Tuesday Mind Dump (9/6/22)
• Man, such a great weekend.
• Labor Day weekend can be a tough one in AZ.
• In other states, it's kind of the mark of the end of summer — not here!
• This year our family decided to hit the road, and it was really sweet.
• A marketplace guy I know (not from our church) who loves pastors and has a big heart for ministry let our family use his ranch in Payson for the weekend.
• We rode dirt bikes, played basketball, swam, hiked, played Monopoly Deal, watched college football, and just had an awesome time.
• The property has some glamping tents where we stayed — so you get the chilly morning and campsite kind of feel, but get to sleep in a bed. 😁
• That's a bit more my speed (like Jim Gaffigan)
• So, yeah, it was a lot of fun.
• As we were hiking on Sunday I was thinking to myself, "These are the good 'ol days."
• All four of our kids together, enjoying each other, and old enough to potentially remember it.
• It's a small and shrinking window, and soon they will start peeling off and launching into their own futures.
• I'm stoked about those days too, since I think these kids are going to have mega-watt bright futures.
• But for now, I'm soaking it up and trying to build some great memories.
• One memory I didn't exactly cultivate happened on Sunday night when Caitlin went out to put something in our van.
• She heard a rattle about 5 feet behind her and then sprinted away and back inside.
• Her and I went back out there with flashlights and found a pretty large rattlesnake just feet away from the van.
• Right about then, the property caretaker came by, shot the snake a few times and then chopped it's head off with a shovel.
• He twisted the rattle off and gave it to Caitlin as a souvenir.
• Yeah, that's creepy.
• But pretty cool too.
• Some photos from the weekend:
• This week I'm back at it, working with our staff, meeting with some other Redemption leaders and preparing to preach.
• I'm preaching Sunday at R/Tucson — it's their 8th anniversary as a church and they invited me to come.
• Will be fun to see some old Gateway kids who are down at the U of A and go to church there.
• It's wild this year... I'm preaching at Gateway almost as much as last year (just one less time), but am doing 7 Sundays at other Redemption congregations.
• It's been fun to get around and see some of what's going on at these other congregations and to connect with our "extended family."
• The other big thing this week is that I ended up volunteering / getting-roped-into coaching Mary's 8U Lady Cardinals flag football team.
• We had an intro practice last week and then another that got cut short by the haboob on Friday night.
• So... I have one practice this week to teach them football and maybe install a play or two before we play.
• It's quite different than soccer or basketball or even baseball, where they just go out there and do their best.
• In football you actually need a coordinated play — or more.
• Should be a three-ring circus.
• But, hey, these are the good 'ol days.
• So I'm going to enjoy the heck out of it and try to help these sweet girls have fun.
• Let me wrap up with some links and other stuff you might be interested in...
• There's actually some interesting science behind why dogs act this way.
• Here's a new project I'm involved in — episode 5 just released:
• This is so cute
• And this is quite accurate...
• Meanwhile, this kid... whoa.
• Alright, that's it for today.
• All of life is all for Jesus.