God’s Dominion

I’m finally finished with all my travels.  I get to go back to church this weekend.  I miss going to church.  I enjoyed the weekends, but I just wish they weren’t consecutive.  I plan to get some rest this week, then hit the ground running again in September.

The wedding in San Francisco was cool.  It was nice to see so many people I hadn’t seen in years.  It was great to see James so happy.  I remember when he was just an infant.  Yeah, I don’t feel old at all.  I think it’s funny that he and my brother share a birthday and their anniversaries are now one day apart.  What are the odds of that, I wonder?  This trip was a bit tiring as my outgoing flight Saturday morning was at 7:30 and my return landed at O’Hare just after midnight Sunday night.  Of course, we also got back to the house where we stayed really late on Saturday because of the reception.

Well, that’s all for now.  I’ll try to post more often once I get a little rest.  Laterz!

Well, I’m back from Vegas (and exhausted).  I had some people ask me to take pics, but we were nowhere near the strip and I had no free time.  I took a couple of pics of the strip from the hotel, but you can’t see much.  I also took some pics of the awesome room we were in.  I’ll upload those pics, but I’ll go ahead and upload some older pics I took.  I’ve been there a few times since I grew up in So. Cal. and used to go often.  I never gambled, but I still enjoyed it.  I really liked the Manhattan Express roller coaster at New York, New York.

Anyway, I’m off to San Francisco this weekend.  If I have a chance, I might go see the new Star Wars movie…I doubt I’ll have a chance.  I’m going to my friend’s wedding.  I have literally known him since he was born.  It’s cool to see somebody I used to hang out with when he was a child grow into an adult and start a family.  I’ll try to take pics there….more than I took in Vegas.  Laterz!

Last weekend I went up to Lake Geneva with about 150 Zoners (junior highers) to go camping.  I actually had a really good time.  I already knew most of the boys in my group, but we had a few I hadn’t met before.  I thought I was going to be able to relax a bit when Sam didn’t end up in my group.  If you knew him, you’d understand.  Anyway, boy was I wrong.  Instead, I ended up with Tony who was kinda like a smaller version of Sam.  My arms were actually sore until Thursday because he kept falling over (the “trust exercise”) for me to catch him.  I enjoyed hanging out with him, but I didn’t expect the student who I met on Friday and doesn’t even go to the Chapel to have grown so attached.  I enjoyed getting to know some of the other Zoners better.  I had talked to Steven and Michael a bit at other events, but having them in my group allowed me to get to know them better.  Michael got a bloody nose when he went tubing in the lake (apparently kneed his nose falling off), but wiped it off before I got a picture.  There’s some blood in the pic, but not much.  As is my normal policy, I won’t be putting their pictures up here although there were a few good ones I was tempted to put up.  I really enjoyed hanging out with TJ since I’ve known him for so long when he was with me in TGA (the children’s ministry).  It was great to see him at the Zone event.  I already miss him downstairs.  He’s one of my first graduates.

I did have something happen this year that has never happened before at any other retreats/camp outs I have chaperoned.  I always give my card out with my email address and phone number to all the boys in my group, but in ten years nobody has ever actually contacted me.  This year Nate was the first person to do so.  Ever.  He actually emailed me.  That was pretty cool.  Tony emailed me the next day.  Never happened before and happened twice in two days.  Nobody’s called me yet, but there’s still hope.

Well, this weekend I’m off to Vegas for a conference.  I should still be able to keep in touch using my Blackberry.  August is such a busy month for me.  Keep me in your prayers.  Laterz!

I know I haven’t been very good at writing, but I’ve been extremely busy.  Doesn’t look like August is going to be much better.  September’s looking good, though! I went to see Batman, though.  Anybody else go see it?  Raise your hand (Billy, put your hand down, I’m just kidding).  Anyway, I plan to write a review comparing Alfred to Jarvis (Iron Man’s computerized assistant).  I hope to do that soon.  Until then….Laterz!