Let wonder replace worry

January 2, 2011 - The Second Sunday After Christmas

I quickly snapped this picture on Wednesday inside San Felipe de Neri Church in the middle of Old Town Plaza in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This church has served the community of Albuquerque without interruption since 1706.

After spending some time in Old Town, we drove to Flagstaff for the night. Shortly after we arrived at our hotel, Flagstaff was hit with a blizzard that shut down all interstates and highways until Thursday evening. This left us hanging out in the hotel room all of Thursday, but we made the best of it and it turned out to be a pretty fun day.

Posted via email from Justin Ross

Our Afternoon - Artist Point, High Elevation, and Snow!

Since I had some work to do in Bellingham today, Nicole and Jaxson came along and we decided to spend the afternoon in the mountains.

The Mount Baker highway ends almost 60 miles from Bellingham at a gorgeous spot called Artist Point, 5100 feet above sea level. The road leading to the top of the mountain is only open for a few weeks each year. It opened this past Friday and will be closed after the first snowfall, sometime at the end of September.

The road up the Mount Baker highway has to be one of the most incredible drives in the country. After living here for 9 years, it still amazes me we can leave our island and be in the middle of the Cascades in just a couple of hours.

Artist Point was not crowded at all. I'm sure its a combination of being a Tuesday afternoon and the road only being open for a few days.

Nicole and I at the top:

Jaxson had a blast playing in the snow, though he really needed his snow boots. He kept slipping and sliding, which was really fun as long as he had one of our hands.

This gives you an idea of just how much snow is still up there. This is why it is not open until the end of July or the first of August.

The view from the opposite way:

Jax really wanted a picture with me, but he got distracted by a dog that was walking by.

We had a blast this afternoon. With all of our youth group trips, VBS, and church activities, July was a crazy month. I am looking forward to things slowing down in August as we gear up to kick off my 10th school year in September.

Mission 2010: It Took All Night, But We Are Home - Friday/Saturday

To wrap up the posts about our summer mission trip to San Francisco, I thought it would be appropriate to post the note I'll be publishing in out church newsletter. It was written just after we returned home.

We have only been back from San Francisco for a few hours and everyone is still recovering from the wonderful week of mission work and service we experienced.

It was an amazing and very packed week. We were all stretched, challenged, and invited to see more Jesus and less of ourselves. The week was filled with work projects, kids camp, serving, prayer walks, music, games, and new friendships.

We each left at the end of the week with a long list of stories and experiences. Many we will share and a few that will forever be “you just had to be there” moments. 

We spent the week sleeping on the floor of a Sunday School classroom. (I’m sure it will be back to normal after they repaint and replace the carpet.) 

We learned that summer in San Francisco is much colder than Whidbey, even this year when our summer has not been all that warm. 

And I am sure we all brought home a suitcase full of thick fog because it seems to cover everything in the city.

To all of you who donated to our trip and prayed for us while we were away, thanks so much for your investment in this trip and the support of youth ministry in this church. We trust that the things learned and realized on this trip will last a lifetime.

No doubt, last week was long:

Driving through the night (twice!) 

Sleeping on the floor. 

Waiting up at 6:30am.

Showering 4 times in 8 days.

What exactly was I thinking? I am not 22 anymore.

Then I think about the dinner conversation, the nightly worship, the church group time, and the times of selfless service. I cannot keep from smiling.

Because I love those teenagers and I trust they need me in their life speaking the truth of the Gospel and words of encouragement.

That makes it all worth it. 

And just thinking about it makes me ready to do it all over again. After I take a nap.

-Justin-

A Pre-Mission Trip Message To My Youth Group

Summer is a crazy time of year for me. Mission trips, summer camp, fun getaways, and running VBS are just a few things our teenagers are involved in this summer.

Our biggest trip begins Saturday. We are spending a week serving in San Francisco. The good news about this is that I'll be able to post updates, pictures, and video from my iPhone. This gets pretty challenging when we are traveling Internationally or out in the middle of Montana. (Granted, this is assuming that AT&T has reliable service in San Francisco.)

Before we leave Saturday, I am going to share a message with my students. I thought it would be fun to post it here:

Christians tend to have a very unfair reputation these days. 

Teenagers tend to have a very unfair reputation these days. 

Granted, there are times teenagers to some very dumb things. And unfortunately, there are times that Christians to some very dumb things. 

If your only source of information on Christians and teenagers come from the 24 hour news cycles, it is easy to see why you would have a completely different idea of what Christians are like and absolutely no hope in the young people of today becoming successful, productive members of society. 

So as a group of Christians who happen to be teenagers, we have two strikes against us. The good news? We’ve got an amazing opportunity over the next week to knock a home run. For the next 8 days, we will travel more than 2000 miles. We will stop for gas and snacks in many random places, be in several restaurants, working in food banks, serving meals to the homeless, sorting donations at the Salvation Army, walking through many public places, be seen sleeping on the floor, and so many more things. 

We will be seen by tens of thousands of people. For the vast majority, we will be in their life for a second and then be gone. 

What an amazing opportunity. 

Because eventually one of those thousands of people, who will be a blip on your radar screen in the next week, will be talking with friends and one of the friends will go off on the "Christians" they saw on CNN protesting at a funeral. Or they will talk about the teenagers who thought it would be fun to bash every single mailbox in the neighborhood with a baseball bat. I want that person to stop their friend and say: 

"Wait a minute, I just saw this group of Christian teenagers from a Presbyterian Church in Washington and they weren't like that at all.” 

“They were kind and respectful.”

“Instead of using their summer break to stay up all night playing video games and sleep the day away, they were out there handing out food to the homeless.” 

“They were giving food to needy folks at the food bank.” 

“They were serving others with all their heart and making this world a better place for all of us to live.” 

“While some Christians may do crazy things and some teenagers may do nothing but cause trouble, they are certainly not all that way.” 

You are the only Jesus that some people will ever see. 

Our mission work does not begin when we get to California; it begins at this moment, in this parking lot. 

 Represent Jesus well.

Driving In the Darkness - A tale of one amazing night.

I am pretty much in the middle of a much needed end of summer vacation. 3 weeks in recovery mode after an incredible, but very busy summer.

Almost 2 weeks ago, I attempted something I've never done before. We were heading down to Salt Lake City to visit some of Nicole's family. Not knowing how Jax would do on the 950 mile (14 hour) trip, we decided I would drive through the night - leaving in the evening and arriving early the next morning.

How was it? Amazing. I would do it again in a second.

Some of my experiences during this night:

3:00pm Car is loaded and everyone is ready to go. We planned to leave at 5 - decide to leave now.

5:00pm Hit the only traffic we would experience. Changing from 405 to I-90 in Seattle. Another big advantage of driving through the night.

7:00pm Stopped for dinner. Nicole moved to the back seat with Jaxson to get some sleep.

8:00pm Alone in the front seat, hearing Elmo playing in the back as Jax was getting ready to fall asleep, I watch as the sun slowly sets in my rear view mirror as we drove southeast. It was an incredible sight.

9:00pm We enter the lonely roads of eastern Oregon. I watch as the first stars begin to appear. One at a time at first, then almost at once, a flood of light as the sky filled with millions and millions of stars.

11:00pm On the dark quiet roads of Oregon, the stars are even more majestic than they were just a couple of hours ago. They shine bright and encompass me as I look to the left and the right horizons, straight ahead, and straight up through the sunroof. I feel small.

12:00am We leave Oregon and enter even darker, more quite roads through Idaho. The moon is exactly straight to my left, out the drivers window. I spend the night keeping a close eye on it.

2:00am The first time I actually yawn. Still feeling strong though. Listening to podcasts, eating beef jerky, drinking coffee, and keeping a close eye on that sky.

3:00am Entering Utah. This hour is the toughest of the night. I soon realize we are no longer in Pacific Daylight Time, but Mountain. It is actually 4:00am. Not sure why, but the realization gives me new energy.

4:00am Those amazing stars I watched appear just a few hours before begin to slowly disappear. One by one, the sky begins to empty and the horizon in front of me begins to lighten. A new day has come. I appreciate it. I am grateful for it. I reflect on how ungrateful I can be every other day as I just roll out of bed. I thank God for it. More than once.

5:00am That amazing sun that gave me such a beautiful show in my rear view mirror at the beginning of the journey slowly peaks over the horizon in front of me. Once again, it puts on an amazing show. I debate with myself the sense of experiencing a sunrise or a sunset verses staring at the billions and billions of stars in the vast, never ending universe. 

6:00am We pull into Nicole's grandparents driveway. After saying hi and very quickly washing my face and brushing my teeth, I sleep.

Your Free Ticket to Disney Next Year

Disney theme parks will give visitors free admission on their birthday during 2009. A one day ticket costs about $75 and guests will be required to show proper I.D. that reflects their birth date.

I have 2 students whose birthdays are right around the west coast dates for DCLA 09, which I am seriously considering attending again.

Definitely not the sole reason to make the trip, but would make a fun surprise once we got there.

Vacation

We are having a great time in Branson, MO this week. On Sunday we'll head back to Arkansas for a few days before heading back to Washington. Keep up with what's going on with us through Twitter or facebook.

We have some fantastic pictures I hope to get posted on the next day or two, so be looking for that.

Fourth of July and Mariners Baseball

This morning we loaded up 2 chartered buses and headed down to watch the Mariners play the Tigers. Even though the Mariners are having a tough year (to put it lightly) it was still fun to go with the group. Seattle even pulled out a win. This was Jaxson's first baseball game- he had a great time.

Here are some pics from the day. Click for full size.

Philadelphia Cheesesteak

I was looking through iPhoto today and found a picture I totally forgot to post. While I was in Philadelphia last month, I was able to to try my first true Philly Cheesesteak.

I was aware of the whole Pat’s versus Geno’s thing, but both of them were a few miles away from where I was staying and I was exploring the city on foot. I had a handful of locals tells me about Jim’s on South Street. An easy walk from the historic area and a very hip part of the city.

I was there well after the dinner rush and the line was still out the door and around the building. It took about 20 minutes just to get through the line to order. I got a cheesesteak with grilled onions and whiz and took it back to the hotel.

I regreted not getting two. Next time, I'll try the other 2 places. Then there has to be some T-shirt or something.

Pictures from Philadelphia

Independence Hall:

The First and Second Continental Congress:

House of Representatives from 1790-1800 and where John Adams was sworn in as President:

Senate from 1790-1800 and where George Washington was sworn in as President:

Christ Church- Philadelphia, PA- Founded in 1695 and they have not missed a week of worship to this day.
 

The Pew that George and Martha Washington rented (literally) while serving as President in Philadelphia. They actually had doors that prevented anyone other than the person paying for it to sit. If you were poor and could not afford a pew, you had to stand in the balcony.

Baptismal loaned to the church from London in the early 1700s. The church in London got it from Ireland in the 1400s. Still in use, this has been used in worship for well over 600 years. An employee of the church told me that it technically is still on loan from London and they could ask for it back anytime.

Where the Presbyterian Church in the USA was born: