Where Do I Start?

The beach, lack of sleep, and the upside down kingdom.

The beach trips (insert favorite Beach Boys song for background music here) have been fewer than I anticipated, only because most of my Saturdays have been full of other youth related activities. We are definitely looking forward to a trip or two before the new school year starts. I am needing to sit down and hammer out some more concrete plans for the next couple of months. Most of my time here has been spent getting a good health edjimakation (edge-eh-meh-kay-sh-on), and feeling like I'm just running to catch up. I think this week will be a turning point in this whole process as a number of the plans that our Youth Leader Intern John Dixon has planned to help with the transition between the youth leaders are about to expire. I can't thank John enough for all of his help and support during the last three weeks. John you really are a SUPERSTAR and I'm excited to watch as God reveals to you the calling that he has on your life.

With the summer comes a plethora of activities that are scheduled to get the youth of Upland BIC out of the house, give them something to do, and create a solid bond between them. I want this group to be a place where everyone feels comfortable and safe. I want it to be a place where they are excited to go. I think we are well on our way. Now if only I could get more sleep.

Moving to California is not with out it's challenges... (try to get a bank account set up with out a permanent address or California drivers license). Probably one of the things that I'm realizing has been the hardest part has been the lack of deep relationships with brothers in the Lord. I am realizing the importance of them and how blessed I was with the depth of relationships that I “left behind” in PA. I do know that I can call any of those guys at any time but I sure miss those lunches or guys nights at “The Back Page”. It's only a matter of time. One of the challenges that Upland BIC faces continues to be drawing a young adult crowd. It's a very interesting situation and I'm not really sure how to handle that other than pray for God's wisdom, because it's ultimately not up to our programs, the style of worship that we are using, or whether or not we sing hymns. Ultimately it's about God drawing them here.

We've spent the last several weeks studying through the Gospel according to Mark, especially looking at the difference between what the disciples expected the Messiah to be and what the Messiah was actually doing. This served to flip their idea of the coming kingdom on it's head (hence the idea of an upside down kingdom) This all culminated this past weekend in an over night event called ReFuel, where we looked at the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet and several other instances of him blowing their minds. We talked about and tried to put into practice the idea of “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.” There's no doubt that we as Christians live and serve in an upside down kingdom.

There's still much to get adjusted too, so if you think about it throw up some prayers for me, most notably for more permanent housing. I have been staying with a most gracious couple in a small apartment of the back side of their house. However I don't want to over stay my welcome and am looking forward to unpacking everything. Please also pray for wisdom and discernment as I begin to make plans for this fall and the upcoming school year. There is definitely much to do.

Details, details...

Everything seems to be coming together. I'm fighting the procrastinating side of myself that just wants to hang out and pack everything the night before I leave. It's going to take a bit more organization than that I'm afraid. My car situation is halfway solved. I have agreed to purchase Andrew and Crystals Subaru Outback station wagon. I think I'll call it "The Chick Magnet" because it so isn't. Once again the practical side is winning out in this decision. It will be a great car to take my stuff out in and I'll be able to haul youth around to random youth events. The housing situation is looking up due to the kindness and generosity of a couple from the church who have offered me some temporary housing until I get my feet under me.

The trip details are working themselves out as well. I only have to snag one hotel room (in St. Louis) as I have been able to line up places to crash er... sleep around Denver and Phoenix with help from some good friends. It's getting closer. Thankfully I won't be making the trip alone. My dad will be traveling out with me. It actually worked out perfectly. The plant that he works at (He's a machinist) has a mandatory shut down for two weeks over the summer. The shut down just happened to line up with my trip plans, so he's joining the adventure.

There are still a bunch of details that I need to figure out in relation to the move. I'm sure I won't hit all of them but I'm trying to relax and remember that eventually they will get taken care of. It's all good. I'm excited to go, sad to leave, and anxious (in a good way) to see what God has in store next.

2 weeks left.

Up(land)dating you on my Life...

Many of you know, and some don't have a clue as to what has been hinted at, rumored and/or dreamed about for the past several months regarding the next step in my life. As many (or all) of you know I have been incredibly blessed to have worked at Petra Christian Fellowship as their full time graphic designer all while helping with the Junior Higher Ministry (EDGE - Every Day God Experience). This time has been a true blessing to me in more ways than I could relay in a simple blog entry. I have been given the privilege to work for and and along side of some amazingly humble and godly people. I will forever be grateful for the past year and a half. Having seen the inner workings of this church family I understand why it has been so successful, I mean really 1300+ regular attendance in rural New Holland...crazy. It has been a tremendous instrument in healing my broken and wounded heart while challenging me to step up into all that God has called me too. Thank you Father for leading me here.
Needless to say this past weekend I had the opportunity to interview for the Youth Pastor position at Upland BIC church in Upland, Ca. The story of how I connected with Upland could be a long and drawn out one but for my typing fingers sake I'll say that Steve the Senior Pastor of Upland is the Father of my landlord. Last night I received a call from Steve informing me that the panel (church board, youth committee, and a few parents) believed that they had heard from God and that I was being called to be the new Youth Pastor at Upland BIC. I don't think it has really hit me yet and maybe I'm jumping the gun as I haven't actually signed anything and there are many details to be worked out, but now the news is out there. If you have a moment and remember, could you please pray for this entire process. I will be taking a day or two to pray and seek the Lord just to make sure that this is truly what the Lord has for me.
I'm excited, scared, nervous, and humbled by this. Grace and Mercy are more real to me than ever before. I'm sure that the next couple of weeks will be filled with cheers and tears as I say "until next time" to people locally who have come to mean a lot to me over the year (and you know who you are). sigh....

On a lighter note: As I am thinking about the move I wanted everyone to know that almost everything that I own in the house (129 E. New Street, Lancaster) is up for potential sale. No reasonable offer will be refused (and no the Wii is not for sale). Seriously I need to get rid of a lot of stuff because I don't want to lug it across the country. So there is the big news, the bomb has dropped.

Below: A good chunk of the Upland BIC Youth at Winter Camp in February.

Easter (a couple of days removed)

Stripped naked but with a towel
as a servant I did kneel down
to wipe the miles from your feet
an example for you to know
my love through this I show
If not you have no place, no place with me

Gather round and have a seat
Dine with me before I leave
though you may not understand
though you may not understand

I speak not to all of you
to fulfill these words of truth
to show you that I am, the great I AM
One of you will betray
I understand it must be this way
a silver coated finger pointing, finger pointing

Gather round and have a seat
Dine with me before I leave
though you may not understand
though you may not understand

No sin have I committed
Though I will take this sentence
bruised and beaten I will walk this hill
forced to carry this rugged cross
and the sins of the worlds lost
Father forgive them for they know not, they know not

Gather round and have a seat
Dine with me before I leave
Though you may not understand
until you see the nail scarred hands

Life and Love and Why?

Life ~
The whirlwind continues. I thought that after the holidays that life would slow down a bit but I was very, very wrong. As you may have seen in the precious post I have been spending quite a few hours on a very specific project. It was a bit of a stretch for me even though I was able to use a remarkable software product that I'm sure I still don't know enough about. Regina and Eric were very patient and many thanks to them for giving me a good shove onto the stretching rack that is the creative arts. If you haven't taken a look at the Radiant Images website yet, please do.
Aside from all the extra work I have been doing a little bit of traveling. This will be the first weekend in a month that I will actually be home. I have spent some refreshing times at the mountains with various groups of people all of which have had an enormous impact om my life. I couldn't even begin to explain. Then followed that up with a little jaunt down south to South Carolina to visit a friend. It was good to get away and not really think about anything... at least it's good until you return to the real world and get smacked across the face with your place in this world. I am also very excited to be taking another extended weekend trip next week (February 19 - 23) this time to California. Oh sweet Southern California. I'm just hoping that it warms up and stops raining long enough for me to get to the beach (i know how selfish of me).
Love~
Tomorrow is one of those great American Hallmark Card holidays that I love so much (sarcasm for free). I was listening to a sports radio talk show this morning and the host said the this is one of those holidays that Men can't really win, they can only lose and lose badly. That might be a little cynical for my tastes but I wouldn't say its too terrible far from the truth. In all actuality the hopeless romantic in me does enjoy this holiday even if it was invented to sell chocolates, cards, roses, and food at over priced restaurants. Love... It's a hard thing to hate, no matter how hard you want to try. Really, I joke with friends about having an anti-valentine's day party and how much I hate it... but I can't hate it... I just... miss it.
Why~
I don't have an answer to that. Truth be told "Life and Love and Why" is the title of a good song on Switchfoot's debut album "The Legend of Chin" If you haven't listened to the early Switchfoot then stop reading this, open up your itunes store search it out and buy it immediately. You won't be disappointed. Referencing that song title for my blog entry just seemed like the right thing to do. So LIFE is busy/good, LOVE is hard/painful and WHY? is still a mystery.

Radiant Images

This is what has been consuming my time recently.

The new Logo and website designs

Yeah, yeah, yeah....

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, now I don't want to hear it. In truth several things have kept me away from my blog, most notably my laziness and addiction to Facebook. Alas, here I am and it just seems like now is a good time to give an update.

The last several months: Not much really has changed. I still live in Lancaster City, because my landlord gave me a pretty good deal at least until the house sells. Which brings up another thought. If you are interested in purchasing a fine house within walking distance to Lancaster General Hospital you might want to check out 129 East New Street. I hear it's on the market.

So what's prodded me to write. Aside from all the little jabs and underhanded encouragements would have to be my most recent weekend trip. So here goes...

Friday:
My good friend "The Weave" (also know in camp lore as "The Fastest Man Alive") an I grabbed some stuff, jumped into his Mazda and made the 4 hour trip to Pittsburgh in 5+ hours. Wait, what? Yeah, so apparently there was some big accident that I couldn't find any news stories about which diverted our route from the turnpike onto route 30 westbound. Honestly the view was beautiful, atleast whatever I was awake to see was, but the 18 wheeler in front of us made for a very slow trek across Pennsylvania.
After finally making it to Pittsburgh and my former housemate Bill (and his wife Kate) Shimko's house we made our way back to the Pitt Campus where 9.5 years ago I finished up my Film Studies degree. (9.5 years ago.... Good Lord... that means I graduated from Highschool.... oh snap I don't even want to think about it.) It was great to walk around and see how much the campus has changed and at the same time some of the old favorites. Memories that I'd rather not go into in this environment flooded back to me. I laughed to myself a bunch, mostly because "The Weave" didn't go to school at Pitt so most of the stories wouldn't have made sense to him. We finished off the Campus tour with a stop at Primanti Bros. Which is a Pittsburgh specific uh... sandwich... er meal... er I'm not really sure what to call it other than good and filling. Click onthe name to check it out. After that we headed back to the Shimko's and just hung out until a little after midnight... unless your name is "The Weave" who was crashed out at around 10:30... lightweight.

Saturday:
We came out to Pittsburgh primarily to go to the Pitt vs. Louisville football game but I was able to catch up with some long lost friends at the same time. It was encourageing for me maybe not so much for them I'm not sure. So I ended up getting up at like 7:00 in the a (freakin') m. to meet a friend at a Panera Bread on McKnight road (not a big fan of that name, but that's another story for another day) that I drove past twice before figuring out where it was hiding. Lucky for me I left a bit on the early side (yeah, I can sense your disbelief even as I write this but it happens every once and a while). After a huge mug of hot chocolate and something resembling a raisen, apple bread in muffin form (not so impressive) and an hour and a half of catching up I returned to the Shimko's in time to enjoy some pasta and head over to the stadium for the game.
Our seats were amazing and the crowd around us was hilarious. I remember turning to "The Weave" on more than one occasion, saying welcome to a Pitt sporting event. We sat in the 100 level at the 35 yard line right behind the Pitt Bench. The game was great, a schalacking with chants of "everybody scores" going on around us because well, just about everybody on Pitts team did score. Good stuff. They are in really good shape though the rest of the season is not going to be easy I think I might be making a trip to a bowl game... as long as it's somewhere warm.

I'm also coming to realize that my giftings extend beyond the creative, though I've often relyed on them because the came somewhat naturally. The last several years I have been somewhat running away from that which I feel I was really meant for. Does that involve film? Maybe, it definitely could but that depends on the setting I find myself in. I am relational, yeah, yeah I know we all are to a certain extent, but there are some people who just aren't good at it. I'm feeling pulled back towards youth/yong adult ministry, which in a sense is what I did at camp. I miss it. I miss being a part of peoples lives in such an intense way. That of course is noones fault but my own. Though I'm glad that I've been on the journey I have for the last year specifically because my heart for people, thier hurts, poor decision making and consciquences there of, and desire to see them grow has been enhanced and in a sense recentered.
I'm sitting here writing this, putting it out there, wondering what that next step is. School, job change, life change, signing papers? I don't know. Sometimes starting over and doing what you were really meant to do is as scary as... well something really scary. I'm tired of being scared, I'm tired of feeling trapped, stuck in a rut. I need to get out of Lancaster. I love my family but this place has a cloud hanging over it that is hard to explain to people. It's a mindset that bothers me, a traditionalism that goes far beyond it, something arrogantly legalistic, lacking the grace that God wants to pour out on us. (Well that was a rant). So, here's to planning the next steps... I leave you with this...

Father of lies, coming to steal, kill and destroy
All my hopes of being good enough
I hear him saying cursed are the ones who can't abide

He´s right, hallelujah, he´s right
The devil is preaching the song of the redeemed
That I am cursed and gone astray
I cannot gain salvation
Embracing accusation

Could the father of lies be telling the truth of
God to me tonight?
That if the penalty of sin is death, then death is mine
I hear him saying, cursed are the ones who can't abide

The devil´s singing over me an age old song
That I am cursed and gone astray
Singing the first verse so conveniently over me
He´s forgotten the refrain.
JESUS SAVES!!!

Shane and Shane - Embracing Accusations