The week that was:
Where to begin? My mom and dad flew in for the weekend on Wednesday and they got to see Karis for the first time in person, which was cool. My sister and brother in law flew in on Friday for the weekend as well, and they also got to see Karis for the first time.
Saturday was my 30th b-day and my lovely wife planned a surprise party for me with a few friends. It was a great time hanging out with good friends. The highlight was probably when Stephen Porter walked into the room. He came all the way from South Africa, though not totally for me. He is in town for a couple of trips to DC to hopefully secure visas for his family so they can return to Angola and the missionary assignment they have there.
Sunday was a really busy day. It was our 30 hour famine Sunday at church which meant that Doug and I team preached in "big" church. We were both satisfied with the message that we challenged our church to be a part of the solution. I don't know if everyone "heard" what we said, but hopefully a few did. We called the church to a time of prayer at the end of the service in order to begin to dream about being a part of the solution and in both services the altars were full.
Also on Sunday Holly and I dedicated Karis. That was the main reason that my family came into town, and it was good to have them there. Doug dedicated her and prayed over her. It was cool to have him do that since I had dedicated and prayed over both of his kids. Man, I'm going to miss that guy when I move.
After lunch at a local Italian place we returned home to snap a few more pictures and then I took my family to the airport. I returned home for about an hour to only go back to church for Solomon's Porch, where I spoke again. In addition the kids had brought in a bunch of cupcakes to celebrate my birthday and one of our leaders painted a caricature of me that I'll take a picture of when I get it back. She wants all of our students to sign it.
The week that is:
I am currently gearing up for Middle School retreat this weekend. We are focusing on the Potter's house passage in Jeremiah. I'm really excited about this weekend and the impact that it'll have on our students. I just hope that they are open to hear what God has laid on Doug and my heart.
What I'm reading:
I'm finding it really hard to read right now. I don't know why, but I keep looking at the same 3 books and not making any progress with them. Because of that I'm putting off the Romans study until life gets a bit more steady. I promise that I will pick it up!
What I'm listening to:
Right now, Hillsong United. I like them, but can only handle em in doses. This will be my dose for the week. I really wish they would write more communal songs instead of everyone of them focusing on the individual. I listened to a little bit of Crowder this morning as well. I really like the Remedy album and the live one is great as well.
What I'm (Not) looking forward to:
Packing. I don't like packing at all. I need to start purging some clothes that I don't wear anymore and other junk that I've accumulated over the past few years. I'm going to try my best to get that done here in the next 2 weeks.
Housing. Do you know how hard it is to find a house when you are hundreds of miles away? We are blessed with my sister being in the town that we are moving to and my in laws a couple of hours away and willing to go on road trips, but this is really stressing me out. It seems like when we find something fairly good online, it's either in a bad area, not as good as the pics they posted, or too far away for Holly to commute. We are going down there next week and hope to come back to PA knowing exactly where we will be moving. Please pray that we can work out these details.
Update on Karis:
I can't believe how much she is changing. She is really starting to interact with us well. We have a few trigger words that always seem to bring a smile when she is in a good mood. I love my little girl no matter how much she screams in the middle of the night.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
the life of Jared
The week that was:
Highlighted by our 30 hour famine event Friday over Saturday. It was amazing! It's funny how we can put all of this time, effort and energy into putting something together and then God does something totally different. Truthfully I was kind of bummed on Friday night as many of our kids came to check in and hadn't raised any money at all. In fact, as a group we had about 20 more people than last year and raised only half of the money. But over the course of the weekend many of our students became convicted of their lack of effort and have now decided to do anything they can think of raise money. It's great to hear feedback from our students about how God has been wrestling with them over simple things as our lifestyle and the things we eat. I'll try to put some of my many thoughts into a post sometime soon.
The week that is:
My parents, sister and brother in law are coming to town this weekend! This is a big weekend as my 30th birthday is on Saturday, Karis is being dedicated on Sunday and I'm team preaching on Sunday with Doug in "big" church. Needless to say my time is going to be pulled in many different directions.
What I'm reading:
Same few books. Nothing new here.
What I'm listening to:
I'm on a serious DMB kick lately. I've probably plowed through a few of his live albums both in my car and in the office.
What I'm looking forward to:
Well this past weekend I announced an upcoming move that Holly and I are making to our high school students and our youth leaders. For the most part everyone was very supportive. There were a few students who were totally caught off guard and are still processing through the news. This coming weekend the announcement will be made to the whole church, so on top of preaching and Karis being dedicated it should be a roller coaster day. All of that to say that we are now looking for housing in Chattanooga and it's turning out to be a difficult proposition. Please pray that we can find a place that we are comfortable with and that will be good for Karis to grow up in for the next 3 years. Also we are now starting to purge some of our junk and pack what we are going to take and I always hate this part of life.
Karis update:
She's over 8lbs now, which is awesome! She's also had a few long nights lately which is making things difficult for mom and dad. Hopefully this is just a phase and will pass soon, but we'll see.
Highlighted by our 30 hour famine event Friday over Saturday. It was amazing! It's funny how we can put all of this time, effort and energy into putting something together and then God does something totally different. Truthfully I was kind of bummed on Friday night as many of our kids came to check in and hadn't raised any money at all. In fact, as a group we had about 20 more people than last year and raised only half of the money. But over the course of the weekend many of our students became convicted of their lack of effort and have now decided to do anything they can think of raise money. It's great to hear feedback from our students about how God has been wrestling with them over simple things as our lifestyle and the things we eat. I'll try to put some of my many thoughts into a post sometime soon.
The week that is:
My parents, sister and brother in law are coming to town this weekend! This is a big weekend as my 30th birthday is on Saturday, Karis is being dedicated on Sunday and I'm team preaching on Sunday with Doug in "big" church. Needless to say my time is going to be pulled in many different directions.
What I'm reading:
Same few books. Nothing new here.
What I'm listening to:
I'm on a serious DMB kick lately. I've probably plowed through a few of his live albums both in my car and in the office.
What I'm looking forward to:
Well this past weekend I announced an upcoming move that Holly and I are making to our high school students and our youth leaders. For the most part everyone was very supportive. There were a few students who were totally caught off guard and are still processing through the news. This coming weekend the announcement will be made to the whole church, so on top of preaching and Karis being dedicated it should be a roller coaster day. All of that to say that we are now looking for housing in Chattanooga and it's turning out to be a difficult proposition. Please pray that we can find a place that we are comfortable with and that will be good for Karis to grow up in for the next 3 years. Also we are now starting to purge some of our junk and pack what we are going to take and I always hate this part of life.
Karis update:
She's over 8lbs now, which is awesome! She's also had a few long nights lately which is making things difficult for mom and dad. Hopefully this is just a phase and will pass soon, but we'll see.
Monday, April 13, 2009
the life of Jared
The week that was
Holy week was filled with both some good down time and also a few events. This has been a challenging lenten season and I'll blog about it sometime this week. The first part of the week was pretty uneventful with the latter part of the week being fairly busy. I have switched my day off from Friday to Monday to accommodate Holly's schedule with her last rotation. This has been a bit of an adjustment, but one I'm taking fairly well. On Thursday we had an open communion time where Doug (my co-youth pastor) and I manned a station. I love having the chance to connect with families in this way. We were able to serve communion to and pray with many of the families that either work with us or that we directly serve. On Friday our youth ministry held a tenebrae service at the same time one was going on in the main sanctuary. It was a very good service as we reflected on the death of Christ. The thing that I liked the most is that our students actually left the room in silence. I don't know if that has ever happened before! We had good services on Sunday as well. It was weird to be in the back and not involved, but it is also a welcome change.
The week that is:
Our student ministry is participating in the 30 hour famine this weekend in conjunction with another church. So this week is going to be spent mostly in preparations for that and Sunday. Our past two famines have been a huge success and I'm praying for the same again. I'm also in the process of securing housing for our family when Holly starts residency. This process is starting to stress me out a bit so please keep this in your prayers if you remember.
What I'm reading:
Ok, so I have a bit of ADD when it comes to reading lately. I'm still reading the book on the atonement, "Recovering the Scandal of the Cross". I have also started two others though. The first one is called "The Sacredness of Questioning Everything." The second one is called "The Hole in our Gospel." The last one is by the president of World Vision and he is writing about his own journey but also about how we in the western church aren't really living out the whole gospel. I picked this book up through a program that Thomas Nelson offers to bloggers. It's free, all I have to do is write a review on here and a place like Amazon.
What I'm listening to:
Nothing consistently. I've been taking advantage of the genius feature on iTunes lately. Man, I love that feature.
What I'm keeping an eye on:
I have a big and tough announcement to make this weekend. It's one of those bittersweet things that pop up in life. I just pray that God will be glorified in all that we say and do.
Holy week was filled with both some good down time and also a few events. This has been a challenging lenten season and I'll blog about it sometime this week. The first part of the week was pretty uneventful with the latter part of the week being fairly busy. I have switched my day off from Friday to Monday to accommodate Holly's schedule with her last rotation. This has been a bit of an adjustment, but one I'm taking fairly well. On Thursday we had an open communion time where Doug (my co-youth pastor) and I manned a station. I love having the chance to connect with families in this way. We were able to serve communion to and pray with many of the families that either work with us or that we directly serve. On Friday our youth ministry held a tenebrae service at the same time one was going on in the main sanctuary. It was a very good service as we reflected on the death of Christ. The thing that I liked the most is that our students actually left the room in silence. I don't know if that has ever happened before! We had good services on Sunday as well. It was weird to be in the back and not involved, but it is also a welcome change.
The week that is:
Our student ministry is participating in the 30 hour famine this weekend in conjunction with another church. So this week is going to be spent mostly in preparations for that and Sunday. Our past two famines have been a huge success and I'm praying for the same again. I'm also in the process of securing housing for our family when Holly starts residency. This process is starting to stress me out a bit so please keep this in your prayers if you remember.
What I'm reading:
Ok, so I have a bit of ADD when it comes to reading lately. I'm still reading the book on the atonement, "Recovering the Scandal of the Cross". I have also started two others though. The first one is called "The Sacredness of Questioning Everything." The second one is called "The Hole in our Gospel." The last one is by the president of World Vision and he is writing about his own journey but also about how we in the western church aren't really living out the whole gospel. I picked this book up through a program that Thomas Nelson offers to bloggers. It's free, all I have to do is write a review on here and a place like Amazon.
What I'm listening to:
Nothing consistently. I've been taking advantage of the genius feature on iTunes lately. Man, I love that feature.
What I'm keeping an eye on:
I have a big and tough announcement to make this weekend. It's one of those bittersweet things that pop up in life. I just pray that God will be glorified in all that we say and do.
Monday, April 6, 2009
the life of Jared (4/6)
The week that was:
Dominated by a quick trip to Charlotte for one of my college friends wedding. This trip/wedding was big for a couple of different reason. First, it was the first time that I have been away from Karis overnight. And it was two nights at that! It was really hard to leave but my friend only gets married once. Second, my friend who got married is the last of my close group of friends to do such. So we are all married now and many of us have begun to have kids as well. Third, I really love seeing all of my college friends and catching up with them. I so miss the community that I had with those guys and even some of the ignorance that comes with youth.
The week that is:
Well it's Holy Week that that means I have something going on Thursday and Friday night. Thursday we are having drop in communion at our church that the pastors are staffing and Friday we are doing a Tenebrae service with our youth. I really enjoy having the freedom to put together and execute a Tenebrae service. I only hope that the youth that do come will appreciate what we are remembering on that evening.
What I'm reading:
I'm all over the place with what I'm reading right now. I started reading a book on the atonement called "Recovering the Scandal of the Cross" and I'm enjoying it. I'm still kind of reading through "Crazy Love" but can only take the reformed theology in doses. I have decided to do a pretty extensive study of the book of Romans after Easter which I'm looking forward to. I'll try to blog on the things that I will learn.
What I'm listening to:
On my plane ride I listened to some DMB and John Mayer. I like listening to live albums on trips as it helps the time to pass quicker.
What I'm looking forward to:
UNC is playing in the national championship tonight. They completely destroyed MSU last time they played them, but I don't think this game will have the same outcome. The only thing that kind of scares me is that this is basically a home game for MSU. But I think our talent and execution will eventually give us the advantage.
On another note, I correctly picked 3 of the 4 final four teams which includes the match-up tonight. Aren't I smart?
Dominated by a quick trip to Charlotte for one of my college friends wedding. This trip/wedding was big for a couple of different reason. First, it was the first time that I have been away from Karis overnight. And it was two nights at that! It was really hard to leave but my friend only gets married once. Second, my friend who got married is the last of my close group of friends to do such. So we are all married now and many of us have begun to have kids as well. Third, I really love seeing all of my college friends and catching up with them. I so miss the community that I had with those guys and even some of the ignorance that comes with youth.
The week that is:
Well it's Holy Week that that means I have something going on Thursday and Friday night. Thursday we are having drop in communion at our church that the pastors are staffing and Friday we are doing a Tenebrae service with our youth. I really enjoy having the freedom to put together and execute a Tenebrae service. I only hope that the youth that do come will appreciate what we are remembering on that evening.
What I'm reading:
I'm all over the place with what I'm reading right now. I started reading a book on the atonement called "Recovering the Scandal of the Cross" and I'm enjoying it. I'm still kind of reading through "Crazy Love" but can only take the reformed theology in doses. I have decided to do a pretty extensive study of the book of Romans after Easter which I'm looking forward to. I'll try to blog on the things that I will learn.
What I'm listening to:
On my plane ride I listened to some DMB and John Mayer. I like listening to live albums on trips as it helps the time to pass quicker.
What I'm looking forward to:
UNC is playing in the national championship tonight. They completely destroyed MSU last time they played them, but I don't think this game will have the same outcome. The only thing that kind of scares me is that this is basically a home game for MSU. But I think our talent and execution will eventually give us the advantage.
On another note, I correctly picked 3 of the 4 final four teams which includes the match-up tonight. Aren't I smart?
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