RAMP: Repair and Modification Program

Today, I helped build a wheel chair ramp at a house on the south side of San Antonio. Richard from MacArthur Park, Adam from Northside, Deryk from Northwest, 3 sponsors from Mac, and me were training for our Ramp service projects this Saturday, March 4, and Saturday, March 25. I brought my work gloves, hammer, and drill, but I forgot a hat and sunscreen so my neck (and top of my head I'm sure) is quite red. We built the entire ramp in about 5 hours of work. We sawed, we measured, we hammered, and drilled and voila! A wheel chair ramp. It was great to be out of the office and doing something extremely tangible that you know will change someone's life...Although, I know that my right arm, wrist, and hand will be sore tonight and tomorrow because I swung a hammer more today than I normally do in an entire year! I pray that the ramp will bless the home owner's life.

Go Spurs Go: they play the Knicks tonight in San Antonio.

Reader's Digest

From the "All in a Day's Work" section of Reader's Digest, March 2006:

I heard the dog barking before he and his owner actually barreled into our vet practice. Spotting a training video we sell, the owner wisely decided to buy one.

"How does this work?" She asked, handing me a check, "Do I just have him watch this?"

I've been laughing about that little vignette all day! We receive Reader's Digest thanks to my in-laws, the Meredith's in Abilene, TX. Thanks!

Tomorrow (today, really) will be a full day of ministry life.

7:30 a.m. "gotta get the donuts"

8:30 a.m. praise team practice

9:30 a.m. teaching high school students how Jesus got angry but didn't sin (any ideas?)

10:30 a.m. lead worship

11:45 a.m. special small group leaders’ lunch at church

1:00-4:00 p.m. L.T.C. practices

5:00-6:30 p.m. Small Group Bible Study

....whew! I'm already tired. I'd better get some sleep.

God be with Christians around the world worshipping this Sunday.

Airport Parking

My trip to Oklahoma was quick but fairly productive. OKC was pretty cold and covered with snow, but the streets were not icy anymore. We met with the Oklahoma Christian group Unbound who will provide the drama presentations at Zenith camp next year. I'm excited about both Zenith and Cornerstone camps this summer and especially the classes which are always a big hit. This summer, I'm most interested in a class entitled: God's Blog. It could be a bust; depends on who teaches it.

I returned to SA with Adam and Richard; we left OKC at 6:30 and flew to Dallas Love. We got to spend another 2 hours in that airport until our 9:05 flight took us home to SA. Luckily, they have a Chili's.

Since the trip had gone smoothly so far, I suppose it's only fair that I encountered a snag when I got home. I first tried to prepay my parking fee in those new automated kiosks, but I somehow had an unreadable ticket. Ok, so I'll stop at the little gate a little longer, no problem. I actually found my car without having to walk down each aisle, and it also started! Too good to be true. All of my windows were covered in condensation inhibiting my view out the back. So I'm backing up very slowly trying to gauge my turning radius, and a car is coming the other way, so I'm trying to hurry and then I hear this "screeeeetch....cruuuuuntch..." I backed into this enormous truck but thankfully only knocked off its front license plate. Fantastic. It's 10:15 p.m. and I'm standing in a cold, wet, and now exhaust filled parking garage writing a note to someone I don't know. "Sorry I accidently back into your monster truck...." I can only imagine the driver of this beast reading my wimpy little note on the back of my "Minister" business card thinking, "What a moron." Hopefully, the owner can just re-attach the license plate without having to replace the entire front bumper. I laid the license plate and frame on the massive side steps of the truck and drove away even more ready to get home. I'll wait with anticipation to see if the truck owner calls.

Oklahoma is the place to be?

I'm not so sure about that musical declaration, but I am traveling to that fair land today. Youth ministers from around TX, OK, CO, and KS are meeting on the campus of Oklahoma Christian to continue planning the OC Summer Camps. Zenith and Cornerstone are excellent camps for High School and Middle School students, respectively. I pray that the Lord will guide all the plans and great ideas we have so that teens will draw close to God this summer.

I leave this afternoon with Adam Copeland from Northside Church of Christ; the fam is staying home 'cause I'll be back Tuesday evening.

Little Meredith is now 20 months old and a fireball of activity, and we love her so much, but...does anyone know of a good babysitter?

Back Home

Well, I made it back home from Colorado, sleeping on the floor of a charter bus, no less, but I'm home. There's nothing like curling up in a sleeping bag in between the seats of a 57 passenger bus for a nice cozy nap...the roar of the engine, the bumps on the road, the footrest in your back, and the other adult sponsors snoring one row up make it an unforgettable experience. I came back to a whirlwind of activity at the office and also Valentine's day which I didn't forget but was still terribly unprepared for. We're going out tonight instead.

We enjoyed having guests at our home last night, a friend from Memphis Harding Academy, as well as Harding University, Marcus Neely, his wife Stacey, and their son Sam. They are in town for a TMA conference and stayed with us last night. Meredith loved their little baby, much smaller than she is now. We shared a fabulous meal from EZ's.

If you're looking for a memoir about a young preacher and his family experiencing his first full time church work (I'm sure most people are!), check out Open Secrets. I read most of it last weekend on the bus. Richard Lischer poignantly describes his experiences in a small farming community in southern Illinois with humor and humility. His stories both confirm the call of ministry and question the expectations of ministers. A great read for current ministers; maybe not so enjoyable for Freshmen Bible majors.

The Spurs lost last night, but they were 6 & 2 on their 8 game road trip. Not too bad. Maybe they'll come ready to play after the all star break.

The rodeo was fabulous on Monday night. We saw Xtreme Bull Riding, and in the middle, our favorite part: Muttin' Bustin'. This event is where young kids, like ages 4, 5, & 6, get strapped on to the back of a sheep and try to stay on while the sheep runs across the arena. It's awesome! I wish I could do it! The kids wear helmets and grab onto big chunks of fur, just hoping they can hang on long enough to win. This is by far our favorite event. We're waiting for the year they come out with Xtream Muttin' Bustin'! Two straight hours of the wildest, craziest sheep in the country, trying not to be mastered by a 5 year old. I think it would sell out.

Wipe Out

Today was a great day of skiing. I took my 3 kids from the youth group and we mastered the bunny slopes, at least some of us did. The snow is compact here because it hasn't snowed in a while; that makes it quite slick and crunchy, but it's still better than being in the office. I left the bunny slopers for one last run up the mountain. I'm still only traveling the green trails though, but they're fast enough for me right now. I was doing great all the way up to the very finish. I think I somehow merged with a blue trail to take me down to the base, and things were going fine, but I started to pick just a little too much steam. I made a quick swish of a turn and bam, my left ski is gone. So I'm skiing on one ski, still going way too fast, and I try to slow, or turn, or do something to slow down, and I bite it--on the ground, tumbling toward one of the signs in the ground that say "Slow Zone." No problem. At least it broke my fall. I was all tangled in the sign when this nice woman brought me my other ski that I dropped fifty feet above. I stood up, dusted the snow off, and after I finally got back into my skiis, I coasted down to the base. I felt excited and also thankful that my body was intact. As I laughed the rest of the way down, I thought to myself...Now, I know that I've been skiing today. Everyone needs a good fall sometimes.

Colorado Here I Come!

Tomorrow I leave for Colorado taking my youth group on a winter ski trip. It will hopefully be lots of fun, injury free, and maybe even relaxing. The two negative sides are that my family is staying at home and that I'll be on a charter bus for 17 hours each way, ugh. But at least I'm not driving; I'm incredibly thankful for professional bus drivers. I'll try to sleep on the floor, and I'll count how many people step on me through the night. I've only skied (doesn't that word look funny?) once in my life, so I hope to remember at least how to put my skis on and snow plow. Now I just need to find a few good books for that dense travel time. Any suggestions?