Would You Say I Have a Plethora of Pictures?

[This is an older picture I have of me and my new singing duck, Elvis.
Thanks, Hannah.]

[At Brooke's (left) track meet last week watching her run her personal
best mile time of 6:26. The girl on her right didn't stay with her for long.]

[On the bus going to Cedar Point on Memorial Day.
Check out Anna's crazy eyes! and Savannah's crazy face.]

[Waiting in line for our first coaster of the day, the Millenium Force!]

[We ran across a couple thugs in line...oh wait, do thugs
wear "Fraser Singers" t-shirts?]

[Fatfield in line for the Maverick. He was kind enough to pick me up
from the airport on Sunday. Thankfully the Red Wings were up 5-1 by
then or I would have had to wait for a while so he could finish watching the game.]

[Part of my crew for the day ready to ride The Maverick.
also captioned: Hey! There's those two thugs again!]

[Nothing speaks to a healthy dinner like a Giant Elephant Ear.]

[Haley made an ambitious attempt at eating an entire Giant Elephant Ear all by herself. She didn't know that it was going to bigger than her head. I, on the other hand, saved 70 cents and ate 4 ounces of ice cream pieces.]

[As our last ride of the day, we rode front row on the Top Thrill Dragster. Sarah had never ridden it before, and she was in for quite a ride. 0-120 mph in 4 seconds. At least we didn't get stuck at the top for 15 minutes like some other people earlier in the day.]

These are some wedding pics that I have received since the wedding.

[Aunt Leslie, my younger sister Gerty (birth name: Krisanna),
and my big sister, the bride...Katie Wooster.]

[Dad and Katie.]

[Being introduced to the reception as "Mr. and Mrs. Ben Wooster!"]

[The only close up of the bride and groom and I have found so far.]

Sitting at the Airport

I’m currently sitting in the Des Moines International Airport (terminal: C1) waiting to board the plane back to Detroit. I supposed I’ll type what I can until that time.

I had a full load last week in Michigan before heading to Iowa on Thursday for my sister’s wedding. On Monday I attended the funeral of a student’s grandma, Tuesday I enjoyed being the guest speaking at a Sr. citizens’ luncheon at Old Country Buffet, and on Wednesday I helped with some extra responsibilities for Connect (Connect set a new record of 194 students!).

After church on Wednesday night I attended a parents/students meeting for this upcoming BASIC missions trip. Immediately afterwards I raced home at legal speeds to catch the remainder of the American Idol finale. I think Adam will become the new lead singer for Queen.

Thursday morning at 6:00 I got a ride to the Detroit airport in order to catch my flight to Iowa for Katie and Ben’s wedding. The flight went well and I sat next to a friendly lady whose husband teaches at West Point. My seat was in the last row and therefore directly across from the bathroom. That resulted in there being a good deal of traffic going on by my seat.

Mrs. West Point and I chatted for a few minutes until we received our complimentary beverages from the flight attendant. We then non-verbally and unanimously decided to redirect our attention to our respective literary interests – hers an article on the Obama family in the latest copy of a celebrity magazine and mine the last few pages of my Tim Keller book, Ministries of Mercy.

I finished my reading before she did so I whipped out my laptop and tried my hand at a few games of chess against the computer. Either I’ve gotten really bad at chess over the years or the computer is a digital version of Bobby Fischer. My heart casts its ballot for the latter, but my mind sensible votes for the former.

The plane’s descent was rocky at best, but the landing was smooth so I was happy. I prefer to have problems happen in the air and not when we are hitting the ground. I bid farewell to Mrs. West Point and welcomed myself back to Iowa soil.

Later that day I had lunch with one of my high school youth leaders and enjoyed catching up on the last 6 months. That night the groom and groomsmen got together at a hotel and stuffed ourselves full of Papa John’s pizza, Little Debbie’s, Doritos, and Mountain Dew while watching the end of the Lakers/Nuggets game and playing video games.

We slept in on Friday morning and then went and played paintball at a friend’s place in Indianola. I got more mosquito bites than welts but had a lot of fun.

Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal went without a hitch and the dinner food somehow managed to trump the previous night’s menu.

I joined my family at our house that night so as to spend one last night together, just the 5 of us. I slept in my old bed (which is now coupled with its top bunk counterpart) and somehow managed to sit up and drill my forehead on the underside of the top bunk during the middle of the night. Here’s the wound resulting from the accidental altercation:

The wedding on Saturday was beautiful. Katie was stunning in her dress and Ben looked sharp in his black tux with white vest and tie. I’ll do my best to post some pictures as soon as I can get them. As I type this, Ben and Katie are in the air on their way to Maui for their honeymoon.

In just a couple minutes I’ll be boarding the plane. I’ll post this as soon as I get back to Detroit and have a wireless connection.

Keep It Current

And I'll throw this update out there just for kicks and giggles.

Current Music I Really Like:

Coldplay - Left Right Left Right Left (link to free download)

Sandra McCracken - Live Under Lights and Wires (link to free download)

Churchill - new songs posted but no album yet

The Fray - The Fray

Current Books I'm Reading:

Ministries of Mercy By: Tim Keller

The Cross of Christ By: John Stott

How to Read a Book By: Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Lincoln Van Doren

Track Meets and the End Times

[Thursday afternoon I went to Teddy and Sarah's track meet.

Teddy ran really well and finished second in the mile with

a time of 5:58 behind the speedy little guy in front of him in the picture.]

[Sarah ran the something-meter hurdles (1st place), the

70 meter dash (1st place), and the 800 meter race (1st place).

I think the socks give her some sort of bionic power.]

Rewinding back to Wednesday night, we had a packed house in the Middle School room because we inherited some of the high schoolers. It was great fun. In light of only having 3 more times together before we combine with the high school for the summer, I gave the students slips of paper upon which they could make requests for teaching topics to address in the last 3 sessions. 14 students submitted requests and 10 of them requested that we discuss the book of Revelation (or topics relating to end times). The other four dealt with "Theological Terms", the Archangel, the book of Ruth, and basic evangelism.

I was blown away by the interest in the end times and someone suggested that the interest might be a reflection of topics that are being addressed in the home in light of events in the Middle East and such. Needless to say, I think I might teach a session on "Why I Don't Want to Teach on the Events of the End Times." My guess is that the students want to hear about dragons and earthquakes and the number 666.

This is not bad, I just think we should focus on making sure we're not around when all of that (whatever "that" turns out to be) happens and living as Christians while we are still here.

Upon reflection, I guess I was ignorant for anticipating requests like, "Please teach us how we can honor our parents better" or "I struggle loving my enemies. Please teach me what the Bible says about loving people who hate me" or "I have a lot more stuff than I need. Does the Bible have anything to say about sharing my stuff with needy people?" Dragons and earthquakes are a lot cooler.

A Fun Week

[Cinco de Mayo was Val's birthday. Val isn't on staff at the
church, but she puts in a tremendous number of hours working
with the children's ministries. Val is in the blue v-neck sweater.
For future reference, Applebees has free chips and salsa and a
discounted menu for Cinco de Mayo. Quesadilla Burger for $5? I'm in.]

[Last Friday night I went to Sarah's birthday party. Someone
(not me, I promise) gave her a birthday cake facial. Well done,
whoever you are.]

[Every birthday party needs a good group picture of everyone
making a pyramid. Ours failed.]

[Since the pyramid was a disaster, they opted for the
"huddle together and have Brooke do an obscure gymnastics
move while still managing to look at the camera and make
Devin lie on the ground in front like he's trying to be cute" approach.
It was much more successful.]

[Saturday morning I went to Devin's (guy trying to be cute
in the previous picture) baseball game. He got to pitch for the
first time this season. He also played center field and left field.
His team crushed.]

Sunday was Mother's Day and I ended up going to the Essian's house after church. We played catch, feasted on sweet foods, watch some of the Redwings game, played ultimate frisbee, watched stupid YouTube videos (like this one about Fainting Goats), and watched a Tim Hawkins comedy DVD. I dont' care who you are, that guy is funny.

In related news, I found out that the Essian's oldest daughter's husband's college roommate married my cousin, Donni-Anne. Pretty cool, huh.

Monday I went with Pastor Bob and intern Bill to Indianapolis to attend a funeral and then got back in time to eat dinner and go back up to church for an elders meeting.

Tuesday I was in the office and then watched American Idol at the Owens's house.

Today I'm in the office and then have some meetings this afternoon with a college marketing guy. Including tonight, there are only 5 more Middle School "gatherings" before we are combined with high school for the summer. Wow, time flies!

Turtles, Tigers, and the 80's

Monday night I went to another Tigers game. This time it was with a couple guys from church and some of their friends. The Tigers got beat, but we didn't really care. We had a good time because it was 80's night at the park so there was some sweet 80's themed entertainment going on.

[Although I wasn't allowed to watch the show as a child,
I did have some Turtle slippers and maintain a great deal of respect
for all creatures trained in martial arts, whether they be human or reptile.]

[Did someone say "flux capacitor"? There were 7-8
DeLoreans parked out front of the stadium...]

[...and they were parked right next to a couple
of Ferrari's. I didn't exactly fit. And no, I'm not asking
for my cell phone in the picture, I'm displaying my
Charles Kirby "hang loose" tribute wave. ]

[Friend of Joe, friend of Darth Vader, Tom Selleck.
Maybe one of those Ferrari's out front was his.]

[Friend of Joe, Joe, Luke's dad, and a Storm Trooper who
volunteered to blast the photographer for cropping me out
of the first picture.]

[The new TMNT video game. I essentially just hit
a lot of buttons as fast as I could and was victorious.]

Gotta Love the Dead Guys

Soul Idolatry Excludes Men Out of Heaven - David Clarkson (1621-1686)

This is a sermon (?) that I read in preparation for tomorrow night's lesson entitled, "What is sin?"

I found it very insightful and convicting, and I would highly recommend that you read it when you have time, as it will probably take about 10-15 minutes to read (5 pages in a Word document). Because the sermon is almost 400 years old, the language is a little outdated at times, but I don't believe it is so difficult as to make it impossible for the reader to be able to pick up the main point of what he is trying to say.

In the sermon, Clarkson outlines 13 forms of soul worship (secret idolatry). Here are a few quotes to wet your appetite:

Concerning Mind Idolatry:
"If either you do not think of God or think otherwise of Him than He is...this is to set up an idol instead of God."

Concerning Intentions Idolatry:
"When our chief design is to be rich, or great, or safe, or famous, or powerful -- when our great aim is our own ease, or pleasure, or credit, or profit and advantage -- when we aim at, or intend anything more, or anything as much, as the glorifying and enjoying of God -- this is soul idolatry."

Concerning Hope Idolatry:
"And thus [committing the sin of secret idolatry] do others among us, who make their prayers, their sorrow for sin, their work of charity (love), or any acts of religion or righteousness, their hope -- when men expect hereby to satisfy God's justice, to pacify God's displeasure, and to procure heaven."

Concerning Zeal (passion) Idolatry:
"...to count it intolerable for ourselves to be reproached, slandered, reviled; but manifest no indignation when God is dishonored, His name, Sabbaths, worship, profaned; His truths, ways, people, reviled -- this is idolatrous."

"Therefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry!" 1 Cor. 10:14

Gospel-Centered Leadership

Last night and today I attended the Fellowship in the Gospel conference put on by several area pastors and hosted by Berean Baptist Church in Livonia, MI. There were a couple hundred men in attendance ranging in age from a sixth grader and a couple of my middle schoolers to upwards of 70 years old. The theme of the conference was "Gospel-Centered Leadership." The keynote speaker is from a church about 20 miles south of where I'll be living in Denver, CO after the internship. I wanted to post a few of my favorite quotes and thoughts from the conference.

---

"It’s profoundly difficult to lead your people to God when you substitute yourself as God."

"On a balance, breath outweighs any merit of my own." (Ps. 62:9)

"A father’s heart burns with rage when his son is offended. God took his rage toward those who offended His son and poured it out on his son."

"The role of the husband begins at the atonement, not the altar."

Speaking of the need for dads to understand that their children will sin, one speaker joked..."While your wife is pregnant, you pray for a normal kid. Then after he/she is born, normal is no longer good enough."

"Destructive criticism is like someone puking on you. It makes them feel better, but it stinks for you."

"By making other people feel responsible for your happiness, you build a barrier that makes it difficult for them to feel comfortable offering you constructive criticism."

"If God's perfect leadership was rejected (in the garden), how much more should I expect my imperfect leadership to be rejected and criticized."

One speaker referenced this quote by John Piper, "It is a great sadness when sufferers seek relief by sparing God his sovereignty over pain. The sadness is that this undercuts the very hope in aims to create ... Whatever Satan's liberty in unleashing calamity upon us, God never drops the leash that bins his neck." The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God

"Unforgiveness is the poison we drink hoping others will die."

"How I handle criticism is a current gauge that reflects how much I am believing and applying the gospel at that moment."

"When receiving criticism, expect more. There is always more."