A little of this, and a little of that

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!