Monday Mind Dumpage...

First things first: I hate winter. This snow is ridiculous. Why, God, why????

Now, on to the whole mind dump thing:

--The Journey rocked yesterday. The worship was fabulous--the band was kicking, the crowd got in to it, new faces were there. It was marvelous.
--I thought I stunk up the joint, but lots of comments afterwards told me that God still uses what we give irrespective of how we may have perceived it...
--A couple new families there yesterday. One of them gave me great feedback after getting our welcome email. They loved it and will be back.
--Big week ahead. Luke and Jillian are tying the knot, with my help, on Saturday. That means a rehearsal and dinner on Friday and a wedding and reception on Saturday. Class on Thursday, after chaperoning a 3rd grade field trip to hear the MN Orchestra. Preach on Sunday. Search and Rescue on Saturday morning and early afternoon. I'll have a totally nuts 4 days from Thursday through Sunday. So, it's prep time before then.
--Trying to find Rika Caldo de Pollo online. It's Panamanian chicken powder. If you have eaten at our home during grilling season (February through New Years Eve), you may have had Panamanian chicken. It's fabulous, and it's just a powder that the twins introduced us to. Many of you have even asked for some. Maybe I can deal chicken powder on the side. Pretty sure it's legal and all.
--Going to the Twins tomorrow night...2nd game of the season. It's Luke's bachelor party. Also going to help them clean their new home tonight with our small group, followed by helping them move in on Tuesday.
--Finishing Colossians this coming Sunday. I think it's been my favorite book to preach through in the last 5 years.
--Andrea is supposed to get a job offer today...looks like it didn't happen yet. Maybe tomorrow. We're kind of on pins and needles.
--The twins are filling out a trillion scholarship apps. They've both gotten some money so far--a few thousand here, $2500 there. It's exciting to see when they get an award notification. We're praying like crazy that Bethel can put together a decent package.
--Pancakes for dinner. Real fancy.
--Finished "The Faithful Spy" this morning. It's by an up and coming Vince Flynn type author. Not a bad read.

Just so you all know....

I'm updating my blog subscriptions today. Found a few great church planters with great blogs. And, as you know, most church planters are a bit, uh, over the edge. Here's something from a Florida planter. I took the test and can wup up on 25 kids if need be. See if you can beat that.
25

Brain Drain Time

I turn around and it's a month later. Wow, I take a week off blogging and it turns into a month. Argh. Life is like that!!

So, here's what is rolling around in my brain.

--I really don't like snow.
--We've been making our way through "Lost", season 1. We will sometimes watch on a Saturday evening and do 2 or 3 episodes. It's awesome watching them without commercials. It's an interesting show.
--Had a great evening last night. Went to Springsteen at the Xcel. He's a great rocker. Almost 60 years old and he rocks like a 25 year old. I don't like everything he stands for, but they guy kicks it and shows a fabulous passion for music. He's actaully really varied in style--folk, blues, rock...even ended the night with an Irish song about moving to America--2 accordians, a violin, and acoustic guitar rocked this as an early St. Patty's Day send up. Great concert.
--It's felt flat at church lately. Mostly because we haven't had new families settling in at The Journey lately...we've had a lot of families show up who come once a month or so. Several couples who are looking for churches and hopping everywhere different, two couples who have Sunday work that gets in the way of coming, another couple where the guy is gone for 2 months at a time on the road...We've been getting guests showing up, but it hasn't translated to growth and that can be frustrating. Every once in a while, the mix and match of guest traffic makes it feel flat and stagnating. But, honestly, we have had decent traffic of new guests. They are all interested in the Journey, but all have weird circumstances going on... So, don't despair. We'll grow and we'll see more guests.
--Sounds like the youth group had a great retreat. 7 kids and 2 leaders went. Very cool.
--Spent most of Saturday writing a big paper for a class at Bethel. It was on Malachi for my OT Prophets class. Now I just have to write part of the final exam (I already did the first half of the exam online--now comes the essay part).
--I have just 4 classes left at Bethel. Will be walking in Spring '09. I'm looking forward to finishing up. I take Christian Social Ethics starting in a couple weeks.
--I'm really excited to get back to my life group!! I've missed a lot in the past couple months due to basketball stuff with the kids. We had nights where 3 kids had games at different times and places and were supposed to be at life group too. I miss my group and am looking forward to getting back there.
--We'll finish Colossians in the 2 weeks after Easter.

Have a great week!! I'll be back on here in a couple days.