A man I respect and appreciate....

This is my boss, my senior pastor, one of my main encouragers, one of the people who helps me learn from my mistakes with the youth group, one of the people who challenges me to seek after God with a passion and determination I have never had but want desperately. This man I look up almost as much as I do my own father (for 7 months of the year he's the same age as my Dad), which is a lot! He has given me the opportunity (that no one else would give) to do what I love and have wanted to with my life since I was 16...be a youth pastor! He has become a very close friend in a very short time and I am grateful for him and for the relationship we have as pastors and as friends (and that includes all three of us pastor too). I have been blessed tremendously because of him and this picture is us at the top of the mountain....

Even more Mt. Democrat pics

Picture 11 - The view from near the top of where we came....you can't see our cars where we parked it was THAT steep! :)

Picture 12 - It was an amazing day....green grass, blue sky, nice temperature and even better fellowship :)

Picture 13 - the cool refreshing stream...look, but don't drink! :)

Picture 14 - one of the better pictures I've taken recently...

Picture 15 - Andrew showing the mountain who's boss with his fog horn! :)

More Mt. Democrat pics

Picture 6 - HALF WAY! :) and a decent view too! :)



Picture 7 - WE MADE IT! :) 14, 148 feet!



Picture 8 - 90 of the 360 degree view :)



Picture 9 - the students that came and they all made it to the top! :)
(Left to right) Front row - Kourtney and Christie, Back row - Ethan, Stacie, Me, Kasey, Carlie, Andrew



Picture 10 - the students showing their truer colors...they aren't smiling quite as much....they were tired and we still had to go down... :) :) :)

Hiking Mt. Democrat

So even though our church youth group climbed this mountain almost two weeks ago...I'm reminded to post some pictures for two reasons. One, my sunburn from this hike is finally peeling off and two, its been on my "to do" list and I'm able to do it now that our sports camp is over. We left the church at 4 am, drove for 2.5 hours to the base of the mountain and then hiked for 3 hours to get to the top. All of the students (and the rest of the group) made it up to the top! :) Here are a few pictures...


Picture 1 - The view from the base of Mt. Democrat (barely visible to the left and behind of the main peak). and yes there's snow :) I threw a lot of it! :)



Picture 2 - (Left to right) Christie, Stacie and Carlie before the hike...they look ready to go.... ;)



Picture 3 - The view from 1/3 of the way up the mountain



Picture 4 - We've got a ways to go...



Picture 5 - ...but Pastor Scott is there to encourage us upward! :)

Prepare your minds.....

Here is a sermon that I preached two sundays ago for the church our youth group worked with on their VBS. It is from 1 Peter 1:13-20. I will hopefully be updating the blog soon with details, highlights and stories from our trip to Delta, CO. Thanks for praying for us! :) Here's the link to the audio feed Prepare Your Minds.