Bladder Training

The new workout regiment seems to be training my bladder as well.

I've never felt the need to drink so much water, and a recovery drink, in such a short period of time.

Some nights, it keeps me up later than I would want because I'm afraid I will wet the bed if I go to sleep before it all makes its way through.

Bladder training in the works...

A Yoga Experience

I had never done Yoga before this evening.

Tonight's P90X workout was 90 minutes of Yoga divided in 3 parts...

Movement positions
Balance positions
Stretching positions

By the end of the movement positions, parts were sore enough that I couldn't hold the poses as long as I was supposed to.

I don't have the strength/coordination for one of the balance positions yet.

Stretching was very relaxing.

Yoga wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be...

Long Quiet Day...

Tomorrow should be a long quiet day at work.

I think most of the staff is out of the office taking some vacation, but I took mine earlier so we could go to California.

I like quiet days in the office. Should enjoy being my introverted self.

Brought To My Knees

I got the P90X workout system for Christmas this year.

One of those things you wonder why you would ask for. After doing the first two days workouts, i'm beginning to wonder why I didn't just ask for a Wii instead.

My body aches. Yesterday (the first day's) workout is still what is hurting me the most, as it focused on chest and back (perhaps my weakest muscle sets). I was literally brought to my knees in this workout as the push-up quantity was not something I could handle, so the last few chunks of them had to be done knee style.

Today was a plyometrics workout, but I have some past training in that and my legs are my strongest muscle set, so I haven't felt it as bad yet, and was able to complete all that was on the video without taking the far easier path on any of the exercises.

88 days to go...

Holiday Rush

First and foremost let me get the most important thing out of the way. Jenny slept in until 3:00 this afternoon. I couldn't have been more proud of her.

Now onto the rest of the day.

I went to the Mall of America today. I wouldn't have gone that far out of my way, but I had one item on the agenda that would only be found there.

I expected a pretty large holiday rush, and while the stores seemed busy, the Mall wasn't nearly what I expected. The Target I found myself at later was much more hectic than the mall was.

The snow is falling now, so I guess the holidays are officially here. I'll be looking forward to trudging outside for a while tomorrow on a secret mission, then a Christmas Eve service at church and Christmas celebrated with the family.

Happy Holidays

The Queen of the House

Sometimes you don't know how much you miss the queen of the house until you spend a night sleeping on an airport floor.

It is good to be home, to go to sleep in the queen sized bed.

Time to bring on the snow, the holidays are here.

We're Leaving....

On a jet plane....

Jenny and I are leaving for an extended weekend in California with her best friend. Likely doing the Disney Land thing while we are there, but regardless, we are getting out of the cold and away from the office, so we are both excited.

See you next week...

Getting Ahead?

This coming week is the first in a while that I don't need to plan any kind of teaching.

Maybe I will be able to get ahead on some of the other things in the office this week.

Here is to hoping I stay productive tomorrow during the time that would normally have been spent on planning the week's teaching from Deuteronomy.

Go Team

Fantasy football playoffs are underway, Jason and I are on pace to set our season high in points in week 1 of the playoffs.

Nice to get our entrance fee back, now to win two more for the title again...

It Must Be Cold...

I generally don't concern myself much with weather. I've gone entire winters without using a winter coat, and settled for just a windbreaker, even when windchills were 40 below.

Tonight, I was about to go outside, when I reached to put the gloves from my pockets on my hands and I realized that I had left my coat in the office.

I knew it must be cold out, because I walked back to my office to get it instead of just waiting until the next time I was at the church.

Silly winters in Minnesota, you are not my friend.

Go Big Blue

This post will be entirely about college basketball, read at your own risk...

Cats win again.

I generally haven't been a big fan of players who go to college for just one year before entering the NBA draft, but I'm ecstatic that Mr. Wall decided to play a year for the Wildcats.

I clearly think he looks ready for the NBA, and won't want him to leave, but if Coach Calipari can continue to recruit these kinds of players, he will be well worth the money UK through his way.

Beating UNC and UCONN back to back is a feat that nobody would have expected before the coaching shift and recruitment following of the off-season, but we are being spoiled yet again with how quickly UK has re-established its credentials in the college basketball world.

Fun to watch, even if from a distance.

Snow Driving

It always takes people a month or so to get back in the habit of driving in the snow.

This is one of my pet peeves. It isn't any different than last spring people....

At least, while avoiding the traffic the rest of the evening and staying home, the person I wanted to win the money on Biggest Loser did just that.

Go Danny.

Coffee Shop Roulette

I don't drink coffee, yet found myself at 3 different coffee shops within a 2 hour span today.

Guess that is what you are in for when that seems to be the most comfortable place for many people to set up a meeting with a pastor.

Good thing they offer lots of drinks that don't have any coffee in them. I'm starting to know what all the menus from all the different chains have.

And my work bag consistently smells like coffee shop now.

I like the smell of coffee, but the lingering smell of coffee shop, not so much.

Meaningless Football Games

All of my Fantasy Football games were meaningless today.  

While the Colts haven't mathematically locked up everything, there game today was also essentially meaningless, except for record setting purposes.

Lots of wins from games that were meaningless, lets hope they continue next week as the Fantasy Games become more meaningful....playoffs start next week.

Longer Days...

The longer work day was interesting today. I had usually gone to the church sometime between 10-11 on a Thursday morning and worked about 12 hours or so.

Today drug me in a little before 8:00 and only the maintenance man had beat me there. It was different for things like, when I start to feel hungry and such when the schedule comes 3 hours faster than normal in my body.

Overall, not too much difficulty this week in working out life with just 1 car...we'll see what complicates it as things continue to progress, but for now, still have a pretty positive attitude about the whole thing.

Development Day 2

So my current goal is to continue to use Wednesdays as a personal development day. I'll typically go to work with Jenny, drop her off and head to a coffee shop. Outside of a lunch meeting we have near her work, i'll spend the day devoted to my own development in some way.

Today I finished the book I was reading about communicating ideas in memorable (read: "sticky") ways. I then started a different book on one person's view of discipleship and the keys he thinks the majority of the American Evangelical church has missed. He cleverly titles it "The Great Omission" focusing on Jesus' "Great Commission" as the starting point for talking about the things that we have ignored.

Who knows what next week will bring.

29 Going on 12

I thought today was my 29th birthday, but the movie I watched may beg to differ.

Two other staff at the church and myself decided to fore-go productivity for a couple of hours and go to a movie. One of them had read the Twilight books and seen the first movie, the other had also seen the first movie, so we headed to Twilight: New Moon.

None of us were impressed. We lost lots of man points. I was not encouraged to ever read the books or watch the previous or future movies.

It was the movie selection of a 12 year old girl, not a 29 year old.

The three of us will tell stories about this experience for many days to come though.

Not a Great Movie

Life without a car is simple. When I was figuring out what I could do with my day today, I narrowed it down to everything within walking distance. Given the temperature, this didn't leave many options.

I chose the movie rental from Redbox.

G.I. Joe is out and I still hadn't seen it, so I watched it this afternoon.

It wasn't that good. I probably won't watch it again, though if they made a sequel, childhood nostalgia would force me to watch it also.

Tomorrow is an office day. It will likely be more productive than today was.

Retreats and Gadgets

Had a good time away with the volunteers that we (the paid staff that oversee Young Adults) work with most heavily on our retreat this weekend.

Had fun playing with my new Google phone this weekend.

Finally got Google Wave invites this weekend, so will be looking forward to playing with that as well.

Holidays, family, selling a car, getting new phones, attic work, retreat, more Google gadgetry and fantasy football....extended weekends are exhausting. Minus the car thing though, all great stuff.

Hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend as much as I did. Now to acclimate to a new routine.

New Gadgets

I can't imagine i will need to do this often, but the fact that i can is pretty cool.

I'm not at home or near a computer, but able to use my new Google phone (Samsung Moment) and one of its apps to blog from the basement of a house in the middle of nowhere while watching a movie with my volunteer team.

Sometimes technology is just really cool.

Turkey Day

Eat a lot of it. Dip some of the leftovers in Miracle Whip.

Eat more cake than you eat pie, but have both.

Watch some football.

That's a Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you have one.

Wide Eyed Wednesday

Starting a no car experiment tomorrow.

Will be leaving the house early in the morning with Jenny as she goes to work.

Will find a coffee shop to spend most of the morning in with books/computer.

Will meet around lunch time for standing appointment at Wednesday lunch hour with Jenny and one of the young adults from church.

Will do something productive with the rest of the afternoon.

Will go home with Jenny.

1 Vehicle, 2 lives, doable? Test begins tomorrow.

Just Put On a Happy Face

Sometimes, I get motivated to disregard "natural" feelings and decide I am able to put on a happy face.

Today, I found such motivation.

It has been easy the last 3 or 4 days to dwell on a car being at the shop. A car that we have no intention of getting fixed at the shop because of its price tag to do so.

So, like may be natural, we began evaluating our options. Would we pay to have the car fixed, would we buy a different used car from a dealership, or would we buy one of the two brought up by family members?

How snobby am I? Yeah, I didn't appreciate my car breaking down. I'll admit, financially it isn't something I would ever hope for, to essentially have $5700 washed down the drain with the turn of a key. But seriously, how snobby am I? This situation may not have been fortunate, or in my favor, but I have options. I HAVE OPTIONS. What can I really complain about? I've got numerous different paths to "reconcile" the situation from which I get to choose.

Funny thing is, the one that is leading the pack right now, wouldn't have entered my mind without said misfortune.

What if we lived for a while with just one car? What are the implications of restructuring my schedule at work and in my life commitments that enables us to do what we've committed to doing and find most important to our lives with just one vehicle between us?

As I've begun to think about this option more, I have started to realize that there is a part of me that just wants to try it. I think I can make it work, at least for a while, and I have envisioned some of the self-imposed structure that may actually be more beneficial for my personal development than having so much of the freedom to be lazy on my own time. I've realized I can be an intensely disciplined person when my mind is set to something and am now curious how beneficial certain things can be if I just decide to restructure some of the disciplines of my life based on this "misfortune."

So, I've decided to just put on a happy face. I've decided to be thankful for the ability to weigh options in response, and to even get excited about trying an option I may have otherwise never considered.

I have no doubt that the moment not having a vehicle becomes a hindrance to effectively carrying out my commitments (read work and mentoring meetings) that I will without hesitation evaluate other options more heavily, and honestly admit that I'm still open to hearing lots of vehicle options for Jenny and I, but I'm kind of excited about trying something different for awhile.

Bad Phone Call

Saturday didn't include the most exciting phone call ever.

Anytime the car mechanic begins his phone call this way, you know you are in trouble....

"Sorry I didn't call you earlier, it's been a pretty crappy day around here, but not as crappy as yours is about to be."

Looks like it is funeral time for my car.

Ugh....Really?

My car is making noises like it wants to die. Not fun noises at all.

Weirdly, it goes quiet when it hits 4th gear.

I hate car problems.

Time to take it to the shop though....hoping the damage isn't too costly.

Blurry Thursday's

I sometimes think it is weird that I need to have anything I will do for Friday understood by Wednesday night because Thursday's are so blurry.

The 14 hour days that are typical of Thursday often leave me with no time to do anything for a Friday.

That, and the paint is getting to my head. Some bathroom second coat was put on tonight.

Tomorrow already feels like a blur.

Paint

There is some on the wall in our in process Master Bathroom.

It's on the way.

New OS Fun

After $32.18 and a couple hours of fun, I've officially upgraded one of our laptops to Windows 7.

There is something energizing about starting fresh on a computer. Re-Installing and downloading programs is sometimes exciting for me.

That was a chunk of my evening tonight.

Time to keep the process up.

I think ITunes is next.

What an Ending

The Colts were outplayed for 58 minutes. That has happened a couple of times this year (like against the Dolphins).

The Colts played out of their mind for 2 minutes and were handed a gift in the form of a blunder from one of the coaches who makes the least blunders in the game.

Peyton Manning always receives gifts kindly.

Reggie Wayne can catch really well.

Colts win by 1 in the most exciting football game I have seen in a long time.

Go Colts!

Sermon Time

After a team meeting that altered my mood more towards tension and despair than excitement, and then, the need to change that mood in 10 minutes or so before I got up to teach tonight... I need refreshment.

I'll find that in playing stupid mind games and listening to sermons.

It's sermon time.

And It Begins

Time for football to start on Thursday nights.

Maybe that will make Jenny happy, since I work Thursday nights it is one less game each week that I am able to keep up on in real time.

Toddler Time

We went over to babysit Luke and Jesse tonight.

I spent most of the evening playing with Luke. Jenny had me come look at something on the T.V. at one point and that made me want to stay upstairs watching instead of returning to the trains downstairs.

Fortunately, I convinced Luke to go pick out a book for me to read to him.

I think we read 7 or 8 books tonight. He just ran to his bookshelf and picked another one each time we were finished.

I got to stay in the chair.

It was awesome.

Changing Expectations

The conference this weekend was different than I expected. Not necessarily better or worse, but definitely different.

The last couple of conferences I've attended by parachurch organizations had a lot more resources at their disposal. Attended in the 10s and 100s of thousands, a conference like the one this weekend with a couple hundred in attendance just can't compete with some of the things those others offered.

I actually thought the conference this weekend did a lot of things well, but don't know that Jenny and I were in their target market.

Regardless, it was nice to get away for a weekend with nothing to think about except our relationship. That would never be a bad weekend.

Away We Go

Jenny and I are taking a weekend away starting tomorrow.

We are going to Fargo, North Dakota with my boss and his wife to a marriage conference for the weekend.

It is one of the "Weekend to Remember" events hosted by Family Life Services if you've ever heard of those.

We are most excited for a free weekend away, but will take any of the marriage help we can get as well (not in that desperation tone, but in that added bonus tone).

Bacon Ruins Me

There are lots of days I want a sandwich or burger from a restaurant I am at, and am disappointed to read bacon as something the sandwich includes.

You see, they always vamp up the price for the bacon, but they don't subtract that if you ask for it without bacon. I have trouble dealing with this conundrum.

Today, there was a delightful sandwich I wanted for lunch as a special: a barbecue chicken sandwich with pineapple, cheddar cheese, and bacon. All ruined by one word.

So much so that I ordered the half sandwich and soup that was $3 dollars cheaper just because I was annoyed that everything seemed to come with bacon.

You ruin my hopes bacon, you smash them to the ground.

5 Books in Half an Hour

That is my challenge this Thursday.

I'm planning on telling the story of Israel as seen in the first 5 books of the Bible this week.

We are beginning a series through the book of Deuteronomy, but much of what happens in that book only makes sense if you have a solid foundation of the story of Israel that has happened in the 4 books leading up to it.

In a short run through with my supervisor today to figure out how to maximize certain parts of the teaching I actually heard him say "you've almost even got me excited about sitting down and reading the book of Leviticus after that."

It makes all the time spent loving the Old Testament and trying to put it in proper perspective for people who ignore the majority of it worth it.

Hoping for similar kinds of understanding/excitement come Thursday night.

I just wish I had a lot more than half an hour.

Fantasy Failures

Twice this year, the team Jason and I co-own has been the lowest scoring team in the league for a given week.

Twice this year, we tied another person for that low score and somehow managed to not lose when scoring the lowest amount of points.

Twice this year, this happened while we played the same individual.

If you are going to fail, you might as fail with someone and in doing so, scrape by with a tie.

Vanishing Time

I always look forward to the day that starts after an extra hour of sleep due to setting the clocks backwards.

Yet I always wake up that day realizing that I didn't use that hour for sleep.

Rarely do I use my extra hour wisely, I always squander it doing something useless late at night.

Another year with a wasted hour at this time.

Demands on a "Pastor"

People are comfortable asking you some of the strangest things when you are a "pastor."

Today, I was having coffee with someone and they began asking me if some of the things they thought might be true about some misconceptions of prayer were accurate.

The conversation progressed and they actually said, "If you were to be used by God and the Holy Spirit as His voice to clearly tell me something about prayer right now, what would it be?"

These are the kinds of interesting conversations you get to have with people at coffee shops when you are a young adults pastor.

This meeting was not set up to be about prayer, or counseling, or really, anything more than social, but ended with this line of questioning.

Fun times, I truly love my job.

Endings are Important

At the recommendation of Mrs. B. I read "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger over the last few days.

If this book had been 299 pages, I would have given it a very high rating, thinking the only thing that need be adjusted in it is the age of one of the characters.

The story is well written and the characters well described and built, except that one isn't believable based solely on their age. Had the 9 year old been 17, the book would be excellent...at least for 299 pages.

The book happens to be 311 pages though, and the last 12 were easily my least favorite. The ending seemed abrupt and to not fit with the general pace and progression of the story. Unfortunate for the masterpiece that could have been.

I still enjoyed the story, and liked the book overall, but it could have been so much better if the ending were as well crafted as the rest of the story.

Don't know when I'll read my next novel, as I've got a bunch of books for work still lined up, but it was a nice break.

The Silly Flu

With how many people I know and have been around that ended up getting or had the flu, I'm surprised that I haven't come down with it this year.

I've always had pretty fortunate luck with my immune system, but maybe that just balances out the physical injuries i've piled up over the days in place of the internal ones.

Here is to hoping that I make it through the rest of the flu season without it.

1 Week

Jenny and I just finished the dvds for season 7 of "24." Though i've watched all of them without commercials, when you add in the special features and the season I watched most of for a second time, I believe I have spent a week of my life watching 24.

I have had seasons take a couple of months to finish, all the way down to a marathon session of watching an entire season back to back in 1 day.

It has been a fruitless week of my life, but most of the time enjoyable.

Now on to reading the novel recommended first "Peace Like a River" which I am about a third of the way through.

1 Down

Only the most important fantasy football game is over. It was a victory.

The other 2 are still being contested, one that I should win, and one that will be too close to call right now.

Here is to hoping I can go 3-0 with my teams this week.

Now, back to watching the U2 concert being streamed live on youtube.

Head Above Water

I just couldn't get my head above water today at work.

I was on pace for a great day, until I did the practice run of my message for the evening at 2:00 and didn't like it. It wasn't that I thought it was a useless message, or that I hadn't prepared enough, just that when I practiced through it, I felt there was probably something more useful I could say than parts of that message.

So I put myself in a funk for the rest of the day, only had about half an hour or so of time to tweak the message before giving it (lots of meetings right before the service) and didn't have time to run through it again after making major tweaks.

Overall, I taught/spoke/preached for 35 minutes tonight. About 7-10 of those minutes were from the originally prepared sermon.

That being said, it went better than I thought it might.

Yay for the Holy Spirit.

Nephew 3

Jenny got the phone call at 2:30 this morning that her presence was requested to house sit until grandma showed up to take Luke, so Kristi and Tony could start heading to the hospital.

Then, early in the 7:00 hour, our 3rd Nephew was born.

Jesse Daniel Hooper born this morning. He's a cute one, but only likes to open one eye at a time.

Looking forward to learning his personality and watching him grow.

Congratulations Tony and Kristi.

A Good Novel

I want to read a Novel.

Someone should recommend a good one to me.

I won't offer any classifications, but assume I have typical male taste and am not interested in something like a Jane Austin favorite. Nothing against her books, just not the place my mind wants to retreat to for pleasure.

Something action/drama/suspense is fine. Something with life lessons is fine as well.

Please recommend.

Don't Know If I Like This

The heat has been on a bunch of days in October.

The heat isn't supposed to be on in October.

Somebody give me fall.

Mushy Mind

After awaking this morning a little before 7:00 to get ready and head to the church, then preach two services followed by leading a small group leaders training, my mind became mush.

At least I feel that those things all went well.

I'm thankful that I got to just come home and spend the rest of the day on the couch. I had no ability to do much else and people hitting each other around an odd shaped ball and Jack Bauer saving the world again are both things that help you relax if your mind is mushy.

Google Wave

If you read this and have some sort of ability to send me a google wave invitation, I'd be happy with that.

Anyone got to play with it yet?

Sleepy Season

I wonder if I get the urge to sleep more when it is cold out?

The last couple of days I have been ready to go to bed earlier than usual. It doesn't make me willing or able to get up any earlier, I just have wanted more sleep.

Do we go through more "sleepy" seasons?

I got 12 hours of sleep last night, but was ready for bed again before being awake for 12 hours since I've been awake.

Oh well, I'll grab it while the opportunity exists....

Goodnight.

Lows and Highs

Low Point of the day...

Realizing the garage door opener was broken and needed to be replaced.

High Point of the day...

Coming into the warm house and taking a hot shower after spending a chunk of the evening in the garage with cold hands replacing said garage door opener.

Too Much Material

So I was given a set of verses to preach from this Sunday. I was told when they were given to me that I need not use the entire set, but should find something within those verses to build my teaching from.

As I've begun doing so, I've probably gathered two hours worth of teaching material so far, and don't feel finished.

The hardest part is always cutting down the material, but I've never had so much I could say in one set of verses before.

The Hunt

I had been tasked with taking care of a wasp problem we had. We had seen some flying up part of our siding, and then killed 10 or so in our basement that would be found walking on the floor. Small ones, looking like they were recently hatched.

I knew the next trip to Home Depot would include some spray.

On Friday, dad and I were preparing to make a trip there, so we went to measure something that was in the basement to get a replacement part. In the process of doing that, we disturbed some wasps, killed 4 or 5 and say 7 more that were now flying around the basement. We closed doors to keep them contained and headed to buy some spray.

Upon arriving home, we began the hunt. We found about 13 or so where we thought they would be and sprayed them. Then we turned our attention to where we thought they would be coming from and sprayed there.

Thus began our hunt. Over the next hour or so, we developed a system of drawing them out and killing them. In that time, only 3 got aggressive and flew at us, but each of those was swatted out of mid air with a fly swatter to then be stepped on.

We tallied 118 kills until we were satisfied that there weren't many left.

Saturday, we destroyed the hive, rid ourselves of all carcasses, and caulked the hole they had flown in to begin with.

It was a good hunt. 118 deaths, no stings.

Long Workday Thursday...

Lots of hours at work today. Not much energy left.

Love doing things I find worth it and fulfilling with most of my time, but am spent after doing them for that long.

Need good sleep and relaxing weekend.

Hard Candy Medicine

When I get sore throats that aren't hurting bad, but annoying, I often don't get medicine. Instead, I just buy hard candy (usually CreamSavers) and allow eating them to coat my throat with sugary syrupy goodness which eliminates the pain.

Today, I went to get some, but Walgreens didn't have the CreamSavers I was looking for so I ended up with the Old Man Candy of Werthers Originals. Caramel goodness has been in my mouth most of the day.

Time at Work...

45 minutes of my time spent at work today was describing the different level of play in all the international soccer leagues.

Comparing the differences of Spanish, Italian, English, and German leagues, their level of play depth of leagues, and age of recruitment compared to the MLS in America.

It was an easy 45 minutes of work to remain entertained while be asked lots of questions from a parent who has a student embarking upon college soccer and is just being opened up to the vast global soccer world.

Glad I could offer him some help.

Sticky Smells

Can someone tell me why certain smells stick more pungently than others?

Like, why is it that when I put my hat on this morning, it still smelled like the campfire from 2 days ago?

Or why will the clothes I wore to a meeting this morning smell like coffee shop for a couple of days?

Why aren't all the smells picked up equally by our items and carried throughout?

Weekend Whirlwind

Camping in the cold and rain was far less uncomfortable than expected. I had mentally prepared for constant showers and blistering cold, so was fine with the spotty drizzle and only mildly chilly temperatures.

But I also got some cool news right before the trip. While loading up at the church on Friday, the Senior Pastor pulled me into the office to ask me if I wanted to preach both of the Sunday Morning services in two weeks (October 18th). I'm excited for that opportunity.

Then, fantasy football was really weird. I had two games it clearly looked like I should win, and one that would be close. The close one being the one I wanted to win the most. By the end of the night, we should clearly win the important one, I'll clearly lose one, and one close one will depend on how a defense performs in the Monday Night Game that seems pretty important in this area with all the Favre drama.

Colts are 4-0, that's the only team that matters.

Uh OH

It is 2:54 a.m.

Jenny and I are just now going to bed. She still has to work early, and then we are off to fun camping in the rain.

But we do enjoy having late night conversations about lots of fun things.

Graphic Design

I sat in a coffee meeting this evening with someone who went to school for graphic design.

It didn't take me long to remember my lack of artistic ability and creativity. Sitting with him was exciting for me, as he'll be doing some work to help us brand our Young Adults program for the church.

Young recent grads with talent and ambition are a great addition to every young adults team. Here is to using his talents while mine remain absent.

Weather...Kinda Nice

While I don't tend to like it getting colder, I did buy a coat in late spring early summer for cheap that I've been excited to wear.

I got to wear it today, that was kinda nice.

Pretty vain, but honest.

Now it can warm back up for camping this weekend.

Loaded E-mails

I never know how to respond when I receive a loaded e-mail. Does it need to be dealt with in person, as to communicate better and more clearly, or responded to in kind via e-mail so as to answer more quickly and avoid the scheduling delays and location issues of answering in person.

I received one of those tonight. Not an e-mail that causes weird emotion, or is asking a ton of me, it was actually an e-mail I will happily entertain the conversation, just one that comes with questions that are asking far more than their text words are saying.

Can you instill the right amount of encouragement over the internet? Can you cast the proper kind of vision?

I don't think I can do both of those things as well as I would like through e-mail, but don't want it to be a week from now before any conversation happens.

Suppose that means tomorrow I'll come up with some kind of middle ground.

14 wasn't enough

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I sometime work 14 hour days on Thursdays. Granted, some of that time isn't considered work as it is going out to Applebee's with many of the young adults after the service, but a normal Thursday had put me at leaving for work 14 hours before I returned home.

The last two weeks, since our fall kick-off have not been normal Thursdays. They have been 16 hour days instead.

I'm beat. Need sleep. Heading to bed.

Preaching about...

Our young adults group is continuing its study of the book of Acts tomorrow night.

My topic to teach on is how God uses preaching in the book of Acts.

I'll be preaching about preaching. I've been having a lot of fun thinking about how different preachers and sermons have affected and encouraged my walk with God.

Will be interesting to see what I decide to say in the 35 minutes I have.

College Like Days

Some of the guys from our young adults group decided it would be fun to have me over for an evening, so we scheduled that for tonight.

We spent most of the evening playing the latest and currently most popular video games. It reminded me of college.

Fortunately, I haven't lost all of my thumb skills so after a little time getting used to some of the games, I didn't just come in last place every time.

I told them that the next time Jenny is out of town for a while, I will likely end up at their place for a couple evenings in a row getting my fix.

Another one Down

From Seminary books to work books.

We (our young adults leadership team) are going through books together each month to continue to develop ourselves. We finished a book with spiritual emphasis last week, which means this months book will be a leadership/team management book.

I finished it today, which gives me the next 4 weeks or so to read books I want.

Good thing some came in the mail last week. I finally get to open them now. It is like getting a present, opening a book order.

Hopefully I won't leave the plastic wrap on the floor for too long in my excitement.

Wins Around

So far, it has been a weekend for winning.

I have continued success with alumni soccer games as we pulled out another victory over the current varsity team by a score of 3-2.

Then, I secured two fantasy football wins (of three teams) and have set myself up nicely to win the 3rd after the Monday Night Game.

Wins all around in my sporting adventures this weekend.

Now it is time to re-enter the productive world.

Results Abound

These men are about 7'9" tall. They are currently guarding our garage as their skin dries.

They are my teaching visuals for tomorrow evening, but will be used as decoration/props for much longer than that.

Though not pictured in their correct order, they are "Do." (shovel man) "Love." (missing heart man) and "Walk." (walking stick man).

Jenny and I thoroughly enjoyed creating them.

Thanks dad for having most of your tools handy.

Typical Tuedays...

Golfing was fun. Great weather, great company, and occasionally a great shot or two.

Now some of you may be asking:

What does a young adults pastor do on a Tuesday night after golfing during the day?

Here is my answer:


Using all the available technology (wireless internet, laptop, projector and digital camera) we (the pastor's wife helped) spend the late evening hours in the garage tracing large stick people (3 different varieties) onto full 8'x4' sheets of plywood.

Sometime tomorrow, they will be cut out of those sheets and painted.

Fall kick-off is this Thursday, and though the original intention in my head was just to have them as teaching visuals, they will likely be used for far more than that in the upcoming weeks.

Just another typical Tuesday.

Break Time

The last two weeks (Last week through this Thursday) were set to be busy based on the church's schedule.

Tomorrow is my oasis in the middle of the busy-ness dessert as I get spend the day golfing in a scramble with good company for a good cause.

I need this break to refresh me for the rest of this busy week.

Now back to rooting for my remaining players in the second half of their monday night game. Still can reasonably win in two of the leagues that i'm behind in.

...And I'll Say It Again

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the players on my fantasy football teams know when I'm cheering for them and when i'm not.

All 3 of my teams are currently losing.

I don't have a chance for 1 of them, but with two Monday Night Games tomorrow, two of my teams can still reasonably pull off victories.

Lets hope the Chargers route the Raiders in the late game, I even have numerous different ways that they can score those points.

Next week, I shouldn't have to miss over half of the games, so my teams should do better.

Interesting Encounters

I thought I was running out to eat a quick lunch today. I had brought along a book I needed to read a chapter of but decided in the parking lot to put it back in my car, eat quickly and read back in the office instead of at lunch.

I ate fast food.

I didn't leave the establishment for over an hour.

It so happens that someone I vaguely recognized and knew largely only through other acquaintances recognized me and struck up a conversation.

The story of his life over the last 2 years is both excited and heartbreaking and I was blessed to have heard it over an hour long lunch conversation.

I was glad I had left my book in the car, glad for the random encounter at lunch, and blessed beyond belief by the honor of hearing how God was working in another man's life.

I wouldn't complain if every lunch was so worthwhile for me.

Stressful...

Two weeks worth of fall kick-offs and big changes is taxing me.

I'm behind on too many things for kick offs to all be here.

Can't the beginning of new school years not come for a couple more weeks or so?

Sorry Jenny

Football Season starts tomorrow (Thursday) which makes me excited.

There will be very few football games that I won't have some rooting interest in again this year as i'm involved in 3 fantasy football leagues.

Sorry Jenny.

Go Colts!

Corn Wins

Jenny and I actually made it to the State Fair this afternoon. It was my first time attending without being there as a volunteer to do work.

The only food I had ever had before was a deep fried candy bar. I experimented more this time.

We had deep fried fresh fruit, roasted corn on the cob, gator nuggets and hush puppies, regular and strawberry lemonade, curly fries with cheese, more corn, and I had to re-visit deep fried candy bars.

Fun times, fun food, funny story.

The last of those (funny story) we only witnessed in video form. We ran into some people we knew who had spent some of their morning at the fair watching horse shows. They also witnessed another man in the stands who was brushing his teeth, constantly. No toothpaste, no water, no swishing, just a dry toothbrush.

They shot 12 minutes worth of footage on their digital camera, he is brushing during all 12 minutes.

Maybe he should become a fair attraction next year, it is one of those things you just couldn't look away from, even though you wanted to.

Time to sleep off all those calories.

Dirty Tricks

Jenny and I walked to the Redbox tonight to rent a movie. We picked one, rented it, and walked home.

15 minutes later I was e-mailing Redbox to get my money back. The people who had rented the movie before us, carefully took the barcode sticker off of the dvd and placed it on their own cd-r. Thus, we had no movie and they had no charges for theft.

Hope the process of fixing that all goes smoothly.

We just watched my favorite movie instead.

Not Good Alone

Traditionally, our young adults group heads to Applebee's after we finish things up at the church on a Thursday.

Tonight, someone changed our location to Buffalo Wild Wings (I like trips there, have I mentioned that?).

Because I had been there the day before for lunch, I felt the need to order differently, so I ordered Jenny's favorite appetizer (the chili con queso dip). I just don't get as much enjoyment eating it alone as I do when she's there.

Waivering Decisions

North Central University had their first soccer game of the season yesterday.

I saw most of it after arriving late due to a work meeting.

It was interesting for me to evaluate from the sidelines, knowing that had I wanted to, I could have been the head coach of that team this year.

I haven't ever gotten to the point where I wished that was the case, and in fact, am glad it isn't busying up my schedule right now, but will always be curious what kind of coach I would have made for them.

Lunch Meetings

Usually, they're worth it.

Tomorrow, I get a two hour long buffalo wing meeting at Buffalo Wild Wings in Champlin.

Me, wings, free, 2 great guys as company.

And they'll pay me for it.

Awesome.

Bachelor Week

Traditionally, Jenny does a great job with putting up with me during fantasy football season.

As a trade off, I'm encouraged not to talk about football or watch any preseason football until the season actually starts.

However, with Jenny on a work trip for this week, my bachelor week started with a preseason football game.

I've missed football.

Family Everywhere

Family filled weekends are great.

Nieces, nephews, sisters-in-law, a brother-in-law, I spent time and ate meals with all of them, not to forget the wife, brother, and parents.

Can't complain about this weekend.

Just Dirtier and Smellier

In our time with the young adults tonight, we got to hear numerous stories and perspectives from most of the people who we had sent on a missions trip to mexico a week ago.

At one point, a member was talking about an orphanage they visited and uttered the words:

"they were kids just like kids here, except dirtier and smellier and stuff."

I had to contain my immediate feelings of laughter as she so bluntly said this as fact.

She has a great bluntness to her, not one that would suit me as a public speaker, but a great bluntness nonetheless.

Field Trip

I needed to go buy a different weight of dumbells than I currently owned to do my workouts and Jenny came along.

Thus began field trip night. Walking to the car, Jenny decided she didn't want to go home yet, so we headed to Barnes and Noble.

After about half an hour or so, we walked out with a book and a wife who still didn't want to go home.

We ended up on a field trip to St. Paul to visit a homemade ice cream shop. It was an enjoyable evening.

Field Trips are fun.

Role Reversal

It was fun as I was talking with Jenny tonight about numerous random conversations my supervisor and I have had over the last couple of days for her to point out how quick and fluid Brian and I are in switching roles with each other.

Whether it be one of us asking for advice, or a simple reliance on the obvious skills, and God given gifts that each of us uniquely have, we are quick to switch who is guiding/leading/influencing the other as a natural part of our working relationship.

Today I spent more of the day as his counselor/confidant/encourager than he did mine. I welcomed being that voice to him as he needed it, but it was interesting to have those kinds of conversations in under two months of work.

Forcing New Motivation

I'm beginning to force some new motivation on myself.

For a long time, i've had a goal of finally starting and continuing to work out my upper body to reach certain goals. I even have most of the equipment I need to do that in my own basement.

I simply haven't had the motivation.

A week ago, in a meeting with my boss, I told him that goal so he could help keep me accountable (he was a power lifter in high school as a football player).

As a result, he designed what my workouts need to start out as for the first month or so and gave them to me this morning. Guess i'll have to start soon.

Best Draft Ever

Two fantasy football drafts so far, one more on Monday.

The 1 league that is actually for money, and is co-owned with my brother had its live draft tonight. We accomplished our best draft ever. Never felt better about a team after leaving then we do about that one.

The other draft was average. I don't really even care what happens in the one on Monday night anymore.

Small Group Night

I'm excited to spend a night on the town with our small group.

We'll be getting together downtown this evening for dinner and a show.

We get to do the nerd show thing. A favorite preacher/teacher/author of Jenny and myself is in town on tour (Rob Bell) and we are going collectively as a small group to see him.

Been looking forward to it for months, excited its time.

My Blog Looks Weird

I commented last night to Jenny, that it is weird for me to look at my blog.

You see, I don't ever actually go to its website. It is quite a rare occasion for me to visit it in the form that you all actually read this in.

Instead, I find myself looking at the post editing and creating new posts page. With the coupling of the fact that I get e-mails for any of the comments that are made, I simply find myself with no need to actually look at the page itself.

I'll occasionally look if I've posted a bunch of pictures, just to make sure the spacing shows up adequately, but otherwise, i don't visit this page.

I think it is weird to read them in this form.

The Mean Prank

I wanted to post about football two days ago, but figured i'd wait until Sunday night as shortly every sunday night will likely be fantasy football updates. So I won't comment on the Favre saga now.

Instead, you can read "The Mean Prank"

It is an anagram of my name "Nathan Kemper"
If you add my middle name "When Rampant Yankee"
Some of our other favorites "Phrasemaker" for Sarah Kemper
"Jam 'n' hot snot" for Matt Johnson
and "Oh no! Poetry" for Tony Hooper.

Fun with anagrams brought to you by THIS WEBSITE.

Enough?

Do you ever find yourself having an internal discussion on what "enough" is to get done that day?

How many projects need to be crossed off of a to-do list before the rest of the day can be spent on a couch and you feel guilt-free about it?

My list was apparently three-fold today. I needed to get a movie returned to the RedBox, get a trophy to the place that is going to engrave it, and manage to feed myself with the food in the house without spending more money.

After these three things were accomplished, I felt I had done enough to hit the couch for a couple of hours before small group.

The list is always shorter when I feel a little sick and am coming of a week that was pretty emotionally exhausting for me.

Despite the Negative...

This morning was a hectic cap to a busy week. I was in charge of the theme introduction part of the service, as well as the announcements and a 7 minute first person narrative as Paul the apostle telling his story of transformation.

Despite getting a soar throat last night, which prompted my first ever Nyquil experience and a bag of hard candy this morning, I made it through the first service fine.

I actually got more excited for the second service as my throat seemed to be co-operating, but the battery ran out on my hands-free mic about 2/3 of the way through the narrative, so that added a different feel and pause I was not expecting in part of that story.

Overall, the morning finished and I was ready to crash on the couch. It was a solid bet you'd find me here except the couple of minutes I spent going to the redbox to pick up a movie.

Emotionally Gone

After writing, practicing, and giving an emotional message about how God's hand can be seen in the midst of suffering, i'm spent.

I thought it went well, but I physically felt the weight of this message before it, and am happy now to release some of that weight.

Thanks to anyone who prayed for me.

When the Theories Don't Help

I've studied lots of theology. I've taken classes on specific theological topics. But there comes a time, where none of that helps.

Tomorrow, the subject i'm supposed to cover in our series on the book of Acts is how God consistently uses times of suffering to cause great good.

I'm not saying He causes suffering, but that often God finds a way to use it, either for the victim's good or for the good of others.

I'm confident, that tomorrow, my theories won't help. My understanding, doctrine, and theology mean very little to most of the people in the room as they deal with suffering. In fact, many of the things I know to be true would seem flippant to say. They would minimize the emotions involved with both our personal sufferings and of those we have as we see others suffer.

I feel a weight with trying to figure out how to balance these things tomorrow night.

Feel free to pray for me.

Becoming Productive (in a new millenium)

This blog was started over 3 years ago. This is the 1,000th time I will hit "publish post" and leave some of my thoughts posted on the internet for anyone to read.

I originally began doing this as a method to think out loud about random questions of faith, Christianity, established church, career and life decisions, and to be consistently writing.

I'm ashamed that most of the last 300 posts or so do not fit in any of those categories. I've realized that I don't clearly understand even what I want from the time I sit and "blog" anymore, but I know that I am not accomplishing it.

I don't know what I want this to be, but I want it to be different. I don't want to feel obligated to post, I don't want to constantly be scrambling for ideas or thoughts to type. I want to share things that are being formed inside me, thoughts that captivate me, theories I struggle with.

I want to express more and re-cap less.

I don't know exactly how things will change, but I hope to use the mile marker of this 1,000th post to refocus myself in how I use this medium.

Peer Pressure Driving

While driving home tonight, Jenny and I witnessed an awesomely stupid display of driving.

The right lane of the freeway we were on was coned off for work, though no work was being done.

One particular on-ramp found a line of cars that didn't feel like slowing down to merge easily, nor did they have foresight and common sense for how the cones were actually laid out, so they found themselves, about 11 in total on the wrong side of the cones.

As they realized this, we got to watch the front three merge into the open lanes of traffic.

The third one managed not to make it through without a cone casualty however, one that it shot into the lane of traffic and we watched it as it got stuck in front of and under the car driving in front of us. We also then watched as it scooted completely through the underside of that car.

As I prepared to dodge said cone upon its release, we chuckled again as it stood straight up with its new found freedom. I'm sure it has been hit again as it was sitting directly in the middle of an open lane of freeway traffic.

It went from awesome to stupid really quickly, but left us with a fun picture and story.

Conference Update

Surprisingly, the three names I listed that I was most excited about (Bono, Tony Blair, and Tim Keller) were all fairly underwhelming at the conference last week.

Fortunately, I was extremely shocked in a positive way by the speaking and material of many of the invited guests I had never heard of.

Ended up with lots of books i hope to read someday.

Leadership Conference

I'm heading to a leadership conference for the next two days.

I'm excited about some of the speakers that will be there, either live or via video cast.

I'm most excited about hearing Tony Blair, Bono, and Tim Keller.

Hopefully, i'll learn some good leadership stuff, but regardless, i'll enjoy it more than the office.

A Glorious 5 Minutes

I wanted Chipotle for lunch today, so I drove to the closest one to my work.

As I ordered my burrito (steak, half rice, black beans, tomato, corn, cheese) I was informed that it would be a couple of minutes while they cooked more steak.

I told them I'd wait.

While waiting I watched others order the steak, and decide instead of waiting that they would just go with chicken instead.

After about 5 minutes, the fresh steak was ready and they made my burrito for me.

"You had to wait right? It must be your lucky day." the manager said.

"Why my lucky day?"

"Your meal is on us."

A free burrito and fountain drink from Chipotle because I had to wait 5 minutes. I'd gladly take this deal everytime.

They underestimate my joy in eating their product though, as I gladly would have paid and never changed my spending habits at their establishment.

A Man's Cookies

I realized tonight, or at least was forced to realize, that adult men are apparently not allowed to be as free when they eat their cookies as are first graders.

I was holding a cookie, and a glass of grape kool-aid and attempted to dip the cookie in my drink, only to have my hand physically stopped by the words, stare, and grip of Jenny.

I didn't know that it would be so out of place. I'm not a big milk fan, but love kool-aid.

I think we need freedom returned to a man and his cookies.

Pretty Toes

I believe they are over-rated and go for the more rustic, lose 8 of them (the nails) to soccer injuries at various points in life and watch them grow back in ugly fashion.

Haven't lost any in a while but the black and blue toe-nails are out in full force.

Wee for flip-flop weather.

Tater Tots

They make an absolutely fabulous 10:30 dinner.

I love potatoes and fried food. Both at the same time is awesome.

I've still never had the entirely potato meal i dream of, i'll have to work on that.

Here's to Not Sucking

Tomorrow night I teach my first message since being hired with the young adults.

Here is to hoping I don't suck.

It wasn't that when I taught during the interview I knew I'd teach some great message or something, but I know enough about my teaching style to know what kinds of messages tend to go over better and had chosen one of those.

Tomorrow's message is highly exciting for me as far as our teaching series goes, and isn't necessarily difficult in its content, but also isn't in my wheelhouse when it comes to sermon style.

Again, here is to hoping I don't suck it up real bad.

HOA Benefits

This week has been another good week to be part of our Home Owners Association.

New mulch put down in all our landscaping areas while we were at work/in bed/doing whatever it was we would normally be doing.

It isn't all bad.

Results of a Random Evening

While watching t.v. and randomly exploring different hardware options on this laptop, I randomly opened a program that had the video of my sermon in Texas two months ago loaded into it.

I clicked around for a little bit looking for a good picture, but Jenny temporarily took over looking for the random funny expressions, as you can pause it on every 1/100 of a second. Faces make weird contortions as we speak.

I didn't capture any of those in picture form, though here is one from the sermon that was more appealing to me.

A Full Team

We actually started with 11 people for soccer tonight.

We even had a sub show up 10 minutes into the game.

Those things make a big difference, so we won our game 4-0.

That makes things more enjoyable. Just two weeks left of soccer.

I Don't Belong

I spent a considerable amount of time at Joann Fabrics today. It was the second visit this week.

I don't belong in a Joann Fabrics store.

It is highly uncomfortable for me there.

The Bar is Too High

Have you ever let things get to the point where people have expectations of you that scare you?

Within my time interviewing and working at Grace Fellowship, I have come to realize that people who have seen me speak in front of a crowd noticed that I didn't use notes.

It gets a little scary that people who haven't seen me speak to a crowd, but are on staff, have heard from others that I have a good memory.

I feel the bar has been set too high. The thing is, most of the time, I won't need/use notes when I speak, but there will be times I know they'll be necessary.

I'm already scared of those times. I feel like people have this expectation, after just a short period, that I won't have the necessity of notes.

I hope my memory can keep pace for a while, but I think the bar has been set too high.

Closing in on a Millenium

I'm within 15 posts of my 1,000th ever blog post.

I'm getting anxious about making sure I celebrate it properly.

Anyone have any ideas?

Craigslist Adventures

Jenny called me from work today so I could take a measurement for her.

She called me again an hour later to tell me my plans for the evening would include driving to Saint Paul to pick up a table with her that she had purchased for our yet to be finished Master Suite.

It wasn't my ideal way to spend an evening, as I didn't even know we were furniture shopping yet, but alas, we went.

That meant I got to stop for a dinner of my choosing and she couldn't put up much of an argument, so I had a great teriyaki chicken sandwich, fries and split a shake.

That part of the adventure was awesome.

Sports Day

Today was sports day.

I got home from church, watched the end of the British Open and then left.

I drove 5 miles to watch a couple of international youth teams play soccer in a local tournament and spent 3 and a half hours there.

Came home, picked up Jenny and went to play in my own soccer game.

I'm out of energy.

14 Hour Work Days

They are long.

I actually was at the same Caribou Coffee two different times today, but the lady wasn't there to remember my name from the previous week's meetings.

I had Chipotle in the middle of the two coffee meetings, at a third meeting, Pizza for dinner (though I didn't eat any) as part of another meeting, and an Applebee's get together after all the meetings were done.

At least all those meetings make a long day feel like it is going by faster.

Maybe She'll Learn My Name Now

In the two weeks I've worked at the church, i've found myself at the same Caribou coffee 3 different times.

Tomorrow morning's meeting will make #4.

One of the employees already learned what I will be ordering, and where it is I work, doing what particular job.

Maybe tomorrow she'll learn my name to make our small talk easier.

Exciting Projects

Its nice when some of the work projects become very exciting, not work exciting, but life exciting.

Brian (my supervisor) and I had a meeting today to discuss how we wanted to plan (the big picture) our series through the book of Acts.

I'm extremely excited about some of the things we've decided to try and do. If we pull them off well, It will be on of the coolest series I have ever been involved in helping plan/teach. Not that it is the coolest series ever, but I like some of the things we are going to try to do with it.

Now we just have to hope that the details end up working the big picture out in the cool way that we hope it can.

Oh So Giggly

Randomly, near the end of a night, Jenny may find herself with random fidgety energy.

She does the quirkiest things, that always seem to make me giggle.

I've been trying to read articles on the internet for the last 15 minutes, but my smirky giggles are causing my mind not to focus.

Instead I'm typing this and then giving in to her.

Giggles abound.

Wins all Around

Friday started with family, the best meal on earth, an always hilarious game of trivial pursuit, in which my team won (something that rarely happens).

Saturday featured a day tubing on the lake, grilling food, and sitting by a pool, capped off with a bonfire at a different house.

Sunday had two movies, and a soccer game in which we were also victorious.

All in all, wins all around this weekend.

1 Week Under the Belt

Got my first week of work under the belt. Since I'm not full-time, I won't be going in tomorrow, and since it is the summer, Jenny only has to work a half day.

It will be nice to see some family we haven't seen for a while tomorrow.

It will be capped off by the best dinner in the world, mom's homemade swedish meatballs.

I'm salivating now.

Finding a Stapler

The first week at a new job always requires the learning curve of finding your way around.

Today I had to ask the "where is a stapler" question when near a copy machine to find it half a step from where I stood.

My esteem yesterday caused me to wander when looking for a bathroom instead of asking, i'm not that comfortable with asking for help. Apparently that boundary falls somewhere between bathroom and stapler.

Benefits of an HOA

I've had my share of frustrations with being part of a Home Owners Association, but can't argue that it doesn't have its benefits as well.

The days where I've been watching t.v. while the lawn got mowed, or the miniscule number of times we have actually used our snow shovel occasionally warm my heart.

Today, while I was at the office (Yay for a job) we managed to have our porch power washed in preparation for the trimwork of the house getting painted later this week.

Not to mention that our driveway was recoated this summer as well.

It does have its benefits.

"... to be a blessing"

It sticks out vividly in my mind. I had one particular teacher at the Seminary that I hold in greater esteem than the rest, and while this story will be one that comes from the 3 classes I had with him, it isn't even the beginning of why he was such a good teacher, it was just one of his personal convictions.

I start my new job tomorrow. I am blessed to have it. Dr. Vogt used to always demand of his students, and of others (like churches and friends and family) in the stories he told that no one ever say that they are blessed without adding the phrase "...to be a blessing" at the end.

It all stems from Abraham's calling in Genesis 12 to be the father of the nations. God tells Abraham that he will be made great, blessed, that those who bless Abraham God will bless and those who curse Abraham God will curse, so that all people on the earth my be blessed through Abraham.

God blesses us not to reward us, but so that we can bless others.

This job truly is a blessing to me and Jenny. A blessing I hope that isn't taken for granted, or as something I deserve, but instead something I use to be a blessing to others.

I am being blessed by God through Grace Fellowship Church and their young adult community, hopefully so that I may be a blessing to them and the world around them.

I'm excited to start journeying together with them. They are on my heart.

The Strong Grip

This afternoon we went to the zoo with Jenny's sister and nephew.

As time has passed, Luke has grown excited when he sees and then plays with me. Often to the point where he ignores Jenny. She's convinced he won't smile for her unless I'm not around.

As he was pulled out of the stroller to be held instead of pushed, he immediately threw his arms out towards me so that Jenny would pass him off.

Then his recent strategy started. He just latches on. Strong grip with two hands, one on my back and one on my chest, making sure he gets to stay where he is.

Here is a picture of said "strong grip" as we were looking at the giraffes.

Celebrate w/ Explosions

Holiday weekends are fun.

Celebrate somehow this weekend, preferably with explosions.

3 Years

3 Years ago today was my last day at the last job I held.

June 30, 2006 I was officially done being a youth pastor at First Baptist Church.

It has been 3 years.

That is fitting. Today, June 30, 2009 I was offered my next job.

I'll be working with the young adults group at Grace Fellowship Church. I start next week.

The first two years went by quick for me. The last year has taken some patience to get through as the ebb of life has been lower than higher at many times.

I'm excited to rejoin the consistently employed world after my 3 years, to-the-day, hiatus from it.

The Man in Charge

This is still not a vacation update, but that is because i'm too lazy to load any pictures right now.

Instead, I'll update the job search.

After teaching the group a week an a half ago, the would be supervisor of the position told me he would be in contact while I was on vacation.

He called last Wednesday to tell me how people had received my teaching and the things they discussed after.

All signs were positive and he was ready to hire me, but unable because that isn't how churches work.

He lined up a meeting for me with the senior pastor that takes place approximately 12 hours from now. He thinks this might be the last hoop to jump through and is confident that it won't be a difficult one.

He hopes I can start next week, but we'll see what other hoops may appear.

We're getting pretty excited about it.

Vacation Theory

I would normally be blogging about our relaxing vacation to Florida right now, but vacation theory given by Jenny says that our vacation doesn't end until she goes back to work in 10 hours.

Thus, I'm not allowed to blog like vacation is over.

That is all.

And We're Off

People always ask me how a teaching time, message, sermon, preaching event, whatever you want to call it, went in my opinion.

It always takes me a day or two to accurately answer what my opinion truly is. So I can't give a highly informed response to how it went tonight. I know some people cried, and not because of horror. I know some people laughed, and not because I embarrassed myself in some junior highish way. I know someone told me that it was the kind of teaching he thinks that particular group needs more of, so at least one person was happy to have had me.

Jenny and I were whisked out of the room just after i finished so the group at large could have an opportunity to discuss my potential in being paid staff for their group.

I also found out, while I was being introduced, that I was 1 of 26 people interviewed, one of just a few names brought to the committee after an interview, the only one officially brought before the committee and then obviously, the only one brought before the entire group. That was a pressure filled introduction. Hopefully I lived up to it.

That being said, Jenny and I are going on vacation. We leave on Saturday morning and will be gone for a week.

I won't be updating while we are gone, computers and water don't mix well and I plan on spending lots of time by water.

So, for a week or so, I'm off.

Things To Pray For

If you are looking for something to pray about today, I'll be teaching the young adults service at Grace Fellowship Church in Brooklyn Park tonight.

A major reason they are having me teach is as part of the interview process for their new young adults pastor, and while I'd appreciate prayers about that process, i'm more concerned as I plan that those listening actually hear from God.

Thanks for any prayers you send up.

If you are doubly curious, you can read Mark 14:3-9 as that is what I will be using as my text.

I need to Barf

I've been listening to a lot of sermons lately.

Two of them made me want to barf, but for very different reasons.

The first, simply because they called it a sermon. It wasn't a sermon. They admitted from the start that they wouldn't be using the Bible and would instead just be giving good principles to live by, and that if you didn't even want to apply those principles to the church, you could apply them to whatever else you wanted.

They were good principles, a church would be doing a service to offer them in a class or seminar format, but to pretend it is a sermon, or a time of worship, or a time to hear from God, I thought was absurd.

The second is the reason I feel the need to blog today in the middle of the afternoon. I want to barf.

I'm not the greatest preacher, nor will I ever be. I'm not the greatest theologian, nor will I ever be. But at least I take both of those things seriously.

I really don't care if someone is polished as a communicator when offering a sermon. I think it helps, but should be secondary to actually discussing and applying the Scriptures. I also don't think someone has to be on the same wave length as me theologically, or interpretively over every Scripture to offer me things of value from God's word. I routinely listen to people who would vehemently disagree over certain theological and doctrinal positions.

BUT, at least they come to their conclusions with a reasonable sense of interpreting the things the scriptures actually say.

It is people who twist, ignore, or simply abuse Scripture that get me so frustrated.

I wasted 37 minutes this afternoon listening to one of those "sermons" and now I want to barf.

Please, if you are ever going to give a sermon, don't read 2 verses out of a 14 verse story and never discuss the actual story. Don't take those verses and pretend that they allegorically apply today in a way that makes zero scriptural sense.

Today's example:

Joshua 10:24-25

"When they had brought these kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had come with him, 'come here and put your feet on the neck of these kings.' So they came forward and placed their feet on their necks. Joshua said to them, 'Do not e afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the LORD will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.''

If these are the only two verses you read (not recommended) please don't proceed to tell me what THE FIVE KINGS of today are. I could've let you off the hook if you gave a message about what is needed to fight enemies with God's help. But you didn't go there.

You proceeded to think that in today's society, the five senses are the five kings we need to overcome (something I also think is preposterous). 37 minutes about putting my foot on the neck of smell, or taste, or touch, or sight, or sound. I want to barf.

I understand that some images in scripture often lead to allegorical use. I've hear numerous and may someday myself talk about the "storms of life" when preaching on the calming of the storm story in the gospels. I hope not to run to that first, as it isn't the point of that narrative, but my application time lends nicely to that image running again.

Where do the five kings become five senses? Can you even pretend that you are giving a biblical message? Does scripture actually mean anything?

Sorry for venting. It is just that i take the public proclomation of God's word very seriously. I hope that those of you who regularly hear sermons, online, or live, also spend enough time thinking for yourself about scripture, reading scripture, and talking to God that you can quickly realize when someone with a microphone is abusing their privelige of proclaiming God's word in a way that is doing more damage than good.

Bluahggheahhhhh!!! Now to wipe my mouth off and drink something far more refreshing.

Turvy

I used the phrase "topsey-turvy" tonight and spawned the thought, what does "turvy" mean.

I'm taking other peoples votes. I haven't found it in any dictionaries and have only found the meaning of "turvy" as it is referenced in the slang term already mentioned.

Someone give me a meaning for the word turvy.

Roster Woes

22 people on our soccer teams roster.

Another game where we started short (10 men this time).

Due to two injuries at different times, we played most of the game with 9.

Frustrating. I'm not in good enough shape for that.

I Think Its Progress

The 9:30 at night interview went well. It was with the pastor of the church (The Discipleship Pastor) that directly supervises the Young Adult Pastor's position, and the volunteer leadership team of that ministry.

A firing squad interview, but no surprise questions.

I left encouraged and will find out what is next sometime early next week.

Forgetful Nate

I don't know how i didn't think about blogging last night. It is weird to be blogging at 2:00 in the afternoon instead of 200 in the morning. I guess I was getting my hopes high instead of thinking about blogging.

The job Jenny and I are most excited about is having me back for the next process of interviewing tonight.

Hoping it goes well.

Weird Ultimatums

I have two choices for Wednesday evening, given to me as an ultimatum.

1. Work alone in the attic.

2. Play with nephew and watch t.v. with wife.

Doesn't seem like a hard choice. Jenny must really want to spend time with me.

That makes me feel good.

Vacation Is Coming

Just a couple short weeks until vacation is here.

Jenny deserves it.

I'm excited for it.

Busy Day

Drive from house to church. Church to sister-in-law's house for nephews b-day party. Across the twin cities to a graduation open house. Back across and further south to soccer game. Back north to home.

Only got text message updates about Tiger's victory I had hoped to watch, but i've looked up all the highlights online now.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, and I bought a book I want to read last Friday. Been awhile since I got to pick a book I wanted to read just for fun. I had to leave the bookstore before I had spent way too much money. Should be another good one tomorrow, but with much less driving.

It's Just True

Golf is just more interesting to watch when Tiger is playing.

I've watched parts of almost every tournament this year, but even my excitement level raises when he is in the field.

Feel free to watch this weekend, he probably won't be playing next weekend.

Blind Encouragement

I was encouraged with an interview/meeting I had with one of the churches this morning.

It is kind of a blind encouragement, because for all I know, it didn't go well and I shouldn't be encouraged.

Nonetheless, I'm smiling.

Starting Somewhere (Again)

Three years ago I started a blog. Its initial post was titled "Starting Somewhere."

Here it is...

I don't know where i'm starting yet, but it's somewhere.

I am currently a youth pastor at a church in Minneapolis, but in 30 days, i am resigning from that job to start down a path of preparation. I'm excited to see how God molds me and what the process will look like, but slightly unsettled with the obscurity of process and control that are out of my hands.

Ultimately i want my life to be one of teaching and writing. I want to challenge and encourage people to grow further in their discipleship process with Christ.

I can't say exactly what any of it will look like, but the process is beginning. I am starting somewhere.

This blog will cover more than just a professional, or spiritual journey, though both of those things are deeply rooted in everything that is important to me, i would be neglecting the rest of the good of my life if i didn't also get to talk about my family and my bride.

No one may read this blog, but i'll enjoy remembering and thinking out loud with anyone who might find me.

Nathan.Kemper

It is time to again reflect on the professional and spiritual journey, as neither are where I hoped they would be at this point.

The professional journey is at this point, where I hoped it would be 5 months ago. I'm in talks with three churches about four different positions. Some of them full time, some of them part time, some of them completely volunteer. Two different young adult ministries, two different youth ministries. I thought I would be at this place 5 months ago, weighing options, dreaming of opportunities and ministry contexts in different places, praying for guidance in making decisions. I feel 5 months behind. It was a deeply discouraging 5 months.

I've spent 5 months questioning myself. Questioning my devotion to the discipline of ministry, questioning my obedience to a calling I feel placed on my life, and questioning those things as I balance out my obedience to marriage vows, and my calling to be a loving and providing husband. I'm still questioning. It would be nice if these professional things worked out in a way which met all of those needs, though my faith in believing for such a thing has seen both the peaks and the valleys in the last 5 months. Fortunately for my attitude, it is on the rise again.

Spiritually is another issue. I certainly don't feel like I've taken steps backwards in terms of faith, knowledge, or discipline. I've grown in many areas, been encouraged in many areas, been used in many areas, and stretched myself in many areas. I find strength and encouragement in that, not because it is what helps me gain favor, or is what gives me value, but because my own conscious demands satisfaction in using the things I've been given.

However, in some negative ways, my faith has "grown up." I don't know if faith is supposed to do that. I know Christ is the "perfecter" of our faith, and that I want a "mature" faith, but I don't want to leave the child-like faith i'm also supposed to have. This, I feel I've done too often.

3 years ago, the two people who were most vocal about me resigning from my job in a deterrent way were my wife and mentor. It was challenging for me. I found my strength then in the arms of God to do things I hoped I'd never have to do, convince them that they were wrong. There are few things in life I have ever been so sure about, and fewer that I would have argued tooth and nail against these opinions with. I was encouraged through that process that I may continue to be a person willing to step out in faith, not abstractly or randomly to prove myself, but in obedience to the things God has placed inside of me. These things are less frequent.

Instead, as I get "crazy" ideas now I rarely share them with others. I assume that people will disagree, assume that people will say no, assume that I can't get people to keep investing in the dreams I have, assume that I've used up all the good will I have with the network around me, assumed that my "grown up" faith needs to find more responsible ways of accomplishing dreams that God has placed inside me.

I wish my "grown up" faith could be mature, but still child-like, instead of leaving behind all the blind following, courage building, faith stretching obedience that it once had.

I'm starting somewhere again.

Coupon Comfort

When it comes to using paper coupons, i'm uncomfortable. Give me the promo code i need to enter and I'm fine, but something about a paper coupon gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Jenny made me use on tonight. Jenny stretches my comfort zone considerably. She has even made me return things, something I had never done before her.

Comfort zone expansion means my heebie-jeebie sense is going haywire.

Weekend Weather

It stayed nice on Saturday while we worked inside. It stayed nice on Sunday while we did some landscaping at family's house.

I go to play soccer and it rains and gets more windy.

This is the reverse of the way things are supposed to go when it comes to the weekend weather.

SYTYCD

Another night of "So You Think You Can Dance" on television.

Opposite a show like American Idol, the audition portion is my least favorite portion of this competition. While those clueless to their skills, or those without control of their appendages are occasionally entertaining, they spend little time showing dancing that blows me away.

However, the audition portion is done, and the choreography portion and dancing for their life solos are about to begin.

Summer is here.

Think Quick

A had been referred to meet with a pastor that is hiring a student ministries position for a church in the area.

I e-mailed him last week and we set up a time to get together for this afternoon. When he confirmed yesterday and asked me to bring a copy of my resume I thought it might be more formal than just a coffee meeting, but still expected to just be casually meeting a guy, and possibly talking extensively about my past experiences.

What I didn't expect is that it would be a three person firing squad of a formal interview like it turned out to be. Fortunately, I'm quick on my feet with responses to many questions. There is probably only one I wish I would have phrased differently as I look back on it, otherwise, I felt at least a sense of accomplishment for having what I think were good answers to questions I wasn't expecting to have to answer today.

Not much would have changed in the student ministries answers had I known I was going to be facing a firing squad of questions from multiple different pastors, but some of my theology answers would have been better as I reviewed more what their denomination (Christian Missionary Alliance) and individual church have listed as their statement of faith. It was one of those theology answers I wish I had phrased differently.

Too Hard

I really was going to go weed the yard this afternoon.

In fact, I was in the bedroom changing into shorts and a work shirt when I heard it happen.

They started mowing our lawn (we are part of a home-owners association).

That meant the next 45 minutes were off limits and after that the weeds would be harder to spot, not hard, but harder.

Too hard to be worth it for me apparently, as I never ended up weeding, just changing back into my normal clothes and going shopping instead.

Memorial Day Weekend

It had all you would want.

Date night Friday with Jenny to the drive-in for a double feature.

Some work done on the house both Saturday and Sunday.

Time with family and on the golf course on the actual holiday.

Don't know what else there would be to ask for. Couple in food from the grill and I had a great weekend. Hope yours was fabulous as well.

New Playlist

It's 11:30. I feel like playing Tetris, though I'm all caught up on the sermon podcasts I listen to regularly.

Time to cue up a new one.

10 sermons being downloaded, and a Throwback Pepsi with real sugar. Should beat Tetris a couple of times before I head to bed tonight.

Season Wrap-Ups

I watch a lot of t.v.

Probably more than I should.

Anyway, season finale season is almost over. I've caught most of those that I'll watch now (i always wait on 24 and Lost to watch the whole season later).

So far, House had the best season finale.

I'm excited for some of the summer reality schedule, and hope that they end in my favor the way Survivor and American Idol did, as I liked both of those winners the best and had hoped they would win for a while.

Maybe now I'll find some more productive things to do with my time.

Texas Carrots

While we were in Texas, we stayed with our good friends the Hurckmans. They have two children now, one of them an infant.

Friday morning, around 11:00, Paul fed their son 6 oz. of milk, a jar of Gerber Babyfood Carrots and some cereal. He then played with him for 10 minutes or so. Eventually, he began to eye Jenny seated on the couch, so Paul passed him along to Jenny.

After just a minute or so, he began coughing. Jenny started to ask him what was wrong and he spit up a small bit of his carrots.

As Jenny began to lean in and wipe his chin with his bib, she started to say comforting words.

At precisely the funniest moment, with Jenny in mid-word, the projectile began. It covered Jenny. I began laughing as hard as possible and started applauding what I was seeing as I watched 4 strings of projectile carrot puke land on my wife's face, shirt, and pants.

Jenny was calm, finding it funny herself... and demanded I get the camera before she wiped herself off and proceeded to take her second shower before lunch.

This picture shows the scope of puke from her thigh to her face:


While this closer shot may allow you to see it clearer on her face, her right cheek and chin, covered in carrots, which didn't miss her mouth. She tasted them.


I had a great time preaching in Texas and seeing Paul and Candace, even eating Chick-Fil-A, but this is easily the most memorable and funny thing that happened.

Fabulous Feats

I was going to share the great Texas story tonight, with pictures, but got caught up doing other technology things instead.

While downloading programs, ripping a dvd, re-enconding said video for playback in numerous other ways and downloading other programs necessary to do so, I got technologied out for the night.

Fortunately, while waiting for some of those things, I listened to a sermon and played Tetris on my original Nintendo, accomplishing the lone task with the game I had remaining for myself.

Beating the game starting on level 19. I finally did it. The only level I hadn't ever beaten it on that you can start on (0-19) and I finally did it.

Good night.

Week Away

The trip to Dallas was refreshing. I haven't uploaded any pictures to the computer yet, so our favorite story will have to wait for later this week.

Preaching went well, friends are great, and we ate at Chick-Fil-A so all was good.

Soccer went well tonight. We started the game with only 7 people, but managed to hold a 0-0 tie until 30 minutes in when 3 more showed up. At 38 or so, the 11th showed up and we scored to go up 1-0 into half.

We got another goal in the second half to escape with a 2-0 victory in a game we should have lost 6-0, but they never capitalized on their four person advantage. We had some great luck, and stayed well organized to fend them off.

Now its bed time.

Congrats to J.T. for winning Survivor. He deserved it.

How much bigger?

They say everything is bigger in Texas.

Jenny and I are going to find out. We fly out tomorrow (wed.) morning to spend a couple days down in the Lone Star State.

We'll be staying with friends and I'll be preaching at a Young Adults Service on Thursday night.

Won't be around to blog for a while.

Gender Issues

After a day spent reading about, writing about, and discussing gender issues and the church, i'm ready for something different.

Lots of talk about how the North American Christian Church has a vastly male majority in its preaching and leadership and a vastly female majority in its attendance makes my mind turn.

Lots of reasons for all sides of the coin in this one, and people who thought the answer would somehow be simple.

Time to relax with a television show for half an hour, then off to do more work on a sermon i'm preparing.

Homework Again

I've got a book and a half to read, and a three page paper to write for class tomorrow night.

Fortunately, my legs are sore from soccer, so not even gorgeous weather tomorrow could drag my butt off of the couch. Hopefully the books are good.

Catching Up

I am getting ready to watch the three part finale to LOST, season 4. After that I am caught up to the current season, which I won't begin to watch until it is completed.

I like that many shows are free on the internet these days legally.

Grocery Wizard

I desired something to drink tonight besides the water or grape juice that was available, so I headed to the grocery.

I walked there, with orders to also see if there were any meals Jenny had requested for her work lunches.

After finding those meals, on sale, and picking a drink that was on sale, I left.

$11.07 on the bill, with a savings of $9.64

I felt like a grocery wizard.

A Day In My Life

Jenny's alarm clock went off at 3:50 a.m.. We needed to leave the house at 4:30 to be at the course at 5:00. She had to help set things up.

The schedule had asked the golfers to show up at 5:30, to get ready for a 6:00 tee time. I was excited for breakfast as I hadn't eaten dinner before my soccer game the night before and tried sleeping afterwards.

Because of some frost on the greens at the course, the greenskeeper pushed our start time back until 6:45 to keep the course in better shape. 6:45 is early in the morning.

Without warming up at all, 3 of us (there were 11 golfers) headed to the first tee while the other twosomes drove to their starting holes. I was hoping to play better than bogey golf (90 per round) for the day, and figured this round would be a good indicator at that possibility. I shot an 89 over the first 18, but was getting more awake, and knew the course better now, so hoped I might improve for at least one of the rounds, but was ecstatic with being under bogey golf at that point.

Finishing 18, I drove to hole 12, to meet up with my next pairing. We changed each round to play with different people. I played the next 18 holes with a score of 87 and was hoping to fend off soreness to finish the day under my goal.

The third round wasn't as kind, and I shot a 91, again playing in a threesome, but with all new people. Not many highlights from that round, though I had my worst score of the day (my only 8) during that 18.

The fourth round was my favorite. Holes 55-72 were my best 18 of the day for numerous reasons. I shot the best round for me of the day that 18, and 85, in large part to my first eagle ever. I'll describe that hole after this summary. It was also my favorite for one other shot, to be shown in picture below as we play a hole together.

Round 5 is when the fatigue started to show in the body and it was getting harder to keep the hands in speed with the turn of the body. I lost a lot of shots to the right, but putted a lot better and shot a 91 again.

The last 9 holes, I played in 1 over bogey golf, totaling my individual talley at 99 holes in 6 under bogey golf. The last hole of the day had all 11 of us teeing off on the same hole at the same time. We played a best ball scramble with each other to finish. I was happy that my drive was the best of the 11 as I wasn't close to the best golfer there, but found a good shot this late in the evening. We ended up birdying that hole, gratifying as a group, but not to me, as that hole (hole 18) was the hole that I had eagled when I played it as my 66th hole of the day.

So, here is that hole. A 490 yard par 5 that is a dog leg to the right. The fairway runs straight from the tee about 290 yards before turning right for the last 200. If you miss the fairway to the right you find 20 yards worth of pine trees and then the driving ranged marked out of bounds. To the left is just rough, but lengthens the hole considerably.

Both the time we played the scramble and the time I eagled the hole I hit similar drives. 275 yards down the right center of the fairway. Leaving myslef about 215 to the center of the green. The pin was on the left side of the green at about the center yardage. I hit my 3 hybrid iron and found myself on the right side of the green. I had about 16 feet left for the putt and new it would break towards the front of the green (to my left).

I had told the people with me at that time (one golfer and his wife) that eagle putts are few and far between, so I would rather be passed the pin and off the green after my first putt than end up missing 2 inches short. I just couldn't leave it short. It was the only putt of the day I took the time to line up, as we were playing at a fast pace and just got general break ideas for most putts. I was full of joy when it found the center of the cup, and happy to receive fist bumps all around.

5 holes later came my second most memorable hole of the day, even though it was a bogey.

We'll play it together now.

The hole is a 370 yard par 4. Any miss to the right off the tee is in water. Any miss longer than 250 to the left is water and short is in rough. We don't have a picture of my tee shot this hole, but the result of it was interesting enought that the rest of the hole was caught by Jenny who was riding along with me for 3 or 4 holes.

You may not be able to see it, but there is a ball in this picture. Between the tree and the water, there is a ball in the "marsh" level of the grass. A distinct ring of grass found completely in water, with no ability to stand where we needed to. We pulled our tee shot left, and had about 120 yards left to the pin, with all of that water in the way.


We couldn't stand to hit it right handed without being in the water, and not knowing how far it would come out of the water I decided taking off my left shoe to attempt the green just wasn't worth it. Instead, we did the fun, turn a club upside down and swing left handed hoping we could put the ball back in the fairway.

After perhaps the most entertaining shot of the day for others to watch, mud had flown on my arms and pants enough that I toweled of my wet arm, but we found ourselves having done as well as we could have managed. The ball flew in tha air over a chunk of the water and towards the hole about 50 yards landing in the fairway. We had 70 yards left to chip. (This fairway shot is my favorite picture from the day)

Our chip found the green and we had a long putt left for par. We didn't make it or get it into gimme range so we had about 5 feet left for our bogey. (Dale in the background was my playing partner for my favorite round that included the eagle and this fun backwards shot.)


Making the putt, we walked off with our bogey, but will always just remember this hole for the left handed upside-down club shot actually working. I was glad Jenny got to see this hole live with me.

This was a day of my life.