Monday, July 29, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
#TBT
I've decided now that I know how to work my scanner and found a tub of old pictures to participate in this trend of #TBT or Throw Back Thursday.
Today I will shame, I mean feature a few of my former students from the good'ole days of youth ministry in the brick building also known as Englehood, Englewood.
First we have the class of 2006. (Photo taken in 2001 in case you missed the neon orange date!)
Where are they now: 4 are in full time ministry. 0 are in jail! Good Job Youth Pastor!
They're parenting at least 7 ninos currently! Congrats to Jake who just had twins! 3 artsy fartsy jobs
One runs the hotel industry and gets me great deals on nice rooms, couple teachers, one plays with ammunition, and the rest need to update their youth pastor and facebooks more often.
Fond Memories: This was the straight edge group. They looked a little crazy, but they wore big black Xs on their hands to signify no drugs or alcohol. Jeffrey always carried around a picture of Kurt Cobain's obit in his wallet, and one time carried an 8x10 framed photo of him on a trip, Lauren used to worship trees during prayer times, when Benita was a kids camper I accidently made her cry because I skipped her when putting sunscreen on the other kids, I didn't know dark skinnded people could burn! Bob's real name really isn't Bob we named him that when he was 10 and lied about his age to come to youth. Rachel one time shaved her head and put giraffe spots on it! And Ryan used to sit in the car and cry because he hated church! The difficult ones were always favorites! ;)
Worst Memory: They were actually a great group, but one time on a trip several of us were in the hot tub at a hotel and Jeffrey threw something out, when we looked to see what it was it was his swimming trunks! Jeffrey then found himself alone in the hot tub. I chose NOT to address the issue in the moment! Jeffrey was obviously a favorite.
Now the class of 2002:
Where are they now: Probably off crying somewhere because they're all about to turn 30!!! We're like the same age now cool! 3 in full time ministry. 0 in jail! Again, great job to your youth pastor! They're parenting about 10 ninos! At least 1 teacher, she was probably inspired from being my TA for a year! There's a rock star, a politician, and a professional hockey player in the bunch. And several that need to update their FBs and their YP more often.
Fond Memories: Celebrating Beka the entire month of October every year Octobeka. Chris' wife, who is not pictured, her antics in general and her crush and shrine to her secret crush Pierce Brosnon, aka Chris Rosson. Always being able to go to this class to get things done!!! Crusin with Crissy after she beat cancer. And Casey hating me and letting me know it for at least 2 years before falling in love with me! Trying to corral Tim and company during rehearsals.
Worst Memories: I had the privilege (impossible task) of teaching this crew my first year of teaching, one day I came in and they had locked a kid in the file cabinet, one day my stool and stand were missing, but later fell out of the tile ceiling, one day I was trying to teach and they were playing Marco Polo. Ryan was a drummer ALL day long! (it was deeply appreciated in chapel and service, but the rest of the time it drove me nuts.)
Thanks for all the good times kiddos! Always remember the rules! Rule #1 No Complaining Rule #2 Shut Up!
Today I will shame, I mean feature a few of my former students from the good'ole days of youth ministry in the brick building also known as Englehood, Englewood.
First we have the class of 2006. (Photo taken in 2001 in case you missed the neon orange date!)
Where are they now: 4 are in full time ministry. 0 are in jail! Good Job Youth Pastor!
They're parenting at least 7 ninos currently! Congrats to Jake who just had twins! 3 artsy fartsy jobs
One runs the hotel industry and gets me great deals on nice rooms, couple teachers, one plays with ammunition, and the rest need to update their youth pastor and facebooks more often.
Fond Memories: This was the straight edge group. They looked a little crazy, but they wore big black Xs on their hands to signify no drugs or alcohol. Jeffrey always carried around a picture of Kurt Cobain's obit in his wallet, and one time carried an 8x10 framed photo of him on a trip, Lauren used to worship trees during prayer times, when Benita was a kids camper I accidently made her cry because I skipped her when putting sunscreen on the other kids, I didn't know dark skinnded people could burn! Bob's real name really isn't Bob we named him that when he was 10 and lied about his age to come to youth. Rachel one time shaved her head and put giraffe spots on it! And Ryan used to sit in the car and cry because he hated church! The difficult ones were always favorites! ;)
Worst Memory: They were actually a great group, but one time on a trip several of us were in the hot tub at a hotel and Jeffrey threw something out, when we looked to see what it was it was his swimming trunks! Jeffrey then found himself alone in the hot tub. I chose NOT to address the issue in the moment! Jeffrey was obviously a favorite.
Now the class of 2002:
Fond Memories: Celebrating Beka the entire month of October every year Octobeka. Chris' wife, who is not pictured, her antics in general and her crush and shrine to her secret crush Pierce Brosnon, aka Chris Rosson. Always being able to go to this class to get things done!!! Crusin with Crissy after she beat cancer. And Casey hating me and letting me know it for at least 2 years before falling in love with me! Trying to corral Tim and company during rehearsals.
Worst Memories: I had the privilege (impossible task) of teaching this crew my first year of teaching, one day I came in and they had locked a kid in the file cabinet, one day my stool and stand were missing, but later fell out of the tile ceiling, one day I was trying to teach and they were playing Marco Polo. Ryan was a drummer ALL day long! (it was deeply appreciated in chapel and service, but the rest of the time it drove me nuts.)
Thanks for all the good times kiddos! Always remember the rules! Rule #1 No Complaining Rule #2 Shut Up!
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Hunger, Cravings, & Rose Colored Glasses
Funny things, hunger and cravings. Our appetites and our behaviors have quite the relationship. Some people even struggle with life-controlling / altering issues because of the physical & psychological ties of these boogers. I didn't have a clue how MANY people struggled with this type of thing until I was a youth pastor. We went on a retreat and I had a special speaker come in, we were having a time of prayer and the speaker says he feels led to pray for people struggling with eating disorders. I definitely believe the Holy Spirit gives us insight, but deep down I thought, this guy's just hungry, ain't nobody in here going to respond! To my humbling surprise about 2 dozen students came forward requesting prayer for their struggles with eating disorders! I'll never forget it, not because of the response, but because the guest band we had in saw fit to go into a worship song called, "Hungry," which has a chorus mostly of, "We are hungry, Oh Jesus!" while we were praying with these kids about eating disorders! The speaker was obviously led by the Holy Spirit, the band, however, was NOT!
Sigh. I learned A LOT from youth ministry. It lead me to studying psychology where I learned us humans have LOTS of different kinds of appetites and it's our behavioral responses to them that can make our break us! Fast forward about 10 years.
It's Monday night. Here at the 687 you can typically find us in sweaty work out clothes camped out on the couch eating steamed vegetables, fruit and cottage cheese, or a bowl of cereal and watching The Bachelorette. (Put your gavel down Judge Judy! Judge not lest you be judged!) I'm not sure what's sadder our viewing choice or our meals. No, I DO know, it's our dinners because we laugh lots AT our program! I have to admit both are pretty BLAND though.
Sigh. I learned A LOT from youth ministry. It lead me to studying psychology where I learned us humans have LOTS of different kinds of appetites and it's our behavioral responses to them that can make our break us! Fast forward about 10 years.
It's Monday night. Here at the 687 you can typically find us in sweaty work out clothes camped out on the couch eating steamed vegetables, fruit and cottage cheese, or a bowl of cereal and watching The Bachelorette. (Put your gavel down Judge Judy! Judge not lest you be judged!) I'm not sure what's sadder our viewing choice or our meals. No, I DO know, it's our dinners because we laugh lots AT our program! I have to admit both are pretty BLAND though.
We're definitely sitting there CRAVING relationships with more sustenance than the ones playing out on the Bachelorette and food with more sustenance than the the stuff in our bowls. As a matter of fact, you'll hear a lot of, "Oh my gosh I want Chinese food right now!" Or whispers of "Mmm chocolate cake!"
Hunger and cravings are two different things. Our bland meals take care of the hunger, but they don't do anything at all for the cravings. According to It Starts with Food, one of many books I've read and not applied, cravings are psychological and come from conditioning (our habits). In other words, you don't crave things you've never had. Hunger is physical, cravings are emotional. We were actually made to crave sweets (for energy), fats (for calories), and salt (to conserve fluid). Our brains were hardwired to naturally give us pleasure and reward signals for these three things that are vital to our nutrition. Smart people figured all that out. Unfortunately smart people also figured out they could manufacture these tastes with stuff like MSG, corn syrup, fancy colors & all the other stuff found in the bag of M&Ms on my night stand, to stimulate my taste buds and induce cravings in our brains that in turn line their pocket books and my waistline. But I digress, like I said before we have appetites and cravings for lots of things other than food and those too were naturally ingrained in us, but unfortunately the world has learned to manufacture, unhealthy crap for us to feed those appetites too. And then we're held captive by the cravings!
Rewind a few 1000 years. My devotion was about the Israelites and God had just freed them from slavery in Egypt, 470 years of slavery to be exact. You remember the story from the History Channel right? The Egyptians killed their baby boys. They beat them and forced them to do hard labor. God did lots of cool miracles to get them out of this terrible situation, like send plagues of boils and frogs on their enemies, part the read sea, and send manna down from heaven daily for them.
But in Numbers 11:4 says this, "The rabble with them began to CRAVE other food!!" And again the israelites starting wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt AT NO COST- also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, and onions, and garlic. but now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna.
At no cost?! They beat them, stole from them, forced them into hard labor, and killed their kids, but oh how we miss those cucumbers and garlic. How ridiculous do they sound, they even contemplated going BACK! It's like when my girlfriend calls and tells me she's really missing her EX and wants to go back to him and all I can remember from this Ex relationship are the long late night phone calls trying to make out her words between her sobs!!!
Idiots, huh? Unfortunately we all do it too! Because cravings are deceitful in that they come with rose-colored glasses. Between youth ministry and my short time practicing as a therapist, I've sat across the room from many craving things from a past that they fought so hard to get out of or that robbed and beat them and nearly killed them. Drugs, affairs, gangs, horrid relationships, bondage, but they sit with rose colored cravings and contemplate going BACK!
What's the point of all this? There's too much counterfeit, manufactured junk taking up a lot of room in our lives where God wants to give us the good stuff, the real stuff, He wants to get us out of and far away from Egypt into the promised land. Cravings are the crap part of John 10:10, what the enemy is using to steal from us, kill us, and what he's hoping to destroy us with. When we finally fight our way away from these things whether they're bad relationships, twinkies, unforgiveness, bitterness, or crack cocaine; whatever it is that has us so tangled up, God will fill that new space and we get to find out what the good stuff is God had waiting for us all along.
Fight the cravings! Don't go BACK! Move forward! Freedom is available!
DISCLAIMER: All cravings are conquerable unless they are for MnMs and Coca Cola!
Rewind a few 1000 years. My devotion was about the Israelites and God had just freed them from slavery in Egypt, 470 years of slavery to be exact. You remember the story from the History Channel right? The Egyptians killed their baby boys. They beat them and forced them to do hard labor. God did lots of cool miracles to get them out of this terrible situation, like send plagues of boils and frogs on their enemies, part the read sea, and send manna down from heaven daily for them.
But in Numbers 11:4 says this, "The rabble with them began to CRAVE other food!!" And again the israelites starting wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt AT NO COST- also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, and onions, and garlic. but now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna.
At no cost?! They beat them, stole from them, forced them into hard labor, and killed their kids, but oh how we miss those cucumbers and garlic. How ridiculous do they sound, they even contemplated going BACK! It's like when my girlfriend calls and tells me she's really missing her EX and wants to go back to him and all I can remember from this Ex relationship are the long late night phone calls trying to make out her words between her sobs!!!
Idiots, huh? Unfortunately we all do it too! Because cravings are deceitful in that they come with rose-colored glasses. Between youth ministry and my short time practicing as a therapist, I've sat across the room from many craving things from a past that they fought so hard to get out of or that robbed and beat them and nearly killed them. Drugs, affairs, gangs, horrid relationships, bondage, but they sit with rose colored cravings and contemplate going BACK!
What's the point of all this? There's too much counterfeit, manufactured junk taking up a lot of room in our lives where God wants to give us the good stuff, the real stuff, He wants to get us out of and far away from Egypt into the promised land. Cravings are the crap part of John 10:10, what the enemy is using to steal from us, kill us, and what he's hoping to destroy us with. When we finally fight our way away from these things whether they're bad relationships, twinkies, unforgiveness, bitterness, or crack cocaine; whatever it is that has us so tangled up, God will fill that new space and we get to find out what the good stuff is God had waiting for us all along.
Fight the cravings! Don't go BACK! Move forward! Freedom is available!
DISCLAIMER: All cravings are conquerable unless they are for MnMs and Coca Cola!
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Tales From the Road Part II: Cell Phone Theology
Like I mentioned before, when us missionaries go out itinerating we sometimes get 2 minutes and other times we get 2 days to describe our vision, our ministry, our heart for God. So we have to have something GOOD, something CATCHY. So, of course, in my Awesomeness I DID! And it worked ... ALMOST every time! (I need an emoticon that expresses my "deer in the headlights, oh no! What have I done?" face here!)
See I have two passions, missions and helping young people find their way. My job gets to incorporate both: I'm the Internship Director for an organization that does International Community Development.
So I was toying around with the word Development and my mind went to the good ole days where you took your roll of film into the Kroger and it was sent off to be developed and 2 weeks later you pick them up and what you see is what you get!
Even the Kroger process backfired on me one time! My mama, being wonderful as she is, went to pick up my developed photos from the Kroger while I was at school, and when I came home, my mama being as wonderful as she is, had put THIS particular photo on the fridge. This was her, wonderful as she is, way of saying, "BUSTED!" My response, (I honestly don't remember!) but here's a good one:
"Hey mom! Chill out! That's Julie, NOT me! I know that looks a lot like our den, but you can't really be sure we were the only people with dark brown shag carpeting and plus I was holding that film and that vodka for a friend!"
Anyway, back to my wonderful SPIRITUAL sermon illustration! I thought about how sad it is that most of our photos are sitting in the digital abyss of our cellular telephones never to grace our desks at work, or be framed or given to g'ma, even the incriminating ones aren't going to make it to the fridge. And some of them NEED to be developed, I mean, that one we took together where I hyper extended my neck just right so it looks like I only have one chin, and remembered to place my hand on my hip, thumb forward, and bend my knee just right and you looked hideous making me look like the pretty friend for once... THAT needs to be developed! Of course, some need to be deleted, like the 18 selfies you took when I left my phone unlocked and the ones my mama deems fit for the refrigerator!
So whether I had 2 min or 2 days, at every church I had them take our their cellular phones and go to their photos and scroll a bit. Then I took a poll to see who had the most photos on their phones- would you believe some people have over a THOUSAND photos sitting dormant in their phones? I'm confident some of those mama's sitting by their teenagers leaned over and said, "Oh look! Here's one when you were a baby!" It was obvious that some of those photos needed to be developed. G'ma would've done backflips to get that picture in the mail and if that skinny pic was on the fridge you'd open it less. And of course there were a few raised eyebrows, reddened faces, and quick covering of the screen to shield the photos that obviously needed to be DELETED from brother or sister so in so sitting next to them in the pew!
So, what's so spiritual about dormant photos needing to be developed or deleted?
I explained that my interns come in like this too, with stuff in their lives laying dormant. And some of it needs to be developed because like those photos it could benefit others. God created them uniquely with gifts and talents and quirks that need to shine to illuminate their creator. And on the field, working in the hot sun, praying with a man dying of AIDS, teaching children about Jesus who were once victims of the sex trade industry, these things lay dormant no more, but are are developed and shine "bright like a diamond." And on the flip side, each and every one of them come in with things that need to be deleted! And on the field, taking cold bucket showers, worshiping with the Massai warriors, living in community, spending daily time with their Creator, it lays dormant no more, taking up the space that God wants to fill with His presence, those things get deleted!
We're no different than our telephones or those interns: There are things laying dormant in our lives right now that need to be pulled out and developed or that need to be thrown out and deleted!
Powerful right? ALMOST every time! Except in that one little church in the country where I said pull out your smart phones and NO BODY, not even the teenagers moved! #Humbled
Disclaimer: Illustration only works in places where the people have smart phones with photo taking capabilities, however, fortunately the grace of power of God works in the back woods of TN all the way to the Massai desert of Kenya, Africa.
See I have two passions, missions and helping young people find their way. My job gets to incorporate both: I'm the Internship Director for an organization that does International Community Development.
So I was toying around with the word Development and my mind went to the good ole days where you took your roll of film into the Kroger and it was sent off to be developed and 2 weeks later you pick them up and what you see is what you get!
 |
| It's a 5th of water mom I promise! 8/15/94 night before the start of our senior year! |
"Hey mom! Chill out! That's Julie, NOT me! I know that looks a lot like our den, but you can't really be sure we were the only people with dark brown shag carpeting and plus I was holding that film and that vodka for a friend!"
Anyway, back to my wonderful SPIRITUAL sermon illustration! I thought about how sad it is that most of our photos are sitting in the digital abyss of our cellular telephones never to grace our desks at work, or be framed or given to g'ma, even the incriminating ones aren't going to make it to the fridge. And some of them NEED to be developed, I mean, that one we took together where I hyper extended my neck just right so it looks like I only have one chin, and remembered to place my hand on my hip, thumb forward, and bend my knee just right and you looked hideous making me look like the pretty friend for once... THAT needs to be developed! Of course, some need to be deleted, like the 18 selfies you took when I left my phone unlocked and the ones my mama deems fit for the refrigerator!
So whether I had 2 min or 2 days, at every church I had them take our their cellular phones and go to their photos and scroll a bit. Then I took a poll to see who had the most photos on their phones- would you believe some people have over a THOUSAND photos sitting dormant in their phones? I'm confident some of those mama's sitting by their teenagers leaned over and said, "Oh look! Here's one when you were a baby!" It was obvious that some of those photos needed to be developed. G'ma would've done backflips to get that picture in the mail and if that skinny pic was on the fridge you'd open it less. And of course there were a few raised eyebrows, reddened faces, and quick covering of the screen to shield the photos that obviously needed to be DELETED from brother or sister so in so sitting next to them in the pew!
So, what's so spiritual about dormant photos needing to be developed or deleted?
I explained that my interns come in like this too, with stuff in their lives laying dormant. And some of it needs to be developed because like those photos it could benefit others. God created them uniquely with gifts and talents and quirks that need to shine to illuminate their creator. And on the field, working in the hot sun, praying with a man dying of AIDS, teaching children about Jesus who were once victims of the sex trade industry, these things lay dormant no more, but are are developed and shine "bright like a diamond." And on the flip side, each and every one of them come in with things that need to be deleted! And on the field, taking cold bucket showers, worshiping with the Massai warriors, living in community, spending daily time with their Creator, it lays dormant no more, taking up the space that God wants to fill with His presence, those things get deleted!
We're no different than our telephones or those interns: There are things laying dormant in our lives right now that need to be pulled out and developed or that need to be thrown out and deleted!
Powerful right? ALMOST every time! Except in that one little church in the country where I said pull out your smart phones and NO BODY, not even the teenagers moved! #Humbled
Disclaimer: Illustration only works in places where the people have smart phones with photo taking capabilities, however, fortunately the grace of power of God works in the back woods of TN all the way to the Massai desert of Kenya, Africa.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
No Mercy! #LessonsFromGideon (1)
I'm doing a new Bible study so be prepared to be along for the #LessonsFromGideon ride, compliments of me and Priscilla Shirer (P.S) I must say it's pretty awesome so far!
Here's where we start:
God wanted to take the Israelites, His chosen people that He loved so dearly, from Egypt where they were enslaved over to Canaan, the promised land, flowing with milk and honey.
(His desire is the same for us today. We're chosen. He chose us even before we chose Him, He loves us so dearly and wants to take us from a life of being enslaved to anything:sin, worry, addiction, or turmoil to an abundant life of His love, joy, provision, and peace. He's ensured our victory too, when He said, "It is finished," in His last breaths on the cross.)
In this passage He's telling the Israelites what to do to take the Promised Land that He has already given them:
Deut. 7:1-2: "When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to POSSESS and drives out before you many nations - the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canannites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations that are larger and stronger than you (***NOTE HERE that the Lord knew the opposition they were facing, and KNOWS the opposition we are facing, He's well aware that it's larger and stronger than us)Vs. continues: AND when the Lord your God has DELIVERED them over to you and you have DEFEATED them, then YOU MUST DESTROY THEM TOTALLY. Make no treaty with them and SHOW THEM NO MERCY.
So they did this... MOSTLY. Partial obedience is always a temptation isn't it? You find the ALMOST stories in Judges 1. Vs. 19 says, they took possession of the hill country, but they were "unable" to drive the people from the plains because they had iron chariots.
Can't you hear it now? "Lord, I know you specifically said you'd give us victory and this promised land and all, but these jokers got IRON CHARIOTS! You must not have known about that!? (I learned from PS that the Canaanites had mastered and kept secret the art of iron production. So the Israelites fared well only when fighting infantry on foot especially int he hill country where the terrain kept the IRON CHARIOTS at bay!) No 4 wheel drive back in the day I guess!)
PS says, Yet God had called them to claim EVERY portion of the land-even the flatland- not just the EASY parts. Israel was making decisions based on their limited supplies instead of on the boundless resources of God! He knew about them IRON CHARIOTS and had still ensured victory!
So, here the Israelites have been freed from captivity in Egypt, but they're living in the mountain crags of the Promised Land instead of the enjoying the whole place God given them! He wants them to have it ALL. And He wants US to have it ALL too. Not just some freedom, but total freedom.
Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. (It sounds redundant doesn't it? But sounds like the Israelites needed the redundancy and we probably do too, truth be told!) The rest of the verse says, Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery!
They weren't standing firm, they were in captivity again, but not as bad as they used to be, at least this time they were living in the crags, in some corners and pockets of the promised land! It's like God giving us this big mansion and we choose to live in only a closet of it! We need to come out of the closet! (Ha! No pun intended!)
I'll speak for myself and let you know that I find myself living in the crags of sometimes because of fear of my own personal IRON CHARIOTS, but the Lord keeps saying, "I'm with you, I got this, there's more, move forward, take it!"
I encourage you today as I have been encouraged in this study already, Blow some stuff up! Destroy totally whatever it is keeping you from enjoying the abundant life God has for you! Show NO MERCY on anything in your life that is keeping you from being TOTALLY free!
Monday, July 8, 2013
Lessons Learned from the Field #2: Ministry = Dirty : Ecuador
When God first called me into the ministry, we made a deal, I'd do anything He asked, except be a missionary. I had my reasons, He seemed to understand them so, I said, "Yes!" under that one condition of course.
Later He asked me to go on a mission's trip to Quito, Ecuador. I checked the calendar, it was 1 week out of the 4 weeks I had off for Christmas break that first year of college, so I said, "Yes," yet again.
Once on the field, we were given several options of how we could serve, I honestly don't remember what they all were, but the one I chose was singing on a platform in the middle of the plaza each day. Why? Well, it surely wasn't because I liked to sing or because I could sing or believed that this would be the most effective way to draw people to the Lord. Although I wish that I could tell you that ANY of these were my reasoning. The truth is, I figured being on the platform would keep me away from the dirty people and still qualify as ministry.
The plaza was a busy place, small vendors here and there, people crisscrossing it to and from work all day, beggars stationed strategically, and of course the high stage with the gringos singing created a bit of a buzz. After we sang we'd invite people to come forward for prayer. (I volunteered to pray from behind the stage.) The vendors that worked the plaza selling chicle, diarios, dulces, bebidas, and various tipical artifacts brought their children to work with them each day. The babies would sleep in the shade of their carts and I'm not sure what the older ones did on a tipical plaza day, but when the gringos were there they played loudly in front of the stage especially during the prayer time. Since I cowered behind the stage during prayer time one of the leaders saw fit that I corral the children during prayer time. My plan to stay away from the dirty people had been foiled. Most of them ran back under their mama's skirts when the gringo tried to drag them under the stage, others responded quite well hanging off each of my legs or with my hand covering their mouths. By the last day, I only had one lil rugrat to wrestle. She was beautiful, albeit dirty! Angelica was about 5 and I can still see her beautiful, big, brown eyes and little baby teeth laughing at me! It was the last day. She sat in my lap far more still than usual, tears had made tracks in the dirt on her cheeks. I grabbed her up examining her for what might be hurting her and causing the silent tears. What's the matter?! I said more with my eyes and body language than with my Spanish. "I want Jesus in my heart like you," she cried. Below are photos of the little girl that will forever have my heart!
It was then I cried and begged God to send me to the dirtiest places of the world. (I blame Angelica for the last 15 years of my life!) Oddly enough He took me to the foreign land of youth ministry! But you know what I discovered amongst the foggy haze of residual smoke and teenage body odor? Ministry is dirty regardless!
You're probably thinking I say this because I've spent time knee deep in compost piles or responding to disasters or out in the middle of Haiti. Nope, that's the kind of dirt I prefer. Ministry is an another level of dirty all together. And I'm not referring to changing diapers in the nursery or Second Saturday outreach days, or driving the church van or that one time you got lice or scabies from the mission's trip.
When you decide to minister (or attend to the needs of others), matters of the heart will have you dressing wounds so deep and so gruesome that you'll long for the days of composting, lice, and smelly teenagers. When on the other end of the line you hear, "I've been having an affair, we're about to lose our house, I'm addicted to xxanx, my teenager is pregnant, my husband cheated, or I had an abortion." You've just been called to the frontlines, praying from behind the stage is no longer an option, dirt, I mean ministry has just been dumped into your lap. Ministry is dirty, many don't have the stomach for it.
I'm a minister, I have a card to prove it, and people often pat me on the back and say, "I couldn't do what you do on the field," but most days I know you're probably more of a minister than I am. While I'm sweating in a compost pile and sleeping under a mosquito net, you're knee deep in ministry that no one pats you on the back for. I know this is getting lengthy, but I need to share this one last story.
Recently I got to go lay on the beach with some girlfriends. I'm the minister of the group, there's a lawyer, a school teacher, a banker, marketing executive among the group. So naturally when the topics of evangelicals and predestination come up they felt the need to pull my ear buds out so I could weigh in! (Someone PLEASE tell me how these topics come up laying on the beach!?) I fought the urge to tell them, "I'm off duty," and offered them what I knew on the topics at hand.
But later, I realized, I wasn't the real minister of the group. The story of a friend's husband began to unfold. He was drinking way too much. His work and relationships and their finances and pretty much everything was taking a hit with the bottle. Everyone knew it, they could see it. As we heard the story of our friend's friend, we did what probably everyone else in their town had done, shook our heads, and said, "How sad!" Not my friend who doesn't know the definition of Calvinism or Homiletics like I, "the minister," do! She called the friend, she got involved, smack dab in the middle actually. And it got dirty and messy and was quite unappreciated. I think she was told, "Mind your own business!" in so many colorful words. She didn't. He got help. He's sober. Their family is on the mend. I'd like to tell you they all lived happily ever after, but she lost the friendship in the process. She likely saved their marriage and his life, but she got involved in their dirt and suffered in the process. I'm not sure you can get more like Jesus.
My initial approach to "ministry" was to stay away from the dirty people. I have found no such position available. I am glad God is patient and that He didn't kick me to the curb during my negotiations. Ministry is dirty. Life is messy. Humans, sinners and Christians alike, STINK! Praying behind the stage or the card I carry in my wallet, or speaking a sermon on Sundays does not a minister make. It's the time spent on the frontlines, carrying the wounded thru the crossfire, going head first into the cess pool of the lives of others. Ministry = Dirty.
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| These are the awesome missionaries The Talleys that we worked with circa 1995 |
Once on the field, we were given several options of how we could serve, I honestly don't remember what they all were, but the one I chose was singing on a platform in the middle of the plaza each day. Why? Well, it surely wasn't because I liked to sing or because I could sing or believed that this would be the most effective way to draw people to the Lord. Although I wish that I could tell you that ANY of these were my reasoning. The truth is, I figured being on the platform would keep me away from the dirty people and still qualify as ministry.
The plaza was a busy place, small vendors here and there, people crisscrossing it to and from work all day, beggars stationed strategically, and of course the high stage with the gringos singing created a bit of a buzz. After we sang we'd invite people to come forward for prayer. (I volunteered to pray from behind the stage.) The vendors that worked the plaza selling chicle, diarios, dulces, bebidas, and various tipical artifacts brought their children to work with them each day. The babies would sleep in the shade of their carts and I'm not sure what the older ones did on a tipical plaza day, but when the gringos were there they played loudly in front of the stage especially during the prayer time. Since I cowered behind the stage during prayer time one of the leaders saw fit that I corral the children during prayer time. My plan to stay away from the dirty people had been foiled. Most of them ran back under their mama's skirts when the gringo tried to drag them under the stage, others responded quite well hanging off each of my legs or with my hand covering their mouths. By the last day, I only had one lil rugrat to wrestle. She was beautiful, albeit dirty! Angelica was about 5 and I can still see her beautiful, big, brown eyes and little baby teeth laughing at me! It was the last day. She sat in my lap far more still than usual, tears had made tracks in the dirt on her cheeks. I grabbed her up examining her for what might be hurting her and causing the silent tears. What's the matter?! I said more with my eyes and body language than with my Spanish. "I want Jesus in my heart like you," she cried. Below are photos of the little girl that will forever have my heart!
It was then I cried and begged God to send me to the dirtiest places of the world. (I blame Angelica for the last 15 years of my life!) Oddly enough He took me to the foreign land of youth ministry! But you know what I discovered amongst the foggy haze of residual smoke and teenage body odor? Ministry is dirty regardless!
You're probably thinking I say this because I've spent time knee deep in compost piles or responding to disasters or out in the middle of Haiti. Nope, that's the kind of dirt I prefer. Ministry is an another level of dirty all together. And I'm not referring to changing diapers in the nursery or Second Saturday outreach days, or driving the church van or that one time you got lice or scabies from the mission's trip.
When you decide to minister (or attend to the needs of others), matters of the heart will have you dressing wounds so deep and so gruesome that you'll long for the days of composting, lice, and smelly teenagers. When on the other end of the line you hear, "I've been having an affair, we're about to lose our house, I'm addicted to xxanx, my teenager is pregnant, my husband cheated, or I had an abortion." You've just been called to the frontlines, praying from behind the stage is no longer an option, dirt, I mean ministry has just been dumped into your lap. Ministry is dirty, many don't have the stomach for it.
I'm a minister, I have a card to prove it, and people often pat me on the back and say, "I couldn't do what you do on the field," but most days I know you're probably more of a minister than I am. While I'm sweating in a compost pile and sleeping under a mosquito net, you're knee deep in ministry that no one pats you on the back for. I know this is getting lengthy, but I need to share this one last story.
Recently I got to go lay on the beach with some girlfriends. I'm the minister of the group, there's a lawyer, a school teacher, a banker, marketing executive among the group. So naturally when the topics of evangelicals and predestination come up they felt the need to pull my ear buds out so I could weigh in! (Someone PLEASE tell me how these topics come up laying on the beach!?) I fought the urge to tell them, "I'm off duty," and offered them what I knew on the topics at hand.
But later, I realized, I wasn't the real minister of the group. The story of a friend's husband began to unfold. He was drinking way too much. His work and relationships and their finances and pretty much everything was taking a hit with the bottle. Everyone knew it, they could see it. As we heard the story of our friend's friend, we did what probably everyone else in their town had done, shook our heads, and said, "How sad!" Not my friend who doesn't know the definition of Calvinism or Homiletics like I, "the minister," do! She called the friend, she got involved, smack dab in the middle actually. And it got dirty and messy and was quite unappreciated. I think she was told, "Mind your own business!" in so many colorful words. She didn't. He got help. He's sober. Their family is on the mend. I'd like to tell you they all lived happily ever after, but she lost the friendship in the process. She likely saved their marriage and his life, but she got involved in their dirt and suffered in the process. I'm not sure you can get more like Jesus.
My initial approach to "ministry" was to stay away from the dirty people. I have found no such position available. I am glad God is patient and that He didn't kick me to the curb during my negotiations. Ministry is dirty. Life is messy. Humans, sinners and Christians alike, STINK! Praying behind the stage or the card I carry in my wallet, or speaking a sermon on Sundays does not a minister make. It's the time spent on the frontlines, carrying the wounded thru the crossfire, going head first into the cess pool of the lives of others. Ministry = Dirty.
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