Big Sky - Day 2, The "M"

Yesterday I hiked the "M." The M is about 670 ft. or half way up Mt. Sentinel, and sits right above the University of Montana. What a nice hike. The trail zig-zags back and forth until you reach the giant concrete "M." From up top, you get to look out at all the beautiful mountains and the valley below.

This photo here was taken from atop the "M." You can see the football team showing off their new members down below as I-90 stretches away in the right.

After spending much of the day on my own hiking, hunting for the local Starbucks and reading, Ali and I went to the rehearsal dinner. After what I thought was a very quick rehearsal—mine seemed long—We headed for a very nice restaurant next to a golf course up on another hill overlooking Missoula. Besides the great views, dinner was amazing; I had the prime rib and Ali had the seared Ahi tuna. Yum! Here we are eating with some bridesmaids and other guests.

Pictured here are DeeDee, Alison, Jill (sister of the bride), Stacey (the bride), and Cameron (not her baby). Ali, DeeDee, Stacey and Cameron were college roommates and great friends.

Ah, Sunset. After the dinner ended, many of us, including both sets of parents, met up at a local pub for more celebration. It was a great day and if you have the chance to see the landscape of Big Sky country, you really must. Well, I've got a couple of hours and then I need to get ready for the wedding myself. I'm off for some more reading.

Big Sky - Day 1

Greetings! I am writing you from my hotel room in Missoula, Montana...Big Sky Country! That picture was just some of what takes up space in the big sky.

After 4 states and about 9 hours, Ali and I arrived in Missoula for a wedding in which she is a bridesmaid. The wedding is on Sunday so we'll be here for a few days. Since our 2 year anniversary is on Monday, we're taking a slower journey home and stopping in Couer d'Alene, Idaho for a night.

So far it has been a great trip. The Colombia Gorge is as always wonderful. Eastern Washington reminded me of driving down I-5 in California—brown empty fields for miles. Idaho and Montana are green and mountainous and I can't wait to get back to the lake at Couer d'Alene. One of the best parts is driving 80 and only going 5 over the limit! :)

The iPod Mystique

I love my iPod. It is a great thing not to have to carry around my CD Library but just a small little device. It helps me block out distractions while I am studying, I can listen to sermons from my favorite preachers (Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Tony Campolo) on the road, and I can even get just the right play list ready for a youth retreat. Yes, the iPod is quite a nifty device.

But my friend Brian and I were talking about the iPod as a prize. You see, I filled out a survey for my school's Student Ministry department and by doing so have the chance to win one of two iPods. I helped lead some music at another youth group's all-nighter where they raffled off an iPod. At the Youth Specialties conference two years ago, every other booth was giving away a free iPod (probably 50 or more total). Thousands of online adds claim that you can win a free iPod.

Brian mused that no other product in history has ever been used to get us to come to events, fill out surveys, click on a link, and give our address and phone number to strangers more than the iPod has. And all of this in just the last few years! Way to go Apple.

It is done

Yes, your eyes did not deceive you. Your RSS reader accurately said that I posted again.

The past few months have been a rough go for my blogging. No, I haven't lost the itch to write. In fact, it's growing. Life has been busy and I spent time doing many other things, some of which I will get to in future posts, some, probably not.

But I write this post now to say that I had a strange experience today—A once-in-a-lifetime experience. I walked off the Multnomah Bible College campus today for the last time as an undergraduate student.

That's right, I took my last final, handed in my mail box key, grabbed my cap and gown and said goodbye. Sadly, my tassel says '07. That is only sad because my high school cap tassel says '97 and I am not a doctor.

Nevertheless, the day has arrived. I will not walk across the floor of a stage to receive my diploma, rather I will walk onto a stage in Salem to help lead worship for hundreds of middle school kids. Now that's exciting!

I'll have more to write later. Really! Thanks to all of those who put time, effort, trust and encouragement into this milestone in my life.

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.

Real Life

I had the great privilage in participating in our group's 30 Hour Famine this past weekend. We spent 30 hours fasting with 45 students to raise money for the poorest of the poor in our world who don't know when their next meal will be.

As part of the weekend, we took the students to the Real. Life. exhibit presented by Medical Teams International (formerly Northwest Medical Teams). MTI responds to disaster areas within 72 hours to provide basic needs and medical attention.Throughout the Real. Life. exhibit, you experience what real life is for much of our world. From man-made disasters, natural disasters, famines, and extreme poverty, pictures drawn by kids and scripture, you get an overwhelming sense of God's heart for those in need. You stand underneath a 25ft. tsunami wall with a sign telling you that in some places the tsunami waves were 75-90ft. tall.

 

You also walk through a Mexico dump where whole generations live, scavenge for food scraps and plastic or metal to sell. You learn of child abduction in Africa where children are taken and forced to become soldiers. It goes on and on.

While there is much tragedy, the exhibit also presents the hope of what is being done, and what you can do to help. You get a sense of where God is moving, and you want to join in.

As a church, about 150 of us went through the exhibit that day, so on Sunday we had a debrief instead of a message. One of my favorite lines that I learned from a 6th grader is that we won the birth lotto. Did I choose to be born here in such great wealth? No. I sure am glad I was, but to whom much is given, much is required. If you want to hear our debrief and the rest of the service, Right Click here and select 'save as' to hear the mp3.

It's exciting being part of a church and group of students who are seeking out the heart of God, seeing needs asking how can we meet them.

If you live in the Portland area, please go to the exhibit. It's well worth your time.

Stranger Than Fiction and our story

Spoiler warning. Don't read this post if you plan to see Stranger Than Fiction.

Jessica, Justin, Ali and I saw Stranger Than Fiction a couple of weeks back. (Actually now a month ago, but I started this post and got distracted. Yeah, I know, distracted for a couple more weeks? Hey, it's my blog) What a movie. For those who read this blog and are not quite yet out of their parent's homes, please note the PG-13 rating and my unofficial recommendation.

We meet Harold Crick, a employee of the IRS, who goes about living a mundane life, not doing anything out on a limb and not really living as viewed by the writer of the movie. He begins hearing a woman narrate his life exactly as it happens and finds out that his eventual death is around the corner. As Harold begins to "truly live," he seeks out why he hears this voice, and if he is truly going to die soon.

After much work, Harold tracks down the famous author who is a drama novelist, currently working on the script of Harold's story. She has written the end but it has not been typed up yet, meaning that Harold hasn't lived it yet.

While the interaction between the author and the character is quite interesting, Harold struggles with wanting to read his own ending. After a time, Harold decides to read the ending. He returns the story to the author and says that it's a good ending, and that she has to type it up.

Harold faces his heroic ending well. I'll let you watch that part yourself. But the part that kept on shouting to me was that we can—as people who know the Creator—know the ending. Whether it be our end, just a turn in the road, or the end of the whole story itself, we know the one writing the story. And because we can trust the writer, we can trust the future of the story.

So, mind the rating, see the movie, and feel the sense of trust in the writer of our story that Harold has in his. Continue to bring about His story now.

Great animation

I got quite a kick out of this movie entitled Animator vs. Animation - II, animated by Alan Becker.

Here Kitty Kitty

I thought I'd give you a fun photo journey in a typical day of our cat, "Misty."

No, she's not been partying all night long, but the toilet is her new favorite water dish. Yuck!

Misty enjoys watching the squirrels approach the window.

We have a plastic bin on our back deck which holds various BBQ supplies as well as our extra bird seed and peanuts for the birds and squirrels. One day, we noticed that they had chewed a hole through the top!

Here you can see a squirrel diving in the hole, eating seeds with its tail sticking out.

Sometimes when they reemerge, they have a peanut in their cheek. We just can't believe that with their extra winter weight, that they can fit through the small hole!

As much as I enjoy watching the squirrels, our cat freaks out!

Snow!

What a day! Last week, the weather forecasters spent 3 long days predicting doom & gloom snow storms...and nothing. Last night, they began to say that we may see some snow today. Well, 3 1/2 inches later, I think we saw some snow!

Here are a few shots of the day. After relaxing in the morning, Ali, Annie and I walked about a three-quarter-mile to Starbucks and sat outside while drinking our coffee. It was beautiful. We saw cross-country skiers and even a snowboarder pulled by an ATV, all down Capitol Highway!

Afterward, we walked down to the bottom of 30th and watched various cars get stuck driving up the Highway. I just can't believe the timing of this snow. We took the youth group up yesterday for snowboarding and tubing on Mt. Hood. The roads were great, and the skies were clear. Thank God! You can check out Brian's blog for some pictures.

I'd just like to point out that I love snow!