Classic Car Wash Video

Im back from my blogging break and I thought I would like to kick it off with this video of me going through a car wash on top of the car. I have seen it done before but no one had told me how bad it hurt.

Where did the time go?

Here is a picture of the graduating class of Trinity Christian High School in Cedar Hill, TX. Class of 1998. Can you find me?
I am about to purchase my flight to Dallas for my 10 year, yes I said 10 year high school reunion. So many thoughts go through my head as I take a road down memory lane through the past 10 years. As I look back I can see where I was. College, Southern California, my current residence, but I can not believe that it has flown by so fast. It really gives me a grasp of reality on how fast life goes by. Do you remember the question that always gets asked when you are about to start a new chapter? Where do you see your self in 5 years, 10, 20? This question usually drowns people in fear. Although I do remember the anxiety attacks and the horrific feeling of not knowing, it was also an exciting time. A time to step out in faith.
I would of never guessed that I would be a Jr. high pastor way out in California but that is the plan God had for me. Its amazing to think that even though I had no clue of what my future holds, God was molding and shaping me for His exact plan.
I am looking forward to the next 10 years because even though I have no idea whats going to happen, God does. (hopefully marriage is somewhere in His plan.)

Help out an old friend...

Just wanted to let all of you know about a good Christian album that just came out. The band is Addison Road. I just picked up the album and I must say that I really enjoyed it. It brings a fresh sound to Christian music. I use to be really good friends with the lead singer and it is exciting to see her dreams come true.
Help them out...

Book Review

As part of the Josh and Puddles book club I decided to find something that was a quick read and beneficial to the ministry while trying to attempt the other 2 books we started out with.
Jim and Casper Go To Church:
A quick read it was. I loved the idea of a former pastor (Jim) teaming up with an atheist (Casper) to visit churches all over the country. It is exciting to think about an "open minded" atheist giving up his time and energy to help all of us to see the perception that a non believer has when he/she walks through the doors of the church.
Here is how I would describe my experience with this book though. When I read it, it tasted good going down but then it left a very unsettling feeling in my stomach. I will call this my Taco Bell book.

The idea is great and there are some very useful ideas that we can take from this but over all I hated this book. Okay, hate may be too strong of a word, oh forget it, I hated this book. Here is why...
Casper the atheist went into each church with his mind made up. Just as a movie critic would watch a movie in an effort to find its flaws, Casper went into each church to point out all the flaws. Some were legit but others were ridiculous. Flaws such as too many lights, hair too slick, too well planned out and so on. He was also very inconsistent with his critiques. For example, the church is too big,the church is not big enough, they are overly friendly, they are not friendly enough, and so on.

The opening pages state that he is open minded but he is completely opposite. I understand what he set out to do to when helped write this book but I highly doubt that many non believers would be this critical if they walked into the doors of a church. I hope not anyways.

Maybe I am being a little too negative but I find something wrong with someone making money off of a book by ripping into the church.

Grade: C+

The People's Superhero

Im not a big SNL fan anymore but this video is pretty dang funny.

Worship Night

Every year our Jr. High ministry has a worship night. We cancel our small groups and meet together to worship God and to teach the students that there are many different ways to express love and worship God.
Tomorrow night is going to look a little different and it makes me a little nervous.
We will worship through song for a little while but then we are going to break out into 4 different areas. The areas include prayer, art, journal, and communion. The students will hopefully discover a new way to express worship to God and not just think of WORSHIP as singing only.
I am really looking forward to this and I believe that God is going to challenge these students and show Himself to them in a way that they have never experienced.

5 things that you might not know about me.

I was watching American Idol and the contestants how to tell America something that people didnt know about them. So I thought I would give it a shot.

1. I must eat my food one thing at a time. If I have a plate filled with chicken, beans, vegetables, and a roll, I will start with what I like the least and save the best for last. Another weird thing about this is I will not let any of the foods touch. If I get any beans on my chicken, I wont eat it. Isnt that crazy?

2. There are 3 pretty common things that have never happened to me. I have never been stung by a bee or any other insect. I have never broken a bone and I have never had a cavity. Man my life is boring.

3. I had to get swats in school with a wooden board for calling my teacher something that I should not of called him. The embarrassing thing is that I was a senior in high school.

4. I am part of the Studebaker family. I believe that I am a 3rd or 4th generation cousin to the inventor of the classic Studebaker car. My mothers maiden name is Studebaker.

5. Number 5 is what I like to call the worst day of my life. I have shared this with a few. Earlier in the day, my girlfriend breaks up with me. I have a varsity basketball game I must get to. While soaking in my misery on the bench from being dumped the coach calls me in. As my team mate inbounds the ball to me, I shoot it in the wrong basket. We lose by 2. On the way home from the game, I see a fire trucking racing down our street. As I pull up our house is in flames. All in one day.

Im sure there are more things but thats all for now.

King of the Hill

For a long time now people have been telling me that I must watch this show. They always tell me that it reminds them of me and that the characters (specifically Hank)talks like me. Never being a fan of animation sitcoms, I would say thanks but no thanks. But thanks to www.hulu.com I thought I would give this show a shot.
And I must say that they were right. The Texas pride on the show makes me proud to be a Texan and makes me want to move back.
Here are some of the more memorable quotes:

1. An all Texas Super Bowl... His will be done.

2. If I wanted to watch my wife on Super Bowl Sunday, I would've married Fran Tarkinton.

3. I dont want to go to jail but I dont know if anything is wrong if you are doing it for Texas.

4. The Liberty Bell is great. But if it was in a contest with a bunch of other bells *without* cracks, it would lose.

5. I wasn't jealous. I was just upset that you were spending more time with that guy than you were with me and I wanted to spend that time with you. Jealousy had nothing to do with it.

When you feel like quitting the ministry.

Thankfully I am not going through this but unfortunately I have talked to too many youth pastors who want to get out. I ran across this post from Tim Schmoyer and thought it gave 5 simple and logical reasons why pastors should stay in it.

1. Confidence in God’s calling on my life.

2. Knowing that the greatest rewards are often on the other side of the greatest trials.

3. What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger.

4. Working with sinful people is always messy, of which I am the worst.

5. I know the enemy wants me out.

Favre calling it quits.

Congratulations to one of the most overrated quarterbacks of all time.

Japanese Soccer with Binoculars

You might have already seen this.
Im already in the works of planning this out for our jr. high ministry.

Hot Topics

I am in the process of planning a Jr. High teaching series for after Easter.
I really want to hit on the most difficult challenges that a jr. high student goes through or the most difficult questions that they might have. I have a couple in mind but I really want to see if there is someting big out there that I am not thinking of.
Open for suggestions: