random thoughts

easter weekend! been a pretty full week getting ready for it, but today has been relaxing as shanna and i were able to get some stuff done around the house. felt like a typical saturday should. here's some random thoughts about life right now:
1 - we seem to be having a growing problem with snakes in/around the house. only one was found in our house, and he was...taken care of. we've since found 4 others in the yard and flowerbeds near the outside of the house, and we've killed 3 of them. some people seem to get upset when they hear that we kill them, but i don't understand that. they are disgusting creatures and they're like cats...they'll come back unless you don't give em a chance. gross. shanna says if we find another one in the house we should call an exterminator. i hear big $. they better stay out. we were at lowes today looking for some "snake away" product but didn't find any. what is it about one creature that is so creepy and nasty?
2 - the past few weeks have been challenging ones for a number of students in our ministry as close friends and acquaintances of theirs have suddenly passed away. one died from a car accident involving alcohol, and the big one was a teen that got shot and killed last weekend from a man who felt threatened. it's still all over the news and is such a mess. the week was a big reminder to me that we as youth workers are called to pace through some of life's hardest challenges with the teens God puts in our path...and it doesn't always happen in the church office, but over a milkshake in mcdonalds and with a piece of pizza at the cafe...surrounded by tears and no easy answers.
2 - just got a camcorder for the student ministry a couple weeks ago and love love love playing around with it. we had some fun with it last Thursday night, and i've forgotten what a great tool they are for ministry to teens. tomorrow morning with the junior highers we plan to create an "updated version" of the easter story, and then show the movie to the teens. should be a fun and interactive way for them to experience the story.
3 - can't wait to hang out with my parents and brother at the 11 am service tomorrow and then for lunch afterwards. i'm so excited for the services and for people we've invited who've said they'll likely come. shanna invited a coworker and i invited a friend in the area and both have said there's a good chance they'll take us up on it.
4 - it's interesting to me...kinda weird actually...how christian's most "churchy" words tend to come out naturally more during easter, which ironically is one of the times that "non-churchy" people tend to come out. makes me mindful that i need to guard myself against speaking a different language.
5 - starting this next week i'll be changing my regular day off from tuesday to monday...joining most other pastors in america. i'm excited about this switch because it's seemed that just when i was gaining momentum and getting stuff done by late monday afternoon, i'd have to declare a sabbath and stop everything until wednesday morning. then spend all day wednesday trying to get it back. this i presume will help me keep building all week into the weekend.

guess that's it for now...