2008 VOYAs

One of my favorite parts of working at my church is spending time with the women and men who volunteer with our Youth Staff.  These peeps have put in over 112 hours each this past year–WOW!  This is why I was so excited to be able to honor them and say thank you in a fun way.  We just had our 2008 VOYA Ceremony on Wednesday nigh…(VOYA=Volunteer Of the Year Award) and it was a blast!  I’ll let the pictures tell the story of the evening, but I just wanted to let you all know that I have the best volunteers around!!  Thanks for a great year!

          

 

 

Self-Medication

So about a month and a half ago, I cracked one of my teeth on a popcorn kernel.  Did I get it taken care of when it happened?  Nope.  As a result, this past week has been torture.  The tooth started becoming really sensitive to cold and heat and then four days ago it just began to ache–then throb–finally, lightning started to shoot directly into my mouth from the sky.  The only thing that made it better was to drink water…all the time.  I guess a nerve was exposed and it helped to have it covered.  I went to the dentist on Wednesday, got some vicodin and spent yesterday in my house figuring out how to stay “comfortable.”  I woke up this morning and went to the dentist (again) and had a root canal. Did it hurt??  Nope…just a little discomfort now and then.   I only write this to warn others against postponing dental work…and to thank starbucks for helping me self-medicate.  Mmmm, water…

OK, I love my Church! Yes, the people are great–but I mean the actual building. Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve enjoyed the views from my office…I’ve taken some pictures over the months, but today just pushed me over the edge…there has been a bald eagle sitting in the trees outside my window! Here’s the eagle (and some other things that I’ve discovered around the church)
Enjoy!

Look what I made…

Hi Joe.  Guess what I did this week?  I made an “entertainment center” for my place.  I thought of you because it reminds me of the built-in you you have in your basement.  However, mine isn’t as sturdy or as  manly as yours.  

(For the rest of you who are reading this, I’ll include you now.  )

So, some of you know that my dad is the best carpenter in the world.  I on the other hand am not–but I do love to make things with my hands.  I wonder how many little “nick-naks” I made for my mom over the years…shelves, salt and pepper shakers…I guess that’s it, really.  

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to build something for my living-room to set my TV on and I came up with this amazing design…a bit over the top?

Maybe–Functional??

You bet!

There’s an old brick fireplace behind the orange MDF.  I built a facade to cover over it and to make it look more “modern.”  The best part is I freed up a lot of space in my living room by putting this over the fireplace.  Another great thing is this cost only $150.00 to make.  You might be able to find something at IKEA for this cheap, but let’s be honest–this is a Jeff G original.  

(back to Joe–please stop reading if you’re not Joe!)

So anyway Joe, overall I really like what I made–I still want to figure out some sort of lighting for it.  Any ideas?  Have you built anything lately?  Maybe something for little-k??  

 

 

 

 

Batch Cooking 101

No Joe, “Batch” cooking doesn’t refer to me being a bachelor–It refers to cooking a boat-load of meals all at one time.  There is a friend of mine here at church who is the queen of batch cooking.  In fact, she has at least two cookbooks out on the topic (and she has even helped Rachel Ray develop some recipes–pretty impressive.)  Anyway, I spent all of last Saturday looking through the cookbook (Fix, Freeze, Feast), making my list, shopping at Costco, and preparing the meals.  I planned on cooking 4 dishes: Margarita Pork Chops, Mango Cranberry Chicken, Sweet and Sour Meat Balls, and Turkish Pork Chops.  Out of these four recipes, I was supposed to get about 40 meals.  I ended up getting over 50 meals–and I had enough pork chops left over to make a small batch of Mustard Oregano Pork Chops.  Bonus–what up?  Needless to say, my freezer is jam-packed full of these meals and I’m trying to work my way through them (the way I figure it, I won’t have to batch cook again until May.)  So, what is the benefit of doing this?  Well, first off, you save lots and lots of money (to cook these meals only cost me $161.00 [which equals $3.22 per meal] this price also includes a few kitchen items I had to buy.)  Secondly, the stuff I made was healthy–homemade food is better four you than microwave stuff (so I hear.)  Thirdly, I save a lot of time in the kitchen.  Things are ready to heat-and-eat.  Beautiful.  Finally, I have some more friends who are interested in doing this, so getting together to batch cook is a good way connect with friends.  If you’re trying to cut food cost, make meal prep. fast and simple, or simply want to try something new, I strongly suggest buying this book (I  know, this sounds like a commercial.)

 

Thats all for now. 

 

PS, our church uses this method to cook meals for people in our community who need food.  It is a simple way of having food on hand to take to someone who is sick, just had a baby, or who has hit hard times…just another thought.  

 

Seriously, that’s all for now.

Dessert Auction/Talent Show 08

I’ve spent the last week+ working on a huge fundraiser for our 2008 summer trips (to Malaga Spain and Seattle WA.)  My church has a history with this “dessert auction and talent show” as a primary fundraiser for the students who are going on these types of trips.  Well, I walked into this event kind of knowing what it was about-but I had no idea how much work it would take to pull it off!  I can go off for a while at how unorganized and unprepared I felt leading up to the event…but I’ll just say that  when all was said and done, the night was a blast!  I’m continually amazed at how generous my church is-with me and our students.  We raised over $4,200.00 by auctioning off pies, cakes, and cookies!  I’m so lucky to be at a church that knows the value of investing time and money (and lots of prayer) into their students…sure, $250.00 for a chocolate cake is pretty outrageous, but these adults know that they are investing in a deeper cause-and I love that.  I need to thank my church for seeing the bigger picture.

 

On a side note, I don’t know if anyone would say that I was a good auctioneer, but as the night went on I felt pretty comfortable up there asking people for money  It was fun being able to poke fun an my senior pastor when he wouldn’t bid up one dollar (especially when it was a bid from something like $17 to $18.)  ”Don’t be known as the pastor who wouldn’t give an extra dollar to students,” I said.  

Don’t worry, I still have my job.     

Lessons From Chicago

 
It seems like I haven’t been home since Christmas.  Time has been a bit blurry for me lately because of my last two trips…I’ve been gone for about half of the month.  Don’t take this as complaining, I’m just trying to get my feet back under me.  My last trip was to the Covenant Mid-Winter festivities.  Every year, Covenant pastors come together in Chicago for a week of community, rest, refreshment, and growth.  I’ve been to about 10 of these–and it seems like each year I get something different out of them.  This year was definitely a time for rest and community.  I was able to spend time with some really close friends who are in similar places in life.  My transition from seminary to full-time ministry is (at best) challenging.  Again, not a complaint-just a reality.  I’ve been unable to find a new “rhythm” to life that feels right.  I’m moving from a place where my professors had significant input on my weekly schedule to a place where I get to set the agenda for my life.  Perhaps the strangest thing is I feel like I’m going through a bit of an identity crisis.  I was talking with one of my closest friend who was reflecting on the same thing-he said that he feels like he was a lot more fun before this transition.  I’m in the same boat–and I’m really surprised that I’m still trying to figure out who I am.  Shouldn’t I be past all this??  I thought I had things all figured out before I went to seminary.  I knew my gifts, passions and abilities (and I really liked who I was!)  But now, I feel like everything is up in the air again.  While this is all kinda stressful, I feel better knowing that I have friends who are feeling the same sorts of things.  At the end of the day, we’re all in this together.  We serve a God who is constantly reminding us that we are loved.  We’re not finished yet.  I can’t wait for next year–to see where we are all at then.  Maybe God is doing something new? By the way, the Hyatt remodeled the hotel we stay at…I loved it!  Here are some pics of my “home away from home.”

Powderburn 08

Many of you might remember that I worked at a church in Colorado for seven years. There is one event that happened each year called Powderburn which is a weekend ski retreat for high schoolers. Even with me being away from Colorado, I still get invited to help out at this ski retreat (primarily in the worship area-I help coordinate and plan what is happening.) This is something that I look forward to because I get to be a “behind the scenes” part of a major event in the lives of students. This year, Don Everts was the teacher for the worship times. If you don’t know anything about him, you need to! He is a gifted teacher/communicator who has a very appealing way of following Jesus. Don desires to put faith into action–which often times means serving the world around us. In a world where we tend to put ourselves first, Don reminds us that Jesus did just the opposite. A beautiful picture was painted this weekend about attaching yourself to Jesus-and remaining there. John 15 talks about the vine and the branches–and about pruning–and about producing good things with your life. While Don may have been talking to high school students, I was touched myself–especially when it comes to the things God wants to prune out of my life. I was reminded that God isn’t finished with me yet! That He wants to use me to help other people. That it’s ok to have dreams for my life and to act on them. I’ve been in a “funk” lately, and this weekend was refreshing for me on many levels. Thanks to the Colorado youth pastors, to Don, and to Powderburn–for giving me a chance to reflect some more on my journey of faith.

Today was a good day

Many of you know that I work at a church in Bellingham Wa. (Bellingham Covenant Church). Well, today was a pretty cool day in the life of our Church because we welcomed 42 new members and baptized 5 people. I was so happy to be sitting in church today, listening to the stories of how people came into their relationship with God and why they ended up at BCC. What a fun time to be in Bellingham!

Christmas Update

Ok Ok, I know!  I haven’t written for a long time now…but here’s the latest and greatest on my life.  Since St. Louis, I’ve been busy at work planning mission trips, recruiting volunteers and being with students.  

So, this is the summer that my church takes their high school students on an international service project (kind of a fun/crazy/stressful thing to walk into.)  So, I get to choose where we go and what we do!  This is the fun part…I’ve been talking with Covenant World Mission about taking us to a place where there are Covenant Missionaries already doing good work.  So, after a few ideas were discussed, we decided to go to Malaga, Spain.  This will be my first trip to Europe (wahoo) and a great opportunity serve God in a different way.  

This past fall, I’ve also been talking to some really cool people from my church about serving with our students–I’m excited to say that we’re adding a few new volunteers to an already awesome team!  One of the best parts of moving to Bellingham has been getting to know the women and men who I get to serve with.  If you’re one of them, thanks for a great fall!     

Another great part of living in Bellingham has been getting to know the students of my church.  Most of these kids have grown up in the church for their entire lives…which is pretty cool.  The highlight of my week is Wednesday nights when we all get together and talk through issues of life and faith.  I couldn’t be more proud of the crew I get to work with.  

 

 

So this brings me to Christmas.  I was lucky enough to fly to Colorado for a week of vacation.  The highlight has definitely been seeing my niece McKayla!  She stole the show at Christmas and is simply a joy to be around.  My family will sit around for hours and stare at her–waiting to see what clever thing she does next–then we all laugh for 10 minutes.  Not a bad way to spend Christmas at all.  

I’ve also been spending time with my friends in Arvada.  These people bring me a different kind of joy.  The kind that comes from having shared years of life together.  It’s nice to come back to a place where there are people who “get” me and still choose to be my friend.  I’m glad to be making new friendships in Bellingham, but I still need the Colorado crew to get me through.  

All in all, these past few months have been really good.  I’m still trying to figure out my new rhythm in life, but I know that I’m in a place where people love and support me.  Here’s to a great 08!  

(check back in a day or two for some more pics)