Losing November

So I haven't posted in a while because for some insane reason I was waiting for an inspirational epiphany that would blow away the minds of the masses and I hadn't thought of it yet. But there are some serious kinks in this logic; first, no one even reads my blog so the "blowing away of the masses" is pretty unlikely. Second, not much of what I have to say is all that profound! So in the new found reality of my actual skills, I'll just droll on for a bit and be satisfied with that.

I had a friend who had a band called "Losing November". Basically it was his way of expressing his dislike for the dreary fall season, much of which he viewed as cold, bleak and gray, and losing November was his way of dismissing the melancholy feelings of this time of year. But part of the reason I am actually posting something today is because of our dreary weather on this the first day of November. I absolutely love it! Not only is it the unofficial beginning of the holiday season, I really dig the overcast skies and drop in temps. It's all an indication of a storm coming over the horizon that is expected to bring blizzard like winds and 5-10 inches of snow. So tonight I'm gonna go to the store, get provisions like some hot cocoa and snacks, and bunker in for this onslaught of winter. I guess that's why I like the dreary skies...some might hate the fact that there is an impending storm coming, but I like the heads up. Instead of being caught unaware and waking up unprepared to shovel the walk, I know what to expect because of the previous days cloudy skies .

Perhaps that's what life is like, sometimes it's not all that sunny and and it can be downright ugly...but maybe that's God's way of getting us to prepare for a storm on the horizon. This way we can get settled in, make ready our provisions and prepare ourselves for whatever the storm brings. How often do we hear about people being stranded in a flash flood or falling victim to a sudden tornado? How different would their outcomes be if they knew the storm was coming and they had made preparations? If there is a storm coming regardless, I'll take the darkened skies and ominous horizon as a sign to get junk together, and I should do so in life as well

Colorado Student Ministry

So it seems that we are privy to a little secret out here in the rugged wilderness of Colorado when it comes to the national landscape of youth ministry in our organization. If the bible belt is the center of the wardrobe that makes up the UPC, then the Mile High City is somewhere near the top button on the collar. But even taking into consideration that perceived sense of distance and isolation there are some guys here that are simply some of the greatest youth ministers and workers in our movement. Take for instance Michael Burton, youth pastor at House of Worship in Denver. This cat is an artistic genius, a tireless worker, and deeply intellectual. Aside from his usual ramblings about algorithms or constant inside geek jokes with his similarly brainy engineer wife, Mr. Burton is about as down to earth and passionate about the things of the kingdom of God and student ministry as anyone can be. Add to this, the dude has a scary good portfolio of graphic design work that rivals ANYTHING I’ve seen floating out there in youth ministry. To put it simply, Michael Burton is the SWISS Army knife of Colorado Youth Ministry. Add to that, there is another guy out here in the tundra of the Rocky Mountains whose name should be on the lips of any youth committee considering a speaker for their event…Charles Beaver. I’ve been to a ton of youth camps, conventions and trainings and have heard about as many youth speakers as one person could. In addition, I’ve been to Dare 2 Share, Youth Specialties and Acquire the Fire…just a few student events outside of the UPC and Charles Beaver could be the keynote speaker at anyone of these. The guy is flat out the best youth speaker no one has heard of.
So why is it that such talented pros like these guys, (and I haven’t even mentioned others like Tony Bohrer and Thomas Gibson) aren’t more prominent on the national landscape? I’m not sure; perhaps it’s because of the geographic distance from the Midwestern and Southern hotbed of Pentecostal influence. But one thing I do know is that as long as I have a voice, I’ll champion the amazing student ministry work that is being done in our little corner of the country by a group of the most tireless and dedicated youth workers I know of, and maybe our little secret will no longer remain a secret

Pretty Cool

Just read this…when the Creator said “Let there be light”, He never limited it or put restrictions on its expanse. So from the beginning, that same light that God spoke into existence has been traveling at 186,282 miles per second through time. In 1925 astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that the degree of redshift observed in light coming from other galaxies increased in proportion to the distance of that galaxy from the Milky Way. In other words, the universe is still expanding and that God’s spoken word is still creating galaxies at the outer edges of the universe. Amazing thought that billions of galaxies can trace their origin to four words, Let there be light.