i can't swim

being that it is summer time right now, alot of people talk about going to the lake and going swimming and fun stuff of that nature. well, i have an embarrassing secret to tell you all, i can't swim. those of you who know me really well already knew that as well as the reason why. for those of you who don't, here it goes.

i was born with holes in both of my ear drums and they will never close up. it affects my hearing as well as other things. i can't get water in my ears or i will get a really bad ear infection that hurts like all get out. i know what some of you are thinking, "how do you take a shower?" well, trust me, after the first couple of ear infections you learn real quick how to take a shower without getting water in your ears. however, there was never any way of getting around learning how to swim without getting water in my ears. because, ear plugs work for normal people but, what they don't realize is they still get a little bit of water in their ears. and just that little bit would cause me a lot of pain for a long time. so, i never learned to swim. there you go, that's my dirty little secret. what's yours?

THAT WAS SO...

we took our middle school students to Frontier City in oklahoma city on monday. it's kind of like a mini Six Flags. we had a lot of fun. i got on a ride with this one guy named jake thompson; it was one of those bungie rides that catapult you up into the air and then you kind of bounce for a minute or so before they let you down. well, as they're lowering us down jake started to say something that he didn't get to finish. all i heard was "THAT WAS SO...". the "..." was the sound of him projectile vomiting 12 feet out in front of us...which was pretty impressive by the way. right after i saw it, i started to smell it; that's when i freaked out. they finally got me out of the seat and i took off running to get away. then a kid walks up and informs me that i have some on the back of my shirt. i ran to the nearest store that had shirts as i was gagging the whole way. that was where i found a very cool shirt that simply said "Cracker" on the front of it. now, how could i pass that up?

SLIDE!!!

i know that i've been writing alot about softball and golf and sport/summer related stuff here lately, but that's what's been going on in my life so, i hope that i'm not boring you. all that being said, i got to bat in my first ever softball game last night and the adrenaline rush was off the charts! it was so much fun. i kept harassing my team mates everytime they would get a base hit and heckle them to slide even when they didn't have to. so, it was kind of funny when my turn to bat comes up. i hit a line drive right over second base into center field and as i was approaching second base i was surprised to see that the outfielder was just then starting to pick up the ball so, i took off for third and the third baseman caught the ball about 5 feet before i got there so i took my own advice and slid into third base for a photo finish "SAFE!" call. then ms. sammie caldwell batted me in to score.

what was so funny about me sliding is, we were up by about 11-0 in the second inning and there i was sliding in to third base like it was the world series or something. oh, by the way, there is definitely a certain technique to sliding the RIGHT way and evidently i was nowhere close. so, i've got a slight limp in my left leg right now. oh well, it was worth it, i had a blast.

i love summertime

summer is one of the funnest times of year for me. there's so much going on, yet there doesn't seem like there's a lot going on. it's just so much fun. i got to go to the lake last week and drive a boat around with a bunch of friends, i'm playing softball for one of our church teams...well, i'm on the team at least. we're really having a lot of fun. the only bad thing about it is the heat, and the fact that i've not had an air conditioning unit in my office since the last week of june. other than that, this has been one of the best summers ever!

benchwarmer

last night was our first softball game. well, it was our team's first softball game. we were playing the NY Yankees...it seemed like it at least. everyone saw this team warming up and they all said, "Hey, that's the team that wins the Men's Softball League every year. What are they doing out here?" well, evidently they needed some warming up before men's league started so, as some people implied...they just may have started their own church to do so.

after watching derek jeter and a-rod crank balls into the parking lot and setting off car alarms for half an hour i was asked if i wanted to play 2nd base or warm the bench for this one. i guess you know what i chose by now. we eventually had to stop playing because they launched every ball that both of our teams had so far into the woods that not even smoky the bear could find them. but, we had a lot of fun and i learned a new baseball cheer. it goes something like this, "WHO STOLE THE COOKIE FROM THE COOKIE JAR? CHRIS STOLE THE COOKIE FROM THE COOKIE JAR!"...don't look at me like that, we turned it into a baseball cheer. so, feel free to use it anytime.

softball

well, it's summer and church softball is upon us. journey church has 3 teams this year. 2 of them are in the B bracket and 1 is in the A bracket. I DON'T HAVE A CLUE HOW I ENDED UP ON THE A BRACKET TEAM! we scrimmaged one of our B bracket teams sunday night, and i must say that watching me play softball is quite humorous. i was playing right field and had an inside the park homerun hit on me. it was so funny! i am super competitive...normally. i just really don't think i'm good enough to get upset about doing bad at this like i do other stuff. i think i'll just go out and have some fun with this.

golf

tuesday, on the 4th of july, i went to play golf with dr. bob wells. he's one of our elders and a great guy to be around. i've only played once in the past 11 months. and, it doesn't help that i was never that good even when i was playing twice a week. so, naturally, playing on a new course with a new person, i really stunk it up. i did have a ton of fun though. golf is one of those things that i just really unwind when i'm doing it. it's so peaceful out there and no matter how good or bad i'm doing i'm going to have a good time. i can't wait to get out and play again!

CAMP

well, it's been a while since i last wrote you all. we were at camp all last week and i have been taking a little time to recover since we got back friday afternoon. camp was amazing! we took 26 teenagers (my goal was 25) and we had 12 salvations and 3 recommitments! GOD IS SO GOOD! we all changed tremendously over the week. there is entirely too much to tell on this BLOG. i was just so excited to see God moving in the lives of my youth group at the same place that He moved in my life for the very first time. it was very exciting, and a little surreal.