1) An orange sign near some road construction on Silver Spring - “Open to Bussineses”. Thank you, MPS.
2) A cyclist with a death wish riding the wrong direction in a bike lane during rush hour. I also almost saw him die when the car behind me decided he would rather drive in that lane than in mine.
3) A sign outside a catholic church - “Feeling low on faith? Come in for a fill-up. Bingo - 7:00 PM”. I don’t know where to start.
Next month, I will have been working with Lafe, Mike & the teens for one full year. When I started working with the teens, I was prepared for it to be difficult, and everyone around me reinforced that idea. I went into this ministry with the attitude that I can’t change anything, only God can. This past year has just reinforced my absolute dependence on God to work through me, and not counting on my own abilities. Having gone to this church for a few years, I knew the kids and knew their families, and I thought I had a pretty good handle on what things we had to worry about and what things we didn’t have to worry about. There have certainly been some challenges to pray about and deal with (and continue to deal with), but there are two problems that I was surprised by, and these have been most frustrating.
Last fall, the youth ministry team (hereafter referred to as YMT) had a parent meeting, where we let the parents know what we had planned for the coming year. In that meeting, we stressed to the parents that the YMT is not here to substitute for the parents, but to support them and reinforce what they are teaching their kids at home. We can teach them every single principle in the Bible, but if none of those are exhibited or expected by the parents, what do you want me to do? If church is this place you take your family 3 times a week, and you behave once you walk in the doors, but then go home and start living like the rest of the world, what have you taught your kids? When you aren’t fulfilling your Biblical role as the parent/leader/shepherd at home, how can I teach your kid that they need to respect and obey you as such? I’m not sure, but if you have any ideas, let me know?
The other frustrating this is when the parents put certain occasions before church (sleep, sports, tv, music). What have they taught their teen? Tell me, when the youth leader is teaching this great series on Biblical interpretation, and your teen’s attendance is hit or miss, what are we supposed to do to fill in the blanks? I understand that especially in the summer, things come up and there are vacations to deal with. Have you ever tried to take a college class and skip half of the classes? At the end of the semester, what have you actually learned? Lafe has stressed a couple times to the kids that “What you believe you will worship; what you worship you will obey.” So, if you’ve put all these other things in front of church, we know what you’re worshipping. If it happens regularly, we know what you’re obeying. So then the question is, what do you believe? Is it: I know that God is always there, and I spent 5 minutes reading my Bible this morning and I prayed for a few minutes, until my kids/siblings started fighting and distracted me, but I have a huge yard that needs to be raked this morning, and besides, the sermon was probably going to be boring anyway. Or is it: I have put Christ on the throne of my heart and daily renew my commitment to keep Him there. Emergencies and vacations happen, but if it is in my power to be in His house, I will be, because all the other things in my life (my family, my friends, my interests, my talents), mean absolutely nothing if my relationship with my Savior isn’t nourished first. What you believe you will worship; what you worship you will obey.
On my WordPress dashboard, it shows the top searches people used that linked to my blog. I’m just curious, but how did this search end up with this blog in the results?
“Father, forgive me. I’ve become vile”
I stole this from Nicole…
A study conducted by UCLA’s Department of Psychiatry has revealed that the kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle.
For example: If she is ovulating, she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features. However, if she is menstruating, or menopausal, she tends to be more attracted to a man with duct tape over his mouth
and a spear lodged in his chest while he is on fire.
No further studies are planned at this time.
Last summer, when Lafe, Mike and I started working with the youth group at our church, we wanted to start off with a bang. We wanted to take the kids on a canoe trip on the Wisconsin River. Nothing huge. Just one day. It ended up not working out, and we had a great Fall Fest instead. But ever since then, I’ve been excited to take the kids out there. It wasn’t supposed to be a difficult activity to plan. We need 2 vans, a couple of adults, and a cooler for lunches. That’s it. Oh, was I wrong.
The easy decision was which section of the river to paddle. I’ve done a couple of sections of the river, but the best part, hands down, is around Sauk City. This is the prime area of the river for eagles and other wildlife, and has towering bluffs on both sides of the river. My brother and I wanted to be sure we paddled a section of the river by Ferry Bluff, so we could hike the trail to the top, and have our devotional at this great lookout point. We had to wait a while before making a reservation because of all the flooding in that area. We didn’t want to go whitewater canoeing and we would prefer a couple of sandbars to play on, plus you know, there’s the whole death factor involved in flooded rivers. The water levels came down, so we reserved 5 canoes (we had a pretty small group going). This past Monday, I was wondering how long the hike was to the top and if my crocs would be ok. So I did what any ocd freak would do - google it. That’s when I found THE PROBLEM.
For years, I had heard rumors of a “naturalist” beach on the Wisconsin River. Some people said it existed, some said it didn’t. Most said they had never seen it. After calling the owner of the canoe livery, I discovered that the location of the VERY REAL beach is within eye shot of the livery. Yeah, THAT’S what you want to see with a bunch of teens. That was where it started to spiral out of control. We had to find a new livery, get them to call me back, ask them where their take-out point was, how many miles it was from the beach and if it was visible. Then, I had to email my pastor every step of the way, reassure him that the beach isn’t in eyeshot of the bluff where our new route ends, reassure parents that the river wasn’t flooded, reassure “contributors of opinion” that we knew we needed bug spray, sunscreen and water, AND try to get a hold of 2 guys that work 2nd and 3rd shift and make sure they were ok with the new plan before we confirmed anything. It was ok. We worked it out and everybody calmed down.
My heart rate had almost returned to normal, when a new email popped up at work. Someone wanted to bring a guest. ARGGHHH! I knew the story behind the extra person, and I knew that this was going to be a great ministry opportunity, but I still had to work through the logistics. Can we bring a 6th grader that will be in youth group in 6 weeks anyway? Can we bring a kayak for the odd person? Can we rent a kayak out there? Oh, they want the sponsors to be IN the canoes. Ok. We need to find another person. Who can we find within 3 days that is willing to get up at 6 in the morning and spend their ENTIRE day on a mosquito infested river with teenagers. It took a couple more emails and frantic phone calls, but I got it done.
There have been a couple of emails since then, but they were just questions that I already had the answers to. I’m done with problems. I’m done with floods. I’m done with naked people. I just want to skip every minute between right now, and 9:30 tomorrow morning when we launch our canoes.
Please, please pray for no surprises tomorrow. I might cry.
I seriously hate pop music. Maybe I have a different definition of pop, but anything that has super-produced vocals and synthetic instruments is too poppy for me. I think it’s only for 13 year olds and the young 20-somethings that still think they’re 13. It’s dance-y and sugary and too Barbie-world for me.
The new breakout summer hit by Katy Perry has been playing almost every hour, it seems, for the last few weeks. Whenever it comes on, my 30-something coworker turns up her radio and starts singing. Sometimes, she does it when I’m on the phone with a customer, which is awesome. Anyway, this song proves my point that the masses don’t listen to the words of the song. They like a fun hook, and a song that makes them want to move, but they don’t care how uncreative, stupid or foul the lyrics are. I’m going to share some of the lyrics to this song, just so you can feel my misery; but be warned: your IQ may go down a few dozen points.
This was never the way I planned
Not my intention
I got so brave, drink in hand
Lost my discretion
It’s not what
I’m used to
Just wanna try u on
I’m curious for you
Caught my attention
I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry chapstick
I kissed a girl just to try it
I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it
It felt so wrong
It felt so right
Don’t mean I’m in love tonight
I kissed a girl and I liked it
I liked it
No I don’t even know your name
It doesn’t matter
You’re my experimental game
Just human nature
It’s not what
Good girls do
Not how they should behave
My head gets
So confused
Hard to obey
Us girls we are so magical
Soft skin, red lips, so kissable
Hard to resist so touchable
Too good to deny it
Ain’t no big deal, it’s innocent
I kid you not. This is what they’re playing on the radio station that almost all teens are listening to, even some Christians. Little kids are listening to this! My coworker sings this song every time it comes on and talks about it being so “catchy” and “fun” and “summery”. But this morning, light dawned on yonder peak, when she overheard her 3 year old girl singing it. It’s foul! And kids are going to grow up with words like this running through their head, and thinking that experimenting is normal and that it may even be another right of passage that comes with your teen years. It’s still not stopping her from singing it here, but she said she’ll be more careful with her daughter.
I know a couple of young Christian teenagers that aren’t allowed to listen to this station at all, but as soon as they’re home alone, they’ll turn it on and start dancing. When I asked them what they liked about this music, it was the music that they liked. It was much more grown up than “Radio Disney”. They said they didn’t even listen to the words. But later in the day, you’ll hear them singing the song - the exact words that they don’t realize they’re memorizing. This is such a huge cultural problem - this is how brainwashing happens, seriously. It’s a head fake. You’re fed one thing that you enjoy and keep coming back for, but you don’t realize that you’re actually being fed poison until the poison has completely taken over your world view.
Listen to the words, people!! Even if dance-y music that someone makes from a production room is what you enjoy, you can’t honestly say that you want to hear a girl talking about tasting another girls’ cherry chapstick.
What a lost, lost world.
In the interest of being healthy and all that jazz, I bought a bike on Friday. This may not sound like a big deal, but I haven’t owned a bike since I was in high school, and I think I’ve only ridden a bike once since then. My gear-gurus (Lafe & Jonathan), had recommended a lower end Trek last summer, so I went to my supposedly magical local bike shop to find a bike. I found a bike that I absolutely fell in love with, and of course, it wasn’t the lower end Trek. I researched like crazy for a few days - online reviews, articles, comparisons and called around to some other bike shops - none of which sell Trek at lower than full retail. I tried one other bike shop that I hadn’t called yet - Emery’s in Menomonee Falls. I lucked out and had the owner helping me on the floor. We found the bike I loved, he told me that the other bike shop fitted be wrong, and got me on the right size bike, AND he cut a deal on the price! I picked up the newly built bike Friday night, and got right up to West Bend to try it out on the Eisenbahn Trail (very sweet rails to trails bike trail). We did about 5 miles on Friday, and another 5 on Saturday. My poor sit bones gave way before my legs did, but we’ll get there…
So here’s where balance comes into play. After riding on Saturday, I had to pick up some groceries. I was doing really well, picking healthy foods - whole grains, lean meats, fruit, veggies and yogurt and decided to get one treat for the week. I love, love, love the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, so I was looking in that freezer when I saw (WAAAAAHH! {that’s the noise you hear when the gates of heaven open}) Mexican ice cream bars. If you’ve never had a mexican ice cream bar, the best place to go is the south side of Milwaukee and look for a street vendor. I don’t even know how to explain them. The fruit bars are more juice-based than cream-based, so they’re super refreshing. They mix flavors, too - a few summers ago I had a mango-chili pepper bar. The bars I found in the store are pretty close to authentic - I bought a coconut bar that’s really creamy, but the street vendors actually use some coconut milk in the ice cream. Lafe got a box of cucumber-chili pepper bars that he loves. I had one bar and buried the rest of the box in the back of the freezer - I’m going to ride another 15 before I have another one.
…when they have good owners. This story from jsonline.com today made me smile:
A 17-year-old boy fractured his skull Monday night after he ran into a tree while fleeing a Rottweiler that broke its chain.
Milwaukee Police said the dog, which had been chained to a tree in the 4200 block of N. 40th St., broke loose after the teen began running away from the dog. With the dog in pursuit, police said, the boy ran into a tree, fell to the ground and hit his head, fracturing his skull.
The boy suffered bleeding in his brain, police said, and was in stable condition this morning at a hospital.
The dog never attacked the victim, and in fact licked him while he was down, police said.
The dog’s owner received a citation because the dog was not kept behind a fence, police said.
My linguistics professor in college stressed that language is always changing. Nouns can become verbs - our language rules allow it, even if it drives grammar freaks crazy. In fact, as of the 2006 publishing of the Oxford English Dictionary, “google” is a verb. So there.
Since I have no use for a big house in Oak Creek and have forever sworn off roommates, I’m trying to help out a couple of friends. You never know who might know someone who knows someone who knows someone that is looking for a house or an apartment.
Nicole - needs a roommate pretty quickly. Her current roommate is having visa (not the credit card type) issues and won’t be there past the end of the month. It’s a super cute apartment on the east side and has great character - radiators, old windows & hardwood floor. And, it’s pretty good sized for an east side apartment. Here’s her ad:
$450 Christian, Female Roommate wanted-East Side (Farwell & Brady)I am a 26 year old Christian female, I work two jobs and I am not home often.
The apartment is very spacious and has beautiful hard wood floors. It is furnished, except for your bedroom (we can negotiate getting rid of my older/donated furnishings if you have newer/nicer stuff you would like to bring with you when you move in). There is a laundry room in the building and the building has a secure main entrance with door intercom/buzzer. Parking is not included but street parking is available, there are also options to rent parking spaces in off-street lots or underground heated parking structures (right across the street, that’s what I do).
Please reply to this ad if interested, we can talk more and I’d be happy to answer more questions.
Location: Farwell & Brady
Shannon - needs someone to buy her house in Oak Creek. Her husband worked for an airline that just closed and his new job is out of state. I have to tell you, if I was married with kids, I would jump on this house. They’ve only lived there for about 4 years, but Chris was constantly updating something. They have a fun backyard with a huge deck, pool, play center & horseshoe pits. Plus, it’s fenced in so the dogs can run around. They’re including all the indoor and outdoor appliances - they won’t need the snowblower in Phoenix! Take a look at the listing here.
