My Part of the Conversation

A recent Time magazine article told about a Christian humor website called “Lark News“.  It’s a lot like “The Onion” except with an evangelical spin.  The fake articles often cross into irreverent zones, but also force me to evaulate some things that might make me uncomfortable.  Check out this article:

Inner-city ministry trip confirms youths’ worst impressions

or this one:

Lotion soap switch angers congregation

(Try switching “soap” for hot buttons you might have at your church.  Frightening.)

Anyway, if you hate irony or sarcastic writing, this site isn’t for you.

This day every year, I curse the fact I left Arizona.

Yes, this is Daylight Savings Time. Time to “spring forward” your clocks and enjoy getting one LESS hour of sleep.

Arizona does not participate in such a cruel past-time.

So, here’s to you Grand Canyon State. And here’s to second guessing my math when calculating the time difference when I call your wonderful residents.

Special thanks to wikimedia commons for the photo.  In this map, blue is bad.  Note how Arizona is the only state in the US that is not blue.

Ever get tired of all those forwards?

Or are you the one who is sending them?

I started something in the last year that probably drives everyone nuts.  I started verifying if a forward is true on snopes, then sending a link back to the person who sent me the forward if it isn’t true.  I mean really, you can only so many emails stating that Madalyn Murray O’Hair is trying to get the “under God” taken out of the pledge of allegiance.  People, she has been dead since 1995.  Exactly what kind of threat does she pose?  There are many more like this out there.  Just look em up at www.snopes.com.

I do like getting jokes, though.  Especially funny ones.

This weekend, we had our annual “Renewal” youth rally. Organizationally, it literally scared me how smoothly everything went. The website, www.youthrenewal.com, took care of registration and housing, as well as offered quick answers to most questions. Many church members just saw some areas that needed to be taken care of and did them. I did some work to set things in motion, then just watched God and His servants go to work. The biggest challenge we faced: we had about 80 people more than I anticipated! I wish that was the biggest problem I faced with events!

Wiley Lowe brought some very powerful and memorable lessons, and Watershed were their usual incredible selves. I had the t-shirts made by churchartworks.com this year, and we got a lot of comments on how cool the shirts are. I even have to go back and order more! They designed the logo that you see on this post, I was just able to change the wording to my event. Working with them was a great experience, and I plan to do that again. I’m always frustrated with people who make vast amounts of t-shirts for teens that they know the teens will never actually wear. The students will actually enjoy wearing these shirts!

There is often talk about youth events, rallies, and retreats that its this thing that will “save” our youth. I believe that real ministry is done in the day-to-day stuff. However, big celebrations give our young people some energy to keep going. And, they often have the ability to crack open the door to ministry opportunities that didn’t exist otherwise. This weekend for me was also full of some difficult but powerful ministry with individual teens. I think that Wiley, Watershed, and Renewal in general helped open those doors.

If you are one of the many people who helped with Renewal - and more importantly spent time praying for this weekend- THANK YOU!!!

In HIM,

Blaine

A little Dr. Seuss wisdom from “Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book”:

“A moose is asleep.

He is dreaming of moose drinks.

A goose is asleep.

He is dreaming of goose drinks.

That’s well and good when a moose dreams of moose juice.

And nothing goes wrong when a goose dreams of goose juice.

But it isn’t too good when a moose and a goose

Start dreaming they’re drinking the other one’s juice.

Moose juice, not goose juice, is juice for a moose

And goose juice, not moose juice, is juice for a goose.

So, when goose gets a mouthful of juices of mooses

And moose gets a mouthful of juices of goose’s,

They always fall out of their beds screaming screams

SO…

I’m warning you, now! Never drink in your dreams!”

Sleep responsibly, everyone.