LARSROOD.COM

Blogging from my phone

First post from the new iPhone 2.0 we're staying in a sibglewide trailer in Ojai California. Out here speKibg for two weeks and then flying to Romania to run a camp for Gypsies.

Funny Connection

This morning is starting off slow sort of. I dropped off my car to get the AC checked and a tune up before our big drive to California next week. From there I walked over to Cafe Brazil for some coffee. After sitting and working for a while the waitress came up and asked me if I attend the The Village Church because she thought she recognized me from there. We talked about My church for a bit and thought possible she recognizes me just because I come in here a lot.

After a bit though we talked a little more and it turned out she's actually from California and grew up in Covina and attended Biola before moving here to Texas. On another funny note she attended summer camp at Forest Home where I worked for many years.

On a more weird coincidence one of our churches summer interns also waits tables here at Cafe Brazil and Aleise just told me that Kimi is trying to get her to come to the college Bible study on Thursdays.

Funny how God works connections.

Part 6: Find friends outside of youth ministry.

A while back I realized that a majority of the people I hung out with were 16. It wasn't all bad though as they were the guys in my small group and I loved being with them. But, there was a negative side to it as I didn't really have a good core group of guys who helped me grow.

There was a time that I met with Jeff, Tim and Scott almost every Tuesday night. I lived in Los Angeles and would meet Jeff in Glendora and we would meet to hang with Tim and Scott in Redlands. For me it meant a small group night where I was committing to drive about 80 miles each way to be with these guys. Jeff and I met and for about an hour would talk about what was happening in our ministries and our marriages (or his engagement) and then we'd meet up with the guys and rock climb for a while and then go eat. Although the night involved more driving then talking it was important to me because they were guys that knew me well and were my friends.

Youth ministry is sometimes a scary place where we hang out with students all the time and only have relationships with other leaders and people who do the same things as us. I can't even count the number of times I've hung out with my "church youth ministry friends" where we've spent to much time talking about church, youth and ministry and not about real life.

Texas is tough for me because the majority of my friends in the Park Cities are people who work at the church and are involved in youth ministry (Youth, college or young adult). Its something I'm aware of but at the same time scary to realize that as a 38 year old man who just moved to Texas it's hard to find friends outside of what I do.

Working on it.

Part 1: Parents are your best friends or worst enemies.
Part 2: You won't like every kid and every kid won't like you.
Part 3: Perceived vs. Real Needs.
Part 4: Learn to say you are sorry.
Part 5: Better Safe than Sued

Sunday Sabbath?

I think I can say that Sunday is a sabbath for me. Although I did teach this morning afterwards I went out to lunch with some friends, came home and then took the kids to the pool for a couple hours. After dinner I went and played basketball and followed it up by going to the best driving range in the world. It's called Top Golf and it's more like a video game than a driving range. All your balls are coded so they no where you hit them and a scoring machine keeps track. I didn't score very well tonight but I did knock the crap out of a lot of balls. Probably I'll do much better next time. I promised Soren I'd take him this week so I need to find some kids golf clubs.

So my Sabbath was all about activity which may not sound good but for me it was a great day.

This week is our 2nd week in a row of our in town Missions projects. Last week we had 35 5-6 graders serving in the city and this week we do the same thing with 35 7-8 graders. Looking forward to it. My role this week is to drive the bus and to teach them on Thursday morning.

It's about time

A lot of people my age are in the opposite boat of me. They regret a lot from their 20's and wish they could "erase" some parts of that life. One thing a lot of these people are doing is trying to get rid of the silly tattoos they had inked on their skin. I'm 38 and kinda feel that I know what I want and won't regret things. So today I got a tattoo. I've been wanting to do this for a while and finally did it. I'll post a picture later.

Haven't blogged much

For the last couple of weeks it's been tough for me to get much done with this blog. On top of being in Bolivia for 8 days my assistant's last day was today and my program director is about to go on maternity leave. On top of that most of our summer interns just started today and I'm getting ready to head to Princeton on Sunday for a think tank deal.

Here's just a quick though. I'm constantly amazed at the things God trusts me with. I would never of thought in all my dreams that I would be in the place I'm in now. God I need you to take control because if it's up to me I'll screw this up too much.

Texans like their guns and their President to shoot one.

I haven't posted very often on Politics on this blog but with everything happening this year I thought I should. When we moved from California to Texas we knew we were in for a culture shock but I didn't realize how much of a political shock there would be also. Apparently the "South" and the "Bible Belt" has a pattern of voting that has made the term "Conservative Evangelical" synonymous with the Republican Party.

Read an article today that I thought would rattle some cages so I'm posting a link to it here. Basically it talks about how some 18-29 year old evangelicals are supporting Obama. As I read the article I thought a lot about that age group that I know here in Texas. I don't think many here will be making that shift.

Granted this article was written in the Seattle Times a state known for its left leanings but I think it significant that several of those quoted attended a conservative evangelical school.

These next couple of months will have an interesting impact on our country. I live about 1/2 mile from the site where they will be building the new President Bush library. The Bush daughter getting married here in Texas was a big deal yesterday. I wonder what will happen if our country votes in someone who is decidedly different.

Rain, coffee and darkness

This has been one of those weeks where I struggle to look back and see any accomplishment. It was good on a relational level in that I went on a great overnight pastors retreat and had a number of really good conversations with friends but on a "put a check next to things you accomplished" level, not so good.

It's 6:25am and I'm sitting in the dark. When I got up about an hour ago it was raining. I'm awake alone in our house sitting in my big leather chair. The coffee is from Pete's and I've got a little Hazelnut in it. I just read through my notes on Peace which is the Jesus Priority I'm teaching on this week. There is something about being awake early when it is still dark that I really like. My mind feels most awake at this time of day. Distractions haven't overtaken me yet.

Yesterday one of my best friends called me. Jeff and I started our Doctoral program together about two and a half years ago. Our first trip to class (in Portland) will always be one of my favorite memories. Jeff is both a great friend, an old friend, someone who understands my quirks and a catalyst for making me think in ways that really challenge me. Yesterday was graduation. Jeff was on the fast track with his D.Min and was one of only 4 students out of 18 who finished on time. I decided back in December to take an extra semester to get my project put together. I was really excited and proud of Jeff for finishing yesterday. I don't feel bad that I wasn't done because it was a good decision for my life and family but I do wish that we could have walked together. I'm looking forward to finishing soon. My goal is to have everything turned in by early June.

The sun is starting to come up. It's not raining anymore. The birds are still chirping.

I know I know

I haven't posted anything in a couple of days. The weekends are a bit crazy for me and today I went non-stop until about 7pm. I'm heading out of town tomorrow for an overnight pastors retreat but should be able to put together something worth reading during it. I'm heading to Princeton next week and will have ample time to do some writing. Hang with me everyone I'll get back to it.

Secret Sunday

In the last two weeks the readership of this blog has jumped up quite a bit. I attribute that to really just two things. First, we launched a new Youth Ministry website and it links to my blog so a bunch more people have heard about it. Second, I've written a couple of things that for some reason Google has taken a liking to and when you search for them my blog is one of the top hits.

Of course with a greater readership comes a greater responsibility on my part to update this blog and to write things that people may actually be interested in reading.

Today I decided that it might be a good idea to reveal a little bit more about who I am so you know what you are reading. If my mom reads this she will probably laugh as she's known this for a long time.

When I was in 4th grade we moved to an Island in Washington state. That move was pretty difficult on me as it happened mid year and 4th graders are merciless when you have a funny name. Those first years on the island I retreated a lot to a special world that came two me every two weeks. If you didn't grow up in a rural area you won't understand this as much but go with it and you might learn something. Every two weeks the Bookmobile came to the community I lived in. If I remember correctly I could check out about 10 books each time. I remember combing the walls of that magical book paradise for things I hadn't read. After getting my stack of books I would invariable hole up at home in my room and read as long as my parents would let me. I even kept a flashlight in my room to read under the covers. A few years later when I had access to a boat I used to take it out and read all afternoon.

When we moved to a different house on the island my mom began to refer to my room as "The Cave" because I would go into it and hibernate pretty much all afternoon and read.

So here's the secret. For the last 20 years since I graduated from high school I haven't stopped reading. Granted there have been times I haven't been able to read what I wanted (College, Graduate School, Post-Grad School) but I still am a voracious reader. In all of this time I have had a hidden desire that I would write a book.

Probably the best way to describe why I haven't written a book yet is to explain the reason why I don't have a tattoo.

I don't have a tattoo because I can't decide what tattoo to get. I know that I want one but actually making the decision of what I want is difficult. Plus I don't really know where to get it. The writing deal is the same. I can't narrow down what I want to write. It's difficult especially because I have a pretty broad interest in what I read so I have difficulty narrowing it down to what genre would be most appealing.

So there it is. Secret Sunday revealed. I want to write but haven't. I'm going to go hide in my cave now and read a book. On a side note it is sort of hard to have a cave when you have to share it with your wife. She would prefer I didn't hibernate.