An Ill-advised Road Trip...

Hello, friends! 

As has been stated here before, one of the best parts of my job right now is working with some women from the Bellevue Women's Basketball Team as they reach their teammates and other athletes at Bellevue. It's been a ton of fun getting to know the ladies as well as taking my kids to see some college basketball. Ezra has already decided that he's going to be going to Bellevue for college and that he'll be on their wall of fame. =0). 

Bellevue plays in the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA), which is part of the NAIA. A few months ago, as I was looking at the schedule, I noticed that the NSAA basketball championships were going to be taking place in Watertown, South Dakota, which is Megan's hometown. So long as Bellevue could make it to the semi-finals, they'd be in Watertown! 

The original plan was simple: Head to Watertown for the weekend at my in-law's house and spend part of Saturday watching the Bellevue Bruins win their semi-final match. 

Of course, things didn't quite go to plan. The big wrench in the plans was that my in-laws were actually going to be in Sioux Falls, watching our niece since her parents and older siblings were going to be in Kansas City for various things. So, here's what we did instead:

- Saturday morning, leave for Sioux Falls @ 9

- Meet the in-laws at Costco to fill up on gas and get lunch

- Drop Megan, Thaliea, and Jonah off at my sister-in-law's place so they can hang out with my in-laws and niece

- Drive with Ezra up to Watertown

- Buy a lot of snacks

- Watch Bellevue lose (The team showed some fight but it was a very frustrating game to watch) 

- Grab a snack for the way back

- Pick up Megan, Thaliea, and Jonah in Sioux Falls

- Get home around 10 and get the kids to bed

Was it a smart trip? Probably not. Was it worth it? I'd like to think so. It was good to spend some time with Ezra. It was good to support the team too. A win would have been better but that's how basketball goes sometimes. Will I do it again next year? I guess there's always a chance... =0). 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

I'm proud to say that I've created at least 2 new Bellevue basketball fans. 

It was fun watching the game with Ezra

Officiating My First Funeral...

Hello, friends! 

I often get asked if I ever think I'll become a pastor. I'm pretty sure that comes from the fact that I have been preaching at church more often, and the role of pastor and preacher are often intertwined. I always tell folk the same thing, "I already have a job." =0). 

The truth is that being a pastor doesn't really appeal to me all that much. I love preaching and I believe that I have a gift of preaching but I know that being a pastor is more than just preaching on Sundays. There's the day to day care for the congregation and the constant need to show care and compassion that sounds super exhausting. I've seen it up close with our wonderful pastors, especially this past year or so as Megan and I have served as elders. 

However, I did get to fill a pastoral role this week: officiating a funeral. Here's what happened. 

A man from our church's father died just this past week. Our head pastor is out of the country and our associate pastor was out of town, so, as one of the Elders for our church, I got the call. 

Friends, can I tell you how stressful an experience it is preparing for a funeral? I didn't have to worry about any of the funeral preparations themselves, and all I had to do was a few prayers and a quick eulogy, but the weight of the moment is certainly significant. Compounding the situation was that I didn't know the deceased. It was a high stress situation. 

Praise the LORD, things ended up just fine. I was able to have a few quick conversations with family members, enough to give me a sense of who this man was (BTW, he seemed like a spectacular man!), which allowed me to put together a eulogy that worked well. The most important thing is that the family was blessed, which is all I can hope to do. I was honored to be a part of the service and glad that the family felt blessed by my presence. 

Fun eulogy story: I had made a mental note that I wanted everyone to silence their phones before the service started but forgot to write it in my notes, and subsequently forgot to say it. While I was giving the eulogy, there was a line where I was going to be talking about the deceased watching basketball. Right before I said the words "watching basketball," someone's phone went off with the ESPN SportsCenter notification noise "Da-da-Da, Da-da-Da!" The timing was absolutely perfect and we all got a kick out of that. 

So, I've now done a funeral. I have a whole new respect for this aspect of the job for pastors and while it was definitely a fulfilling and worthwhile experience, I'll be OK if I don't need to do one for a while. After all, I already have a job, and it ain't pastor. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Leader Launch Recap!

Hello, friends! 

I know I'm a few weeks late but I wanted to give you an update on Leader Launch. 

TL;DR - It was pretty great! 

We started on Friday night with about a dozen or so students coming together for dinner, games, and some bible study. It was so great to see students connect with one another and start to build relationships. We played some pretty great games too. The passage Megan led with for the reflection time was John 1, when Jesus calls the disciples to "come and see." Talking to students, it really struck them how a transformative experience with God leads to transformative experiences with God for others too. 

Saturday morning, our Regional Director Kathy led the group in a bible study. Confession: I wasn't actually there for that. I was with our kids at the local high school wood shop, working on pinewood derby cars with the rest of our Scout Pack. =0). 

For lunch, I was able to join the crew as we made our way to Metro Community College (MCC) for a prayer walk. MCC has 2 campuses, North and South, so we split into 2 groups. I was with the North crew. We didn't have a lot of time to prayer walk but God still moved. Tom, a Korean graduate student at UNL, and I were walking when we saw someone heading to their car from class. Tom asked if we should go talk to them. I said, "sure!" so we made our way over to talk to the student and pray for her. Tom said that was the first time he'd done something like that but was amazed at how willing she was to talk. It was pretty great! 

Our final section was at a local church and we did some training time. I led the group in planning communal rhythms and outreach events for their groups then Megan trained them on winsome inviting (she's very good at those). We had dinner and then said goodbye. 

Leader Launch was a whirlwind of a time but it was really so good. It was great to be with students who want to see their friends come to know Jesus. There were a few students who couldn't make it (one had to work, 3 were out of town, and 1 was sick) but we still had a great time with the students who were there.

I'd be remiss if I didn't highlight a few all-stars from Leader Launch:

- Megan did an amazing job coordinating and leading the whole thing. It's always so great watching her walk. 

- Megan's parents came into town to watch the kids while we were at Leader Launch. It was a huge blessing knowing that the kids were in good hands.

- We had a few high school students show up and they were really well engaged and connected. It's always good to start 'em young. =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

                                       

Goodbye, Old Friends!

Hello, friends! 

This past week, I had to say goodbye to 2 friends who have been very dear to me... 

Our rice cooker and my e-bike... 

Our 10-cup rice cooker, which we received as a wedding gift 10+ years ago, finally stopped working. It wouldn't turn on unless you wiggled the cord just right. Friends, I have no problem telling you that we definitely ran that thing into the ground. Just for our family, we probably made rice between 2-3 times per week. Add in the times we cooked large batches for dinner functions, and the pots and pots of jook we made, we probably used that thing around 1700 times or so. It lived a good life, indeed. 

I had my e-bike for a considerably shorter time. I bought it in June 2021 as a proof of concept. I wanted to see if it was possible to get around all the places I needed to go with just an e-bike and public transportation. The answer was mostly yes (albeit the winters in Omaha made things tough). The one thing about the bike was that since I bought a cheap-o bike just in case things didn't work out, it wasn't exactly a ton of fun to ride. I missed riding on my non-e-bike, so I sold my e-bike and bought a conversion kit to turn my regular bike into a e-bike. I'm looking forward to a more pleasant riding experience, as well as a little less clutter in the garage (since we'll only have one of my bikes in there instead of two. 

We now have a new rice cooker (we cooked its first batch yesterday and it turned out just fine!) and my e-bike conversion kit will be delivered soon. Our old stuff served us well but now it's time to move on. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

Leader Launch!

Hello, friends! 

Depending on when you're reading this, Megan and I will either be preparing for, in the midst of, or recovering from Nebraska's Leader Launch, taking place 6pm Friday - 6:30 on Saturday. 

Here in Nebraska, we have just one really established InterVarsity chapter. The Creighton chapter is going strong and they've had leadership structures and retreats in place for years now. For the rest of the groups in Nebraska, Metro Community College (MCC), University of Nebraska - Lincoln (UNL), University of Nebraska - Omaha (UNO), Bellevue, and University of Nebraska - Hastings (Hastings), things are just starting out or are still in the planting stages. Megan had the idea of gathering these students together for community, vision, and hopefully some intentional time to make plans for the semester. It's a good idea and we're excited for the 8 students who will be in attendance! (One got COVID and had to drop yesterday). 

We have a lot of things planned for the Leader Launch. Tonight will be about casting vision and getting to know one another. Tomorrow, we'll have bible study, prayer walk on some campuses, and get to work on making plans for the semester. It'll be a jam packed 24 hours but I really believe it's going to be a good time. 

My role is hospitality and leading the training tomorrow afternoon. I've spent the past few days putting together games and menus and making grocery store runs to make sure that everyone is happily fed. Did I go a bit overboard? Perhaps. Will we have food leftover? Almost certainly. Did I stay under budget? Most definitely. Do I regret anything? Nope! =0). 

As the interim Area Director, Megan's not only coordinating everything, she's also doing the vision talk for tonight and will be generally keeping tabs on everything. It's a big job but no one is better suited for it than her. 

Friends, would you please be praying for Leader Launch this weekend? Pray that we as staff (we have 2 other co-workers working with us) will be attuned to the Spirit and lead well. Pray that the students will be connected to Jesus and catch a vision of what could be on their campuses. Pray that this will be the start of something big here in Nebraska. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

A Word for 38...

Hello, friends! 

First of all, Happy New Year! May 2023 be better than 2022 in every possible way! 

There will be an Urbana recap post coming soon (spoiler alert: it was awesome!) but with my birthday coming up, I wanted to officially announce my word for the year. 

As you know, every year, I give myself a word or theme for the year. It's an area where I feel like God is calling me to focus. Last year, the phrase was "Everything is Worship" and I tried to focus on making sure that everything I did was centered around trying to be worshipful. The year before that, the word was "Balance," and I tried to give each thing the time that it deserves. 

This year, I want to focus on "Compassion." Namely, I want to have compassion be my first reaction to others. 

If I'm absolutely honest with myself, it's way to easy to judge people. When I hear about people making poor decisions, whether it by politicians, friends, family, whoever, my first instinct is to judge them. How could they possibly make that decision? What were they thinking? Man, that was not smart. This year, I want to lead with compassion instead of judgment. That doesn't mean that I will agree with every decision that is made or think that every call is a good one. What I'm hoping it means is that I see people as God sees them and view them through a lens of love. 

We'll see where "Compassion" takes me. I know one are where that's going to be difficult is when the kids wake up early or have trouble going to sleep. I know that it'll be harder to have compassion on people I don't know and read about in the news. I also know that our God is a God of compassion, so this pursuit could make me a little more like Him, which is never a bad thing. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

End of the Year Letter!!!

Hello, friends! 

Just in case you didn't get our end of the year letter, here it is! 

Merry Christmas and thanks for reading this year! 

~Adam