Funerals.....

Sorry this hasn't been too active, we've had several funerals over these past two weeks and its been one of those down times in life watching 18 year olds and 15 year olds and family members die. Last one is today, then we'll be back on!!!

Would you like a cookie???

Last night was great! Tons of students, hearing a great message with some good worship, a great experience. They were also flippin nuts. Like, please, next week just smoke some pot before you come. Thats not true, please dont (unless your a regular (ok another joke within joke)) Anyways! At the end of the night i had a volunteer come up to me and tell me they had taken care of a problem with excitement in their voice. This was probably the least of my concerns, a problem that carried little weight in the scope of the night. Moving our leader check-in booth one of the castors got stuck and dragged a black line down the whole hallway. Problem, black line down hallway. Solution, we have a cleaning company come every wednesday night. Amount of concern in my life...NONE. As i was dealing with some other problems i noticed this volunteer taking a paper towell and cleaning this black line on his hands and knees. When he was done with this he went and personally talked to the cleaning crew to make sure they would pay special attention to the black line. After this whole endeavor "Volunteer" came up to me with literal excitement letting me know that he had taken care of the black line! As i looked back at him, i gave him a big smile and said thanks. I'd like to think it was convincing, but im not sure it was. The Bible says that when we are faithful with small things, we have the opportunity to be faithful with large things. Flip that a bit, i tend to thank people for being faithful with large things, but offer no real reward for the simple things. Our volunteers pour out their hearts to serve students on wed. nights, to the point of wiping up the most insignificant black mark on the floor. They're here to serve whole-heartedly...can i even appreciate that?

I Think I'll Follow Jesus' Lead

So it's been a solid week since i've hit this up.  It was a week filled with finishing a major project that was absolutely a blast!  It was the first major thing i have done in awhile, it was refreshing, stretching and really just fun to do.  It took a lot time and energy though.  I have found that when i've gotten home these last couple of days, i've hit the couch and taken a healthy nap.  So here's the deal, short and sweet.  After Jesus did some major stuff, he rested.  We find him often retreating to re-energize and prepare for the next thing.  I think i'll follow Jesus' lead on this.  My nights for this week i think will be refreshing for me, doing some mundane things (even though i missed the cardinals game tonight) that allow me to step back and re-energize myself.  Hear me out though, im still full in during the day.  I'm not burnt or dragging.  This hasn't kicked my butt and that's why i need some refreshment.  For the first time i'm taking the initiative to keep myself healthy and in the game.  I need to top of my tank.  This is a new concept for me usually i wait until i have nothing left to give, now, with initiative im going to quickly be able to offer my best again.  Are you doing this in your life, or are you in the habit of draining completely before refilling.  My wife has this annoying dad like statement she always uses regarding her car and the amount of gas she puts in it....it goes something like this.  "The car runs just the same on a full tank as it does an empty tank, so keep it full in case you need it."  She really is from Nebraska ha!  She has a point though, we can often make it just the same when we are almost fully empty but we risk waking up one day with nothing left.  This week i wont be waking up with nothing left and from the last couple evenings...i wont be waking up often HA!  On a side note, Perry Noble will be at our all-staff meeting tomm. so be looking for some great insight into getting to see one of my favorite up and coming pastors!

An Odd Place

How could you not be motivated and moved when you read proverbs 29:18..."Where there is no vision, the people perish..." As i was talking to a great friend the other day (Dan Gould) he mentioned something about a holy restlesness. A place where you are motived and moved by discomfort, a place where you long for something more even though you're where God has you now. I'm there. God has been molding me, shaping me and ultimately allowing the freedom to explore who he has created me to be and inronically in the midst of God allowing this he has created this holy discomfort. For the first time i know what energizes me, i can identify and schedule these things into my life, i know what keeps me going. In the same token, i can identify for this season the things that drain me, leave me less than energized or resonate as simple tasks. So that sounds like a great place to be, right? I feel more on the understanding end of discomfort, more restless than holy. Vision is hardest at this point in my life, the struggle to maintain commited to what is at hand, while knowing something needs to press forward. Its season's like this that lead me ultimately frustrated and torn. This would be an easier season if my current vision, the one i'm living in was strong..but its not. This would be easier if i woke up and could see my purpose for today over my purpose for the future, but i cant seem to shake it. I have a current vision that closes in on perishing, and i have a holy discomfort about this. Next season is coming, but its overtaking me. I'm heading towards rough waters, at some point my day is going to collide where i begin to create the momentum to act on what God is doing but have to maintain a dying vision in the process. I have to leap not alone, but with staff and volunteers beside me carrying the souls of students on our backs, its a dangerous leap anytime you make it and its coming around the bend. Half of me says with a smirk, thanks a lot God, the other half is running towards it.

A Killer Race

I can't honestly say i've ever cared about horse racing but something caught my attention today.  One of the horses racing in the Kentucky Derby left the race track flat out dead.  Death is something that always catches my attention, as probably most other people (so i don't feel so weird about it!).  One thing really caught my attention, they put the horse down right there on the track.  The horse did not die from racing, the horse died from two broken ankles and could not make its way off the track!  Thats commitment.  Easy to say since i wasn't on the receiving end of a small man beating me with a stick (i'm far from PETA so don't think about it) but i'm positive it would "inspire" me to giddy up!  This got me thinking about a comment i've heard a lot lately, "you don't want to be a youth pastor forever do you?  You're just working up to becoming a campus pastor right?"  This is the most ignorant statement i've ever heard.  Maybe its too personal, but shouldn't we be following what God has called us to do not what we feel is the "next step?"  When God calls us to do something, we should be willing to die on the track, on the journey.  I hope to be put out without missing a beat, finish the race and right there on the track be retired from the task of taking breaths.  Im in a killer race, one that i'll die for, one that i'll die doing.  Somedays it feels as though the pain wont let me continue, distractions slow me, vision is hazy and i get out of focus but at the end of all that, i still find myself running.  I hope to never be a campus pastor, i hope to never be led off the track and put in the barn to graze until i die.  I hope that i can finish strong, the leader of the pack in the "lane" that God has given me to run in.

Top Ten Places Not To Visit!

Well, even if you're one of those people that have lied about coming to visit Nicole, Hunter and I in our new location you might think again.  Reading AOL News today, they featured a story with the top ten places not to visit in the world.  Who's on the list?

10-Baghdad, Iraq

9-Dhaka, Bangladesh

8-Yakutsk, Russia

7-Mogadishu, East Africa

6-Chernobyl, Ukraine

5-Oklahoma City, OK

4-Pyongyang, North Korea

3-Bujumbura, Republic of Burundi

2-Linfen, China

1-Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Ok seriously who made this list?  I stared for quite some time thinking it had to be a mistake, maybe this is the blatant way God is trying to tell me something...i really doubt that though.  Is OKC really this bad?  I ask this as i watched a tornado form while sitting at a stoplight tonight.  Luckily i was heading to my small group so i felt like God might have mercy (it touched down 5 miles down the road) and hail has most likely destroyed my car, overall though i think its been an alright night!  Possibly the real lesson here is that when God calls you somewhere you have a better attitude about your surroundings, more practically i'll take tornadoes and bad weather for restaurants that stay open past 9, sushi and a variance of culture.  It still hurts that they rank us that low....ahhh these news people.  On a lighter note ive been asking a lot of the "best ever" questions lately.  Yesterday it was two, best rap song ever, and best michael jackson song ever.  Todays two questions, best comedian ever, and best sub-compact car ever!  What do you think?  Dying for some common answers?  Best rap song ever, most popular response, Regulators by WarrenG (dont act like you dont know).  Best Michael Jackson song ever, most popular response, Thriller, my response...Heal the World (sub-titled, little boy love mix).  Best comedian ever, most popular response...Chevy Chase, best sub-compact car ever, Ford Festiva.  I'll be asking more of these over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!

Travelodge

Watching TV late last night my attention was caught by an unusual commercial. First, the travelodge mascot (bear maybe) was trying to be seductice and erotic. OK that was weird to say! What took this commercial over the edge for me was the slogan the company is now using. Recreate. Hibernate. This makes Travelodge the first ever upclass hooker-like nationwide hotel chain. Being a first in the industry isnt always the best! Let's join together in knocking travelodge off the bottom of the places to stay list unless your into that sorta thing!