YouTubesday! OK Go Edition!

Subtitled: This is ridiculous.

Sub-subtitled: There’s a song playing in the background but I forgot to listen to it because I was distracted by what was happening on screen.

From the band who brought you “that treadmill video“….

About that job….

Since the church newsletter got mailed over the weekend, and I’ve had the chance to tell my youth group kids, I thought I should let the World Wide Web in on the news. And because I’m heading to a meeting in 10 minutes, I’m simply copying-and-pasting the article I wrote for the church newsletter.

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Hi.

I have absolutely no idea how to begin this article. I never write articles anymore. I write emails & blog posts, but not articles. So, I’ll just tell you why I’m writing this and get it over with, okay? Deep breath….Go….

I will be leaving my position as youth pastor at Grimes UMC and joining the staff at Camp Wesley Woods in Indianola, Iowa, as the Program Director. (Or, “Chris’ job” if you attended CWW last summer.)

Whew! That’s over. Let’s get into the questions you probably have now, mmkay?

Why am I doing this? For lots of reasons. One reason is the gifts and talents this position at CWW requires seems to match the gifts and skills God has given me. Another big, big reason is because the timing is good for me personally. With my (sister’s) family expanding (did you know I get to be an aunt?), I’m going to want to travel on weekends a bit more than working at a church will allow. One more reason is the chance for a new challenge. I’ve been at Grimes UMC since August 2002. We started with 15 kids that met twice a month and have been blessed to watch it grow to a volunteer-driven, multiple-meetings during the week, mission-tripping monster.

Perhaps the reason that gave me the most peace about this decision is that things are going well at Grimes UMC and I’m not worried about what will happen when I leave. Let me repeat that: things are going well. In fact, I think the youth ministry department is primed and ready for someone with a heart and passion for teenagers to step in and build Sweet & Aweful into a fantastic Sunday morning experience. The Wednesday night youth group is going well and is in the more-than-capable hands of the adults who help out. The high school students are taking on more and more responsibility within the ministry and will be able to step up as needed. And the junior high kids can go on being themselves: awesome and energetic as ever.

When does all this happen? We’re still working on that. Before the summer staff for Camp Wesley Woods arrives for training in the middle of May. There’s not an exact date yet.

I’m extremely grateful that God allowed me to work with this church for as long as He did. I’m thankful that so many of you invited me into your family and this community. In Luke 2:48, the word ‘astonished’ is used to describe what Mary & Joseph felt towards Jesus when they finally found Him after He’d gone missing for 3 days. I’ve learned that ‘astonished’ is what we get from the Greek word which actually means “being overwhelmed with joy, wonder, and fright.” That’s how I’m feeling right now. Overwhelmed with joy at being given a new opportunity to spread God’s Kingdom in a new setting. Overwhelmed with wonder at the gift I’ve been given to work with you. And I’m overwhelmed with fright because dealing with the unknown is downright terrifying. I know God is already taking care of me, but—moment of confession—it’s still a bit scary. If you’re willing, I’d like to request that you pray for me in my transition as I continue to pray for this congregation in your transition.

My job is changing. My ministry is not. I’m still working with students. My heart is with students and now gets to expand to college-aged kids as well as junior high and high school students.  My cell phone number and email are staying the same. I’m still going to be on Twitter and Facebook and all those social media outlets. You won’t get rid of me that easily.

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That’s my news. What’s new with you?

YouTubesday! Lullaby edition

British comedian + Sesame Street = Awesome.

And, you get to learn all about the letter N!

Worrying…

My mom used to put Post-It notes on the microwave with sayings she’d collected over the years. I remember one that said, “Worry is like a rocking chair. It keeps you busy but gets you nowhere.” I think about that saying more often than I’d like to admit.

I just read a blog post called Wait to Worry. It was excellent. You should read it, too. Here’s a sample:

Worry is so destructive. It creates all kinds of health problems: headaches, skin rashes, back pain, digestive disorders, insomnia, dental problems, high blood pressure, to name a few. It also effects relationships, makes people fearful, anxious, and irritable. It effects one’s ability to trust.

As a mom, when my girls go to a place of worry, I do the only thing I know to do. Since I can’t take it from them, I encourage them to “wait to worry.” Just postpone it. This is procrastination at its best.

She gives examples on her post about procrastinating worry. Go read the rest of it. And then dig into the comments, too. That’s where the real conversations usually take place.

YouTubesday! Sledding at CWW Edition

Here are two clips of some of the high schoolers sledding a few days ago.

Please take note that I don’t help Megan out of the brush pile.

I just stand and tape her. Because that’s what Jesus would do….oh, wait.

YouTubesday! TPiR Overbid Edition

The goal is to be the closest to the actual retail price WITHOUT GOING OVER.

Just…painful.

Lessons From Sledding

The last two weekends have involved taking teenagers to Camp Wesley Woods for retreats/sledding. First, it was the confirmation class. Then, it was a group of high schoolers.

Here’s some of the lessons I learned while being around lots of teenagers, lots of snow and lots of laughter:

• It’s okay to buy a new sled when your old one gets cracked. Cracked sleds don’t work as well on the snow.
• Zipfy’s require balance.
• If at first you don’t succeed, keep trying to stand up on the sled and snowboard. Why? Because it’ll provide lots of entertainment for the rest of us when you fall.
• When you DO finally make it down the hill without falling, no one will notice.
• If you are exhausted and sit down, you will get hit with a snow ball.
• Holding the video camera keeps you safely out of snow ball fights. Usually.
• iPhones have poor reception at Broken Arrow pond. And rural areas in general.
• The more dangerous the ending, the more fun the ride down actually becomes.
• Spinning backwards on a saucer-sled and trying to jump off doesn’t work well.
• Sometimes, somersaulting down the hill is more fun than using a sled.
• If you hear a loud CRACK when a student hits the brush pile, your prayer life takes on an entirely new dimension. And you are thrilled when you discover the CRACK was a branch breaking and not the student’s leg.
• The possibilities are endless for a teenager who is holding a sled and sees a snow-covered hill. New paths are waiting to be discovered.
• Those same paths cause me to hold my breath and cringe.
• When boys go sledding, don’t watch every trip down. It’s too nerve-wracking. 90% of the trips will suffice. Probably.
• Snow pants are not flattering.
• Uploading videos of students sledding takes approximately 50x longer than the sledding trip itself.
• Sometimes, just laying down on the sled and coasting is the best approach.
• Laughter makes any day and any activity 1000 times better.

SCL & Serious Wednesdays

You really should read Stuff Christians Like on a daily basis. Really. Jon Acuff is a fantastic writer. On Wednesdays, he writes on more serious topics and calls those posts “Serious Wednesdays.” Today’s post is about hope. Here’s a few lines from it, but you really should go to his site and read the entire thing.

Life fell apart in the summer of 2005. I’ve shared that sentence so many times you have to be getting tired of it, but that’s what happened. And I guess I thought after that experience, when I had come clean and had full disclosure with people and laid it all down, that things would feel a certain way. I thought forgiveness and grace would feel round and full and complete and that freedom would feel incredible. But it didn’t.

Hope was not as instantaneous and complete as I would have preferred. Sanctification was not accomplished in the span of a long weekend. And that’s when I started to learn about the three stages of hope.

Hope is one of the first things that disappears when you get lost. Your ability to see beyond your current circumstances is chased south by the shadows. Your ability to dream and plan and hold visions close to your chest fades until hope feels foreign and far away.

And when you become a Christian, there’s the temptation to think you’re doing something wrong if you don’t feel hopeful 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But here’s the thing about hope, it takes time. And sometimes, I think our greatest frustrations are when we try to force hope into a stage it’s just not ready for. I don’t hear people talk about the stages that often, but I think hope is divided into three:

1. Learning to live with the past.

2. Learning to live in the present.

3. Learning to dream about the future.

I don’t have scientific proof of these, good luck Bunsen burnering hope, but those are the three stages I’ve experienced in my own life and here’s what they look like:

Go read the rest of the post here.

He has a book coming out this spring. You can pre-order it on Amazon.

YouTubesday! LOST edition

LOST season six (the final season) begins tonight. And, because I heart the show and because it’s ridiculously confusing, I present: LOST says What?

Two minutes of characters on LOST saying, “What?”

It’s all I’m going to be saying tonight as I watch it. And again later in the week when I rewatch it.

YouTubesday! 32 Hours in Haiti edition

I didn’t get anything posted yesterday for YouTubesday because we’re moving offices around in the building. (Surprise!)

I was planning on posting a YouTube clip about LOST since the new season starts up next week, but I just finished watching Pastor Mark Driscoll‘s presentation to his local congregation on his recent trip to Haiti. The entire clip is over an hour long.

And you should watch the entire thing.

I’m not posting it, though. I’m just including the video at the end.

You can go here for even more information on the trip.

Don’t forget about Haiti in the midst of the announcements from Apple, the blizzards, the start of LOST, and daily life.