Kristen found this in Megan’s room the other day. Megan loves to draw and create things. Her origami creations are worthy of an Etsy shop.
When we turned over the last page and saw her marketing twist about going to MeganMcLane.com… we just roared with laughter. She truly is her father’s child.
Moobs
– Unsightly man boobies.Forget all of that Biggest Looser emotional stuff about being fat. “I don’t want my kids to know their dad is fat. I want to live longer. I need a new strart.” Yada. Yada. Yada. That’s all just TV psychobabble to me. If it works for you, awesome. But that show just makes me hungry. I love that there is a commercial during the weigh-ins so I have time to refill my ice cream bowl.
One thing I hate about being out of shape is where all of those extra candy bars, slices of pizza, and cheeseburgers end up. The belly, the butt, and for me… my upper chest. Blech.
And since I have the kind of friends who aren’t shy about pointing out my moobs I figure it’s probably time to do something about them.
So the last couple of weeks my running mantra has been: Run your moobs off.
Sure. It’s a bit crass. And surely it’s not Oprah approved. But it’s silly and makes me giggle and work hard at the same time. Right now, I’m about halfway to my initial goal of running a 5K without stopping and with just 5 weeks to go… I have many more hours of running my moobs off to go.
Whether I’m around professional golfers or big-time Christian leaders– one thing has been clear: It’s not merely that they are talented. It’s that they took a little bit of talent, a golden opportunity, and out-worked all of their peers to become the best.
The same thing is available to all of us.
Some people look at successful people with jealous eyes. They think, “Surely, they just got lucky.” Probably a little bit. But they also took the good fortune of an opportunity and made something out of it. Whatever their specialty is they have worked harder and smarter than you have.
So?
Whatever your goal is… there’s no easy option coming.
For me, right now, it’s to run this 5K. For you? I don’t know what your goal is. But I do know this one fact:
You’ll just have to run your moobs off.
When chaos arrives on the scene panic changes everything.
Every person has a freak out mode. Rumors spin out of control. People are jumping ship. Like Jonah, there’s a moment when the sailors cast lots to figure out who angered God. Fingers are pointed. Cuss words are muttered under their breathe. Biting words aren’t far behind. Everyone is doing whatever they can to fix the situation. Yet at the same time, in the back of their minds, they don’t know if they are making things better or making things worse.
Some situations turn the best of us into hyenas with a bad case of fleas.
It’s one thing to steer a ship on open seas on a calm day. That’s easy and anyone can do that. But it takes a captain to calmy guide the ship into harbor on a windy day with high waves. When the crew freaks out the captain takes over.
That’s when you discover who the leader is.
One day the panic button will go off.
Chaos will appear.
And then you’ll know.
On May 25th, 2004 I wrote a post called, “Why am I starting this?”
Perhaps many people start a blog because they are trying to prove to the world just how smart they are? Perhaps others do it so they can feel like someone is listening to them? Perhaps others do it as a way to share what’s going on in their lives.
But why am I doing this? Mostly as a way to share with myself, just what is going on. I’m not going to use this as a platform for anything else but… Well, whatever I feel like posting. Quotes. Golf scores. Youth Group talks. Carry-over rants. Interesting articles. Stories about the kids. Whatever I want!
Seven years later not much has changed. I’m still going and I’m still writing whatever I want.
Some stats:
Thank you, faithful reader
In the early days I was shocked if a handful of people read my posts. Then, a few years later, I remember the joy of noticing that I had hit 100 daily visitors. Then, living in Romeo, Michigan I remember bumping into people at church or even people at the supermarket would stop and tell me something they liked about my blog. Today? A good day sees a lot more than that. And I’m still just amazed that you show up.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading my thoughts– good, bad, and ugly– of a youth ministry guy just trying to figure stuff out.
If you are a fan of storytelling, and chances are good that you are, you need to subscribe to the Moth podcast. The Moth is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of live storytelling. They put on live storytelling events where members of the audience get a few minutes to tell a story, live and without notes, on a theme. The best stories make it onto the podcast. It’s 13 minutes I look forward to downloading each week.
The story I’m linking below is poignant for a couple of reasons. First, it’s great storytelling. Jen pulls you in. Second, because the content of her story is just a little too close to home for a lot of my friends. Jen is caught between two worlds, Evangelical Christianity and selling Mary Kay. In the end she isn’t sure which one she is selling anymore.
(Note to RSS readers – you can come to the site and listen to the audio)
As a communicator, storytelling is one of the things I wish I were a lot better at than I am. I’d kill to have a group of friends who regularly got together and practiced telling stories. Some ground rules, some themes, and some live audience feedback to refine the craft. Because ultimately, we need to tell stories that matter!
I’ve been involved in youth ministry in one form or another since I was in high school. One thing I love about being involved with youth group is the cast of characters that each ministry seems to have.
If I were to write a novel and wanted to include all of the types of youth workers I’ve worked with through the years, I would need to build the cast using these traits. (I’ve played one role or another at various times in my ministry career.)
Immigration reform is a political football. Unfortunately, it has become one of those things that you don’t talk about in polite company. And while I don’t claim to know enough to know how to fix the massive influx of people coming to our country illegally, I do know that we need a pathway to legal residence and citizenship for the students in our ministries who were brought here by their parents.
I think when you get personally involved with students in this situation it becomes less an issue of politics and more an issue of justice. They are stuck. This stuckness kind of defines them and becomes the biggest obstacle they face.
Here’s the story of one student, highly successful academically but otherwise stuck:
No one actually prefers to risk their life crossing the border, leaving behind memories and childhoods, leaving behind their mothers and fathers and leaving behind their children. No one comes to this country because they want to be exploited, and treated less than human. No one migrates to this country and wants to identify as “illegal”. Their decision is not done out of thin air, there have been structures and policies that have pushed many to migrate (NAFTA, Bracero Program, Imperialism, privatization). My parents migrated to the United States because they wanted a better life for their children.
My mom worked in factories, and my dad worked as a cook. They paid taxes (still do), hired lawyers, paid fines, got robbed by lawyers. But most of all, they lost many nights of tucking me to bed, many nights of reading me books, and combing my hair and seeing me walk for the first time. They sacrificed those nights for a better future for me. They are not illegals, they are my parents. They are strong courageous and admirable.
I remember the time I was reunited with my parents; I was about 5 years old. I arrived in Harlem. They pushed me to be the best I can be; making sure education was a priority, motivating me to always be honor roll. And that is what I did, I excelled in school. I hoped time would soften the difference between others and me. I always knew that I was undocumented, but I trusted there was a fair system that would fix that up. My dad promised me my status would soon change, lawyers promised him that too. But no results. I knew my undocumented status put me on a different path than those friends I hung out with. There would be no Cornell University, no going away, no trips abroad, no teaching, no career, no fraternities, and no peaceful nights that did not consist of thinking of “deportation” or “illegal”.
If Sonia were a graduating senior from your high school ministry, what advice would you give her?
Do you agree or disagree that the Dream Act is more a justice issue than an immigration reform issue?
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to teach at Encounter, the high school ministry of Journey Community Church.
Here’s the main idea of my talk: With the canvas of our life God gives us the ability to create a masterpiece with our lives through our good works.
Ephesians 2:10 describes believers a God’s masterpiece.
[Pause, think about that for a second. Whoa.]
So often we feel like being a Christian is a cookie-cutter experience. Not so! We were each uniquely hand-crafted by God to be his agents of Good News to our community. (Our church, our city, and specifically our neighbors.) Our talents, skills, strengths, and stories are lovingly interwoven with the activity God wants to tell in our community. He doesn’t need us to do His will, but He created us in Christ Jesus to do it.
To download my notes and the slides that went along with this talk, click the link below.
[download id=”17″]
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