I love car rides. Especially when you are with your kiddoes. They can be fun…thrilling…loud…and cute too. You see we love our kiddoes. All of them have given to us those moments in life where we wish we can just press the pause button on life and relive them all over. I was recently driving with my pre-schooler who (if you know us well, is a combination of our two others kiddoes and some have said that he’s even my clone). As we were driving he was talking to himself. Not a surprise. (At his Christian pre-school he attends, they on a daily basis recite this and this with his little buddies.) As I listened I thought oh my gosh, I have to record this……and if it weren’t for my cool little palm pilot pda treo thingy….I couldn’t have caught this classic moment…

Finally. A new gross youth group game that trumps chubby bunny road kill…

HT: YSMARKO

Dandelion
Originally uploaded by Meer.

It’s begun. Those of you who are parents and experts on the art of balancing the roles you have as parent and pastor, do you ever feel like your kid is about to explode? The moral dilemmas of the pre-teen adolescent have begun. You see. I’ve spent a bazzilion hours counseling other kids about their moral dilemmas that occur on a daily basis. I know all the right questions. I have all the right answers….at least I think I do…hehe What’s new to me is what to do when it’s your own kid that is in need of that “pre-teen counseling” youth pastor inside of me regarding those moral dilemmas my kids face daily. I’ve shared some over the months that I didn’t receive much in the area of guidance, wisdom, and direction from the parental units when it came to facing those moral dilemmas of life. It was those surrogate parental units at church in the form of youth leaders, pastors, “church parents,” that loved me and were my sounding boards when I needed that ear of wisdom and assurance that whatever I’m trying to decide will not only help me, but will help others. My question? How do you keep from going into “youth pastor” mode without your pre-teen child wanting to hang you from the steeple of the church with all of your well thought out wisdom that you’ve acquired over the years?

(This purple heart was sitting on a table prior to the dinner for viewing) Got asked to open up a prayer for a dinner tonight at our church. Around 30-40 war veterans. Around 150 in attendance to remember our veterans. To be honest I was a little choked up. What do you say but thank you…Thank you Lord for freedom, thank you for the many who died for me in order that I might be free…

The Young Couple… Marriage. God’s grace. My wife. God’s grace filling my heart and life daily. I’m the husband and father I am today because of Debbie. If it weren’t for the grace of Jesus living and breathing through her daily as my wife and the mother of our boys, I don’t know where I’d be without my wife and my friend. You see Debbie and I have come a long way. We laugh because we know our friends laugh with us and at us because no one pictured us being married let alone being married 15 years as of tommorow (November 10). I love you Debbie. You make me happy and I’m grateful for the gift of your love and grace to me daily and the thrill it’s been to walk together as husband and wife and to watch, listen, and to laugh as we get to ride together the joys of marriage, parenthood, friendship, and ministry. Thank you Jesus for my Debbie.

Nooma. I’m a fan of Bell’s attempts at helping illustrate basic truths about Christianity on a level that both youth and adults can grasp. This past weekend I spoke here to a group of a 105 Jr. high goobers. I’m convinced that Jr. high kids are giant goofy sponges that have the ability to grasp basic simple truths if made applicable. I showed a Nooma clip called LUMP. If you’ve seen LUMP it’s hard not to want to ball like a baby in the prescence of our gracious God. If you haven’t watched it, go watch it. The scene that jumped onto my most inner being was when Rob’s son runs up stairs, climbs into his parents bed, and in his shame covers himself up under this huge comforter. When Bell enters the room to see how his son was doing, he notices a huge LUMP of kid in the shape of his son under the comforter. I wanted to cry as I tried to illustrate in a closing talk I gave on the need to recieve and to trust that God is about loving us no matter what we’ve done and that we need to allow and trust the family of God to express God’s forgivness through those around us. Phew. What an honor to tell kids that nothing can seperate us from the love of God.

For a few days we get a break from church life and get to hang out with a Jr. High weekend fall retreat here. Guess who’s speaking??? Jr. High kids are da best. These weekends are usually a treat for me. It’s a time for me to get restored and refreshed with my Lord. What a better way to get recharged then to be with Jr. Highers. It’s especially a time for me to be reminded by where I started in my life as a follower of Christ and in my ministry as a pastor. It’s a place where I get to go back to my roots as a youth pastor…telling kids about what it means to be a follower of Christ and to hear the joyful sounds of our church and its youth.  Gotta love it!!!!

A fellow Princetonian (Seminarian…hehe) has podcasted a recent lecture given by Brian McLaren. Give it a listen.

Guess where I’m going on Monday? hehe…