Big Break Delivers

CRU's annual Big Break is a power pack combo of  mission trip, conference, Jesus party and road trip all rolled into one.  This worthy adventure delivered as usual this year as we accompanied 37 students to Panama City Beach Florida for a week of worship, fellowship and outreach to spring breaking college students out on the beach.

There is truly nothing like Big Break and it serves as a venue for training in evangelism as well as personal growth for our students.  It's also the time of year when our kids get to spend the most concentrated time with our students.

This year was extra special because we re-united with our Cornell students after a few months apart.

Jack with Isaias Munoz

Joe with Larry Lin

The students put together a Vodcast each day to briefly highlight the days events.  You can find all 7 on youtube here http://www.youtube.com/user/cornellcrusade

In episode 5, Kevin highlights some conversations he and I had when we initiated an impromptu taxi service at midnight on Tuesday night.  The second guy we gave a ride to had literally been approached by three different groups of Christians throughout the day to talk about Jesus.  He'd engaged in three different gospel conversations, and he was literally beginning to get the message that God actually loved him and wanted a relationship with him!  I asked him if perhaps his (Christian) ex-girlfriend was praying for him because it seemed he could not escape the good news!  He said she was.  We had a powerful conversation where he acknowledged that his extreme love for alcohol was adversely affecting his life and relationships.  He talked about wanting God to really prove himself real -and admitted that the days events could certainly be a sign!!  Being completely un-churched he expressed a desire to know more about God.  I had a copy of Bill Clem's book Disciple sitting in my van, so I gave it to him.  Disciple is a pretty thick book, not one I'd typically hand out to guys who are still seeking, but it was what I had with me.   He looked me in the eye with true heart-felt gratitude and said "I will read this book.  You haven't wasted this book.  I'm not going to throw it away, I'm not going to leave it in my hotel room. Seriously.  I want to check this out."  We prayed for him and then dropped him off at his hotel.  

Also in Vodcast 5, our kids were having a ball at the restaurant with our students.  

Fun With Broken Glass.....

We’re finishing a week in Florida with our Cornell students at CRU’s Big Break in Panama City Beach.

Our students traveled from Ithaca by bus and We left New Mexico about 10 days ago caravanning in two vehicles.

We left a day later than anticipated both because packing up took longer than expected and because Joe wanted to squeeze in a quick trip to the Emergency room.  While we loaded up the cars, our kids and their cousins were out in the desert playing with some empty beer bottles they found.  (typical kid stuff)  They were filling them with sand when Jack convinced his brothers that breaking them would be fun!  (Isn’t it?)  Titus smashed one like an angry drunk in a bar brawl holding it firmly by the bottle’s neck.  Joe wanted a turn and instead of finding a fresh one, he reached for Titus’ newly fashioned weapon.  He grabbed hold, Titus jerked it away and the blood started flowing from Joes thumb. 

So there we were in the midst of stressfull packing when a kid comes running towards us with his hand covered in blood.  Good timing!  It was actually pretty hard to determine who won the “foolish” award amongst the three competitors.

Hangin' in the ER

We went to the E.R. and thanks be to God, he didn’t need stitches.  So, we were able to leave the next day. 

Packing up in New Mexico was both arduous and emotional.  The last several months have been filled with so many different situations and experiences; care-taking for my dad, the Holidays, time with family, my father’s death, my sister’s wedding and other events along the way.  We lamented leaving our families, church friends and home town because we love them all.  But, we left with sustained conviction and confirmed sense that our calling to Cornell is from the Lord. 

We got to meet up with some family in Amarillo, TX and an old Spain (our first staff assignment) team mate –Kelly Skrapka (formerly McCarthy) in Norman Oklahoma on the way out here.  

And it was awesome to re-join with our students here! 

Amazing Send-off, Eventful Road-trip

We left Ithaca almost two weeks ago to come to New Mexico for a while.  Prior to leaving town we had some awesome times with our friends and our students at Cornell. 

Ned LaCelle with our kids 

Anna-Kate and Lucy Sheehan with Jack

After our Fall retreat the Sheehan family stayed with us for a day.  Their kids and ours had so much fun, Jack busted his teeth out!  They were apparently ready to come out, though in fact they weren’t actually loose yet.  Nothing brings excitement to a cup of morning coffee with friends like a kid walking up to you with blood dripping from his mouth looking bewildered and saying “uh oh.” 

Sam Ramsey got to be there for the family memory too.

 That Tuesday night we filled our home with students for a time of celebration.  We gathered in our living room to spend time praying and singing and thanking God for all that He has done in our midst throughout the first 6 weeks of school.  We also feasted on desserts and hung out til late in the night.

One Cornell Cru tradition is called “caking.”  I don’t know where it started, and I don’t claim any responsibility for it’s continuation, but it involves smashing cake on a person’s face on their Birthday.  It’s something the students do to each other, and it’s typically pretty entertaining.  It’s always a “surprise,” and the planning and execution of it are always eventful.  The students have never caked me……until now.  My birthday fell during fall break, but that afternoon a bunch of students came over to hang out and help us pack up some boxes.  By evening time we were eating some Pizza, and Jorge came up behind me with some cheesecake for my face!  Jack loved the whole idea and so he joined in as well.

We planned on leaving the next day, but it took a little longer to get say goodbye to people, get organized and pack the trailer.   Friends came by to lend a hand and hang out.  People graciously gave us cards full of encouragement and prayed with us.  Some even blessed us with gas money, which was very, very helpful.   Adam and Nic came over and we loaded our trailer and helped me get everything lashed down and ready to go.  It seemed good…but the only problem was how heavy it was. 

The next day we got a late start; around noon we hit the road.   But our minivan was not happy about pulling that trailer.  Our suspension was bottomed out and we were creeping down the road shaking and straining our transmission.  We made it to Elmira, NY which is about an hour down the road.  We ate lunch, and then after brainstorming different possibilities, we finally resigned to the fact that this was not going to work!   We were going to have to bring my truck.   Steph compared our van trying to pull that trailer to a dying bumblebee who’s just stung someone.   We drove back to Ithaca, quickly tossed everything from the trailer into my truck and took off in caravan.   We only made it to Jamestown, NY.

The next morning, we got up and drove to Erie, PA.  But we barely made it because the truck started freaking out!  We had to have it towed to a shop and we ended up wasting the whole day waiting for it to get fixed.   All in all the trip was starting out terribly!  Thankfully it wasn’t too expensive and we only needed the distributor to be adjusted.  So, that night, we made it to Cleveland.

After that, things went pretty smooth.  We were bummed to have to drive across the country in separate cars, but we switched the kids around, fired up the ol’ walkie talkies and it all turned out o.k.  And, it’s actually pretty handy to have both our vehicles here in Santa Fe right now. 

We made a lunch stop in Kearney, NE at Luke & Jakes BBQ with some friends and then spent a couple of nights with family in Colorado before we came down here to NM.  

Visiting Santa Fe

We have been in New Mexico for 5 days and it has been good to be with family. 

In January of 2011, my dad, Bill was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s) Disease.   For the past few years he had been feeling more and more ‘run down’ and found it necessary to sleep a bit more and schedule in a daily nap in order to make it thru the day, but otherwise he seemed in pretty good health.   He began working part time in 2003, and he visited his doctor more frequently during the past few years, always suspecting something wasn’t quite right, but his day to day life was not drastically altered really until last fall.  

Since we saw him a year ago, much has changed.  Last summer Bill flew to NY to pick up my sister Rachel and together they drove across the country to NM in a car with no A/C.  That was an adventure and a fun memory for them both.    Our whole family met up and spent time together in Alamogordo, New Mexico before my brother and his family moved out to England with the Air Force.   We went to White Sands, NM and had a picnic, took family photos, and went to the (Holoman) Air Force Base pool with Uncle Dave.  We went up to the mountains, had a camp-fire.  We had easy late night conversations and played games together.

We hung out at White Sands last summer. 

But as summer the summer of 2010 ended and fall came along, my dad’s health began to decline more significantly.  At times his speech would slur in conversation and that prompted more doctor visits.  Something was certainly wrong.   Tests were run and specialists were consulted.  In time, the numerous symptoms left no room for doubt in anyone's mind that my dad has ALS.  

This summer everything is drastically different.    Now his speech is slow and he is very difficult to understand.  It is a labor for him to communicate.  His fingers are curled and no longer useful.  His walk is slow and unsteady.  His neck muscles struggle to hold up his head. He has lost significant weight.  He can no longer button his shirts or zip his pants.  Though the disease has progressed much in the past 6 months, there is still a lot Bill is able to do.   We are grateful that his is still walking!  He is still able to feed himself with the use of a special grip on his utensils.  We praise the Lord that we can still communicate some.  Bill has a good sense of humor and has joked that his speech is a new “foreign language” for us to learn.  We love to see him smile and hear him laugh at our stories!  Just this morning we took the kids to nearby park today to launch rockets and Bill joined us.  He was able to walk there on his own and got to enjoy his grandkids run around.  We are grateful for each new memory we get to make, and keenly aware that each day we have is a gift.

Shaving is difficult, so when we showed up, Bill was sporting a nice white beard.  I helped him shave it off the other night.  We called it "manscaping".

Life on the road 1

I’d like to start out this post with the lyrics from Five Iron Frenzy’s song “Superpowers”

Bacon bits and jalapenos on my polish hot dog....half a pound of potato chips, and a beef jerky log.

I press my face to the window. A wrapper sticks to my shirt. Eight people in a stinky van, a couple more couldn't hurt.

Eat some food off the floor. I've developed a taste for bread mold. Ride around in a van, don't take a shower for six weeks and...

We’ve been on the road for the last 8 days. Living out of our van and staying in different places on our way to our summer assignment in Colorado. (Don't worry, we take showers!) The truth is we like travelling in the summers. It’s a part of our job that certainly has it’s difficulties, but we honestly think it’s pretty awesome!

We spent the first few days of last week finishing up our packing and moving out of the house we’ve been renting for the past couple of years. We got a late start out of Ithaca last Wednesday and travelled on I-80 til Kearney, Nebraska. We spent last weekend there. It was a great time there as usual visiting friends, ministry supporters and the Kearney E-Free Church. We stayed at Joe and Mishelle Maul’s house. Always a 5-star set up!

While in Kearney, we got to go to the new children's museum/play place. Jack and Joe got to dress up as Firemen.

On Monday we arrived here to Windsor, Colorado. Stephanie’s parents recently moved here to work and be closer to Steph’s family who have been here for years
We’re staying at Steph’s Aunt and uncle’s house which is always a blast. Yesterday, the kids got to ride some horses and a little pony after uncle Don and Grandpa John finished roping.





This is a great place to be for our kids as well since they get to hang out with all of their (2^nd) cousins. Scotty, Will, Zach, Lilly, Molly and James are great!

On Friday we’ll head farther west to Crested Butte for six weeks to staff the lifelines summer project there.

Trip to Haiti 1

My friend and team mate Adam Simpson and I arrived in Haiti today.Adam and Tracy Simpson are in the (long) process of adopting a couple of kids from Haiti. Part of the procedure includes visiting the children and the orphanage in Haiti, and that is what prompted this trip. As you can imagine, things are pretty much a mess regarding adoption in Haiti. One of our hopes is that by being on the ground, at the orphanage, we can access the most up to date and accurate information available. Adam is pictured below with Daniel in the foreground and Kelly Thomas right next to him.

Ideally, Tracy would go with Adam, but since she is now 3+ months pregnant, this is not a good time to be heading to a 3rd world country that’s been ravaged by an earthquake. Adam asked me to go with him, and I am happy to go along to visit the kids and support him as continues to engage in the adoption procedures.

The plan is for us to stay at the orphanage. We have packed some gifts for all of the children including candy and sports equipment etc.

While in Haiti,we are also hoping to hook up with some of our national and regional Campus Crusade leadership to begin talking more about how we as a campus movement at Cornell can be involved in the ongoing relief efforts. Campus Crusade is already working in Haiti, and is planning to continue working in Haiti for at least the next 5 years.

We currently have two students –Dean and LaMont who are raising financial support to go to Haiti on a summer project this June. They will join with Christian college students from Haiti to do medical missions, Food Pack assembly, set up solar/wind powered water purifiers etc. And on campus, we have joined with the other Christian ministries to sponsor a 30 hour famine type of event to raise money for World Vision’s efforts in Haiti.

Please pray for us as we travel!

We will be there til Thursday.