"Because I Can..."

My kids love to climb. It's a trait I think they've inherited, because I love to climb, too. So I wasn't really surprised the other day when I was sitting in my office, not climbing, and my wife called to say that Dakota (who is 5) had climbed up onto the roof!

Ok, it did surprise me a little; he's usually very cautious unless he's extremely confident he can do something right . He wouldn't even walk when he was little until he knew he could do it without falling.

Apparently our younger boy, Josiah, had come inside saying something that wasn't too intelligible. Right now, a lot of what he says is less than intelligible. But LuAnn could make out "climb" and "roof" so she called on Emily for a little translation. She is fluent in Siah and confirmed that he was indeed talking about climbing on the roof. "It wasn't me!" was her reply, coupled with a less than surreptitious nod in Dakota's direction. (The boy, not the state.)

Dakota acknowledged that he had climbed onto the roof a couple days ago and shrugged off the whole incident like it was no big deal. So last night, I asked him to show me exactly how he got up. He climbed up onto the top rail of a short section of fence between our carport and garage. "Look, my head is clear up here!" Again, with a very cavalier approach for a five year old, he pulled himself up. "See." "So how did you get down after you were up there." The look said, "Duh." The boy said, "The same way I got up!"

Talking with him about the seriousness of cracked cranium's and sidewalks, and power lines and fried insides, I asked him why he climbed up on the roof. I wasn't quite ready for his answer. I expected and "I don't know," some shrugging of the shoulders, a misplaced frisbee for an excuse... but I got none of the above. Instead, it was "To show Emily that I could."

The dead pan tone in his voice said more than his words ever could. I'm not quite sure if he was 'dared' by his big sister or had been called on a claim to greatness that he was forced to back up, but he revealed himself to truly be a boy seeking adventure... conquering challenges... proving He can.

I pray as he grows that he'll come to know and love the God who can make him able to accomplish whatever He sets before him... and that he'll survive the "as he grows" part!
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Oh, and yes I did get him to jump off to me! Sorry mom - I couldn't resist.

First Win!

My second time out, I hit the wall (see a few posts back). This was the result:

Actually, that is what the car looked like after about 4 hours of pounding, pulling, twisting, sledgehammering good times! It was a really frustrating afternoon last Friday. I wasn't sure that I would be able to race that night - actually I wasn't sure the car would ever be race ready again. It was pretty twisted and things not quite lining up right.

But, with despair hovering like the stench of a dead carcass, I pulled it out to the track anyway, knowing that I might not be able to race and hoping against all mechanical logic that it would be ok. I didn't get there during practice, so I was a little anxious for my chance to time in. Just wanted to see just how the car would run and handle. Got all my gear on, buckled up, etc. and turned the key... nothing.

A battery cable was loose enough that the juice couldn't flow, so nothing happened. Got that adjusted and started and turned off the car several times and ready for the trophy dash. Went to line up for the start... all geared up... buckled... nothing. This time, I worked out a better solution to the problem.

Despite missing the time in, and the trophy dash, I was ready for the heat. I'd won two heats in previous weeks, but that was before smashing the face of the car into the wall of Turn 4. Determined to take it easy (not sure that means a whole lot to anyone driving a car on a race track), I headed out for the heat. Things felt pretty good. I was right with the leaders and made one move to the outside for a pass, but when the back end started to slide out again I decided to not push it too much. So I finished third in the heat.

After waiting for the other classes, it was time for the main. I got held up a little bit behind a slower car at the beginning, but made it around him without too much problem after a bit. I settled into second spot, but was really pushing the leader (and by pushing, I mean following very closely - and by very closely, I mean inches). I worked my way to the outside of him and passed on the outside WITHOUT ending up in the wall. After that I pretty much checked out and finished about a half a lap ahead of the second car. A much better ending than the week before!

I got this trophy and I'll get a check this Friday for winning, but a really cool and unexpected thing was a little deaf boy who'd drawn a picture of me winning. He came up afterward to give me the drawing. It was pretty cool - and a good reminder of what's important. I'm here to be a light for people. Even in the midst of competition and grease and banged knuckles and bent sheet metal, it's about being an ambassador for Christ. I got a fan. Someone noticed me. May he see Him.



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This is the size of my engine, btw. Pretty sure it's the smallest one out there, but it likes to run!

Know 1 Student

This was my article for the newsletter this week:

I want to use this space today to ask for something of grave importance. Actually the results and consequences of what I’m asking for reach far beyond the grave. Here’s what I’m asking you to do… I’m asking you to make the effort to get to know one student well enough to pray for them. Not some generic “God bless Junior…” type of prayer. You need to really know the student. And that will take time. It will take investment of your self into their life. And it will send ripples through the waters of eternity.

Students across America are walking away from what they see as a church that has nothing to do with real life. Many churches have set themselves up as little bubbles that float around, visible to the world but never really making contact. We at WestWay are called to be more than just visible. The Body of Christ is in the world today to show God’s love to the world (just like Jesus did). We’re not going to do that by simply turning the lights on and saying “Here we are, look how well we do church.”

Students don’t care how well we ‘do church’ (I suspect that neither do most other people outside of the church for that matter) – they don’t want to ‘do church’. They want to be known. They want to know their Maker. They want a reason to live. And they can find all of that through you if you’re willing to care for them.

Get to know one student. Talk with them. Talk with their parents about what’s going on in their family. Love them. Pray for them. Prove to them that they are worth the attention of the Creator of the Universe.
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I still feel that there is much work to be done in building bridges between generations. I am completely on board with ministry that specializes in working with specific ages - but something is wrong when there are near zero opportunities in the church for generations to interact. I don't think it's primarily a programming issue, though. I don't think the solution is to just come up with artificial opportunities for young and old to rub elbows - though that could be a good step as well.

I think it's a matter of the heart. Is it just that we are so easily sucked into our own lives... have we become blind to anything outside our own gravitational pull? ...unwilling to sacrifice for the sake of someone 'different'? I'm still not sure if we're being distracted or just plain selfish.

Oops

Friday night started out really well. I got to the race track at a good time. My car passed the safety inspection. I timed in with the second fastest time in my class. That means I started the trophy dash in the back of the pack (they do inverted starts here with the fastest cars in the back). I finished that race second (out of 6 cars).

Again, for the heat race, I started in the back of the pack. This time, I made it past everyone and won the race. Things were going really well. We'd adjusted air pressures in the tire and I'm getting a better feel for what the car needs to get around the track quicker.

So we get started in the main. The last race of the night. I was in third place and really pushing the guy in second (not literally). I was a little faster and just waiting for the right moment, when he'd bobble a little and leave me enough space to get past. As we went into Turn 1, he slid up just a little and I darted into the open slot below him - just as he recovered and decided he wanted to drive in that same patch of asphalt. We banged side to side - no damage, no loss of control - and kept racing.

I'm now in second, and I just had my first contact with another car. I didn't really know the guy and wasn't sure how he was going to respond. As the laps wound down, I got to thinking a lot more about where he was behind me and less about keeping my car on the the right line around the track. Honestly, I was afraid he might retaliate and try to spin me, so I moved up on the track a little bit to make sure there was plenty of room if he thought he could pass.

The problem is... someone had spilled a bunch of oil up high and there was still a lot of track dry up there. Track dry is great for soaking up oil off of asphalt. It's lousy for creating traction on asphalt. I started to slide around turn 4 and slid right into the wall. My first crash!!! The front end's all bent out of shape and the car wouldn't start back up because the battery cable actually popped off the terminal on impact. My night was done, but the car should be ok. I should be able to get it bent back into shape (mostly) by this Friday night and be back out there. Fun, fun, fun...

Something to Think About...

In the second installment of the Out of Ur series on youth shaping the church, there's this quote:

In youth ministry, you get permission to break the rules,” explained Doug Pagitt, a former youth worker and now the founding pastor of Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis. “Youth pastors get to do things that other people don’t get to do. Youth ministry requires that you break the conventions to connect with teenagers. If breaking the rules is permissible in youth ministry, then why is it not permissible in a broader scope of ministry?

This really made me think about what I've been doing in my ministry. I think I've been too concerned with figuring out what the rules are. Too much attention paid to questions of propriety and convention at the expense of awareness of and responsiveness to God's direction.

Need for Music...

A professor at seminary got me interested in a blog done by Dick Staub. He writes about different elements of culture and creativity and interaction between the church and the world we live in. This morning, I was reading this post about the Necessity of Music. He has some great quotes from Rich Mullins.

In a letter to his label, he once wrote,

I want to be involved as much as possible in church work. I want to work in settings that are specifically designed to challenge people, to encourage people to seek their life in Christ. I would like not only to sing but to teach…to "hang out" with people, to be accessible, to model faith [to] them, to be with people, not as a performer, but as a practitioner of the faith.

I saw Mullins 'perform' a few times, but after reading that I know why I never felt comfortable calling it a performance. He didn't perform with his music, he worshipped His Creator through it and drew the audience into participation in worship as well. Another time Mullins said,

You don't write because the world needs your music; you write because you need to make order, to organize things.

Just the other day, I was talking to a former student (who is a musician) about some music I'd written several years ago. We'd used the songs in worship there in Auburn and at camp, and I've used a few of the songs out here as well. But she asked me about what I'd written lately...

Not much. Somewhere in our move a year and a half ago, I misplaced the box where I kept my creativity. (I think I left it next to the one full of security and confidence.) I've missed it. Thanks Megan for challenging me to unpack that box again... I needed it.

First Race

Sometimes in life, there are things you think you’d like to do, but never get to do them for one reason or another. I’m thinking about things that you’d think are so exciting that they may be a little too scary to try – serious white water rafting, hang-gliding, skydiving… things like that. This last Friday night, I got to do something that I’ve always thought would be a blast but never really thought I’d do.
When I was a kid, we’d go out to the Casper Speedway and park grandpa’s camper at the entry to Turn 1 and watch the races. I remember hiding out with my cousins and brother inside the RV and watching through the little window in the loft whenever the sprint cars came out. They were loud and I said they “scared my ears.” But, like many little boys, I thought it would be fun to race.
Last summer, I was sitting out at Highway 92 Raceway East of Gering with Ted Grant and our boys and the announcer started talking about a new class they’d started. The idea was you get a cheap little 4 cylinder car, strip it, put in some safety equipment, and race it. Ted and I both got that little-boy-with-a-fast-car look and talked about how fun it would be.
Greg Elliott helped me find a little Plymouth Colt sitting in a pile that the guy was willing to part with for $150. We put in a new clutch to get it running and built a roll cage, and Friday night, Matt Snyder towed me out to the track and I got to race. It was as much fun as I ever thought it would be. Not that this is some high-powered precision work of automotive wonder… but it was a blast. I’m really looking forward to Friday nights at the track this summer (though I’ll miss a few for my brother’s graduation, CIY, etc.)
There were a number of times when I remember thinking how ridiculous it was for a grown man to be putting so much effort into boyhood fantasies of racing a little car around a track. Sometimes, I questioned if I just needed to grow up and put those dreams away. I’m glad I didn’t because what I experienced was great.
Living in Jesus is full of things much more spectacular than driving around in circles. The dreams God has for our lives far exceed the thrill of a short track win. Pray that God would give you the courage to follow His dreams. The message of the cross may be foolishness to the world, but when we live that message, what we experience will be a life that is unparalleled by anything else... the full life that Jesus came to give. Don’t let anything cause you to miss it.

Youth Shaping Church

Out of Ur is a kind of community blog run by the editors of Leadership Journal. They've just started a series of articles on how the rise of youth culture & teenagers (a sociological development over the past 50 years), and youth ministry (the church's response to those developments) have shaped the church. After reading the first of the series and the comments, I'm interested to see what the follow up articles are like.

Drive Fast, Turn Left!

Racing starts this Friday night! My car is oh so close to finished. I still need a paint job, final welding on the roll cage (about 80% finished now), new battery, and sponsor checks! After all this work, I'm really hoping I don't put it into the wall right away! It's pretty exciting to think about getting out on the track - kind of nerve racking too - what if the car's just got no speed?!

The downside has been the annoyed looks I get from LuAnn when I go out to work on the car and the fact that I'm selling my other car. Since I got the 4runner, I just don't really need another car sitting around, but I like the Avenger and really don't want to get rid of it. After driving the 4runner around for a month or so, I got the Avenger fixed and drove it a little today. It just feels so much quicker and more fun... maybe I'll make it into a race car!!!

If you're around on Friday night, come out to the Hwy 92 track and say hi. I'll be in the little Colt with a 94 on the side (haven't picked a color yet, but the old color's red, so that might be a safe bet)!

Church Gone Wrong...

Saw this story today about a lady suing her former church where she hit her head and apparently did some damage. Something's definitely at work here ~ but it sure doesn't seem like the Holy Spirit I know.

It's Not Brain Surgery...

I used this story of a young writer, from Eugene Peterson's Under the Unpredictable Plant for this week's newsletter article. Thought I'd post it here as well... with some bonus comments.

The young man longed to be a writer. As he grew up, that’s all he wanted to be. As he prepared to go to college, his mother took him aside, with good intentions, “I know you want to be a writer, but why don’t you become a brain surgeon instead. You’ll keep a lot of people from dying… and you’ll make a lot of money.”
“But mama, I don’t want to be a brain surgeon, I’m a writer.”
This conversation continued for years, in bits and pieces sprinkled over vacation conversations and holiday dinners, always with the same refrain, “You’ll keep a lot of people from dying, and you’ll make a lot of money.” Eventually, the ‘suggestion’ became a little more pointed.
“You’re wasting your time! Why do you insist on this writing business? Be a brain surgeon! You’ll keep a lot of people from dying. You’ll make a lot of money.”
“Mama, I don’t want to keep people from dying, I want to show them how to live!”

Too much religion has settled for keeping people from dying. I’m glad that WestWay is a place that doesn’t stop there. Please pray for our student ministries as we seek to show students how to live. This summer will begin a new phase for Wind and Water Student Ministries that is specifically targeted to show students how to live as disciples of Jesus. Be praying for the students and leaders of our small discipleship groups. May we all know how to truly live!

My family was supportive of my choice to go into youth ministry. Several teachers and counselors at school, however, echoed the words of the mother, "You're wasting your potential." After over 10 years of living with the repercussions of that decision, I can honestly say they were wrong. What I've chosen is not brain surgery or rocket science. I don't build bridges or fly airplanes or design great buildings. My name will never appear on some great scholarship endowment or public library. But what I do matters. What I do helps some students know how to live.

Legacy

Spent this past weekend with about 200 Middle School and High School students at an annual event some of our area churches do called Spring Thing. It was the 25th year of the event, and the focus was on leaving a legacy. Central Church of Christ over in Gering hosted the weekend this year. Shane, from here at WestWay put together a really good band to lead worship, and Rob Maupin of Lincoln Christian College did a great job as the speaker. He grew up in the area and used a lot of stories from his time here to detail the idea of leaving a legacy by being a disciple of Jesus - actually doing what He says as opposed to just hearing what He says. He had a lot to say that the students and leaders need to hear, and did it really well. As far as spiritual impact for me, his messages were the highlight of the weekend. I hope the students got as much out of them as I did.

I have to say, that I did not like the medievil banquet (greasy chicken thrown on to the table to manhandle-share with whoever else happened to be in reach - tear off a piece and pass it around) but everything else went really well.

Another highlight for me was Saturday afternoon's paintball tournament. I've never done paintball before and even had to borrow stuff to use, but it was awesome. It was 3 man teams and our team got second. We lost the final to a team with a former prison guard with a little SWAT team training, so I really don't feel too bad about that. The few bruises I ended up with were well worth it, but there was one episode that caused me a little more angst - I made a girl bleed. She wore shorts. I shot shin. She bled. In three spots. I felt bad about it, but she thought it was cool. Reminded me of some of my soccer girls, who loved to get bruised and beaten on gameday.

Looking forward to what we'll do next year as we're looking into making a few changes. Possibly working with the Cheyenne church to have them host for the first time. Lots of possibilities...

Good News - Bad News...

The good news is I got a new vehicle. I've been wanting to find something that will tow a small load without paying a huge amount and found this: It's a 1990 Toyota 4Runner. What I would have loved to have 15 years ago mom before it had 175,000 miles! It's weird buying a vehicle that I couldn't afford in high school after all this time... Just wait through only 4 years of college, 4 kids, 8 years of ministry and 15 years of living - and all your vehicular dreams could come true, too! Ha! (The kids love the sunroof!)

The bad news side of the story is that I'll be getting rid of the Avenger. Just don't need the driveway to look like a car lot! I'm sure it will when our kids are older and driving, but for now...

Also, as part of the deal, I will not be drinking pop until the truck's paid for. If you know me, you know how traumatic this is. I am not physically/chemically addicted (I'm not) to Mt. Dew - I just really really like it. No actually, it's just a habit. But... it won't be for now. (By the way, not drinking pop alone is not going to save enough to pay for the truck. Sheesh, I'm not that bad!)

Leeland's "Tears of the Saints"

Found another video today that really captures a great deal of what student ministry is about...

Car and Radio!

I've been working on the race car lately trying to be ready for the start of the season - very soon!. This is pretty much what it looks like at the moment. Not much to look at, but it'll be a lot of fun. Actually right now, it's up on jack stands waiting for us to put the transmission back in. Had some help today from Greg and Kyle to put in a new clutch.

It's been fun to learn a lot about the machine and stuff!

Another new thing lately has been the radio show I'm doing right now. A Christian station here in town let's some of us youth ministers come in and take over the air for a few hours on Saturday nights. It's been a blast!

What could be...

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." -Goethe

In youth ministry, and every other way of life, it's critical to be able to see past what is into what could be. It's so easy to label each other based on what is seen. But what if we were able to look past the shells we wear, the plastic faces we hide behind, and the mistakes we've made? This is what God does, it's what Christ modeled for us. With an impetuous man named Simon, he even changed his name to Peter (rock) to reflect what could be.

What could be for the people in your life? What potential are your friends falling short of? What if you treated them as if they were reaching that potential?

I wouldn't agree with Goethe on every line of thinking he ever explored, but this is truly a great thought.