BreakAway 2009

BreakAway 2009 is almost here!

Just in case you never pay attention at church, check your email or mailbox, here is the information again.

When: March 27-29
Where: Molalla Retreat Center
Cost: $70 or $50 dollars if you bring a friend

Sign up by March 8th and you get a free t-shirt!

Here are some pictures from last year...

Our Sunday

Yesterday was an exciting day at CKC.

It was Danny's last day at church. He is (or was) our worship leader but is headed to do missions work in China. It has been awesome to get to know him over the past two years and watch him lead our students. He will be greatly missed! However, I am excited that God has brought along other people who will be leading our worship team.

We also had an Arizona mission trip meeting.

We will once again be working with the Navajo Native Americans. We will run a Vacation Bible School for the children in the area.

We have now had two meeting to prepare for the trip. In order to go on the trip each student has to share their testimony with the rest of the group. So, yesterday Sun shared her testimony with us. It was awesome! I want to just type it up and put it on here but I wont steal her thunder...

I'm excited to hear everyone else share their stories!

Finally, Charissa and I stopped by the 50th wedding anniversery of a couple I know. I don't knwo if you caught that, but I said 50th wedding anniversery. Thats a long time! Its pretty rare today to see people who stay married at least 20 years, yet alone 50 years. Its pretty cool to see a couple who honors God and has been faithful to him and each other that long.

Anyways...it was a busy day...but a good one.

Florida pt. 4

The conference ended last night. So, over the past five days I have heard 28 speakers!

I'll be flying home today! I'm ready to go home. As much as I like the weather, I'm excited to see Charissa.

Anyways, I'll see most of you soon!

Florida pt. 3

Over the past few days I have heard some pretty incredible speakers. It is overwhelming at times. I feel like I have already gotten my money's worth...and I still have a whole day left tomorrow.

I have heard men who have been pastors for over 40 years. Pastors who have huge churches and pastors of small churches. I have heard seminary presidents, Christian leaders, and publishing company executives. I have heard messages on a variety of subjects, but common theme binds them altogether.

Passion.

Passion for Christ. Passion to know Christ and make his name known.

The thing is, none of them said that was their passion. I could just see it. I wonder if people see that in me? Their enthusiasm is contagious. The important thing is, passion isn't something you can make up. Sure, you can pretend, but most people will see right through that. What our world needs is passionate believers.

The conclusion that I have come to is that in order to be passionate about something you have to become a disciple of it.

One of the speakers quoted Soren Kierkegaard who said,

There was a time when one could almost be afraid to call himself a disciple
of Christ because it meant so much. Now we can do it with complete ease
because it means nothing at all.

Maybe that is why so many Christians lack passion for their savior...we have so few real disciples. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the freedom of religion we experience in America. Yet, that freedom allows for mediocre Christians.

My point, I want to be so passionate about my savior that everyone knows I am a child of the king. That doesn't happen by me yelling louder...it happens as I follow Christ and become his disciple. Being a disciple means something.

It means to take up my cross and deny myself.

Florida pt.2

Yesterday I was driving downtown to find the church. I have a GPS system with me, so I typed in the address and let it do the rest. It took me to the middle of downtown! When I got to where the GPS said I should be...all I saw was high rise buildings. I thought I was lost, but then I realized I was in the right place. These building were the church. In fact, the church takes up nearly 12 city blocks.

That's not a typo, 12 city blocks. I wish you could see this place. It is pretty incredible. There is three separate parking structures!

Anyways, the whole trip has been great so far! I think I heard 8 different speakers today! All of them were amazing! I'm pretty tired now. I can't even begin to explain everything I heard. It is almost too much for me to digest in one day.

Tomorrow will not be quite as busy. I'll go to church tomorrow morning and at night but I don't have anything scheduled for the afternoon. I think I might drive to the beach and check out the warm ocean.

It's getting pretty late here...so I'll write more tomorrow.

Florida pt.1

I made it to Florida!

I love flying on planes, mainly because every time I fly it seems to be an adventure. Yesterday was no different.

Charissa and I got up at four in the morning and we drove to Portland. My plane took off at 6:50. After checking in, Charissa and I had a small breakfast in the airport before I had to walk through security. The flight from Portland to L.A. was pretty uneventful. However, I will say I had very bad luck with seating. I was actually excited because I had been assigned a window seat on all three of my flights. But, on this first flight, an old man had sat in my seat. He didn't know how to read his ticket right. He was already sitting when I arrived so I told him to stay and I took his seat on the aisle. Then, on my second flight, I had a window seat, but there was actually no window. For some reason, there was just no window in our row. So, that was a little disappointing. If I worked really hard I could see out the window in the row ahead of me, but it just wasn't the same. Finally, my last flight, from Atlanta to Jacksonville, I sat next to the window but it was right on the wing of the plane and I couldn't actually see much. Oh well...

Anyways...I sat in LAX for about two and a half hours waiting for my flight to take off. I basically just sat, ate some McDonalds and read some of my book. The flight was fine, a little long, but a movie and my Itouch kept me occupied.

My plane landed in Atlanta at 7:30pm and my next flight left at 8:15pm. So, I was a little crunched for time, especially when I don't know my way around the airport. As soon as I got off the plane I found someone to tell me where I should be. Turns out...I was about as far away as I could get from my gate. So, I quickly walked across the terminal I was in and down some stairs on caught the tram that circles the whole airport. My gate was in Terminal "E" and I got off my previous plane in the main Terminal. Thus, I got on the tram that had to stop at terminal "A,B,C, and D" before we ever got to mine. Finally, I got of the tram and walked up the stairs. As soon as I got up the stairs I heard an announcement over the intercom..."This is the final boarding call for Delta flight 332 heading for Jacksonville, Florida at gate E3." THAT WAS MY PLANE! I basically took off running. However, I was at gate E28 and I had to go clear to the other end of the terminal to get to my gate. So, out of breath,I made it to the gate and walked right on the plane, found my seat and we took off. It all happened so fast that I didn't really have time to be nervous, but I was pretty scared for a few moments.

After landing in Jacksonville I found my luggage and hooked up with my rental car and made it to my hotel. It was pretty cold last night! I thought Florida was suppose to be warm.

This morning, I slept in...mainly because my body has not adjusted to the new time zone. When I woke up I opened up the window and it is incredible outside. It is a little cold out, I had to wear a coat but it is still really nice.

Around lunch time I down to the church wear the conference is at and registered. There isn't any thing happening until 7:00pm tonight. So after registering I walked around the HUGE church for a little while and now have made my way back to my hotel.

So, I'm excited to get this thing started. Oh, and so far I have driven the wrong way on a one way street and spilled my coke on my shirt but I'm still excited to be here!

I'll keep you all updated on the rest of my trip...so check back soon.

A day for sporting

Yesterday Me, Charissa and Sun went to the Cresent Valley vs. Corvallis High school track meet. We went to watch San, Daniel, Jessica, Veronica, Jae and Michael. Here are a few pictures from the meet! Great job! Sorry we didn't get pictures of everyone.

Here is Jessica
Then Michael. Then a couple of San. And a couple of Veronica.

My Bench

The view is incredible from where I am sitting.

The sun is beginning to set and I can see the light reflecting off the snow covered mountains in the background. I’m not really good at guessing distance, but I bet I can see for miles right now. I can see across the valley- trees, roads, fields, and a few country homes.

It’s a peaceful place to be.

The cool thing is, it’s only a short walk from my house – in fact, when I’m really quiet I can hear my dog barking in our backyard.

I haven’t written in a while, I’m not sure why. I would blame it on busyness, but I was just as busy a month ago. I would blame it on a lack of thoughts, but I have still been thinking.

I do a lot of thinking.

It’s a big part of my job. In fact, it is one of the most important parts of my job. I get asked all the time how the Bible, written so long ago, applies to our lives today. It makes me think. I get asked how there can be so much pain and heartache in the world and still be a God. Why do bad things always happen to good people and good things always seem to happen to bad people? It causes me to think.

I have been asked how science and religion go together, why some Christians don’t act all that “Christian” and why God allows so much hate.

All of these questions and more, cause me to think.

It is here, sitting on a perfectly placed bench, on top of a hill, over looking a valley, that I like to think.

I don’t always come up with the best answers. To be honest, I usually only come up with only one. It isn’t the answer that seems more intellectually satisfying. But, it is incredibly comforting.

It is as if God is saying,
“this is my creation and you are my child. I created you, I saved you, and now I hold you tightly in my arms.”

Strangely, I’m satisfied with that as an answer. I don’t know why some kids are forced to live in homes that are abusive. I don’t know why helpless children die. I don’t know why a man would rape an innocent girl, a father would beat his child, or why families must suffer in the cold tonight because they have no home.

I don’t know the answer, but I am satisfied with knowing that the God who created the mountains also created me. The God who holds time in his hands, has grabbed a hold of me. I also am reminded that this same God also deperately cares about the hurt and pain in people's lives.

I still have questions and I still continue to think, but I am left in awe of who God is. He is the Great I AM.

Maybe you think about the same things. Maybe you aren’t satisfied with the answer, “God is God, and I am not.” But if you have a moment, you can join me on this bench and maybe you will see what I see painted across the sky, whispering in the wind, and calling out from the depths of creation. It is the fingerprints of God saying, “you are mine – trust in me.”