life and times in Glenwood Springs

moving on

2008-07-05T11:37:00.002-06:00

I am a customizer. I change icons, backgrounds, and the way everything works as much as I can. I like to set things up the way that I like them and change as frequently as possible. And I like details...

With all that in mind I have chosen to move my blog from blogger to wordpress. It's really a simple matter of posting somewhere else and making sure you know where to find it if you are watching. I think you'll like the look. I'm going to see what I can figure out about wordpress to make it do what I want. so go check it out and let me know what you think.

jaredcoe.wordpress.com - see you there

impact

2008-06-29T23:07:00.003-06:00

Summer of 2001...

I was at camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je West because Cassia (my wife's sister) recommended me to the (then) director, Scott. I volunteered to run the activities and games and was in a cabin with students as well. It was a wonderful summer that created many memories that still resound in my memory today (listening to meatloaf for 2 straight hours will scar anyone).

During middle school camp I told the story of Jesus on the cross to my guys. I used the details and gave them the facts about the pain that Christ suffered as he took our sin upon himself. One of the guys in my cabin was Ben Wiley. He was a cool kid and was willing to do some of the craziest things for the games I planned. I could tell that the narrative that I told had an impact on him but I had no idea just how life changing it was.

Last Tuesday I took our family up to camp for a day to help in any way we could. Anne was amazing in the kitchen, Jerdan and Keenen showed what it was like to be cute for Jesus and I worked on a number of projects. A few minutes after we arrived I heard a bellowing "JARED!!!" I turned right before Ben flattened me to the ground. It was great to see him. He is spending his summer in a cabin with boys who need to hear the same story that he needed to hear as a middle schooler.

We had a chance to talk a little bit later when things were calm (after we were done throwing flour filled pantyhose at each other) and Ben told me the reason that I do what I do (youth pastor). He told me how the narrative that I told when he was in middle school changed his life. He could remember the details and the impact that Christ's death had on him the night he realized how much Jesus had endured for him. And this was not just in the physical sense. That night he really "got it". He understood that Jesus was sinless and perfect and didn't deserve what he allowed the soldiers and leaders to do to him that night. He understood something of the depth of God's love like he never had before.

And now Ben is at camp sharing that same story, that same love, that same passion with younger guys who need to "catch it" just like he did. The moment that I shared that story made an impact with Ben and now he is impacting others with the same story.

He has even dedicated his body (literally) to sharing the story of Christ's death. Each of his tattoo's has a purpose and a message. And he will be a walking billboard for Christ when he is done.

I know that to some people tattoo's are a stumbling block and that you feel strongly that no one should have a tattoo for any reason. Please let me submit to you for a second that what Ben has done with his tattoo's and his body has incredible significance for him and that he is using his arms and chest as another means of sharing the gospel with people who would otherwise never hear it.

This is why I continue to do what I do and it encourages me greatly to know that I had an impact on someone who will have a huge impact on others. Who have you impacted? How has their life changed because of your message?

he's back!

2008-06-21T00:15:00.003-06:00

as many of the people who have known me for years know I have a small fetish. Some people collect shoes, some people can't get enough of flashlights (okay, that's me too), but ever since I was in middle school I have collect Marvin the Martian articles. It may lead people to think that I'm crazy or out of control, but it started innocently enough, just as all things do.

You see my sister bought me this poster for a present.

I really liked it. Anywhere I went in the room Marvin was looking at me with his black, menacing eyes and pointing his gun at me. I couldn't get away from him. Sometimes it freaked me out but most of the time I just thought it was cool. So I started collecting stuff. I remember one birthday in particular that everything, I mean EVERYTHING, I got had something to do with Marvin. It only grew and grew like an addiction. So I got a few more things...

and a few more...

until I had more stuff than anyone I knew of. One time I even saw a collection of Marvin items at the Puyallup fair and as I looked at it I began to laugh. Not only did I have more stuff, I had WAY MORE! I thought that one day I would enter my collection into the fair gallery, but I never did. Oh well, there are better things in life.

When we bought this house we knew what we would do with the computer and I have looked forward to this night since signing papers. HE'S BACK! I have a place for my Marvin things and I don't think he's ever looked quite this good.

Our office is now where my collection resides. It makes me smile, it makes me slightly giddy, and it makes me feel immature (but I never really wanted to grow up anyway).

Some of my favorite or more obscure items are:
The sunscreen
Peanut Butter (thanks Eric)
Marvin sneakers
a drinking straw
a ladle (never been souped)
a nightlight
koosh balls
a bookmark
more keychains than I cared to count last night
3 of the coolest watches ever
a padlock
a desklamp

Do you collect anything or have any strange fetishes? Leave it in the comments

what I learned from mountainbiking

2008-06-18T22:08:00.002-06:00

it's embarrassing...I've never really been mountainbiking before. I know, I grew up in a beautiful place, I had more than I could ever really ask for, and I never did it. Well put the shame away because I was broken in today...see

We had a great ride. Here's one of the views and certainly not even close to the best.

I learned a few things during our ride.
1. Wear more bug spray. I have never seen mosquito's like that. At one point I counted 6 on Josh's back, while we were riding!
2. When going downhill, use the front brakes. Especially when you are on loose dirt.
3. This is why we wear helmets.
4. Teenagers are way better at this stuff than I am. I need practice.
5. Josh is my hero. I have a student who came along and showed us all that having a great attitude is better than having the best skill set. He had a hard time today. Like most of us he fell more than once. But unlike most of us he never complained, never got upset, and never gave up. He finished his ride by turning around and going back at least 3 miles to where we started but he kept pushing, kept walking, and kept riding until he was done.

Thanks for teaching me today Josh!

Summer kickoff

2008-06-09T22:18:00.002-06:00

Last night we had a killer pizza party at the Wilde's house. Mike has this incredible wood fire over and he loves to cook pizza. So we started our summer by inviting all the families with MS and HS students to the Wilde's house for pizza. When I was announcing it in church I said, "Come over for some of the best pizza in town" and it's a good thing I said "SOME" because one of the guys who goes to our church owns a NY pizza restaurant in town and he almost took offense. Take my word for it the last person you want to offend is the NY pizza guy in town. He may send some of his "friends" over...

as we sat around and had pizza we continued something we started on friday night...taking pictures of people as they flap their lips. These pictures make me laugh every time.

or there's this one...

Reid can do it pretty well too

and I saved the best for last

mute math loops

2008-06-02T09:59:00.001-06:00

found this today and thought to myself...that is going to be awesome on the new CD

May Pictures...right on time

2008-06-02T09:38:00.002-06:00

I got inspired...here are the pics from May

Pictures for April

2008-06-02T09:36:00.002-06:00

They may be late...but here are the pictures that we took in April

enjoying the pool on the birthday

2008-05-28T09:41:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was Jerdan's 4th birthday! I can't believe that he's 4 and neither can most of the people I talk to. Since it was his day we did what he wanted to do most of the time and had a great day. We ate sticky buns for breakfast (delightful), went to the park and played and threw rocks, he could do that all day. We went shopping and got a couple of movies for him from family members ...Diego and Curious George. Then we ate lunch at Moes. After lunch we had some down time for the boys to rest then we went to the pool.

Every time we have gone to the pool Jerdan has replaced the water he displaced with his tears, held on for dear life, and left thoroughly traumatized by the experience. But his grandma Robinson gave him a kickboard for his birthday and he wanted to try it out. And since we love him and want him to enjoy the water we thought we'd keep trying until he just relents and starts to have fun in the water. He was all excited when we got there and then got close to the water and the indecision began. I finally got him into the water and he clung to me like a barnacle for a little while. But he did start to relax. He began to trust me more and even started swimming (with me holding his belly). He tried the kickboard but doesn't trust it yet so I held him and we went in circles around the pool until he was done. It was a first step to him enjoying the water.

It's a good thing we have a pool by the house and live in a place where the sun shines all the time. It's gonna be a fun summer and it started on the right foot...

pizza night

2008-05-26T22:31:00.001-06:00

We did a fundraiser for our mission trip tonight. Here is the post that I just put up on the mission blog

we served pizza tonight at Russo's downtown in Glenwood. They make a great New York style pizza. Many people from the church showed up and they donated quite a bit of money to help on our mission trip this summer. But the best part wasn't the money they donated. The best part was the people who came and ate and talked. It was fun to see people from the church talking and eating together and to have a chance to tell them more about the trip that we are taking this summer.

I had one amazing surprise. His name is Alex and he was sitting by himself. So I went over and introduced myself and told him the one thing that seemed to surprise people the most tonight. "Thanks for coming in, I bet you didn't know you were supporting high school students going on a mission trip this summer when you bought your pizza." He looked at me with a surprised look and asked me what we'd be doing. I wasn't sure if he was fishing to be upset or if he was really interested so I started as gently as possible. "We're going do service projects in the morning and help people who need it. Then in the evenings we'll meet at the park and invite the students from the town to join us." Then I got bold and told him point blank, "We're going to share Jesus with the students in Roundup."

The look on his face changed fast. "Bless you brother," he told me to my relief. I then learned that he had been involved in a Muslim cult and that God had revealed himself to Alex through a coworker that he constantly mocked and ridiculed to gain favor with a boss at an old job. He told me how the man never responded in kind and was always nice. One day he asked why he never fought back and the man told him that he is a Christian and didn't think it was right to respond negatively. This struck Alex powerfully and he asked to learn more. Soon after that he was baptized and dedicated his life to following Jesus.

It was a great story to hear and I was really interested to see how he had come out of Islam. And the only reason he was eating pizza that night was because the mexican restaurant was closed and Russo's wasn't. It was an encouraging conversation and one that God used to spur me on.

what a great night...

painting is fun

2008-05-19T20:56:00.003-06:00

since we got back from vacation there has been a lot to do. painting is one of those things.

Jerdan helped Grandma on Keenen's room. The stripe was low so he could actually reach it and be helpful.

My favorite shot of Jerdan painting

Our kitchen (notice the blue is reminiscent of a particular football team that resides in Seattle...go Hawks!!!)

Jerdan's room

Keenen's room

run 4 youth

2008-05-03T12:44:00.002-06:00

Every year Youth for Christ has a fundraiser called Run 4 Youth. What happens is not a mystery...I run for an hour and you pledge to give me some amount of money. Half of the money goes to YFC (great organization) with the other half going toward our mission trip this year. What I raise will go toward the general mission trip budget. We are hoping to get a video camera for Roundup as part of our trip so anything you donate will go toward helping us help them...

If you can contribute leave a comment or send me an email coehort (at) gmail dot com. I'll get you down and YFC will send you an envelope next week. If you can't contribute you can still pray and that is appreciated too!

beat this...

2008-04-29T15:43:00.002-06:00

if you haven't seen it yet, Crack attack, is a very addictive game. I found it once on a distro of Linux I installed and then had to search for it after reinstalling windows and now I have a version of it on my macbook pro. well, I got this score today and decided to lay down the challange. this is on xtreme so if you beat this on normal it doesn't count but beat it on xtreme and I'll be impressed...

funny boys

2008-04-28T21:18:00.001-06:00

we bought them some new pj's in Oregon and they took full advantage of them. with only a little prodding from their loving father.

cool clock

2008-04-28T19:57:00.002-06:00

years ago my parents contracted me to build a computer for my brother. that was when AMD was ruling the scene and intel was trying to catch up...oh how things have changed.

well my wonderful little bro contracted his friend to make something new out of what i built for him and here is the creation

that's right, he took that old motherboard and created a super cool clock for our new computer room of our new house. thanks little bro!

we're in

2008-04-22T16:38:00.003-06:00

Last Friday Anne and I walked down to the title company's office and signed more papers than I ever imagined we would. I think it takes as many trees to buy a house as it does to build it. Anyway, we got stuff packed up, and with the help of some really incredible friends, we got it all moved. We are now in our very first house!

The boys love their new rooms and we have spent much time playing and wrestling on the carpet. The one thing that doesn't surprise me but has changed how I see things are the constant trips to Lowes. We have made multiple trips a day since we moved in and have spent way more money than I thought we would just to make the space usable and livable.

I'll post some pictures soon...the yard is still dirt, but that'll change. We don't have internet at the house yet so you'll have to be patient, but we'll get some pictures up.

For those of you in the Oregon/Washington area we will be headed your way tomorrow night so be sure to give us a call and say hi.

"B" is for...

2008-04-15T11:58:00.003-06:00

on our way to the final inspection of the new house today (YEAH!!!) we played a game with Jerdan. It goes like this, we tell him a letter and he tells us a word that starts with that letter. For example "L" is for lion. And this is how it went down.

"T" is for ... Tiger

"D" is for ... Dog

"Z" is for ... Zebra

"B" is for ... Butt

In other news, the house looks good and we are closing this Friday. We'll have more pictures of the house soon.

a great team

2008-04-08T21:55:00.002-06:00

I have always known that you need to have good communication to be effective. Since arriving at Mountain View in August I have tried to communicate well with adults, students, parents, and anyone else who would listen. unfortunately I think I could have done a better job. I realized that a while ago so I shot an email out asking if we could meet as a "youth team". tonight was our first meeting and I have grown to love the people that are working with our students. They only want the best for them and from our conversation tonight I can see how much they are willing to do to see the best happen.

Thank God for people who love students, don't mind working with someone slightly (read...half) younger than them and have some great ideas. We are going to work really hard to connect with parents and make the ministry we do with students more inclusive and more applicable to the lives of the students by being more holistic and focused. at least thats the plan...

So pray for us as we do our best to reach the students in Glenwood Springs. It's a great town with some incredible people. and the coffee's not bad either...

new pictures, yeah it took a while

2008-04-02T22:54:00.002-06:00

I finally decided to put up new pictures. Here's the slideshow, or you can click HERE to see them fill your screen (click Slideshow).

Where I worked today

2008-04-01T16:09:00.003-06:00

Tuesday...a day that many pastors and youth pastors around the country use to plan messages, pray, and surf the web (or is that only me?). I spent much of the afternoon at the Glenwood Caverns working in the restaurant area. Anne and I bought a season pass this last winter and they have finally reopened for spring hours so I can go up during the week and work away while I look over the whole valley. I doubt many other pastors got to see anything like this as they prepared today...I love where we live.

he picked what?

2008-03-31T18:01:00.004-06:00

this morning Jerdan picked out his own clothes and what he so passionately selected reminded me of something that I picked out when I was younger. You see, my mom took a picture of me the first day I picked out what to wear for myself. She still has it somewhere, thankfully life wasn't digital back then so if you want to see it you'll have to call her and she'll have to hunt for it. There will be no hunting here, we got this one of Jerdan this morning.

That's right, a wicked combination to be sure. First, the orange hooded t-shirt combined with the Seahawks pants (as authentic as we could get). We made him wear jacket because it was snowing outside so he picked his fav - the Bomber (courtesy of Grandpa and Grandma Coe). And to top it all of, SNOW BOOTS! I love my son and it really doesn't look that bad, but the combination of 4 completely separate styles was too funny to pass up.

We also went to the new house to see how it was looking...we're getting close. Anne's mom bought her a sweet baby grand piano years ago and we've never had room for it so we took the cover with us to place in the house and see how much room it will take up. Keenen thought it looked to comfortable to pass up so he jumped on it and sat there while we looked around. It's gonna fit and Anne gets her piano. I find that I myself am really excited about this. Playing piano is a great outlet for her and she has really missed it. Plus it'll sound really good throughout the house. The boys like to play too and you really can't have enough instruments when kids are young.

April promises to be one of the busiest months, EVER, for us. We're buying the house, driving to Portland/Seattle and back and have a ton of stuff going on at the church. I'll try to update the blog more often, but I make no promises.

new music

2008-03-20T09:09:00.002-06:00

if you have spent any time around me in the last 8 years you know that I am a fan of Enter the Worship Circle. They make great music based on the psalms and it's all recorded in a laid back cool way. Well I found today that you can get the new CD (4th Circle) for super cheap if you go before tomorrow night. So if you're interested in creative acoustic worship music check out this blog and pay the $4.20 for a great album!

Check it out here

Nick from Life Without Limbs

2008-03-19T09:46:00.002-06:00

i got an email today from my dad that linked to this video about a guy named Nick who was born without limbs. Having watched a couple of his videos I have been shocked at how God has lead him. Take a few minutes and watch this interview with Nick

brackets revealed...let the madness begin!

2008-03-16T18:26:00.002-06:00

the selection committee has done their job and the matchups are set...if you weren't aware this is one of the best times of year for me. I love watching the tourney and seeing college players leave everything out on the floor. I love it so much that I set up a bracket and challenge everyone in our family to beat me (which they do with regularity).

If you would like to play with us (all you have to do is click on the teams you think will win and the website will do the rest) shoot me an email (coehort at gmail dot com) and I'll send you an invite. Act fast though, the games start soon and once they start there's nothing I can do to get you in...

long night

2008-03-15T01:45:00.002-06:00

tomorrow is the YS Core training in Denver so we left at about 5 from Glenwood. What is usually a 3 hour trip turned much longer when there was a huge accident in front of us..."in front" being about 8 miles! So we hopped off the freeway, ate a little bit and waited around. Eventually we got back on only to have one of the 4 vehicles die when the battery was totally drained. So Zac, my brother in law, turned around on i-70 and jumped our car (it was fun to stop traffic for that) then we got on our way again. We pulled in at about 1:30 and are going to bed now.

It's going to be a great day tomorrow, we just didn't get to have the fun we were planning on...

Pictures...finally

2008-03-14T10:32:00.001-06:00

after a 2 month hiatus they are back. Here are the pictures that iPhoto didn't lose in the last 2 months.

busy, busy, busy

2008-03-12T09:31:00.003-06:00

It has been a long hard week for us down here. First Keenen got sick and couldn't sleep, sleep deprivation lead to Anne being sick and now she has an ear infection and the worst cough I have ever seen her have. It's been rough, but I can feel it start to warm up so hopefully the sickness will be on its way out as well. Jerdan has been well the whole time so I have that to be thankful for.

I know that I haven't posted pictures in a while. Since switching to a mac I have had to use different programs and learn how they work...and well, iPhoto just isn't as good as google's picasa. It doesn't work like I want it to and since google doesn't make picasa for the mac I have to try to figure it out. It wants to store all my pictures in its library instead of letting me pick where they go and referencing them from there. Call me a holdout, but that's how I like to do things. So google...please port picasa to the mac. I think I lost a bunch of pictures from January (ticks me off) so I haven't been inspired enough to upload more. And since no one has even mentioned it (aside from one friend in Oregon) I figured that it wasn't really missed. If you do miss it, let me know, that might inspire me to get back on the picture sharing boat.

Stuff at church continues to go well. People have expressed a lot of gratitude lately and that has encouraged me. I got a call out of the blue from one of the parents that I have been working with and he simply called to say, "thanks, you're doing a great job". I didn't expect that, and it was really welcome. It's always good to hear that what you're working on is having an impact. I have seen some changes in our students already that are really encouraging. And with the mission trip now steadily on the radar things are picking up for summer stuff.

I have also kept up with my daily Bible reading. It has been so good to be reading the Bible every single day. It's also been kicking my butt to see areas in my life that I can grow.

I was reading Deuteronomy 13 the other day and realized just how strongly God hates idolatry. It made me think about myself and what idolatry really is in our culture. Do I still worship other idols and simply add Jesus to the other stuff that I worship? Or do I put Jesus before other things and make him a part of my everyday, everybreath life? How can I ensure that i am no idolatrous? When the Bible says to burn everything from an idolatrous town in the plain sight of everyone, what does that mean for me, in our current culture? These are hard questions that I have to deal with, especially in my position. How do you handle this?

house pictures

2008-02-27T23:21:00.005-07:00

At the specific request of one person to remain nameless, except for the moniker "mom" here are some pictures I took of the house that we are in the process of buying.

The view from the outside

One of the boys bedrooms. They're not real big but they each have their own space.

Here's the main bathroom. they were getting ready to put in the sink.

The master bathroom...soaker tub and separate shower. Anne even gets her own sink so she doesn't have to look at my shavings

You can see the ginormous walk in closet from here. And they are putting a little wall in by the toilet...if you can tell me why, I'd love to hear it.

The master bedroom. It's pretty big, I really like the ceiling. the whole house has 9 foot ceilings...super cool.

The kitchen on the right, the great room leading to the master bedroom is wide open

Check out the cool cabinets! We've never had that much cabinet space before. Anne is really excited to not have to stack stuff all over other things.

man meal

2008-02-26T22:24:00.003-07:00

I had what I thought was a wonderful idea a few weeks ago as I passed by our fire pit that was buried in snow. I thought to myself, what if a bunch of guys got around a fire and cooked meat and ate it among friends? Would they come? Would they have fun? What would I call such an evening? I decided that I would call this event the "man meal". That should deter the girls from even desiring to come.

I pitched the idea to the high school guys and they thought it sounded fun. i told them to bring a friend and some meat and we would take care of the rest. It happened tonight and I think we are off to a good start on something that will be fun and bonding. We only had a few guys show up. But the ones that did had a great time. Somebody brought elk steaks marinated in teriyaki sauce as well as a full rabbit. Others brought steaks they bought at the store. And one guy even brought some garlic bread to go along. There were literally steaks being tossed onto the grill then pulled off with bare hands. We had no silverware or plates so the meat had to be held ripped and eaten with our hands. I have to say it felt like a successful event to me.

Right afterward we all went to the boys playoff basketball game and I heard a bunch of questions about the man meal. We are going to do it again and I am encouraging our teens to bring their non-christian friends. Can you think of a better way to reach out to high school boys than to serve meat freshly cooked by flames? I didn't think so...

Housing?...

2008-02-19T22:18:00.002-07:00

At 4:00 pm today we were selected in the Garfield County housing lottery...which means that we are going to work very hard to buy our first house. It's kind of hard to believe right now, but it is true and it's going to happen. I'll post pictures as we get closer but for you curious types...

It's on a golf course called Ironbridge about 4 miles from our church. That's right, we're buying a house on a golf course. Some people may consider it a sin for a non-golfer like me, but I have a bunch of friends that I'm sure will love to come and golf and hang out at our house. We're really excited and just a little nervous.

Escape

2008-02-19T21:59:00.005-07:00

On Saturday I, along with 4 other adults, took 30 teenagers to a nearby camp. I have quite a history with this camp. Anne and I worked there for 2 years together planning activities, leading cabins, leading leaders, watching kids hurl or hurt themselves, and doing whatever the camp needed done. I loved my time up there and was thrilled to be able to take our students back for a winter retreat.

The retreat was called "Escape" and it was all based on Acts 12, when Peter has a miraculous escape from prison. We did a few things that hopefully made the story come alive and we had a ton of fun together. There were only a couple of injuries (I caught and elbow in the eye and jacked up my shoulder) and the worst one was suffered by Harris...he broke his tooth off sledding. When you go to a winter retreat and there is snow and slick transportation devices you expect to come back with a few less body parts, so only loosing half a tooth really means that we brought back 1,119 1/2 teeth. Not too shabby.

One thing that made this retreat more memorable was that the director and his family are moving to Hawaii (hey somebody has to suffer for Jesus) in a few weeks and this was their last camp. I didn't know about that until we left on Saturday morning, but that did make this a little more special for me.

Overall the retreat went really well. I was pleased with how everything worked out. I am working on typing up what we did and why. I think that there was a lot that we planned that can be used with students to impact their lives...not to mention shock them. Mostly, I think it is a frame of mind and how we approach the material we are trying to teach students. Lectures don't work all the time. They don't work most of the time. There is no reason to continue to use something that doesn't work and we must find other ways to communicate and teach that are more effective. That is what we focused on this weekend and I think it paid off.

When I am done with the stuff we did I will post it here.

beds, snow, and the freezing life

2008-02-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

time for a family update...

A few night ago Anne and I were discussing how Keenen probably needs to get out of the crib. So we both went online and starting looking at beds. We were just looking for ideas about what we liked and what we thought we could get. We were really looking at bunk beds because we want to make the best use of our space, but I looked at others too. I found a captains bed that I showed to hear and thought that the space underneath the bed an the drawers could be really useful. Well...on Sunday Sam, a lady from our church came up to me and asked if we needed any furniture. She's moving back to England and didn't want to pay to ship all their stuff so she's giving it away. I mentioned that we were looking for a bed for the boys and she was like, "I've got a captains bed, come get it tomorrow". So we went over, took a look and I began dismantling it to bring it home. We rearranged everything and put Jerdan's new captains bed in his room. He now has a "cave" that he loves.

I can' say how many times I have heard lately that this is the most snowy winter since 1983 (I was only 3 then...WOW!) We have so much snow that you can't make a left turn most of the time and you have to go down further to the next light to get turned around. There are huge piles in the middle of the road that would do some serious damage if you were to snooze at the wheel and drive a little bit to the left. But all the snow makes it fun for the boys. Every time I go out to shovel the sidewalk the boys get decked out and come throw snowballs at my back. Jerdan thinks this is the greatest thing in the world and Keenen has gotten over his fear of wearing a winter jacket...now if we can just get him to wear his boots - one thing at a time.

We also have some of the coolest icicles I have ever seen. I've never lived in a place where it didn't get above freezing for months so I didn't really think about the icicles we would have. I've been so taken by them that I've taken probably 50 pictures tying to capture what it's really like. my favorite one so far caught a drip falling off and if you look closely you can see an inverted image of the window of the house.

I've been asked a lot lately if I like it here still. My hands get cold, people have been sick, I have to wipe off the car and shovel it out daily, and yeah I love it. It's a great place with some really great people and a cool coffee shop that I get to sit in to do work. It's completely different from anything I have ever known and I miss my parents and brother (and the rest of the fam in Seattle) but this is like no place I have ever been. I really do love it here.

bartimaeus in the flesh

2008-02-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

tomorrow night we have our middle school group and I have decided to take a different slant this week. More often than not people in the church (read: pastors) think that if we only preach a great sermon people will listen and it will change their lives. I think we need to broaden our horizons. Students like stories. They need stories. They need to hear and think about stories that they haven't thought of before. And they aren't going to (at least in my experience) think about stories as much when we preach about it and have three good points that they should think about.

So tomorrow night, I am going to tell the story of Bartimeaus. I'm going to narrate what he may have been going through and what happened to him when Jesus gave him his sight. I'm a little nervous because I don't do it this way much, but I really want to communicate a message that can't come from only hearing, they need to see.

Please pray that I will do a good job telling the story and that the students will think about and connect with the story of Bartimeaus more.

checklist before righting your car...

2008-02-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

I caught this video and laughed out loud...when putting a car on it's wheels there are a few things you should check first...

This is how not to lift a car - Watch more free videos

curiosity filled my mouth

2008-02-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

last night at dinner I got curious...my nalgene bottle was sitting in front of me, really full and I wondered just how much my mouth could hold. It has little marks on the side that tell you how much liquid there is so I figured the easiest way would be to fill my mouth and see how much was left.

All of my suspicions were confirmed, I have a big mouth. 4 oz of big! I can drink a can of pop with three mouthfuls, a 2 liter with 18 mouthfuls and a gallon with 32 mouthfuls.

so how about you? How much does your mouth hold?

tumbleweed in January?

2008-01-28T23:20:00.000-07:00

Anne's grandma's 81st birthday is tomorrow so we drove down to Junction to see her and Anne's uncle Tim. I hadn't met him yet but I really enjoyed talking to him and getting to know a little bit about him. On our way to her Gma's house we had the most interesting thing happen...

As we were driving down the snow covered, windy road a gigantic, and I mean huge tumbleweed came rolling right at us...in our lane. I don't usually stop for the stuff because it's not anything to really worry about, at least in my experience, but I had to almost stop and drive around this thing. Our car is just barely short of 6 feet wide and this one piece of tumbleweed was nearly as wide as our SUV! I thought we would have figured out a few things by the 21st century...tumbleweed car damage being one of them, but I was wrong. This thing would have caused some huge problems if it would have hit us.

In other news, we got to go on a date! It's been a while so that was nice to get out and be together without the boys (love em but sometimes you just gotta go out by yourselves). We went to the 14 plex in Junction and saw Juno. I have read a few reviews and really wanted to see for myself if it was good. As someone who works with youth I appreciate how it was made and the way in which it was real. If you work with youth you need to see this. It was brutally honest and it didn't seem like they tried to make it any less awkward than teenage pregnancy really is. I think it will be a great discussion starter movie for years to come.

3 by 3 1/2

2008-01-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

Jerdan is 3 1/2...he knows he is a big boy now and he is doing all sorts of things that he has never done before. Last Sunday he asked Anne if he could go to bed without his pull-up. This kind of surprised me but I was more than happy to accommodate this with a few "waterproofing" purchases (we don't want to ruin the mattress during training time), and some encouragement. Besides, those pull-ups are expensive and the sooner he is out of them the better.

So Monday night we prayed, had him pee, then put him to bed. I got up early Tuesday morning to go to a YFC breakfast but when I talked to Anne I found out he had been dry that night. Needless to say I was a bit surprised and more than thrilled. The next two nights provided the same result and we have been consistent in encouraging him and supporting him. It's exciting to see our kids grow up and take steps toward becoming who God wants them to be.

While I am thrilled that he is succeeding in sleeping through the night without whetting himself I am more thrilled that he is beginning to memorize Psalm 121. Anne has been working on it with him and he has been doing a great job. It's great to see our kids grow in many ways.

they call me a switcher

2008-01-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

Years ago apple had commercials on that told people to "switch". They were kind of like this...

I always thought they were dumb and "there's no way I'd ever do that." I have learned yet again that I should not say never. First I said I would never go to Africa, then Anne told her family that she would never marry me, and now I said I would never own a mac...are we sensing a theme yet? DON'T SAY NEVER!

Yes it's true, I bought a mac. Two actually. I got a mini for our home machine (the computer I built was dying a slow and painful death) and a Macbook pro for church stuff. I am now a switcher, been that way for all of a day and so far I really like it (please pick your jaw up off the floor now).

So my question is...what software can I just not live without? For those of you who are mac users and have been telling me to make this change now is your chance to come through and help a brother out. What should I install, what websites should I visit and what should I podcast that will make this change easier on me? Let me know in the comments and I'll post later about what downloads are really worth the time.

caption me

2008-01-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

If I have seen a picture this year (yeah it's only been a couple of weeks, so what) that deserves a caption, this is it!

IT WORKED!!!

2008-01-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

i got home yesterday at about 11:00 after having that major surgery, and WOW! I spent the day with plastic shields over my eyes and keeping them closed as much as possible. The doc said that 80% of the healing would take place yesterday so I tried to be good and keep them shut. That led to me sleeping a whole bunch and waking up early today.

I have to say that I'm amazed. When I was in high school I knew they could do corrective surgery, but I didn't imagine this. It's been less than a while day since they did everything and I can see better than I've seen for the majority of my life. It's so cool!

I think I know what some of the people felt like when Jesus healed them. I'm reminded of the story of the guy who Jesus healed by spitting in his eyes (Mark 8). Jesus takes him out of the city, spits in his eyes and asks him if he can see anything, "Yes, I see people, but I can't see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around." that's where I was yesterday when I woke up. Anything at a distance looked like a tree walking around. Then Jesus places his hands on the man's eyes again and opens them. After this second time the man can see clearly.

Thanks to contacts and glasses I have been able to see clearly. I have never known what it is like to not be able to see. But this is a new experience, I won't have to hunt for my glasses, or dig out my contacts late at night. When I go to bed I'll be able to see, when I wake up, I'll be able to see. It worked, and I am glad.

I would be remiss not to thank some people who encouraged me to look into this and helped make it possible. Thank you DAD, Jeff, Jerry, Andrea, and to the God who has given us the understanding and ingenuity to be capable of something like this. He has surely made us different than all the other animals.

Here is a video of what it looks like, unfortunately they don't record at the office I went to but this will give you an idea of what it's like.

it's life changing time

2008-01-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

in about 30 minutes I will be at a doctors office to have my corneas reshaped to see clearly. They're gonna lay me down, cut the top off my eye, go in with a super accurate laser, and reshape what has gone terribly wrong. I had a hard time sleeping last night, kind of like a kid at Christmas. 30 minutes till I ditch the glasses!

Oh this laser...it can take a hair and cut out just enough to put teeth into the side of it, I love technology and this is one of the best uses that i've seen so far of using the ingenuity that God gave us to improve our lives. I'd better go get dressed, it's time...

istock photo of the week

2008-01-13T15:01:00.001-07:00

My friend Chris is in school for photography. He and his wife Caitlin moved to Atlanta so he could attend a good school and take a billion pictures. Chris is also a photographer for istockphoto where he shares pictures and gets money when people buy them for advertisements and different things they want to use them for. Well I got a text today and it seems that one of his pictures is the "photo of the week". It just happens to be the picture that he took of me drinking coffee from the pot - I hope it makes him a ton of money

If you want to see more of his work you can go to:
flickr or
istock

let it snow, let it snow, let it...oh you get the idea

2008-01-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

It has been snowing like crazy down here...i've heard that it hasn't been like this in years so here's a video to give you an idea of what it's really like. FYI - no 4 wheel drive, no driving...

sidewalks and frozen faces

2008-01-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Snow...just about every student wants to see it come down hard enough to block visibility. Most teachers enjoy the sight of it but realize it probably just means that it'll be harder to drive to school. And those of us in youth ministry, we see it as another tool, a really cold one.

We have had some unbelievable snow lately. Mike Wilde, one of my volunteers and a recently retired teacher told me this morning that in his 25 years of teaching he has seen 3 snow days in our area. In the last three days we have seen 2! We got about 16 inches last night and that makes things really hard for drivers and walkers alike. But it is serious fun for students with nothing better to do.

So as I sat in the coffee shop I thought to myself, what could we do with some of our students on a day like today that would help them, and others. So I called around and got a few guys to come to our house armed with snow shovels. Then we wandered the streets and looked for any snow we could find, it was an easy hunt, to clear from the sidewalks. On the way, faces were hit with shovelfuls of snow and a few students were held with their face in the cold stuff. We did receive some comments about how we were doing a good thing, but the purpose wasn't recognition.

I am convinced that we have committed a major sin in youth ministry...we have made youth ministry all about youth. We plan events for the students, plan lessons for the students, give them prizes, retreats, food, whatever we think they will want. We have committed the sin of creating selfish teens. But when we read the Bible we see that helping students to become life long followers of Jesus means that we need to help them see the value of service. They need to be able to serve people without asking for recognition and awards. They need to help people in need without expecting back. When they do that then they will really gain value from their experiences.

So we took them out, shoveled sidewalks, threw snow at each other, and they learned that helping other people is important and can even be fun.

dialation elation

2008-01-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

I don't see extremely well. In fact, one eye is worse than 20/400 and the other is 20/300. That means that if you see 20/20 (you have been blessed, don't take it for granted) what you see at 415 feet I see at 20 with one eye. Yeah, it's so bad Anne can't even imagine how the world looks to me. Well, hopefully that is about to change.

Two days ago I entered the optometrist's office to have my final exam before Lasik. Yep, that's the fancy surgery that opens up your eye, readjusts everything with a super-accurate laser and sends you home able to see 20/20. It's not cheap but our church has encouraged me to look into it and said they will support us having it done. Since I do a lot of late night stuff and outdoor events this is something that everyone sees has some value. No more contacts late into the night. No more glasses first thing in the morning. I can't imagine what it will be like to open my eyes and see clearly, and I can't wait.

Ok, I have to wait until the 14th but after that I should be good. There is slight nervousness, but I saw the laser a couple days ago and the doc that does this does it all the time and comes to town once or twice a month just to fix eyes.

I feel kind of like I'm in Pete's dragon when Doc Terminus comes to town to offer a bunch of "scientific" medicines that will heal people (it really is a great scene). Only the difference is that this really does help and he has done thousands of these surgery's.

Today is a great day, I'm off to band practice then over to our pastors house to watch the Seahawks playoff game against the Redskins...GO HAWKS!

ultimate tetris

2008-01-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

sometimes you find things on the net that are just too good to keep to yourself. this is one of those things...

go HAWKS!

2008-01-03T18:49:00.000-07:00

I found this article very interesting. Make sure you check out the second page. Apparently some people think the Seahawks pipe crowd noise...do me a favor, if you're going to the game, come home with a sore throat and horse voice! It'll come back, but some people need to learn that the fans in Seattle are the best and loudest.

I'll try to make sure that I'm heard from Colorado.

all-nighter - "are you nuts"

2007-12-31T16:24:00.001-07:00

I've been told that i'm crazy lately more than I would like to remember. One of those staple events of youth ministry has been the all-nighter. It is a running joke among youth workers that it only takes once to figure out that it's a bad idea. well, i've done more than one, i've done a bunch and here I sit on the cusp of yet one more. I decided that it wouldn't be such a bad idea for new Year's and that I could use it to collect current permission slips as well as enjoy a number of hours with students. And besides I get tomorrow off and will be able to watch football when I awake from my deep slumber...now to make sure that I can get all the way home without falling asleep...

small groups meeting

2007-12-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

we met last night with most of the adults who will be helping with small groups when we start this Sunday. I was encouraged. some of them were skeptical coming into it and didn't see how having small groups on Sunday would be better than what we already do but I think that the end of the meeting they were all encouraged and ready to start.

I am pumped! I think this could be a great dynamic within the group and if it is done well can lead to us having better relationships with the students and helping them develop into lifelong followers of Jesus. After all that is the ultimate goal of any youth ministry (at least it should be).

John Maxwell said in one of his books, "everything rises and falls on leadership". The leaders that have stepped up to lead these groups are some of the coolest people I know and I am thrilled to see them use their gifts and really have great relationships with the teenagers in our church. Please pray for them and their leadership as well as my leadership of the whole group. I can't do this on my own and sometimes I feel like I'm in over my head.

New Pictures

2007-12-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

i uploaded a ton (84 really) of pictures for people's viewing pleasure. They are only the best of all the pics we took. So watch them here or click on the link and go see them a little bit bigger.

Click HERE to see the bigger version

a new lifestyle development

2007-12-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

I have always thought that scarves were pointless. You take straight piece of cloth and wrap it around yourself directly below your neck and that is supposed to be a good thing...usually when you put things below your head and between your shoulders it is a bad thing. Think noose (that's what I think anyway).

So the other day my brother in law was over and we were talking about the benefits of the scarf. I hadn't ever pictured myself wearing one before but when he explained just how it kept him warm I thought i would try it. so try it i did. I put the noose, er, scarf around my neck and went outside. It was then that I was pleasantly surprised by how warm my body was as I wandered around in nearly sub zero temperatures.

That's right. Even the locals are saying it's cold now. It's hard to imagine anything else when the temperature regularly hits the single digits and at least once a week enter the negative realms. And that, is the reason that I wear a scarf.

Christmas day

2007-12-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

We spent the night at Zac and Lisa's great house with the rest of the family and this morning at about 2:45 one of our boys felt the need to leave his place of slumber and join us on our slightly deflated air mattress. Well that made a little noise and his younger brother decided that he wanted to be a part of the fun and he wasn't going to be quiet until he was. So both boys joined us in our bed and made sure that we woke up frequently to remember that it is Christmas. When the sky (finally) started to get light we let them get up and start doing stuff. Anne made the sticky buns (Mmmmmmmmm) and I played with some of the kids. As people woke up and the house filled with sounds we started having more fun.

We opened stockings first and watched as the three boys played with the toys that they got. Then we started the presents, oh the presents. I can't remember what everyone got but there were some really cool things handed out in celebration of Jesus' birth. it seems that most of the items were purchased from sierra trading post and there are plenty of boxes left over to prove it. I got an awesome flashlight (i have a fetish for them) and some really cool boating shoes with a "rollbar" in the heal. I'm telling you, my mother in law knows what I need! My parents hooked me up with a tripod and a shotgun case. But Jerdan was the most elated and has the most enviable gift of all the children - a SLINGSHOT!

He has been going around the house pretending like he has a slingshot for a while so we decided to get him started young. The one we got him is really cool and only shoots foam balls that are made for it. In fact it was this very slingshot that brought about the most laughter of the day (so far anyway). Jerdan ran up to me, slingshot in hand, and declared "I'm gonna shoot you". He then pulled the sling toward me as far as he could and let it fly, sending the ball the other direction all the way to the door! We all lost it and laughed until we hurt as he tried again a few times with the same result.

I'll post pictures later.

Christmas fun in Colorado

2007-12-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Our first Christmas as Colorado residents...it has been an adventure, a fun one, so far. But first, last night.

We have an annual Christmas Eve service at our church and I had heard that it was one of the biggest events of the season. I didn't really understand what that meant until people started showing up and we had to use all the chairs we could. Then we filled the balcony as well. I asked one of our elders to take a count and he told me there were 441 people there! In a small mountain town, with an average attendance of about 250 that's pretty sweet.

Our pastor wanted to use a video clip before his sermon so I put it on the computer, tested it twice and was ready to roll right away. but when I clicked on the taskbar to bring it up it showed the controls on the screen! I was baffled and more than a little bit ticked off. I don't know why it happened, i did test it twice, but it did and I felt like it made us appear cheap and unprepared to those who were visiting. I didn't hear any comments about it, but i will make sure that never happens again.

Dave asked me to give an invitational prayer at the end of the service and I was debating what I would say and how I would say it right up until I went on the stage. I started by introducing myself and telling them that we had recently moved to the area. Then I quickly talked about the season and how it brings family together. Then without really making it long I talked about how God might be tugging on their hearts through circumstances, people, or events and that it may have all been leading up to this moment. Then I led a short prayer of acceptance and welcomed them to the family. It was a really cool moment in our church.

afterward I talked to a guy who has been coming to our Wednesday nights. He is bald, has tatoos, and the longest gotee I have seen since David Crowder. It was cool to talk to him because he told me that he doesn't feel judged at all when he comes to our church. I was really proud of our church when he said that. That is what the church should be. He also informed me that he grew up Baptist/Pentecostal...interesting combination and we had a great talk about that. I also learned who had been giving me the 12 days of Christmas presents...i have received presents for the 12 days of Christmas and they were incredibly creative and fun. I thought I had it pegged, but then one of the families approached me after the service and admitted to it. It was a great surprise and made me feel really welcome and cared about.

It was a really fun night and we ended it by taking our kids to hotel Colorado to look at the lights that they had up.

how it went

2007-12-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

since we canceled the hockey game I was wondering how things were going to go. who would show up? would they have fun or be bummed out? I was surprised. we had about 18 kids come and hang out for a few hours while we threw snowballs at each other and watched "Miracle". I hadn't seen it yet, and since it was a hockey movie it fit the bill. I enjoyed it, but even more so because I had a chance to be with some really cool kids and get to know them better.

I was glad things turned out well. Now to prepare for Sunday...

deeper (Sunday school) plans and such

2007-12-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

things are changing and I think it's going to be even better than I expected. Traditionally Sunday school classes have been information centered and taught by someone to students...very much like school. I have been doing some reading on teaching methods and how to make the transfer of information more efficient and have "discovered" that people learn more when they are involved (go figure!).

So we are moving our "Deeper" time (Sunday school is a name that scares people, and for good reason) to be more conversational/relational and hopefully more equipping at the same time. I think this will help because we don't really have a time for students to discuss different issues and talk through what they're thinking.

My goal is to outline the purpose and implementation of these groups and talk to the leaders about how and why we are doing this so that they are on board and supportive of this idea before we get started. It has proven to be more challenging than I thought it would be at first. i do think that once people start to see why we're making this change that they will agree and be supportive and do a great job within their groups.

So if you have some time, please pray that these would be authentic groups that share with each other and really get to know one another well. Pray for the leaders that they would lead well and help develop community within their groups. Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

unpredictable

2007-12-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

that's right, the weather in Colorado is unpredictable. When the roads look like this... it's best to not put student's lives in danger. So we called off our heavily anticipated hockey game trip in order to not kill anyone. I have discovered that there is a serious difference between freeways in Colorado and Washington. When someone gets into an accident in Washington there are injuries (neck, back, that kind of thing) and the car is damaged. When there is a wreck on i-70, especially around us, there is often a fatality. It's just very different to get used to hearing that someone died on the freeway, and this is a particularly dangerous time of year. So we're not going to Denver...

However, life must go on and we must engage in some community building experiences...so things change quickly and we are going to make it fun anyway. if making lemonade from lemons is possible with snow, then we are going to do that. The snow may have stopped us from driving long distances but we can still use it for a fun purpose and that's the plan. We're gonna get together and throw snowballs at each other then watch a movie and eat pizza...all while simply moving the hockey game to March. So we really are going to get the best of both worlds and the game might even be better that night.

Thank God I have a great team of leaders who love these kids and have wisdom. they ahve been a great resource for me as I learn about the environment here.

devotion changes lives

2007-12-15T23:23:00.000-07:00

i have found a Bible reading plan that I really like! after I graduated college I read all the time and since my job had weird hours I had a lot of time to read. Since i have worked at a church reading my Bible has always been a struggle. I never really seemed to connect with a guide that made sense to me. But i found one that isn't too long and does a good job in it's organization. It has been refreshing to be reading the Bible again in a devotional manner.

It has also helped in my relationships with other guys. i have had a number of conversations with guys lately and been able to ask them how they are doing devotionally. in every case they have said that they would like to be doing better but they have just slacked off. This gave me a chance to challenge them and a tool to hand to them that makes sense.

I should probably explain that i'm not a nazi when it comes to devotional reading. I don't think people that can't set aside time EVERY SINGLE DAY without failure are pathetic Christians. we have busy lives and we have a loving God who wants a relationship with us. do I think my life is better when I am spending time reading my Bible every day? Yep, I sure do. Do I think you're life will be better? Yep, I sure do. But I don't judge people for missing a day or for having a hard time. All the guys that I have talked to have had a hard time but they want to begin reading and they want to talk about it.

What good does it do if somebody reads the Bible but it doesn't change the way they act? I'm talking about Christians here, if they read their Bible, put it down and cuss somebody out on their way to work because they got cut off, what good is it? I read a verse in Hebrews 6 (11-12 actually) that simply said that God's goal for us is that we will love others as long as there is breath in our lungs...how often do we think about something like that and let it really change us? What does it change about our actions and feelings toward others? How does that change our marriages, friendships, and judgments of others?

Anyway, i'm going to start meeting with some of the guys that i've talked to so that we can discuss what we are reading and hopefully be open to the words in the Bible and the Spirit of God changing our lives as we grow in our relationships with each other and with God. I'm really excited about what is going to happen with this group of guys that seems to be coming together organically.

*I found the reading plan on another blog, if you are interested you can download the PDF HERE

nEGATIVE

2007-12-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

i decided that today would be a good day to see if I was acclimated to the climate at all...i walked to the bank (10 blocks) at about 10:00 to take care of business. you would think, and be wrong, that at a later time like that you would be able to walk down the street in "normal" clothes instead of mimicking an eskimo. i bundled up, and still froze just about everything that wasn't covered completely off. My nose would have run, but it stopped when the snot froze...someday i'll be used to this, but for now i'm not. At least it was sunny and the walk did feel good on the way home after a hot cup of coffee.

in other news:
Friday we had our annual adult Christmas dinner. the sanctuary was completely transformed and we had a lot of fun.

We have a lot of rabid Bronco fans in our church and everyone thinks it's pretty funny to make fun of the Seahawk fan...so I get a lot of crap from people, especially at events. SEE...

My boss, Jeff, was in charge of the entertainment for the evening and he did a great job. He recited a (really long) western Christmas story that he wrote years ago and he directed the "duddly do right" skit for which I was asked to be a part. I wish I could say how many times I heard "you make a really good dog!" that night, but I lost count after about 25. The other comment that I heard a few times was, "I'll never look at you the same again" and that's exactly what I want to hear when I have only been here a few months. It was fun, and it was right up my ally. this is a picture that Anne took almost immediately after I licked Scott's face, yep, I really did.

*I haven't heard an update today, but yesterday was a rollercoaster of a ride for Pastor Gray. He had more bleeding and they thought they were going to have to do more surgery, hours after closing him up, but they changed his medication and took him off the blood thinner...that stopped the bleeding and they avoided more surgery. Please keep the Gray family in your prayers as they come to your mind.

lightning update

2007-12-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

i just remembered that i forgot to follow through on a couple of things. The first is still on hold...the other, well, I had a sinus infection which really explains my sickness and inability to do what I needed to do for a week. It wasn't fun, but now I'm on anitbiotics and getting much better.

I received a call last night from my brother. Larry Gray was the associate pastor at Jovita (where i grew up) for as long as I can remember. He recently retired from his position there and has been a great family friend for a long time. I remember him driving their brown van on all sorts of church events, especially hockey games and youth trips. We used to spit seeds out the windows and cause all sorts of mayhem to which he would normally look away from. He has been a great example to me and has loved us greatly. my brother informed me that Larry went into cardiac arrest last night. He was revived by the doctors but is still in serious condition. One of my best friends is his oldest son. They are asking for people's prayers.

Charles wrote a great bulletin entry about the situation you can read it here

Please pray for their family and for Larry's healing!

we're praying for you Northwest

2007-12-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

it seems that a lot of natural disasters have struck recently. I had no idea how bad it was in my home state of Washington (and Oregon too) until I looked at the newspaper. You really only see the extent of the damage with the local paper. it's certainly not as devastating as Katrina or the recent wildfires in California but people have lost their lives and there is an incredible amount of damage.

Go HERE to see pictures from a seattle paper.

go HERE to read the article.

A lot of people that I know (and have talked to) sometimes check this blog so if you want to leave a little thought or prayer for them in the comments please do. It's never easy to face something like this and it's even harder when you recognize the areas that you see pictures of.

My prayer is for peace in the region as they recover from this. Let the churches in the Northwest be a beacon of light in the darkness of this storm.

ministry update: 12-2-07

2007-12-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

i got up this morning early to make sure that I was at church on time to finish preparing a few things and spend some time reading. well it didn't work out as well as I thought it would. I couldn't stand up in the shower, the world started spinning when I closed my eyes at all, and I couldn't focus to save my life. add the fact that it snowed like crazy last night and the car was completely frozen shut and that makes my plans all for naught.

When I did get to the church (i had some things to do, whether I felt like it or not) my computer decided that it wanted to take a long time to do everything (4 minutes to load firefox, just a little too long). Eventually i did get everything ready and had a great team of adults who were ready to jump up and do what needed to be done. i went home and slept hard for a little bit and now feel a lot better. i really just want to say, thank God for adults who care about students.

first Christmas tree hunt

2007-12-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went with friends from church, and a couple we didn't know, on our first tree hunt. It was a new experience for me as it was the first time I had cut down a tree, in the woods, in Colorado. In the past if I wanted to cut a tree I went to someone's yard and paid them way more than their tree was worth, but here, it's different.

We got the tree dried off, and put up and I took the opportunity to take a few pictures so here they are.

picture

2007-11-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

i was asked to find pictures for the sermon on sunday so i browsed around and happened upon this one.

leave a good title for this in the comments, besides the obvious. I don't have a prize to offer but I'll call you if you have the best caption.

needs and thanks

2007-11-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving was great. We went to my sister's house in Colorado Springs and got to hang out with my family. There will be some crazy pictures in about a week for you to see, we had a lot of fun.

Anyway, Sunday morning had less students than usual so instead of plowing ahead with 3story I decided that we should have a different focus. We went through Philippians 4 and talked briefly about prayer, specifically thanking God for what he's done and telling him what we need. I asked the students to take sticky notes and write down things they were thankful for and the what they need from God.

It is really cool to look around the room and see some of the things that the students are thankful for. I briefly looked over the things that they wrote down so I don't remember them very well, but I'm going to read all of them and I'll post some of the things here tomorrow.

general sessions

2007-11-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

so far the general sessions have been really good. Andy Stanley kicked everything off and it was easy to see why he is the pastor of one of the leading churches in our country. He had one point that he wanted us to get, and I think everyone who was there would be able to tell you what his point was. Basically what he talked to everyone about was that at some point all of us will be in a position of power. A lot of times we fear power because many of our examples have shown that they use their power against others instead of for others. Andy kept repeating that when we find ourselves in a position of power we need to use that influence for the benefit of others. That is what we see in Jesus in John 13 and that is what will change people's perceptions of the church.

it was really cool to hear that from someone like Andy Stanley because it is something that I talked about with our pastor on Thursday. We talked about how people in glenwood view our church and how we would like it to be viewed. If we want to be a church that serves other people and helps them then we are going to need to start doing what Andy talked about and use our influence and power to benefit other people.

then later tonight Shane Claiborne spoke. I have to admit that I was a little surprised, like everyone else, by the approach that he took. It started out much like you might expect, he breathed a little fire, did a back flip, then extinguished the fire in his mouth. Then he told us that he was honored to share the greatest sermon ever and he began reading out of Matthew 5. He read the whole sermon, the Lord's prayer, and as much as he felt we needed to hear. Then prayed a simple prayer that God would give us the courage to live it.

I was shocked because I'm not used to that. I even thought to myself that I'm sure YS paid a lot of money to bring him in and anyone can read through a sermon in the Bible. but then I started to reflect. I thought about what the words were that he spoke to us. The passion and intonation in his voice. And after I thought about it I agreed with what he did. There are no more radical words than the words of Jesus and after sitting and thinking about it for a moment I had to repent and make sure that my heart was right. If the words of Jesus don't make us think and change us then why should the words of someone else?

live from Atlanta

2007-11-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

we're (Avery and I) are hanging out in atlanta for the next couple of days at the Youth Specialties National Convention...so far we have had a good, but tiring, time. We flew into atlanta last night on a red-eye from Denver, got to the hotel, slept, and went right to the convention center. After the first general session I am really excited to see what is going to happen this weekend as we are exposed to people, ideas, and rest that we would not get otherwise. That's right, we have been ordered to rest, by non-other than marko himself.

So pray for us as we learn, rest, pray and get ideas.

last night at church

2007-11-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

last night was our last evening of youth group (soon to be renamed) at church. I have been going through the Seven Checkpoints and setting foundations for our students. It has been really good...anyway, I ended our time last night by talking about putting others first and used the best example of all, Jesus. I closed by explaining just how Jesus puts us first and talked a little bit about Phil. 2. Then I asked how many of them were starting to see and understand this for the first time. I had them close their eyes so they weren't looking around and invited them to respond if this was making sense. 9 HANDS WENT UP! I was so excited to see a big group of our students begin to see what Jesus has done for them and respond to his actions!

Please be praying for these students in particular as we break for the Christmas season. We are going to keep in touch with them but they will be attacked and I want to make sure that they are prayed for by as many people as possible. So celebrate and pray for strength! Thanks.

where we live and work

2007-11-12T12:38:00.001-07:00

one of my good friends asked me to put up some pictures of what our house and church look like so he has a picture in his head as he prays. Since we all interpret things differently I think there is a lot of validity to his request. So I took some pictures to give you an idea:

Here's the view from my office window. I haven't been there at sundown much lately cause I've been coaching basketball but when the sun starts to get low...let me tell you, it's beautiful. I've also been told a couple of eagles will fly by my window.

Here's the view from the stage in our youth room. It's gonna look a lot different in a short while. We do have some fun stuff going on...everything from carpetball to air hockey, to pool. The kids like to hang out there, now we just need them to invite their friends to come be with us.

I had never really seen red mountains like this before, but now I get to see them all the time.

So there you have it...a little view of what things look like in our life. As things continue to change and adjust I'll keep you updated. Please keep us in your prayers as we do our best in everything to glorify God.

*update: I lost of few of the pictures, no idea what happened, but I'll take some more and get them up on this post soon

Dare2Share

2007-11-11T21:37:00.001-07:00

this weekend we took 8 students from our church to dare2Share in denver. I have been really impressed with d2s since they first came to Seattle and I have to say that they do a great job of teaching/training the students, and adults, who go. Our students returned (we got back at about 1:00 am this morning) with more of a purpose. We have been going through YFC's 3story evangelism training and I have seen them begin to change and open up about what they think and how they want to approach telling people about Jesus. both d2s and 3story work well together because d2s gave our students the fire and more of a purpose for sharing their faith while 3story has given them tools for sharing with their friends in a way that is real and relational.

If you aren't familiar with d2s, one of the main parts of the weekend is the outreach experience. they sent 10,000 people out to the streets of denver to collect canned food and talk to people about Jesus. Taking a cue from my friend brian (a great YP in Seattle), I talked to our kids, and about 40 others from Price Utah, before we went door to door. I told them that they did not have to force anything and that the most effective way to share Jesus is with someone you know in a relationship that you have. I instructed them not to hold back, but also not to force the issue. well, I went around with two of my students and one of them admitted that she didn't like the idea of going door to door. WE had a great conversation about how sharing your faith with both people you know and don't know is valid and the more doors we went to the more comfortable she got. by the end of the experience I was standing at the back and watching as the 2 students I was with were talking to people and collecting food. I was really proud of them.

Please pray for our students as we are almost done with 3story and I will be challenging them to invite their friends to parties, events, and youth group.

One last thing, we're changing the name from Youth Group to "?" if you have any ideas leave them in the comments...

October Pictures

2007-11-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

the pictures that I thought were the best from last month:

sometimes the unbelievable happens

2007-10-30T21:40:00.000-06:00

I am an avid espn.com watcher. So tonight as I relaxed I surfed on over and spotted an article that looked interesting. We don't have TV so I didn't see this right after it happened, but it truly is incredible and history worthy. The play takes 1:02 in totality and contains no less than 15 laterals (that's passing the ball backward for the football unoriented). It's a great play, especially to see a D-III team get all the coverage they have gotten.

In other news...I have been coaching and it has taken a lot of time, but it has certainly been worth it. We had our first game tonight, and now we know what we need to work on. The relationships you build through something like coaching cannot be replicated by spending an hour or two a week with some guys just doing something. It has been great and we have seen a couple of the guys already come to our youth group through the influence of their friends.

For Halloween we are having a party and hanging out with each other. I rearranged the room this morning (with the help of Lori, she was great) and I think it's a much more welcoming and inviting room. It certainly will help for tomorrow night. I have asked our students to invite their friends so they can come and have a good time. Please be in prayer for our events and for the students that come.

a bonified ministry update

2007-10-17T22:54:00.001-06:00

so since i haven't added anything lately about what we are doing ministry wise...here ya go.

I have started coaching the 7th grade boys B-team at the local middle school. I already have more recognition and relationships with students after only three days of practice. It has been fun, and I realize now just how out of shape I am. Some of those guys make me look old, but I have held my own in the running drills that I have joined in on. The season is short (only 6 weeks!) but I think this will be really valuable time. One thing it does is make me really busy! I still have all the duties at church that I have to perform while coaching for 15 hours a week.

Sunday School: we started the YFC 3 Story curriculum 2 weeks ago. It's a great program that teaches kids to share their faith using their story and what they are going through right now. You can find out about it here. The kids have started to get a hold of it and they have been talking in small groups during the lessons which have been really good! The feedback has been mostly positive and I think it is having an effect.

Youth Group: we are still combined but we have been having more and more kids show up. Tonight we had 32 come and be a part of it. I have been doing lessons on foundations and asking the students what they are basing their life on. My hope is that they begin to think about the foundations of their life so that when we come back together in January we have a foundation to build on. I have also tried to make it as welcoming to their non-Christian friends as possible. We're going to keep encouraging them to bring their friends.

Dare2Share is Nov. 9th-10th in Denver and I am going to take as many as can go. It's a great training event that we are going to take advantage of. The difference this time is that I have to find a hotel or place for us to stay. We have been close enough before that we didn't have to do that, but we can't commute from Glenwood to Denver...it's just a little too far. The kids are looking forward to Dare2Share, it's gonna be fun.

Please keep praying for these things that are going on. The one other thing I would ask for would be that I do a good job of being with my family during this especially busy time. Coaching, teaching, and planning take up a lot of time.

need a laugh? Watch Darth

2007-10-16T18:47:00.000-06:00

Marko from Youth Specialties has a blog that I watch and read frequently and he somehow discovered this. I know it's not about ministry at all, but it is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. You NEED to take the couple of minutes to watch this.

Blues Darth Vader
Uploaded by dnombre6

September Pictures

2007-10-14T20:19:00.000-06:00

A lot of times your family life and ministry life intertwine and one really effects the other. Here are pictures from last month of some of the things that have been effecting me.

If you would rather see them bigger you can CLICK HERE

we're officially locals

2007-10-10T21:58:00.000-06:00

on monday morning we took the boys to the library because we heard a rumor that they were having a book sale. A pretty big collection of books was available to be had a really good price. And since we want the boys to be good readers we thought that it would be good to take them down and let them pick their own books. Some other people have had the same idea, but we beat them to it. In fact, Anne and the boys made the local paper! That's right...I would consider us locals now that the name "Coe" has been printed for all around the town to read. Click HERE to read the story.

Other than that we have been busy (a little too busy to keep posting and since I haven't seen many comments I don't think many people read this...comment if you do to keep me encouraged). I'll have a ministry update soon.

syatp

2007-09-28T10:40:00.000-06:00

a long time ago some guys from Texas with mustaches had a thought that would end up changing the lives of a bunch of students. syatp was a direct result of their creative thinking. This year we (in the Glenwood/Roaring Fork valley area) came together and encouraged our students to get out and pray at their flagpole. We went out with them and prayed alongside them for their schools, teachers, administrators, friends and family. It was a really cool morning.

It was also FREAZING COLD! Many of them went inside early because they were so cold and it took me about 2 hours to really warm up when I got home...but it was all worth it. Here are some of the stories the kids told me later that night.

Some people thought that someone at school had died so there was a rumor that went around Glenwood High (really fast!) about who it might have been and a bunch of questions that went flying around.

Our students got asked what they were doing and when they told their friends they were praying the immediate question was, "why?" Hopefully that leads to an open door later on that our students will be able to use to talk to their friends about Jesus.

Overall it was a great morning with a bunch of our students turning out to pray for their schools and their friends. Please pray that this one small event will lead to discussions that our students will be able to direct toward Jesus. Also please pray that they have the boldness to proclaim what they believe to their friends. They care so much what their friends think that many of them shy away from this right now. They need to be BOLD!

crazily creative

2007-09-23T17:33:00.000-06:00

Some people are so creative it makes me sick. Then I have to sit back and enjoy what they have made. This is the case with this animation. You owe it to yourself to check it out. You can thank me in the comments.

http://www.atomfilms.com/film/animator_vs_animation_2.jsp

first wednesday night

2007-09-20T17:46:00.000-06:00

last night we had our first GTW (Get Together Wednesdays...yeah we need a new name for that, so if you can think of something better leave it in the comments and I'll pass it on). We had almost 30 students come for the first night! It was great to see that many come out and be a part of what we're starting here. A lot of parents and adults came too to help and be there and they were all greatly appreciated.

Please keep praying for me as I am working on finding out what people's gifts are and placing them in positions that would allow them to use their gifts and be a productive part of our team.

he walks

2007-09-18T20:46:00.000-06:00

as you may know Keenen has taken his sweet time entering the realm of the bi-ped. tonight that changed. as I was out on an errand his grandma decided to play with him and convinced him that he should "come get me!" I could continue to explain or you can just see for yourself (we did have to bribe him with a cell phone that he could play with)...

an encouraging weekend at Frontier Ranch

2007-09-16T20:51:00.000-06:00

I spent the weekend at Frontier Ranch. If you don't know where that it it's in Buena Vista Colorado and was the 2nd camp property that Young Life purchased. It is home to Jim Rayburn's favorite spot to go and pray and I found out why when I got there (really the morning after we got there). It was a YL leader training weekend but we were invited to join...there were 7 different ministries from our valley, that's cool!

It was great to be with people who love teenagers and only want to see the best for them. we talked a lot about how we can work together to be as effective as possible. There are a lot of kids in our valley that don't know Jesus and it was cool to see people come together to figure out how to change that.

One funny thing...before dinner Zac and I went to the bathroom to wash our hands...and there was a line! so I made a quick quip asking if anyone had ever peed in the sink (something i've seen in Seattle stadiums). that started an entire conversation about peeing in the sink/shower that was pretty funny. when I finished washing my hands I opened the door and realized that someone was praying for the dinner! So everyone was quiet except for the guys in the bathroom talking about peeing in the shower. And wouldn't you know it, the tables close to the door could hear exactly what we were talking about...oops. Just imagine that prayer...dear Jesus (of course I pee in the shower!)...

I came home energized and ready to see what is going to happen in our valley as we do our best to collaborate. Please pray that we will see fruit from our efforts and that we will communicate well and have events that reach kids where they're at.

and so it begins

2007-09-13T22:31:00.000-06:00

we have begun...last Sunday we had our first "Sunday School" and I had a chance to meet many of the students who attend the church (or have in the past). It has been a long time since they have had someone as their youth pastor and many of them have given up and started going to other churches to find something that applies to them. But since we got here we have heard a lot of encouraging things and many of them came on Sunday morning. we also invited the parents and a number of them showed up.

We had a good time and I got to introduce myself and let the students know what I am all about and just how we got to Mountain View. It was fun and the doughnuts sure helped people relax.

Tuesday and Wednesday we had a staff retreat that really helped me understand and get to know some of the other staff. Most of them have been here for years and could tell you about things like when the river started running through town. Since I'm new and I don't know those details it was good for me to be there and get to know them. I realized that we really do have a caring group of people that want to make a difference and when they let their guard down we have a lot in common (except that they don't like the right football team...GO HAWKS!). It was a really team building time and I think we all came away feeling more like a team, with a singular vision.

Tonight we had a volunteer meeting and it was fun to see how some of the older people reacted to new leadership. It is always complex when the people on the leadership team are older than I am and have kids that are my age (or older!). I heard it said a number of times that, "you could be my son." And let me tell you, if there is a way to encourage someone in a position of leadership it doesn't really sound like that. They are good people who have heart to see youth rooted in Jesus and serving Him. Almost everyone who has not been able to commit to serving has said that we can use their house, or they'll drive, or they'll cook, or they'll support in some way. I am encouraged to hear that people want to be a support even if they can't commit to being at the meetings and events.

I started a fantasy football league for the church...and I won my first game. The best part is that we're going to do a slide on Sunday morning that will show the standings for the league. We'll see if anyone notices and thinks it's an affront to church life...I'll keep you posted on how I do.

On a completely separate, but equally awesome note, Jerdan is pretty stinkin' close to being potty trained. He has gone two days without an accident and just lets us know that he's going and off he goes. Now if we can get him to put his underwear back on when he's done.

Please keep praying for wisdom and direction. We need volunteers and people who will be committed to helping in a very hands on way. So please pray that we can identify them and give them the vision to get excited about.

Design

2007-09-04T10:57:00.001-06:00

In the beginning God...

God had a chance to design and create and make things how He wanted them to be. i think He had a great time putting things together and laughing when he made something that no one else could comprehend. just think about how He must have giggled when he first glimposed the ostrich...that is a funny looking animal. creating is an exciting thing and we have been made with the capacity to create. and now that we have been here for almost 2 weeks I have *officially* started working, the process of designing something has started. Designing something that is worthwile, impacting, fun, and fruitful. I have an opportunity to "create" as well and I'm simultaneously thrilled and nervous.

So here's a glimpse at what I get to do in the next week and beyond. We have a youth room that needs to be cleaned up and organized so that it is a useful space. Program needs to be designed to be effective and relational. Relationships need to be formed with the students and parents in the church. A team needs to be brought together and bonded. And I have to organize my office and take care of some administrative work as well...

Please pray for me and for our family as I start this process of creating...I have help and wise council and I want to do the best that I can but I know I can't do it without wisdom...and I need wisdom!

the beginnings

2007-08-30T17:48:00.000-06:00

I'm going to try something new...that's right I'm going to try to keep people updated through a blog that you don't have to visit a social networking site to see. I am tired to multiposting to myspace and facebook and I hope this will be a lot easier and better.

this will also be a place for me to drop pictures for people to see before the monthly email arrives in your box and if you really want to see what's going on in our lives you can subscribe to the feed (it's that orange icon in your address bar) and whenever I throw something up you will see a little note that it's been updated.so if you care what we did today and what I've been thinking here ya go!

We took the kids to aspen. We really wanted to see the maroon bells which are near aspen. it just so happens that you have to park and take the shuttle (lame!) and pay for it (more lame). when I went before we didn't have to pay and we drove right to them. since you have to pay we decided against that and opted for something free. So we parked near a park in aspen and walked to John Denver's Sanctuary. Not the coolest place ever but there were some big rocks and a stream to throw rocks in.

I must say Keenen is developing well as all he really wanted to do was get wet and throw rocks in the water...he is all boy.Jerdan found some big rocks to jump off of and i was overjoyed to get some good pictures of the action. overall we had a great time and now I believe I am ready to start work.

There is a lot to do so if you want to pray for me/us i'd appreciate it. We are getting settled but there is still a lot to do. I have the opportunity to create a new youth program and need all the wisdom I can get. I'm going to use this space to chronicle the things we try and let you all know how things are progressing.