I got the write up done and the pictures posted from the mission trip. Check it out here.

I’m home from the mission trip. I have about 150 pictures, not all of which are worth sharing, but I’m way too tired to cull, resize and crop them. But I promised to get them out ASAP, so I have a zip file of the raw images straight off the camera. It’s a 67 megabyte file, but if you must have them right away, then you’ll be willing to wait for the download. Clicky clicky.

I’ll get a write up done soon, but right now I have to stay awake long enough to put together tomorrow’s Sunday school lesson.

TTFN

It’s been a year (almost to the day) since my first middle school mission trip. Wow. Only a year. It seems like it’s been … well … more than that. I went on that mission trip because I felt God was calling me to apply for the middle school youth minister position at our church. It was a test. I guess you could say I passed. I applied for the job and didn’t get it. I was glad that they didn’t offer me the job, because the same week they announced who got it, I got a fat raise at my current job, and I didn’t want to have to turn that down. See, God does have a sense of humor, but he also has a heart.

Even though I didn’t get the job, I realized that I fit much better with the middle schoolers than the high schoolers. (Hey. Stop that snickering. It has nothing to do with my maturity level, you neener heads!) I taught Sunday school for the eighth grade boys all year. It was tough sometimes, but I really feel that God used me and I have some great relationships with those guys.

Tonight, I’m packing for my second MSMT and thinking about the experience of last year. (You can read about it here.) I feel unworthy. I know it’s going to be hot and exhausting work but I also know that God is going to do amazing things. I’m eager to see what God has in store, but I know that I am a fragile jar of clay, unworthy of the treasure that is inside me, the treasure that God is going to pour out this week.

Pray for the trip. Pray for our middle schoolers. Pray for the little ghetto kids who are going to experience God’s love this week. See you next week!

Gross Warning: The following post contains 1500% of the recommended daily allowance of personal information. Reading this post my cause mild nausea or the urge to smack Trint for telling you stuff you reeeaaally didn’t want to know.

Yesterday, I woke up with a funny feeling. Not the good kind of funny feeling you get when you think someone is going to give you a present. Not the bad kind of funny feeling you get when you’re pretty sure you left your car’s lights on all night. It was the kind of funny feeling you get when you wake up and realize you forgot to pee before you went to bed and now your bladder is contemplating suicide. The strange thing was, I did pee before I went to bed and even after peeing, the feeling was still there. Weird.

As I went through my day, I applied my years of medical training to the situation and decided I must have a mild infection “down there” brought on be dehydration. Last Saturday I spent over twelve hours at an outdoor Christian rock concert and I’m confident I got pretty badly dehydrated there. I committed to drink as much water as I could stomach for the day and see if I could “fix” the situation without medical intervention.

By the end of the day, the funny feeling was still there, but not as bad. I figured if it still hurt in the morning I would go to Care Now and get some drugs. My stomach was feeling pretty weird, but that was too be expected after drinking two or three times my normal water intake for the day.

Before bed, I felt a brand new funny feeling. This time it felt more like gas on my left side. I decided to sit on the couch and wait out the storm, so to speak, rather than share it with my wife in the bedroom.

By about 11:30, the slight pressure I had assumed was gas had turned into an intense, stabbing pain (8 out of 10 for you ER folk) in my left side and back. “Uh oh,” my years of medical training told me. “That’s where your kidneys are. Maybe your infection is worse than you thought. Or worse, maybe you have a stone. We might not be able to hold out for Care Now in the morning.”

I crawled to the bedroom (Yes, literally. Shut up! It really hurt.) and said, as gently as I could, “TAMMY! TAKE ME TO THE ER!! NOW!!! OW! OW! OW!! OWWWW!!!”

We arrived at the ER about midnight. They were really nice there and the ER didn’t seem too busy. I was taken straight back to a room. Pee in the cup, X-Ray, CT scan, and (best of all) morphine! WHEEEE! In less than an hour, I was free as a bird. The doctor came by… sometime (at that point I didn’t really care. Wheeeee!) and said, “Mr. Ladd, your years of medical training were spot on!” Okay. That’s not really what he said. But I was right. The CT scan found a golf-ball sized kidney stone, with claws and teeth and hair and a very bad attitude, making its way to my bladder. Okay, okay. Not really golf-ball sized. It was probably a little smaller than that. Probably. But it definitely had claws. Seriously.

They sent me home with some big ol’ drugs and a cute little strainer to pee in. Apparently, urologists like to collect these things and turn them into jewelry for their wives.

Today, as ordered, I stayed home from work waiting for the “blessed event”. I was no longer in pain, even without the drugs. I did follow the other prescription, which was to drink as much cranberry juice as I could without drowning in the stuff. I managed about 64 ounces between 9 AM and 5 PM. Ugh.

The delivery was not what I expected. It stung a little, but it was nothing compared to the pain from the previous night. Here’s the little bundle of joy from two different angles.

Okay, okay. Those pictures might be a little magnified. I’d say, about 20 times or so. This is probably closer to the actual size. (About 1 millimeter, the thickness of a dime.)

Anyway. I’m feeling fine now. Just a little water-logged. Well, cranberry-juice-logged, to be specific. Thanks for the prayer and concern. And I promise if this ever happens again, the pictures will be much more graphic. *wink*

Okay. Maybe I’m just being neurotic. Maybe I’m obsessing. Maybe I’m beating a dead horse. (You don’t HAVE to agree with me.) Today, I found yet another article on driving while using a cell phone. Yes, I’ve posted about this before.

U of Utah published one of the first studies I read on the subject. They just finished a new study in which 40 drivers, both male and female, were put in a driving simulator. They drove normally. Then, they drove while talking on a cell phone. Finally, they drove while legally drunk (0.08 b.a.c.). The results will probably surprise you.

While intoxicated, the drivers followed too close, hit the breaks too hard (which in real-life would get them rear-ended) and had a bunch of “close calls”, but no accidents.

While talking on the phone (with or without “hands free” devices), they drove erratically, not keeping a consistent speed or following distance, and their reaction times where much slower. The phoning drivers had three accidents.

Yes, you got that right. The phoning drivers had more accidents than the drunk drivers. We all know that driving drunk is dangerous and, in the real world, does cause accidents, but talking on the cell phone is quite possibly more dangerous than driving drunk.

Cell phone makers continue to cry foul, insisting that other distracting activities are worse than phone driving. Specifically, they point out that putting on make-up (farding), and reading are statistically more dangerous. Well, DUH. But according to the NHTSA, about 10% of the drivers on the road, at any given time, are on the phone. I’m confident that far fewer folks are taking in War and Peace on the highway. And don’t get me started on farding in the car. That’s probably the only thing that aggravates me worse that cell phones behind the wheel.

This may be the first time I’ve ever blogged at night. Very weird for me. I’ve been busy at work (and working at staying busy, you know, same old struggle) so my daytime surfing is once again down to a dribble.

Summer’s in full swing now, which means I’m getting busy after hours too. Youth church camp was a couple of weeks ago (Yes, I’m in trouble for not posting the pictures yet.) and the middle school mission trip is fast approaching. Plus, this is our first summer to have a dinner theater in production showing August 4th and 5th. July is going to be a blur.

I’m proud of Tammy. She landed a major role in the production. I got a side part, comic relief once again. I’m glad though. It means fewer practices for me. *wink* It’s going to be a really cool show. Not really a “family show” in the sense that it has some pretty heavy scenes dealing with broken families, etc. But please, please come. Make it a date night. (Yes, children. If you over 12, you can still come. I wouldn’t want you to miss seeing Tammy’s big break-through role.)

I’m back to biking at full strength. I made the trip to work yesterday in 33 minutes 18 seconds, averaging just over 15 mph. Pretty good for a fat boy. The summer heat is starting stink, literally, but I’m going to keep biking as long as I can. I’m getting pretty good at bathing in the bathroom sink. Yeah, you’re right. T.M.I.

As I wait for all my development applications to start up this morning (Booting is such a task anymore. *sigh*), I thought I’d share a little dose of funny with you.

It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of Wal-Mart. So when Jib-Jab did a song mocking the retail giant, I, of course, watched it several times, and saved the link for such a time as this.

Enjoy! (Clicky clicky)

I was chatting with my good friend Randy Peterman this morning on the subject of youth (not the attribute, but rather the little people who drive their parents nuts). We had a stimulating conversation about the state of our nations young people, the sad state of modern parenting, and the Biblical alternative. But I’m not going to tell you about all that. I going to share the funny part!

Randy: The thing that amazes me is that any of us turn out at all

Trint: By the grace of God, man. By the grace of God.

Randy: yup

Trint: Sometimes I wonder if the problem with today’s youth is that too many of them are surviving. When we were kids, there were no such things as car seats and bicycle helmets. We played with toys with exposed electric contacts and thousands of “choking hazards”.

Randy: Yes

Trint: Maybe what today’s youth need is a little attrition.

Randy: Thinning out the masses

Trint: Exactly. “See why you should listen to Mommy? Johnny didn’t listen and now he’s dead. You don’t want to die, do you?”

Trint: >:-D

Randy: ROFL

No, of course I’m not serious… although…

* Mark 10:14 (KJV)

I’ve got to get back to work. When I stop rowing, the slave ship just goes in circles.

I have discovered a new toy! I just created an account for myself at PollHost.com. So, I’m thinkin’ about doing a monthly poll. Weeee!

See what you think. If I get enough response from this first poll, I’ll do more later.