Teens and Blogs

I was doing some research on teens and blogs the other day and came across an article that cites some interesting stats and info on teens and blogs...the stats come from David Huffaker of Northwestern University, a reasearcher of teens and online communities:

• This "blogosphere," experts say, has an estimated 2 million to 4 million personal journals, with kids ages 13 to 19 maintaining about half of them.

That means 1-2 million teens are communicating through the use of blogs...what a huge ministry outlet this could be, and probably should be...I have had a number of my students ask me questions based on something they have read on this blog...that's very much cool!...not sure how many of the kids in my youth group have blogs, but I am working to find out...it seems, according to what I have read, that teens will be much more open and honest about their lives on a blog than they would be face-to-face...we who work with youth should use this resource to get inside the minds and hearts of our youth...

Best Weekend of Basketball Ever?

For my money, yes it was...three of the four games determining the Final Four in men's college basketball went into OT...two of the games featured unprobable comebacks: Louisville coming back from a 20-point deficit in the first half, and Illinois going on a 17-3 run in the last 3:19 of regulation to go into OT with Arizona...and what about that 3-point shot that Sparks from UK hit to tie the game against Michigan State after having missed the front end of a one-and-one not too much earlier (and he was fouled, too)...but probably the best part of the whole weekend was Marcy saying, "I like basketball!"...I got her hooked...the plan is working...Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! (evil laugh)...

My bracket is still shot, though...having said that, I am rooting for Illinois so it can be said that the team that ruined their hopes for a perfect season was The Ohio State Buckeyes...Go Bucks!...

Maybe

I have been thinking about the word maybe lately...what a great word!...it sounds all kinds of wishy-washy to most people, but I have come to really appreciate its implications...I think I really started to think about it as I was writing my meditation for our Good Friday Service (see I Thirst)...my last paragraph used the word maybe eight times...throughout the rest of the meditation, I used other synonyms: possibly, perhaps, it could be, etc...this is a great word to have in one's vocabulary if one claims to be a Christian...I know, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen...I know that faith is supposed to be security in that what I believe about God and Jesus is fact...but there is so much about God and the Christian faith that is a great big MAYBE...God is so mysterious that it is difficult - impossible - to really wrap your mind around everything that is God...when you get to the point that you stop saying maybe about God, that means you have Him all figured out and can put Him in a nice small package with a bow on top...then you can distribute your knowledge and expertise to those around you because you do have Him all figured out...that's not the kind of God I want to serve...I want to serve a God that is so big and so amazing that I am forced to say maybe all the time...maybe God is this way, but maybe He is that way...maybe God meant this when He said _________, but maybe He meant that...look at the Salem Witch Trials, for example...I'm sure (or maybe) they were convinced that they were acting totally within the will of God and doing what He would want them to do...nowadays, we would question their wisdom...or the Crusades, same thing...so I guess the next time I say that I know something about God, maybe I need to say maybe...

I Thirst

We are having a Good Friday service at our church...during the service, seven different people will be sharing about the seven last words of Christ...I will be sharing about his words, "I thirst. (John 19:28)" Here is what I plan on sharing (this will be a preview if you go to La Croix):

I thirst.

What was going through Jesus’ mind as he hung on the cross and uttered the words, “I thirst.”? Surely, he must have been thirsty, after all he had been through and now, hanging there in the heat of the day, with the dust from the roads caked on his lips and in his throat. Swallowing must have been a chore by now. Have you tried to swallow when you have been parched? Not the easiest thing to do. Jesus, well beyond parched, now lets it be known that he is thirsty. But was it simply the dehydration that he was experiencing that urged him to say this? Or was something else in his thoughts?

Perhaps he thought about the time when he sat at a wedding feast with his friends. When the wine ran out, Mary asked Jesus to do something about it. Although Jesus was at first hesitant – he did, after all, come for a different purpose than this – he proceeded to have the servants fill six jugs to the brim with water. You probably know how the story turned out – he miraculously turned the water into wine, 150 gallons’ worth! That’s a lot of wine. Maybe he was thinking about how good just one sip from that huge amount of water – or wine – would taste right now.

Or maybe he remembered how one night, he took a stroll across the surface of the Sea of Galilee, and called for his disciple and friend Peter to come out. And he did, walking across the water with him. Or another time when he was awakened by the disciples’ panicked cries to do something about the storm raging around their boat. And he shouted at the pounding rain and the howling wind and the crashing waves to, “Be still!” and they listened to him. If he can make the waves and the rain stop, surely he can make them start again to come and quench his thirst.

Possibly he thought back to the very beginning of his public ministry. Not the day he was born, or even the day that he taught the smart religious guys in the Temple when he was only twelve years old. No, the day he may have considered was the day of his baptism. How fresh the water was that day as his friend and relative John the Baptist lived up to his name and baptized Jesus. That kicked off a life and a ministry that would change the course of the world. But maybe he wasn’t thinking about all that. Maybe he just remembered the coolness of the water as it washed over and around him.

Or it could be that he thought back even further than that. Maybe he remembered how he created everything, how he hovered over the water on the earth, how he then separated the water above from the water below with a little thing we call atmosphere, and then formed bodies of dry land to separate the waters on the earth. John tells us that through Jesus, all things were made. He created everything. He created water. Surely he could create just a little sip to sooth his cracked lips.

And there was that woman. That Samaritan woman that he ran into in the middle of a day much like this one. He told her that he was thirsty then, too. Let’s face it; he and his band of disciples had been traveling quite a while. We don’t know if she ever gave him something to drink. But we do know that he told her that he could give her water that would ensure that she would never get thirsty again. He called it living water. She tasted of it that day and found that the Lord was good! But couldn’t Jesus now access that same thirst-quenching water so he wouldn’t have to be thirsty anymore?

Or maybe it wasn’t any of those. Maybe he was in too much torment to think about anything apart from his current circumstances. Maybe he realized that he needed to experience completely the agony of the parched lips and dehydrated body to go along with the other pain he felt so he knew in all its fullness the thirst we feel. Maybe it wasn’t his main intent at all to get something to drink when he said that he was thirsty. Maybe he said it for us. Maybe it was just one more way for Jesus to point back to all the things that were predicted about the coming Messiah – the Savior, the Anointed One, The Christ – and show how they pointed to him. Maybe he was reminding those at the foot of the cross how the writer of the Psalms prophesied that the Messiah would be given vinegar to slake his thirst, which is what they eventually gave to Jesus. Maybe this was yet another step that Jesus took to prove that he was, in fact, the Messiah. Israel’s Messiah. Our Messiah.

I thirst.

30 Hour Famine Update

Jonesy, this post is for you...as stated last week, we held our 30 Hour Famine this past weekend...all in all, I would have to say it was a success...some could look at it as not quite a success - we had several no-shows, we didn't reach our financial goal, etc. - but I think it was a success...the centerpiece of the weekend was a game that the 30HF people developed called Tribe...very cool!...it is a Survivor-esque game in which everyone is divided up into tribes which then compete in certain activities for Survival cards...and the games are not just random, have fun-type games...they were fun, but they also had a point to each one...just before each game, facts about the area we were focusing on - Kenya - were read (such as walking 14 miles to go to school)...this made the activities meaningful, instead of just crazy, mash food in your hair kind of stuff...it seemed like the kids enjoyed themselves, and that they learned something during the weekend...a couple of random notes:

• One kid stood out to me the entire weekend...I will keep his name anonymous (we'll call him A)...what stood out to me was how outwardly-focused he was...there was another kid (we'll call him B) who doesn't exactly fit in to the cool kid crowd...so he was often by himself...but not for very long at any time, because it seemed like whenever he was by himself, A would come along and hang with him...at the very last activity, the break-fast meal, B was eating all by himself...but before I had a chance to go sit by him, A sat right down with him and ate with him...A showed to me that he really knew what the weekend was about, and that it wasn't about him...
• Last year, I didn't hear one person complain or get ugly...this year, much of the same...it did get a little ugly at times, but that was mostly in the heat of competition...I think the lack of food, coupled with the desire to win, got to be a nasty combination at times...not real nasty, but we saw a little less kindness than we did when we were just sitting around...
• A good chunk of our Famine was spent at a neighboring church...why, you ask?...they have a gym...I know it's not in the near future for our church, but it sure would be nice to have a large area like that for our youth...just hanging out and playing dodgeball was a blast...we have a great youth area, but size-wise, it is limiting...
• One thing I like about the Famine is that it is one overnight activity that we make the youth sleep during...since we aren't getting energy from our usual source - food - we have to get it some other way...so we require that they sleep...and I'll tell you what, they didn't argue...they were ready to sleep...it was nice to not have to fight with them to go to sleep...
  
• As far as I know, we only had one person afflicted with projectile vomiting...usually, someone stuffs themselves silly at the break-fast meal and pays the price by bringing it all back up...but as far as I know, that only happened to one person this year...of course, that person was me...only three bites of salad and two bites of pasta were enough to send me over the edge...I hope I never have to drink juice again...
• I read a statistic cited from Christianity Today a week or two ago that startled me...it said that it all American Christians started tithing, giving in America would go up $143 billion...and how much would it cost to provide essential service like basic health care and education all of the world's poor people?...$70-80 billion!...we, who have it so good, are not doing our job...

Here endeth my ruminations on the 30 Hour Famine 2005...

30 Hour Famine

If you pop across this blog, please say a prayer for me, our SIMY (those are our adult leaders in the youth ministry), and about 40+ kids...we are doing the 30 Hour Famine this weekend, starting at 6pm tonight...pray for strength and energy...more importantly, pray that this will make a difference in our lives and greatly expand our worldviews...

Uneasiness

I guess that's generally how I feel right now...and it's not just because Marcy just left for a few days to Willow Creek for their Children's Ministry Conference...I feel uneasiness over this whole idea of being in ministry...I don't really know how to explain it except to note a few thoughts that I have had recently:

• This past Sunday, I did a lesson on four of the "I am" statements of Jesus, particularly the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, and the vine...I had a tangible object for each one to demonstrate the meaning of the analogy, such as the loaf of bread we baked and that I ate while I taught (they weren't happy about that one)...overall, I thought it was good lesson and it made the stories more concrete in their minds...what made me uneasy was the thought that I was still performing...I have always had a performance mentality about life, that I need to always be performing for people...I have bad dreams about this, such as being on stage and not knowing how to play the piano I am supposed to play...what happens if I stop performing and just be, what would the ministry look like?...I know the need for authenticity is there, and I think I'm being authentic, but what if I don't craft a good lesson?...will I lose kids?...can I afford to take the risk?...even when I read Scripture in church, people often tell me, "You did a great job reading Scripture. You really make it come to life."...that bothers me...sure, it makes me feel good, but isn't the Word of God living and active all by itself...then it's not me doing the bringing to life part...but I still feel like I need to perform well to live up to some sort of expectations that I place on myself or that are imposed upon me...
• I heard a comment that made me go, "Hmmmm... (props to Arsenio Hall)"...we are having a capital campaign to build a dedicated children's ministry area, which I am totally on board for...but the comment that caused me pause was, "La Croix is church at its best," or something to that effect...wow, that is a huge statement to make!...we do church well, if you can do church well...we are growing, people are coming to know the Lord and growing in their faith...but is that all there is to church at its best?...I wonder if we are doing enough to support the orphans, widows, and aliens in our midst...I wonder if we could be more of a praying church (I know that is one of Ron's desires for our church, which I applaud him for)...are we focusing too much on evangelization, and not enough on promoting the Kingdom of God, whatever that really means?...I think La Croix is a great church, doing lots of great ministry, and I am very grateful that God has opened doors to allow me to work here...we do many things well, but are we "church at its best"?...that's a lofty claim to make...
• I have had at least five of my students tell me that they are thinking about full-time ministry as a career option...that should make me go, "WOO-HOO!" not cause uneasiness, right?...but I wonder how many of those will actually go on to such a future...I hear the statistics about the percentage of college-aged students that go to church regularly (according to Ron, it is 2% on any given Sunday)...and the other day I asked Marcy, "I wonder how many of our students will still be going to church when they are in college."...we have solid kids in our program...I look up to many of them, and I truly believe that they will buck the trend...I believe that a strong percentage of them will still be in church after they graduate...and I believe that some of them will go into full-time ministry...but you never know...and that's what makes me uneasy...
• This doesn't cause me uneasiness, but it makes me wonder: Why do people that smoke roll down their car windows when they smoke? Is it because they don't like the smell? Then why smoke? Just a thought...

Please hear this...I am not doubting my job, my calling, my church, or my kids...this is just a wandering and wondering moment in my life...

Cleveland Deserves Better

So my dad calls me today and tells me about an article he read in ESPN The Magazine...in it, he says, they rank all of the major pro sports franchises - hockey is not a major sports - in terms of such things as performance, coaching, ownership, ticket affordability, fan appreciation, and player likeableness...he asked me to guess where the Cleveland Browns ranked...I knew they would finish quite low, so I shot at 75...he then told me that I was 15 off...the Browns rated as the worst franchise in all of football, baseball, and basketball!...how horribly embarrassing...they have such great history and such great fans...doesn't Cleveland deserve better?...I like Crennel as the head coach...here's hoping he can turn things around so we can finish closer to the top...or at least not dead last...