George Lucas... You Light Up My Life

Hey! A mom at my church just gave me my latest Star Wars item! Yup, it was buy one get one free, so after buying one for each of her three children, she brought the fourth to church for me!

Fortified with 9 Essential Midiclorians!

Not only will you be healthier and wiser, and with sentences mixed up begin to speak, but... it comes with your very own light up Spoon Saber!

I see you have constructed your own spoon...
Indeed you ARE powerful...
But you are not a Jedi yet...
One thing remains...
You must drink your milk.

The Star Wars Toy Quest Continues...

Well, the QUEST for new Star Wars Stuff is on.... the day began with what Darth Vader has for breakfast:

Breakfast of Sith...
Contemplating the Dark Side of Pop Tarts...

Next, I managed to find the SNEAK PREVIEW figures... there were 4, but I proved NOT to be weak-minded, and only got one:

Why are the bad guys always so cool?

Still looking for someone to go with me on Frday night...

Star Wars Check List...

Just what every serious Star Wars Shopper needs! I am happy to provide you with the OFFICIAL STAR WARS EPISODE III SHOPPING GUIDE! Download the PDF HERE.

Add to your list:

Sith Happens

Target WEAK in the Force!

OK, I went to Target, and found them to be very weak in the force. None of the employees even knew about the online ads and there was very little Star Wars stuff, and what there was (2 items) were few in number and spread out. I did pick up 2 big bags of M&M's and a box of Pop Tarts:

First Pop Tarts I've purchased in YEARS...
good marketing works, I guess!

The small print is quite funny on most of them:

TO DOOKU: Watch where you're pointin' that things!
TO TROOPER: A little round for a Stormtrooper, aren't you?

MORE EXCITING NEWS:

I will be going to the MIDNIGHT TOYS R US OPENING
in Vernon Hills on Friday, April 1st!

I did this for Episode I and it was a TON of FUN! Not sure if this one will be the same, but at the first one (they didn't do this for Episode II) I got there at 10 p.m. and 15th in line. By midnight there were HUNDREDS of people in line, ALL MEN (except for 2 brave women). I was only going to buy a few items, but when the doors opened I almost got stampeeded! I tried to look through the toys, but I guess I had underestimated the impact of 20 years without Star Wars toys! Within 5 minutes EVERY STAR WARS TOY had been snagged up, and I had to do the same thing: fill a cart with whatever I could grab. It was THEN that the real fun begame that lastest for hours!! The entire store turned into a swap meet! Fortunately, I had taken a high schooler with me! Everyone set up mini 'stores' or booths through the Toys R Us. I took some bikes down and set up my shop on the carpeted shelves. Then we spent hours trading with others - you want Darth Maul? I need an Obi-Won. This other guy was Obi-Won, but needs the Senator Palpatine... by the time you got the one you needed to trade for the one you wanted, the guy already had it! By the end of the night, I had managed to gather every figure... so I bought them all. (26) Interesting (no offense women) but all the female figures were sliding around on the floor unwanted, so I got a Padme. Granted, this was before the movie came out so none us knew... oh, never mind. Let's just say Padme is more popular that Princess Leia ever was. :)

I am all set for this Friday with all my Toys R Us dollars from my Toys R Us credit card from the entire past year - so all the toys I get will be free! Kinda cool, huh?? Been saving them up for this very event. Still looking for someone to go with me this time.... any volunteers?

TOP OF MY LIST:

Darth Potatoe Head!
Lord of the Fries!

and the
WOOKIE SUPER SOAKER!

The Ideal Walking Carpet Cleaner!

Will You Fall for the Jedi Mind Trick!?

OK, this was just tooo funny. Blantant marketing, but so blantant, it was fun.

Click on the Image.
To send the link to friends (or foes) copy and paste this:
http://target.com/target_group/stores_services/starwars.jhtml?page=1&product=1

BE SURE TO CLICK 'NO' ON THE FINAL SCREEN:

I like the legal disclaimer... can you hear that in Darth's voice?

Of course, I will be going to Target for lunch today!!
Weak Minded I must be!

I Kid U Not...

Well, it's hard to believe that KID U is over! What a FUN BUNCH OF DAYS!

Friday, was the pre-conference, and WHAT A BLAST that was! Every presenter did a BANG UP AWESOME job at presenting the theme in their own creative way. We had an in-house contest to spur them all on... every Kidology staff member and volunteer that wasn't presenting was given a ballot to choose who did the best job, they ALL did awesome, and the vote was close, but the Winner of the Most Incredible Presentation went to:

Jamie Doyle and his magical presentation. He won an Incredibles DVD, Basketball, and Pez Dispenser. Not bad, eh?

Saturday was KID U! We had over 250 people there all to be equipped and encouraged.

Dave and Jody VanKley leading the opening session

I taught workshops along with several other presenters. But my favorite thing of the day was meeting Monty the Python from Camp Timber-lee:

How do you like my necklace?

Monty made a great hat too!

OK, maybe the snake wasn't my favorite thing, but it was pretty cool. My favoirte part of the day is usually at the end when I like to treat the staff and presenters out for some REAL Chicago Style Pizza! This year was the new Gino's East in Lake Zurich! We took over the restaurant with 27 people pizza eaters!

the best thing about Kid U.... KIDS!

It's lean, it's mean, it's GREEN...

Kid U* is only days away! We got several hundred people coming to my church to be 'equipped and encouraged in children's ministry.' It's not too late to register!

We also will be featuring our new 'Tannerized' Kid U logo:

NEW:


OLD:

The new logo was made to match the Kidology logo better, as well as the new logo of our regional seminars:

NEW:

OLD:

What do you think? We're pretty happy with 'em. For those who don't know, we recently moved Steve Tanner to full time as Kidology's Director of Web Operations - basically putting him in charge of everything related to the website. It required some tough staff changes, but we are looking forward to him 'Tannerizing' more of Kidology! He was a 'free lancer' before, but since he wasn't free anyway, we decided we might as well hire him full time before someone else snagged him away! Anyway, let me know what you think of the new logos in the comments. (Steve didn't make the logos, he managed their creation by Corey at our web firm birkey.com just to give them credit as well!)

* short for 'The Kidology University"

Taking Over Culvers - Part 2!

Sunday afternoon, and another chance to put 'relational ministry' into practise... that's just my excuse for going out to lunch with a bunch of goofball kids (and their parents)

Not pictured: The well balanced meal before the ice cream!
Also not pictured: All the grown ups at the 'adult' table.

Well, it was back to Culvers after church this Sunday! And guess what? The manager noticed we were back, and instead of throwing us out, offered us VIP cards for discounts in the future! So I guess I got my scheme, er, wish, without asking! (see Culvers post below)

It was only a matter of time before I got ice cream on my shirt,
and pants, and shoe! and I didn't even order any!

Few things in life are better than being out to lunch with a bunch of silly kids - where do they get the energy? I needed an hour long nap afterwards!

Remember that verse in the Bible about 'ol log eye?'

Ahhh Matie! It's fun to goof around, but it's also fun telling stories and sneakin' in little mini-life lessons as they beg for me to tell more stories...

Ouch!

I also discovered why I've been having migranes all these years, apparently, I've been walking around with my head backwards all these years! But I got it straightened out today!

The Cure for Blog Addiction...

OR maybe the title should be simply, "I can't sleep!" Maybe it's from all the travel and low sleep at CPC, maybe it is the slight cough I'm fighting, maybe it's staying out tooooo late with the Aussie's the other night (post still coming!), or maybe I am just living out the verse I often claim as my life verse,

Allow no sleep to your eyes,
No slumber to your eyelids.
Proverbs 6:4

But whatever the reason, the result is the same: I CAN'T SLEEP, and when I do drift off I'm dreaming about my blog! (I need help, and It's all Tannerman's fault!) I have to be up early in the morning for church, and have a zillion things to do, but I've been laying here for what seems like ages. If I wake up and missed Sunday, it won't surprise me. (But it sure will those at church.... like my boss!)

So, I decided to test a theory. They say if you can't stop thinking about something, just do it, and get it out of your system. Well, for many things, that isn't possible - which is why you dream about them in the first place (No bad thoughts here - I'm referring to dreams about skydiving, spy missions, car chases, saving the world ect. - shame on you!) But in this case, I actually can DO what I'm dreaming, so the purpose of this blog is to put myself to sleep, and it'll probably work because I'm sure I've put YOU to sleep by now too!

But I did learn something through this experience, (didn't our parents always tell us, maybe God is trying to teach you something?) I learned that it's very hard to photograph your alarm clock and not have it look like it is the middle of the day... and I wasn't going to go get a tri-pod, I am tired after all.

<<<<MUCH time passes>>>>

Well, I have to wait on the pictures - I tried to upload, they wouldn't go, thought my Internet was down, and after trying multiple computers, re-booting router, and a lot of other technical stuff I won't further bore you with, I also learned that my dedicated server goes down at 2:25 a.m., (and is still down an hour later!) ..... and to think, I could have been sleeping all this time... oh yeah, I couldn't! sigh. Now, I try to go back to sleep partly mad that my dedicated server is down (and all the websites it hosts including my church's sites) and partly that I wouldn't know that that were down if I'd been able to sleep in the first place, since by morning they will probably be fine, and I will be the only person out of everyone serviced by that server that knows that all the sites and e-mail accounts on the dedicated server are down right now... but nooooo, they are all nestled all snug in their beds, with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. (or sky mission, or whatever) So now, I'm returning to the pillow, hating to be posting a boring text only blog entry, but will edit and add the pics later. GOOD NIGHT!

<<<<MUCH MORE time passes (and I get some sleep>>>>

Here are the pictures I tried to upload last night....

Too bright for middle of the night...

Night setting too blurry....

No flash too dark....

I missed first service, but I did finally get to sleep.... and all is good and well with our server now. (grrrrrrrrrrr)

A Grand Evening at VCBkids!

Last night was the Awana Grand Prix at my church.

As usual, our Comander Dave Norbeck planned an exciting night...

Along with Chuck Caswell, our church racing expert who adds fun, jokes, racing trivia, and more to the evening...

It's a great time to hang out with the kids!

Of course, the FOOD is a highlight for the kids!

Using my trusty Mac, I was taking pictures and videos with my digital camera, and then running slide shows on a giant screen on the stage. For one video, I strapped my camera to a kid's car with masking tape, and sent it down the ramp to capture how it looks to a car going down the ramp!

To see for yourself, click on this picture... (or right click and 'save file')

It is a QuickTime video file.

For more pictures and videos visit VCBkids.org Grand Prix 2005 Page!
(See also 2004 Pics!)

And..... those Aussie's from Atlanta showed up at my church!
But more on that later!

OK, I'll admit it.... I cried.

IT'S HERE!

The next star wars trailer is now here. My favorite scenes are always the ships and space battles.

It is hard to watch the young Anakin turning...

But I'm glad there will be a lot of saber battling... that is always cool!

I'll admit though, I got a little choked up when Obi-Wan says, "But you were the chosen one." It is definately a traggic story,and this chapter will be the darkest. Still hard to believe that cute little kid could become Darth Vader!

DOWNLOAD QUICKTIME: STAR WARS III trailer.

DOWNLOAD AVI: STAR WARS III trailer.

They are both BIG, so be patient!

On TOP of the World!!

During the Midnight Madness Exhibit Hall event (sales and performances throughout the exhibit hall) the Fitz Family were letting people try a 6 foot unicycle. I decided to give it a shot - now, I can ride a 3 foot 'normal' unicycle, but I've always been scared to death of the tall ones! I decided not to tell them I could ride a little one out of fear that they would let go and push me to ride the tall one solo and I'd crash and make a fool out of myself.... they helped me on...

they led me for about ten feet and then something snapped... no, not the unicycle! I just could tell I could do this, I let go of them and took off!

It was a blast! I was flying through the exhibit hall motioning for people to get out of the way, as I'd never done this before!

I looped the entire huge exhibit hall before I realized I didn't know how to get OFF this thing!

After a full lap, I headed back around one more time so I could cut down the Laflin's row and say hi to them - finally back in this end row that wasn't packed with people, I leaned back and let the unicycle roll in front and dropped to my feet. Then a funny (and painful) thing happened. I got off fine, but then collapsed! My legs started trembling and I couldn't walk for at least a minute, and then wobbly for the next 20 minutes - Mr. Fitz said I used a lot of muscles not usually used and they were fatigued. He was very nice, its more likely I'm out of shape and a wimp! My legs are still hurting two days later, BUT I'm buying me a 6 foot unicycle ASAP!

Goodbye Friends...

The only downside to a CPC is that you have to leave. Here are a bunch of fun people that I met or got to see while here...

I know these guys as "Larry and Bob" because they dress up as Larry and Bob to minister to kids.


Sherry and Sam from INCM


Jeremy Lee and Mee


A Kidology member I met in the elevator!


More members that stopped me to say hi
(always makes my day)


Nancy Keith, the newest Kidology CP Team Member!


Rob Biagi and Tanner in the background.


Roger Fields of Kidz Blitz.
(thanks, Roger, for the yummy steak dinner!)


This guy of course has to come back with me...
Tanner has just moved up to full time with Kidology as our Director of Web Operations. On Kidology.org, if it looks sharp - Tanner had a hand in it!

My favorite CPC booths....

My favorite thing about CPC has always been the exhibit hall! Where else can you buy a flying monkey!? (picture not available yet) But here are some of my favorite booths - NOT in order of favorite, so please, no hurt feeling by my exhibitor friends, they are in the order that I took them just to keep it random, and many favorites are not shown, because I missed taking a picture, or the booth was too packed due to be others' favorite as well - so no hurt feelings if your booth is missing! (For many of them, click on the picture for their website)

My wife's favorite booth... EVERY church needs one of these wonder machines!


This funny guy has had an effective ministry for years!

CEF, while one of the longest enduring ministies, has not always been known for being cutting edge (most known for their flannel graphs) so the flat screens and DVD players stopped me in my tracks! Looks like some good fresh things are happening.

Crosspoint / Centri-Kid is a ministry of Life Way, these guys also provided the eZone where the new INCM.org site Kidology built was launched and featured at CPC.

The Harvest guys (Joe shown here) are great friends and partners with Kidology.

This team is AWESOME - we hope to add their stuff to Kidology soon!


These guys ROCK! Also, creators of Timbuktoons!

(now available in Kidology Store)

This is the most amazing couple, and I'm not referring to their magic! Their love for each other and the Lord is so evident in everything they do. I got to film a testimony for their up-coming promo DVD and I couldn't say enough good about them! If you ever can have them at your church, JUMP at the opportunity, and give them more than they ask - for they often serve for much less than they deserve or could charge. Their biggest trick is packing so much heart and message into their amazing program! (and that's a bonus quote not on the DVD!)

Faithful for so many years (since 1974), One Way Street continues to be the #1 place for puppets and other creative tools for ministry. This is Liz VonSeggen, founder with her husband Dale.

Rob Biagi (also available at Kidology) is 'da bom' right now in new upbeat music especially for preteen kids! Oh, yeah, that's Shelly again... stalking Rob too. :)


Of course, I HAD to visit Speed Stacks and do some racing. I skipped the big kid and raced the little guy... he still beat me, but only by .03 seconds!

I think the secret is to stick your tongue out while stacking!

Eric has been helping churches gather VBS supplies to enhance their programs for years! Great site! He gathers props for all the major VBS kits and saves you the hunting. Check it out!

My Favorite Booth:

Was it the 252Basics curriculum? Nope, (though I am looking at that closely after some buzz on Kidology about it), it was the couch and candy!

The Kidologist being stalked?

Shelly is mentioned below... today she showed up at my workshop wearing a fan shirt...

Shelly, me and her preschool director Debbie

Close up of shirt.

The back of the shirt.

Apparently, this idea was discussed on Kidology, but only Shelly came through!

It wasn't the first female fan, Sherry Davis, INCM store manager pulled a quick one on me! I explaied that my digital camera flashed twice, and that it was the second flash that actually takes the picture. So after the first flash I saw some motion out of the corner of my eye and this was what the picture revealed:

That's as close as she got!

Posting it here is her punishment. Tanner suggested a new blog theme, 'the women of CPC', but I think this is it... I don't want to be sleeping on the floor when I get home! More pictures of the women (and men) of CPC coming next! But no more stalker or kissy photos!

Evening in Atlanta...

Tannerman and I went out on the town tonight to excape the confines of the hotel, and decided to skip the closest restaurant, an orange owl themed restaurant, and explore further downtown. We ended up in a place called 'Downtown Atlanta' - best described for those in Chicago as lower Wacker drive with shops, very retro. It was a bit chilly, but nice to be out. We got back just in time for some meetings that went until after midnight! Here are some pics from our journey.....

Me. In Atlanta. What else can I say?

Tanner taking pictures for his blog.

One of the locals...

Shops....

and more shops.... a happen' place as you can see!

and finally, just for Tanner... (see his meal)

My Dinner. Yum Yum.
(afterwards, of course!)

Brings New Meaning to "Popping a Wheelie"

Ron Fugle, also known as "Master Ron" - is definately a master at balloons! He is having a blast making balloons for the attendees of the conference. Here is my favorite so far...

Ron sitting on his balloon wheels...

Scott Nelsen from Harvest Publications took it for a spin too...

The difference between the men and the boys....
(there is no difference)

And, of course, I couldn't resist burnin' some carpet with these fancy wheels either...

Definately, a chick magnet!

Here's a pic without the guys spoiling the view... some pretty fancy work there Ron!

All it needs is a black balloon jacket!

Networking at CPC....

The best part about CPC is meeting 'fans' of Kidology and meeting new people that either I've only known through the site, or that know about Kidology but I've never met yet.

This is Shelly. I met Shelly last year at CPC when a pillar of balloons was slowly chacing her across the room, it was nuts. (it was mysterious, we actually thought there was a person inside the pillar of balloons, but it was something to do with the air conditioning vents.) Anyway, she is excited about a brand new position as children's pastor. :)

This is Jamie, our CPC Contest winner! She came to CPC all the way from Canada!

This is 'balloonpastor' Dave, a Kidology member who's become a good friend, even sending me some cool spider man silly string shooters last year that were a blast with my kids.

This is Roger. A Kidology member it was fun to meet.

Larry is a children's pastor who used to be in chicago but moved to Florida this year - nice tan, eh.

It was really fun meeting these friends from 'down under' / Australia. They invited me to come speak there in August 2006 and I told them "YES!" (when my wife reads this she's gonna freak!)

That's it for today! Check back often!

Karl off to Atlanta, Georgia!

Well, it's off to Atlant, GA for CPC #3. I am speaking twice as well as helping out in the eZone, and free computer cafe for conference atttendees that promotes the all new INCM.org website that Kidology created this year. I traveled with Steve Tanner, Kidology's Web Operations Director, and Ron Fugle, a friend and fellow children's performer. (goes by "Master Ron")

Ron, Me, and Steve

The flight was uneventful. (whew) I worked on e-mail offline while Tannerman put the premeir episode the Amazing Race on his laptop. I brought my little gadget that boosts headphone signal and splits to three headphones so we all three watched. Working on a plane isn't ideal, but at least no e-mail can come in, and the phone never rings! I can actually catch up! Got almost through the 200+ e-mails I was behind on!!

Tanner looks like he is in pain!
And no 'Mac vs. PC' fights broke out!

Once in Atlanta, we opted for the puplic train system over the airport shuttle, partly because the shuttle was $16 per person and the train $1.75 per person, and partly because the boss (me) was treating.

They guys humored me when I insisted on this picture.

The highlight of the trip was watching a grown man travel in public with a bright pink/purple suitcase....

Nice suitcase, Ron! :)

For more detailed info on our adventures in Atlanta, you can check out Steve's blog. (If that link is old, the direct link is: Atlanta, part 2

Taking over Culvers!

I have a new scheme - now understand, I don't actually DO my schemes - I just like thinking them up. (I think my getting saved at age 4 was God's way of preventing all my schemes) Not that they are all 'bad' - most of them are silly, like this one. Here's my scheme: I think I should visit all the restaurants in town and see if they will give me a free meal if I bring six familes to lunch. Oh, well, I'll never ask, so it will never happen, BUT I did invite six families out to lunch Sunday after church. Sara was out of town and no sense eating alone! For some mysterious reason, I ended up at the kids table, and the adults all sat over in a giant 'adults only' booth. It was a blast!

I got a new digital camera that has one feature I miss from my very first digital camera 7 years ago - and an essential feature with kids - being able to rotate the screen and face it toward the subjects so kids (and me) can make funny faces and see ourselves in the view finder before taking the pic!

"Make a funny face Pastor Karl!"
(hey, don't say it - I know what you are thinking)

These are the adorable daughters of Kidology's newest employee, our office manager / my assistant. It was a wonderful lunch. (not pictured: a zillion other kids)

Star Wars III - Trailer due out March 10th!

The latest SWIII trailer is due out March 10th, first on FOX, then on Hyperspace, and then before new Robots movie, then on PastorKarl.com, of course! Missed the Teaser trailer: Get it here. Also, if you missed the Spoof trailer, here it is after I did some editing to clean it up, still pretty funny.

PK Heads Back to Bible Times?

This morning I went to a fun training day with
some volunteers from my church...

No, it was NOT on "How to be a Cool Hippie"
(this is my sister Melissa)

It was a 'Hands On' training day for Group's VBS.
(the originators of 'hands-on bible learning')
Pictured here: Me, Judy, Melissa, and Teri
(with authentic "Bible Dude" in the background)

We were there to learn more about the VBS program we plan to use this summer and to see samples of the crafts, teaching, props, etc. We really like that it is designed to be a family VBS that the whole family can come together and experience togeter. It was fun to see that even little kids who normally would be off in child-care or a separate preschool program, were enjoying the day as much as the older kids and grown ups.

(the pastors son at the host church)

I was glad to find out what the official beverage of the Bible Lands was:

YES! Mountain Dew.

It's all part of well balanced Biblical Diet:

I also made a new friend... he calls himself "The Great Dane" and he is already a professional magician at age 12, doing Gospel magic - we had fun swapping some pocket tricks before the program started... it was tempting to say something, as Senator Palpatine said to young Anakin, like "I see you becoming the greatest of all magicians, even greater than Master Copperfield...." or "I'm going to be watching your career with great interest."

My favorite thing (besides meeting the Dane) was the warm biblical bread - I even snuck off to the kitchen to snag a little extra! shhhhhh, don't tell! I would include a picture of the half-eaten bread, but due to the flood of complaint e-mails and calls from my last blog post and a pending class action suit claiming public mental anquish, I am not able to post the 'eaten bread picture

For THREE PAGES of pictures, go here:
VBS MARKETPLACE PICS
(Click on any picture for a larger version.)

I also took a few videos, that 'if you were there' you might enjoy seeing:

THE JEWISH SONG AND DANCE (5.6MB QuickTime)
THE MARKET PLACE SKIT (5 MB QuickTime)
THE JEWISH TOY GAME (2.2 MB QuickTime)
and just for those who enjoyed the cute pastor's son:
THE DANCING BOY (3.3 MB QuickTime)

MOST VALUABLE?
Learning how to wear an authentic jewish head covering:

If you were there - please say 'hi' via the comments!
(or even if you weren't there!! Since this blog is new,
nice to know if anyone is reading it, if it's worth the time to do it)

Happy Birthday Mom!

In celebration of my mom-in-law's birthday, my wife and I met her parents for a nice steak dinner tonight at a Lettuce Entertain You restaurant called WILDFIRE, a 40's themed steakhouse...

In honor of my blogspiration, Steve Tanner, I will begin this post with what I ate for dinner...

I had the Porterhouse Steak Au Jus, it is two favorite cuts - New York Strip and Filet Mignon - in a single steak and then I opted for the Parmesan crusting - something they claim they are famous for. It was delicious - though, as usual, I end up liking my wife's steak better. (She got the Char Crusted Rib Eye "Prime Rib" chop, served au jus)

For dessert I chose the giant chocolate chip cookie, hot in the pan, with ice cream on top, but asked them to hold the whipped creme, which they forgot of course.

(Maybe I should have taken pictures of the food BEFORE I ate it?
Sorry, I'm new at this blog thing.)

There was a healthy choice of desserts to choose from, as you can see, my dad is having a hard time deciding... I take that back, 'a healthy choice' was probably not the best choice of words!

Of course, pretending to leave for the bathroom, I arranged for a birthday cake and candle to be delivered to the table. (No, she didn't drink all those drinks!)

Not shown: the one I spilled and sent Dad flying from his chair!
Always excitement everywhere I go!

Tell me, does Dad's hat make me look wiser?

It was a nice evening....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

It's Official - I'm a nerd.

OK, it's official. I did it. I can no longer claim NOT to be a Star Wars nerd. Getting on the news in jedi outfit didn't count, having a literal Star Wars museum in my basement didn't count, going to the premeir of EP2 didn't count.... but registering for Celebration III made it official. I am proud not to be a 'trekkie' but I am a big fan of Star Wars. To me Star Trek and Star Wars are very different, I mean, everyone knows that Star Trek is make believe! I've never been to one of these sci-fi events before, but I decided to attend this last one, since this will be the last SW Convention, at least the last one that really matters. Star Wars was the first movie I ever saw when I was seven years old - I'll never forget that opening scene - it blew me away! I'd never even seen a movie, and what a movie to be my first. So in many ways, this final SW installment is the conclusion of a life-long story I've been following. Come Jesus, Come, but after May 19th, please! It's only 78 days away!

Actually, the real reason I am going is that attendees will get a FREE talking Darth Vader action figure! I just CAN'T live without that! That's worth registration, travel, and lodging!

If you will be there, let me know!

Also, you may be interested in this spoof EP3 trailer. The original you can surf the web for, I edited a lot of the bad language and crude humor out of this, but what remains is still pretty funny and worth a good laugh. Star Wars Episode III: A Lost Hope Enjoy!

Life Lessons from a Game Boy!

In the little free time I've had lately, I've been working on becoming a Jedi in my Star Wars Jedi GameBoy game. You get to be Luke and travel through the three original classic SW movies - I'm on the Moon of Endor now. (Only bummer is, it won't let me kill ewoks with my light saber, like they are invincible - oh, yeah, they are on MY side!) The hardest part was getting out of Jabba's Palace! I was on the same level for DAYS - there was this point where an insane amount of Gamorrean Guards would attack, all throwing axes at me - and no amount of force powers could get me through! I would super run, super jump, force push, even the double flip with saber flying, but they would eventually wear me down and my little Luke would drop to his knees, doubled over, hands holding his stomach like he got food poisoning, EVERY time. I finally even stooped to asking a kid for help (Paul Kaufmann) but I couldn't decipher his advice, he just kept saying, "After that is..." (He didn't seem to understand that 'after that' was missing the point, I was beginning to doubt if there ever would be an 'after that' - and it only added to my frustration that he apparently had gotten through that part so easily, he had no memory of it being difficult!) But when I DID get through, I discovered why it had been much easier for him - he entered that area of the palace as a kid would, slowly and cautiously, not as an over-confident grown up wanna-be Jedi! The secret - when I entered that area SLOWLY, (instead of flying in with a force-powered super speedy flip action saber flying leap) the guards all came at me one at a time, and were easy defeated one at a time, and ironically, they didn't even throw their axes at me!

THE POINT? (alas, everything in my life is an object lesson) Sometimes we charge into life, and all our TO-DO's and activities overwhelm us and quickly we become overcome by stress and activity and find ourselves defeated and having to start over and over and over again. I was reminded to just move ahead slowly and tackle things one at a time, and I've also found that less axes are thrown my way when I go at a slow but steady pace. Thanks to a second grader and a Game Boy for that lesson of life.

May the Force be with you,

Karl

Welcome to the ALL NEW PastorKarl.com

While I think it pretty lame to use your first post in your blog to explain what a blog is, I'm struggling to think of anything that is worthy of being the 'first post' in my blog! I mean, there's a lot of pressure here to be deep or profound, or to make this post something that years from now people will say, "It all started the day I read Karl Bastian's first blog post..." or "I mark the true beginning of my life from the moment I read the first post on pastorkarl.com..." or "i knew my life was complete the day I happened to read Karl's first blog post..." or something to that effect. Everyone knows what a blog is, so rather than say something predictable like 'this is where I will post my thoughts and ideas for my family and friends to read' - I'll just start by saying that, well, by saying, really nothing at all. I will resist the urge to explain that this is the site I will use to post things that don't fit on my other sites, or that are more personal in nature, or that I want to be able to remember or find later, or recommend to others, or to rant about things that annoy me or otherwise want to get from my brain to the world wide web - no, I know that it is better to just DO what the blog is here to do, rather than to SAY what it will do, because to explain it only wastes people's time, and according to google.com, as of this moment, there are 8,058,044,651 other websites people could have been reading, so I don't want to keep them from anything more important.... So if you read this far, sorry, BUT DO CHECK BACK!