Bad Church Sign

I saw this church sign tonight on my drive home. It read...

"Don't wait for six strong men to carry you to church."

Yeah - that sign is going to send people rushing to church.

Good job sign person. You really got them with that one.

WOW

Last night my wife and I watched the documentary on the opening of Oprah’s leadership school in Africa. After watching it, all I can say is wow - what generosity, what love, what passion. The show was simply amazing. Here one woman has used her influence and has changed the lives of hundreds of girls in Africa by giving them an opportunity to learn in a safe environment.

And that’s the key – a safe environment. I was shocked to hear that many of the girls who were accepted into Oprah’s leadership academy were walking miles to school with the fear of being attacked. They shared story after story of girls who had to walk through some of the most dangerous parts of their city, just to get to school, while guys would threaten them and taunt them – and these girls are 12-13 years old. That’s just sick. But now, thanks to Oprah, these girls have a safe environment in which they can learn and grow.

Watching the show really moved me. I was moved by Oprah’s generosity, by her concern for detail – she really wanted the girls to have a beautiful place to live – but most of all I was moved by Oprah’s love for these girls. You could tell she loved the girls at this school. Yes she gave millions of dollars to start this school, but more importantly she gave her heart to these young women. You could see that it wasn’t about the money for Oprah, but instead it was about the relationship she had with these young women – to me that’s what I think touched the girls at the school the most.

Frankly, that’s what touched me the most, the relationship that Oprah established with the girls of the school. Personally, I think it is easy to give money, but what’s hard is giving your heart to someone, being in relationship with someone. But that’s what Oprah did, and it was evident that she received far more than what she gave. But isn’t that always the case – when we give, we also receive.

So, all I can say is way to go Oprah. Way to Go! I pray that the church would follow your example.

By the way - If you missed the show last night, you can watch it on Saturday night at 8:00pm on ABC.

Jealous

So yesterday I went to visit my wife at work, and she was excited because she had just made a purchase at the bookstore in the mall. She was so excited that she just had to show me. So, what was her purchase? No, it wasn’t the latest home decorating magazine or book. It was a Moleskine journal. Interesting.

It appears that someone has been a little jealous of my Moleskine journal. I think her blog entry a few weeks ago had nothing to do with me purchasing my cool Moleskine journals, but everything to do with the fact that she was jealous of my cool Moleskine journals. Maybe a friend of mine should make her a t-shirt that says; “I was jealous of my husband’s cool Moleskine journal so I bought my own.”

Ryan & Becky's Video

Here is the video that was shown at Ryan and Becky's wedding. Currently, I'm working on their wedding video, but I don't think that will ever make it to the internet - the video is way too long.

3rd Book of 2007

I just finished my third book of 2007, Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Great book. Really challenging. In the upcoming days I'll share some quotes from the book that really challenged me. If you are looking for an easy book to read, but a book that will challenge you, pick up this book.

For more information, click the link to the right.

Great Night

It's 11:30 on Wednesday night and I'm capping off a great night by watching the Tour of California. Right now Levi Leipheimer is defending his lead, and I'm glued to the TV as they climb a tough category one climb just outside of San Jose, California. I love watching cycling. I don't know why, but I do. I always have liked watching cycling. As a kid, every July I was glued to the TV watching the Tour de France. Maybe its the tactics of racing, I don't know, but I like it.

Anyway, I'm relaxing after a great night at church. Tonight was great because of the sharing that took place with the group of teenagers who were there. Tonight, teenagers shared stories about being there for friends, for loved ones, for parents - all with the goal of showing them the love of Jesus. Recently, I've been challenging teens to show the love of Jesus in practical ways by being there for people - I want teenagers to think of real people, with real names, and figure out how they can love that person - and then every week when we get together we share stories of how people were there for others. Tonight, I was amazed at the stories that were shared. Teens showing other teens love by listening to them, giving a hug, making a phone call, etc. Overall, it was a really cool time of sharing.


On top of the sharing, we had a good night as we kicked off a series on Relationships, Dating, and Sex. Tonight was a good start to the series. I had some great, honest conversations with teenagers who want to pursue purity in their dating relationships. In the upcoming weeks, I look forward to some more great conversations.

If I joined these guys I would have a lot of time to think

I read about this at A New Kind of Youth Ministry.

So these guys ran 4,000 miles in 111 days. In other words, they ran the equivalent of nearly two marathons a day for 111 days… Is that ridiculous or what? I don’t think I could drive 4,000 in 111 days! Among other reasons, they ran to raise awareness for a non-profit called H2O Africa.

Check out the article at ESPN.

I had writer's block until...

i went running. Yes, running. For the past two weeks or so I've had nothing to write. And yes, Matt W. you were right. My previous post was an attempt to stall, to give me more time to think of something to write. Every night I would think, I need to blog. I need to write something, but nothing came to mind... until I went for a run.

For the past two weeks or so my life has been crazy. I wrapped up my talks at Camp Geneva with a retreat for 4th and 5th graders. I learned something that weekend - I don't like speaking to 4th and 5th graders! Give me a room full of middle school kids or high schools any day. The next weekend my sister-in-law got married. It was a busy weekend, but a great weekend. And in the middle of all this excitement I had numerous meetings at church. Needless to say I was busy, and had no time to run until this past Monday.

Monday morning I headed out for a run. I went five miles and felt great. It was a little warmer than it had been recently – a whopping 35 or so degrees, but it felt like a heat wave compared to the temperatures of the last 2-3 weeks, an average 10 degrees or so. It was on my run that I was able to think about the events of the past few weeks. I was able to think through conversations, events, people, and life. It was great, and then the following day I was able to go for another five mile run. Again, more thoughts and thinking through various situations in my life. After two great runs, let me just say this – I’m back writing again. Now, I can’t put all my thoughts out here, at least right now, but I will have a lot to say in the near future.

But for now all I can say is – I Love Running. I told my wife when I got back from my run today – If I ever stop running I will die. I won’t die physically, but I will die emotionally and spiritually. I will die because when I run, I think, and that’s a beautiful thing.

Back to Blogging

I've been absent from the blogging world for a while, but now I'm back. I'll be updating things soon, and back to my crazy blogging ways.

Snow Day

Today was a snow day for everyone in West Michigan. There were over 400 school closings - I didn't think there were that many schools in West Michigan, but there are. Now I don't work at at school, but even I had a snow day because the church office was closed. I think it was my first snow day ever.

Well today I was home with my daughters, because someone had to watch them. Now, every spring I like to train for the 5/3 River Bank Run, and I just started to train for the 2007 race. This year I've been keeping up with my training by running on the roads or by going to Family Fitness Center. Well, today I was definately not going to run on the road (they were covered with snow, and it was cold - like negative windchill temperatures.) So, I decided to jump on my bike for an hour and ride it on the trainer in my basement. So I did, and here are some pictures to prove it.

Me just starting to ride my bike...


Me after an hour of riding my bike. It was a great workout...


The machine I rode for an hour...


As I was riding I was pretending to be Chris. He is always on his bike riding through the beautiful mountains of Colorado. So today as I rode my bike I was pretending I was crusing through the Colorado country side, but then I opened my eyes and realized I was stuck in my basement and the only scenery that I was able to see was a pile of snow.

Oh well. It was still a great workout, and at least a person can dream.

Cold

Here's the forecast for Michigan for the next five days. All I can say is it's going to be cold. I know global warming is a real thing, but this weekend I'm not experiencing it.

Anyone down south have a place for a family of four to stay for a week and thaw out?

The Spiritual Act of...

Cleaning. That's right. Cleaning. One of the things I enjoy most on my day off, which is usually Friday, is to spend time cleaning the house. Now, let me just say this right away - I don't clean because my wife doesn't do a good job. She does a phenomenal job keeping the house up, and managing the house. She is great! I clean because it's a spiritual exercise for me. Let me explain.

I work with teenagers for a living. For those who don’t know, I’m a youth pastor, and I love it. I love teaching teenagers about Jesus, and walking with them as they explore and experience His love. It’s the best job in the world – in my opinion. But often it takes a while to see change in teenager’s lives. I can go through a whole week or a couple of weeks and not see changes in teen’s lives. I look back and ask; “what have I done with my time? Did I accomplish anything? Did anything get done?” As an individual, I like to accomplish things. I like to see things get done. I like to look back and see some change, for the better.

So that is why I clean. When I get to the end of the week I often ask, what did I accomplish? Sometimes a lot gets accomplished. Sometimes it doesn’t look like anything was accomplished. So that’s why I clean. I clean the house because I can look back and see the fruit of my labor. I can see something get accomplished. And it’s through this little exercise of cleaning that I get energized and motivated to face another week doing the thing that I love – hanging out with teenagers and trying to figure out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in 2007.

So... high ho... high ho... It's off to clean I go.

But don't ask me to clean your house!

100th Post

I thought I would celebrate my 100th post on my blog with some great pictures of my daughter Mallory. These pictures were taken by Rachel H. She does an awesome job, and is extremely talented. Here they are...

What younger people want in a church...

Read an interesting article on churchrelevance.com. It talks about what a younger generation is looking for in a church. According to the article, a younger generation is looking for...

1. Relationships
2. Biblical Community
3. Social Action
4. Genuine Church - My question for this point is, What does a genuine church look like?

To read the entire article click here.