Today was one of those days that even though I closed my office door to attempt at “getting ahead” or even “getting caught up” – still feel like I have more work to do on Friday when I get BACK into the office than when I first arrived this morning.

Interesting.

Good time @ theBOX tonight. When I say “good time”, I guess I mean that I shared my heart and hopefully that represents a “good time” for me consistently. To REALLY know if it was a “good time”, I guess you’d have to ask some of my teens…

Talked about being SOLD OUT for Christ tonight – took the example of the “rich, young ruler” and expounded. The “rich, young ruler” became the “average Christian teenager”. Instead of “wealth”, this “average Christian teenager” had music, friends, pornography, video games, and other things he wasn’t willing to give up – EVEN THOUGH he did all the “other stuff”. He read his Bible daily, came to “theBOX”, prayed, obeyed his parents, etc.

The point was that being SOLD OUT to Christ has LITTLE to do with RULE-FOLLOWING and MUCH to do with loving Christ with every ounce of being that we have. I think I got a little carried away near the end of the message – I was sweating like a pig…

Tomorrow will be a nice day-away. I’m planning on hanging with “Kirkage” and he’s going to help me buff-out the headlights on the Neon. They’re pretty weathered.

Lost 15-5.

My stats: 0 for 2. First was a “ground out” second was a “pop fly out”.

Sad.

New league, new teams, bigger field, still fun!

Left for Marion, Indiana at about 8:15AM this morning.

I returned at approximately 5:03PM this evening.

What a day it has been.

The highlights:

– Sr. High Youth Camp Committee Meeting at Bodyshop – good stuff, made some decisions. Got lots of work to do now…

– had lunch with other youth pastors @ Fazoli’s – I ate about 5 breadsticks AND a full plate of spaghetti

– headed to Tree of Life bookstore with Glen Robinson for some “window shopping” – picked up a 50%-OFF copy of the “Word on the Street” paraphrase for Jess

– had a good convo with buddy Darren Campbell about “similar” ministry situations, and he gave Glen and me some free stuff (including an album – “Look to You” by United LIVE!!!)

– headed back to campus to check on some professors..

– had a great conversation with Dr. Keith “Coach” Drury – and I explained my “hurt feelings” for being on the bottom of his “blogs I read” list at his “Drury Writing” website.

– met up with Dr. Steve Lennox and talked about him coming in the next few weeks up to Warsaw to fill in as our Sunday morning speaker. Looking forward to that for sure.

– visited with Aunt Pam Sempel (formerly “Morton”) for a good long while and got the updates on “cousins” Josh and Jenna.

– on my way back to get my car, got a returned phone call from buddy Nate Thompson and spent an hour-or-so “catching up” with him over a Jones Soda.

– during my Nate-convo, Nate Quick showed up, two of the guys from Master’s Praise (who were with us last night at church giving a concert), a guy that was still in High School my Senior Year (I can’t remember his name), and Josh Berry!

– drove back towards Warsaw and passed former-teen-turned-college-student Bethany Kinney as she drove towards Marion.

I feel like it has been a “social” day! It was great to get re-connected to so many.

Accountability group tonight at 7PM. I need to get to bed early tonight – another FULL day tomorrow – including our first church league softball game of the season tomorrow night @ 8!

What started out as Stevan and Jess joining the young adult Sunday school class for an evening of Ken Davis comedy, turned into an off-road JEEP adventure complete with “getting stuck”, mud-flinging, and fevorishly snapping photographs!

For the “complete” story – I invite you to check out the newest gallery- “Ken Davis Comedy & JEEP!”

Enjoy.

Dinner: Smokey Bones BBQ
Shopping: Old Navy, Lane Bryant
Movie: Fever Pitch
Dessert: Starbucks & Krispy Kreme

Fun night.

Tomorrow: I’m mowing Craig’s yard tomorrow morning and then it’s off to softball practice. Tomorrow night we’re joining a young adult Sunday School class for an evening of laughter at the Ken Davis comedy concert! Should be a blast!