a rare evening off...

I had a good morning at church this morning. It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy church.

Tonight, I'm chillin' at home. I took a nap this afternoon to get ready for 3 hours of Survivor tonight. I love hanging with our students. But it's nice to have a night when nothing is going on as well. Put my feet up... post a couple of blogs... and relax.

By the way... I think Denise has it wrapped up tonight... Gotta pull for the school lunch lady!!!

Jim

a rare morning off...

So today is an unusual day.

Since September, we've been doing our middle school worship service on Sunday mornings at 9:50 am. Which has been incredible for our middle school ministry!!! In many ways... that are too many for this post... but might be good for a future post.

But today is the first morning of our 3-week holiday break... both for Sunday nights (High Voltage) and Sunday mornings (Live Wire). We're taking a break for a couple of reasons. 1. It gives our students time to worship for the holidays with their parents. 2. It gives our students freedom to travel and not feel like they are missing something. 3. It gives our volunteers a brief break for family occasions and worship.

But I realized this morning how much I have missed coming to church and just being here. I'm not teaching. I'm not leading. I'm not organizing anything. I'm just sipping some coffee and having some conversations. Usually on Sunday mornings, I'm running around like my hair is on fire and I'm trying to keep it from getting in my eyes... but this morning is different. Call it... a change of pace.

And it's been a beneficial morning. I already had one conversation and lined up a volunteer for our middle school ski trip on February 18th (shameless plug!). But it's nice just to walk around and relax a little.

Right now, 1st hour worship is happening and I had time to post a blog. Jackie and I are planning to worship 2nd. It's good.

Jim

New Book... Half Done...

So... having wrapped up my required reading for class on Thursday, I began a new book tonight... that I am half done with!

A couple of years ago, one of my students, Elisabeth VanderBand, gave me a copy of a "Christmas Story" by Jean Shepherd. She had heard me use an illustration about loving this movie... and indeed, it is my favorite Christmas movie... she bought me a copy.

It's great. This is the second Christmas that I have read it. I started tonight and I'm almost half done with it.

I love casual reading...


Jim

Christmas shopping and snow!!!

The snow has been crazy here this winter. This is more snow that we have had any of the other 2 winters that we have lived here. There has been a couple of inches of snow on the ground for the last couple of weeks and then this week, it was covered and sealed with ice.

Tonight we're getting a couple more inches of snow.

I was out in the snow some this afternoon as I joined the shopping masses and shopped for my wife. She was working... But I hit a couple of places and picked up some stuff. I would share... since she never reads my blog... but just in case she gets crazy, I'll refrain. But I've got a little more money to spend on her. But I got most of what I am planning. Fun fun!!! Lots of people.

It's starting to look... and feel like... Christmas!!!

Jim

Check out this pool!!!

You can check out the address HERE.

But that looks like a pretty cool pool. But I would still feel weird by swimming all the way out to the end...

Jim

4.00 baby!!!

I just got my grades from this past semester this morning... They are posted on our seminary network... I scored a 4.00 baby!!! I landed a pair of A's in Biblical Worship for Today and Christianity in the Reformation Period. That makes all those long days of reading and writing worthwhile.

That brings my cumulative GPA for LCS to a 3.74. I transferred in a stinky B minus from a class at Emmanuel School of Religion that I might retake...

But not too shabby for this semester. (I'll end the shameless bragging now...)

Jim

Student Ministry Progressive Christmas Dinner...

Last night, we had a couple of great Student Ministry Progressive Christmas Party Dinners. Everyone showed up and from what I heard from the high school group, had a great time. I know the middle schoolers had a blast... I was with them. All in all it was great!

Thanks to the Hutto/Mortons, Brooks and Reffett(s) for hosting the high schoolers. And thanks to the Cerezos, Gallaways and Alfords for hosting the middle schoolers.

It was a blast!!!

Jim

Apple Get a Mac Ad: Santa Claus

This is pretty sweet....

Jim

HERE it is...

New Resource at YouthMinistry.com

I posted my Star Countdown on YouthMinistry.com. Check it out HERE. It's pretty cool to be able to share resources with others like this...

Jim

Reading is DONE!!!

Well...

Many pages... much reading... done.

This semester is wrapped up. Monday, grades will officially be posted. But as of today, I have a 97.9% in my Biblical Worship class and an A/A- in my Reformation history class. So, I'm thinking another semester of A's.

Jim

P.S.: I'm glad to be done... I'm going to watch movies tomorrow and not read anything...

Upside down Christmas tree...

So Melanie... One of our staff members... Has an upside down Christmas
tree... Here is a pic...

New Underground Newsletter

We just published a new Underground (middle school) newsletter today.

We posted information about our upcoming Middle School CIY Believe trip to St. Charles, MO on March 7-9. Information about the Underground Ski Trip, which begins it's sign ups this weekend for February 18th. And more.

If you didn't get a copy of the Underground newsletter, email me (jim@fvcc.com) and I'll make sure that you get one.

Jim

scotty pichard sings the christmas carols

Here's a little love for the holidays from some friends at Saddleback... Enjoy...

Jim

Thanks Taffy for this classic...

Click HERE to check out.

Some thoughts on the Golden Compass

One of my best friends went and saw the Golden Compass a couple of days ago (I know I can hear the gasps...). He had some really great thoughts about it. Here is a link to Chris Genders' blog. It's really a great article...

Here's a little snipet:
"With all of the controversy swirling around about the movie and the books, I quickly decided that I was going to make a determination on my own rather than relying upon the words and thoughts of people that I don't know. (This is something I challenge everyone to do - to approach what they read, hear, see with a critical eye in an effort to determine for themselves what is true or false.) So I decided to go to the movies last night...

"I do not want to encourage or discourage you from watching this film or reading the books and making up your own mind about it. What I would say is that if you allow your children to watch the movie or read the books, do not be personally uneducated. Be intentional about watching/reading it with them. You will need to talk with them about it...

"In the end, this movie and these books are simply an attempt to do what thousands of others have done throughout history. And yet Christ still remains standing when the dust settles. Are there problems within the religion of Christianity? Absolutely. Are there problems with Christ? No way...."

Great article Chris!!!

Jim

This semesters classes are done...

I've got some pages yet to read...

But all of this semester's classes are wrapped up!!! It feels good... now I just need to finish my reading and then I'll be FREE!!!

Until January...

Jim

New Indiana Jones Movie Poster

Looks pretty awesome to me...

Jim

Lots O ice!!!

Man... It was icy this morning. The roads were pretty slushy. But they were drivable... when we left around 5 am... after we got to Yorkville... about 5:45-5:50, the roads began to get better. When we finally made it to I-55 at Dwight, things were great... just rainy.

Here (Lincoln), its rainy and most everything is coated with ice. And there is a little wind in the air which could be bad for power lines.

But we're here. We'll see if we make it through all of the classes with power issues.

This is the final class day.

Jim

700 pages... 5 days...

This Friday is when my Reformation History reading report is due...

I've got about 700 pages...
And 5 days...

Whew... That's going to be a lot of reading.

Jim

Good weekend...

My folks were up this weekend.

We had a good weekend. We didn't do much. We were planning to go into the city on Saturday, but my sister came down with a "stomach something or other" and we didn't do much. But we watched Elf and hung out some. If the idea was spending time together, which I think it was, then we accomplished our goal.

All in all, it was a good weekend.

Jim

No go for Chicago...

Addy got sick on the way into the city... So we rode the train...
Grabbed a snack and then back to the house..