On the Horizon...

Well it's been a busy week in the life of our church. We're right in the middle of our annual High Power Soccer Camp. Sorry for not posting any pictures, but I'm writting this from home since I'm not in the office much this week. I'm having to wake up at 6am every day (and for me that's WAY too early). Nevertheless it's been incredible to see God's hand at work in the life of this camp. Everything has worked out amazingly and it brings such a joy to me to see so many kids from our community experiencing Christ's love for the first time.

CHARITY'S BIRTHDAY!
This coming Friday, July 21st is Charity's 23rd birthday. Make sure you call her or send her an email. We're heading into Ladner for a birthday dinner with my family. I think we're heading to La Strada (which is a restaurant where I worked for 3 years.) I love you babe!

...SEATTLE
Charity and I are off this weekend to the "Emerald City" for a 3 day vacation. This is kind of a Birthday/ We just need to get away vacation. Looks like we're going to be blessed with some phenominal weather. Thanks God! We are really pumped to get away for a few days, and to explore this great city. We're going to get to do some really fun activities during the three days like; Seattle Mariners Game, Todai Sushi Buffet, Seattle Underground Tour, Pike Place Market, and we're going to Mars Hill Church on Sunday morning! I'm stoked to finally get to this awesome church. It's also the "Bite of Seattle" while we're down there, so it looks like we'll get to eat various west coast cuisine--and here's the best part--it's FREE!
We're staying downtown which is awesome since we can park the car when we arrive and walk everywhere during the weekend. Seattle also offers free public transit in their downtown core. This is such a great idea! So we'll definitely make use of it during the week. On our way home from the weekend we're going to stop off at the Seattle Premium Outlets. Now, could their be a vacation for me without shopping? If you said yes...you don't know me that well.

Once we get back it's laundry day on Tuesday, then time to wake up super freaking early on Wednesday morning to meet at the church to drive down to Creation Fest. Our yearly trek to the extremly hot summer music festival. This is always a highlight of my summer. Bring on the great bands, and especially the Youth Pastor VIP area. This place is air conditioned, and offers complimentary ice water, pop etc. for Youth Pastors & one guest. WOO HOO.

So that's gonna be my next 14 or so days. Don't expect much of a blog update until early August, since when Charity and I get back from Creation Fest it's our 2 year wedding anniversary. Isn't that crazy to think that it's been 2 years! I have to say they have been the best two years of my life. And every day I am so thankful to be married to such a wonderful woman! I love you sweety, and I'm so glad we get to spend this anniversary together and not driving in seperate cars! (I'll tell you the story behind that if you don't know--just ask nicely).

I'll throw a bunch of pics up when all this is said and done with. It's certainly going to be a fun next couple of weeks.

Peace:

Ty

Coke & Mentos

Now this has YOUTH MINISTRY written all over it! I've just recently caught on to the whole idea of inserting mentos into a 2L pop bottle and watching a HUGE eruption. Now I can remember back to my elementary school days using baking soda and vinegar to make my paper-mache volcano explode...but this is WAY cooler.

Check out this video!



And for those of you who just can't stop at one video...

Click here, and here, and here, and here (and that's just a few)

Needless to say I WILL be doing this in our church parking lot at sometime in the next few months! This is just too cool not to watch!

Have a great weekend...and if you're looking for something to do...

Ty

A "Sign" of the Times...

Matthew 5:14 talks about us Christians being the light of the world. That a city on a hill shinning brightly cannot be hidden. I know that some people have differing views on some parts of scripture...but recently I've been wondering if some churches/pastors have been taking this passage out of context...and a little TOO FAR!

This blog isn't going to go into huge theological depths...but rather what I want to draw to our attention is churches/pastors spending RIDICULOUS amounts of money to make "icons" that somehow are supposed to attract others because of their either a) immense size b) blinding glow c) obvious location.

Here's a few examples:

1) Statue of Liberation Through Christ (72 feet tall)

















Total Cost to Build: $260,000 USD
Location: World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church
To read more click here:

2) "Touchdown Jesus" (62 Feet Tall)












Total Cost to Build: $250,000 USD
Location: Solid Rock Church
To read more click here:

3) 198 Foot Cross


















Total Cost to Build: $1.1 Million USD
Location: Effingham, Illinois
To read more click here & here

These are just a few of the many Christian icons that are popping up accross America. Don't mis-read me here...I have nothing against American's and their faith in Christ. However I do have a bit of an issue spending butt-loads of cash on a giant cross/statue/jesus, when that money could very well be spent on translating bibles, supporting missionaries, feeding the poor, etc... I infact applaud my American brothers and sisters in Christ for being this blunt about their faith.

In fact, I'd love to hear what my American readers have to say about these things...do you agree/disagree with building these massive icons?

As far as I know we Canadians have nothing that so obviously represents our faith. The only giant things we have are:

The Giant Nickel in Sudbury:












The Giant Hockey Sticks in Dawson Creek:











You can find out more about what LARGE roadsign attractions Canada has by clicking here:

This post is really about stirring up your thoughts/rants/opinions etc... Please feel free to leave any comments you wish, but do so in a repsectful manner. This post is more satire than anything (if you didn't catch on by now!)

It's the weekend...time to get out of here!

Peace:

Ty