What really matters...

“Who would have thought that teaching a kid to surf, would teach me that surfing isn’t the most important thing in the world? And that something else is. Love. Bigger than any tidal wave. More powerful than any fear.” Bethany Hamilton (Soul Surfer) I watched the movie Soul Surfer today in preparation for the 30 hour famine. I'm not going to lie - I am always a little skeptical about "Christian" movies because I think they get into dangerous theology a lot of the time - give everything to God and God will give you what you wanted in the first place being the most common. And I know not all Christian movies fall into this category, but I have seen enough of these to be hesitant. But I didn't find that to be true at all of Soul Surfer. Maybe because it was based on a true story, but things definitely did not work out perfectly for Bethany Hamilton. She had to confront her fear that surfing may not be her future. I loved the quote that I put at the beginning of thi...

I decided recently that I need to make better use of my mornings, and I have this stack of youth ministry magazines and journals that I keep thinking I should read. So this morning I read an article about prayer and using prewritten prayers - both those found in the Bible and those from the church liturgy. And then tonight I open my Lenten Bible study, and it's about prayer. Not to mention the fact that Pastor Brian is doing his Lenten sermon series about the Lord's prayer. As I think about prayer, one thing keeps coming back to me, and actually I sat down to write this post, I had a sense of deja vu that I had written about this when it actually happened. And I did! In a facebook note, of all places. So here is the story from 2009 as I wrote it then... one of the joys of being in ministry is that every once in awhile you will be going along and think that you are the one doing the teaching, and BAM you realize that the question you just asked of the people in your Bible ...

So I got a little behind with my posting today, but since I haven't gone to bed yet, it's still Monday in my world, even though it's 1:30 in the morning. The truth is I don't have any insightful reflections about today. And sometimes, I think it's ok to let the day just be the day. Today was a good day. A day I am grateful for. And that's enough. No insight, no deep thoughts, just a good day. Thanks God!

In case you haven't noticed, there has been a theme running through my weekend. Yesterday's post excluded, I have been writing about things in our lives that we sometimes neglect - taking time to be ourselves, and sleep. Today I would like to write about another one of those - play. Tonight for SUM TEENS, we had a parents time out. I have to admit that I stayed out way later than I should have last night, and it was such a busy day that I could have slept WAY longer than what I had time for. And I didn't have time for a nap this afternoon - at least not the kind of nap I really wanted. So I went to Tim Horton's for a cafe mocha on my way to the church and I pushed through. And I spent my late afternoon/evening playing with kids. And as I thought about what I wanted to write tonight, I started thinking about this idea of play. You see, kids know how to play. As I chased kids around the room and heard their giggles, as I made things with playdoh with them, as I ...

"You can't own the gospel. It doesn't belong to the church. It's too wild to be contained within an institution. Just like you can't truly own an idea, you can't own love, forgiveness of sin, or grace." ~ Adam McLane, "Open Source Theology" found in Immerse: A Journal of Faith, Life, and Youth Ministry I read this article this morning, and as I considered what Adam was saying, I think the church has a lot to learn. It reminds me of a conversation I have been having with a friend recently in which we have been talking about young adults leaving the church. Often young adults look at the church and they see the problems within the church. They see money being spent on buildings and programs instead of people. They see broken people claiming to be fixed and acting holier than thou. I am not saying all churches are like this, but I'm not going to lie. If I had no personal experience with the church, and I had to rely on what is visible i...

Since yesterday I wrote about the importance of time to be yourself, today I am going to write about rest, or more accurately, sleep. I was talking today at dinner about how I look back at college and I wonder how I did it - especially my senior year. My last semester of college, I got up in the morning and went to work at the daycare at 8 or 8:30. I worked until noon I think, then I went to campus for afternoon classes. In the evening I had all sorts of activities I was involved with, and then I would get home around 9 at night and start homework. Plus I always made time for my friends, because well, why do now what you can put off until later? So I usually slept between 5-6 hours a night sometimes less. I don't think I could pull that off now, but the truth is that I don't always listen to my body when it says it needs rest. In Psalm 127:2 it says, "In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat - for he grants sleep to those he loves." I l...

We all have roles to play in life. Sister, daughter, friend, youth pastor - those are just a few of the roles that I have to play. But sometimes our roles take over who we are. For me the role that tends to take over my life is my job. And my role as a youth pastor is a huge part of who I am. But it is not all of who I am. Tonight I went to an event for young professionals in Delaware county (even though I'm not really sure the term professional can accurately be applied to me). It was a nice opportunity to just be Katy. Sure, what I do for a living was a part of the conversation, but as the evening continued I was able to hang out with a couple of other people and just be me. I put a quote on my facebook last week, "Balance is something we swing through on our way to the other extreme." It is a life mantra that author Kara Powell mentions in her book Sticky Faith, and I think it's very true. I think there are a lot of areas we could use balance. One of the ...

Today marks the beginning of Lent. People everywhere are giving things up. There is the traditional fasting, people using Lent to kick off a diet, or giving up Facebook addictions for a period of time. And these can be good things. Like new years resolutions, they can be good catalysts to change. But the question that is important to ask when giving things up is what you will doing instead. For example, if you are giving up chocolate - do you rely on it when you are stressed? Will you rely on prayer instead? When you give up Facebook, what will you do with the time you normally spend on the computer? Will you waste it by watching more TV or will you spend that time in the Bible? The goal of Lent is to draw us closer to God. In this first day of the Lenten Bible study I am reading, the author, N.T. Wright, says this, "Whenever God does something new, he involves people - often unlikely people, frequently surprised and alarmed people. He asks them to trust him in a new wa...

In my last post, I wrote about the negative things that people are capable of. And it's true. But we are also capable of pretty amazing things. Today I was privileged to be a part of leading a group of truly incredible teenagers as they led our congregation in worship. The messages these youth gave, the ways they shared of themselves, it was truly awesome. The thing that is so wonderful about children and teenagers is that they believe they can do things that we adults have become too afraid to do. I'm not saying children and teens don't have fears - they definitely do. But they have different kinds of fears. And they see things that we don't see. They trust in ways that we lose the ability to trust. Jesus said we need to come to him with faith like a child. A child - one who is truly able to experience the freedom of being a child - trusts with total abandon. That is what we are called to do. We are called to trust God with all we are, all we have, with ou...