Before I Resign

Encouragement is powerful. We are commanded to encourage one another, and yet sometimes it comes few and far between. This weekend, Brian and I received a copy of a student's paper on youth ministry from one of their college courses. The student had written it, reflecting on their own past in our ministry and as a high school student. It floored me, and encouraged me enough to keep going another 5 years! (no I wasn't thinking of quitting :)

Brian and I share this with you to remind you that you never reap in the same season that you sow, that it takes time to make faith our own, and to never underestimate the role of relationship in the lives of students. You can read the text of the letter from Brian's blog...the link is below.

Years ago, as an intern of Jon Knapp, he told me to create a before I resign file. Put in that file cards, notes of encouragement, and anything else that reminds you of what God has done through you. When that day comes that you think that you're having no impact, go to the file and be reminded of what God has done, and that ministry takes time.

This note is going in the front of that file!

Letter from a student.

Mexico Media

I finally have some more stories from Mexico, but this time it's not just from me. Yesterday, our Mexico team used the sermon time during our church services to share stories of what God did in and through us.

You'll find the 40 minute session along with our PowerPoint slide show links next. I've also embedded the 4 minute video slide show that Zach made. Soon, I'll post the 20 minute version that he and Caleb spent so much time creating.

The PowerPoint file is in the 2007 version. If you don't have that version, click here for a 2007 viewer.

Mexico Sharing Audio - MP3 File
Mexico Sharing PowerPoint - PowerPoint 2007 File
Mexico Pictures - These are the 'best' 500 out of the 1600 taken!

Spring er...Winter Break

Yes, it's March 27th and it snowed last night. Not much, but enough too make this Oregonian very happy! Right now, I'm sitting at Starbucks watching inch-wide flakes fall in front of blossoming trees. It's one of those moments that can only stop and make you thank God for His beautiful creation!

Winter Continues

Though I'm sans spouse this weekend, today is wonderful due to the unexpected snow.

I woke up expecting a normal day, but when I opened the windows saw about an inch of snow! I was going to lounge around the house in Alison's absence, but couldn't resist going for a drive. I headed to the local Starbucks for a triple grande caramel macchiato and brought my Oregonian so I could do the crossword puzzle...outside! It was astounding.

After leaving Starbucks, I decided to head around town a bit to see what the snowfall was like elsewhere. In Portland, elevation determines everything when it comes to how much snow you get. Like I said, we got about an inch at our apartment which is about 500 ft. above sea level. I drove down the hill to about 200 ft. and it was a slushy/rainy mix...boring.

So I decided to make the trek all the way up to Council Crest Park at over 1000 ft. I'm sure glad I did! There were over 2 inches of snow there along with couples, kids and dads sledding, snow man making, and photographing the white powder.

I did slip a bit, even in the Subaru, but it was worth the beauty. Alison is lucky she wasn't around. I made a snowball that would have undoubtedly hit her.

Youth Snowboarding Trip

Wow! There weren't may words to describe the beauty that was our snowboarding trip with the youth group on January 21st. Alison captured this incredible shot of Mt. Hood peeking over the hills on a cold, windy Monday.

Cold was right too...before the sun went down, it was 16 degrees with a wind chill of 0! But it was one of the most beautiful days I've seen on Mt. Hood. The great part about Ski Bowl...besides being the cheapest of the 3 major ski areas, is that on a clear day, when you ski down Ski Bowl's runs, you get a perfect view of Mt. Hood itself.

I tried to be a bit daring, and took my camera on three different runs so I could capture the amazing view. Feel free to view it below in the slide show, or follow the album link to see the larger images.

It will be worth your time!

Snowboarding 2008

Free tour of the Holy Land

Okay, sorry I haven't posted in a while.

Want to take a tour of the Holy land, or all the places mentioned in the Bible? Want to do it for free? Well, Openbible.info offers a KMZ file for Google Earth that lets you look at all the discernible locations in the Bible. They even have a KMZ file that sorts out the locations by chapter! To download this file, go to http://www.openbible.info/geo/ and start your free tour.

HT to the Google Earth Blog.

Stonehenge

Wanna know how they built Stonehenge? Or at least one man's idea? Well, he did it, and all by himself with only tools they would have back then. Check it out.

Uke Again

If you enjoyed my former post from Jake Shimabukuro (Jake plays While my guitar gently weeps on the Uke), you'll love these two original compositions.

"Let's Dance"


Orange World

Some great guitar & Uke playing

I am a guitar player, and enjoy any good guitar playing...especially when they can play theme songs.

The Simpsons Theme Song - from videosift.com & "alowicious"


Sweet Uke Playing - from videosift.com & "crayfish" & Marko


Impressive!