Football, poopie pants, bumper cars, and cracks...

Today was supposed to be THE perfect day, and it was great, but I'm a negative nelly so I let stuff overshadow reality.  Let me explain...

Today was MAN DAY, a day when my 6 year old son, Zeke and I planned to go to the Blue/White football game at the University of Kentucky.  He had a soccer game this morning, then after that we were going to jet off to Lexington, but things came unglued from the get go.  

Zeke is actually really good at soccer, and this isn't dad talk, I personally despise the wretched sport but he is like...good.  I mean, he's scored 8 goals in his first 3 games good and the coach said he should play with the older age group good.  Which is strange because Gillespies tend to be 'ok' or at best above average at a sport.  But I missed the first part of his game due to issues that came up inside my body from last nights dinner (this is foreshadowing by the way).  But hey, we can over come that.

So before I get to the bad parts of the day, let me give you a recap of the great parts of the day, and it was great.  We had a blast at Commonwealth Stadium!!!  I actually heard Micah Johnson, UK's stud linebacker, yell boom before he lit up a running back, it was so cool.  I also was able to get fairly close to Coach Calipari and Patrick Patterson before they were whisked away, but that's ok too.  

Zeke and I watched trains, we came home and played basketball outside (he won 102-95), we mowed the yard, which is awesome because he gets an old stroller, puts his ipod on like me and goes behind me as I'm mowing.  Then, to top it off, we played catch until dark when mean ol' mommy made us come inside.  So you can see the awesomeness that was my day, now for the parts that I can't shake. 

1) Remember my hinting of my meal last night?  Well...I pooped my pants when we got into Lexington.  Yes...I did.  Now before you make fun of me...you've done it too so shuttie.  Normally that would be funny to me, but not so much today.  I mean it was me and Zeke, and we were being boys and doing boy things and trying to gross each other out and all, then I had a 'toot' that wasn't what it lead my brain to believe it was...

2) I rear ended a brand spanking new Toyota Camery on our way into Commonwealth Stadium.  I hit it pretty hard and they had a little kid in the car too, it really was bad.  I expected the people to come pouring out of the car and I decided I was just going to take it.  But they were cool, no police called, just exchanged info.  I put a dent in the bumper and shoved the nose of my car back into the rest of it, so now I can't get my hood open.  So just add that to the electrical problems that have claimed my turn signals and randomly lights up my dash and causes my tape player (yes, tape player) to rewind.  And add it to my window that stays up with zip ties, my cracked heater core, driver door that's coming apart, heater fan that works when it feels like it, and rear door that CRACKLES when it is opened and closed.  So I'm expecting the call anytime now...

3) One of my most used possessions is my i-pod, I use it all the time for all kinds of things and situations, well...after the poo and after the crash, I dropped it and put many cracks in the screen.  These cracks aren't on the outside of the screen either, they're on the inside.  But hey, it still works so we shall soldier on.  

Notice how things like this happens, we have something awesome and wonderful planned, but then crap happens.  Then we, or I, focus on the negatives, rather than the positives.  Poop cleans, no one was hurt in the other car or mine, and ipods aren't anything.  But the day I had with my son will hopefully be forever.  

Jesus promised us 2 things in John 16:33: 1) In this world we WILL have trouble.  2) Take heart HE has overcome the world.  

He's here, He's the remedy, He desires us, He will provide and He will protect if we allow Him to do these things for us.  

May your Sunday and work week be filled with joy even though your pants are full of...well...not joy...

Compassion, Horses, and Earth Day

There's a couple of things that have really struck me in an awkward way here recently.

1) Earth Day: Now I'll have to admit that I've never been too fond of the 'holiday' or it's meaning.  The celebration of the creation is just not something that I think to highly of as a follower of Christ.  Why in the world (haha, get it?) would we waste our time?  

  Now don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer in taking care of and being a good steward to the resources we have been given by God to use.  I am a supporter of recycling materials.  I am a supporter of alternate means of energy other than oil for many reasons.  I am also a supporter of conservation in the saving of land and taking care of animals, BUT, there has to be some common sense.  

   Take the whales and polar bears and their possible extinction.  In Matthew 10, Jesus was teaching about the importance of people and the importance of people living for Him and being focused on Him.  He was also teaching us to not worry about those who can hurt us when we are doing His work.  Yes, He lets us know it's hard, but the focus is, 'He is more important.'  In vs. 29-31 He says...

  "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don't be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows."

  Of course the context of this entire chapter is the importance of people and basically the focus of where people should be.  However, we can learn that God is aware of when any animal dies and specifically, their deaths are in the will of the Father.  God knew when and why all of the T-Rex's died.  God was there for the dodo birds.  God chose to let the wooley mammoths die out as well.

  For those of us with bleeding hearts we say, "That's cruel, what kind of God does that?"  To that I say, one that knows what He's doing.  If the Blue Whale and the Polar Bear become extinct, it will not be apart from the will of the Father.  

  If we believe that God has done all He has done and is as powerful as He is, then I'm certain He will take care of His creation.  

2) This week 21 polo horses in Florida died a mysterious death as a result of supplements that were mixed wrong.  Because I live outside of "The Horse Capital of the World," Lexington, KY, people are going crazy.  Crying, having memorial services, clamoring for justice for these horses and wanting to get to the bottom of their deaths.  The outrage for this is amazing!!!

  This saddens me greatly, not the death of the horses, sure, it's bad, but where's the outrage toward injustice of people?  Where's the outrage to human sex trafficking?  Where's the outrage for hungry children?  Where's the outrage toward abortion?  Where's the outrage to abuse?  Why are these people wanting to get to the bottom of this issue, but is not concerned that there are people all over the world in poverty?  How come vet clinics have ultra-sound machines but clinics for people all over the world do not?  

  There is definitely something wrong here.  God had given us tremendous opportunities to share His will, but we waste so much time and so many resources on so many things that do not really matter.  It's time to stop wasting what matters, a chance to share the Gospel, a chance to save a live, a chance for God to make your life count.  

Maybe start here, we have...  www.compassion.com 

Home :)

Great week, now we're home.  Thanks for all the prayers, I'll be blogging about some of the adventures soon.

Sat morning

Finished cleaning the building, we go and tutor 3rd and 4th graders at the public school from 10am-12am.  The 'PLAN,' and I use that term loosely, is to be on the road by 12:30 and stop in Lex for lunch, then home.  

Ask your youngins to tell you allllll about it.

Fri Night

Um....I need some dynamite please.  It's pretty much the only way I'm getting your kids out of here tomorrow.

Fri Late Afternoon

We're pretty much done, just have to clean things and we'll be good to go.  They worked really well today and at about 2:30 we all went to the park to play with the kids and everyone played with the kids until we got rained out at about 4:30.  Why yes, we all DID get soaked.  

I do have to brag on our girl Kim again today, she was walking up to any kid and parent possible at the park and inviting them to church tonight...amazing.  Khaki and Christina went with one of the State Ave Church folks to walk kids home and meet their parents.  

Right now we are all preparing for dinner, then church, our devos, and SHOWERS!!!

Everyone is still amazed by last night....wow!!! 

Thursday Night

WOW, what just happened?  Oh yeah...God just moved. 

Thursday Afternoon

Adam took Kim, little Justin, Andy, Tyler, Rachel, and Michaela to the school for mentoring and all of them were dominated in Scrabble for the most part.  The rest of us stayed at the State Ave Church to work finishing some various projects.  Khaki, Christina, Heath, and Ty grouted in the kitchen.  Lori, Hunter, Jonathan, Gavin and Caitlin finished mudding drywall.  Kenzie, Nate, Wes, and Kaely finished the office (laid lamenant and painted).   Kaitie and Ethan routed those little wood thingys to go around the floorboard and the rest of us cleaned, cleaned tools, and carried them all down four flights of stairs to the trailer and that was all done before 11am.

At 11:30 we left for the Reds game, in which they won 8 - 6, so that's great!!! Also we kind of upgraded our $7 upper deck tickets to right on the field down the 3rd base line.  

Right now it's 4:30 and we're chillin until LaRossa's pizza gets here, then it's church for the kids of the neighborhood.  

Also, we may be home a little later on Saturday as well, more like 4 or later.  The people in charge of the mentoring program (a public school no less) have asked if we could stay for a special 2 hour mentoring program on Sat. from 10-12.  A fun fact of this situation is that the school was VERY apprehensive about letting 'high school students from Kentucky' participate in this program.  Yesterday we were requested to stay for the longer session on Saturday, so that speaks well.  

Thursday Morning

A group goes to mentor this morning, then it's off to the Reds game, will blog more later.

Our worship leader had to go home, so I'm off the bench for tonight.  

Wed afternoon

Gonna have to be a quick one today, no time to check spelling either.

Best day yet, we worked hard and played HARDER!!!!  I took Lori, Tina, Wes, Nate, Jonathan, and Paige to the school to mentor.  We helped them with reading and part of what that meant was that we played Scrabble.  AND YES, I WAS OWNED BY A 3RD and a 4TH GRADER!!!!  Stupid 'q' and 'z' being worth 10 points each.  It was great.  

Also we Kaitie, Ty, Ethan, Nick, Paige, Alex, Kim, Andy, Tyler, Rachel, Little Justin, Michaela and myself went to the park to start up some games.  We played basketball, double dutch (yes, I suck at it, embarrassing actually) and kick ball and the neighborhood kids and some adults came out of the wood work, it was loads of fun.  

Let me tell, you should be VERY proud of your kids today!!!!  Especially those who went to the park.  

Tuesday Afternoon

Well Day 2 of work is done and it wasn't the easiest way, you know, laying lamenant (and no, I cannot spell that word) flooring and dry walling a ceiling isn't actually the easiest thing to do.  Some of us finished the rooms at the community center today and organized their library, so that was fun.  

Kenzie, Heath, Gavin, Alex, Hunter, and Caitlin Camic went to mentor at the school and had a great time.  Everyone who plays scrabble with these kids is absolutely getting owned by them.  I'm not laughing too hard because it's my turn tomorrow.  Some of them have said that the hour with the kids in the school feels like 15 min.  

Also last night was great, Kim, Rachel, Alex, Ty, and Michaela lead the neighborhood kids in a service last night about what Jesus was doing on Monday before His crucifixion and they did an AWESOME job.  I'm very proud of them and also most of our students came down and sang and played with the kids, so it was a good thing.  

Tonight Nate, Nick, Jonathan, and Heath have it tonight, so we're ready.  

It's Tuesday, which is the day that everyone realizes, 'Hey, I'm actually kind of tired.'  But, today has gone by pretty  fast for some and slow for others.  Soooooo...tomorrow we shall see...

Monday Afternoon...

Well, we are juuuuust about done with physical work for the day and we've gotten a whole lot accomplished.  We also took a tour of the neighborhood and I found out that Rich Mullins lived here at State Ave for a while, I'm a huge Rich fan so that's really, really cool.  

Adam took Nick, Ty, Kaitie, Ethan, and Christian to the public school down the street to do some tutoring with 3rd and 4th grade kids.  It was funny, Nick was absolutely OWNED at scrabble by a fourth grader and no we are not letting him forget it.  

I took Justin W, Kenzie, Caitlin C, Kim, and Michaela to the community center that State Ave uses for their church services and we painted all day.  Of course Kenzie and Kim declared war on me for some reason and so far, they are losing like Gen. Custer  at Little Big Horn.  Our group also made lunch today too, mmmm, PB and J for all.  

Tereasa stayed at the church building with everybody else along with the Crossroads staff and the State Ave folks.  Some are in the process of laying a new floor, which is entertaining to watch because it's a bear, others carried drywall sheets up four floors worth of stairs and are installing foam insulation and dry wall on the ceiling.  

Tonight we have the Jr High students form the neighborhood for worship and devotionals that were created by are students, so be in prayer for them tonight.  Also, we GET TO TAKE SHOWERS!!! Yaaaayyyyyyyy!!!!!  Then we get to play indoor basefootball that was created last night, don't worry, y0u'll get to see it on YouTube when we get home.  

I'll blog later tonight to let you know how it's going.  

We made it in safe and sound around 7pm tonight.  We were briefed about what to expect and what's around us and we met all the people we are working with.  Everyone is in a great mood and we're getting settled in as good as we can, sleeping arrangements are a little tight, BUUUT, we' ll be fine with the girls on the fourth and third floors and the guys on the 2nd.  We were broken up into teams to do different jobs tomorrow, some will be cooking, some will be tutoring elementary kids, and others will be doing various jobs around the church building.  

It's going to be....not easy....but I'm pretty sure we'll be fine.  OF COURSE KAITIE AND KENZIE ARE PLAYING TWIN JOKES ON THE NEW PEOPLE!!!  

Well, breakfast is at 730 tomorrow :( but at least Adam and myself have nice soft couches to sleep on :) 

I'll upload some pics tomorrow, my new camera is being stupid.

In 2 1/2 days we leave for Cincinnati to work at the State Ave. Church of Christ for a week.  I'm excited about this week as always, but I also know the seriousness of leading 25 high school students on a mission trip and just how important and crucial this is.  

We have...

1 week for us to grow together. 

1 week for us to reach out.

1 week for us to allow God to move in us as we do something different.  (knowing God moves when we're home as well) 

I week to get away from school and the worries at home to focus on others and on Christ.

It's when we're away, together, serving, this is when it gets good, this is when it's hard and uncomfortable.   When we have to work together and act above our age, which is not out of the realm for teenagers, and definitely not our teenagers.  

It's always awesome to see students rise to being challenged, to work together in situations that are out of their comfort zones.  Also, you can track our progress, I'm planning on blogging about what goes on every night beginning Sunday, so check it out.  It's gonna be good...