last night-

last night I got home after 11pm after a very late night at youth group. I walked in the house and deanna says, "did you get my text about the shower?"
"uh- no- what's wrong with the shower?"
"it won't drain. it's plugged up."

so I went into the bathroom and there was standing water in my bathtub. gross.
so I got the little plastic-zipper-unplugger and tried to fish out the plug, but I couldn't even get it to go do wn the drain. this was a serious plug.
so I got my shoes back on, went to the 24-safeway and got some draino.
on the way back I remembered that I have a super-plunger and that would surely do the trick.

when I got home, I got the super-plunger and started pushiing water in and out of the drain. it wouldn't budge. it seemed like something solid had getten into my drain!

I dropped the draino in and nothing happened.
it was really late and I didn't want to use a snake on it (we live upstairs in a condo, and I didn't want to make noise for my downstairs neighbor), but I thought I would take apart some of the hardware on the tub to see if I could at least get the plastic zipper down the side pipe.

as soon as I got the plate off of the stopper on the tub off I heard a CLUNK, and all of the water started gushing out. I groaned.

my wife rushed in- "what happened?!" she said-

"you had the tub stopper on."

she laughed so hard she started tearing up.

I told her I would get back at her for going viral with the story.
I can't be too upset- I didn't figure it out either. at least we didn't call the plumber!

God is love.
-rev-rob

update on your pal, rob; july 2011

its so cliche- but "wow! its been so long sonce I've written on my blog!" I've been getting some kind comments on some of my "lectio divina" wrirtings, and I need to get some of those on here again soon.

a couple of big things have come up since I last posted:

:: I went and saw my favorite band U2 in oakland with my friend mark! we had an amazing spot on the floor in front of the stage. the band had these bridges that floated over the audience, and at one point bono, the band's lead singer was right over my head, within reach!



:: my daughter has become quite the ballerina:





:: and quite the illustrator!



:: and she went to her first ever VBS at church. she loved it- and I loved seeing her get excited to go to church.



:: at work, we just finished up our first camp of the summer- the next one is in 2 weeks.

:: and for the first time in 15 years of working for churches, I don't have an office! I moved out of my old one, and my new set up won't have offices! when its completed it will be a starbucks-stye youth facility where you can work wherever you want, but no one owns anything. sounds crazy, but it will be amazing. until then, I'm fully mobile.



:: I started counting calories about 7 weeks ago, and so far I have dropped 27 pounds! I'm so excited about this- none of my pants fit anymore and my belt is on the tightest loop. I'm really hoping that this is more than just a fad for me and more of a whole new lifestyle.

:: probably the biggest thing I'm excited about is that July 1 marked the 10 year anniversary of our move to San Jose. I love this city. July 9 was my first day of work and will mark the 10 year anniversary of my work with middle schoolers at the church. this is a milestone that I have been looking forward to for a long, long time!

there is so much in my life that I am grateful for right now.
God is love.
-rev-rob

me and seth

a couple of years ago I wrote a blog about a friend of mine from high school named seth. when I first became a Christian at 16 years old, I needed some new friends quick, and seth and his circle of friends from first baptist were there for me. like I said in the earlier post, seth and his family now attend my home church in san jose. he has been doing a lot of work for the church in helping us remodel and whenever I see him meeting with one of our pastors I always pop mt head into the meeting and say, “if it wasn’t for this guy and his family, I might not have stayed in the church!”

one day seth and his wife came upstars to the middle school ministry. I thought they were there to volunteer. actually, they were there to drop off their son! I said, “you’re old enough to have a junior higher?! that means that I’M old enough to have a junior higher!” for the longest time it was so surreal to see seth’s son at the middle school ministry. this boy’s dad helped me to grow in Christ and now I had the incredible honor of helping seth’s son grow in Christ- its some kind of full circle effect.

for the longest time, seth’s son would get so embarrassed every time I saw him, because I would always say, “this guy's DAD was MY FRIEND when I was a student! I am so grateful for this guy’s dad!”

a few months ago seth’s son came up to me and said, “hey pastor rob? can I ask you a question? would you help me get baptized?” I almost burst into tears. “sure buddy.” I answered. “it would be an honor.” when I talked with seth about the service I asked him if he would join me in the tank in baptizing his son.

seth has 6 kids- all adopted- and that day we baptized 5 of them. when we were back stage I was back there with seth and his kids and there was so much joy in the room. I was thinking about all of the memories that we had and how huge of a moment this was. I wanted to share everything that I was feeling about this family, but for the sake of time I said, “we have 5 brothers and sisters getting baptized this morning with their dad seth. they were all brought together into seth’s family through the miracle of adoption- and by their faith in Christ, they are all brought together with us as our brothers and sisters in Christ, adopted into God’s family.”

this was seriously one of the greatest honors of my 15 years of ministry service.

God is love.
rev-rob

let's go fly a kite!

yesterday we went out and got a kite! we went to vasona park in los gatos, tied on our string and let it fly! jane is a natural kite-flyer! we had so much fun that we went 2 days in a row. a reporter from the san jose mercury news was walking by and snapped a few photos and they should be in the newspaper on May 31!

another broken bus story-

I've written a few broken bus stories on this blog- here is my latest:

last night the middle school ministry took the 8th graders to their annual goodbye party at the boardwalk in santa cruz. it was pretty much a perfect night. we had a good crowd of students, a good group of volunteers, the traffic was mellow, the boardwalk wasn’t crowded and the weather was perfect. I noticed that my cell phone battery was draining a lot faster than normal- and while we were at the boardwalk, it actually died (which is something that has never happened on a youth trip before.) I didn’t have a car charger and no one else had one that fit my phone.


after we went to the boardwalk, we went to seabright, where our high school team was waiting for us with a bbq and bonfire- again- everything was perfect. when it was time to leave, we got in the bus and drove off. while I was on HWY 17 I noticed that the power steering was a little stiff. I pulled over in Scotts Valley and could tell that we had lost it- and there was no way that I was going to take a bus full of students home on 17 with no power steering!

we called in the other cars who were with us and the high school team and got the students home safe. I stayed with the bus. dave called my favorite bus towing company, and they told me that they would be by in 45 minutes. so there I was, parked at a little church in scotts valley, waiting for a tow truck with just the bus and me and with no cell phone. I kind of started freaking out. something in me needed to have contact with the outside world! I saw a gas station over an overpass and thought they might have a car charger for my phone. I don’t really enjoy bridges, heights or edges- and especially when the go over HWY17 in the pitch black dark, but I went for it. I went to 2 gas stations, a grocery store and finally a quik stop to get this car charger. I was actually sprinting because I was afraid that the tow truck might come and I might miss it. they had the charger- I got it and sprinted back- all the way back to the overpass, over it, and back to the bus.

I was so relieved to see my phone charging up- I really can’t explain how excited that made me. the first call I made was to the tow company. they told me that the guy was 20 minutes out. then I called Deanna, then paco. the tow guy didn’t come for another hour. when he did get there, I discovered that he saw an accident and stopped to help even though they didn’t ask him to in order to get the commission. he told me that a little pulley under the hood has worn down and that kept the belts from staying tight and took out the power steering. it couldn’t be fixed, it had to be towed. when I got in the car, he said, “actually I was hoping that you would be the guy from the radio- I love that guy! I listen to him every day!” he was talking about my pastor, chip. I said, “yeah- he’s pretty great, I like listening to him too.” he said, “my lady lives right behind your church! I asked her, ‘can you just feel the presence of God radiating from that place?’ she said ‘no- actually they are kind of annoying- they’re really loud!’”

we actually had a great talk about some of the questions that he had about the church and the bible- he was a really cool guy. most of the tow guys I meet are pretty cool.

my journey over the hill started at about 8:30, and it ended at about 12:30am- sheesh! that vehicle…

well, at least everyonne got home safely, and I got a new story to tell-

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

jane's graduation from kindergarten:

I am super proud of both jane and deanna for completing their first year of home school. jane did a great job on all of her schoolwork, and deanna did an amazing job as her teacher. last night we went to a little ceremony for the local homeschoolers where they were able to get a certificate and show off their work. jane read her book, "amanda pig goes on a hike." after watching her do this, I think my face was literally glowing with pride. I was so impressed with my little girl.

jane's graduation story from rob walter on Vimeo.

security!

over the last few years, the church has grown quite a bit- because of this, I'm not on stage as much as I used to be and not as many people recognize me as one of the pastors; I(by the way- this isn't a complaint- this doesn't bother me at all!)

also- our church has implemented security to make sure that the hallways that have children in them are secure- if I want to go down one of these hallways during church, I need to show my employee badge- which I rarely carry.

last sunday, I was walking with a student up to the middle school roomm where I was met by 2 security guards- I could tell that one of them didn't recognize me. he said, "hi- this area is secure." I said, "oh- I work here- I'm allowed to go through." he said, "do you have a badge?" I started digging through my pockets- (as if it were in there!)

his co-security-guard partner was a lady who knew me from years ago- she said, "what?! don't you know who this is?! this is rob walter! he is a pastor here! don't you know who this is?!" the other security guard apologized and let me through-

all that is to say is that I felt like some kind of celebrity, if just for a moment- and that was kind of fun.

God is love.
-rev-rob

my favorite clip.

several years ago I was sick at home, flipping through channels on the sofa. I saw this clip of fred rogers and I found it to be the most caring moment I think that I have ever seen on tv.

I searched for the dvd and bought it.

the church was doing a volunteer appreciation event, and i showed this clip and spoke about caring, individual attention, and affirmation.

I have often done a series for hte middle schoolers called "liking yourself" where I talk about biblical self-esteem and Gods love for us. I often show this clip and make the point that God loves us in spite of the way we feel about ourselves, or even the way the world has treated us. God loves us in spite of our weaknesses with an unconditional love- says to us, "its YOU I like, not the things you do or have."

it may sound hokey, but this is the kind of minister and dad that I want to be. the way that fred rogers makes this kid feel is the way that I want to make the people that I interact with feel. I have a lot of heroes for the various different roles that I play and things that I do. I have preaching heroes, and leadership heroes, and i also have a hero when it comes to the art of the interpersonal conversation- and its fred rogers.

there are days when I am overwhelmed with details and my mood is sour. I know that I need to care for the people that are on their way to meet with me, and I know that I don't have the capacity. in those moments, I watch this clip, learn from the master, dry my tears, and get back in the game. this clip inspires me to care, to listen, to affirm, and to leave others with a blessing. I have watched this clip a hundred times, but it still does not inspire me to sing to, or with middle schoolers, but its still effective. (the first 5 minutes of this clip is what I'm referring to).

God is love.
-rev-rob

rob the black swan

Last weekend the middle school ministry that I lead launched its 3rd weekend service. We pulled out all the stops, a ton of students came out, and we all had a blast. This morning I was reflecting on this weekend, and the fact that I get to do what I do, and it dawned on me, that when I was a kid, I had absolutely no intention of doing any of this.

I’m essentially a farm-kid from the central valley. As a kid, I loved being by myself and I still enjoy solitude; when I was a kid I had no desire at all to be in front of a crowd, the center of attention or anyone’s leader- and yet here I am.


One of my friends read a book with me called “the black swan.” The book says that when you look back on your life or on history, things seem to follow a natural progression; but if you remember being there in those moments, things actually happened fairly randomly. There are these moments- called black swans, where a random event occurred, but it completely affected the future and changed the course of your story. As believers we prefer to think of these black swans as God’s plan, God’s grace and God’s providence.


Here are some of the black swans that led me here:


• When I was a teenager I worked at an ice-cream shop. And while I was there I met a friend who invited me to church.


• The church just happened to be near my house, and it just happened to have an amazing youth ministry.


• I became a Christian in that church and somewhat randomly got involved as a leader in my youth group, with special attention, training and mentoring from the youth pastor and volunteers.


• This church just happened to have an intern program ith monies set aside for intern salaries and graduate schooling; and I just happened to be chosen as an intern and had my schooling scholarshipped.


• When I finished school, my church did not hire me, even though they had openings. I was hurt by this, but it sent me on a search for a new ministry-


• And somewhat randomly, I met my former pastor galen and los gatos Christian church.


• I just happened to run into the most incredible bunch of leaders and students on the planet.


• The church just happened to merge with another church in town, and I got to team up with my friend justin and his amazing team, and all of the sudden, the little youth ministry was a big one.


• The senior pastors of that church retired, and the church hired a well known speaker and author.


• And all of the sudden, that big youth ministry became a bigger one.


• And added to that, I found myself in the sweetest, most wonderful family with my favorite people in the world, Deanna and jane.


And the crazy thing is that I didn’t make any of these choices. This farm-boy from the central valley just seemed to find myself in the midst of these changes and opportunities. and when I start to think I’m something special, I just remember that I didn’t navigate this course or create these opportunities- they are all a gift of grace. And it makes me wonder what black swans are coming up ahead. As a kid, I never wanted to be anyone’s leader or to be in front of a crowd, and to be honest, it always intimidates me; but I wouldn’t trade this story and life for anything. I’m absolutely in love with this stage of my life.


This summer our youth ministry is studying the psalms, and I think of psalm 23. And I can say with David that the LORD is my shepherd; and He has been leading me on the most amazing journey- and my job is to be His sheep; to follow Him closely, and to enjoy the ride.


God is love. -rev-rob