friday, end of the week.

It has been a good week and it is about to give way to a tremendously busy week.

This week was spent mostly in Myrtle Beach, SC at a youth minister's conference/retreat. It was a great opportunity to be with some people who are really good at what they do and have been doing youth ministry as long as I have been alive, really, no exaggeration.


I got to golf on wednesday, which was dreadful. It rained and my best shot of the day was an intentional drive towards the open field adjacent to the course which happened to an airport on it, so, yes, I drove a ball towards the airport. But, let me tell you about this ball. I just proped it up on the tee, took three steps back and gave it a good Happy Gilmore.

The shot had my trademark, a mild banana slice on it, but it went suprisingly straight, and, if I were ever going to hit a ball 325 yards, this just might have been it. I promise, this thing went, high, far, and when it bounced off of the runway it bounced 40 feet in the air. It was something.

As for the rest of golf, I decided the only number that counted on my scorecard that mattered was the 62. More about that later, and the 62 was not my FRONT nine score.

Saw this article regarding Snowboarders in DC*B's website. If you have not clicked the link to see how they made it to the Olymics, Click here to see.

And, about snowboarding, BURTON, is residing in the top spot on my "BEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD" list. I broke a binding last Thursday. Monday I called the warranty line and found out the part I broke is under warranty for life. (subtext is that I probably really s*ck to have broken this indestructable part, or, I got something defective) Monday afternoon, I shipped it ground from Kinkos via FedEx (second spot right now on the best companies list). It takes 2 days for a package to get from here to Vermont, and, to make a long story short, the bindings came back TODAY. 4 working days and I have parts back meaning a trip to the mountains will likely happen on MONDAY!!!

Yea BURTON!!!

Finally, next week is Yard Sale week here at FBC. Hopefully we will raise between $4000 and $5000 for youth missions. Collections are supposed to end today and we have some large items to pick up tomorow and then we have to set up for the sale on Saturday the 4th. Heck of a birthday week.

I will post this weekend or next week about something I got in the mail about Christianity and Sunday School.

And, the 62 from golfing was the number on my cart, and I did have 2 bogeys and not many lost golf balls.

peace

the good life

Its Tuesday and I am halfway through the youth minister's retreat/conference I am at. Things are going well, I have met new people, talked about new ideas, and networked which is, I guess, important in the baptist ministry world. Actually, it is just nice to be around some colleagues who are creative and thinkers and, in general, more fun than me.

During our free time today, I decided I needed to exercise so I ran on the beach. I went our and picked a building and decided to run to it and come back. It ended up taking about an hour round trip but I walked most of the way back. I figure it was between 3.5 and 4 miles total. But as I was walking back, my feet were already wet so I decided to walk in the ocean a bit. It was cold but refreshing.

I then thought back on the last few days. Since Thursday I have, Snowboarded in the mountains(tr), got to see David Crowder*Band in concert(fri); played church league basketball and laid around all day(Sat); Worshipped, celebrated women in ministry and had great conversations with my pastor and several youth (sun); got a haircut from one of my favorite people in the world, had coffee from my favorite coffee shop, and drove to the beach (mon); today I ran on the beach, and learned from great people who are ministers. It has been a great week and that doesnt even count time spent with my wife and the snow that fell on Sat.

Believe me, NOT every 5 day period is like this. So, if you are in the midst of a stressful time, you are in my thoughts. I have several stressors around, but, in the midst all of this good stuff it has been easy to see the roses in life.

I hope you can see the roses around you and you too can soon enjoy and embrace the good life.

peace aho

weekend update

It has been a good weekend marked by friends, church, and cold weather.

Friday we got to spend a few minutes for DC*B. We ran into Solley between them and 3rd day cause he was out taking some pics. He brought us to the green room where we caught up on life with jeremy, mike d and solley, toni, and jack a little bit. Hopefully, b-wack will join the legion of treonauts (treo 650 owners) some day soon, but if he sticks with the razr, it will still fit good in the pocket of his jeans.

Saturday we woke up to snow in the air and on the ground. After breakfast at our favorite local b'fast joint, LEON'S.

Church today, lunch with the pastor, dinner with youth, music service tonight.

At home tonight I have packed for 4 days in Myrtle Beach, SC, to which I am going for the company and a retreat, not for the activities and scenery. And now, it is time for bed and it is snowing again, raising the hopes of teachers and school children all over the county. Maybe tomorrow will be the day that school gets cancelled, or just another false alarm.

I am going to post a few pics later from the weekend, and pose a question, but for now it is cold on the couch and warm in the bed so off I go.

Peace
aho

big weekend

Well, the week started out quite slowly, but it has been a good week. As I arrive at Friday, I look back upon 4 days of mental and physical exertion.

Monday and Tuesday I spent most of the time at my desk working and reading. It is time to prep for a study I am leading the church in. The book I am using is called Making All Things New and it is by Henri Nouwen. If you need another legitimate scholar to support some of the claims Kyle makes in his books, here it is. Nouwen's project of human spirituality would serve as good study for those of us who think Christian spirituality is more or different from the Richard Foster Method. I am actually working on compiling some resources for a category I am going to call 'Chirstian Discipleship/Spirituality for Mr. & Ms "type B"'. I am pretty laid back so I dont get into spirituality the way Foster describes it with rigid disciplines. But I can jive with Breathe in, Breath out, embrace the moment and sense God's presence here.

Monday Night, we had a church league basketball tournament game, and thrusday we had another. We play in the 'final four' on Saturday.

Snowboarded yesterday and had I not attached the lift ticket to my jacket, I could have slid down the mountain in a tshirt and shorts. It was like 60 degrees. I felt like I was sliding around on the largest shaved ice snowcone in the world. Add a little cherry syrup and we would be livin' large.

While playing in the slush yesterday, I broke the binding on my board and will have to deal with Burton to get it replaced, hopefully, but I helped several kids chase down skis yesterday and found and turned in to lost and found a nice set of Oakley Goggles, so if the wheel of Karma really does exist, it just might be spinning my way, hopefully it will with the good folks at Burton.

Headed to Lynchburg for the sold out DCB show tonight and decided I dont care what I wear. I just hope for safe travel and good show. Possibly we can shake the hand of a man who has written so much music that has guided me spiritually the last 8 years. But, if we dont get to personally say hi and thanks to the boys from the band, we are still blessed to get to see them.

I am sorry this has gotten long. Actually I am hungry for lunch but cant decide what to eat so I just keep procrastinating.

Finally, on the way up to the mountain yesterday, I had planned to listen to a series of sermons from Ecclesia that Chris Seay preached on Genesis 1-4 last fall. I got them copied into musicmatch well and then onto the dell dj, but when I went to play them, they were playing in like half time. It was really ssslllooowww aaannnddd dddrrraaawwwnn ooouuutt, so something got lost in translation. If you know what the problem might be, leave me a comment or shoot me an email. I will seek it out this weekend, but I want to hear those sermons. I did finally listen to the reading of Kyle's Last sermon as read by Blair Browning in November. It was a good moment. It makes me want to expereince Garden State again. The first time I saw it I was kinda in a bad spot and didnt like it, didnt get the whole theme. I think I might be able to feel it more now.

Finally, finally, I am really loving the White Stripes album, Get Behind Me Satan. It takes some time to get used to their thing, but is really fanstastic and abounds in spiritual themes and our human problem of sin.

Have a great weekend. Let me know what you are thinkin'.

peace
aho

Big Week???

It's Monday morning and I have just finished my ritual of cleaning up all the weekend junk from my desk. This involves sorting and filing youth stuff from the weekend, getting rid of junk mail, skimming through magazines, and then looking ahead.

Looking ahead, it is a pretty quiet week I think. I have two youth-friends who are in the midst of interviewing from very significant college scholarships. I have another friend who is awaiting cancer surgery, which, is significant because she is in her 30s. I have a fourth friend who is traveling to the Holy Lands this week. As for me though, not much on the calendar in terms of meetings or travel plans for work so I guess I am to stay put and pray for all of these who are in the midst of these significant events.

Thursday, I am planning to SNOWBOARDING one more time. It is quite possible that this will be my last good trip of the year becuase spring tends to come in March and the snow will begin melting soon. BUT, this here is your invitation to come with me. I am also looking at a trip around the 10th of March and the 13th of March as well. A blogger named Craig, who I often read and is a friend of a friend, is regularly inviting folks to the house for fellowship and TV. Me, you are always welcome at the house, but I am inviting you to Snowboard or ski with me on Thursday or any of the other above days. Or, come up with a day and we will go.

Friday, Nat. and I head to Lynchburg, VA, the FUNdamentalist capital of Virginia for a David Crowder Band Concert. Hopefully we will get to say hi to our old friends in the band, but if not, it will be fun to see our friends who are now big Rock Stars. The real tension regarding this trip is what to wear. Should I go with an old stanby t-shirt? I would like to wear something subversive with a bunch of FUNdamentalists around, but I am not sure what I have that will do. What is the right combination of sarcastic, clever and thought provoking. If I had time to order something from randomtees.com I would probably go with something like, Calvinism: the shirt chose me...Armenianism: I chose the shirt, or New Hampshire: spooning Vermont since 1849.
But, I will probably come up with something lame and remain anonymous for the evening.


I travel to Myrtle Beach next week for a youth minister's retreat which should be fun. Then birthday week will be filled with work on an annual yard sale at church, which raises money for our youth.

I guess today I am going to work on some discipleship study that I need to do so I can develop some things to foster spiritual growth in the congregation. It is quite a task and I am not sure I am the right person for the job, but that is what they are paying me the big bucks for, haha.

Blessings to you two readers on your week and keep me in the loop.

peace,
aho

ps. I forgot Coffee Talk at the Good Life Cafe here in Mayberry on Wednesday afternoon. That should be fun, if we have any attendees.

holla back.

the new millenia

If you see the counter along the left side of the page, it is about to cross the 2000 mark. I cant remember what I started it on, 1001 I think, like a check, but they are not all me sitting on the blog all day, clicking refresh. I have not gotten anyone to sit on the blog and hit refresh.

Which means, this silly little page has been visited about 1000 times. Whoo HOO!!!

Thanks for coming by, please come by again soon, and, leave a comment sometime to let me know you are lurking.

peace
aho

I'm it - - - Tagged

I have been tagged by the folks at Make Ben Fair. This is my first time, but here we go.

Four Jobs I've Had:
- Basketball Referee
- Bookstore Asst-Manger
- Lght Construction on Portable School Classrooms
- Minister (associate pastor, youth minister, youth intern)

Four Movies I'd Watch on repeat:
- Top Gun
- A Christmas Story
- The Big Lebowski
- The Matrix Trilogy

Four Tv Shows I Love:
- Boston Legal
- NYPD Blue
- PTI
- The Daily Show

Four Vacation Locales I'd love to hit
- Whistler BC- and anywhere I can snowboard
- European Vacation
- Key West
- Eastern Asia/Tokyo

Four Websites I visit daily:
- The Blogs (ben, craig, mine, natalie)
- The Ski hill sites: SkiBeech, Winterplace, Snowshoe
- Google/gmail
- hondaelement.org forum


Four foods I lust after:
- Good Tex-mex fajitas (mercados/posadas cafe)
- Outback salad with Tangy Tomato dressing
- Moe's
- Leons's breakfast here in Mt.Airy


Four changes I'd make to the house
- Own one
- Own one next to a ski hill with lots of snow
- Own one with a big garage for my beat-up cars
- A big big house, with lots and lots of room, with a big big table and lots of lots of food

Four beers I like
For various reasons, I do not want to answer the beer question online, but would happily speak in person or on the phone about my answer to this question.

But-
Four things I like to drink
- Coffee from my French press
- expresso blended with milk and occsaionally a syrup- a latte!
- Pepsi, only with a sandwich and cheese puffs
- Water/gatorade, they make me feel good

Four tags
- rniland
- natalie
- danny lloyd
- you who are reading this