The renewal of an OEA

Now that it’s starting to warming up, we’re able to play Frisbee Golf a little more. So here’s a couple of pics of us playing last week.

OEA's - gotta love um

In life I think we each have our different things that bring us an odd sense of joy. You know, those things that for some is boarder line torture but to others it’s euphoric. For example, the grandma who simple loves crossword puzzle, or like my own grandma 5000 piece puzzles; putting together a 5000 piece puzzle would kill me, I’d get tired, and end up forcing pieces in and ending up with a new rendition of Picasso’s art. Another example is the guy who just can’t get enough time sitting in the middle of the woods, boarder line freezing to death all for the hope of that “Golden Buck” walking in front of his line of sight. In the south it’s guys working hours on their truck so they can go mud bogging, up North it’s guys waxen skis so they can fall off the side of a mountain just a few seconds faster.

For my wife it’s scrap booking, working in the garden and running. All of these things she excels at. She’s very creative with her scrap booking and I enjoy being able to relive the past with her. She’s also wonderful with plants, she can make what I think is a dead stick bloom into a beautiful rose. She’s very tender and loving with her plants; just a word of advice, as you guys visit the house watch were you step, that so call blade of grass my really be a soon-to-be flower, and believe me she knows where their at. She’s also a good runner. Much more dedicated then I am, she seems to simply enjoy the freedom she feels, for me I simply feel the pain of my body screaming “Matt you weigh 250 pounds what in the world are you trying to do to me.” I really love my wife, over the last day I’ve been reminded of how wonderful she is and how deeply blessed I am to share life with her.

And now it’s time for me to share with you my odd euphoric activities (OEA). I think I have a couple. One being a good cup of coffee while sitting in a favorite chair in a peaceful environment, if there’s snow falling or a nice rain it makes it all that much nicer. Another one of my OEA’s is cutting grass or working with my chain saw. There’s something about knowing you’ve done a good days work. Is it the rush of testosterone you get as you man-handle a large oak, making it move as you desire, or the sense of pride you feel as you deeply inhale the smell of fresh cut grass with that slight hint of gas as you reflect on the beautifully trimmed yard, with parallel lines, nicely edge sidewalks, and blown drive way? My last OEA is road biking. This is a OEA from high school that over the last years I’d slipped away from, but over the past few months have rediscovered. This morning I went for a wonderful ride, cruising the roads feeling thankful for the ability to ride and also enjoying the amazing landscape that we live in here in PA.

Well, this blog has yet again became a rather length on, so to those who have finished reading, thanks, and I hope this weekend God blesses you with the chance to enjoy some of your OEA’s.

Just so people keep reading

Hey guys, or to whom ever is reading. Realized it's been a couple of days since a post, so thought I better leave something.

Life? It's been good, I'm coming out of a crappy mood spell, I had about three days where my mood would turn sour in a hurry and I hated it. But things are looking up.

Love? Yes, I'm still in love with my amazing wife. I hate that she is the one who 98% of the time gets to experience my crappy moods, I love her greatly, she's wonderfully graceous and patient.

Work? Last night at Saturate we had a great night, I just felt like everything went smoothly and that ultimatly God was very honored and pleased. Youth stuff is running smoothly and I'm looking forward to the events coming down the pike.

Well, that's about it,
Till next time

People amaze me, really they do

People amaze me, really. I mean think about us we are really weird, complex beings. I'm sitting at Panera right now, waiting on an order to be completed. I'm sitting so I can see the door, and so the manager can see me, get my food and hit the road. While I'm waiting I'm watching people. There's a girl to my right, probable 25? Maybe a little older, and with her is a younger girl, 12 maybe younger. Are they sisters? Mom and daughter? Friends? Who are they waiting for? Why Panera? Who knows?

There's also a woman to my left, at the table next to me. We are about three feet apart, but I'm not said a word to her. To be honest I've tried to avoid eye contact cause once they made you have to engage in a conversion, if not you just look like you're checking her out and I'm definitely not doing that, trust me, I'm happily married. But anyway back to observing. Why is she sitting here? Who's she waiting for? She's made several calls, who is she talking to? I can see an older couple sitting about 15 feet away. He and I've made I eye contact a couple of times. Do you think He knows I'm writing about him? Ok, now he's staring at me, kinda weird. Is that his wife he's eating with? If so, how long have they been married? Happy?

Here's another couple. They just walked in. They are dressed really sharp, must be coming from church. Here a question, why do we dress so formal for church, He really looks funny removed from all the other "church goers." I wonder if people sit at restaurants on a Sunday and peg the "Church people." I wonder if we stick out like a sore thumb. I'm in a suit and tie, hey look at me, hey I'm a church man, God loves me, I'm perfect. That comment was probably judgmental, sorry.

Back to the second girl, she just met a group of other young ladies. “Order for crying out load.” They’re just standing in the doorway getting caught up on life as 20 people are squeezing their why by them.

Ok, to a deeper thought. People, we are all the same yet incredibly different. We all seem to have similar problems, yet each one is unique for each. Where do people find security? Peace? Comfort? Meaning? Well, the food is done and I'm now off to a High School Leaders Lunch, sorry about rambling and possibly not making much since.

in with the baby out with the excursion

well, today Pearl and I are back in the office. This weekend was a mad dash to Georgia and back. We left Friday at 6pm drove through the night, arrive around 7am and then was off to see the new baby. We were with family till 10ish that night then crashed. Spent Sunday loading up a uhaul, somemore time with family, then Monday morning headed back to the north.

It was a great time, I really loved seeing Mom and Dad. And Gabe, my new nephew is absolutly amazing. Pearl and I were able to have some good times riding together. We realized we have been to something like 27 states together, before we die we'll hopefully hit all 50, who knows?

Also we drove the largest SUV in the world down, an Excursion. Once there we hook up to a 12' uhual trailer. We had to be something like 40' long.

Well, here a quick blog reflecting a quick weekend.

we're having a baby ...

Well, we as in Pearl and I are not, but literally at any moment, with in the next 10 hours my sister will make me an uncle.

Now the Uncle’s role is important, and I feel like society has not given the uncle the amount of honor and recognition that is really needed. I mean, I know I didn't help make the baby, that would move me from the uncle role to the dad role and those roles must not combine, and I know I didn't carry the baby for 9 months, that would just not be natural, and I know I'm not responsible for either the mom or dad being on this plant, that's the grandparents role, but the uncle is still important and here is why. I was the one who picked on this future mom for the last 22 years, where would she be today with out having an annoying brother? I was the one who was forced to tag along on her dates in high school, I was the one who stood guard at the wedding giving my nod of approval as her and this outsider man married, I was the one who, well ... I guess my role is limited to the annoying baby brother, the pestering date tag alone, and the groomsman at the wedding. So the moral of all this rambling is that I'm sooo excited for my big sis who is becoming a Mom today, and I'm so thankful that she has an amazing husband to share her life and this new life with.

What I've been learning, an email to a prof

One of my favorite profs from TFC emailed a couple of weeks ago, so today after weeks of procrastinating I decided to respond. After writing the email I thought I'd turn it into a blog. So below is my email with my commentary in ( ).

Phil

I was waiting till I could sit down and write you a deeply reflective response, sharing how life, marriage and ministry have been going, but I realized this morning if I didn’t jump on this it’d sit here for another two weeks and then a year later after you had completely forgotten who Matt Parks is receive this short novel of an email, meaning nothing to you. (Yeah so, how many of us simply let an email sit in our inbox for months, meaning to respond to it, but never touch it? I do it, and I also do it with cell phone calls. So if you call or email me and I never respond, it's probably because I'm waiting for a year to pass so I can respond)

I must admit, I’m jealous that Don Miller came to crossroads (Phil’s church) this last weekend. How was he? Did he preach, talk, sign books, kiss babies? I’m reading his book “Through Painted Deserts.”” and would love to hear what he’s got to say.
(for all the Don Miller fans out there, I must agree with you, he rocks! And for everyone asking, "who is Don Miller" you must pick up "Blue like Jazz" or "Through Painted Deserts" these are both must reads. Don invites us into his life journey and the conversations he has along the way, these conversations are great mental stimulus to spur thoughts.)

So sr. comps have started and you guys are already looking at the second half of the semester. I hope things go wonderfully and that you get to really drill the mess out of some seniors. I can say that now that I’m not sitting in their chair.
(Sr. Comps are 4 hours of torture, where professors drill you trying to see what you remember from 4 years of education, 4 years; I have trouble remembering last much less remembering 4 years.)

Life for Pearl and I is going well. I’m very thankful to be at LCBC and to be under the leadership I am and involved with the teams here. I could hear you asking “what are you learning right now,” so to answer your question I would have to say, southerns where never met to ski, which is one of the dumbest ideas I’ve encountered up here, “hey, lets strap planks of wood to our feet and fall off the face of this mountain, and to stop do a snow plow, a what? Hit a snow plow?””
(Yeah, with that said, skiing is not good, Jason Keener, Saturate's worship leader, tried skiing yesterday and broke his leg in 3 places, and Chad tried yesterday as well, and said he knocked 80% of the oxygen out of his body on his second run down the hill) on a more serous note (cause we must be serous every now and then) I’m learning the value of saying no and being committed to staying within my assigned work hours. At the start of the year we launched a young adult gathering, very similar to 7:22 (7:22 is Northpoints young adult gathering in Atlanta, it’s a small Bible study of about 3,000). I’m on the leadership team and could easy allow this to take up 40+ hours of my week and totally forget about my comment to Middle and High school ministries. If I allow myself to work 50-70 hour weeks I’m forced to cheat other areas of my life, so I cheat either my sleep, my personal renewal, and sad to say I’ve cheated Pearl (word of advice, don't cheat your wife, life's not good when the wife is not happy, don't cheat the ladies!). So, LCBC Leadership and I are working hard on keeping my responsibilities to the level of my hours and to stop cheating other areas. This forced focusing was hard to take, cause I was really loving the things I had to give up (I really do love what I do, all of it, almost all of it), but after a weekend of reflecting and gut checks I’m glad I’m at a place that forces me to address bad habits and establish a healthier lifestyle. (Really, I'm glad, cause I've got a friend who just got married, just had a baby, and his church pushes him to average 80 hour weeks, and he topped out one week at 120 hours, A 120 HOURS that's crazy, that only leaves 48 hours in the week, that's averaging 6.8 hours of sleep a night, too much, way too much!)

Well, now that I have written my short novel, I really need to get some work done. Oh, Please read this email to one of your classes, and make me look like some super wise human. I always wanted to be one of your class emails. I think I’d fit well into “Leadership development.” (I have set high ambitions in my life, to be the email in the class, oh to be that email, please)

Phil, thanks again for your huge investment into Pearl and I, you hold a dear place in our hearts and I consider you a great friend (he did our premarital counseling and did a great job), look forward to seeing you sometime in the future. Oh, I started a blog spot, it’s ponderingloadly@blogspot.com (we need all graduating seniors to have these, one big huge conversation, plus it’d keep us from falling off the face of the planet)

One last thing, Jason and Jenny had their baby last Sunday (the 19th) at 11:57 pm, she weighted in at 8 pounds 3 ounces, 20 some odd inches, and was named Sienna Raye Mitchell.

Later,

Matt

(So to all the blog readers who actually finished this, please get a life or you’re an amazingly fast reader, or your just really bored, thanks for reading)

Once again upon the ponder

So it's been a couple of days, but we are now once again united to ponder loudly. This morning Pearl and I were reading in Job as we ate breakfast, quit the mess to eat and read at the same time, but it can be done, just don't look at the reader or you'll get a view of a mouthful of half-chewed soggy mush. We read Job 42 and at one point Job responds to God by saying,

"I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand - from my own eyes and ears! I'm sorry-forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor."

Wow, what an image! Crusts of hearsay and crumbs of rumor, now that's a meal, crusts and crumbs, sounds dry, unappetizing, and moldy. But how often do I accept that over a fresh baked, oven hot, meal. In this realm of life, flesh blood, hair and skin, I'd never take crumbs and crusts over a fresh hot stromboli, but in the realm of the soul and the saints I often due with just left overs, or second hand truths, the meals of others, and not my own dinner. Job, upon realizing he had done this, refuses all future leftovers and asks for forgiveness, saying that he would never accept that again. Why, why forgiveness and never again. Because God doesn't what to be compared to the leftovers and crumbs, he doesn't what us to satisfy for day old love or revelations, God doesn't what to connect and enjoy us through someone else's meal, he wants to share a meal directly, to sit with me and eat, not me eat what he enjoyed with someone else. So, as I mechanically go to the fridge for a mircowaved meal of leftovers, may I remember a fresh meal is waiting and available if I'll only walk through the kitchen and to the dining room where God is sitting waiting to laugh and talk over a round of fresh mash potatoes and delicious roast beef.

Pondering loudly, who knows where this may lead

ok, I'm back; by the way - life's random

Ok, so it's been a week or so since we've talked, don't shot me for it, I'm lazy! Let's see what's happened in my world over the last couple of weeks. Umm, the civil war part three happen, that's what. If you know more then my name then you probablely know I'm a southern boy in a Yankee state, who married a northerner. So in some minds Pearl and I getting married and starting this marriage journey has been known as the second civil war; a collision of the north and south. But that is a good collision (just a side note, I really love my wife, she's amazing! but enough of the mushy stuff). So, here is the third civil war. It's called, a warm blooded Southern boy who enjoys nice hot Georgia summers going skiing in the Pocono’s with a negative 15 wind chill. Yeah that temp is current, a negative 15 wind chill, that's like 15 degrees below zero, and I thought zero was the coldest it got, nope, it can go lower. Yeah, so I take my winter clothing, which means taking all the clothes I have that don't have holes in them, and wear them at once. So I looked like a stuffed snowman, like a little kid that doubles in size after it's mom gets done dressing them. So "stuffed matt" goes out in the negative 15 war zone called nature, and strapped wooden planks to my feet and tried to gracefully fall down the side of a mountain. I realized when the ski rental man gave me little girl skis I was in trouble. My wife's skis were a good foot longer then mine. [For my southern friends, the longer the ski's the faster you go, so with me having shorter skis it was like wearing a sign that said "hey for a good laugh watch the short ski boy fall on his face."] I spent a couple of hours learning the "snow plow", which looks like your trying to hold your bladder from exploding really hard, they say this is suppose to make you stop, and if it don't you had to choose opinion two, which is to flop to your side and frail all body parts out like an anchor. We spent the morning getting use to the bunny slop, which I never figured out the bunny part of it, then headed up the mountain to a "beginner" slop. Beginner my foot! This was straight off the side of the earth. They literally want you to fall of the side of the mountain. I'm clueless on how you do this, but after I saw a person in a wheelchair doing it, followed by a bland skier with a guide, I figured if I wanted any manhood left associated with my name I better at least give it a try. Well, I tried, let just say that, I don't believe I've ever been more scared, I mean I can handle a chainsaw, that could rip your leg off like no one's business, and feel comfortable with a high powered rife, but trying to follow my wife and a group of girls down the face of a mountain was just beyond me. I froze, I was terrified, so an adult leader (which I was suppose to be) had to slowly coach me down the hill, I was waiting for him to offer me to hold his hands, after forty minutes of terror and ice burn on my face for "flopping" I safely arrived back at the lodge, at which point I immediately stood up and acted like I was the best skier on the earth and told the leader to not say a word about my whimpering on the mountain, and I was wasn't calling for mommy I was asking if he had any money. Yeah, so I'm not a skier, that's ok, I'll leave that to the five year olds and northerners who where apparently born with skis on their feet, I bet that birth was interesting.

I'm currently sitting at a coffee house, I had breakfast with a student (at 6am, that's a dumb idea, we both sat here like zombie, making small grunts as a form of communication), and decided to stay and think, blog, and try to do a little work. Well, a conversation began with one of the girls who work at the shop. She's in college, studying to be a computer programmer. After a couple of minutes of small talk she asked me where I work. I was a little hesitate in say a church, due to not wanting to come across as a super Christian. But to my surprise when I said LCBC, she lit up, and very excitedly shared how she recently started going there and how she was reconnecting with God. She then wanted to know how to connect to the new young adult thing, it just so happens I'm on the leadership team of this new young adult thing, I gave her my work number and said to call with any questions. Well a couple of minutes later she wanted to tell me about one of her friends, about how he and his girl-friend just had a baby, how the girl-friend was now leaving him for another guy, and how she would like to give him my number so we could talk. I was like whoa, I'm not counselor, but maybe this guy doesn't need a counselor right now, maybe he never would take to a counselor, may be he just needs a normal ol' kid, who tries to follow this man named Jesus. May be this guy just needs to connect with an average Joe, me, and through this average Joe connect with a God who longs to restore and hold him. The God who designed him, who longs for Him, who dreams of reuniting with him.

All this to say, I'm scared of ministry, I'm scared of the church, I'm scared of not being "good enough,” of being a crappy communicator, of not knowing the answers, of not being "holy" enough (whatever "holy Enough" is), of not being able to make a difference, of not being wanted. But, this morning God reminded me, it's not about me being enough of anything, or knowing enough, or preparing enough, it's about being that average Joe, an average Joe who follows after Christ. The world does not need more spiritual superstars who shine their "glory" for all they see, the world needs a couple of Joes who'll sit at a coffee shop and take the time to listen to some stranger, then to be willing to let that stranger ask them spiritual questions, unto which you invite them on the journey. I don't have to have it all together, to be perfect, I just need to be personally seeking after Christ, personally making the journey, and then inviting others to walk with me.

Well, This is a small novel of a blog, I don't have life or spirituality figured out, but life's random and may we journey towards God, and use the randomness to extend the journey to others.

Enjoy the coffee, the suns finally up!
Peace

Well, today is the big day! We leave for powderburn this afternoon. For the non-Lcbc readers that is our Sr. High Ski trip (this is one of the biggest events the high school does). Chad and I went today to get the truck we are using to take up our equipment, we thought we were getting a truck, but to our suprise we were getting no normal truck, we were getting the wonderbread truck fully equiped with slideing doors and bread racks (it's not exactly the "wonderbread" truck, just a want-a-be). It looks like a mail truck, UPS truck, and golf cart blended together, I'm glad Chad and I are already married, cause there's no picking up dates in this sweet ride. Powderburn is calling my name, so is Saturate, and the other details to be covered before departure. So to all that read have a great weekend, enjoy the journey, and we shall talk more come Tuesday.
Chow

So here the first, we'll see how long this last

So as the title reads this is my first blog ever. In the past I was not a fan of blogging, but after reading some of my friend's blogs and also realizing that everyone was doing it I decided to give into pear pressure and conform to societies definition of cool! So here I go attempting to be cool and to fit in by blogging. But to be honest I now feel like I am just rambling and typing to just fill space. I guess this gets easier over time. Kind of like talking to your father-in-law or something. You're scared to death the first time, and studier all over your words, but come two years later, after asking him "The Big Question" you are starting to talk like normal humans, and it almost feels natural. I've always thought I was better communicating with my mouth then I was with written words, so in reality there could be absolutely no connection between blogging and talking with your father-in-law. Who knows, and honestly who cares. Well blogging must be a little like exercising, you've gotta start out slow, or you'll be sorry for it the next day. I may not be sore from blogging tomorrow, but if I don't get some work done, I'll be sore after I get done digging ditches because I'm fired! Gotta go, Gotta work. Till next time, hopefully there is a next time.
Later