To the moon and back....

Kudos to those who know why I used the title for this blog. If you don't check out the children's book "Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram

Rachael and I were married on June 26, 2004. Today we are celebrating our 2nd anniversary! I am so blessed to have Rachael and I can't imagine what my life would be like without her. She embodies Prov 31:10-31. She is so supportive of my ministry and is often times working with the youth right alongside me. We've laughed, cried, and dreamed together, and all I can do is simply thank God for her.

For Rachael,

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where
I love you straightforwardly without complexities or pride so I love you because I know no other way than this:
Where I does not exist, nor you
So close that your hand on my chest is my hand
So close that your eyes close as I fall asleep

gone to the dark side...

So I have to admit something...

I have never really liked soccer. I have heard Chad and Jake talk about it like it is the greatest thing in the world but I just couldn't get into it. All the low scoring and ties. It just seemed to slow moving for me to get into it.

until...

World Cup 2006 hit huge! Even though the U.S. got spanked in their opening match, it has been a blast watching the games that I have seen. I actually wanted/got to sit down and watch the first half of Brazil vs. Croatia and I was into it. Soccer has the great ability to get you involved because you don't know if each play is going to work or be stopped by some great feat of athleticism. So here it is....I'm hooked. No longer the ignorant american, my hat is off to you, soccer/futbol. I guess you are #1 sport in the world for a reason. Just call me darth. American Football is still my #1 sport but I think there could be room to start watching/playing another.

Denver Part 2 - The rest of the story

Mile freakin High...need I say more?

Party on Wayne...Party on Garth (Zach and I gettin' our mullet on)

Rachael, Zach and I at the Denver Aquarium

Riding a 4 person bicycle at the Denver Aquarium

A tiger, a creepy green eel, a diver with turtle above (for me to poop on), Zach with a horseshoe crab, another tiger, and the un-manned 4 person bike...all at the Denver Aquarium. That place rocks!

Some street performers on 16th street downtown....The statue lady really scared Zach! She moved right as he was right in front of her...he thought she was a real statue! The froed out robot was a riot to watch.

We went to Denver with the whole Robbins clan and Mike York for a seminar on finances. We took Saturday and Sunday and decided to hang out in Denver. We went to the aquarium and found out that they had changed it around quite a bit since I had been there last. We rode the bicycle built for four and quickly found that it is difficult to coordinate that many people with a pedaling rhythm. We then headed inside to check out all the wildlife. We came up on the big shark tank right as it was feeding time for the smaller fish in the tank. Divers emptied two nalgene bottles of grub and then started looking for shark teeth on the bottom of the tank.

After the aquarium we decided to drive by Invesco/Mile High to see if we could take a tour. We found out that they were holding a Fan Fair and that for $15 we could get into the stadium and meet players and coaches (see previous blog). We decided to do that on Sunday and headed downtown to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Rachael and I had some awesome pasta and we split between the four of us...Godiva Chocolate cheesecake and fresh strawberry cheesecake. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

We walked up around the 16th street mall and I came to this observation...Denver has culture! Salt Lake has culture as well...boring! There were street performers playing music, dressed up in all sorts of crazy costumes, and people actually hanging out downtown. It was cool to see. A lady was dressed up to look exactly like a statue...she even held completley still. Zach walked right up to her to see the statue and she moved into a different pose. Zach turned into a Denver Broncos lineman as he pushed a man three times his size to the side as he ducked and ran away.

We then headed to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to see an exhibition called Body Worlds 2. (www.bodyworlds.com) here is an example of what you can expect to see at a Body Worlds exhibit:

I have edited the image...so if you are wondering what is under the black box...don't...trust me...you don't want to see it. I won't lie, I was a little creeped out looking at all the randomly placed humanity. It did, however, remind me that our bodies are awesome! God is truly amazing as evidenced by His creation. Wow!

We ate dinner at a mexican food restaurant and I had to console Jordan as Holly wasn't there with him (see picture above). If you are ever in Denver and are looking for some good Mexican food...go to Jack N' Grill on Federal and 25th ave. It was awesome! They use New Mexico chile! My lips were burning which is a good thing. We stuffed ourselves and resolved to never eat again....or at least hit the treadmill and do a few sit-ups...

On Sunday we checked out of our hotel and headed to Invesco. It was awesome to see the players up close and personal. You can see our blog below for some more info on the Fan Fair. Here is Zach getting an autograph from Willie Middlebrooks.

All in all our trip to Denver was great! I am jealous of Gino-Dean, whom I totally forgot was in Denver, who gets to experience this on an everyday basis. You are lucky bro! I'll be back to Denver soon enough for a Broncos game. Who's down for Indy vs. Denver on 10/29/06? Let's get tickets!

Denver Part 1 - Meeting Barrel Man

Hey everyone....

Rachael and I just got back from Denver! I'll have a ton more pictures soon but I wanted to share this with you guys. If you are a Denver Broncos fan you know how cool this picture really is.

We found out about a the Fan Fair at Invesco while we were there. There were a ton of players and coaches that were there including John Lynch, Willie Middlebrooks, Dwayne Carswell, and Rod Smith. We got to Invesco/Mile High Stadium right as it opened and quickly found ourselves with lines waiting to get autographs from the players. We didn't wait in the lines but instead played blackout bingo lead by two new Broncos. The prize was two tickets to a regular season game. I was so close (only two squares away) but so far away when someone called out bingo and won the tickets....but it was fun anyway.

That leads me to the picture. For those of you who don't know...Barrel Man is the most hardcore Broncos fan ever. The guy wears just a barrel to games (even in the cold) and has become a staple at Mile High. The Broncos give this guy free season tickets and have fashioned a bobble head in his likeness. How cool is that?

I will soon post part 2 of our Denver adventure. Including our experience at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science....pictures to come!

Geocaching adventure and pics

On Memorial Day we had an opportunity to hang out with our small group from HBC. We decided to go hiking/geocaching. I have never been geocaching before but it was a blast. With the help of Mike we had two GPS devices and coordinates that were along a trail that the kiddos could handle. As you can see from the pictures Mike was a little sad that he didn't get to keep anything from the three caches that we found. That was okay since he had been to each of them before.

We told the kids that we were on a treasure hunt and it was awesome to see how excited they got over finding each of the coordinates and the "treasure" that was in each of the hidden boxes. After our hike we ended up back at the Halley's home for some good ol' fashioned BBQ. We tossed the frisbee around and had a great time relaxing! Every now and then it is good to take a day and relax.

Here is hoping that everyone had a most relaxing Memorial Day. We should be thankful to our troops who have fought and are fighting to preserve our freedoms.

Some pics...

Timber and Scooter have X-ray vision.

We took this picture in Ogden...I don't know if I would do my grocery shopping here.

Praise God!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to preach at "Gospel Camp 2006". The event is held by the Salt Lake City Chinese Christian Church or SLCCCC. They invite churches from all over Utah and Idaho to participate. They hold a chinese speaking service and an english service. I had the opportunity to speak at the english service because "Domo Origato Mr. Roboto is the only....japanese I know....oops....I guess I don't know any chinese.

I shared about being an explosion for Christ rather than a flashbang/firecracker. (Acts 4:1-20, Rev 3:15-16, 2 Chron 7:14, Matt 28:19-20, 1 Peter 2:9-10, Romans 8:31-39, Phil 4:13) At the end of the sermon I offered the students a chance to accept Jesus for the first time. 11 students raised their hands to make first time decisions for Christ! PRAISE GOD! I was so excited that I could have preached another sermon.

Even now, God is moving! God is bringing his people back to him. Please join me in prayer for these 11 new souls and their new walk with Jesus!

Party on Wayne...

Summer School

I know you've felt like this!

May 15th...82 degrees...a day that should be celebrated by spending it outside in the nice warm sunshine. But not for the Patricks! We both started Summer classes today. I am in Math beginning at 6 a.m. and Rachael is in yet another Occupational Therapy class that will continue to train her to be, what else?...an occupational therapist!

My day started very early to say the least. I got there a little early and prepared to be attacked with all sorts of math formulas and homework. Our professor walked in and introduced herself as Lyudmila or Mila for short. She has a very thick accent and at 6 a.m. it was a little difficult to understand what she was trying to say. I just kept thinking of Rocky IV.....DRAGO!

The mind does tend to wander whenst immersed in mathematics in the morning! I just wanted her to say "I will break you." It was at this moment I realized I was telepathic. A problem was put up on the board and everyone reached for their graphing calculators. Lyudmila said "PUT DOWN THE CALCULATORS!.... I WILL BREAK YOU OF HABIT!" So it wasn't quite there but the "I will break you" was there. I had a hard time not laughing. I think from now on my Math professor will be known as Drago. The only thing better would be if she looked/sounded like our old pal Mr. T....what a handsome woman!

on a side note....this picture is hilarious. I feel like wearing 85 lbs of gold chains and shaving my hair into the 80's hawk! Represent fool!

I then went to my second class only to find out that it doesn't start until June 8th! I totally interrupted another class that was going on...it was my welcome back to school moment.

Peace out fool!

Slacking...horribly!

I have recently received revelation that I have neglected to get the log out of my eye while trying to point out the speck in my fellow blog friends eyes. I haven't updated this in a while so here it is...an update!

Rachael and I recently both finished finals and will be headed back to school on the 15th. Rachael has been kicking serious butt on her Masters degree and I'm inching ever closer to a degree. I will be taking a communications course and math. Rachael will be taking a class that proves forever that she is smarter than me when it comes to all things therapy. This last semester was the end of anatomy. I am looking forward to Rachael not coming home smelling of formaldehyde and other preserving chemicals. I will also be glad to not hear about how she was holding a human brain, heart, kidney, anything internal.

We are also very busy with our church. We started a study last night called "The Peacemaker". I have a link to the book and what it deals with. Can you imagine what a church filled with peacemakers would look like? Check out the book if you get a chance. They use these techniques to settle multi-million dollar law suits right down to arguments with your spouse or family.

We just wrapped up Spring Fling this weekend. Spring Fling is a up-all-night lock-in for youth. After various energy drink consumption Rachael and I were able to stay up all night, walk over a mile on the jogging track, ice-skate at 4:30 am, play in a dodgeball tournament (I got worked.), and be the responsible adults that we needed to be....right. I'm glad that we don't do more lock-in's. I am getting older and the recovery time is just too much to take! I enjoy sleep too much!

Enough rambling. I have to go make sure I am registered for classes!

Confession

I must admit that when I started reading Don Miller's book "Blue Like Jazz," I didn't like it. I found his writing to be sporadic and without thought. I had a hard time seeing what people were getting out of this book and why it was on everyone's reading list.

Last week I decided that I was going to try reading it again, laying aside my instant judgement and thoughts. I found out something about myself that wasn't written in the pages but God was showing me this: Everything doesn't and won't fit my plan. It fits his. Period. I don't have to like it but regardless of my like or dislike, I can choose to praise God or reject his plan.

After starting to read what Miller has to say....I actually like and resonate with this book. To tell the truth, I haven't been able to put it down. Here is my favorite quote:

"A friend of mine, a young pastor who recently started a church, talks to me from time to time about the new face of church in America - about the postmodern church. He says the new church willl be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle. I don't think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool web pages, then it is not relevant to culture either. It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing."

If we get caught up in Religiosity and start defending our religion, rather than, sharing Jesus we lose sight of Christ and trade it instead for, as Miller puts it, our passion about nothing. We tend to surround ourselves with everything "Christian". Drinking our mochas at christian coffee shops, accidentally spilling some on our christian T-shirt while listening to our Ipod's with the latest and greatest christian music. I'm not bashing on all products christian...but if we convice ourselves that we are best serving Christ by listening to music or drinking a mocha then we are guilty of being busy about nothing. I have talked with several people about this and it is surprising to me how many Christians don't know anyone who is lost.

I don't want to be the wicked servant who buried the talent so that he could escape his master's wrath.(Mat 25:14-28) I don't want to do just enough. I want to hit the ball out of the park, score the winning touchdown, or get the knockout.

I realize that this post may not make a lot of sense to you. I have wrestled with the idea and I'm not sure I have put it in words that make sense. My confession is as simple or as difficult as this:

I want to make a difference for Jesus Christ. All stereotypes aside I want to be found doing His business. Only Christ saves...only Christ. He died for me, I'll live for Him, no matter what that means. I guess as I'm typing this it sounds simple. But typing/saying it and living are two different things.

An Easter full of surprises

HE IS RISEN! (I hope you will all comment back with "He is risen indeed.") We had a great Easter Sunday at HBC! We stayed with two services rather than combining as we would not have had room for everyone...both services were packed! I was surprised to see so many people but I was blessed to see the face of my friend Jayme Barton in church. This was the first Easter surprise.

For those of you who don't know Jayme, let me explain why this was a great surprise to see him at church. Jayme was in my youth group when I first started as the youth pastor. I saw him grow up and accept the call of ministry on his life. Two years ago Jayme was complaining of severe chest pains and actually collapsed. They took him to the hospital and after several painkillers and tests he was diagnosed with Lupus. He was immediately put on more medications including Prednisone (a very nasty drug). He has since gone through several surgeries and been in and out of the hospital. The prednisone has caused him to go from 165 to 270 in the span of about a year. He hasn't felt good enough to come to church in about a year. He was there yesterday! He told me after the service that God has continued to comfort him and that being there needed to happen. Through all of his sickness he has had the opportunity to blame God and feel down on himself because he isn't able to do the things that a normal 21 year-old should. Jayme has used his illness to draw near to Christ.

On a lighter note, surprise #2 came later that afternoon....

Over the past few Easter Sundays we have met up with my Dad and had dinner. True to tradition we met up with Dad and Teresa and had a great dinner. Ham, Turkey, Green Beans, Funeral Potatoes, and Rolls. Needless to say I'll need to spend some extra time on the treadmill today! We had a great time hanging out and talking until...

My Dad has another Easter tradition of giving us an Easter basket. It usually has some candy, and a gift certificate or a DVD. He handed me my basket and I started to look through it. There was the candy and a gift certificate and a movie...
I have had no desire to see a movie...regardless of the critical acclaim...about gay cowboys. I prefer the John Wayne type of cowboy. Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, and Jesse James are the type of cowboys that are in my DVD collection. Movies like...Unforgiven, Tombstone, American Outlaws, Young Guns, etc.

My Dad waited until I saw the DVD and erupted in laughter. He decided that the joke was too good to pass up. We all had a good laugh about it and he gave me the receipt so that I could exchange the movie.

My Dad's birthday is coming up. I may just keep the movie and re-gift him. I am open to suggestions as this new practical joke war has begun.

Here is hoping you had a great Easter, and all joking aside. Let's thank God for the amazing gift that he gave us in His resurrected Son...He is risen indeed.

Sign Of The Apocalypse

As reported from April 10th issue of Sports Illustrated:

"A youth minister was charged with assault for allegedly kicking a 16-year-old boy in the groin after taking a head shot from the teen in a dodgeball game. "

All I can say is....wow! I'll bet nobody messes with that youth minister from now on in dodgeball.

A tale of domination...

During a recent trip to Texas (YEEHAAW) Rachael and I were finally able to settle the argument of who is the better Go-Cart Driver. The picture didn't turn out as good as I had hoped but you will note that it is Sean in 1st...Rachael in a submissive 2nd..and Doug in a very sad looking 3rd.

This debate has raged between Rachael and I since our very first date. I took her to Nascart in SLC and had to convince her to put on a hair net and a helmet in order to race. This would have been fine but apparently she had spent a great deal of time on her hair....something I should have taken note of as we headed into marriage. Needless to say that as the very interested Sean I let Rachael totally dominate me on the race track...how else was I to get a second date? Truth be told I tried as hard as I could to win but she was the better driver that day.

As we continued dating I decided that I couldn't take the thought that my potential bride would always have go-cart bragging rights. As most of you men know, there have been wars started for less. I decided that a re-match was the way to go. We got to the track and prepared for our version of Go-Cart World War II. The race began and from the get go it looked as if Rachael would claim the victory. She ended up passing me and almost lapped me. So what did I do? I did what Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earndhart Jr., or Richard Petty would have done. I put her into the wall. As I've learned from Days of Thunder..."Rubbin's Racin!" I ended up finishing the race under caution and claiming victory from the jaws of defeat.

That brings us to Go-Cart World War III, or as I have come to call it "Total Domination". We agreed that this race would be the race to rule them all. I put on my game face and prepared for the race of all races. Rachael and I started neck and neck but she was able to pull ahead and had the race set up. She picked her lines well and I was not able to pass her. Until...a wreck at turn #1. We were all required to stop so that the race technicians/lackeys could straighten out a rather large wreck. When the green flag was waved I got the better start and ended up in front. I was able to hold her off as I narrowly avoided another as Rachael headed right for it. The checkered flag went to me and I proudly took my place in the winners circle.

So as the picture above notes...don't mess with me and a go-cart or you might just end up in the wall. Dominate!

an 18 foot malone...watch out!

Dateline - Salt Lake City (March 23rd - ish)

Jazz fans worldwide celebrated on Karl Malone night...a date that needs to be added to the national holidays list if you ask me...(insert sarcastic comment here). The team and their proud owner Larry (I got too much money...and time) Miller, thought it best to bless the fans and Karl with an 18 foot statue of our beloved mailman....(insert laughter here). Cowboy Karl took some time out to stand beside himself and smile for the cameras as onlookers were amazed at the sight of the 18 foot Malone.

This got me thinking....

Why don't more people build statues after great careers are over? Why is this reserved for people who play sports, are great thinkers, find the cure for cancer, etc? Why don't we have a statue to remember the illustrious career of Joe the garbage man, or Frank the rain or shine UPS driver. Or even Flo the waitress forever remembered in Dumb and Dumber...."Excuse me, Flo?"

Can you imagine if churches built statues of their pastors after they retired? The front yards of churches would be even more hideous....especially in Texas. I can't imagine what an 18 foot representation of myself would look like...I guess for one time in my life I would look tall...a dream I still cling to....it will happen for me one day....I just know it. Maybe I just need to hang out with more short people....or get over it.

Who knows/cares?

In the meantime...I can't wait to get downtown to see it for myself..(again, sarcasm.)

Sean and Rachael are finally blogging...i guess we're cool now

Hey everyone....

We are finally online and ready to display musings, thoughts, ideas, and other random junk that you might find interesting or, if anything else, it might just cure some boredom.

We are excited to blog it on up. I hope you will stop by often and leave comments that make us laugh!

Blog at you soon!