Some Pictures from Last Night

I don't know what the dealio is... I can't post last nights pictures in the last blog.

A Taste of Minnesota... and Speeding Tickets

So yesterday I went up to hang out at A Taste of Minnesota with five other friends. It was fun. Of special note:

• The gang fight we saw was sub par. Out of the approximately 50 members (the two gangs combined) only two were fighting. Taste: Poor in my mouth.
• The food was excellent.
• No, Mr. Ticket Man, I do not want to purchase the right to drink alcohol.
• The fireworks were sub par.
• I hate Hoff Jewelers. More on this below.

So after walking around for a while, we ate some Gyros and ice cream. On the way to the parking ramp we were to watch the Fireworks at (the riverside area was all full and we didn't have chairs), I bought all four girls a rose. Aren't I a sweet heart?

In regards to the actual fire works show, it was excellent. I love pyrotechnics, whether it is beautiful fireworks or just blowing junk up. The thing that almost ruined the night though, were two advertising planes. They had moving, illuminated billboards on their bellies, and were actually fun to watch during the day. I thought that when the fireworks show started, they would boogey on out. They didn't.

If you've ever seen footage of our bombers flying over Baghdad during the first Gulf War, you'll know what this looked like. The planes flew right through the middle of the fire works, which was very tacky. Way to go, Hoff Jewelers. You guys almost left a bad taste in my mouth at taste of Minnesota, and you also have bad reviews on citysearch.com.

The fireworks were beautiful, and loud. Take that, England.

After celebrating America, God's hand of justice on earth today, and the best nation ever, I got six hours of sleep and woke up at six to "pay the man" for some speeding tickets. I hate the man right now. Don't give the man (devil) room in your life to demand payment. I'm sorry at how lame that was. Often times spiritual connections in blogs about daily life are retarded. Look at this as an example of that.

Ghosts in the Church

River Valley sees a lot of use in it facilities. Probably 4 to 5 times as much use as the average church with its numbers, probably 10x the average church with its square footage (I'm proud of that, I feel it is good stewardship). Because of this heavy useage, our business pastor is a big believer in getting the carpets cleaned. Clean carpets last longer, after all.

Well, Shawn and I were elected to clear everything out of the areas getting cleaned, which were all the childrens areas, the lobby, and the main auditorium, and then come back at midnight to close up. We're going to put everything back in place tomorrow.

While locking up, we opened the back door and saw a car that looked way out of place. It made us a little nervous as the previous night there had been an alarm that no one can figure out, so we searched the building and finding nothing, armed the alarm and left. But we both still felt uneasy (I mean, I could swear I had seen "moving shadows" in the dark). So, we did what any young man would do. We grabbed pipes and went looking in pigchamp, pos, and we're waiting to hit up Suite 1000.

How do I have time to type a blog in the middle of a security sweep, you ask? Well, Shawn saw a chair in Alan's office that he was supposed to put together, so he's putting it together while I type. As soon as that chair gets put together, Mr. Burgler is going down old school.

What would I do if I saw a burgler? I imagine the Viking in me would come out. I would instantly sprout red chest hair and blonde pony tails and grow a helmet without horns. Horns, you see, are a Wagnerian worship of Norse Culture. If you picture horns on Vikings, the Nazis with their paganist historical revisions have won. And no one wants to be the person that makes that happen. After the hair reconfigurations I imagine I would take a swig of mead and sprout a battle axe in my hand, at which point I would go Norse on the burgler and then offer him some lutefisk or lefsa, before calling the cops.

Oh well, the chair is together, time to go hunt some ghosts.

North Korea - Children of the Secret State

This is a documentary about the children of North Korea. Invisible Children fanatics, get a load of this. Pretty much the only thing we can do for these children is pray... and that is tough for most people. We want hands on. Well, my sister has had hands on in Uganda. She has snuck across the border from Kenya three years in a row now. She wouldn't even get to the border in the Koreas. Pray that God would deliver these children and have mercy on North Korea, freeing it from communist oppression!

The Parents See The Work

Something a lot of people don't know about me is that I've been on staff at three churces other than River Valley. I did a youth ministry internship at Cornerstone Church, Madison, TN (Nashville) fall/summer 2002, a youth ministry internship at Rock Assembly of God in Oklahoma City, OK in summer 2003, and interim youth pastored at Rock Church in Rockford, IL last summer. Since I've turned 18, I've done youth ministry in Tennessee, North Dakota, Illinois, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. It's been rare though, that my parents have gotten to see my area of ministry. My dad saw Oklahoma, with both of my parents seeing Illinois. All of those other areas have been speaking, music ministry, or camp fly-throughs (I've helped friends out by speaking morning sessions at camps while they do the evening services. Small camps, nothing major. yet)

Today, my parents got to come to my church, which is the first church I've been on staff at that I would actually attend. Yes, you heard it, I wouldn't have attended any of the other churches I've been on staff at!

It was encouraging to see my parents step into the body I'm a part of and feel welcomed. They commented - just like everyone else does - about how impressed they were with the amount of fellowship and friendliness. They commented on the excellence of the music ministry, the way we present that aspects of God's creativity through the building and stage sets, and how the message was relevent to them. In other words, they liked River Valley.

And I do too.