Her First Stitches

You know how some days you wake up with a plan for the day and then things happen and you wind up in places you never dreamed of?

Yesterday was one of those days for us. At about 10:30 am Lily slammed her finger in one of the baby gates on our steps. It was bad. It looked like the tip of her finger was falling off but to be honest Becky and I could barely look at it without feeling the urge to faint or puke.

So we rushed her to the hospital. Lily was doing great. They numbed the finger topically and Lily seemed to be doing better smiling, laughing, drinking juice. Then the Doctor entered and the terror ensued. They strapped her down to a board but Lily was too strong for the Velcro straps so a nurse and I had to help hold Lily down as the Doctor stitched up her finger. Lily screamed like I had never heard her scream and I had to hold her there for her own good. It was a TOUGH experience looking into her eyes as she was scared, confused, and in great pain.

It just makes me wonder at the parents who willingly hurt their children, they have to be literally insane or something. Then I think of God the Father and how he willingly offered up his Son for us. I think of Jesus and how he willingly stayed on the Cross with nails instead of Velcro straps. I am so thankful for the cross, for the sacrifice, and for the grace that gives me life every morning.

A great weekend

This past weekend we spent about 40 hours with leaders from all over the Buckeye Region at Deer Creek State Resort and Park. I was able to teach my first seminar at Deer Creek without fainting, passing out, or saying anything that would get me fired. So all in all I would call the seminar a success.

Here are some highlights from the weekend-

Zach showing he is the premier rock thrower and football catcher in our area hands down. For about 20 minutes our guys entertained themselves by throwing rocks at a sign (don't worry girls I know it doesn't make sense) and Zach outshined them all by nailing the sign multiple times. He was also like a human crash test dummy giving up his body to catch pass after pass in football.

Our time of prayer on Saturday night. I never feel more connected to leadership than when we spend time together before the throne.

Our late night chats in our cabin. I know I wussed out and went to bed at 2 am on Saturday night when the rest stayed up to 3 but it was still pretty awesome.

Our first weekend with our new committee chairman Brandon Little. Not only did his church provide 90% of our food but he was also a dish washing machine. He's a true servant!

A great weekend was had by all and oh yes we did play football on the Deer Poop field.

I do wonder though where is the Creek? There's a HUGE lake but no creek?

Shown Up By An Athiest

Well today I am still working on my seminar for our upcoming leader weekend. I've been trying to track down a few teaching points and I came across a blog called "God Hates Yeast". It's by an athiest guy who is currently reading the Bible cover to cover in the NIV and KJV. He's only made it to Leviticus and he got his title from the many verses he's read about not eating anything made with yeast.

I guess I was just blown away by the fact that this guy who is an athiest is reading the Bible cover to cover! and in 2 versions! (NIV & KJV). Obviously his motives in reading the Bible aren't super pure. He pretty much is just finding new points for his "No God Exists" argument, but it's sort of VERY convicting. To be honest it's been years since I've tried to read the Bible cover to cover. Well this guy has inspired me to do just that.

Killing the TV

Tonight we were all home for dinner. This is not a common occurrence as on many nights either Becky or I are out with students, leaders, friends or family and not able to eat together.

With nothing in particular to do tonight I had an urge to just grab Sydney turn on the TV and enjoy some father daughter bonding by vegging out to some sweet shows on the Discovery Channel, but I resisted that urge and just sat holding her. Soon Becky and Lily were done with dinner and crazy enough good old fashioned conversation began to happen, at least among all of the Ventura household that can speak at this point in their life. Lily is actually quite the conversationalist already at age 2 and 1/2. Sydney pretty much just gurgles, farts, burps, and cries.

I'm by far not to the point of some you who maybe don't even have a TV, but I would encourage everyone to take a night or even a block of time and just turn off the TV, Internet, or whatever fills the background of your life, and just be.

By the way I do get the irony of saying "turn off the internet" even though I'm on the internet now writing this on the night where not watching TV has spawned these thoughts, but to quote "What About Bob?" BABY STEPS.

Behind Enemy Lines

Today I am planning and organizing a seminar to teach at this weekends Deer Creek leader retreat. This will be my first time sharing on one of these weekends as I've chickened out during the past 7 years of possibilities. So I am excited but also a little nervous about the whole thing.

Lucky for me I have felt a real leading during the planning process for this talk so I believe God has led me towards what I am speaking about this weekend. The title is "Behind Enemy Lines There Are Sometimes Allies" and the summary is that we have to enter the community of our students in every way and that also means their school. So I am going to encourage leaders to coach, volunteer, tutor, sub, grade papers, pick up trash, or whatever they can to serve and be a part of the school where they lead.

So in the spirit of Deer Creek, I thought I'd list some of my favorite memories from these leader weekends.

• Deer Poop Football- It's always a blast to get a bunch of guys together to play football on Saturday afternoon on the field that is ALWAYS covered with about 2 tons of Deer Poop. From hence forth I should call this the Deer Poop Leader Weekend. Were pretty much playing football in the toilet of the deer population of Deer Creek State Park.
• Snow, Snow, Snow. I have no idea what the weather is supposed to be for this weekend, but I do know that almost every year we have had a major snowfall to contend with as we drive either to Deer Poop State Park or home on Sunday.
• Ryan Mecum doing program and running for President of Young Life against Denny Rydberg who just happened to be speaking on the weekend. My favorite argument was "Denny Rydberg has never done contact work."
• I love cramming into a cabin with every guy in leadership. Late nights lead to great conversations about Christ and our lives.
• The gift shop that I've never entered in like 10 years of going to Deer Creek. They would make such a killing if they had a Starbucks.
• The awesome feeling of being with 500 or so other folks who are in the same battle as me for our high school friends.
• But my favorite thing about these weekends has got to be just being with our leaders away from the day to day world. Everyone seems to come to these weekends with a heightened desire to grow in Christ and to love on each other.

In the beginning...

To blog or not to blog.

I would like to say I have spent years struggling with the issue of should I blog or not? Is it just a trendy thing to do? Am I just pretending people might actually get something from my thoughts? etc... But that would be a lie. I pretty much just saw a friends blog and thought "Hey that might be a fun and interesting for me to do". So here we are.

My decision to blog has pretty much come down to my desire to have an outlet for any thoughts or ideas that should make their way past the Advil Cold and Sinus and into my brain. I enjoy writing, though my grammar is horrific, but my life on Young Life staff leaves my opportunities for writing limited to returning emails or making "To Do Lists". I occasionally do get to put together a "were sorry you're kid got hurt at camp letter" or the always fun "our operating budget is in the red and I can't feed my kids poem" but unfortunately even these do not scratch the itch to be somewhat creative in my thoughts.

I also thought it might be a good way for folks to keep up with what were up to if you are interested.

So again, here we are.