Bradenton, Florida

Yeah, check this out. This is me giving the message last Sunday night on a beach on the opening night of Bradenton, Flordia SERVE. I was there with Troy and Dawn (they were leading music), and it was a fantastic week. Look at me! Just from the picture, I appear articulate, thin, and interesting. Either that, or I'm reinacting some of my favorite Karate Kid beach scenes.

Here's the whole crew that was there. They were all Canadian except for Troy, Dawn, and I. Even the Pastor of the Bradenton Church. But I won't hold that against them . . .

A pic of Troy leading music on the beach. He led while we all watched the sunset, which was pretty amazing. Then, after my talk, he led a last song - at the exact same moment, about 15 to 20 feet off the shore, dolphins began to spring up like crazy. Probably the best worship moment of my life.

We washed and waxed this airplane for Agape Flights. They fly missionaries and supplies to the Dominican Republic and Haiti. What's so funny, Dawn?We helped out here at the Good Samaritan Mission doing all sorts of painting, repair, and lifting. The mission serves immigrant workers in the area. We had a great host named Laura who sang and gave backrubs and served us THE BEST authentic Mexican meal I've ever had. It was great.


This was the Pastor who hosted us for the week - Pastor Jeff Klingenberg. (or PJ, or Colonel Klink, or Klinger, or Klinky-dink). What a great guy and a fun man of God. Don't let this picture fool you. He does have a silly side.

Highlights of the Week:

1. Nicknames: We had a student ride with us (Troy, Dawn, and I) in the car every day, and we took it upon ourselves to deem them with a new name. We had Magellan, Ups, Flo, and Peter Son of Tater Heir to the Throne of Bobcat. Don't ask. It was a long week.

2. Canadians: What a great group! I've totally changed my opinion on Canadians. I didn't tell our group this last week, but I've had a few not so great experiences with Canadians before. Well these two groups from Alberta totally changed my mind. They were some of the most humble, ministry minded, caring folks I've ever met.

3. Shark's Teeth: Yeah, I was one of the few that found one on the beach.

4. Canadians

5. Troy and Dawn: I got to spend A LOT of time with these two this week. Now, let me just give you a little insight into our relationship as a ministry team. The three of us, along with business guy Mark Elgersma, are the core of Happy the Dog Ministry. We get to travel together quite often.

Now, you'd think, being the world travelled, amazing musician, theater trained, theologian, Christians that we are - you would think that we'd have some pretty fantastic conversations about God, life, faith, and all those kinds of things. Well here's a typical conversation for us:

Troy, Dawn, and I head out for steaks on our last night before our flight home, and I go to use the restroom. As I'm unbuttoning my shorts, the button on the front of my new Old Navy shorts pops off and lands in the urinal. Now, I have a very simple rule about the bathroom - anything that lands in the toilet (under a certain value, of course) stays in the toilet. I quickly realize that buttons are worth mere pennies, and I did indeed have a spare attached to my inside pocket, so I let it be.

As we're waiting for our table, I tease Troy that I've left something for him in the bathroom that I wonder if he could fish out for me. Troy immediately goes to the bathroom and comes back with my button. You see, Troy has been serving as a temporary janitor at a high school for some weeks now, and he says that's he's fished all kinds of things out of toilets and gross places. He tries to give me the button back.

I decline.

He says I'm being silly. I should take and reuse the button. It's been thoroughly washed.

I say I don't care how well it's been washed. It was in the toilet. I'll use my spare.

Troy says I'm being silly. Dawn now chimes in and says I should just use it. I have a feeling she's just egging Troy on, because I'm pretty sure Dawn wouldn't use a pee button.

Troy tells me I'm a baby and that I need to chill out.

I tell Troy that I've had to do gross things in my life. I grew up on a pig farm afterall, and I worked there six months after college. I've done gross things. I just choose when I do them. I do not want the button back.

Was I crazy here? It fell in the urinal! The toilet! It got very wet! I've asked a few people since coming home and they have all agreed with me - once the button hit the water, it's gone!

What do you think? Feel free to chime in on the comments. I'd love to hear who you think is really right?

I'll update some more on Bradenton with more pics later!

Till next time,

Jason