LOL!

Don't be turned off by the title! This is not about instant messaging acronyms...actually it is about laughing out loud during movies. Tonight, I watched a rather funny movie with my parents: Finding Nemo, and I found myself laughing out loud. This is unusual considering I only laugh if others are laughing out loud...but in actuality, neither my mum or dad were laughing loudly. I don't know if it security issues or unsureness, but I guess it started with my bro...I shared a room with him for at least half my life and we watched movies all the time. He never really laughed out loud and so I guess I never did either. Even though we didn't laugh out loud it didn't mean we didn't think something wasn't funny, we just didn't really show it. Is this weird? Probably, but anyways I'm glad I'm comfortable with laughing audibly for all to hear now...So my friends: Be Proud of your guffaw, chuckle, cackle, chortle, giggle, yuk, snicker, or roar no matter who is watching!

Late Little Breakfast

I woke up later than usual today and had to make a decision about breakfast and lunch. I really like breakfast, it is probably my favorite meal of the day, so this was quite the predicament. Do I eat breakfast and wait on lunch? Do I wait and just eat lunch? Do I eat a little breakfast and then eat lunch? Decisions...decisions. I decided to go with the latter and have a little breakfast hotpocket and a little kiwi. It was good, and in a little while I am gonna dive into a turkey patty melt that my mother made...mmmm delicious.

An Annoying Addiction

Warning: This post might be weird and kind of disgusting to some.

So I got sunburned on the very last part of our trip to Big Sur...the Rite of Passage...it was mostly on the arms. Time has passed since then, and now I am in the peeling stage of my burn. Peeling dead skin is really quite perplexing and fascinating to me. I just don't get how it works, and it just becomes habit to keep pulling it away until it's gone...like wrapping paper off of a present on Christmas day, I can't help it. On the flip side, I can't stand it because it stands out as if I bananas strapped to my arms that are half-peeled.

Late Fees and CD's (Yea that rhymes...booya!)

I went to the library recently and returned my 3 movies that I hadn't watched at all which were in fact late. I think I had gone about a week or two past the date. The punishment? 75¢...it took quite the toll on me financially, but I miraculously recovered and made my way to the DVD selection once again. There wasn't anything I hadn't really seen or wanted to see, so I headed over to the CD rack and found a few albums that caught my eye.

Tonight is gonna be a loooong night!

Not even joking! We are having an All-Nighter for the 7th Grader's tonight and it is gonna be Ker-Ray-Zee! (...crazy...) We are first gonna do a Video Van Rally Scavenger Hunt Extravaganza with two teams, two vehicles, two video cameras, and a ton of challenges to accomplish in two hours! For instance...

Ninja Fight & Fearsome Phrase: 100pts

• Find a public area and film a ninja fight scene!
• Nominate One Ninja Warrior in your group to “knock-out” everyone in your group to the ground in a public place with people watching.
• 20 Bonus Points: Have the ninja say a action movie phrase
• "Hello. My name is ___________. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
• "I fart in your general direction.”
• "Hasta la vista, baby."
• “You've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”
• 30 Bonus Points: If you do all of this in the mall!

So, as you can see, it is going to be a lot of fun!

Other activities consist of Hide N Go Seek in the Dark! Marshmallow Baseball! Sardines! Spoons! The Incredibles! Yummy Dessert! And oh so much more!

......OH IT'S ON!!!

Rite of Passage

So last weekend we took 24 of our 8th Graders to Big Sur Campgrounds. We learned about the importance of friends in high school, and what kind of friend we want to be to our friends. Patrick Wilson, a friend of the Stepanians, came down with his son and wife, Josiah & Rachel, from Portland to hang out and teach the students. I am really glad he came, and I am grateful I got to talk with him over the weekend. He talked about Saul, David, and Jonathan being as the types of friends that we can be sometimes. You see, Saul was cool with David, at first...as long as he played his harp and stuff. However, David was faithful to God and stepped up when none of his people would fight a friggin' huge giant named Goliath, who kept taunting and insulting their God. So David throws a rock at Golly's head, kills him, and the people start talking about David being king and not so much Saul. Later on, Saul's bitterness started festering in his heart to the point of wanting to kill David! This is, as you may have guessed, quite a pickle. However, Saul has a son named Jonathan who would be the king after Saul, but he likes this guy David and wants to obey God with making David king. So Jonathan ends up being loyal to God and David to the point of death...talk about a true friend. Long story short...too late...We asked the question to ourselves and the students, "Are we willing to be a friend like Jonathan?" Sacrificing everything for those we love and maybe don't love...or are we going to be a Saul and take out the competition in order to be on top and get what we want? It's pretty crazy, but so true. Anywho...throughout the weekend, we swam in the river and in the Monterey Sports Center, we made S'mores, had delicious meals (Thanks to Bob!), went to the beach, and the students learned more about high school and the importance of being anchored to God. It was such a successful weekend (that's kind of a weird way to put it, but it was)! Here is a group photo we took...

If only...

Think of the possibilities...

The Gutter-Ball Gang!

Last week, our first college small group meeting commenced with bowling and team shirts. Puff paint always strikes fears into the bowels of enemies and forces pins to automatically fall over. Here are just a few pix...hoping to get some more up soon.P.S. Our theme verses were Psalm 29:7 and Deuteronomy 33:11.

An Amazing Game

This guy just had knee surgery, and had a pretty rough start in the U.S. Open (4 Double Bogeys), but pulled it together and tied for the lead in a championship play-off against Rocco Mediate (45-years-old). They played today and towards the end Rocco was a stroke ahead of Tiger until the 18th hole when they tied again and played sudden death for one more round. It was the 91st hole of the open. Tiger hit par on the hole after just coming short of the hole on his 3rd stroke and Rocco hit one stroke over (bogey) after dealing with a bunker. It was such a great game, and so many amazing shots. If you have time, go check out some of the highlights at the website.

The Cruise and Hanks Finding

For the last couple of weeks (maybe even a month or two), I have been on the hunt for a certain DVD...The Last Samurai. This is definitely on my top 10 list of favorites. Anywho, I have searched Target's DVD section several times and only find the dreaded "Full-Screen"....uggghh. So I start losing hope. But a few days ago I went to Best Buy with mi madre and found that they had it for a good price as a 2 Disc Widescreen Edition! I swore I began hearing angelic voices descending from the rafters of this vibrantly blue and yellow store. I grabbed that DVD like it was the last Popsicle in the freezer on a blazing hot summer day.
Then, I heard a voice saying, "Micah...Micah...Micah!!!" I turned to see who was calling my name and Tom Hanks was staring me right in the face......ok, so it wasn't actually him, but rather his picture on the DVD of Apollo 13! For those of you who don't know, I am a big Tom Hanks Fan. So I checked the price and it was also cheap...but as soon as I started reaching for it, I looked to my left and found that Die Hard was at the same price...Sweet Mother of Lucky the Leprechaun (ya know, the guy from Lucky Charms)! But I decided that John McClane and I would meet again another day. Yippee ki yay...uhhh...you know the rest.

The Last One

So last night, John Paul and I had our final small group meeting with our 8th Grade Guys: David, Jersahid, Mark, Geoff, Christian, Steven, and Ethan (who couldn't make it). I love all of these guys and have loved seeing each of them grow and mature into men of God. I hope that this small group provided them with some wisdom and trained them to make disciples. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for all of them.

Bursting with thoughts

I'm gonna be totally honest with my blog family and say that my mind is running at a million miles a second, right now. I can't possibly go to sleep! I am thinking so much about God's will for my life...what he wants me to do, like right now!? I don't want to wait anymore to live a life that reflects God's kingdom in a radical way. This may not make sense at all, but I really need prayer from everyone, and I need it right away.

Thanks be to God for his patience, grace, and mercy. I don't know where I'd be without it, and without him.

California Weather...the way it should be.

These past couple of days in Salinas have been really nice. Yesterday, I had a water fight with my middle school small group...it involved a hose, bucket, and about 8 mid-sized squirt guns. It was awesome. Then, later that day I went to a graduation party at the Laidigs and hung out with loads of people (even people I didn't know). There was Cornhole, Around the World Ping Pong, Semi-Hot Tub, Food and Beverages, Spoons, Hanging Out, Intense Trampoline Game, and much more. I had a really good time. And right now, I am just enjoying the weather outside...and some waffles.

Eagle Eye

Day of Days

64 Years Ago, Allied troops landed on the beaches of France codenamed: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, & Sword. They marched through water & sand...They climbed the faces of cliffs and sea walls...They sweat and bled together to secure a future of peace.

So what do you get...

...when you have:

• One Quart of Lemon Juice
• Two Jars of Hot Salsa
• One Box of Unsalted Saltines
• One Bag of Unsalted Tortilla Chips
• A Bag of Sugar Cubes
• A Pound of Straight Black Coffee
• 250 Pipe-Cleaners
• And about 45 Middle School Students?
  

My lesson tomorrow night at FIX.

We're gonna be talking about and experiencing Psalm 13.

Bring it on.