8th Grade Promotion... AZ style.

After being a youth pastor for one decade... I've been to my fair share of Middle School promotions. Today I went to my first in Arizona. Some Observations about where I live:

There were only 60 students being promoted. This allowed for the ceremony to be inside... out of the elements, and there was plenty of space for friends and family.

It's not even memorial day... and school is out. While the rest of the country does Dads and Grads. It's going to take me a while to get used to Moms and Grads.

It was at an elementary school. This was the first 8th grade promotion at one of the oldest schools in Maricopa county. They are actually moving away from the middle school model in favor of a k-8 model. This is still a very interesting discussion to me.

Where were the white people? While I understand and appreciate the racial diversity of my neighborhood and long for the day when I don't notice skin color, today I did. Out of the 60 students, three were white. Today I have been pondering what cultural implications this must have as a young church plant trying to serve the community.

Arizona Safety Tip : Stay Hydrated

Isaac and I had a father / son day Saturday. We hiked around and to the top of Monument Hill. Monument Hill is located in the Base & Meridian Wildlife Area which will host the Tres Rios Festival this weekend. The area is unique in that it is where the Agua Fria, Salt, and Gilla, rivers all meet. Monument Hill is the initial point for the state of Arizona so those brass plaques up there are about 150 years old. The street Baseline, lines up with this point. It was not too difficult of a hike and the view was fairly spectacular; PIR on one side, wilderness to another, city scape in the distance, all while planes and native birds fly overhead. Pretty interesting local attraction.

Go A's

My boy is playing T-ball. He loves it! Monday night he was the lead off hitter for his season opener...and he hit. Normally this isn't a big deal, but does anyone remember last year? The poor kid didn't hit all season. He played right field one inning, and third base the second inning. When I asked him which one he liked better he said..."Batting, I liked hitting best Dad!". Needless to say I'm a proud dad, and coach. Go A's!

Misconceptions...

Moving to a growing area would be an easy place to plant a church.
I never thought this would be easy but articles like this make me think it's hard times for folks here, and it probably won't get better any time soon.

$3.oo is an outrageous price for gas.
It's sick that I would be willing to hurt someone to pay this "little" again. I never would of imagined a national average over $4. This plus the credit crunch partly caused by the mortage crisis, have made it a little bit easier to "walk by faith, not by sight". I don't have a choice.

It's a dry heat.
Where I live it's Hot. I left for the airport Saturday morning at 1:30am. It was 90 degrees outside... AT 1:30AM! To make it worse the A/C's not working at our house. It's supposed to be 113 today. Thank God for property management. I hope they get it working before homegroup tonight.

I've never been one to cry "attack of the enemy, attack of the enemy". And I always thought there was some sadistic oddness to the idea that "we must be doing something right, because look at all the devil is doing to thwart us" (Where does that word come from? thwart?). But lately, I've been identifying with those thoughts. Also, realizing this adventure is really about trusting Jesus. And still feeling extremely priveledged to answer his call, and to taste, even in a small dose, the danger of truley following him. This church planting thing... it's the wildest ride I've ever been on.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY everyone. Remember it's the Lord's Day.

Obscene Graffiti

The week before Easter our neighborhood got tagged. It took three days to get it cleaned up and I became very aware of a real problem in our new community. Wanting to be part of the solution, I called and volunteered to be on the graffiti removal task force. This is a non paid position that requires you to go to the worst neighborhoods in our city and paint over vandalism outside in the desert heat. Not the most attractive position in the world, but I was ready to serve my community. Several days later I received a very nice phone call that detailed the process...

Please go online and fill out a lengthy application.
Next we will call you for an interview.
Then we will send you to training.
Then, if you are still, alive, living locally, and interested, we'll let you help, but only if you have appropriate shoes.

Now, a month after I filled out the lengthy application I have gone through the THREE PERSON PANEL interview and am waiting for a reply. If they like me I will need to go through the city of Avondale human resources department (drug test, background check, who knows what else). And then they will set a date for training. All of this seems ridiculous to me (knowing that other cities have dealt with this problem by just making paint available to volunteers), but I haven't given up.

I thought the three person panel interview was hilarious. The funniest question... "Some of the graffiti may contain obscene language or pictures, would you be opposed to removing this type of vandalism?"

My answer... "Well, I think we should remove ALL the graffiti...ESPECIALLY the obscene parts."

One lady looked like she was going to explode but managed to hold in any laughter. The one in the center, code compliance administrator, looked entirely too serious and I think was writing notes about this being a satisfactory answer. The third, that asked the question, tried to explain... "I mean, would you be offended, not want to be exposed". The whole experience has been fairly aggravating.