What does this sign say to you?

I think I understand what is trying to be said here. But I wonder, is what is being said the same as what is being read? What does this say to you?

Renewal Weekend

The Gang

This weekend Jaye and I have spent the last few days in Ft Wayne. It was the third annual youth pastor & spouse renewal weekend. It is an event our district sponsors that actually focuses on youth pastors. It's a great weekend to get away for a few days, hang out with my lovely wife and see some of my district buddies with their lovely wives. It's a great time.
This year they brought in a guest speaker named Robert Rogers. Oh my, he was amazing. He shared his story, there wasn't a person in the room that didn't shed a tear. He lost his entire family in a flash flood while they were traveling home from a wedding. I'm going to do my best to see about getting him to come to Chapel Pike and share his story. You can read his book "Into the Deep" but do so only with a box of Kleenex. Basically he taught us to live our lives without regret. God first, family second, anything else far behind those two. I don't think I've ever met a guy that really showed grace like he did, a man that REALLY loves God and lives it. It was a life changing message.
It was really hard to hear and not be able to go home and hug our kids.

Our Room @ Residence Inn...each room had a fire place. Nice.

On our romantic walk of questions @ Fort Wayne Botanical Gardens

My Guitar Hero

This is part of a concert Meredith and I got to enjoy on Friday.

Yesterday

As you may or may not know Wednesday's are a pretty busy day for youth pastors. My Wednesday this week was busy and a bit emotional for me. I'm going to be a little transparent with you today. Oprah would be so proud of me. Not really, I am a guy and I don't think she likes guys too much. Anyway, my church is doing something different on Sunday nights to help our congregation get to know each other better. It has been really fun. We start off with a dinner and then play a big group game. We've been doing a power point version of "Jeopardy" with the categories related to the families being highlighted that week. "Places we've been", "What I'd like to be doing", "Favorite Vacations Spots" stuff like that. Well, this week we are doing a baby picture game. We'll show a picture of a baby on the big screen at church and everyone will have to guess who it is. I have been working on the power point for that. All that being said to say this. Jaye asked my mom to dig out a few baby pictures of me, which I pointed out in an earlier post are really hard to come by. So Granny found some, two to be exact. She said, "All the other ones are in the attic." My question is who's attic, cause I know they aren't in hers. One of those pictures is of my dad holding what I would call one of the top 5 or 6 cutest babies in the world, me :) So those of you that will be at church this Sunday will get one correct right off the bat cause that's me on my Dad's lap.
Ok, so I've been working on those pictures and then yesterday we had a funeral service here at the church. It was a memorial service, no casket or anything like that. Much the same as my family had for Dad. It took me back to his service. I have been reminded of how much time has passed since then; he never met Anna or Joseph, didn't get a chance to see how beautiful Jessica is or what type of man Wesley is growing into. Plus, I've been looking at pictures of me, my family, my kids and that also makes me realize how fast time goes by, how old I'm getting, how old my babies are, how much I miss my Dad (he died almost eight years ago and it seems like last week). Emotions, aghhh. All that going on and I had to finish up plans for youth group, print out permission slips for a district all nighter, clean up, rearrange for youth group, cook dinner.... I'm glad it is going to be Friday soon.

New Phone

I got a new cell phone today. I had a really junky one now I have a really cool one. I had been using different Palm PDAs for the last 7 or 8 years and really loved them. They were very helpful in keeping track of things, you know, phone numbers, appointments, pictures, etc. Well, when I got the new lap top a few months ago I stopped using my Palm Tungsten 3. I would leave the house with a cell phone in one pocket, wad of keys in another and the T3 stuck in also. I really got tired of carrying all that stuff around. So my plan was to switch over to one handheld device that did it all plus free up my pockets for much more important things like knives, coins, wads of money (like I'd ever have any of that), pens and those sorts of things. Well today was the day that it all came together. I came home with a HTC P4300. It's cool, I now can walk around a few pounds lighter and keep track of all those important people and things. I can also check my email or surf the net if I'm near a hot spot. That is if I don't mind surfing the net on a tiny, little bitty screen. But the point is I can do all that stuff if I wanna. And the really cool thing, I can connect the new phone to the new lap top and really stay organized. I'm sure you really don't wanna read about this so here's an idea give me a call and we can talk. ~Brian

Florida

Hey, so much excitement and I haven't even blogged about our Florida Vacation!! Since we HAD to be in Florida anyway, we decided to tack on a few extra days and get in some vacation time! Since we drove down we did make the most of our 17ish hours in the van! The kiddos didn't seem to get too stir crazy thanks to the dvd player, ipods and the Nintendo DS. Yeah, we did actually play some "real" games and had a lot of fun on the walkie talkies too. Man, I remember vacationing as a kid and all I had was a coloring book and a box of crayons! :)

We made it to Macon, Georgia on Christmas Day. We stayed at Macon Wesleyan Church...actually camped out in the sanctuary for the night! Mark Atkinson is the pastor there...he is also a very good friend of ours! Mark (my youth pastor) and Ronda took an interest in us when we were teens and played a very important role in our lives.

My Bed...it was actually pretty comfy!

Mark, Anthony and Chi Atkinson...David and Daniel Hill (Wesley is also hidden in the picture)

Jaye, Tiffany (Atkinson) Hilty and Jess

We made it to Orlando on the 26th just in enough time for some pizza and to crash in the comfy hotel bed!!

View from our hotel window

Before our work began on the 27th we went to the Ripleys Museum. Check it out here, it was really cool.

After the convention was over on the 31st, the teens left to go home...We left to go to Cocoa Beach!!

Kent, Angie and Meredith Santee

We spent New Years Eve eating and playing games in Pastor Steve and Cheri's suite. How beautiful to watch all the fireworks over Orlando when midnight approached. You could even see the ones from Magic Kingdom. They actually did a countdown to midnight...the fireworks were numbers counting from 10 to 1...I was really impressed!

Okay, enough for now...I'll blog later about Walt Disney World "where all your dreams come true"...especially if you have a credit card in your pocket!! :)

They Pulled it Off!!

I have NEVER been more surprised at anything than I was tonight! Thru lots of clever planning Brian and the kiddos pulled it off...a surprise 40th b-day party! When the kids got home from school we went thru the normal birthday routine of opening my presents. Then off to the kitchen they went to bake my traditional German Chocolate Cake. After a bit, Jessica and I went upstairs to do some planned scrapbooking/card making. I didn't realize she had turned the radio up so that I wouldn't hear the crowd of people making their way into our kitchen. I knew that Brian was grilling a steak for me and preparing the table for a fun/festive dinner and that's why I couldn't come downstairs. Just when the creative, crafty juices started to flow, he came and got me for dinner. I was lead into the kitchen with eyes closed only to be surprised by a bunch of my dear friends! What a GREAT night and I have to say I was totally surprised. Looking back on the past week, I should've caught on several times but didn't! I'm glad though...it was the best b-day ever! Enjoy some pictures...I won't post them all in order to protect the innocent! ~Jaye

Suzie and Joseph

Angie, Meredith and Kent

Amanda, Joseph and Anna

Bekah and me

Krista, Payge and Meredith

Brian enjoying the black icing!

The Perpetrators

You say it's your birthday-well, it's my birthday too!

Today is my BIG day!! My big 4-0 day and I feel exactly the same as I did yesterday!! I say birthdays...the more the merrier! As long as I don't FEEL and LOOK like I'm in my 40's...bring 'em on!! Thank you Mom for the slow-aging genes you bestowed on me!! I'll report more as the day unfolds...presents await me I'm sure!! Happy Birthday to the only people I can think of that celebrate their b-day's with me, Katie Alberson, George Foreman, Pat Benatar and Rod Stewart!! Rock on~Jaye

What I do.

Many people wonder what a youth pastor does all day. Well, here is a sample of my Wednesdays. Hope you enjoy.

Setapart 07

Setapart 07 was the International Youth Convention of the Wesleyan Church. Every four years our denomination will host this convention. This year it was held in Orlando, Florida. Brian was in charge of registration at one of the three hotels housing the teens, Rosen Shingle Creek. This required a lot of computer time before the actual convention began along with being "on duty" for a couple days during the convention. We enjoyed our responsibilities for the registration process but missed getting to spend more time with our teens that attended the conference. We are thankful for our GREAT youth sponsors that took over when we couldn't be there!

The teens enjoyed the rallies and seminars. I know some of the teens did make the commitment to live holy lives...set apart from the things the world has to offer!! These conventions are so important in their young lives. The conventions I attended as a teen helped make me who I am today.

We were on the go most of the time...the schedule was pretty full! We did enjoy an afternoon out at Downtown Disney. We had dinner at Planet Hollywood...pretty cool!!

Those attending from Chapel Pike were Payge Lewton, Nathan Lewton, Krista Wilson, Jessica Holland, Wesley Holland, Kaylee VanNess, Tyler Nelson, Jordan Nelson, Crystal Smith, Terry Beal and Lauren Sonnefield...Adult sponsors were Kent and Angie Santee, Anna Huey, Christy Parandi and Tera Beal (woo hoo!! Christy and Tera drove the teens down and back!!)

Welp, that's the report from Setapart...what a great group we had working for the Lord in sunny Florida!! :)

Christmas 2007

Christmas came and went rather quickly at the Holland House! We woke up on Christmas morning, opened gifts, enjoyed Christmas lunch then headed on the wide open road to Orlando, Florida. With much anticipation of our Florida trip it seems to me that Christmas day just wasn't the same. Don't get me wrong, I truly enjoyed our Christmas this year...it was just different than all the other Christmases I've celebrated.

Joseph enjoying Santa's leftovers!!