Tuesday, October 11, 2011

A little of this, and a little of that

Tuesday, October 11, 2011  at 7:04 AM
Time flies when you're not blogging!  It's almost been two weeks since the last post!  Yowsa!  So here's what's been going on since last time and what has been keeping me so busy... (WARNING: this is a long post, so feel free to skip any sections that look boring)

Field School
HAH!  This is a picture from my first Field School in undergrad in 2007.  I had glasses and HAIR!  :)
For Seminary, I am required to go to field school.  This is really for pastors that have not "been in the field" or have not pastored yet.  I pastored for 3 years, but the school has to give everyone the same requirements, so I'm not exempt.  Basically, it means that I work with a "local" pastor to help during an evangelistic series.  I'm not the biggest fan of this kind of series because it doesn't seem like the most effective way to tell others about Jesus, BUT, I'll put in my time and hopefully bless someone in the process.

Here's how it works...  We have meetings at the La Porte, IN at the Seventh-day Adventist church.  It's a small church with the median age feeling like somewhere in the 60's.  The church members are super warm and welcoming, and they really are a lot of fun to work with.  Pastor Bill Payne is leading/preaching for these meetings, and he's a great guy too.  My job is simply to be present at all the meetings, which happen on Friday, Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, go visit the visitors at their homes, interact with the church members, and be available to help in any way needed.  It's going pretty well, but it sure uses time since La Porte is 45 minutes away and in the central time zone.  I usually don't get home till 10:30pm!

Switchfoot/Run Ride Row
Last post, I told you that Jenn and I were going to go see Switchfoot with Kevin and Jennie Neumann up in Grand Rapids.  It was so much fun hanging out with them!  It's crazy to have friends that I like so much that I met over a blog!  Jenn and I drove up to Grand Rapids a little earlier before the show to go eat at Noodles & Co.  I love that restaurant!  After supper, we headed to the concert at Calvin College.  This is where Jenn and I started to feel like OLD PEOPLE.  There were two openers before Switchfoot took the stage: Atomic Tom and Amberlin, both of which I had never heard before.  They played for two and a half hours, so by the time Switchfoot took the stage, we all were tired and maybe a little cranky.  I did happen to score a quick picture of our group, and as  you can tell, this was early on in the show!  We really had a lot of fun, and I'm glad we've got such great friends!
Look at the energy!
Crazy Pictures
The next morning, Donnie Keele (see in above pic with tongue out...), and I decided to go try to get some cool pictures of Lake Michigan.  I had seen the alerts on Weather.com about 15-20ft. swells, and we didn't want to miss this opportunity.  So, we got up a little early and went out to St. Joseph.  It was INSANE out there as we could barely stand up because of the wind.  Here's what we got: (The first two are mine, and the last three are Donnie's)
Silver Beach 
The lighthouse at Saint Joseph, MI
Me taking pictures
Benches at Jean Klock Park


Run, Ride, Row
On Sunday, Kevin Neumann came down to Berrien Springs to compete in the annual Run, Ride, Row event which is a short 2(ish) mile run, a 20 mile bike ride, and then a 2 mile canoe.  Josh Woods would do the run, Kevin would bike, and Ryan Whitehead would to the canoeing.  Here are a couple pictures from the event. 
He ran 5:52's!!!!!
What a stud!  Look at that form!

I think they would have won the whole thing, but ended up taking second possibly due to bad race management or bad orientation skills on our part.  It was a lot of fun to chase these guys around the course and take pictures of them.  Read Kevin's report HERE.

After the race was over, we went to Nikki's Cafe and at an AMAZING breakfast!

Marathon
Well, I've finally made my decision about whether or not I should run the Jacksonville Bank Marathon in December.  I actually started training, but I have decided NOT to do it, and here's why:

  1. Temperature:  I'm afraid that I'll train up here in the cold, then fly down there and freaking bake on the run in the hot Florida temps.  This happened at the Holy Half Marathon this past April, and I don't want it to happen again!
  2. Flat Course:  Although many people love flat fast courses, I don't know if that's the best for me.  I seem to struggle to keep a fast pace on the flats.  I'd rather have rolling hills to give me a challenge on the uphill and a break on the downhill.  This marathon's course is as flat as a pancake.
  3. Cheering/Fans: This marathon, although seeming legit, doesn't get the fans along the course that many marathons do.  At least that is what I've read.  I wonder if I would be alone out there on the course and just stop. (That shows my mental toughness right now.)  Also, Jenn wouldn't be able to be there, so my own cheerleaders wouldn't be able to help me make it through.
  4. Motivation:  I'm flat out tired of training.  It's supposed to be the off-season, right?  Call me lazy, but I'm tired of training, at least for now.  Jenn and I are running the Atlanta Half Marathon in November, but that's about all I want to do right now.
Overall, although I'm a little disappointed that I won't be running a marathon this year, I think I made the right decision.

Uncle Matt
I don't think that I got to introduce you to my neice!  Meet Brynlie Cate Salyers...
She was born Sunday, September 25.  She's such a pretty little girl and has big chubby cheeks.  Mindy, my sister, did really well, and Jenn and I are super excited to go see this little girl.  We're headed down there next weekend.  We CAN'T wait!

So that's a wrap on what I've been up to.  Sorry for the super long post.  I'll try to do better about updating more frequently.  Thanks for reading, and have a blessed day!

17 comments:

Anonymous

I have missed your posts! What, you are busy and have a life or something?! Pssshh! ;)

I totally hear you about the marathon choice - probably a good move, especially if your heart isn't in it, as that would be a huge suck for sure.

Congratulations on your beautiful niece! Enjoy spoiling her rotten - best part about being an aunt/uncle :)

I found an IM race we should look into - will send you the link!

Julie

Wow you have been busy!

What beautiful pics of the lake! Just awesome!

Jon

How did you take those pictures? Was the light really that brilliant or were you using HDR?

Congrats on becoming an Uncle! You are prolly the "cool" uncle ;)

Matty O

Woahhhhhh this post is all over man haha. You have been SUPER busy lately!

Glad to see you have been enjoying yourselves lately!

I like learning all that's behind your studies and what is required as your coursework. It's great to see you going through all of this to add to your experience in the field.

Those pics are flat out awesome. No lie, LOVE THEM! Those would be awesome desktop backgrounds or screen savers man.

I saw switchfoot years ago at a local church, it was all high school kids... ummmm kinda like what you experienced? Shocked they still drew such a YOUNG crowd? They put on a HECK of a show though!

Marathon decisions. Good choice. My first marathon however was Chicago... ruined the rest of the marathons for me... have never had such a great expo, cheering fans, awesome weather, awesome course again. I like to run or train for races before I RACE them. Might be good to get your feet wet at that distance and just go through the motions to see where you may need to focus training for when you want to race a marathon? Just throwing that out there.

Great post man!

Kurt @ Becoming An Ironman

Congrats on becoming an Uncle!

Those pictures look AWESOME!

I could have told you that an Anberlin and Switchfoot concert would be mostly the younger generation. But glad to hear you stuck it out anyways!

M

Welcome back!!! AND WOW to those pics!!!! Amazing!

Ironman By Thirty

Great decision on the marathon. Very well thought out reasoning. Next year will be your year!

Hopefully those 60 year olds in LaPorte are making you feel young again after the Switchfoot concert.

Thanks again for inviting us and coming out to take pictures of the Run/Ride/Row!

Unknown

So much going on - glad to know that I'm not the only one a little behind on blogging! :)

First, congrats Uncle Matt!!! She's adorable!

Second, those pictures are AMAZING! Wow... you are a phenomenal photographer. Is that just a hobby?

Third, so cool that you get to hang out with Kevin and Jennie! Both great people and it is fun when blogger friends become real life friends (as in... you finally meet them and hang out!)

You look good preaching... it looks natural! :)

Glad things are going well!

Unknown

Those pictures are amazing - both the Michigan landscape and your adorable niece!

Cory Reese

I love everything about this post.

I am impressed and inspired by your service to God.

I am super jealous that you got to go to Switchfoot. I'm a fan.

Your Lake Michigan pictures?!?!? Are you kidding me? You are seriously talented.

And the marathon - good call. Taking a break will give you time to rest up and find a race that suits you better.

Thanks for the update!

kessia reyne

Wow... Seems like a lot has been going on in your life! I miss getting the weekly play-by-play ;)

Big Daddy Diesel

Those are some great pictures

Rachel Keele

the FIRST thing i would like to say is that time is working in you favor matt smith :) the SECOND thing is that i'm just so glad you posted that picture of all of us at the concert. it's proof that donnie and i are right for each other. fun times!

Jennie

Uncle Matt, your niece is an absolute doll!

Thanks again for the invite to the concert. We had such a great time. We'll have to get together again soon. :)

Thanks too for taking such great pictures at the concert and Run, Ride, Row... And speaking of great pictures, the pics you took in St. Joe are AMAZING!

Austin

Hey! thanks for stopping over as well. You have a great blog going here - and some killer pics, which always helps. to avoid the risk of you missing it - i'm doing a small giveaway to benefit a haitian orphanage (founded by audio adrenaline) - swing by and win 100 bucks...

Caratunk Girl

Those pictures are amazing. Absolutely gorgeous!

Unknown

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