How about a guitarism...

It's been a while since I added some guitar stuff, so check this guy out. It's just plain cool.



And if you want to see some crazy capo usage, check this one out.

Soundtrack of my life...

I got tagged by Kerry so I shall comply. I shall also retroactively tag Ben as he already did this. And I shall tag Bryce and Brad. I'm staying with the letter "B" today.

Here it is, The soundtrack of my life. * As decided by my iTunes. * The Rules:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

*Editor's Note: Because I just added a bazillion Christmas songs this week and I share the iTunes with my wife, I decided that I may opt out of any Christmas tunes and anything that obviously "belongs" to my lovely wife.

Opening Credits
Kim Carnes "Bette Davis Eyes" (Too funny. I love this song but it makes me feel like my life story is going to be based in the 80's.)

Waking Up
Goo Goo Dolls "Slide" ("I wanna wake up where you are")

First Day of School
Riley Armstrong "A Lot Can Happen in a Year" (No kidding!)

Falling in Love
U2 "Walk On"("And love is not the easy thing")

Fight Song
Gin Blossoms "California Sun" (If the fight was with a girl, this might work)

Breaking Up
Toby Mac "Ignition" (This one was a swing and a miss.)

Prom
Red Jump Suit Apparatus "Cat and Mouse" (Fitting if I consider the "cat and mouse" I played with my date at my grad. She spent the whole evening with my best friend.)

Life
Toby Mac "Suddenly" ("And suddenly all of it's behind you/ And I'm here to remind you/
That yesterday is gone so say goodbye")

Mental Breakdown
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam "Lost in Emotion" (Yup...I'm having a mental breakdown as we speak)

Driving
Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds "Lie in Our Graves" (I'll admit that there are better Dave songs out there for driving, but I'll take it)

Flashback
Skillet "Your Love (Keeps Me Alive)" (With those creepy, whispery vocals, I could envision a flashback to college days when this song came out)

Getting Back Together
Mat Kearney "Walking Away" (I was thinking it was another miss until I pondered the chorus and the phrase of "walking away from yesterday". It could fit.)

Wedding
Sarah McLachlan "Building a Mystery" (Ummm...she can sing at my wedding, but not this song!)

Birth of Child
U2 "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (If we're talking about peace and quiet, then yes.)

Final Battle
Audio Adrenaline "Clap Your Hands" (Repetitive. It's got some kick.)

Death Scene:
Matt Costa "Wash Away" ("Sun sinks out of view/ Stars they shine changing hue")

Funeral Song
Spirit of the West "Home for a Rest" (Hilarious! Please play this at my funeral!)

End Credits
Dashboard Confessional "These Bones" (Hmmm...I'll take Dashboard for a closing song. Not my first choice of songs, but it's workable.)

The pains of students...

The death of a high school senior this week in a car accident has really hit the students hard. Some of my students knew him as he used to attend our church. Others would have graduated with him this year. Others were friends with him.

We had to throw away all our original plans for the evening. Instead we sat together. We read John 11. We wept together. Many tears were shed and many hugs were given and received. It was tough. But it was real.

How do you look a group of students in the eye and tell them it will be ok? You can't. Even with the hope of being in the presence of Jesus one day, it still sucks to say goodbye. It doesn't make the pain any less real for these kids.

I drove by the accident scene this morning and saw a group of students huddled over flowers while others embraced and my heart sank. This isn't the way things should be.

These last few days and weeks have hit me square in the face with some of the monumental life issues that students these days are dealing with. It's at times overwhelming. My only hope is that God will reach into their lives in these darkened moments and overwhelm them with His love, grace and mercy.

If you have a moment, could you pray for the students of our community?

Life's little reminders...

As a parent sat and shared their family life with me I was reminded this afternoon of why I work with students.

In the midst of all my other frustrations, God is at work.

Surfacing...

Why is it that everything seems to come to the surface around the same time?

This week a student in the community (not currently from our church, but has connections in the past to our church) was killed in a car accident. We have a number of students who attended the same school, so we're trying to figure out how they're doing with all of this.

Wednesday night is our typical ministry night, but I don't know if we should change things up because of the latest events. I would imagine that 60-70% of our students would have no clue about what happened and would have no idea who the student was.

My wife and I are also meeting with some parents today to talk about their teenager. They're looking for ideas as to what to do. I'm unsure what to tell them.

Our student worship team has been missing band members lately and it's kind of a crucial time as we've got some upcoming ministry events that we have to lead at.

I am currently at day #9 without a day off. With a funeral, baptisms and leading worship this Sunday for the kid's ministry the long awaited day or should I say "days" off are not coming anytime soon.

Now we'll top this all off with a healthy dose of disillusionment and frustration.

I know, I know...I'm singing the same old tune. But how do you stop when everything keeps piling up? Is this just me being oversensitive and uncooperative? Is this my pessimistic tendencies sneaking through? Or am I being real and authentic?

Should I change? Do I need to change? How would I even change?

Monday hangovers...

Maybe that was a poor title choice. Not "hangover" in the typical sense, but "hangover" in the sense of I just spent close to 45 hours trapped in close quarters with a group of teenagers and student ministry leaders.

Driving time: 1 hour 55 minutes
Sleep time: 11 hours
Silence: 35 minutes
Time spent in frigid lake water: 15 seconds
Amount of video: 2 hours
Board Game time: 4 hours 15 minutes
Swinging socks full of flour: 45 minutes

I wrestle with how to answer the question "How was the weekend?"

It was fun. It was tiring. It was frustrating. I was disappointed. I was moved. I was taught. It was long. It was short. It was exciting. It was burdensome. It was random. It was flexible.

I dunno. It just WAS.

My current point of mental processing had me weighing the long term spiritual merits of these weekends away. I don't think there's anything bad to say, but I wonder if we could do things better.

I really tried to design a weekend around the concept of "retreat". Withdraw from the usual routine. Take time for solitude and silence.

We tried not to over schedule with a billion things to do. We were flexible and had to change stuff on the fly. Our teaching times consisted of reading the Bible and listening to each other. We tried to carve out time to just play together and have fun. We unplugged the instruments and let our voices sing about who God is and what He means to us.

But...the questions still haunts me. Did every student have an opportunity to connect with their Creator this weekend? Did every student have a chance to hear that they are loved and valued? Did every student have time to not just hear about God, but to experience Him? What work did God do "behind the scenes" that we may never know about?

I probably shouldn't be in the office or working today. I'm hitting the wall and running on fumes...use whatever metaphor you would like. I just now that this current pace is not sustainable.

Extinction...

I think that's where I'm headed.

I've been shuffling some stuff around in life lately. Some of it has been an active choice on my part and some of it has been reactive and due to everything that's coming down the pipe.

I tend to get like this every once in a while. When you combine budget time with our upcoming student retreat and then mix in all the regular daily details, you will start to see my head spinning.

So, my open letter to you is that you have not been forgotten. Who do I mean by "you". You can decide!

My world is crumbling...

And there is not a thing I can do about it.

Apparently season 7 of 24 has been put on hold indefinitely due to the writers strike. And no, it's not just FOX, it seems to be everyone and everything except for reality TV shows. As if we needed any more of those.

With great sadness in my soul (hey, I'm a shallow person) and in memory of this horrible news I post this following video. It contains spoilers. And if you don't have any idea about what season 7 has in store and who the bad guy is...brace yourself...this will blow your mind.

It's alive...

It's November 7th and this is my first post of the month?!?! Yikes! I'm becoming a hermit.

Thanks to all your music suggestions from last week. When I finally find some time to listen I'll let you know about my likes and dislikes. If I end up buying any of the CD's that you suggested I will award you with 10,000 points. I will also send you an invoice for $9.99 from iTunes.

In random news this past week:

• Our PROXIMITY Retreat is coming up and our t-shirts arrived last week. I was able to convince most of our worship team (no, not the youth team) to wear a shirt for last Sunday's worship service.
• Halloween did not provide an adequate supply of Tootsie Rolls
• My soccer team lost. Big surprise there, eh?
  
• People need to lighten up. This applies at so many levels that I can't even start to explain.
  
• I enjoyed an evening of driving, burritos and Mars Hill with my small group this past Sunday. It never ceases to amaze me how surprised the border agents look when they ask you where you are going and you say "church".
• Our new teaching series called "My Life" has us camped out in Psalms. Tonight we're talking about how God matters in our loneliness.
• I am excited for some of my friends. New jobs, more kids, first kids...and other exciting news that I'm not allowed to speak of yet.
• The Millennium Falcon is currently under construction at our house.
  

Suggestions needed...

I haven't been satisfied with music releases lately. Part of my Tuesday morning ritual is always to swing over to the music store on iTunes and fin out what has just been released. Apparently Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys just released new albums this week. Huh?!?! Did I just flashback to the 90's and someone forgot to tell me? Who lets these people make music?

I could use some help. I need some new tunes. It doesn't have to necessarily be current. It could be obscure. I just need something good. And I know that's such a subjective thing, but I promise I will try to give all suggestions a legitimate listen.

Your suggestions?

Mondays are for...

This is what this Monday exists for:

• drinking french vanilla coffee (and wondering why I have a "children's pastors conference" mug)
  
• catching up on a weekend's worth of email (yes, I occasionally ignore work emails some weekends...I'm told that it's good for me)
• discovering that there's too much to read and too little time to read it in
• thinking "I should clean my desk" (I've had this thought every Monday for the better part of 6-8 months)
• trying to figure out if my body aches and pains are due to my soccer game on Saturday or due to old age which officially arrived yesterday
• contemplating what our next teaching series will be (I'm officially open to suggestions!)
• being a good youth pastor and voting for the only youth ministry question over at "Ask Anything" (my ten votes for the day have now been used up)
• approving a t-shirt design for our upcoming retreat (I'm of mixed opinions of how it will turn out...I'll keep you posted)
  
• music practice
• soccer practice
• eating lunch with Ryan, our student ministry intern (we always solve the world's problems on Monday's, so if you'd like us to solve yours please feel free to send it to me)
  

Anyways, that's probably going to be my day in a nutshell. I'm sure it'll look different by 2:00pm because my coffee is already getting cold.

Without a title...

I can't come up with something smart. Lately I feel like every post is just more of the same and I'm tempted to reuse old titles.

Today I am ponder the abnormalities of a Wednesday night youth event. Everything was squirrelly. Students were off the wall for the second straight week. Leaders were having a tough time. We were missing leaders. I forgot lyrics to songs. The speaker seemed out to lunch. (oh...and I should probably mention that I was the speaker)

It was one of those nights where you get in the door, plop down on the couch and wonder what the heck just happened.

But then I thumbed through some cards that we asked our students to fill out and guess what? One of our high school girls gave her life to Jesus! Woohoo!

I just sent an email to my leaders with a reminder of these words found in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. It's the comments that transpire after Paul asks God to remove the thorn from his flesh.

But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Ain't that the truth.

The sun actually shines...

The sun actually came out. Oh, how I've missed it. I feel like a vampire most days...not that I really know what a vampire feels like.

I'm currently still trying to recover from the weekend. My team came out with a 2-2 draw on Saturday, in which I was finally able to get on the scoresheet. There was even a red card and some high tensions as the player who was sent off stuck around to "see" the ref after the game. I guess cooler heads prevailed and there was no need for me to step in and use any of the moves I've been learning from watch UFC.

But somehow I also managed to wreck my back. I spent all of Saturday night in some level of discomfort or agony. Sunday consisted of a major "faux pas" on my part from the stage (I won't say much about this except that I announced someone as being dead who wasn't even dead...it's a long story) before heading home to fade in and out of sleep all afternoon on the couch.

Monday I slept in and tried to recover. I was feeling better and even made it through worship practice with some of my students. I thought I was getting better, but as of noon today I'm still sore. And sitting at this desk isn't helping much.

I guess this is what it feels like to turn 30, eh?

Ask Anything...

Mark Driscoll's taking a page out of the "How To Be A Youth Pastor" manual and is letting the general public dictate what an upcoming sermon series will be about. (I think I poll my own students about what would be relevant to them a couple times each year.)

It's rather simple. Go here and ask your question. Then vote for your favorite questions. Then listen to Mark preach in January about the nine most popular questions (and likely their answers). Then he'll write a book about it. Neat idea. I hope he credits youth workers everywhere for this idea.

Here's a clip:

Procrastination...

I'm currently avoiding doing a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test.

Mike Yaconelli once said something funny about Myers-Briggs that made me laugh. It's in this clip. Start at the 2:34 mark if you can't afford to watch the whole thing.

I like this video. But it makes me miss Mike.

Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...

You remember that clip from Ferris Bueller's Day Off right?

Don't ask me how my message is coming along for tonight's student ministry event. Instead, allow me to indulge in a little late morning activity in which you can also be involved.

I'd like to do a little roll call. If you're here, could you let the rest of the class know. Just hit the "comment" link and say a little something. Come on now...don't be shy.

Blessings on ya...

Be blessed.
Bless you.
Have a blessed day.
Blessings.

I'm officially no longer sure what a "blessing" actually is. What does it mean to have someone wish you a blessed day? What does it mean when someone thinks that a free magazine they get for signing up for a mailing list is a blessing? What does it mean when we hope that people will be blessed?

I think the word is overused and losing all meaning. Your thoughts?

Great cartoon from ASBO Jesus:

Random recaps are fun...

Sorry. I have a blog post about "online relationships" that I still need to get around to, but I'm just not feeling it these days. So I'm opting for something way more mind-numbing and highlight a few things. There is no specific reason for any of this except that it is worthy of a Monday morning mention.

• Radiohead is giving their new album away for whatever price you want to pay.
• Visit "The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus" for some thought provoking cartoons.
• Lots of free images and graphics at this site (although we could probably engage in a discussion on how exactly a photo can be "Christian").
• Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize and my wife is....well...she's....(insert your word here)
  
• I read "Three" by Ted Dekker and I'm ticked off that I spent the time reading it. I'd ask for my money back on this book, except I got it as a freebie at some outlet book store.
• We had someone candidate for a pastoral position here this past weekend. And he's a Manchester United fan!
• You can now be an "emerging parent" (h/t to EV)
• I've taken to watching the NFL. I wondered why they had a green dot on the back of the QB's helmet, and now I know thanks to Scot McKnight's ability to ask the question on his blog.
• My coffee is now finished and I have 15 things to do today...I should get on it.
  

Saturday...

Looking back, this was a day of ups and downs.

• Up: I noticed I was alive when the alarm clock went off
• Down: The alarm clock brings my sleep to an end
• Up: Watching Aidan play soccer
• Down: I played soccer and my team blew a 2-0 first half lead to lose 3-2
• Up: Catching a nap while watching the Leafs lose
• Down: My Habs lost
• Up: Discovering that we now get RDS HD on the satellite which means I can watch my Habs play
• Down: Finding nothing good on TV
• Up: Eating hot wings
• Down: You should see what my wife is watching on TV right now...
  

Ok, that's enough pointlessness for one evening.

Giving up...

We've been walking our students through Jonah over the last few weeks and we've been trying to challenge them with some important questions each week.

The first week we had them think about what God was asking them to do that they were running away from (you can probably see how that fits with Jonah 1).

Then last week we had them reflect on a dark or lonely place they may be in and how they may be able to see God in the midst of that (similar to Jonah's cry out to God from the darkness of the belly of a fish).

Last night we had the students ask themselves "what is God asking you to give up or turn away from?" We looked at the city of Ninevah and their response to Jonah's warning that they would be overthrown in 40 days if they didn't turn from their evil ways. They completely gave up their way (those Assyrians really were psycho, weren't they?) to call out to God.

Well, we decided to give the students something tangible to do. So my wife took the time to cut some strips of cloth (we were going for a "sackcloth" kind of feel) about an inch wide and a foot long. Then the students were asked to write one each piece of cloth what it was that they felt God was asking them to turn away from or give up.

They were then supposed to take the cloth and tie it to the cross as a way of saying to God, "I'm giving this up to You." Then they took a smaller piece of the same cloth an tucked it in their pocket. They were to keep this smaller piece nearby to remind them throughout the rest of the week of what they were giving up to God, and to also serve as a reminder that God would help them with it. (I wouldn't dare think that any of us has the strength in and of ourselves to give up some of the things we wrestle with.)

I'm not doing justice to this through a blog post, but it gives you the overview. Anyway it was quite something to watch as our students took these little pieces of cloth and tied them to the cross. Here's photo of what it looked like when we were done.

Last night my wife and I sat down to read what the students wrote and all I can say is that it makes my heart heavy to see the things that these students are wrestling with. My prayer is that Jesus will provide comfort for many of them this week; that He will give them the strength they need to leave this parts of their "old lives" behind so they can continue to live their "new life" in Him.

If you wouldn't mind, could you pray for our students?