Fall Hike to Some Lakes

Friday, I ditched work (something that’s a little easier to do when yer da boss!) and headed out to the mountains for a day hike with a friend to check out a hike to three lakes up in the mountains east of Idaho Springs. And it turned out to be a beautiful way to spend the day. Dinner on Friday was the beginning of our church’s “Men’s Advance” (real men don’t ‘retreat’) in Fraser, CO, so I decided to spend the day hiking to get into the right frame of mind to the men’s retreat… ooops, advance. It was a beautiful day and the aspens were in full yellow changing! The first lake, Chinns, had an old cabin on it that we had lunch in it. It was pretty awesome wondering the history of this settlement. The next lake, Sherman, was less exciting, but it did have a cool tree out in it that we posed for some pictures out on. Another view of Chinns Lake from up above on our way to Slater Lake. Here is Craig Wilson checking out Slater Lake, and as you can see, there was snow still on the hillside belong the lake… where we…

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I’m On the Back Cover of a Bible!

O.K., It might not be Sainthood, and I may not be up there with the authors, like Peter, Paul and James… but I did get my name on the back cover of a Bible… and not just any Bible, THE ALMIGHTY BIBLE! I’ve been a fan of The Almighty Bible since editions started to appear last year, and I was lucky enough to be sent some early review copies to check out. The Almighty Bible is a series of graphic novels that illustrate the Bible leaving the biblical text intact at the bottom, edited only slightly for younger readers, instead of bubble captions like a standard comic Bible. I gave them some feedback and expressed my enthusiasm and a quote has been put on the back cover the newly printed Book of Acts! “Finally, there is a Bible for kids and preteens that engage their eyes and captures their imaginations without sacrificing the biblical text. The Almighty Bible brings the Bible to life like never before for young readers.” – me In addition to an ever-growing collection of graphic novels for preteens and older, they have an amazing online interactive club for kids called, The Almighty Bible Club where kids…

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‘Find My iPhone’ Really Works!

This past Saturday my family went to an airshow in Colorado Springs. I’ll post pics about that later. About halfway through the show I noticed my iPhone was no longer in my belt holster! Of course, my iPhone being practically a part of  my body and brain, I panicked. The last time I remembered using it was in the car to call my dad in the other car during a stop for directions when I made a wrong turn. So I had to wonder – was it back in my car, or had I dropped it climbing in and out of the airplanes and military vehicles with my son? Of course, I could not enjoy the rest of the show and day not knowing the fate of my iPhone. It was most likely out in my car, but if it was lost, I needed to know that, so I could check with lost and found, or replace my steps and try to ask around if anyone had found it. I left the family watching the show, exited the entrance, rode the shuttle back to the parking lot and searched the car. No iPhone. It was lost. What was I to…

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No Budget? No Problem!

In these challenging economic times, children’s ministry budgets often get cut… sometimes eliminated. I read often online, even in the Kidology.org forums about ideas for fund raising and saving money. I’d like to take a different approach on this topic – while I AM sympathetic to leaders facing budget cuts and the challenges of ministering with less money, I’d like to pose a sincere question you are welcome to answer in the comments below –  my question is simply, “What do you need money FOR?” I think this is an important question. Because I’ve been in a children’s ministry where I had a $30,000 annual budget, a $6000 annual budget and a ZERO annual budget and honestly, my ministry was equally effective in ALL THREE. Honestly. No different. The  more  money I had to spend never increased the number of kids I could reach! My fear, is that in challenging times, leaders will devote more time to fund raising and get distracted from ministry. Don’t get me wrong. I’m on all for money and creatively investing in ministry! It angers me too when pastors and churches slash kidmin budgets first in tough times. It is WRONG in when they cut…

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The Perfect Birthday… In The Mountains!

So…. what did I do for my 42nd birthday? I blew off work and took my family and went and did my favorite thing… I went hiking! I recently got a great new hiking book called Colorado Lake Hikes that I highly recommend. This was the first hike I’ve done in the book. We decided to visit St. Mary’s Lake and “Glacier.” On the way, we spotted this beautiful water fall on the side of the road. That’s one of the things I love about living in Colorado – there are gorgeous spots like this all over the place. We can just pull over and Luke can get to play in Creation just off the side of the road. It was simply beautiful! Soon we were on our way up the mountain. This was Luke’s second “real” hike. I haven’t had a chance to blog yet about our family vacation in Yosemite yet, where he hiked up to the top of Sentinel Dome! He is very proud of that feat! He is proving to fit into nature just, well, naturally. I wonder where he gets his love of the outdoors from? Luke wants to climb on top of every rock…

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