Friday, November 21, 2008

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Pioneers vs. Settlers

Thanks for the encouragement many of you left on the last post. It'll take me a while to get ramped up, but I'll commit to blogging my thoughts as they hit me - they just don't hit that often. :)

I've been thinking about what it means to be a "pioneer". Those who risked so much to pursue a dream. Those who see what ought to be and are willing to pay any price to pursue it. Has our culture lost this? Have we conquered all that we can see and become settlers? Where do we see pioneering taking place in our culture? Who are the people paying the price to pursue what ought to be?

I guess the reason I'm thinking about this is because I had a conversation with a guy who has been coming to Pathways for a year or so. He informed me that his family is stepping away. They feel like it costs too much to be involved here. They don't have the time to invest in what we are doing.

What does it mean to be a pioneer when it comes to following Jesus? Have the church let the pioneering spirit be quenched because we "conquered the land"? Why do the settlers seem to shoot at all of the pioneers?

I don't have answers, but this is what I'm thinking about today.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Refresh vs. Refuel

Well, we are coming to the end of the baseball season. Andrew and Brett had their last game on Saturday. We took 4th in a tournament of 12 teams and lost to the eventual first place team. It was so much fun to see and be a part of them playing "real" baseball. Now, I am getting ready to leave home for the second to last game (Saturday is the last) for Josh's team and Sunday marks two team parties. We had the opportunity to play on some summer tournament teams but have turned them down so that we can actually go on vacation and have family time.

Today, I had a great conversation with my friend Ryan and he was kicking my butt (in a nice way) about writing something on my blog beyond baseball. So here it goes...today was a good day. It started with a pretty lousy hour and half drive to a meeting that I didn't end up having (another story), but on the drive there I spent it listening to a podcast that really challenged my thinking about the priority of where I spend my time. That was followed by an hour long conversation with Ryan and our conversations are always both encouraging and challenging. I made it back to Mill Creek to engage in a conversation with Josh Williams, our Worship Pastor in which I was talking about all of the challenging things that I was processing. It was a great morning.

Bottom line: I am discovering the difference between being "Refreshed" and "Refueled". When I am exhausted, either physically, emotionally or spiritually, my first response is to run toward refreshment. What does that look like for me? Baseball games, away time with my family, or simply quiet time alone. Those all refresh me. However, when I get back to the grind of church planting, the exhaustion overwhelms me almost instantly. Why? Because I have not refueled. It's like taking your car to the car wash, but never gassing up. The car feels good, looks good, and smells good, but it's still not going anywhere. What I often fail to do is gas up the engine of my soul. That happens for me through Bible Study, listening to leaders speak about leading and pastoring, challenging conversations with friends, and getting away from it all to listen to God (not necessarily talking to Him). Those things cost. They require investment, but the dividends are outrageous - it fuels me.

I obviously need both refreshment and refueling. How do you find each of these things in your life? (I'm veclempt. Talk amongst yourselves.)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

I Don't Know Words

My parents are missionaries, but not missionaries in the sense of being planted in one place overseas and staying there. They live here in Washington, but travel about seven months of the year to differing locations to teach and lead leaders. Last week my parents came home from one of their many overseas trips. They often bring back things for my boys and tell them a little bit about what they experienced on the trip. This trip was to Tajikistan (a first for them) and they brought back some handmade bookmarks for the boys (who are avid readers). Jamie, my youngest, is about to turn four this month and did not understand the purpose of the bookmark he had been given. I explained that when you read a book and want to stop, you put the bookmark in the book so that you will remember where you stopped reading.

Jamie's face got really sad and he looked at me and said, "But I don't know words". Pretty dang cute. Now he wants Mom to teach him to read. We'll give it shot this summer.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

This is June???



For some odd reason, they canceled our tournament game today. I must admit that at this time of year, I long for Arizona weather to play baseball in.

The Seattle Aquarium with 2nd Graders


This past Thursday I went to the Seattle Aquarium with Brett's class. I love going on field trips with my kids. I was a volunteer in their class all year, so the kids know me pretty well, which makes it all the more fun. I did this trip with Andrew's class last year, so I knew the drill, but this year they added something that we did not do last year, which was a classroom experience where a marine biologist talked to the kids about things that you might find in a tide pool.

Why am I blogging this? I guess it's a follow-up to the "Gulper Eels Don't Poop" post.
We learned:


  • Starfish vomit their stomachs onto their food and digest it outside of their body and then reswallow their stomachs with the food.

  • When you disturb a sea cucumber, it will completely poop out it's intestines and stomach, hoping that the predator will eat that and leave it alone. It then regrows it's innards.

  • Sea cucumbers also smell through their butt.

With information like that in a classroom of second graders - you cannot fail!

Monday, June 02, 2008

Awards Banquet


Last night I accompanied Kyle to the end of the year awards banquet for his school. It was yet another reminder to me of a thought I had thunk years before (yes, I know "thunk" is not a word). Schools need to hire church worship pastors to help them figure out how to do banquets, concerts, graduations, etc...because they either don't put any thought into it or they just stink at it.

Anyways, this banquet was a big deal because the varsity team won the state championship this year, something that they last did in 1998. I enjoyed seeing the varsity coach get all veclempt as he talked about his team. Next year, another high school will be opening (which Kyle will be a part of) so this was the final year of one school in Snohomish - it's a big deal in this little town.

It was awesome to be there as the Freshmen were honored by their coach. There were only four special awards given to individual players and Kyle was one of those. He was named the Most Improved Player of the Year. For a kid who has never played with players of this caliber, I was pretty stoked for him. He hit .421 on the year, had some good pitching outings and struggled through a couple of tough ones, and played some awesome first base. In fact, after the coach had announced the individual awards, he said he wanted to name the top offensive and defensive plays of the year. He ended up calling Kyle back up to give him the C0-Defensive Play of the Year award for a "Willie Mays" catch he made running to right field with his back to home plate.

I guess a blog that few people read is as good a place to brag about your kids as any.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

1-3 .714 Happy Birthday

What you might ask would the title to this post be referencing? It's all about Memorial Day baseball.

Game 1: RiverCats come out strong, scoring 10 runs in the second inning, and going on to beat the Narrows Baseball Club for the first win of the tournament. Josh goes 2-3 with a hit by pitch and an RBI.

Game 2: We played one of the better 13 year old teams in the state - the Brewers. There are three kids on this team that Josh has played with before, two on all-stars and one played on his team for the past two years. This team is composed of kids from all over Seattle (North/South/East/West) and is truly a powerhouse. Maybe I'm saying all of this because we got crushed 15-0. Josh went 0-1 with a perfect sacrifice bunt.

Game 3: The RiverCats played one of their best games of the season. Going into the final inning of the game, we were up 2-1. (To give perspective, the SBA Yankees, took the Brewers into extra innings before finally losing by one run.) The RiverCat problem was that two of our best pitchers were unavailable. One with a sore arm and the other on a Caribbean cruise with his family. When our pitcher's arm went "noodly" we had to go with one of our non-regulars. He promptly walked the bases loaded and gave up a bases-clearing double. Ouch! We lose 6-2.
Josh goes 1-1 with a double, a walk and another sacrifice.

Game 4: Playing Power Alley, we are officially depleted of pitchers. Our strong-armed SS pitches after a few minutes of instruction from the coach, but it was the first time that he had pitched - ever. Pretty tough situation for the team. We have six strong pitchers, but without two and the others being used already, you bring in the hardest thrower on the team and try to teach him to pitch a half hour before the game. We lost 8-4. Josh went 2 for 2 with a walk and 2 RBI's.

So, we go 1-3 in the tournament and Josh hits .714. That was Memorial Day Weekend for the Kuest family.

Oh yeah, after the final game we had a big family picnic to celebrate Leslie's 40th birthday! She gets to test the water on the 40's and let me know what it's like before I get there in October.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

State Champs!



This weekend, Kyle's high school varsity baseball team won the 4A State Championship, played at Safeco Field in Seattle. Pretty dang awesome. We got to go to the Semi-Final game at Safeco on Friday night, but missed the championship game due to Josh's Memorial Day Weekend Tourney (that's another post).



The Semi-Final game included a bench clearing brawl started by the pitcher of the other team. With the Panthers ahead (that's us) 3-2 in the top of the 7th and final inning, two outs and a guy on third, a ball got past their catcher. The Panther runner attempted to score, but was tagged out at the plate by the pitcher. As our runner got up, he grabbed the pitchers jersey. I'm not sure if he slipped and was grabbing ahold of him for support or if he just was overly aggressive, but the pitcher went ballistic and threw our runner into a headlock and they went to the ground. The benches emptied. The pitcher was thrown out of the tournament. We got them out in the bottom of the 7th. Ahhhh Baseball....


Friday, May 23, 2008

Favorite Jamie Picture

I keep going back and looking at the Ooperman post because it's one of my favorite Jamie pictures. It made me think I should post my other favorite Jamie picture. We were at my parents house and all of the cousins were packed onto one giant hammock. Jamie fell out of the hammock and this is the picture we got as he told us that his hands were dirty.






Enjoy!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Apparantly I'm in the Clothing Business

Found this website and laughed out loud. Let's all buy a few. :)

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Emotionally Exhausted


This is my friend Alex. I've known him for two and a half years - pretty much since we started our church. He's struggled with depression and wrestled with the pain of childhood sins that were committed against him. He believes in Jesus, trusts that his promises will eventually come true, but can't quite understand how that makes any sense today.
Two weeks ago today, Alex ended his life. I conducted the Memorial for him on Saturday. His family all lived out of town and they were able to be a part of it. His work associates were there as were his friends from Pathways. There is no easy way to deal with suicide as a community, but it is even more painful when it is someone you all loved, but who could not love himself.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

We're off to a game.



Mets vs. Cardinals today.

Practicing Funny Faces


Or "Ooperman's got a boogy!"

Friday, May 16, 2008

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

It's not the face of Jesus, but...


Okay, maybe I'm getting a little bit "post crazy" here, but I am confident that the United States of America showed up on Andrew's leg bruise.

All My Ballplayers


Here they are in all their uniform glory!

Gulper Eels Don't Poop!


A second grade boy's animal report doesn't get any better than when you find information like this! Gulper Eels just vomit whatever is left over from their meals. That is just too good.

Panther's Season is Over

Well, I didn't really do a great job of updating you on individual games throughout the season (you got some great pictures though). Now we're done.

At the second to last game, Kyle was given the Defensive Game Ball for an amazing catch he made at first base. It was in foul territory up the right field line and he made a catch with his back to the plate running full speed. It was awesome. He then came in to close out the game in and pitched a three up three down inning. He was stoked.

In the last game of the season he went 2 for 2 at the plate. He was also thrown out at the plate for the last out of the game. It was awful, because he was obviously safe (to everyone from our team). He tried to score from first base on a double and it would have put us within one run from tying the score. Instead, it ended the game. Bummer, but that's baseball.

He ended the year with a .421 batting average and a .608 on base percentage which is pretty outstanding. I never hit like that in high school. I'm proud of him, not just for his stats, but the courage and character he has shown through the year.

Rick, The Waver

Today I met Rick, the Waver. We’ve crossed paths hundreds of times, but never met before this morning. Rick is a guy who walks his dog along a street that I drive daily and everytime that I pass him, he waves with a smile. Today, as we passed and waved at each other, I felt this compelling need to tell this guy that he encourages me daily even though we don’t know each other. So I whipped the old Pathfinder around, stopped, and hopped out to greet the man who has waved at me hundreds of times. I think I may have startled him at first as I walked up, shook his hand and thanked him for waving with a smile. He told me that he’s from the Midwest and can’t help himself. (Does everyone in the Midwest wave?) It started when he was jogging in Chicago (there for a doctor’s conference he was attending). He went out for a jog (he used to jog until he had back problems and had a disc removed - it’s amazing how much you learn about someone in a short conversation) and was flipped off by dozens of people. He decided that he would wave and smile back at them.

Well, Rick is an encouragement to me. When I see him coming along the road, it changes my mood instantly. Thanks, Rick.

How can you be an encouragement to someone today?

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Baseball Update

Kyle: His season is almost over for the high school. He has two games this week and then the annual "Bean Bowl" in which the Freshmen play the Junior Varsity next Monday. It has been a really good season for Kyle as he has never played on a team of this caliber before. It has challenged him and stretched him (see pictures below). I'm really proud of both his character and his performance.

Josh: His team is perhaps only half-way through their season. They play about three games a week and the work is paying off. The RiverCats are really coming around. The team is made up completely of 13 year olds and they are playing quite a few 14 year old teams in the mix. I think that has really paid off when they face teams their own age. Josh bats either lead-off or second generally and probably has one of the highest On-Base Percentages on the team. Recently, he has been unconscious at the plate (in a good way), roping the ball all over the field and playing a solid second base. Josh is also becoming a catcher - out of need. The team has one of the best catchers I've seen at this age, but he also pitches and he likes to pitch to Josh, in spite of the fact that he's never caught before.

Andrew and Brett: Their season is just getting started. I'll get some pictures posted soon. Currently, we are 1-2, but much better than our record suggests. We have another game today (weather permitting) and Andrew is scheduled to pitch. They are having so much fun. Andrew has two doubles already and Brett has made a few outstanding defensive plays. Brett is only eight and is playing on a team with 9-11 year olds. He's tiny out there, but he knows what he is doing and is improving weekly.

Just Call Him "Stretch"




How to Get Out of Trouble...

Last week, I was home alone with Andrew (9) and Jamie (3). I was upstairs, they were downstairs. I heard a cracking sound and Andrew bursting into tears. I correctly interpreted the sound as a toy being cracked over Andrew's head. Andrew, crying loudly, began the trek upstairs to report the crime to me. Jamie, in spite of his mere three years of age, already knows what is about to take place and devises a plan in head to avert the tragedy that may soon fall upon him. What I encounter is Andrew coming up the stairs with Jamie following behind him, pleading, "Jesus loves you, Andrew. Jesus loves you". When he saw that this was not working, his pleading turned to anger, "ANDREW! JESUS LOVES YOU! ANDREW!"

It was everything that I could do to keep from laughing.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Kyle on the Mound

I love this progression of pictures.


For My Arizona Readers


Occasionally, you will notice big green leafy things in the background of photographs. We have these things everywhere up here and the locals call them "Trees". Just wanted to bring you up to speed on anything odd you might find in the pictures.

P.S. We got 10 inches of snow on Friday night!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Great Shots of Kyle




There is a Mom of one of Kyle's teammates that takes some great pictures and puts them on her website. Here are a couple that I really liked of Kyle.





Saturday, April 05, 2008

Picture from Last Summer


Another of my favorite pictures. I also appreciate remembering the sun and warm days when I look at this one. We took this in Moclips, WA on the beach. There is not much to do or see in Moclips, but that is part of what made it an amazing vacation.

Friday, March 28, 2008

It's Snowing...

...that's all I have to say.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Safe at Second

Kid's Baseball Clinic


Kyle's team put on a baseball clinic a couple of Sunday's ago. He got to work with the pitchers and had a blast. Some of the kids had zero experience while others were pretty skilled, which makes for a difficult experience. Anyway, here is a picture of him working with some of the kids (and with his eye on the camera).

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Baseball Weather???

So Joshua had a 9:30pm baseball game on Friday night. They are trying to make up the games of the tournament that were rained out last weekend. You know you are not in Arizona anymore when the coach emails everyone to bring "snow gloves" to wear between innings!

Here was the weather report from weather.com for the hour that the game finished up!
11:00 PM
Partly Cloudy 40°F
Feels Like 37°F
Dew Point 33°F
Wind From SSE5mph

Now it's bad enough that you have to endure weather like that for a baseball game. The worst part is that the game ended in a 3-3 tie in regulation and tournament rules stipulate that they do not play beyond regulation until the championship bracket. What does that mean? We ended with a 1-1-1 record in our first tournament and did not advance.

We got home close to 1:00am and Josh had a scrimmage double-header later that day. The boys were pretty tired but had a ton of fun. The weather had actually warmed up and was pleasant. The other team brought BBQ stuff and they ate together between games.

That's a lot of baseball in 24 hours.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Panthers now 1-1

We went to Kyle's game in Stanwood tonight (about 30-40 minutes north). We didn't arrive until about the 3rd inning, which is when Kyle entered the game in right field. We were ahead 2-0 at the time. It was a well played game on both sides. Kyle's first at bat was a walk to lead off the fourth inning, followed by a single. It was looking like some insurance runs were on the way. That was until the triple play. Yes, you read that right. The next batter drilled a shot directly at the first baseman, who tagged the runner and threw to second before Kyle could get back. Stunned shock. Big bummer. There really wasn't anything he could do, especially since they kept pushing him for larger and larger leads at second.

His next at bat came with two out and the bases loaded in the sixth (we play seven). We were up 3-2. He hit fly ball directly to the left fielder. Good contact, no bonus points. Stanwood tied it in the bottom of the sixth and shut us down in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh, a couple of hits and they score a run to end the game 4-3. Nobody likes to lose in the bottom of the last inning, but it really was a good game - nothing to hang your head at.

Next game Monday.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Looking Through Pictures




I was going through older picture files on my computer and came across this one of my boys at Chris and Andrea's wedding. Andrea looks gorgeous and is obviously the star of the show, but I think my guys add to the aura as well. :)

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Mom said there would be days like this...

Sunday brought game number 2 for the Cats. They played a HUGE team from Federal Way. I was at church, so I'll give you the details as communicated to me through Josh.

Mitchl (different than Mitch, who pitched yesterday) did a great job on the mound - he has such a nasty curveball. We were ahead for the first few innings, but as Mitchl got tired, they started hitting. Josh was pretty deflated because he made three errors at second base. This is rather startling considering he played the entire season last year without a single error. His coach, who he is in his third year playing for, was incredibly encouraging and pretty much told him to shake it off.

Anyways, we lost 6-2.

It looks like the tournament is going to be extended to next weekend. We have a Friday night game at 9:15pm. We play a team that is 0-2 and if we win, we have a very good chance of advancing to the quarter-finals because we have only allowed 6 runs in two games. This is the first tie-breaker for advancement.

Baseball Saturday

Our games this weekend were in Tukwila, which seems like a long way from here. Luckily, my in-laws live about halfway in between. We stopped there before heading to our first game only to discover that our first game had been rained out - again. We did get the 5pm game in, so we can now officially say that the RiverCats have begun their season.

I don't think I sat down for the entire game. If someone could somehow capture my nervous energy and utilize it for the good of the world, we'd solve the energy crisis. Josh batted second. He walked in the first inning and came around to score as the RiverCats put up four runs. It was all they would need.

The pitching was outstanding as Mitch, Zach and Jake threw a shutout for game #1 and the defense was near perfect. The good guys win 6-0.

Josh's highlight was lining a double over the right fielders head in the seventh inning. The runner on first attempted to score on the play, but was thrown out at home to end the inning. Kinda weird, cause that is the same thing that happened to Kyle in his first game.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

We were slated for two ballgames today and now we are down to none. Kyle's high school game was postponed and Joshua had his first game of the season (in a weekend tournament) rescheduled as well. I think that means that tomorrow is going to be crazy. Josh already had a 5pm tournament game. Now we'll probably have one before that as well - at a field a good hour away.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

A Game of FIRSTS

So Kyle's FIRST game as a high school student was full of FIRSTS.

Kyle did not start in his FIRST game. Nick, whom you may or may not remember as the fastest thrower in Joshua's league (on the Yankees) in his first season with the Cubs, started. He throws incredibly hard and can throw about 5-6 different pitches. But that also leads to control problems. He ended up giving up 4 runs in 2 innings.

Kyle made his FIRST pitching appearance in the THIRD inning. He got his FIRST strike-out on his FIRST batter - swinging. His SECOND inning pitched he pulled another FIRST with a three pitch inning - three easy pop-ups on the infield. He ended up getting the first two outs of the third inning, but it was apparent that he was getting tired. The next batter was his FIRST walk. The following batter was the FIRST hit he gave up. He then walked his SECOND batter on four pitches to load the bases. The coach came to the mound and I really thought that was going to be the end of his outing, but the coach encouraged him to suck it up and get one more out to finish the inning. The batter complied by popping up to second.

As for coming to the plate, his FIRST at-bat resulted in his FIRST strike out. It wasn't pretty as he got badly fooled by a curve ball in the dirt. However in his SECOND at-bat he got his first SINGLE - a blooper over the third baseman's head. A runner on second tried to score (we were looking for the FIRST RBI), but he was thrown out at home plate.

The Panthers defeated the Bearcats 8-4 and Kyle was the winning pitcher! A very nice start to the FIRST game of the Kuest boy's season.

A Tradition Begins Anew

Okay, so I haven't blogged here for about two years. But Liz has encouraged me to blog my boys baseball games so that family and friends outside of the state can follow along. It'll be a full season for the Kuest family.

Kyle made the Freshman team at Snohomish High. It is a school known for a great baseball program - they took second in state last year. 48 kids tried out for the Freshman team and they only kept 16. He'll pitch, play a little first and a little outfield.

Joshua had an outrageous season last year on a team that was 28-3. Two of their losses came in the Tournament of Champions at the end of the season where they took second place out of all of the Little League teams in Snohomish County. This season he'll play on a select team for the same coach and many other kids from last years 12 year old all-star team - The Snohomish RiverCats. So keep an eye out for further updates.

Andrew and Brett will play in the Minors this year for the Mets. We bumped Brett up to play with the big guys so that we would not have to have four boys on four teams - four on three teams will be crazy enough. It will be their first year playing "real" baseball. I am the Assistant Coach for their team. So far, we look pretty good, so I'm excited about what the season holds for us.