2006

This year has just flown by. I cannot believe that this Friday is Thanksgiving! It is incredible how fast time goes as you move on in life. Growing up....specifically in school...time seemed to crawl like a snail. Now, there is never enough time. Or is it that there is still enough time but we have found ways to fill up the "down time" of the past?

I know that I am busy most every day with something...either personal, church related or the everyday interruptions of life. So...just in case life becomes too busy between now and Thursday...here's my Top 10 list of things that I am most thankful for:

10. My church. I was telling Sarah the other day that Shiloh just feels like home. It feels that I have not missed a beat being at Shiloh. Sure, every church has it's problems...but the people at Shiloh are incredible!

9. My youth group. Around my junior year at IWU, I felt like God was leading me into youth ministry. I didn't take a ton of classes on ym but I knew that was were God wanted me. It wasn't a "stepping stone" to get to, what most people consider a real pastor job, it was and is my place in ministry. The youth group here has challenged me and changed me nearly as much as I have done for them. What an ecclectic group of kids! I will never forget them as long as I live.

8. The youth sponsors. When I came here I didnt know what to expect. I was quickly surprised to find that there were people in place that made my life a lot easier. Janet with her skill in graphic design is any youth pastor's dream and Dave, with his ability to relate to pretty much any teen are both gifts from God. Dave has been the person that I go to when I need to blow off some steam. I couldn't do this without their help.

7. Indiana basketball. Everyone needs an out. Something that just gets you away from everything and something that you really enjoy. For me, this is it. I love it and it loves me! I love sports in general and am thankful that God gave someone somewhere the knowledge to invent such sports.


6. The future. I am thankful that I know what my future holds. I know that if Christ doesn't return in the next few years that I will be a father. I know that if he does, I will be in Heaven. So I am very thankful about both futures...either way it is a win win situation!


5. My health. I know...I know...if you ask Sarah she will tell you that I am not that healthy. I weigh too much and ...either way...I am thankful that God has given me health up to this point and I have faith in him that he will continue to watch over me and help me to make better choices in the future.



4. My mom. We hold a special bond because of what we have been through together. We have been the ringer and back through a couple times! I wouldn't trade our relationship for anything and what we went through defines us and is still defining who we are today. I love you mom.



3. My family all of them...the Christian side...the Jellison side...the Ellenberger side and the Thrasher side. I have been absolutely blessed to have an amazing group of family members that have stood by me through every thing and continue to do so.


2.My faith. Being a christian at times is smooth...at times it is hard and at times it is even harder. Still, I am so thankful that God sent Jesus to die on the cross so that there would be no condemnation for the mistakes I've made!


1. My wife. She will never know just how much she means to me. She makes me laugh, snarl and above all...content in the fact that I married the most amazing woman on planet earth!

It's all about Jesus

This morning on my way to work, after having been on vacation from all things ministry for four days, I felt that slight twinge of dryness and spiritual emptiness that has dogged me for the past few months. I was hoping that getting away and taking some time off would refresh me and the waters of christendom would once again wash over me and saturate me for the upcoming busy-crazy-insane holiday season. When that didn't happen with the hot tub and cozy rooms and good food and time with my wife, I sat there in my truck on the same drive that I take every morning, dejected. Then, I started singing this song out of the blue. It was as if God had sent an angel into my truck and it had opened my mouth and shoved the words in and they were now coming out without me even knowing it. I was thinking before I left for the trip that maybe I wasn't cut out for ministry and the drain it takes on you spiritually. Maybe I wasn't strong enough as a Christian myself because I was having such a dry season and couldn't for the life of me feel refreshed and good. This morning, that refreshing came quick and swift and just in time. I let church get in the way of my relationship with Jesus. I let order of worships, criticism, pastoral prayers, messages, themes, meetings, driving the vans, essentially everything come before the real reason I live...Jesus! We can do nothing if he is not in it. I can plan the biggest event, get the most students here and have the biggest bands around but if Jesus isn't in it, it is all as Paul called it, poo!

I hope this means something to someone else. If you are dry and thirsty, don't look for something to refresh you...look for someONE...JESUS!

Heart of Worship by Matt Redman

When the music fades, All is stripped away, And I simply come; Longing just to bring something that´s of worth That will bless Your heart. I´ll bring You more than a song, For a song in itself Is not what You have required. You search much deeper within Through the way things appear; You´re looking into my heart.

I´m coming back to the heart of worship, And it´s all about You, All about You, Jesus. I´m sorry, Lord, for the thing I´ve made it, When its all about You, All about You, Jesus.(Matt Redman, Kingsway´s Thankyou Music)

Ten things I have learned during my almost one year of marriage...

This Sunday will mark the one year anniversary of my marriage to the beautiful Sarah. It has been a year marked with joy, newness, happiness on one side and sorrow, emptiness and sadness on the other. I suppose most years will be like that huh? So here is my Top Ten list for my first year of marriage and the things that happened:

10. It is amazing to have someone with you, beside you and behind you in everything that you do. Going through the divorce of two of our good friends with Sarah really solidified just how important it was to simply be there for each other. This situation marks most of the bad things that have happened over this past year.

9. Sarah loves details and stories. She could tell you the shirt someone had on and if it was wrinkled. She loves giving out too much info and loves to do it often! It makes me laugh when we are somewhere and she starts going on and on about little things that this person has no earthly need of knowing! It's all in the little stuff!

8. Marriage is give and take. There were expectations coming into the marriage that have been missed and some that have been exceeded. Part of marriage is just learning that you do have expectations and when they are met it isn't always the other persons fault.

7. Sarah is a fierce animal (wolverine, badger, etc) when someone messes with me. It even scares me a little. She so "has my back" that after I talk with her about something that someone has done I usually have to calm her down! Arrrgggghhh!

6. Men and women are more different than what I had already known. I will just never understand things like the Oxygen network, Hallmark movies, Lifetime network or why women are so fixated on what other people are doing! Almost every time we go through a checkout line, I am putting the food on the belt while my wife is reading about this celeb and what they did and whose gown they wore! This leaves me scratching my head...

5. True love is about how you feel, it is about how you make the other person feel. I have felt no greater love for Sarah than after I had done something that just made her day. I absolutely love making her smile and seeing her happy. That is true love.

4. I couldn't have married any other woman in the world. Without a doubt, I know that God put us together and let me tell ya...he knew what he was doing! Sarah is amazing, beautiful, compassionate, caring, understanding, hardworking, and did I mention beautiful?!

3. I wouldn't be half the Youth Pastor I am today without Sarah. She has done so much in this respect that I can't choose just a few things to talk about. The conversations about how I felt and my insecurities and how she has built me up truly is a God thing.

2. Married life is busy. Having what,...5-6 different families to try and get to their events and spend time with them is a havoc especially around hte holidays. On top of that, ministry is a constant thing. Sarah has so graciously adapted to this over this year and we are still trying to put this in balance as we look ahead over the next few years and the possibility of children. Not soon, but over the next few years, and stop asking! :)

The number one thing I've learned over my first year of marriage...

1. Communication is the key to any relationship. Included in this is: tone of voice, saying things a certain way, not saying things, and the ability to state a problem you have without starting an argument. Communication is something that every couple needs to work on. I think that for the most part we do a good job of communicating with each other and it has gotten better over the last 4-6 months.

I love my wife. My wife loves me. Here's to 50 more years of love and marriage!

Criticism

Off the top, just let me say...I don't do well with criticism. If you have been around me for very long, you know this. I hate being wrong. Being a pastor, the line between right and wrong is sometimes shaded. I don't mean that I don't know the difference between the two...I mean that people, sometimes other than myself and sometimes myself, view right and wrong differently. The expectations of a pastor at my church are different from those at a larger church say of 200 or even 500. I am expected to different things. People think that they know things and sometimes have no clue as to what is going on. Still, they like to be right and so that is the way it is. For instance, worship. I heard a person say that the new songs that we are singing are, and I quote, "Bringing devil music into the church"! Another person I overheard recently thought that our youth group doesn't do anything relating to God...we only have fun and they didnt want someone in their family coming to the youth group because they just smoke and have fun out there. See what I mean? People have a different scale of right and wrong when it comes to the church. People have left churches because of the lights, carpets, or how they built the church.

If you have read my recent posts, you would know that I had been critized a little recently and I admittedly don't and haven't done well with it. I have yet to find the place where you don't take it personally. After all, it is something that I put my heart and soul into and then only to have someone bash it into the ground. This past weekend our district had a youth pastor and sponsor event at which the speaker spoke about this very thing. He really gave me the needed release valve for the pressure that I was feeling. I will leave you with the two simple things he told us:

1. Every youth pastor/ sponsor will get criticized, and it will happen often.

2. Jesus was criticized for pretty much everything he did and by whom? The religious leaders of his day. I think that is what hurts the most is that the criticism comes from the people who I am trying to help and their families!

If Jesus had it done to him, that means that he knows what I am going through and that right there makes me feel much better!

SMYG

What matters most to you?

This is the November newsletter article I wrote, I dare you to make a list and try to stick with it! Enjoy:


What matters most?


Expectations are a funny thing. Many times, what we expect of others is not what we expect of ourselves. We want others to always be thoughtful and for everyone to use their turn signals and such. However, I catch myself sometimes forgetting to use the signal as I am turning. Growing up, we never really talked about what was expected or what our priorities where. We simply knew because of what we did. In my life growing up, church was numbers one through four. Our lives revolved around church, everything church and nothing but church. Needless to say, that is not the case now or has it been for some time.
Gone are the expectations of members of the church to be at the church on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday nights. Most people, I suppose, feel it is okay for them to just go to service once that week. Are people sinning if they aren’t here “every time the doors are open?” No. Does it mean that people’s priorities have shifted from what they used to be? I think so.
What matters most to you? As a Pastor, expectations are high of me. There are things that I am expected to do that I didn’t even know I was supposed to do. We live in a fast paced society and I don’t see that slowing any time soon. We are flooded with events, meetings, sports, 4-H, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, band contests, recitals, rehearsals…do I need to go on? We have more options than a McDonald’s dollar menu. Do we go to church on Sunday night or stay at home and watch the race or the game? Do we go to Sunday school or catch that extra thirty minutes in bed? Do we volunteer to help with the Van Ministry or use that extra hour per week watching another news program? Do we attend church functions or just stay at home because…well, you get the point.
We all can come up with excuses to not do something. Our culture has helped us out with that one. My point is this: What matters MOST to you? My list includes, in no particular order after number one: My relationship with God, my marriage, my ministry, my family, my health, my church, and my relationship with the sponsors among many other things. You have to come up with your own list. What matters most to you? Whatever it is, your relationship with God is the number one thing or should be. How that plays out is really up to you. Make a list and try to live your life intentionally fulfilling your list of what matters most.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Having fun yet?

Last week, I was confronted about the youth group and the perception that we have too much fun. The person said that we don’t do enough service projects and that our teens need to understand that life is not all about having fun. Point taken. It could stop there if that were the first person to talk about the youth group and the perception that we are just out in the O having fun. I have heard rumblings before, but never heard the words uttered. So what can I say? This…


1. Youth ministry has changed in the last 5 years and morphed over the last 10-20 years into something that someone who isn’t working with teens would understand. There are so many options and things pulling for the attention of these kids that you MUST have a pull. You MUST have something that causes them to make Youth Group a priority. It isn’t like it used to be when the YG was made up of church kids. Half of our kids their parents don’t even come to church! On Sunday nights, that is all the God they know throughout their week. No bible study, no small group, no Sunday school, nothing. You have to have something that gets them here. I pray that God will guide and direct me to find things that will bring these kids in and keep them coming. You have to build relationships with the kids before you can do anything else. That is part of where Youth ministry has gone. Plain and simple.

2. Kids usually only talk about the fun stuff. We did a promo for the youth conference last December and almost all of the kids said they wanted to go because it was fun. Now, think back to when you were a teenager…I’ll wait…ok…now when someone asked you why you wanted to go to an event that didn’t include your parents or sitting with relatives, what would your first answer be? Honestly, these kids are still becoming who they will be for the rest of their lives. Cut them some slack…and me too.

3. I try to make everything I do intentional. I want our kids to go do mission work. I would love it for our teens to go on a missions trip and we are trying to plan one. Still, don’t say that all we do out at the O is fun and that they need to know life isn’t all about having fun. We are trying to instill in these kids character and integrity and trying to help them build a foundation for the rest of their lives. You are right, we do have a lot of fun…that is intentional too. But don’t you think for one minute that that is all we are doing out here. I could go over the number of students who are growing and maturing into what God has called them to.

With all of that said…point taken, we do need to reach out to the community more and I will accept blame for that.

Last week...

Last week was a rough week for me. I always get stressed out before overnighters wondering who will show up and if we will have enough of everything etc. This overnighter was on a different scale though. We invited Bryant Wesleyan and Lone Oak Wesleyan Churches to the event. We had a total of around 55 students and around 70 total with sponsors and the band. It was an amazing time of fellowship and worship. God showed up and really met with us that night! It was needed. Because…

Earlier in the week, we lost our van director. Now to put this into perspective for you, we average around 25 kids…around 10-15 come in on the vans. About 50% of our youth group comes on the vans. That was a serious burden because we still don’t know what is going to happen or who is going to be driving from week to week. I feel like that old song, under P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E…

Then at a meeting, out of the blue there were some things that were brought up about the youth group. I won’t go into detail but just enough to let you know that it really caught me off guard. Why you ask? 1. Because our board never says ANYTHING! Yet this night there were several comments made directed at me and different portions of the YG. 2. The way most of them were done. The tone that they were spoken in was cynical at best. 3. All that on top of the van issue, which in reality, puts more stress on myself right now than anyone else was just too much for one day.

Last October was when someone in the church complained to Pastor John about the music that I was leading…so I will be prepared next October for this sort of thing.

So to say the least, last week was a rough one for me. I am ready for God to lead me beside the still waters…I am just not sure when that will happen!

Long Week

Hey...just wanted to update everyone...

Things are going well. There have been some struggles with church and different things over the past few days so if you would keep me in your prayers.

We are having an overnighter tomorrow night...with what looks like to be around 50-55 kids from our youth group, and a couple other groups...should be a great night.

We have rejoined Ace Fitness last week. I have been working out the last three days and feel pretty sore. It is worth it though...

Other than that, just keep Sarah and myself in your prayers...and our church and our youth group and the van ministry...as you might be able to tell, there is a lot on my heart and swirling around in my head.

SMYG.

Holiness and Salvation ( long)

Recently, a friend called me and we started talking about a meeting they were in. They were asked if they had any issues with the church and were asked to be completely honest (unlike most people who go through this process?). The issue is one that I find myself wondering about as well.

The opening statement of the Wesleyan Church's discipline states:

"The Wesleyan Church has grown out of a revival movement which has
historically given itself to one mission- the spreading of scriptural
holiness througout every land. The message which ignited the
Wesleyan revival was the announcement that God through Christ can
forgive men and women of their sins, transform them, free them from
inbred sin, enable them to live a holy life, and bear witness to their hearts that they are indeed children of God. "

I agree with everything that is stated above. I 100% believe that we are called to holiness through the transforming power of Jesus Christ. I believe that you be freed from inbred (the sin nature) sin and that God enables us to live a holy life. I support that wholeheartedly, that is the reason I became a Wesleyan.

However, after having gone through the ordination process and hearing this story from a friend, I can't help but wonder, Are we as Wesleyans putting the cart before the horse? Are we calling people to live holy lives that haven't even experienced the first work of grace- SALVATION?! I will grant that most of the people that attend our churches have had some sort of salvation experience. However, it seems to me that our mission as a church has shifted so dramatically inward that we are more concerned about getting people sanctified rather than saved! You don't hear many holiness messages, I have never preached one, still...our discipline says that it is our one mission, " the spreading of spiritual holiness". Shouldn't our one mission be to share the GOSPEL!?

This friend was told that they needed to find a mentor and essentially needed to get things straightened out in their head before they came back for their exit interview for ordination. So I wonder, do you think that I am just blowing smoke or is there something behind all of this that we can learn from?

I will finish with this: For the assignment that I had to do for my ordination, I had to: list 20 books that I had on holiness, write a reflection paper on holiness, write a sermon based around a passage on holiness and what did they talk most about when I was there? Holiness.

I love the Wesleyan church. The leaders truly are men and women of God. However, I fear for the church when we start focusing on Church Growth and give awards to pastors who had an increase in attendance and persons sanctified among other stats. We are so concerned about growing our churches from the inside out that we are forgetting those on the outside looking in. Holiness unto the LORD...we must live holy...but as Jesus said in his final commission: "Go and make disciples"...he didn't tell them to sit around and become more holy and live more holy lives. He told them to go and make others aware of what he has done...still, salvation comes first. Then, as we mature, holiness falls into place as it should. What gets us eternal life? Is it holiness? Or is it salvation?

Poke yourself

As I am preparing for my sermon this sunday...something keeps nagging at me...something that is there every sunday...some say that worship shouldnt determine who comes to church or whatever the case. Still, let's get real...it does! I grew up with the hymns and choruses from that little yellow chorus book and the ones that had been passed down and there weren't even words any where...I have been there and sang those songs. While that was good enough for me growing up, as an adult now it simply is not good enough. The problem is two part:

1.) The music we have today is all about us...take yesterday for instance, we sang "When we all get to heaven", "it will be worth it all", and the special was 'I can only imagine'. What do all these have in common? They are all about me me me...I I I. I have a hunger to sing to God not about me and my thoughts but about him and about him... It is a cycle I know, we go through different times in music...still, I think it is time for this cycle to be over with because of what this is doing to me and I fear to the whole of my church and denomination...that leads us to number two
2.) We have become numb. We cant feel anymore without feeling out of place. Sure, people cry and the like. Question though: When was the last time someone really shouted in church? Not the courtesy amen or hallelujah...but really shouted because they couldn't hold it back? I realize I sound like an old fogie to those of you who have never experienced this and that in college prof's told me that it was a thing of the past. Even I have dumbed myself down on this. After going to different conferences and meetings where the worship led us and it felt we were being emotionally stimulated and it wasn't really the Spirit...I told myself that I wasn't going to get into it because it would just fizzle out like pop rocks. Now that I have become a pastor, I long for those emotional highs. Between the planning and running service after service, I long for God to break on the scene and mess things up real good! I want to feel God...not feel warm or grateful for that song or sermon that I just heard. I want to feel like I am drowning in something that is so much more than I can handle. I long for someone to "get blessed". I miss crying in service not because I was hurting or needed something but because God was on the scene.

I know I am an old soul. People my age weren't exposed much to this kind of thing. After the boomers are gone, no one will know what I am talking about except reading it from books. The move in my church is all about holiness and church planting. I think those things are great...but I want to see God break in and refresh us as a community, restore those who have fallen as a community...we have made everything about personal faith and doing things your own way that we have neglected the communal gathering where God met with his people for thousands of years. Now, I wonder if he still does even show up for some of the services we have. Are they just a tradition that we do or are they times where we are coming to experience God and his Spirit? I think we are leaning to the first one.

SMYG.

Life is short

Yesterday, I was working on thing in my office and the computer starting going through old pictures of the youth group. I started looking at the kids and it hit me, in a few years, all of the kids that are in the group now will be gone. I know that that is just the way it goes but I have really lost a ton of students yet from one class that graduated. However, this years juniors will be gone after next year. There are like 5-6 people we are going to lose and it really just hit me. I wish things could always stay the same...same people...same job...same lifestyle...but things always change. For instance, our friendship with some friends up here. When they went through their divorce and all we really didn't know what to do. We were heart broken. So, we really didn't have contact with either of them for about 5-6 months. No calls, hardly anything. Then, last Sunday he came the the Kick-off...then we went to his house on Friday...then today Sarah and Gwen are going to Shipshewana...out of the blue...I just text message her like I felt God was telling me to do months ago and bam! No contact for 6 months and now they are off.

Life is too short to really judge people. God really opened my eyes when I was studying this past week. He showed me that I don't know what the person who has slipped had gone through. I didn't know how much they were tempted...how hard they had tried to stay the course...and ultimately what I would have done had I been in that situation. Stop living a life of worry and judging others. Stop worrying about what this person is doing or what that person is doing. It is really not worth it in the end. Life is short...we are like grass and vapors and clouds...we are always on the move. Just don't get so caught up on one little thing that you forget to live the rest of your life.

SMYG

Some pics of the past few weeks...

Hey,

It has been a hectic few weeks. With Labor day through Street Fair...time flew but it was awesome...enjoy.



The pic is of Zach White...he was the other end of the mohawk deal...poor kid...huh?! NOT!!!


This is Sarah right after she faced planted into the ground.

That is Terry and Me...I don't have a suit on...and I won :)

The most troubling thing about my church is...

I am becoming more and more bothered by this one thing in my church. At first, I didn't see a lot of it. Growing up, there was hardly any of it because there was no need for it. However, over the past few months, I am having a full blown, outraged, teeth clinched pit in the stomach battle with...GOSSIP!

I can't tell you how many things that I have "heard" are circulating in our church of around 125 people. There are talks about this person doing that, that maybe this person is a little fruity or that maybe this person should be doing this and they are wrong...wrong...wrong. It is a bunch of dung. I am really tired of it. I just want to jump all over that person and tell them a thing or two. Jesus told the Jewish leaders that if they didnt have any sin that they should throw the first stone! Still, we think that we are so high and mighty, or maybe we are just too full of ourselves to subject our lives to that kind of rule. Everything is relative so that means that I can say whatever I want because it really isn't gossiping it is just letting someone else know so that they can pray for that person! Bullhocky...liars!

We have people in our church that think some other people the church might be different than they are because they do this or that...we have people in our church who are doing this activity or that and you hear "someone should really talk with them about that". They never do, they only talk amongst themselves.

All that to say this, I am really tired of it. I hate when people but their biases into words and start speading them around like spoiled bile from a ruptured organ! So don't let gossip into your lives...it only leaves you with a nasty taste in your mouth!

SMYG.

Kick-off

Sorry for no posts...the internet was down and it was too busy before that to post anything.


The kick-off went really well. We didnt get 50 kids but our kids were there. The ones that are there every week...most without fail. It is amazing to have such a committed bunch.

Thanks to Terry and Matt for coming up and doing the worship.

We rented sumo suits and they were fun. I faced Terry, I didn't have a suit on, and I won.

Sarah was the only one that got hurt in them. She went after a girl and the girl moved and Sarah went crashing to the ground. She hurt her lip and chin...her neck was hurting but she still has all of her teeth.

I made the kids eat cloves of garlic and one of them threw up. I didn't know that raw garlic is really hot!

Seth and Missy were there...it was really good seeing him. She seemed really nice and something that Seth deserves.

So...praise God for the things he has done and thank Him for what is ahead!

No mohawk...

SMYG.

A note from a dummy...

Hey...so how did your day start? Good I hope. Nothing too bad or no one in your family sick and ill or anything like that. Those things really are things that make a day bad. I am being petty today. I have had a bad day simply because one thing went wrong. I failed to let it roll off my back. What happened you asked...well


When you are driving down a road and see really brightly, fresh looking yellow paint in the middle of the road indicating where you should be in the road...never...I repeat...never drive your vehicle over it.

Yes, I am the idoit who drove my truck over the line and got BRIGHT YELLOW PAINT on my truck. Thankfully, after some scrubing and a good high power washing it is back to its old self.
So whats the moral of the story? I don't know, just don't drive over fresh paint.

SMYG

Hurray!!!

It is that time of year again. Fall is around the corner. Blueberry Festival is here. Football is getting ready to start and basketball will soon follow. I am more excited this year than I have been in years past. I don't know why. I feel almost giddy because I know that Thanksgiving is coming up and Christmas and so many things between now and then that I am really looking forward to. I really hope that our youth group gets 50 people so that they can shave my head...I think it would be cool. I can feel the cool air coming. I love wearing fleeces and I love not sweating all the time! Boy oh boy....I can't wait for Fall! Bring on the cold...






This is what I could look like come September!

Marriage life...

I love being married. There is just something about knowing you are going to have someone backing you up and someone to tell you they love you everyday that is such a God thing. Sarah and I have increasingly become aware of the fact that we are a lot alike. We are both stubborn. Most young couples have fights and I have heard that the first year is the hardest yada yada yada...I have been pleasantly surprised at just how little we really have "actual" fights. The number one thing we argue over? It is what we are going to have for dinner. Food. At least it isn't over something petty! :)

Still, there are some things that still bug me. So I am going to list them here:

1. I get that "you did it again" look every time I see Sarah after we have woke up because I unswervingly will steal the covers...no matter what! I don't do this maliciously. I am just a wild sleeper.

2. I HATE Lifetime/Hallmark/ Oxygen / any other stupid after school special movie that Sarah is so drawn to every flippin' time she has the remote! I am not kidding. I go to get a drink of water...bam...she is watching a movie about some woman who is in some plight that is just emotional enough to hook my wife in. Annoying to say the least.

3. I have yet to realize that whenever I say something to my wife, I always have a tone. Now, if I have a good tone or semi-good tone I am good. But, if she asks me something and I have the wrong tone for a second...we are going to be talking about whatever it was she asked me for the next 10 minutes. Somebody should have mentioned this one to me.

4. Finally, my competitive nature. I hate to lose. Simply, losing is not an option. This is something that I have been aware for some time now. I try to win at everything. BUT, if there were a time when I would say, lose something on purpose and she found out that I let her win? Watch out!

Now that I've said all of that let me say this:

1. I don't like making my wife cold. It does me no good, because what does she do to warm up? Yep, put her now freezing toes on my warm leg.

2. I bet she hate sports just as equally as I hate those awful movies.

3. Every word we say has some tone to it. So I guess I am learning that words just are not words, it is how you say them.

4. I don't like making my wife lose. So this one is still up in the air. I hate losing, I don't want her to lose...dilemma of dilemmas.

SMYG.

Missing the point...

I was reading the book, "Adventures in missing the point" and I came across the chapter on culture. It was an interesting chapter for a young man now, that grew up being isolated from much of the culture (save my uncle taping the Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune). I was not exposed at all to much of anything that wasn't "Christian". I was born in 1981 and other than the occasional country music that my mom (I think secretly) would listen to, the first music that I really heard was Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi (thanks Kerry). We were allowed to watch some sports...not all that much and some cartoons, on Saturday mornings. I played Little League baseball, went to the Boys Club some days, but other than that...I didn't come into contact with anyone or anything that wasn't "Christian". I fear that, as the author puts it in the book, that has made me too much of an isolationist. I understand what my parents were trying to do, protect me and keep me from "worldly" things. I can still remember my grandma giving a lesson on the flannel graph with all these things you shouldn't do, like go to the bowling alley or to the movie theatre. "Sinful", she would say. The devil is just trying to lead you down a path you don't want to go to. I can almost hear her say this one line that, unbelievably I have said since becoming a pastor..."Sin will take you farther than you'll ever want to go". While that is true...I feel that I have become close-minded on some things and that is one thing I swore I would never do.

Christians should be in the world. Does that mean that they shouldn't stay away from places that might cause them to slip? Of course not. But as the author puts it, Christians can go to these places and still be on a mission. A Christian is to go into the world and show God's love to those who don't know Him. How are we to do that if we are being bigots standing outside those
places with tracts and judgemental glances and all? Is that true love? I don't think so. Am I saying that we should go wherever or see anything we want to? Heavens NO! As the other author of the book states,

"To act as though there is some profound truth waiting to be uncovered in
cheap and tawdry stuff is hardly Christian."

Most of the entertainment out there is garbage...useless things that are just fluff. Still, that doesn't mean that we should remove ourselves so far from the world that we become no longer relavent to their needs and hurts. If we go too far the other way, we are in danger of falling into things that equally as bad as what we are trying to get away from. If we go too far either to protect ourselves from "worldly" things or we become so into world that no one can tell us apart, we are breaking a command either way. My prayer is that God would help me stay in the middle. A middle that is full of love, grace, understanding but also discernment, passion and convictions. I believe there is such a place, it is called being a Christian. Now we just have to work on living that out.

SMYG.

Fall Kick-off 06

Last year I challenged our teens to get a certain number of teens to the fall kick off. They failed. I told them I would dye my hair if they were successful. They failed. This year, I think that our youth group is much healthier than it was a year ago. So I lowered the challenge to get 50 teens here on September 17th. 50...that is about double of where we run. So if everyone brings one friend, they will have their number. IF...and that is a big IF...they get 50 I am going to have my head shaved into a mohawk...yes, a mohawk...my wife and I thought this up about a month ago and I thought we were just joking until she announced it to the group one night and now there is no backing down.

50 or Bust!

September 17th...we will see. We will see.

Pulse Fest fun and the night before

Last Saturday, Sarah and I went with the SPEDS and Roger and Brandy Blair and their youth group to Pulse Fest in South Bend. It was a blast. The night before, they all came up. The girls came to the house and stayed while the guys stayed at the Oasis. We played ball and some wiffle ball and nobody wanted to sleep. So...I only got 1 hour of sleep. I think the day would have been better if I would have had more sleep. Nonetheless...it was still awesome. Here are some pics. The lines to get into the port-a-poo's were really long. Good thing I only had to use them once.


The spooning speaks for itself. I think the order was Terry, Jon, Matt and then a guy named Andrew (not me).

Fun times...fun times.