Last August I wrote a post called "Dead Space." It was about how the gap between my weeks on camp teams and the beginning of the fall semester seemed like a barren desert in which I loafed purposelessly for two weeks. And now, an approximate year later, I find myself in a similar situation. It definitely doesn't help that school is starting a week later this year, giving me one more week of staying up till 2 a.m. watching episodes of House on my computer. (By the way, my trip to California was a ton of fun, and it would have been nice if I could have somehow stayed there for a couple more weeks playing Wii and hanging out with movie stars.) Needless to say, and as I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm very excited to get back to Joplin on Saturday. I don't do so well sitting around by myself all day. I need other people to keep me sharp, I think. It feels like my mind is trudging through mud lately, and consequently, the remainder of this post will be pretty uninteresting, I'm sure.
For my internship this summer, I had to read Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Fields. I've had the idea for this post tucked in the back of my mind for a while, and I thought for sure that I thought of it because of a section of that book. But I just spent 15 minutes trying to track down that passage with no luck. So here's what I will say about Purpose Driven Youth Ministry: It uses an absurd of acronyms that are supposed to help the reader remember the main points (H.I.T.; H.A.B.I.T.S.; S.A.G. 5; S.H.A.P.E.; R.E.L.A.T.I.O.N.S.H.I.P.S.; M.I.N.I.S.T.R.Y.). Obviously, these ridiculous acronyms didn't help me remember anything, nor would they have helped you.
In spite of all these random letters, there was one idea that got me thinking in the book. Or at least I think I was in the book, but since I can't find it, maybe it was actually birthed from my own mind somehow. So now I will finally begin to get to my point. Far too often, we do a poor job living in relation to our current situation. In a sense, we need to live in the moment. I don' t mean living in the moment in the sense that we all go get trashed every night and blow our money on endless luxuries and making out with as many girls as possible. I try to not endorse being an idiot. But what I mean is that, because of our schedules or worries or wishes or whatever, we don't do a very good job dealing with what's laid before us.
Each of us are thrown into numerous situations every day. We're faced with decisions, we engage in conversations, we're confronted with problems, and we perceive needs. It's important that we learn to deal with life according to the moment, according to what it's giving us at any second. But instead, we're often too focused on how things were or how they should be or how we wish they were, and we miss what's right in front of us. We need to be present. We need to slow down our super-charged minds and take life one minute at a time. We need to be attentive to those with whom we're talking. We need drink in all of the enjoyment we can in good times, and we need to ask what we can learn in bad times.
We can't do anything about whatever present situation we're in. For example, if my hand is on a hot stove, I can't change the fact that my hand is on that stove at the moment. It's already done. I can only do something about whether or not my hand is on that stove a split second later, namely by jerking it back. It does me no good to think, "Man, this hurts. I really wish my hand wasn't on this stove right now." Then my mind is disconnected from the present, and I just end up with a charred appendage and a hampered NBA career. So the point is this: Be present. Live in the moment. When you're in some situation you don't like, deal with it. When you're talking with somebody, pay attention to what they're saying. When you're at IHOP at midnight with your pals, laugh hard and eat a lot of pancakes. And when you're at Ozark and see a skinny kid with glasses walking around looking hungry, buy him some Chick-fil-A. It's all about the moment.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
One Internshp Wiser
Right now, I could look out the window and gaze upon palm trees. What that means is that I'm not in Kansas right now. We don't get palm trees in Kansas. We get sunflowers and wheat and trees that drop those hot rock things that kids at camp rub on the cement and burn each other with. I have taken a temporary leave of absence from the Midwest and am visiting my dear friend Wendi in California, but she's working right now so I am pouring my heart out to all of you as I sit on this couch with a nice leaf-pattern. I had never been in California before. Honestly, from what I've seen so far, it really isn't all that different from most other places. Kobe Byant hasn't introduced himself to me or anything yet. I feel like I haven't really been on a vacation for a long time. I've gone to lots of places, but they've generally all been for Bible Bowl or conferences or camps and such. I think it's rite of passage from boyhood to manhood to take a mildly irresponsible trip across the continent just to hang out and have some fun.
On Sunday I finished my youth ministry internship at University Christian Church in Manhattan. Along with letting me feel important for having a little desk in a church office, the internship allowed me to learn a great deal about God, myself, and ministry. Because it would a real shame if I walked away from my internship none the wiser for my experience. So even if I really didn't learn anything, I'm at least going to try to make something up right now so that I have something to write.
Maybe the most important thing I learned this summer is the importance of supportive relationships. Ministry is difficult and can be draining. And when you work so much with youth, it can be hard to build good relationships with other people your age that you can just hang out and have fun with. People that you can talk to when things are tough. I'm so used to always being around so many other college students while I'm at Ozark that it definitely felt like something important was missing when I had so much time to myself this summer. All the people I met and worked with in Manhattan were awesome, but I very much missed all my friends, which is in large part why I ended up at Panera every night with a glass of Pepsi and a laptop with facebook open. So what I learned is that it is so important to build relationships with people outside of the ministry, just to help you keep your sanity. I've been thinking a lot lately about community, so I don't want to write out everything now because there's a bunch that I want to save for a later post.
For me, that supportive base is especially necessary when it comes to middle school ministry. I love middle schoolers; I really do. But it's hard for me, and I still have a lot to learn about it. I guess different people are naturally wired for different kinds of ministry. And I don't know if I'm built for middle school ministry. Many middle schoolers like fun, crazy, energetic, entertaining guys. I'm none of those things. I like to sit around and talk and play cards. But that doesn't mean I just back out of working with middle schoolers. It means I work harder at it. A lot of times we abandon our weak spots as a lost cause, forgetting that God works in our weaknesses. And by the end of the summer, I felt like things with the middle schoolers were much better, but there's still room to grow.
One final thing I learned this summer is something that I've already known and written about, but that God constantly reminds me of, and that is that ministry success ultimately depends on God. If we think we can do it ourselves, we'll fail and look like idiots and possibly cause more harm than good. Our job is rather to bring what little we might have and let God use us to accomplish his mission. We join God in what he's doing; we don't stomp into the wilderness as a renegade bent on saving the world by our own might. We allow God to be the force behind our ministry, to use us as his tools for his purpose.
So that's my summer. I'm sure (or at least I hope) that I learned a lot more on my internship, but I guess I've already written about most of it, or perhaps I'm just forgetting it all. I'm becoming increasingly stoked about getting back to Ozark, and the more I think about it, the more excited I become. If you happen to see me at the annual ice cream social, or maybe just strolling around campus, just wave, and if you're lucky I'll wave back and show you my sweet California tan.
On Sunday I finished my youth ministry internship at University Christian Church in Manhattan. Along with letting me feel important for having a little desk in a church office, the internship allowed me to learn a great deal about God, myself, and ministry. Because it would a real shame if I walked away from my internship none the wiser for my experience. So even if I really didn't learn anything, I'm at least going to try to make something up right now so that I have something to write.
Maybe the most important thing I learned this summer is the importance of supportive relationships. Ministry is difficult and can be draining. And when you work so much with youth, it can be hard to build good relationships with other people your age that you can just hang out and have fun with. People that you can talk to when things are tough. I'm so used to always being around so many other college students while I'm at Ozark that it definitely felt like something important was missing when I had so much time to myself this summer. All the people I met and worked with in Manhattan were awesome, but I very much missed all my friends, which is in large part why I ended up at Panera every night with a glass of Pepsi and a laptop with facebook open. So what I learned is that it is so important to build relationships with people outside of the ministry, just to help you keep your sanity. I've been thinking a lot lately about community, so I don't want to write out everything now because there's a bunch that I want to save for a later post.
For me, that supportive base is especially necessary when it comes to middle school ministry. I love middle schoolers; I really do. But it's hard for me, and I still have a lot to learn about it. I guess different people are naturally wired for different kinds of ministry. And I don't know if I'm built for middle school ministry. Many middle schoolers like fun, crazy, energetic, entertaining guys. I'm none of those things. I like to sit around and talk and play cards. But that doesn't mean I just back out of working with middle schoolers. It means I work harder at it. A lot of times we abandon our weak spots as a lost cause, forgetting that God works in our weaknesses. And by the end of the summer, I felt like things with the middle schoolers were much better, but there's still room to grow.
One final thing I learned this summer is something that I've already known and written about, but that God constantly reminds me of, and that is that ministry success ultimately depends on God. If we think we can do it ourselves, we'll fail and look like idiots and possibly cause more harm than good. Our job is rather to bring what little we might have and let God use us to accomplish his mission. We join God in what he's doing; we don't stomp into the wilderness as a renegade bent on saving the world by our own might. We allow God to be the force behind our ministry, to use us as his tools for his purpose.
So that's my summer. I'm sure (or at least I hope) that I learned a lot more on my internship, but I guess I've already written about most of it, or perhaps I'm just forgetting it all. I'm becoming increasingly stoked about getting back to Ozark, and the more I think about it, the more excited I become. If you happen to see me at the annual ice cream social, or maybe just strolling around campus, just wave, and if you're lucky I'll wave back and show you my sweet California tan.
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