Back to normal... I think.

The weather finally felt a little better today with the sun shining and temps closer to 65 degrees. It was just downright nasty cold and windy the past 4 days. The weekend looks like sunny and 70's, as does the rest of the week. It's just unpredictable around here I guess.

Today we went to a home-schooler get-together at a nature center near the mountains. The kids had a fun time learning about different animals' super senses. Tonight, the family went to my new mentor's home for dinner. The school I'm going to sets the students up with a spiritual mentor during our time here. It's a pretty cool thing, I just find it sort of amusing that my mentor isn't much older than me, he's 38... not that age signifies spiritual maturity or anything :) I don't know him that well yet, but I think we'll get along pretty well.

Tomorrow night we're heading over to someone else's home from New Life. His name is Glenn Packiam, and he's basically the guy who's running the school these days; and he teaches one of my classes. He's also a songwriter and an author. I've used a couple of his songs in worship services before coming out here. He's an amazing teacher and has a remarkable knowledge of the scriptures, and just Christian history in general (post Bible). It's fun to get to know some of these guys that I've only heard or read about in the past. Another person that continues to blow my mind is a guy named Ross Parsley. He started this school originally, but has been less involved the last couple years. He still teaches some of the classes and hangs out with us whenever he can. The knowledge and wisdom that pours from these guys is just awesome to be exposed to.

We also have to be a part of the choir through the first module (though November). I wasn't too excited about it honestly, but I have to admit it was pretty fun last week. Jared Anderson (another guy who writes songs that I've used) was leading the worship music, most of which was brand new to me.

The school is certainly pushing me to be more disciplined in many ways, but I still feel like I'm on vacation most of the time; not because I'm not working hard, but because I'm loving every minute of it and it's still way less on my plate compared to life with the frame shop. I also find it very refreshing that there is so little emphasis on music so far. I didn't really come here seeking to be a better musician, I wanted to be taught how to be more relational, communicate more effectively, and learn what it means to be a worship pastor, not just a worship leader. The classes I have this module are: Pastoral Ministry, Organizational Communications, Biblical Foundations of Worship, and Christian Growth and Development. I'm also learning music theory for the first time and taking lead guitar lessons (both mandatory as well).

I was hoping not to have to work this year, but I think we will end up depleting what we have by the end of next summer. So, I decided to start looking for some part time work. Being that I know how to frame art, I naturally started there. There's a Fastframe here, so I visited them first. I made a good connection with the owner, but I got the impression things were pretty slow and they were in no position hire anyone at the moment. I visited another place, and they were out of business. I went to the third place on the list, and I just got a strange vibe and kept on driving by.

A couple days later I got a call from the owner of the Fastframe in Colorado Springs. They want to hire me to do consulting with them. I originally told them my history with Fastframe and had them call Fastframe Corporate as my reference. Apparently the store is struggling more than I thought and they're hoping I can point out some things for them to try or do differently. What an unexpected situation, but it's kind of an exciting opportunity for me. I'll do whatever I can to help them out. Hopefully there's some practical things I can point out along the way to better their situation, and not discover that it's completely economy related.

Snow?.. Seriously?

We actually got snowed on today in Colorado Springs! As much as I've been raving about the weather here, the mountains sure add an element of unpredictability and constant change. The extra bummer about the cold day was that my class did an outdoor run at 7am this morning and it was downright painful at times. A couple students didn't come to class later in the day because they weren't feeling well from the frozen run. Some of these people are from the south and have never even seen snow before, so it was probably even harder on them. I guess it was more like freezing rain and hail coming down while we ran... the snow came later. None of it accumulated to the ground, but left a nice dusting on the mountains. It was actually pretty once I was able to enjoy it from a warm room through the window later on.

I've been loving school so far! It's actually been better than I expected, and my expectations were pretty high. Hopefully I can keep up with my reading. I'm not used to reading 8 books at a time, and needing to absorb them in a three month time frame. Sometimes I wish I could just plug the cord into my head (like in The Matrix) and just upload the information into my brain... that would be so much easier :)

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

We had fun at the zoo today. Click on the link below for some pictures:

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo