Derelict Theology

The above title can be sung to the tune of “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane”…..I know, it’s not that funny.  The fact remains, however, that tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., Erin and I will depart from Adamsville, TN heading toward Atlanta, GA.  It’s not very often that we get to go on vacation, and so when we do, we really enjoy it.  While we’re in Atlanta, we plan on heading to the Coca-Cola Museum and Centennial Park, maybe, and one of our main goals is to eat dinner each night at a place that is completely off the map, away from chain restaurants.  We figure we can eat at those anytime, so why not try something different while we’re down there? 

Updates around here have been few and far between, I realize that, but every time I think to update, I always end up putting it off or thinking that I really don’t have anything to update about.  To tell the truth, I think I’m right.  There’s just really not that much going on around here right now, except for the vacation, and I’d rather just not bore you.  Starting next week, once we’re back, I’ll put up some pictures from last week’s concert and our trip to Atlanta.  Adios!

As the title of this post implies, I’m freakin’ worn out!  These past two weeks have simply run over me like a freight train and I’m pretty sure there is no light at the end of this tunnel.  I think over the past week I have put in about 100 hours at work, plus tried to squeeze in a little home life and some recreation for myself.  It’s hard sometimes to be a youth minister, but it really is worth it. 

 Saturday we had our annual Youth Awards Day here at church.  It’s possibly my favorite event we do, besides camp.  Basically, we have an awards ceremony where we give the youth serious and silly awards based on their accomplishments during the year and also some of their unforgettable moments.  We give out awards like “Most Likey To Be Injured on a Church Trip”, “Drama Queen Award”, and “6th Grade Heartthrob” which goes to the guy who is the reason most 6th grade girls can’t wait to move up into the youth ministry.  We grill, play games, and have a huge water war to top the day off.  All in all, it’s a great experience!  I hope to get some pictures up from this years awards day, but I have to get them off my camera first. 

 Sunday was another big event, our Senior Roast.  We do this every year in honor of our high school graduates.  We have a nice meal, put together a slideshow of pictures, and let their parents, other family, and friends tell embarassing stories about them.  A great time is usually had by all, and tears are shed, too.  The event this year went off without a hitch, which was a blessing!  But, I was at the church from 7:45 - 12, then back at 3 - 10 that night, so I didn’t have a Sunday, it seems.

 There is no time to rest for a youth minister once school is out, and yesterday was no exception.  I took one of our graduates out for lunch for his graduation gift, then we retired to my house, where I tried to stay awake while playing UNO on Xbox Live.  We left a little later to go to another youth’s house, where we packed four people onto one four wheeler and went to the middle of his pasture to shoot model rockets.  We only got to shoot it once though, because it went so high and the pieces were so spread out that looking for them took up all our time.  I did get to see a baby pig though, and smelled what it was like to be down on the farm for the first time.  I can honestly say that farming is yet another job I know that God has not called me to.

From there it was dinner at La Potosina here in Adamsville and then back to our house for games and lots of yelling (ERRRRRRDAY!) until finally all left except the girls who spent the night with Erin.  I didn’t get into bed until 12, and so needless to say, worn out + tired = exhausted today.  Tonight offers no hope of rest however, because today is our big concert event that area youth ministries have planned with Freshmen 15 and Calls From Home.  We’re expecting a big turn out, you can expect pictures tomorrow. 

 That’s all.

This has been a rollercoaster of a week.  Sorry for those who read this page regularly, I know I haven’t updated much and I need to fix that, but I haven’t had a whole lot of time between work, life issues, and a small bit of free time for myself.  I’m going to recap the last few days quickly, and hope for the best.

 Wednesday was our year end TeamKid Bash for the children of our church.  They rotated through gamestations and the youth served in each one, playing against the kids and helping them to learn the games.  We had a great time, and several of our youth and one youth sponser got soaked playing Drip Drip Drop.  Afterwards we had hot dogs for the kids and they surprised Erin and I with a birthday cake, which was totally unexpected.  I love our church.  We stayed afterwards and moved tables and set up the set for our Awards Day this weekend for the youth, which is the main reason I haven’t updated the blog in such a long time.  I’ve put in about 50 hours work on the thing already, it’s still not done, and it’s tomorrow!!!!  ARRRGH! 

On Wednesday afternoon, we also got some news about Avery.  For those of you who have been following the story, Avery, my cousin Tadd’s son, has passed away.  Wednesday morning after a really rough night, the family met with doctors who told them they were 99% sure there was nothing else they could do for little Avery.  So, they made the decision to disconnect the life support machines.  Tadd and Julie spent Avery’s last moments holding him in his favorite blanket, while they listened to the classical music that always seemed to calm him down when he was so sick.  Thank you all for praying if you did, and continue to pray, they need all the help they can get right now, the funeral is tomorrow as well.

 Last night we finished decoration for Awards Day, which took from 6-9 p.m., then Erin and I came home, and I worked on the powerpoint for the event until 1:45 in the morning, when I just crashed because I was so tired.  Today I’ve gone to Henderson to pick up our music minister’s son and tonight our praise team with practice in preperation for tomorrow and Sunday.  Plus, our Senior Recognition Day and Graduate Roast is Sunday as well.

 If I make it through this weekend, I think I deserve a pizza…..or at least a trophy full of Steak’ems.

Yesterday was my birthday, so the irony of a birthday post one day later does not slip past me.  My wife and I have birthdays that are right after each others, hers on the 14th, mine on the 15th.  So, we usually just have one big birthday party and we both get some gifts.  This year’s birthday was fun, thanks to all the birthday wishes from friends and family, some nice gifts, a couple of very delicious cakes made by our youth, and being able to spend some time together. 

 Today marks a very momentous occasion.  It was 15 years ago that the last fully original 2-D Super Mario Bros. game was released on the Super NES system.  That game was called Super Mario World, and it was an amazing piece of code.  Today, that all changed, with New Super Mario Bros., for the Nintendo DS.  I rushed to Gamestop today to pick it up, and was in Mario heaven from the very moment of putting it in my DS and turning it on.  This is a fantastic game and if you have a DS and you don’t have it yet……what’s wrong with you!  Beg, borrow, or trade, it doesn’t matter.  Find a way to get this game!

 For those wondering, Avery is doing better, but he did not have his surgery.  It has been postponed indefinitely until another evaluation by the doctors.  They are saying it doesn’t look good for him.  I believe prayer changes things and I believe that God will answer our prayers if we go to Him.  Please be in prayer for Tadd, Julie, Allie, and Avery Potter.  They are amazing people and Avery’s story is amazing, and inspiring.  Let’s all just pray he gets better soon.

Tonight: kids ballgames and dinner from Sonic, and more New Super Mario Bros.

Avery had a great day today, and the doctor’s have approved his trip to Michigan for Friday!  He will get there, rest a couple of days, and have a big, tough surgery. This is his one shot to get better short of a miracle healing.  Please pray for him, and his family.  If you’d like to, you can visit his website and blog here and leave some kind of prayer or comment for the family.

 http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/averypotter

Thank you for all your prayers.

This is Avery.  He’s my cousin Tadd’s baby boy, born in October of last year.  Since his birth, Avery has not come home due to extreme health problems.  Avery was born prematurely, and the veins around his heart and lungs are not strong enough to allow those organs to grow.  His body has grown slowly, but his internal organs have not.  Avery needs help.  He needs lots of love and prayers right now, as they are getting ready to go to Michigan to have a special, risky surgery done called a vein overlay.  The doctors feel like he would do well with the surgery, but he cannot be moved until he is well.  Avery has pneumonia right now as well, and must recover before he can be transported.  Please take time this week to pray for Avery as well as Tadd, Julie, and his big sister Ally. 

Pray for healing. 

Pray for a miracle.

Thursday I decided that it was necessary to end the bees’ reign of tyranny on my backyard.  So, in a daring show of power which included me rushing my shed with arms flailing while screaming “Get back bees, get back!”  I managed to secure my lawnmower and gas can, and then I had a good time mowing my yard that afternoon.  Thanks and shout outs to everyone who passed by my yard and honked their horn at me while I was mowing, while probably thinking “Wow…I’m glad I’m not that guy.”  You make life worth it.

 Friday morning I slept in (8:30 a.m.  Does that count?) and took my time getting ready, since Erin had the Scion and I had to take her car to put tires on it.  Turns out she didn’t need new tires, but that wasn’t the big surprise of the morning.  I get on the computer to check my email before I head out to Walmart, and Erin messages me on MSN, telling me there’s a surprise for me in the front yard.  Curious, I get ready to go and head outside, thinking I’ll find it on my way out.  I get out there, look around, and see nothing in our side yard, so I think it’s nothing, until I get to our actual front yard.  There, just a few feet from the road, is a freaking DEAD ARMADILLO.  Yep.  You heard it right, folks.  ARM-A-DILL-O.  Nasty.  So I had to be the man, get the shovel, and toss it into the field across the road.  I guess it got hit by a car and managed to waddle into our yard before it’s life ceased.  Thanks, Mother Nature.  By the way, two armadillo facts I learned from this experience. 

1.  Armadillo are very heavy.  I swear I could barely get it on the shovel. 

2.  Armadillo carry 7 strains of the virus that causes leprosy.  Great.  Just great. (Thanks Andy.)

So Erin did not have to have new tires on her car (phew) and I scooted over to Gamestop, picked up the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children DVD and watched it that afternoon.  Two words for it: simply amazing.  Wonderful animation, awesome fight scenes, great dialogue and voice actors.  It was just great.  Everything that Final Fantasy The Movie should’ve been but wasn’t.  Saturday we had to take the youth to a concert to support a friend of theirs from school, and it was screamy.  I like that stuff some, but not enough to hear 5 bands worth of it.  They did good though and we left afterwards to get some ice cream and come on back to Adamsville.  We also got to make the trip in our brand new church bus, which is awesome!  26 passenger bus = intimidating for someone who is trying to get their CDL license, which is me.  Maybe I won’t have to actually drive it much. 

 Today was a citywide church picnic, which was a great idea, but I think it got ruined by the chilly air.  I was even cold by the end of it, which doesn’t happen very often to me.  But it was good to get to worship with other believers from different churches, so it was a good afternoon.  Oh yeah, and I got hit in the mouth with a football.  Fun times.

Now to face another week and meet the challenges head on…..hopefully.

Some of you know I collect Transformers.  Some of you don’t, but now you do.  Well, just last month, I finally broke the barrier and I now own over 1,000 Transformers.  In celebration, I took some pictures of my collection, which you can see by clicking the link below.  If you are a child of the 80’s, take a walk down memory lane, and even if you’re not, click the link and enjoy my pictures!

 http://www.wreckedandruled.com/gallery/view_album.php?page=1

This afternoon I came in from work and was all fired up to mow my yard.  I got some work clothes on, go the iPod ready, and when I went to our shed to get out our mower, what do I see? 

Bees.

I hate bees.  I dont’ care what kind they are, but I hate them.  I honestly don’t know why God created them.  They just bumble around, being annoying, and stinging people.  Stupid bees.  So I tried to get the mower out, but this one bee just wasn’t having that.  he was hovering in front of the opening of our shed, and when I tried to get close, he would fly at my face!  So I backed off, and then I saw something even worse than bees.

 Bees fighting each other. 

 Yep, there is a full scale bee war going on in my backyard, and I believe it is the front shed bees who are attacking the back shed bees for total supremacy of the outside of my shed. 

 *sigh* And I was going to be so productive…..