Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 8 Recap

As you can see, Week 8 did not go as well as I hoped! Once again, I only lost one pound. I really was hoping to lose three. Technically, I'm still on pace to reach my contest goal of losing 36 pounds - at the two-thirds point I've lost 25 pounds. Realistically, I'm thinking for the first time that I might not make my goal. I'm still hopeful and I'm still happy that I am losing weight. Here's to a strong finish in the final third of the contest! Marko is kicking serious butt (he's lost just shy of 47 pounds) - there may not be any bigger losers than Marko!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 226, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 7 Recap

Week 7 was my worst week so far in the contest. In retrospect, I knew this kind of week was coming. I only lost one pound this week. I knew things would get tougher as we progressed, but the reality of small losses (or no losses) hadn't hit me until this morning. I have to keep reminding myself that I am doing this not so much to win or even beat Marko (although that would be nice), but to make long-term lifestyle changes with the way I eat and exercise. Small losses and no gains are still making progress toward that life-changing goal and that's what is important.

I ate fairly well last week. What let me down (again) was not drinking enough water and not exercising consistently. I blame part of that on it being Spring Break week, but part has to be blamed on just plain laziness. I'll have to buckle down if I want to reach my weight loss goal for the contest. I'm 12 pounds away from my contest goal, with 5 weeks remaining. I can reach my goal! With that in mind, here are my goals for the remainder of the contest. I hope to lose three pounds in each of the next two weeks and two pounds in each of the last three weeks. That would put me squarely on my goal of losing 36 pounds! Here we go!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 227, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185

Lent Update - Final

Lent is over! This year's season of Lent was special for me. I was able to keep my Lenten promise of not watching sports on television. It was difficult at times, but it was a good promise to make and to keep. Randa especially enjoyed not having the TV on sports during the weekends of Lent. I was able to do more with my family during this time, so that was nice. I also was able to reflect more inwardly spiritually during this time. Missing sports on TV (especially the first three days of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament) wasn't too bad. I was satisfied with filling that time by focusing on my relationship with God. I even learned a few things about myself and how I had been spending my time. I need to spend more time with my family and with God. While I'm not giving up sports watching for good, I'll definitely watch less from here on out. (Football season will be the big test - I'll check back on this promise then.)

Once again, I enjoyed hearing from the children about how they did with their promises. The youth made promises this year as well. Sharing together in community this discipline was good - for us as individuals and as a group. I always left church on Wednesday and Sunday nights encouraged by the stories from the children and youth.

The final observation that I have on Lent is the power of the promise kept. Focusing on the promise during the season of Lent brought a new appreciation and joy for Easter. Celebrating Easter took on a new sense of joy as I was able to watch some NCAA basketball on television for the first time! I don't think it was a coincidence that the first NCAA tourney game I was able to watch was the Davidson upset of Georgetown. Pure joy!

Easter

We had a great Easter Sunday! The National Chamber Brass played in our service this morning. They have become an Easter Sunday tradition and really add a special quality to our worship service. Our pastor gave three meditations from John 20; they tied together nicely and after each of the first two, you were left waiting for the next one. In between the meditations was music - either a hymn or special music. Today's service had more music than usual and that was a good thing! The following hymn is one that we sung today and also one of my favorites.

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

Christ the Lord is risen today. Alleluia!

Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, you heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!

Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!

Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!

Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!

Where, O death, is now your sting? Alleluia!

Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!

Where’s your victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!

Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!

Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!

Praise to you by both be given, Alleluia!

You we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!

Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!

Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!

You to know, your power to prove, Alleluia!

Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

After church, we went to Boston Market for lunch. After nap time/quiet time (and Tourney time for me), we had our egg hunt, took some family pictures, and dyed eggs. It was definitely a full day!

Spring Break / Holy Week

This past week was Spring Break for our students. Spring Break always coincides with Holy Week here in Fairfax County. We usually plan a few opportunities for fellowship and an opportunity for service during the week, in addition to the special worship opportunities provided by the church. This year's worship opportunities included a Maundy Thursday service and a prayer labyrinth.

Monday was spent at a Wizards game. The Wizards played Atlanta. We went down early and had dinner at Potbelly's before the game. Since it was St. Patrick's Day, the Wizards were having a promotional giveaway - nice, green rally towels that light up.

The game was exciting for the most part, but the Wizards lost, as they have not heard about something called 'playing defense'. It was a nice consolation to see Acie Law play for the Hawks. (Acie is probably the best men's basketball player ever from Texas A&M). All in all, it was a good time!

Wednesday was laser tag day. Laser tag was a compromise between bowling and paintball. We played over at Shadowland in Alexandria. Everyone seemed to have an enjoyable time, but the best memory I'll take from the event was when one of our senior girls got excited about finishing in second place and declared that she found her calling!

Friday, the family and I spent the day together. We went to Krispy Kreme for a mid-morning snack. I'm proud to say that I only had one chocolate-glazed donut! After that, we went to a nearby park - Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. We almost had the whole place to ourselves! We played on the park playground, walked around the park, and played on the playgrounds at the school next to the park. We ended our time at the park by having a mid-afternoon picnic and a final round of play on the playground. It was a fun day!

Today was our service project. We joined with Cornerstone Baptist in Warrenton for a follow-up time to our JUBILEE Retreat. This was another opportunity for us to put Jubilee into action.

We worked at a ministry called Community Touch. This ministry is doing wonderful things in the rural community outside of Warrenton. They have a food bank, a clothing and furniture store, and they provide transitional housing. It was great to be able to serve at a ministry that is doing meaningful things in their community. It was also fun to hang out with Josh.

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 6 Recap

We're at the halfway mark of the contest! I lost 2 pounds this past week, bringing me to 228 pounds. Not bad, but it was only half of what I wanted to lose. I slacked off too much this past week - not enough walking, too much eating out (and too many sweets), and not drinking enough water. I plan to get back on track this week, so I'm setting my goal for this week to lose 4 pounds. I'm happy that I'm losing weight each week. I feel better than I have felt in a long time. I even managed to win a game of basketball knockout against the youth last night! Randa bested me this week by losing three pounds - way to go, Babe!

Marko is tearing it up! He was in 2nd place among the men last week. He lost a little over three pounds this past week, so he's ahead of me by about 12-13 pounds. Since we started at about the same weight, it's not looking good for me as far as beating him. But, you never know! I'm just glad I am losing weight. I'm also encouraged by my progress and I am pretty sure that I will make my goal of getting to 215 by the end of the contest! That would be awesome and victory for me!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 228, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185

Lent Update - Week 5

Carrot Top Studios

We're to Holy Week now. So far, I have done pretty well in keeping my Lenten Promise of not watching sports on television. I noticed I had been lingering a little too long when I was flipping through the channels Saturday. I feel that this week will be the most difficult for me because of the NCAA basketball tournament beginning on Thursday. But, I also feel it will be the most rewarding as well. As I've been discussing with the children and youth, the keeping of a promise is not supposed to be for us to brag about, but something that draws us closer to God. I am hoping that this week will be a good time of reflection for me - reflecting on my relationship with God, my role as a husband and father, and my role as a vocational minister. As we talked about last night at FaithStation (our youth group meeting), I want to think on a deeper level this week and gain insight into who I really am in God's eyes. Easter is coming - Hallelujah!

the CORE: Generation Change

Today, six of us (three adults, three students) attended the CORE: Generation Change at National Presbyterian Church in D.C. This year's theme was about transformation and helping students reach their dreams of changing their world. As always, the CORE material was excellent and our presenter, Brock Morgan, was very good. He shared personal examples from his ministry and from his family that really connected the theme material with the audience. We had to leave early so that some of our students could be at the final choir rehearsal for Sunday's performance of the Vivaldi Gloria. I trust my friend Chris will fill me in on what we missed! I love the ministry of Youth Specialties, especially their two big events: the CORE and the National Youth Workers Convention (NYWC). The CORE is an excellent opportunity for all youth workers (and for the first time this year, student leaders) to get some training and encouragement. The time commitment and price can't be beat and the content is always timely and helpful!

That's a Scary Thought!

Dr. Gray!
Picture this setting as you say those words: I'm in a hospital room visiting with a patient. Here's the story:

I made a hospital visit today to see a church member who is recovering from surgery on a herniated disc. While there, I was mistaken for being a doctor not once, but twice! Two different nurses came into the room and asked me if I was the patient's primary care physician. After the second time that I said "No, I'm a pastor," I mentioned something about not being able to wait to tell others that I was mistaken for being a doctor. The nurse replied that she would rather be mistaken for being a pastor. In my mind I'm thinking, "I'd rather be a pastor, but get paid like a doctor!"

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 5 Recap

Week 5 is in the books and I lost another 3 pounds! That puts me at 230 pounds - a total loss so far of 21 pounds! Randa lost another pound and she has lost a total of 9 pounds so far! We are both one pound shy of having lost a third of the weight we need to lose in order to reach our ultimate goal weight.

I wasn't sure how I was going to do this week. I had to eat out more than normal, so that was hard. I was at another weekend youth event, so that was hard. And to top it all off, I didn't get to walk as much as I have been. The thing that saved me was that I managed, through all the difficulties, to eat well.

Meanwhile, Marko had a great week 4, so I'm 7 pounds behind him pending Week 5's results. Marko has been doing awesome. I guess there's nothing like the pressure of having to possibly give away lots of free stuff to get you extra motivated! (Of course, having a personal trainer helps as well!) I've really enjoyed this contest and I feel so much better physically having lost some weight. It will be interesting to see what YS does once the contest ends. I think they should (and will in some way) keep the emphasis on healthy living going. After all, YS works so hard to nurture the souls of youth workers - why not nurture the physical bodies of youth workers as well? Here's to a great Week 6! I'm shooting for a 4 pound loss this week!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 230, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185

Lent Update - Week 4

Slabbinck Church Tapestries - Passion

This week went pretty well. I've been able to keep my promise not to watch sports on television fairly easily so far. Difficult weeks are ahead, however. This week is "Championship Week" in college basketball, the week when most conference tournaments take place. After this, comes Selection Sunday and the revealing of the tournament bracket. Then, during Holy Week, March Madness kicks into full force with the First and Second Rounds of the tournament being played. These next two weeks are the weeks that I've been dreading because I already know how much I am going to want to break my promise. I am confident I can keep my promise because of three things: 1)the encouragement I'm receiving from Randa, 2)the accountability I'm receiving from the children, youth, and friends, and 3)because of the Become More... theme from the PlanetWisdom Student Conference this past weekend. I'm seeing this Lenten promise as part of my lifestyle of surrender of my heart (as the clay) to God (as the potter).

The children and youth are continuing to inspire me during this time of Lent. The ones that are keeping promises are doing well and are really being touched by God in the process. It's exciting to see and hear others share about their experiences with God!

PlanetWisdom Student Conference

We returned earlier this evening from attending the PlanetWisdom Student Conference at the Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbridge. The theme this year was Become More... and it was excellent! This was our first PlanetWisdom Student Conference. I've heard Mark Matlock speak before and I've seen The Skit Guys many times, so I knew it would be good. Hearing Mark share his heart periodically with the youth leaders during the weekend only confirmed the trust I felt heading into the weekend. Mark shared a little about a new parenting initiative WisdomWorks is working on - Real World Parents. It sounds like it will be good and helpful - and it is needed! Can't wait to find out more! Addison Road led musically in worship and Sean McDowell also taught a few sessions. Fewer personalities, all of which are directly involved in some way in local church ministry, contributed to a very focused conference and I appreciated that.


Only six of us attended, but I signed our group up again for next year because I really felt the quality of the conference is well worth experiencing again. Next year, Dutton Band will be a part of the team. I enjoyed seeing and hanging out with Chris, Mary Beth, Steve, Lane, and Darren. I also got to meet Brian Coday, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator for the National Network of Youth Ministries. We were Facebook friends, but hadn't met in person until today. Brian is passionate about what he does with helping connect ministries together to reach more students. I look forward to getting to know him better in the future.


The theme was the reason why I encouraged our Ministry Group leadership that we should attend the conference this year. Our ministry theme for this year has been "Whatever...Do Something!" The Whatever part is from last year's IMPACT Virginia! - "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Col. 3:17)." The Do Something part came from the One Life theme - "You Have One Life, Do Something!" I felt that the Become More... theme of PlanetWisdom fit it nicely with our ministry theme. After all, if you are becoming more, you'll definitely be doing something for Christ!


The metaphor of the potter and the clay and all the spiritual applications that come with those images made this a powerful theme. Friday night was especially effective as Mark sat at the potter's wheel and 'threw a pot' as he taught. The visual was very arresting - several thousand people watching in rapt attention. You could have heard a pin drop! Mark took us through the steps to making a piece of pottery - centering, opening, pulling, trimming, shaping, glazing, supporting clay, and firing. Along the way, he shared spiritual applications for each step. Check it out below:




Sean and Mark did a great job today of giving us the rest of the pieces needed to lead a life of growth. I appreciated the solid teaching and I especially appreciated the simple, direct invitation Mark gave this afternoon that focused more on the relationship between the student and the local church, instead of numbers. There were no decision cards because the important thing was for the students to be able to have a conversation with a loving adult from their church about how God was moving in them during the weekend. I really appreciate that attitude and that commitment to the importance of the local church.


There are flashier conferences around, but I would highly recommend you choose a focused event more likely to bring life-change. In my humble opinion, PlanetWisdom is a conference you should attend. I don't think you will be disappointed.

I'm Going to the Prelude Gathering!

I'm happy to report that I'm going to the Prelude Gathering in Kansas City in April. I first heard about Prelude from Chris Folmsbee while I was attending one of his seminars at the Youth Specialties NYWC-2007 in San Diego. I was interested in going, but didn't think it would be possible because I was already planning to attend a conference oriented more toward Family, Youth, and Children's ministry and I wouldn't have the budget money for a second.

After finding out that Josh, Tom, and Chris (and maybe a few others from our area) were going, I began to think more about how I might be able to attend. The reason I wanted to go is because of the conversations that will take place about new kinds of youth ministry and spiritual formation in adolescents and the chance to experience those conversations with some good friends and colleagues. After explaining this to my pastor and showing that I won't be too much overspent on my conference budget, I was given the go ahead to attend. I registered for Prelude and got my airline tickets on Wednesday! My dream is that the group of us from Northern Virginia will be able to take what we learn and experience at Prelude and come back and together do some transformational things in youth ministry/spiritual formation in our area.

The Scariest Thing I've Done In Awhile

Today, I spoke to all the kindergarten students at Annie's school - all 69 of them! I can say, without a doubt, that it was one of the scariest speaking opportunities I have had! But, once I got started talking, things settled down and I felt at ease. The kids were great! I was invited to speak because I am a "community helper." I had 30 minutes (a long time with a room full of kindergartners!) to share with them about my job.

I took "Theo," a dog puppet we use in our preschool ministry to help with my talk. I even did the high-pitch voice that Theo uses on Wednesday nights. I used Theo to help me share about what I do in the office, what I do with the youth and children, and other things I do and our church in general does. I specifically tried to share why our church is an important part of the community since that is what they are learning about right now.

One way I tried to make the point that a church is an important part of the community was by sharing about our food pantry and how we help people. I used Play-Doh to help tell about our food pantry. I made a person out of the Play-Doh and explained that people come to our church in need of food because they are hungry. To illustrate that, I punched a whole in the person where the stomach would be - to illustrate the person's tummy was empty and they were hungry. I then asked if the kids liked Macaroni & Cheese (almost every hand went up) and I shaped the Play-Doh into the share of a food box. After explaining that we give people food and gift cards to the grocery store, I made the Play-Doh into the shape of a smiley face to illustrate that the person was fed and happy! I brought small Play-Doh containers for all the kids, along with pens from our church. I encouraged them to share the Play-Doh story with their families at home. I also encouraged the kids to write thank-you notes with the pens - to their teachers, family members, or friends. All in all, it was a good time - I really enjoyed the experience!

Hopefully, Annie's teacher will email me a picture or two that I can post later.

Happy Birthday, Randa!

Today is my lovely wife Randa's birthday! She is 42 years young and still as beautiful, if not more, today than the day we met nearly 10 years ago!

The girls and I baked a cake last night and the girls frosted it this morning. Annie picked out a pair of earrings for Randa and Allison gave Randa a Periwinkle Ty Beanie Baby stuffed animal. (For those that don't know, Periwinkle is from Blue's Clues.) Ainsley and I gave Randa a book (Iron & Silk by Mark Salzman) and cd (The Altar and the Door by Casting Crowns). And of course, there were cards galore - including the first signature from Allison in which she spelled and wrote her whole name by herself. And the mailbox only had cards for Randa today! Incredible!

Happy Birthday, Babe!

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 4 Recap

Week 4 was great! I met my goal and lost 3 pounds last week! After the first four weeks (a third of the way through), I have lost a total of 18 pounds! I'm halfway to meeting my contest goal of losing 36 pounds!

My parents were in town last week for Annie's sixth birthday, so I was a little worried that this was going to be a hard/bad week for me eating-wise. But, my parents were very supportive and encouraging of me and my taking part in the contest - that made things a whole lot easier. I managed to survive a week with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese for a birthday dinner, a birthday party with my favorite Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake, and several outings out to restaurants, especially the Old Ebbitt Grill in D.C. I ate well and was able to exercise plenty this last week. In fact, I think last week was my best week eating and exercising together that I have had thus far. I tried to run some, but my body is not ready for the pounding yet, so I upped my walking distances/times instead. Randa has been very encouraging and that helps A LOT!

Week 5 has its challenges. First, Randa celebrates her birthday on Wednesday! The girls and I will bake her a birthday cake again this year (very tempting), so that will be an obstacle. We'll also go out to celebrate! Second, I am deciding not to eat the church Wednesday night dinners. They are good, but not for my diet! Finally, I travel again with the youth to the PlanetWisdom Student Conference this weekend. As always, I have to plan ahead so that I can choose meals that will be good for me - not too hard, but time-consuming. And I won't get to exercise as much as I would like during the conference weekend. But, I'm going to do the best I can! My goal for this week is to lose another 3 pounds.

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 233, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185

Lent Update - Week 3

Abbott Church Supplies - Slabbinck Lent Banner

This past week was the hardest week for me in keeping my Lenten promise to not watch sports on TV. My parents were in town last week to celebrate Annie's sixth birthday. One thing my dad and I like to do together is watch sports on TV. We didn't do that last week. Saturday was the hardest day for me. For the first time since Lent began, I was home for most of the day on Saturday. As college basketball draws toward the conclusion of the regular season, there were several good games on TV. I missed seeing Coach K get his 800th win and Texas get upset by Texas Tech! But, each time I flipped through the channels Saturday afternoon and saw some sport on TV, I quickly flipped away and was reminded of my promise to focus my thoughts toward God. I also decided that it would be better to do something with the girls than to watch TV, so we worked on some craft projects and played some games that Annie received at her birthday party earlier Saturday morning. And then I took a long nap. It was nice to be able to do that!

The children at church who are keeping promises seem to be doing well. Some have already completed some of the actions they promised to take during Lent and have moved on to other promises. Hearing their stories and experiencing their energy is very encouraging!