Dear Blog,
I am not neglecting you on purpose. January has been a crazy month, maybe this month be be a little more conducive to posting. Trust me, I miss you!
Yours Truly,
Jonas
The weather was great this last week, so I was able to bike to work two days in a row! It would have been three, but my saddle wasn’t agreeing with parts of my body that I shouldn’t mention because I want to keep this blog “family friendly”. I decided to take a rest from biking for a day, which turned out to be one of the warmest and most beautiful days this winter (bummer)!
I’m still coming across many drivers unwilling to accept that I have a right to be on the road. It’s scary actually. I mean they could kill me, and I don’t think they really understand that. Someone the other day passed me on a round-a-bout! I mean really people, use your brain!
All that said, I am enjoying my rides, in spite of the pain (and fear). And I found out that I am actually bike further than I thought. It’s a 6 mile ride from house to office… Good news, I can up my mileage and reduce my carbon footprint even more. So far I have biked a totally of 30 miles, that’s a little more than a gallon of gas (not much now, but it will add up quick).
Once upon a time I was deep into the local music scene here in the Northwest. I frequented local venues with friends and followed a few bands pretty religiously. Unfortunately college and other priorities kept me from enjoying the diversity of the Portland scene and Northern California was lacking in proper music venues and that diversity that I so love about the Northwest.
Thankfully the ministry that I am in is allowing me to be reintroduced to one of my passions, music. We are volunteering in a local coffee shop in Burlington that brings in bands, mainly from the community, Bellingham, and as far south as California. I’m not forgetting our purpose in being there: to help foster a safe place for the students that show up. However I can’t help but be excited to hear great local indie bands.
The past two weeks that I’ve been to Common Ground I listened to some great bands like. Pirate, Pirate Motorhome, and Astronomer Royal. However, two bands have really stuck out to me. Callow, from San Francisco and Post Harbor, from Seattle.
Post Harbor’s music makes me want to cry it’s so good. Beautiful rock that sounds amazing live. If you get a chance to see them… DO IT!
Callow sounds a cross between Simon and Garfunkel and Danielson Family (no joke), but don’t let that fool you.
I’m pretty excited about these two bands. I’ll let you check them out for yourself!
First an update from the last post:
I successfully biked home the other day in the wet and cold. Mainly because our car (a two door Civic), will not accommodate my bike without a bike rack of some kind (which we don’t have). On my way home I encountered some persons who, I would guess, are not accustomed sharing the road with bike commuters. I was almost hit multiple times by passing cars, and honked at by a group of teenagers, who I assume, expected me to fall off my bike, or something.
I simply waved as they passed by… Jerks…
Based on the lack of other bike commuters on hwy 20, I am resolved to take it upon myself to raise awareness to sharing the road with cyclists. Even if I stand alone. Perhaps I am the only one who is willing to bike in the cold, wet northwest winters. I don’t know, maybe offsetting carbon footprints are weather permitting. Whatever the case I was out there by my lonesome this morning as well.
Today was a beautiful day to ride. Dry but very cold; my muscles were very unhappy with me. I also realized that I need to invest in a new saddle (seat) because I don’t think it fits me very well. Either that or some long, waterproof, pants with butt pads. It was a good commute altogether, and no one tried to kill me, which is always a plus!
By the way, I had to take my car into work yesterday because I had a lunch appointment in Marysville. Otherwise I would be double sore and I think my butt would want to relocate.
The current weather in the Skagit Valley is 47 degrees and rain… Not the best day for riding a bike four miles on a major highway. I think I should invest in some rain pants because I am soaked. My shoes and socks are making my feet shrivel ( I hope I don’t get trench foot).
What drove me to ride in such bleak weather?
My motivation is to assume that I have no other mode of transportation. This helped as I pounded the peddles of my bike to reach my destination… I think I’m going to have Melanie pick me up this afternoon…
When it comes to games and youth ministry, I have a love-hate relationship. Back in my early youth ministry days I enjoyed planning, leading, even inventing games. But when I became a youth pastor I began to dread them. They became one more thing on my “to-do” list, that more than likely got put off until the day of, sometimes minutes before, youth group.This bad habit continued and I yearned to pawn them off to my staff, secretly wanting to burn all my game books.
I sense that I am not the only one out there who has ever felt this way. Games can be one of those “sacred cows” of youth ministry. One of those things that we just do, because “that’s what youth groups do”.
However, games can have incredible value.
For Jr. high students, games are a way to communicate and interact. As you may have already figured out, Jr. high students, for the most part, aren’t really that interested in sitting down and having half-hour round table discussions. But throw some dodge-balls in a circle and they’ll have themselves a good ‘ol time. It’s actually a from of fellowship, and they love it when their youth leaders join in!
Some of my favorite games are found on challenge courses. I like to call them “initiatives” because when you tell a group of Sr. high students or adults that we are going to play a game blood pressure and walls tend to go up. The word “initiative” sparks a little more curiosity, and I find I have better attention when I’m explaining rules. Initiatives have many purposes, most are related to team building, and/or some form of discovery. We can learn a lot about our students through these types of games, and students can learn much about themselves.
Games don’t have to become a ritual. I think we ought to create an environment where students look forward to playing a game rather than expecting it. This keeps our students on their toes, those that don’t want to play games happy, and allows us to have fun and not dread playing one more round of dodge ball.
8 Game Tips:
- Be intentional
- Plan ahead
- Keep instructions/rules short and sweet
- Put yourself into the game as much as possible
- Take your time debriefing initiatives
- Look for teachable moments
- End a game in style (don’t let it get boring)
- Emotional, Physical, Spiritual safety comes first!
It’s a new year and time of a change… kind of. I decided to shave the beard (which I didn’t have for very long) and go back to the goatee. I’ve had facial hair since I graduated from High School (almost 10 years)! I’ve only gone clean shaven twice: once back in 2003 and then again in college after the first “Cinco de Mustache”.
Facial hair has been a staple for many in the youth ministry world. As long as it’s not a creepy mustache you’re good. From the classic Goatee to the soul patch it’s the only thing that has set us apart from our students. Many today are saying that the goatee is out and metro/post shaven youth worker is in. To this I say “Pish-posh’!
If you are having trouble fashioning your facial art try the “Goatee Saver”…
…And if you are having a hard time finding a style that fits you, here are some ideas…
If you want to become a famous blogger, don’t follow my example of not posting for a few weeks. With the holidays and such it’s been a busy time for the Knudsen family. I have been busy baking bread for our local supporters, friends and family; over forty loaves all together! As I mentioned before, I enjoy baking bread, but I’m looking forward to branching out from cinnamon swirl (though I did get to make a country-style loaf for Christmas dinner).
*bad transition*
I’m posting my new year resolution a little early. I’ve never been one for resolutions but I’m pretty sold on this idea and I thought some blogosphere accountability would be good for me.
This year my resolution/goal is to bike to work everyday for a year. Simple ? Yes and no. The idea of riding a total of 8 miles a day isn’t a huge commitment. However my job requires me to be at meetings in other places besides our office, and I plan to bike to those as well (in a 5 – 8 mile radius). This will force me to plan out my day and be a little more disciplined in scheduling. Plus I will be less tempted to pack my days full of “to-dos”.
Will I be able to ride everyday? Probably not (I don’t have snow tires), but if I don’t set a courageous goal, than I won’t do it at all. My purpose is for us as a family to spend less money on gas, reduce emissions, and for me to stay in a little better shape.
I’m thinking of setting up some kind of bike log on here for some accountability. Besides, you never know who you might inspire. My buddy Jake inspired me (Thanks Jake!)
Here’s a picture of the bike I bought last spring. I have plans to turn this vintage beauty into a lean, mean, commuting machine!
Our sending church in Bellingham just hired one of their faithful volunteers to be their Jr. High director. Here is a video he did (staring himself).
Keep up the good work Marcus!
The holiday season has officially begun. We now have permission to listen to Christmas music and max out out credit cards… woohoo! Yesterday (as you probably know) was “Black Friday”. A chance for us here in America to proclaim our greed unashamed. Ah, the Christmas spirit. When people die by asphyxiation from being trampled by mobs of people, fists fly over 
merchandise and, in spite of the economic recession, we are waking up at three in the morning and busting down doors to spend money on things that most people in this world couldn’t fathom possessing.
Yesterday I baked bread. I’ve been baking bread all weekend actually.
It all started a few weeks back when I found a few bags of bread mix and yeast at our house. We were in need of some bread so instead of buying some at the store, I thought I would try my hand at baking. They turned out pretty well which, I think, was a mistake. My success with bread making lead me to be volunteered to bake bread for 17 members of my family for Thanksgiving. Since I have this knack of volunteering for things, and not saying “no” (or so my co-workers tell me), I took on the challenge of baking bread from scratch. I went for broke and made three loaves, two of them pumpernickel and one traditional white. They turned out to be pretty good, so good in fact that my whole family wants bread for Christmas.
What?! No electronics, no toys. Just bread. Weird…
I find bread making to be very relaxing actually. There is something about kneading the dough, watching it rise and the challenge of creating the perfect loaf. Not to mention the smell of fresh baked bread. Is there anything more sublime? As I get comfortable with the basics, I can experiment and try weird things like adding cranberries and cheese, or something like that.
This got me thinking.
What if everyone, instead of plowing over others to get their hands on a TV, stayed home and baked bread and gave it to each other, or to the hungry?
Besides an economical, commercial collapse and a break-down in capitalism (except for the flour industry), perhaps thousands of starving people in our country would be able to eat. Perhaps “Black Friday” would be called “Bread Friday” instead.
A little something to chew on…
