The World According To Chris Brewer

Got a great weekend coming up. Tonight I’m going to see another Portland Trail Blazers game with my friend Michael. Not only is it great to see the Blazers play in person, but it’s even better to be able to reconnect with a good friend of mine who I spent some good time in the ministry with as well. It’s gonna be great.

Not doing much tomorrow, so I’m pretty much open. Might just take some time to relax and unwind. Next Saturday I’ll be at the retreat and I start work on Tuesday, so tomorrow will be my last lazy day for awhile.

Sunday I plan on going to church, then heading down to Corvallis again to see Aftan. She has Monday off as well (thank you Martin Luther King, Jr.) so I think I’ll head back that night.

Then Tuesday I start my new job!!!

Lots to be excited about.

WARNING: You are about to read the best news to come from my neck of the woods in quite some time. If you suffer from extreme jealousy or all out hate me, do not read on.

Okay, so here we go.

This coming Tuesday, I start my new job as a freelance videographer for KPTV, the FOX affiliate here in Portland, Oregon. God opened the door for me to receive the job and how he did it is truly impressive. Too many details to write about on the blog, but if you ask me sometime I’d be glad to tell you.

I got a call from the folks at KPTV telling me that my background check had gone through and I was good to go…then they offered me the position. I accepted, and ever since then I’ve been brimming with excitement and anticipation for my new gig as a videographer for a prominent Portland TV station. I start training on January 16 and keep it up for two weeks, then I’m on my own after that…I have a good skill set the military provided me with, but I’ve gotta learn how to ramp it up a bit for commercial TV news. I think I’m gonna like it. The people there are great and I look forward to working with them.

Praise God for this opportunity…going from the Air Force to working for the top-rated late night newscast in Portland, the #24 media market in the nation, is HUGE. Thanks to everyone who helped me along and prayed for me, this is awesome!

I’ve gotta get going to Camas pretty soon, but first I wanted to post some photos of the snow we had this morning. It’s supposed to snow off and on today but I don’t think any more will stick to the ground, given the sun keeps rearing its ugly head and melting everything.

Click the thumbnails to enlarge the photos, of course.

These were shot in and around St. Helens, Oregon at 8 AM. Enjoy!

My excitement over Tony Romo handing the NFC Wild Card game to the Seahawks has died down and now I’m all business today. All business, as in preparing for the Seahawks to take on Chicago this weekend. All business, as in praying and fasting for Winter Retreat. And all business, as in looking at reviews of what’s taking place at CES 2007 in Las Vegas.

The Consumer Electronics Show is THE premier cutting-edge technology exposition in the United States…the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs announce and showcase new technologies and devices that revolutionize the way we live. Other companies such as Samsung, Philips, Sony, etc. trumpet new products they have coming out. Basically it’s techie heaven, and it’s one event I would love to go to. Plus, it’s held in Las Vegas.

That being said, Steve Jobs has done it again, announcing the iPhone — a cell phone that runs Mac OS X, has an unparalleled touchscreen capability, and doubles as a widescreen video iPod. It looks nice, but at the price of $499 with a Cingular two-year service contract, I don’t think Apple will make a dent in the market in the first year. Great idea, and it might take a while for the iPhone to catch on (and usually I am against buying first-generation electronics), but Apple might have something going here. Just expect everyone else to follow suit with Apple and create phones similar to this…

Me, I think I’m doing just fine with my Motorola SLVR L7 from Cingular (the photo at left is not mine, it’s a stock photo). It’s more than I could ask for…it doubles as an iPod of sorts as well, syncing with iTunes through USB, and able to store 100 songs via a 512MB MicroSD card. The Internet is full of people dedicated to modding the phone, so I’ve been able to do some pretty cool things with it so far. I’m happy with it and even though I lust after the iPhone, I would have absolutely zero use for it. I’m happy with my SLVR…after all, the Family Plan I joined with Aftan and her mom means I don’t pay nearly as much as I paid with Verizon.

Sorry I droned on about technology. I should know better.

Today I started a partial fast for Winter Retreat. As mentioned in an earlier post, the Lord has been showing me how to pray and what to pray in regards to the camp, the kids I will have in my cabin, the needs of the staff, etc. I’m not big into fasting so it’s gonna be kinda tough but I’m dedicated to doing it. The Lord will help me through it.

Also I have begun a personal campaign to read the entire Bible in a year. I’m on Genesis 20 right now…and I’m reading the Message translation. The Message, I’ve found, is great if you’re just reading the Bible (it is by no means a study tool) because it was “translated” from old English and updated into what we hear and speak nowadays. I like it…it definitely makes the Old Testament easier to read. And if I find something I want to study, I’ll dig out the King James version and Strong’s concordance and study a bit.

On a non-spiritual note, yesterday I got a one month membership at the Columbia City Sports & Recreation Center. Columbia City is only about 6 miles west of here so the drive isn’t bad. And it only cost me $50. Nice facility, and it’s gonna help me get back into the shape I need to be in.

Wow, I sound really motivated. I’m gonna go take a nap now.

Please enjoy this clip from YouTube…a glorious montage of shots from Romo’s fumble set to the iconic famous words in the movie “Carrie”…

Seahawks fans weren’t nearly as much of a 12th Man as Tony Romo was last night. ROMO FOR SEAHAWKS MVP!!!

FYI, Jordan Babineaux is the real hero though…the guy is a Dallas Cowboy killer. Remember last year when he intercepted Bledsoe with ten seconds left and a 10-10 tie, returned it twenty yards and set up the Josh Brown game-winning field goal??? And now he comes up with a shoestring tackle on Romo that saved the Seahawks season. Babineaux is the MAN.

But not as much as Tony Romo.

Sorry. The post title is something of an inside joke between Aftan and I, and I promised to allude to it here. So I did.

I’m in Corvallis now. Gonna go to Aftan’s church tomorrow and visit friends and stuff. It’s gonna be great.

Not much went on today, just helped the girl move some stuff back into her dorm at OSU, watched highlights of Oregon beating #1 UCLA in basketball 68-66 :), and the Seahawks escaping with a win over Dallas by virtue of a Tony Romo fumbled field goal attempt. MVP of the game for the Seahawks, Tony Romo. Greg Nickels, Seattle mayor, needs to give Romo a key to the city. WE LOVE YOU TONY.

On that note, this week had to be one of the craziest weeks of football I’ve seen. Whoever thought Boise State would go up 28-10 on Oklahoma, lose that lead and face a 35-28 deficit with a minute to go, score the game-tying touchdown on a hook-and-ladder play on 4th-and-18, and win the game in OT on the old Statue of Liberty play? And who imagined after seeing the Seahawks in prime position to tie the game with six minutes to go and fail on that, come up with a safety, touchdown and see Tony Romo fumble a snap on a NINETEEN YARD FIELD GOAL that would have put the Hawks down by two???

My good Lord, one of the best weeks of football I’ve seen in awhile.

I have to sleep on it now.

Wait a minute, check this out in Wikipedia. Awesome.

The one thing that sucks about blogging for me is how I think up something good to write on here, and by the time I get to my computer, it leaves my mind entirely.

That happened to me this morning, so allow me to just update you on how things have been in the hours since I wrote last.

Last night I went to Vancouver to meet up with Rainier, Pat and Gene to do the Daybreak ministry. Cris wasn’t able to make it because he wasn’t feeling well, but for the third straight week there was no one there, which was kinda disappointing. So we prayed and went out to dinner at Peachtree Restaurant on Fourth Plain. It was great being able to get to know Pat and Gene better, and to talk about the good things going on in our lives and how the Lord is blessing us. We shared our prayer requests with each other and prayed for each other, and we all had a good time of fellowship. What topped it all off was being able to order from the breakfast menu for dinner.

God has really been leading me in a specific direction on how to pray for our upcoming Winter Retreat. I shared with the guys last night about how I had attended the retreat for years, and each year the excitement built up because I anticipated a good time fellowshipping with friends, being ministered to by the Lord and enjoying the snow. The excitement is building this year too, but it’s a different kind of excitement. Who’s going to be in my cabin? How can I effectively minister to each of them? How can I carry out my necessary duties and responsibilities, and yet have fun with the kids at the same time? Being a staff member is markedly different from being a camper, and being a cabin leader even more so because it’s the toughest job in the camp. I’ve been praying for the Lord to really use me to reach out to the kids at the retreat…the direction I have been led to pray is for growth. Growth in the Lord, growth in His word, growth in relationships with one another. I’m anticipating a great retreat, the Lord is really going to move and I am preparing for it!!!

Other than the retreat there are many good things to be excited about. I touched on yesterday about how Cris Birch and I are researching places to live in or near Camas/Washougal. We’re still praying big time, and we’re trying to move sometime around February if we can find a good place. That is one of my main prayer focuses, that God directs me in each stage of my life, especially moving into a place I can call my own.

There’s a ton to pray about, be excited about and be thankful for. The beginning of 2007 has been good and it’s all because of the Lord. I keep trusting Him as he continues to bless me…he’s faithful even when I’m not all the time. I don’t deserve to be blessed like I am right now but He has chosen to bless me big time, and for that I’m thankful.

Yesterday’s big event went well for me. Thanks to everyone who prayed. I’ll explain more in detail when I have a chance.

Last night was good on two fronts. Notre Dame lost their ninth consecutive bowl game, and it wasn’t even close. LSU whopped it on ‘em, 41-14 or something like that. When will people realize ND is terribly overrated each and every year. Put ‘em in a conference with the big boys and they can’t compete.

Church was great last night. We sang a new song during worship, “Bless the Lord,” and it was great to feel the Spirit move, even while I had to change the slides for the projector (I knew I was gonna get pulled into that duty sooner or later ). Pastor Smith spoke on how we need discernment in our lives in order to tell what is spiritually real or counterfeit. He set eight books on a table, had everyone come up and try to determine what was a Christian book or not just by the title. It was amazing to see how many people guessed wrong, and it proved Pastor’s point well by showing that you have to know what you’re dealing with in the physical and spiritual world.

Cris Birch and I are searching for a place to move into, around the Camas/Washougal area. The search has not been too fun so far, but we’re hoping to be able to find something by early February. I’ve really been praying for God’s direction in this as well…it would be great to live close to the church and the people there, as well as have easy access to Portland (right now I live about 25 miles away from P-town). Not to mention, every time I visit Aftan I could circumvent I-5 traffic by taking 205 south and that’s huge.

Anyhoo I have some stuff to do before I take off to town and go to Daybreak tonight. Peace.

Yes, I say today, because it is 12:17 AM Pacific Time.

I can’t divulge details of why today is so huge, but in this short post I plead with you all to please pray for me. I need it big time!!! I’ll share details later.

Leave me a comment or something, or if you have my cell number, gimme a call and show me your support!!!

Peace!