Bowling for Staff

The Lake Cities Church of Christ had a staff meeting today...
I know what you ministers and elders out there are thinking...
... you poor soul.
Quite the opposite. Today, our meeting was held off of 114 and 121 near DFW Airport.
Main Event.
Yes, that's right, we went bowling.

In the short few months that I have been on staff as a youth minister, I have looked back to reference my academic learning from ACU and LCU. I always wonder about if this is how things are supposed to be, ya know all of the case studies we did. I know that I am still in a bit of the "honeymoon" phase of my ministry, but I would have thought by now, I would have had a battle with an elder, mediated with a parent, and already begun to dread our staff meetings. Instead, we had burgers and pizza, prayed for our food and for me to pick up my spare, right there at the bowling alley. We had a time of fellowship and hanging out as a staff away from the building. What a blessing this has become!! How great it is to build friendships with those whom you will be doing battle with! Here are some of the highlights from our time together:

Stephen Bailey (Associate Minister): 155 final score (Game 1)
Joel Quile (Senior Minister): 25.29 mph (current land-speed record)
Karen Black (Administrator): found a job for her son
Matt McBryde (Youth Minister): n/a
In Him,
M@

"Is that a fly on my nose? Is that a comet!?!"

High Definition - the name of my addiction.

If you have not had the opportunity to watch a baseball or football game in HD signal, I highly recommend it! For the true sports fan, there is nothing like it! Finally I feel that the best seat I can have to a ball game, is at my house. Everytime I watch an event in HD, I am blown away by it. I find that sometimes, I will swap between ESPN and ESPNHD channels to compare the two. The clarity of HD brings another element altogether to watching sports, I can see the blades of grass, the spin on the baseball, we can tell if the receiver really got both feet in bounds or not. There is something about watching HD that makes it feel like you are there, makes it more real...
Maybe it is because now I can tell that the ESPN anchors on Sportscenter are wearing makeup. They look more human now, their tiny beads of sweat give them away. The clarity adds a view point that I have never seen before, and though I am watching only a ballgame, it is different this time. All because of my clarity.
I think that might be why I have found myself envying the life stories of believers that came from a troubled time to find God, and now are on fire for Him. I believe these people have been introduced to God in "high-definition." For too long, many of them were receiving a weak signal, and when they finally tuned in to God, that got Him in HD. I believe that is why I feel sorry for my kids. Not just my kids in the youth group, but to the kids that my wife, Kyla, and I have not had yet. Someday, Lord willing, I will sit around with my son and watch a Cowboy game in High-Def, but it will just be TV to my boy. Like I have with my faith, he will have grown up with HD. He will not know about the "dark ages", the time before HD, much like I do not know what my life is like without God. The game will look the same as all the others, the clarity the same; this is the way it has always been. He will not know the greatness of HD because he cannot compare it to the normal signal.
I pray that this does not fall on our kids. I pray that as parents, ministers, elders, siblings, friends, whatever; that we create a high-definition ministry for our youth. I want kids to see God in high-definition! I want kids to be awed and amazed everytime they see The Father, everytime they read the Bible or see a life changed by their actions to share their faith.
I am very grateful that my parents brought me up in the church. I do not want to discredit the faith of those that have always gone to church, vs those that have not. There is however, much to be learned from both ends of the spectrum.
In Him and in HD,
M@

"Something changed!"

I missed the DFW metroplex.
I grew up in Allen, went to school at Abilene Christian, then Lubbock Christian, and returned to the metroplex.
I'm tired of the DFW metroplex.
Suddenly, I am not content with my great camera phone, I want one with PDA capability. The intriguing invitation to join a country club at the pastoral monthly rate is awfully appealing to me. It's not safe to drive a motorcycle here, so I will just get a convertible. Nose-bleed at Ranger's games were exciting for about an inning. Yet I had missed baseball, living in Abilene and Lubbock. I mean real baseball. The pros.
Now I am back and am not content with the Texas Rangers. Sure they are cruising downhill at speeds that Picabo Street would envy, but have I lost my passion for baseball?!?
No way. I have loved the sport too long to let it all go on a talented team suffering a lacking front office. So here I am again, looking for something better. The St. Louis Cardinals just happen to be my second-favorite team, and oddly-enough, they are in first place.
Steroids has done nothing to hurt how I feel about baseball. I hold true that steroids can't give anybody a swing as pretty as Griffey Jr.'s or a change-up like Santana. Talent will shine through, always.
Except here in Texas.
I am still looking for something better. I can guarantee you I would not be looking for PDAs, country clubs or convertibles in Lubbock, but this is DFW.
I wonder how I would look in "Cardinal Red"... (we'll find out Sept. 6!)
M@

Starting to feel my age...

Well, I guess this is it. I am about to turn 25 and after I had to ice my shoulder after a church-league softball game, I realized something...
I am officially starting to feel my age.
I have decided that "feeling my age" is not about the creaks and aches of my knees or shoulder, but about the epiphany I received just the other day. I am not "cool". I mean some kids might think that I am cool on a level of tolerance and might even associate with me socially, but as far as evaluating my social relevance, I have officially fallen out of the picture. I am no longer in the starting lineup, nor am I even on the Major League roster. Socially, I have been cast down into the Minors. Some high power social manager somewhere wants to respect my time spent in the "Big Show" by not shunning me fully from the organization, but allowing me to chase a pipe-dream of someday making it back to the "Show"; making it back to the Majors.
I guess what is the most important thing about this whole revelation, is that I am not so concerned with getting back to the social pipeline, but my transition came SO FAST! I feel like Bret Boone crying over the podium after being cut from his team, not seeing it coming. I guess I have always felt that this day was coming, and I knew I couldn't pull off Hollister clothes and I sure as all-get-out don't own a pink polo-shirt.
Speaking of polo-shirts, the other day I had an internal debate about whether or not I should go play video games on my day off, or perhaps play golf. This conflict hit me like Taco Bell burrito... I can't believe I am considering this! When did I trade my Nike hightops for some FootJoy golf shoes?! How long have I been an adult?! BLLAAACCCCHHH!!!
Have I really come to that moment? Have I crossed the barrier and not even known it? I thought I would feel a lot like Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier. When his Bell X-1 hit Mach 1, a loud resounding BOOM! blitzed through the plane that must have scared the cockpit out of him. He must have known he passed through. He knew before he looked at his in-flight instruments, he knew before he returned to base. "Oh, wow. I guess we did do it, huh. Imagine that, we broke the sound barrier up there." I don't see it. But then again, I am not the best at seeing these things...
M@