What really matters...

I have mentioned before that I am really frustrated with the "I'm right and you're stupid" mentality that I see all over our culture today. But I have noticed another similar attitude lately that worries me at least as much - and actually goes along with my post this morning. The lack of ability to accept that people make mistakes. That does not make them bad people. Nor do we have to ignore or absolve them of those mistakes for them to be good people. Romans 3:23 says "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The truth is that none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. And we need to learn to accept it, in ourselves and in others. In our culture of sensationalism and over-analyzing every tiny detail of things that don't really matter, it's really easy to think that we can't move past mistakes. But the reality is that we do ourselves and others a disservice when we get stuck on mistakes - and when we take sides. I have...

In writing about the shallow faith that can be seen all over the place, Kinnaman talks about how faith is lacking one essential ingredient - humility. He says it this way, "If you already know all there is to know , if you've been told your entire life that you're 'just right' exactly the way you are, if the main job of the god you believe in is to make you feel good about yourself (because you're entitled to great self-esteem along with everything else), then there are not a lot of compelling reasons to sit in the dirt at the feet of Jesus and live the humble life of a disciple." (David Kinnaman in You Lost Me I struggle with this a little bit because I think there is a difference between self-esteem and humility or lack thereof. Some of the most humble people I have met are quite confident. And some of the least humble people I've met (in terms of their actions) are not confident at all. See I think the truly confident people of this world don...

I have admitted to a couple of people lately that one of my largest fears in my job is that the church is growing and as it does, the youth group will too. And I don't really know what to do with large groups. I am a small group person. Those moments when I just get to hang out with youth remind me why I do this job. And the bigger the youth ministry gets, the less connected I am able to be because, let's face it, I am only one person. And my job cannot become my entire life. I was reading You Lost Me , which I have mentioned before, again this morning. The chapter was about shallow faith, and Kinnaman talked about several causes of shallow faith that I think are really important, like that we attempt to mass produce disciples, we lack rituals that really matter, our expectations are too low, and we value quantity over quality. I think there is truth in all of these, but I struggle with how to change them. One thing that rings true to me first off is that shallowness of...

I don't really make new years resolutions, per se. I make resolutions year round when I see things in myself I want to change. And like new years resolutions for many people, I often fail the first 32 times and have to keep making the same resolution over and over again. Right now I am actually working on a number of resolutions from the last year. I think for me though, my biggest challenge is that I have a hard time motivating myself for myself. If someone is depending on something to get done, you can bet it will be done and done well and done on time. But if I have a plan to do something, but the only person it impacts if it isn't done is me, chances are I will put it off. I mean it may get done eventually - my clean downstairs is evidence of that, though the fact that I turned in a work order may have impacted that. But I also put away Christmas decorations and all those things that didn't need to be done last night. So I do have some self motivation. Sometime...

Safety. We all like to think we can create "safe" spaces in our lives, and especially for the young people in our care. But this is again trying to control things that in reality are not controllable. We are grasping at straws for control, and what ends up happening is often the opposite result of what we seek. When I was leading high ropes course one time, one of my co-leaders brought up a study that said you are more likely to get hurt in a high school gym class than on a ropes course. I also frequently heard and then repeated to other groups that when you arrive at the high ropes course or rock wall, you have already done the most dangerous part of your trip - the drive there. But because these are things we do on a regular basis with no consequence, the perceived risk is lower than climbing 35 feet in the air and walking across wires with only a few small ropes to hold you. And I have to say that I am one of those people who theoretically knows that the ropes will h...