Last night our youth group broke up into teams and went out into our community. One group took the Jesus film over to the neighborhood across the street. The other group took some pizzas and handed out free slices at the local high school's track meet. I wouldn't really say that I am looking for huge life changing stories from handing out free pizza, but I guess it is more like planting seeds. The group that went over to hand out the Jesus film across the street broke into a few smaller groups. We only had one house say that they didn't want it and gave it back. I mean really, it's a free dvd. who would turn down something free? Anyway, the Jesus film is not as powerful or emotional as The Passion but it still tells the story. It also has a children's version on it so it is more family oriented. The other group had some good success handing out the pizza. What teenager doesn't like pizza. I think it went well. I would like to start doing those things more often.

Have you ever seen something that you said to yourself, "I have got to have that"? This is something that really peaked my interest. I am not real big on buying the latest and greatest gadgets. Don't get me wrong, I love gadgets. I just can't justify spending the money on some of them. This, on the other hand, I could go out and drop some $$ on. Check out flattv.philips.com
to see the ad on this. I love to feel like I am drawn into a movie and this seems like it will do just that. I am going to have to find somewhere that has one of these things set up so I can test it out.

I attempted to design a sign for our coffee cart thingy. I was just wanting to make a sign that told the times and that it was free coffee. I scrapped it. I mean it sucked so bad that I didn't even save it. Nathan comes in and he's like "I'll make it for ya" I said "sure if you don't mind". Then in about 5 minutes he had a concept and was pretty much done. Aaahhh! Some people make me sick...I did do a brochure for our Russia trip and it actually turned out great. However, this one went to the crappy design graveyard. Oh well, I guess I will try again sometime.

Our dinner Friday night with the Russians went great. The prime rib that Jen made was the best I have ever eaten. Igor and Angelica are so cool. I can see a friendship building out of this. Their girls are so adorable. They barely know any English and it was so neat hearing them speaking in Russian to each other. They were glued to the TV watching The Incredibles. When they first came in they spotted our genie lamp thingy. It's hard to explain it if you have never seen it before but it's about 4 or 5 foot tall and looks like a large genie lamp. It made its way over from India about 10 years ago. Anyway, we kept hearing the girls pointing and saying "genie, genie". They found it quite cool. It was nice that Igor and Angelica both speak English seeing as how I think I mentioned in my last post that my Russian is horrible. We hung out and just talked about their ministry and their marriage and other stuff like that. We will get some more time to hang out with them before they leave. Jen is cutting Angelica's hair some time this week and we are also going to take the girls to Build-A-Bear on Monday. I was able to talk to Igor for a bit about our trip to Russia this summer. He wants us to come to his church and do some ministry while we are there. Man, this trip keeps getting better. I told him that I would love to come and hang out with them. Angelica wanted to encourage Jen to go over with me too. She is planning on going with us. I hope everything works out for her to be able to go. That would be so awesome...

My wife and I are really excited because we have some friends of our church coming over for supper tonight. These aren't just any friends but they are friends from Russia. Igor (the one that Josh does a great impression of) and his wife and two girls are going to come over and hang out and eat dinner with us. We are really looking forward to this evening. Jennifer has an awesome menu planned: Prime rib with shredded potato caserole...yum, yum. For desert she is making some kind of rasberry cheesecake, or something like that, and she is making her famous chocolate pudding cake. For any of you who have never had this, it is like chocolate overload...yes, a bowl of heaven topped with whipped cream...drool, drool. I am really intersted in meeting his kids also. We were out at Meijer last night looking for a gift for each one of them. We were like...what would a 7 and 8 year old Russian girl want to play with. We settled on a couple Barbie dolls. Man, they make barbies like they do GIJoes. I mean, you know how GIJoe "ACTION FIGURES" come with all of the cool gear. It almost makes me want to play with Barbie Dolls again...I mean, um...It almost makes me want to melt down some more of those foul girlie dolls again...Anyways, Igor is like one of the coolest Russians I know, not counting Dennis in ST Petersbrg...He's my bud. Well, I'm out for now...

Today I am feeling blah! I am so tired. I have been like this for awhile. I would love to know what is wrong with me. I am always tired and I feel like I have no motivation or energy to do anything. My wife seems to think that it's the weather because she knows that I loathe cold weather. But this feels different. I don't know, maybe it is the weather. I am so ready for spring and summer to get here. I need warmth. This cold weather is bugging me. I have been feeling bottled up, if that makes any sense. I need someone to rant and rave to. I miss my friend...It's always so quiet around here and sometimes the quiet is very noisy. Man, I really need to get out and do something. I know what I need. I need some paintball. There is almost no better way to cure what ailes ya than to shoot someone in the face with a paintball gun...all out of love of course.

Well, our Children's Ministry is having an all nighter tonight. Although I am a Youth Pastor, I always volunteer for this. I have a blast! My son always encourages me to come out and help with these things. Which is cool with me because I am like a kid at heart anyways. Our Pastor puts on an illusion show and we play games...and we watch movies...and eat pizza...and play games...and...Well you get the picture. We have fun. I am looking forward to it. Maaybe I'll blog some of the pics if I get a chance.

This is something that I would love to try out. It's an interactive movie in a virtual environment. I've heard about this before but have never really seen it. This is pretty amazing stuff. You can interact with the movie. I also read another article that was saying you can choose your own path in the movie. Ya know, change the outcome and things like that. Wow, that is great. Of course it is probably dangerous. I mean, some people already live in a fantasy world. This would drag them away from reality even more. I think it would still be pretty sweet though. It would be like playing a virtual reality game...Aaaaahhh! Video game heaven...I am definately going to have to watch and see how this develops. Check out the website icinema
if you are curious.

On another note, Ben stopped by and hung out yesterday. He usually comes out and bugs me every Tuesday...Good times. He told me that he had to photograph a murder scene a couple weeks ago for one of his classes at Clark State...Fun, fun. Anyway, he brought a friend of his named Sara. She is really cool. I would love to see her come out on a Sunday night and hang out with us.

Well, I'm out...

Jennifer and I went to Michigan for the Pastor's workshop for summer camp. We had a good time seeing alot of the people we only get to see a few times a year. Mario and Suzanne from Guatemala rode back with us and spoke at our church on Sunday. It was an awesome message. My son Ian loved hanging out with Mario on Sunday after service. He has such a heart for children. I loved having the time to get to know them a little better. Maybe I'll be able to get back to Guatemala next year. It was so funny! My son Ian told me that for his birthday, he wanted to go to Los Mariachis for lunch and then he wanted to go over to Mario's house and hang out. I told him that would be a long day...

One of my friends said that I don't update this enough so I will attempt to keep it updated more regularly. Well, I'm outta here for now.

Have you ever wished that you could be Superman? I think I am feeling that way right now. I mean, Superman could fix any situation however big it seemed. I know that there are things that only God can handle, but it still doesn't change the fact that I wish I could make it all better. It frustates me when I can't just tell all of the pain to leave and mend the broken hearts. I read a couple of blogs today that actually brought tears to my eyes. I'm not a real sappy person. I don't get all emotional and stuff unless it has to do with areas that touch my heart. My students touch my heart. I hate to see them in pain. I hate to see the enemy tearing their heart in two. I want to just wrap them up in my arms and make the world disappear even if it's only for a moment. My heart breaks when their heart is aching. I guess I am a sappy person because I can't bear to see those that I care about in turmoil. It's times like these that I am glad that I serve a Lord who comforts me when I feel like I fall short. I can't change the world or the past. I guess all I can do is be there, be available to those who might need me. I am here...for whatever that's worth.