Recap of Top 25 Adventures and Life Stories of 2010

25. Visiting Baseball stadiums such as: Senators Stadium (AA), York Revolution Stadium (Independent Ball) Citizens Bank Park (Phillies), and the drive by of Busch stadium (Cardinals) 

24. Going to a wedding where I didn’t know the groom or the bride...

23. Moving to Packer Land; buying my first jersey (BRETT FAVRE!!!) 

22. Observing Stephen Strasburg soft pitch with Coach Tomlin, seeing him whip the ball 100mph, and watching as he got hit around and took a loss in AA ball!

21. Throwing snow into the Grand Canyon (Note: I said snow not a rock, wouldn’t want to decrease the depth of the canyon) 

20. Escaping on a boat from Alcatraz Island; and escaping through the front gate of Eastern State Penitentiary (I have the keys to both...)

19. Running the steps where Rocky trained, with “Gonna Fly Now” (the theme song) playing in my head. Inspirational! 

18. Enjoying BBQ Ribs at Dreamland in Birmingham, Al; at the recommendation and invitation of Nathan Salter

17. Catching up with friends after a stay in Cali; Toby Jarrett, Nathan Salter, Matt and Becca, Rodney Baylor, Josh Coldren, Jeff Foor, Dave Ernest, and Kevin Laughman 

16. Arriving with two outs in the game to the Phillies stadium; and talking a security worker into letting me sneak in at the end of the game to see the field!

15. Experiencing life on a farm with Nicole and Amber: feeding goats with milk from a bottle then trapping and holding them, petting and feeding a tall Belgium work horse, and kissing a cow or having cow tongue...

14. Experiencing the National Monuments in Washington DC: Roosevelt, Jefferson, Washington, World War II, and Lincoln 

13.  Searching everywhere for Little Rock in Little Rock, Arkansas  

12. Visit to St. Louis: riding up into the Arch and viewing out over St. Louis, eating White Castle for the first time, and spending Thanksgiving with a great family

11. Visit to Milwaukee: walking the river-walk, playing thumb wars with the bronze Fonz statue, riding a mechanical chili pepper, and finding the bronze Gertie the duck statue (who was famous for lifting up the spirits of the people in Milwaukee and then throughout the United States during the Great Depression with her love for her nest, eggs, and baby ducklings)

10. Visit to Happy Valley: Seeing the stadium, watching the Blue/White game, and eating Peachy Paterno icecream. We are PENN STATE!

9. Visit to Philadelphia: eating a Philly Cheesesteak, seeing the Liberty Bell, viewing the room where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed, visiting the Betsy Ross’ house where our flag was sewn, and paying respects to the resting place of Ben Franklin! 

8. Spending time in San Diego (a place I truly miss), eating Elvis favorite burger at the Corvette Diner (burger, bacon, and peanut butter), and visiting my favorite ocean side spot La Jolla!

7. Extreme hiking with Dad and relatives, sleeping out under the stars (probably 2 satellites), getting lost, and looking for bears!

6. Having Dad teach me to operate a laser at the sheet metal shop (Almost shot Dad in the head with the laser, had a run away steel hopper that almost took out a tractor trailer and boat trailer, and took a garage door out with a tow motor...only 3 mistakes, but big ones... it’s funny to think that they miss me there, and would love to have me working there)

5. Meeting a beautiful girl, getting to know the beautiful girl, pursuing the beautiful girl, dating the beautiful girl, and waiting to see where life leads both of us... 

4. Seeing a person you invested into for fourteen months of your life; graduate, go home to be with his family, and continue his journey down life's path 

3. West-to East Coast Adventure: A ten day journey with my little sis, a heavy packed car, plenty of pit-stops of sightseeing, and a map

2. Jumping back into my passion; Student Pastoring 

1. One more year of investing in a relationship with Jesus Christ 

     

               Philadelphia                                                       Grand Canyon with the Sis

                               

                                                                                          Eastern State Penitentiary

              Life on the Farm

                                      

                   Rocky 

                                                                                                 Thumb Wars with Fonz

                         

                                                               Extreme Hiking

                 Happy Valley

                                   

        Beautiful girl...Amber                                                             Liberty Bell

Recap of the Top Adventurous and Monumental Moments of 2009!

25. Changing my car's breaks and radiator. Amazing what a few little mechanical adjustments can do so that your car stops on the way down the mountain and doesn't over-heat on the way back up the mountain. 

24. Locking my keys in the car for at least the eighth time, but this time with the car running

23. The joys and frustration of joining and blending two programs together 

22. Long nights of talking and chilling at the "office hangout" of JYA 

21. Landing a 22 inch lake trout that had slipped my hook a few times. She was a beauty 

20. Walking on the stars! Hollywood 

19. Visiting the Northern California Baseball Stadiums; the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A's 

18. Eating Chinese in Chinatown, walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, and driving down Lombard Street 

17. Monday nights in the park, playing ultimate with friends 

16. Adventures in Jet skiing; one time with my foot in a boot and the other time with a crazy un-predictable driver 

15. Escaping off of Alcatraz Island with my life 

14. Successfully living in California and being pulled over by a patrol cop on motorcycle for talking on the cell phone; now all I need, is to be pulled over by a cop on a horse 

13. Chasing a Raccoon out of the school's kitchen at midnight; oh, while I was on crutches

12. Coming face to face with my childhood nightmare: Chucky armed with his butcher knife on the streets of Hollywood 

11. Hiking through an irrigation stream that later I would find out was being used to supply water to a huge Marijuana field that was busted later that summer by the cops. Good thing for me; I never ran into the farmers... 

10. Jumping into Burney Falls with freezing water temperature of early Spring 

9. Losing my car in Chinatown...(up Mason street, down Pacific street, up Washington street, cross California street, Wait a minute, back on Mason street again; lets go down Stockton street...) 

8. Experiencing Creation Festival West; working it, camping out, making friends, hearing Kutless and other great bands, and sitting in the youth pastor tent listening to the bands and speakers 

7. Experiencing a mountain lion attack 10 yards from the place where I was standing! I heard a squeal, took off for the path, and turned around to see a mountain lion attacking a pig. I didn't stick around to watch; but I think the poor little pig was out-wrestled by the mountain lion and became dinner. 

6. Hitting the ground while playing basketball, and the horrific image of my foot 90 degrees to the inside. Plenty of adventures for the next ten weeks; crutching miles, driving left footed, flying Delta with a cast, and performing the electric slide at Matt and Becca's wedding 

5. Attending the Rose Bowl and seeing Penn State play, also enjoying the Pasadena's Parade of Roses 

4. Writing my first book about the adventures and life stories of my first twenty-five years 

3. Hitting the one-year mark of a successful running boys program; that we had poured prayer, time, creativity, money, sweat, and blood into 

2. A full-year of investing in a few teen guys and staff's lives 

1. One more year of investing in a relationship with Jesus Christ 

Recap of Top Adventurous and Monumental Moments of 2008!

25. Meeting and talking with the guy who assigned Brett Favre #4 at Southern Miss 

24. Chasing a scorpion at one in the morning
23. Chasing a pack of wild dogs and coyotes around the house
22. Going to two Pirates road games on both coasts (O’s at Camden and Padres at Petco)
21. Eating at my first Japanese steak house 
20. Trying my first legit sushi
19. Ordering pizza for the baseball team (Ex. don’t use 1-800 #’s they had the pizzas sent 
to Florida instead of Virginia…)
18. Taking care of six baseball teams and umpires laundry for three days (that's like taking 
care of like 200 some athletes, granted I pocketed $900)
17. Getting attacked by an octopus (lol, just a small one that went after my hand) 
16. Getting chased by border patrol 
15. Sleeping in my car; then brushing my teeth and shaving in Starbucks bathroom 
14. Jumping off rocks, (Best one of the year: one and half flips-right on my face into the 
water in WV. I was spitting blood for ½ hour)
13. Experiencing a California sunrise and sunset 
12. Getting splashed by a killer whale at Sea World 
11. Visiting the San Diego Zoo
10. Visiting Disneyland 
9. Being at the Big South Baseball Championship
8. Driving a church van of junior highers from Virginia to Florida and back
7. Running a 5k with Dad, haven’t ran one in awhile…
6. Surfing for the first time
5. White water rafting in West Virginia
4. Sleeping in ghost ruins on Ghost Mountain
3. Achieving my Master’s degree from Liberty University
2. Driving from the East coast to the West coast
1. One more year of investing in a relationship with Jesus Christ

Top 25 Adventures and Life Stories of 2013

Okay, after spending some time reflecting over the last year; my list is made and hopefully, I didn't miss anything...

I present the Top 25 Adventures and Life Stories of 2013

25.2 BLBA Camp where I met some great teenagers, like Brad and Calvin! (This add was for you Brad..._

25.1 Forgotten event...The Run or Dye Run, which was an activity on my bucket list. How did I forget to mention this??? Would have broke top ten easily... 

25. Visiting the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. A very unique opportunity to see how our American currency is made. 

24. Purchasing my first grill. Put it together and grilled in the snow with just my Donald Driver jersey. Arggghhhh, I’m a man!

23. Finding the famous LOVE statue with Amber and Jenna in Philadelphia. Got great couple pictures and will be one of my greatest finds with my greatest find and love

22. Jumping in the ocean in the middle of December. I had planned to do it on Christmas, but ended up doing it after. I believe it was like 40 degrees that day, and I ran, jumped, and hit the wave with fury! I actually, did it twice and then spent the evening with the shakes

21. Surviving not one but two youth lockins! The first one was a blast at the church and the second one was filled with go-karts, laser tag, go-karts, batting cages, did I mention go-karts?

20. Watching the Pirates break their consecutive season losing streak! Oh my, they have been losing most of my life! We had a winning season, playoff wins, and hope for the future. Putting it at number 20 is ironic; glad it was only 20 losing seasons...

19. Being a roadie for the Christian band, Disciple! Setting up their equipment and tearing everything down after the show. Awesome experience if you ever get a chance to; you’ll realize all the work that goes into getting a band up on stage 

18. Experience two great outreach events this year. Vacation Bible School was awesome. The creativity was amazing, the leadership was unreal, the volunteers were awesome and the kids had a blast. Harvest Fest was again a little better than past years; which was good because who would have guessed that we would have 200 visitors! Let’s do it again and better this coming year!

17. Attending the Called-Out conference with my youth. Amazing band from Minnesota performed awesome worship times. Relevant messages from Nate Ray. Great time visiting a church plant and learning about what goes into church planting. Fun times of playing basketball with new friends from the Chicago area. Great time spent with Kayla and Tyler during the event and on the road trips

16. Youth Mission Trip to Milwaukee! Five teenagers, my wife and myself spent a day in Milwaukee investing in a community. We picked trash, talked with people, moved things, and spent quality time in encouraging a neighborhood in the city. The teens were awesome and I know they are looking forward to next time 

15. First water park experience at Chula Vista all inclusive. Loved the time spent with my wife; and friends Brian and Megan. Very relaxing, fun water rides, big meals and great card games

14. Dunking a...tennis ball! Never dunked anything before and would love to dunk a basketball; but dunking a tennis ball was pretty exciting

13. Helping to lead and promote the Finding Faith movie event. It was great to assist in the event, meet Erik Estrada, and participate in sharing the awareness of sex trafficking and   warning teenagers to be careful when they are on the internet

12. A return trip to Liberty University. Man, has it changed! The baseball field is amazing; and I wish I could have done a little more snooping around to see the offices and box offices but it was locked down for Christmas break. The theater area was sweet. I never did find where they moved the Seminary...I walked on the 3rd floor, 4th floor and the roof of Demoss; which was a big no-no when I was there and now is all classrooms. I also kissed my wife on campus, and got no reps...Bonus: I got to see and spend time with my close friends; Sam, Leanne and their boys!

11. Visiting Niagara Falls! Amazing the power of the falls. The sound, the mist hitting you from a distance away, the beauty of it! I am so glad I was able to see it; it is one of God’s amazing creations

10. Turkey Bowling. One of my favorite youth events of the year. I laid down tarps in the church basement, set up water-filled soda bottles for pins, and used a frozen turkey for a bowling ball. One of the coolest things ever

9. Remember that time when I rode a shark? That’s right a mechanical bucking shark at the Outer Banks. I took four rides on it and clocked 8, 5, 20 and 5 seconds time; I believe

8. My wife did two similar creative things for me this year. For my birthday, she gave me 12 dates for each month of the year. For Christmas, she did 12 days of Christmas and gave me a gift daily with relation to that number of day. Pretty sweet

7. An Epic Paintball Battle. The one where I ran out of paint and continue to move down the field dodging paintballs. Ducking, running, rolling, falling? Till, I was in striking distance and then it happened. I charged, taking two middle schoolers by surprise and with my gun inches away; I got their surrender!

6. The three in the morning adventure in and out of Canada! What was I thinking?  I wanted to go to Canada and it was my only opportunity. So Rodney drove us up to the border; then Reggie, Dave and I walked through customs. We had about a hour window, I needed to be at the airport at five in the morning. I was able to see Niagara Falls in the dark from the Canadian side and scratched visiting Canada off my list. We walked as fast as we could back across the bridge and I handled the questions by the U.S. border patrol. We jumped in the car and made it in time to the airport. What a memory with great friends

5. Buffalo trip! Where I got a chance to see my close friend Jeff get married. Spent a lot of quality time with great friends: Jeff, Rodney, Dave, Reggie and Heath. Lots of great stories, like me equipped with a gorilla mask doing the Harlem Shake at the wedding; a ten minute drive by/drop off visit to Niagara Falls and a three in the morning adventure in Canada!  

4. Spending my first Christmas with my family in like six years! Great memories. From Christmas light viewing, shell hunting, aquarium viewing, thrift shop dealing, Big Al’s, playing Deer in the Headlights and Boom Boom Balloon, a trip to Liberty, and time well spent with Mom, Dad, and Sister 

3. Visiting my family in Pennsylvania and being able to spend time with my Grandma! Perfect timing to visit; as I got a chance to spend time with her and be there for her funeral. She was a God-fearing woman that loved people, the time I spent was so valuable to me 

2. One Year Baby! Married life is awesome, I’m enjoying sharing life with someone very special to me and getting to know her more. Love you Beautiful ;)

1. As always!!!!! One more year of building and investing in my relationship with Jesus

 

 

 

One quick phrase to parents...

If I had just one thing to say to parents...

"Raising your kids in the church is good, but not enough; you NEED to raise them in Jesus!"

Many adults realize this too late, while watching their kids walk away from the church. Perhaps, they thought that it was a good thing to get them to church for the youth events, Sunday School, youth group, etc. and it is, but sadly it won't stick if all they have is church and no Jesus.

When they are in youth group; I tell them personally over and over that they won't survive on their parent's faith. They won't survive on their student pastor's faith. They won't survive on their pastor's faith. At the end of the day, they will only survive on their own faith and that is their choice! They are the only one who can choose Jesus!

As parents, I know you desire that they will choose Jesus and not falter along life's path. Though, powerless on making their decisions for them; you are at a monumental point in their life! If they just see you living out your life for Jesus! If they see that you put Jesus first! If they see that you love Him and that you love them!

You as parents, have the best advantage of raising them in Jesus; you clock more time with them than the church and the youth pastor ever will be able to! Yes, we are here to help raise your students in Jesus and in the Word! We are here for you when you don't know what to do! We desire to work alongside of you, while investing in your kid and pointing them to Jesus. We desire to see your student get it! To own his or her's faith! To see them living out their life for God! For them to be able to stand on their own when they graduate high school; while not graduating the church at the same time! We are here for you!

Please if you're a parent, take this to heart! I really don't desire to see any God loving parent, come to a point in their life where they say "I raised them in the church, but I didn't raise them in Jesus."