Cleaning the office is a bore!

My office has become a ministry escrow center, in other words everything is on the floor waiting to be used or has been but needs put up. It is like this every Tuesday! I take Mondays off but in my imagination that is when the escrow gnomes enter, vandalize, post on pinterest (Messy office selfie).  I don’t understand minimalists and the highly organized. I feel as though I run from one thing to the other many weeks with just enough time to grab the colorful basketball, hidden beneath a pile of Operation Christmas Child boxes, dig out a pen and run for the next Item.

My OCD pals, where do you find all this time to organize, and when you need something how do you locate it? Are you gps-ing every mission critical thing in your office?

When I first got out of college I though youth ministry could drive on me, a Bible and, the power of my personality. First thing God revealed is that my personality could not drive a Yugo (Shout out to the over 40 crowd). As for just a Bible, try reading the Gospel of John with no context to a room full of teen agers “’In the beginning was the word’, how does that make you feel?” (Insert blank stares and texting teens here). Now I know that Youth ministry requires several storage areas full of just in case, or maybe the next guy will want it materials.

In the mean time I am going to do a monthly office clean, it will look good for about 20 minutes until I need something, but I will post a picture of that soon.

We Start Here

What is your favorite John Wayne movie? I bet many don’t have an answer, once upon a time the Duke was everywhere, and people know which of his movies was their favorite movie. Mine is D-Day. I hate to be such a cliché, especially in a time where we are struggling as a country and we continually look to the forties as “the days of Glory.” It my favorite mostly because it’s the only one I was able to sit through (despite being 100 hours long).

There is a scene in the movie where the Army rangers realize that they are all alone on the wrong beach and they have no real option except to move forward and pursue their goals from where they are. “Well, we will start the war from here,” The commanding officer states. In his book on D-Day Steven Ambrose assures us that this line was never uttered but I like the sentiment. You have to start somewhere.

I have decided that the Freshman building of my local high school is where I want to make my stand for the youth in this community. “Well, we will start the war from here.” It is a unique opportunity; instead of the 2100 students of the High school building there are only 700 to remember. They are not so skeptical as high school aged folks.

Now I want to acknowledge that nothing “starts” there aside from my ministry strategy.  There are many youth workers and Christian teachers that have been praying for these kids long before I arrived in Hamilton a year ago. I am merely a partner to the work that God fearing people have been doing all along. My ministry starts there, it is my Omaha Beach, where I get a toe hold to begin to influence young people above and below the freshman building. 

Midnight Sabbath

It has been a weird week. I am so used to being rushed and needing to squeeze the juice out of every minute. When I was in school every minute I took for my self was a minute I would be taking away from school or worse yet from spending time with my family. This evening I fell asleep at 8:00 pm. I was feeling sicker than a dog and I decided to just rest and see what that did. It was great until 2:00 am. I woke up then and have not been able to fall back to sleep. I watched a few episodes of “The West Wing,” my favorite show and started to feel guilty that the time I spent in front of the TV was time I was trading from school and family. Then I realized I don't have any more school and the family is asleep (as any normal person should be).

My life is not so important that these details should concern anybody who is not me, but I am just curious, there is so much work do be done on behalf of the Gospel. Not to mention that he who spoke the universe into creation from nothing is accessible at any moment in prayer. What is a healthy amount of down time doing nothing and at what point am I legitimately resting my body and when am I robbing myself of the opportunity to commune with and work on behalf of the creator?

I am not allergic to Sabbath. The body was designed to be at rest for certain periods. God models this for us by resting and enjoying his new creation on the seventh day. The chief end of man is to Glorify God and enjoy him forever. At what point is our rest to his Glory and when does it become sloth? Just shooting these thoughts out to the world wide web, that bastion of truth (insert ironic tone). Good morning for now I hope you have a restful labor day.