2013 to 2014::

2013 was a big year!
I got ordained!
I ran 2013 miles! (and put a stress fracture in my hip- ouch!)
I learned lots of bible verses-

I had some wonderful times with my family too-
deanna and I celebrated SEVENTEEN YEARS married- whoa!

we discovered feeding koi fish at japanese gardens,
 

cable cars:

golden gate park,

we visited disneyland-

we discovered bocce ball,

we celebrated my kid turning NINE. (and grew OUT of the children's discovery museum.)
jane had a great time being a homeschooler!
she did really great at all of her school work, and got to go on lots of cool field trips-
like this one to see some original star wars props- (ok this was really more for me:)

and she got REALLY good at cursive writing. I have never seen my child so interested in hand writing! kudos to her awesome teacher!

and we made lots of homemade toys!

at church, I celebrated 12 years of middle school ministry at the same church- whoa!
and we did some fun things like renting out a roller rink for a 50's party:

we rented an ice cream truck:

 

we rented an ice-rink:

we threw some crazy parties:

we played a lot of games:

I wrote about a million-billion letters:

and we did lots and lots of talks!
some were at schools:

some were on video:

some were on the road at camps:

but most of them were at home in our big green room.
I also said goodbye to some good co-worker friends, and hello to some new co-worker friends!

I kept all of my new year's resolutions, but here are a few more:
I plan to run 2014 miles in 2014!
I plan on memorizing another 12 chapters of the bible with my friend Mike,
no candy or un-diet soda.
and only ONE serving of fries per week. this year I'll have 52 friday-FRYdays!

I'm starting out next year with SIX WEEKS OFF for extended leave. I'll probably post 1000 blogs and tear every leg muscle I've got. and go broke by giving all of my money to malibu grill. but hopefully I'll get some good rest too.

it was a great year! next year will be great too-
happy new year friends!

God is love.
-rev-rob

a belated year end blog

2012 was great. great year with the family, and a great year at work.
I made several new year's resolutions, and I did pretty well on them! I said that I wanted to maintain my weight and pants-size- and I made some good progress on that! I even dropped to lower weights and pants sizes! I wanted to upgrade my house, and I'm sure I did- all of the projects seem to kind of blend together in my memory-
speaking of memory- I had a goal to memorize galatians, philippians and colossians, and all of those verses are now swirling around in my brain.
and I had no fries, no regular soda, and no candy until christmas.

I also accomplished a few things that weren't on my list! I became a runner! last year I put in 1100 miles on the treadmill! I got runner shoes and clothes and all kinds of other accessories. I really love it!

so this year my goals include-
running 1500 miles, memorizing 12 more chapters of the bible, no fries, no soda, and no candy until christmas. I also want either me or deanna to read a chapter of the bible with jane each night.

we just got her a real bible, and we've been reading it before bed each night. this is something that I have been wanting to do for awhile, but wasn't really sure how to get started. this year at christmas, she read part of the christmas story at her grandparents' and she enjoyed it a lot- so did I! so the next day we got a real teenager-purple bible for girls. she has been reading the psalms before bedtime and she really gets into it. a few nights ago we were reading psalm 3 and she was reading in a loud, booming voice:
"O LORD, I HAVE SO MANY ENEMIES! SO MANY ARE AGAINST ME! SO MANY ARE SAYING, “GOD WILL NEVER RESCUE HIM!” it was epic.

one more resolution: I plan to get ordained! that means I'll really be REV-ROB. this is something I have been curious about for a long time, but now I feel like its time. it sounds like it won't be as hard as I thought it would be. can you believe it? I'll be a reverend! sheesh.

thanks for reading and for following me on twitter @realrobwalter
happy new year!

God is love.
-rev-rob
 

2012 resolutions

every year I make new year's resolutions- last year my resolutions included:
// continue to aggressively eliminate debt and not go in ANY further.
// continue to have a great attitude
// celebrate TEN YEARS at the church in july
// get to the point where I ENJOY running and look forward to it.
// I want to drop weight and pants sizes
// I want to see how long I can go no soda, no candy. yikes! (in other words, no 7/11 in 2011)
// I want to be able to quote the entire book of romans by the end of 2011.
I did pretty well.
we eliminated some debt and made some more-
I think I had a good attitude, although I definitely had some moments that I'd like to do-over if I could,
I had a wonderful 10 year celebration this year- thanks to many friends and family members,
I dropped 50lbs and 6 inches in the waistband-
I did go no "regular soda." I had quite a bit of the diet soda, but none of the hard stuff.
I also went no candy or friench fries.
and I finished memorizing romans earlier this year.
I never got into running, and I doubt that I will- I have enjoyed hiking in the local foothills very much.

now for 2012!
nothing crazy- just more good stuff:
// this year I want to memorize galatians, ephesians and colossians, which should go over pretty well with my awesome group of verse-memorizing-accountability-friends-
// I want to maintain my weight and pants-size.
// I want to continue to upgrade and improve my home.
// for my food-fasts: no fries, no candy, no soda until christmas 2013.

there's lots that I want to do that can't be quantified-
I want to have a good attitude at all times- (1 Thessalonains 5:16-18 is becoming a theme verse for my life)
I want to be fully-present in every conversation- especially with my family; but also with students, co-workers and the team of volunteers at the church.
I want to do an excellent job at my work-
I want to grow in my ability to create and deliver a message from the bible-
I want to learn and grow in my fascination in new fields-
I want to respond in a godly way in every interaction and issue that I face.
I want to grow in my generosity- not necessarily to strangers, but to people that I know and love who could use the help.
I want to be a great dad to my kid-
I want to be a great husband to my wife-

a lot of these things can't be checked off of a list- they are areas to grow in, and this year I want to grow into a better me.

and I hope that this year is a year where you accomplish your goals both tangible and unquantifiable-
the world is counting on you to be the best you that you can be at any given moment,
because you never know when its your moment to stand and deliver a skill and character that only you can provide-
have an amazing year!

God is love.
-rev-rob

mid-year resolutions

I started this year with several resolutions, and some of them have been going great, some not so much- so I'm going to do some mid-year tweaking.

I started off saying no candy or soda in 2011- and I ended up replacing candy with cookies and soda with sweet tea and starbucks mochas. not a big upgrade in nutritional value. so now I'm going to do the points system- or monitor and limit my calories. I've been doing this for a week, and I'm already down 8 pounds. I still want to avoid candy however. Instead of avoiding soda, I'm actually drinking only diet soda. so I still get all of that caffeine that I love, but not all the calories. 

memorizing romans has been going along just fine. I'm excited that I now have 3 other friends from the middle school staff doing this with me. this has evolved into one of my favorite parts of this year so far. each morning I get up early (well, kind of early...) and go for a walk on either the Los Alamitos Creek Trail or the Los Gatos Creek trail with all of my flash cards and review paul's letter to the romans. this has become an exercise that centers me, prepares me, coaches me encourages me and rebukes me. lov it- can't wait to 2012 to learn some other books too.

we wanted to not use the credit card at all this year and that went pretty well until the cars broke. now its time to get back on the saddle.

its been a wild 6 months- lots of new students and volunteers at the church, lots of incredible camps and services-
like I said in my last post, jane is growing up way too fast and is absolutely loving her life.

I'm full of hope for the future.

here is a little blessing for you from the book of romans, chapter 5-
"since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through Whom we have gained access into this grace in which we now stand. and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character hope. and hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us. you see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, and for a good man someone might possibly dare to die- but God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

God is love.
-rev rob

out of 2010, into 2011-

what a wild year.
I didn't blog much- twitter and facebook have been my outlet for short, random thoughts. I have written a number of blogs only to delete them minutes after they have gone up. I guess I'm becoming more choosy about the stories I tell and share. but its been a great year- one of those years that no one could earn or deserve- but I'm keeping it.



when it came to my new year’s resolutions, I did ok.


• I wanted to go the whole year without using a credit card, and I made it all the way to December, but my trusty explorer found a way to break just before the year ended. It broke earlier in the year too- so did our VW, but in those cases, we were able to pay for those out of our bank account.


• I wanted to go to the gym 300 times this year; but in January, the craziest thing happened: my right ear exploded in a very quiet mixture of pain and ear fluid. I was on pain meds for the entire month. I also added a few evening meetings to my week which made it almost impossible to get to the gym often.


• I wanted to have a great attitude this year, and that went ok. On one occasion, I was actually commended by my boss for specifically having a great attitude; and on other occasions, I had to apologize for not having the best attitude. My attitude-study eventually turned into one of my more popular teaching serieses this year.


• I also wanted to eat NO FRIED FOODS all year. aaaaand, that was an epic fail.


• last- I wanted to take Janie to Disneyland, and I was able to that twice this year- and without using the charge card!






this has been a wild year at work too-


// in middle school, we added a saturday night service to our weekly ministry; which means that I was with students, speaking to them, 5 days a week this year- sheesh!

// we did some experiments with our programming-

:: we went on a new kind of mission trip, focused on ministering to children in need- and it was a blast. we want to do it again this year.

:: we did our first ever summer camp that was just for us. it was the craziest week that I can remember- more on that later.


:: we took our journey program to the next level- and had a ball with it- we want to go bigger and better this year.


:: and I restarted my ministry to kids at Princeton plaza on wednesday mornings.

:: we got a new member of our student team, in addition to saying goodbye to another.


:: our volunteer team added new faces and said goodbye to others-


:: and I celebrated 10 summers at hume lake in July.


personally, this year has been amazing.


• my daughter turned 6! and she and deanna started HOMESCHOOL! jane loves it and does so well. so does deanna.


• I started memorizing bible verses with a friend


• we have cut down debt


• we celebrated 14 years of marriage


• and I still made it to the gym a lot.


• jane is growing up- and had her first “friend-birthday party”


• and she fell in love with the Toy Story franchise. we saw all of the movies, rode the rides, listened to the audiobooks, a trillion times. we also bought a ton of the merchandise.


• jane has also become an accomplished author, uno player and yatzee competitor.

as far as goals for 2010, they are pretty simple:


// continue to aggressively eliminate debt and not go in ANY further.
// continue to have a great attitude
// celebrate TEN YEARS at the church in july
// get to the point where I ENJOY running and look forward to it.
// I want to drop weight and pants sizes


and for the BIG goals:


// I want to see how long I can go no soda, no candy. yikes! (in other words, no 7/11 in 2011)
// I want to be able to quote the entire book of romans by the end of 2011.

a year can bring so much- so much grief and drama, and so much joy and opportunity. we’ll see where 2011 takes the walters, and you.


God is love.
-rev-rob

6 month update

if you’re keeping tabs on your pal rob, here are some updates:



I made some new year’s resolutions at the beginning of the year; here is a 6 month update:


I made a resolution to eat no fries and no fried food all year. that has been pretty good. I’ve been in situations where there has only been fried food available and have had a few bites here and there. it hasn’t been perfect, but I’m doing pretty good. my new goal is to have a soda-free-summer. about 25 day in and I’m going strong. I don’t even miss it.


we have also not charged anything for the last 6 months. this has really helped us to pay down our credit cards! whenever I buy something online, I first go and get a gift card and use that instead of my credit card. I’m hoping to make it until December, but we’ve got a cracked winshield on one car, and bald tires on another. hang in there car parts!


we did get to take Janie to Disneyland, and we can’t wait to get back. she has recently fallen in love with toy story 2, and we are excited to go on the toy story ride and take pictures with buzz and woody.


I said that I wanted to have a good attitude, and I’m really working on it! (that last post wasn’t the best example). I have read a bunch of books on this, and I think about this and talk about this all the time. its cool, because I often hear my friends talking about it too.


I wanted to get to the gym 250 times this year. this isn’t going to happen. I make it about 3 times a week if I’m lucky. I’ve added some meetings to my weekly schedule that make it almost impossible to go everyday.


I’m still making a ton of homemade toys! I just made jane a soccer field for her figures, and a hat for her buzz lightyear costume.


my trees didn’t make it. there are 2 left. they are fighting to stay alive. I had the students plant pine tree seeds instead. I’ll share more about that camp in the future.


my job is a blast, and my family is awesome.
thanks for keeping up with me. and thanks for reading my blog.


God is love.
-rev-rob

one LAST new year’s resolution:

one LAST new year’s resolution:

no fried food at all in 2010!

no fries,

no onion rings,

no mcdonald’s hash browns,

no tater tots,

no chicken strips,

no fried cheese sticks, corn dogs, fried burritos, nothing.

but this raises some problems:

what about chips? aren’t they fried? do they count? how will I eat salsa?

what about orange chicken at panda?

does that count?

do taco shells count?

I’m sure I’ll spend the entire year trying to figure out what counts and what doesn’t.

I’m going to focus primarily on the stuff that has been dunked in oil and is still wet from it-

and anything that has a crispy breading on it.

hold me accountable if we're out to eat!

-rob

one more goal for 2010:

tonight at the gym I was reminded of one more resolution that I have for this year:

this year is the year of the great attitude.

the year of encouragement.

the year of sparkle, of interest in others, and gladly helping others.

this is the year of no complaints.

I have blogged about some of the people that I know that have great attitudes. guys like gary and Lloyd. these guys are always glad to see me, always encouraging, always positive, and always in a great mood.

there is another person I know who works at the togo’s on Camden and almaden- whenever I go in, I always try to get to talk to her- because of her great attitude. whenever I see her I always ask, “how are you doing?” and like clockwork, she answers, “I can’t complain!” with a smile.

I want to be like her- and like Lloyd and gary, and like the many other people I know who are known for having a great attitude.

I have read several good books on the subject, and I want to implement these more than ever. I do ok at this from time to time, but this year I want a good attitude to mark me and my interactions with others. I don’t want to fake it, I just want to leave the people I meet encouraged. this is a big stretch for me; I’m a quiet person. I like being alone. I like accomplishing goals and being on time. sometimes when people discover that you’re willing to listen, they’ll just talk all day. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes, but I want to establish a habit that will begin now and continue for years to come.

Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

God is love.

-rev-rob

out of 2009, into 2010

2009 was a big year.

some pretty significant things happened this last year-

I took 6 weeks off of work for extended leave! (well, sort of)

my kid turned 5,

I celebrated 8 years at the church, and in middle school ministry,

I got to meet and work with all kinds of new and cool people-

the church grew by a lot! and so did the middle school ministry.

and some not so great things happened this year:

my parents announced that they were splitting up.

the transmission went out in the explorer, which made a tight budget tighter.

I said goodbye to some very cool work partners

I walked with some friends through some very difficult days,

and my friend Ed passed into eternity.

some friends and I have been talking about a book called “The Black Swan” which discusses the randomness and improbability of just about everything; and here on the eve of 2010, there are a lot of Black Swans waiting to be revealed. who knows what it will bring?

who will I meet in 2010 that will change my life?

who will I say goodbye to?

what will surprise me?

what will break my heart?

with everything that DID happen this year, there are a lot of significant things that DIDN’T happen, which I can be grateful for:

I didn’t lose my job or my home- even though many did.

I didn’t lose any members of my immediate family- even though many did.

I didn’t have to move, I didn’t have to stay in the hospital, I didn’t get in a car accident- even though many had to deal with all of these.

so I’m not complaining, I recognize that I’ve been fortunate and blessed.

last year I made a few new year’s resolutions:

1. no fries

2. 250 trips to the gym

3. a 6 week vacation funded by cash, not credit.

and I’m proud to say that I did them all; well, I had a few orders of fries AFTER I hit that 250 mark.

this year I want to do all of those again plus more. my goals this year are:

1. no fries.

2. 250 trips to the gym minimum. I’m hoping to actually get to at least 275 and to 300.

3. I want to pay cash for everything. no charging at all. if the car breaks- which it always does, I might have to charge that; but other than that I don’t want to charge anything. I will probably still need to use a card to buy stuff online, but I’ll have to get creative about how to pull that off without using credit.

4. I want to take my 5 year old to Disneyland. I’ve been saying that I will do it for years, but every time, something comes up.

what will 2010 bring? we’ll see! but let’s have an attitude of expectation and wonder through it all.

God is love.

-rev-rob

new year's resolutions

this new year’s eve, i’ve got all kinds of goals for the next year. i’m taking an extended leave this year- which is basically 6 weeks off. crazy! the walters plan to have some serious-theme-park-fun, and one of my goals is to save up for that and not use credit to pay for that at all. last year i had a goal to go to the gym more. i kept track and it was something like 200+ visits. this year i want to kick that up to 250. my gym is closed a lot, so i’ll see if i can pull that off. this year i have also flirted with different fasts from food. i swore off of caffeine for several (painful and sleepy) months. i also swore off of sweets for a couple of months too. this year i want to take it to a new level: no french fries for 2009- whoa! this will be really hard- not because i’m a fry-guy, but because they’re everywhere. jane and i hit mcdonald’s and burger king all the time. i’ll just have to find something else to munch on. this will also be hard at hume lake. but i think i can do it. i’m sure i’ll come up with other challenges for myself later on this year. the great thing about a new year is that it’s a blank slate: anything can happen, and always does. happy new year!

the front row

I have been sitting in the front row in church for the past seven years. at first it was because I was sitting with middle schoolers. but it didn’t take long for them to discover that if they say next to me that I would shush them if they talked. or fought. or passed notes. or threw notes. or texted. or made phone calls…
so, I haven’t had any middle schoolers to sit with for awhile. but I’ve still been sitting up front. and I often ask myself why I’m there. here are some of the reasons that I answer myself::


:: I’m there in case the pastor needs help. when I went to 1st B, there was always an associate minister that sat up front just in case the pastor needed anything. and I have been able to help out some. there have been times when someone needed something, and I was available to get it. there have also been times (like LAST SUNDAY) when the pastor needs a volunteer for an illustration, and I have helped with that too. there have been times when I have been ready to help someone if they were sick, but they were always ok.


:: I tell myself that I’m sitting in the front row in case someone needs to find me. if someone was looking for me, I’m always in the same place.


:: I tell myself that I’m up front to pay better attention, and it does help.


:: I tell myself that I’m upfront, because no one is sitting there, and maybe I’ll start a trend.


but then sometimes I wonder- “am I sitting up here to look important?” “am I sitting up here to get attention?” I don’t think so, but still, I wouldn’t want to. (I seem to get a lot of attention from the camera-man- at least the back of my head does.) I also ask myself, “am I sitting up here to be by myself?” that’s not a good motive either.


so- in 2009, I’m sitting somewhere else in church. and I’m going to sit with my wife. I’ll miss the leg-room.

starting on september 1:

i'm going to try to get off of candy.
AACK!
I'm going to try to go for 6 weeks- no candy or soda.
so- if you read this- you can keep me accountable.
and don't buy me candy please!
i can't turn down a gift...
wish me luck.
-rob

random-rob-thoughts: may 21

here is an update on my funny life-


:: I did my morning club in Princeton plaza this morning- its been kind of a downer lately. I had this vision of a room filled with students, eating, chatting, discussing spiritual issues, behaving; but instead, the students sort of come in, grab a handful of hashbrowns and then leave. so- next wednesday will be the last one for the year. one thing i'm pretty excited about is my newest volunteer, dale- who plays twister with the boys!


:: life is always fun with jane around; we went to the park recently; its got this “curvy-slide” that jane likes to slide down and pick up static electricity. she then touches my hand and gives us both a big shock. when we went last weekend, the static electricity gave her a new look:





:: speaking of new looks, I’m chopping off my hair. I wanted it to look cool like bono’s when he grows his hair out, but it just doesn’t- and it takes forever to dry it. I’ve been testing the waters, saying to people, “I think I’m going to cut my hair,” hoping that they would say, “no! it looks awesome!” but instead, they say, “yeah. you really should.”


:: its been 2 weeks since I’ve had a soda or energy drink. I can’t really say that I’m off of caffeine. I’ve been drinking this Propel invigorating Water. its got almost as much caffeine as pepsi. but its water- so I don’t feel so bad- and I only have one a day. I did try that new sweet tea that they have at mcdonald’s, and I needed to take a moment after I tasted it. it’s a lovely beverage.


:: here are a few jane quotes:
the other day I was pushing her on the swings and she was narrating what was happening, which is something she does a lot of. she was saying, “whoa! I’m swinging! whoa! the trees are swinging too!” this other dad was pushing his kid next to me and decided to start up a conversation. he and I got to talking and jane said, “no more talking dad! just pushing!”
she also walks around the house saying, “that sounds CRAZY!” which cracks me up.
right now, she has a passion for cheetos.


:: I just read a hilarious book called “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” its supposed to be the daily journal of a middle school boy. it good for a laugh.