Sandy's Sayings

Of Pumpkin Guts, Earthquakes and Jr. Highers

The last Tuesday before Halloween all our students show up for Pumpkin Carving Riot Nite. It's the one night of the year we trust Jr. Highers with knives, fire and pumpkin guts. I think this is the 8th year we've done this. These nights have usually gone off without a hitch, but are usually hectic. This is the first year we actually had a student cut themselves pretty good. Don't worry, he still has all 5 fingers. Not only did we have Jr. Highers with knives, fire and pumpkin guts, the Bay Area decides to have a 5.6 earthquake. If you grew up in Sunday School, you might remember the song "don't build your house on the sandy land." Well, our church is in Foster City which is all landfill! So our building shook pretty good with Jr. High students exiting the building with pumpkins, knives and fire! Could the night get anymore crazy?

I LOVE the Body!

I haven't posted the last few days because I've been moving. There is nothing on earth I hate more than moving, but there is nothing I love more than the Body of Chirst. Friday night I had a truckload of people help me move a truckload of furniture! Thanks so much to the CPCer's who helped me and darc move this weekend. Shout out goes to Mike and Louise, Mike, Byron, Ron, Tara, Caleb, Dale, Mitzi, Jerome, Ben M, Ben V, Charlie, Nathaniel, Carina, Dan and Carol! A shout out also to Mark and Celia, who put together a dinning room table and 8 chairs and also placed all the contact paper in the kitchen and to Linda who unpacked and placed all the kitchen stuff! Thanks so much for all your hard work and help!

R2D2 is in the Mail

So a few months ago I read about turning a bunch of our USPS mail boxes into R2D2'S for the anniversary of Star Wars. I finally saw one in San Diego! Way to cool!

Had to go home

Well, YS is over. I always enjoy the convention. This year was no exception. Unfortunatly, I had to leave during the middle of the last session, so I'm looking forward to downloading the last session and listening to it this week. It was a great time with friends, staff and meeting new folks and seeing what God is doing elsewhere in the world. Yet again, the YS crew did a fantastic job with encouragement, teaching, worship, fun and everything else they do for youth workers. Kudos to the video and sound guys too! Loved the picture in picture this year! Very cool. I'm still mulling over Francis Chans and Doug Fields talks. I'm also praying about how our ministry can support another youth ministry somewhere else in the world. Thanks again YS for all your hard work, I really appreciate all that you do!

another church

got word this morning that another group from the convention lost their church building in the fires today. Pray for these pastors as they discern what to do next. God is often found in the ashes of our lives. God brings beauty from the ashes and these churches are going to have some amazing stories to tell about God's provision, grace, hope, and love.

Lots of Fires this Morning

Woke up to the smell of smoke due to all the fires in San Diego and Malibu. A lot of fires going on with a lot of evacuations. And it's going to be hot and windy today. Keep all those firefighters in your prayers today as well as those who have been evacuated. There are a bunch of folks from YS who live here and have homes here so I'm praying for them too!

New Middle School Models

Being a jr. high pastor, I love going to any seminar that has to do with Jr. high. So I'm sitting in Marko's class today when he asked if anyone had any questions. We were in a huge room and a guy raises his hand and asks a question and Marko wants to know his name. Tom? No Todd! Tom? No Todd! This leads to Marko telling about someone who is blogging at the convention and how they screwed up on the name of BOB the tomato on veggie tales in their post and called him Tom the tomato. He talked about his comment he left on their blog, and I just started cracking up, because he had know clue I was in the audience and it was me who screwed up the name of BOB the tomato! So I shout from the back of the room, "thanks Marko!" He replies, are you "sandyssayings?" Which I thought was funny, because I've never really been refered to by the name of my blog before. I just assume the only people who read it is my dad, Ben V. and a couple of Jr. High kids. We all start busting up and Marko says, "now that's an awkawrd moment." I just had to laugh. Thanks for a good seminar and a good laugh today!

Networking

Had a great lunch with the folks over at Walnut Creek Pres. We are both doing ministry to 5th and 6th graders and often feel in the dark with this age group! It was great to hear that they are having similar issues that we are having, as well as having fun navigating and learning about this age group.

General Session 4 at YS

While in General Session 4 this morning, the Malibu Pres youth staff got word that their church had burned down in the fires this morning. We stopped and prayed for them. I know for myself, my heart went out to them, but it got me thinking, what would happen if our church burned to the ground? It would certainly solve our space issues! Obviously the "church" is not a building, but would our city care? Are we as the "church" impacting our community that they would rally around us? Or would they be doing a "happy Jesus dance" because their noisy neighbors (our building and the people who occupy it) would be gone?

Still Thinking

Still thinking over Francis Chans talk from yesterday!