Even busier

Weddings, youth trips, world changers, graduations, church life, and life in general have all made this spring/summer a very busy one for Rachael and I.

Rachael begins work next week and is very excited about getting to use the skills that she has gained over the last three years to help people live better lives after tragic accidents. I am looking forward to hearing stories of recovery as they always make for good sermon illustrations.

I am busy with making this year's world changer project in SLC a reality. Keep praying for this one as we are currently a month out. I am working very hard to stay ahead of the game on this one.


Movies/TV shows watched:
Iron Man - see it! explosions galore!
Indiana Jones - good but it was my least favorite of all the Indy movies as it took a weird turn.
Juno - Loved it...a very honest look at teenage pregnancy but quite funny in the process. Why it didn't win best picture is beyond me.
Prince Caspian - Very good but the music at the end was very distracting
30 Rock - so funny
The Office - Will Jim propose?


Just read:
Unchristian - very good book about how my generation looks at Christianity
Angels & Demons - Dan Brown distorts images to tell an interesting story about science vs. religion
Do Hard Things - currently reading this one...I'll keep you posted.

Listening to:
Muse, Lovedrug, Iron and Wine, Sufjan Stevens, David Crowder, RHCP, Smashing Pumpkins, Lupe Fiasco, Wilco, and Copeland

If you are interested in seeing how the World Changers project is going between July 5-12, click here for updates.

Our Grad!

Here is a picture of Rachael in her master's graduate garb as promised.

CONGRATS RACHAEL!!!!

It's finally here

If you have read any of the posts for the past three years you know that Rachael has been working toward her Masters degree in Occupational Therapy.

Three years of hard work, studying, and internships have brought us to graduation day. Rachael has done an amazing job and I am so proud of her. She is very excited to see this chapter of her life come to a close and begin working.

Last night we went to her "pinning" ceremony. This is a time where all the students can thank their professors for giving them stress and anxiety problems over the past three years and the professors can tell the students how proud they are of the ones who made it through the program. The ceremony/dinner was held in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building downtown and the phrase "Oh balls" was stated over the microphone. The person who said it then tried to explain the phrase by saying it meant something like "oh shoot" or "Oh nuts". Awesome. Just awesome.

I'll post pictures of the graduate after the ceremony.

A thought

So this post may make sense to you, or not. I just decided that I needed to pose a question and use this blog as an opportunity to start a discussion.

At our church we have been spending the last few weeks in the book of Colossians and moving forward in the transition that was started when Rodger left. It is the word transition that got me thinking. Shouldn't we as Christians always be in some form of transition? Is God ever happy to see us just stay the same?

This is played out several times by the Israelites as they stated time and time again that they should have been content to stay in Egypt or in the wilderness. This usually came after something happening that they didn't expect.

To me staying the same could be viewed as a refusal to grow and to be challenged. It would be like setting a goal to climb mt everest. When you reached the first camp and looked out over the amazing view you decide that you were content where you are and that it couldn't get any better than this. Life is a journey and God is continually showing us that there is so much more ahead of us. If the view is amazing where we are at now, imagine what it looks like to fulfill the dream that was began in you.

As this process continues I have resolved to no longer look at this as a transition but to be fully consumed by God's will for our church as the body of Christ. Whether that be administration, youth trips, planning worship services, or simply being still and knowing that this whole thing is in God's hands.

Our new pastor uses this phrase quite frequently: "You are more evil than you could possibly know, but you are more loved and accepted then you could possibly understand." - such a simple phrase but with it comes amazing freedom. We are wretched, sinful, horrible people, but despite that God offers grace to us so freely and says "get up and try again, I'll be here to catch you when you fall again."

Thoughts?

crashed!

Clowns are creepy...

I'll have a Patrick family update here in a minute but first a thought...Have you ever thought about how we as a society have become addicted to technology? I came to that harsh reality when a spike in power took out my desktop's hard drive. The good news is that I will be getting a new computer and the drive is alive enough to pull the majority of my files, including 27GB of music...the bad news is that the laptop I am working on now is currently trying to figure out if it wants to work or not....bummer.

Another bit of good news is that I will be moving into the world of apple computers with my very own iMac. I am very excited. Mark B tried for a long time to convince me of Apple's coolness and I just wouldn't listen. Okay Mark, you win, Mac is cooler.

On to the update...

Rachael was offered a job at the new Intermountain medical center! She will graduate on May 1st and will start her new job on June 9th. That means that we will get a month to hang out and possibly take a vacation.

I am working on World Changers in SLC this summer again. Currently we have 246 people coming and will be working on about 25 to 30 homes in the valley. Please pray for the details of this project and that things go well as I will be in charge of the whole thing this year. I also have about three more weeks of class until the semester is over so there is a lot of projects, papers, and final exams left. I am still very much on track to graduate next spring...full steam ahead.

Things at the church have been progressing well. Our new pastor Kevin is a cool guy who just wants to see Jesus glorified in everything that we do. He has challenged us to pick up and start moving forward which the church has been ready and willing to do so far. Keep praying for us as we will no doubt be challenging some deep rooted traditions that are antiquated and in need of change. We're having fun in the process which is a very good thing.

Currently listening to:

Fun stuff - Iron and Wine, Muse, Lovedrug, Copeland, and Sufjan Stevens.

Worship - David Crowder, Starfield, Leeland, Fee, and Chris Tomlin.

Until next time!

about freakin time...

to our devoted readers...all two of you, it has been a long while since I updated this blog with any sort of relevant information and for that I am sorry. I plan to remedy the problem with some photos and a Patrick family update in the paragraphs to follow.

Can you tell that I have been in college courses yet? I am sick of framing arguments and writing papers. I am just ready for a little bit of a break. Thankfully spring break is next week, the only problem is that it is also easter week and that is quite possibly one of the busiest weeks for those in pastoral ministry at a church. Oh well, you take the good with the bad huh?

Rachael is loving her internship at IHC. They liked her so much that they are working to create an opening for her in the midst of a hiring freeze. She comes home with great stories of occupational therapy triumph and sad stories of how lives are forever changed by simple accidents. Rachael only has 3 weeks left and then will be studying for a big test (I can't remember the name of it right now). In the meantime she is starting to look at job opportunities. She graduates with her Masters degree on May 1. I am so proud of her!

School is going well for me. I will have two more semesters after this one and will graduate from the U. I'm very excited but I have to take it one day at a time.

Things at the church are gaining steam. Kevin, our new pastor, has really challenged our thinking and is taking us forward. His favorite phrase over the last few weeks is "That will change." It is an exciting time for us as we are allowed to dream again. I have been leading worship and keeping up with the youth group. All things there are going well.

Speaking of our youth group, we recently teamed up with five other churches for World Vision's 30 Hour Famine. Our students raised over $30,000 to combat poverty and world hunger. It was an amazing event and was even better because I got to spend it with my youth ministry friends from other churches.

I'll close with a few random photos that I pulled from my cell phone camera. I hope you enjoy them. I will try to update this blog a little more frequently for the two of you that read it from now on.

A fine example of the parking situation at the University of Utah. I had to climb in my passenger door to get in.

Look closely at this car in front of my truck...yes friends that is a duct tape convertible!

Did I mention that I am majoring in Pirating at the U?

Until next time...

Super Bowl Ads

This year's super bowl game was amazing. That is good considering the commercials were disappointing. The ads that surprised me the most were the somewhat racial salesgenie.com ads and the lack of coke and pepsi commercials. In my humble opinion Bud Light took the award when they let Will Ferrell do what he does best...make an absolute idiot of himself.

Here is the ad, and remember: A ton of sweat goes into each Bud Light.



Here is another bud light ad that makes me laugh every time...

A few photos to share...

A shot taken on our snowmobile adventure after Christmas

Robert Marshall's trademark prescription/multi colored reading glasses look

A Utah way to make sure the small shopping cart doesn't roll away

SNOW!

No posts for a few weeks means that school is back in session. Rachael is loving her final internship and is hoping that a job position opens up where she is at. We are both excited for her to finish her Masters and get involved in what she really wants to do.

I'm currently sitting in the Marriott Library at the U working on some homework. When I walked in about an hour ago it was sunny and a little windy. I just happened to glance out the window an hour later and we had been hit with yet another winter storm. Last Monday we had about a foot of snow in our front yard. I love the snow and living in the mountains, I would just like a little bit of sunshine between storms and Utah inversion.

Another funny thing about the snow is that our new pastor Kevin Lund and his wife Mary drove into town last night to go house hunting. Talk about getting immersed in Utah winter weather right away. Here is hoping that they aren't having to drive in it.

Here are a couple pictures I took while walking from the Library to my next class in the Social Work building

Even with snow blowing sideways...this dude still thinks that shorts and a t-shirt is a good choice

Here is a shot looking at the Marriott Library. 40mph sideways snow makes it real fun to walk around campus.

Yet another new year...

Another new year means a delayed update in the Patrick blog. I hope that all of you had a Merry Christmas and a spectacular New Year.

The reason for the picture is that we have had a lot of our married friends tell us recently that they are pregnant. This has caused several questions as to when Rachael and I will begin trying for a baby. The answer to the question is: Not yet. Should it happen, it wouldn't be a horrible thing and we would both be excited about it but right now we're still going to wait. If you have been married for any period of time you know the questions that are most frequently asked: How's married life?...and...When are you guys planning to have a baby?...

We had a very relaxing break but it will be good to get back into class and a weekly routine that isn't full of parties with all sorts of baked goods and treats that make you feel instantly guilty after eating them.

We spent Christmas Eve with my Dad and Christmas Day at the Robbinses house. We had planned to drive to California to visit my Mom and Doug for a few days but the weather scared us away. Now that they are in Cali it is a lot easier for us to get out there to see them. We'll probably be headed that way over spring break.

Things at the church are going great. We are getting geared up for our new pastor to start in February and in the meantime Robert Marshall has been challenging us and encouraging us in a huge way. It will be sad when he is no longer preaching every week but I asked he and his wife Donna to mentor Rachael and I and they agreed. We'll still be seeing a lot of them and their family which is all right with me.

So kind of a boring post but hopefully this snowball fight video that I made on jibjab.com makes you laugh a little bit. Until next time...

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

The wait is over...

I just wanted to pass along that HBC just called a Sr. Pastor! Our pastor search team has done a great job and I know that God has some amazing things in store for HBC. His name is Kevin Lund and is from Nebraska.

We're all pretty excited over the news. I'll blog more about it later but finals week is demanding more of my time.

God Bless!

Thanksgiving!

Here is hoping that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I also hope you enjoyed the previous post with 18 Wheels on a Big Rig. Heywood Banks has to be one of the funniest people in the world...He strangely looks like he could be David Crowder's Dad....hmm.

Rachael and I had a great Thanksgiving. We spent the week leading up to turkey day helping others. Our youth group had been raising money for the 28 families that were picked for world changers last summer. They formed a change drive and were able to buy meals for 28 families. The meals consisted of a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, rolls, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, and a world changers t-shirt. The picture you see is one of our youth, Jeremy with the 28 turkeys that we bought from target. It was pretty funny to walk through the store with two carts filled with turkeys.

We put the food together and split up into teams to deliver the food. 28 meals were delivered in one evening. Some meals had to be put on doorsteps because the families weren't home. We received several letters, voicemail messages, and thank you cards for the hard work. Way to go youth!

We then spent some time at Reach Salt Lake (formerly the Baptist Concern Center) and helped them give out food to over 1300 families this year. That number is amazing considering that the Utah Food Bank was at the lowest it has been in over 20 years as far as food levels.

We spent turkey day playing football, getting injured, watching football, and eating some great food. Rachael and I spent time with her family for the day and we had a lot of fun.

In other news...Rachael's little brother Jordan proposed to his girlfriend Holly last weekend. To all of our surprise she said yes! Way to go Jordan! I think they are planning to get married in late May or early June. Here is a picture of the lovely couple...and Jordan and Holly. (yes those are fur hats...what of it?)

Until next time...

18 Wheels on a Big Rig

Grammar by Fire in California

Rachael and I spent the weekend in San Diego with our friends Dave and Jaime. We went to the National Youth Workers Convention...which was awesome.

We stayed at the Royal Crowne Plaza and were greeted by the sign that you see here. Maybe it is the high amount of writing that I have had to complete lately or maybe the grammar was simply that bad but I found this sign to be quite humorous.

I'll explain.

In journalism you learn that if you are going to capitalize words in a title, or a sign in this case, you capitalize words longer than three letters. My question was why are the words "in" and "on" capitalized? This sign also spawned a hilarious conversation about giving an invitation at church by asking "Do you know with a capital "K" that Jesus is your Savior?"

We started to drive back yesterday and were affected by the wildfires that are currently burning out of control in southern California. It took us a couple extra hours to get out of California because of those being evacuated and high winds. At one point, as we were heading north on I-15, we were literally twenty feet away from the flames as the south side of the freeway was on fire. It was pretty crazy. Keep praying for those people as CNN is reporting that 500,000 people have been evacuated this far.

Until next time...

updates "r" us

No reason for the picture I just think that it is really funny when you have an itch that you just can't seem to scratch...maybe because your backside is a little too large. Or maybe I am starting a series of blogs that have a rodent theme.

There has been a long delay in posts simply because we have been really busy with life. I have been leading worship, continuing with my youth, and 14 hours of school. The good news is that there is only one more month until this semester is over and I will have an Associates degree in Organizational Communications. All of you with college degrees might scoff at such a meager accomplishment but for me it is big news. I am happy to finally have something to show for all the hard work I have put in over the last few semesters.

Things at the church are going amazing! It may sound like a shock but God really knows what he is doing. The culture and mindset at HBC has been changing and I have been so encouraged about what I am seeing. An example of this is seen while we worship. Previously we had to ask people to stand up and clap during the music. When we lead worship now the moment the first note hits everyone stands up, people are clapping, and there is true worship taking place. One of my favorite phrases to use when I debut a new song is, "If you don't like it, sing it loud anyway, because we're not singing it for you."

Rachael is almost finished with her last semester of classwork. She will be defending two years of academic work on November 3rd. She has been a little stressed as anyone should be while having to justify the last two years of research. I know that she will do a great job. She will then start an internship at LDS hospital that takes up the whole semester. She will graduate in May and FINALLY start getting paid for what she does (the heavens open and a chorus of angels sings Hallelujah!) (Or as Jake Holy Ghost Power!....or was that T-Bone)

I am considering returing to the Middle East this year. I really hope that it works out but at this point I will have to leave that to God.

In other news...the Broncos suck this year. I am still a fan but it is tough seeing your favorite team be ranked 31st of 32 teams in rushing defense. A ton of starters are injured...what say we play for draft picks?!

Until next time,

Remember the dramatic rodent

Dramatic Rodent...

Back in class...

Rachael and are officially back in classes for the fall semester. This year marks a few accomplishments for the both of us. I will graduate from SLCC with an Associates in organizational communications and Rachael will be graduating with her Masters in Occupational Therapy.

I have officially been accepted to the University of Utah and have already started work on my Bachelors in Speech Comm.

Rachael is excited to almost be done and we are both very excited for her to enter the workforce as an Occupational Therapist.

Things at the church have been going and going. We are still without a Senior Pastor and now we are going without an Associate Pastor. I have stepped up to lead our late/contemporary service and have been planning/leading services for about a month now. All of this is on top of my responsibilities with the youth group. Our pastor search team is working hard to bring in the man that God has for us, but in the meantime we have been blessed to work with two Interim Pastors.

I feel really good about the direction the church is heading in. My problem is that I am not a very patient person and at times it can be difficult to sit in meeting after meeting talking about change but have the change process happen so slowly.

I'll try to post pictures soon.

Something new

One of my favorite days as a youth pastor is Interlinc day. Interlinc is a youth leaders resource that includes posters, bible studies, music videos and a ton of new CD's. It is always a lot of fun to go through the selection and see if there is any good music. Lately it has been hit or miss with the selection of the CD's but once in a great while I will find a really good band that I can really enjoy. Enter Needtobreathe. These guys recently signed on to tour with Jars of Clay and have been on tour for quite some time promoting their first album "Daylight". Both albums are worth a listen. If you like it I'm glad I could help. If you hate it, sucks for you.

Currently listening to: Lovedrug, Copeland, Edison Glass, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Future of Forrestry, and the David Crowder Band.
Coming soon: Patrick back to school update.

World Changing in Salt Lake City......Utah!

So I'm really tired but I am so excited to share about World Changers in Salt Lake!

The back story -

I was returning home from a World Changers project in Clovis California. It was one of those rare moments in youth ministry, where everyone in the van was asleep. I was excited for the silence and for the opportunity to thank God for the week. I ended up asking God where we needed to head next and I felt God tell me that Salt Lake City would be a great location for World Changers. After some delayed obedience I made a phone call to NAMB and left a message on the world changers general mail box. To my surprise I received a return phone call from the director of World Changers 30 minutes later. He told me that he was going to fly out and we would pitch the project. To make a long story short we pitched the project to two cities and both loved the idea. NAMB approved the project dates for July 14-21, 2007. It was here that the work began. I was appointed by the Salt Lake Baptist Association to serve as the Associational Coordinator and began all the prep work to make a World Changers project happen.

The Week -

307 volunteers from Illinois, Utah, Oklahoma, Idaho, Iowa, Washington, California, Texas, New Mexico, and Wyoming showed up ready to work. They came prepared to roof, side, paint, replace windows, perform yard clean outs, and anything else we needed them to do. These volunteers came with a purpose: To tell Salt Lake City that God had given them a gift and because of that gift they wanted to serve God by serving others. These volunteers slept on cots or air matresses in classrooms. They were constantly hot, sweaty, and tired, but despite all of this you never heard them complain. They were overjoyed to participate in this project.

Their efforts helped lead 13 people to Jesus during the week. Several others wanted to know about how and where to attend a church that was supporting World Changers. The media was all over the project. KUTV, Fox13, KSL, Univision, Telemundo, The Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News and several others all came out trying to understand what these people were doing.

I was amazed at their constant positive attitude. They all desired to know and understand the culture they were surrounded by better. I'm not sure if I could put into words just how I feel about the project. Good just doesn't seem to cut it. God blessed this project and the efforts of the 400+ volunteers that helped make this project a reality.

Here are some pictures of one worksite. This house started off with wood siding and wood shaker shingles. This crew was tasked with replacing the roof, including new decking and siding the house. They also re-insulated the attic. This was truly an extreme make over. I talked with the homeowner and he told me that he would need to make his address marker bigger because he didn't recognize his own home. This house tranformation easily echoes the change that came about in Salt Lake City last week. It was great to see Christians in the news for something positive.

Great job World Changers! Thank you for your efforts and love of our community. I hope you all come back next year!

Ugh...gross.

As an avid sports fan I spend most of my mornings watching sportscenter on ESPN. I am usually holding out for any NFL news relating to the Denver Broncos but usually during this time of year the only thing that is happening is baseball. Reluctantly I ended up watching a spoof about a japanese professional eater named Takeru Kobayashi. This guy has won the 4th of July Nathan's hot dog eating contest for 6 years straight. Kobayashi had just had his wisdom teeth removed and, as many who have gone through that precedure can attest, couldn't open his mouth very well. All the commentators were giving him a hard time saying that he was a coward and was afraid of the competition.

The 4th of July came and, as is the custom, the competitors filed out one by one at Coney Island to gorge themselves on hot dogs. I stumbled upon a re-run of the contest and was absolutely sickened by the contest but also the commentary. The outcome came down to a guy named Joey Chestnut and Kobayashi. Chestnut had to eat 66 hotdogs and buns in 12 minutes in order to beat Koabayshi. While this is going on the in-contest commentary is saying things like this is the greatest moment in American sports and that courage and valor were the things that were helping these great "athletes" accomplish this spectacle of gluttony. I ended up turning off the television very disappointed.

Every day, millions of children go to bed without having even a scrap of food. This isn't just in third world, poverty stricken countries overseas. This happens in our backyard. People go hungry and are dying because of it. I don't have any statistics but I know enough to know that it is a very big problem.

I don't think these pictures look very heroic...do you?