Winter Camp '09

This past weekend was our youth ministry's Winter Camp. We had a great time on the ridiculous tubing hill and the drive over the pass provided enough memories and inside jokes to last for a long time. The best part however, was seeing the kids engaging God in worship and praying for each other. The last night, after service we were packing up and getting ready to head back over the mountain and I started to feel a tickle in my throat. So now I am fighting a pretty bad cold. I am thankful that it waited until we were done with camp to come on.
The speaker for the camp was Roosevelt Hunter who really connected with the kids. On Sunday morning, he spoke at New Life in the Main Services and absolutely KILLED it! I think the funniest thing he said was in regard to Jesus not being white or black but in the middle: "He was white enough to get into the dignified places but dark enough to eat chicken with the brothas on the weekend."
Roosevelt is dealing with cancer and if you read this, say a prayer for him and his family as they go through it.
Here are some inside jokes from the weekend, you probably won't get any of them but I put them on here for posterity.
Fly Away
Busting Grumpys
"No, I have coffee."
T-Shirt
"Uh, they have good coffee there."
"Ees on dee paper, ees close enough"
"I don't know anything about trailers...I don't know anything about guys either."

Camp Food

I got back yesterday from leading worship at the Northwest Ministry Network PK retreat in Easton, WA. It was a pretty good time. I had never been to this particular retreat so I didn't know quite what to expect. You know the stories about PKs. They were a cool group though and we had a good time leading them in worship. Easton is only about an hour from where I live so it wasn't a long drive but it still felt like a road trip and as we all know, the best thing about road trips is coming away with inside jokes*.
We got back to the church about 3pm and then had rehearsal for Simply Worship at 5. We had dinner at 6 and then Simply Worship at 7. It has been a busy couple days for me. 5 worship services in 3 days, all with a cold. I am excited about having the next 2 days off with my family.


*Vacuums
*Loading Dock
*T-Shirts
*Release the Creeper!
*Montana, Montana, Montana
*Is that a Gibson?

Intrigue, rescue, danger, waterfalls, and knifeplay: A retrospective.

I think it's time to finally post my take on the events and happenings during my recent whitewater rafting trip with some people from the church office. I had made mention of some things in previous posts and I feel now is the time to reveal what really happened.

We had planned to leave Brent's house at 8am Friday morning. As I was heading toward 405 I turned the radio to hear the traffic report. I was encouraged to hear the people say that it was a surprisingly light commute for a Friday...except for northbound 405 between the Maple Valley Highway and the Kennydale hill; exactly where I needed to travel on 405. It wasn't really that bad and I actually made it on time.

Haley and Rachel had a little trouble finding Brent's house and we ended up leaving at about 8:15am. A quick stop at Starbucks to fuel up and say hello to Gordon Wayne Gunther and we were on our way. Traffic was light and we made good time stopping only for gas in Kalama, WA.

Once we made it to Oregon, we headed east on 84. A few miles down the road, we were ahead of schedule so we decided to stop at Multnomah Falls. It is an impressive sight cascading from a sheer cliff 620 feet high. You can hike up to a bridge looking up at the falls or continue on up to the top of the cliff. We didn't have all day so we were satisfied with looking up.

Back in the car, we continued along 84 to Hood River and crossed the toll bridge. The woman in front of us was apparently nervous as she was going 20 in a 35. It wasn't about the bridge either because once we got across, she continued at her ridiculous pace. We could see her on the phone, of course. The funny part was when we passed one of those police radar things that tell you how fast you are going. the limit was 25 and she was rolling along at 20. We were laughing because if we didn't, we probably would have thrown something at her car!

We arrived at the base for the rafting company and were immediately suited up with wetsuits, splash jackets and helmets. I can't say enough about the professionalism and courtesy of the staff at Zoller rafting. Check them out at http://www.zooraft.com/. It was hot and in those suits and jackets made it sweaty. We were introduced to our guide Jon and off we went. We shoved off in to the unknown. This is where things got real interesting. A few rapids into our trip we were having fun, getting used to the feel and motion of the mini raft we were in. One of the employees was travelling down the river in an inflatable kayak next to us. In the middle of a rapid, he turned over the kayak and it got away from him. we immediately went into Coast Guard mode. The guide told us to keep paddling and if we could grab the guy or his boat, do it. Brent grabbed the kayak and our guide pulled the guy into our raft. After about 30 seconds, he managed to get his boat righted, and away he went. We felt pretty cool. After that, we felt up for anything. We continued down the river getting soaked and loving it. There is nothing like nautical rescue to help you get over your anxiety. I felt like I was sitting on something and couldn't figure out why I was so uncomfortable. I realized then that I had forgotten to remove my wallet from my back pocket. Dang.

A little while later in a relatively smooth section of the river, I noticed something shiny in the bottom of the boat. Upon further inspection, I realized that it was a 7 inch diver's knife in the bottom of our inflatable raft. I asked Brent if it was his and he said "no" (He's not much of a talker). We asked the guide but it wasn't his. He was pretty freaked out by it too. He wasn't sure what to do with it and apparently this was his first encounter with aquatic/cutlery fusion. He put it away in a bag he brought and we continued all the while keeping our eyes peeled for other boaters in need of rescue.

The river was beautiful and the scenery was amazing. The climate is like a perfect blend of eastern and western Washington. Lots of both evergreen and ponderosa, volcanic rock and wildflowers.

We finished our trip and took an old school bus back to base. The facilities were nice, save for the communal changing rooms.

We began the trek home and stopped for costco polish dogs in Vancouver. We drove home on I-5 as the sun was beginning to set. It turned the landscape golden like it does in the summer. That is my favorite time of day; when the sun is at an angle and it lights up everything with an amber hue. It even makes people's eyes look cool. We arrived back at Brent's place around 9pm and headed our separate ways.

It was a great day and a fun trip with lots of memories made. Although multiple theories exist as to how and why the knife ended up in our boat, most involving Scooby Doo style mysteries, I choose to chalk it up to the fact that wherever I go, intrigue follows. Whenever I set foot outside my front door, danger is lurking. If it's not a knife in a rubber raft, it's, well, it's something dangerous. Of that you can be certain.

Road trips and inside jokes

I got to go on a road trip yesterday and I love road trips! A couple of us went white water rafting. I will spare you the details for now but I will tell you that there was a 14 foot waterfall involved. One of my favorite things about road trips is developing inside jokes. Inside jokes are awesome because I enjoy awkwardness and when you reference an inside joke in mixed company, there is always an awkward laugh from someone who isn't sure what you are talking about but thinks they might know. Then there is the awkward conversation where you have to explain that the reference you made was in fact to an inside joke. It's not that I like making people feel dumb: I just like to laugh. So if you ever hear me say something that is obviously supposed to be funny but you don't think it is, just assume that I am making a reference to a hilarious inside joke. Because that's probably what happened and somebody somewhere is laughing hysterically. A-like so: "I've never seen a white salmon, but I have seen a white whale. Snap."

Hilarious.