A Big Deal:

So, I'm giddy.... giddy like a school girl.... giddy like a teenage school girl with a crush and a bar of chocolate. This weekend is the Joshua Generation Festival.

http://www.yccm.net/josh/

This is going to be a pretty epic 2 days of music with punk bands a plenty. Not only are there going to be bands, there are also going to be a line up of speakers....and not just the kind that amplify audio.

Among the line-up is Aaron Steele, a mixed marshal-arts fighter from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Chris Tomlinson from Hope for the Rejected, and Damien Gula, local youth evangelis....what?

Me? Hecks, yes, me!

Needless to say, I am absolutely stoked about it!

Thoughts on the Wisconsin Weekend:

It’s so hard to judge how a weekend of candidacy has gone when it is your first time ever candidating any where. I went into this weekend not too sure of why I came out here. Yes, I know that part of the reason was to interview for this job. However, even before leaving, I felt quite dissettled about going out to Wisconsin.

It was a good experience. This is a church with a lot of possibility, but I’m not sure that I am the one to carry it to where they need to go. Honestly, God has done a lot in the church to carry it to where it is today. Over the past year, God provided them with a facility for under $250,000 that had been an Assembly of God church.

Problem: Old church building... old church building feel. I guess it was good for the church and they got a lot out of it, I’m just not too sure I feel about that. Now, I know this seems superficial, but there are a few considerations with this.

When I had been in talks with the Senior pastor, he had informed me that the youth had their own wing of the church, which is an accurate statement. However, they are convinced that by giving the teens the dark, windowless, basement, back corner of the church is giving teens prime space. It is quantity space and there is a lot of potential... but it’s not quite quality space. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an area with possibility. Maybe I’m just being negative.

The people where pretty good. I stayed with an awesome family of super genuine people. I had some great conversations with my host home, even saw their Deluxe Miracle Jesus action figure (with glowing hands, 5 loaves, 2 fish, and an urn to turn water into wine...).

So I leave Wisconsin with questions. I’m still unsure as to what I’m supposed to be doing. I guess there are more details to post, but I’ll post them after I have some further experience with another place.

Trials and Travels:

I like to travel. I get to observe people when I go on trips to different places. It’s weird, but for some reasons I just enjoy watching people interact with each other in the different ways that they do.

So far, I’ve seen someone who looked like Bono, but hadn’t an Irish accent... (made me think... what if U2’s Irish this was merely a farse?), I saw a girl that reminded me of an older friend and hope that she didn’t deteriorate to the state I observed (a reminder to pray), and various other interactions and interchanges.

So, I’m half way to Wisconsin now and stuck in what is possibly the worst airport EVER: O’Hare International Airport. For one, it’s big... for two, it’s confusing... for three, did I mention that it’s big? I’m stuck here for 3 hours, so I had better make the best of it.

Upon landing, I decided that I needed food... someone told me once that it is good for people to eat. This gave me a chance to observe people around me, the workers, and just take in the busy traffic of airports.

During the course of my time standing/sitting/wasting time, I happened to see a familiar face. Not the face of someone that I know personally, but the face of someone whom I have admired her work and been a fan over the years: Pop-rock band Superchick’s Trisha! I thought that she looked familiar, so I looked for the rest of the band, but to no avail.

I wanted to be bold and ask... so I did! And I was right!!!!

“Excuse me, ma’am,” I said rather sheepishly, and nervous as any fanboy would be. “I don’t usually approach people like this, but you look really familiar so I have to ask... you wouldn’t happen to be in a band are you?”

“Yes, I am.” she replied.

“That band wouldn’t happen to be Superchick, would it? I pressed further.

“Yes, it is.”

It was a short conversation, but so cool. There aren’t many famous females that I get excited about, but Tricia has always been an exception... not in the crazy, stalker sense... I just like her work and the band that she plays with!

Being right and not totally embarrassing myself for the win!!

I was hoping to see a friendly, familiar face... I just didn’t know it’d be this one