fill the time void I spontaneously collaborated with Andy and Becky Giessman to make a ridiculously large, obnoxious, gaudy keychain for Kari because she had told me she had lost her her Underground key because she didn't have a keychain for it. The keychain that Andy, Becky, and I kindly and thoughtfully assembled consisted of an old TLC lanyard, another random lanyard, 4 "Live Strong" style brightly colored bracelets, a foot-long chain of carabiners, an Atlantic City souvenir t-shirt keychain, a laptop style carrying bag, and a candy cane. All put together, the keychain was between 4-5 feet long and should serve as an effective, though minutely inconvenient means of keeping track of an Underground Cafe key. You're welcome, Kari.

Wow, I sure hope people care about my Pennsylvania trip itinerary or this post will be the least read post of all time. 

After the keychain project, I met Matteo for lunch at Panera and then met with Seminary Jason to discuss possible MDiv plans. Then I swung over to say hi to Andy Gillick, a friend from New Life, and then drove back out to Patsel's to say hi to a few folks I hadn't gotten to see on Thursday.  After that I went to JJ Bridges with Greg and some Patsel's friends for dinner and we ended up hanging out there for about 4 1/2 hours. I had the Buffalo wings. No one else did. Their loss. Next time. Maybe.

This morning at 9:45 I met my old roommate, Nate, for breakfast at the Bluebird II Diner. I ordered the blueberry pancakes for $3.50 and hash browns for $1.50. The pancakes were huge. I could only eat two of the three. Regardless, we ate and talked about future ministry plans, his and mine, and then we paid the $11.44 bill and parted ways. He went to the laundry mat and I hit the road to come home to Michigan.

Hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday I'll post more subjective, personal remarks about my trip to PA. This post served simply as a "Here's what I did" post. I'm sure I'll get flooded with comments.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Thoughts that Came to Me Immediately After Posting the Last Post

Another really sorta-funny memory was watching and listening to B-rooke and Kadin duel it out with sharing testimonies about what they each learned over the weekend. Each shared about 5 times and kept going back and forth. I think B-rooke finally won the non-existent "Most Testimonies" award, but maybe that's because she's a girl and women speak almost twice as many words per day on average as men do.

Also, in reference to my said eating of graham crackers and milk, I have two things to say.

#1. With the exception of Middle School leader, Sarah Schnepper, and I partaking in this treat on the Middle School Advance, I think it has been 10 years since I ate graham crackers and milk. Sooooo good.

#2. Either I am a much more patient person than I was 10 years ago, or time has caused a memory lapse, but these graham crackers seemed to become sufficiently saturated with milk in a much shorter time than I ever remember. Literally, the second cracker I baptized in the milk broke off in the glass, so I was left to try and fish it out with my right index and middle finger(s?) to no avail. Minutes later, however, the cracker quadrant resurfaced and graciously allowed me to scoop it up and slurp it down. 

A Quiet Monday Night

Currently Listening to: the hum of the fish tank filter motor and the clicking of the keyboard keys
Currently About to Read "post-post": Back to the Heart of Youth Work by Dewey M. Bertolini
Currently Eating: Graham Crackers and 2% milk
Currently Chatting to on the Phone: Mike Morter
Currently Looking Forward to: Listening to the audio of the 2009 Desiring God Conference for Pastors that started tonight and runs till Wednesday 

This past weekend was the Middle School Advance. Personally, I thought the weekend went really well. We had a blast tubing, climbing the indoor rock wall, playing dodgeball, playing volleyball, playing the group "BIG GAME" that I sorta invented, throwing snowballs, singing, placing ourselves under the authority of Scripture, and having meaningful small group discussions about what we were learning. 

Here are a few of the memorable silly moments from the weekend:

I. McDonald's 50 chicken nuggets for $8.95. 
II. Devin eating 25 nuggets and forgetting the other 25 on the table when we left.
III. A group of students singing Skillet songs ac cappella at the top of their lungs on the bus.
IV. Parker and Joel engaging in a "Who can sing "The Blue Jay Song" better/worse?" competition on the bus.
V. Something about Evan and Jordan and bad smells keeping their cabin up late at night ... don't ask about the details.
VI. Bug Man stuck a roasted, melted marshmallow to the buttocks region of my pants at the bonfire. Not funny at the time but maybe in 5 years it will be funny.
VII. A certain snow ball thrown with impeccable speed and accuracy by Bug Man's brother, Brian, that left me picking snow out of the button fly on my jeans.
VIII. Watching Olivia get hit/almost hit by dodgeballs no matter where she was in the gym. She could have hidden under the bleachers and a dodgeball would have found a way to sneak back there and hit her in the back of the head. It was really unfortunate.
IX. A certain student was pretty sore on Saturday and therefore walked with a considerable limp (not unlike a certain author of this blog). In an effort to lift his spirits and boost my own self-esteem, I told him that the limp made him 10% cooler. With perfect timing, another student then chimed in, "So I guess that makes you 10% cool now." [I tell this story realizing the two-fold risk. First, this story might insinuate that I endorse, and dare I say, encourage, middle school put downs.  This is not the case. Second, this story might fall under the category of "I guess you had to be there." This might be the case. But I hope not."]
X. Reflection on the fact that my depiction of events I - IX grew unintentionally progressively longer.

Wednesday a.m. I am leaving for BBC to see some friends and see if that is where I want to go back to post-internship