Becoming Greek

A picture from Florida

Chet sent me this picture from Florida. I would love to live on my own street..... I miss my friend Chet....

Fin

Yesterday was my final day as an employee at CLA. It is weird to not be the youth pastor at CLA any longer. It really has been an identity for so long, and it was what I invested everything into for years….. But it is time to move forward.
A couple years ago when Pastor Jamie had his farewell I took a 2 liter Dr Pepper from him. (He did know about it). I was saving it for my last day. This 2 liter bottle has been sitting behind my desk ageing for the past few years. Dr Pepper does not get better with age. It tasted more like food bank Dr Pepper…. And when we opened it there was very little (pssscccchhttttt)… So the interns, Helena, and I went to my favorite spot on campus and drank it family style. So for those few moment on the roof I was able to think back on all the great moments. This was my last afternoon as a youth pastor, and so I had to have a great memory…..
The final Service was a great moment for me. To see where the group has gone in five years has been humbling. They have learned to pray and they have a touch of God on their lives. We let service out early and had the chance to pray with every student who wanted it last night. P Craig played and we prayed for 1 1/2 hours. I was exhausted, but full all at the same time. It is nice to leave on top….

I got sprayed by a skunk

I woke up this morning and found a very bad thing in my front yard. I have been trying to catch groundhogs in my neighbors yard with a live animal trap. Groundhogs are harmless, and just need a little relocation. Today I found my worse nightmare in the trap. A skunk.

So you wonder what I had to do? You have to take care of the problem. So I decided to put a box over the trap to keep it from spraying on us. This skunk was aggressive and starting to get mad. I took a piece of cardboard and put it in front of me and tried to get the box on the trap. Good news/Bad news. Good news – the box was on the trap. Bad news – I got sprayed on my hand.

I was shelled by the smell. It was so strong it gave me a headache. SO I did what you are supposed to do, right? Bathe in a little spaghetti sauce and tomato juice. I want to give you a key piece of information. The tomato stuff works good, but the best was my second round. Vinegar.

If I had not soaked my arm in vinegar for 15 minutes I would still be stinking up the building. But if you ever get sprayed by a skunk than do the vinegar trick. It works. The only problem is that I hate the smell of vinegar.

The result. I propped the door of the trap open in hopes that he would leave. I no longer smell like skunk, but the boardwalk fries place in ocean city. And I have a headache from all the smell overload…..

golf ball fall down

Yesterday, we were hanging out at the P Tom’s house with his family and the Bakers. I had no idea the day Brady was going to have. It started with one of the craziest pooh’s I have ever seen…. It was a three alarm accident that upset him, and all those involved in the clean up. We were close to calling Hazmat, but Dana helped save the day.
The funniest part was at the very end of the night while we were walking out the door. Brady was on the verge of meltdown and he just needed to go to bed. We were walking down the driveway, and he threw his ball down the driveway into the street. The driveway has a pretty steep slant and so it moved into the street quickly. I set down all the items in my hand including pool bag, diaper bag, pooh cloths, toys, and the bucket of golf balls. The final item was going to be the exciting in the moments ahead. I ran into the street to get the ball, and I heard a horrible sound. The bucket tipped over spilling 50 plastic balls down the driveway and into the street. Brady immediately burst into crying “golf ball, fall down”. I ran to the middle of the street and tried to field balls before they rolled to the end of the road. I felt like I was standing in the middle of a stampede. I was catching plastic balls left and right and was still missing a bunch. I was laughing at the experience, Jamie was howling, and Brady was still very upset. We finally corralled all the balls we could and left for home. The whole ride home Brady was still upset at the whole situation…. Even this morning his first words were “golf ball, fall down”…… I am sure there is a spiritual lesson in there somewhere, but if you can’t find it I hope you got a laugh……