The "Chubby Hubby Run"

High quality malted Vanilla Ice Cream with rich fudge and generous peanut butter swirls add a large number of chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets and you have the greatest flavor of ice cream conceivable. in fact it would not be hard to convince me that the recipe was hand delivered to Ben or Jerry while one of them was off mediating in a cave somewhere (or high while listening to Phish of Cherry Garcia) Hmmmm. Just writing about it puts me into a daze not unlike Homer Simpson day dreaming about donuts or a cold can of 'duff's.

I was introduced to this sweet nectar of Vermont cows during the summer of "95", my first year as a camp counselor. It was my Unit leader (our direct supervisor) I was a float counselor (a half step better than a junior counselor in the world of camp staff) which means i didn't have campers of my own. When the lights when out for the campers our fearless leader would often head out on a "Chubby Hubby Run" For him it was an old college tradition that involved traveling from all night quickly mart to all night gas station grocery shops until he found a freezer that contained this Holy Grail of premium ice cream.

I always went with him and a couple of members of the older cooler program staff, who also didn't have campers of their own. My reasons for going were two fold: 1. i got to hang out with the older cool crowd. and 2. they would often drive onto camp after curfew and because i was with them (my leader was dating the asst. Camp Director) we would never get in trouble for being late. That is a cool thing for a 17 year old kid who grew up getting in trouble at this camp.

I did not go on the "Chubby Hubby Runs" because i liked chubby Hubby. You see even after having been on several runs i had still never tasted "Chubby Hubby". It really is a hard to find the flavor and sometimes a 'Run' involved several stops before the treasure was found. I have never been known to be a man of patience and inevitably i would settle for Dublin Mudslide or chunky monkey. This settling would always earn me a disapproving look and the occasional scold by those i was with.

Finally towards the last session of camp we struck gold early and i purchased a pint of "Chubby Hubby". When i tasted this gift from above i entered a near euphoric stated which was broken only by the realization of all the times i settled for less the the best.

As a Christian I have also settled many times in my walk with God, settled for less: Less than God's standard for purity, less than a perfectly intimate relationship with him, less than a quality prayer or devotional live. Just Less. And sadly, i have in settled even after tasting the real thing.

Now 12 years later i am a "Chubby Hubby" and my wife will never pass a grocery store freezer with out checking for me she knows that bringing me a pint of Ben and Jerry's Ice cream will always make me happy but... when i open the freezer at home and discover a pint of the real thing she has me at her complete disposal.

It is the real thing that completely satisfies. Less than the real ting is simply less. In your walk with God don't settle. Persist. Strive for the best of God and you will never be disappointed.







PS. Thanks Drew... OBU

Reality that isn't Real

Next month My wife and I will celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. So far it has been a blast. Nothing, nothing compares to the adventure of living live with the person you have committed sharing your life with. Not only has married life been a blast but the wedding was great too.

We had and Amazing Wedding Week. Not just the Wedding the whole week leading up to it was a special time for me. My closest friends traveled up early to spend time with my one came from England the rest from all over the east coast. Some who weren’t in the wedding showed up days before the wedding and just crashed on my floor. And in the Span of just a few days we had more experiences that have become stories that will be told over and over.

10. One of My Friends wrote a song for my wedding and some day when he is a famous Rockstar I am going to sell it on eBay.

9. 6 friends who were not in the party (they had been invited to the wedding) showed up the night of the rehearsal with no place to stay we ended up with 14 people sleeping on my in-laws floor.

8. My New Zealand friend who was living in England spent 30 minutes trying to explain the definition of savory to a Haitian worker at Dunkin Donuts

7. One friend (Aaron Guest) measured himself for his TUX using a ruler so we changed the measurements and fell to our knees laughing when his pants feel to his knees.

6. The night before the wedding we set up a Rock band in the attic of the church but know one could agree what songs to cover so everyone played what they wanted at the same time.

5. The night before the wedding we played full contact wiffle ball in the parking lot.

4. At 2AM we rolled into Suffern Diner and I ordered and ate three entrees

3. On the way from the wedding I left my Wallet in the limo and we almost missed the plane which ended up being delayed several hours anyway.

2. The night before the wedding I fell of the roof of the church and friend stepped off after me. (he convinced people that he was trying to save me but really he was just so dumb he stepped of after I did)

Before the wedding we were standing outside waiting to go in and I was so nervous I ended up having to pee really bad and so I ended up peeing on the side of the church building (I was the Youth Pastor at the time)

And the list Goes on, But… the other night My Wife and I watched this new “reality” TV Show called “The Real Wedding Crashers” where the Bride and Groom allow this TV show to stage several practical jokes through out the wedding. Watching the show I Felt Bad for the bride and Groom because their Story’s are fake they were staged.

It reminded me that sometimes in our worship services and practices we spend so much effort trying to worship the “right” way, to do the right things and say certain thing that people aren’t able to experience the adventure of Christ.