Category: regular

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Finding Down Time

“What did the Lord teach you this summer?”

The words taunted me from the page as I filled out my post-project staff evaluation.  I felt a wave of insecurity wash over me as I realized I hadn’t gotten some big revelation this summer.  Maybe I didn’t pray enough.  Maybe I should have spent more time reading my Bible.

In summers past, the answer to that question has taken some form of “I used to think _________ about God, but this summer He showed me _______________.”  Some new way of seeing a passage of scripture, or some new way of relating to God.

This summer has been full.  I’ve said that in previous posts, but I am confident I’ve never had more things crammed into each day than I had this summer.  I’ve been forced to meet with God… differently.

That’s when it hit me.  I have been relating to God differently this summer.  I’ve gotten some extended time to spend with God, but more importantly I’ve met God in the midst of my life.  I’ve learned (in small, gracious glimpses) what it looks like to be a full-time husband and father and a full-time minister, with a side of full-time follower of Christ.  I’ve also learned how worthless my attempts at ministry are if I am not making any attempts to be a good husband and father.

I’ve learned the spiritual value of sippy cups.  As a dad, the most spiritual thing I did at times this summer was refilling a sippy cup, or crawling on the floor “tackling” my son. In other summers I’ve met with God on my down time.  This summer I found “down time” in the strangest places.  Rocking a boy to sleep, or walking to downtown to buy dinner, or answering emails.  Down time.  I met with God all summer long, and often holding a poopy diaper in my hand.

That, I suppose, is what the Lord taught me this summer.

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The day I had a conversation with Michael Jordan.

Michael Jordan was pretty blatantly avoiding contact with the gallery as he approached the first tee of the 2005 Tahoe Celebrity Golf Invitational.  I had procured spots right by the makeshift fence (think yellow rope) on the first row for myself and the friends who were with me.  Again, keep in mind that Mike was ignoring all the fans gathered there, even when he was directly addressed.

He broke out a cigar that was approximately the size of a two-year-old’s arm, and proceeded to light it, having just teed off.  A hush fell over the crowd as the foursome of celebrities began to make their way off of the tee box.  I seized the opportunity like Eminem in 8 Mile and shouted, “Hey Mike, I graduated from Carolina in ‘02…”

[Insert awkward pause as everyone, with the notable exception of his Airness, looked at me.]

When it became obvious that all of the humans in earshot were waiting for his reply, he sarcastically (and without even so much as glancing my direction) said “congratulations,” not bothering to take the toddler’s-arms-worth of tobacco out of his mouth.

There ends my tale of conversing with Michael Jordan.  It might have been sarcastic and borderline rude, but the greatest professional basketball player ever had spoken to me.

He’s back in town today, playing in the 2009 version of the same tournament.  Maybe I should go and scream out “Hey Mike, 4 years ago I told you that I graduated from Carolina!”  Just to see what he’d say.

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Here’s some links you might be interested in…

We’ve been busy putting pictures onto the interwebs, and otherwise modifying our online prescence.  Check out the following links, bookmarking them in your browser so you’ll have them to come back to.  Some will be updated further.  I dare you to click on all of them.

Our Santa Cruz Summer Project Pics
All of 2009’s Pics (thusfar-ly)
All of 2008’s Pics
Our newly updated give page on the CCC corporate website
All the photos for Santa Cruz Summer Project (multiple contributors to this site)

If a picture is worth 1000 words, the above list of links is worth far more words than written on my entire blog.

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Real Time Feedback.

We are here at our national staff conference in Ft. Collins, CO with 6000 (ish) of our closest staff friends.  I thought it would be interesting to put a widget in the sidebar ( over there —> ) that shows in real time what others are saying about the conference on Twitter.  This is one of the reasons I use twitter, as it shows in real time what is going on!  I’ll leave this widget in the sidebar until after the conference is over.

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A Bench in the Dark.

Rob Upton’s bench has become a crossroad in my life.

I never met Rob Upton.  He was 10 years older than me, and died when I was 12.  We lived in different states thousands of miles from each other, went to different schools, and until about 5 minutes ago when I googled his name followed by the year he died, I didn’t even know how he died.  It’s unlikely that we would have any connection whatsoever.

But every other year (give or take), I meet God on Rob Upton’s bench.

I was too busy to notice his name emblazoned on the plaque at my feet when I first sat down 6 years ago.  I was wrestling with God.  With tears streaming down my face I told God I’d break up with the girl I thought I was supposed to marry, if only he’d lead me.  I’d do whatever God wanted me to do.

Two years later, I was a single man who had just been shot down by yet another girl when I walked out across the lawn to meet with God on Rob’s bench.  I again cried out to the Lord, asking only that he would lead me.  I’d do whatever He wanted me to do.  In the cool night air, I begged God for a wife.

Four years later, (25 minutes ago) I put my minivan in park, and walked out across the same dew-covered lawn.  I celebrated (again with tears) that God had, just days after I prayed four years ago, introduced me to Jacqueline Brooks, and began writing the love story of our life together.

Rob Upton, a sophomore thrower on the Colorado State University’s track team, died in a climbing accident in 1992, and the university paid tribute to him by putting up a stone bench in a wooded area of campus.

Our staff conference is here every other year, and each time I am amazed to sit down on Rob’s bench and reflect on how the Lord has changed things since I last visited.  Here’s to a God who is so interested in planning out all of our crossroads!

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