Friday Fun Facts

A few slices of the random that was my week:

- I never thought it was humanly possible to ingest 3 Chiptole burritos in under 1.5 hours. Getting through even one can pose a challenge. Who, you may ask, proved to me that this is possible? A teenage boy, of course! We had loads of free burritos at last Sunday's meeting (thank you Chipotle!) and had a few extra, so kids could grab seconds if they wanted. Few did, but one guy went back for seconds and then thirds. The clincher? He grabbed a fourth one as he headed for the door. I can't even imagine.

- At the end of leaving a phone message yesterday I said, "and thank you so much for your desire and energy to serve. Amen. Oh. Um...I mean goodbye, not Amen. So...goodbye." I couldn't stop laughing once I hung up.

- I ventured in to the wonder that is the "Neti Pot." Although apparently I missed it a few years ago when it was talked about on Oprah (which is no surprise since I may watch the show once a year if at all). I guess it became all the rage? For whatever reason, lately I've heard folks talk about it and thought I'd give it a try. If you don't know what it is, google it. For a giggle, watch the demonstration on youtube. I've only been using it for three days but am absolutely loving it so far.


That's about it from here for now!

unplug.

When I was a kid, the biggest deal in portable electronics was the walkman. When I got a little older, it was the discman. It probably would have made my head spin to think about the electronics explosion that would end up happening in our society. I'm not going to lie, I do love me some gadgets. However, there is one phenomenon that I can't understand and that breaks my heart a little. I call it the "cult of the white earbud", but I'm sure someone, somewhere has a more clever name for it. This refers to millions of people who see fit to remain attached to their ipod, via those white earbuds, nonstop. I have seen people engaged in conversation, both of them listening to music on their own ipods.

Now, I love music and I love love love my ipod. However, my actual ipod spends all of its time in my car or the docking station. I do have a shuffle that I use with headphones (forget those white earbuds, my ears are genetically predisposed to reject them!) when working out. As much as I love music, I think you miss out on far too much of the world around you if you are completely tuning in it out.

Sadly, one young man learned this lesson in a horrible, fatal way. My heart sank when I heard this on the news this morning, yet I wasn't surprised to hear the story. It is hard to calculate how many tragedies happen because people are tuned in to their gadgets and out of reality; no one wants to admit they were texting while driving, looking at their gps instead of the road, etc. But with this accident, the cause was clear. I pray for his grieving parents who certainly never wanted their son to become a cautionary tale, but I also think there is so much to learn from his death.

3 things I know at this moment.

Things I know:

- Listening to the Wicked soundtrack is a cure-all. It makes me a happy Naj and is an instant mood-lifter. I've been known to let it loop endlessly, particularly at work. Which always made Eric oh-so-happy.

- Real estate is difficult. I know the area I want to live in and am having a hard time finding the right place. I had high hopes for the place we checked out today but after looking at it didn't have a good feeling. It is a foreclosure and would take so much work, and some of the wiring just looked suspect. I hope that trusting my gut instinct in this process will pay off in the long run.

- Orange clearance stickers at Target have an unnatural power over me. I went in to Target to return a board game and pick up Kleenex. I left with more than I could fit into one shopping cart! I don't have a house yet, but I couldn't resist deep discount patio furniture. I now own two lounge chairs and two small tables, purchased for $35 total. Down from the original cost of $150. Simply irresistible.

good stuff

I could write about the election more but I really just don't feel like it. However, I am so intrigued by the conversations it has brought up. I've had more conversations about politics in the past year than the rest of my life put together, and more in the past week than the rest of the year put together! For better or for worse, this is a fascinating time in our country and I am watching intently. There is SO much to learn right now, I want to take it all in. I wrote earlier this week about learning from woundedness and I think that this election could be a great study in that.

As far as what I'm up to: I spent several hours yesterday with some favorites at a winery in the area. We try to do this each fall and spring, and it really is a great way to spend the day. Tonight I am spending time with some great friends, partaking in some of the purchases from the winery. Tomorrow I am looking at a few houses. In the midst of all that, I'm working at a job I love doing work that means something. So, good stuff all around.

Speaking of good stuff, I get a flu shot for free and I'm all about the freeness so I'm going to head out and get that done.

yes WHO can?

Right now, Facebook is on fire with people updating their statuses to reflect either their incredible joy or horrible sadness at the outcome of the election. I'm holding back on writing anything because I simply don't know how to say anything about this election that can fit in just a few lines. I also don't have the mental energy to get flamed for raining on the Obama lovefest that is going on over there. I didn't have the emotional connection to McCain they have with Obama, but I voted for him because he was more committed to respecting life.

I will say this: I know I will have a hard time not crying (we're talking ugly cry here, people) when I go to this year's March for Life because two days earlier we will have just inaugurated the most pro-choice president we've ever had. I know I live in great fear of the day that President Elect Barack Obama makes good on his promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. I know that if that day comes (but hey, here's hoping he doesn't keep his word!), I will be filled with great sorrow. At that moment it will be little consolation to me that I voted against him because babies will still die. However, I know many, many people who voted for Obama and I really wonder what they will feel at that moment. Because they voted FOR him... and babies will die. I am not judging -- I am truly curious how they will react. I wonder what "change" will make that worth it.

I have always maintained a respect for the office of the presidency even when it was held by someone I did not respect. I am not going to start bitterly proclaiming that I am moving to another country. I'm not going to be sour or hateful in what I say right now. My prayer right now is that I am proven wrong. So I will pray for TRUE change. It would be easy to say "1.20.13" and act like I don't care what happens between now and then, but I'd be lying. If our new president keeps his promises in the arena of abortion, there will be so much carnage between now and then, so many lives lost. I pray - fervently - that as this new time in our country begins that this new leader will somehow listen to the voice of those who can not speak for themselves. If he doesn't, no amount of "yes we cans" or "change you can believe in" will stop the loss of innocent life.

healing

Conventions are one of the best places to pick up youth ministry resources. There are usually great discounts and you have tons of time to look around and see what you really need. Sometimes you even are able to attend seminars with the authors. Most of the books or resources I purchase in any given year are picked up at a convention or conference.

I've picked up some of my favorite tools of the trade at past convention: Every Picture Tells a Story and Would You Rather. This year I'm excited about the fun Throw and Tell Ice Breakers Ball and Throw and Tell Storytellers Ball that I purchased at the Group booth. But what was quite telling was the titles of the books that ended up in my hands when I was walking through the Youth Specialties store.

Sunday afternoon I was walking around the YS store and decided to pick up the books I was interested in with the intention of putting some back if the pile got too large. I guess having been a youth minister seven years and having attended four large conventions and four conferences before this, I've already bought a lot of the books I need. Not that I can't still learn more, but I have just become better at recognizing what I'll actually read, what will help the ministry, and what we really need. So, at the end of my stroll around the store I looked down to see what I'd ended up with. I was really surprised to see what it contained (even though *I* was the one that had picked them all up). There were no books on games, skits, or talk-starters. Just about every book in the stack was about why teens are hurting, how society is influencing them, the challenges they are facing, etc. They were all written about different areas of life, from different perspectives.

So, apparently God is putting it on my heart to spend more time learning about the woundedness of young people. I'm not surprised. I heard a talk this fall that really reminded me how our wounds effect so much of who we are and what we do and it has come up in so many conversations since then. Of course the beauty is that God yearns to heal these wounds. So, my prayer right now is to learn more about what is hurting these young people and how to point them to the One that can heal them.

I've got a lot of reading (and praying) to do.

what a difference a day makes

The past 24 hours of the conference have been both wonderful and difficult. As you can probable tell from looking at my last entry, I have pretty difficult time not looking at the conference through my Catholic lens. Which makes sense since, you know, I'm Catholic and all. I think YS has done so much to be inclusive of all denominations and I wholeheartedly appreciate it. And generally, as with my last post, most of the things that I see and bring up from my Catholic point of view are just observations about what is different, surprising, etc., about protestantism. I very much cherish the fact that this conference is a little outside my Catholic comfort zone.

However.

As I mentioned, we scurried back from dinner on time to get to the general session. Had we known what we'd hear I am pretty sure there would have been made with less urgency. There is a speaker named Phyllis Tickle who gave a 50 minute talk on church history. She is episcopalian and was really trying to get to the point about the emergent church and how churches have changed. Wanted us to look at history to learn where we are going. And she spoke as if there was not a single Catholic in the room. Within the first ten minutes of her talk, several folks in my group left. The way that she spoke made it sound like Catholicism/"Rome" was something that everyone in the room had left far behind them years ago. Her talk would have been fine as a break-out session but was really not appropriate for the general session. I do have to say the folks at YS are really open to feedback and I had a great conversation right after the session had finished, with Tic who is one of the guys in charge. I had not intended to bring this up in the midst of the convention but someone who knows him pulled him aside to talk to me when I was expressing my feelings about the talk. I told him that it was not that I (or folks I was with) have a hard time hearing things that make us uncomfortable or challenge us (the speakers the night before certainly did both) but that it was hard to feel completely dismissed and disregarded by a speaker. There's more to it, and I appreciate him really taking a good listen to what I had to say. I ran into him again in the elevator this morning and was glad to hear he had continued to think about it and get feedback from others. I am sincerely thankful that he took the time to listen to my concerns.

Now, I need to note that the Matt Maher Band seriously brought the awesome. They have great talent but really just use everything they do to point to Jesus. Last night it was so soothing to have them play after the upset I was feeling from Tickle's talk. It sounded great; people were engaged in worship, and it was a wonderful occasion of prayer. This morning, however, was probably one of the best experiences of worship I've ever had. They closed the morning gen session with an incredible set. First hearing the whole crowd singing Mary's Magnificat in the form of their song, "Great Things," was incredible. It is hard to explain but it healed SO much of what I'd felt the night before during the talk. We ended with him speaking about the very real possibility of unity and how we need to pray for it and work to make it happen. He had the crowd join hands and pray the Our Father. Healing. It was perfect. I am just super thankful he and the band allow God to work through them in this way.

Also notable was Mark Yacconelli's talk in today's gen session. I do think the morning sessions have been stronger as far as the speakers go. Mark was great -- inspiring, insighful, and disco-wonderful. His talk ended with the disco ball on, him rocking out on stage, and the whole conference on their feet rocking out.

There were so many other good parts of the day -- laughing during the Skit Guys two performances and their workshop (I learned a lot at that one too, which was great), seeing David Crowder Band lead worship (I love hearing him talk, it makes me smile), buying some new resources, a dinner adventure with Kevin's family, and getting an extra hour of sleep this morning in my uber comfy bed at the Westin.

conference

Greetings from Pittsburgh. I'm at the National Youth Workers Convention for the next few days. This year things worked out so that I can attend both this (a convention run by a protestant publishing company) and a Catholic conference in a few weeks. I'd attended each conference twice in my time as a youth minister but this is the first time I'll have gone to both in one year. I'm a self proclaimed conference snob but am trying so hard this year to stop being critical and really just take it all in.

The conference is going well so far. Here are a few random thoughts:

- If I haven't felt completely led to prayer when some of the musicians are leading worship, I get distracted trying to identify the 10 styles of hand raising worship.

- I laughed a little bit this morning when the guy in the row behind us held a coffee cup in one hand and had his other raised in worship as he sang. He seemed to be having a deep experience of prayer, apparently fueled by the Spirit and the Starbucks.

- It feels good to laugh so hard you cry. We saw 321 improv last night and they brought the funny as they always do. I had the chance to work with these guys at WorkCamp 2007 and saw them at our diocesan rally a few weeks ago. Carl represented well, he was wearing an old Rally shirt he bought for $1 at our rally. It was great to see them again and watch them work their improv genius. Their ministry is fantastic.

- The majority of the conference is protestant. So when a speaker says that, "the church is going in a new direction" or "the church really needs to be thinking about this," it confuses me. If it was a Catholic conference, that would make sense to me. But what does it mean to say this in regard to dozens of different denominations?

- When we were headed to Mass this morning (there are a few folks here from my diocese and we are having Mass each day), I heard a few people talking about General Session. One girl said, "There are a few speakers, and some music. It's like church." It just struck me how different people worship so differently.



That's it for right now. I'm headed to dinner with other folks from the diocese which is always a good time. We're making sure to get to Gen Session on time (which hasn't happened yet so far) since the Matt Maher Band is leading worship. They are so good at humbling themselves to point you to the Lord, I'm pretty sure I won't end up distractedly looking around for the different types of hand raising going on. I may even break out the "pound cake."