We had Tommie Harris (Chicago Bears #91 Defensive Tackle) and Keith Belton (Bears #44) at our Awana Club last Tuesday evening. Both are believers and Tommie was our guest to share his testimony with the clubbers and to answer their varied and random questions about football and whatever else was on their mind. He did a great job and the kids really loved meeting and hearing from these cool dudes, who are a part of the FIRST PLACE CHICAGO BEARS right now. (Do I hear Super Bowl??)
Tommie talked about his faith, his good upbringing, and how he tries to live his faith in a sport that often confronts him with situations that are not Christian. He said that a lot of players say they are a Christian but the evidence is in how they actually live off the field. Of course, the kids wanted to know about injuries and he shared again about his thumb bone poking out of the skin much to the delight of the kids.
But I decided we needed to shake things up a bit, and save Tommie from the same questions being asked over and over, so I came up at the end, and asked if he had heard about one of the fastest growing sports in America? Speed Stacks? or the World Sport Stacking Association?
Tommie, hadn’t, so I presented him with his own set of Orange Speed Stacks (plus instructional DVD) and taught him the basic cycle right there on the spot.
(to restart animation of cycle, simple reload the page)
Then I challenged him to a fun first match. I promised to stack the cycle three times while he tried to do it once. Obviously, he couldn’t complete the cycle having just learned it, but he was a great sport and hammed it up for the kids.
The kids were all cheering for him and trying to give him advice and pointers as he playfully stacked. It was a lot of fun. At the end, he promised to be ready for me next year! GO TOMMIE! I accept the challenge!
Yes, I DID go out and buy me a WHITE SOX SHIRT yesterday! Couldn’t watch the final game with nothing White Sox on!!!
It was a very intense game! A battle of the pitchers. My favorite WS stat was this, WAIT! I will make it a quiz, and see who is the first to post the answer in the COMMENTS! You MIGHT even win a prize!!
Q: What White Sox Player became the FIRST baseball player IN HISTORY to win TWO World Series Games on the same day AND on his birthday??? (same day because Game Three went into the 14th inning and into the morning hours)
Finally, THEY WON! This is me with the family I watched the game with. (Not pictured is Sara, who isn’t a baseball nut like the rest of us.)
Did I convert to being a White Sox Fan and desert my Cubbies? Nope. I decided to have an AL favorite team and an NL favorite team. Now all I have to figure out is which team is in which league. (See what a serious baseball fan I am?)
All I’m wondering is, when the Astros lost, did they all go in the clubhouse and pour Minute Maid over their heads?
I am seriously contemplating changing from a CUBS fan, to a SOX fan. Yeah, yeah, I know… fair weather fan! BUT, I’m not saying i will change just for the World Series… if i switch, i SWITCH! (like with my Mac Switch)
I’ve been asking myself, WHY am i a Cubs fan???
Well, good question. Mostly because my grandfather was and took me to games as a little kid, BUT he usually took me when they played California teams (since i was visiting from CA when we went) and I cheered for the opposing team much to his frustration. Secondly, because, my little brother Jordan Bastian is a HUGE Cubs fan, and I like to support my brother.
But last weekend at my Grandma’s 90’s birthday party, there was my brother wearing a SOX cap!!!
(these shirts were father’s day and bro birthday gifts from Sara and me)
So, I asked myself, if it wasn’t for my Grandpa and my traitor brother, WHY would I be a Cubs fan??? If I were to pick a team on my own, not being a huge baseball fan, I’d probably pick the Sox.
WHY?
Because they wear black and white, which is very cool, and my favorite color combination to wear. Oh, yeah, and the little fact that they WIN GAMES!
I still do not own on article of White Sox clothing, unless you count my white socks, but if i buy a hat or shirt, it will be a significant thing. Normally, I don’t let a passing fad impact my shopping.
SO TELL ME:
If you are a Cubs fan…. why should I stay loyal to the Cubs when my grandfather is gone (may he rest in peace) and my own brother betrays his team?
If you are a Sox fan… tell me why I should switch? Because if i switch, I will switch for the good and the bad, not just during the World Series. These games have been AMAZING to watch, and I’ve been very impressed. Lure me over, I’m close!
Use the comments below to sound in! (Cubs fans may feel free to use the anonymous feature)
BOY I can’t wait until my little brother is in town! (Yes, Jordan, that is a challenge!)
I just might have a new hobby! This is the coolest thing! WOW! WOW! WOW!
After Sports Camp finished up (final post on that coming soon!) a bunch of us all went out for some Chicago Pizza and it was there that I learned about an awesome sport – a sport that you must be 18 to play and have a driver’s license – and yet, ironically, it was introduced to me by a friend who is 15 and doesn’t have a driver’s license! (he knows the guy who owns the place…. cool!)
So the next thing I know I am blowing off work… er, um… I mean, going on a pastoral visit to encourage our guest missionaries by treating them to an outing to thank them for all their hard work all week…. (yeah, that’s better) and it was off to Chicago Indoor Racing!
The VCB Racing Team!
Rob, Tiffany, Steve, Tye and Me (Tiff and Tye were our Uncharted Waters Coaches all week)
Team Ninja?
Here we are in our Ninja Pose since you have to wear a ‘head sock’ under your helmet unless, like Steve, you have your own racing flack jacket and helmet! We had to go through intense orientation and training and then sign away our lives and promise not to sue if we died out there racing.
Here’s me in my Formula LM Race Car. (LM = lawn mower)
It was a TON of fun… you race about twenty laps per race and everything is recorded by computer – lap times, best lap time, average, etc. At the end you get a print out that details your standing and graphs every lap of the race between all the drivers. All your info is saved so that you can work to beat your scores in future races. My first race placed me in 4th place on the team, and in the bottom 36% of all racers… but, hey, it was my first race! In my second race I was somehow able to beat my first race times while finishing last. Oh, well. Jesus said the last shall be first! So, yes, I got beat by two girls…. but I’ll take them on in a unicycle race anyday!
See those blurs? Could you handle such velocities? Have you a NEED FOR SPEED? I’m thinking I need to plan an adult birthday party racing tournament in September…. Any challengers out there?
TODAY was the first day of the VCBkids Basketball/Cheerleading camp! Put on by Uncharted Waters, (and a ton of awesome VCB volunteers!) this five day community outreach is off to a great start!
DOWNLOAD AN EXCITING 8MB QUICKTIME VIDEO: DAY ONE FUN!
(it is truly amazing what a Mac can crank out in no time!) [Seems QuickTime 7 is Required, you might need to upgrade]Here are some highlights of the day:
Showin’ em how its done!
Best of all, these kids are leaning about God and how to BREAK FREE from the problems of this world! Check back each day for more pics, and be sure to watch the HIGHLIGHT VIDEO of DAY ONE!
OK, OK, just to get my brother off my case, I’ll blog already! I’ve been pretty busy!! It’s been hard to find the time, plus I was UNPLUGGED from the Internet from last WED-SAT! What have I been up to??
GOLFIN’
Once again, it was time for another VCB STAFF MINI GOLF TOURNAMENT. Of course, who wins doesn’t matter – it’s all about the fellowship.
(since I didn’t win)Pastor Dave is still trying to repeat his amazing victory from 1999 when he was in second place (behind me) and won first place on a hole in one on the 18th hole!!! AND it was on a steep drop with NO way to aim. At best, anyone could get a two par, but after his lucky shot, I missed my two to tie him trying to tap in an amazing tee off (did I mention down a steep drop?), and ended up in a miserable second place. Pastor’s Dave’s victory was TOTAL LUCK and while I have completely forgotten about it and moved on and finished my counseling on it, I just thought I’d mention it.
Pastor John won our last time out, but this time the Force was not with him.
Pastor Jim is pretty good…
though his golf balls do seem to prefer water over grass…
Pastor Tim did the Canadians proud with a strong finish…
Even our office manager, Retta, proved that those from
Down Under can putt!
But the winner went to Dick, our business administrator, who I believe is a first time mini-golfer with us, though he is known to be out of the office on ‘environmental studies’ quite often that are rumored to take place on golf courses.
CAMPIN’
Next, I headed off to Camp Timber-lee where I have been a camp speaker for kids camps every year since 1997, often for two weeks. It is an AWESOME CAMP! Incredible activities for kids, great food (!), and a wonderful spiritual atmosphere. This year was a little different, in that, instead of being a daily camp speaker for one week, I did a magic show on Wednesday every week of camp for both kids camps and junior high. While I would prefer to be a camp speaker (I love the relationships, getting to know the kids, and not just teach, but play with them, getting to know them, etc.), I enjoyed a change of pace and got to see a lot of kids that remembered me from previous years. I was amazed at how many campers I still remembered their names (or nicknames). Getting to go to Junior High camp was awesome too – about half the campers knew me from kids’ camp. Normally, I’m a little nervous to doing a magic show for junior highers (and usually would NOT do a puppet) but these junior highers would chant for Gus, so it was a good thing I had him along! I hope to be a camp speaker again next year, but this was a ton of fun!
Then it was off to a camp ground for our annual Kidology Staff / VCBkids Leadership Team camping trip. We combine the groups because, well, most of them are part of both in some way either as employees of Kidology, board members, volunteers at church, etc. It is a great time to play together, and get to know spouses and kids better.
The hammock is my favorite spot, ‘cept when Max threw a football while I was asleep as a joke and hit me right in the nose!
My annual BB Gun range with my arsenal of .177 fire power is always a hit!
A trip to a local beach on a lake was a blast. It was in the low 90’s – a bit hot for me – but everyone seemed to have a great time,
between black outs.
I did some doodlin’ in Olivia’s sketch book…
that is Half Dome and Mirror Lake…
and what is a children’s ministry (or Kidology) related event without Speed Stacks? Here I am demonstrating Speed Stacks, and yes, my eyes are closed. Just one of many ways to try and make it fair if one handed or upside down cups doesn’t help my poor opponents win.
But my favorite is and will always be the singing and sharing around the camp fire!
PARTYIN’
Then Sunday, it was the K.C. Krew year end party at Master Ron’s house – Ron did Kids Church while I was on sabbatical… and his wife is Kidology’s bookkeeper. Anyway, it was an awesome day at their house which is on a lake.
Ron did some juggling for the kids, like these flaming torches!
Then we went out on their pontoon boat.
BEFORE….
AFTER!
Me practicing my Karate Kid Dive!
KING OF THE WORLD!
I decided to jump off and swim all the way back to the beach….
That didn’t last too long, I made it half way, and then hitched a ride!
Ron let me drive the boat!
What a fun week this has been! I am so blessed with so many beautiful children in my life. Their smiles, laughter and energy are an inspiration. I may not have any kids of my own yet, but I sure am lucky to know so many terrific and wonderful kids!
Then it was time to head home. As you can see, I’ve been workin’ out!
And yes, Sara was there with me the whole time, but she took most of the pics!
There, Jordan, is that a long enought blog for ya? SEE why I’ve not had time to blog? Been havin’ too much fun! Now it is 2am and I am going to bed!
As family and most friends know, my little bro got all grown up and married recently, and now right out of college at MSU, is off to Toronto (in the northern nation…. what’s it called?) and is covering the Blue Jays for MLB.com. Jordan has been an advid baseball player and writer since as soon as I taught him to throw. (Yes, I taught him everything he knew about baseball up to around age 7, after that, he’s always known more than me, and surpassed his baseball mentor quickly in skill.) One thing we both share is a love for writing – I write about and for children’s ministry, he writes about baseball.
Well, after writing for the Lansing State Journal during college (for fun search for jordan bastian on LSJ, and get 61 pages of results!), his major league coverage has begun!
Please pray for my brother – its a tough job, he has to go to every baseball game, get there early, meet pro players, write about them, watch the game, plus he has several deadlines throughout the game (Jordan puts your schedule in comments!) and then after the game has to do more interviews. It’s very stressful and time consuming. I mean, he has to do what he loves all day almost every day, and get paid to watch baseball from a press box. My heart goes out to him. Hang in there bro!
I’m on the top of the world, Lookin’ down on creation, And the only explanation I can find…
is my new 5 foot unicycle!
I debuted my new 6 foot unicycle tonight at Awana! If you follow this blog, you read the post ‘On Top of the Word’ (read here), where I learned to ride a tall unicycle on my first try at CPC. So as soon as I got home, I ordered one on ebay!
But I decided we needed to shake things up a bit, and save Tommie from the same questions being asked over and over, so I came up at the end, and asked if he had heard about one of the fastest growing sports in America? Speed Stacks? or the World Sport Stacking Association?
Tommie, hadn’t, so I presented him with his own set of Orange Speed Stacks (plus instructional DVD) and taught him the basic cycle right there on the spot.
(to restart animation of cycle, simple reload the page)
WATCH THE VIDEO OF TOMMIE HARRIS:
The kids were all cheering for him and trying to give him advice and pointers as he playfully stacked. It was a lot of fun. At the end, he promised to be ready for me next year! GO TOMMIE! I accept the challenge!
