"Starting A New Life"

Over the past couple of weeks I've attended a couple of High School Graduations with one or two more to attend!  I'm a "people watcher" & I enjoy watching the expressions on the faces of the High School Graduates just before there name is called.  Most of them have a smile on there face.  But every once & a while you will catch the look of total shock on the face of that one graduate because it has hit them that they are actually going to be "starting a new life" without their own comfort zone! I very well remember the wise words of my Grandfather when I graduated from high School & started my first job, "Your fun is just beginning!".  Like the saying goes, "life comes at you fast".  I graduated from High School 25 years ago & I've come to realize that life is "full of surprises"  & you never know what's "around the corner".  But I've also realized that nothing catches God by surprise & not only that, but He will be with us through all the "surprises" of life.  You see when we start this "new life", if we have accepted Christ, He promises never to "leave or forsake" us.  So High School Graduates, when you start this new journey of life, don't forget to take Christ with you!  And that's the thought for the week from a 42 year old Youth Mnister!

Thanks Mom!

I know "Mother's Day has come & gone, but I have a purpose for writing this at this time.  I can't keep thinking about all the things that a mother goes through on a daily basis, most the time without a "thank-you" given to them by their own family member!  It's a crying shame that we only recognize them & all they do one time out of the year!  I recently went on line to see the value (salary wise) my wife was worth  @ salary.com.  On this sight you can enter the hours along with the category & enter in your zip code to match the hourly rate that is given in your area. I was given a figure of around $155,000.00 plus around $19,000.00 in overtime a year!  We often forget the many "hats" that a mom wears on a daily basis.  I well remember the "hat" that my Mom wore as the "football cheerleader" when I played football in Jr. High.  Even though I only played one snap the whole season, she went to all my home & away games.  When I would look up in the stands, she was smiling or giving me the thumbs up!  What I'm trying to say is we need to take the time every week, not just Mother's Day to tell & show Mom we love & appreciate her through a phone call, hug, a note, or even cleaning our room or helping around the house! I just want to say "Thanks Mom"!  And that's the thought this week from a 42 year old Youth Minister.

"Hide & Seek"

I love Spring!  Warm weather, mowing grass(or letting my sons mow!), planting flowers, starting a garden(as soon as the rain lets up!), & longer days of light!  Most of these I can enjoy because of the Daylight Savings Time.  I love going outside in the evening & enjoy a game of "Thomas Wiffle Ball"!  Another game I like to play is "hide & seek".  In my younger years we would get a ton of kids together(the more, the better!) & play even into the darkness.  (A dark basement of a church is also great or even turning off all the lights in your own house!)  The object is not to get found & if you get found, not to get caught before reaching base.  While thinking about this amazing game that we love to play, I think in the real game of life, we try to play that same game with God.  He may ask us to do something that may be out of our comfort zone, and just like Jonah, we run & try to hide in the opposite direction.  Or it may even be something we're trying to "hide" from God because we haven't fully committed our hearts & lives to God.  I believe David had it figured out when he said, "Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him"(Psalm 105:4).  He found out that it was better to "seek"  the Lord than to hide from Him!  Do you find yourself at times playing 'hide & seek" with God?  Enjoy and  play the game, but not with God.  And that's the thought for the week from a "42 Year Old Youth Minister"!

It's Never Too Late To Make Christmas Great!

I was 7 at the time when there was about a foot of snow on the ground & we were on our way to Grandma's house!  The snow was coming down in thick flakes & just beautiful(the wet snow)!  It was a drive that usually took about 30 min., but that day it took us about 4 hours!  When we slid off the road about the second time, I couldn't see the fun in it.  I remember crying because I thought we were going to die &our bodies were going to be found several days later! My Mom looked at me & started laughing & saying something like, " Isn't his is fun Alan!  We're not going to die, & it's snowing on Christmas!"  My mom truly knew how to make memories out of a bad time!  I will never forget that memorable Christmas!  There is some more things to this story that I will not mention do to the embarrassment that may fall on my Mom!!!  All grown up now, I look back at this moment as one of the most memorable Christmas's ever as a child.  Last night we shared together (my wife & kids)  our most memorable Christmas's as a family(playing hide & seek in the house with the lights out, staying in our jammies all day, taking all day to unwrap presents, making homemade Christmas cookies,  putting together the Christmas puzzle(I lost again this year!!!) & looking at Christmas lights in our jammies while drinking homemade hot chocolate!)  If you don't have a most memorable Christmas moment, it's not too late to make Christmas Great!  And that's the thought for the week from a 42 year old youth minister!  Merry Christmas!!!

"Don't Forget The Reason For The Season!"

"Don't Forget The Reason For The Season!"

As I set in the office yesterday looking over the December calendar of activities that were planned, at a point it got a little overwhelming.  I caught myself looking over the activities that I had planned for the youth & children for Christmas & making sure all my "ducks were in a row" & that nobody was left out.  Then the passage came to me, "And you will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth,lying in a manger.".  I had to check myself & remember why I was really planning these Christmas activities.  Not just to have them or because it's expected, but to celebrate the birth of Christ!   It,s like the Charlie Brown Christmas story, if we don't watch ourselves, we will find ourselves so busy "planning Christmas" that we will totally forget the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas!  And that's the thought for the week from a "42 year old youth minister"!

Incomplete

Have you ever spent hours working on a jigsaw puzzle & everything seems to be going great, when all of a sudden, you can't find the last piece to finish the puzzle!  You look in the floor, under your chair, & turn the house upside down, but still can't find it!  It can be the most aggravating thing!  We have a Christmas family tradition at our house where we pull the same Christmas puzzle off the shelf, divide up into two teams & each team is timed on how long it takes them to put it together.  The winning team gets to proudly write their name, date, & time on the inside of the box!  Needless to say, over the past 8 years, my name has never graced the inside of the box!  I remember one Christmas when my son & I were winning by 4 minutes & I was already "shooting off my mouth" to my wife & son that Dad was finally going to win!  Little did I know that when it was our turn to put the puzzle together, I had knocked a puzzle piece across the room & when it got down to puting that last piece in we ran out of time because we couldn't find it!  Yes I protested, complained, griped, & said it wasn't fair!  But then those words came out of my wife's mouth; "Alan, it's incomplete".  They won & I lost again.  This reminds me of how "Incomplete" we are without God.  We can try to fill our lives & soul with everything to make us happy, but without GOD in our lives we are "incomplete".  As a philosopher has said, "there is a God-shaped emptiness each of us & only God can fill it."  And that's the thought for the week from a "42 year old youth minister".

Get Out Of The Boat!

It hit me this morning as I was talking to my wife. She asked me, "do you know what we were doing one year from today?" I looked at her, & then it hit me, we moved from Mt. Juliet, TN to here!  I can't believe that it's been a year already of doing full-time youth & outreach ministry!  I remember telling my former church family, "It would be easier for our family to stay here than to move."  How true those words became such a reality to my family & myself.  It seemed that the more I was trying to do the will of God, the more Satan threw at us!  You see, we were "locked in" our comfort zone.  I had a great job, friends, a good church & ministry, but I had been "putting off" the will of God for my life for the past three years.  I kinda felt like the disciples that were in the boat when the storm hit & Jesus came walking on the water.(Matt.14:22-33)  Peter was the only one willing to step out of the boat & come to Jesus even though he was probably scared out of his wits not knowing what was going to happen next! I believe Jesus calls us each day to step out of our "comfort zone" & "get out of the boat".  Big or small decisions; big or small life changes; Jesus has promises to "never leave or forsake us".  Would you have been more likely to step out with Peter or stay in the boat?  And that's the thought for today from a "42 year old youth minister".