Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. Boy how has the time gone by so fast this summer??!! I am still saying May when I say the date, so apparently I completely missed June and July as we are now into AUGUST! Oh well, it has been a great summer even though it has been busy. I got to go to New Orleans with 40 youth and 9 other adults for the National Youth Gathering. It was such a fun trip. Besides the awesome experience the Gathering is itself, and even besides getting to experience it in such a large group, it was awesome because I got to see so many classmates and friends. I talked to several other pastors my age who all said the same thing. "My youth group thinks I am the most popular person in the LCMS because I know EVERYBODY!" We would be walking down the streets of New Orleans, or through the convention center, or even in the airport, and upon running into an old friend, exchanging hugs, and the quick catch-up, the kids would stare at us like we really were the most popular people. My favorite story of that area was when we were hoofing it as fast as we could down the sidewalk to get to our next scheduled thing on time, and out of a crowd popped my classmate Shea who is one of the most ripped guys I know. He literally picked me up and quite frankly slightly scared me until I realized it was him. The kids about had a heart attack seeing some buff guy jump out and attack me. The whole trip really was so amazing.
Then we came back (by a 23 hour bus ride from Atlanta instead of our scheduled flight - long story that ended up being a positive thing) just in time for VBS the next week. That was another fun week of 120 kids running around the church, our sanctuary being completely decorated like a cave for our Cave Quest theme, and watching the leaders do an amazing job like they always do. With our penny wars, (a fun game you should ask me about), we told the kids for each $100 they raised, an adult leader would take a pie in the face. Then we told them that if they raised $500, another guy and myself would drink a stinky shake. They had two hundred and some dollars on Thursday so Eric and I thought we were pretty safe. Come Friday, the total was $503.47. They let the kids vote what to put in our stinky shake. We started with a raspberry smoothie mix for the base but then added jalapenos, sardines, hot sauce, mayo, pickles and pickle juice, cayenne pepper, and wasabi. They blended it all together and he and I chugged it down. One of those crazy things you have to do in the ministry.
So now the last week has been playing catch up on all my things around the house before we get swamped with the school year. We have already started planning for Bible studies, confirmation, and the like. I will have two small group Bible Studies Sunday and Wednesday nights, New member classes on Sunday mornings, starting a new young men's group, College ministry on a weekly basis, social events once a month, and then all the normal pastoral stuff. It will be an extremely busy fall but I am really excited to get back into the full swing of the regular church year.
I did get some fishing in this last Friday. I didn't catch anything besides a sunburn, but it was a beautiful day to be out on the lake. Then Saturday morning I went golfing with a friend. Sunday afternoon and Monday evening I worked my rear end off getting a bunch of stuff crossed off my to-do list. I am trying to get my garage ready to insulate and sheet this fall for this winter. I got the chicken fence all done and they love being outside. I finally had to mow again now that the rain has slowed down and the grass isn't growing as fast it was. Last night I ripped the old chimney out of my garage and sorted the good bricks from the bad ones.
Last night, as I dumped all the bricks into a pile outside of my garage, and then went through them to separate them, I was covered in soot, sweat, bug spray, and just filthy dirty. I was tired and still had a lot of work to get done and a lot to get cleaned up before dark. I looked over and saw the chickens sitting there watching me work. I started thinking, "wouldn't that be the life? Just get to sit there and watch the guy who feeds you do all the work so all you have to do is run around, play, rest, and eat." However, I no more than thought that before my theologian brain kicked in. It told me, "Actually Kevin, (yes I talk to myself and yes I know that's one of many signs I am actually crazy), those chickens may have "the life" as they sit and watch you work, but it's really no life at all." They still have a relationship with their creator as God still watches over them too; however, they have no awareness of the relationship with Him. They live for maybe a couple years at most and then that is it for them. We on the other hand, even though it is still under the curse of sin and we have to work hard, and get tired and dirty, do have the life. We have eternal life, in a relationship with our Creator, our Provider, our Redeemer, and our Lord. Wee not only get average of 80 years of life here, but we get all of eternity to have a life with our Lord and Savior. Then I had to laugh that my simple moment of jealousy of a bunch of chickens, was just one more reminder that I am so thankful for the life I have in Christ. Thanks be to Him, even the simple things are reminders of His grace and the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ.
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