So it is always nice if you plan an event and people show up. Second pool party in as many weeks and we had 50 plus kids again. I don't say this for the numbers thing because it isn't about numbers. Ok, on one hand it is nice to have a critical mass. You definitely need a certain amount of people for that excited feeling like this is the place to be. But here is where the cool part comes in. We had a comment from a student who we invited, along with others, to our house after the pool party, that said at his other church he didn't think his youth pastor even knew his name and no way would he ever think he would be at his house. Now to be fair I know the other youth pastor (who actually is a senior pastor now) and his ministry is many times larger than mine so practically speaking he cannot know as many kids personally because of the size of his audience he usually deals with. But that is the beauty of a ministry that is not as big. More personal relationships can possibly develop. To know and be known is a desire we have have whether we are pushing 40 or if we are 17. That is also the beauty of God. His audience is big... the whole world. Yet he knows us by name. He can be trusted. God's love is patient. It is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. His love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God's love never fails. The only hard part is waking up the next day after kids leave your house at a few minutes before 1am.

I love mornings drinking coffee before anyone is awake. It is my chance to think, wonder, contemplate, read, search. I ran across a movie, a documentary of sorts, release on YouTube called HOME. It is a look at our world we live in and while I haven't finished it yet, it has a message about taking care of our environment. What strikes me as interesting is the conclusion that so many in our world come to when trying to explain our existence. Evolution out of nothing, started by a spark or bang of some sorts is the explanation that the narrator of the movie speaks of. As the camera moves across the beautiful landscape of our planet the story that unfolds is that billions of micro organisms is where we all have come from. The interesting part for me is when confronted by a beautiful piece of work, one's conclusion is the acknowledgment of design, which logically points to a designer. A Mercedes Benz, a Rolex watch, a MacBook computer, artwork on the Sistine Chapel, and MRI machine all are complex, arguably beautiful and undoubtedly designed with purpose. What the evolutionary process lacks is purpose. For me, it takes less faith that our world was created and designed than it does to have faith in a process without purpose. Not just without purpose but with the evidence of our bodies, these complex shells we live in, infinitely more complex than anything we have been able to create for ourselves, makes it preposterous that we have by chance morphed into what we are now. My faith is rooted in a designer, a creator. Not in a spark, in chaos, in chance.

Intro

Many of you might have guessed I am a Duck. I went to school there via a football scholarship, met my wife freshman year in the dorms, got married there, got a double major in marketing and management, ran track and generally grew to love the Northwest due to my time in Eugene. I am a Nike man through and through and a Duck for life. For those that don't have as strong of feelings for your school I have no ill will. Just don't be hating on my Ducks. They are a force to contend with and have the sickest uniforms in the nation.