...But there is still Hope

Welcome to Miami

Sometimes I feel as if my life is just like the Miami Dolphins and that I'm never gonna win!

Where Do I stand?

Where do I stand with "blogging"?

Hmm... Well think about this...
Where do I stand with...

• Country Music?
• the Indianapolis Colts?
• the show 24?
• Indian food?
• Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper?
• Chicago White Sox?
• James Blunt?
• Six Flags?

Probably not as close as...

• rock, classic rock, worship and such
• the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots
• The Office
• Wendy's and authentic Mexican
• Regular Dr. Pepper
• Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox
• anything not James Blunt
• Cedar Point

So yeah to repeat the question, "Where do I stand with blogging?"

Not as close as I once was...but I'm not saying that I won't step back.

Time To Get Excited

The Simpsons

No Jeff Simpson here, but I sawThe Simpsons Movie and boy, did I like it. I mean, The Simpsons have been one of my favorite TV shows for the last 18 years, so when a movie is made... yeah, I've got to go see it!

"Funniest movie ever!" - Comic Book Guy

Simpsonize Me

So, I noticed a lot of people have "Simpsonized" themselves. I did the same...

But I decided to lose some weight when I entered Springfield.

When Hunger Strikes

Not going to Summer Camp for awhile? (or not going period)

Grab a Snickers!

Or just go to the Dunes
...see Transformers
...mountain bike
...road trip to Petoskey...very beautiful
...look at that thing over there... creepy
...camp in tent at Pla-Mor...YAY
...kill spiders or something
...something else
...pray for Summer Camp
...most importantly dive deeper into God's word and start experiencing more and more of Him in new and exciting ways! AWESOME!!!

...bye bye beautiful

Dull Summer

This might just be one of the dullest summers I have hand in over10 years. Not much going on. Here, let me review the past 10 years and why those summers have been very exciting

1997

• One week of Prairie Camp
• Jr. High day trip to Cedar Point(hated roller coasters)
• Jr. High Summer Get-a-way -
  -One day at a water park
  -One day at Kings Island
  -a day at the mall(weird for a youth trip)
• Family vacation to Northern Michigan.
  Activities included:
  -visiting family, family reunion or something
  -Mackinac
  - shopping
  -beaches
  - campfires

1998

• Jr. High Cedar Point day trip
  -started riding roller coasters
• Family vacation to Florida
  -Basic Sarasota stuff
  -Busch Gardens
• Went with a family to Oklahoma to babysit their kids
  -Wasn't best trip I went on
  -Highlight was watching a live musical of Oklahoma outdoors at some place that I don't remember, but it was pretty cool
• Jr. High Summer Get-A-Way
  -day at the Beach water park
  -day at Kings Island(with sounds of the Supertones in the background...weird)
  -day at Cincinnati Zoo

1999

• Jr. High day Cedar Point
• Family vacation to Gatlinburg, Tennessee
  -Dixie Stampede
  -Hike up the mountain trails
• Cornerstone
  -First year at C-Stone
  -Awesome music
  -Stryper or Five Iron Frenzy? Live CD?
  -I even saw Derry Prenkert
• SEMP Chicago '99
  -probably the second best trip I've been on with youth group
  -awesome God changing trip, learned some much
  -Shawn LaRue set off fire alarms(not really)
  -Truffle Shuffle in "negative"???
• Get-A-Way
  -Day at Cinergy Field for one of the worst baseball games I've ever been to, Reds vs. Cards
  -Day at Kings Island
  -Day at the Beach

2000

• SEMP Toronto
  -wasn't as good as Chicago(for me, I didn't get much out of it)
  -still an amazing trip and in the top 5 or 6 from church trips
  -Canada Eh?
• Cornerstone 2000
  -Jeff Simpson? something paper plate?
  -Cowboys or Five Iron Frenzy? Bake beans and cream corn?
• Summer Camp
  -Day at Camp
  -Day at Cedar Point(Millennium Force opens and I'm not so scared of coasters)
  -Day at some Sports City, Go-cart place or something. Unlimited go-carts and mini golf

2001

• IMPACT Peru
  -number one trip I've ever been on!
  -great mission team
  -awesome miracles
  -God changed my life and how I looked at missions and other countries
  -FAITH
  -I love these people
  -dancing for Jesus
  -Healings, including me being healed and then dancing and praising God
• Cornerstone
• Summer Camp
  -Day at Camp
  -Day at Cedar Point
  -Day at Soak City
  -something with a video camera in the middle of the night? I don't know
  -when I got to really get to know Justin Blackwood(big highlight)

2002

• Cornerstone
  -I guess Martin Ufkin was with us
  -final Ghoti Hook show = sad
• Summer Camp
  -Cedar Point
  -Soak City
  -something involving water balloons in middle of the night or something

2003

• Senior Trip Retreat to Cedar Point
• IMPACT Peru
  -probably tied for second greatest trip(with SEMP 99)
  -awesome spiritual changes
  -overcoming a lot of tough challenges
  -Cameron Bradley
  -Justin Blackwood and oreos or something?
• July - Oct. working at Cedar Point
  -hanging out with youth when the came to park
  -making some new friends
  -riding the Magnum XL-200 whenever I wanted(if I wasn't working)

2004

• May - Oct. working again at Cedar Point
  -Fun, new friends
  -one bad thing, Relation with God was at a very low
  

2005

• Cedar Point/Camping over Memorial Day weekend
  -With Nate & Jolyn and my sister
  -MaxAir at Cedar Point
• Help out with summer small group(Freshman guys)
• Summer Camp
  -this time around a leader
  -awesome trip
  -very fun
  -Zombie?
  -Connected to God
  -Disconnected from rubbish
  -awesome small group time

2006

• Cedar Point/Camping with Kevin
  -Locked in T.G.I. Fridays
  -Truckers welcome?
  -SkyHawk
• Cincinnati Trip
  -another trip with Nate, Jolyn, and Kayla
  -Kings Island
  -Cubs vs. Reds
  -camped in small cabin
  -CUBS WIN!!!
• Summer Camp as leader, Round 2
  -Best Summer Camp EVER!!!
  -Millennium Force line in the rain
  -JUMP!!!
• Six Flags Great America
  -guy loses cell phone and it was pretty funny
  -Viper
  -Raging Bull
• Cedar Point again?
  -Meeting up with Pawel, a friend from Poland who worked in 2004
  -Sleeping in a Meijer Parking lot
  -Hanging out with some old friends
  -Something about me and I died on Millennium Force or something

Yeah, there are some fun things this summer such as

• Cedar Point
• Cubs game

But no big trips to look forward to. I was really disappointed about not going to Summer Camp and I guess that's the big difference for this summer. I was really looking forward to it! I just noticed that this will be my first year that I won't be involved somehow with summer camp. When I worked at Cedar Point, I would hang out with the group when the came. It was fun!

So I guess I should just plan trip or something to make this summer more interesting! I need to get out of here for longer than 24 hours. I need a vacation away. Maybe upper Michigan or something. I'll see what I can do!

Yeah...the Cubs are doing AWESOME!!! Man, I should have put some pictures up and made some links or something in this post...but no... I'm just too lazy! Sorry!

bye bye beautiful

I feel the need...

...the need for speed!

First time I went, it wasn't open yet due to the fact that they needed to replace some of the track. It's open now and on Monday, I'll be going back once more to Cedar Point for hopefully my first ride on this thing that they call...MAVERICK!




I can't wait! It should be fun! Lets just hope that the weather doesn't ruin anything and that there aren't any down time due to technical difficulties like all other rides. *cough*Top Thrill Dragster*cough* But seriously, Maveric wills be awesome!!!

but not to forget all other forms of the name "Maverick"...

"Ducks fly together!"

Cue "We are the Champions" by Queen




"Quack, quack, quack!"

A Turn Around?

Friends!

Cubs win!

Go Cubs Go!

But is this a start of a 6 game winning streak or is it just getting their one win of the week out of the way? Good job with the hitting though and the pitching! Very beautiful game! A nice win after a terrible week!

Nice grand slam by DeRosa in the first!

Lets forget about a week of errors! Lets just forget about Big Z and Barrett going at it in the dug out! Lets forget about Lou Piniella kicking dirt at umpires and getting ejected. Lets just have a fun month of baseball! Clean fun! And one more thing, Cubbies...you let me down a lot, but I did not mean what I said before in my last post! I will never become a White Sox fan! NEVER!!! Go CUBS!! Just have fun and show that you are a better team! I'll see you July 1st against the Brewers!(and a win would be nice!)

I don't know what to think anymore...

Chicago Cubs, you are an embarrassment to Chicago, MLB, and to all real bears and bear cubs! I am this close(fingers almost pinched) to wearing a black jersey with some "White" lettering. That's all I have to say! Bye!

When the Time is Right...

I'll have a good blog, but lets face it, I'm not as creative as my buddy Creed here!

But seriously, someone once asked me yesterday who I was predicting to win American Idol and I gave them my answer...

But I was wrong!


















O... Hello there! Are we looking for something? Do you think you are going to find it? Here?
Perhaps you already have... But then again you have no idea.

But like the title of this blog post states, "When the Time is Right" .... ;)

Nobody doesn't like Derrek Lee(Well, maybe the White Sox don't)

GRAND SLAM!!!

Cubs 11 White Sox 6

Oh, I love this!

Ted Lilly or "Ded" Lilly

I don't know, but in this picture he kind of looks like a dead old guy or a zombie or the Sith or something. You decide!

And everyone makes a fuss about this guy's age.

It's that time of year again...

...time to re-unite with some old friends! Are you ready?

CUBS WIN!!!
CUBS WIN!!!

Tents, Cedar Point, and Summer Goals

Tents
So I begin with telling you about my previous weekend. Well, I worked all day Saturday and got off around 9:30 PM. Well, I know I was invited to go down and stay with my brother Nate and his wife, but I told them I wasn't sure that I would make, because of how late I had to work. Well, When I got off, I decided I was gonna drive down to their new house and randomly set up a tent in their backyard and camp out. Then when they wake up the next morning and look in their backyard, they would be like, "What the heck is this about?"

So I drive to Fort Wayne and I get there around 11:15 PM and I see that the lights are off, so that means they are in bed, probably watching tv, so I knew that I had to be quiet. I also didn't want to alarm the neighbors. So I grabbed my tent and went to the backyard to set it up. Now, I'm not good with setting up tents and stuff and thats in the day light. Now I had to worry about setting up a tent in the dark. Some howI did it. So I open it up and i throw my sleeping bag in there.

Now, I'm not gonna go into detail about the people that live far back behind them. They are late night people and I really don't know what kind of organization they are, but they had some camp fire going and were all yelling and running around. Me, being the person I am, someone who worries alot, I start to feel a little uncomfortable about all these strange people. So I layed down in the tent, but then thoughts ran through my head, "What if they are wondering who I am and why did I just set up tent to sleep in?" I tried not to let that bother me, but then I started to worry about if my brother sprayed weed killer around the backyard. I didn't want to get sick. Those people started yelling and getting louder. I wanted inside!

So I called my brother's cell phone and I was like, "Nate, can I come inside to sleep?" He was like, "What do you mean?" I'm like, "Look in your backyard." Then he looks and sees the tent and is like, "What in the world?" I start laughing. He comes outside and we start talking. I was asking me how I set it up in the dark. Yeah, I was amazed too! We spent a few minutes outside and then went back inside where I slept on his couch. It was an adventure!

Cedar Point
So yeah, I went on the Cedar Point trip. I said I was gonna go camping, well... I didn't. I was kind of a strange trip. It was fun, but then again, it could have been better and I could have not spent as much as I did. I should have just joined The Simpsons group or something. I chose not to write about the Cedar Point trip. You will have to ask me I guess.

Summer Goals
I guess I have some summer goals to share with you.

1. To have my blog read by The Derry Prenkert
2. To be apart of the leadership of Summer Camp for my third year
3. Kickball?
4. Shed a few pounds
5. Maybe to have more of a consistant blogging schedule
6. Visit Cedar Point, Six Flags Great America, Kings Island and at least one other amusement park. One down, 3 to go

My evening in a "Turtle" Shell

After returning from the store, I drove in to the parking lot of my apartment complex and as I was driving the 5 mph speed limit, I noticed something in the middle of the drive and it wasn't a rock...

It was this little guy. A turtle.

I drove slowly around him, stopped the car, looked down and I could tell he just wanted to be somewhere safe. I felt sorry for him. His little turtle head sticking out(hehe). His little eyes. I was just like, "oh heck no!" So I parked the car, picked him up and put him in a bucket and set out on an adventure to free Willy(if that was the name I gave him). I remember when I was younger, I would used to catch these things and show them off. So I decided to stop by my parents house show my sister my new little friend.

So we both set off to release our buddy to safey and freedom. We drove out that one place near the golf course off of CR 7. I put the little guy down in the water and just watched him. He stuck his head up a few times, looking back at me. Maybe it was taking a breath, but the way it came out and looked at me, I could tell there was a little "thank you" like stare. He was happy! Happy to swim around! Happy not to worry about being ran over! Happy to maybe find other turtle friends. It was sad to see him go, but hey, thats how it goes.

So I am 2 for 2 on leading animals to safety this year. Lets not forget the dog incident. But yeah, I guess in a way it feels good to help nature out, I don't know. Man, The Office was pretty good tonight. I love that show!

bye bye beautiful

Its what happens next!

Tomorrow night
The Office (the Best Show ever, period)


Sunday
-Mothers Day, show love to your mama
-We are all going down to Fort Wayne to hang out in Nate and Jolyn's new house

Monday
-Ohio
-Camping Here!


Tuesday
-The Roller coaster capital of the world

-But Minus Maverick

And those are probably the only exciting things that are happening this month!
Well... other than this...

and maybe this...

bye bye beautiful

Where have I been all my life?

Anyone there? I'm here! So yeah...a lot has happened...actually, a lot hasn't really happened. Hmm... I'm gonna be an uncle! Uncle Chunk! YEAH!!! So yeah...Happy Easter! So yeah... yep... yeah...

How about a link? Derry

bye bye beautiful!

Creed

We're Just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle

Bears 39, Saints 14
Colts 38, Patriots 34

Oh yes baby, Bears/Colts Super Bowl!!! I really don't have much to say about it. I'm just happy the Bears are back to do the "Super Bowl Shuffle"! Oh yeah, watch out Colts, the Terror of the Midwest is coming for you!

Two Weeks 'til Showtime!!!

Good luck Bears!

Bears followed by the Cubs?

Bye Bye Beautiful

Gimme A Break...

There are some things in life that I will be taking a break from. I'm gonna take a break from youth ministry. At first, it was hard, giving up something I've had a passion for since high school, but then I felt that it was time to strengthen my heart, to better prepare my self for this work. Now I feel a bit of both, not wanting to sit aside, but also wanting more from sitting aside. I love working with the youth, spending time with the guys from the group, one-on-one conversations, prayer and just loving these guys.

Being a youth leader, I have many strengths, one being how well I can connect with students, listening to them, loving them, prayer and compassion, reaching out and just having fun with them, connecting on a spiritual level. However, there are weaknesses that pull me down. One being frustration. Satan really attacks and uses my frustrations to bring out unhealthy attitudes. Although those times are few, its those times that students or other leaders may see something that isn't a healthy leadership. I really hate myself at times like those.

Now sitting aside and getting involved elsewhere, like a ministry with my peers, I feel that when I do return to youth ministry, that all my strengths will be there and more. Surrounding myself with college age ministry will bring forth more accountability and more peer-to-peer relationships. Having more accountability relationships may help with my frustrations and poor attitudes, along with other day-to-day struggles that I encounter. I do understand that it is God, who will help me with my struggles, but it is God who will be providing me with the right group of accountability friends that will care about me and love me. God is awesome! I can't wait to see how it all goes and what happens in the months to come.

Also, sitting aside from leadership, I'll find a more direct path of what God has in store for my life. I already feel God calling me to work with the youth. I have the passion, but what exactly does working with youth mean? Am I to be a small group leader? A youth leader connector? Am I to be a Sunday school teacher? A youth pastor? A youth camp counselor? Woship leader? If any of these things, what age? Jr. High? Senior high? 7th grade? 11th grade? Am I to even work with my home church? Or am I to travel half way across country to work with another youth ministry? I feel the call, but maybe I made the mistake of just jumping right into being a small group leader. Jumping into what felt right, verses what God say's is right. What is God's plan for me with youth ministry? I'll be feeding on this, diving deeper in his word, spending more time in prayer and just listening. To make God the main focus of my life, He is gonna to great things and point me to where, how, and who I'll be doing ministry with.

Another area I feel God has called me to, is missions. Wow, do I have a passion for missions work! I've seen God do pretty amazing things during mission trips. When I went on my first over seas mission trip to Peru in June of 2001, I have never seen God work like what He did the week I was down there. I know it was culture shock and everything, but the moment we walk into the church we were gonna be working with and meeting the people, I had this feeling inside that I've never felt before, my heart just broke for these people. I've never loved so much! Standing around, looking at all the this 3rd world poverty, a passion was filling me. "It is true that down in Peru(ville) that the Chunk's heart grew 7 sizes that day!" The first church service(while we were there it was during a celebration week and they had a service each night) our mission's team all stood up front and I'll always remember what happened next. Every member of that church(the small and the tall) formed a huge line and walked through welcoming us with love, hugging and kissing us, telling us "thank you" for coming down. There were probably around a hundred and everyone was so happy. Wow, I hated myself for what I was, a selfish American, so worried about what I needed and didn't need in life and then coming down to people who had nothing, but just filled with the love of Christ...I will continue this story later!

Wow, I just feel like writing about my first mission experience and I think I should continue, but the main purpose of entry was to let you know what's going on in my life right now and that it is best for me to just take a break from youth ministry and build more confidence and focuss for what God has planned for me in youth ministry and missions. Be in prayer for my life!

Thank you and Bye Bye Beautiful!

Who let the dogs In?

So today, I was at the local supermarket and this old lady comes up to me and says something like, "There is a big dog walking through some of the aisles in the back of the store." I kind of laughed, but then I looked back and sure enough there was this German Shepherd just walking around as if it were just peacefully shopping for eggs or something. Being the hero I am, it was my job to get him out. I noticed the tag on him as we walked out of the store together. I couldn't find his owner, so I went back in and we called the police to come and get the dog. The dog however, just kept walking in and out of the doors. It was kind of funny. He would just stand and wait for the automatic door to open and then he would come in and come in and then he would walk around the front and then he would stand and wait for the door to open to go back outside. The police finally came and picked him up. It was sad to see our new friend leave. Turns out, some guy had his dog in a pickup truck and had the back window slid open a little bit. The dog opened the window and got out to venture into the store to find his owner. Though, I don't know why the guy didn't see his dog in the store, but oh well, its a story for me to tell.

So yeah...

Bye Bye Beautiful

"Is there a Dr. In the House?"

Ok, I'm gonna write about something that's really been bothering me lately. Ok, I don't mean to complain or anything, but this is something I do not understand and I do speak for a few others out there who share this same love as me. Maybe someone can help us out and maybe explain to me why the world is like this. Do we deserve to suffer? Is it a punishment? Why? Why? Why? Ok, you are probably lost, but that's ok. Here, let me just throw it out...

Ok, this is something I've noticed for a long time and now is the time for answers! HOW COME EVERY TIME THERE IS SOME SORT OF PARTY OR GATHERING OR YOUTH EVENT, YOU CAN'T FIND DR. PEPPER? Well, actually you can find Dr. Pepper, but it is Dr. Pepper with cherry/vanilla or Dr. Pepper berries'n cream. Including diets of both. Seriously though, why not just regular Dr. Pepper? is it a sin? What's the deal? Is it that hard to just go along and get the ORIGINAL flavor, the "23" itself? Now I am speaking for a lot of Dr. Pepper fans who sit and ask the same question. Is it so hard? Why the others? More people like Dr. Pepper than the other flavors!

Take a look at this little segment...

Justin Blackwood: Hey kid, I'm glad you can show up to my party! Would you like something to drink?

Kid: (excited)Yeah, that would be great! Do you have any Dr. Pepper?

Justin: (blank look on face) Dr. Pepper? Like just regular Dr. Pepper?

Kid: Yeah, but if you just have Diet Dr. Pepper, that's good too.

Justin: Um, well we don't have either of those, but we do have Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, Berries and Cream Dr. Pepper, Sour Apple Dr. Pepper, Chocolate Dr. Pepper with Caramel. Dr. Pepper 1, Dr. Salt-n-Pepper, The Red Hot Chilli Dr. Peppers, and Dr. Pepper Lime. Would you like any of those? We have them all in Diet too!

Kid: (walking out the door)

Ok, so its probably not like that. I mean its just odd to see all the pop choices and you've got your usual Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Coke and then you look for Dr. Pepper and its not there unless its in a pink or purple box and with berries on it. Those flavors are just not right! It's like if you were going to watch Saved By the Bell on DVD and all the selections were Saved by the Bell: The College Years or Saved by the Bell: The New Generation or whatever it's called. I mean, who does that? Why not just Saved By the bell? The ones with Zack and Screetch and the rest in their original series? Is that a good example? So yeah... Ok, I'm not saying that I don't like Pepsi or Mountain Dew, cause I do and I drink a lot of Dew, but maybe the Mountain Dew people can suffer next time, when the only selections is are Diet Caffeine free Mountain Dew or Mountain Dew Pitch Black! But yeah, thats how I feel! Next time, I'm bringing the pop...bringing the Dr. Pepper to the ones who feel the pain of not being able to drink less than 25 flavors. Kid, i'm talking to you!

Ok, this was my venting post about how things should not be! Ok, I don't want you to read this and think, "Wow, he is mad!" No, this was a for fun post, maybe I'll get some answers, maybe not. But seriously, it doesn't really make sense just leaving out regular Dr. Pepper! But yeah...whatever!! Have fun!!! Later!!!

Bye Bye Beautiful