Daddy Day Off

Took the day off to help Sandy get ready for Olivia's and Jazlyn's birthday party tonight. Lots of excitement around here today. Olivia turned 6 today, and Jazlyn will turn 9 tomorrow! I can't believe it.

Well, a few minutes ago Ava (3 1/2) opened the front door and said, "daddy, there's a box at the door." Lo and behold, there was Olivia's present (thanks FedEx). She has been asking for an American Girl Doll for her birthday, so we finally ponied up and bought her one. She was so excited to see the cardboard box at the door, that she knew was her present (I think she probably could guess, by the size of the box what it is, but I told her is was a box of cheese and sausage).

Back in the Saddle and Burned!

So I feel like I have fallen out of the gravitational pull of the blog-o-verse, but alas I am now approaching re-orbit. Just got back from a trip to San Diego (North County actually), which was a part of my Seminary training--I know, suffering for the Lord! I spent a good deal of my time (between sessions of course) at the beach, thus the burn. When in Rome......

Part of the trip was visiting a great and creative church, North Coast Church, in Vista, CA. NCC is a church of about 7,000 which sounds a bit pretentious, until you visit them. You can read more about them here. They have pioneered a model of ministry that is quite creative and apparently in their context quite effective. They are one church with many locations, many styles, many mindsets, that are linked together each weekend by a shared teaching experience via video. Their senior pastor Larry Osborne is a great leader, and a very creative thinker. We had the chance to spend the day at his house on Friday.

Anyhow, here are some pictures of the trip for those who are interested.

New Friends and Old Friends

Last night I headed down to Puyallup (South Hill actually) to preach at Destiny Christian Center's Youth Service. The youth pastor there, Matt Benson is a great guy, and a new friend of mine. It was really refreshing to visit a church in a different city, and talk with another youth pastor, and encourage each other, and share some of the tough spots. Matt is a great youth pastor who is doing great things in the south Sound region.

One thing I appreciated about him is the fact that he has been in youth ministry for 8 years.....at the same church! In the big picture that would be considered a youth pastor dinosaur. I think the average youth pastor is at one church somewhere in the ballpark of 18 months. This year I will have been at my church for 9 years. It is great to see youth pastors really sticking through some of the tough times and making a significant difference.

It was also great to see Suzy Reed (and Kyle too) who was an intern here at CP last year, and has been a good friend of Sandy and I.

Normal Days Ahead.....hopefully!

Ok, so I have been neglecting the blog for a while....but in my defense I have been quite occupied. We just finished a production last night at our church called "Generations." I was actually quite surprised when Daniel Perrin asked if I would consider taking a role in this, since I knew it was a musical. I was reluctant at first, because, while I have done some acting in the past, performance singing is a bit out of my comfort zone. The thing that got me to say yes was the idea that we are taking this show on the road, in October we will be performing Generations in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem.

It has been a really great experience, very stretching, but fun. It was great to work with some real pros, such as Ross Hauck, Jadd Davis, Kasey Nusbickel, and director Marianne Savell, and of course my beautiful wife Sandy Smith (the most talented and beautiful of all).

So that's what I have been doing for the last two weeks. Now I am back in the "normal" swing of things.

It's All About a Good Fight

I grew up loving the Sonics. I can remember in Jr Hi and High School going to games in the Key Arena. I remember the Sir Mixalot "no not in our house" days when everyone in Seattle loved the boys in green.

Somewhere along the line my interest in the team began to fade. It seemed like there was more complaining coming from the Sonics organization than anything else..."this stadium is too small...too old...too, whatever!"

I guess I just got sick of it. So, naturally when talk came of this new owner, NBA "good 'ol boy" Clay Bennett moving the team to Okie-land, I was a bit apathetic. Don't get me wrong, I hate to see the team leave, but after all, it is a private organization, run by owners, not a public team. Clay has every right to run his organization how, and where he wants to.

Then, news came this past week of former owner, Howard Schultz now looking to sue Mr. Bennett for breaching the contract, which was that there would be a good faith effort to keep the team in Seattle. Well as the news came out seemingly pointing to the idea that Bennett wanted to move the team all along, Schultz wants to sue (most likely just to be Seattle's favorite guy again).

Some how this new twist got me interested again in the destiny of the team that I grew up loving. I think it is the fight that got me stirred up again. There is just something about a good fight for something that gets me interested. I'm not talking about a brawl, with broken bottles and bar stools flying, but just the essence of fighting for something.

Go Schultzy, stick it to the Good 'Ol Boy!

Half Marathon Photos

Now I'm Officially Half Crazy--My First Half Marathon

Just got done this morning running my first half-marathon out on Whidbey Island. Woah....so I realized that I should have trained a little more before tackling the 13.1 mile death match with the pavement.

Actually, I was a few minutes off my goal...I wanted to finish in less than 2 hours, but alas, I pooped out around mile 11, and lost my steam. But I accomplished to overall goal or torturing myself for 2 hours......uh scratch that--I accomplished my overall goal of finishing (albeit in 2:04:09). That puts me above the average finishing time, and overall placement of 560 out of 1479 runners. Ok, so now know what I need to work on for the next one.

I will post a few photos as soon as Ian (the guy who talked me into this whole thing) emails them.