Archive for October, 2006
Harvest Festival
“We” aka Pinecrest Church are having one tonight. In fact, as I type there is a flurry of activity getting ready for it.
The highlight for me? A lady is here cooking brats. (Not brats, like your kids are acting like brats but brats like bratwursts.) There is also a pony ride which really isn’t a pony ride. You ride in a cart being pulled by a pony. With cute bows and ribbons on the pony.
“She’s cute.” I said the Pony Lady.
“She’s a he.”
“Oh…well that would explain the bows then….huh?”
I can’t stand Halloween. We’re even dressing up ponies now. How humilating is it for that pony anyway. You know the male ponies get completely teased in the barn because they aren’t real horses. It’s not like they can run after cattle or jump fences. They are ponies – little girl playthings. Then to be dressed up like a girl??
It’s part of the reason the fabric of America is deteriorating (spell that, Catbird) as fast as it is.
Alright, enough complaining…off to be harvest festivaled.
The Game via Mike Riley
So, here’s the goods from Mike Riley as I lost my bet:
The Game
I won’t evaluate him until he’s done with his career, but I guarantee you one thing:
He amazes me. He amazes me, just his leadership qualities and his sense of urgency, the way he reads defenses. -Mike Shanahan (source)
Yeah, me too, Mike.
Denver has the top rated defense in the NFL, giving up a stingy 7.3 points per game. They have not allowed a touchdown at home in 14 quarters. I have to admit, I was a little concerned about this game. But the weird thing is, I have not been nervous watching any of the games so far this year. I’ve got two reasons, one is Peyton Manning, two is the third quarter is coming. The Colts have out scored their opponents by 41 points in the 3rd quarter. Whatever Dungy says in the locker room at the half seems to work.
Peyton says that his goal each year is to play better than the year before. He says he’s doing that this year and I have to agree. He has suddenly found the ability to scramble when he needs to, he has 2 rushing touchdowns so far this year. And he has had to play from behind more this year than he has in 3 seasons, and he does it with confidence. When he gets his hand on the ball in the 3rd and 4th quarters, you KNOW he’s going to score. He completed three touchdown passes to Reggie Wayne against the Denver D… the D that doesn’t give up TDs… at home… a mile high…
Reggie Wayne had a big game, 138 yards 3 TDs. He can thank Marvin Harrison for that, taking one for the team keeping Champ Bailey preoccupied. Defenses have to pick their poison, stop Marvin or Reggie. Whoever they stop, the other will make up the difference.
Oh, and you know that little 5 yard slant Manning and Harrison run? Its been scientifically proven to be unstoppable.
But I’ll hand it to the Denver D, they gave it their best shot.
The Colts defense… They gave up 227 yards on the ground, for you non-football folks, that’s a lot. It wasn’t pretty. The Bell’s were running wild. But I’m not worried… The Colts are running a skeleton crew at the moment. Mike Doss is out for the season, Monte Reggor is out for at least one more week, recovering from a car wreck and Bob Sanders is still out but should be back next week. This is the same defense that was 2nd in the NFL for points allowed last year. They get healthy and get a couple of games under their belt, I don’t see why they can’t start shutting teams down again. In the meantime, Peyton can work his magic.
And now the 800 lbs gorilla in the room. Sure the Colts are always good in the regular season but come post-season they are choke masters (as long as they are not playing Denver, that is). That’s always in the back of my head but they have made steady progress in the post-season and as long as they get the chance to play, I say its only a matter of time before they get a ring. These close games can only help to prep them for tight games in the playoffs. When they win games in the second quarter and coast for entire halfs, it breeds complacency. When they have to fight, they stay strong. Watching Peyton’s confidence this year, and knowing they were a lucky Rothlessburger tackle away last year… well lets just say I’ve got a good feeling about this season.
Indianapolis – The City
Ok, so I listened to Grant’s podcast on Saturday and Wow! I had my own segment. Yes, I am a Colts fan on purpose. I’ve been a fan since about 1986, so I have paid my dues. Forgive me if I get a little excited about these guys. After Grant and his buddy finished dogging on Indy, he said he was going to hear about that one. Well, here it goes.
Indy is a great city, you should give it a visit sometime. Its no Denver for sure, but it is a very nice city with plenty to offer. You got the 500, the F-1 race, the Brickyard 400. Plus there is the NCAA headquarters and the Hall of Fame, Conseco Field House (if this were 2000 I’d mention the Pacers too but this bunch of thugs they have now are nowhere close to Reggie Miller’s Pacers), and a soon to be completed state of the art football stadium. NCAA Basketball tourney games and (every few years) the Final Four. It also has a clean, family friendly downtown with several museums, a zoo, a canal walk, an upscale mall and all kinds of dining. Its a fun place to hang out, seriously.
Daylight Savings Time
On a side note… daylight savings time ended yesterday. I think its silly. Everybody playing pretend. “Hey everyone, lets pretend its really an hour later so it seems like its staying light longer.” Daylight is daylight and night time is night time, the length of which is determined by the tilt and rotation of the Earth. No matter what time we pretend it to be, that is not going to change. Now they are saying that DST will start in March and end in November next year? Why even bother changing back to standard? Lets just stay on DST all year long. Then you won’t have to worry about which way to set your clocks or being early to church in the Fall and late to church in the Spring. If I ever run for office, I’m running on a “Daylight Savings Time is stupid” platform.
Something Cool From The Internet – Run any old arcade game on your PC. http://www.mame.net/
So anyway, that’s all I got to say.
I hope you all enjoyed my guest post. I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I’d like to thank my parents, my lovely wife and adoring kids. And thank you Grant for honoring our bet and giving me the space here.
We’ll have to do this again come playoff time.
GE: you’re on.
I Did Carter Park…on my face
Cooper is my new hero. Okay, he’s always been my hero but my appreciation for him went up about 10 notches this weekend.
First, he’s been sick all weekend. Not strep but something is living in his lungs and makes him sound like Darth Vader.
Second, we went to Breckenridge this weekend and he never complained about it.
Third, we went ice skating with his sisters. Here some pics of that:
My girls loved ice skating. That’s sweet. And fortunately none of them can read at this point in their life so I’m pretty safe in saying this – that has got to be the most ridiculous thing ever. Wobble around on a surface that is harder than concrete on a thin piece of metal…in a circle…for hours. They had these walker things there to help you learn.
I fell hard once and the “Skate Guard” (that’s what they call themselves) told me – “The trick is to not lean to far forward and not lean to far back…keep your balance, push and glide, push and glide…”
To which my natural response was something along the lines of “Please desist talking and quit breathing right now.” I prayed that he had Jesus in his heart because IF I ever got my hands on him, he would meet him…quickly. I know he was trying to help but honestly – “The trick is…to keep your balance.” No kidding, Sherlock?? Did you figure that out on your own or was that after hours of private instruction? Glad to see that college degree working for you…Oh!!! You don’t have one? Go figure.
The second redeeming aspect of ice skating was meeting a kid named Connor or Conrad or something. He followed Camber around helping her up. I was about to go regulate on him when he said that he had been sledding all day at Carter Park. We should go there. More on this later.
After ice skating with Professor Genius we found this hat shop on Main Street.
I actually like this look for Camber. When she gets into high shool and wants to go all crazy on me – I’m going to bust out this picture and see if she’ll do this to her hair. Reminds me of Lazytown.
The next morning (today) we found Carter Park. This is the view from the bottom.
This is the view from the top.
Which leads me to why Cooper is up 10 notches in my book. He took the first run of the day. Here’s the start of that run:
He was flying when he hit the unseen ramp in the middle of the run. He went airborne and I think that’s when the fun stopped for Cooper. He landed ON HIS FACE.
I’m at the top of the hill, Amy is at the bottom. I grab Cayden, we zip down the hill. Amy’s already there with a doctor. Here’s how Cooper cleaned up.
Busted lip, 2 snow burns – one on the cheek, one under the lip. Normally, that’s it, right? Sick, can’t breath, parents taking you to 10,000 feet, ice-skating with the sisters, busted lip, burned cheeks…I mean, mail it in.
Not Coop.
Couple of minutes later – he was at it again, albeit a bit more cautious.
A couple of hours later, Cooper and Cayden are done.
We had to drag Camber off the mountain. Which means that one day she’s probably going to be my skiiing buddy. Another grand weekend in God’s country.
Hard Decisions?
I emailed with two good friends today who are in the middle of making incredibly difficult decisions. I feel for them. We’ve made our share of hard decisions…everybody has. Nobody is immuned from hard decisions.
Here’s what I’m learning though. Looking back at some of the hard decisions, they don’t seem so hard on this side of them.
My first trip to Brazil for example. We had just moved to Little Rock, Cayden was a month old, new house, new ministry, rough start to that ministry. I thought it was so hard of a decision. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Deciding to leave Grace with no clue of a job but had to do it that way because to do the “cloak and dagger” move would not only been inauthentic but would have hurt alot of people. Bone crushing hard decision – at least I thought it was. Looking back – I wouldn’t think twice making it again.
I think following Jesus is that way too. We trust Jesus, he starts jackin’ with our business, shaping us to look more like Him and in the middle of that we make hard decisions. Then we look back and say – “What a goon. Why didn’t I make that decision sooner?”
I think it’s part selfishness, part sense-of-humor of God. I’m praying for the same kind of experience for my two friends.
Snow Day…
12 inches of snow!!! Absolutely gorgeous and people don’t freak out here. Nice change.
Camber thinks it snowed just because it was her birthday. She’s right.
Blog Bet
Indy plays the Broncos this weekend. Anyone at Pinecrest need a friend to go with them to the game?
As a bet, Mike Riley and I have wagered a “guest blog” on the game. Winner gets to blog on the other’s site.
So G sides readers – get ready to read a rant from Riley on Monday.
Two days at Mach 1
We’ve got an offer on our house, we made one on a house here. Both are accepted and signed. Scheduled the movers.
Now the slow, painful wait to closing day – Nov 17th for the house on Old Spanish Trail.
On top of all of that trying to build a youth team.
The danger in all the activity is my soul.
So this afternoon I pulled out the bike for a ride to the top of the ridge. I got to the top – lungs were on fire. Altitude is around 5900 feet – higher than Denver. Looked up and saw snow capped Pikes Peak, scanned over to my right to see Mt. Evans, and Longs Peak – 14ers with snow, all on the front range. 6 mule deer were in the field off to my left. Zipped down the hill for 5 miles at around 25 miles an hour. Turned around and started the hill right back up.
About 1/4 of the way up I reach for my water bottle…uh-oh. No water bottle. I knew I was going to be toast. I called Amy to come get me. I had a meeting tonight and knew that if I didn’t hydrate I’d be a goner. Then the whispering started – work the mountain, don’t get in a hurry. Pace, balance, keep looking up.
I made it 80% up the hill before Amy got there. I was amped.
Why was this significant? I think it was the Spirit giving me directions about things other than mountain biking. Work the hill, don’t get in a hurry, pace it, balance, keep looking up.
A Snow Saturday
We started out sledding in the backyard but that didn’t last long. We had to find more snow. And a hill.
Turns out that the snow was easy to find but a hill proved a bit more difficult. Cooper said he wished we could have our hill that we lived on in Little Rock in Parker. That would be awesome. Here’s some pics of day yesterday.
This view is Cayden impersonating Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. Below is the park close to where we are staying. Up on the hill straight across is where the house is.
Cooper hasn’t quite got the hang of making a snow angel yet. Camber and Cayden keep telling him it’s a lot easier to make one on your back instead of your face.
Here we are a few hours later outside of Idaho Springs, on the road up to Mount Evans.
Amy was with us – she was just the resident photographer for the day. She looks hot in winter clothes.
But Birthday’s Keep Coming
Dinner tonight, Camber was “waxing eloquently” about growing up. I honestly don’t want her to grow up right now. She’s the perfect age and such a fun girl to be around. Alas, she gave me some of her wisdom tonight.
“Dad, I don’t wanna go to college. I wanna stay home with you….(dramatic pause while she sucks a drink of her root beer out of the bottle) but birthdays keep coming!”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Here are two of favorite pictures from yesterday. We want up to Idaho Springs, played in some snow and ate at Beau Joe’s pizza. The food was incredible, the service was terrible.
Hung up on
I’m answering the phone this week and someone asks for the “owner of your business.”
I paused…”Well, God owns us but he doesn’t exactly office here.”
Silence on the other end. Finally – “Is the owner there?”
“God technically is here everyday. We are a church, so He owns us and yes, you can talk to him but you won’t need the phone…”
That’s when I noticed the dial tone.
What I’ve Been Doing
Podcasting….
Student Parking – The Podcast is now on iTunes. Click on the pic to subscribe through iTunes. I promise you it will be at best the 2nd best 20 minutes of your week. It’s in the sidebar of Student Parking right now, I’ll put in my sidebar later this weekend. In fact – I’ve got a major blog overhaul coming this weekend – links and sidebar mainly.
It’s basically 2 youthworkers goofing off for 25 minutes talking about homecoming dances, Broncos, and whatever else pops in our head.
Miami and FIU are disgraceful
Back in 1925 (I think) U.S. Open Bobby Jones gave himself a one stroke penalty because he touched his ball. He ended up losing the ’25 U.S. Open by…one stroke. (I watched the movie, don’t think I’m this great golf historian…) He said he’d rather have his integrity than the trophy.
Fast forward to 2006 and we have the exact opposite. If you haven’t seen this by now – welcome to the freak show that is known as Miami football. Hard to believe that this school was once an academic institution and not a NFL farm team, huh?
Here is what is worse than that scene – the reaction of the schools. Miami’s head coach Larry Coker says that is partly FIU’s fault for taunting his players. Are you kidding me? Coach Coker – do you honestly believe the public is that stupid? How dare you – the head coach of the MIAMI HURRICANES – complain about taunting!!
The penalty for the brawl – a one game suspension. Against Duke.
Miami’s new school slogan – Miami U – where the inmates run the asylum. Where the tail wags the dog.
What’s more damning in this is the colossal failure of leadership from the “adults” at Miami.
If a player really wants to leave the bench to start a fight, you’re not going to stop him. The whole team – now we have to ask exactly what kind of men are you recruiting and training them to be?
However here is what should have happened and what leadership SHOULD have done.
The head coach should have reviewed the tape, taken the numbers and name of every player that threw a punch, kicked a player, or swung a helmet. Called them in with their gear and kicked them off the team. Gone.
If the coach didn’t do it – then the athletic director should have done that, then fired the coach.
And if that didn’t happen, the President of the University should have done that, then fired the Athletic Director AND then the Coach.
But that’s not going to happen. We know it’s not. Worse yet – the ACC is going to get involved and look even more ridiculous than it already does. It’s a scene out of the Emporer’s New Clothes. All these suits standing around saying “we NOW have a ‘zero tolerance policy’ on fighting.” Now? After a summer of assaults and brawls? After years of taunting and acting like punks? And this is zero tolerance – missing a meaningless Duke game?
Miami is about producing professional athletes, not character-strong men. They’ve been perfectly honest about that for years.
What could happen and what would make this story a huge lesson would be if parents got involved. For example, if my son did that, I’d be on the next plane to meet him at his dorm room, pack his football gear up and drop it off at the Coach’s office as we go reacquaint ourselves with the library, the student center, and the Business Building. There wouldn’t be a need for a suspension because he wouldn’t play again this year anyway.
But that’s probably not going to happen either.
So thank you Miami for giving me one more reason to hate your guts.
[tags]Miami Hurricanes, FIU[/tags]
Must Have WP Plugins, October 2006
I’ve gotten a couple of emails about this so I thought I just throw down a little post about it.
Plugins I’d Die Without…or least think I would die…
1. Tiger Style Admin
What it does – makes the “behind the scene” layout incredibly clean and easy to navigate.
2. WP Flickr Post Bar
What it does – forget fidgeting with Gallery or something else, get Flickr, get this plugin, upload pictures in like..seconds.
3. Contact Form
Just look at my contact page…simple and easy.
4. Show Top Commenters
Everybody likes a record or a goal. So reward your top talkers with a little sidebar bragging…
4. Get Recent Comments
Reward your surfers – give ‘em a quick look at who’s saying what where.
5. Subscribe to Comments
Not everyone is RSS…which is a shame – here’s another way to increase some readership…
6. Feedlinx Email Subscription
Here’s another although I do like Feedburner’s stuff better.
7. Old School Upload
For newbies might not matter but WP 1.5 users loved the stand alone upload option…this brings it back to 2.0 crowd
8. Extended Live Archives
This site it’s working. I can’t get it working on studentparking.org. Haven’t figured that out yet but when it works, this is an awesome way to have an archive page.
9. Simple Tags
I’ve not completely utilized this to the fullest but it makes tagging a post easy.
10. Spam Karma 2 and Akismet
They catch about 98% of all spam. I’m happy with that.
11. Popularity Contest
I like that it keeps track of the most popular posts…I updated the plugin and it reaked havoc on the site…with Wayne and Mike not helping matters with their ridiculous comments! But…I’d still use it….
[tags] WP Plugins, Popularity Contest, Spam Karma 2, Akismet, Simple Tags, Tiger Style Admin, WP Flickr Bar, Contact Form, Show Top Commenters, Get Recent Comments, Subscribe to Comments, Old School Upload, Extended Live Archives[/tags]
Snowing
It’s snowing here today. I love the snow. It makes me happy.
Not the giddy, school-girl giggling kind of happy – just…content.
And it’s a good thing it’s snowing today. We sold our house – for a lot less than we wanted but more than what we paid for it. My power supply went out on my laptop but Ray’s got an extra one he’s going to let me borrow. My windshield wipers are shot and not designed for snow but winter blades were on sale at Wal-mart.
I’m impatient at the pace we’re moving as a student ministry but God continues to give me snapshots of potential.
And it’s snowing. My kids don’t realize that this is the first of many. They think this is it for year and we’ve got to enjoy it while it is here. I remember being that way when it snowed. Life haults, problems cease for the next few hours while we build snow forts, plan snow-attacks, and make snow-angels.
So overall…a good day.
New Student Ministry Site
Not all the kinks are out – and we are going to be adding writers to it – but Pinecrest Student Ministry (or should we call it Pinecrest Ministry to Students…think acronyms) has a new site – studentparking.org. Check it out. I just left my first weekly evo there.
I’m going to rope in the other staff to have them write a weekly bit if they want to.
Weekly Bronco Rant
Broncos 13, Raiders 3.
I’m supposed to be happy, right? Bronco-land is supposed to be thrilled to be 4-1, right?
I’m not…here’s why…
1. The Raiders are terrible. They are without a doubt the worse organization in pro football – possibly all of professional sports. They are below pond scum. And they could have beat the Broncos last night.
2. Broncos look like they are trying to NOT LOSE games instead of lining up and trying to kill the other teams. It’s like somebody stole Mike Shanahan’s brain and replaced it with Dave Wannstedt’s.
3. The Broncos are playing to the level of the team they play – which in the long run catches up with you. Just ask the Alabama Crimson Tide.
4. The all blue uni’s the Broncos have sported the last couple of weeks are hideous. I feel like the Solid Gold dancers should trot out beside them. Either wear white pants with the blue jersey OR white pants with the orange jersey (that would be a sweet look) OR blue pants and white jerseys – ala Penn State.
[tags]Denver Broncos, NFL, Raiders, uniforms[/tags]
The Temptests
Wanna talk about time warp?
I look up this morning at Pinecrest and standing in front of me is a woman that I hadn’t seen in at least 17 years. She was a dear family friend and Sunday School teacher when I was 7 years old. Remember the running the church story? She was there. And so was her husband – Penny and Larry Temptest. Loved them as a kid. Loved being with them!!
So I see her this morning and there is a bald version of Larry and I about lose it. I really don’t know why but I start tearing up and it’s like the Brady Reunion or something. We hug and laugh and remember, I get to introduce them to my family. We are leaving the youth room about to go to church and I say to Larry – “Can you believe that hyper-active 7 year old is a pastor??”
Without missing a beat he smiled and said “Yes I can, Grant. Yes I can.”
Looking forward to spending some more time with them.
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
I love going to museums – these kinds of museums are the best. As a sidenote – I found great humor in the “Journey to the Dinosaurs” promo film that touted evolution and all things Darwin while on the floor below it was the exhibit “Hall of Life.” The opening walls to the Hall of Life are 7 panels with the picture of a human fetus from 6 days to 9 months. One of the quotes in the Hall of Life – “We’ll never fully understand the miracle that is called life or its orgins.”
Enough of seriousness….I want to play 20 square on this!!!!!
They were taping off sections for a new exhibit and Cooper started going – “Dad – 20 SQUARE!!!”
We built an arch bridge,
Girls dug for dinosaur bones.
Then the view of Denver. Best in the city.
The self-family pic with the camera on the trash can:
Gotta love Coop going all out for this one…classic 8-year old boy.
Top Level Advice from A Peon
I wanted to follow-up to this post. I’ve gotten some great off-line emails as well as online comments but I want to land the plane by talking to people who are “top level” or “senior leaders” at their organization or church.
There is no higher value of the people that work for you than your loyalty to them.
Your competency, wisdom, insight, professionalism, and leadership pales in importance to your loyalty. I can put up with less than great in any one of those areas. Heck, part of the reason I’m on your team is because you have weaknesses in one of those areas. You don’t have to have it all together to lead me.
You do have to be loyal. I’m not going to follow someone who’ll sabatog me or betray me or hang me out to dry.
Here are the promises I make in writing to every volunteer who has served with me:
Ministry must be done in community. We need each other. A Coach needs a LIFE Group leader and intern and all the vice versa’s in-between. We need more than just our bodies showing up to ‘run the program’ or our great teaching skills or whatever else we bring to the table. We need each other.
I need you. I need the relationship. I need the friendship. I need to know that I’m not alone on this journey of chasing Jesus. And you need me as well.
Knowing that, and understanding that the only reason you are doing this is because you want to, I make the following promises to you:
I promise to lead you as best as I can in Christ-like servant leadership.
I promise to treat you with integrity and respect.
I promise to create an atmosphere where you can best use your God-given gifts.
I promise to never embarrass you in front of people.
I promise to always give you “the benefit of the doubt.â€
I promise to do whatever it takes to make us succeed.
I promise to be a part of your life outside of ‘the ministry.’
I promise to pray for you and your family.
I promise to handle our differences discreetly and with integrity.
I promise to be available to you whenever you need me.
You can sum all of those promised up with the phrase – “I promise to be loyal to you and the health of your soul.”
When started student-led life groups in Kansas, my senior pastor was a wee bit nervous. He should have been! 
I don’t know how many hours we went back and forth on the risks but finally he said – I trust you and your heart, run with it. Then it happened as I knew it would. One of my students made a colossal mistake the first week. We had a couple of parents that were quite … they were angry. And they called Al.
I’ll never forget what Al did especially knowing his reservations about this project anyway. He said – “First of all, you need to call Grant and give everyone a chance to work this out peaceably and reasonably. Secondly, you need to know that I agree and support Grant. Giving teens the opportunity to lead is risky, but it’s worth it. So we’re not going back to the old way.”
Everything got worked out but what Al got out of the deal was my complete loyalty. After that, there was never any doubt that Al had my back. That doesn’t mean he always agreed with me!! But we handled that in his office and only we handled it. He never embarrassed me or did stupid power play games.
All of that to say this – from the perspective of the peon – your loyalty to me will go miles toward creating a great working environment. It is completely legitmate and fair to demand loyalty out of your staff but only to the degree that you are loyal to them.
Managing Disappointment
I’ve got a few friends who are in the middle of ministry hell right now. If you ask them in unguarded moments, they will tell you that if they could do any other job right now they would. The past 6 months, I’ve talked with about 8 different pastors that are telling the same story.
Here’s what’s odd about the stories though…the common thread among them is they are more frustrated and hurt by the context of their ministry than the actual work of the ministry. Most of these guys know that ministry is long, inconvenient, low pay, and slow results. That’s not what’s killing them…it’s stuff like staff/Board betrayal, lack of support, and lack of relational connection are all the common themes.
For some reason, the question comes back to – how do you fix that? Sometimes you can’t. Because ministry is so relational intensive, the wounds of betrayal and lack of support go deep. It’s more than just your supervisor is a dork and doesn’t understand you. It’s akin to having your spouse come in and say – “I find you inadequate.”
When that happens – the amount of work to pursue healing is so great, most people see it as insurmountable.
For those of us who are down the “food” chain on the leadership level, the less chance you’ve got to “fix” it systemically in the organization. I think there are some things we can do to minimize the wound and at least create some space for healing.
1. Know your role. Why are you there? There comes a time when you just need to shut up and do your job. If you’re not on the senior level of leadership, then your opinions on what the church ought to do – as right as they may be – don’t matter.
2. Do your role. And do it well. Bottom line, we serve God not people. So do your job that way. It’s hard at times – I know. Do it anyway. Had a guy who was upset that he didn’t have more direction from his Senior Pastor. Irony of ironies, he wanted to be a senior pastor or at least a senior level pastoral role. If you NEED direction from a senior pastor and that was what hindered you the last time, you have no business being in a senior level role.
3. Get a friend who loves you and is honest with you. I’d never survived my disappointment without my LR crew (you know who you are!!). They were quick to listen but just as quick to point out some of the junk was of my own making. Which leads me to…
4. As much as it depends on you, keep short accounts. This is good advice anytime but especially when you know that you are a “short-timer.” When it was clear that my time was limited at Grace, it made decision making a lot easier. Basically – my opinion doesn’t matter and the minute I start acting like it does, repent.
5. In relational manners, avoid the labels “right” and “wrong”. Some people it doesn’t matter what you do, they are going to love you. Others – it doesn’t matter what you do, they are going to hate you. It’s just a connection, fit thing. Very seldom does it have anything to do with “right” or “wrong.” Love them anyway.
Turn the cheek, shake the dust, God restores. I know He does.
Rome Not Built In A Day
But it does make you wonder how long it took them to burn it up, doesn’t it?
Tonight was the first of what I hope is many late Wednesday nights. 6-square and wall-ball was played, movie clips were watched, and volunteers got to dig into some teens’ lives. A couple of things that never really change from youth ministry to ministry…
1. It’s always going to take twice as long to get ready as you think it does.
2. Middle school boys will degrade every conversation to either bodily functions or girls.
3. There is always one family/mom/dad that gets around to picking up their kids an hour later than everybody else. (Which you know, is okay. It used to bother the heck out of me…now, not so much. I see it as an extra slot of time I’ve got to hang with a student.)
4. Youthworkers love to hang out and laugh…at themselves and each other.
5. The more unstructured and informal the game/icebreaker time is – the better.
It was a good start. We’ve got a long way to go but this was a fun start.
The 2006-2007 Bronco Experiment
After tonight’s ugly win against Baltimore, here are my thoughts on the Broncos so far…
1. This year’s Broncos look like last year’s Chicago Bears. All defense and pray to God that the offense doesn’t lose the game for you. That’s good enough to get to the playoffs, but I’m not sure it’s good enough to win a Super Bowl.
2. Plummer doesn’t have the arm strength for the long ball that Shanahan so desperately wants with his running game. Cutler does. But Cutler’s a rookie and as good as he MAY be, rookies don’t normally win a Super Bowl.
3. The rest of the AFC power teams have holes as well. Indy – a running game, San Diego – Marty ball, Ravens – offense, Bengals – their uniforms and their defense, KC – quarterback, and Patriots – jekyll/hyde disease. So Denver has just as good as a chance as any of them to make it to the Super Bowl…IF they can find their offense.
That’s all I got to say about that right now.
[tags]Denver Broncos, Jake Plummer, Jay Cutler[/tags]
Broncoland
Amy calls me today.
“Okay, this is ridiculous.”
What?
“The milk cartons at the kids new school have the Broncos on them.”
Hey – I told you, this town IS the Denver Broncos.
Watching the ugly game tonight with other Bronco fans was crazy. They were just as animated and loud as I am.
One hilarious exchange this weekend concerning the Broncos.
I commented on how if I got a Bronco game in Arkansas, everyone pretty much knew that I was not to be disturbed during the game – ESPECIALLY DURING THE PLAYOFFS. The problem was, I didn’t get that many Bronco games.
One of the guys on the search team here said this:
“Grant, friends don’t let friends live in Arkansas.”
No disrespect intended towards my Arkansas home but it was a funny moment on how obsessed this city is with their Broncos.
Roll Hogs Roll
What’s the next best thing to seeing Alabama beating Auburn?
Seeing Auburn choke against an unranked opponent.
My dad said it would – Auburn would get ranked high and for some reason they lose their brains in that altitude. There is only one major downside of this game…now I’m going to have to hear how Arkansas is in the national title hunt.
Major thanks and hat tip to Hog Nation.