how do you celebrate a bowl game win?

I thought I heard a noise downstairs about an hour ago. I went down to check it out, and the light in the laundyroom was on, as was the light in my bathroom.

I felt a little like Goldilocks: someone's been turning on the lights in my laundryroom. Someone's been standing in my bathroom. Someone's thrown up all over my bathroom.

Yup. All over the toilet, floor, books, jammies awaiting my arrival, miscellaneous clothes...nice.

A quick check on the girls--both fast asleep. I woke Lilly first: nope. Sadie, did you throw up in my bathroom?

Mm-hmm. Sorry, Daddy...

I got her taken care of (Lilly pointed out that there was already a throw up bowl ready and waiting just above Sadie's bunk--thanks), then spent about 30 minutes cloroxing the bathroom.

Just what a guy who's been feeling queasy for the last 36 hours wants to do.

And the celebration continues...

congrats JoePa

500 games
372 wins, 123 losses, 3 ties
23-10-1 in bowl games

say what you will about his age, his offense, or his idiosyncrasies, JoePa has become an enduring part of college football.

This week Joe showed that he still carries himself with class when one of the A&M yell leaders displayed his own immaturity and rudeness. Paterno shrugged it off and laughed about it.

Penn State outplayed A&M tonight, winning 24-17.

I thought the PSU play-calling was typical, Morelli had the kind of game that he usually has, and we saw more of Daryll Clark than we expected. It was cool to see Gerald Cadogan get his name called for hustling to pick up a loose ball in the endzone (on Clark's td run). I like guys who never quit on a play...

Congratulations, Coach Paterno. See you next season!

a vacation post

I wasn't going to post anything during the break. I had a few days of vacation left in the "use it or lose it" category, so I've been laying low over the past few days, or 10. A bunch of cool stuff has happened.

Great Christmas Eve services, fabulous family time, some pretty fun gifts. Christmas morning was the usual melee of shredding wrapping paper to get the the goods, but I think we managed to not get totally absorbed in the consumerism of the season.

The big thing for us was getting to hang out with family and enjoy the time together. It was the first year that we've not spent Christmas with cousin Wes in his life. It was Kim's first Christmas in 30 years without her sister Erin (Wes' mom). That was kind of sad, but unavoidable. The Er-bear is great with child and could deliver at any moment.

I am currently watching Penn State tussle with Texas A&M. It didn't look good for PSU until a few minutes ago, but now it's all tied up at 14. My kids are wired like crazy, and I'm about ready to send them off to bed.

I've been fighting a stomach bug for the past 2 days, so these wings might not be the best idea. But it's the Valero Alamo Bowl, and you can't watch the Valero Alamo Bowl without wings, can you? Maybe I'll have a pepto chaser, just to be on the safe side.

Christmas carols and cookies

This was the week that we set aside to spread a little holiday cheer with our students. Sunday night we took our senior high students out to sing Christmas carols and deliver 40 dozen cookies to a neighborhood we wanted to bless. The temperature was about 25 degrees, but the windchill made it feel like about 4 stinkin' degrees. Tonight (Wednesday night) was a little warmer, something like 34 degrees with no wind. We've been doing this for about 5 years now, and every year is great.

The singing is fun, and we get to bless some of the families in our community with cookies, Christmas cheer, and a few gift cards to WalMart.

I believe that one of the main benefits of things like this is that we're laying a foundation for our students, helping them learn that it's important for us to give back to our community, to invest ourselves in the people who live around us. That's why we bagged our summer camp in favor of a stay-in-home week of service projects and acts of kindness.

Jesus was known as a man who went around doing good (and healing all who were oppressed by the devil). We want to be the kind of people who are known for doing good things, too.

too cold to play? I don't think so

Last Saturday was a chilly one, but we made the most of it.

My buddy Ed called to see if I could round up some young guys to play a little roller hockey--outside! It was about 25 degrees, with ice on the ground. I asked Levi if he'd be interested, and he jumped at the chance. He made a few phone calls, and in no time at all we had 5 of his classmates in the mix. We scrounged around the garage to find skates and sticks for everyone (yes, I have too much gear) and hit the road. Ed met us at the PSU outdoor roller hockey rink with 3 other young guys, and it was game time. 6 v 5, no goalie, the goals on their faces to make it a little tougher to score.

We scrapped the idea of skating when we realized that the ice on the surface would make things a little too difficult for skating. But, man, did we have fun. Once we got started, nobody noticed the cold, and most of us ended up shedding the outer layer of jackets as we got heated up.

Ed is a good hockey player. He plays in the NHL--the Nittany Hockey League. He skates circles around most of us, and handles the puck well. But even more important, Ed makes his team better by getting all the guys involved, even the ones who aren't so skilled. His voice is always heard above the others, shouting encouragement, congratulating the kid who made the pass, cheering every good shot, even those by the other team.

I'm fortunate to call him my friend. He's a leader, an encourager, and a great model of a man who is investing his life well as a follower of Jesus. Good stuff...

cold weather means...

Well, the impending snow/ice storm resulted in about 1.5 inches of granular ice. Nothing much to write home about. But it does lead me to a couple of questions.

What's the weirdest thing you've ever had to dig out of the snow?

How about a trampoline? Yep. Today I donned the wintry garb and climbed aboard the bouncer to clear away the ice that was laying heavy on the tramp. It was actually kind of fun to chop the ice into tossable sections and watch it kersplode as it hit the ground.

Question #2: What's the deal with down vests? I have a couple of them, but rarely wear them because I don't get the point. I mean, is there a demographic of people who don't get cold arms? Down is one of the best insulators against cold that we have. If it's cold enough that I want to grab the down garment, doesn't it stand to reason that my arms are going to get cold as well? Where are these burly people who only need to protect their torso from the biting cold? Hello, McFly...

friday randomness

• a winter storm is coming, and could affect church Sat/Sun for us. That's a bummer, because...
• this is Care Package weekend, and we've got 500 bags loaded with goodies for PSU students to get them through finals week.
• had lunch with Josh Kerr today. He's been part of the Campus Crusade worship/leadership team for the past couple of years, and is joining our team to help with senior high. the conversation was great, but I ate too much at the Chinese Buffet...
• my back is sore today from the snow/ice shoveling Levi and I did yesterday to clear the driveway.
• someone tucked a gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods in our mailbox today. No name, just a note that read "in case you or Levi need some gear...Merry Christmas." Thanks, who ever you are! We love us some gear!
• we had a good time playing some games and wrestling through a variation of the white elephant gift exchange tonight with some of the senior high. Ryan did a great job of running things. I headed home a little early, 'cause I wasn't feeling too chipper.
• I came home early this afternoon and took a nap, trying to fight off some blahs. hopefully that's it, and I'm not getting sick.
• had a great conversation with my buddy Andy today about getting outside during the Christmas break, and maybe trying to get something like a Samson Society started in State College. There's been some good movement in the area of unity among men from various churches, which is exciting.

it's party time

Our youth staff had its yearly Christmas dinner party tonight, and it was a blast. We traditionally exchange names for gift-giving, and each person makes/creates a gift to exchange. This year's gifts were some of the best I've seen in terms of creativity and thoughtfulness. We learned that not only can Josh Cone bake (cookies), but he can sew! We saw some homemade scarves, a pillow, some cool scuba-gear, top quality leatherwork, and much more. And a meal at the Tavern (a State College tradition in and of itself) is just about as good as it gets.

It's always fun to get together with our staff. We have so much to celebrate, and there's always a lot of laughter around the tables.

I am encouraged by what I see and sense God doing in our students, and in the men and women who lead them. I have said it a hundred times, but it bears repeating: I can't imagine trying to do student ministry without a top-quality team of leaders. We ask a lot of our staff, and expect that God will work through them as they invest their lives in the lives of others. God likes that, I think!

Thanks, God!

I'm not a computer expert, nor do I play one on tv

Kim has been needing a new computer for quite some time now. Her 10 gig Dell Pentium III (498 MHz, 128 mb ram) is just about done. Slower than Christmas (I know--we're in the home stretch for Christmas), or perhaps summer break. It's been on its last leg for months, and we've discussed our options until we're sick of talking about it.

Mac vs PC. New vs. Used (PSU salvage is schweet). Laptop vs. Desktop.

Tonight I am attempting to move all of her files (Mary Kay stuff, pics, kids' homework) over to a Mac G4 running OS 9.2.

I don't know if it's an improvement. Shoot, I don't even know if I can get the stuff to transfer. But it's 12:52, and I'm having a grand old time listening to the Dell churn through the copying-to-cd stage.

I don't know how much longer I'll stick with it...

all our eggs in the basket

Bruce Eveleth is the real deal. He's one of our newest staff members at Calvary, and he's overseeing the missions/outreach at the church. Bruce comes to us with a background in college ministry (among other things) and has a heart for Rwanda. He has built a partnership with a group of people who live in Rwanda who run an orphanage/ministry.

Last June Bruce led a crew from State College/Calvary over to Rwanda to help at the orphanage, which led to Lois putting together a film about their experience, which was shown at the State Theater, which was cool.

Bruce and I had a great convo today about the need for quality men and women to shape the lives of younger followers of Jesus. Bruce's calendar is full with appointments to meet young men who are hungry for more depth, more direction, more spiritual life. He said what we've been hearing and seeing all over the place:

the church has taken the incredible life-giving/life-shaping process of learning to follow Jesus, named it discipleship, and turned it into a program. Come to these meetings, work through the study-book, and presto! you're a disciple. What we really need is mature followers of Jesus to make it a priority to speak into the lives of others.

I know what he means. We are in the same boat in our student ministry. We believe that life transformation happens best in small groups (community), led by quality leaders who will encourage the group grow, serve, share their faith, pray and worship together. That's the model that we are trying to follow. The key is finding those leaders. All our eggs are in that basket.

today was man-day monday

With all the estrogen in the house last night (11 senior girls hung out with my wife and Delm all night), Levi and I had to recoup a little of the manly spirit. He had the day off from school, so today we eschewed the shower, jumped in the truck, and headed out for some man stuff.

We started at the Army-Navy store. I think we may have found our newest hangout spot. I have always been a scrounger, and Levi inherited that trait from me. We spent about an hour pouring over packs and pouches, hats of all kinds, camo clothes, belts and gadgets...Levi wants some ninja throwing stars and a set of numchucks. We'll have to tell Santa.

Then we rolled over to Gummo's butcher shop to pick up the deer that I shot Friday. There's something special about being with the one you love in a room full of animal carcasses!

We came home to finish some homework (Levi had to write a report about a Community Service group, and he chose our church!) in time to catch the first half of Monday Night Football before Levi shuffled off to sleepy town.

Overall, today was a good day. It's tough to beat the Father-Son thing, you know?

a rare Sunday night post

I try to avoid posting on the weekend, but I have to make an exception.

Levi and I are hiding in the basement, as our upstairs has been invaded by a load of 12th grade girls having a sleepover. We just saw the commercial for the American Gladiators tv show airing January 6, at 9 pm on your NBC station.

If my archives were functional, I would redirect you to a post I wrote months ago asking for the return on Ice, Laser, and Nitro in the Joust, Breakthrough and Conquer, and The Eliminator.

There was this video of Gladiator Malibu. Sorry that it's not embedded--the post wouldn't go live with the embedded video.

cool things report

So today was a pretty cool day, top to bottom.

The HUB lunch music gig went well. Scott Mangene did a great job of leading us, and the people who stopped to listen seemed to engage in what we were doing. There was a light snow falling outside, which was a nice added touch from the Lord. I know that God was pleased with Scott's courage and obedience today!

Levi said that only one other kid wore Steelers garb today. Oh well, let's see how things shake out Sunday.

I have been hunting pretty hard the last two weeks, and today it paid off. I shot a doe with my bow about 4:30 this afternoon, and my buddy Justin came out to help me track it. The snow on the ground made tracking easy, and we'll have venison in the freezer soon! The only thing that would have made it better is if Levi had been with me. Maybe we'll have some deer action tomorrow.

Tonight was out staff Christmas party. We had a great catered meal, a rousing game of Family Feud (which our team won, btw), and Dan shared a few thoughts, then handed out Christmas letters, which included end of the year bonuses. I am so blessed to be part of this staff, part of this church, and part of this community. I love it, I love it, I love it...

And a good time was had by all...

a couple of cool things

So every year my friend Scott Mangene plays a Christmas gig at the HUB at Penn State. Scott's a local musician who has become a follower of Christ over the past several years, and he leads worship at Calvary off and on. Usually the Christmas gig is, well, Christmasy.

But this year he's invited a few other musicians to join him, and we're going to do an hour of worship songs. In the HUB. At Penn State. At noon. Tomorrow.

Scott is more excited (and a little nervous) than I've ever seen him. He is sure that this is the opportunity to let his light shine for Jesus that he's been asking God for.

I love it when people get pumped about using their talents to honor the Lord! God probably thinks that it's pretty cool, too.

And cool thing #2: My 12 year old son (Levi) is has organized a "Steeler Shirt Friday" at his school tomorrow to give the Steelers a little something extra for their upcoming game against the undefeated Patriots. I'm thinking that he puts the "fan" in "fanatic!"

middle school cookies

I pulled a first tonight, of sorts.

I wanted to talk about the purposes of the church (evangelism, discipleship, service, community, worship) with our middle school students. We've been in a series for what seems like the whole of the fall season, and tonight was the wrap up session.

So I made chocolate chip cookies tonight during my talk. Yep, it was my first time making cookies. Mixed all the ingredients, stirring as I spoke about the purposes. I got some help from Josh Cone along the way. He took over the mixing as I got more into the talk.

The point was this: leave out any of the ingredients and the cookies won't turn out like they're supposed to. If we neglect any one of the purposes of the church, we won't be the church that God wants to make. We need all the ingredients to make the thing turn out right.

I want our students to realize that they ARE the church, that God wants them to know him now, that he wants them to be growing and serving and loving him today. They are bright, capable, kingdom-people right now. God loves these middle school students, and he wants them to experience him and his kingdom now.

The cookies baked while students were in small groups, and they turned out pretty good. I pray that our students are going to turn out pretty good, too.

slip-slidin' away

The weather has turned snowy on us. I stopped by OW Houts today to pick up 6 tubes of TubeSand (300 pounds) for the bed of my truck. 4x4 was still in order to get up the hill of our office driveway. It's beautiful to watch the snow coming down, but it also means:

• goofy driving patterns by people who freak at the snow
• shoveling the driveway at home
• wet socks at home after stepping in the snow my kids track into the house
• folks not showing up for XStream tonight (perhaps)

Oh well, 'tis the season...

God in the theater

It's become pretty common to hear culturally relevant churches/pastors doing a series based on movies. Tonight, I ran into God (again) in the musical theater.

We celebrated our friend KimD's birthday (um, last July!) tonight with dinner and tickets to see Annie at the Eisenhower Auditorium. My wife (Kim) cooked the traditional Rhodes family chicken meal, which was superb, and we headed over to the auditorium. The crowd was late arriving (like us), and the show started before lots of us found our seats.

Do you know the storyline of Annie? Orphan girl, trapped in the system, inhospitable living conditions, Great Depression, greed and deceit...and somewhere along the way--new life, love, and adoption. My heart felt like it was going to explode (love burst) when Warbucks tells Annie that he loves her.

I love musical theater. Kim and I have been taking in shows for most of our 17 years of marriage. We went to Toronto to see The Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast for our 7th anniversary. We've seen Music Man, Mame, Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, Oliver...But by far, our favorite is Les Miserables. In a word, incredible. The story of grace, redemption, sacrifice, honor...I love it.

It could be our pending adoption that makes my heart pound at stories like Annie. It could be the fact that we are all (spiritually speaking) separated from our families, and needing love and adoption. I came away from tonight's production amazed at the talent, and wowed by the staging, but more impressive was the reminder that we have a heavenly Father who has loved us with an incredible love, who has spared no expense to redeem us and bring us back into his family, and who showers his love and blessings on us.

Thank you Father!

up on the rooftop...

We heard the sound of footsteps, but it wasn't Old Saint Nick. It was me.

Yep, up on the roof. Winds gusting up to 50 mph. Blowing snow. Freezing temperatures, with a wind chill below 20 degrees. I know, I'm pretty much a hero.

But the lights must go up. I mean, how in the world can we celebrate the birth of the Christ-child without lights on the eaves of our house? :)

No, seriously, I am getting into the holly-jolly spirit. We got our tree (hello, Mr. Concolor Fir. You smell like oranges!) Saturday. I put the lights on it this afternoon, and we're all gathering (now) to hang our decorations while the Jacobs Brothers sing Christmas songs in the background. (On a cd, not live. Although Kim is related to the Jacobs, and we got engaged at their All-Night Gospel Sing in 1989...)