Finally Updating!

Well, its been a long time since I updated, and I apologize. Have had quite a few things going on. I’ll give you the short list:

Gotta job working for the King of Cars. Gotta check out their website @ ent.kingofcars.com. Totally worth it. My boss is Emperor Two-Step and Chop is the owner. Oh and Blue Genie is always around…
Anyway, the wife is doing well, tomorrow is 30 weeks, and the kiddo is kicking like mad. She’s supposed to keep count of how long it takes for 10 ‘movements’, and that if 10 movements don’t happen in 2 hours you should be worried. Well the boy takes about 2 minutes. He’s active as can be.
I’m still running with my buddy Tobeyone Kenobi [www.twitter.com/dtobey23]. Did 10 miles last Sunday and will do 4 tomorrow morning followed by 11 on Sunday. Pretty crazy.
We got ourselves a house to live in. Due to some job insecurity, we are renting for the time being. Its in a pretty sweet neighborhood. Last weekend after work, I went out for a run, and when I got back I was waved over to some guys chilling in their driveway. Pretty soon about 25 guys were out there just hanging out. Apparently, ‘that’s how we do on T-ville’. You don’t even know how stoked I am to hang out with them.
Job front is still hazy. Trying to figure out what the plan should be. The wife had a call back today, so that’s pretty awesome. I have about 5 live resumes out currently, but no luck. Its really dry out here.
As for Verve, things are coming together. We are close to finishing up a rental agreement for a huge space that is about 5 mins away from my house. Also this month we will be starting our blockparties at random Vervian houses, one being ours! I’ll post more about this later.

That’s about all. If there are more specifics, I’ll post it up. Thanks for following along!

Well...

So we’ve been here for about 2 weeks now. Pretty crazy to call this place home. Felt really blessed by the appearance of some good friends who came in to town on Tuesday – Thursday, and then another buddy came in on Friday – Saturday. Both were really exciting. Mixed in there was a couple job interviews, but no leads yet. We also had our first official Verve ‘meeting’. It was really good to get to meet the people we will be doing this craziness with. Anyway, its been a while since I updated because there isn’t much news. The wife is doing well despite the 115 degree heat and the kid is kicking like mad. Hope all is well.

Woah What?

Ok so if we rewind 20 years, I was in school in Salina, KS with just about 10 kids. Of the 10, 3 of us were Josh’s. There was Josh K, Josh S, and Josh L. Well I happened to ride to school with Josh S and we got to be friends, but after the year was over, his family moved to Oberlin, outta my life. Well guess who lives here and had us over for supper on Saturday. Yeah totally Josh S. It was totally awesome to reconnect after so long and see how God brought us to this wacky place. Its been wonderful to see how God has worked in my life recently, but more exciting was some of the ridiculousness that has happened in Josh S.’s life. I would love to take the rest of this space to share some of his stories, but that’s for a different time.

Anyway, we got into our PODS today, and everything was ok! Nothing was broken that we could tell, and I dug around in there for quite some time. I called my cousin Duane and told him that since he did such a good job packing, the next time we move, I’ll have to fly him out and have him pack me up again! This week brings some craziness as we have appointments all over town, and one of my good bestest buddies is coming to town tomorrow! Just wanted to update enough to communicate we are alive and well, and are totally stoked about what the week brings.

So we made it through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and finally to Las Vegas. We are staying at a sweet pad that is about 20 minutes from the strip. Our first night in town we went to the MGM Grand and just walked around. Its pretty surreal to think this will be our home. The next day we had 2 Doctors appointments to try to find someone who will be there when little Krause decides to show up. That was entirely draining. We then spent the rest of the evening with Verve’s pastor and his family. That was pretty enjoyable. Mostly because their dog kept trying to get on the table J We woke the next morning to more driving. 8 hours on the road to Santa Cruz waited for us with open arms. Fortunately we had good friends waiting for us at the end of the trip.

Saturday we spent at a wedding at Mt. Madonna County Park. It was one of the coolest weddings I’ve been around. We met some awesome people and even stretched across cultural barriers. The groom is Swiss and the bride is from Cali. They actually met in Chile and they speak Spanish to each other! Pretty nuts. Today and Monday we have some time to just relax and gather ourselves. Then Tuesday its back home to Vegas. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. See you all soon!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh

Spent all of Friday packing with the help of my wonderful parents-in-law, who came back on Saturday to help finish it up. At 10 A.M. same day [Saturday] my cousins, aunt, and small group came and helped us load up the POD. My cousin Duane played the packing game just like a stinking jigsaw puzzle. It was awesome. EVERYTHING got packed in their.

absolutely redonculous.

I'll have pics later. Sign closing papers tomorrow, drive away tuesday.

Spent today [Sunday] speaking at my home church and was really blessed by their support and honored by them. It was pretty exciting. Anyway off to relax and rest before the big drives.

1 week left...

So, this morning marks the last Wednesday in our house. Its really starting to snowball now. We had our last small group get together last night and it was marvelous. We had some amazing Italian food, but maybe the high point was a group picture of the guys that turned into a cheesy picture on the stairs, then a cheesy picture on chairs, man it was quite funny. Anyway as we finish up some loose ends I’ve been finding some solace in some different books I’ve been reading. The first book I read was Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels. It’s pretty good perspective on the reality of being in a church leadership position. Not only was there some good thoughts about different styles/types of leadership it was an easy read. The other book I’ve had my hands on is The Divine Commodity by Skye Jenathi. Its pretty intense and isn’t as easy to read as Hybels’ book. But the content is great. A few thought provoking bits:

An economist was asked his opinion on the next phase of the economy we are headed into. He quickly identified that as American’s we’ve been through an Agrarian Economy which lead to the Industrial Economy in turn led to the Service Economy, and that is leading to the Experience Economy. Example: It used to be cheaper to buy the ingredients and make a cake from scratch [Agrarian]. Then it was easier to just buy a mix from the store [Industrial]. After that, its just easier to have the grocery story make a Superman Cake because its better than the others [Service] and now the cake is presented at Chuck E. Cheese’s or a bowling alley to fully enhance the Experience [Experiential]

The economist goes on to say that as a church, we have followed these economies, but unfortunately marketing an experience at church is somewhat fake and not truthful to the Gospel. He’s questioned by a young preacher who says, If I’m to reach this culture, shouldn’t I have a product to offer them? The economist answered, the only thing of value in today’s church is the Redemptive Grace of the Message of Jesus Christ.

That really stuck out to me, not only the economics of it, but the fact that I get so stuck on all the externalities of church, when the only true thing of value that the church has is Jesus.

The economist goes on to say that the true commodity of the Experiential Economy will be Authenticity. Marketing an Experience vs being Authentic. Thoughts?

Little One

Not much really to say besides WE ARE HAVING A BOY!!!

Best Wifey Ever

#1 So I love this hat. I bought it the night we told some of our friends we were pregnant while we were out and about in the Legends area of KC. It's got the Superman sign on it and if I could be any superhero I would be Superman. Always loved him and have a T-shirt with the S on it, etc...

#2 OK now I've always wanted a French Cuff shirt [ever since I was in High School, Thanks Sean] I never bought one because I already have a ton of dress shirts and couldn't justify the cost, AND I didn't have any Cufflinks to wear in the shirt....................

Behold the awesomeness of my new cufflinks:

Can't you hear the Theme music swelling in the background? Oh yeah I also got this T-Shirt. Basically, my wife is the most amazing gift giver in the world because I am notoriously difficult to buy gifts for. She just hit a 490' homer on this Father's Day. Can't wait to see how she tops this next year!

Happy Father's Day - Kal-el :)

Crazy Changes

Wow this week has been super crazy. Monday night we went and did some baby registering at Terrrget, that was fun. Tuesday was the 95th Annual Red Cross Awards and Recognition nights. My wife's department swept the awards winning 4 of the 6 possible. BOOYEAH! Tonight my parents will be at our house as my mother flies away to Europe at 4 A.M. tomorrow morning. Thursday is rehearsal for sunday morning [last time /single tear]. Friday is hangin with family night......phew! Anyway, I wanted to touch somewhat briefly on the journey that has brought me to where we currently are. Lets go back in to time, circa 1980.

• The wife was born [obviously that wasn’t her birth name ] and as a baby developed meningitis [I think spinal but that’s not confirmed]. She was supposed to die, she didn’t.

Fast Forward to 1996

• My oldest Brother is in college and decides to become a basketball referee.
• As soon as my middle brother hits college the two become refereeing partners because its good cash and fun.
• I follow suit in 2001 and get my certification.
• My middle brother is sick for a game and was schedule to referee with a certain individual named Jason.
• I subbed for my brother and became friends with Jason.

Fast forward to 2007.

• I’m in a smallish town grocery store when I see abovementioned Jason picking up some water. I have only lived in the area for 3 or 4 days.
• I ask him about what church he goes to.
• He invites us [the wife and I] to CRCC, and we are hooked.

Fast forward to March 2009

• I’m scheduled to play guitar on a Sunday, and my calluses are weak, and I’m frustrated.
• Saturday night, an ice storm hits, and I’m hoping Sunday morning is cancelled.
• My in-laws were to join us, but they decided to stay home.
• I drag myself to the building and try to have a good attitude, the guest speaker for the day was a guy who wrote a book that I had read and didn’t like it that much. I thought the speaker was going to be not that great.
• I sit there and listen to what this guy is saying, and God starts tuggin at my heart. It was like, “this guy is nuts, and so are you, LETS DO THIS THANG”
• I squelched my excitement when the wife arrived for the 2^nd session, and asked her kindly to pay attention to what this guy was saying. After his schpiel, the wife says “How do we say no to that?”
• We put our house on the market. 3 people looked at it over a 2 month span, and we were somewhat discouraged, so much so that we talked about giving up moving and realizing our place was where we were.
• Then someone offered 1.5 weeks ago, and we are signed and sealed.
• Before we got the offer, I had a framework of the date we wanted to settle and the lowest price, they offered at that price AND wanted to settle on that date.
• We are losing money on the house, but the real estate market in Las Vegas will allow us to use our current equity and buy a place that is potentially better for less money.
• My job has a quarterly cycle. The month I resign is the month with the lightest work load to allow for the transition at my place of work to be easy.
• My boss has offered to keep me on as a consultant for a couple months to help ease the transition financially.
• The wife is preggers as I mentioned, and if we would have moved any later, there could have been plenty of potential issues.

If my wife wouldn’t have survived, if my brothers wouldn’t have refereed, if my middle brother hadn’t been sick, if Jason wasn’t getting water, if I didn’t play guitar, if the roads were to icy, if CRCC had been cancelled due to weather, if my in-laws would have came, if our house hadn’t sold, if real estate was in vegas what it was just 1 year ago, if my boss didn’t believe in what we were doing, if the wife was 2 months further along…etc. I mean you can see how this isn’t something I just dreamt up one night. I mean look at all that crap. I have come to find the vast difference between the ideological understanding of Sovereignty and the experiential part. Personally I like the experiential part. I know that some of you that will read this don’t believe what I believe, regardless, look at that string of ‘coincidences’ [I’m sure there’s a ton more]. Can’t you see the argument for Something greater is real? I digress.

There’s the list off the top of my head. Hope all is well with all of you. Hit me back as I’m stoked to know what’s going on with you all.

Finally!

Well, I can finally stop being cryptic:

We sold our house and are moving to Las Vegas, NV effective July 7^th.

Crazy, I know right? As to the why, that’s more drawn out, but begins with this: there is a church plant happening on the Strip and we have been accepted to be a part of the team. The wife and I had a pull on our heart, and we’ve followed it to this spot. Our house is under contract, we both gave notice at our respective places of work, we’ve organized a moving solution, and we are rolling out of the Midwest first week in July. It’s all so surreal.

No, we don’t have jobs, or a house. We have housing arranged through some people that are already there and we’ll most likely rent for a couple months and as soon as we get jobs, we’ll get a house as real estate in Vegas is super cheap.

I’ve talked with some of you, but for those I haven’t, here’s the key phrase for me at this point. It’s one thing to sit around a table and talk about the sovereignty of God, and it’s a completely different thing to be living in it. We went from giving up on moving on a Friday to having someone offer on our house less than 48 hours later. The house was for sale for 2 months, and we had 2 people look the first day it was listed, another couple about 5 weeks later, and the buyers saw it on a Sunday morning, and offered Sunday night. There are a multitude of ‘coincidences’ that have occurred that I will share later that in total add up to make this absolutely ridiculous.

Oh and we are about 17.5 weeks along on the wife’s first pregnancy. So, changing jobs, selling a house, moving cross country, starting a family, and planting a church in Sin City…as a friend of mine said, if you look at your future and it doesn’t make you scared/queasy, maybe you aren’t living.

Hopefully I’ll be better at updating this blog as it will become a better way for family and friends to keep in touch.

Viva Las Vegas!

ok so

Our house is for sale...come buy it! we are trying to walk in the path that we feel God wants us to walk in. [I really wanted to end that sentence with a preposition, but Joe woulda been mad, so instead he gets to correct my improper use of brackets.] The first part of May is super busy, and its already making me ticked. This weekend is Mother's day, my Mother's Retirement Party, and a trip to Memphis TN for 3 days, then next weekend is my All-Star Sister-in-Law's Graduation Party [SWEET!]. End of May hopefully slows down, but with Zack Greinke being as awesome as he is [0.40 ERA, 6-0] I'm sure we'll make time for the Boys in Blue, and my good best friend goes away to Army for 7 months, so I need to hang with him before June also! Oh and the Wifey hasn't been to the B-town Rodeo EVER, so we'll have to take that in. Hopefully, in there somewhere we will sell the home and start moving also. Phew! Anyway hope Spring finds you all well.

and now for info on my new bromance....Zack Greinke


p.s. the link for my sister-in-law is an article she wrote FOR ESPN! I know, my claim to fame.

the big reveal

Sooooo

we wanted to tell our families first, but i'll still keep it pretty vague because the specifics still aren't ironed out.

The Wife and I have an opportunity to do some crazy shiznit with our church. There was a guy that came through KC a couple weeks ago and we felt God completely rock our world. We feel that God is pulling us one way, and we are doing whatever we can to follow. Being as the message of the Cross is quite foolish to those who don't know the Truth, some of the 'action items' are quite tremendous from a Non-God perspective. Anyway i know there aren't any specifics here, but e-mail me and i'd be more than willing to let you in on all the details.

I plan to chart our crazy journey through the next few weeks here on this blog, so stay tuned to see the rediculousness that we will be embarking on!

Much love!

Wow

so it seems i suck at consistently updating, but that will all change, there is something very huge on the horizon. so too all 2 of you, stay tuned and i'll inform you as soon as i can! still feeling it out, but i'm about 95% confident that this will happen...........


i know your dying to know


to be continued.......................

Post Valentines Day Wrap Up

Well a couple things have happened since I last posted.

I had an unfortunate basketball injury that involved very gross pictures of a multicolored foot.

I had an amazing weekend on the Country Club Plaza to celebrate my valentine.

I have weekly meetings with an immensely intelligent and deeply philosophical blast from my past.

I have been asked to participate in a group that is helping design a 3 week series at the church we go to.

the last two are what i want to touch on most. the series is about different 'life operating systems' and how they have become apart of our lives. on a high end level, you have the Pantheistic [god is whatever i want him to be and i'm molding god], Pragmatism [whatever works is whats right], and Secular Humanism [my decision making process is equal to god's]. There is a lot of overlap between the three, but in general, people live their lives in these three 'Operating systems' [according to our group]. I'm sure there is a large discussion that would entail many different systems, but for sake of time and argument, this is where we are.

So after a couple meetings with the 'group' and some time processing what was said, i approached my philosophical friend [who is not necessarily a 'christian'] and asked what would be the alternative to the three operating systems? His response kind of caught me off guard. he spoke to a Unconditional Love-ism but quickly quipped that unconditional love doesn't exist and went on a very Schopenhauer ridden diatribe about pain and lack of pain, but no joy/love. [thats a discussion for a different day]. So after dwelling on the bits of information, i can't shake the thought that unconditional love is the 'correct operating system'. so then that begs the definition of unconditional love, which philosophically can be argued to not even exist due to the fact that we are conditioned to love because we know we receive 'good' in turn. ANYWAY, despite all that, i am tickled that even if one can argue it doesn't exist, the thought of it is the answer to how we should live life. hah. i love it.


thoughts?


on a lighter note, Oscar Rogers is back again...

Check MATES!

Bah Hum Bug

So last night, the wife and I and another couple went an looked at Christmas lights.  This is the second time this year we went out, and wanted to take the other couple to some MUST SEE places.  The first joint we hit up was new to us, and was an all out light show.  It was choreographed to music that was broadcast to our car's radio and was about 10 minutes long.  It was awesome.  The wife just giggled like a school girl the whole time and the amazing feat of having all the lights flash to Jingle Bells.  Anyway, we went further into the city and stopped at Paulie's Penguin Playground.  If you live anywhere near Kansas City, its my opinion that you HAVE to go by Mur-Len and Indian Creek Parkway.  Its about a half mile north of the Mur-Len & Sante Fe [135th] Intersection.  It is unbelievable.  

After the Christmas light tour, we had a conversation with the other couple about some very difficult issues.  The wife and I differ in our conflict resolution tactics/strategies, but we had been debating about a couple issues concerning these friends for a long time.  So we sat down and hashed it out.  

It was intense.

There were a lot of open wounds prodded and insecurities laid bare, and many tears from all, but in the end it was amazing.  I would be too optomistic to assume everything is better and life goes on, but the realization that the 4 of us are willing to fight for each other's love offers such freedom in the relationship. 

Anyway as cheesy as it sounds, Christmas has come quite early for me with the truth that reconciliation [though incredibly scary and painful at times] proved quite ass-kickingly awesome this year.

Happy Holidays from me to you, and I leave you with an amazing picture of the Bacon!

Balls!

wow been a long time since i fake updated...

lots of crap going on around here.  If it isn't a work party, its a birthday party [totally met Kevin Appier at a birthday party], if it isn't playing basketball, its watching the Panthers on TV, if it isn't visiting the ole High School, its watching my Grandma get re-married.  Craziness.  Yeah my grandma who's ~82 married a 36 year old guy.  I know crazy right?  Whatever.  

Oh and then there's work.  WOOOOOOOOOOsh.  been a freaking blitz.  End of the year is budget time for our clients.  so we do extra work on top of normal work.  All of this while the clients are out on vacay so our communication is less than spectacular.  Combine that with the relative ludicrous-ness that is the current economic situation, and you have a recipe for exasperation to say the least.  Anyway i'm looking forward to the end of the month.  For Christmas Day we will celebrate with my fam in b-town.  First real christmas with my cute-as-a-button neice.  Then the next weekend we will be with the in-laws and celebrating with my cute-as-a-button nephew.   Booyeah.  

much love

p.s. I was completely kidding about my new 36 year old Grandpa, Gramma totally married an 86 year old dude.  I love Shock Value!  ;)  [thanks joel]

Just a little help to those in need in the coming holiday season.  

Fix It!

The current Financial Crisis can be fixed in a 3 step process:

#1  FIX

#2 IT

#3  FIX IT!

I love that skit on SNL Weekend Update.

near the end!

Also, Git Er Dun today!

Wait, What?

All views expressed here are in response to a couple wonderful conversations with an amazing pastor friend of mine, a highly intellectual architect, and a wicked smart social worker. 

 

So its come to my attention that we are having an election or something next Tuesday?  [insert joke about living under a rock here]  Anyway, I’m not here to endorse a specific party/candidate, but more to endorse a kind of activism.  Its been nigh on 2 years since McCain/Obama announced they were running for the main seat in the Oval Office.  That’s ridiculous, or as Kim would say, Redonk.  2 years of people trying to tell us why I need to vote a certain way.  Whether I like it or not, its apart of the world we live in.  People assume I’m unable to make a decision for myself and therefore offer their beliefs as fact in hope to alleviate my indifference.  

Usually I’m completely cool with other people offering their beliefs.  I feel I’m somewhat sheltered in my thoughts/life living in a very, very Red state.  But for some reason I take offense when I get my inbox bombarded with e-mails stating that the Right is the ‘Christian’ Political party, or that this is the most important presidential race EVER, or that Obama is a Arab  [props to SNL, that was hilarious, btw Say hello to your mother for me], or Sarah Palin is the worst person EVER to receive a Vice Presidential Nomination, or that the GOP stands for Grand Oil Party, or that McCain is Bush III.  All of that could be true, could be false, or [more likely] could be completely blown out of proportion.  Making broad statements involving the comparative word EVER typically lead me to believe that the original writer is trying to manipulate, or believe their view by applying somewhat audacious comparisons.  In light of the comment about how this is the most important presidential race ever, haven't I heard that for the past 3 elections?  Seems to me, the First election was pretty important, as was the 16th, and many many more are just as imporant.  How does one compare all elections/vice presidential nominees?  

Anyway, my point isn’t that the Right is correct, or the Left is the way to go, my point is, please don’t sell your vote short and be uninformed.  Please don't rely solely on the advice of your local religious leader, e-mail forwards, political newsletters, hair stylist, or other strongly opinionated friends.  Please make the decision for what you believe in, not what the 700 club says or who your favorite movie/sport star believes in. God loves all people, not just republicans or just democrats.  We have the opportunity to express ourselves unlike many people in this world.  Look up the local propositions, be versed in what is going on in your local community.  Most importantly, think for yourself.