SERVE 2007

Had a great week at SERVE in Sioux Falls this past week. I've got a bit to do this week, so this entry will be short. Not to mention the fact that I'm not really in the mood to write my usual happy go lucky ramblings after coming home and hearing about the news of Lee Eshleman and Chris Benoit both dying of suicide.

Lee was one half of the duo Ted and Lee, and I got to meet them both a few years back at a Brethern Church conference. I was leading a seminar on youth work, and I got to watch a performance they gave from their play Fish Eyes. It was fantastic, hilarious, fun, and they were great guys when I introduced myself after. Lee will be sorely missed, and I cannot imagine Ted continuing on with performing for quite a while after this. Lee passed several weeks ago, I guess, but with the summer schedule, I only learned of it on Sunday.

Chris Benoit, on the other hand, was just an awesome professional wrestler that I've spent hours of my life watching, and had never gotten to see in person yet. He embodied everything left of pro wrestling that I actually enjoyed - technical wrestling and great in-ring storytelling - a far cry from most of what wrestling turns out today. What a sad and tragic end he met this past weekend due to whatever personal problems that he suffered from. I'm sure it will be a large black mark against the sport as he joins a long list of wrestlers to tragically die young.

What a wake of sorrow suicide leaves behind. It makes me want to grab the phone and contact the several friends I have now who are going through rough patches in their lives.

I'll update a more upbeat version of the blog next week. Andrea, Carson and I head up to Okiboji with the family for vacation and I'm very much looking forward to it!

MVSC at the Bethany Lutheran Church in Iowa Falls

The Morgan Valley Social Club had a great show Saturday night for so many reasons.



First of all, I was asked to do the show by my cousin Laura Brunson. One of my Okiboji cousins growing up, Laura is always fun to be around. Her folks were there - my uncle Bob and aunt Donna. As well as her husband Eric, and her two girls Erin and Paige. They made us a great meal after the show of grilled chicken, and chocolate cake that was a hit with everyone.


Secondly, it was Kyle's first MVSC show back after taking a two month absence after the birth of his new boy Isaac. So that was great. He also brought along a good friend of his named Brian Gumm to help on music and we had a ball.


Thirduhly, I got to see great friends Mike and Susie Rottink. I don't think I really need to elaborate on that much. Just read old blogs. I am a bad friend as I didn't really get to spend much time with them though. Bad friend! Bad friend!


Fourthely, we got to see a part of Iowa Falls I've never seen. I had my camera phone with me, but alas the best pics didn't turn out. But here's a sample of what we saw.

So, Iowa Falls has the Iowa River running through it and there's a dam that looks like this:
Well, this dam is right behind cousin Laura's house, but to get there you have to descend down 99 concrete steps:
This is uncle Bob leading us back up the steps through the jungle. It's not as much fun climbing 99 steps as it is going down.

But once we were down, there were great views like this:

That's uncle Bob closest to the camera, Kyle after him, and Brian after him.

The two best sights by the dam were a tributary stream that runs into it that was AWESOME. The stream was crystal clear, and surrounded by rock bluffs with trees completely overhanging to give it a real cave effect.

There was also some kind of mill that was built right into the bluff wall that was pretty cool to see. But, alas, my camera phone has no flash, so I'll have to go back again some time.

And FIFTHEDLY - my cousin Laura wrote me a poem. For those of you who've seen the MVSC show, I read silly poems, and Kyle plays country music. It's a pretty simple concept. Well, Laura surprised us all by introducing us with a poem she'd written herself about me.

How was it? Well, it was fantastic. And I was a little embarrassed to read my stuff after she was done. We'll have to see if she can go on tour.

And Sixedethly, it was great because for the second time while traveling with Kyle, a small child came up and asked him how tall he was. Seriously, it's like traveling with Chewbacca, or bigfoot or something. The guy's height just draws attention.

Till next time,

Jason

MVSC at the Tama Bluegrass Cafe

Seven people showed up to listen, but we'll get to that.

The Morgan Valley Social Club hit the Bluegrass Cafe in Tama, IA last Saturday night. The Bluegrass Cafe is this great place in Tama where you can have a good meal, and apparently listen to great bluegrass on the weekends. One of the neatest things about it, is that it seems to cater to senior citizens very well - which is exactly up our alley - so that was cool.

I went and checked the place out about a month ago while in Toledo for the Old Time Gospel Show. There were about fifty or so seniors listening to a great bluegrass band, and the owner Lisa asked if we'd like to do a show there. I instantly agreed.

When we got there, it turned out Memorial Day weekend was not the best time to have a show.

I took good friend and fellow improv-er Tim Schoenfeld with me, as Kyle couldn't make the show. Tim is a great guitar player / singer, and can play a ton of great songs, including some really, really fun ones that he wrote himself.

We were supposed to play a two hour show 7pm - 9pm, and at around 6:55pm we realized there was only one man in audience so far. Apparently there were two big weddings in Tama that night, and, of course, it was Memorial day weekend.

But we played on anyway! Before it was over, another six people showed up, plus we had the staff of the cafe, so we still had a good time.

Since we were playing a little loose and free, I forgot the poetry for a bit and took the opportunity to pull the banjo out and play my own favorite Willie Nelson songs. Earlier in the week when I wasn't sure if I could find a replacement for Kyle, I began practicing a few songs for the show. Upon hearing me butcher a classic Willie tune, Andrea advised me not to play or sing. Well, the crowd was small, and Tim's tunes were so inspiring, I decided to have a go, and it was a blast.

We also debuted a new song I wrote for Kyle's new son called, "The Ballad of Isaac Clayton Young" which went over like hotcakes!

June 9th, Kyle and I head to Iowa Falls for a show at a church, and then my summer of Christian speaking really kicks off, so I'll be busy:

June 16-23-Sioux Falls SERVE with Jonah's Wale
July 14-18 - Cadets Camp out with Jonah's Wale
July 20-24 - Youth Unlimted Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah
July 27-29 - Power Connection with Jonah's Wale in Minneapolis, MN
August 1st - MVSC at 3rd Reformed in Pella
August 18th - MVSC in Toledo
Sept 8th - Men's Retreat with Jonah's Wale somewhere way up north.

And guess what? We get to back to the great state of Canada, not once - but twice! Once in September and once in October. How did we get so lucky????

Till next time,
Jason

Another Old Time Gospel Show

Headed up to Toledo, IA for another Old Time Gospel Show with John Finical's bunch. Had a great time. Heard Interfaith and a great yodeler! Read some poems, including a couple new ones that went over okay. I got a 50 / 50 reaction. One went great, the other one went rough.

I also went to visit the Bluegrass Cafe in Tama, which is just a fantastic place. It's kind of like a bluegrass nightclub for senior citizens, and it was fun just to hang out there for just a few minutes as I talked to the owner - Lisa Blomme. Turns out she's interested in having The Morgan Valley Social Club come and play a show on May 26th, so I'm pretty pumped about that! It was a great crowd, and a great atmosphere, so I'm sure the show will be lots of fun.

I heard bits and pieces of two very interesting conversations while I was traveling to the show on Saturday night. While eating some buffalo wings in the Tama Hardee's while working on a poem I overheard a conversation from a couple senior citizen couples that went like this:

Guy 1: So Joe and I pull up to the bar and we were already three sheets to the wind.

Guy 2: Oh no!

Guy 2's wife: Oh no!

Guy 1: There was a crowd outside talking and I couldn't get my door open.

Guy 2: Oh, no! What'd you do?

Guy 2's wife: What'd you do?

Guy 1: I kicked the windshield out and crawled out over the hood.

Guy 2: Oh no!

Guy 2's wife: Oh no!

(Guy 1's wife sits and looks incredulous as she sips her drink.)

Guy 1: It was the best 50 bucks I've ever spent!

Guy 2: 50 bucks! That's pretty cheap!

Guy 1: Well this was years ago, Don!

(Guy 1's wife gets up to go refill her drink, but I don't think it was empty)

Pretty classic stuff. Then when I stopped to buy gas at the Casey's on the way out of town I walked in to hear the cashier talking to the pizza maker:

Teenage girl cashier (kind of under her breath as if I'm not supposed to hear it): Oh, hold on. Somebody's coming in! I better tell you the rest later. (Loudly adding) But that is THE DRUNKEST I have ever been! (laughter from both)

So yeah, two drinking stories in one night. Those people in Tama really know how to live it up I guess.

Till next time,
Jason

Gunn Lake Community Church and the Diet Pepsi Woman

I apologize (to all three of you that read this regularly) for my lack of posting recently. I've been filling in for Andrea during her maternity leave, and between keeping up with her senior high work, my junior high work, the speaking stuff, and the baby, it's been a little hectic.

A week ago last Sunday I headed out to The Gunn Lake Community Church in Wayland, MI to do a little comedy for the congregation. They'd just finished some big rennovations on the youth portions of their church, and the night was set up as a celebration for the whole church.

I did about a half hour of comedy. The first fifteen minutes or so was all new jokes about the baby and it went over really well.

I listened to a great book on the way home called Deep Storm by Lincoln Child. Since I get to do so much driving, I try to listen to as many unabridged books on tape that I possibly can. I got hooked on Lincoln Child when I read a series of books he wrote with Douglas Preston about an FBI agent named Pendegrast.

Long story short, the book was about oil drillers who discover alien technology at the bottom of the ocean - so I found it pretty entertaining.

I've said it before on this blog, but I think it bears repeating - you see some strange folks at rest areas between 2am and 6am. It was a long weekend for me because my middle school crew had an overnighter on Friday where I only got an hour of sleep. Then on Sunday morning I hopped in the car and drove to Michigan, got out, performed, got back in the car and drove all night to get home.

So I'm well aware that when people see a disheveled thirty year old guy in rumpled clothes and a five o'clock shadow stumbling into the mens' room at three a.m. on the interstate - they may think I'm the strange one.

But I got out somewhere just across the Iowa border for a stretch and a soda, and when I got to the Pepsi machine, there was a lady in front of me who just kept putting the same quarters in over and over - and the machine just kept spitting them out.

She wasn't angry. She didn't even seem that confused or concerned. She would put them in, and the machine would spit them out. The machine was clearly full on quarters, but she kept trying. Over and over. I'm not exaggerating when I say I stood and watched her do this mabye twenty or so times. She would not give up. A man who was apparently her husband sat on a bench nearby and spoke back and forth to her in Spanish. I have no idea what they were saying, but I'm guessing it went something like this:

Man - Did it take them this time?

Woman - No, it didn't.

Man - How about this time? Did it work this time?

Woman - No, it still didn't work. I think I'll try again.

Man - Okay. Yes, I think you should just keep trying.

I waited patiently for her to realize her effort was futile so I could get my diet Pepsi. I thought about exchanging her quarters for my two dollar bills, but then I would not have had anything but quarters - which obviously didn't work. I thought she might eventually just sigh and step out of the way so I could have a chance. But she didn't. She just kept plugging away at it while chatting amiably with her husband. Finally I just turned around and bought a diet Coke which was not what I wanted - but I had to get on my way.

Sigh,

Jason

MVSC and The World Famous Harlem Globetrotters!

Well, the Morgan Valley Social Club hit the Prairie City Church of the Brethren this weekend. Unfortuanely, Kyle wasn't able to be there, so it was just myself reading poetry.

The men of the church were putting on a supper for the women where the guys did all the cooking and the serving. The meal was great, the crowd was great, and I got to see a lot people I hadn't seen for awhile since I grew up in the Prairie City CotB. Old high school and college friend Aaron McConeghey (Sp?) was there. As was Ann Bach, the wife of my childhood pastor Jeff Bach. We all laughed a lot.

I did about a forty minute show, and I realized pretty quickly that as much as the people seemed to be enjoying things, it sure does add a lot to the show to have Kyle along. When I do the Old Time Gospel Shows for John Finical, I usually do about a twenty minute stretch of poetry, which is just about right for that kind of performance I think. When I can add Kyle's guitar and country songs into the mix, it definitely can stretch a good show out, though, as we've easily gone an hour before. I think the music can help clear the palette a bit and get you ready for more poems and stories.

I also went to the Globetrotters in Des Moines this weekend with my jr high group. WHAT A BLAST. . . I had so much stinking fun, I can't believe it. I've always seen the commericials for the Globetrotters. I've seen them on that old Scooby Doo episode, and Gilligan's Island of course. But man were they fun live. The whole bucket full of water / confetti bit, the stealing a woman's purse out of the crowd joke, the pulling the other teams shorts down - they did it all - and I'm not ashamed to admit I was nearly in tears at times. They put on a GREAT show.

Now if I'd only thought twice before putting twenty bucks on the New York Nationals . . . they've never won a game, but I thought they were due!

I wish I was a Globetrotter. Here's my favorite player - the ringleader of the whole team - Matt "Showbiz" Jackson. He's been on the team for twenty years! Good grief, this guy was funny.
I think I'm going to ask for a jersey for my birthday.

Till next time,

Jason

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

Edgerton, Minny Soda

Went up to Southwest Christian High School in Edgerton on Wednesday to speak at a spiritual renewal day with Troy and Dawn leading music worship.

I was tired. Dead tired. Everyone said that all babies do is sleep, eat, and poop. Well, they got two out of three right. This kid does not like to sleep -

- at least during the night. He'll sleep all day if you let him. He'll sleep so hard that you can't get him woken up. You think he must be in a coma. You shake his legs, his arms, you pinch his cheeks - nothing. You try to get him to feed. He stirs for a little bit - then nothing.

At night though, he's WIDE awake.

So with little to no sleep I went to speak in Minny Soda with Troy and Dawn. Let's just say that it's good God works in spite of me. The day went great.

The first talk was . . . well . . . kind of blah. I was tired, it was morning, I did the best I could. Afterwards though, they had an open mic session for the kids to give some testimonies and it was unbelievable. Some kids came forward and really opened up in a deep way. There were hugs, and tears, and lots of peer support. Troy, Dawn, and I all just looked at each other and went, "Okay, that was pretty cool!"

Since the students were so into it, we scrapped the schedule for the rest of the day and just went right back into worship. Troy and Dawn were fantastic. Troy played this new song by this guy named Trace Elliot (wink, wink), and I've been singing it nonstop since I got home.

What a day! I hope the school can keep up the feeling that was created on Wednesday.

I was very happy to crash home late Wednesday night and slip Carson into my arms from Grandma so we could rock awhile.

I'm home for the week and then Troy, Dawn, and I all take off again for Florida to lead worship for a week at a SERVE site in Bradenton.

Till next time,

Jason

My Boy is Here!!!!!

Here's Carson West Taylor just about two minutes after being born. He has good lungs.

That's ketchup right? It's ketchup? Tell me it's ketchup.

Check this out. 8lbs 15.6 oz. I thought that was a pretty big baby. Turns out the night before, they had a boy who was 12.8lbs. That was a Pella record. Our guy looked like a . . . well, a baby next to him I guess. I told Carson not to start trouble in the nursery.

Here's mom and dad with little Carson. The baby is five minutes old. The beard is two weeks old. Which one's cuter?

Here's our going home outift and teddy bear. We got home today (Saturday the 10th of March) and we're doing great. Thanks to all who helped and prayed!

The Morgan Valley Social Club

Thought I'd take a moment to update since I have a few weeks off from speaking due to our impending baby. . .

Brouther-in-law Kyle and I have teamed up after our recent success with the Valentine's Day shows. We're now calling ourselves The Morgan Valley Social Club and offering ourselves up for entertainment to all sorts of groups. (Morgan Valley is the old coal mining town where a lot of my mother's family is from. Although the town is now defunct I guess, and the coal mines are gone, the area down around Runnells is still often referred to as Morgan Valley.)

We've had a very promising first few weeks as several offers have rolled in. Several churchs and banquets have called already. I kind of wish speaking events would come in this quickly.

What's the show? It's basically me reading poems, stories and cracking jokes while Kyle fills in with all kinds of classic country music or whatever tickles his fancy for the night. It's very midwestern, and definitely geared for the 35+ crowd. But the shows are fantastic fun. In fact, I really hope more of them pour in because they're such a blast to do. Aw, well, if wishes were fishes, right?

I also heard that Van and Bonnie on WHO radio read one of my poems a few weeks back, although I wasn't aware of it until after the fact. I was in Omaha performing with the improv guys and gals when one of my cousins called to tell me they'd heard it. I took it as a great compliment that they deemed it worthy of air time, although I was told they changed the name of the person in the poem and messed with with ryhme scheme a bit. Oh well, any publicity is good publicity, right?

Till next time,

Jason

Jason Taylor - Wedding Singer

Kyle and I did two more Valentine's Supper shows last night for the 1st Reformed Church in Pella, IA. There was a supper at 5pm and another one at 6:30pm and we performed for both.

It was a bit different from the Runnells shows as we didn't perform after the crowd ate, but rather while they ate. This can be interesting as most of the time during the first show they would have their mouths full of food while we were trying to make them laugh.

So for the second show, we did about three minutes up front, and then waited till dessert was served to finish off with about twenty minutes that went very, very well.

Kyle worked in Johnny Paycheck, Sam Cooke, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash all in one show. You can't tell me that's not a show you'd pay two bits to see. C'mon, that's a good show.

And on top of that, I once again accompanied Kyle on Johnny Cash's version of Rose of My Heart with my Grandpa Kain's old accordian. Afterwards, Andrea's sister Aleisha asked if we'd play it at her wedding to future brother-in-law Troy Elscott.

Now let me tell you how big of a deal this is for me. I'm no musician - not even close. I've tried many times - piano, guitar, banjo and now accordian. I'm occasionally good enough to use an instrument in a comedy bit. Some easy, short song that I can come up with. But I would never consider doing anything even semi-serious in front of people.

I've performed some comedy with music at several weddings now, but it was always for the reception. But Aleisha - Aleisha has asked me, if I understand her right, to actually perform at her wedding ceremony - and on the accordian no less!

So I'm pretty excited about that. We'll have to see how that turns out.

What else is new? Hmm. Baby's due in a week. Andrea shows no signs of labor yet which leads me to believe it may be awhile. Everyone keeps coming up and assuming she's just miserable, but she says she's not really - other than a bad cold. So if this miserable feeling precedes childbirth, we could be in for the long haul.

Heading to Minny Soda for a day next month, and then Florida - both trips with Troy and Dawn. I think I mentioned that in the last post, so I'll just wrap up now.

Till next time,

Jason

The Runnells, IA Crowd

Did a poetry show over the weekend. It was the Valentine's Supper for the Runnells Christian Church in Runnell's, IA. For those astute readers of the blog, you might remember I did this show two years ago and it went fantastic.

Well, this year, I brought along my brother-in-law Kyle for the show to play some music, and it went even better. Kyle is a great guitar player and singer and we did an hour show of poetry and music. I even joined in on the last song with my Grandpa's old accordian.

The food was great, the crowd was great (probably 50% of them were relatives in one way or another), and the show couldn't have gone better. Many laughs were had, we got to listen to Kyle dissect a Johnny Paycheck love song while he was playing it (Andrea said my dad was rolling with laughter during this part), Andrea came up to sing back up on Sam Cooke's You Send Me, and we got rid of lots of my new poetry book, Farm Dog, and Other Poems.

It was, quite honestly, the most fun I've had with a show in a long time. One of those times where the material and the audience just really seemed to click. It makes me really want to set up lots more shows just like that one. I think with a little polishing, we may be onto something here.

Kyle and I are doing two more shows this week for the First Reformed Church in Pella, IA. They'll be back to back shows for their Valentine's Night Supper, and I'm really excited to make a few touch ups on the show and see what happens.

Other than those shows, I've kind of taken about a month off from speaking until the baby comes. The due date is February 23rd, but Andrea has been feeling so well that I'm afraid the baby may come a little late. But that's okay, because we'll both be around for the next few weeks.

Next month I'll be heading up to Minny Soda to speak for a spiritual renewal day for a high school, and then the last week of the month Troy, Dawn, and I head down to Florida for a Happy the Dog Ministry trip on a SERVE project in Bradenton.

I'll try to update after the Wednesday shows with Kyle.

Till next time,

Jason

Go Oilers!

88 again

I've been doing a lot of traveling over the last couple weeks. Two weekends ago, I went over to Omaha again to perform with 88improv. I worked with Nate and Sarah Schoenfeld at a really swank country club for a dinner. It was a great show. Some of the best improv I've been involved in for a long time.

We played this game called Genres which is kind of hard to explain if you don't know it, but it essentially breaks down into everyone having to make up showtunes on the spot. Well, I'm horrible at this part of the game. I can't make up songs on the spot (let alone sing on tune). Over the last couple weeks I've performed with the 88 crew, it's gone something like this:

Tim: I don't care
If you don't share
About the fair
With that pair!

Jason: That Pair!

Just basically me repeating the last line of what the other improver says as best I can. Well not this time! This time I made up my own song about ear piercing with Nate and it worked really well. It ended with me singing about Nate giving me a kiss on the ear, which, in improv, he naturally had to do since you're always supposed to agree with everyone.

Oh, Canada!

So Troy and I headed up to Alberta, Canada this past weekend to lead a retreat. He played some rock your face off music like normal, and I spoke. We had a blast.

First of all, it was about 30 to 40 degrees warmed in Canada than it was in Iowa the entire time we were there. It was great!

We were speaking in this little town called Neerlandia. When we were renting our car at the Edmonton airport, we asked the ladies behind the counter, "Do you know where Neerlandia is?" And one of them asked, "Did you say Narnia?" While that would have been pretty cool, it was not what we'd asked. So after several phone calls and lots of map searching, we finally found the town which was located two hours north of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

It was strange. It was just like Iowa in most ways. At 6:30 am, I left my house in my little dutch pig farming community on Friday morning, drove for an hour, got on a plan for four hours, drove for two more hours, and got out of the car in a little dutch pig farming community. It was all a bit surreal.

We had a great time with the 100 or so students and adults at the retreat. Troy and I discovered that all Canadian punctuation is spoken out loud.

Eh = .
Right = ?

For instance:

Jason: Hi, I'm Jason!
Canadian: Good to meet you, eh You had a good trip, right

They also put gravy on their french fries, and they love hockey. Both of those quirks were very agreeable with me, so we got along great.

We also started marketing our new Happy the Dog Ministry t-shirts, which I'll have to post on here soon. The kids seemed to take to them very well, and we sold a lot of them.

Sunday morning, we led worship for about 500 people in the Neerlandia Christian Reformed Church, and we had great time. Troy even got everyone, and I mean everyone, up and dancing to Undignified.

So, in short, Canadians were great. It was my first time out of the country, and I had a blast spending time with Troy all weekend. We met some great new friends like Becky, Joelle, Sandy, Cindy, Janice, Rob, Rick Rick, Randy, Randy, and many others who I'll think of immediately after I post this blog.

Till next time,
Jason

88, 89 . . .

I went and did another 88improv show in Omaha this past weekend with good friends Tim and Sarah Schoenfeld. It was for the Cargill Christmas Party, and I had a pretty stinking good time.

The food was great, the people laughed, and I had a lot of fun playing improv games. The team of 88improv is just about the best team you could hope to watch, and it's hard for me not to laugh the entire time I'm up there with them.

In an effort to try and liven up the old blog again, I'll relay an old story from my days at Northwestern College in Orange City, IA. I didn't attend Northwestern, but my wife Andrea did, so I was there for several years.

I first met the guys from 88improv while at Northwestern, and we liked to get together once in a while and have fun. Well, one Friday night we're all sitting around looking for something to do, and I ask the guys if they want some golf balls. I'd been biking every morning around the Orange City golf course, and I noticed that there were often thousands of golf balls just laying around on the practice range. They apparently didn't believe in picking them up very often.

So we all jump on some "borrowed" bicycles (which we returned!) and headed off to the golf course. It was late enough, and dark enough, that no one was there, so we went to work. I took off my hockey jersey and tied off the sleeves and the neck to form a make-shift sack of sorts. Then we stuffed the thing with hundreds of golf balls.

When we got home, we really didn't know what to do with all the golf balls. First we spread them out on the floor and took turns rolling around on them. It was a pretty amazing feeling to shoot across the floor as they rolled underneath. I think we let them all fall down some stairs a few times. Then we got an idea.

Andrea and I were living in a house owned by theater professors Jeff and Karen Barker. We were in an apartment attached to the house, and the rest of the home was occupied by several other theater students.

We grabbed the big bag of golf balls and headed down to the basement room of Amy Christiansen. She had one of those little dorm fridges, so we tipped it backwards and proceeded to fill it all the way to the door with the golf balls. Then we put it back into place and made ourselves scarce.

I don't remember if I was around or not when Amy finally opened her fridge, but I'm sure it was hysterical.

DISCLAIMER
Now, I don't condone the theft of golf balls from golf course practice ranges. I know what we did was wrong, and I'm very sorry about it now. I'm not sure what happened to the big bag of golf balls, but I'm sure we returned them all to where we found them . . . I'm pretty sure anyway.

Till next time,

Jason

88 Improv

Sorry for the late blog. Just catching up to this past weekend.

I attempted to go to Grand Rapids, MI this past weekend to perform some poetry for a church Christmas party, but due to the extreme weather hitting Illinois, I didn't make it. I was travelling with ministry partner Mark Elgersma, and about twenty minutes into Illinois, we notices that NO ONE was coming towards us in the other lane.

"That can't be good," Mark said.
"No, it can't," I responded.

And it wasn't. When we came around a big bend in the road, we found that both lanes of traffic were backed up for miles because of a jacknifed semi or two. We finally found an exit and then just turned around to come home. Apparently, O'Hare airport was shut down for the day due to the blizzard, so we should probably have never left in the first place. Dumb me.

I did make it to Omaha on Saturday to perform some improv with good friends Tim and Sarah Schoenfeld with 88improv. They'd double booked some shows over the weekend, and asked if I'd come down and be an extra body for them. I had a ton of fun. The show was downtown in some hotel for a Christmas party being held by a bunch of computer techies. It ended up being a really good show and Tim and Sarah are always hilarious.

This weekend I head down to Omaha again for another show on Saturday night. And, as far as I can think, that's my last show of any type for the rest of the year. The next thing on my docket is going to Canada in January . . . great timing, eh?

A few changes coming up - the first of which is a name change for the ministry I'm in with Mark and Troy. It's changing from "39-27 Ministries" to "Happy the Dog Ministries". The website on the side of the page hasn't been updated yet, but that's because the new web page isn't ready.

. . .

A few people have complained that I need some more "jokes" on my website so it's not so boring, and I'm afraid I didn't come through this time. Let's see . . . our bedroom ceiling is leaking and our septic tank needs an expensive repair. Wait, that's not funny to me. But maybe you can laugh at me.

What else? Oh, yeah. The dripping ceiling hit my video ipod and ruined it. Also funny if you like laughing at me instead of with me. The car may also need new tires as well.

Enough of all that tomfoolery though. Here's a Christmas poem:

Last Minute Shopper

Cousin Doug looked so forlorned,
As he came that Christmas day,
All his presents unadorned,
In the normal Christmas way.

Pretty paper was not used,
Nor were bows or Christmas tags,
We were all a bit confused,
As he gave out plastic bags.

“Merry Christmas!” he cried out,
“May these holidays bring cheer!”
But I think we all had doubt,
That he really seemed sincere.

Opening my gift from Doug,
As I wondered what it held,
I pulled out a coffee mug,
And some peanuts that’d been shelled.

Dad was next to open his,
He got some motor oil,
And a new can of cheese wiz,
Both wrapped up in tin foil.

He said, “Thanks, that’s really neat,”
And my mom was next to go,
She got air soles for her feet,
And two tickets from lotto.

As my brother opened next,
He pulled out some loaves of bread,
And he seemed a bit perplexed,
Cause, “Ah, hah!” was all he said.

We thought Grandma’s was the best,
Or at least the most bizarre,
Doug gave her a leather vest,
With the logo of NASCAR.

“I have something I should say,”
Doug spoke with hesitation,
“I bought all your gifts today,
“They came from the gas station.”

“What? I’m shocked, how can that be?”
Grandma said as if aghast,
“My new vest fits perfectly!”
And the awkward moment passed.

And a marriage poem. . .

Married Life

My brother asked awhile back,
“Is your married life still on track?
You’ve been together for five years,
Do you have any regrets or fears?”

I said, “Oh, yeah, it’s really great!
There’s always good food on my plate,
There’s always shampoo in the show’r,
And outside there are pretty flow’rs.”

“The bed is almost always made,
The bills are almost always paid,
Cobwebs are very rarely seen,
And my laundry is always clean.”

He said, “It sounds like paradise,
And what you’ve said makes me think twice,
About the single life I’ve got,
And whether I should tie the knot.

So maybe I should buy a ring,
And find a girl to wear that thing,
The married life just might suit me,
Since your life is so problem free.

I must have paused a little bit,
Because he asked me, “What is it?”
You seem like something’s on your mind,
Like maybe things aren’t always fine.”

I laughed and said, “Forget it, man!
My life is great from where I stand,
There was just this one minor time,
When everything wasn’t sublime.

It’s nothing, don’t pay it a thought,
Cause a complainer I am not,”
But he said he just had to know,
And so I said, “Well here we go . . .”

We’re in the living room one day,
And Andrea looks up to say,
You know I think I’d like this space,
If the couch and book shelf traded place.


So I huffed and puffed for an hour,
When I was done her face looked sour,
And then she had the nerve to say,
“It looked better the other way.”

And then there was the other night,
When we played poker till daylight,
And even though I’d left a note,
I guess my absence got her goat.

“I was all alone!” she hollered.
I said, “I won fifty dollars!”
She said, “Well I’m still mad at you!”
And spent the fifty on new shoes.

And then the times I hate the most,
Are times when she can be quite gross,
She trims her nails in bed at night,
And leaves used Q-Tips in plain sight.

She eats with this loud slurping sound,
She’ll eat food she dropped on the ground,
And though I swore I’d never tell,
Man, she can make that bathroom smell!

He nodded as he took it in,
“So you would say you’re happy then?
With everything about your wife,
And all the changes to your life?”

And I assured him that I was,
But I don’t think he bought it cause,
Even though he heard my story,
He’s still single and near forty.

Till next time,
Jason

Look at me, blogging once a week and all...

So I went to Des Moines this past weekend to speak at a Presbyterian retreat along with the band Jonah's Wale (Troy, Dawn, and Mark). It was held in the Westminster Presbyterian church near the Drake neighborhood.

It was what I'd consider the first real 39/27 Ministry gig since, to my knowledge, it's the first job we've had together that was pitched as a package deal. For those of you who don't know, 39/27 is the name that we (Jonah's Wale, Son's of Thunder, and I) have picked to represent ourselves in the Christian world as we promote ourselves together for events. If I'm not too lazy here when I'm done with this post, I'll put a link up for our site on the side of the page next to all the other links I've got.

The event was great. Man, do I love Presbyterians. It was pretty clear in the opening worship that Troy's worship leading, cow milking, movie butterfly, river dancing, ways of music were new to this crowd. At one point during worship, Troy said, "You know, this is my first experience with Presbyterians." And a pastor from the crowd answered back, "And this is the first time Presbyterians have experienced someone like you!" Which got a large laugh from the crowd. Troy asked if that was good, to which they all responded that it was.

We ate pizza, camped out in the church lounge, ate at Fazzoli's, watched Mark dissapoint us all by not finishing a hamburger that was as big as his head, and had some fantastic worship. It was seriously the most fun I've had speaking in quite a while, and I really hope that the 39/27 possibilities keep flowing in.

Last night I headed over to Lynnville, IA to speak for the youth group at the Lynnville Friends Church. We had Lasagna (which I choose to prounounce as LUH-ZAG-NAH), and it was fantatstic. I had a chicken/broccoli lasagna that rocked my face off. And the group I spoke to was a lot of fun. Wow, two great crowds in a row! I'm kind of scared to go to the next job . . . but that's back to Gunn Lake, Michigan on December 1st for a Christmas party. And those folks are always great to me!

On a sad note, I've once again given up soda of all forms. I quit about a week ago after a lengthy conversation with good friend Luke Vander Leest about the dangers of addictions. For those long time blog readers (yes, both of you), I gave up once a long while back for about two weeks and then started up again. I was sadly up to about ten cans a day for a while, but I've been clean for a week now.

Well, that was until last night. At last night's Lynnville dinner, all I found to drink was soda, so I had a Diet Pepsi. It was just one! And I'm officially back on the wagon again this morning. Or off the wagon, maybe, because I don't remember which part of the wagon it is you need to worry about when it comes to addictions.

I'm in Michigan for poetry on Dec. 1, Omaha for improv on Dec. 2, and Omaha again for improv on Dec. 9. I'm getting to team up with my good friends in 88 Improv again for a couple weeks of Christmas parties, and I'm really looking forward to it!

Till next time,

Jason

Still a Lazy Blogger. . .

Yeah, I've been lots of places and done lots of things since the last blog. And yes, I still get the occasional emails and folks I bump into that say, "Hey, why no blog? Have you given up on the blog?"

No.

In October I went up to Milwaukee to speak for a large group of ninjas (people with panty hose on their heads that each held a tennis ball.) I found them quite entertaining, and while in Milwaukee, I accomplished my ultimate purpose - to pick up jars and jars of Milwaukee's own pickles for my wife who is 6 months pregnant.

And, as always, after stating that I had to pick up pickles for my pregnant wife, I am to offer the disclaimer that my wife has ALWAYS liked pickles and eaten them in large quantities - even before she was pregnant. (If you ask me, that actually sounds worse than just telling people they're a pregnancy craving.)

Also in October, I went and spoke for the Pella High School football team at their weekly team supper. It was one of those odd little God things where I spoke about some soldiers from the old testament sticking together, and afterwards the coach showed me the dog tags that every player and coach were given for many of the same reasons I spoke about. And I also found out that speaking to a large group of football players can be intimidating.

This past week I was up in Sioux Falls, SD, Edgerton, MN, and a little town I can't remember just north of Sioux Falls where the Tri-Valley High School is located. It was a little three day midwest tour, as I like to imagine it.

I spoke for the chapel at the Southwest Christian High School in Edgerton on Wednesday afternoon. It was a great session not because of anything I said, but because it gave me a chance to worship with good friend / worship leader / piano player Dawn Ryswyk. Dawn helped make us all feel a little older by playing the worship song Carrier only to have most of the crowd admit they'd never heard it before.

Oh yeah, Mark was there too.

On Wednesday night we headed to Tri-Valley high school and I walked into the gymnasium and realized the event was much larger than I thought it was going to be. They had a large stage set up and seating for around 900 people. The place packed out, my good friends from Sons of Thunder played the worship leaders, and it was a great time. There were LOTS of people there.

Oh yeah, Mark and Troy were there too.

On Thursday I headed to the Sioux Falls Christian High School in the afternoon to speak to good friend Luke Vander Leest's old testament bible class on biblical archaeology. I've been reading up and taking notes on the subject for the last several months, and thought it would be fun to share it with some others.

To put it simply, I bored the buhjeebers out of the class. It reminded me a lot of my first speaking engagement. I talked way too long, and way too fast and no one seemed to like me. But when I was done, I thought, I think I could do that better next time! So only time will tell whether or not I get another chance to share my studies on archaeology.

This coming weekend I'm speaking for a Presbyterian retreat in Des Moines. Troy and Dawn will be leading worship. And, oh yeah, Mark will be there.

Till next time,

Jason

Come on blogger.com!

Just got done typing a post about my recent trip up to Waylan, MI to speak at another Summit event and stay with good friends Andy and Erin Rozendaal, and the blog site temporarily crashed on me.

This is the second or third time this has happened, and I have NO desire to retype all that is lost. Bah. What a lumpy day.

So, in short, I went somewhere this weekend and things happened and I came home. Bah. Today, I hate blogspot. Instead I shall post a poem to fill space:

The Des Moines “International” Airport

You may want to call the police,
Or maybe the CIA,
Or whatever watchdog group may be,
Protecting the US of A.

There’s chance I might be a terrorist,
A chance I might be insane,
At least that’s what I found out last month,
While trying to get on a plane.

When I went through security,
A guard swabbed my laptop case,
Then put the swab into a machine,
A grimace affixed on her face.

I nervously tried to chit-chat,
“How long does it take this thing?”
She said, “Just a few moments and then,
It’ll make a noise that goes ding.”

I made a little joke or two,
She seemed immune to my charm,
Then the machine began to light up,
And out came a piercing alarm.

“That sure doesn’t sound like a ‘ding’”,
“No, it sure doesn’t,” she said,
Then she picked up her walkie-talkie,
And whispered, “I’ve got a code red.”

It’s strange that when this all happened,
I knew that I should stay calm,
But I’ll admit the thought crossed my mind,
“Well, maybe I do have a bomb. . .”

Just maybe Al Qaida changed plans,
To bring about our demise,
And instead of Arab extremists,
They’re targeting white, Irish guys.

Or maybe they got to my wife,
It wouldn’t be hard I guess,
Just catch her on one of my bad days,
When I’d left the bathroom a mess.

This uniformed man stormed over,
Like he was in a bad mood,
“Do you work with explosives?” he asked,
“Just when I eat Mexican food.”

Well, after a thorough pat down,
From a large black guard named Steve,
They told me it’d just been a mistake,
And said I was free to leave.

Yet, as I headed toward my gate,
After gathering my stuff,
That guilty part of me still wondered,
If they didn’t look hard enough.

Yes, that actually happened. It just didn't rhyme at the time like it does now.

Till next time,
Jason

Can't think of a good title . . .

Went up to emcee a couple of youth rally's in Northwest Iowa and Minny Soda this past weekend.

I met up with ministry partner Mark Elgersma, and his wife Cassi in Albert Lea, MN to car pool the rest of the way to Sioux Falls, SD where we were staying with Mark's wonderful parents Barry and Brenda. Had a great time chatting on the two hour drive with Cassi . . . and I guess Mark was okay to be around too.

The two events I was at were fall youth rally's for the area, and a kind of reunion of sorts for the event I spoke at this summer in Arizona. They brought Tom Tufts (former golf pro, and Christian speaker from Florida) to be the main speaker, and he's a pretty fun guy to hang around with. And when I say "pretty fun guy" I mean "he also likes to give Mark a really hard time" which I always enjoy.

I didn't have a terrible amount of responsibilities this weekend, so I got to do a little more hanging out than usual. I watched the entire Iowa/ISU game. I'm not a huge football fan. In fact, I rarely ever watch sports. But since I went to ISU, this is the one game of the year I always try to catch. Not because I necessarily find it interesting, mind you, I just like to know ahead of time how much razzing I'm going to have to take from Iowa fans if ISU loses. Well . . . it's going to be a long year.

I got to eat lunch with good friend Luke Vander Leest, his wife Carla, and their beautiful kids Derek and Caity (Sp?). I played an extensive game of hide and seek with Derek and I got to see Luke teach two year olds how to sing and dance, so that definately made my weekend.

Also got to chat a bit with Jacklyn Punt who was recovering from the same cold I'd had only days before. Troy and Dawn were there, of course. Dawn was great as always, and I got to punch Troy on stage and get away with it, so that was fantastic.

What else? Bored yet? I am and I lived it. It was more fun than it reads, trust me. Got home about two a.m. on Monday morning, then had to jump out of bed at seven a.m. to paint a day with Andrea's uncle Jere Brummel. How good of a painter am I? Well, Jere didn't curse or fire me on the first day, so that must have meant I wasn't completely awful. Although I did mess up quite a bit.

Okay, next time, I'll just post pictures - they'd probably be more interesting than anything I wrote today.

Till next time,
Jason

Long Time No See . . .

Yeah, it's been awhile since I updated. I'm a bad blogger with no other excuse than extreme business, followed by extreme laziness. But here's a list of where I've been as of late:

July - I spoke at Convention in Flagstaff, AZ for about 1,500 high schoolers and adults. Highlights of the trip include getting business manager Mark to do improv, and being flagged for a bomb at the airport (I'll cover that in a bit).

I also emceed and did some improv at Power Connection, the Reformed Church middle schooler event in Maryville, MO. The big highlight of that trip was getting to work with good friend Steve Hydeen from 88 Improv in Omaha, NE.

August - I got to do another Old Time Gospel Show in What Cheer, IA in the What Cheer Opera house. Seriously - this was the most fun I've had all summer. I read poems, and the audience was huge, and they rocked. We laughed, I got to hang out with Chris "Crackers" Bennett again, and I got to hear some great music. What's not to enjoy?

I also spoke for a youth event in Sully, IA. About 100 kids. Mark and Dustin were with me. Highlight? Mark and Dustin were with me.

Coming up, I get to head up to Minny Soda for a little Convention reunion type thing this month, as well as giving the message at 2nd Reformed Pella, and then I head out to Michigan to speak for my good friends in Dorr again.

In October I head to Milwaukee, in November I'm in South Dakota and Des Moines, and then in January I'm pretty pumped to head on up past the border to Canada! That's right, Canada! For the first time in my 30 long years here on earth, I'll be in another country. I'm pretty excited as I've heard a lot of good things about Canada - hockey, Tim Horton's coffee, and uh . . . snow.

So, back to the only part of this post that might be halfway interesting - I set the bomb detector off at the Des Moines "International" Airport. It was a pretty thrilling experience. I was on my way to Flagstaff, when I was pulled aside for a random extra security screening. This essentially means they give you a good frisking and give all your stuff an extra search.

After a security guard swabbed my laptop case, she put the little cotton cloth into a machine (the bomb detector), and we made a little chit chat while she said we had to wait for the little 'ding'. I told her I was a youth director going to speak at a teenage convention. Then the alarm sounded.

I said, "That doesn't sound like a 'ding'."

She said, "No, no it doesn't." She then grabbed her walkie talkie and radioed in a "hit on station six". A large guard came over, asked me if I worked with explosives, gave me my second frisking of the day, and then they sent me on my way.

I have to admit, even though I knew that I didn't have a bomb on me - my mind did go there for a second. Well, maybe I do have a bomb. Maybe someone did slip it into my things while I wasn't looking. I then realized the only person I'd been with all morning had been my wife, so you can bet I'm keeping a pretty close eye on her as of late.

You heard it here first - Al Qaida is now targeting tall, lanky, Irish guys through their wives. Be aware.

Till next time,

Jason