The World According To Chris Brewer

This weekend was pretty chill. I think it’s the first weekend I didn’t hang out with the normal crew…I wanted to take some time and hang out with my Marine buddies from Norfolk who just started going to church at Lakeside.

So Saturday I went clothes shopping and only spent $70 on two pairs of shorts and four polo shirts. Incredible…Value City and Old Navy rock. Seriously…if you live in Newport News and want some cheap American Eagle polo shirts, go to Value City. Seriously. $24 shirts marked down to $11 and $12. Anyway, that night I went down to Norfolk to meet Joe, Jake and Nick. We all went to MacArthur Center, bought some music, then drove down to Williamsburg while blaring the Foo Fighters with the windows down and my back left speaker officially blown.

In Williamsburg we all spent some good time at Hooters, where my friend Melissa works. I wouldn’t go to Hooters if she didn’t work there, because honestly their food is at best decent, and I don’t know anyone else that works there. Plus the environment there is probably not the best for a Christian man to get involved in. But anyway Melissa was there, we all asked for her as our server, and we ate wings and cake. Poor girl…Melissa had been busy all day and you could kinda tell, but God bless her, she kept waiting tables and even took time to sit and talk with us for a bit. She’s pretty cool…I’ve got to talk with her a little bit more since she’s been home for the summer, and I’ve found she’s actually one of the better female friends I have. (She is nearly solely responsible for helping me get over Stephanie…she would call me often just to see how I was doing and provide some good words of encouragement.)

Anyway enough about that. After leaving Hooters, poor Jake kept having allergy/sinus problems, and when I pulled into a gas station I made some sort of comment about him making this blowing noise through his nose–”it sounds kinda like a laugh, a snort and blowing snot everywhere all at the same time.” I don’t know why, but Joe and Nick laughed so hard you could see them cry. Which got me to laughing too, and it was one of the most unsafe drives I have ever had down Interstate 64. Not that there are many safe drives down that freeway anyway.

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!!! Church in the morning was really good. We had a guest speaker come in and share with us how she is a prison chaplain in Hawaii, and how God is blessing her ministry and can do the same for our church at Lakeside. It was a big encouragement to hear her stories and her words of encouragement…I want to see if I can get some of the notes from the sermon so I can post them on here. My mind is spinning right now so I can’t remember everything, but I promise I will try my best to recount the sermon at a later time.

After church, Mike (another new guy at church, praise God!), Joe, Jake and Nick all joined me at Cici’s Pizza in Hampton. Good eats…we discussed some church issues, what we like about church, what they notice while they are still new to the church, etc. Also we shared some stories from our personal lives…good “get to know each other” time. (And that’s what ministry is all about, too.)

That night we had a classic COGOP Called Conference, to elect new church trustees and also get the youth pastor search committee’s (SHOCK!) report on beginning a search for a new youth pastor. (I said SHOCK! because I had not heard anything about an active search for a new youth pastor, that some people in leadership were getting involved in. Weird, because I’m part of the youth leadership team….) Cameron Ashworth, Tom Brock, Fred Burns, Ray Holland and John Stevens are now Lakeside’s trustees and God bless them!!! The youth pastor search committee then presented a 20-point criteria for a new youth pastor, and blah blah blah blah, time to go home.

I went home and watched “The Patriot” merely for the sake of watching gratuitous violence. Yes.

Now it’s Monday and I have to figure out a plan for getting to Washington State COGOP’s annual convention in mid-August.