Day 31

Wow! Last day of May. Where did the month go? Seems I was just saying, "What am I going to do for a month?" and it's gone.

THE HIGHS:
- having the evenings free
- visiting churches
- caring for Mom and Dad
- wondering what day of the week it is
- working at Atomic Sports
- working at Dave's Auto
- reading the Alchemist and the Secret Garden
- preparing the backyard for the garage
- time spent with Sal, Cass and Carson

CHURCH:
Went to RiverPoint Church on Sunday. I liked the bulletin setup. Sermon on Elijah was very good. He's a very engaging speaker. Interesting Fact That May Only Interest Me- The pastor's name is Brad and his wife's name is Sally.

ADOPTION:
Over the weekend, one of the girls from the youth group (Chandra) gave birth to a baby girl (Daisy). Went to see them today. Daisy is a beautiful, precious little girl. Chandra is 17 years old. Choose to carry the baby for 9 months and then give it up for adoption. I am so proud of her. The quick and convenient choice would have been to abort the baby. No need to deal with the pain, attachment and ridicule that comes with being a pregnant teen. But Chandra kept coming to youth group; going to school; went to prom. And today Chandra put together a service at the hospital where she gave her baby to a family that can raise Daisy. Man, it was so sad but beautiful. It was hard to watch her put her little girl in another's arms and give Daisy away. I was so proud of her. It reminded me that there are always consequences for our choices. Chandra will be a great mom someday. I am so thankful she gave me the opportunity to come out of sabBRADical for a couple hours to be there with them. I'll never forget it.

Happy Memorial Day. Thanks to all those over the years of our nation's existence who gave their lives to obtain and defend Freedom. May we never take lightly the choice we have to give and take Life.

Day 28

THURSDAY: Poured the floor of the garage. It was sunny, hot and muggy out. I remembered very quickly how hard of work it is. To start out it was just Kyle, Michael and me. They roused Riley Spencer. Not only is he huge, strong and a hard worker, I got to ask him some more questions about Turner Gill. Joel Bastow showed up and was also very helpful. I took them all for lunch at Pizza Hut. Lindsey joined us. I again enjoyed seeing these guys mature from high schoolers to adults.

Celebrated the end of school by having chicken quesadillas (Carson's favorite) for supper.


Mustered the strength to go for a run in the evening. Not only has running been good for me, I tend to bump into friends from church/town. Talked with Jay and Braden this time along my route.

FRIDAY: Started the day at Dave's Auto. Needed to help with bleeding the brakes of the Cadillac. All I did was pump the brakes for Jordan, but even in doing that he told me a little about why we were doing it. Don't think he needs to worry about competition from me anytime soon.

More shirts at Atomic Sports needed numbers. This will be the last time I talk about numbering. There are 200 shirts and they are reversible so I'll be at this project for awhile. I'll have to go back to work at church to escape. Not really that bad. Dale's a good boss and he took me for lunch at D'Angelos. Taco pizza and a salad. Again got to see my church friends- Wes, Smiley, Barb, Brittany, Alexis.

Hung out with some other friends this afternoon. Got together with Brandon Roth and talked about his year in baseball, summer youth pastor internship and youth ministry in general. Then hit my man Joel's house for a little COD 2. Got home in time to help Cass with cleaning her fish tank.


Off to Wichita with the Reddings for supper. Have been trying to balance a ton of invites over a limited weekend schedule. We went to Abuelos for Mexican. Then bought some Starbucks ice cream. Good evening. Just sent Cass and her friends downstairs for the night. They will watch Avatar and we'll go to bed.

Day 26

TUESDAY: Pretty slow morning. Had lunch with Sal. In the afternoon I got to do something I have never done before- help change brakes on a car. Went over to Dave's Auto Shop and Jordan was working on a Cadillac. I would watch him work on one side and then I would do the same thing on the other. My new word for the day was "caliper". Once you start taking stuff (technical term) apart, it makes sense how disc brakes work. I just wasn't quite sure how to put it back together. That's why Jordan was there.

WEDNESDAY: This morning I went to Tru Valu and rented their carpet cleaner. $15 for half a day plus solution. Not bad. Never ran one of those things before. Pretty cool. It did a nice job. Throughout the process you have to change the water. Wow! Didn't realize there was so much dirt in there. Carpet feels so nice between my toes tonight.

This afternoon I helped with leveling the sand in the base of the garage floor. Hope weather is good tomorrow so we can pour concrete. Then I mowed our yard and got Carson started on the neighbor's across the street. Mom and Dad came over for supper. Had French toast, an omelette roll, sticky buns and cantalope. Breakfast for supper is one of my favorites.

Carson layed down at 6:30 and slept till 10 pm. Will he be up all night? I helped Cassidy study for her Biology final. It covers the anatomy and dissection of a pig fetus. Went with Sal to Wal-Mart. Drove through Newton on the way home so we stopped at Dairy Queen for a chocolate cone and a vanilla dip cone. Mini date.



My brother keeps me up-to-date on music from Crossroads. Crossroads is when two music groups get together to play each other's songs. The one he told me about today was Bryan Adams and Jason Aldean singing "Heaven".

Day 24

SUNDAY: Went to Garden Community Church. Reason we went is I was talking with Tami Hiebert the other day and she invited me to come on Sunday. Amazing how a personal invite can encourage a person to make a choice. I filed that away as something to make sure and do on a more regular basis. Enjoyed the service. Pastor Janzen brought a great sermon. The thought that I took home with me was "Diversity is a requirement for harmony". Comes from Ephesians 4. Ties in well to Driscoll's blog called "Weird Teams are the Best Teams".



Had 31 invites to graduation parties covering two schools and weekends. With being on sabbatical, I did not attend any graduation ceremonies or parties. This was very difficult for me. I'm a people person. I love doing stuff like that. I tend to have this complex that I need to be a part of all those things. Instead the youth leaders took my place. That is good for me. Not easy, but good. Plus, I've spent 6 years or more with some of the youth. But hopefully they know I love them. Look forward to what God has in store for their lives. Proverbs 16:9

MONDAY: More numbers on t-shirts. Exciting life, isn't it? Done with those for now though. PTL! More later this week if it rains. If the weather is nice I will be working on the garage. The forms are up. I got to dig a trench. Hope we will pour this week.

Took Sal out for supper tonight at Olive Garden. It is one of her favorite places to go. Got salad and bread sticks. Peach tea was amazing. They even put a peach slice in my drink. First time for that. We split the Tour of Italy platter. It has a sampling of Chicken Parmesan, Fettuccine Alfredo and Lasagna. The two of us can get out of there for like $20. Pretty sweet.

Then we went to the new Intrust Bank Arena for the Cavo/Lifehouse/Daughtry concert. Cavo was ok. Daughtry wasn't that impressive. Lots of sound and lights but he forgot words to the songs. Lifehouse was my favorite. Wish they could have played the majority of their songs. Since Daughtry closed, we left early and beat the thunderstorm home.

LITERATURE: The Alchemist is a must read. Took me like 4 days to down it. Made me consider what my Personal Legend is. Am I simply proud of what I have done? Am I satisfied with what I am doing? Or, am I excited and looking for what God still has for me? It always amazes me when you read a book and someone else puts into words thoughts and ideas in an organized way just like you were thinking them but didn't know how to say. My counselor Walt knows how to push the right buttons.

Day 22

FRIDAY: Atomic Sports is printing all the shirts for Hesston Summer League basketball and baseball/softball. That means all those shirts need numbers on the back. I spent the morning doing a "few" numbers. Fun nonetheless. Dale's dad, Don, is pretty cool. He keeps me in line.

Then Friday evening Sal and I went to the Wallace/Tozier Classic Rock concert at the Fox Theater in Newton. They sold out Friday's show so had one Saturday night too. Lots of 60's & 70's music. My favorites were "Sweet Emotion" & "Walk this Way" (Aerosmith), "Enter Sandman" (Metallica), and "Free Bird" (Lynyrd Skynyrd). Jordan Tozier just played guitar on most songs, but on "Free Bird" he sang so his Uncle Ron could jam on his guitar. Amazing! Had a great time.



SATURDAY: Slept great last night. You might not know this about me, but I love to evaluate each night's sleep. Like, "I slept terrible last night" or "Man, did I sleep good". Do that pretty much everyday. Drives Sal crazy sometimes. Anyway, woke up at 6 AM, went back to sleep till 9:00ish. Dreamt about riding in a Jeep with Mike King. We went off-road to get supper at this great place. The road went over the top of homes and on one of the last ones the vehicle went through the roof and was lodged between the rafters of a restaurant. Mike swung out of the Jeep and went and sat at a table and ordered supper. I undid my seat belt and jumped down. I sat with Mike and looked back at the Jeep poking through the roof. Everyone else in the restaurant went on eating like nothing was wrong. Weird.

Mowed and trimmed my Dad's yard. Then planted a Colorado Spruce we bought last week. During the past week some finches built a nest in the tree. Didn't find this out till I tipped the tree over one egg broke and one fell to the ground. I put the good egg back in the nest. Hope it makes it.

Sal made me Eggs-in-Toast for lunch. My Mom used to make those for me on Saturdays when I was a kid. Sal takes too good of care of me.

Went to Wichita in the afternoon. Saw the Burkholder's new little boy, Owen. What a cutie.



Made the rounds to the mall, Best Buy, Hobby Lobby and PetSmart.

Grilled chicken for supper and heading out for the 4 mile walk/run. Later will hit the after-concert party at the Tozier. Very good day.

Day 20

Wednesday I went to Wichita. Had lunch with Kendall Heide, a friend from my high school days back in Hillsboro. He is the head librarian at Maize South high school. He gave me a tour of the school as well. Couple of things I learned about the school: 1) With it being a new school, they did not ask any Seniors to switch schools so this year it has 9th-11th students 2) they will add 200 new students next year and bump it up to a 5A school.

Thursday morning I hung out with my good friend Joel Bastow. Had coffee and talked about life. Then watched the latest episode of "Modern Family" on Hulu. If you haven't watched it, try one episode. Its funny and talks about family dynamics. Now, I don't condone EVERYTHING on the show, so please watch with a discerning mind. One of my favorite things to do at Joel's house is use their incredible foot massager. So I relaxed while Joel saved the world in "Call of Duty".

Thursday afternoon was spent at Atomic Sports putting on numbers. As I look back at the afternoon, I am reminded again how mindless the work is, but how refreshing it made me feel. Finished off the day with my folks coming for supper. Sal fixed steak fajitas. Wow! They were so good...
...by the end of the meal we were speaking Spanish.
...I went out and bought a soccer ball.
...if Sal lived in AZ she would get deported.

On a literary note, I finished the book The Secret Garden. If you have not read it, I would highly recommend it. Looks at how we become what we are encouraged to be, but that we are never too old to become what we want to be or should be. Started The Alchemist. I'll let you know more when I finish it. So far it is VERY good.

Day 18

Sunday night I couldn't sleep, so Monday morning I took a nap. I know...pathetic. But it is what it is. Afternoon I ran errands, worked around the house and then went to Cassidy's last track meet. She loves track. She must get it from her mom and grandpa. Sal ran hurdles in high school. Grandpa Jared was a sprinter too. My little sister Candice won the Omaha metro 400 meter in 8th grade. I never went out for track. Ever. Hated it when they made me run on field days in 5th and 6th grade. Hated to run for basketball and football. Never went out in junior high and high school. It was only recently that I figured out I could have been throwing something like the shot or discus. Even if I sucked I still would have missed school and got to hang out with my friends. Bummer I didn't learn that sooner.

Today I kinda did some ministry things. Had coffee with one of my accountability partners. Had lunch with Molina at the junior high. I had to go for lunch with Molina. I was supposed to like 2 months ago and forgot. Then forgot a month ago. Had to today otherwise school is over next week and she'll be in high school next year. She forgot I was coming which is kinda ironic and I made sure to rub it in a little.

Went to the track awards night. Since they are pretty much done for the year I guess they decided they could celebrate by serving desserts. Go figure. Then Sal and I did our 4 mile walk/jog. Felt good.

LAST THING: I mentioned we went to Newspring Church on Sunday. I went to their website tonight and they have the video of the service posted. If you got an hour and a half you can watch the whole service. Or, just fast forward to minute 22 and watch the 2 minute remix they did of some of his comments. It is awesome! You won't be disappointed. Click here to get started.

Day 16

One of the cool things about sabbatical is getting to go to other churches and see what they do. Don't get that freedom a lot when you are a pastor. At least without feeling guilty or people asking if you are leaving the church you are at. So far been to Grace in Newton and today we were at Newspring in Wichita. Good service. Liked the stuff they can do with video. Had a hilarious remix of things the pastor had said in sermons. Music was similar to HMBC. Pretty much what I would expect from a large church in a metro area.

My two church experiences so far have left me very excited about where HMBC is as a church and where we are headed. As they say on draft day, we've got great "upside". I know I am supposed to be "relaxing" and not thinking about church stuff, but I can't help but think about the ministry potential HMBC has in Hesston. It's a special and exciting time to be a part of Hesston MB Church.

In the past several weeks I've mentioned a few of our graduate youth in my blog. Today I've got to give props to Brandon Roth. He's a junior at Manhattan Christian. Not only can he bring the Word from the pulpit, but he can also bring the heat from the mound. His team made it to the NCCAA Division II World Series in Cincinnati this past weekend. Manhattan Christian came in 3rd and Brandon was selected as a pitcher to the NCCAA Division II All-American team. Congrats, Brandon!

Let's see, finished the day with a 4 mile walk with my wife and son. Love the new sidewalk they are putting in on the south side of Hickory street between Ridge and the Arboretum. I jumped around the cones and consider myself one of the first to use the pathway. There's so much room on that sidewalk Sal and I won't be elbowing each other there anytime soon. Thanks City of Hesston.

Then I went to the Buhrmans. Ron has a grinder and I just had to sharpen my mower blade. You see when I mowed last week, the blades of grass looked more like they were pulled than cut. If you love to mow, you know what I'm talking about. Ron let's me sharpen my blade in his garage. Pretty sure he didn't expect me to be doing that a couple times a month, but he puts up with me. Although as I left his place tonight, he did say if I got halfway done with my yard and needed a sharpening to let him know. He thinks he is funny.

Day 15

Mom and Dad went to Omaha for the weekend. Today they were at the alumni basketball game at Grace University. Mom fell on her way down the bleachers and bit through her upper lip. They took her to the ER and she got 4 stitches. She's gonna look like one tough "mother". Mom and Dad have dentist appointments on Monday and will be home late Tuesday.



Our family did a lot of cleaning today. Cleaned our house and over at mom and dad's. The kids each know their responsibilities and it only takes an hour over there. I checked our sump pump and it wasn't working right. Made me mad, but at least I caught it this way rather than having water in the basement. Oh well, another day in paradise.

Day 14

It is finally sinking in on a day to day basis that I am on sabbatical. I think I knew this, but the pressure of ministry has less to do with where I am at and more to do with the response or interaction that I choose to have with people. So I am going to the same places and just choosing not to get involved- choosing not to engage the part of who I am that sees beyond the superficial communication that we all provide in everyday life.

In the back yard I've replaced four 4x4 posts that support our fence. They go about 3 feet down into the ground. I'm glad I'm digging these up when its 70 out and not 100 and humid. Smiley pulled a few for me before he demolished the shed which saved me a lot of work. Thanks dude.

I've also been working for Atomic Sports (t-shirt business a family at HMBC own) a couple of mornings putting numbers on the back of shirts for summer league teams. It's mindless and I'm perfect for the job.

Helped mom and dad around the house: bought a Colorado Spruce for the backyard, mowed, trimmed, transplanted grasses, sprayed weeds and ran off the swallows. Not only do those birds dive bomb you continually, they also were trying to make the most nasty nest on dad's front porch window. Deb Buhrman suggested hanging a CD to scare them away. An excellent idea that worked!! Thanks, Deb. I always wondered what I should do with that "5150" disc.



One of my former youth (Jared Redding) is an RA at Tabor College. He asked me to come share at their end of the year floor party. Pizza, mod awards, year end achievements and handing out floor shirts. I talked about the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14+). As I studied I was convicted by the third guy who dug a hole and buried his talent. He is described as being scared and lazy. As I examine my own life, I find that as I hear God call me to action, I am tempted to respond in fear (what if I fail? can I really trust God to work through me?) or I am lazy (obedience is a lot of work; when I do trust God, I also have to invest effort). Never fails that as you prepare to teach others, God stretches and speaks to you.

Tonight Carson and I went to see Iron Man 2. We had so much fun! He is almost a 7th grader. It is cool to see him maturing, even if it is at a junior high pace.

Day 10

Wasn't going to blog every day. But despite the weather, it was a great day so I gotta blog. I'll keep it short.

Morning- met dad at Woodyz for biscuits and gravy. He loves that for breakfast. Then went over to his place and got the manuscript for the book he is writing. Actually he has it done, so I am making it into a PDF to send to an agent or something. He is pretty excited. While I was there I also took some time to break down the nest the swallows are making. Those birds are persistent and annoying!

Afternoon- Sal came home early for lunch. Since we had extra time we went to Pizza Hut on a date. I know, I'm the last of the big time spenders. We laughed and laughed. Can't really remember why now, but it was a good time. Then I did work around the house. Spent some time at the Hesston Resource Center. I'm the treasurer so I spend an hour or so per week paying bills. This Wednesday is our monthly meeting so I had to justify the books and print out reports. Went to Wichita and hung out with the Roger, Joyce and Joel. They are good friends and a lot of fun to be with. While the "tornados" swirled outside, had supper at Louie's on the east side. First time. I'd recommend it.

Tonight- I got my HMBC "fix". I called about 4-5 people from our church. Also ran into the Spencers, Bastows, Turners, Corissa R, Deb Bru, Williams, Nickells today. 10 days down. Only 82 to go. I missed my friends in only a week.

Day 9

Weekend Review:

Friday- Sal's parents come down from South Dakota for the weekend. Sal and Penny did some shopping in Newton. Bob helped me with the project we've got going on in the backyard. He used to say his dream was to be a missionary home on furlough. I've done that and it is more work than being on the field- all the driving, services, meet & greets, and family. I told him being a pastor on sabbatical is way better. Thanks again to HMB for first of all giving me a chance to try being a youth pastor and then giving us time away so we can recharge. Through the good and the bad of youth ministry, God has continued to put joy in my heart.

Saturday- More work in the backyard. We cleared out and away all the stuff from around our shed. Smiley Jost heard I was going to tear down the shed. He offered to give a hand and showed up with a loader. INCREDIBLE. The shed just fell apart as he bulldozed and obliterated that building. He did in a couple of hours what it would have taken me a week to do. What a blessing!

For supper, my folks joined us for roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cucumbers and rhubarb dessert. Sal is an amazing cook. It was cool to hear my dad talk to Sally's mom and thank her for teaching Sal the secrets to cooking. My mom and dad benefit from time to time from her expertise. We celebrated an early Mother's Day and Cassidy's birthday which is coming up on Tuesday. I'll dedicate my blog Tuesday to her (I think that's called a "teaser").

Sunday- We planned to go to Westlink for church, have lunch and do some shopping. Service didn't start till 10:45 and so wouldn't have to leave till 10. Going to sleep in a little.

That was the plan.

At 6:45 the phone rings. Dad's incision from the heart cath isn't looking good this morning. He wants to know what I think we should do. I told him I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night. He didn't laugh (at least I tried). So by 8 Sal and I are at their house. We decide I will take dad to the ER in Newton and Sal stays with mom. Now between Sal and I, I'm usually the optimistic one. But I figure the day is shot and if the incision needs to be resealed he'll be in the hospital all week. Sal tells me to not worry about the rest of the week or even the rest of the day. Just do what needs to be done now. So we did.

The ER visit was productive and positive. The seal on his artery had not broken. The doctor gave some helpful tips to keep the swelling down and hopefully get dad back to normal soon. By 10:30 we were on our way to Hesston. Dropped dad off and picked up Sal. At 11:30 Cass was driving us to Wichita to enjoy Mother's Day lunch at On The Border. As we were leaving OTB, bumped into the Eitzen's. Cool to see people from church and "catch up".

Between this paragraph and the last one, I got a call from Xavier Soller. X was a part of the Hesston Youth Group and lives in Denver now. He told me today he went to an NBA skills contest. X went through the obstacle course in a record 17 seconds. Best time they have had on their 9 city tour. Qualified him to go to Dallas in July to face the other city winners. I love that guy. He's come a long way and God has great plans for his life. As a youth pastor, the last 10 minutes were one of those priceless moments that come along as you see your "kids" grow up.

Day 6

Today is a very special day for me. May 6 is my brother's birthday. Until I met Sal, Jonathan (Hona) was my best friend. Though he is 7 years younger than me, we have always been close. As I tried to figure that out today, I came to the realization that we needed each other. He needed me to be a older brother, role model and I needed him to like me for who I was. In junior high I hated me. In high school I thought I was ok. It took a relationship with Sal for me to like me. With Hona, I could be me and be comfortable with that. Thanks Hona. I love you man.

As for today's events, this morning I quit a job I never started. I had it all lined up to work Tuesday-Friday during the month of May for MAYB. Been looking forward to getting back into a job that was not ministry related. After Dad had his heart cath and stent, it became apparent I needed to be closer home to be there for his needs and to be there for him as he takes care of mom. So instead I will be working on our house, working around mom and dad's place and maybe helping Jordan out changing oil at Dave's Auto. That lift he has is cool.

Tonight Carson and I went to the Skillet concert. Left at 5. Drove through the drive-thru at Wendy's and ate on the way to Hartman Arena. Never been in there. Nice place. My cousin (JD) used to work for K-Love and got us in early (and for free) into the show. Since I didn't have to buy a ticket for us, instead we bought Skillet t-shirts. It was a blast. And I loved the look on Carson's face when they played "Monster". As John Cooper would say, "We got our faces rocked off!"

When I got home, found out I was a grandpa- Cassidy's fish had 10 baby fishlets! I'm so proud! Cigars for everyone!

Day 4

Interesting couple of days.

Monday I was up at 5:30 and in Wichita at the KS Heart Hospital by 6:25. Not exactly how I planned to start my first week of sabBRADical. Wasn't this supposed to be about me? Seems I should have been sleeping in till 10 or something.

But I wouldn't have missed 6:30 AM at the Heart Hospital for anything. Dad was having a heart cath and I needed to be there. While he filled out a chart with his personal info and meds, I got a paper. I had come prepared for a long day at the hospital and the Eagle Sudoku was a part of the plan.

After getting him admitted, we headed to the prep room where he waited his turn. They bring this portable TV player for you to watch a video about the procedure and the risks involved. Helped remind me about the difference between arteries/veins and atrium/ventricle.

They took him in at 8:30 and I promptly went down the hall to get a cup of coffee. I'm a mocha guy and so when the caff had only regular coffee, I headed to the closest Starbucks in Target. Once I had my coffee, I settled in and finished the Sudoku, half the Jumble and was working on the Crossword when they said he was done. In 45 minutes they had stuck a tube in his heart, inserted the stent and he was back in recovery. CRAZY. Thankfully he had needed only one stent for an artery with 80% blockage.

The best part of the day was yet to come. He couldn't feed himself, so for breakfast and lunch I got to do the honors. He has taken care of and provided for me most of my life. Today I got to say thanks for all his has done. We talked about whether I will have to do this again someday when he is in the nursing home. It's kinda sad to think that could happen sooner than later, but time marches on. I'm just thankful God has let mom and dad have a few more days here on earth with us.

Joel stopped by and gave me an hour of entertainment in the hospital halls. If you are ever in the hospital and bored, give him a call. It was great.

Today Sal helped me get dad from the hospital, mom from my uncle and aunt's house and drove a car home. (By the way, I asked dad where he wanted to go for lunch. He said mom loved McDonald's. It just seemed rather ironic to have just left a heart hospital and then go to McD's) Sal invited them over for supper and fixed spaghetti. Then the two of us went on an hour power walk. What an awesome day together. God gave me an amazing wife. She's pretty cool.

Day 2

First Sunday away. Got to sleep till 7:30. Awesome. Went to Grace Community Church in Newton at 9:30.

The pastor spoke on Grace vs Works out of James 2. It is a subject I have been thinking a lot about this weekend. If you got 10 minutes, take a look at this link from YouTube about obedience . Our faith is dead without works. Like a corpse in a casket without a soul. That's powerful stuff.

Which leads me to admitting that I mowed my yard today. Not only did my grass need it, but I also had like a million of those little helicopter seed things in my yard. I thought long and hard about whether I should mow or not. I've never mowed on Sunday. Like never-ever. When my dad was a pastor in Hillsboro, I remember walking with him on a Sunday past a neighbor's yard were a member of our church lived. The neighbor said, "Don't look at me working." Funny the stuff that sticks with you.

What does it mean to keep the Sabbath holy? For the past 7 1/2 years I have worked on Sunday. At church by 7:30 am, Sunday school, service, a youth leader lunch meeting, an afternoon board meeting, to small group in the evening. For the most part I quit playing board games with my friends on Sunday night because I was so tired. Usually I tried to sneak in an afternoon nap and if I was lucky, could even sleep 2-3 hours. In the past year my counselor has been working with me to make Monday (my day off) into my Sabbath. Spending time resting and focusing on God rather than continueing the rat race. It has helped me to love Monday mornings: coffee with dad, then sitting in the hammock reading the paper, working on the crossword and completing the Sudoku. Sometimes even conquering the Jumble.

But back to today. I got up at 7:30 rather than be at church at 7:30. I was refreshed by the worship hour rather than leading it. I wasn't tired this afternoon. And I love to mow. I mean I really love to mow. So I mowed. And loved it. While I was mowing, I did wonder if anyone one from church would see me. Then I heard my neighbor down the street mowing. Made me wonder if he was concerned someone was judging him for mowing on Sunday. Now what I'm going to say next is wrong, but I got to be honest, I thought, "Well, I've seen him smoking, so he probably isn't even a Christian." Pretty pathetic, huh? It's like everything I had been challenged with this weekend culminated in the conviction God put in my heart at that moment.

Here I had been thinking about letting my actions reflect my heart for Christ. But I didn't want to be legalistic about it and wanted to stay balanced. However, when I looked at my neighbor, I judged him so fast. I was guilty of Spiritual Profiling. I don't even really know him. God challenged me this afternoon to take the time to go deeper than just saying "hi" to the guy next door. God has put me on this earth to take a little time to be concerned about the spiritual well-being of my neighbors. I like to preach Matthew 22:37-39, but I also need to live it.

I finished the afternoon by washing my cars. I love to do that too. You ever notice how your car looks so much better when you wash it by hand rather than taking it to the car wash and spraying it off? There's no comparison.

A beautiful afternoon ended with taking an hour walk with Sal.

I missed being at HMB with my friends (the congregation) but I loved today.

I'll have to do this again. :)

Day 1

The junior high lock-in ended at 6:30 this morning. With the clean-up it put me home at 7:30. Took a shower and went to bed. Man, was I tired.

There were volunteers from the church that stepped up big: the LIFE guards (Layne & Staci, Brad & Andrea, Brian & Mary Pat), their leader (Matt Hasselhoff, I mean, Chad Childs), the 3 Amigos (Cass, Emily & Hannah), Joel Bastow (Rock Band singer extraordinaire), Scoot (former LIFE leader, current LIFE lover), Michelle Anaya (came early, left late), Braden Decker (disabled and all) and Don Fuqua (came from 4-6 am, impressive).

Then there's Brett Eitzen. Started help set up at 7:30 pm on Friday and dropped off the last items at church this morning at 7:30 am. Hard worker, great attitude and nice arms (that's for you, Sam).

Slept till noon. Watched the Flyers/Bruins OT game. Slept some more. Filled out finance report for church. Visited my folks.

Please pray for my dad. He went to the doctor for a stress test the other day. Now on Monday they want to do a heart cath. Might need a stent, but if they see it is worse they will do a heart bypass that day. We are juggling how to support dad and take care of mom. I have my uncle and aunt in Wichita who are helping us figure out the plan.

It's 9:20. I'm tired. Good night.