• Live from Florida

    To most, this vacation is a tiny little thing. But to us
    McLane’s, it’s huge. A combination of going somewhere we’ve never been before
    with oodles of special time with my kids… it is a big deal to me. The first
    hours have been great.

     

    We got to

    Ft.

    Lauderdale

    ,
    rented a car and headed into town to fulfill our task of the day. Job #1 was
    eat some seafood and go to the beach. With that as our top priority, we went
    right to it. Of course the minor detail of not having a place to stay was beside
    the point… but we did go out to eat right away and then made our way to the
    beach.

     

    After lunch at a place called Quarterbackers (or something
    like that) we found the downtown parking area and waddled our white skins over
    to the

    Atlantic Ocean

    . Paul had never been to the ocean,
    only Megan. So this was quite an adventure for our almost 3 year old!

     

    We waded and splashed around for about an hour when I
    decided it was high time we secured a place to stay. Halfway between the beach
    and the inter-coastal waterway we saw a place that had “Vacancy” on the front.
    We went in, looked at a room and decided we could survive a night there. In
    retrospect the “Wish You Were Here Inn” was a mistake. We should have shopped
    around! Great location, bad room… is it OK if I call the place a dump? If I
    were to give it a AAA rating it would be one half of a star. Honestly, it’s
    terrible! I have to take some pictures just to document how bad it is or no one
    will believe me. The only upside is its location. Our room back up to the
    inter-coastal waterway and we can watch boats go by as well as enjoy the little
    patio area. Nothing quite like typing this with warm air on my face and the
    slaps of water against the hauls of yachts.

  • 3:40 PM Gaydar Warning

    It was our second trip to the beach and we had been there
    for a long time when Kristen remarked to me… “There sure are a lot of guys in Speedos
    here.” For about 10-15 minutes I was starting to wonder about that new craze of
    Speedos in our great country. But as we were walking back to our room Paul and
    I walked through a very large group of “shiny muscle men.” That’s when the old
    Gaydar went off! Thing must be rusty. Next up, Paul and I had to wait for 2
    guys to finish helping one another shower the sand off their bodies before we
    could get the sand washed off of our feet. We sure live in a changing world!

  • Hurricane Damage

    We were here about 20 minutes before I started noticing a
    lot of damage. If you were ignorant of last falls storm season you would think
    that

    Ft.

    Lauderdale


    was having a construction boom. No boom, just replacing stuff. As we flew in
    you could see many houses with the telltale blue tarp roof of hurricane damage.
    There are FEMA and Hurricane evacuation route signs everywhere as well.

  • Local network?

    I’ve been here in Romeo for close to 3 years. I have yet to make significant relationships with other youth ministry leaders in my area. It’s starting to really bug me. I talked to Curt Grams about this today, the camp director over at Simpson Park up the road. I think I can safely say we are both bugged about it, and I am ready to do something about it.

    It’s one thing for me to talk about networking at the Metro Detroit level, it’s one thing to be a part of YMX which networks people at the national and international level, but… aren’t I a total rat fink fake if I can’t manage to pull this off in my own area?

    Bust it… time to go for broke on this one. I am proposing a northern Macomb and south of 69 youth workers meet-up for late April. Man… I need to put some effort into pulling this off! Bigger than that, I am going to need a lot of help making it happen.

  • The longest day

    FtlauderdaleWhy is it that the last day before a vacation is the longest day of the year? In just 24 hours we’ll be on our way. I am mostly packed, and the kids are all packed up.. "Can we go now?" The kids are ready now!

  • Things are looking up

    Banner6_1The past two weeks have been fantastic for YMX. Many new members, many great articles, and a lot of excitement as we lept past 50,000 posts in just 3 months. I actually think that one day soon we will look back at these times as "slow" for YMX.

    Lightforcelogo2
    While I’ve not been "blog consumed" with Light Force in the recent past, God is doing some truly amazing things in and through LF. I am looking forward to really turning some corners and dotting some T’s and crossing some I’s in the days/weeks to come. If you know what I mean.

    Not specific enough? I’m living by my own blog rules, so I can’t say much here that I wouldn’t be ready to share with my mom. But let’s just say "cool stuff" is coming in all directions.

    p.s. I can smell Ft. Lauderdale. We leave in 36 hours.

  • Inside Man

    InsidemanLast night Kristen and I went to watch Inside Man, the new Spike Lee joint. Let’s just say it was far better than I was expecting it to be. It had a psychological component that was unanticipated.

    It’s a story about the perfect crime. The detective, played by Denzel Washington, is called in to negotiate with the bank robbers as they have taken about 40 hostages. During the course of the film, the viewer is left wondering who is who. Who is the victim? Who is the criminal? Who is the investigator. You have an arrogant robber versus an arrogant detective. Then there is the wild card. It turns out that they are not robbing the bank afterall, they are after a secret locked in the banks vault. Jodie Foster plays a wild card character that is also after the same thing in the bank vault… but she used her strong arm tactics to do what the theives use guns and guts doing.

    At the end of the day, it’s one of those movies that leaves you scratching your head. Think the Sixth Sense meets Oceans 11 meets Ransom. Overall, I highly recommend it despite it’s language problem. Not for kids, but 15 and up?

    Next up? Looks like a good summer for action thrillers. I am actually looking forward to the DaVinci Code movie. I know it presents a serious problem for Christians… but the movie looks quite good. This may be one of those things the church would be better off looking for the redeemable opportunities and discussion as opposed to fighting this movie.

  • Christian Junk

    PinSo, I was following a link and tracking an IP address for a new member of YMX. (Standard, sadly) Anyway, I came across Command Pin. Not sure what it’s trying to say, but apparently you are supposed to wear the pin to support the Ten Commandments and the American Flag.

    In the words of a TV personality we all know, Give me a break!

  • Metemorphasis

    Metamorphasis_butterflyTommorow we are talking about our the changes we go through as we pass from life to death to eternal life. Here is a sample of the imagery we’re using to help create the worship environment.

    Long, but good day. We celebrated Kristen’s dad’s 58th birthday and we sent off 25 pews to the great state of Florida. Don’t feel bad about either of those. Kristen’s dad is as young as ever… he ran 21 miles to celebrate his milestone and is set to compete in next month’s Boston Marathon. And while the pews story has ended here in Romeo, they are beginning a new life in Florida.

  • The Finish Line

    FinishIt’s finish time for me. It’s a great week for finishing projects. There are few things nicer in life than looking at a big project and saying "Yep, that one’s done… what’s next?"

    The really cool thing is that until I get back from vacation, there is no "next" project. I have a few days to just get normal things done and then we’re off to Florida.

    p.s.     Kristen and I are joking about showing up at the church in 2 Sunday’s that has bought our pews… wouldn’t it be fun to find our favorite pew in it’s new location at pop a squat?