I’ve been on the road (well, technically, in the air!) for weeks – speaking at Camp Hartland and Camp Timber-lee, and all the while my convertible has been in the garage with the top down while I’ve been filming in my car DiscipleTown videos for the next series. (How to Navigate the Old Testament, due out Aug. 20th)

So when I pulled out today, I had no idea the top was broken, its been down for a month! I discovered when I was out on a conference call with DiscipleLand after lunch with the family at the mall. I was then meeting at Speed Stacks HQ getting the low-down on some new products (BTW, I am the VERY FIRST non-employee to get a prototype on something I’ll blog about later!) when it started to rain!

What to do? Go home and cut out of an important meeting? Park under a tree? Then the innovative team at Speed Stacks discovered that the back double doors of their building might provide shelter!

Only problem – the door width was 70 inches and my car only fit halfway in the building, it was 75 inches mirror to mirror!

The view from outside

The view from inside

The car only fit in (with LESS than an inch on each side) up to the mirrors, and then we had to put cardboard over the front seat to keep the rain out! But we saved the rest from the rain.

Sometimes in life, you just have to be creative!

If you are an optimist, the car was half inside!

If you are a pessimist, the car was half out in the rain!

I only suffered a slight scratch when pulling out, but like I told Bob Fox, great memories in life come with a slight price tag!

Me and Bob Fox, President of Speed Stacks

PS: Me beating Bob’s daughter at Sporting Stacking!

I went to see the sunrise and to work in my new office: Colorado!

This was my view for my morning staff conference call. Not too shabby! It was a little chilly, so I eventually moved to the Visitor Center across the street where I had a counter, power outlet, free refills and an elevated view:

Next I headed off to Chipotle for lunch and on my way back I noticed a Navigator’s sign right before the turn to Garden of the Gods, and turned in. Soon I was at a Castle Gate being stopped by a Gate Keeper. I wasn’t sure if I would get in, but after speaking a little “Christianese” I was granted a pass and allowed to proceed into the most amazing compound that rivaled the Garden of the Gods next door! Turns out the Gen Eyrie retreat center may be one of the best kept secrets of Christiandome! Not only are there more red rocks….

and over 700 acres with lodges and hiking trails…

there is even a Castle!

But on to the CAVE!

As I was exploring, I noticed a CAVE up on one of the cliffs!

Now, GUYS, why is it when you SEE A CAVE you have this thought… I must go up in that cave! I’m sorry, but I REALLY TRIED not to. I seriously thought, I could get hurt. It might be too much for my heart. There could be a bear or a cougar or something worse! No one who loves me even knows I am here at Glen Eyrie, how long until my car would be found? I signed a release to hike, so they wouldn’t even cover any medical costs if I got hurt. Would my insurance…

but the CAVE WAS CALLING TO ME… so I climbed!

I got closer! I half expected some fierce animal to peek out at me! Would I run? Or would freezing work? What if I found treasure? Bones? I’m sure no one else has ever climbed up here!

Finally, I made it! Here is the view from INSIDE THE CAVE! And there is the PK Cruiser, to prove it is really the same cave! It was about twenty feet deep. No wild animals or bones or treasure. I was actually a little disappointed. (About the treasure and bones that is.)

I put on the fisheye lens to try and show the entire cave from the back!

Just as I was about to head down I was surprised by a great view of the Glen Eyrie Castle from the opening of the cave! Pretty cool, huh? You know, if you don’t get out of your car in life, you miss out on some of the best experiences.

The next time you are driving in life and you see something cool – don’t drive by. STOP, and just do it! I’m way behind on email and a bunch of stuff from moving last week, and I know just as I get caught up when I’m moving in next week, I’ll get behind all over again. I have every reason to work all day and into the night non-stop.

But then, I would have missed out on this neat cave!

WHAT IS CALLING OUT TO YOU TODAY? GO FOR IT!

As I walked out to my car today, I noticed that it was no longer straight in the parking spot like I left it… for a moment I wondered if it had been taken for a joy ride… I was very puzzled until I got closer and discovered why my PK Crusier had moved over in his spot….

…he had fallen in love with the car parked next to him!

I sure hope they behaved themselves!

Mother’s Day began with a photo-op of Luke outside on the way to church….

Luke with Daddy’s Car… too cool. (the boy, not the car!)

Trying to Look BIG and Tough (but too cute to pull it off)

“What’s with the flowers, Dad, I’m a BOY!”

Waiting for the women to be ready to leave for church.
(get used to it, boy)

And here is MOM with her happy boy on Mother’s Day!

Luke gets his hands on daddy’s deck of cards…

A magician in the making!
Luke loves water, so the splinkers was the hightlight of his day!
Luke helps daddy drive…. again.
“Turn this way, daddy, according to the satelites!”

We enjoyed a wonderful Mother’s Day relaxing at Sara’s parents, not far from the latest Chicago fire. It’s amazing how much Luke has grown since last Mother’s Day.

It started out as a quick trip to the dollar store to pick up my sister who’s car had broken down. Since it was a RARE warm afternoon, and a very short ride, I thought I’d let Luke have his first ride with the top down! (note the shades for wind, and the blanket for warmth!) Plus, mommy was out with a friend, so no need to worry about whether mom approved. (!)

BUSTED!

Just as I got to the end of the street, mom and her friend turned onto the street, and I was caught red-car-ed, er, I mean, red-handed! So mom jumped out of one car, and into mine to join us for the short ride!

Best view in the world…
(note Darth on the dash pointing which way to go!)

Once we got to our destination, we had to wait for the toe truck, er, tow truck to arrive, so we had some time to kill. After too long in the dollar store asking, “How much is this?” Luke and I were booted out.

So I took the opportunity to give him some behind the wheel time in the parking lot just as my father before me did when I was a youngster! (a brick on the gas pedal did the trick)

He showed a natural talent for driving! (received from his dad, of course)

And soon he was racing around the parking lot, but I was able to get this picture as he sped by! Next thing, he’s gonna want to take some cute little baby girl out on a date!

That’s ONE COOL Baby!

In high school we got sick of the M. Smith song, “Friends are friends forever.” Real life teaches you it isn’t true. Those you thought were friends for years can forget you and even turn on you if you don’t live up to their expectations. And it hurts.

I used to use the teaching tool: A true friend C.A.R.E.S. when teaching kids:

C = challenges you to be a better person
A = accepts you just the way you are, they don’t reject you when you mess up
R = respects you, they don’t do things to hurt or damage you, they don’t ‘get even’
E = encourages you – they are there when you need them most
S = sticks with you, no matter what

A genuine friend who was in town this week said something that I wanted to post here:

“A friend is someone who runs in
when everyone else is running out.”

I just wanted to say thank you to those who have been a genuine friend to me in the past several months… there have been many, and often not the ones I would have expected. God has known just who to send along at just the right moment. Thank you.

I also want to say I’m sorry to those who I have not been a good friend to; and there are many. I was a very fast-moving, on-the-go, things-to-do, places-to-go, ministry-to-get-to guy who had many friends… but few deep friendships. I have been discovering so much about friendships and what it means, and what it takes, to develop the ones that really count. It really doesn’t matter how many people “like” you – what we need are people who love us… unconditionally. In what I thought was “ministry zeal” I blew right past many potential friends. I’m sorry.

Second to last, I want to say, if you were a friend who has been out of touch for awhile, perhaps since I left my church, I miss you. Don’t assume there are people swarming around my family in love and support – there isn’t – and don’t assume I’m off onto my “new life” and don’t miss or need you, I do. It is very hard to leave behind eight years of fun, and friendships and fellowship and simply “move on.” Part of life is moving on, but I would like friends to be friends forever. God has been so gracious and has shown my family his mercies and grace in many ways in the past months… but we are really missing the friendships that were a part of our daily life. We miss you.

Lastly, and finally, I want to say if you ever find yourself in a place in life, or situation, or struggle or temptation or trial or time where you think there is no one you can turn to or tell – I know that feeling – I’ve lived there, and I stayed there for tooooo long, it’ isn’t true. You have a friend. Of course, there is Jesus! But there is someone else – you just need the courage to take that step of faith and turn to a friend and trust them. Yes, there is a chance the friendship will disappoint you, the trust may not be mutual, there is a good chance they may judge you, or reject you, or cast you off, BUT you will still have done the right thing – for you will find yourself on the path of resolution or restoration or refinement by getting your sturuggle out from being hidden in your heart, and into the open where it can be dealt with.

There is the age-old saying that I’ve taught kids many times, “If you want good friends, you must BE a good friend.” I am discovering just how painfully true this really is. I find myself missing and wanting good friends, and discovering just now much I failed as a friend to others. Something I am working to change in my new and continuing friendships.

I invite you… join me in the effort of developing genuine deep friendships, the type that take time and trust. There will come a time when you will need them, and more importantly, they will need you. I hope no one who reads this will ever find themselves in a place where they desperately need genuine friends, and find they aren’t there.

If you do, you can always call me, whoever you are. I am committed with a new zeal to be the type of friend I wished I had had more of this past year.

Today I met my wife’s parents and one of our Kid U speakers at the mall for lunch and parking was hard to find, though I saw a close spot that I thought “no one can fit there with all the snow.” Wrong-0… a Hummer can!

So here is this Hummer owner having way too much fun, finally getting to “off road” at Woodfield Mall… onto a little snow to park where no other car could park. Now, I know this wouldn’t be so amazing, or hardly “blogable” until I saw the owner headed toward her car….

Let me introduce you to Millie, the proud owner of this monster park-on-top-of-the-snow Hummer! I was so shocked, I rolled down my window and asked her if I could take a picture of her with her car, and she agreed.

She seemed rather flattered that I wanted to take her picture posing with her car, and told me, “I can’t wait to tell my son that I got to be a model today.” Go Millie! And watch out the rest of you! Millie may be behind you and nothing gets in her way!

I love how God knows just when to add a little humor to an otherwise extremely difficult day. Hope Millie added a smile to your day too.

There is no way to summarize last year. 2006 contained more change than any year I’ve ever experienced. 2006 was a year that was filled with the happiest and yet the hardest times in my entire life. When we look back we tend to want to focus on the worst… and yet, even in the midst of extremely difficult times, it is good to remember that God never fails to bring joy in the midst of suffering… if we take the time to look.I started this blog, PastorKarl.com, in April of 2005 when I went on sabbatical in order to chronicle my adventures during those fantastic six weeks, but I’m so glad the habit stuck. Any time I am down and wondering where is (or where was) God, I can simply click through the archives of my blog and am flooded with memories of great times and great memories, super friends and special kids, especially when I miss most of what was once my daily life.

Indeed, 2006 brought a lot of changes, and at times, more than I could handle, and I failed miserably in keeping on top of everything, and yet in that brokeness God has taught me and shown me things I would never have seen otherwise – I was moving too fast to ever hear His soft voice calling me to a quieter deeper place of abiding in Him. Life today is much slower, thoughtful, and restful…. and balanced.

Most noticably, in 2006, on April 1st, my wife, Sara, and I suddenly became parents overnight to the most adorable little boy, named Luke. Finally, after years of heart-aching prayers, my childhood dream of being a DAD has come true. But it was also a year of stepping down from pastoral ministry after it became painfully clear that I was unable to maintain the life I was building especially once I became a father. But GOD IS SO GOOD and I continue to trust Him to work all things out together for good in His time.

In light of these changes, I have renamed my blog Kidologist.com for the new year while I am taking a break from being a full time children’s pastor. But my heart for kids and my life mission has not changed: To reach and teach as many children as possible with the Good News of God’s Love, and in the process to Enlist, Equip and Encourage others to do the same!

Below are some of the highlights of this past year that can be found within this site. I hope you enjoy these glimpses into 2006 as much as I did. (Clicking on any of the months will take you to the archive of that month which will contain the stories and pictures below, plus more!)

JANUARY

PIE IN THE FACE!
It so fun to let kids have fun at your own expense!

CPC FUN!
(www.incm.org)
See ya in Orlando and San Diego this year,
but taking a break from speaking, will just be attending.

MEETING MY CHILDHOOD CRUSH

GOING DOWN A PAINFUL SLIDE!
(one of the best posts of the year, by feedback!)

RAINY DAY AT DISNEY

FEBRUARY

GETTING MY INTEL MACBOOK PRO!

ARENA FOOTBALL FUN!
(with crazy fan friend)

MARCH

SAVED A TURTLES LIFE!

KID U CHICAGO (with Mary Rice Hopkins)

APRIL

GOT BEAT UP BY SOX FANS
(went undercover as a Blue Jays Fan. Why? Read and find out)

TOOK A BABY HOME!
Here is where the huge changes began!

SARA BECOMES A MOM OVER NIGHT!
Aren’t they beautiful?

HANGIN’ WITH “W” IN WASHINGTON
(I had sooo much fun doing this, there is a gallery of pics)

MAY

ON BEING A FATHER FINALLY

REMEMBERING MY MOM

LEARNING ABOUT RAISING A BABY

JUNE

REFLECTIONS ON MY DAD

ENJOYING BEING A DAD

PARENTS AT LAST

SPORTS CAMP

JUMPING OFF A ROOF?

JULY

CHANGING THE SMOKE DETECTOR
(One of the best posts of the year!)

LUKE IS SIX MONTHS

LUKE GOES CAMPING

AUGUST

BACK YARD WATER BLASTS!

HEADIN’ TO TENNESEE

SEPTEMBER

UGLY SPIDER PICS
(Sorry Henry!)

LUKE LOVES MOUNTAIN DEW!

LUKE HEADS TO KID U!

OCTOBER

BACK TO MR. G’s
(after 18 years!)

PICKIN’ PUMPKINS

DRESSIN’ UP AS A RAT?

TRICK or TREATIN’

NOVEMBERA POTTY PARTY?

LUKE’S FIRST FLIGHT!

DECEMBERLUKE’S ADOPTION DAY ADVENTURES!

GROWN MEN ACTING LIKE KIDS… a video!

WHITE CHRISTMAS in COLORADO!

TRAPPED IN PARADISE!

THOSE WERE THE DAYS?
You know how when you look at pictures from the past you often think, “I had no idea how lucky I was…” or “wow, those were the days” or “If only I’d known to savor the moment more…” because there is something in those pictures that we miss or wish we could have or do again, or at least we miss the feelings we had then… in those moments. That’s what my blog is for me. Stats tell me a lot of people read my blog, but I write it for myself. Others reading it (and leaving comments) encourages me not to quit, but I think in the end, I will always get the most out of it, because it is here I get to savor the memories again, and close my eyes and reflect on just how wonderful these events and the people in them were. I was just thinking about how despite all the pain and change in this past year, there were so many good times too, it was a year filled with fun memories that if I’d hadn’t snapped some pictures and blogged them, I might have forgotten them altogether overwhelmed with the ‘big things’ of 2006. That’s when it hit me.TODAY IS TOMORROW’s “THOSE DAYS”
Today will be tomorrows “those days.” Think about it. This week, this month, THIS year, will be one that you will soon (and long from now) be looking back on as ‘those days.’ So no matter what 2006 was like, good or bad, (or some of each) focus on making some new ‘those days’ now. You can’t change the past, and you can’t determine the future, but you CAN make today count, you can seek to make this week, this month, this year one of the best yet.

Over Christmas my dad took me out for breakfast, and a little sign above our table read:

“Cherish Yesterday, Dream Tomorrow, Live Today.”

I thought that was pretty good advice for me, and I decided to make it my motto for 2007. We can spend too much time on either missing the past or day dreaming about the future, and miss TODAY, the day that matters most. Lets get Livin’ (and bloggin’)

Here is the sweet little boy sleeping like, uh, well, like a baby. But getting to this blissful state takes a little work sometimes. One of my favorite tricks is cuddling with the boy having quality bonding and lovey time, and then pullin’ the old bait n’ switch… little boy falls alseep with Daddy only to replaced by pillows!

To master this Daddy move, Verrrrrrrrrrrry slowly first replace the arm under baby’s head with one pillow, keeping your hand on baby and face close in case he peeks…. then slip away holding his hand and replace your body with another pillow. Finally, help him clutch the pillow case thinking it is your shirt… and your FREE!

They do eventually wake up and figure out they’ve been had…. but that’s ok, got some work done! Next it is time for some motivational training and self esteem boosting watching the video of himself loop while I get the bottle ready.

After a little Mac OS training…. (he loves downloading baby music from iTunes), it was off to lunch!It was a beautiful day so we decided to cruise in the PK Cruiser with the top down, oh yeah!

And what better place to go then, LUKE’s!?!?!?

Already Luke can taste the yummy food he’ll discover inside!

Hmmmmmm…. hot dog? burger? brat?

Sooooooooooooo many choices!

I suggested he chose from the Kids Menu but….

but once he saw the picture of the Chicago Style Dog….
oh, boy, did THAT look good!

In the end, Daddy and Luke shared a cheeseburger and fries!

For some reason, he didn’t seem to want a bite of it!
Oh, well, more for Dad.

But, of course, he DID help himself to some of Daddy’s Dew!

Uh, oh… baby’s wakin’ up again… and he’s discovered he got tricked again! Gotta go!!

Yes, I came outside in the dark after painting all day and found my car had been vandalized by the youth of the church. Though, you can’t really complain about having “I love Pastor Karl” spralled across your window!

Another view of the artwork… Not visible in the glare is an Apple Mac apple.

That’s right! It’s a PK Cruiser! (not pt)

So it was off to the car wash to get my car all cleaned at my local BP gas station.

I was curious if the auto car wash could get the lettering off…

It tried really hard, but I still had to hand wash the windows afterward.

This was cool, you could read the “PK Cruiser” in the rear view mirror. It is, of course, reversed on the back window reading from the inside, but reversed again when read in the mirror, so what you are actually seeing is double-reversed. I know, I am easily amused!

Back to “Signs of Spring.” On my drive in this morning, I had to stop due to a sleeping turtle in the road! Not sure how many people would stop to help this dumb little guy. (Can you say “road pizza?’)

Yes, he was alive, but rather shy. He just kinda glared at me, obviously annoyed that I disturbed his special sleeping spot…. in the middle of the road.

Funny, just a short walk away (for a human anyway) was a nice forrested yard with a lake! So I carried him there and plopped him down by the water.

The view here is much better than the middle of the road…. and no tires rolling toward him!

On my walk back I noticed that hidden in amongst all this bleak winter foliage were three little bright purple flowers forcing their way up and announcing that “Spring is Here.”

Funny, how we are often like that turtle. We are on our way to a better place, but often content to stop and rest short of our destination. And sometimes, even putting ourselves in great danger at the same time. But God enjoys stopping, picking us up, and taking us to where we need to be. And he probably chuckles at us too sometimes. And in the midst of a bleak world, he loves to give us little glimpses of good things that are to come.

So get off the road and push on…. the water isn’t really that far away!

The best part was the looks from the other drivers, from bursting out laughing, to ignoring (not wanting to encourage me), to scowls. Now it wasn’t pouring, but it was sprinkling. Cool thing was, when the car was moving NO water got in the car due to aerodynamics of the wind flow over the car. At the one red light on the way to lunch, I shot up the umbrella. No, I don’t do this often, I put the top down at church as a joke, and then noticed that no rain got in the car while it was moving. So I left it down and headed to lunch with some church families.

Pay no attention to the arrow on the ground. It is only a suggestion.

Tuesday Evening Awana was SPY NITE!

I showed my spy gadget collection, told my stories of espionage over the course of my life (can’t post those on my blog, some of you don’t have clearance), and then gave the kids all a gadget for sharing the Gospel with their friends and trained them to us it.

The Junior Agents had a great time!

Here I am – driving to meet our printer with the
first shipment of the books!We met in an undisclosed parking lot. I pulled up next to him, looked both ways, and whispered, “You got the stuff?” He said, “It’s all in my truck.” He assured me it was good stuff. After examining a sample, I agreed.

After one more glance around, we began the transfer.
No one seemed to notice even though we were on a busy street.

How to fit them all in a PK Cruiser? Hmmmm…
The rest had to go in the building. But now I can have a mobile bookstore and can open shop in parking lots everywhere!

Here is the happy author excited to hold the
FIRST OFFICIAL COPY in his hands! WARNING: Shameless Promotion Ahead!

The PRE-ORDER SALE ends midnight Friday, so this will be your last chance to get 11 copies for only $9 each, plus a signed copy. AND FREE SHIPING! There will never be a sale like this, this is to help with the initial printing cost. (every order is greatly appreciated and celebrated!) ORDER TODAY before it is too late. Some churches and bookstores are ordering at this discount rate and selling them for $10 or $12. (Not a bad fund raising idea!)ALSO: INDIVIDUAL ORDERS are also being accepted now and will ship next week!

FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT:
www.orderoftheancient.com

“Hi, my name is Karl Bastian, and I am addicted to gasoline.”

Which is why, over a year ago, after seeing the prices, at that time, nearing $2.00, I sold my gas-eating trailblazer and got the PK Cruiser. I REALLY liked my TrailBlazer (especially the On Star On Board) but every time I gas up I am so glad I jumped the tank.

TRADED IN THE GAS-HUNGRY TRAILBLAZER

FOR THE MUCH MORE GAS-FRIENDLY PK CRUISER!

Another gas-related story… while on sabbatical, we drove thousands of miles, so were often in the hunt for good gas prices… then one day, we saw a sign off the side of the road:

GAS 4 LESS?!?!?!

We did a U-TURN and headed back!

WOW! These were SUPER PRICES!!!
I sped into the station only to see:

I guess there prices were just to good to be true…. it was an old out-dated sign.

Well, if you are depressed over gas prices – COMMENT BELOW and give us your city/state and what the price is there. We aren’t to $3.00 yet, but it is getting close. I got $2.77 yesterday and felt pretty lucky!

TO CHEER YOU UP – WATCH THIS GAS VIDEO!
It may just give you an idea on how you can save money on gas!

GAS VIDEO (1.4MB Windows Media Player)

MONDAY

Sara’s brother and his wife and two kids came to Chicago for a visit, and it was so awesome to see them – it’s been several years since we saw them. The kids are twins – and a smart pair they are! After lunch we all went mini-golfing!

Sara lining up her shot… she’s actually a pretty good mini-golfer… when we go alone, its some fun competition, and I’ve even been known to let her win!

The fastest mini-golfer you ever saw on the course. Most quoteable at the end of the 18th hole on this 90+ degree day: “I think at the end, there should be a pool you get to dive into.” We filled out a comment card for the owner.

Future PGA Tour? He’s got the stance down, that’s for sure!

TUESDAY

Great American Pastor!

On Tuesday, our senior pastor treated the whole staff, spouses, and kids to a lunch cruise on Lake Geneva, a historic Wisconsin town known for its beautiful lake (home to many Wrigley Family Mansions).
We sailed on the Yacht Polaris, which was built in 1898 for Otto Young, one of the original millionaires on Geneva Lake. The boat floor was the original mahogany and had brass railing and trimmings. The weather was beautiful and the breeze made it an ideal day.

At the end of the tour, I asked everyone to pose for a group picture – perhaps the most complete staff photo we’ve had in awhile… but the funniest thing happened…The last thing I had done with the camera on the boat was take a video of a sea plane taking off, so I balanced the camera precariously on a stack of chairs – posed everyone – set the timer for ten seconds, and ran to join the group…. only to discover that it was taking a video (!) not a picture. The video is actually kinda funny, you can view it here: Karls VCB Group OOOPS! (1.8MB QuickTime, 10 seconds long)

WEDNESDAY / THURSDAY

Wednesday I was up and on the road before the sun was shining to head to Philly, well actually Valley Forge Christian College, where I have just been added to the faculty as part of the teaching teach for the NEW Children’s Ministries University Online.
( www.cmuniversity.org , or www.cmuo.com )

Here I am with: Dr. Philip McLeod (Vice President of Academic Affairs), Jason Rhode (Founder/Creator of CMUO along with Dick Gruber), Me, and Dr. Don Meyer, (President Of Valley Forge Christian College).

I was there for faculty training on Blackboard, the online training software I will use to teach children’s ministry courses online as a part of CMUO. The first course I will be teaching is “Pastoring Children” (Begins Oct. 1st) and the first course I will be writing/developing is “Children in Ministry” for the Spring semester. I’ll write more about this later (mostly on Kidology.org) but in short, Kidology is partnering with CMUO to provide accredited online training to any childen’s ministry worker/leader ANYWHERE that wants to be trained in childen’s ministry. The potential is so exciting, I can hardly sleep at night. This is the realization of a dream since 1994 when I started Kidology.

Just a cool picture I took while there, download the wallpaper!

Here is the moon over downtown Chicago, taken from the air. Well, OK, so I moved my camera around a bit too much while the shutter was open… but I thought it looked cool. The red at the top is the light on the wing of the plane. I may be the only person, but I think this picture looks cool, though I doubt I’ll win any awards for it!

Got home late, and then O’Hare was INSANE! Took me 50 minutes to drive the 2.4 miles out of the airport! Arrrrrrg. And all the blocked off lanes had NO construction or work being done. Overall, a usually 45-50 minute trip was well over two and half hours! And this is after 11pm!!
I had to drop by the church on the way home, and it was a full moon! I took my anti-dote to prevent turning into a hairy beast, but snapped some post-midnight pics, that I’ll share because it’s my blog, and I can post if i want to:

I just KNOW you want the wallpaper for this gorgeous shot,
so go ahead, make your day, and download it!

FRIDAY

Is it Friday already? I began today asking my wife, “What day is today?”

Today was catch up day, and my first planning meeting with the adult leaders for my fall Kids Church. We had it at one of the leaders home… and she suggested we swim since it is 90+ degrees here every day lately. Swim when we had important ministry business to discuss?!?!? So what did we do?

Had our meeting in the pool, of course! Complete with laminated agendas!! I hope this starts a new trend in children’s ministry. Remember, the WWJD fad is over (tho hopefully not the concept!), instead, when it comes to ministry, I like to also ask, What Would Kids Do? A meeting in a pool? How can it get any better! What started as a joke ended up being one of the best planning meetings we ever had. We splashed some topics around, tried to make sure we were going deep and not just riding the latest wave, and floated different ideas around, all the while tredding carefully into the tough areas so that we could dive right in to what was most important. Overall, the flow of the meeting was great and we decided that we will hold our breath until we can do it again. After all, instead of being a flop, the idea was a stroke of genius. (I know, I’m all wet, time to go to bed!)

I whipped out my camera to record what could very well be the end of the earth as we know it…

What is that THING?!?! (note camera in shades)

With cars flying off the road in every direction, I knew this would be on the evening news, this was my chance of a lifetime to get some rare photos of an alien attack on our planet!

Would I survive to tell the tale?!??!!

I hit the PK-Nitro-Turbo-Booster, but it was no use this monstrosity of a truck was gaining on me every second! What would I do? Would this be the end???

Surely the Galactic Empire is conquering Earth!

Look at the SIZE of those PINCHERS!!!

As it got next to me, I prepared to fire my fender-anchored proton torpedoes…

The wheels were bigger than my car!

I could just make out the Empirial Pilot who was attacking me…

What would I do? How would I survive? Would this be the end of my blog? To see it racing past me, watch this video! (3MB QuickTime)

Through some fancy driving, I was able to out maneuver the evil truck and avoid any blasts from its twin ion canons…. and i slipped behind to unleash my own fire power…..

Maneuvering Behind at high speed…

I HAVE YOU NOW!

I was about to pull the trigger when i heard the voice of a long lost mentor, “Use the Force, Karl!” so I turned off my targeting computer, just then, the phone rang, and Sara said, “Karl, you’ve turned off your targeting computer!” I answered, “I’m fine!” and settled into the last momments…. until a cop pulled up behind me…. I decided I would let him do his duty to save the earth… I pulled back (and lowered the camera) and let the copper pull ahead of me…

What? No red and blue lights?

Obviously, the cops are already on the take from the Empire, as the cop did nothing. But at least I lived to tell the story. I am sure this is only the first of many Rogator Fighters!BY THE WAY: My parents always said I have a tendency to exaggerate stories. While not this one, I just thought I should mention that.

I was back in church on Sunday, but didn’t have to do anything, just enjoyed being there. It was great to see all the kids again, and nice to be fought over again. After church it was back to Culver’s, the unofficial after church hang out. These pictures from Sunday lunch say better than words why I am so glad to be back, and why I love my job so much…..

Still some more Sabbatical Posts coming – but thanks for following us along the way. POST A COMMENT and tell me what you enjoyed the most, or what you’d like to see more of on my blog now that the sabbatical is officially over. (Especially if you’ve been reading and never posted!)

PK and the PK Cruiser, now for hire for Weddings.

Last bachelor pic of Jordan before the Wedding.
Pastor/Uncle Greg praying for their new life together.

Off to the reception, Big Bro at the wheel.

Proud Big Brother with best rear view ever.

Nothing makes a bride like a cool car in the background.

The question is, will the storm trooper make the wedding album?

Oh, how lovely. Is that dress getting dirty??

That’s my bro! (and the newest Mrs. Bastian)

I also had the honor of producing a wedding video (on my Mac!) for the wedding reception dinner. If you would like to see it, you can either send $49.95 plus shipping and handling* for a DVD or you can just download it here:

QuickTime Small (15MB)
QuickTIme Medium (48MB)
* that was a joke. Any family can request a DVD.

And I thought gas was expensive in Chicago!
(and this was the lowest we could find!!)

We have arrived in Everett (20 miles North of Seattle) Washington. Decided to get in the mood for our miles and miles of driving…

Where is the red convertible when you need it?

We’ve arrived at Kim’s house… a childhood friend of Sara’s from the Philippines who was her Maid of Honor when we got married. More pics to come!

Another buddy named Nathan!