Countdown to Dublin...

Only 13 days till we head to Ireland for the Dublin Prayer Conference!!!

We are happy to report that we have raised all of the support needed for the trip. We praise God for providing all that we needed.

We were also excited to see the itinerary for the conference. You know us planning types - hard to get too excited before we actually know what is going to happen. Rumor has it we might be exposed to some Irish dancing...

Backyard fun...

I had forgotten how much fun VBS or Backyard Bible Clubs could be. Dan was a crew leader for the preschool age group (4-5) and he had 6 little beautiful children to shepard around to all of the activity stations. I helped out on Tuesday and was so blessed by the children and their joy that on Friday when the preschool group would be short a leader I volunteered to help out again. I truly loved the three hours I spent with them those days.

One of my favorite things at Backyard Bible Clubs was that the theme for the day was reiterated at each station. For example, on Tuesday we learned about Jesus healing a blind man with mud so at the first station we had the Bible story, then at the games we played with mud, and then at snacks we ate mud (chocolate pudding and gramham crackers). It was neat and just encouraging to see the children be able to use all five senses while learning about God and the truths of Christ. It actually caused me to reflect on my own learning about God and how I'm sure that I would remember better if I engaged more of my senses in the learning process.

What a blessing to spend time and invest in covenant children and to share the Gospel with the world.

Anchors away...

A few weeks ago, the staff from Uptown Church (where I am currently interning) went on a retreat to Isle of Palms, SC. One of the things we got to do was go on a sailboat cruise. It was a lot of fun. Below is the group picture we managed to get (thanks to Jessica):



















(in the back row: moi, Josh, Shannon, and Shane; in the middle row: the pastors - Tom, Dave, and Mike; and in the front: Jay, Julie, and Jessica)

Word clouds...

Thanks to Jake for pointing me to a program called Wordle which allows you to make a word "cloud" from any text that you enter into it. Here's the one I made from Ephesians 1:3-14 :

Ahh...smokeout!

I just got home from one of my favorite events: smokeout. Guys sitting around smoking pipes and cigars and drinking some brew while talking about weird surgeries, sports, politics, and whatever else we can think of. This prescription is by far a cure for whatever ails you...

And for the record, never drink a Modelo. I am not sure that it is even beer, but apparently it tastes good with a lemon. I didn't have a lemon - beer and fruit do not naturally go together. Sorry Blue Moon and Corona drinkers.

Pleasantly surpised...

So, I got the July 2008 electronic edition of the Banner of Truth magazine and one of my pictures that I put up on the other blog was the cover photo! Here's the props from the inside cover:

Cover Picture:

A tour of the book room at the U.S. Banner Ministers’ Conference, held at Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania, 27–29 May, 2008. Iain Murray is guiding those new to the Conference to useful Banner titles. He is holding up one of the books in the new Pocket Puritans series (see p. 12 of this issue, and inside the back cover). Thanks to Dan Layman for the picture (from his blog, www.thelaymanchronicles.blogspot.com).

Here's the pic (taken with the iPhone):

Pure entertainment...

Alright, so my buddy Link and his comedic friend Rhett have been traveling across America making videos for Alka Seltzer's Great American Road Trip. The first of 21 videos was released today and it hilarious. I present it here for your viewing pleasure. Keep up with the whole series at the link above or at their website.