2:31 am and I'm psyched

short post tonight. I am super excited for Friday night. I have invited several men who have shaped my life to join me in a rite of passage for Levi. He just turned 12, and we are going to welcome him into the Brotherhood of Men. No, we're not getting naked and banging on drums around a fire in the woods. Though that would certainly be memorable...

I'll post more about this later, but let me simply say that I believe that this will be one of the greatest moments of my life.

My son will know, in no uncertain terms, that he is on his way to becoming a man, and I believe that he has what it takes.

I bit my lip today

You've done it, too, right? Or maybe you've taken a chunk out of your cheek. Hurts, doesn't it?

It was weird. I was eating lunch--some reheated hamburger/hotdog combo. I mean, I'm pretty good at not biting my lip. I eat on a regular basis. Some days I even chew gum. Most of the time I manage to avoid snacking on my own mouthal-region. I sort of pride myself on my ability to get through a meal safely.

It's not like I bite my lip or cheek on a regular basis. But when I do, it's usually a painful and memorable event. The cut that's produced will stay with me for a few days. And it often turns out that the now-bitten spot will draw the attention of my teeth again. I don't know if they're drawn to blood or not. Do teeth share that tendency with sharks? Man, I hope not.

I think I get the same reaction with sin. I don't find myself running into lust or pride or anger on a regular basis. But when I do, it's usually painful and memorable. The hurt--and the tendency to repeat--sticks around for a while. Not good...

I'm pretty sure that I would rather not bite my lip anymore. Or sin, either. That'd be good.

a new role for the athlete/volunteer

Jacoby Ford, a Clemson wide receiver, seems to have found his niche serving in his church. Click here for the scoop.

things learned on a road trip with high schoolers

We took off last Saturday for our yearly Destination Unknown, a retreat for our high schoolers to kick off the new school year. Like always, we tried to keep the destination a secret. I think we succeeded this year. In years past, we failed miserably. Oh sure, we had great trips, full of planned and unexpected goodies. But I think we pulled it off this year. We rolled out of State College, headed for Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey). Sunday morning we drove a little further east to Ocean Grove, NJ, and had church on the beach.

Here are a few things I learned over the weekend:

• New Jersey--at least Ocean Grove--has nice beaches.
• Kingda Ka is a stupid name for a 10 second ride, preceded by a 90 minute wait.
• Kingda Ka is, however, the tallest and fastest thrill ride in the world, at least for a while.
• Lots of people wear too little clothing for public viewing.
• I don't mind going to the beach, but I don't like sand.
  
• 60 people trying to use 1 bathroom is a bad idea.
• 60 people trying to use another 1 bathroom 40 miles is a worse idea.
• It's difficult to do anything quickly (eat, potty break, whatever) with that many people.
• Allowing a student to drink a gallon of water on a road trip is another bad idea.
• A good navigator is worth the price of an amusement park, at least.
• We've got great leaders speaking into the lives of students.
  
• Somehow, a 5 hour trip can morph into a marathon 8 hour drive.

All in all, we had a great trip. Memories were made, friendships formed, and our new year is off to a good start.

Danger lurking

I just finished paging through The Dangerous Book for Boys. I bought it for Levi for his birthday. OK, so his birthday was 3 days ago...I was out of town, and he's getting presents in stages. He gets the book Tuesday morning. He'll probably want to skip school to read it. I know I would.

I love this book! It sparks the imagination, fuels creativity, and promotes father-son time. I am absolutely stoked to try some of the stuff that we'll read in that book. I was transported back to the days I spent playing in the woods around our house, early days of Boy Scouting, and dreaming of battles, bugs, and big adventures. My only regret is that we didn't find this book (or write our own) years ago.

I am so loving our new family schedule. Today was a great day of family time--no meetings, Mary Kay, or phone messages. There was plenty of time to simply hang out and enjoy each other. The only down-side: Levi crushed me in my first try at Madden '08. Crushed.

I'm thinking about learning a new language

I took 3 years of French when we lived in New Orleans (3rd-5th grades). Well, not really 3 years, but sort of. We had English class M-W-F, and French T-Th. It's served me well. I aced 2 years of high school French without opening a book. I'll let you draw your own conclusion about the level of academia in high school French in GA.

Then there was 2 years of Greek in college, but no one speaks Koine Greek around here. Or anywhere else, other than Bible colleges and seminaries. It's the language of the written New Testament, though, and it's handy for translating that especially pesky passage--was the wine Jesus made fermented or not? Go to the original language!

I've got lots of reasons for learning a new language.

I'm the chaplain for the State College Spikes, the short A minor league baseball team for the Pittsburgh Pirates. That means lots of young men who speak only/mostly Spanish. Our church also takes a yearly trip to the Dominican Republic, where Spanish is a big plus.

There are lots of Russian families in Centre County. Speaking Russian would let me interact with them. There's a whole apartment complex right across the road from where we're planning to build the new church building. It'd be cool to build some good relationships there.

And sometime in the future we're planning a little trip to China to pick up our daughter. We've never met her, or even seen a picture. But I'm guessing that a little conversational Chinese would go a long way come next spring.

Mango has launched in beta, and I've already worked through a lesson in Spanish (Abbey taught me pretty well last spring), and in Russian (I want to impress Julia and Pavel.) Mango offers lessons online, at your own pace, with audio in the following languages:

• Spanish
• Russian
• French
• Italian
• Mandarin Chinese
• German
• Japanese
• Brazilian Portuguese
• Greek
• English for Spanish speakers
• English for Polish speakers

Anybody want to join the foreign language club?

some things shouldn't wait

It's one thing to feel the anticipation of something good coming. You've been there:

• the birth of a child
• payday
• the season premiere of Lost

And then there are the things you wait for with dread. You know they're headed your way, but you don't want the day to arrive:

• report cards
• allergy season
• tax day

But somethings shouldn't wait. Channel 10 ran the 10:30 teaser for the 11:00 news, and apparently there's a manhunt going on in some neighborhood (it's not our local news). Details at 11...now back to your regularly scheduled program.

I'm sure that it'll be ok...

real heroes, amidst a Sea of Pink

I've been a fan of heroes for as long as I can remember. Not the TV show (never seen it), but the kind of hero who steps into a situation to put things right, fight the bad guy, stand up for the underdog...GI Joe, Superfriends (Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice...), The A Team.

You get the picture.

Mark Riddle posted a link to this story, (and here) and I thought it was worth passing on.

Oh yes, young grasshopper, there is power in standing up for the oppressed and bullied, for coming together to fight injustice in large and small venues.

Courage. Righteousness. Freedom. Unity.

Good stuff...

Levi's world is a-changing

This year is a big one for Levi. He started middle school a few weeks ago, for starters. I guess we'll finally see if I know anything about ministry to middle schoolers! His birthday is this week--12 years old! He's playing football, involved in a music/drama group in town, and plays the sax in the school band.

But the change that is the most interesting (this week) is that he wants to hunt this fall. He took the PA Game Commission Hunter-Trapper Safety Course last Friday/Saturday, and aced the exam. I was a little nervous for him, as the test is pretty comprehensive. I wasn't sure that he was paying attention to all the details. But he answered every question correctly! Woohoo!

We've spent the past few days planning and pouring over eBay, looking for some hunting gear for the coming snowy hunts. We're thinking about buying a good used Woolrich hunting coat for him! I've got enough warm-weather gear to take care of the early season small game and archery seasons. I don't think he'll be ready to hunt with the bow, but I may take him out to sit with me, just to get him out in the woods. He's pretty excited to get out to the shooting range and try his hand at some practice shooting. I've got to find a firearm that will fit his soon-to-be 12 year old body. And we get to make our first trip to Walmart to purchase his hunting license.

I have repeatedly told Levi that I don't care if he hunts (or plays baseball, or music, or whatever) as long as he finds something that he enjoys, and pursues it. He's a very talented young man, and I enjoy spending time with him. I've pared down my schedule this year so that we can do more father-son stuff. That's the big win for me!

movie night with Mrs. Sublett

Kim and I watched Pride and Prejudice tonight (the Keira Knightly version) after the kids were tucked in their beds. Annie loaned Kim a bunch of Jane Austen books this summer, and Kim wanted to see the movie again. It was worth the watching. It took a while to start understanding the accents and pace at which they spoke, but the story is great.

The story is set in the 1700's, and life was vastly different in that era. I have a tendency to insert myself into the stories that I watch/read. One of the questions that I always ask is this: Could I have lived in this story? Generally, I come to the conclusion that I could pull that off. It usually doesn't matter what the story/genre is, either.

Had I lived in the 1700's, I probably would have been a pastor. I know--what a stretch. But my choices would have been pretty similar to what they've been today.

I love living in this current era, to be sure. We've got lots of advantages that our forefathers lived without. For example:

• indoor plumbing (chamber pots = not cool)
• electricity
• modern medicine and health care
• lasik (thanks, Dr. Kleinert)
• television and media in general
• computers
• mass transit
• higher education
• organized sports teams (and all the fine ESPN products)
  
• the lottery
• alarm clocks
• rush hour traffic
• the ability to be always connected (cell phone, laptop)
  

Of course, life without all these trappings meant that people's work was more physical (no need to get to the gym for that workout), they spent more time with the family at home (reading, playing games, making music), and importantly, they went to bed when the sun went down.

But you know, bed vs. posting to a blog after midnight...you make the call.

a little hope for today

I was reading from Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth (my father-in-law's fav church in the scriptures, btw) when I ran across these words:

...But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

Now that's what I'm talking about! That's the desire of my heart. I have God's promise that I can see and reflect the glory of God, and that he—God himself!—will make me more and more like him.

Now that's the kind of good stuff that I can sink my teeth into! And the cooler thing is that it's a promise for EVERYONE! There is no age limit, maturity test, personality requirement, family or criminal background check...Paul states that this promise is for "ALL OF US..."

Bring it on, Lord!

is it the week of ancient greek heroes on the USA Network

Tonight I caught the end of Burn Notice. Sean has recommended this show, and I'll admit that I've watched a few of the episodes.

The bad guy wasn't really a guy, but a woman, and she looked really familiar. A little internet digging revealed that the would-be assassin (weird word in print, hunh?) was played by Lucy Lawless, the former Warrior Princess known as Xena.

I wondered what Xena was doing these days.

Not really, but whatever.

As the commercials kept me glued to my seat, I heard the name Kevin Sorbo, who will be guest starring on this week's Psyche (another entertaining USA network offering.) You, of course, remember Sorbo from his stint as Hercules. I am sure that you spent many hours enthralled by his Legendary Journeys.

2 former mythological heroes, now doing guest spots on snappy cable shows. Who knew that the USA Network would offer a chance for these one-time heroes to resurrect their careers?

And you thought that there was nothing on TV worth watching...

observations from the influx of new 6th graders

Our middle school ministry (XStream) is hopping. We had our Welcome Weekend last weekend, which is our fall retreat to introduce the incoming 6th grade students to XStream. I forget how little they are at this time of year.

My son is in 6th grade, so he got to participate fully in the worship, teaching, games, and all that jazz for the first time. He brought several of his friends to the weekend, and to last night's first XStream meeting. Here are a couple of observations:

• boys and girls don't like to sit together--yet.
• Almost all the guys' conversations overheard revolved around some sort of superhero/anime stuff, which makes me realize that Levi is pretty normal in that regard. He talks about that stuff like it's the stuff of life.
• they're all so small! By the end of last year, we had several 8th grade guys who towered over me (5'10"). 6th graders are little wee people.
• they take some time to get used to corporate worship. There are lots of little conversations, air guitar players, and fidgety students for the first few months.
• they're generally responsive and teachable. They listen when adults speak, and ask good questions (and the occasional goofy rabbit-trail question.
• Most of the girls who are coming are dressing modestly. We fight that battle as our young ladies grow older, but at this point in the year, our middle school girls aren't trying to be Brittany.

They grow up all to quickly, though, so we treasure the time we get to spend with them, asking God to give us wisdom and favor as we try to shape their young lives. We are clinging to the promise that if we plant the seeds of the Kingdom of God, fruit will grow.

the struggle to simplify

Ah yes, the simple life. No, not the one with Paris and Nicole--never even seen an episode. I'm talking about the real deal, the for real simple life.

One of the decisions that our family reached this summer is that we need to simplify our lives. I think I mentioned that Kim and I took a backward look to review our family life this summer. We were not surprised to realize that the number of family nights--nights with both of us home, spending time playing with the kids--is drastically low over the past 5 years. There is something going on for one (or both) of us almost every night of the week. And the nights that we are at home often find one (or both) of us on then computer, dinking around on the web, working on a project, or whatever. Now, there have been some great family moments, but they are prety much the exception, rather than the norm. Our kids end up getting the left-over time. And that is not acceptable.

It's ridiculous to claim that we value and prioritize family if there aren't many nights that we spend as family.

We have 3 great kids, and another waiting for us over in China. Our marriage is great, and getting better all the time. We are happy, healthy, and having fun. It's not like life is on the rocks, and we're not embattled and bitter toward life, each other, or God. But, again, it's dumb to say that family is first with us if our time doesn't reflect that. There is absolutely no substitute for quantity time together.

So here's the deal: Kim is rearranging her Mary Kay schedule so that she is home Monday nights, which is my day off. We're restructuring the way we do LifeGroup, which used to be Thursday evenings. That would give us 2 nights at home each week, just us and the kids. I am helping coach Levi's midget football team. We're going to have family nights on a regular basis, and I'm going to be talking to Kim about a standing Monday date-day.

Simply put, our family has got to take a higher place of importance than church, students and student ministry, baseball, Mary Kay, hunting, tv, web surfing, or anything else.

God has given us a family to shepherd, to care for, to lead. I don't want to miss my greatest calling.

the changing of things

Fall has, um, fallen, and the temperature reflects the changing of the seasons. It's turning into jeans and sweatshirt weather, and I love it. That's just one of the many things I love about living in central PA. Every season is just long enough to build some anticipation for the next, and none of them last too long. When each new season rolls around, I think, "Now this is my favorite season."

Fall brings football (PSU and State High are undefeated at 2-0, but Levi's team is 0-1), cooler temperatures and lower humidity, and another group of incoming students into our middle school ministry. The crisp fall days mean the leaves will be changing, the woods will smell great, and another hunting season is just weeks away.

I started running again yesterday, and I am stinkin' sore. Sore shoulders from hunching them up as I run. Sore legs from trying to get back into running shape. Sore feet...just plain sore. Oh well, the price must be paid, I s'pose.

OK, gotta jet. Hannah Montana's on, and I haven't seen this episode. Miley's sleepwalking, and telling the truth. OK, love ya, bye-bye.

still looking for transformation

One of my recurring themes this past year has involved my personal transformation. I know all too well the areas of life, faith, and practice that I continue to wrestle with. I am not the man (husband, father, friend, son) that I want to be. I have seen growth, seen the hand of God working in my life. There are a few key areas that I keep bringing back to God. It's been a good summer, with progress in lots of ways.

I am believing God for his transformation of my heart, my mind, my hands...I know that when I came to place my trust in Christ, he canceled the power of sin in my life. But there are lingering effects of a life lived for self, poor choices, and a sinful nature that must be put to death. I believe that I have been made new, top to bottom. I also know that there are still parts of my life in which I don't see consistent victory. I am counting on God's grace and power to flood those areas.

When I was in high school, I started praying the idea of Philippians 1:6 over my life:

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

I have to thank God for his faithfulness, and praise him for his power. I want to be the man he calls me to be.

big weekend a-comin'

It's that time of year again. The football crowds roll into State College, the days are getting shorter, and the night air is crisp and full of the sounds of crickets. That can mean only one thing--Welcome Weekend!

We'll load a bunch of vans with eager middle schoolers tomorrow after school and head out for our yearly camp-out, treating incoming 6th graders to a memory-laden welcome. We pair up the new students with a veteran of our ministry to help them acclimatize, and the older students get a chance to try out some leadership skills.

It's messy like no other weekend. We pride ourselves on the messy games.

It's crazy to put the weekend together. We know that each year we'll have lots of last minute additions to the trip. Finding vans and setting up tents for nearly 70 people is a bit of a challenge.

But every year we see students mature in their faith. Some come to place their faith in Jesus for the first time; others take new steps, following the ancient path...

And that makes it all worthwhile.

the devil went down to Georgia

We moved to Warner Robins, GA (that's right, home of the Little League World Champions!) at the start of my 6th grade year, leaving Metairie, LA (just outside of New Orleans). My mom bought me an autograph book to have all my friends sign their names, give me addresses (like I'd write them letters--seriously.) My friend David signed his name on a yellow page, writing, and I quote:

I hope the devil doesn't come back to Georgia, cause you can't play the fiddle.

There was one of those VH1 specials on tonight, and I saw a few minutes in which they were spotlighting Charlie Daniels' hit song The Devil Went Down To Georgia, which is what David was talking about. One of the pseudo-celebrities quipped, "It's the classic tale of boy meets devil, devil challenges boy to a fidding contest, boy wins a fiddle of gold...and it's a true story." Classic, indeed.

Little did my friend David know, but I would, in fact, meet the devil in GA. I attended Warner Robins High School, which just so happens to be the home of the Demons. Yep, our school mascot was an 8 foot tall paper mache Demon, complete with green-glowing eyes, a pitchfork that emitted Roman candles, and a fire-breathing mouth. Every Friday night when our football team takes the field, the PA guy leads with, "Here come the Demons!" and the crowd goes wild.

Great football tradition in Warner Robins. It's one of the winningest programs in GA history, with 4 State titles, and National Championships (voted by USA Today) in 76 and 81. James Brooks set all kinds of records, which held until Willie Reid (of the 'Noles and Steelers) broke 'em.

I was on the team from 83-85 (high school was 10th-12th grades way back then), and we went 34-5-1 over that span. We didn't lose during my senior year until the State Championship. I was a quarterback who could throw, but not run, and didn't see much playing time in a run-oriented offense. I took 3 snaps my sophomore year in a blowout against somebody. That's it--3 snaps. I did letter, though, and got a wicked cool jacket with a demon face on the leather sleeve.

When I wore the jacket at Toccoa Falls College, my Bible college buddies would get upset. "Dude, you're rooting for the wrong team." My roomie would wear it just to get the reaction from the fundie-bunch.

Good times, good times indeed...

first day of the new school year, and I'm beat

Whew, I think I'm ready to hit the hay.

Our kids went back to school today. Everyone survived, and there was much rejoicing. Levi did not get lost in the labyrinthine hallways of the middle school, nor did he get stuffed into the proverbial garbage can by the big 8th graders.

My good friend and loyal neighbor Justin--may he be eternally esteemed and lifted up--and I took Dash to the vet this morning for a minor emergency check up on his ear. He got bitten by a dog just prior to our vacation, which resulted in stitches, a total head-wrap, and the infamous cone/collar. Over the past 2 weeks his good ear got infected and really swelled up. I took him in to see the vet today. They shaved his head, gave him a steroid, and instructed us to wash around his head 4x each day and spray on some stuff. That's a lot of work, but he's already starting to heal.

Levi had football practice this evening, and we got home right around dark. Just in time to clean the Dash again before I got a late supper.

I listened to the Spikes win a wild one tonight over the Auburn Doubledays. They close out the season this week. Pirate ace Zach Duke is in town Thursday for a rehab start, which should be interesting. It's been a great summer by all respects.

We hit the ground running this week with student ministry. We have a parents' meeting tomorrow night, and our middle school Welcome Weekend camp-out Friday and Saturday. Levi will officially be in our student ministry this year. I guess we'll find out if I really know anything about student ministry this year, since I have a student of my own in the group.

I just wonder who I complain to if the student ministry doesn't do all the things it's supposed to for my 6th grader...

school starts tomorow

I know that most students have been back in classes for weeks, but not here in central PA. Our young'uns head back to the fabled halls tomorrow morning. It'll be a different schedule than we're used to--by a long shot.

I don't think we (and by we, I mean ME) were out of bed before 10 many days of the last week. The beach isn't a big pull to me, and I like staying up late and sleeping in. Levi set his alarm clock for 6:15 tomorrow morning. Yikes. He has to catch a bus at 7:30. His sisters follow him about an hour later.

They're all kind of nervous/excited about the start of another year. Levi will be the "small fish in the big pond," moving into Middle School. He spent part of the day mapping out his classrooms (changing classes) and memorizing his locker combo. It was a day of running around to pick up last minute school supplies, some gym sneaks for Levi, and the back-to-school haircuts for the girls.

Kim tells me that she was a nervous kid before the start of every school year. I don't think I was. We compared notes tonight. Both of us went to a lot of schools before we got to high school. Kim changed just about every year from grades 1-6. I changed prior to Kindergarten, 3rd (or 4th), 6th, 7th , 8th, and 10th grades. My dad was in the US Air Force, and we moved around a little. I think I liked it. I don't remember worrying about the start of school. But maybe I was a little weird...

But like we always say at the Sublett House: Weird is good!