Day 63

I will been dealing with pressure headaches all day long.  I think it is from the storms that have crossed through today.  I played some basketball and ran some drills in the gym at church today.  It felt good to go through them.  I hope to be able to do the same tomorrow or at least shoot some.  The Hokies moved up 2 spots in the polls so that is really cool although the ECU game is making me nervous.  We shall see! 

Z is for Zacchaeus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6RjZawzZtk

Link to Zacchaeus Video

Last year for our Stewardship Campaign, our pastor asked the youth department to put together a video presentation representing the story of Zacchaeus.  We were given free creative license but a short turn around time.  It was a lot of fun to sit and brain storm about the video but we ultimately decided to create a video that was a modern day telling of Zacchaeus.  The movie opened with Zacchaeus as an old man teaching Sunday school.  During his class there is a fight over money between two girls.  Zacchaeus confiscates the money and tells them that he was the same way until he met Jesus.  We then flashed back to when Zacchaeus was younger and living in Jericho. 

We show him getting ready for his day by having him dress in a suit with a huge gold medallion around his neck.  He gets his Roman guards, two guys dressed in trench coats and they go out to collect taxes.  After they collect the taxes for the day, Zacchaeus is back at home and decides to get on facebook.  He sees that Jesus is coming to town and he decides that he wants to see him.  The next day Zacchaeus goes to see Jesus but because he is so short, he can’t see over the crowd.  He ends up climbing a tree to see Jesus.  Jesus sees him and tells him to get down and they go to Zacchaeus house for dinner.  At dinner, Jesus speaks with Zacchaeus and gets him to change his ways. Zacchaeus is then shown going out and giving money to the people he took it from.  He was a changed man. 

The youth had a great time making the movie and Justin and Bobby were great as Zacchaeus and Jesus.  I was really proud of them.  They loved creating the music video that we did which was to “I Want to be a Billionaire” by Travie McCoy.  That part is the funniest part of the whole video.

Making this video really made me think about how Jesus changes our lives.  We don’t all get the first hand experience like Zacchaeus did where we get to talk directly to Jesus and have him talk to us, but he does speak to us.  He speaks to us through friends, co workers, Pastors, youth, mentors, teachers, and through ideas and talents.  He gives us things that we can use to glorify him.  When we find him or meet him, or lives our changed because we recognize these things.  We are then able to go out into the world and live a fuller life because we have meet Jesus.  I am sure that is how Zacchaeus felt, full of life, full of love, and full of the Holy Spirit. 

If you haven’t met Jesus then you are missing out!  It’s time for you to get your inner Zacchaeus on and climb your tree to meet Jesus.  He’ll tell you to come down and walk with him.  That walk will change your life forever!

Day 62

Wow the last couple of days got away from me. I really loved the Hokie victory! I am so glad they won and showed how good they can be this year!  I can't wait for the rest of the season.  Home was wonderful and very relaxing.  I love to spend time there.  I miss it.  Had a great day today just relaxing and doing some stuff at the apartment.  I have got a lot I need to do this week so it should be interesting! Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!

Y is for Youth considering Youth Ministry

When you work in youth ministry you end up with a lot of different youth that you come into contact with.  Some youth love the program, they make it a priority and you can count on them to participate and be a part of everything you do.  Some youth are hit or miss, they have a good time when they are there but are not always there.  There are those that struggle with their beliefs and those that struggle with life in general.  Some you are really close to and some no matter how hard you try to reach them, you just can’t seem to do it.  Yep that’s the life in youth ministry.  You win some, you lose some but your ultimate goal is still the same, to help them all have a relationship with Christ. 

Everyone once in a while you run into a youth that at a young high school age shows the signs and the passion of wanting to go into ministry.  You can just see it in them.  It has nothing to do with their involvement.  There are plenty of youth that are heavily involved but there is just a spark sometimes about certain youth.  I have a youth with the abilitiy to work with children and youth, the Christ centered outlook on life, and the wonderful patience level that it takes to work in youth ministry.  Philip showed very early on that he has what it takes to work in the ministry. 

Philip brings it all to the table and the best part is the laid back easy going attitude and approach that he has to life.  When he was a freshman in high school is when I first saw his leadership ability.  He was really excited about and loved youth group.  Throughout his years at church he continued to grow in his spirituality and show me that he had what it takes to work with kids for a living.  He was loved by all the children of our church and a big hit at VBS.  The youth loved and respected him.  Adults were surprised when he made the effort to strike up a conversation.

I made efforts to help Philip along the way.  He was the head of our youth leadership team.  I took him to a youth conference in Chicago to help him get some more experience in what it was like to be in ministry.  Our pastor allowed Philip to shadow him for a day and see what he does on a regular basis.  On his graduation Sunday at the church, Philip lead the message during both services.  Whenever he is in town, he comes and helps me with youth group.  He is active in young life and attends church where he goes to school. 

There are so many wonderful youth in my youth program, each of them are bond to wonderful great things with the God given talents that they have.  Some of them may end up in ministry and a lot of them will not but every now and again a Philip comes along.  A youth that shows the passion and patients that are the two key traits of being in youth ministry.  Be on the lookout for your Philips in your programs.  He or she may not be easily spotted at first but watch for them.  As they grow and come into their own you will see them.  Make efforts to help them see if they are called into ministry.  Who knows, they may just end up taking your job, I know Philip is after mine!

Day 59

Well as of tomorrow it will be two months since I started.  I walked 8 miles today.  It took longer than it usually does because I took the dog with me and he had to sniff EVERYTHING!  I also don't know where all that letter after O came from... He has an endless supply and every plant from here to the lake knows it personally!  I leave in a couple of hours for Blacksburg!  So excited!  Ok talk to you later!

X is for Xpac

When I was in college, I followed professional wrestling very closely.  Professional wrestling is basically a soap opera for men.  When I was younger, Hulk Hogan was a good guy but when I was in college he was a bad guy who formed the N.W.O. which was the New World Order.  They were a group that came together and fought other wrestlers.   One of the wrestlers in the N.W.O. was a little dude named Xpac.  He was smaller than most other wrestlers on the show but was wiry and fast.  He did a lot of climbing up the turnbuckle and jumping off of it on to people.  He was a lot of fun to watch.

When I worked for the YMCA one of the cycling class instructors asked me if I could kid sit for her.  She has a 6^th grader who was in my afterschool program.  His name was Brock.  I didn’t really kid sit for kids in my programs, but she was on staff so I said what the heck.  I came over that night and after she told me everything to do and she left, Brock and I just sort of hung out.  He showed me around that house, we played some video games and then we were stuck trying to find something else to do.

I really don’t remember how it happened, but somehow we started wrestling around the den.  We were using pillows and jumping off the couch.  He was so small at the time, that I could pick him up and throw him into the couch.  I couldn’t do that now if I tried.  He would get on my back and try to get me to the ground and we wrestled for a long time, and in the end, I dubbed him Xpac!  He loved it and would run around doing the N.W.O. salute.  It was a lot of fun.  At some point in time we had both had enough and Brock headed off to bed. 

Brock stayed in my program for a long time.  I quickly realized that his father didn’t play much of a role in his life.  We had a good relationship although I never kid sat him again.  We had an incident one year at the leadership school where he got in trouble and although the staff was really mad at him over something, I stayed by him the whole time.  I sort of forced him to be a part of the leadership team when he wanted to be pulled in opposite directions.  I listened when he needed to talk and accepted him for who he was. He was a good kid.  He was really upset when I left the YMCA.

One day a couple of years ago, I got a facebook message from him.  I hadn’t talked to him in a long while, but he wrote about how much I meant to him and the difference I made in his life.  He talked about how great a person I was and how thankful he was that I had been a part of his life.  He told me that he will always remember being Xpac during that night of wrestling. 

When you form relationship with youth, you are making an impact in their lives.  Sometimes you see that impact right away, other times how much of an impact surprises you, and sometimes you just don’t make an impact at all.   You will never know for sure when you start working with a youth what kind of impact you will have on them but that is the reason why you try.  You try because God has put it in your heart and given you the skill set to make a difference in the lives of today’s youth.  That is why I do it.  That is why I am always looking for the next Brock, for the next Xpac. 

We have formed a new group, the N.Y.O., the New Youth Order, and we accept everyone so let’s get started and see what kind of impact we can have on our youth!

Day 58

Today I walked about 7 miles.  It was a good walk.  I am enjoying my walks, I just hope they are helping me to lose weight!  It is crazy.  I am excited to leave for Blacksburg tomorrow.  I can't wait for the game and football season again!  Hope that everyone has a great safe Labor Day weekend. I plan to blog everyday but if something comes up I just want to make sure everyone is safe but has fun!  Time for my other entry!