Season Opener

Tomorrow officially starts the NCU soccer season.  As the school has entered the NCAA Division 3 process, we can't count or have any official games before September 1st. 

Naturally then, on September 1st we have our first game.  It will be good to get one under our belts before we play a competitive match against Crown on Saturday. 

Hoping to win by a couple of goals tomorrow to put our confidence at a high level.

Wish us luck!

Hello Elder

Went out to lunch with another staff member today.  We hadn't decided when we went if we were going to eat at the restaurant or if we were going to take our meals back to our office.  We decided to eat there, and 5 minutes into eating, one of the church elders happened to come to the same place on his lunch break.

Ended up having a fine conversation with him about life and our jobs.  Maybe even a timely discussion since tomorrow night there is an elder board meeting at church.

Suppose it will also serve to keep us on our toes with what we say in public at our lunch meetings now... :)

Long Days

Today was a long day.  While a day off from church, many appointments kept the morning and early afternoon busy...the soccer job kept the evening busy and fantasy football drafts kept me busy till 11:00.

Tomorrow will be long because of the two jobs.  Grace will get me up early and keep me busy through late afternoon, and our first soccer game (technically a scrimmage, but still another actual team, and 3 refs) will keep me busy late into the evening.

Two long days already leaves me looking forward to a more relaxed Wednesday, though really excited about tomorrow evenings game.

Goodbye Hell Week

The 3-a-day practices are over.  In 5 days we had 12 practices and 1 game.  Despite the fact that we put them through 4 days with 6 hours spent training, on day 5, we won the game we played.

This is encouraging.

I'm also encouraged that I don't have to be downtown at 6:00 a.m. this week at all.  It's odd that being somewhere tomorrow morning at 7:00 feels like I get to sleep in for a little bit.

Hoping for big things from the team this year.  We play another scrimmage game this week against a community college, have our first "official" game on Thursday, which also isn't at the par of our normal competition, and will face our first similar size school competitor on Saturday. 

Hopefully we'll be going into that one with confidence from the first two this week.  We'll be pretty dissapointed with poor performances there, but any body can win on any given day.

For now, i'm excited to sleep in.

Time to Fly......errrr Jump

Well, the reservations have been made.  Within the month, Jenny and I plan on jumping out of a plane.

We'll have a parachute.

It will be memorable.

Skydiving is on our calendar and we're excited about it.

The Back Row Kids

Everyone knows to be careful about the kids that choose the back row.

We found out yesterday that those of us who will be driving the team vans at North Central had to go to a 2-hour long safety training that is new for the school this year.

We weren't excited.  We've all watched the videos and taken the large van specific tests before and now adding another 2-hour class with just a day's notice wasn't high on our excitment list.

Especially after a day that started at 6:00 a.m. and now wouldn't be over until 9:00 at night.  Tomorrow's 6:00 a.m. practice will feel especially early to me.

That said, the men's soccer representatives filled the back row for this particular class.  We texted jokes to each other and played games on our phones, listening occassionally as well, and filling out all the parts of the packet as we went along.

I actually had a joke at one point that caused someone to spit out the water in their mouth and awesomely disrupt the class.  It was a boy joke, so we couldn't repeat it to everyone, but we did then text most of the men in the room.

Fortunately, we didn't get reprimanded for our "back row" behavior.  Even the guy teaching the class didn't like the new insurance requirment.

Old and Wanted

It was nice to feel wanted today.  Having a couple of teams both wishing i'd be helping with them is a gratifying feeling.

We finished day 1 with 3 practices, 22 players, and still undefeated.

It wasn't so nice to feel old today.  It was my first time out running around on a soccer field since turning 30.  I don't have the speed or stamina I did when I was the age of these players.  The game hasn't gotten any faster, my mind still keeps up, but my body doesn't get to the places it wants as fast as it used to, and the soreness that follows lasts a lot longer now.

Today I felt old and wanted.  Tomorrow I know i'll still feel old.

Early Mornings :(

Hell week is beginning.

For the soccer team that is, but it still means I have to get up early.

This is the camp week for NCU soccer.  For the men's team, we've decided on 3-a-day practices Mon-Thurs. 

The latest I'll get to sleep this week is 6:00.  The guys better come ready to work, cause I won't be happy when I see them.

Last Free Weekend

Starting early Monday morning, the life schedule gets a little more hectic.

Next week, soccer season starts for North Central University.

I'm helping out with the men's team for sure, maybe the women as well.

Free time has to be planned a little more carefully...but at least the Wednesday night classes don't start unitl October.

Life Ambitions

Somebody asked me about life goals today.

Wondering if I'm weird to say that I have some but don't care to work at them right now. I hope to accomplish them, but effort towards starting that process now might limit my effectiveness in things I am currently doing and feel the need to do.

The future will be there when I get there I think.

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Football Season

Had a couple of text message conversations about fantasy football leagues today.  It's about that time of year.

Going to soon make the switch of radio station and internet bookmarks to keep me as informed as I need to be to do well in those leagues.

Sorry Jenny, it's almost here.

Now How to Apply It?

Over the course of Thursday and Friday last week, I heard lots of speakers talking about leadership.

CEO's, Presidents of Colleges, Consultants, Counselors, Authors, Mayors, School District Counselors, Pastors, Nobel Peace Prize Nominees, all with lists of credentials that intimidate me.

Each speaker gave me something to think about, process and come to conclusion on.  So far, all but 1 have given me something to feel the need to apply at some point in my life.  The question for me to start processing now is...what should I be doing now with the motivation and learning garnered over those two days?

I don't simply want to act out of sheer ambition, and end up moving in the wrong direction, or more nervously, taking an "organization" (in my case a ministry or program) in the wrong direction...but also don't want to sit idly by and watcht the conference become two days where I was filled with knowledge and inspiration but left me and my leadership unchanged.

I'm hoping that as we have a staff meeting tomorrow (17 of us from Grace went, included in that 17 is everyone from this particular staff meeting) and debrief the conference that more of the themes will be illuminated, or at least hear from others what they think might be positive first steps.

Regardless of the application though, my range of emotions during the conference went spanned humbled, honored, challenged, motivated, bored, priveleged, restored (my faith in some in the political realm), frustrated, excited, blessed, and encouraged.

If most of those happened everyday, I'd be a lucky man.

Spent

Two-day conference. Wedding rehearsal. Sunday morning preaching for two serices. Sunday evening wedding.

This weekend wore me out. I'll process it later. Brain is currently mush.

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So Much To Process

Spent a wonderful day at a Leadership Conference today.  Heard great speakers.  Some whose ability to inspire was off the charts, others whose content was.

I've got a lot of thoughts to process, but no time, as tomorrow is day 2 of the conference and then I hit the busiest weekend I've had in a long time with wedding rehearsal, guest preaching, wedding coming up.

Looking forward to seeing what has sunk in the most sometime next week when I get to think about it for a more extended period.

"Welcome Back"

Summer is a pretty hectic time for the children and youth portion of our staff.  Leading missions trips, going on retreats, leading vacation bible schools, summer days with the kids out of school and such leave the offices out of normal routine.

The people that will hit stride come October are often hard to track down because their off reaching out and discipling outside our walls.

At the same time, many important decisions about the upcoming school year are being made by each of these ministries during the summer to be ready for the fall kick-off when it comes.

Unfortunately this creates a unique scenario.  Decisions being made that affect multiple ministries, but without all of those ministries present at the discussion. 

I've watched a couple of times this year, someone return from a trip to be informed of a decision that has major impact for their job, that they had no influence over, and may have tension because of.

A nice "welcome back."

It's a weird site to see.  The decisions haven't really affected me or the departments I oversee, but have clearly affected staff dynamic and reputation.  I sometimes get to watch objectively and see both sides of stories, and then see the potential problems as well.  Figuring out my role (if there is/should be one) constantly leaves me analyzing my function within a staff of peers.

Hopefully, these critical moments with potential for harm and good equally will all work out well in the end.........hopefully.

Motivational Kicks

Its funny for me to sometimes notice when "motivation" strikes me.  When i feel inspired to work towards a goal and what that goal might be.

Largely, its funny because I usually know that the motivation for most of those things is going to be short-lived.

I'm going to study and get good at chess, for a while...until something more fascinating garners my attention.

I'm going to get fascinated by poker...for a while.

Spend my free time focused on health and nutrition...for a while.

Do immense amount of studying on financial things...for a while.

Last night's obsession was a return one (many of those things come and go) and I wanted to be more disciplined at trying to become good at golf.

I'm fairly competent at golf for now, understanding when shots don't go the way I wanted them to, what I did wrong with my swing.  But i'm not good.  I want to be good someday, but that will take work.  It isn't even the work that is hard for me, it is the time commitment that work requires.

I have a current motivational kick to get better at golf, but unless that is a journey I go on with someone, I'm likely to see this kick fade too, and another one take over...for a while.

Possibly Career Ending

I golf with the senior high pastor about once a week during the good weather times of year.  This is the third summer we've done this.

In those 3 summers, I've beaten him exactly twice.  They happen to be the last two times we golfed together.

We are going out again tomorrow.

He says that three in a row may be career ending for him.  Should be a good time for us, playing the course that for us, is the most difficult we play all year. 

Emotions will be tense on the course tomorrow, and I'll probably get beaten by about 10 strokes.

Let's Go Golfers!

If you don't care about PGA Tour Golf, feel free to stop reading now.

I'm excited about the golf tournaments this weekend.  That's right, it is plural.  There are two qualifying tournaments for my fantasy golf league this week, meaning almost anybody could move from last to first if they picked both winners.

I need a week like that, so if you're rooting, we want Bo VanPelt and Chez Reavie to do well this weekend.

I'm also excited about Tiger's return.  He hasn't done much to make excitement.  He's been letting the people who helped him become succesful go, hasn't played much good golf this year, and hasn't played at all in 3 months, but regardless, he brings interest to the game when he's there.

I actually hope he does well.  He can lose in a playoff to VanPelt or something.  I hope he gets his life back in order and that his golf game follows suit, but doubt it at this point.  Either way, I'll be watching.

Guest Preaching

I was bummed about a month ago when I was called on a Wednesday night to see if I could fill in preaching at a different church on that Sunday.  Not bummed I got called, in fact I was ecstatic about that, but knew that I had to turn it down to properly do the things I was commited to at Grace.

Two days later, I got asked to guest preach at a different church, with much more lead time and notice.  It was still in the brainstorming stage then, but I'm excited now about the opportunity to guest preach at a church in Monticello on August 14th.

Both invites were because I have had some connection with the current worship pastors at those churches, but it makes me feel valued to know that they would mention my name in their respective staff environments without me in the room. 

I'm looking forward to this opportunity.  Fitting within a series theme that church is in, but given all freedom within that theme, I get to preach a message on "potential."

Some of the other speakers already took some themes, but I like to avoid the first-to-mind topics sometimes just because they often get covered, so I'm still debating a couple potential ideas, but hope to know by Friday this week what topic I'll cover specifically.

Anyone willing to drive to Monticello and come to church at "The Quarry" on August 14th are more than welcome. 

Half a Hole Too Much

4 of us braved golfing this morning.  When we showed up, the course was under a lightning advisory so the hopes of playing seemed limited, but we ultimately got out, and saw nobody else on the course.

After 9 holes, two people decided they were satisfied with the amount of golf they had played and called it a day, while 2 of us kept going.

The lightning warnings continued to go on and off, with little to cause concern in the area.

Until halfway through hole 16.  Then it wasn't a course notification, but the Tornado/Severe Weather sirens for the city that started going off.  Not much seemed to change in the weather so we decided we'd finish the hole we were on and then re-evaluate.  After that hole we decided we'd just head in and call it a day.

That half hole proved to be the breaking point.  As we drove back we watched it get darker.  Getting to the end of the course we felt the first drop.  By the drive across the parking lot we were soaked. 

Half a hole sooner and we would have been in the car dry.