Saturday, October 31, 2009
Quick back update
Just wanted to say thanks for many of your kind words and thanks. I wanted to let everybody know that my back has been doing much better. It still is acting up a bit, but is more of just an annoyance now. I've still mostly been laying around and resting it this week as the muscle relaxers just knock me out. I even listened to my sister's instructions and did not play football this week, I was quite sad because the last few weeks have been canceled due to rain, but it was probably for the best. It is times like these that make me appreciate just how much those people who have constant back problems really go through.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
A busy couple of weeks
Well, I finally have some time to write a little here and am awake enough to do it. I actually have spent quite a bit of time lying around the past couple days, but have slept most of (Allison is a little jealous). I’ve been lying down because I reinjured my back and that’s about all I can do right now. My wife and mom even coerced me to go to the doctor…he thought it was likely something with the muscles again. So I’ve been on muscle relaxers, which I’m not sure what they are doing for my back, but they certainly relax me…hence all the sleeping.
But things are definitely not all bad. Last weekend my uncles visited from Texas and we had a great time hanging out, playing some games, checking out some local restaurants (Hudson’s and Café Strudel for sure) and a comic book shop, and going to the state fair. The fair was a lot of fun, although I seem to have lost my desire to go on rides that spin around and make you throw up. Sadly, for us, that is all that Brian wants to do. So, we took turns taking him on those rides. There was some great food to enjoy…although I recommend staying away from deep fried Pepsi. Of course, if you know them, the rest of the weekend included some spades…but we also taught them Settlers which I think became Ken’s new favorite.
The time on the couch has given me some time to think about something that’s been on my mind lately - the kids in our neighborhood, although I still have no answers. I've been thinking about what it would look like for these kids to come to our church. I just can't reconcile images of the kids I play basketball with and our church. These are tough kids, or at least they feel they have to act that way, they love to fight, they love rap, and about the only other thing they seem to care about is sports. And our church...is amazing...the people there love to praise God and do it so well. The teaching is strong...but how can these kids fit in there to hear it? The younger kids seem fine with it, but once they become teens...I just don't know. Is the answer just to get them there and they will appreciate it...or is there a better way to reach them.
Classes have picked up a bit as I have a number of books to read. One excellent one for anyone who is in any kind of leadership position, ministry or not, is "7 Practices of Effective Ministry" by Andy Stanley...it has quite the baseball theme to it...but if you don't like baseball, nothing to fear...Allison enjoyed the book as well. (She even now is trying to figure out how to "narrow her focus.") Hebrew and Greek are the ones that take most of my time. I like them, but sometimes they are quite a bit of work. AO work has also been keeping me pretty busy, but it has been a huge blessing to have it...so no complaints really in that area. It is also nice that it keeps me in touch with the people there.
Allison is enjoying her linguistics class still, especially since it does not have a ton of out of class work :) Brian is mostly enjoying 3rd grade, he sometimes doesn't like compromising with others on projects, but he's getting better. However, he has determined that he does not like homework. No school yet for Kelly, though she is sure she wants to go...especially if she gets to ride on a bus.
But things are definitely not all bad. Last weekend my uncles visited from Texas and we had a great time hanging out, playing some games, checking out some local restaurants (Hudson’s and Café Strudel for sure) and a comic book shop, and going to the state fair. The fair was a lot of fun, although I seem to have lost my desire to go on rides that spin around and make you throw up. Sadly, for us, that is all that Brian wants to do. So, we took turns taking him on those rides. There was some great food to enjoy…although I recommend staying away from deep fried Pepsi. Of course, if you know them, the rest of the weekend included some spades…but we also taught them Settlers which I think became Ken’s new favorite.
The time on the couch has given me some time to think about something that’s been on my mind lately - the kids in our neighborhood, although I still have no answers. I've been thinking about what it would look like for these kids to come to our church. I just can't reconcile images of the kids I play basketball with and our church. These are tough kids, or at least they feel they have to act that way, they love to fight, they love rap, and about the only other thing they seem to care about is sports. And our church...is amazing...the people there love to praise God and do it so well. The teaching is strong...but how can these kids fit in there to hear it? The younger kids seem fine with it, but once they become teens...I just don't know. Is the answer just to get them there and they will appreciate it...or is there a better way to reach them.
Classes have picked up a bit as I have a number of books to read. One excellent one for anyone who is in any kind of leadership position, ministry or not, is "7 Practices of Effective Ministry" by Andy Stanley...it has quite the baseball theme to it...but if you don't like baseball, nothing to fear...Allison enjoyed the book as well. (She even now is trying to figure out how to "narrow her focus.") Hebrew and Greek are the ones that take most of my time. I like them, but sometimes they are quite a bit of work. AO work has also been keeping me pretty busy, but it has been a huge blessing to have it...so no complaints really in that area. It is also nice that it keeps me in touch with the people there.
Allison is enjoying her linguistics class still, especially since it does not have a ton of out of class work :) Brian is mostly enjoying 3rd grade, he sometimes doesn't like compromising with others on projects, but he's getting better. However, he has determined that he does not like homework. No school yet for Kelly, though she is sure she wants to go...especially if she gets to ride on a bus.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Visit from the fam
Allison's parents came down to visit for Brian's school break and to celebrate Allison's birthday. So we've been going around and showing them various sights around Columbia. Kelly through a small wrench in the plan by getting sick yesterday, but Grandma enjoyed spending the day with her and she is better and running all around again. The rest of enjoyed a thrilling, or maybe more humorous, soccer game of 8 year olds chasing after the ball.
Next was introducing Allison's father to Chick-fil-a and it was off to the air show. That was pretty cool. Brian got to sit in the pilot's seat of various helicopters and jets, jump on some space ship shaped inflatable bounce pits and...the actual air show was spectacular. They simulated bombing a field and attacking a field...complete with some sort of explosion on the field. You could feel the concussion and the heat from some of the explosions. The show included jets, some apache helicopters, and a few tanks even - alright, not really part of an air show per se...but it cool still.
Today was the celebration of our pastor's first anniversary with the church. Lunch was great and I hear that the service was wonderful...I however spent the 2 1/2 hours watching the kids in the nursery. It was fun...but quite tiring by the end :) After watching the lines make it close...but fall short (sorry Heather...wish they could have given you a win to watch) we headed out to Lake Murray and some southern bbq. The bbq was good (same place that Pete and I went), but we stopped to pick up what is supposed to be a southern treat that Pete and I passed on...boiled peaunts. We stopped to get them and as soon as I opened the container to get some...I knew it was going to go well. There's really no way to describe it except terrible...we tried to feed them to fish at the lake...even that was a no go.
One final fam note for all of you who have been waiting with baited breath...Kelly has taken quite well to her dance lessons and is enjoying it quite a bit now...much to her mother's pleasure.
In news from CIU...we had a prayer day this past week. It's a day when they suspend classes so that the university can focus on prayer. It has really been challenging to my prayer life coming down here because there is such a great emphasis on it at the university...prayer day being a great example. A cool insight from the devotionals that we had with my professor that day. Acts 6 gives the story of the apostles delegating the work of the church so that they could put their efforts into two main things "prayer and to the ministry of the word." The leaders of the early church saw prayer as one of there two main responsibilities. What a challenge for those of us who hope to be leaders in the church today.
Next was introducing Allison's father to Chick-fil-a and it was off to the air show. That was pretty cool. Brian got to sit in the pilot's seat of various helicopters and jets, jump on some space ship shaped inflatable bounce pits and...the actual air show was spectacular. They simulated bombing a field and attacking a field...complete with some sort of explosion on the field. You could feel the concussion and the heat from some of the explosions. The show included jets, some apache helicopters, and a few tanks even - alright, not really part of an air show per se...but it cool still.
Today was the celebration of our pastor's first anniversary with the church. Lunch was great and I hear that the service was wonderful...I however spent the 2 1/2 hours watching the kids in the nursery. It was fun...but quite tiring by the end :) After watching the lines make it close...but fall short (sorry Heather...wish they could have given you a win to watch) we headed out to Lake Murray and some southern bbq. The bbq was good (same place that Pete and I went), but we stopped to pick up what is supposed to be a southern treat that Pete and I passed on...boiled peaunts. We stopped to get them and as soon as I opened the container to get some...I knew it was going to go well. There's really no way to describe it except terrible...we tried to feed them to fish at the lake...even that was a no go.
One final fam note for all of you who have been waiting with baited breath...Kelly has taken quite well to her dance lessons and is enjoying it quite a bit now...much to her mother's pleasure.
In news from CIU...we had a prayer day this past week. It's a day when they suspend classes so that the university can focus on prayer. It has really been challenging to my prayer life coming down here because there is such a great emphasis on it at the university...prayer day being a great example. A cool insight from the devotionals that we had with my professor that day. Acts 6 gives the story of the apostles delegating the work of the church so that they could put their efforts into two main things "prayer and to the ministry of the word." The leaders of the early church saw prayer as one of there two main responsibilities. What a challenge for those of us who hope to be leaders in the church today.
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