LARSROOD.COM

Shutting it down for a while

My blog makes me feel guilty sometimes.  When I don't write for a while I feel like I'm doing something wrong.  I don't like that feeling because not writing shouldn't be something that I feel guilt about.  So I'm announcing here that I'm officially putting my blog in retirement for a while.   I'm not sure how long this will last or if I'll ever start this back up.  It's been a fun bunch of years and I've enjoyed it but I'm not feeling lately like my voice is something that needs to be heard in this venue. 

For all of you continuing to blog and who have great things to say know that I'll still read you.  I'm sure I'll be back sometime here but for now I want to focus on other things.

Peace,

Lars

Dallas weather this week

No Problems

I just spent the last 9 days in Jamaica helping build some homes.  We worked with an organization called Son Servants and mixed and poured a ton of concrete and schlepped it up some pretty big hills to get it to where it needed to be.  I was reminded on this trip that I love Youth Ministry and specifically the cabin experience.  Evening "lights out" times were hilarious as the boys tried to have an amateur stand up routine to see who would be the most funny.  I'm glad to be home though and stoked to have spent the day at Hawaiian Falls Waterpark with my family. 

Dog Bites and my community

Yesterday was a tough day for us.  My daughter Anneliese was bit on the face by a dog at about 7pm.  I got the call from Danielle and it was really scary.  Of course I was in the Youth room at church where cell phone coverage is pretty spotty.  My daughter was bit on the face by a friends dog.  Danielle and Anneliese were in an ambulance heading to the hospital and I met them there.   The community we are in was amazing though.  My youth staff went into action and came over to my house and just handled our boys and our neighbors kids so Meghan (next door neighbor) could bring things to the hospital for us.

We were in an amazing hospital but they had just upgraded their computer network this week and the system was slowing everything down.  On top of that there were 80 kids in the ER when we got there.    We checked in at 8pm and didn't end up seeing a doctor until 4:30am.  On a positive note though we were in our own room and people kept texting me and telling me they were praying. 

I sent out a few twitter messages that connect with my facebook and I knew that 1000's of people were praying.  Anneliese ended up being a trooper and only had to get 4 stitches.  After 10 hours in the ER we were home this morning at 7:30am.

It's been tough living in Texas and being so far away from our family and long term friends but our church really showed up last night.  We felt totally cared for and supported by the church and our community.

On a funny note my parents are in Mazatlan Mexico and my mom found out about my daughter in the ER and the dog bit via twitter as it connects with my blog page that she reads.  Never underestimate the power of the internet.

Nashville and Youth Ministry Education

I'm in Nashville for a few days taking part in a great discussion about Youth Ministry Education.  Met most of these folks last year and am really glad to be back.  Some are old friends, some are new, all love the lord and youth ministry.  Praying through how we can be more effective at training youth workers but also realizing that the big point of our time together is to build relationships, network and dream.