Vocabulary Words

I only thought I had graduated from doing homework. I did my time, I received my diplomas and I moved on. I had no idea that having kids would result in my having to repeat grades I had long forgotten.

How silly I am!

My children, still in elementary school, come home from full days of school with homework in areas that their teachers have not even covered. At least that is what my children try to convince me. Especially when it comes to math, I have had more than one example of the following conversation.

Me: How did your teacher say to solve these problems?
Them: She didn't teach us anything about this. (This is usually said with tears.)
Me: She just gave you homework on stuff she hasn't yet taught you how to do? (This is always said incredulously.)
Them: Yes! And she'll force us to make bricks without straw if we don't finish our quota!

I may be mixing that last part up with another story, but nevertheless, the angst they feel is real. But math homework is not the only stuff I have to check. The other day I had to review 10 pages of vocabulary words as my daughter demonstrated her mastery of new words and their prefixes. As a bonus she had to choose two words and write a sentence. She chose forecaster and distrust. The sentence she wrote?

I distrust you, Mr. Forecaster.

Ah, it would seem even my 10-year old understands that weathermen only have to be right half of the time to be seen as a success in their field. She is learning about people.

And so am I. I'll tell you more in subsequent posts, but alas, school is out for the summer. It's time for a break.

The Gospel of Yes

True to form, here I am taking advantage of the latest technology from 10 years ago. This will be my first vlog. That's video-blog for any of you newbies out there. But before you go looking at me for about 90 seconds, let me make a few observations.

• It will be easy to get lost staring into my eyes and not hear a word I'm saying. Fight that urge. 
• Yes, I introduced myself as an 'Associate Pastor.' That's because explaining my actual job title would have taken 90 seconds, leaving me no time to talk about the book. That seemed like a bad idea. 
• Before you say it, yes, I am naturally that beautiful. I thought I covered that in the first bullet point.
• Oh, and the video may be shaky and I may have a few awkward pauses. They said to make the video as natural as possible. Welcome to my world...shaky and awkward. 

Alright, enjoy my first, and possibly last, vlog. 

The book is The Gospel of Yes by Mike Glenn. I received it for free from my good friends at Waterbrook Multnomah, so I could review it for you. Now my friends are your friends. 

It's Not Fair

"It's not fair!"


My kids say that. A lot! But since I throw them under the proverbial bus many times, let me quickly add that I would probably say it a lot too if I hadn't been programmed by society to know that life is not fair.


But I did hear my kids use the 'fair' card in regards to the weather. That threw me for a second. I understand fair when talking about scoops of ice cream or who gets to sleep to current hits versus sleeping to Neil Diamond. I get it when it seems that the blame can be placed on a person. But the weather?

Not even the weatherman seems to be able to get the weather. For instance, the other day my wife and I turned the A/C off because the weather channel said the evening would drop into the 60's. Once we did, the breeze stopped and the temperature spiked back up to 130 degrees. Yeah, beautiful sleeping weather, especially if you like to stick to your sheets.


So how can fairness be a concern with the weather? Now there is Someone who has a claim to cry foul. Its God. And He did cry foul through many of His prophets. But today I'm thinking of Malachi. You can have your major prophets. When I want snarky and to the point, I'll go right to Malachi, who uses a question-answer style to make the Israelites sound really ignorant.

9 You are under a curse —your whole nation—because you are robbing me.10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe, ” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty. ~Malachi 3:9-12

Just look and see how God takes the focus and point it right back where it belongs. When the focus returns the fun will begin. It will happen by God because it's all about God. Oh, we get our nod, but don't lose sight of where it all begins.


What do you find unfair?

An Insignificant Wish

I used to look at the biggest outcasts in my school and wonder. No, I wasn't looking in a mirror, but there were times when I wondered, and wished that I were. After all, it would have been nice to be the best at something. Have you ever wondered what it would take to be, hands-down, the biggest outcast in your school?

I have, but just when I think I may be able to master it, the trends change and everything gets turned upside down. So I am caught in some place in the middle where neither cool nor outcast reside. Mocking me from both sides is my place of honor.

There is something worse than feeling like God is always punishing you. It's feeling like God doesn't think of you at all. The insignificant wish that God thought of them at all, even if it is just to be treated poorly. At least then they knew they mattered in some way.

I have often wondered if this wasn't what caused Job the most pain. He could man up and battle against the physical pain. He could even do an adequate job of expressing his feelings and emotionally purge. But through most of his trial, he endured it with a silence that drove him crazy. He felt as though he were ignored by the One Person who could make a difference.

Job 19:4-12
4 Even if I have sinned,
    that is my concern, not yours.
5 You think you’re better than I am,
    using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.
6 But it is God who has wronged me,
    capturing me in his net.[a]
7 “I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me.
    I protest, but there is no justice.
8 God has blocked my way so I cannot move.
    He has plunged my path into darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my honor
    and removed the crown from my head.
10 He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished.
    He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree.
11 His fury burns against me;
    he counts me as an enemy.
12 His troops advance.
    They build up roads to attack me.
    They camp all around my tent.

It's making a call in your time of need and getting only that reassuring recording, letting you know your message will be received. But will it be returned? One can only hope.

I thought about ending this post with the previous paragraph. But then I was concerned that my friends might assume I had gone emo ten years after being emo was in. While the timing would be totally me, showing up tragically late for a party, instead of fashionably so, that is not the direction I am headed. 

However, I am attempting to understand the feelings of insignificance from every direction, both healthy and unhealthy. Because it is my contention that understanding how the mind works, along with the pushing and pulling of society, will lead us to recognize where our true significance lies, not with us, but in the One who made us. 

That is my insignificant wish. 

The 9 Best Practices for Youth Ministry

This is not a book about baseball. I don't know if you would have ever wondered that it might be, but Kurt Johnston and Tim Levert remind us over and over again of that fact. It's probably because there are 9 practices and they use a baseball team metaphor throughout The 9 Best Practices for Youth Ministry.

I don't want to give away what these guys have worked real hard on. I used this book as an opportunity to review some of what I have been doing in youth ministry. Each chapter tackles a different area of youth ministry, something based off of research done by Exemplary Youth Ministries and their studies.

Each chapter was well thought out and written in tandem by these two gurus of youth ministry. Once you have covered all 9 topics, you'll be ready to get back in the game, although this is not a book about baseball. 

I Need to Know

There has been a parenting technique my wife and I have learned that has revolutionized our family. If I thought I could write an entire book on the topic, plus do a book tour and somehow turn it all into a movie where I would be played by Matt Damon, I would. Quite simply, the movie would be awesome.

However, this technique has probably been written about by too many authors, none of them convinced about the movie project that could be. And the technique doesn't sound all that flashy either.

Communication.

I know, you've heard this before. But this is like a wonder drug that cures all...almost. My family, like all families, has experienced those meltdown moments when the kids are sweaty and whiny and, shockingly, don't want to be shopping at Wal-mart. Amidst the crying, I'll hear, 'We didn't know we were going to be shopping all afternoon.'

Ah, communication. So now we warn them when we see a shopping trip looming. Do they like the shopping anymore when they are warned? No, but at least they know and can brace themselves for what is coming. They've been told and warned and at least know what's coming.

I think most people are like this. We can handle a lot. We can prepare for adversity if we see it coming. We can adjust to suffering if we know it is in the plans.

But adventures do not always announce themselves. We're not always told why certain events in life happen. In fact, it is very often the opposite. Oftentimes we are left in the dark. And we see this in history as well. In fact, we see this with often maligned group of whiners known as God's chosen nation, the Israelites.

In Exodus 14:15-31 we find them trapped at the Red Sea. The Egyptians are coming and the Israelites didn't pack their boats. God instructs them to cross on dry ground. God then says He will harden the hearts of the Egyptians and they will follow. But God doesn't give any more detail than that. He doesn't say how rescue will come. It's only after a long night of crossing the Red Sea that God reveals the rest of the plan.

They should have had plenty of questions. How is the Red Sea going to be dry ground? If it is dry ground, will it be soon enough for us to get away from Pharaoh? If there is dry ground, what's keeping the enemy from chasing us?

They don't get any answers. They are told to move on. But no explanation is given until after they have crossed over and the Egyptians are still on the chase.

But they obey, a pattern that never quite became a habit for them. A pattern that we would be wise to consider. If we live life ona  need-to-know basis, then we should understand that God is the only One who needs to know.

God took care of those Egyptians, leaving them drowning in the Red Sea. You can be sure that, sooner or later, God will take care of our problems as well.

God First, For Good Reason

I know many people will point to David the Goliath slayer and admire his sensitive side as he wrote many a song. I've got nothing against David's poetic side, but I think my man Heman the Ezrahite should not be overlooked. The man could write some tunes. And let's not forget his trademarked toys of the 80's. I'm sure the Master of the Universe was copied after Heman the Ezrahite.

That's not all that was copied. The Sons of Korah, probably the first Jewish boy band, decided to write their own song based on the tune that Heman wrote.

I'm glad they did, because here is a sample.

Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion? ~Psalm 88:10-12

Ok, in the first part of this song, they bring the common themes of 'we're in trouble / please God save us'. But then they mix it up in the section above.

Because they don't beg for their lives. They don't make promises that no one believes they'll follow through on. Nope. They appeal to God on a level that gets His attention. It's almost as if they're saying;

Listen, God, we know we're asking a favor, but Your miracles don't impress dead people. (Admittedly, they had not met Lazarus.) Even more importantly, if we're dead, we won't be singing your praises. We can't talk about You if we're not here...to talk about You.

Yeah, God comes first. But it's not so He can do stuff for us. It's because He comes first.