DAA # 5

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APeXMinistries.com

Number 5
June 7th, 2000

Greetings from the headquarters of the international conglomeration known as APeX Ministries. We hope that where ever you are, May showers have brought May flowers (unless you are like Gene who is allergic to everything that grows from the ground and blooms… in that case, we hope that you are living deep in a wooded area with no pollen in sight).

We have a personal request. If you read nothing else in this version of DAA we asked that you read "A Prayer request from Brad"

DAA will now be sent out once a month, instead of every three weeks. (We just wanted to let you know so that you're not waiting up at night just staring at your computer waiting to hear that "You have mail.") Because it has been a little longer since the last DAA, this one is jam packed with stuff. (It is so jam packed that the regular feature Ask APeX is taking a vacation this month.)

This month's "Just a Thought" was written in response to a request of a high school student. It might be of particular interest to graduating seniors.

The newest issue of APeX Attacks is now on newsstands. If you have not received yours in the mail yet, we probably don't have your address (or we have the wrong address) or you have not yet subscribed. Your subscription to APeX Attacks is FREE (a bargain at twice the price). All we need from you is your name and address and we will get you on our mailing list. Simply respond to this e-mail with your name and address to get on our mailing list.

A year and a half-ago APeX was featured on the Radio Magazine "Right Here, Right Now" and that show is now on the web. It can be found at http://www.envoymagazine.com/onair.htm and is Program 8. (You will get bonus points if you count the number of times Gene says the word "situation" in the interview.) The interview is in the first few minutes of the radio program. Also, just as a reminder, if you did not get a chance to read Gene's article that appeared in the Jan/Feb issue of Envoy Magazine, it is still on their web page and can be accessed at http://www.envoymagazine.com/samplearticles/jan_feb00/xmarks.htm.

On-line chat with Gene and Brad: We are going to be the featured guests in the Disciples Now chat room on Tuesday, June 27, 2000, at 7:30 to 9:30 pm (Eastern Time). In order to enter the Chat Zone, you need to have a "Disciples Now" membership. You can sign up for a FREE membership at http://www.DisciplesNow.com. (New members receive immediate access to the Chat Zone.) In order to participate you must be using MS Internet Explorer 5 or Netscape Navigator 4 (or higher). We will send you another note as a reminder as the date gets closer (and if one of you could send a note to remind Gene that would be helpful). You should go to the Disciples Now web page now and get your membership to make sure you get in on the Big Fun. (Yes, we think chatting with Gene and Brad is big fun, but some would argue that we need to get out more.) http://www.disciplesnow.com/members/interact/digichat/

Your brothers in Christ
Gene and Brad

PS: Don't forget to forward this on to your friends who would appreciate this.

Letters, E-mails, and other comments
A Question For You
A prayer request from Brad
Just a thought
Up coming shows

Letters, E-mails, and Other Comments

In the last issue of DAA Gene wrote about the things he was thankful for. At the end he asked rhetorically what others were thankful for. This is a response to that from Gene's mom.
I am thankful for (in no particular order)

1. Joey Clark, a fifth grader, who wanders into our classroom just to give us hugs while we are working
2. that the Meadowlarks are back
3. for the ability to go work out, even when I don't want to
4. for my children who are truly awesome, funny, hardworking, caring adults
5. for a loving husband who has shown me, by example, how to be a better, more tolerant person
6. for Kermit the Frog
7. for the clear blue sky in Wyoming
8. for a mother who had a wonderful sense of humor
9. for a hard working father who was a wonderful care giver
10. and for the fact that I get to spend the day with grade school kids.

Some other interesting comments we've recently received…

"I am sorry that I am not funny, because I know you guys like that, but u would be really scared if u heard my attempt at humor, because I am just not funny. Oh and Brad, I know you are married, but i will love u forever, and Gene, I love u tons too and am glad that your current love interest is but a cartoon."

"oh and you said i get my money back if i didn't like the newsletter...pay up :P i liked the pic of the monkeys on the front cover :)" The cover of the newest APeX Attacks has a picture of Brad and Gene, not Brad and a monkey.

"Please tell Joia she has a beautiful name. I've never heard it before. ~oh, don't feel bad, Gene and Brad are nice names too!"

Comment to Gene: "Your purple hair clashes with your shirt."

"When I saw the two of you standing there at the beginning of the day I thought, 'Whose parish are they with?'" Youth worker at a recent rally, commenting on her initial concern of having us and her youth at the same event

A Question For You

Check http://apexministries.com/PastMailingLists/q20000607.html to see the answers from "Why the 'e' is lower case in APeX?".

Do you want free stuff? (Of course you do!) Well here is your chance to get some APeX Points (see new free points scoring system). Extra points are given for creativity. We know this question was asked in the last issue, but we are still looking for more creative answers.

Who is your role model and why?

Send all responses to Question@APeXMinistries.com Please include your name and home town.

A Prayer Request from Brad

What have you got to lose by stopping what you're doing and spending a brief moment or two in prayer right now? A few seconds? Five minutes? That's nothing compared to what you have to gain! (Heck, a lifetime doesn't seem like much compared to what we have to gain!) So I invite you to take a moment right now, stop whatever you're doing, and spend a moment in prayer. Before you scroll down, before you close this message… (There certainly is nothing better further down in this Apex Attacks than spending a moment or two in communion with your God!) Stop and think about how unimaginably awesome our Creator truly is. Think of the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen, remember the laugh of the last baby you played with, note how beautiful a single tree can be… Praise His mighty works and His wonderful name (everything He is, for He is everything)! I ask that you pray the prayer that is right now on your heart and express to God your inmost feelings and desires, your deepest fears and your greatest joys. Go ahead, stop and think about it, don't rush yourself and truly thank Him for all you have and all you are. And once you have spent time in praise of our awesome Father in Heaven, and giving voice to the prayer of your heart, I would like to make a special request… Read the following scripture and pray with me…
Mark 1:29-31 "On leaving the synagogue he entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them."

I ask you to pray for Joia's and my families. My own mother-in-law, Kaleen Kasten (Joia's mom) is ill. She is currently battling colon cancer and could use lots of prayers. My grandpa, Harold Amburn is also in need of prayers. This wonderful man, one whom I love deeply and one who encouraged and continues to inspire this faith with which I now pray, is fighting sinus cancer.

I ask our Lord, Jesus Christ, to touch them and hold them as He did Peter's mother-in-law. Send your Spirit and let your awesome healing power flood their bodies. I pray that You rest your healing Spirit on them. We pray, as in all things, Lord, that Your Will be done. Help us to understand your designs.

We pray these things and all those yet unspoken prayers of our hearts in the awesome name of our Heavenly Father… and in the name of His only Son, who became man, died for us, conquered death and rose from the dead, and is still ALIVE and full of power… and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who intercedes for us in our prayers "with inexpressible groanings" (Romans 8:26-27), "for we do not know how to pray as we ought"…

Amen!

Thank you. And may God return your prayers with blessings!

Just a thought
by gene

As I am writing this I am sitting in a coffee shop on Capitol Hill brooding. (Because that is what all great writers do. They sit in coffee shops and cafes looking surly.) I think I am supposed to be smoking an expensive cigarette, but I can't afford expensive cigarettes and can't stand smoke. So I guess my writing career is doomed from the start. Just a moment ago a friend of mine walked in to the shop. He came over to say hi and he introduced the person he was with. Now I am at the point in my life that one of the first questions you ask when you meet a new person is, "So what do you do for a living?" When posed this question, I generally answer, with the straightest face possible, "I am the cross between an itinerant preacher and a professional juggler." I give the response almost as carelessly as if I just said I am a teacher, expecting full well the person knows exactly what I am talking about. Needless to say (then why am I saying it?) there is no way to take that answer at face value and is generally followed up with a number of questions. One of the most common is, "So how did you end up doing what you do?" My answer, "…well, it kinda found me, I didn't find it." That answer, I know, is not satisfying, but there is a strong sense of truth to it. I often speak of this work as my vocation. It is the place I feel called to be, but that is an over-simplification of the truth.

To begin with, the term vocation is greatly misunderstood and misused. So often when we hear the term vocation it is in only one context, that of consecrated life (brothers and sisters) and of priesthood. The term vocation is much bigger than that. If I am not called to the priesthood does that mean I do not have a vocation? No. We all have a vocation. And despite what I wrote above (and often say) my vocation is not to be a juggler. I have one vocation, which is to be myself. This does not mean that there is one, and only one, right place for me to be. When I have been presented with choices in life it has not been multiple-choice questions with just one right answer. There have been and will be many times in my life where I will have two mutually exclusive choices and both may fit into the vocation of being me. I can be true to myself and what I believe in many places. I can find true joy in many places. My vocation is not to be a teacher, a brother, a friend, a son, or a husband. My vocation is to be Gene. That vocation articulates its self in many different ways at different points in my life.

It is that time of year in which graduates everywhere are asked those dreaded questions. "What are you going to do next year?" "What are you going to major in?" These questions are most painful when you are not sure of the answer yourself. I have known friends who have just made up answers to appease the person asking the question. Giving them a sense that there is a plan. These questions make us feel like we need to have a detailed plan of where we will be in 30 years. It is enough to keep you up at night. Relax. Take a deep breath. I am going to let you in on a little secret. You don't need to know what your whole life is going to look like to be a success. You don't even need to know where you are going to be in 2 years (despite what your parents might say). Now, I am not saying to just sit back, relax, and coast without direction. The question you should be struggling with is not "Where am I going to be in 30 years?" The question you should be asking yourself is "Where am I called to be now?" We need to take time and reflect on the present. We need to find out who we are right now. We need to take time to pray, to open ourselves up to listen to the Holy Spirit. I am not saying that you should not look ahead. It is important to know where you feel you are called to in the future. It is important to work on a life that will allow you to get there, but you cannot sacrifice the moment you have now for the moment that is in the future. As we try and discern out vocation, try and figure out who we are and what we should be, we are going to make mistakes. Take heart. You can choose again. Each moment of our lives is a new beginning. Everyday is a chance to choose again in response to who you are called to be. I'm sure that in many mediocre commencement speeches all over the country this month people have said, "Today is the first day of your life." It is cliché, but it is true. In every moment we are a new creation trying to live our vocation.

Up coming shows

Please pray for us and for those we are blessed to serve on these date

June 15th-25th Youth Sing Praise Belleville, IL

For a complete list of APeX's Schedule please visit:

http://apexministries.com/FutureShows.html

For booking information you can contact APeX at 888/522-2739

Important note: If you received this e-mail as a forward from someone else and would like to receive Digital APeX Attacks every time it is published, or if for some reason you have received this e-mail in error from APeX please follow this link to add or remove (though we couldn't imagine why you'd want to remove) yourself from the mailing list:

http://apexministries.com/MailingList.html

© 2000 APeX Youth Ministries, Inc.

--"Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words."

St. Francis of Assisi

http://APeXMinistries.com

APeXMinistries.com	Number 5 June 7th, 2000
Greetings from the headquarters of the international conglomeration known as APeX Ministries. We hope that where ever you are, May showers have brought May flowers (unless you are like Gene who is allergic to everything that grows from the ground and blooms… in that case, we hope that you are living deep in a wooded area with no pollen in sight). We have a personal request. If you read nothing else in this version of DAA we asked that you read "A Prayer request from Brad" DAA will now be sent out once a month, instead of every three weeks. (We just wanted to let you know so that you're not waiting up at night just staring at your computer waiting to hear that "You have mail.") Because it has been a little longer since the last DAA, this one is jam packed with stuff. (It is so jam packed that the regular feature Ask APeX is taking a vacation this month.) This month's "Just a Thought" was written in response to a request of a high school student. It might be of particular interest to graduating seniors. The newest issue of APeX Attacks is now on newsstands. If you have not received yours in the mail yet, we probably don't have your address (or we have the wrong address) or you have not yet subscribed. Your subscription to APeX Attacks is FREE (a bargain at twice the price). All we need from you is your name and address and we will get you on our mailing list. Simply respond to this e-mail with your name and address to get on our mailing list. A year and a half-ago APeX was featured on the Radio Magazine "Right Here, Right Now" and that show is now on the web. It can be found at http://www.envoymagazine.com/onair.htm and is Program 8. (You will get bonus points if you count the number of times Gene says the word "situation" in the interview.) The interview is in the first few minutes of the radio program. Also, just as a reminder, if you did not get a chance to read Gene's article that appeared in the Jan/Feb issue of Envoy Magazine, it is still on their web page and can be accessed at http://www.envoymagazine.com/samplearticles/jan_feb00/xmarks.htm. On-line chat with Gene and Brad: We are going to be the featured guests in the Disciples Now chat room on Tuesday, June 27, 2000, at 7:30 to 9:30 pm (Eastern Time). In order to enter the Chat Zone, you need to have a "Disciples Now" membership. You can sign up for a FREE membership at http://www.DisciplesNow.com. (New members receive immediate access to the Chat Zone.) In order to participate you must be using MS Internet Explorer 5 or Netscape Navigator 4 (or higher). We will send you another note as a reminder as the date gets closer (and if one of you could send a note to remind Gene that would be helpful). You should go to the Disciples Now web page now and get your membership to make sure you get in on the Big Fun. (Yes, we think chatting with Gene and Brad is big fun, but some would argue that we need to get out more.) http://www.disciplesnow.com/members/interact/digichat/ Your brothers in Christ Gene and Brad PS: Don't forget to forward this on to your friends who would appreciate this.
Letters, E-mails, and other comments A Question For You A prayer request from Brad Just a thought Up coming shows
Letters, E-mails, and Other Comments In the last issue of DAA Gene wrote about the things he was thankful for. At the end he asked rhetorically what others were thankful for. This is a response to that from Gene's mom. I am thankful for (in no particular order) 1. Joey Clark, a fifth grader, who wanders into our classroom just to give us hugs while we are working 2. that the Meadowlarks are back 3. for the ability to go work out, even when I don't want to 4. for my children who are truly awesome, funny, hardworking, caring adults 5. for a loving husband who has shown me, by example, how to be a better, more tolerant person 6. for Kermit the Frog 7. for the clear blue sky in Wyoming 8. for a mother who had a wonderful sense of humor 9. for a hard working father who was a wonderful care giver 10. and for the fact that I get to spend the day with grade school kids. Some other interesting comments we've recently received… "I am sorry that I am not funny, because I know you guys like that, but u would be really scared if u heard my attempt at humor, because I am just not funny. Oh and Brad, I know you are married, but i will love u forever, and Gene, I love u tons too and am glad that your current love interest is but a cartoon." "oh and you said i get my money back if i didn't like the newsletter...pay up :P i liked the pic of the monkeys on the front cover :)" The cover of the newest APeX Attacks has a picture of Brad and Gene, not Brad and a monkey. "Please tell Joia she has a beautiful name. I've never heard it before. ~oh, don't feel bad, Gene and Brad are nice names too!" Comment to Gene: "Your purple hair clashes with your shirt." "When I saw the two of you standing there at the beginning of the day I thought, 'Whose parish are they with?'" Youth worker at a recent rally, commenting on her initial concern of having us and her youth at the same event
A Question For You Check http://apexministries.com/PastMailingLists/q20000607.html to see the answers from "Why the 'e' is lower case in APeX?". Do you want free stuff? (Of course you do!) Well here is your chance to get some APeX Points (see new free points scoring system). Extra points are given for creativity. We know this question was asked in the last issue, but we are still looking for more creative answers. Who is your role model and why? Send all responses to Question@APeXMinistries.com Please include your name and home town.
A Prayer Request from Brad What have you got to lose by stopping what you're doing and spending a brief moment or two in prayer right now? A few seconds? Five minutes? That's nothing compared to what you have to gain! (Heck, a lifetime doesn't seem like much compared to what we have to gain!) So I invite you to take a moment right now, stop whatever you're doing, and spend a moment in prayer. Before you scroll down, before you close this message… (There certainly is nothing better further down in this Apex Attacks than spending a moment or two in communion with your God!) Stop and think about how unimaginably awesome our Creator truly is. Think of the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen, remember the laugh of the last baby you played with, note how beautiful a single tree can be… Praise His mighty works and His wonderful name (everything He is, for He is everything)! I ask that you pray the prayer that is right now on your heart and express to God your inmost feelings and desires, your deepest fears and your greatest joys. Go ahead, stop and think about it, don't rush yourself and truly thank Him for all you have and all you are. And once you have spent time in praise of our awesome Father in Heaven, and giving voice to the prayer of your heart, I would like to make a special request… Read the following scripture and pray with me… Mark 1:29-31 "On leaving the synagogue he entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them." I ask you to pray for Joia's and my families. My own mother-in-law, Kaleen Kasten (Joia's mom) is ill. She is currently battling colon cancer and could use lots of prayers. My grandpa, Harold Amburn is also in need of prayers. This wonderful man, one whom I love deeply and one who encouraged and continues to inspire this faith with which I now pray, is fighting sinus cancer. I ask our Lord, Jesus Christ, to touch them and hold them as He did Peter's mother-in-law. Send your Spirit and let your awesome healing power flood their bodies. I pray that You rest your healing Spirit on them. We pray, as in all things, Lord, that Your Will be done. Help us to understand your designs. We pray these things and all those yet unspoken prayers of our hearts in the awesome name of our Heavenly Father… and in the name of His only Son, who became man, died for us, conquered death and rose from the dead, and is still ALIVE and full of power… and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who intercedes for us in our prayers "with inexpressible groanings" (Romans 8:26-27), "for we do not know how to pray as we ought"… Amen! Thank you. And may God return your prayers with blessings!
Just a thought by gene As I am writing this I am sitting in a coffee shop on Capitol Hill brooding. (Because that is what all great writers do. They sit in coffee shops and cafes looking surly.) I think I am supposed to be smoking an expensive cigarette, but I can't afford expensive cigarettes and can't stand smoke. So I guess my writing career is doomed from the start. Just a moment ago a friend of mine walked in to the shop. He came over to say hi and he introduced the person he was with. Now I am at the point in my life that one of the first questions you ask when you meet a new person is, "So what do you do for a living?" When posed this question, I generally answer, with the straightest face possible, "I am the cross between an itinerant preacher and a professional juggler." I give the response almost as carelessly as if I just said I am a teacher, expecting full well the person knows exactly what I am talking about. Needless to say (then why am I saying it?) there is no way to take that answer at face value and is generally followed up with a number of questions. One of the most common is, "So how did you end up doing what you do?" My answer, "…well, it kinda found me, I didn't find it." That answer, I know, is not satisfying, but there is a strong sense of truth to it. I often speak of this work as my vocation. It is the place I feel called to be, but that is an over-simplification of the truth. To begin with, the term vocation is greatly misunderstood and misused. So often when we hear the term vocation it is in only one context, that of consecrated life (brothers and sisters) and of priesthood. The term vocation is much bigger than that. If I am not called to the priesthood does that mean I do not have a vocation? No. We all have a vocation. And despite what I wrote above (and often say) my vocation is not to be a juggler. I have one vocation, which is to be myself. This does not mean that there is one, and only one, right place for me to be. When I have been presented with choices in life it has not been multiple-choice questions with just one right answer. There have been and will be many times in my life where I will have two mutually exclusive choices and both may fit into the vocation of being me. I can be true to myself and what I believe in many places. I can find true joy in many places. My vocation is not to be a teacher, a brother, a friend, a son, or a husband. My vocation is to be Gene. That vocation articulates its self in many different ways at different points in my life. It is that time of year in which graduates everywhere are asked those dreaded questions. "What are you going to do next year?" "What are you going to major in?" These questions are most painful when you are not sure of the answer yourself. I have known friends who have just made up answers to appease the person asking the question. Giving them a sense that there is a plan. These questions make us feel like we need to have a detailed plan of where we will be in 30 years. It is enough to keep you up at night. Relax. Take a deep breath. I am going to let you in on a little secret. You don't need to know what your whole life is going to look like to be a success. You don't even need to know where you are going to be in 2 years (despite what your parents might say). Now, I am not saying to just sit back, relax, and coast without direction. The question you should be struggling with is not "Where am I going to be in 30 years?" The question you should be asking yourself is "Where am I called to be now?" We need to take time and reflect on the present. We need to find out who we are right now. We need to take time to pray, to open ourselves up to listen to the Holy Spirit. I am not saying that you should not look ahead. It is important to know where you feel you are called to in the future. It is important to work on a life that will allow you to get there, but you cannot sacrifice the moment you have now for the moment that is in the future. As we try and discern out vocation, try and figure out who we are and what we should be, we are going to make mistakes. Take heart. You can choose again. Each moment of our lives is a new beginning. Everyday is a chance to choose again in response to who you are called to be. I'm sure that in many mediocre commencement speeches all over the country this month people have said, "Today is the first day of your life." It is cliché, but it is true. In every moment we are a new creation trying to live our vocation.
Up coming shows Please pray for us and for those we are blessed to serve on these date June 15th-25th Youth Sing Praise Belleville, IL For a complete list of APeX's Schedule please visit: http://apexministries.com/FutureShows.html For booking information you can contact APeX at 888/522-2739
Important note: If you received this e-mail as a forward from someone else and would like to receive Digital APeX Attacks every time it is published, or if for some reason you have received this e-mail in error from APeX please follow this link to add or remove (though we couldn't imagine why you'd want to remove) yourself from the mailing list: http://apexministries.com/MailingList.html © 2000 APeX Youth Ministries, Inc. --"Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." St. Francis of Assisi http://APeXMinistries.com