‘Nuff said.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Category Archives: Daily
Sunday Quote
Megatron: “Why throw away your life so recklessly?”
Prime: “That’s a question you should ask yourself, Megatron.”
~ Optimus Prime, during the climactic fight during the 1986 Transformers animated movie
Housefull
Last night, we packed over 35 people into our house for a Superbowl party. Have you ever seen the inside of my house? If so, then you know this was a superhuman feat. Our living room is basically a large rectangle. It only has one practical place to put a television, one practical place to put a couch…you get the picture. Yet, somehow we had 35 teens and 6 adults in the place.
It was hot.
Loud.
Stinky at times.
But I wouldn’t have it any other way. In fact, those words pretty accurately represent my vision of community. And when I say community, I want you to know that I don’t just mean a group of people living together in one area, I’m talking about people who get into each others lives and get messy with the details. That’s the kind of community I mean. It’s the kind of community where it’s uncomfortable sometimes, it gets loud, and sometimes it’s not just pleasant smells and sights and sounds. It’s the kind of community that jams all types of lives together in one room to watch grown men slam into each other for the right to be called champions.
It’s eating too many chicken wings, laughing at commercials, and meeting new friends. It’s five people piled on a recliner. It’s teenagers, adults, senior adults and toddlers all in the mix. It’s the way the church should be. I’m not saying that the church should only get together to watch the game, or that it should be disorganized, but I think sometimes that the church (the body as a whole, it’s people, Christians) forgets that community is sometimes best unplanned. We get frustrated that we can’t program community, but then the reminder comes, when you open your house to teenagers and the flood inside and fill every available seating area and then some, that community doesn’t come from a program or a plan, but from an open house and heart.
This is why I don’t mind the housefuls of teens that sometimes come over, or why it wasn’t a big deal that I only got an hour of free time to myself yesterday. See, my job is to point them to Jesus and to foster community, and if nights like last night are what it takes, then so be it.
Second chances
My dear friend Dwana gave me this painting a couple of weeks ago. I knew immediately where I was going to hang it.
The classroom. Which is right beside the kids bedroom.
I look at this every time we start school, I look at it when they are being rambunctious at bedtime. I look at it when they are playing in the bathroom when they are supposed to be getting ready for bath/bed/church/school.
And I remember I need all of those things too. I need grace, I need second chances, I need forgiveness, I need love especially when I’m doing loud really well. And I almost always begin to sing a song by Carlos Whittaker.
Great Redeemer
We humbly respond
To the call of Your love
Gracious Father
Like a child we run
With our arms lifted up
So let the praises rise
You’re the God of second chances
You’re the God who still romances
We’re in awe before You now
And our hearts are bowing down
You’re the God of all the ages
Who are we that You would save us
We’re in awe before You now
And our hearts are crying out
Hallelujah to our God
Hallelujah to our God
Righteous Savior
By Your wounds we are healed
Your compassion draws us here
How amazing
Is the mercy of the Cross
That You would reach out for us
So let the praises rise
You rescue with unfailing love
Hallelujah to our God
Broken and Left Out
When I was 12, I quit the church.
Rather, I felt like they had quit me, so I responded in kind. I was in 6th grade, the stereotypical nerdy, chubby kid with too many words and not enough social skills. I would go to school every day and listen to the taunts and jeers of my classmates, then go to church on Sunday mornings and hear the exact same things. I was the class joke. It made me hate church. It made me disinterested with God. By the time I was ready to transition into youth group, I was nearing the breaking point.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when a boy threw my Bible out of the second story window into the bushes below for no reason other than to laugh at me.
Snap.
I went home and tearfully begged my parents to not go to church anymore. My reasoning was that the church was supposed to be a loving place, and if that was true, I should be treated differently than I was at school. People should accept and love me there. But, that was not the case. And that is not always the case in many churches across our country. A place that stands for truth, love, and grace can often become a place of lies, hatred, and gossip. I see it all the time as a youth pastor. People who are difficult to love get pushed to the side in favor of those who don’t take much effort to minister to, or old friends that we are comfortable with. That’s wrong. It’s sin.
Reese Roper, who was/is the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, Five Iron Frenzy, helped start a church in Denver, Colorado for people who felt left out and abused. What did they name it? Scum of the Earth. I love that name. Sure, many churches wouldn’t want a name like that, but their mission is right in the name! They are there to reach those considered the scum of the earth. The difficult. The addict. The dropout. The “special”. The outcast. The orphan. The very people that Jesus told us that he came for, the very people that God commanded his people over and over again to help in the Old Testament. What we forget sometime is that we are all scum of the earth. Because of our sin, Scripture tells us that are God’s enemies, the targets of His wrath, and separated from Him by our own wrongdoing. We are not holy….we are filthy rags, unrighteous….scum.
I was talking with an older gentleman who works with our youth yesterday. He’s become a mentor of sorts to me, and I was talking to him about my past, and he was shocked. He told me he’d always assumed that I had grown up in church, that I was a good little church boy that had never had any doubts or problems, but that now he saw differently. I was reminded in that conversation of why I do what I do, why I gravitate toward the broken and abused, and why when they walk through the door of our youth ministry I want so desperately for there to be no judgment for them. Because they are broken, just like you and me, just like all of us. And they need the same redemption that I was offered, that I have experienced in life, the same salvation that all people are freely given.
So, as scum of the earth, I reach out to fellow scum of the earth, knowing that we all have some kind of hurt, some kind of story to tell, and redemption waiting in the wings for each and every one.
Days gone By (Are you singing the Full House theme? Cause I am!)
Yesterday was Story Hour at the library. I love Story Hour, I love Ms. Betty the children’s librarian at the Savannah Library, and I love the programs. Yesterday, we had Blu-bell the clown with us and her puppet Grandpa Winston, and fun was had by all -after the screaming in terror stopped! Ms. Betty does a wonderful job. She tries to know all the kids by name, and its a great time for them to socialize and meet new people.
Then, there are the books! If you know me, you know I love books. I love to read. Right before Isaac was born I was going through 2 young adult fiction books a day. I love that books can transport you anywhere from the comfort of your recliner. I feel what they feel, I know what they know (sometimes before they know it), I grieve when they grieve. Reading is one of the most wonderful gifts to have. I had a whole library of children’s books before my kids were even born.
Today we checked out our usual 5 books per child. Is it a little weird that I was excited to get the original Skippyjon Jones book so that I finally know why that silly Siamese cat thinks that he is a Chihuahua? It is. Well, then that’s not why we checked the book out at all, it was totally the kids’ idea to get it.
Ahem.
Moving on….In the back of one of the books we checked out, Winnie the Pooh’s Valentine, there was a small envelope with a 3×5 card stuck in it. Most of you my age know exactly what that is. Annaliese was confused by it and thought it was another piece of paper she needed to practice writing her name on. The library card. We had lessons in school on the card catalog, and how to fill out a library card, where the author’s name goes and the dewey decimal system. In Sixth grade I was even allowed to be a library helper, it was heaven, in part because she let us have the New Kids on the Block posters from the magazines when new ones came in. The library card was your passport to freedom, adventure, being a sixth grader in Sweet Valley, or a member of the Babysitter’s Club. But what I loved most about it was that you listed your name, the date you checked it out, and I think perhaps some other number. You could know who had previously checked out the book you were going to read. You could know that the cool older girls had read the same books as you. You could know that the 8th grader you had a crush on also read Huck Finn. You could know whether or not you had checked the book out previously. There was solidarity. Or at least that’s how I saw it.
But now, there’s a scan tron thing on the back. So instead of hearing, “oh I see some other kids your age really liked this book”, you hear, “bloop, bloop”. Instead of my kids getting to write their name on the 3×5 card and take ownership, they hand a credit card looking piece of plastic over and get a receipt of their purchases (I really don’t know what else to call them). I’m not anti technology and I’m sure this makes things easier, however I miss the community.
So, I guess I got a little nostalgic for days gone by. And have you ever tried to explain something so “old school” to a 3 year old? Tough!
Sunday Quote
“The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time.”
~Francis Chan
Transparency
We talk about a lot of things on this blog.
Ministry. Parenthood. Video games. Bad haircuts. Love. In all of it, I have one goal, which is transparency. If I’m going to run a blog about my daily life, where I share my opinions, tell stories, and expose my life to people, transparency is a necessity. I struggle for it, and with it, each time I write something here.
I ask myself questions like, “How much is too much?”, and “Did I overshare?”. The problem with transparency, to me, is that it is addictive. When I come here and talk about something I’m dealing with, or tell a story about my family, the negative emotions associated with those things drift away. Coming here helps me to process what i’m feeling and what is really going on beneath the surface of an issue.
A few months ago, one of the guys in my life that I really consider to be a mentor brought up this blog, and one of the first things he pointed out was the level of transparency that I’d been writing with. Originally, I hadn’t noticed, and I’m being honest when I say that. I was just writing whatever came into my head and out of my fingers as I typed. But, as I tried to figure out what this blog would and wouldn’t be, telling stories about my own faults, failures, triumphs, and strengths just came naturally. I was proud, then, that someone had noticed my transparency even when I hadn’t, because that meant that I was willing to share my life with people.
It’s risky to be transparent in our culture, especially in ministry, where a wrong step can see you crucified for something you’re still in process of figuring out. That’s a risk I’m willing to take though, due to the fact that transparent people connect with their intended audience more. Since I work daily with people, I want them to know that I’m approachable, that I’m friendly, and that I have faults too, just like them. I never want to give off the impression that just because I’m called to ministry means I’m on top of some tall ivory tower and cannot be approached.
So, until something changes, I’ll continue to write about all my problems, my fears, my joys, my wins, my losses, and everything in between. Because that’s what I want people to know about me: the whole story, nothing edited or censored. Because, after all, don’t we all long for that?
For someone to really know us, as we truly are?
Thunder, Lightning, and….Tornadoes?
I’m sleepy. Very sleepy. But, I was up huddling in a bathroom last night at midnight when I should’ve been sleeping. So, if this post is a little disjointed and not very good, you’ll know why.
My wife probably thinks I’m crazy. In fact, last night, she pretty much confirmed it when she said, “I can’t ever remember going to the bathroom or a closet when I was growing up.” She was referring to the fact that when bad weather strikes our area, I make my family load up in the car and go to our church, where we can be safer. We don’t have a basement, and if you know our house, there are no interior rooms, so we have to go somewhere else.
The storm last night fooled us. Lulled us into a false sense of security. So, we went to bed. I had just settled down and Erin was brushing her teeth when we heard it. Sirens started to go off. I immediately got up, got dressed, and grabbed a few things while Erin woke up the children. We carried them to the car and took off for the church. By the time we got there, the sirens were off. Not sure what was going on, we got inside, made them a small bed in the bathroom, and waited. Checking the weather, I saw early on that the tornado warning was cancelled, but the wind was still bad, very bad. We stayed for about an hour, then returned home, exhausted, and collapsed into bed in order to be woken up at what seemed like just 5 minutes later.
Am I crazy for heading to the church? Possibly. I do have a fear of storms. It started with the movie Twister when I was 16. Am I crazy for protecting my family? Absolutely not. They are the things that mean most to me on this earth. To that end, I will always do what I have to do in order to make sure they are safe. In the end, tornado or not, we were where we were supposed to be, and are better for it.
Now, if I can just get some sleep today.
Sunday Quote
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”
~ Mother Teresa