Stamina

November 29, 2008Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Should one really get tired emptying the dishwasher?

Should you really feel like you need a nap after running a quick errand to the grocery store?

Does the thought of getting up to find the remote to change the channel motivate you enough to turn over and sleep for another hour?

Honestly, should I feel winded having walked up one flight of stairs?

My last 3 days.

Yes, I am whining. The last three days have been a whole lot of nothingness. This cold really got the best of me. The only two things I could taste on Thanksgiving was the saltiness of the turkey and the nice flavor a good merlot.

It’s nice to feel some more energy today, however, the “to do” list is motivating me to go take another nap!

Grace,
Brian

Thanksgiving Plans

November 27, 2008Brian Aaby Leave a comment

We have the privilege of hosting Thanksgiving at our place this year. Eliasabeth’s sister, Anne, has made her way up from Eugene and have temporarily transformed the kitchen/family room into quite the large Dining Room now! We’re hosting my parents, my brother (and fam) and sister (and fam). Should be quite fun!

Friday will be a day of recovery, clean-up and rest (I’m fighting a pretty nasty cold right now).

On Saturday I will be taking part in the first of two Holiday Hearts Tournaments. Somewhere between 30 and 40 guys get together at these two holiday traditions (one at T-Gving time and the other at Christmastime). They are a hoot (though I always finish somewhere near the middle–and that is being optimistic).

Looking forward to some great times with family and friends (already got to spend a couple hours with one of my ex-students who is now 25 and back in town from the midwest). It’s so great to share life with others. I am thankful for the people God has brought into my life. Praising the Lord for my relationship with him, my beautiful family (immediate and extended) and many wonderful friends!

Hope you and yours have a wonderful, thankful time this weekend!

Grace,

Brian

Thanksgiving Poll

November 26, 2008Brian Aaby 1 Comment

I often do “opening questions” when leading a small group (seems to break the ice well), and this or a version of the poll below always seems to create good controversy! Give me your vote and don’t hesitate to comment with your strong opinion as well!

Grace,

Brian

CONTEST: What Am I Thinking?

November 25, 2008November 28, 2008Brian Aaby 8 Comments

I know it has only been a week since our last WAIT, but hey, this one is just too good to pass up. And, since my wife posted this picture on her blog here, I thought it’d be good to get it posted here now since some of you read both.

So, here are the rules.

You look at the picture, then post a comment giving your best thought on what my precious middle daughter, Audrey, is thinking. Best one (I play judge and jury) gets the prize (and this prize will involve something holiday-ish).

What is Audrey Thinking?

I’ll give it a couple days, post the “in the running” comments (those that I think have a chance of taking home the prize) and then announce the winner on Friday.

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In the Running (but keep them coming):

“I will be the first talented Christian rapper fo sho.” Brad

“I’m not sure what ‘homey’ means, but it sounds good when I say it” Jared

“Yo, Dora,
Yo, Dora,
Yo, Dora the Explora…” AJS

And The Winner Is: Going to go with AJS. In a nice shout out to our favorite comedian (Brian Regan) and the recognizing the fact that Audrey actually does say, “yo” from time to time, this just fit really well. The prize will be presented in person upon a visit from AJS. It will have something to do with Greg Norman.

**********************

Grace,
Brian

Faith Foundation: Reorganization

November 24, 2008November 25, 2008Brian Aaby 1 Comment

The weather has changed, the leaves have fallen, the lawn mower can be put away (I hope) for the next few months… but where can I put it? You see, for the last several months we have been in transition. Things have been jumbled ever since I moved out of my church office and into my home office (I still “office” at coffee shops, but at least I had a physical storage spot, an office, at the church to keep my books). Upon the departure from Boulevard, we brought all the books into the garage because we were in the midst of our major overhaul; the playroom upstairs moved downstairs to have a nursery/bedroom for Will. The spare room downstairs became the playroom. The dining room became the homeschool room. The school room eventually took on about 3/4 of my books as well, leaving 1/4 of them for the non-space in the garage. The end-result, Elisabeth could park her car in the garage, but I couldn’t–cycling us back to the beginning of this post– the weather has changed. Colder weather finally motivated me to do the major deep cleaning of the garage, so that I, eventually, could park in the garage as well! Which DOES lead me to the faith foundational thought.

during the reorganization

Making progress

My life often gets cluttered as well. My garage often becomes the place where we store odds and ends until we can figure out where to put them/hide them. Sometimes it is the collection place for junk to be thrown out or the storage area for new gifts yet to be opened. I think I do the same thing with my Spiritual life. Sometimes I throw things into “storage” with the intention of getting to them eventually. And then there are things I’m ready to “do” (read: add) that I can’t quite fit into my schedule so it just sits.

1/2 way done

It took all day, but all the storage containers came down, every box was opened and reorganized. The broom and air-blower were put to good use and everything was reorganized.

ahhh, space!

I am now doing the same with my Spiritual life. I want to reorganize the way my time with the Lord looks and feels right now. Old habits will be tossed into the garbage and space will be made for some new practices! Praise God,

fresh start

He is making all things new!

Grace,
Brian

Productive Week (Praise Report)

November 22, 2008Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Though I didn’t get nearly as much done this week as I had hoped, I still look back at this week and am quite pleased with how much took place. My main productivity goal for the week was to make a lot of progress on my Leaders Notebook for the Youthmark Mission Ventures. Well, not a lot got done there, however, a bunch of unexpected blessings came my way.

I am sure that some of my “readership” comes by from time to time to see what’s happening, or to be part of one of my silly contests, don’t stop, I love having you here. However, I know some others are part of our prayer team too. I am thankful for the prayer support we have and we’d invite you to praise God with us for the blessing that came my way this week:

I had two or three new project ideas that I was able to outline and think through. This is a total blessing because, as I have said before, so much of my September, October and even early November has been taken up with meetings to talk about Youthmark Mission Ventures. I LOVE these meetings, but I have felt a desire to be more creative too. These new project ideas invited some creativity!
On the same day I was invited to speak at two different Winter Camps. I look forward to these opportunities coming in December and January.
I was invited to speak at three different churches (unfortunately two were for the same Sunday). However, I will be doing one of them (a Sunday School class) this Sunday (on teen parenting) and hope to reschedule the other one for a Sunday soon. The third will be a parent night on December 3 (whew, not a Sunday!).
I finalized the details for the Youthmark Transitional Consulting and set up the travel arrangements for that trip.
I assisted another church in finding a speaker for a New Year’s overnighter… this is exciting because the speaker I arranged for them and I may be able to collaborate on some future projects!
I received word from one church that they are planning to sign-up for a Youthmark Mission Venture (they would have not been able to join until we added a second Montana trip for August).
I received another actual registration from from another church joining us for the NorCal trip (keep praying, we’re hoping for another 8-10 church registrations between now and early February).
AND, it was Elisabeth’s birthday this week; as always, I’m praising God for my wonderful wife (and I get to take her out to dinner tonight to celebrate)!

So, though I didn’t really get much done on the The Leaders Notebook, I can look back on this week and praise God for His creative blessings. Now, back to the notebook!

Grace,
Brian

Youthmark Consulting

November 21, 2008Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Some of you may have seen on the youthmark.com website that we are offering a package entitled, “transitional consulting.” Unfortunately there is much turnover in vocational youth ministry. This happens because of various reasons (wrong fit, immature pastors, finances, ineffectiveness, etc.). It is often the teens who end up suffering the most when transition takes place. Having transitioned a few times myself, I can speak with some experience in saying there were times where I handled the transition (coming and/or going) well and other times not as well. There are things I know I did well and many thing I wish I could repeat and NOT DO!

One of my passions is to see lay-leadership excel. The transitional consulting package was created to help churches who are between youth pastors. It is my hope to come in and to consult with the Pastors, staff, parents and lay leadership to create a plan for the interim time. Me end goal is effective youth ministry taking place without a youth pastor while they wait on the person God is calling to ultimately lead the charge. This will not be an upfront role, for me, I simply want to enable and empower the lay team (or appointed leader) to do the work of the ministry.

I have done this in the past in an unofficial capacity, but am about to begin this officially (as Youthmark) with a specific church in the next few weeks. I look forward to building the relationship with this church and hope I can be of service to them! I am somewhat familiar with the church, I have done some speaking for them and done programming for a few of their camps as well. The initial stage is the assessment and report (I’ll take a thorough look at the state of the Youth Ministry) and use tools to report back to them the different places I feel I could speak in to. Appreciate your prayers as I launch this specific venture!

Grace,
Brian

Updates

November 21, 2008Brian Aaby Leave a comment

The last two contests have updates near the end of the posts (from this point forward I will always update the “in the running” folk and the winners at the end of said posts).

Grace,
Brian

Happy Birthday Elisabeth!

November 19, 2008Brian Aaby 3 Comments

Today is Elisabeth’s birthday! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful wife! Pretty close to 15 years ago I started to develop a friendship with this lovely lady. Several months later I started to pursue her for more than a friendship. A year after that we were engaged and for the last 12 and half years I have had the honor of calling her my wife!

She is hilarious, fun and cracks me up every day!

She’s grown in beauty (inside and out) every day I have known her.

She’s spurred me on toward love and good deeds.

She has proven to be the best Mommy I could ever imagine.

She tolerates my bad habits, seeks to help me improve in areas of weakness, encourages me to excel all the more in areas of strength and does these EXACT things with our children! I love her with every bit of my being!

I love you Elisabeth and hope your birthday is very happy and blessed!