Currently Reading Facing Your Giants: The God Who Made a Miracle Out of David Stands Ready to Make One Out of You By Max Lucado see related

Hey guys,

I'm sitting here in a budget/rant meeting. Those are always fun. And annoying. "are the youth going to fundraise any of their budget?" Ah, no. "Are you fundraising any of your budget?" No. Why are youth ministries always expected to suffer the brunt of all complaints? Why do we always get hung up on simple definitions? Now, I love the church. I believe that JC loves the church. But would Jesus be interested in all these lamo details that we fight and argue about? Would JC be interested in the way people treat each other when it comes down to this? Now, I am not a babysitter. My budget is based on perceived growth. If they want me to keep the number of kids that I have now and not grow, than I am babysitter and I have no business here. I could make more of a difference in the world than these people who go out into the world. Man, sometimes I just can't take it. Maybe I should QUIT and save them 30,000 dollars plus. That would help the budget.

Wow, 2 in one day. This is sweet.

See you later.

PS: Check the photos. It made me feel much better.

Currently Listening Songs For Silverman By Ben Folds see related

Been a good week. Long, busy, and crazy, but good. This morning I had to pinch myself to make sure that I was still here. Ever have those days? Weeks? Months? You know some amount of time passed, just not sure how much. It's like you're driving, and all of sudden you realize where you are on that stretch of road, but don't remember how you got there. Wondering if you cut anyone off, or nearly ran off the road. Or, those times when it's late at night and as you go through the light you realize that it's red, not green. Then you promise yourself to remain more alert for the rest of the way home. Oops. That's how I feel today. I was at the point on Saturday afternoon of quitting my job. I was so frustrated. So many questions and not enough answers. So close, I actually looked at the CFD's website to look for an application. It was one of those, "I can't go on moments." For the record, it turned out better than I ever could've hoped. Than I thought of that verse in Proverbs 3, "trust in the Lord with all your heart; Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and he will direct your paths" (3:5,6 - NLT). It's amazing what can happen when we truly do this. So often we lean on our own opinions, or the opinions of others when the truth is sitting right in front of us. We get sidetracked or distracted with people's opinions (or our own) when there is something so much more fulfilling. It's like settling for swiss roll when you could have Krispy Kreme. Why do we always settle? It makes me comfortable, I hate being comfortable. Yet there are days when the fear of what's beyond comfortable scares me. It's like I get going, I like start to get off the couch, than I lose my balance and fall right back on the couch, than I decide to stay there because I don't want to get up anymore, or too tired to try again. Brutal. Those days suck. Lately, it's like i'm bi-polar. Good day, bad day, good day, bad day. Good mood, bad mood. Good attitude, bad attitude. My poor wife.

On the Journey,

JP

Currently Reading The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything By Brian McLaren see related

Zondervan? More like Zonder"ban"

Hey Everyone (aka. RANT)

I was really excited when I had some extra money from Christmas to splurge on practically anything my little heart desired. I was totally stoked because my little heart had desired a TNIV Bible for my ipod. This thing is amazing. It's incredible really how they can do this. You can listen, you can read along, you can make your own comments or notations...but apparently not yet (Micky feels my pain). I ordered this thing on boxing day, and it still hasn't arrived. As I search the internet for what might be happening, I see in the search description, "February." I'm like finally, yeah...FEBRUARY 2006...*coughing/choking*. Pardon? This thing was supposed to be released 1 year ago. How does something get held back for a year, likely longer. The real kick in the junk is that Zondervan still advertises this thing on their website. I have a bi-monthly subsription to a magazine called Relevant, yeah, in the last issue, an add for the TNIV BIBLE FOR IPOD. Sweet...where do I pick that up again? Well, I guess until then, the paper is still in. I guess i'll have to turn my own pages and actually write in the margins of my very own paper back copy of the Bible. Omnipresent God? Apparently not on my ipod...Zonder"banned" Him.

See you later.

Currently Reading Deep Ministry in a Shallow World: Not- So- Secret Findings about Youth Ministry (YS) By Chap Clark, Kara Powell see related

In Relationship

Wow, two in nearly two weeks. Pretty good ratio. I was reading Ryan's blog, his hiatus has begun, thus maybe I feel the need to fill in the gap a little bit. About a week or so ago, during our "transform" night for youth, I had wanted to talk about the meaning of the cliche'd phrase, "a personal relationship with God." We have heard this several times, in fact, I believe it was in our youth's mission statement way back in the day (that takes me back, good times), "to move students to a personal and relevant relationship with Jesus Christ." But what really does that mean? As, I began to unpack that, I came across one question, is every person regardless of what they do or do not believe, in relationship with God (coming from a theistic worldview)? Other worldviews would say I think, one of two things:

1. There is no God. How can have you have relationship with something that doesn't exist?

2. God is everything, he is in everything, therefore you are in relationship with God in everything that you do (for example, I am in relationship with God to my chair because I am sitting in it).

Now, Rob Bell, in one of his nooma videos, talks about the idea of God being like a song. The song is playing everywhere. My question is then, is everyone in relationship with (regardless of whether they believe or not), it is a matter of whether or not they hear the song. Or maybe, whether or not they are actually in-tune with the song. The opposite can be said of as Christians, we can be more in love with parts of the song (ie. melody) rather than song itself. This becomes the pharisaical thought of life, we are more in love with the traditions of God, than we are with God Himself.

See, I think that this is right. We believe that God is the creator of every person, each unique unto themselves, thus, every person must be in some sort of relationship with God, whether they realize it or not. It is simply a journey to the realization.

It is like a child, a son or a daughter, who has fought with a parent, maybe over something stupid, or maybe not. Regardless, this happened like twenty years ago. Some circumstance happens that makes the child realize that the parent actually loved the child. Twenty years of a broken relationship, and all of sudden they are re-united. Maybe with timidness and nervousness at first, but step by step the relationship is restored.

I was reading in John today, and in one part he essentially says, that he was sent to simply "bear witness" to the light. John was sent to help people hear the song. Are we the same? Are we in-tune with the song?

We, are agents of restoration.

Real Christians of Genius

I know that its been awhile since I wrote. In my searching for wonderful youth min resources, I came across this wonderful video. I guess it's up to you for how you apply to yourself. Go to my videos collection and check it out! It'll be worth it, I promise!