• Mission Trip to Louisa, VA
• Vacation to Emerald Isle, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC with pit stops to Kiawah Island and Charleston, SC
• Rascal Flatts in Virginia Beach
• Lindsey’s Wedding at Smith Mountain Lake
• Megan’s Wedding in Roanoke

As much fun as it has been, I am ready for fall: Hokie and Spider football, cooler weather so I can wear a sweatshirt, watching new grass grow and kicking off another fall in youth ministry.

Hear the sound of the redeemed
Rising from the Church
Hear the melodies, the harmonies
Songs that tell of new birth
Hear the music of God
Every tribe and tongue
Singing with one voice

Hear the Spirit
Hear the Spirit of God
And worship

Every nation
Every tongueEvery tribe
Come

- logan jones

Download “Hear the Spirit”

Now, I’m exhausted. I always say this, but I am so ready for vacation. I might sleep through the whole thing, just to catch up. And I still have:

• Water Wars (big youth event) today
• preaching 3 services Sunday, which includes wrapping up the sermon
• youth group Sunday night

Brooklyn (who’s a middle school pastor, might I add…she knows where it’s at!) wrote a great piece on the YS site a few days ago, which included this quote:

Summer is both the sweet spot and a killer for youth ministers of all types. It’s the time when we get to connect teenagers with experiences that they’ll tie to their faith for a lifetime. It’s also the time when we wear down, lose sleep, go the extra mile, and forget that we too are human in need of rest and spiritual renewal.

How true, how true. Heading into vacation, I am excited about resting. With myself, with Kim and getting ready for an exciting new school year at GBC.

Now, about these next 59 hours…

when clock strikes 10 2nite u will run+hide+try 2 win the game. be sure u dress the part. dark clothes, camo, face paint, whatever u need!

A few hours later, I get this e-mail from a parent:

subject: Funny Teenage Moment!

Aaron–to many…this would not be “encouragement”…to someone in your position, I think it will be! This morning-before 8:15…before he even ate breakfast…[my son] smiled AND laughed! He read your email about the gear needed for some type of hunt(?) and laughed out loud! He said something about knowing a thing or two about stealth…then said, “this should be fun!”. Music to a parents ears…hope it is for you, too. Thank you for all you do to show our Creator to our children each and every week…lower and upper school alike. Have a blessed day and weekend.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Ah, youth retreats. Can’t wait. Picking up Robbie from the airport in a few hours, and then it’s on. Fun times in youth ministry, with a great team of volunteers, and a great interim high school pastor to work with.

“]

Last shot: Cheerio Madonna Dance reversed.

This short clip didn’t last longer than a few seconds, so it filled in a need. But rather than show ~8 seconds of the left side of the formation, they flipped the clip to make it look like 3-4 seconds of the left side, then 3-4 seconds of the right side.

As one of FOX’s biggest hits of the spring, they couldn’t have caught that back in filming and filmed more than what they needed? But I guess stuff like this happens all the time.

Spring has come, the grass is growing and we decided to put some more color in our yard…the slow way. Last week I planted the daisy seeds [tomatoes, cucumbers and some other flower to come] in pods to prep them indoors. And Sunday, we had new sprouts!

Stop-motion (also known as stop-action or frame-by-frame) is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. [WIKIPEDIA]

This first one was kind of fun, and the two 6th graders I had last night enjoyed seeing their project from start to finish in under 30 minutes!

All are great. But truth be told, the bakery takes hold of my appetite as soon as I walk through the door.

With the final sale looming on Monday, I decided to enjoy a few of my favorites in these “last days.” In no particular order:

• Tuesday: Glazed Donut
  Mmm. Terry’s Bakery in Farmville had some good ones. And a hot-off-the-conveyor Krispy Kreme has always been tempting. But Ukrop’s glazed donuts are great. Simply and fresh.
• Wednesday: Iced Brownie Bite
  I’ve never needed an entire tray (except my birthday last year when the church gave me one), but I always picked up 3 when they were stocked in the bakery case.
• Thursday: Chocolate Pie
  One of my favorite pies of all time. One almost always finds its way into holiday meals in Roanoke.
• Friday: Triple Chocolate Cheesecake
  I stumbled onto this one day a few years ago. It’s a chocolate cheesecake on Oreo crumb crust with chocolate chips and chocolate drizzled on top. I might be eating on this one for a while.
• Saturday: Rainbow Cookies
  Saving these for last [see yesterday's post].
• Honorable Mention: cinnamon coffee cake
  I don’t know if it was because it was Super Bowl week or because of the snow in the forecast, but I couldn’t find a coffee cake to save my life. Oh well.

And in true Ukrop’s form, I’ll take today off. And tomorrow, the landscape of Richmond will change, yet again. So long, Ukrop’s. It’s been a good ride.

*one of the top benefits of living behind a Ukrop’s store is that when their kitchen cranks up just before the dinnertime rush, the wonderful smell of potato wedges wafts over our front yard.

In the summer of ’04, James R. heard about my experience in Zimbabwe, and when he asked about the story, he heard about how we were detained by the authorities. When I wrote a story in a state newspaper, James R. read a copy.

The next summer, James R. knew I was going to Jamaica for a month, and when he asked, learned that we had made it through two strong, Caribbean hurricanes.

In between the summers, James R. wanted to know about my college journey, my start in youth ministry and my decision to go to seminary. All this in the checkout line at the grocery store.

For many, the Ukrop’s checkout line has been a city-sized version of an old country store. Catching up with friends. Knowing each other’s stories. And they carried your groceries out for you!

I finally met James R. Like many others throughout the years, he was a quality employee. For all those years, he was always working on my mom’s weekly Ukrop’s run. He packed her bags and carried them to the car.

Quality service and relationships will keep customers coming back, building a lifelong loyalty. It is the loyalty that has kept locals shopping in their small communities while the box stores crept in. And on those two pillars, Ukrop’s was built.