I like to fancy myself a bit of a pop culture aficianado, so I’m looking forward to this new show.

Attendance: Below Average
Lesson Topic: Week Three of ‘In Motion’ (JOY)
‘Fun Factor’: Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Above Average
Lesson Quality: Above Average
Length of Lesson: 17 minutes
Student Response: Above Average

Our student band kicked off the program with a super fun cover of the 80′s hit ‘Take On Me’ by Ah Ha. That set the stage for a really great weekend. Our games were old school, and we had no video elements, but for some reason it was just a fun time! I got myself into a little bit of trouble with my lesson because my take on JOY was basically defining it as an inner sense of peace. This will be a little bit of a challenge for next week when I try to teach on PEACE without being redundant.

Here are some random facts that are perfect for a junior high audience…

- Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.

- In comic strips, the person on the left always speaks first.

- A snail can sleep for three years.

- Turtles can breathe through their butts.

- Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.

- Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.

- Donald Duck comics were once banned from Finland because Donald doesn’t wear pants.

- The average person spends 2 weeks of its life kissing.

In no particular order, here are a few things that always make me smile:

- My Family
- A glassy, 5 ft. wave
- Old men in shorts wearing Penny Loafers (I just saw one and it made me smile so I felt like I needed to include it on my list)
- Going to the movies
- Making a 4 ft. putt (making a 6 ft. putt makes me obnoxiously happy)
- Summer camp
- The last day of Summer Camp
- My leather couch
- Thinking about the good friends God has blessed me with
- My 1991 Toyota truck (The truth is that it makes me want to cry, but I force myself to smile instead)

For the past two years we’ve ran an event called LIFT in place of a traditional winter camp. LIFT is really more like a convention than a camp. We hold it in a local hotel and bring in guest speakers, artists etc. We invite other junior high ministries from California, Arizona and Nevada to join us and have, in my opinion, provided a really fun experience for the students. Everything about LIFT has been fantastic except one: We can’t stay on budget! We should be able to, but we can’t. Even worse, we can’t figure out why! So for 2007, we’ve decided that LIFT should partner with a fantastic ministry called Stuck In The Middle. Their primary ministry is to run conventions for young teens and they do a great job…plus they actually make money. Our arrangement with Stuck is basically that we will make sure the kids show up and they will make sure we stay on budget. We’ll program the event together and blend the best stuff they do with the best stuff we do to create some sort of SUPER LIFT! We are in the very early stages of this new relationship, so I’m excited to see where it leads.

P.S. When I went to our websites I noticed that both were outdated by at least a year. Hmmm…this whole thing could be interesting!

I didn’t want to look at this, but stumbled across the live broadcast while I was channel surfing on the 4th of July. It was hideously fascinating.

When was the last time you felt overwhelmed with responsibilities….not just busy, but truly feeling like you couldn’t possibly do what you needed to do in the time you had? I’m there. I woke up early this morning, not because I wanted to, but because I was suddenly hit with a sense of panic about what’s on my plate in the next three weeks. I won’t go into details here because what’s on my plate is of no interest to you. What may be of interest to you is this question: How good are you at creating boundaries and maintaining a healthy pace? I’m never great at it, but right now I feel like I may be the world’s worst example of time, life and work management. Believe me, I’m not sharing this as some sick, twisted ‘look at me…I’m so busy and important’ type of testimony. I’m embarrassed that I find myself almost resenting the ministry I love so much for no other reason than my own inability to properly lead my team and manage my time. AARRGGHHH!

I meant to share this last week, but forgot.

Last weekend I was sitting next to a 7th grade boy who was in our ministry for the first time, along with all the other new 7th graders. At one point during our singing time, the girl leading worship set up the next song by saying something like this: “Have you ever been to a baseball game when they sing the national anthem? Well, this next song is sorta like an anthem to God…it’s our way of telling him how wonderful he is.” As we started to sing the song, the 7th grade boy tapped me on my shoulder and asked “Hey, should I put my hand on my heart when I sing this?” A very funny moment.

You may remember that I posted a few days ago about the fact that Stephen, one of our interns, ran the church suburban into a big planter in the front of a hotel we were staying at. At that time, I posted a picture of him standing beside said planter.

Fast forward a few days. My family is back at the same hotel and I’m driving around the side past some dumpsters. Suddenly, we see it….the planter. It’s far too heavy to have been placed in the dumpsters so it’s been tossed on the ground to the side of them. I couldn’t resist the urge to take another picture.

We are back in Palm Springs for our annual 4th of July vacation. Each year, we hook up with some old friends from Arizona and spend 4 days together. This year we invited several other families to join us. All total there are 8 families adding up to 30 people. We golfed 36 holes this morning and now I’m off with Cole to scout out the 3 skateboard parks in the Palm Springs area….why am I skateboarding when it’s 106 degrees outside?