New Year

First, I would like to say that over the past few months I've composed a handful of posts but never published any of them. Not really sure why but part of me feels like I wasn't able to capture everything that has happened since the last time I blogged. I gave up on that. If you want to know more about what I did in 2012, just call me and we can chat.

Anyway, with the new year upon us, my Facebook and Twitter have been blowing up with peoples' statuses longing to become a new person in the new year. While I'm all for resolutions and change, (resolutions specifically helped with my hygiene in college - showering and flossing to be exact) I will never understand why people put so much hope into the new year. We will make almost arbitrary resolutions thinking they are going to bring us joy, or at the very least, bring us closer to satisfaction. Why do we waste our time trying to fix our image when it's our heart that is in need of restoration?

Jesus offers us new life, restoration, and forgiveness DAILY! We don't have to wait for a new year to be a new creation. He is always making us new and washing us whiter than snow! More than any resolution, I want to rest in this truth.

That being said, I have a feeling 2013 will be bringing new adventures, possible change, and a lot of great memories. Also, more blogging from yours truly.

Can't Sleep

Sleeping is for sure one of my favorite things to do in life but sometimes my body just won't do it. Tonight is one of those nights. Generally, this can be traced back to a late afternoon nap or caffeine after 5pm. But no, tonight I'm just awake. The only redeeming thing about insomnia is the off chance of stumbling upon a new awesome show.

Enter Gator Boys. These guys are straight crazy. Like, Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter crazy. One of them willingly goes into ponds and nooses 6ft alligators IN THE WATER! It's no Swamp People but it will play.

Regardless, I'm hooked.

If you know me at all you won't be surprised to read that I got suckered into a new TV show that happens to be a reality show involving animals. Win win.

Oh, and the worst part about late night TV are the infomercials. Watching Animal Planet means you see this over and over and over but I guess its better than the awkward adult phone "dating" infomercials on Comedy Central.

Area Director School

6 days after I got home from Europe, I left for Area Director School in St. Augustine, Florida.

It was class inside a hotel for 8ish hours a day for like 8 days. Surprisingly, I loved it! It was full of good practical job training. The other bonus was that all training (New Staff, Winter, & ADS) held in the same hotel! I got to see so many friends that I rarely get to see and met some new ones. This also lead to some awkward interactions.

YL Assignment + Facebook + Time = Awkward

Level 1: "Hey! How are you? Where are you on staff? Cool, we should eat a meal together and catch up" This is clearly the least of the awkward. You both remember each other and the conversation is generally pleasant.

Level 2: "Hey! How are you? Remember, we did ________ together at __________! Where are you on staff? Cool, we should eat a meal together and catch up!" I have this conversation a lot. More often than not, I am the one who has the confused look on his face forcing the other person to explain how they know me. It's always awkward and I usually find out later that we are facebook friends.

Level 3: Awkward eye contact. "Hey, you look familiar. I think I know you. Have you ever been to ______? Do you know _______? Oh, we were at ________ together!" This level isn't so bad because neither party feels obligated to try and extend the conversation past placing each other.

Level 4: Awkward eye contact mixed with trying to avoid eye contact. You both know each other but neither can place the other nor are either willing to enter into a conversation about it. This surprisingly happens a lot to me and generally results in :

Level 5: Everything about level 4 but then you later find out you are facebook friends.

Anyway, my favorite part of ADS was our free day where a few of us trekked to the beach. It was so good! I literally was yelling that the entire time we were there playing in the water!

Everyone was surprised that I jumped the highest. I told them how in college people described me as "surprisingly athletic." They (especially Brit) thought it was hilarious and referred to me as such the rest of the day. Jerks.

Europe

Today a friend told me to stop being a bum and update my blog. So here it goes. It is long and short all at the same time.

Europe was AWESOME!! I will try to squeeze 2 weeks into a few thoughts and highlights.

Vienna was beautiful, very clean and felt proper. It was best described to me by a friend's mom as a "wedding cake" city. Let's just say its not on my list of cities that I want to revisit. I was in the boot the whole time so getting around was a little difficult. My foot wasn't the problem but walking in the boot messed with my hips and back because I didn't have any shoes of equal height. I also discovered that traveling alone is my favorite thing until about 8pm. Once I had finished dinner, all I wanted to do was find a nice quiet bar to have a drink and relax. Unfortunately, the only thing I could find were crazy discos and those were also the place of choice for everyone in my hostel room. My favorite part of Vienna was the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery). It is one of the largest cemeteries in the world and is the final resting place for almost all famous Austrians. Sounds morbid but I spent an entire afternoon there and could have stayed longer.

Parting thoughts from Vienna:

The cathedrals were beautiful but I was surprised that they didn't move me as much as my first visit to Europe. Round one brought with it a revelation about how Jesus is Lord and He is worth the extravagance of European cathedrals.

The public transit is on the honor system and I'm a sucker. I've traveled enough to know that you don't want to waste your money buying a ticket each time but get a longer term pass to cover the time you'll be there. I purchased a nice 72 hr pass and to my surprise, there weren't any gates to go through nor people checking your pass.

The next stop was Budapest. Unlike Vienna, Budapest is close to the top of my list of cities I want to revisit! It might have been one of the most gorgeous cities I've ever been to. Seriously. Its packed full of great history and great people. It also helped that I had an expert tour guide and great friend show me the city. We didn't do a ton but ate a lot and the food was cheap! Budapest was the gathering place for everyone before we headed off to Nyiregyhaza for the wedding. It was a wonderful time with friends. Favorite part of Budapest: The hot springs!! We spent an afternoon relaxing in debatably the most beautiful hot springs resort.

Wedding time!! Hungarian weddings are my new favorite thing! They start in the afternoon with a pre ceremony buffet. Perfect. Then we headed off to the ceremony which was in a 400 year old church and was done by a bishop. Perfect. Now reception time! Starts with a 5 course meal. Perfect. Now around 6 hours, yes 6, of dancing to a live band who was mixing traditional Hungarian jams with American hits. The dancing was stopped very few times but each time was awesome. First, the groomsmen and groom's friends kidnap the bride. The groom then has to win her back. We opted for an epic sword fight. (The master of ceremonies (wedding planner) liked it so much he is going to suggest it to his other clients.) There was also a dollar dance, first with the "country bride" aka the brides brother in a dress then the actual bride. The last break in the music was for midnight dinner!!! Perfect. The night rolled to an end about 4am. The band played their last song and was about to leave when I ask them if they know September by Earth Wind and Fire. They laugh and play it just for me. I mom danced the crap out of that song and was laughed at by the few remaining Hungarians. After a short jaunt to the horse stable to give them a well deserved midnight snack it was time for bed.

Overall, this trip was awesome but next time I go to Europe it will be in the Summer and I will see a beach.

Booting Across Europe

In about 40 hours I will be boarding a flight to Europe for a little vacay. It will be 10 days full of adventure starting with 3 days by myself in Vienna before heading over to Budapest for the wedding festivities (college roomie is getting married). Needless to say, I've been pumped for this trip since I booked the flight back in October. Unfortunately, there has been one small set back. I will be wearing a boot. Womp womp.

For the past while my foot will randomly decide it wants to hurt to the point of almost being immobile. This will last anywhere from a day to a few weeks depending on how restful I am. Well, Saturday, it began again but this time it hurt far worse than any other time. My parents urged me to go to the doctor so they could take xrays and whatnot. So after being convinced and bribed with breakfast, I went in today. The ER doc I saw this morning thought he had narrowed it down to Morton's Neuroma and referred me to a Podiatrist. Thankfully, I was able to sneak in an appointment today. After going through the typical Dr office trick (when they take you back to the room on time then make you wait an hour to actually see the Dr.) I was able to chat with the specialist. He was old, nice, excited about my trip, but utterly confused by my hurting foot. He instantly ruled out Morton's Neuroma (Thank you Jesus!) in a that-guy-has-no-idea-what-he-is-talking-about but wasn't certain about what was wrong.

His best guess is a stress fracture that isn't showing up on the xrays or some strained ligaments. Either way, he threw me in a boot wrote me a prescription and sent me on my way.

I will now be booting across Europe with a nice stash of percocet so I can't complain!

Field Staff/ Service Center

Every Monday, I get a copy of YL's Monday Mornings which is a mission wide email that is full of little diddies about being a YL leader. This also includes a spotlight on a job opening each week. Today made me ashamed of my organization.

"Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Office of the President"

To me that reads: Denny's secretary's secretary. Really? There is enough work that your secretary needs a secretary? Obviously I inquired further and checked out some of the job description.

Here are a few of the responsibilities listed:

Upkeep of the Office of the President — supplies and refrigerator.

In-office lunches.

Desk preparation for the president and DOP.

Maintain a positive, warm, personable manner with flexibility and a desire to answer "Yes!" to all requests if possible

And... you don't need a college degree.

Hilarious. But the sad part: they probably make more than me and get those sweet YL benefits without worrying about their area moving into deficit. The cherry on top: no fundraising. Womp womp. Maybe this is one of those reasons some field staff don't love the service center. Jobs like this make me mad when I look at the 22ish% service charge that goes out of my account each month to pay for their salaries and services.

Wife Swap

When I think of one show that I watched the most in college, it has to be Wife Swap. And no, I'm not one bit ashamed of that. I would literally sit for hours with my friend Ehren judging the crap out of the families each episode. You're probably wondering what warrants this bit of confession time. Well, I have a lot of reading to get done by 9am and I'm looking for anything to distract me. Fortunately, I can always count on Lifetime to have at least one episode of hilarious family swapping for me to enjoy.

The only requirement for watching Wife Swap is that you have to choose which family you would rather be raised by. Generally, I choose the more strict family and tonight is no different. I choose the Dragos who are workaholics void of much affection over the Camerons whose mother is consumed by her doll collection and shopping while leaving her kids to do whatever they want.

Good thing there is only one episode on tonight so I can get to that reading...

Thanksgiving/Black Friday

Yep, its my second favorite time of the year.

It all Wednesday night. We make the stuffing and pumpkin cheesecake while drinking wine.

Thanksgiving day at the Brinck household is quite the tradition. First, you have to know that we aren't exactly a formal family. Basically, if you shower on Thanksgiving you have gone above and beyond all expectations.

I got to Larry and Suze's around 10am for some delicious Monkey Bread (cinnamon sugar biscuits). Now, nap time. Things pick back up around noon when its time to prepare the Turkey for the oven. In the past few years I've taken on a more prominent role in the kitchen, AKA I make pretty much everything. We don't do anything special with the bird. Just cover it in butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, and rosemary. Put all the chopped veggies (onions, celery, and carrots) in the pan the pop er in the oven. This is also the time we start the stock for the giblet gravy.

Now we nap and watch some football.

We start up again around 4:30 prepping everything else for the sides. Kaluha yams, mashed potatoes, bacon and shallot green beans, and rolls.

Dinner is at 6 and we feast!

The only problem is that I've been snacking so much on everything I've been eating that I can only eat one full plate of food.

Nap. Clean. Dessert.

Bed.

Black Friday.

We are sometimes the crazy get in line at 3am people but this year no one wanted a door buster so Suze and I went to the mall around 10:30 for a day of shopping. This basically turned into me picking out everything I want for Christmas and having Suze buy it. Perfect.

Practice Thanksgiving

Since as long as I can remember my family has always had a practice Thanksgiving. It generally happens sometime in October and its our chance to try out new recipes so that we don't bomb on real Thanksgiving. This tradition really took off while I was in college because Suze knows that Thanksgiving is my favorite. Every time I came home we had a practice Thanksgiving! I had at least 3 Thanksgivings each year!

Clearly I would brag to my friends about how many Thanksgivings I would have each year and I was shocked to find out that my family is in the minority with practice Thanksgiving. Most of my friends had NEVER heard of a practice Thanksgiving?! What? I always thought this was the norm.

So for all of you reading, I hope that you would adopt the practice Thanksgiving tradition. It just might change your life..

Deadlines

Well, in my recent year of maturation, I can say with all confidence that deadlines will continue to be the death of me. Take for instance the book that is currently sitting closed next to my computer. I need to have read over half of it and be ready to talk about it with my mentor at 9am tomorrow. For some reason I still feel like I've got plenty of time and that The Sandlot is more deserving of my attention.

To top it off, I got my pre assignments for Area Director school which are all due while I'm in Europe. This means I will need to have them all done before I leave! This will be the first time in my life that I turn in an assignment more than a few hours before the deadline. But, if I'm being honest with myself I'll be just as stressed trying to finish them before I leave for my vacation as I would be trying to get them in on time.

Hopefully one day I will be friends with deadlines but at this point we're still just roomies who aren't friends but have no choice but to live with each other.

Church

The last few weeks I've been "Church Shopping" here in Parker. I'm pretty sure I know where I'll end up but want to make sure I check out a few before settling in. In my shopping, I've found a few things about suburban churches that are hilarious.

The one loud singer in the congregation.

The middle school girls who talk the whole time and no one thinks its OK to say something

The pew blocker (yep, that's me): someone who sits on the end of an empty pew

The overenthusiastic worship leader/ tired congregation combo

Kids Church! Mostly just because kids are hilarious

Clapping. Its never on beat and there are only 1/4 of the people participating. Tops.

Community Realitiess

I've been working in Parker for a little over a year now and have yet to find a community here.

I have tons of great friends in Denver and a few scattered around the metro but really no one in Parker. Now, I haven't been the most proactive about creating a community here but everyone I've run into that is close to my age isn't in the same life stage as me. I'm literally the only single person living in Parker who is out of college.

Having come to this realization, I look forward to the nights I get to escape to Denver to hang out with friends there, specifically Thursday Happy Hour on weeks I don't have Wyldlife campaigners. Tonight my mind was blown and another reality came to light... Most of my HH friends are either married or dating. Ugh!

For all those marrieds out there, I have nothing against you. I love my married friends but I don't desire to try and build relationships with couples. Its just...awkward. I will gladly be friends with people who then date and get married but until I am part of a couple I won't pursue couple friends.

Now, if that isn't enough, two weeks ago I was hanging out with a few of my other married guy friends (including my old YL leader) and they were heckling me about being single. Jerks. They came to the conclusion that the next logical step in my life is online dating and they were convinced that I would give up the control of that page.

Has my life really come to the point where my only option is online dating and that its so bad I shouldn't have control of that page.

I love the people I hang out with but if I am going to avoid putting all my chickens in the online dating basket I'm going to need to find new single friends. And more for my own sanity I need some single guy friends to hang out with me.

Snow Day!!

Today was a snow day which allowed me to indulge, so to speak.

My new favorite guilty pleasure has been listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I have been known in the past to be adamant about the "Christmas music has no place until after Thanksgiving" rule. Well, it is something about snow and coffee that, in my mind, are apparently linked with Christmas music. I know that drinking coffee while its snowing is a beautiful thing and no one can change that but add Christmas music into the mix and you have a whole new world!!

In addition to the coffee/snow/Christmas music combo I got to take Bonnie on a long walk and she LOVES snow. I rounded out the morning afternoon with some Call of Duty and emails before heading to my parents to shovel their walk in exchange for a good Suze dinner.

Can snow days happen more often? Please?

Halloween Weekend

Not surprisingly, every time I came home this weekend it was far too late and I was far too tired to try and throw together a post.

We all know that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love being creative with my costume and dressing up in general. The only problem was that this year I had literally no idea what I wanted to be. I've never really been one to work/plan ahead but I was even cutting it close for my standards. It was Halloween day and I was stuck. I did my normal round of Goodwill/Wal-Mart/Spirit to look for some inspiration but nothing was working for me. Naturally, I headed home and took a nap. I woke up an hour later and it hit me.

Gingerbread man!

It now became a race against the clock to gather the materials and create the costume. By the time I got home, I had just over 3 hours to make it and let it dry before I would be out the door to the Cooke St. girls party (super fun, btw).

I enlisted Suze's help and got it done.

The only thing left to do was the makeup. I painted my face gingerbread (brown) with a white icing smile and eyes. I walked downstairs with makeup but without the costume and Suze's response was "You look like aunt Jemima." Hilar. Love that woman.

My phone isn't working or I would post a photo.

I Thought I Was On YL Staff

This week I've been out the door before 6:30 every morning. Now, for most people reading this it sounds like most working professionals but I am on YL staff! Why the hell am I getting up so dang early? It all caught up to me this afternoon when I laid down to answer a few emails. Halfway through one email I was out. 2 1/2 hours later I woke up with drool on the pillow and Bonnie keeping me warm. I'm thankful to have a job that allows me to nap and make up the missed work time at night when I work better.

In completely unrelated news, Bonnie pooped and peed on my balcony today. Thankfully, the condo under mine is empty. I'm going to have to teach her what are considered appropriate activities while out there. Balconies are not the place for bathroom going.

So Many New Things! But First, A Reflection On The Last Year

Hi,

My name is Greg Brinck and I think I'm going to get back into the blogging thing. For some reason, I feel like I have the freedom to get back into it. This isn't freedom of my time but freedom in my mind. The past 9ish months have been the hardest time in my life and I just now feel like I'm coming to a place where I'm confident in my job/life/leadership. This last year has been a cycle of finally feeling like I'm taking steps in the right direction and then bam! kicked in the nuts. All that I could muster up were a few depressing posts that I've since deleted.

Ministry is hard. Really hard, and the position of Area Director might be one of the most challenging things I do in my life.

But, I've grown more with the Lord this year than any other year in my life and I wouldn't change it for anything. I won't bore you with the details but feel free to ask me about it if you care to know more.

Anyway, a few things to look forward to...

An introduction to Bonnie Butters Brinck

A tour of my new condo.

More houseplants.

Possibly some pictures.

Confession time.

Now its time to turn my attention to Long Island Medium (Judge me, I don't care) and get some sleep. 5:55am is going to come far too quickly.

Jump Street

I meant to blog about this yesterday but didn't. Saturday was our leadership training/planning day. It was so fun! We started in a coffee shop for breakfast and talk planning. After working hard for about 2 hours I felt the need to teach my leaders how to play Nertz. They loved it, duh. Once we got hungry again we headed over to a burger joint to get lunch and plan skits/mixers. After a good morning full of training/planning/good food it was time for our surprise fun! Jump Street!!! Basically, it is a room full of trampolines, they even have them curve up onto the wall!! We spent an hour jumping and trying to avoid killing the small children who were running around. This was my first extended jumping experience since I broke my trampoline in High School and I think I'm over my fears of breaking another one. Heading back to Parker, I decided it was a good idea to grab sonic drinks.

Overall, great training/planning day!!

OK, This Time I'm Serious

I know I've talked a big game in the past about becoming healthier, but this time I am serious. I think my problem in the past is setting unrealistic goals and trying to change my habits instantly then getting discouraged when I didn't meet them. I've always thought that to work out you need to do it in the morning (if you know anything about me then you know I hate mornings) needless to say, this never worked out. I would just sleep through my alarm and skip my workout. Now, I'm just going to work out at night, it just works for me. This is when I am most awake and it already fits into my schedule. I feel good about it and tonight was night 2.

This might come as a shocker but working out at the Brinck house is quite easy, we own a lot of exercise equipment. You wouldn't know this by looking at anyone who lives here but they exist (under a lot of dust).

I'm a little late for this to be a true New Year's Resolution so I won't consider it one but it pretty much is.

Surprise Guests

My friend Ryan called me around one this afternoon telling me that he and his girlfriend, Sarah, were up in winter park and needed a place to stay before heading back to kansas city. Of course I offered up larry and susie's place. They love visitors! So tonight we are having an old fashioned ultimate spendsie! Ryan and I are on the main floor sleeping on the couch and futon mattress while his girlfriend is up in my room. We hung out and chatted for a while just catching up and reminiscing about college. So fun. Especially because I'm convinced my friends in college and my overall college experience were better than everyone else's.

I needed this and I'm excited to take the morning off and head to snooze for breakfast.

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Home

It is so nice to be home. I missed my bed and dogs and good coffee and no class and TV and fast internet and lots of other things. But as happy as I am to be home, I knew I was walking back into challenging times with YL. Since I left for NST, I have lost almost half of my leaders and have been dealing with some internal conflict (hopefully it got worked out today).

I can't remember who said it at NST but someone said "you will want to quit before the year is over." I think I might have set the record for the staff associate who felt that first. The day after I came home. I knew this semester was going to be hard but I wasn't expecting it to be quite the mess it is turning into. Such is life in full time ministry, I guess.

Sorry to be Debby Downer but I had two difficult conversations today (about 4 hours apart but at the same coffee shop). Each time I found myself fighting back tears; today has just been overwhelming.

I know the Lord has huge plans for Parker but sometimes you have to wander around in the desert before you find the promised land. I am too accustom to the culture of instant gratification and need to recognize that the Lord doesn't operate on this system. I trust His plans but today was just freaking hard.