i don't generally like surprises

That's sort of how I'm wired. I don't like surprises, as a general rule. There's a short list of other things I don't like:

• beets
• cell phone plans, or companies, for that matter
• the recent glut of reality shows
• basketball
• wet socks
• whining
• the designated hitter rule
• practical jokes

I have a history of figuring out surprises. Christmas gifts, surprise birthday parties, the ending of The Sixth Sense...Call it a knack, a gift, an insatiable appetite for having the upper hand.

Being surprised means that someone got one over on me, was able to keep me in the dark, or had more info than me.

Kim is whisking me away to New York tomorrow for an anniversary surprise/continuation of my birthday present. My wife and kids are doing something special for me/us on the 27th of each month to celebrate my 40th year on the planet.

The only thing that I know is that we're headed to NY (city? state?) for something Kim keeps referring to as BP. I thought it was a Broadway Play. Kim assures me that's not the case.

BP in NY...Bowling Pro-Am? Batting Practice? Brazilian Percussion? Banjo Phestival? I have to admit that I am stumped. I guess that I'll have to learn to enjoy surprises, at least this kind.

A night away with the love of my life doing something special to celebrate our 18 years of marriage...Yeah, I can get on board with that.

the hills were alive

Levi's show was a huge success, at least by Sublett family standards. Our house was full of people in town for the show. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins...and we all loved the show. It was Kim's Aunt Lea's favorite musical, and it would have been her birthday, so it was special to have Drew and Holly with us.

It was interesting to see how the stage show differs from the musical, and I found the musical running through my mind the whole time.

The cast and crew did a remarkable job with the presentation. I think the coolest thing was seeing Levi's hard work pay off. The group spent some long nights getting ready for the show.

I don't know if this is the niche Levi will settle into, but he's got a good voice and a solid stage presence, even if I do say so myself!

could you live with just 100 things?

Travis Keller posted about the article in Time that lead to Dave Bruno's site, where he chronicles and details his attempt to get his consumeristic compulsions under control by ridding his life of unnecessary things, living with only 100 things. He's calling it The 100 Thing Challenge.

Give it a read. What do you think? Could you do it? How much stuff do you have laying around the house?

I don't think that I want to go down that road. Not just yet. I like the concept of living simply. But the practical reality is that I like my stuff, probably more than I should.

this is going to hurt a little

We suffered a great loss in our neighborhood today. We knew it was coming, but that doesn't lessen the sting by any means.

Justin and Amie, Austin and Chase are gone. The truck pulled out with all their stuff inside, and Justin stopped by our house on his way out of town.

It was probably the right decision. Justin's job is centered in another town, and he'll be able to be at home with his wife and boys every day. They have family in that town, which is a bonus for them.

But it's a great loss for us.

Amie was a great leader in our high school ministry. Justin was my hunting buddy. They were great neighbors, and great friends.

There's a great big hole in our hearts tonight.

the Sublett family motto

We've got a houseful of kids with us this week. It's our church's Sports Camp week (our summer VBS-type program) and the cousins from Kim's side of the fam have invaded our domicile.

I love having a full house!

This will be a great week of games, creek walking, Spikes baseball, crazy times around the supper table, and family memories. One of the coolest times is bed time. I love tucking the kids into bed, praying with them, hearing them talk about the day's events...I often get a little goofy while I'm tucking them in, and last night Lilly reminded her cousin Mackenzie about the Sublett family motto:

Weird is good.

I jokingly told Kenzie that she'd be hard pressed to find anything but weird in this house. Sadie was almost asleep, but managed to mumble a classic line:

I'm a little normal...

Ah yes, off to dream land, my little truth-teller.

our DR trip made the Centre Daily Times

While we were in the DR, word got to the Centre Daily Times that some seniors had opted to spend their senior week serving at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. We met with a reporter Monday afternoon, and the paper ran the story today.

So what exactly did we do?

• bought and spread 31 (I think) 5-gallon buckets (that's 155 gallons) of teflon paint on the roofs of the orphanage, school, and church
• painted a roof for use as a team room
• touched up the paint/scuffs in the orphanage
• weeded the strawberry patch
• replaced to ropes around the ornamental flower garden
• lots of general cleaning and de-cluttering
• transported and assembled 12 bikes, repaired many others
• raised enough money for all 55 boys to visit a dentist for their first ever cleaning, xray, and fillings
• lost lots of baseball games
• played tons of relays and group games
• sang Spanish and English worship songs for about 30 minutes each day
• bought 200 pounds of chicken for the boys and girls to eat
• hugged, held hands, laughed, cried, prayed and loved

I can tell you what we did, how we spent our time and money. But I can't begin to tell you the depth of what God did in our hearts last week. Words are not enough.

Thank you to all of you who prayed and gave so that we could spend a week with those wonderful people in the Rose of Sharon Orphanage. If you have never been on a trip like this, you need to go.

You can check out the article here. You can see Kim's pictures here.

some blog changes are coming

I don't know how long this will take, but we're in the process of re-vamping the XStream and House Party sites, and my personal blog will be moving to a new home. I am in serious need of some web savvy person to help. If that's you, give me a call. Yes, I am talking to you!

be careful what you wish for, part 2

So tonight I was trying to get the fire going for our Big Barn Bash, kneeling in close, adding some wood to the struggling fire. The wind was shifting all around. All of a sudden the flames jumped out and got me. I felt the flames gently kiss my hair, and now my short hair is just a touch shorter!

Fire has long been a symbol of God. God spoke to Moses from the bush that burned but was not consumed. God lead Israel with a pillar of fire. God is called consuming fire. Jesus would come to baptize his followers with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Fire is a powerful metaphor, because fire is powerful. Just a touch is enough to change things drastically.

I didn't particularly want to have my hair transformed by fire, but I am desperate for my life to be transformed by the Spirit of God and his fire.

be careful what you wish for

Our local middle school set the captives free today. In glorious celebration, we kicked off the summer with the Big Barn Bash!

We'd been encouraging our students to invite their friends to the Barn for the past month, and we expected a pretty good response. We were blown away.

We had more students show up to Bash with us than we've ever had.

Here's the kicker--I don't know how we'll follow-up with all of them.

We're believe that life transformation is both expected and possible for those of us who follow Jesus, and that the process happens best in the context of small groups. We are committed to trying to connect each and every student with an adult who is passionate about Jesus.

Each year we face the unfathomable task of figuring out who will step in to lead these groups. In our collegiate atmosphere, there is an inordinate amount of leader turnover. I simply don't know where the leaders will come from.

So what to do? From Matthew 9

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.

So we'll pray, asking God to send more workers...

home again, home again, jiggity jog

Wow, what a week...we worked hard and played harder. The Dominican Republic is beautiful, and the people are more so.

We got back into State College about 4 this morning. I totally missed Father's Day with my kids, but Kim had cards for me. I was awake for about 24 hours on both ends of the trip, but I'm feeling pretty good tonight.

I do feel as though I've been trying to drink from the fire hose when it comes to this whole week. God's presence was overpowering at times...Over the next few days you should be seeing photos on Facebook or Picassa, an article in the Centre Daily Times, and some great video of our seniors installing new toilet seats in the bathrooms of the orphanage.

Here's a shot of me and my beloved to get things going. 18 years this month, you know...

our adoption update

After Pastor Dan announced that Kim and I are in the adoption process, lots of people have been asking how things are going. We're adopting through the America World Adoption Agency, and our country of choice is China. Our paperwork has been complete since June of 2006, and we are waiting in a virtual line, waiting for China to process our paperwork and match us with a baby girl. We've been praying and thinking of Annabelle for more than 2 years. If things progress as they have been, we won't travel to China until sometime in late 2009. I'll be honest, the waiting is difficult.

Kim and I are praying about other avenues, but we're not ready to give up on Annabelle. I believe that God has put her in my heart, and I can't imagine that our family will be complete until I tuck her into bed on that first night she's at home with us.

Kim has always believed that God put it in her heart to adopt. As a little girl, she was always bringing home stray animals. She says she has the Spirit of Adoption. AWAA has a great article on that very topic. You can read it here.

If you think about it, please pray for us as we wait and try to make sense of this whole thing. But more importantly, pray for the babies who are waiting all over the world. The Bible couldn't be more clear--God's heart is drawn to the orphan, and the people of God are called to protect and provide for the orphan.

Did you know:
5.5 million orphans in Africa, 3.5 million orphans in Asia, 1.5 million orphans in Eastern Europe, Nearly 400,000 orphans in Latin America, 135,000 children in the U.S. foster care system.

a huge birthday party

At some point this week, we'll be baking cakes (cupcakes, maybe) for the boys in the orphanage. We're in the DR, hanging out at the Rose of Sharon Orphanage outside San Juan de la Maguana. It's going to be birthday party time!

We get asked pretty often about the work we do with the orphanage, and why we don't do more evangelistic things. The simple answer is that the boys live in a Christian-run orphanage, attend chapel and church services weekly, and regularly hear the gospel from people who speak their language a lot better than we do!

But it's not every day that someone shows up to paint their rooms, help them plant a garden, or spend time playing ball with them.

So, we'll work hard, play hard, and party hard this week with some young men who are pretty remarkable. I should have loads of great pics and videos to post after we get back to the USA.

the road to Omaha

This is one of my favorite times of the year: College World Series time! I remember watching ESPN coverage of the CWS when I was in high school. You can count on some of the same powerhouse schools to make an appearance almost every year--Texas, Arizona State, Stanford, Cal State Fullerton, Miami, Florida, Florida State, LSU...

But sometimes a newcomer sneaks into the series. Somewhere, an unexpected team will win their super regional and make a rare trip to Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. I like to root for the underdog, to see how they'll respond to the pressure of a big game.

There are a lot of things that I LOVE about college sports, things that get lost in the translation to the arena of the professional game. There is an earnestness, a love for the game that shines at the college level. It's not about the dollars to be made; it's about a love for the game. Most NCAA players look like they actually love their teammates, too. And every year there is some player on some team who will rise above adversity, come through in the clutch, go above and beyond the normal effort. Somewhere, there's a great story waiting to be written.

What about you? Take a look at your life--your family, your job, your ministry...Are you more like the college athlete, playing because you love the game and your team, or the pro, looking at life through the lens of "How much am I getting paid?"

I want to be like the fresh-faced young men on the baseball diamond this time of year, playing the game they love with their best friends.

great leaders are precious, and needed

I was browsing through some pictures of previous summer camps, and came across a room sign. Andy Young was a great leader for us. He lead young men well, modeled what it means to follow Jesus, and was equally adept at speaking into the lives of 12th graders and 6th graders. He wanted to come on staff with us, but we didn't have the dollars to make that possible. He and his equally wonderful wife are on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, and our loss is their gain.

What are the qualities that make a leader great? The list could be quite long, but I try to narrow it down to 4 biggies: A great leader is
Faithful--to God, to the church, to the students they care for, to our staff
Available--if you don't have time to pour into students, you won't make a difference in their lives.
Teachable--possibly the most important, leaders are always looking to grow
Responsible--reliable, accountable, on-task, on-time, in-tune...

Do you know people like this? Are you a person like this? I try to keep this list in front of me all the time, measuring myself against it.

the travel/vacation dilemma

Gas prices are on the rise in State College. After holding for about a week at $3.95, a gallon of petrol will set you back $4.05 per gallon. How will that affect your summer travel plans? I think it means that the Sublett family will have to rethink how we spend our vacation.

Almost every summer we try to get back down south to see my side of the family. My parents live in western NC/SC (the state line runs really close to them) and my brother's family is in Durham, NC. That's more than 600 miles from home. At 20 miles per gallon, that works out to $243 in gasoline.

I don't know if we can pull it off this summer. Our gasoline budget is taking a beating. We may have to start donating plasma to afford gas...

If you do plan to travel, Dumb Little Man has a great post on 7 websites you must check before you go on a vacation.

the big reveal

I mentioned earlier that I had an announcement to come this week. So without further delay, here it is:

I am the proud owner of a 1978 Motron Medalist! Yessir, 1978, with only 4 miles on it. It seems that the original owner bought this for his wife, who rode it down the driveway and out the road, turned around and parked it, saying, "Nope, not for me."

The only downside is that they didn't drain the fuel tank, so it's been sitting for 30 years with gunk in the tank, and the inside of the tank is rusted, maybe beyond saving. But I have a buddy who will be working on the problem while I am in the DR, and it's possible that when I get back, I'll be cruising around town on my like-new ride. Oh yeah, did I mention that it gets better than 100 miles per gallon?

graduation parties galore

It's a pretty common end-of-the-year situation for youth pastors--what do you do with all the graduation parties? How do you attend all the gala events marking this milestone for the seniors you have come to love? Do you buy gifts for all the grads? Do you buy the same gift for everybody, or do the ones you know better get better gifts?

The fact that so many of our seniors have been part of our lives and ministry is a blessing. Kim and I have been very close to this graduating class, and we are taking a group of them to the DR following their graduation ceremony.

I have my screen saver set to rotate through the pictures in my iPhoto files. It's fun to look back over the years of pictures, seeing the faces and places that have been part of these seniors experience. God has let us rub shoulders with some truly amazing young people over the years. I'm grateful...

Tomorrow is graduation for State High. I'll be there, along with thousands of other family and friends, celebrating our seniors, marking their final act as high school students. There will be beach balls launched and confiscated, a senior video full of inside jokes, and lots of cameras in action.

Capture the memories. Remember the lessons learned, and look forward to seeing God move in the days to come...

back to the DR

Kim and I are leading a team of high school seniors to the Dominican Republic next week. They graduate Saturday morning, and we load up the van Saturday night for the trip. The coolest part of the whole thing is that these seniors decided to pass on the typical Beach Week--full of stuff that doesn't honor God--for a week of serving a great orphanage/mission in the DR.

The rainy season is just about to hit the DR, and the roofs all leak at the orphanage. We're going to roll some Teflon paint onto the roof to stop the leaks, and hopefully prevent the paint inside the building from peeling off the ceilings and walls.

We would appreciate your prayers as we go!

middle school students ask good questions

We're taking a couple of weeks at the end of the year to do a series in which we answer questions from our students. Last week we harvested a bunch of questions, and I spent the week poring over them, praying, thinking, and studying for some answers.

Some of the questions were goofy: Can DJ survive a day without coffee? How many letters are there in the Bible?

But some of the questions were great.

Tonight we took on this one:

Why does everyone say that God is always with you, but he seems so far away? I mean, I read my Bible and get really into praying and all, but I never hear his voice or feel like he is with me...I feel like he isn't there. Why?

How would you answer that one?

dealing with frustration

Have you ever been stymied by something? It's not that you don't know what to do, or how to do it--but pulling it all together is elusive. And frustrating.

I've been working on something in my kayak for a couple of months. I've read, studied video of others doing the move (a double pump into a cartwheel--doesn't that sound impressive?) and been practicing it for weeks now.

Nothing. I end up flipping, going upside down, and I can't get my body to do what I know to do in my mind. Time after time after time...I kept getting the same results because I was repeating the motion. I simply didn't know what to do differently.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? I think there's a spiritual life tie-in here.

So what do you do to breakthrough the barrier?

I found a friend (Andy) who can do the move. He's coaching me, and shot some video of me trying, and him succeeding. I compared the two clips, and I think I have something figured out. So it's back to the water later this week, armed with a little more insight, and a resolve to try differently.

I've heard it said that your system (whatever it is you're trying to do) is producing the exact results it is designed to produce. If I want to get different results, I need to tweak/change/replace the system.

a few quick hits

• Kim got the garden planted today. We should have tomatoes, peppers, squash, lopes, and lettuce in time. Provided that we can keep the bunnies and deer at bay.
• We're less than a week away from our trip to the DR with our high school seniors. That's a cool thing.
• We showed the senior video at church this past weekend. Got lots of good comments from folks, especially about the maturity of the students.
• I spent the day working in the yard. Lots of pruning to do around this place. But I guess that's the price to pay when the former owner was a big-wig in the Penn State Agriculture/Horticulture Department.
• The Pens are fighting to stay alive in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They scored with 34 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. They just finished the 2nd overtime--6 periods of hockey--I can't believe how much gas they have left in the tank.
• OK, time to do some surfing--I'm hunting for something cool that I hope to be revealing later this week.