Junior High Winter Weekend

One thing I realized this weekend is that getting older or more out of shape...actually, I'm pretty sure its both. This weekend, I helped counsel at Calvary's JH winter weekend. It was pretty crazy crazy...it went like this: got there friday night during the service (after varsity lehigh game), ran w/jh'ers during the manhunt activity (shortness of breath)...tried to coax them to sleep (got about 6hrs...felt like 2). Saturday: meals, services, more running activities (slight coronary embolism), counselor time (basketball in activity center = cramping and loss of leg mobility), football afterwards (chronic hyperventilation with bouts of muscle tension and inflamed wheezing). Sunday: meals, service, more football (increased hypertension and continual cramping). So, all in all an exciting yet tiring weekend.

Derek (my housemate) and I had the 7th grade guys in our cabin for the weekend...good times...some of them still need to take Showering 101, but all in all were pretty responsive during the week. Got to talk to a couple one on one about personal situations and struggles and even during devotional/God and I time, Derek and I got some good feedback from the guys....they know the right answers for the most part now its up to God to work in their lives to produce the right results.

A couple of pics from camp...flour dodgeball & sharon tug (before limbs were ripped off).





Also, here's a video from Winter weekend & I have to give some background....A couple of months ago, I let it slip out to a couple of 8th grade guys that I used to play Mortal Kombat for Sega Genesis about 9-10 years ago...as 8th graders, they ran with it & were determined to play it for me at Winter weekend along with dancing...I had to get a video.

This past week.

This past week was as expected pretty hectic. Besides the normal business of a high school teacher, extracurriculars were more than usual this week. I did have some help though b/c my cousin Justin had to fulfill his history ed. practicum for Northland, I had an assistant in grading, monitoring, teaching (which he did well in)...I'm going to miss my lackey (as Leslie Nichols affectionately referred to him as). So, from two away basketball games (Upper Bucks & Lehigh Valley..which we both won) to Mid-terms to JH winter weekend...it was a pretty out of the ordinary routine kind of week and weekend. I'll be adding more info. on these in a bit, but thought I would add a pic. of Saturday's AFC divisional game where the Colts hounded the Baltimore en route to the AFC Championship game...two years ago they made it to this point and lost to none other than the New England Patriots...hopefully this time the result will be different (game time is Sunday at 6:30pm).

New Year...Same God!

I'm amazed that in this past year God has blessed me so much with an amazing position of ministry, great opportunities of mentoring, and a deeper love for Him and His Word. As I think of this new year, I'm praying/thinking for a couple of things. I'm praying that I'm taken out of my comfort zone. I think we as Christians, myself definitely included, take the comfortable way through our day, year, and even life. I want God to work and I want to be shaken, picked up, thrown back down, and torn away from the existence that I've made for myself. It may seem contrary to what is expected b/c nobody wants to go through a struggle or be caught in a dire circumstance. I want that and it may seem odd, but I feel that I've been too comfortable for too long. As I continue to read and study God's word, I'm drawn to passages like the the often-quoted Philippians 4:13...I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me! I want to see my level of security stripped so that only God and I remain. What does this look like...not sure, but Paul sure came to that realization and I want to see that firsthand. I want God to use me...I want Him to be able to use me in spite of my failures and insecurities. In my weakness, a transcendent God must be magnified...This overpowering/all-consuming influence must permeate my very core. Oh, for the God of Abraham, Moses, and Elijah to be evident in my life. I want my students to come to a more mature view of God and His presence. If I'm a part of that, who cares...it must and can only be God's working. I want to spend less time, money, physical exertion to making myself happy and more on furthering His kingdom. I want to not waste the time I have been given with frivolous endeavors, fulfilling Paul's mantra to "seek the things...and set my mind on things that are above", to "put to death the deeds of the flesh", to "count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord...that I may gain Christ", to "know him....becoming like him in his death", "to be an imitator of God...and walk in love as Christ loved us", and to in all things "rejoice in the Lord" so that all will see Him and not me. So, this same God that from eternity past chose me will be glorified whether I live or die. In 2007, may Christ be glorified in my life as I'm removed from my haven of American comfort and given the opportunity to suffer, serve, give, love, rejoice, and to be..to be what He's created me to be.